Happy President's Day!

First Stroller Ride

Today I put Will into the stroller big-kid style for the first time when we were at the grocery store.  Up until now he's had to be strapped into the bjorne to be happy and my poor back has been suffering, so the fact that we made it through without any major breakdowns is huge in my life. 

When Jack was little he was always in the stroller.  He and I would take walks to the local parks and spend our mornings there with me chattering on about everything under the sun until he was old enough to contribute to the conversation.  Then we talked about the sky, the birds, airplanes, cars, cars and more cars.  We talked about our favorite colors, flowers, and we ate bagels and played at the park.  I remember those days with reverence.  They were sweet simple days.  I know time has made the memories lose their hard moments and left only the good, but seeing Will in his stroller brought those days back.  I can't wait for long lazy days to come with William strapped into the stroller.

And yes, that is a monkey wearing a tie and glasses. :)

Baby Will at 4 months

-Laughs the loudest watching Jack play the wii
-Is happiest with his whole fist wedged in his mouth
-Loves reading Rainbow Rob most of all
-Sobs like the world is over when his bowl of solid food is empty
-Insists on holding the spoon himself 
-Wakes up once a night (totally doable)
-Tolerates all of his animal hats remarkably well
-Still has way more hair in the back of his head then in the front.  I'm contemplating cutting it once again in hopes that it will grow in a bit more evenly this time...
-Has beautiful blue eyes
-Is fascinated by my sparkling water.  It's better then any toy
-Flirts with everyone when we go out
-Drools more then any other baby.  Really its unbelievable what this kid accomplishes
-Cries when his brother cries (actually he waits till Jack's sob is over and then sobs himself until Jack starts up again.  It's a blast.)
-Sleeps to rain noises during naps but wakes up if it really starts to rain
-Growls a lot 
-Hates peas.  He gags on each and every bite I give him
-Loves him some bananas. Gives me dirty looks if I eat one in front of him and don't share
-Has a relatively small belly button in spite of our worries when his doctor said his two clamp belly button was in the top ten she'd ever seen
-Is obsessed with my hair. Loves it when it's in his face
-HATES his car seat. LOVES crying in it
-Won't cry in his carseat as long as both Jack and I can keep singing "8 days a week" by the Beatles
-Cries a little less in his carseat now that I moved Jack one seat further from him and his hair gets rubbed a little less during car rides
-Nurses to sleep (I know I know but it's future Ana's problem)
-Has to be swaddled to sleep in his crib
-Loves being held by Adda because it means he will get to nap in her arms.  She must covers herself with fairy dust because she just lulls him right to sleep.
-Thinks its hilarious when I ask him where the poo poos are. Sorry Zack, he thinks potty talk is funny already
-Loves his bath as long as its empty when he gets in it. Otherwise he hates it and screams
-Loves the bjorne as long as his hands can be folded together like he's saying a prayer
-Is the best gift our family could have asked for

End of an era

It's an end to an era and interesting to be watching Jack's baby teeth fall out just as William's are coming in. 

Zackrison Sister Update

Sarah:

Last weeks:

• Introduced Huck & June to edimame (a snack I only recently discovered myself).They had fun shooting the beans out of the pods and I think they actually ate a few too.
• Hosted a very impromptu non-super bowl party. None of the musicians there were slightly interested in the game, but it was on as an excuse to congregate and eat snacks. I made yummy french dip sandwiches, but otherwise hadn't planned anything ahead so pulled out whatever crackers and chips I could find in the pantry. Certainly nothing pinterest-worthy
• Stake Temple Night
• Got the house appraised - hoping we can finally take advantage of the crazy low interest rates and refinance. Values seem to be coming back up now
• We got a couple inches of snow one day so we rushed to take advantage and go sledding. Oliver and neighbor Julia took Huck & June to the nearby small hill and Brenden went with some friends to go "extreme sledding" - start at the Y parking lot and sled down the mountain on unmarked trails. Sounds safe enough, right? I guess that's what we get for having pre-teen boys and living in the foothills
• Baby shower for Tracy Marben Beals
• All 4 kids went to the dentist, which unfortunately resulted in reprimands for me and 2 cavities for June, 2 extractions + 1 cavity for Oliver, and 2 sealants for Brenden. Oops. Guess my whole approach of buying fluoridated water to avoid the fluoride tablets isn't exactly working.
• Watched as many Downton Abbey episodes as we could find. What will be our next obsession?

