Sloth Bears

Most of our family was gone by Monday afternoon, but Aunt Erin and Uncle Mark stayed until Thursday.  It was so fun having them here to hang out with us!

On Wednesday, we went to the zoo!  George loved being able to walk around (something he only gets to do when I have help chasing him)!  We had a great time.  George kept talking about the alligators and I couldn't figure out why it was such a big deal... so I kept saying "Ok... look at the elephants!"  We didn't see the alligators until the end... and I remembered that there is a big brass alligator that he can climb on.

Somewhere in the middle, we saw the lions and tigers... and Sloth Bears.

(this is not my picture... just to give you an idea of what they look like)

Every other time I have been at this zoo, one of the bears has been sleeping and the other bear has been pacing back and forth on a wall.  On Wednesday, they were both pacing in a big pit right up against the path, but about 15 feet down.  George just had to see them, so he grabbed a hold of the gate and tried to climb it (it arched and went horizontal for a few feet).  Well, when he did this... he dropped his binky into the pit.  The bears walked straight over to it and started to play.  And then George stood there and watched them rip it to shreds.  He is still talking about it. (But also, he is still talking about a little girl who got a time out for taking Buzz Lightyear from him in nursery... two weeks ago.)  So, you can't see the bink, but here are the bears tearing it apart. At one point, one had it in his mouth and at another point, one threw it in the air.  You can imagine the years of therapy this is going to require.  I briefly considered taking the binky away altogether and telling him the bears took it... but I didn't want to ruin the zoo forever because he really, really loves it!

Rookie move, I didn't have another binky.  We stopped at Target on the way home.  Will I ever be done buying this kid binkies?  I swear we could have controlling interest in Nuk at this point.

Blessing Weekend

After only 7 1/2 months, Ruthie was finally given a name and a blessing at church on Sunday!  A baby blessing in our church is when the father (typically the father, although it can be any worthy priesthood holder... ie- grandfather or close family friend) takes the baby to the front of the chapel during Sacrament meeting to  formally give her a name for the records of the church and give her a father's blessing.  Other members of our family and close family friends stood with him.  It's a special day for babies and typically happens within the first few months, but nothing with Ruthie has gone according to schedule so far in her little life!  So, I am pretty sure Ruthie may be the oldest baby to ever be blessed! (Seriously.. her dress is a size 12 mo).  You can read more about our religion here.

It was a great weekend with family.  My family came out and Steve's parents were here as well as Steve's brother, Dan.  Our local family was around, too!  On Saturday, we went to a cook-out at my aunt and uncle's house.  They are so sweet and love to have people over for humongous meals!  We have been steadily chipping away at left-overs all week!

On Sunday, we just spent time together and had muffins and fruit for breakfast.  Church was at 12:30.  This is always a hard church time for George... but this week, he fell asleep in the car... and then slept through being carried into church.  I held him for a while.  It was weird to have him sleep in my arms, but also really sweet.  I don't get many chances to hold that silly boy these days!  Eventually, I put him on the pew and he slept all through Sacrament meeting.  We moved him out to the foyer so that we could get pictures... and he slept on the couch all through pictures!  Wow--he doesn't even sleep this well at home.  He must have been exhausted!

Here are some pictures from Ruthie's blessing day:

Silly George

I don't write down half of the funny things that George says/does throughout the day.  He's getting to be quite the entertainer.... here are some stories:

