THIS WEEK: little people, little lizard, macaroni ear, a sombrero, and a garden

Jaden has named several of his little people, all on his own. Here is the rundown: Grandma Sara, Kayleigh, Grandma Than in her blue pickup, Grandpa Dennis, Grandpa B, Grandma B, Minio on his wheeler.

After 6 months of trying, I finally caught one of these little guys that run all over our yard. I put it in a bottle and let Jaden watch it for a little while, and then we let it free.

Jaden kept telling me there was something in his ear while he was eating lunch. After checking twice & finding nothing,I just started ignoring him. About an hour later, I saw him running around with this. I guess I checked the wrong ear... :)

I've been trying to find new ways to keep my energetic 2-yr-old entertained, as he gets a little ornery, okay a lot ornery when he is cooped up inside the house and bored. I saw this idea to make a lion mask on one of my friend's blogs. Well, we had to cut the whole face out because Jaden didn't like it smashing his nose. After that, he still didn't like it. The next thing I knew, Zoee had a new sombrero, courtesy of my little lion.

We planted our itsy bitsy garden today. Jaden was such a grand helper that I'm not quite sure what will be coming up where. Since it was 86 degrees and the hose water was warm, we decided we might as well have a water fight afterward. It wasn't really fair, since I was the only one with the hose, and Jaden only had a broom for a shield. But we had fun! :)

Zoee - 6 months

I'm a little late, but here is the 6-month-old update: 24 1/2 inches long, 17 pounds 3 oz., 70th percentile for weight and height. Zoee's about 5 pounds behind Jaden at this age - my back is grateful for that!
Zoee started rolling from back to front the first week of Feb, right before turning 6 months. She has also developed very busy hands, and tries to grab at everything in sight. Much to our relief, Zoee has decided that she is going to return to her old ways and start sleeping through the night again. After 2 months of waking up every 2-3 hours, we are so grateful for that! :) She still doesn't like to settle down until midnight or 1 am, but then she'll sleep for 6-8 hours, so I'll take that! Happy 6 months, pretty girl!

Binky Free and Lovin' It

Jaden's done well with many things - he talks like crazy, he did well with potty training, he's a good eater...but he suffered from a horrible addiction - the PACIFIER. We got him down to a binky only at naptime and bedtime, but I didn't know how we were ever going to get it away from him. Well, he provided and opportunity himself, and I ran with it! Jaden was resting on the plane on the way to Idaho, so he had his beloved pacifier. Right before we got off, I took the pacifier and put it in my backpack so we wouldn't lose it. After deplaning, Jaden suddenly "remembered" that he had left his binky on the airplane. So I just played along with it. He played so hard each day during our Idaho trip, that he would whine a little at bedtime, and then just fall asleep most nights. There were a couple of times that it was more than whining, and I just about gave in, but due to encouragement from my mom and sister, I held strong to the lost binky story! And it worked! Today marks 4 weeks of being binky free. The binkies are in the garbage and never coming back! Congratulations big boy!

STICKERS

JADEN GOT SOME STICKERS

HE SHARED THEM WITH HIS SISTER

SHE WAS NOT SO THRILLED

WE HAVE BLOSSOMS!

LOTS OF APPLE BLOSSOMS

AND ONE LITTLE PEACH BLOSSOM!

Valentine's Date

Here are some pics from our Macaroni Grill/Cold Stone Valentine's Date. At the Macaroni Grill, they were going to seat us at one table, and then said they were going to put us at another instead, so we would be away from the table with the kids at it. That made us laugh a little - that's probably what they usually say about us! :) We ended up with a fun little spot right in front of the fire. Dinner and dessert were both delicious!
For Valentine's, Daniel gave me the movie Fireproof. There are a few cheesey moments, but it's a good show with a good message. I gave Daniel a new tie and some homegrown bottled raspberries (that I stole from my mom's house when I was there! :)

Excerpts From Idaho - Lots of Pics

No snowboots, Arizona boy? Never fear, Grandma Than is here with her Walmart bags and rubber bands over your shoes to keep your feet dry!

Hot Tamale

I don't wear lipstick, I never have. But I got some free from Walgreen's the other day. It's a nice color, called Hot Tamale. I decided that I needed to look like a hot tomale today to clean the toilets, wash dishes, and change diapers. So I put some on. I thought, hey this looks pretty good... Then Jaden walked into the bathroom, took one look at me, and said, "Mom, what you got in your mouth? You're all messy! That doesn't go there!" So I just smiled and sighed and got back to my toilet cleaning...

MY 3 SIBLINGS & I WITH OUR FIVE LITTLE GIRLS (ONE SET OF TWINS) ALL BORN WITHIN 14 MONTHS!

THE PRICE CLAN MINUS 2 HUSBANDS AND 2 GREAT-GRANDKIDS

PICS OF VIEWING, BURIAL, & FAMILY

We Have Returned!

The kids and I were able to fly to Idaho to go to my grandpa's funeral. The funeral was very good - very nice and peaceful, and very well attended. Since my grandpa was a World War II veteran, the American Legion performed military rites at the funeral and burial. I had never seen that before; it was really neat.
All 13 of his grandkids were able to gather from Alaska to Arizona to be together in Idaho. It was so nice to see everyone.

During the viewing Jaden told me, "That guy's sleepin' over there. He's really tired." So I tried to explain in a simple way that grandpa had died and was living with Heavenly Father now. Jaden nodded his head and said, "It's okay, cause Jesus loves him." Then he went on his way, back to playing with his cousins. I'm not sure how much he really understood, but he sure was cute.

Since we had to buy the plane tickets in a rush, they weren't very cheap. So we decided to make a mini-vacation out of the trip and stay to visit for a while in Idaho. We had a great time, especially Jaden. He loved running around outside helping his grandpa Dennis - he's a little farm boy at heart! He has told me several times since we got home - "I want out of this house!" We're hoping to be able to live somewhere with a little more space for him to roam some day! If mommy has her way, it may be back to Idaho! :)

We got home on Saturday, but the kids were too cranky and I was too tired to do much. So Daniel and I had our Valentine's date tonight. Valentine's Day is especially special to us, because it was the day of our very first date - in 2005. Tonight we had a delicious dinner at Macaroni Grill and dessert at Cold Stone. It has been a long time since I have been to either of those places; I thoroughly enjoyed it! And I thoroughly enjoyed having my handsome date all to myself for the evening. The kids got to spend some time with some friends of ours. We don't leave them very often, but once it a while it's really refreshing! :)

It's too late to download pics of our adventures tonight, but I will have some up soon!

Kidlet Fun

Jaden with some of his new favorites (it's always changing)- Elmo and Mr. Potato Head.

Zoee with her new horsey. She tried one of these out over at our friends' house. Our little cowgirl had so much fun, that daddy had to run right out and buy her one (she's got her dad wrapped around her little finger already!). Zoee loves her horsey (she even fell asleep in it yesterday! :), and mommy is loving some hands-free time!!