Christmas Cheer

We hope everyone's Christmas was merry and bright! We had a nice holiday and are already getting questions from the kids as to where Santa is now and when it will be Christmas again.

Who knew such refined princesses eat candy canes with their feet! Who teaches these people manners?!

We didn't send out Christmas cards this year but please know how much we appreciate and love our family and friends! I haven't been feeling great and have been opting out of a lot of things on the account of never ending queasiness! A couple of weeks ago, I was really not feeling well, hauling the kids around with my barf bag ready in my purse. We approached Costco, and I really didn't want to go in, so I asked Grant and Katelee if they wanted to go home or go to Costco. Of course, Grant wanted to go home and Katelee wanted to go in. I told them to work it out and let me know in a few minutes what was decided. I listened in as Katelee whined and pouted and Grant attempted bribery and persuasion for his side. Finally, Grant let out a sigh and said, "Alright Kate, will it make you happy if we go to Costco?" The little drama queen sniffled and said, "Yes." Grant announced we could go ahead and go in. I told him that it was so nice of him to do that, to which he replied, "Well, I am just doing my job!"
While it made me smile and it was a cute reply, I have thought that is going to be one of the things I would like to work on in 2010...making it my job to put others first and see to it they are happy! Happy New Year!

Things We Will Never Do...

Do you ever look back and laugh at all the things you said you would never do because you realize that you broke that vow long ago. Things like: I will never let my kid sleep in my bed, I will never have an artificial tree at Christmas (promise broken for the McArthurs Christmas 2007, and it has been a glorious fake tree time since), or I will never pay someone to put up Christmas lights. This last certainty is yet to be done away, but after our lighting of the house this year, we may consider it in 2010. Here's our neighbor's house:
We envisioned something like this for our home, but it ended up like this:
It's fine, I know, but mini-lights are not my thing for outdoors, I requested the large ones, but this is what we got. Now, that isn't the reason for the possibility of paying someone to do this for us next year. Dave, in all his handy glory offered to help our neighbor hang his lights on his tall house because they could do it faster if they worked together and our neighbor is slightly squeamish with heights. (different neighbor than the one who occupies the picture above). So, as Dave was on the ladder at our friends' house, the ladder slips and Dave is hanging on to their house by the rain gutter. After the ladder punched a hole in the stucco and dropped to the ground, Dave knew it was also his time to release to the concrete below. Our neighbor caught Dave and they landed with their faces inches from each other and eyes as wide as could be. Grant, witnessed the whole thing and came inside to tell me. He said, "Mom, Dad needs you. He fell off the ladder on Mr. Taylor.....it was AWESOME!" Everyone is fine and honestly, it is pretty funny. He wasn't too high off the ground, but we may be considering other options for next year!

The other day Grant handed me a french fry (anyone out there say their kids would never eat fast food:)?) . I told him thanks and he said " I want to give you this fry mom because that's what Christmas is all about-GIVING." Excellent reflection time for me at the local Wendy's. I was glad to be reminded of all I have been given and want to give. Thanks Grant!

Queenie and The Brain

I am not sure how many kids have imaginary friends. I never had one, and aside from my neice's imaginary Grandmother Ella, I had never encountered one. Grant doesn't have an imaginary friend, exactly...but at times I catch him whispering under his breath and looking like this:

When I ask him what he is doing he replies with a hand up shushing me, or a remark like "Hold on, I am talking to THE BRAIN." Occasionally he will even burst out in the middle of the day, "What a great idea BRAIN!" Or after I ask him a question, he will say, "Let me ask the Brain." very interesting.


Katelee likes to think she is Grant's second mother. She frequently gives him loving instructions throughout the day "Make sure you watch for cars, Grant" "That is NOT good manners, Grant." etc. Well, the other day, Grant had had enough. He said, "Are you my boss, Katelee?" Katelee calmly turned to her subject and responded..."NO, I am the Queen." Glad we all know our places in the world!

October

We have just been enjoying all the fall festivities lately! October seems to be full of fun things to do and spooky sights...such as: Mr. Miagi in my bathtub when I wake up in the morning.

WITCHES!Creepy face paintings (dragons and spiders and butterflies...yikes!) Speaking of crazy faces, Grant has some classic expressions in nearly all these photos.

Pumpkins, eyeball cookies, and crazy costumes. We started out with this one for Grantbut he refused to wear it after saying the helmet would suck all his hair out. He then became Captain Grant, the deadliest pirate of the seven seas:Where does he come from!? And of course, we also had the delightfully adorable Little Red Riding Hood.
We are now trying to recover from sugar overload but enjoyed our neighborhood dinner, trunk or treating at Grandma and Grandpas and scoring serious loot around our block.

