Thanks Giving

We've been very blessed lately, and I wanted to take the opportunity to give thanks for some of our recent BLESSINGS!

• We spent Thanksgiving in Texas with Christy's family and had a wonderful time. If I had to sum up the trip in two words, it would be FUN and RELAXING. The highlight for me was simply being at home with my family, watching my nieces and nephews who are each so fun and cute, and spending evenings playing games with my siblings like Boggle and Risk. Tommy and his three-year-old cousin Miles were joined at the hip--in fact, we didn't see much of either of them for hours on end as they played and played.


• We came home from Texas in a "new" van, given to us by my parents, for which we are so grateful. With a new baby on the way, it's so nice to have something we're not going to grow out of! The kids' grow out of their clothes, and their bedrooms seem to have gotten smaller, but we're not growing out of that van anytime soon! In fact, we could have SIX kids and still fit comfortably! It's so fun to drive around, and the boys love it.


• Tommy has really been enjoying preschool, and last week we attended his Christmas program, "A Birthday Party for Jesus." He went up on stage with his class, stood obediently on the risers, and sang several darling Christmas songs along with actions. He was so cute, and we are so proud of him for being so brave.


• Although I haven't mentioned it on the blog, most people know that Jon has been looking for work for most of this year. But did I ever mention what a blessing that has been? Of any stage, any season of our life, what better time to have Jon home, bonding with the boys, while they are both young enough to appreciate it? We have really enjoyed the family time. We have also been very blessed financially...somehow things have worked out such that we haven't felt "desperate" yet. My 93-year-old boss, for example, continues employing me! Jon has lost over 20 pounds and made much other progress during this period. He's been happy and fun to have around.


• Last but not least, we are really enjoying this Christmas season, even with the busyness of preparing for a baby. We have really felt the spirit of Christmas and have enjoyed watching the boys' excitement.

Now the pictures you've all been waiting for....

The Boys in Their Element:

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

After several days of pleasantly warm weather, we woke up this morning to a fun surprise--our first snow day of the season! Joey was the first to notice--he opened the curtains to look outside and was awestruck. He didn't know what he was looking at! Tommy remembered, though, and ran over to tell him about all the fun we have in store! We spent about an hour outside, scooping, throwing, making tracks in, and even eating snow (apparently Joey thought it was a delicious treat)! We also played hide and seek with a shovel that Tommy buried...the shovel won the game, and we probably won't find it 'til the snow melts! Here are our cute little "Snow Angels":

A Spooky Story

By Tommy Holt

A boy saw a ghost that turned into a dinosaur that ate the kid and then spit him out into jail. Then he saw a long-necked skeletone...and then he got blowed up and then he was a skeletone!

A Halloween Collage

Decorating Jackolanterns for Family Home Evening

A Spooky-Fun Halloween Party

Enjoying the Ward Trunk-or-Treats

Vacation Favorites

There are so many places in Utah that we love to EAT! One of our favorites was the Provo Krispy Kreme, so of course, we stopped there at least twice. The boys loved watching the hot, fresh donuts go steadily along on the conveyer belt and under the "waterfall of glaze." Oh, how the thought of it makes my mouth water!

We also ate at some of our other traditional favorites--the Pizza Factory, Cafe Rio, In-n-Out Burger, and Aggie Icecream.

We spent a day in Salt Lake, and here we are in front of the temple:

That excursion wasn't as "productive" as we'd hoped because for all the cool things we wanted to show the boys (like the pioneer exhibits in the museum, the trees on the Conference Center), they were most fascinated by the many fountains and ledges to balance on. We didn't get anywhere very fast and cut our trip a bit short because of the pure exhaustion of walking so slowly.

One day we went to Thanksgiving Point with cousins and aunts. The boys got to make some new animal friends:

They also loved the "jailhouse" (Tommy now aspires to stay in one someday), and even better, the "dance hall" (see their crazy moves below)!

The grand finale at Thanksgiving Point:

While in Provo, we drove by our first home. Can you believe how cute it is? (We lived in the basement.)

We spent a few days with Margaret, Jason, Sophia, and Gabriella, and were so happy to attend Gabby's official court adoption and temple sealing. Isn't she darling?