This week:

• Finish Oliver's Native American report and papier mache project
• Brenden gets braces on Tuesday
• Playdate with Anson Kendrick - he's been coming over on Mondays while Courtney works on her book
• Plan Oliver's birthday party - he's thinking laser tag with a few friends. Sounds manageable
• Plan & execute valentines cards. Anyone have any fun/easy ideas this year?
• Looks like I'll probably have to take a trip out to Mountain View for work next week.
• Better start doing some Rooftop Concert Series work. Need to send out incentives to people who donated to the kickstarter fund, do some more fundraising for next year, and book the lineup.
• Should probably pull together our tax stuff soon.

Annee:

LAST WEEKish:

-We bought plan tickets!  I walked in from school on Wednesday and Darin said he had gotten a Kayak alert about one of the routes we had told them to watch for us.  It had dropped significantly.  When we logged on to the website, it had dropped another hundred dollars, per ticket, from what the email had advertised.  We couldn't waste our time worry about too many details.  We knew this was a deal we wouldn't be seeing again soon, if ever.  We bought the tickets.  July 1- August 1, we'll be out West.  We want to celebrate dad's 60th birthday in Provo with him.  And we want to see the new baby Wiley.  But we also need to go to Madras for a good chunk of time.  We haven't been there in years.  We're all excited.
-Saturday was the pinewood derby.  We didn't finish in the top three, but we were in the top five.  There was some really, really , really tough competition.  Word in the gym was that the top finisher has been building pinewood derby cars for a decade at least.  George had fun, Darin built his fastest car ever.  Going to show that years of experience really does make a difference.  This might have actually been our last one!
-Subbed four full days last week.  The EC (which stands for "Exceptional Student" but really means the kids with learning plans, and learning disabilities) Aid had asked me MONTHS ago if I could sub for her this week.  Four full days in a row working with the EC kids is not exactly easy.  The easy part about it, versus a class room, is that in total throughout the day, you are only dealing with about ten students.  The hard part, is that those ten students really need a lot of help.  The most interesting part of the job was working with a single 5th grader on math.  It was so frustrating/sad for me to see that no matter what I did, I couldn't help him understand "greatest common factor".  Four days later, and it was still like I was introducing the topic for the first time.  I don't know what it would be like to have a kid who couldn't grasp math topics.  But I realized it is a blessing I haven't appreciated enough.  I don't know what you do in life if you don't understand math?  It felt kind of hopeless to me.  It also made me want to bring him home after school and be his math tutor.  But alas, that won't happen either.
-By Friday I was wiped out!  Darin took to the "working wife" challenge very well, and planned for and cooked three meals for us last week.  I couldn't have loved him more!  Friday we treated ourselves to a lunch date and some shopping.  We skipped our Friday night date since we had had a Friday afternoon date.  No movie this weekend.
-Saturday we went with a group of Darin's friends from school out for Korean food.  This is the first time we've eaten Korean food since leaving Korea.  Seriously.  I won't be going back any time very soon, but I will say that I really enjoyed it.  It's funny how food can transport you.
-Sunday, sharing time and Super Bowl.  I spent all Sunday morning trying to prepare a decent sharing time, while Darin prepared his ribs that he would cook after church in honor of the super bowl.  We instituted a Sunday afternoon quiet time when we saw that waiting until 6:30 for the Super Bowl to start was almost too much to handle.  Things needed to settle down.  I think I ate my weight in chips and various dips, but oh well.  Super Bowl Sunday only comes around once a year.
-I finished my quilt top!!  I think I'll post a finished top picture over on MOM sooner rather than later.  Liz has me convinced that if I forgo running, chores, and everything else responsible today, that by tonight I could have myself a completely finished winter quilt.  I'll admit, I'm tempted to take her challenge.  My agenda today might read, "Finish quilt, at all cost".  We'll see if the Major agrees with my plan for the day ;)