It's A.....

GIRL! Our ultrasound tech said she is 99% certain our little fetus is female. HOORAY! Grant and Katelee had requested a baby sister, so I am thrilled I could fulfill their wishes. Everybody needs a sister right?! We are really excited and I am happy to be half way through. Maybe this will be a little red head girl, who knows? YEA!! When I told Grant it is a little girl after all, he said, "Oh YES!." It was really cute. Katelee responded with, "Oh, that'll be fun." Silly girl.



Other news on the homefront: Grant has successfully completed his first year of T-ball. Is Grant a natural? Well...maybe not so much. Considering his first game he stood in the field as the balls came to him and would yell to me everytime, "I'll try for the next one, mom." or "Maybe I will run for the next ball." But, he had a great time and enjoyed being on TEAM SHARKS!



Grant enjoyed using the bat like a hammer and slicing down the T toward the ball. But, hey, he had fun (most of the time...see above photo!) . There's always next year...or a different sport :).

Back in the Swing of Things...

Dave and I had a great time in New York a couple of weeks ago. Wicked was amazing! Loved every minute of it. Here we are on the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls. It was so fun and wet, I will hold the after photo of me looking like a drowned rat for another day...
Here we are in Palmyra with the Palmyra temple in the background, right on the property of the Joseph Smith family farm. We really enjoyed our time there as well. We went to the Sacred Grove and a lot of our church history sites. It was a hot and peaceful day!
Grandpa and Grandma McArthur kindly took care of the children for us while we were away. They were also able to see Grant at his last swimming lessons of the summer. He made great strides this year-going from not wanting to put his face in the water to jumping off the diving board! Grant is now on year two of preschool and started up T-ball, that will be a whole other post another day. He manages to get in a lot of trouble mostly everyday. A few days ago, the kid had been in time out and priveleges lost and all sorts of altercations occurred. Towards dinner time, he said to me, "Mom, you hurt my feelings so much today...I don't think I have any left!"

So now that I am over 16 weeks along, I am having a few days here and there without tossing my cookies! I am hoping we are turning the corner. My poor kids play house something like this: Grant: Katelee, you be the mommy, you have to do this BLEHHHH" (insert dry heaving and vomit noises here). Or, when Katelee was sick, after throwing up she says, "Mommy, I think I have a baby stuck in my tummy!" But, with a few good mornings instead of feeling sick all day, I have even started cleaning my house again:
Does bleach bubble? Who knew...maybe it was left over bubble bath in the jets. We find out what we are having in a few weeks. So far we have these suggestions for names from Grant: Dingis, Dingay, Josie or Numberspell. I guess they sound like unisex names, so maybe they would work no matter what we discover it is!

Sights of Summer

I know the masses out there have been waiting for all the pics of our summer fun. I hate to disappoint....so, here are a few glimpses of our recent activities:

Fireworks on the Fourth of July...Katelee claimed to love them, but kept asking when they would be over. She enjoyed the light display much more at her cousin's house on a different night when they were far away.

Baseball games... Here are Dave and Grant at a Bee's game. Dave and I also went to Atlanta to celebrate his big 30th!!! We went to a Braves vs Red Sox game, where there were more sox fans dominating the stands. I forgot my camera, so just imagine us in our baseball fan apparel and sweating our guts out because Atlanta was on fire and humid!
Sleepovers with your best buddy (who sometimes doubles as your worst nightmare if you are Katelee. Poor girl is tortured daily)
Camping and Fishing with my familiy:
Grant caught 6 fish! Everyone who tried their hand with a pole reeled something in, with the exception of me. Ah well, Dave and I are not naturals with the fishing routine. As you can guess from this picture, when my sister Paige tried to retrieve the line Dave cast into the dead tree.
Not so sure the life vest fit Katelee very well, but she really enjoyed long-boarding! Her cousin Haley would take the little cousins on rides around the campground loop and I am pretty sure it was the highlight of the trip for them.

Wild Animals

Last week at the zoo, some of the animals were wandering about. I found a mighty cute tiger and a ferocious alligator. I thought some of you might want to take a peek:
I have learned that even wild animals can display some sort of manners. The other day, Katelee finished her food, wanted some of Grant's and he graciously submitted to her screams. After he shared I told him how nice that was and he replied with, "Ah, well I just love her SO much...and it's happy sister's day!" Here's Katelee all tuckered out after a full day.