The boys also loved Bella, the sweet dog, and presented us with THE QUESTION for the first time ever: "Mom, can we get a real dog?" Oh no! We're not ready for that!!!!!! In the past, whenever anyone has talked about their pets, Tommy has always responded, "I have a quiet dog" (meaning his large stuffed labrador retriever). It seems that he's finally ready to move on...but Jon and I are not!

We also spent a couple of nights with Julianne, Nathan, Evan, and Perry. Here we are on a BEAUTIFUL Sunday afternoon, first playing in their backyard, and then standing on top of a mountain from which we could see four temples! The view was seriously awesome! (So gorgeous, in fact, that I would have done it again even if I'd known in advance that I'd end up carrying Joey halfway back down the mountain! The boys were troopers on the way up, but on the way back down, Joey got so tired that he bawled unless I carried him. He eventually fell asleep in my arms and I could finally hand him over to Jon.)

Another day we went to a Halloween village with cousins:

Last but not least, we spent a day in Pingree, Idaho with my Grandma Atwood, Aunt Sally, and Aunt Debbie. The boys got a real farm experience (they even got to see the potato harvest up close and loved watching the potatoes rolling along the conveyer belts on the tractors)! We got up close and personal with some cool farm animals, like these turkeys, some miniature horses, cows, a horse, pigs, chickens, and baby chicks.

We got to enjoy the traditional Atwood family weiner roast!

Sally and Debbie were there their usual fun selves! They put on an egg hunt just for the boys and gave them a million pushes and "underdogs" in the tire swing. The boys also loved riding trikes in the driveway and hearing Grandma play her accordian.

Jon fell in love with the cats (especially the gray one, Stripes), and they fell in love with him.

We had a great vacation! Thanks to everyone who made it so wonderful!!!

Our Favorite Vacation Quotes

Tommy in Maple Grove, MN (20 minutes from home): "Are we there yet?"

Tommy in Provo, UT: "Wow! We've been driving for sixty years!"

Joey commenting on this father/son figurine at Katherine's house: "Look! Jesus! Uh oh, Jesus bumping the head! Oh no, Jesus bumping the head!"
Joey while taking a tiny toilet out of a barbie dollhouse, placing it on the floor in front of him, turning around, and attempting to sit on it: "I need to go potty." (As a side note, this barbie toilet hummed a creepy tune and made poo/pee when you pushed down on the seat and made a flushing sound when you closed the lid. I think it was Joey's favorite toy of the whole trip. Tommy was just as enamored with the dollhouse, although his favorite way to play with it was creating "emergency" situations like when the toy rocking horse climbed to the roof and nearly fell off before being rescued.)

Joey whenever a cute dog walked away from him: "Nice dog, nice dog," and whenever a cute dog walked toward him: "Scary dog, scary dog!"

Joey feeding Margaret's dog Bella his macaroni and cheese: "My turn. Your turn. My turn. Your turn," and later wondering why Bella didn't share her dog biscuit with him: "My turn. My turn, Dog. My turn! MY TURN!"

Tommy, a little frustrated on the ride home: "I want Joey to sit on a cactus!"

How to Survive a Road Trip in Style

We pulled into our garage at about 12:30 a.m. last night, bringing our 15-day vacation to a close. We had SUCH a good time! I wish we had pictures of everything! I'll post some of our favorite, funniest memories over the next few days, so stay tuned. First, the road trip...

The boys must have thought it was a long drive to Utah (about 20 minutes after we left home Tommy asked if we were there yet, and as we were nearing our destination in Provo, he exclaimed, "Wow! We've been driving for sixty years!"). But they really didn't complain much. In fact, they were very pleasant!

So, although our good experience may have been purely based on luck, I feel justified in offering a few tips on how to survive a cross-country road trip with two little boys in a crowded Toyota Corolla.

1. Choose funny stopping points. When we told the boys we'd be seeing a mountain with faces (a.k.a., Mount Rushmore), they both simply burst into exuberant laughter. They laughed even more when we saw the monument in person. They also got a kick out of Wall Drug.

