Bumper Bike Anya

Talmage and Anya enjoyed riding bikes today. The weather turned warm again. It was nice to be outside in T-shirts again. Anya hasn't figured out stopping so well and will frequently bump your back tire if you let her get too close.

Here's my "new" bike that we bought during the summer. I'm so happy to be able to ride again. The past couple of weeks I've been feel lots better and have been able to exercise again. I never thought I'd be so happy to exercise. I enjoy walking and bike riding. I've even been able to ride to the park pulling Anya in the bike trailor. I haven't worked up to running yet but if all goes well I should be able to run again. I have had a set back with an infection that prevents me from taking my arthritis medicine until it is all cleared up. I've had a return of the swelling, pain, and stiffness. So now I know the medicine was really helping and I'm excited to be able to give myself the shots again when the sinus infection is gone.

Gone Texan

I bought this hat today at Kohls for $1.60. I thought the kids would love it for dress up. Well it fit Aaron and is perfect for keeping the sun off his sensitive skin. He wore it playing soccor with Talmage and then I caught him watering our dead looking trees. Perhaps it brings out his agricultural side. Maybe if I buy him some Wranglers he'll plant a garden for me-- or maybe not. Sorry to put that mental picture in your head. Some people just shouldn't wear Wranglers.

Anya's Lotion Face

We had a little over a week of cold weather. (well cold to us) Anya thought it was so funny to wear two shirts. Usually she just wears a t-shirt around the house. But to have a long sleeved shirt under a t-shirt was just so funny to her. Also having to put on lotion was fun. Having the heater running can be very drying on the skin-- I'm sure many of you in the frigid north more than understand. So this in Anya putting lotion on while wearing her two shirts. You'd never know she was born in Idaho-- she can't even remember snow, she has no concept of it. When it dipped just below 40 degrees last week she wanted a blanket in the car. . . Our car is in the garage. They obviously don't remember scraping snow and ice off the windows of the car or having to start it ten minutes before leaving so that it would be warmed up. Today it is 68 degrees out and Anya an I went shopping. When we got in the car it was hot so we had the AC on. To the kids the reason you start the car early is to get the AC going.

"That really cool"

One of Anya's new, often used phrases is "that really cool". If I tell the kids "Dad will be home in a few minutes." Anya will respond "that really cool". If Talmage builds an airplane out of Legos she'll say "that really cool". In this video she's getting ready to put some butter on the bread and something about that makes her want to say "that really cool". Another of her often used phrases is "that what I talk'n 'bout" (that is what I'm talking about). I think she's trying to keep of with Talmage's ever expanding vocabulary. It's so funny what she comes up with.

Toasted Peanut butter and Jelly

Talmage is growing up! The other day he wanted to a snack but was too tired to do anything more than crackers. He told me he could make his snack all by himself. I thought it was worth letting him attempt. He decided to make a toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich. So all by himself he got out the bread, jam, and peanut butter. Then he got a paper towel to make it on-- because he's caught onto keeping the crumbs contained even if his dad hasn't. Then he toasted his bread and then slathered it and the paper towel with jam. He then rinsed his knife before getting peanut butter-- who does that? (I usually just wipe it good on the other piece of bread and call it good) Then he did the peanut butter and smushed the two sides together. Then he tried to cut off the crust. He struggled for a while and then I helped a little. In the end he loved his sandwich so much he ate the crusts too. When he was done he put the jam, bread, and peanut butter away and threw the paper towel away. I was impressed and now he gets to make his own sandwich a lot more often. Now if only he was old enough to scrub toilets on his own.

Pictures on my wall

These are pictures of the pictures on my wall. We have the cutest pictures of the kids all framed and matted hanging in our living room. I wish you could all come and see them but since you all live so far away I thought I'd take pictures of them so you can see how cute they are.

Wonderful Drizzle

Today it's drizzly (just a little rainy for those unfamiliar with Washington rain terminology) and 42 degrees. It feels like January growing up. The house is all dark and gloomy even with all the blinds open. To celebrate I spent "nap time" reading "Pride and Prejudice" and eating candy corns (my favorite candy that Aaron occasionally surprises me with). It's great to have a Washington day every once in a while. Tomorrow it's supposed to be sunny again, which makes today even more enjoyable. Last week I thought the weather great because it was in the 70's and I spent a couple of "naptimes" outside reading in the sunshine but it just didn't seem right to be relaxing in the sun in January. We'll now that we've had a day or two of drizzle I'm satisfied with January and be can bring on spring again. I do love San Antonio winters-- a little of everything.

While I'm rambling, I'll take this chance to brag about my wonderful husband. Some of you may remember that I gave him a computer game for Christmas-- amazing I know. He has done something quite remarkable with it. Instead of playing at night-- like a normal gamer, he has spent the evenings, after the kids go to bed, with me and then goes to bed at a reasonable time and wakes up at 5 a.m. to play for an hour or so before going into work. He explained that this way he can still play but he has a definite stopping time. Saturdays he still wakes up at 5 and plays until 7 when the kids wake up. So rather than play till all hours of the night he is being quite responsible. Hurray for Aaron! What a happy wife he has. Also Aaron recently moved desks at work and now has a window seat. Simple pleasures! I bet he enjoyed the drizzle today.