THIS WEEK:

-Subbing on Thursday.
-Finish quilt.
-Run more.  I think I only managed to run twice last week with the subbing.  That's embarrassing.  I need to do better.
-Find a new book to read.  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet will be done in 35 minutes.  I will feel a void when it's over.  I don't know what I'm reading next.  One book club is reading Persuasion.  I feel like I've read that pretty recently.  I don't know if I need to re-read it just yet.  Anyway, anyone have a suggestion?
-Laundry.  I washed two loads of girl clothes last week.  They are still sitting clean in the baskets in the laundry room.  They have been dug through and dumped over so many times that I wonder if they are clean anymore.  I want to wash everything from all all the laundry baskets throughout the whole house, AND put it all away today and tomorrow.  If I can do that, I'm worth a million bucks.
-I need to schedule six dental appointments.  I'm nervous because we haven't been flossing.  I hate getting the flossing lecture twice a year.  It really hurts my feelings.  I know already!
-I need to work on a sewing project for a neighbor.  She asked me if I could sew patio seat cushions for her.  I didn't know how to say no, but I wish I did.  But since I didn't, the only way to get over it, is to just DO IT.  She's going to pay me, but it doesn't make it worth it to me.  I don't like sewing for hire.  I like sewing for pleasure.  It's that simple.
-We need to eat at home this week.  If I'm not working, I need to make sure I have good solid dinner plans.  It just makes life go so much smoother if I am on top of that.
-Sounds like a pretty boring week.  But somewhere in it all, I am happy.

Ana:

(Pre-SuperBowl Loss, and yes that is a build a bear outfit on poor Will)

LAST WEEK:
-Jack lost his first tooth!  It may or may not have been lose.  He has started this bizarre ritual of biting his towel when he gets out of the shower (I have no idea why) and last night his tooth popped out.  I'm sure it must have been at least a little bit lose before right?  He's growing up so fast.
-Took William to his four month appointment only to find that I totally spaced and skipped his two month check up.  Opps... He's a tall guy measuring in at the 86%. He did not do well with his shots.  He screamed the whole rest of the day and refused to sleep.  I am so looking forward to doing his catch up 4 month shots in a few weeks.
-Started our taxes.  Fingers crossed this might be the first time in years we (I) haven't messed up our taxes and owed thousands of dollars.  (Huge sigh of relief)
-There are moments that I just want to go on a crash diet and fit into my normal pants again.  But I love nursing this baby more and try to remember there will be years to be skinny and only this one to nurse Will.
-Got our silly string damaged furniture fixed for free thanks to the warranty.  What the guy was able to do was very impressive.  It made me realize how little I know how to do.
-Watched the Super Bowl.  Jack was devestated at the Patriots loss. He cried and threw his Brady jersey on the floor but on the way home rallied.  He wanted to play football with Zack this morning to cheer himself up.  I guess it's good news that the Patriots haven't made Jack hate football forever. 
-Started William on solid food.  He cries when his bowl is empty.  He really, really loves food.

THIS WEEK:
-Try to figure out Williams new schedule.  Just when I thought I knew what to expect...
-Be on time to pick up Jack everyday.  It's just sad that I'm late.
-Exercise 4 times this week.
-Do more as a family and not separate mom/will and papa/jack groups.



Ie Li:

Last Week:

• Celebrated my friend's birthday with a bunch of girls at Sweetwater Tavern.  As I was getting ready to leave the house for it, Steve explained to Stephen that it was just for moms.  Stephen replied, "I can't go there!  I just know they're all going to kiss me because they love me and want to marry me!"
• Went visiting teaching.
• Steve and Stephen attended Dad's night at the preschool and made a robot together.  They both wore jeans and navy blue BYU t-shirts at Stephen's request.
• Made a heart banner for my mantle.  Stephen and Mei Li helped me trace the heart shapes onto fabric.  This is the most festive I'm going to get.  I might tackle homemade Valentine cards for the classroom parties.
• Continued reading Little Women with Mei.
• Started watching Parenthood with Steve.  We are loving it so far.  
• Kept up with the house cleaning for the most part.  This was not a stellar laundry week.
• Enjoyed three days of spring-like warmth.  It was lovely.
• Went on a dinner date with Steve to a mediocre restaurant.  Next time, we'll stick with our Thai and Indian favorites.
• Did some closet purging.

