Funny day

I really do still promise pics are coming - I'll try to download them later tonight. But in the meantime, Jenelle was really on one for saying/doing funny things today and I had to record them while I still remembered. Here they are, straight from the mouth of my 3 year-old wit:

Mom: Should we make some muffins?
Jell: Yes, but please with no blue babies in them.
Translation: blue babies = blueberries

Dad: Jenelle, why are you not sleeping?
Jell: Because everybody is on my pillow.
Dad: What? (looks and discovers about a dozen stuffed animals and babies all lined up, and properly tucked in ... on her pillow, leaving Jenelle only enough room to sit up at the foot of her bed)

Jell: (randomly I might add) Mom, I want to go to the car wash!
Mom: Oh not right now honey, it cost too much money to go to the car wash.
Jell: (with a sigh) And we don't have any money ... What Meri? (Meri had not said anything) Meri thinks we DO have money. (Was this supposed to convince me that we really should go??)

Jell: (in the car she was pointing out the colors of everything to Meri and trying to get Meri to repeat after her) Mom, what color is Baby Carla's toes and knees and legs (If Baby Carla was real, she would be Caucasian)?
Mom: Well, they're kinda a peach color.
Jell: No mom. She is Carla, not Peach.
Mom: Okay then, they're a flesh color.
Jell: Mom. What color is Baby Carla? (apparently flesh was NOT an acceptable answer)
Mom: Well she's white.
Jell: No mom. Meri's shoes are white. This (pointing at Baby Carla's plastic skin) is not white.
Mom: Hmm ... you're right. What color are those leaves?

(And this wasn't technically today but we were talking all about Christmas fun)
Jell: Except for I don't want to see Snowa.
Us: What? Who?
Jell: Snowa. (laugh) I don't really know his name.
Us: (finally putting it together) Oh, you mean Santa.
Jell: Yeah, Santa.
Us: You know Santa brings you toys.
Jell: (thinking about it for awhile) I like Santa bringing me toys.

Meri's first haircut

I'll come back to Halloween later, but first I had to add these cuties of Meri's first haircut! Wahoo! That means she had enough hair to cut (mostly off the back. No worries, the mullet is now under control). Thanks Kristy!
This is what I get when I say, "Say cheese Meri!"

As with the tiger face she sat there, without complaining, for the whole thing. It did help that she had a super cool watersquirter, which she used on me and the door. It also helps that we kept telling her she was pretty (notice the matching pink nails as well).
It is really funny to me how vain little girls are. Ever since the haircut, she has been constantly brushing her pretty hair, and anytime the word "hair " is mentioned she comes running over rubbing her head, to which you are required to comment, "Yes, pretty hair Meri," before she can move on. How did looks get so important so fast??

What a relief

I finished. I am done. Wahoo! Somehow I have actually completed, framed, and delivered all 6 paintings (with a measly month's notice, which by the way, is about the craziest deadline since freshmen art classes finals). Big, big sigh of exhaustion. And now I must sleep. Oh but first I can't resist just one little Halloween pic from ward Trunk or Treat. I promise more later!

Yes, Jenelle is wearing a massive blonde wig. You just can't have a redheaded Cinderella, now can you? And Meri is a "raraff." Anybody know what a giraffe says? Anyone?
And now I must sleep.

Eye of the Tiger

Meri, what does a tiger say?

Metamorphosis of a butterfly

Look at me! I'm a Beautiful Butterfly!

Random funnies

I'm kinda stressed out about paintings , politics, my messy house, and a dozen other things on my mind, so I thought I'd reflect on what keeps me smiling:

"Where are we going"
"To a party."
"Oh(excited)! Oh no(crestfallen)! I still don't have anything to wear ... (happy again) Can I wear a dress?"

"I want to keep you happy mom."

When we get in the car, Jenelle tells me what music she wants to listen to. Sometimes it's predictable for a 3 year-old girl, "Can I listen to the princess music from the library?" Other times it's "Can I listen to some Norah?" Or "How about some Daughtry?" "Can I have some Johnny Lang right now?" "Bamba (from August Rush soundtrack)?" "Sandy (some horrible Brazilian music)?"

At desperate times when the radio is our only choice, I get these comments: "I want one with a girl singing." "Where are the violin and the piano? There is a piano when Norah sings." "Is that a flute?" "This song makes me sad. I don't like it." "I think I will go to sleep now."

Yesterday at the pumpkin patch, Jell had to use the port-a-potty. She walked in, made the most disgusted face I've ever seen, and said, "OH NO Mommy! You have GOT to flush that!"

"I like blueberries at Grandma Smith's house. I do not like blueberries at my house."

