Here it is, our official Top 10 of 2009 list and card.
Some people I know have eschewed the traditional card and gone with an e-card, but not us. Taralyn won't let me embrace the digital age fully, although she is making me post it in digital form. I guess some people really like the Postal Service to make more money. I prefer to inconvenience a few electrons in a digital transfer over the interwebs.
If you are among the chosen few, you will also see this in your snail mail box between Dec 26 and Dec 29. If not, we may not like you enough, so you can print this one out and display it on the cold-food-keeping device in your kitchen.
Fall is my favorite season. For some reason it always seems the most romantic of all. My good friend is featuring Fall in her "Fall Fling" so I decided to participate (see her blog Because Babies Grow Up)
One of my most favorite things to do during the Fall is to camp (in the mountains or the forest. Anywhere with trees.) and wake up to a crisp morning where we can drink hot chocolate and sit by the fire. Those of you who knew me pre-Utah know that this is somewhat new and was in fact adopted in my college years. Craig has turned me into more of an outdoor girl (although he would still argue the opposite). I never thought I would, but I actually enjoy sleeping out with no tent. That is...if there is an absence of mosquitoes. Suede had her first camping experience a couple weeks ago, and (I am told) really enjoyed it. We'll have to go again soon before it gets too cold for the kiddies.
Here are a couple pics of the campout with her Daddy a couple weeks ago. Of course I was stuck at home studying, studying, studying.
So I promised myself I would post today as I have been telling myself for months I would catch up. It's the catching up that's so daunting you know. Months of change and where to begin. Also, there is the fact that we always forget to document things with pictures, so what do I have to show! Well here goes....
Brief Update We left Virginia full of tears in July as we embarked on our new journey in Tennessee/Kentucky (I'm sure Zac and Gina were rejoicing as they now have their basement back).
We have a new house....let me rephrase that, we have a house built in 1929 that is new to us that we love. It's a funhouse, literally, with slanted floors and doors and all.
Craig has once again taken over the house with his recording equipment and drums. Glad he feels at home now.
Craig's commentary: And what's left over, Taralyn has scattered with her dozens of school books and supplies.
I started medical school on July 28th and am LOVING IT! I just don't know how I'm going to remember all the awesome stuff.
Our new ward is awesome and Craig finally has a big boy calling (he's gotten off the hook since we've been married). He's the assistant ward clerk over finance. I laughed at first, and then this morning realized it adds work for me as I have to get the kids ready for church by myself and bring them home by myself. Why oh why did I wish this upon him (and me)? :)
Phew, that wasn't too bad.
Now for a funny story.
As we were bringing a load out here (we moved in stages), we stopped for some food at Wendy's and a feeding/ changing of Ellis. Well, I fed and left the changing to Craig (dun, dun, dun). He had the van door open with Ellis on the seat and forgot the cardinal rule of diapering the child RIGHT AWAY! Needless to say, it was not the pee party you are thinking. It was quite the opposite. A powerful opposite at that. He just so happened to be bending down right at the moment Ellis decides to have one of his amazing squirty rocket poops. Outcome = poor Craig's face (and Taralyn laughing so hard she can't even hand him the wipes). Let me tell you, this was some power. We measured the distance that this rocket traveled, 8 ft!
This one's for you Craig!
Craig's commentary: Speaking of things on people's faces. Here's what Taralyn had on hers recently. All from a little plant called poison sumac.
Back to Taralyn: It was SO HORRIBLE! I became a believer in homeopathy this last week. My face is back to normal. Our Bishop (also a teacher at the medical school so he's a genius Dr) gave me a remedy b/c I can't take steroids while breastfeeding. Miracle stuff! Works better than steroids!
Well, that's all for now folks. Hopefully I won't wait 3 more months before I post another one.
Ellis Craig Sowby arrived on May 23, 2009 at 12:22pm after a VERY long night. He was 7lbs 12oz and 20 inches long. Almost a pound and a half bigger (and 2.5 inches longer) than Suede was. All in all it went well and Mom and family are doing great. Here are a few pics we got today. That makes him... 6 days old.
In honor of Cinco de Mayo (and some cravings for some custard) I made my first attempt at the beloved flan. I was quite nervous about the outcome. But....I have to boast and say it was AWESOME!!! Looked great and tasted even better. This will have to become a tradition :)
We love the Leapfrog Letter Factory Video. Suede does too. We've done a little bit of work with her, but mostly it came from the movie. We didn't show it here, but she also knows all the sounds the letters make. That video is great! Thanks to Heleen for telling me about it! If only we could find one sufficient for potty training. The ones we've found don't motivate her much :)
We went to Disney World for New Years with the Clawson clan this year. Instead of spending approx. $100 for Disney to dress up my daughter as a princess and do her hair and make-up, we decided to do it ourselves by bringing along the outfit etc. So Suede and her cousin Hannah were fairies. Hannah was Tinkerbell, Suede was a generic non-Disney fairy (I know I'm a cheapo).
