Zoo!

Grumma is here for the week so we went to the zoo! Anna was pretty into it now that she knows all the animals. We were pretty lucky to get a good show from the best animals.If you haven't seen this mama and baby elephant yet, you should. They are adorable, they had a mudbath together while we were watching.

This is really how close we got to the giraffe outside. This is without zoom.

This is with zoom.

Tiger taming.

The tigers were napping at the top of the enclosure, then Anna woke them up with her screaming when we told her it was time to move on, so this one woke up and walked right in front of us.

Anna on the elephant trunk.

Anna and Grumma at the zoo, best friends.

Tino the gorilla was just hanging out by the window waiting for someone to take pictures of him.

Classic Hogle Zoo picture. I took a series of these all in a row, in each picture Anna's arms are angled different directions.

Inside Toy Story 2

If I were to write an analytic essay on Toy Story 2 (which I have watched every day for the last week and a half) I would write about the concept of "forever" as it pertains to these toys.

For instance:

• In the beginning, Andy's mom tells him "Toys don't last forever"

• The Prospector and Jessie try to convince Woody to join them at the museum where they can live forever, protected from the hands of children.
• It is generally accepted that life as they know it (with Andy) will not last "forever".
• The Prospector complains of spending "A lifetime on a dime-store shelf".
• Jessie is scared of spending an eternity in sunless storage.

I think it could get published in the Journal of Popular Culture.

More from the crazy lady

Ben insisted I share this.
So if you were with us for this post about recycling, this is an addendum about me being the crazy lady on our street. We got a flier on the door Thursday about a blanket drive for an Eagle Scout project. Great, I thought, this is a good way to get rid of some of our storage and help others. The flier said they would pick it up Saturday after 10. So this morning I gathered my donation and set it on the porch in a big see through bag, very recognizable. We left just before 10, and as we drove away we both remarked that they would probably forget about us like always.* We also noticed that no one else on our street had any bags on their porches. A bad sign.
When we got home the bag was still there. Ben had thrown away our flier, but luckily someone's garbage had blown into our yard and I found a flier in the bushes. I called the number for the Eagle Scout listed on the flier as I carried the paper to the recycling bin.** As I was leaving my nearly irate message I thought maybe I should check the date listed. You guessed it. Next Week. BOO. Why would you pass out fliers for a charity drive a week and a half early? Especially when it takes maybe an hour of notice to gather up a donation? Why must I seem perpetually insane?
That's my vent for the day.

Here's a picture and a story.
We went to the Farm Country today so Ben could see Anna ride the ponies. She has done it enough that I let her do it without me holding on to her. He was extremely nervous. Every time she came around she said "I'n ridin' a horse!" Then she changed it to "Hold on tight!" Maybe she picked up on our subtle yelling/clues. When we got in the car, Ben started to strap her in and remarked "We have to tighten these straps, if we get in a crash, she'll die" *** As he closed the door she started yelling, "Get ina crash an die! Get ina crash an die!" Perfect.


*We were too late at the scouting for food drive as well and our plastic bag was on the porch for most of the day. But I looked up the Utah Food Bank and found that if we took our bag to IHOP, we could get a book of coupons. So take that scouts!

**Which we haven't successfully taken to be emptied in a month.

***Her straps are loose because of her winter coat.

Spring

It must be Spring.

Ben went grocery shopping and unconsciously bought Cracker Jacks and ballpark peanuts.

I had unconscious urges to watch The Ten Commandments.

Anybody else?

Recipes That Don't Work

Recipes That Don't Work: Getting it out of the Pan.
#1: Be overconfident in the amount of spray/butter/flour that you put in the pan.

#2: Wait either too long, or not long enough.

#3: Turn it upside down and shake violently until something moves.

#4: Scrape out whatever did not come out and pile it up beside whatever has come out whole.

don't enjoy!

ps. the cake isn't very good anyway.

Still Here

There's been a lot of talk this weekend about blogging being dead. That may be, but I'm here with nothing special to keep you reading a little longer.Daddy Daughter Dates: Ben likes to go to Cold Stone occasionally, he takes Anna and they have a good time. This is after they came home, sharing some Pistachio ice cream.