I'm not sure I can't describe this well enough but the other night we were watching Fiddler on the Roof. During Tevia's crazy song and dance in the barn, Meri wouldn't take her eyes off the tv. While watching she was alternating between raising her eyebrows and furrowing her brows about every 3-4 seconds. This went on for the whole song and pretty much everytime thereafter when she looked up at the movie. No other expression at all. No smiles. No laughs. No other movement whatsoever. Just the surprised eyebrows then the confused ones and back again. What is she thinking??

"This is my horsie. He is 3 like me. Except he is a different kind of 3. He's this kind of 3 (holding up 4 fingers for me to see)."
"Jenelle, that's 4."
"No it's not. It's a DIFFERENT kind of 3."

"I am Meri's mommy because I help her like this. Meri, hold my hand. Hold my hand Meri. Here you go."

I have asked Jenelle if Meri has stinkies before. However, Meri becomes totally outraged if Jell smells her. Last time this happened Jenelle commented, "Meri does not want me to smell her bottom." I don't ask anymore. My question is why is this upsetting to Meri? We do it all the time. What is so insulting about Jell doing it?

Thanks to Jell's lead, Meri now tries to stall when it's bedtime by telling me she has to go to the bathroom (she points to her bottom and says poopoo). Good one, except for you're not potty-trained. Although being a big girl, shouldn't she be? The morning after the first night she slept in her big-girl bed I said, "Meri! You're such a big girl." She smiled, walked to the bathroom, and started lifting the lid on the toilet. Isn't this what big girls do Mom? Aren't you ready yet?

The other night Jenelle was crying that there was a witch in her room. When daddy explained that witches aren't real, Jell said, "uh huh. Look, there's the big head!" Coop looked. And laughed. Meri was playing with the night light and casting a great shadow on the ceiling with her already large noggin. Too much Halloween talk!

"Is this shoe for me?"
"No, it's Meri's. It's too little for you."
"When it grows bigger and bigger, then it will be for me and I can wear it. And I will grow bigger and bigger too and then I will be 4. And my bike will grow bigger and bigger so I can ride it like this."

"Mommy - you are making me a little bit crazy."

Sorry... Just Can't Help It

I know this isn't really the place for what I'm about to post, but I'm going to do it anyway. That's how I roll.



Yeah. That's an 8-minute-long highlight reel of the Blazers first preseason game last night. On my wife's blog. Because I know all of her friends care as much as I do. But like I said, I just can't help it. Rip. City.

Newest Paintings and Newest News

Here's some paintings I've been working on recently:


What should I name these? I'm really bad at this naming thing. Sister Tunks advised me to make the titles meaningful because it actually helps sell them. So any ideas? For the first one I wanted something about how the light is just kissing the top of the rose. The second one feels so calm, makes me feel like it's waiting. And I'm really clueless about the third. I did it because I liked the pretty buildings. Real meaningful, huh?
On a somewhat related note, I got two bits of good art news this week. One was I got accepted by a jury into the Watercolor Society of Oregon. And second, I'm going to be featured in the wine room at the Sheridan gallery in a new "Emerging Artists" show they're doing in conjunction with their big wine tasting night every 3rd Sunday of the month. Sounds like my kind of thing. So I'm the emerging artist for November, which means you may not see or hear from me for the next month because they want 6-10 new paintings for this. By November 1st. And Cooper's classes just started up again yesterday. So I also won't be sleeping. What's new?

2008 Flock and Fiber Festival

Now that was a pretty good weekend! It was sunny, Women's Conference was awesome, the canning is done (until my pears ripen), and the good ol' Flock and Fiber Festival was a hit. So just saying that makes me laugh because I know you're like, the what? Like I said in the last post, I really like all the outdoor farm activities in the fall. Which is why we found ourselves at the fairgrounds with all sorts of wool-spinning, yarn-weaving, alpaca-owning folk (Grandma, Aunt Patti, and cousin Andrea came too!). It wasn't a fiber festival like the kind that you need to eat 25-35 grams of daily. And honestly, who does that anyway? But fiber animals or fiber creating animals or whatever, that you shear and turn into warm clothing or lovely floor rugs. Did you know that this includes some type of bunnies? The kind that look like a head with ears got stuck inside an enormous fluff ball, that is. If they didn't have teeth, I'd really like to use one for a pillow. But anyway, the girls had a blast (I think even Meri saw enough sheep to get the whole non-stop baa-ing thing out of her system) and I learned the difference between llamas and alpacas. Someday I'll use that valuable information to answer a Jeopardy question from my couch cushion or to impress a small child that still thinks mom knows everything. Yes! Now the question is just what to do next Saturday (other than Conference of course) - the Applefest or the giant pumpkin drop and car smash?
It was kinda crazy that there was this huge barn full of fiber animals, and right outside there was a lampchops cook-off. Baaaa?







