Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Sadly, I don't have any pictures to help document the day. I left my camera on the macro setting and all the pictures are extremely fuzzy. Oops. But it was a great Christmas and the kids had fun.

Popcorn it's a Family Treat

I immediately thought of the "Popcorn" song when I saw this bunch snacking on popcorn.

When we were little my parents bought some cheesy songs done by a Mormon family. One of the songs that got played often was about popcorn. And the chorus went: "We all love popcorn, it's a family treat. When it comes to having fun, popcorn is really neat." If I remember correctly, it was my little sister Erin's favorite song and it got played over and over and over. Eventually, the tape went "missing". I think even my mom was happy not to have it around any more.

Search Paths Again

I evaluated Google search paths again this week. I love it when I get assigned this task. The randomness of what people look at during a session on Google cracks me up. Here are a few of my favorites:

nj march of dimes

orbitz

travelosity

expedia

nj.com

sexy witch

************

facebook

brownies from scratch

fart machine

fart maker

the pooter

facebook login

************

ninja halloween costumes

real ninja suit

samurai costume

how to make a ninja outfit

************

They just make me laugh.

Gingerbread House

Let the decorating begin!

Stewart added a nice thick layer of snow for the roof.

Evie loved doing the roof.

Almost complete.

Extreme close up.

A few last details being added.

Side Note: No kits were used, everything was homemade, except for the candy of course.

High Five

Stew learned to give high fives this week. I love his concentration before he hits your hand. (And you'll have to excuse his nakedness, it was right before bed.)

Thanksgiving Fun

We had dinner outside. I was made fun of for wearing my big coat,

but I stayed nice and warm, unlike a few people who had to go inside early.

Cute naked Morgan

The little kids table.

Brooke filling the cornucopias.

Bryn and Evie eating the cornucopias.

Stewart throwing snowballs at the girls.

A classic Grandma Patsy tea party.

Good times!

Sentence Finisher

I am a sentence finisher. Anytime anyone pauses slightly, I try and finish their sentence. I don't discriminate who I do it to- family, friends, neighbors, strangers etc. I don't do it on purpose. It just kind of happens. I blame it on being a twin. Sunny has the very same problem. Stewart and I came up with a rule that if he pauses long during his sentence, it is fair game for me to jump in and guess what he is trying to say. I know most people don't like it, so I try to be conscious of it. It was really hard for me back when I worked at eBay because I had a co-worker that sat next to me with a pretty severe stutter. It was a sentence finisher's nightmare. I wanted to finish his sentences for him so badly, I knew what he was going to say and he would just get stuck on one or two words. But I didn't want to offend him and so I would try to be quiet the whole time. But Sunny and I grew up finishing each other sentences and it's a hard habit to break.

Twice this last week, I was telling Evie something and as I paused, she chimed in and finished my sentence. It caught me off guard and made me laugh.

It doesn't bother me at all, I say... guess, guess away my friends.

Ball Popper Treasures

The Ball Popper is a very loved toy at our house. It is also the place where Stewie loves to store his treasures. "Did you check the ball popper?" is a regular question that gets asked in our house when something goes missing. The items we find in the popper change daily. Today, the following items can be found in it:

- Blue plastic knife

- plastic ring from our vacuum

- 2 little cars

- Lego's

- a skirt that belongs to Tinkerbell

- Toddler toothpaste

Sometimes it can be rather tricky to get all the objects out. A special thanks to Lissy a few weeks ago, who was able to get a very stuck container of Play Dough out. I thought for sure that was the end of the ball popper.

Beaver Boy

Most families have at least one child that likes to chew on things. Stewie is ours. He has chewed through several balls and has now moved onto books. I'm afraid of what will be next.

Happy Halloween

Evie is a lady bug fairy

Stewie is the classic lion.

He loves candy.

Evie had no problem walking up to strangers and saying Trick or Treat.

It's amazing how candy can make a shy child talk.

A Lesson Learned

I've tried to be very careful after donating blood to make sure I have a snack and sit down for a few minutes. Which I did on Saturday, but then decided to head over to Babies R Us to check out their sale. After five minutes of being in the store, the all too familiar sweating started to happen and I knew I needed to find a seat fast. There aren't a lot of chairs at Babies R Us, but back by the car seats I found a bench seat from an actual car. (I'm assuming you're able to test car seats on it). I probably wasn't really suppose to sit on it, but I did anyway until the dizzies passed.

As I sat there I vividly remembered my Barnes and Noble incident:

It took place several years ago when I was still single. I had just donated blood and headed over to Barnes and Noble to check out the new releases. I had been there for a few minutes and I started getting really hot. I just thought the store had the temperature turned up, so I kept browsing. I then started getting a little light headed, so I grabbed my books and headed to the checkout.