We were happy to have Grandma and Grandpa with us this week. In one of our conversations, Grant asked Grandpa how old he is and after Grandpa told him. Grant's jaw hit the floor, his eyebrows lifted and he exclaimed, " I can't believe my eyes!" It must be because of how wonderful granpa looks, Grant wasn't guessing a day over 6!

Oliver and His Company...

So, the other day Grant told me he wished his name was Oliver. Do you know an Oliver? Grant doesn't.Here are some pics of little Oli feeding the ducks on Memorial Day and at his preschool graduation. He did a great job singing and performing in the little play, but my favorite part was the continuous winking towards me with the finger click and accompanying sound! We are so proud of his completion of such rigorous studies. Here he is with his friend Andrew whom we carpooled with, gotta love the 4 year old conversations in the back seat. He is still the garbage loving boy he was a year ago...but he can write his name now. The other night I asked him to clean up all the bits of toliet paper he had scattered around the house cuz it was time for bed ( this is the tp he puts in blocks and then his garabage truck picks them up). Oliver (aka Grant) refused, saying he needed the trash. I told him, "hey dont' worry about it, I will get you more toliet paper tomorrow." I bet no one else can say they have ever said that...Anyway, I repeated the request to throw the shredded tp away and he said, "Mo-om, garbage is of God." Welcome to our days of holy waste dispensing!

Flying the Friendly Skies

A few weeks ago, Grant missed out on a church primary activity because of a stomach bug. My sister helped me prepare for the activity, as it was a mock flight around the world on an airplane. She provided genuine flight attendant apparel, etc so our activity was a success. But, she also knew Grant would have loved it. So, because she is just so nice, she planned a little flight for Grant at our house. Here we are learning about oxygen safety measures:
Here we are en route to Africa, Disneyland and Salt Lake City (as designated by Captain Grant). We were also lucky to have family members on our same flight! The kids had a great time exploring the regions of our world...via the insulated basement.What a nice aunt to arrange it and thanks to Paige for joining our journey as well. Some people have been asking for photos of our house, hope you enjoy the cement floors!

We are also so proud of Dave, who with a three day notice and a one day training, signed up and completed his first half marathon! Way to go! Just imagine how great that pic would be if the man in front of the camera didn't stand up...just know this is Dave in action!

Breaking Bones and Breaking the Law

Our poor little pretty fell down the stairs last week. It was right before bedtime, so I put her to bed afterwards and the morning after we could tell she needed to be seen. We zipped on up to the hospital and found that her little clavicle snapped in two during the trip down the stairs. She has been a great trooper, although the sling lasted only for about 46 seconds. Katelee is not a lover of the tylenol/motrin regime she has been prescribed and has detected it in her apple juice and chocolate milk and then refuses to drink. She told me she will take it on her own and the little sneak gets the cup up to her chin and then slowly tips it down her shirt or will take a small sip only to spit it out the side. Good thing the projected recovery time is only three weeks!
Later that week, Grant decided that a pack of gum calling his name at Kinkos did not need to be paid for and he swiped it right into his pocket. He later confessed to Dave...the gum was returned...no charges have been filed at this time! Grant has been teaching us after the infamous gum theft, about "sins," and other things that are "un-assesstable" (I believe unacceptable is the proper word he was going for here.) We receive these lessons as he teaches us when we play "church" or "primary." Last time he conducted a meeting, he taught me a soul saving lesson, all about AMERICAN EXPRESS! Like father, like son I suppose!

New Adventures

Well, we have made it to our new place and are mostly put together! Our move was not the smoothest transition, but really, who's is? On top of not getting the keys when expected, Dave and I both came down with influenza. I now understand why people get the flu shot every year...that is some nasty stuff. We are excited for the new home and while we look forward to getting accustomed to the new area, we will miss our awesome neighbors/friends from townhome. Good thing we are only five minutes away! Our yard should get started next week so we are ready for visitors really soon!

We have lots of work to do and lots of items on our "wish list!" I tried to take a picture of it happening, to prove to those of you who know us well, but Dave has even been seen with a hammer and a drill working away. Yes, my brother was there talking him through it, but hey, he is learning!

Here are a couple Easter shots:
Coloring Easter eggs...a carrot shaped baseball bat...new Easter clothes...egg hunts...what more could a kid ask for?!


Side note on the new adventures theme: I promise when Katelee starts really potty training, I won't go into the details or take photos of her accomplishments, but I have to say I am a bit concerned how it is going to go! She likes to sit on the throne, the little princess that she is, then yells at me: "Need privacy Mommy! PRIVACY" Hmmm....not exactly how I pictured the training to go. Aren't the privacy demands supposed to begin in the teenage years?!