Little Artist

When I worked as a para educator for one of the elementary schools here we did a teacher inservice on handwriting and I learned that drawing/ writing vertically instead of on a table helps develop correct handwriting techniques so I let Rockwell draw on the fridge with a dry erase marker. Really, though, now that it's cold I just like that it keeps him entertained for a while. Sometimes he makes me draw and it's fun to do it with him.

If you look closely you can see he really did hold the marker really well

It comes off pretty easily with a magic eraser  

And Finally, The couch

 Tah Dah! The much anticipated arrival of the post about the finished couch. Nobody believed we could do it, but we BUILT a COUCH. I just barely finished it this week.  It took so long because the instructions only called for one measly cushion so we only bought stuff for one cushion but since our bums turned numb pretty quick  we decided to add 2 more. But then we had to re-gather materials and get motivated and re-measure etc etc. Since it's one of our [few] traditions to put up Christmas decor on Thanksgiving so I buckled down and got it done so nothing would distract from our beautiful festiveness. So.... here it is...

It's super comfy and the top cushions can be taken off for the perfect napping spot for that hypothetical nap that's always in the back of my mind

 

What's this? Oh, that's only my favorite feature of the couch and the best reason to DIY a couch.  All our blankets and extra pillows fit inside. Thank you ana-white.com!

 

And in case you forgot what my lovely face looks like when it's in the middle of a 2 day project while juggling two kids, here you go- a bonus picture

Baby Blues

I think... I'm finally... getting used to .... having 2 of them. Shhh.... I'm afraid if I say it out loud I'll jinx it. But I mean the juggling and the scheduling and the balancing 2 is finally under control most days. I know it took 8 months (I think it took me a year to get used to having just one, so this is a considerably shorter time period) to grow accustomed. Maybe it's because we're finally getting some sleep,  or because Otto can sit up and amuse himself for an impressive amount of time,  or that Rocky is used to sharing his parents now. It could just be that I've finally got some energy most days to do slightly more than the bare minimum. Probably it's all of those. It's great. It's really great...

...AND I just love that face!

                        And those eyes!

Kids and Pets

I like having a cat around. The kids like it, too. I like that the kids like it. Here's some of my favorites pics of them

Playing Hide and seek with Rockwell

He's kind enough to share the bed with Otto

Mwa-ha-ha I love this. Someday he'll get stepped on while sitting on the bear rug we inherited from Grandpa Blake.

 

I sure am glad Halloween is over. Happy November everyone

Halloween 2012

This years' party was a small affair-not as small as last year- but it was fun. It was at my Parent's house this year. Thanks everyone for coming

Caree, Ryan, and baby Tidus

The set up. Mom and Dad's new kitchen is a great gathering place

I dressed as Cinderella- I stole the idea and dress from Sarah- and baby clown Otto

Charlie and Rocky. Charlie is Rocky's hero

Clown, Cinderella, Aquaman, and Hobgoblin

Here's his whole costume. I love how it turned out. He was the perfect clown. I used the pajama pattern from the Child Sewing class modified a bit, and made the hat up

 This kid would NOT hold still for a picture. You'll just have to get a general idea of what it was throughout the blog post. Here's the inspiration:

He even has muscles an scales but you can't see the details. Oh well. He didn't even know what he was he just knew he felt really cool

We got to go Trick-Or-Treating at Troy's new work (at the bank)

 See? He wouldn't hold still. Oh well. Here we are Trick-or-Treating at Troy's cubicle

I'm sad I didn't get pictures from real trick or treating but I forgot the camera. We went to Uncle Jordan's townhouses in Rexburg. It was the first time we took Rockwell and he did pretty well, but I think I was a little more gung-ho than he was and it took a bit to get the hang of it. I don't think he "got" it and i don't blame him (what? all that's all I have to do and they give me candy?)  He's already forgotten about his candy because I hid it and that's good cuz it's already half gone

Happy Halloween!