It was right before Christmas and the place was packed. There must have been at least 15 people in line and surprisingly only two employees working the registers. I was really getting woozy, but I didn't want to get out of line and thought if I could just power through and make it outside, with the cold air, I would be fine. They had tables set up front with discounted books, so I leaned on the table and lowered my head a bit while pretending to look through books. That worked well, until the line moved. I was so close to the front and yet we just weren't moving fast enough. I was so hot and sweaty that I had to take off my coat and my sweater. (I was not thrilled about the shirt under the sweater being seen by the public, but there was no other option.) The lady behind me asked if I needed help and I told her I had just given blood and wasn't feeling so well. She grabbed a little step stool for me to sit on. So I sat on the little stool feeling like a small child. When the line moved again, I thought I could abandon my stool but everything started going black and I was forced to scoot the stool forward and sit down again. Every few minutes I would scoot and sit while people in line stared at me.

I finally reached the front of the line but still wasn't feeling well enough to stand on my own. So I just scooted my trusty little stool to the register and sat down. The lady behind the counter asked if she wanted me to call someone, but I told her I should be fine once I got outside. It was a sad. I couldn't reach the debit machine and had to push my card to the lady to do it for me. She handed me my bag and as I stood up to leave instantly everything went black and I had to sit back down again. I pushed my seat a few feet away and asked if it would be okay if I sat there for just a little bit longer. I know she still wanted to call someone to come and get me and all the new people who had gotten in line thought I was crazy. After five minutes or so of watching people purchase their books, I finally felt okay enough to get up and walk outside. Which, sure enough, as soon as I hit the cold air I was fine.

Lesson learned: I no longer will be running errands immediately after donating blood.

Quiet Time

I came out from putting Stewie to sleep to find that Evie had fallen asleep on her chair while eating her lunch. I don't know why she doesn't have pants on. Sorry about her undies showing. She always wakes up when I try and transfer her, so I just left her there. And I enjoyed some quiet time to myself.

My First Beanie

I knitted my first beanie this week. It was suppose to be for little Stew, but I didn't do my calculations right when I was downsizing the pattern. (I couldn't find any toddler beanie patterns online that I liked, so I had to use an Adult pattern). So, I'll be making a new one for him.

Sunny if you still want this one for Ben or Jack - it's yours.

He's on the move

Here's a short video of Stew walking. I'm a proud parent so I have to post it.

Happy Birthday to little Stew!

Stewie turned one this last Wednesday. We had a little celebration for him... basically it was just brownies with his name on it and some ice cream. (He's not a fan of cake.) I love it when they're little and you can get away with simple birthdays.

Evie kept track of his brownies the whole day.

Stewie enjoying his brownies.

One stuffed little boy, relaxing as he watched TV.

My Angel Child

As I was putting Stewie down for a nap, I overheard Evie say, "I'm going to clean up the front room." And when I came back, the front room was completely clean. She seriously is an angel child and has been from the beginning. I'm hopeful Stewie will learn from his big sister, but so far it doesn't look promising.

UPS is on my list

A few weeks ago, I had put on my "Bottom 5"- that the UPS man tried to open the door before I had a chance to get there. It was weird, but I had to open the door because UPS won't leave packages at our place.

Anyhow, I got another package the following week and answered the door quickly and signed for it ... no problem. Everybody acted as they should.

So, this week when he came, I answered the door again very quickly and as soon as he handed me the thing to sign, he jumped into a long apology for trying to open the door and hoped it didn't scare me. He tried it make it sound like it was normal to check to see if the door is open because he just slides the package in if it is. I was super confused because I couldn't figure out how he knew I saw him try and open the door etc.

Later, I found out that Stewart had actually called UPS after the first incident happened, to see if that was normal for drivers to do. Which obviously it is not. Stewart wanted everything to stay anonymous and didn't even want me to know he had called. He just suggested they bring it up in their next training so the driver wasn't singled out. Well, clearly, they told the driver. Which is fine, but they didn't have to specifically tell him the address that made the call. Now it is forever going to be awkward when I have to see this guy. Argh, UPS.

Nothing New

I couldn't think of anything post worthy this week. So I just updated my Top/Bottom 5.

Happy, Happy Birthday

Stewart turned 34 this week. Happy Birthday Stew!

Meet Kickies

Evie has named her feet "Kickies". Sometimes I'll find her talking to them as if they were a friend. "Come on kickies... let's run so fast." "Kickies want to wear my flip flops, not my shoes." I love her little kickies, except when she tries to pass the blame on to them. She had pushed Stewie over with her feet and then said, "But kickies did it mommy, not me."

Picture Time

I tried a new bread recipe and things got a little crazy. Next time I will keep a closer eye on it as it rises. It's the best bread recipe though. Fresh bread from start to finish in 1 hour.

Evie enjoying the big tree at University Mall.

The tears shed after she missed the last steps on the tree ladder and got hurt.

Evie wearing her new biking pads so she's willing to ride her bike again.

Two kids waiting patiently before church.

Laundry Day

Stew was down to his last outfit when he decide to have a blow out. I didn't want him to be cold, so I put on one of Evie's shirts- all she had available was pink. Poor Stew. Surprisingly, her 3T shirt fit quite well. He looks a lot like Evie when she was little. I must admit I was tempted to put a bow in his hair. He would make a cute little girl.

