Things they just don't quite get yet

1. Bedtime = Bedtime NOT playtime/dress-up time/giggle fest time/reading every book on the shelf time/water time/bathroom break time/jumping on beds time/who knows what else time (ought to give you an idea of how things are going in the shared room - as soon as our camera is fixed, you'll have some great pics of them at 8:30, 9, 9:30, even 10 o'clock).
2. Hide-and-Go-Seek. Cooper played it with the girls the other day. Meri hid with him, giggling the whole time, and when Jell came seeking Meri would shout at her something like "ta dah." When Jelly hid and Cooper entered the room seeking, Jenelle would jump up and announce, "here I am!"
3. Waking up a snoring and pretending-to-be-sleeping daddy. Meri thinks it's hilarious but hits herself instead of him and wonders why he doesn't wake up.
4. "Eat one more noodle and you can get down." There was a two hour stand-off of wills the other day when Cooper decided Meri was old enough to have to eat more. My baby cried and screamed for her mama most the time. I left the room so as not to interfere. Regardless, in the end, my baby won.
5. Commercials. Every time they come on Jell says in the most dramatic tone, "OH NO! Where did the show go???!" This happens even if I am watching the news, which is not exactly her favorite show.
6. Carbonated drinks. Jell can't stand them. I'm okay with this.
7. Jumping. Meri is in that adorable stage still where she thinks she's jumping but neither foot is leaving the ground at all. I love it! Although she will fearlessly jump off of anything pretty successfully. It's the landing she needs to work on there. Jenelle, on the other hand, desperately wants to "get" jump roping. She tries to with belts, bandanas, headbands, anything she can find. Occasionally she succeeds in jumping over it once, which requires ample praise and congrats.
8. The world doesn't revolve around them. Good luck to us and everyone related on this one.
9. Building things. Jenelle loves to. Meri more resembles a wrecking ball than the man with the hard hat.
10. Trail mix. Isn't it just about picking out the colorful M & M's and leaving the nuts for mommy?
11. Helping. For example, it isn't necessary to stand inside the dishwasher to help take out the dishes. And taking out the dishes mom is putting in, isn't helpful. Or jumping in a pile of newly folded clothes isn't helpful. Or eating the blueberries in mom's bowl as fast as she can pick them isn't helpful. Sitting on mom's lap and pushing buttons on the sewing machine as mom is sewing, isn't helpful. Digging in mom's garden isn't helpful. Taking mom's clothes off the hangers so as to have hangers to play with, isn't helpful. Walking through the dust pile or even trying to sweep it into a dustpan (while really scattering it across the floor) isn't helpful. Pushing buttons on the keyboard while mommy is blogging isn't helpful. And as you all know, the list goes on and on. But probably the worst is the really, really cute smile they give when caught doing something they shouldn't - REALLY isn't helpful.

Ready or Not Here I Come...

Meri eats chapstick. It's a really bad habit that I would love to break her of, but quite honestly, I'm not making any progress. I have to hide it all on high shelves. Sometimes I slip up and it's like she has this special radar - she knows instantly. Anyway, yesterday Cooper caught her in the very act. He called her name and asked her to give it to him. She, of course, turned and ran. By the time he finished what he was doing, she was nowhere to be found. Eventually, this is where he found her, quietly enjoying my chapstick:Clever Girl.

Lovin the beach

So Monday night, as we were trying to finagle our way through the checkout lines at Costco, Grandma Smith called and invited us to go to the beach with them the next day. Wahoo! The girls LOVE the beach, and I LOVE going without driving and paying the gas money! And we all LOVE Grandma and Grandpa, so it was really just a win-win-win.The day started a little chilly, but it warmed up (the sun even came out and there was blue sky!), and I do believe we packed everything into the day that was physically/mentally/emotionally possible (Jell's "emotions" were a little bit all over the charts by the end of the day as was).
We went to Lincoln City and the girls LOVED searching for sea "aminals" on the rocks. Apparently we have entered the "I'm going to take every pretty (stinky) shell or rock home with me" stage, but as we don't have room for a beach at home, I dumped them all out. Shh. Here the girls are trying to figure out why they can't pull these shells off the rocks.


