Chase. Plain & simple.

I had to post a few "Chase" moments from the past 2 days...

At church yesterday, when the bread tray got to our row, Karam took a piece and then held the tray for Chase who took a piece. Chase then got down from the bench and walked the length of the row "passing" the sacrament to each person, then handed the tray to the Deacon waiting at the end of the pew. When the water arrived, he did the same thing. He's only 3, but practicing already for the day he turns 12 and can exercise the Priesthood! :D

--------------------------------------

On our way home from church, Chase begged to go to "Old McDonald had a farm". I reminded him that it was Sunday and we don't go out to eat on Sundays. He pleaded, and pleaded... and threatened not to be my friend anymore. I held firm. After none of his previous efforts worked, he informed me, "Dear Heavenly Father was standing by my door and he said it's ok if we go to 'Old McDonald had a farm'." Oh reeeaaaaaallllllly?

-----------------------------------

Then this morning we were eating breakfast at my parent's house and Chase said, "Grandma, can I borrow your backscratcher?" She asked, "Why? Does your back itch?" Chase said, "No. My butt."

This boy keeps me on my toes! I never know what's going to come out of his busy-thinking little brain!

Observation deck

So, my boys are very observant. Good thing? Maybe. Sometimes. They notice what makes people happy and sad and then use it to their own benefit. For example, they aren't super accepting of "new" people (just ask their primary teachers, the Davenports). They know that I want them to be more friendly to people. So, when they feel unthreatened (the Davenports don't threaten them, it's just threatening to them to be away from their mother! lol) they will do their best to be the friendly little boys they think their mom wants. Today at the store, there was an old oriental man sitting on a bench apparently waiting for someone. Aiden & Chase noticed him all alone and felt the need to be friendly. So, they both ran to him and threw their arms around him hugging him tight... multiple times. He just graciously accepted their affections and smiled. I was just amused... until...

We were standing outside the store when a lady came walking up the steps. She had long, stringy, thin, reddish-pinkish-brownish hair. She was wearing lots of colorful mis-matched clothes. Quite frankly she wasn't very attractive. Unfortunately MY silent observation was given voice by my little Chaseroo... OUT LOUD... RIGHT WHEN SHE GOT CLOSE TO US when he remarked "Mom, she's ugly." Then when he wasn't sure if I heard him (since I didn't agree or comment), he repeated himself. She didn't respond or react. Once she was out of earshot, I talked to Chase about not saying things "out loud" about people that aren't nice, yada, yada, yada. When I told my compassionate sister Staci about the incident, she commented "Hopefully she was ugly AND deaf"! :D Thanks Stace! Hopefully.

Generation gap?

Maybe not...

I went to my friend, Anna's bridal shower last night. Her cute grandma (who is pictured above... and I stole the picture from Lori's blog. Thank you, Lori.) was soooooo funny when Anna was opening her gifts! She got a little embarrassed by the lingerie, which of course Anna got plenty of... it was a bridal shower, after all! ;) First of all, after opening a few of the nighties and such, Anna's Grandma said, "I'm trying not to picture her in all of these things!" I thought it was so cute and hilarious. Then she said, "I guess Henki (Anna's fiance) is going to be a lucky man." lol! Then she gave Anna her gift, which was wrapped in a sweater (you can see it resting on her lap in the pic) and informed her that the sweater was to cover up when wearing some of the other gifts! The final moment of hilarity was when Anna opened the gifts from her grandma which included a set of frying pans. She informed her that they had multiple uses! :D She's just so cute anyway, but last night she really kept me laughing! :D

It's a bird. It's a plane. It's... Grandma?

Today we went to the park. The plan was for Grandma & I to walk around the path surrounding the park while Aiden & Chase played. Instead they insisted on following us. Since it was cold and their walking/ running around was making their coughs worse, I eventually just stayed at the playground while Grandma finished walking. There was an Air Force cargo plane circling in the air the whole time we were there. The boys and I were all on swings just enjoying our time. I asked, "Where's Grandma? Anybody see her?" I looked around and when I saw her I pointed in her direction saying, "There she is!" The plane just happened to be circling just above where she was walking. Aiden quickly informed me, "Hey! That's not Grandma! Hers not an airplane!" Silly me. I often make that mistake.. is that Grandma flying around in the sky? Nope. Just an airplane! ;D

How could I forget?

This was supposed to go in the "introducing Mychele" blog, but since I forgot, it gets it's own post...

On the first or second day Michele was here, I had gone into her room and we were laying on the bed talking. Chase came in to check on us. He leaned over and picked something up off the floor, held it up in the air and asked, "Mom, is these her's boobies? She leaved them on the floor?" We both look over to see Chase standing there with Michele's bra in his hand... It might be one of those "location-experiences"... you had to be there for it to be funny, but to me, it's still funny everytime I think about it. He was just so matter-of-fact and serious about it. So it gets to be entered into our blog for posterity. If nothing else, I'm sure it will embarrass Chase someday. ;) (Or maybe since I posted a picture of Michele's bra, it might at least make her blush. ha, ha)

Bee-shy-E-she-O...

bee-shy-E-she-O... and Bingo was his name-O. At least that's how Chase spells it! ;)

Burgers & Buns

After our outing to the park, we were all hungry. Mychele was craving a burger. Fast-food or CS experience?! We opted for the experience and took her to Conway's Red Top. If you like BIG BURGERS... (which, just for information purposes, I don't. I don't like any kind of burgers.) then it's a place you've "gotta" try!