Talmage Singing

Talmage loves singing! He memorizes songs very quickly. Here are a few we caught on video.



Recently I heard Talmage singing his current favorite song, "Stars Were Gleaming". I grabbed the camera and hurried to my room, were he was singing, to catch it on video. He had my Primary Song book out (like he was singing from it) opened to the right page. He restarted the song when he saw me with the camera and then pretended I wasn't there. Silly guy.




This one is Talmage singing "I Am a Child of God" in Japanese. Aaron hasn't tried to teach it to him. This is just what Talmage has picked up from when Aaron has sung it to him. I have no clue if he's singing it right but Aaron says he's doing a pretty good job. It's so fun to watch him learn new songs.

We recently checked "Mary Poppins" out at the Library. Talmage had a blast singing these songs. Anya loved the "Let's go fly a kite" song and about drove me crazy singing it all day and into the night. It was so cute, even though she kept it stuck in my head all week. This is definately a movie we need to get for our collection. The kids love trying to dance like
Dick Van Dike and the penguins and the chimney sweeps. The other movie they like is "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". They try to sing and dance to that one too. Good old Walt Disney and his timeless entertainment bringing joy to another generation-- brilliant man.

English Words

A friend watched our kids for us for the first time tonight. I was a little nervous about how Anya would do-- she did fine. When I was putting her to bed tonight I asked if she had fun. She did. Then because she tends to be shy around strangers I asked if she talked to the parents. She said yes and to find out if she really did I asked her what words she said. She told me "Ingy wods" (English words). I had to laugh. I'm glad she used English though it might not have sounded like that to them.

Talmage loved it at their house because they had a keyboard they let him play. He dreams of having a piano and a violin.

Why I love Lucy

I think the I Love Lucy show is hilarious. She just cracks me up! I recently found out that Lucy was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) when she was 17. The doctor told her she'd probably be stuck in a wheelchair the rest of her life. Well you can see that didn't happen. So now I am motivated by her example to keep fighting this RA and get back to enjoying life.

Also laughter is highly recommended for RA patients because it helps reduce pain and depression that come with the disease. I have been trying to laugh more and it's been fun.
I recently read a very funny book by Robert F. Smith, " The Miracle of Forgetness. I'm still laugh'n about parts of it. On Sunday Aaron called his brother Justin (in Washington), then they decided to 3 way call his sister, Stephanie (in Utah), and then they wanted to call another sister, Lindsey, (in Idaho), so Stephanie 3 way called her and then to complete it they did another 3 way call to Sarah (in Washington). So three 3-way calls and they had all 5 kids on the phone talking at the same time and often over each other. I got one of our other phones and Stephanie put her parents on speaker phone. How great technology is. Well not a whole lot was said but as always when they get everyone together there was a lot of laughing going on. How therapeutic! I think Lucy had the right idea with her comedy to just keep laughing. Our local Library has several season's of I Love Lucy on DVD so I think I'll go pick some up and keep myself laughing.

Enjoying Good Health

I am pleased to announce we are all feeling well and appear quite healthy. Around Christmas a stomach bug hit Aaron and the kids and then both kid had a bad cold and croup. How pleasant. I survived with a manageable cold. Hurray for me. Anya got hit hard with the croup because her lungs are more prone to illness and had to take some strong steroids to get her through it. Talmage learned to take care of his own nose blowing and hand sanitizing. He went through two large boxes of tissue but I'm ok with that, as long as I don't have to wipe his nose anymore.

I have had a break from my Rheumatoid Arthritis and am using this time to try to build up my health. I have been able to exercise daily and I have energy again. It is wonderful. Hopefully I'll be able to keep future flares at bay and not have to get so sick again. The idea is to build up muscle strength so that my joints have more support. All is going well with my medicine too. I'll keep doing my injections for a long time but I'm able to decrease the steroid and will probably be off of it in two months. Hurray!

We are feeling good and the sun is shining and we spend a lot of time outside.

Also, Anya is now in a toddler bed and doing great. She stays in bed well for naps and bedtime. Aaron has just started the process of having an idea patented. His company will own the patent and is paying for all of the legal fees but he gets his name on it and credit for the idea. He's always wanted to have one of his hair brain ideas patented. It's too bad it's not a hair brain idea-- it's actually pretty simple but also confidential so I can't blog about it. We'll let you know about it in a few years when it's all processed and approved.

Let's Pretend

The kids love playing kitchen and taking care of their "babies". They have plenty of dolls to play with but insist on caring for Elmo and Puppy instead. Here Anya is pretending the blender is a bottle and is feeding Elmo baby hot chocolate. She puts Elmo in her apron so she can carry him and still use both hands in the kitchen. Smart girl.


Talmage loves dressing up in is Train Conductors clothes. He also wears this hat often when go outside. He wore it when we went shopping on Saturday and had many compliments.
Aaron is just glad to have him dressing up in something other than Anya's princess clothes.
And as always he's wearing my old frames. He wears these glasses when he needs to concentrate.