This is so how Jenelle feels about animals! She loves them, wants to pet them, and when the get close enough to touch - goes all girly and pulls back.






















Grandma bought the girls these sweaters, which the girls LOVE. They put them on that night and then ran around the house like they'd just been let out of the loony bin.

An Apple a Day...

While I haven't forgiven the summer for ending so suddenly, I do have to admit, I love the fall. I love the smell of apple cider. I love the changing colors. And silly though it is, I love going to orchards and pumpkin patches! Today we went on the first preschool field trip to Oregon Heritage Farms apple orchard - in the middle of beautiful country. On top of that, it was a gorgeous, crisp blue-skied fall day (which makes it hardER to hold a grudge against summer). The girls all had a blast - here are a few pictures to prove it:


All the girls LOVED the pigs. I wish I had video tape because they all laughed their heads off for at least 3 minutes straight at those silly pigs.

Meri kept coming back. She was sad when the piggies took a nap and when the sheep were more interested in eating than in looking at her. As a result, she has been baa-ing insistently all day. I think if just one would've been courteous enough to baa back, she might have got it out of her system. Thanks a lot sheep.




Then there was the cute, little hay maze. What a hit! It was the perfect size for them. All of their little heads, except Meri's, peeked just over the tops of the aisles. We could see the whole thing layed out, and it was SO funny to watch them go through. I was surprised at how well they did! Meri got very quickly discouraged but the others kept at it, running through it, laughing, starting over, bumping into each other, and having a ball. I LOVED how they'd be running along, and not notice that they'd reach a dead end until the wall was like a foot in front of their face.

Some good action shots of Jell in the middle of the maze and finishing for the first time. Hooray!






























Cute girls! So I guess I'll sigh about summer and sadly pack up my shorts, but get out and enjoy these delicious days every chance I get!

Way to go Mother Goose!

I have been meaning to post all week about my first week of teaching our little home preschool group. But first let me explain. In the spring, I started to look into putting Jell in a preschool and was struck quite speechless at the ridiculous prices. I could hardly find a program under $100 a month! Ouch. Tad ridiculous if you ask me. I wasn't looking for day care, just a fun program that would help her learn but mostly just give her new experiences, and good interaction with other kids. My mom had done this home preschool thing, called Joy School, a hundred years ago when I was preschool age so I looked into it. There are these fantastic programs, such as Mother Goose Time, which we chose, that send you a full curriculum, with complete lesson plans, prepared visuals, pre-planned and prepared art projects, books, music, etc. for a crazy low price of like $12 a month. So, a number of women in the ward and I started our little Mother Goose Time preschool. There are five of us and we rotate teaching, so one week in five, we are in charge. We have just got started. This was our second week, and my first time. And what a fantastic program! I think it is so great and the girls are way too cute. They were hilarious their first day showing off their backpacks to each other, and pulling out all the contents to show the "teacher." I was pretty nervous about my first week, and sure, we still have some things to get used to (like getting myself and my girls ready for the day by 9:30, and the class used to not wandering off to play), things to learn (our understanding of the whole "s" is for star type of concept is not at all there yet), but we haven't had any ballet breakdowns (by the way, we dropped that class), and Jenelle talks about her school ALL the time. She even makes Meri play school, sitting on their little rugs and everything. So cute. Anyway, here are a few cute pictures from Tuesday. I wanted to take dozens and videotape too, but I kind of had my hands full. Hopefully next time!
Here's the girls sitting nicely on their rug squares (with Meri, the spy, sitting in):
The painting project was a hit! It's funny how different the girls are, even at such a young age. One girl was crazy meticulous, very slow and deliberate and so far, in every project is "Not done yet!" Another worked hard at using every color. Jenelle honestly didn't have much method, but seemed to do it for the joy of painting. And the other little girl stayed mostly in the lines and actually painted matching pairs of socks (there were socks drawn on part of the project). I love it
And getting slightly distracted by a friendly squirrel two feet away on the other side of the glass (to the right of Jell's piggies)
Anyways, we did tons of fun stuff like make homemade applesauce in my ancient victoria strainer, measure our long jumps, play bingo, pretend to be weathermen, match socks, find "s" things and "l" things, take potty breaks, eat snacks, learn hand motions to songs, practice cutting on a line, etc. We even are taking our first field trip this week to an apple orchard, which is pretty exciting. Hopefully, it continues to go great and I'll have more pics to add next time!