2. Scrap the DVD player. Okay, maybe we won't stick with this one forever--in fact, our motto has always been that if we get desperate, we'll stop for a dvd player at a WalMart along the way. But it's never resorted to that! Instead, we rely heavily on the boys' favorite (and my least favorite?) music, reserved solely for cross-country trips: the Cookie Monster cd, the Muppet Show soundtrack, and Dora's World Adventure. All I can say about these cds is that you don't know pure entertainment until you've heard Cookie Monster sing 15 tracks in a row. :) Just kidding, Jon and I were actually slightly entertained by the music too and thanks to Dora, we know how to say hello in like 10 different languages.

3. Enjoy the view. We loved South Dakota, and hope to go there for a family vacation in the future. We also adored Yellowstone. We stopped to hike around the geysers and then down the canyon with its 300-foot waterfall. Tommy had a healthy fear of the dangers, but Joey definitely did not, so this was the second time on our vacation that we hiked up and down a mountain with him in our arms. Yikes! From the car we saw a herd of buffalo from a few feet away, lots of elk, and even a bear!

4. Choose hotels wisely...because the boys are EXHAUSTED when you pull in a couple of hours past their bedtime. We made our hotel reservations in advance so that we didn't have to drive around trying to find the cheapest rate. It worked great. On our drive out, Joey was too scared to sleep in a bed (he's always been in a crib), so I slept with him, and Jon slept with Tommy. Joey thought it was swell and would have continued the tradition the whole trip if he'd had his way. On our way home, we put the two boys, already asleep, in bed together. Miraculously, neither fell out or woke up the other, although Jon did hear Joey mumble in the middle of the night, "Ahsign--my bed!" (p.s. Ahsign is Joey's nickname for Tommy--but I'll leave that story for another day.)

5. Don't overpack. We've finally figured this out. We had just the right amount of smarties, granola bars, red vines and other treats, as well as stickers and cool books to keep the boys entertained for the drive while keeping our cramped car in a semi-normal condition. It worked great!

6. When all else fails, resort to a rousing game of "I spy with my little eye." This was Tommy's idea. And even Joey piped in, although the answer to his riddle was almost always his blankie!

7. Have a fun reward waiting at your destination. In our case, it was the BYU football game. Although the Cougars lost, Jon was so happy to be cheering them on in person. We pulled into Provo just in time to drop him off at the 4:00 game, and then the boys and I headed up to Draper for our reward (relaxation) at Jon's sister Margaret's house. We also had a fun (?) reward when we arrived home--the fact that Joey threw up twice that night in his own bed instead of at any of our previous destinations!

The Naughtiest Day

As my sister says, "There's a good quiet, and there's a naughty quiet." This (pictured above) was a naughty quiet.

But not as naughty as when Tommy tried to wash Joey's hair with handsoap in the bathroom. And also not as naughty as five minutes before we left for church when Joey cracked almost a dozen eggs on the kitchen floor and tried to eat them.

And DEFINITELY not as naughty as the event that culminated in a bath, clean clothes, extinguished laughter (Tommy), dried up tears (Joey), a livid Mommy, and this quote:

(Tommy to Joey): "I'm really, really sorry that I peed on you, Joey."

Quasimodo Joey

Remember Dumbo Joey from a few weeks ago?

Well, now meet Quasimodo Joey:

When Joey gets in a fight with a mosquito, the mosquito always wins.

First Day of Preschool

Here is Tommy proudly holding his football lunchbag and wearing his Thomas the Train backpack in front of his preschool on his first day! Although he'd been very nervous all summer long (saying things like, "Mom, I want to stay with you" and "I'll go to preschool when I'm nine"), when it finally came down to it, he was pretty excited, and he seemed to love his first day. His teachers, Ms. Johnson and Ms. Eddleston, seem really nice, and the other kids seem great too.

It was a bitter sweet day for everyone, though. Out of the blue that morning, he said, "Joey, I'll miss you." That melted our hearts. Joey seemed a little confused as to why Tommy didn't come home with us after we dropped him off, and asked about him a couple of times, but otherwise did fine. I was probably the saddest--after all, this is the first step in losing that special time and bond that Tommy and I have. Anyone who's spent any time with our family knows that Tommy and Joey are both serious Momma's Boys. They love Jon too, of course, and probably think he's funner than me, but they come running to me whenever they really need something. It makes me sad to give that up, even if it's just for a few hours two days a week.

Ah, the sorrow/joy of being a parent.