• Every story he tells lately happened "last night."
• Monday morning he told me "Ava go to time-out.  She took Buzz Lightyear.  I cried."  (All happened Sunday in the church nursery.  Buzz is his fav. toy and the nursery teachers give it to him as soon as he gets there!  Ava is his friend.)
• He woke up crying in the wee hours and told Steve "I was cold last night."
• While driving yesterday he said, "You're a good boy, Mommy!"
• While laying down for a nap he said, "After nap, pick up Mackie?"  I said, "in 2 days!" and he said "Oh that sounds fun!"
• One day in the car, he told me that he ate birthday cake "last night" and that Pop Pop (who lives a half-country away) gave it to him.  AND that Pop Pop got a hair cut "last night." (Both comments were unsolicited and unrelated to anything going on)
• He regularly makes me feed him his sippy cup like a bottle (and hold him like a baby)
• After the Sesame Street credits, he tells me, "Nap time, Mommy!" 
• The guy upstairs was playing drums while I was getting G ready for bed and he said, "stupid drums!"
• G was playing with a toy and walked away from it.  One of his friends picked it up and then lost interest a few minutes later.  When G noticed that his friend no longer had the toy he said, "He gave it back!  Thanks!  Thanks bud!  Thank you very much, Hudson!"
• One day I shut the door to my bedroom because G was getting in to everything.  He cried and insisted that "Daggy" (Daddy) was in there and cried until I opened the door to show him that Daggy wasn't home.
• He loves to hold Ruthie's hand and always lets me know that she's "wakey" whenever she makes the tiniest peep (which is kinda annoying because if left along, she would probably go back to sleep).
• One day he went into the living room and then I couldn't find him.  I looked all over.  I eventually found him laying between the couch and the ottoman.... as still and quiet as I've ever seen him.  When he saw me, he just gave me this evil grin!
• He regularly asks me "what you doin', buddy?"
• When I don't answer his "MOM!" requests, he starts calling me Kathleen.
• Or, if I don't answer him, he gets this real schmoozing voice and says, "hey, bud?  hey, buddy boy?" 
• At the playground, he finally got the guts to climb up a toy he was afraid of.  I said, "Wow!  You did it!  Good job, Georgie!" and he said, "Thank you, Mommy!" in a very serious tone!
• I fell asleep on the couch and G said, "wake up, lazy bones!"  (still trying to figure out where he learned this... if you know of a movie/tv reference, please share!)
• When he gets in trouble from me, he starts crying for Daggy.
• Every day he wants a turkey and cheese sandwich for lunch.  He pulls it apart and eats the bread and cheese.
• He loves to play outside on our small porch!  He rides on his bike and pushes cars/trains around.
• He can turn my phone on and pull up either Netflix (and actually start a movie) or the Thomas & Friends puzzle pack app.  And he does this all day long.... and wears out my battery.  I really need to start keeping my phone up higher!
• At the beginning of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse one day, they asked who was stealing cupcakes.  George yelled, "Baby bear!  Find him asleep!"  And what do you know.... that's what happened!
• His favorite song right now is "22" by Taylor Swift.  He has a huge crush on her and could watch that video all day long.  He just calls that song "TaySwift" so you just have to know what song he wants.  Heaven forbid you play a different Taylor Swift song when he asks for her!  If he wanted "Ever Ever," he would have said so!

Ok, that was longer than I expected... but I started going through my facebook statuses and my texts to Steve and these are all the funny things I have from the last month!  What a funny kid!

Oops.

I filled out a survey for my apartment complex a few weeks back.  Today, I got a response email.  Wow--do I sound like a you-know-what!  Hahaha... seriously... read her response...

Kathleen,

I wanted to thank you for taking the time to express your opinions of our community, and to tell us where you feel we can improve.  All feedback is extremely helpful.

I wanted to address your concerns, one being the water billing.  I have my accounting team researching why your bill was higher than usual, but please know that the office water is separate from the residents charges and meters.  We will be in contact with you on your bill shortly. 

In regards to your zone pass experience with an agent 3 years ago, I do apologize if you were misinformed.  We do have a one time zone charge of $25 and that is just for the pass.  There are no other expenses to the zone unless you choose to tan which is $20 per month.  At this time, I would like to extend the offer of giving you one free zone pass so you can experience all of our amenities.  Please let me know if this is something you are interested in and I will make arrangements for your pass to be prepared for you.

I am forwarding your complaint of the drums to Nicole, who handles the noise complaints. 

Please let me know if there is anything further we can do for you and have a wonderful day.

Kristen 

Bahahahahaha.  I sound terrible, huh?  Well, they asked.

Anyway... maybe I shouldn't fill out apartment surveys.  I'm pretty sure she will never send me one again.  I thought about sending back a "3 things I like about this complex" but I could only come up with one... "Maintenance is done fairly quickly and they are always super nice."  That's all I got.

Shut-ins in Training

This is how I feel when we leave the house lately....

Please tell me that this stage will end soon???

Are we going to be shut-ins???

I seriously dread leaving the house.

G Sings Songs

Last night at dinner, George just started singing "Teddy Bear Picnic."  In case you can't tell... he's singing "At 6 o'clock, their mommies and daddies will take them home to bed because they're tired little teddy BEARS!"

And his other new favorite phrase comes courtesy of Toy Story 3... at the end... when they are at Bonnie's house and Potato Head's pieces are falling out... and he says....

That's "I told you kids... stay out of my butt!"  Yup.  And he will yell it randomly.... anywhere.  This all started when he got a Mr. Potato Head ("Two Head" as he calls him) in his Easter basket.  And he makes me open the "butt" so that he can put things in it (blocks, toys, etc).  Oh well, what can you do?  The more we make a big deal out of it, the funnier he thinks it is! 