New Swimming Suit: I'm not sure why, but I thought she needed a new swimming suit in early March. She picked it out and she loves to wear it. I bought it a size too big, so the shorts fall right down. I'm counting on large, water sogged diapers to keep them up.

Computers: I don't have a picture, but today she folded a flashcard in half so it sat upright and told me it was a computer that she could watch a show on. Then she folded one up for me.


Easter Egg Hunt: Grumma Sue hosted the first annual Gillespie grandchildren Easter Egg Hunt. Attendance was low, but really, it can only go up from here.

Wasabi: At dinner last night, Anna reached over and grabbed my wasabi and put half of it in her mouth. There was some tongue scraping and many tears, but she survived. Maybe it will keep her from eating play-doh in the future.

Pacifier: The pacifier disappeared the other night. We have not found it and Anna has been pacifier free for 5 days. She hasn't willingly taken a nap since then, but she will go to sleep at night. So it's a win/fail.

Sunday School lesson II

Shortly after 9/11, the LDS Church held their semi-annual General Conference of the Church. President Gordon B. Hinckley made several speeches during the two-day conference, in his Sunday morning speech he addressed the state of the world following the terrorist attacks. Here is a small segment (emphasis mine):

"Occasions of this kind pull us up sharply to a realization that life is fragile, peace is fragile, civilization itself is fragile. The economy is particularly vulnerable. We have been counseled again and again concerning self-reliance, concerning debt, concerning thrift. So many of our people are heavily in debt for things that are not entirely necessary. When I was a young man, my father counseled me to build a modest home, sufficient for the needs of my family, and make it beautiful and attractive and pleasant and secure. He counseled me to pay off the mortgage as quickly as I could so that, come what may, there would be a roof over the heads of my wife and children. I was reared on that kind of doctrine. I urge you as members of this Church to get free of debt where possible and to have a little laid aside against a rainy day.

We cannot provide against every contingency. But we can provide against many contingencies. Let the present situation remind us that this we should do.

I do not know what the future holds. I do not wish to sound negative, but I wish to remind you of the warnings of scripture and the teachings of the prophets which we have had constantly before us.

I cannot forget the great lesson of Pharaoh's dream of the fat and lean kine and of the full and withered stalks of corn."

So yesterday in Sunday School we were learning about Joseph in Egypt and the interpretation of Pharoah's dream and someone remembered this talk, that it was given in October 2001. When I told Ben, he remembered immediately that Lehmann Bros. collapsed in September 2008. 7 years later. When this address was given, we probably all assumed that we had already enjoyed the 7 years of plenty and were headed into the lean because of the war and such. I just thought it was interesting enough to share. Only 5 1/2 more years!

Recycling Insecurities

(***warning: this post is rated M for mundane, proceed at your own risk***)

Our city started a recycling program last summer, they provided us with blue trash cans and told us to fill 'er up. So we did. I was so excited for it that I actually saved up some recycling before we got our can and we filled 'er up. The hard part, we are finding is figuring out when it gets emptied.
For starters, it's not the same day as our regular trash. For the first 2-3 months our recycling bin sat full because for some reason, we were unable to figure out just when the truck came to empty it. I tried leaving it out on the street for a week straight - nothing. I tried taking it out when the neighbors were out - but the trick was, theirs were already empty - I was a day late.
Ok, so Tuesdays the truck comes. But you can't take it out on Tuesday, because the truck comes at like 7:30 (and we are NOT awake yet). So you take it out Monday night. But not every Monday night. It seems the recycling truck only comes every other Tuesday. I'm not even sure which weeks it is each month. And don't even get me started on what to do when Monday is a holiday. Because I. Don't. Know.