The Origin of Snakes

Tommy's favorite exhibit at the zoo is the enclosed Butterfly Garden. So I was dismayed when our last visit was a near disaster... Just moments before we exited, Joey stooped down to examine a butterfly resting passively on the ground. Imagine my horror as he picked up his leg, positioned his chubby little foot right over the butterfly, and then...I jumped in to save the butterfly just in time. While heaving a sigh of relief, I turned away, only to be startled by someone else's gasp: "Tommy?!!!" Apparently, Tommy had finished the job.


We quickly told a zoo keeper, who set the butterfly in a safe place, which I took to mean that it was still alive (second huge sigh of relief), then we hurriedly left the garden.


Needless to say, the boys may need a lesson in butterfly etiquette. It turns out that they also need a lesson in butterfly anatomy. I overheard this conversation between the boys the other day:


Tommy: Joey, when butterflies grow up, they turn into snakes.

Joey: Okay. Butterflies. Snakes.


Hmmm.....

Junior Book Club

There's an amazingly sweet lady at our church who did a kids' bookclub this summer--in other words, an extra special story time at her home including outdoor games and fun snacks. The boys loved it, especially the grand finale with rootbeer floats.

I kept forgetting to take my camera to book club, but the above picture taken in Joey's bedroom shows how much they love books.

Even Joey, who used to insist that books be held upside down, and who wouldn't let me read to him if he was aware that I was doing it, now lets me read to him as long as we follow certain routines:

1. He begins each book by saying, "Why, why, story, story."

2. He gets to turn every page himself.

3. If there is a train on the page, he must say, "Chugga chugga choo choo"-- before I can say anything. If there are multiple trains, he has to say it multiple times.

4. The book is not over until he has closed the cover. (Never skip over that last blank page!)

Too Many Zoos, Too Few Farms

I took Tommy and Joey to the Minnesota Zoo on Wednesday. Joey immediately asked to see the "moos," which reminded me of a funny experience we had when my mom was visiting:

We had a very fun time at Canterbury Downs with my mom watching live horse racing--I highly recommend it for a fun-filled family activity! But as we were nearing the horses, it became apparent that Joey has been to too many zoos lately, and too few farms. As soon as he saw horses trotting by, he shouted, "Zebra! Zebra!"

*******
By the end of the night, he'd finally figured out that these were farm animals. But he was still a bit confused... four horses walked by us just as we were leaving, and he sweetly said goodbye to each of them: "Bye, bye, Moo. Bye, bye, Moo. Bye, bye, Moo. Bye, bye, Moo."

******

By the way, if we were betting people, we'd have made big money--I guessed the winner of the first race; Jon, the second; and my mom, the third. We had a great time!

August Events

We had a really fun August. Christy's mom Julie visited us for a week. We went on a vigorous walk every morning, visited Canterbury Downs to cheer on our favorite horses as they ran around the racetrack, took the boys to a couple of parks, and enjoyed a mother-daughter lunch at Olive Garden, followed by window shopping to compare our styles in home decor and furnishings. The boys loved having Grandma here!

The day Julie left, Julianne arrived!

Tommy and Joey loved playing with their cousins, Evan and Perry. We went on rides at the Mall of America, splashed around in the lake, visited the Science Museum, and spent a few hours in Stillwater, where the picture above was taken at Teddy Bear Park.

Thank you so much, Julie and Julianne, for making our month so exciting!

Just Hangin' Out

I've found Tommy in this position on a few different occasions. He explains that he's too tired to sit in a chair. Can you see that he's suspended several inches above the ground?

New Backpacks

As they say, "Brothers gotta hug!"

We got Tommy his first backpack and lunchbox for preschool. (He thought the monkey backpack/leash was his first backpack, but this is the first real thing...) It just so happened that Joey was with us at the time of purchase. Before I knew it, they both had backpacks on their backs and lunchboxes in their hands...

So I did what any compassionate parent would do, and bought a backpack (with lunchbox) for both of them. They've both been wearing those backpacks straight for about three days.

What does Joey need a backpack for, you might ask? Nothing...we just got him one so he wouldn't feel bad about Tommy having one! Uh oh, I think we've just embarked on the slippery slope of sibling "fairness"!