Monthly Update

Wow! Does anyone still read this blog? Oh well. I have quite literally logged onto Troys computer and posted random pictures no one has seen yet. Most of them are of Rockwell. He is such a funny two-year-old. We've been busy job hunting. Finally Troy got an awesome new job at Beehive FCU doing graphic design and marketing but since its only part time will continue working at Ace Hardware for the time-being. So I guess it means we'll be in the area for a while longer. Maybe forever if he does his Masters online. We'll see. Everyone should come visit us and tell us of far off places cuz we aren't going anywhere any time soon

Aunt Anna got a pony (am I jealous? Why yes, I am, thank you for asking) AND she was super nice enough to take Rockwell for a ride

I wasn't sure how he would do because he usually only likes horses from afar but he LOVED it in his own stoic little way. Maybe because it was small he wasn't so frightened

 I love his goofy face in this picture. Little rebel- I had asked him to smile. He takes after his dad.

Don't know why but we were chatting at Grandma and Grandpa's and he comes out of the toy room dressed like this. Cowboy musketeer or something. 

 He wanted to be like Daddy.

Aaaaand for a little change of pace, a picture of Troy's motorcycle. I don't know if I've ever shown up close the Thunder Cats symbol on it. Preeeeety sweet.

CLEAR way back in July Troy went to nerdfest oops I mean geek convention AH! I mean Comic Con. Troy should probably do this post since  I only know a little of what actually went on. Oh well. Here are some pictures a few months too late...

There's so many of them! They're taking over the world!

Troy's favorite in polystone

Actually they did a lot of portfolio reviews/interviews which is really why (yeah, right) he went . This poor kid looks pretty nervous in his interview.

The trolls from The Hobbit. WETA Workshop made these (the same that did the other LOTR creatures)

Something really cool...

Action Figure Jedi Troy

 Don't know what this is BUT Troy had a great time. He started planning his trip next year before he even came home.

6 month old Otto

I am SO happy to be at the 6 month mark. Babies just seem to be so much happier after this point. Well, Otto is a pretty happy baby, but I'm still excited that we made it through the first 6 months. I don't have any stats yet but I wanted to post some "then and now" pictures cuz it's fun to see how fast they change. It's crazy! We love our sweet boy and it just seems like he's been part of our family for ever

Random Pictures from the Last Month

Woah! I can't believe how fast the month goes! I hate bloggers like me. We haven't been up to a whole lot. Just live. Just livin' it and waiting in Limbo Land while Troy works on his portfolio and we figure out where we need to be and what we need to be doing. In the meantime:

Rock helped me dry apples. Oh the help of a two year old- one step forward 5 steps backward

And he made us laugh, many times.

We made Rocky a bed. It's almost perfect. It cost about $25 to make it out of solid wood (pine) and we needed to get him off the floor since we are in the basement and it's hobo (spider) season

We went to Rigby lake with Fred & Nita and Charles & Nancy. These babes are all just weeks apart. So cute! Otto, you heartbreaker, you!

Alterier motives for the trip: The men wanted to scuba dive in the lake

Rocky thought Charly was the coolest.

Harvy has become part of the family and the official scapegoat. Who ate my candy bar? Harvy. Who farted? It was Harvy. Who took over my spot on the bed? Harvy again.

Funny cat. We like him. But we like cats. We are the cat people that sitcoms poke fun at. He is the only cat I've had who's willing to come back after I throw him off the my lap while I run to the bathroom. I step on his tail like all the time and he just acts mildly annoyed. Crazy. 

More help from Rockwell. We are not ready for potty training but we're trying to help him not be afraid of it. Anyways I guess mostly he just wanted to do what I was doing- cleaning the toilet.

Rocky can identify different engines as they drive past our apartment complex (and there are man) he loves to exclaim "bike" "truck" "car" "train" (we are uncomfortably close to the train tracks) and he loves to ride daddy's bike around the parking lot. But mostly I guess he just loves hat, which really explains the next two pictures.

  

This is how Troy looks at me when I make him salads for lunch. Just kidding. This is how Troy looks at me when I interrupt his salad eating by taking a picture of him and threatening to put it on the blog for the world to see