I have a strange child. When presented with an artistic activity, she has an extremely long attention span. Last week my sister-in-law introduced water coloring to her. She sat there for an hour and a half without even making a sound continually painting. She then had to be pulled away in order to eat lunch. All of the other kids (even the 9 year old) had left her at the table to paint on her own a long while before.
This week, we were coloring Easter eggs for family home evening. Allowing the egg to sit in the dye without her participation seemed too boring, so I decided to give her paints. She was very upset when I finally had to pull her away from her artistic project (1 egg) after the other children had colored 3 dozen eggs, and everything else had been cleaned up.
I'm not quite sure what this means. Neither Craig nor I have any visual artistic ability, so hopefully we'll get back to Virginia soon (we're moving in July for my medical school) so Aunt Gina and MeMa can foster this possible talent.
Happy Easter!
Here's a good quote I found to remind us of the season.
"In his life, Christ is an example, showing us how to live; in his death, he is a sacrifice, satisfying for our sins; in his resurrection, a conqueror; in his ascension, a king, in his intercession, a high priest. -Luther
Genesis 2:19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
This was the theme of our family home evening lesson yesterday (with my brother Zac's family and my parents) in which we chose the name of our new puppy. We all wrote down names and we drew 3 and voted.
The winner: "Bloke"
This name was supplied by my niece Hannah. I think she really wanted to say "Blake" but messed up and Gina quickly wrote down the first one she said. It's definitely starting to suit him.
He's a Basset Hound/Collie/? mutt and I think he's going to be a great dog. He's been preparing me for the baby with his nighttime potty breaks, but he is really starting to catch on. P.S. Did I mention Craig's contribution was "Barfy-McToots" I'm really happy it wasn't one of the final 3. The kids really liked that one and I'm sure it would have been the winner. I can imagine myself calling that out my door at night.
Since Suede will be 2 in April, and this was the last chance for us to fly with her for free, Craig's parents gave us some airline tickets for Christmas to come out and see the family. It was short, but fun and we're glad we got to see who we did. Craig of course spent a day on the slopes and came back bruised and sore thinking he could pick up on those jumps where he left off last year... I hear he did alright though. Suede had her first Sledding and Snowman experience and was so angry when we were leaving that she threw a tantrum in the snow. Luckily we borrowed a camera for the event since we seemed to have forgotten ours (as usual). Here is a sampling of the snow day.
So I'm blaming the hormones on my recent but frequent weird dreams. I'm either married to someone else and remember that being married to Craig was so much better and I need to just figure out how to get back, or....I forget who I am married to and know that there must be someone, but the name just doesn't come to light. A couple of them I've been married to ex boyfriends which is incredibly odd (it's never the same one. They seem to be on random selection). Luckily, I still wake up happily next the right guy.
On a similar but somewhat different note, some of you may not have caught that the baby in my belly has 3 lower appendages and is thus providing a whole new array of hormones for me to try out. I'm not the nice happy pregnant person I was with Suede. Craig would probably say I'm quite the opposite...and I must say I have to agree. Carrying boys does not agree with me :) Luckily I love the thus far unnamed anyway. Oh the things we do for our children.
So it seems as if I'm doing a monthly blogging. I'll try to keep it up a bit more. A couple weeks ago Suede had her first trip to the ER (to all of our great displeasure). She couldn't keep anything down, so when nothing prevailed, her Dr. sent us to the ER to get some IV fluids pumped into her veins. So sad, but it did the trick and she was up and running just minutes after. They put Dora stickers on her IV so she kept saying, "Dora owe" :(
We performed for our ward (church) Christmas party this year and everyone from my brothers family, our family, and my parents performed. We practiced a lot and the kids did awesome! Craig and I have been teaching the Violin and Cello and it was their first time playing in a group.
Gary-vocals and guitar Judy-percussion and children container Zac-Bass Gina-Cello London-Violin Mason-Rockin cello and dance moves Charlie - Kazoo Hannah-Kazoo Noah-sweet wood block and oral metronome Craig-Drums Tar-Cello Suede-jingle bells
We're planning on hitting the road in 2009. We'll let you know of our tour schedule :)