People are Interesting

I was working on a side project this week for work that I really enjoyed. I was given a search path that users entered into google and had to determine whether the user was looking to purchase a product. I was fascinated by some of the paths. Here are two examples that made me laugh.

First example:

bbc

mcnair murder (Football player who was murdered by his mistress)

sin by silence (A domestic violence site)

lake shawnee topeka, ks

dove ornament (Who isn't in need of a dove ornament after reading sad stories.)

Second example:

Botulism

platform queen beds

safety shoes for women

investment how

offshore bank

(I just loved the randomness of her search.)

Mmm... Treats

This is one of the reasons I love Stewart- He'll just munch away on treats if they're near him. Good and bad treats ... it doesn't matter. My family knows that if they have any treats they want to get rid of, they can just put a bowl of them next to Stewart as we play games. And eventually there will be a pile of wrappers. It makes me smile.

Happy Birthday to Evie!

Evie turned 3 on Friday and we had a small birthday party for her on Saturday. She had very specific requests for her party. I did my best to meet all of her criteria, luckily she's still young enough that I was able to manipulate my way around a few things. (i.e. I did not want to have a swimming pool of water in my house. )

She wanted a pink cake with ladybug candles.

Blowing out the candles.

A few party goers. I think Will is the only one

actually looking at the camera. (Thanks Will.)

Evie's waiting to open presents.

She finally got her pink bike.

Evie riding her bike for the first time.

I know Sunny would never post a picture of herself on her blog.

So here she is with her new cute haircut. And you can't get mad at me Sunny, it was your husband that used my camera to take the picture. hee hee.

Let's go fly a kite

The kite was one of the souvenior's from the family reunion. I forgot how much fun it is to fly a kite. It was hard to let Evie take over.

How much does that kid weigh you ask?

22.7 pounds 75% for weight, 90% for height.

He'll be 10 months next week.

Since he's kind of like a Sumo wrestler,

his new nickname is Stewmo.

Family Reunioin Colorado Style

Last weekend my family all met up in Colorado at the Favero's house. It was a jammed pack 3 days of fun. Some of the highlights- a talent show put on by Addy and a Wilson family Amazing Race cleverly orchestrated by Brooke. I forgot to take pictures so I'm going to refer you to my sister Livy's blog for some pictures. http://www.aaronanderinkusch.blogspot.com/ (Thanks Livy).

The Amazing Race:

Team Dich

Papa

Aaron Kusch

Aaron Favero

Sunny

Amber (Only for the first leg since Aaron had a hurt knee.)

Team Stewart

Stewart

Jonathan

Ryan

Christy + baby Claire

Livy

(Grandma Patsy, Brooke and I stayed back at the house to watch 15 crazy kids. Next time we get to race. )

Legs of the Race:

1. Run/walk 2 miles round trip to a reservoir. Then a paddle boat race around a buoy and back.

2. Drive to Boulder (45 mins away) and visit a kite store to purchase kites.

3. Head to Red Rock and get as close as you can to the stage and perform a song with a kazoo.

4. Eat a plate of Rocky Mountain Oysters (Sheep Testicles)

5. Go on three rides at the Oldest Amusement park ever.

6. Complete 10 laps at a Go-Kart track.

7. Drink a super thick shake from Chick-Fil-A.

Here are some clips of the race from Stewart's phone:

And I had to include my brother attempting to do the Cinnamon Challenge (eating 1 tablespoon of cinnamon).

We have moved... Again!

First, our new address:

358 S 550 W APT D5

Springville, UT 84663

Top 10 things I love about the new place.

10. No longer worrying about being crushed to death if Utah ever has a "Big" earthquake.

9. Having a dumpster. I can throw away trash to my little heart's content.

8. More space. Blessed space.

7. Carpet that doesn't instantly give you rug burns.

6. Not having to listen before I turn on the shower to see if the neighbors are showering upstairs.

5. More bathrooms. No more deciding who has to use the bathroom more urgently. (Evie, of course, always won previously.)

4. Having a normal sized oven. See ya mini bake oven.

3. Having Air Conditioning.

2. Having a dishwasher. My current all time favorite appliance.

1. I haven't seen or thought about a spider in three days. It's a miracle!

Happy Birthday to Sunny and me!

We turned 31 today! Woo-woo! Here are some fun pictures from the past.

3 weeks old

You would have never known we were premies

weighing only 4 and 4 1/2 lbs when we were born..

Brooke's looking lovely in the corner.

This is one of my favorite pictures.

One, because Sunny and I are usually laughing.

Two, the reason behind the laughs in this picture.

We were in Kauai with our good friend Julie and she had set up this elaborate pillow stacking job on top of the coffee table, so she could set the timer and take a picture of all three of us. Julie accidentally clipped the coffee table as she was running to join us and the pillow tower fell taking this picture on the way down. (There were several funnies that took place on that trip. )

Happy Birthday Womb-Buddy!!!