Ok, so her first impression proved she was a bit intimidated...

Never one to back away from a challenge, she overcame her fears and "bit the bullet"...

Her first few initial attacks on the "beast"...

Believe it or not, she actually finished it!! Go Mychele! How could I forget to take a "the end" picture of her empty plate?!?

Check out the "kid's burger"... not so kid-sized, after all!!

Then there's Aiden (who takes after his mom with the whole picky-about-meat thing) with his puny, little, normal-sized grilled cheese! :D

After our MEAL, Aiden was messing around with the juke box. He kept doing this little "booty" dance that had us and the servers laughing hysterically. Once the camera came out, he took a little persuasion, but persuade I did. :D

Yes, we're die-hard...

We couldn't miss out on seeing the Grinch post-Christmas. Rumor had it his heart had actually grown. We had to see it. We found him very agreeable. The boys were a little cautious, still... these same boys who actually PRAYED that they wouldn't be scared of the Grinch and have enough courage to give him a high-five... They warmed up to him quite nicely.

Call us crazy, freezing... whatever you want (just not to our faces, remember how sensitive I am!) ;) We had a good time.

The hot chocolate at the end was so worth the freezing cold and snow! Rich, creamy, and hot, hot, hot! You can tell by my dad's eyes as he fearlessly cools off his first spoon-ful... Tasty, tasty!

Girl's night...

During the holidays the girls in my family decided we needed a "girl's night out". After hanging at Chuck E. Cheese first for Madi-Moose's 5th birthday, most of the girls wimped out. The only ones left standing were Michelle (my sister-in-law, married to Chris), Mychele (my cousin), my Mom (my mother) and Me (Cindi). ;) AND our night OUT turned into a night IN. We just hung out at my mom's house chatting, snacking (poppy-cock), and playing silly games. It was a fun time. Those of you (you know who you are) that wimped out... missed out!

Michelle being strategic... ;)

Mychele feigning innocence... ;)

Mom... profile pic (why wouldn't she just look at me?!)

Me... self-portrait... shot... whatever...

Introducing...

"mYchele"

My cousin, Michele decided to escape the chaos that is Utah by moving to the calm peace that is Colorado! ;) I've always called her Mychele... Now my boys call her "your" Mychele. She's living in our basement. Whenever we want her to come upstairs the boys go to the vent in their bedroom or bathroom and yell down to her. We've dubbed it our "chele-phone". hee, hee, hee

She's a trooper and has been game to join us on our outings and adventures so far.

When you go to the America The Beautiful park, watch that first step... it's a doozy. ;)

We're going where? In 16 degree weather? In the freezing, blizzarding snow?... Ok. :D

Ok, now let me do a "model" shot.

Weird... the zoo is so much more enjoyable in the daytime without the snow.

Chuck E. Cheese... watch me zoom my way to the top score...

So, not only is she fun and willing to "play" with us... she's starting beauty school next week, so I'll have my own personal cosmetologist in training... right here... whenever I need her. I'll be her 4th and only "live" head model to practice on! Woo-hoo! :D

Welcome, MYchele! We love you!

Good ol' fashioned butt-kicking...

Karam decided to teach Chase how to play Dominoes this morning. Karam claims to be quite the pro, having grown up playing it in Baghdad. He must also be a great teacher *wink, wink* since Chase won the first game! :) He proudly exclaimed, "Mom, I kicked Dad out of his tail!" ha, ha, ha!

Holidays

I failed to take very many pictures of Christmas or New Years... Oopsie.


Here's a quick "highlights" list:


Marc & Leilani and Charly & Kavika showed up as a big surprise! Woo-hoo. It's always so fun to have them around. The highlight (for me, anyway) was their singing. I could listen to either or both of them continuously!! They were so sweet and made Karam & I a breakfast buffet (Marc's crepes are to-die-for!) for dinner on our anniversary (6 years?!? Really?!?).


Santa came through and got Aiden the Mickey Mouse racetrak with extra cars that he wanted. Chase got the Handy Manny that he had talked about for months, but then changed his mind about wanting several times just before Christmas. Luckily by Christmas morning he wanted it again! :D


We went to the zoo to see their Winter Wild Land twice. The first time, Aiden and Chase were scared of the Grinch... he's a mean one, you know. (I hear that since Christmas his heart has grown 2 sizes or so and he's not such a mean one anymore... we may check it out tomorrow night just to see for ourselves!) They really wanted to be brave, so the second time we went, they were gearing up for it. At dinner prior to going, Chase prayed that he wouldn't be scared of the Grinch and that he'd give him a high-five! His prayer helped them both overcome their fears! :D




New Year's Eve we decided to cheat since most of the children who were at my parent's house can't tell time anyway (they're not dumb... just young!). So when the kids were too exhausted to stay awake any longer, we just got out the noisemakers and had a countdown. :D Trickery? Maybe, but it was just as fun for them! It had nothing to do with me having a difficult time to stay awake either! :D I only wish we'd thought of it before Josh (too sexy! ha, ha) & Kelly (watch out for her boyfriend!) and Chris & Michelle and their children left! We did have a fun time with Karaoke before they took off, at least!


Now it's the New Year... resolutions?!? Maybe next week! ;) Welcome... 2009!