So we get to this week. The recycling is full, maybe we missed it last time or something. I knew that this was the week, and I even thought of it on Monday night. But in the end, I did nothing. Wanna know why? Because no one else on the street had their recycling out by dinner time on Monday, so I didn't know what to think. Maybe I had miscalculated or something. In the end, I didn't want to be the crazy neighbor who never knows when it's recycling day and just takes her full can out randomly then shamfacedly pulls it back in the next morning in her slippers and pajama bottoms. Now we have to wait another two weeks before we can recycle anything else.

Ah Spring Let's hope Cakes

Spring has arrived. Do you know how I know?

I spotted the first robin of the year...



...lying face down and dead in my backyard.


It's gonna be a good year.

Tinkle Tinkle little STAR!

The other night after dinner Ben and I were talking about a party we had been to recently. Anna definitely recognizes the word "party." She said "Let's Go! We need coats and shoes on!" me: "Where are we going Anna?" Anna: "We go to a PARTY." Well, this was only minutes before bedtime so we had to talk her out of going to a party that night. Instead she decided she wanted to throw a party herself. I'm sure you're all invited. Mostly Uncle Thad. I suggested that we call Thad to tell him about the party and she agreed. As soon as they got on the phone together they planned the whole party - I only heard her end of the conversation but she told him about the party, daddy's coming, it's going to be outside...That's all I remember, but she was very conversant on the phone, like she understood everything he said and he might have understood what she said.

Anyway, she's real cute. and I'm not even that biased.

When it's too quiet

Time: 9:00 am
Place: Basement

Anna was watching Peter Pan with Daddy while I took a shower, when I came back she realized she didn't have her blanket, so I told her to go upstairs and get it. Up she went. Then we didn't hear anything from her for awhile. Ben bravely ventured upstairs to see what was going on. I figured she was probably finishing her cereal on the table. The next thing I heard was Ben asking where the bowl was. Anna has a bad habit of grabbing plates of food off the table and carrying them around to find a better place to eat, mostly because she can't get into her high chair by herself. Ben tried to call me up, but I refused. I didn't want to see it. He came down, confirmed that she had spilled and the bowl was found in the living room.
Anna came down a little later with her blankie, but then she realized she didn't have her pacifier (yes she still has a pacifier, don't judge). So I told her to go find it. She went up and we didn't hear anything for several minutes. Eventually she called down that she couldn't find it, so we talked her into coming downstairs.

Which she did.

Covered in chocolate.

Like this.

My hypothesis is that she was able to pull down the banana bread from the counter and ate it all up. I have yet to go upstairs and confirm this.

As all good parents know, "If it's too quiet, it means trouble."

Chile and self reliance

The earthquake in Chile was obviously a terrible disaster, whenever lives are lost, it is cause for mourning. What catches my eye about this earthquake is the juxtaposition and comparisons between the effect on Chile and the effect of the earthquake in Haiti last month.

Chile, knowing that it lies along a fault line and having been subject to earthquakes in the past has instituted strict building codes including reinforced steel and etc.

Haiti, was totally unprepared for the possibility of an earthquake, they are also a poorer nation without the resources or government regulations to build stronger or better. It's not their fault, they need our help to rebuild and become better prepared.

Haitian fatalities are over 200,000
Chilean fatalities (currently) 800

What I find most impressive is that President Bachelet of Chile has accepted only limited international relief. Many organizations and nations have offered support but no requests have been made. The international Red Cross is waiting for the Chilean Red Cross to indicate that it needs help. Also, the reports coming out of Chile are so much calmer than what we are still getting from Haiti, limited looting, everyone seems to know that they will be taken care of, or they will be able to take care of themselves. They are still able to get water, gas, food etc. though they may have to wait for it - and they are queuing up to each have their turn. It's very impressive.

So you don't need to donate to Chile, just donate to Haiti, they have a higher hill to climb.

I guess the moral of the story is preparedness, as much as possible in whatever position you are at in life, if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.

Adorable II

Anna wore her 'Adorable' shirt again today. When we saw some old friends of Ben's at dinner, the wife admired Anna and told her she was adorable. Anna immediately tried to unzip or open her jacket to show off her shirt.

She's been pretty adorable today. I should let her wear that shirt every day.

2nd Birthday

Any questions?