We got Trouble!

It's nap time.

Meri just climbed out of her crib for the first time ever.
We got Trouble.
Capitol T.
I asked Jenelle how she got out, and as I suffered through a number of totally unrelated explanations, Meri demonstrated by trying to climb back in while watching me the whole time as if to say, "like this."
And in the time it has taken me to type this ... she did it again.
And is currently squealing as she plays tug-of-war with Jell over a book in the latter's big girl bed.
I know this because I opened the door, took a look, and closed it.
I had an urge to laugh and I didn't want the two deer in headlights to see.
But if I don't laugh, I know I'm going to cry.
We got Trouble.
Right here.

We're Now Fish People. Apparently.

Hi. I'm Cooper. And I'm a pet hater. I'm sorry to all of you pet lovers, but I just don't like 'em. I love animals, but my home is a place for my family. If I'm going to let any loud, hairy, difficult to take care of, costly, smelly beings into my home they'd better be human and they'd better be related to me.

So Alisha's Grandma got the girls a fish tank and all the fixins for Jenelle's birthday, and we've been too busy (see: procrastinating) to buy the fish for it. Well, today I had a day off and Alisha suggested I get the tank all ready. I was all tuckered out from playing at the park and sleeping all day, so I did. So let's review: all the stuff was bought for us, so there goes my costly complaint; they're not hairy, smelly, or loud, either; and if we get the right kind of fish, they're not even tough to take care of. Sadly, I was all out of excuses, so it was off to Petsmart.

We had a blast picking out our fish. When either of the girls are given options to choose between, they both choose whichever was the last one said (Meri just points). Despite Whitman family flaw of indecisiveness, we came away with some pretty good stuff. We told Jenelle we were only going to get little guppies (see: right kind of fish) so she helped pick out the "guffies." We did, however, find out that a little Dwarf African frog was gettable, so we snatched him up. The fish lady at the store (she was knowledgeable about the fish; she didn't have gills) put my fears to rest that the frog would be lonely if we only got one by saying that when she got a friend for hers at home the first ended up eating the second.

So without further ado, we present the newest members of the household (you'll definitely have to enlarge that to see them all):


Not the greatest picture of any of them individually, but it was the only one with all of them in it (and smiling). So after getting them in their new pad we had to name them. Before asking Jenelle, we knew one would be Carlo, because she has, for months, insisted that any of her toys (and a tree in Bopa's backyard) be called it. We convinced her that the baby she got to replace her binkies could be Carla though, and we convinced her that the Red-tailed fish could use an S on the end of his name. So Carlos it is. Next, we asked Meri what the frog should be named. When she normally says "bubba" we look around trying to figure out what she means (could mean "bum-bum," bubbles, Bopa, Papa, Ball... you get the picture). This time, however, we thought it the perfect name as is. We also have a large porcelain frog that blows bubbles over on the other side who is about 7 times the size of bubba, so we named him Tiny. For the blue-tailed guffy we went between Cosmo and Pilot Joe for a few minutes (mascots from BYU and LOHS), but I liked college better than high school so I pushed hard for Cosmo (and won). Alisha's good with it though. Blaze, the poor little guy, has had a few names so far. We needed a Blazer-named fish (Alisha's suggestion--I know... I don't deserve her) and this guy has a neon stripe down his sides (plus he likes to hang out in the middle--patrolling the paint!. So we went between Brandon, Roy, Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, among others, before finally settling on Rip. Last name City. Alisha was nervous about the bad omen that naming a fish RIP might bring, so in order to extend the life of our little Neon Tetra we went with Blaze.

I left Glenn Frey last just to keep you in suspense. The yellow-tailed guffy's actual tag in the store says he is a Tequila Sunrise species. As you may or may not know, Tequila Sunrise is a song by the Eagles. The guy who sings that particular song is named Glenn Frey. Hence. Clever, I know. I do find it weird that I have a fish in my home named after the lesser-known of two songwriters for a band I don't really even like all because his species shares a name with a song I don't really like with alcohol in the title, but... well, Alisha never even heard the song 'til tonight, so it's gotta be weirder for her.

Okay, it's late and I've got to go re-join my wife and stare at the fish some more. And yes, she has been. For a while now. I knew I'd have to break down and get a pet to appease the offspring at some point in my life, I just didn't know it would be so soon. And I never thought it would be fish. But so far, (ssshhh!!!) I kinda like 'em. And so do the offspring.

Welcome Home Uncle Andrew!!!