April Goals

Ok, so I am failing miserably on my New Year's resolutions.  Actually, I don't think I did a single day of any of those resolutions.  Why?  Maybe I set goals that are unobtainable and unmeasurable so that I don't have to finish them?

I found a blog where a girl set monthly goals.  She discussed them at the end of the month.  So, starting small, here are my April goals:

-Serious exercise 7 more times (3/week) - (Exercise video, etc)

-Mild exercise 5 more times (>2/week) - (Short video like Spark People's 5 minute butt workout or a walk with the kids, etc.)

-Read 3 General Conference talks/week (9 by 4/30)

-Clean apartment nightly.

The overall April objective is to stop stressing about things that I can't control and focus that energy on things that I can control.  So hopefully, focusing my energy on things that will keep me busy will help me feel better about the world around me.

So, on April 30, I will be discussing how I do this month.  Stay tuned.

See? I Write Letters.

Dear Television Executives (especially you, Ryan Seacrest),

We all like to watch Ryan Lochte swim.  (USA! USA!)  More importantly, there is only one thing that we don't want to see Ryan Lochte do: talk.  Seriously.  He's an idiot.  This new reality show is a bad, bad idea and you are ruining the 2016 Olympics for me.

So please, cancel this show before it starts.

Thanks,

K

Dear Ryan Lochte,

We all enjoy watching you swim (much to our husbands' dismay).  As a woman, I can tell you:  if you ever want to attract a female ever again, BEG Ryan Seacrest to can your show.  "Jeah!" is not a real word and does not belong in an adult's vocabulary.

"Dancing with the Stars" would be a much better fit for you.  Stay away from anything that requires you to talk.

You're Welcome,

K

The Honest Toddler

Yesterday, my honest toddler said "Wake up, Lazy Bones!" when I fell asleep on the couch.  He was right.... I was a "Lazy Bones" yesterday.  Maybe because he comes into my room at all hours of the night ready to play or eat breakfast?  He's asleep on the couch now... think I should return the favor?  JUST KIDDING!  I will just sit here and enjoy my peace and quiet.

Anyway, today I discovered "The Honest Toddler" on Facebook and I followed a link to the actual website.  This post about a birthday party had me cracking up.  Totally spot-on!  Enjoy!

Confessions of a Letter-Writer

I'm a letter-writer.  What does this mean?  It means that I write letters when I feel like a company needs to hear what I have to say.  Sometimes it's good stuff... but most of the time, it is because a product let me down.  And more times than not, I never actually write the letter.  My family makes fun of me for this.  Steve actually just made fun of me today for writing letters.  But hey... wouldn't you want the chance to make things right with a customer?  I feel like I am helping them!

Seven years ago (wow--I feel old), I got a flat iron for Christmas.  It was great and I loved it.  Then one day about a year and a half later, the top plate stopped working.  I remembered that it had a warranty.. but I didn't have the receipt or any of the original packaging!  I got online to see what I could do.  I mailed them my broken flat iron with a 3x5 card with my name and address scribbled on it.  Two weeks later, I had a brand new flat iron in my possession.

And I rewarded this great customer service today.  After 5 1/2 years, that replacement flat iron finally bit the dust yesterday.  It was weird because it still felt hot, but it was doing nothing to my hair.  So today, I got online and bought the new version of the same flat iron.  I'm really picky about stuff like this... so I decided that the best bet was to go with what I know!  Plus, I know that their customer service is awesome!  So I will probably have a Jilbere titanium flat iron for life.

Saturday night, Steve and I noticed that our Sonicare was on the fritz.  It was a gift, so once again, I had no purchase information!  We got it almost 2 years ago (this summer).  I got online to see what I could do, and within 20 minutes, a customer service representative filed a claim and we have a new toothbrush coming in 7-10 days!  So, Philips has won a customer for life.

Also on my "great customer service!" list:  Bounce (sent a coupon for "free--any product, any size" when I told them I hated their dryer bar.)

On my "Terrible Customer Service" list:  Rhodes Rolls (said they would send 2 coupons for free bag of rolls--never did.), Tresemme (took so long to respond that I threw away my broken dry shampoo... then months later they said they would replace it, but wanted the broken bottle back), Aveeno (hasn't responded to my email saying that my lotion tube just fell to pieces... it litterally just cracked like a potato chip every time I put lotion on G).