Adorable

PS. her shirt says "adorable" but the video reversed it
PSS. Her birthday is tomorrow, she'll be two.

Daddy monster

Anna hasn't really seen Ben in like 10 days. Tonight they have been inseparable since he got home. She doesn't even care if I'm around. And even though Ben has homework to do, he's been dutifully playing the daddy monster all night.

Reading List

Watership Down - Richard Adams
The Reivers - William Faulkner
Main Street - Sinclair Lewis
Ulysses - James Joyce
Cry, the Beloved Country - Alan Paton
Rabbit, Run - John Updike
Light in August - William Faulkner
Absalom, Absalom! - William Faulkner
The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkein
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle

Total______$6.00______

compliments city library book sale.

New Schedule

In the same vein as "Wednesday Wendell" I have engineered the following chore schedule for myself.

• Monday Mess (tidy up from the weekend)

• Tuesday Toilet (clean the bathroom)

• Wednesday Wash (laundry)

• Thursday Throw Out (Trash Day)

• Friday Facuum (vacuum)

In addition, I plan to keep the sink clean this year because of a proverb that I made up, "You can tell a lot about a woman by looking at her sink" and my sink has previously been in very poor-to-poor condition.

I don't know why the internet needs to hear about all this, but there it is. Anna always asks to watch the video of her walking when we come on the blog, so it's time to move it down.

Resolved.

Last January I shared with you the resolutions I made for Anna, Lets see how she did.

1. Start Sleeping through the night, even just a few times a week
check.

2. Learn how to walk
czech.


3. Sprout upwards of ten teeth
check.

4. Learn some new words
check (only nice words).


5. Gain some weight
check. Last weighed in at the 3rd percentile.

6. Learn basic shapes and colors
She knows ball, star, moon, green, blue, purple, owange etc...

7. Get taller
She is around 33 inches, up from 28.5 at the first of the year.

8. Grow enough hair for a ponytail (or at least a fountain of hair)
check.
9. Laugh every day
check.

10. Make lots of messes
If you only knew...





Congratulations Anna, for the first time in your life, you managed to accomplish all your resolutions for the year!

Macaroni

Today I opted for a warm mac and cheese lunch because we're essentially snowed in. So I asked the little sponge if she could say "Macaroni," it sounds more like Guacamole, or Whack-a-mole -y, but it's cute.


Apparently she has found a bag of christmas candy. As I type, she walks in with a taffy or hershey kiss, tries to hand it to me, then lifts my hand up by the pinky until I take it from her and unwrap it. Then as she pops in in her mouth she takes off to find the next piece of candy. It's getting pretty silly.

Here are some picks of the great Christmas outfit we put her in for church.

Checking to see if they are real pearls. I think the paint residue that will be left on her teeth and cheeks will be evidence enough.

I see now she has brought in the whole bag of christmas treats that she's been picking from. great.

Recipes That Don't Work - helpful hints

We haven't had an installment of RTDW in a while (because I have been sticking to old favorites, or closely supervised) so here's a helpful hint from my kitchen.

Recipes That Don't Work
If you want to ruin a recipe a simple trick I use is to start late, thus forcing you to rush through the mixing section in order to get to the baking on time.
If the recipe says to mix for 10 minutes, do it for 2.
If you are supposed to knead for 6-8 minutes, 3-4 will do.
With this simple time saving tip, you are sure to ruin any and all recipes you run into.

If you have any tips that you'd like to share that could ruin most recipes - please share with us!

Unhappy baking to you this holiday season!

Happy Chanukah!