And, true to her nature, Meri went to town poking the little sea anemones. She just laughed and laughed as they squished and closed up. Hopefully they all recover. She hasn't quite grasped the meaning of the word "gentle." Jell, as expected, was quite a bit more difficult to convince, but she finally worked up the nerve after learning that Nemo lives in an anemone.
I love this picture! That's Grandpa, cousin Taylor and her friend in the distance. It looks to me like Meri's wistfully watching, wishing she knew how to say "hey come back. Wait for me - I'm a big kid too!"
After everybody had worked up an appetite, we headed to Mo's where the others enjoyed what they claim is the best clam chowder everywhere (YUCK!). And then we got a great surprise - Grandma and Grandpa brought us to the Newport Aquarium! We haven't been before, but have wanted to, so this was pretty exciting.

The world's largest crabs - Japanese spider crabs.







And Meri really needs to work on her "chomping" monster face.








It really was pretty cool to touch everything, and of course, to walk through the shark tunnel. Jell's favorite were the jellys. I, on the other hand, have to agree with the little Geico guy. Jellys are really weird. I mean, where even is their face?

And Meri's favorite was probably the sucker Grandma and Grandpa bought her. In this picture, she was pointing out to us that drool was dripping off her chin. Lovely.
Then we topped it off by going back to the beach to play some more. Meri kept diving/belly flopping onto the sand, digging her arms in, kicking her legs, and laughing her silly little head off. Jenelle thoroughly wore herself out chasing down frisbees. Which, by the way, when she throws them, about half the time they shoot out directly behind her, and your guess is as good as mine as to where the other half are going. She always says, "Oops! Sorry, that went the wrong way. You go get it!" So we owe a great BIG thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Smith! We love you!
On a different note, and actually ending on the same note as last time, any advice about what to do with a bath pooper? Jenelle and I are very upset. It just happened again.

New Old Pics

Isn't it fun to stumble upon old pictures? I was looking on my mother-in-law's computer last night, trying to find some pictures to paint from, and found all sorts of pics of our little family - most of which I'd never seen before. Anyway, thought I'd post them for fun.

Is there any doubt that she's having fun? Jenelle thinks this picture is hilarious. When I asked why, she just said, "because it's me laughing." I thought it might have been the fact that she had no hair but still looks like her.
If you can, take a look at that smirk on her face. She has always been crazy expressive. My mom used to complain that I never had nice, smiling pictures of my baby.
A great (and rare) cute picture of the girls together, getting along in tight quarters, at the gallery.
This was taken when Jenelle was 6 weeks old, when we were enjoying and suffering from new parents' syndrome.
And this is an awesome picture Chris took in Mexico of Meri and a cute little boy named Henry, who kept trying to sell us bracelets when he wasn't busy wooing Mers. They sat there together forever, just content. But I love how in this picture it's like they're wondering why they look so different from each other.
Now this is super cute because it was them chilling on a lazy Saturday morning. Might not be the best thing to be teaching the kiddies, but hey.

This may only be funny to me, but Jell put this little guy in time-out for slicing her finger. Of course, for him to do his little karate chop motion, Jenelle had to be pushing the lever. Poor little guy. That's what he gets for not being the girl toy we asked for in the Happy Meal.

And wahoo! An extremely rare picture of all four of us! This was during the ward's 4th of July kids' "parade" in the church parking lot. The rode around in circles for forever, led by the Webbs (former bishop, empty nester couple) riding a tandom bike with matching polka dot helmets.

Okay, I was going to do more but the girls just went nuts. Plus I need to still clean some feces off the bath toys. I really thought we were out of that stage, but right when you take your guard down ...

I suppose I have to vote for one of them eventually....

This about sums up my feelings on the election.

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Good find, Che!