Yay! Uncle Andrew finally got back from his mission to Berlin, Germany Thursday night! And, how cool is this - he got home on my mom's birthday. I promise, she really is happy here!
And how Euro is he in his slick, slim fit striped suit, with the tiny thin pink tie and mohagony hair? Oh well. We love him anyway, and are glad he's home. It's fun all being together, and it's been fun getting him acquainted with our girls. He had never met Meredith and when he left, Jelly was only 1. Fortunately, they have taken to him right away and so here we are, spending every minute with him before he up and leaves for BYU. Why does everybody have to go and grow up? Sigh. But for now, we are, as Jell always says when we're altogether doing the same thing, "a happy family!"

Bumpy Ballet Beginnings

Jenelle has been SO excited to start her ballet class. She talks about it all the time. She tries on her ballet costume and prances around. She asks people to show her how to do ballet. And finally, the time for class arrived!
She got dressed up fancy and we went. Suddenly, she got very shy. She did not want to walk into the room in the train like the teacher asked, because "I do not want to put my hands on her shoulders!" Oh boy.
Then, less than 5 minutes later, the teacher opened the door (moms were in a separate lobby), stuck her head out and said Jenelle needed to have a little talk with her mommy. She walked over to me with a face that's degree of sadness increased exponentially the closer she got to me. I pulled her on my lap and asked what was wrong. She burst into tears! Between sobs she cried, "I CAN'T DANCE!"
So, so sad. I have no idea what happened. Could she not stand on one foot as well as the other 3 year-olds? Regardless, it was the saddest, most pathetic little cry. And probably the first time she hasn't been totally confident in her ability to do anything she wants to (I DREAD teenage years when there will be more of such crying, and less of such confidence).
Anyway, I explained to her that she was there to learn, and just needed to listen to the teacher. She asked to go back in, so I let her. 10 minutes later she saw me through the window and started crying for mommy, running for the door. Then next time she did that, the teacher brought her out, said time was almost up and she shouldn't come back in. Ouch. My daughter got kicked out of her first ballet class. So that was some well spent money! At least she looks cute, right?!

This should have been REALLY cool

On our way back from the beach we decided to break up the drive by stopping at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. Mommy wanted to see the planes. That is, afterall why we came, right? Daddy wanted to see the space part but got very happily sidetracked by:

The girls were unimpressed and just wanted to play with this:

and this:

and this:

and this:

and this:

and this:

and this:

and this:

And really, who could blame them? That is honestly the coolest playground ever. We also convinced them to go watch a 3-D IMAX movie of Sea monsters which scared the snot out of Jenelle, while Meri causally ate her pretzels, but that's a whole other story. We did eventually convince them to quickly walk through the space museum:This is Daddy practicing landing on the moon. The first time he crashed so hard that I think poor Luna blew up altogether.

Overall, I think boys would be more impressed. There was so much to see, but our girls showed marginal interest, kept asking when we could leave and were only really interested in playing on the stairs and using the drinking fountain. How did I end up with such girly girls? In their defense though, they are not really the average viewer there. Looking around, pretty much it was us, a couple of like 5-th grade age boys and lots and lots of groups of 70 year-old men talking about way back when.

We LOVE the beach!

I am terribly behind in picture posting! I promise I will come back to our Bend trip of a couple of weeks ago, but while I have my mother-in-law's camera from our beach trip, here are some real cuties of our fantastic trip to the coast (including even a whole family shot where everyone is looking and looking decent):

On the left: Meri, what does an elephant say? On the right: Jenelle taking matters into her own hands and having a blast despite the kite never making it off the ground.









And finally!! Meri smiling for the camera! That smile/laugh just melts me. In fact, the night we got there she did this the second I put her down and her feet touched the sand. She instantly burst out laughing at the pure joy of the experience. I love it!







We even had a campfire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows (which Jell wouldn't eat cause they were too, too sticky) for the first time. I was a little concerned with their interest in the fire. At this point, it was only coals, but still.





Then Grammy and Papa took us all to the "shark zoo," otherwise known as the Newport Aquarium. Thanks Grammy and Papa! We loved it! I wish I had video of how Meri would stand in front of the tanks just laughing and laughing as the fish swam around, or of how she just laid down in the middle of the shark tunnel and looked through the floor window, as people tried not to step on her. Oblivious, and totally in love with every living creature (on the beach we spent plenty of time comforting her when the seagulls flew away)!

A couple more rare family shots!









This is known as the "Meri shrug." It follows a question like, "Meri what is the birdie doing?"

And I can't resist adding a couple more cute ones of us digging in the sand after playing on the rocks looking for shells and "pokey thingies," usually known as sea anenomes, or "the places where Nemo lives."