Cranky Pants and Skirts

Justin is loving the cool weather. The days are warm and the nights are cool, sure saves money on our utility bills when we don't have to run the cooler at night. Amelia and Phillip had a hard week. Amelia had the flu so was really tired and cranky. Her nights were not so pleasant with crying and such. Monday morning, around 3 am, she came and slept with us. I got up to get her some water and she proceeded to throw up all over my side of the bed. We both squeezed into her twin bed and tried to sleep. She cries so loud at night that Phillip wakes up if I don't respond post haste. Master Phillip must be working on more teeth besides the two top teeth he pushed out last weekend. Plus on Tuesday he received the latest round of immunizations. We all had the crankies camped out in our livingroom for the week. I think we kicked half the crankies out today. Amelia *finally* slept the entire night yesterday! Blessed angels, hallelujah. I planned on going to Cheyenne with Deb on Monday but Mia was not doing so well. I was bummed.

I am phasing out Phillip's morning nap now. Sniff, cry, pout. He is not so sure about taking one long nap. He skipped all naps a couple times last week. He will get the new schedule soon. I am excited to have mornings again to run errands, go to the park, play dates, etc. Yesterday and today he napped from 1 until 5! Good boy! With his new top teeth poking through Phillip is constantly swishing his tongue back and forth. One of the collages shows his tongue in two places, I missed the mid-wag photo. Justin and Phillip have this funny ritual of pointing at each other whenever Justin first sees Phillip. It is their "thing." Totally reminds me of my brother John. Uncle Shawn says: "A" holding a thumbs up, John: "B" holding up two fingers. Phillip is learning how to stack things, like wipee boxes, toys, books, to give him a leg up onto the coffee table and other furniture. Not looking forward to having another climber.

Thursday the RS had a fun activity shooting guns. We got to shoot a 9 mm, a 22 rifle, a 20 gauge shotgun, a 12 gauge shotgun, a pistol, and other fun weapons. Matt set up his clay thrower so we could try out shooting skeet. I actually shot 7 out of 9 with the smaller 20 gauge gun. I may need my own gun. Do they come in green with a paisley print?

Amelia learned about the letter "A" this week at Alison's home. Monday they learned about apples and Wednesday the kids learned about ants. Alison made cute apple rice crispy treat apples and ants on a pretzel stick for snacks. Amelia is really proud of her art work. She loves school! She made a cute ant out of an egg carton with Alison. Check out Alison's blog for some photos.

Alison watched Amelia and Phillip this week so Justin and I could have a real date. We went to Dude's for steak and then saw Nanny McPhee 2. Heaven! On the way out of Alison's Justin performed a circus trick, tripping down her concrete stairs and crashing half on the sidewalk and grass. He had Amelia in his arms at the time. He crushed the wipee box with his arm pit, scraped his elbow up, strained unknown muscles, and gave Amelia a hand print bruise on her leg. Alison said it was like watching someone fall in slow motion. Everyone is ok!

We attended a televised Stake Conference from SLC yesterday evening and this morning. It was extremely hard to hear over the kids. I am sad that so many of their words were missed. This too shall pass. I made a pear crisp with a shipment of pears Laurie Mason brought back from Tremonton. I made one last year and craved fresh pear crisp all year. Holy Hannah, it was delish. We ate a 1/4 bushel of fresh peaches and will eat a 1/4 bushel of pears this week. Those peaches were so juicy and sweet. Makes me want to throw all of Walmart's produce under a big semi. Our tomatoes are still cranking out red juicy fruit. I eat a tomato or two for every meal. Was I born Italian?

This week I made a couple new outfits for the kiddos. I finished another skirt/shirt set for Amelia but need some crystals to finish the shirt. The ruffle skirt was annoying to make except the result makes me want to sew another seven more. Phillip totally rocks his tie and suspender onesie and cuffed jeans. I tried to knit a hat this week but never made it past the first row. A friend reminded me the basics of knit and purl stitches. It is nigh impossible to find a spare moment to practice in peace. Soon!

Lately, my confidence in my photography skills waned. I really want to get better. I really want to be professional. Some recent experiences took the fun out of my hobby. It is a hobby, guys, if I really had a professional business you'd being paying me A LOT more money than I charge. Some of the fun came back this evening taking photos of my kids. Amelia posing like a natural and Phillip trying to ignore my third big black eye that Mom yells at him from behind. Those sillies make me smile.