Living on the Edge

When we moved in, we were thrilled that the girls had their own rooms, and would therefore, hopefully not disturb each others' sleep. Now I'm not saying that every night has been as we would have hoped - they are kids afterall, meaning they are totally unpredictable in every way - but things have been good and comfortable. Time to switch things up a bit! Why? Well, for one, a couple of nights of Cooper staying up until 2 typing papers on the computer, which happens to be in our bedroom. Very near the bed. Where I was "sleeping." That and, we'd always planned on putting the girls together eventually. Someday. Probably when they were both in big girl beds. But let's face it, my art supplies (along with all the sewing and craft stuff that my parents have cleared out of their house and left in our garage) are taking over the house and really need a home, a room to call their own. And as a bonus, now I don't have to feel bad that Jenelle had such a cute, matching, fun room, while Meri's seemed to collect all the mismatched furniture, and be our storage unit to boot. Now they have a fun, mismatched room to share!
I think we now have every color of wood in one room! And stuffed animals filling up every empty space, and the dress-ups taking up the entire space under the crib.
Although in real life, the walls are blue, not aqua. Weird camera. We also took out all the toys and replaced them with books - in the hopes that if Jenelle can't sleep she'll just read silently to herself. Ha, do you love how naive we are sometimes? Gotta try though, right?
So in an effort to make the transition as smooth as possible, we tired them out on a bike ride, and then tried to wind down with calm, story reading time. So far, pretty good. After we put them to bed, they laughed their heads off for nearly an hour. We finally went in there and, as expected, they were both in the crib. What I hadn't expected was Jenelle to have brought her bed, basically only minus the mattress, into the crib with them. They were even both lying down. Cute! Jenelle had just got tired of their game of Meri stealing her binky. I'm wondering though, did Jell really think she was going to sleep in there? Is that what she thought we meant when we kept talking about how they were going to sleep together in the same room now? Anyway, it's been a few hours and they are actually sleeping. So we'll keep our fingers crossed. I actually never shared a room growing up, and I can't imagine Cooper did, but I've always thought it was probably fun. It's probably a grass is always greener thing. Regardless, if you have any advice about how to make this work best, please share!

Do you understand your kids?

I know I've said it a million times but kids crack me up. Meri does really funny things in her own non-verbal way, which is really hard to write about, but Jenelle - man oh man! She gives me endless comic material with which to work. I really don't do it justice. And I find more and more, that there is really no understanding kids.
Anyway, today in a moment of deep reflection, I was smiling about the fact that to Jenelle blocks are for building tall towers (which to Meri, are for knocking over). But Legos are for making cameras. Yes, cameras. Once made, I am then required to smile for her. She pushes a button, says "chick," and hands me a copy of my picture. Never having seen a Polaroid, I'm not sure where she gets this. I am, by Jelly law, required to take said picture. Ignoring her, continuing what I might have been doing, or running away from her is simply not tolerated. I must take it. It doesn't matter really what I do with it (I can drop it immediately, throw it over my shoulder, or place it nicely on the couch for later viewing), with one definite exception. I am NOT allowed to eat it. Now I'm not really sure why I tried to do so in the first place - maybe Meri is wearing off on me, who knows. But holy cow! I sure learned my lesson. I shall never pretend to take a bite of my pretend picture again.
And actually, this really reminds me of this clip that we saw the other night on Letterman:
(starts at about 1:50, but really gets to the most related part at about 3:20)


Which then makes me think of this clip, because I have mom-brain:
(the right part starts at about 1:20)


Which then makes me realize that I am hungry.

Would you call us middle-aged?