This Week:

• Continue listening to Cutting for Stone and re-listen to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society for book group.
• Make a chocolate cake for no other reason than I've been dying to for the last couple of weeks.
• Stay on top of the laundry.
• Go to the adult stake dance!  I'm not sure what to expect, but Steve and I are open-minded about it.
• Get to bed early and wake up before the kids are up.
• Start making the Valentines.
• More closet purging.

Rachel:

 Last Two Weeks

• We had a successful little dinner party with 6 people.  I made beouf bourguignon, but I took extra time to really make it right and it turned out better than last time.  We sat half around the table and half around the coffee table.  It was really fun.  I am definitely on the lookout for a table with leaves (sp?) because that would completely solve our problems.  (Aside from moving obviously, which is an enjoyable thought AT ALL.)
• We've enjoyed following the presidential debates/race very closely.  Newt Gingrich is a dangerous, self-interested idiot, in my opinion. 
• I taught my primary class alone last week and it was really rough.  I was completely out of material with 25 minutes of class left.  Yikes. 
  
• This week I taught the 5 year olds again and it went much better.  We talked about families which was way more interesting for the boys. 
• Used my early out day last week to go to Crossfit with Ken. 
  
• Heard about mom & dad's upcoming adventure to Morocco! 
• Ken is itching to take a big trip as a graduation/post-bar celebration so we're brainstorming.  It would be so amazing to "pick up" mom and dad from their mission in Morocco if the dates line up.  Fingers crossed, that's probably our first choice.  Otherwise, should we take a Baltic Cruise?  Or go somewhere else?  We really need something to look forward to. 
  
• Tuesday night we went to see Iron Lady with my friend Kirstin.  What a fascinating story. 
• Wednesday we considered buying $155 round trip tickets out west during July like Annee did.  We didn't pull the trigger but made some good plans overall for our time in CA and UT this June & July. 
  
• We attended crossfit several times this week.  Soooo sore. 
• Friday I brought snacks to my work Superbowl Party.  Those parties are always so awkward and dumb.  I forgot to tell Steve to come down and get some snacks!! 
  
• CZ has been out of the office forever and it's boring.
• Saturday I slept in super late, cleaned the apartment, worked from home and ran errands with Ken.  
• Sunday morning we found a live raccoon stuck in the bottom of the outdoor trash can.  EWW.
  
• Sunday after church I made a homemade lasagna because CZ was making one for her friends so I thought it'd be fun to be doing the same thing even though we weren't together.  I joined my office pool for the superbowl so it was really fun to watch and see if we won.  We didn't, but maybe next year. 
  
• Tried to do some life re-planning with Ken.  Should he go back for a masters in Real Estate?  If he did an LLM, would accounting firms still be hiring when he's done?  He knows that his dream company/job is JLL.  Just needs to find the best way to get in.  This is not fun and I feel like God has completely abandoned us.  So that's good. 
  

This Week

• Tomorrow on my early out day we will go to Crossfit again before Ken goes to work.  I'm aiming to go 4 times this week.
• Thursday there's a fun Enrichment meeting about flower arranging and making cake balls. 
  
• Finish listening to Little Women.  Why won't Joe love Laurie?? 
• We're supposed to lead the discussion in the Marriage Sunday school class this week.  Better read the lesson. 
• Apply to more jobs.
• We have a companion pass that will expire at the end of March.  I'd love to find a way to use it.  
• Keep dreaming about a vacation in the spring. 
• Eyebrow wax.
• I'm putting eye doctor on here again even though I'm not sure it'll happen. 
  