Here is the story of Chanukah (Hanukkah, Hanukah) for your edification:

Following the death of Alexander the Great (323 bce), his empire was divided between his generals, and eventually fell between the Ptolemy's of Egypt and Selucids of Babylon. Right between these two new empires lay Judea, thus it was conquered and reconquered several times for about 200 years. After it was conquered by the Selucids around 175 bce, they erected a statue of Zeus in the temple,condemned all Jewish practices including circumcision, holiday celebrations then defiled and looted the temple. In 167 bce the Jewish rebellion began, led by Mattathias "The Hammer" Maccabee and his 5 sons and by 165 bce they had kicked out all the Selucids.
This represents a unique period of time in the history of Judaism, because they were able to institute a theocratic government without any outside intervention or government. It lasted until 65 bce, when they asked a group of upstart Italians to protect them against invasion. Dang Romans came to stay.
As they cleaned out and rededicated the temple a lamp was to be burned all night for 8 nights. However, they could only find enough olive oil for one day, so they started it and found that it miraculously stayed lit for all 8 nights. Thus it is called the Festival of Lights. Chanukah comes from the Hebrew word for rededication.

Tonight we had a great first night of Hanukah. Ben had to sell back his textbooks so we drove up early to Salt Lake, played on campus for awhile then headed down to see the lights (the festival of lights). A miracle happened when we actually found parking at the new library (a lot with only about 100 spots, half a block from the square and free). Then we went to Siegfrieds, a German delicatessen where Ben bought some extra jelly doughnuts (which may or may not be a traditional Chanukah food) then we sang primary songs all the way home to keep Anna from crying and lit our menorah for the first night of Chanukah.

Maybe later I will post about how Chanukah is celebrated.

What Fun We Are Having

At the park with Clarkie

Warming up with Clarkie after the Park

At the park with Thad

Ponytails!

New outfits (I made that!)

(I did not make that one)

Hanging out with Daddy.

Exploring Christmas

Anna was only 10 months old last Christmas, she couldn't walk or talk, open presents or drink Egg Nog. This Christmas she is very aware of what is going on and it is fun to see her examine it all and try to put it in context.
She has figured out the basic concept of "Christmas Tree" - It has lights (!) and shiny balls (!) that are really hard for her to put back as she removes them.
She has found that under the tree are "Presents" - These are boxes in assorted sizes that are disguised. (Hopefully she won't figure out that it is paper because that will lead to some crayola-ed presents)
The "Santa" idea is too hard to explain, though she did watch the Dr. Seuss original "Grinch who stole Christmas" (also too hard to explain).
"Baby Jesus" will have to be explained at some point, although I'm not sure the purpose because she can barely identify pictures of adult Jesus, much less his role in life.

Hopefully if we keep telling her that she can't open presents until "Christmas" she will get excited enough to enjoy it when it comes.
What else should I teach her about Christmas?

Erntedankfest

This is the best Thanksgiving miracle I could possibly share with you.
courtesy Marci mayhem

Tooth brushing

I know I must really be tired when I accidentally use Anna's toothpaste to brush my teeth.




I know I must be really really tired when I accidentally use Anna's toothbrush to brush my teeth.




Good night.

1458 points

Anna won 1458 points today for being the best child ever.
Let me break it down for you:

65 points for barely putting up with leaving for the Primary program rehearsal with a pancake in her hand. (she could have been better, but she wore her jammies so it was cute)

197 points for quietly watching 2 episodes of Little Einsteins in her high chair while I taped the bathroom for painting. (it was not hard to convince her)

320 points for sleeping while Ben and I painted the primer coat in the bathroom.

211 points for watching Ice Age while we finished the 2nd coat.

498 points for playing quietly with her toys in the kitchen without breaking anything, falling off anything or getting into anything while we did touch ups and cleaned up. (and for not trying to help)

66 points for knowing the word "around" and running circles around us when we collapsed on the bed.

101 points for being generally adorable, managing to not get paint on herself and yelling for me by name in several episodes of the day.

Nope

Instead of screaming "Noooo!" in the midst of tantrums, Anna screams "Nooope!"
Just picture it, it will brighten your day.

Just a Heads Up

If Anna starts yelling at you a word that is somewhere between "All done" "Again" and "Outside" what she is trying to say is "Einstein" - meaning "Little Einsteins" (not to be confused with "baby einstein") a disney show that she watches on my computer. But don't think she'll stop at asking. She will pick up your laptop and haul it down the hall to you, maybe dropping it a few times to accentuate her point.

just a heads up.