While on a date the other day, we ran into the Jeffries, a great young family in our ward. (And might I first say, it has been too long since we got babysitting and actually went out?!) But anyway, Cooper mentioned it was my birthday, which got us talking. She was trying to guess my age, knowing that she had been my YW leader when her oldest daughter (who just turned 10) was born. And he was Coop's YM leader when he was our age exactly. Funny thing is that we are basically at the stage of life they were at then. But the joke's on us because at that time, Cooper and friends, called him "middle-aged," and didn't want him on their team for some athletic event like canoeing because they "wanted somebody young." Aah! The fact that they remember this means he went home and was like, "really? Are we middle-aged already? You've got to be kidding! I thought we were still young and cool?" Or at least, that is what I would say before laughing/crying/pinching myself/ranting and raving/reminiscing over old scrapbooks/wondering what the heck happened. So, although I know that none of you will likely ever read this, I am sorry to any and all of our leaders whom we called old before their time!

This Product Not Available in Stores!

Cooper has magically put together this adorable instructional video (meaning somebody is figuring out how to use this computer) titled, "How to Play Tee-ball." I think it's worth a good $14.95, but only if you call in the next 10 minutes, of course. Here is a delightful little preview of what's in store when you call now:



I love it. Not that I'm at all biased, but they are both adorable. I love all their little looks and smiles. Oh, and hopefully you can read all the type - it's much bigger on our screen, and there are some things that even Cooper hasn't yet figured out how to fix.
Also, since recording this groundbreaking video, we've taught Jenelle to run the bases. Which basically means, she hits the ball and then begins running randomly around the yard, shouting, "Run home! Run home!" It's totally worth seeing in person.
And in case you have any ideas, Jenelle is currently accepting suggestions for her next "How to ..." video, with Meri, as always, as sidekick.

Gotta enjoy the sun!

So Jenelle wanted to play with play dough, and it looked way too gorgeous to stay inside, so I thought PERFECT! We'll play with the messy stuff outside and I'll have basically no clean-up! No crawling under the kitchen table to chase down small balls so they don't get stuck to the bottom of shoes and tracked all over the house's carpet. Yes! So we set up the umbrella, the outdoor kiddie table and chairs and they went to town. I very quickly realized that somehow, Meri's education has been most seriously neglected. She had never played with play dough before in her entire life! Shocking really. Turns out we haven't play doughed recently, and when we did I saved it for Ms. Everything-Goes-Straight-In-The-Mouth's naptimes. Go figure. Anyway, she sat there eyeing it for the longest time. She watched Jenelle go about her business, eyed it some more, and then very timidly touched it. She looked up to me and I could almost hear her shy little curiousity asking what this strange looking stuff was for (But as Jenelle informs any stranger that asks Meri a question, and even occasionally reminds me, "she don't talk good yet. She don't say any W-ooooooORDS."). Anyway, I showed her how she could poke it and leave a finger mark, and tried to make it all sound very exciting in a high-pitched voice. She did it once or twice then looked at me to say, "really, is that it?" Hard crowd. So I rolled it out and cut out a shape for her. Again, just more blank staring. This all from the fearless child at the playground. I picked up the shape, handed it to her. She looked at it, looked at me, and without taking her eyes off of me brought it slowly to her mouth. "No, no Meri, not to eat!" She put it back down and looked at with a bit of a furrowed brow, as if to say, "then what in heaven's name is it good for?" I apologize for the play-by-play, but really, the whole situation was so funny to me. It's like she was waiting for it to jump up and sing and dance for her. Maybe this is what comes from all those interactive toys that light up, spin, giggle, vibrate, sing, and do who knows what else. Anyway, she's a funny girl. She did end up playing with it, but got bored and ended up wandering around the yard searching for ripe strawberries to eat, or flowers to pick. Jenelle did make her some "noodles and worms," and I don't think we should call them noodles anymore. That gives the impression of being edible. The only thing she really got into was pulling a big ball of play dough into small pieces and dropping them all unceremoniously onto the grass. No problem, right? Lesson learned: It is actually more work to clean play dough up off the grass, as it gets all matted-in and one spends all one's time pulling play dough out of grass, and grass out of play dough.

On another, unrelated note - our camera is broken. Sad. So, if I don't post as much, it will be because I don't have any cute pictures of the girlies - which is really the purpose of this blog in the first place. Here's hoping it's fixed soon and that it turns out to still be on warranty!