• Begin to file our 2011 taxes.  Want to get this done ASAP. 
• Come up with something nice to do on Valentine's Day.

Christine:

Past Couple Weeks:

• I've been working a lot.  I guess I'm officially learning for myself now what busy season is all about.  Since the middle of January I've been working late nights everyday and have work to do most weekends, whether at home or at the client site.  It's pretty exhausting and it's hard to figure out how to fit in anything else.  For some strange reason I've found myself totally starving all day whenever I'm at a client (which I am always at now, I kind of miss the office).  I've been talking a lot to Rachel about how to handle this strange situation.  I try to bring good snacks with me everyday and only allow my self to eat what I bring.  Working with the audit teams (oh yeah, I'm doing audits right now, not so awesome, but getting better), they always have tons of candy and snacks to share, so if I didn't limit myself to only what I bring then I would literally be eating all day.  It really is a strange thing for me, I used to feel like I was never hungry and didn't need that much. 
  
• I've been to the gym three times in the past two weeks.  Doesn't feel like a lot at all, but I'm glad I've been able to squeeze even that much in.  I've started packing my gym clothes and keeping them in the car so that I can go straight from work, and that helps a lot.  If I leave work by 9/9:30 then I feel like I can make it.  That doesn't always happen.
• Last weekend I luckily didn't have to work other than a few small things I could do at home and Jon came to visit.  Saturday I had an extremely productive day finally picking up my dry cleaning (when you don't get any dry cleaning done for almost a year the bill can get pretty high), finally getting a new drivers license (although I recently got a letter in the mail informing me I still have some loose ends to handle, I can't believe this has been such a long process), and doing a little shopping for some suits (my current client requires that we wear business professional).  We ended the day with a date to Cheesecake Factory and seeing Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close which I LOVED and definitely cried a little in (Jon may have fallen asleep).
• This most recent weekend I went to dinner Saturday night with some friends after getting my eyebrows waxed, which was so very much needed.  Sunday I was planning on making dinner for friends and had decided to make lasagna.  Rachel sent me a good recipe but told me I needed to do a test run before the real thing.  So Saturday after dinner I went to the grocery store to get all my supplies and then cooked until about 3am, making my practice lasagna while also getting everything ready for the real one so that Sunday would require little prep.  Luckily both turned out delicious.  I also wanted to make some treats for the Super Bowl Sunday night, so I ended up feeling like I was cooking all day on Sunday.  I made S'more Tarts and Reese's Surprise cookies, both of which I found on Pinterest.  The S'more Tarts ended up soooo delicious and were super easy, I would highly recommend them.  The cookies were of course good as well, can't really go wrong with a chocolate chip cookie with a reese's in the middle.
• I was planning to watch the game at Josh, Ben, and Ryan's house, but with all my treat making I was a little late getting over there.  Around 7 (the game started at 630), I started getting a lot of texts from them asking if I was coming and telling me to hurry over.  I was a little confused why they all cared so much, especially since they know by now that I'm late anytime I hang out with them.  When I finally walked into their house at 730 I was totally surprised and a little confused to see Jon sitting there amongst a bunch of people.  He had been home for the weekend and decided to take a (LONG) detour through DC on his way back to Morgantown to surprise me.  He knew I was watching the game there so just went straight there, and ended up waiting almost two hours for me to show up!  It was a great surprise and fun to get to spend even just a few hours with him.  

This Week:

• Work.  It's hard to plan many other things when I'm not sure how much time I'll really have away from work.
• Read with Flor Monday at lunch.  I feel like it's been forever since I've been there.
  
• Clean my room.  It's a total disaster right now.  I'm sure that's not too surprising.
• Visiting teaching.  My companion is leaving on the 14th to go get married in Utah (I'm pretty sure she got engaged a month ago and started dating the guy maybe a couple months before that), so she wants to get it in before she leaves. 
  
• I'm currently scheduled to go riding Saturday morning.  I've finally started looking into some possible barns to ride at and there's one in Alexandria I want to check out. 

On my phone