Mom, I think it's Beautiful!

Taa daa!!! My mother can stop shaking her head at me every time I drive to Vegas. Yep, that's right, we finally bought our new car. If I were gifted, I'd get a Price is Right clip and put it on the site.... "And behind that curtain you have... a new car!"

Okay, so not really new. But new to me. And not really a car. A van.

But, let me tell you, I am NOT upset to be driving a minivan around town. I am glad. I am proud. I am liberated.

And you would be too if you'd been driving a Nissan Sentra around. Especially one that's been nicknamed "Vivaldi" because of all the different sounds it makes depending on the seasons. Now, I personally think our new van is slightly ugly. It is a Honda, and it looks like R2-D2, but I really, really, really like it.

It has power doors.
It has a DVD player for above-mentioned trips to Vegas.
It has room for Ellie's legs.

Yes, Elise is the true lover of our new car. When she got in it she said she thought it was beautiful. And every time she rides in it she says, "Look, my legs fit now."

So, we proudly announce the newest member of our family:

R2-D2, a red Honda Odyssey that everyone fits in.

First Crawling Footage

We used a dead flower to tempt Meg in her crawling, and got several videos. Then we forgot, and she ate the flower. Hmmmm. Luckily she stores such items on the roof of her mouth.

Meg has been trying to crawl for a long time. She scoots on her head, hops, walks on all fours (feet on the ground), and sometimes really crawls. But she's never chosen it as the ultimate form of locomotion. A little pavement will change that for you! So, here's to crawling.

Home Again, Home Again

Well, we've been to see the new baby, and since Justin is upstairs kindly putting Meg to sleep (he always sings to her) I thought I'd take a few moments to document. I am not quite used to our new computer... so everything is not as I would have it. But here're the goods.

This is one of my favorite pictures of all three. Note Andy's enjoyment of photo time, and Meg's double chin excitement. Boy, don't you wish you could be a part of this picture moment?

Here's a very cute Andy. I did a little photo shoot and Emily made fun of me... but I truly did get a good picture of him. He's a handsome little devil.

We had a nice visit. True, Meg did get sat on a few times (Cody thought she'd make a great pony), but other than that we had fun. And boy, did I ever get to sleep in without the early bird around. Meg and I both enjoyed that.

The funniest piece I have from Ellie's adventure without Mom is a conversation she had with someone sitting behind them at the football game. Justin didn't hear the first part, but he did hear this last sentence.

"Daddy tried to do my hair."

And then later that day when I asked Ellie who did her hair, she replied, "Well, Daddy tried."

She also tried to pick up Meg and hold her, so she must have missed her a little. Although not enough to keep her from throwing a toy at Meg a few hours later. Can you miss your little sister and be glad she's gone for awhile? Of course!

Below are some pictures for anyone who doesn't thing Meg looks like her Dad.

I wish I were gifted enough to put them right next to each other... but sadly I'm not.

Because I Can

Elise has been growing up! Just ask her. Her favorite thing lately is to get herself all dressed in the morning. She does this on her normal schedule of early, and comes into us at 7:00 a.m. (sometimes 6:45 a.m.) completely dressed.

"It's wake-up time," she says.... not so quietly.

Which, of course, wakes up Meg also.

Anyway, the other day we put her down for bed and pretty soon she's yelling that she needs to go to the bathroom. Since Elise wears a pull-up at night, this really shouldn't be a problem. But when we reminded her of this she replied that she'd taken it off. At this point, Justin and I went upstairs to see what exactly was going on. And there was our beautiful daughter, completely dressed for the day. All that bedtime routine effort gone down the drain! We were back to square one.

Well, after getting ready for bed.... yet again, we asked Elise why she had done this. Why had she taken off the pajamas we'd just put on, and dressed herself for another day?

Ellie thought hard.

I asked her again.

"Because I can," she replied.

And what can you say to that? It is so fun to learn all those new grown-up things. To be able to do it by yourself. Even if you've already done it twice that day!

Andersen Lars Tate Poffenberger

Announcing my newest nephew: Andersen Lars Tate Poffenberger!!!

Andy was born on Tuesday, and was a wopping 9+ lbs. He's definitely a cutie. He joins a blonde as can be brother (Cody Eric Wolfgang Poffenberger) at home. They're a fun little duo. Congratulations to my sister Emily.

And for those wondering about the long names.... My sister Emily's maiden name is Greatorex, and we always joked that she couldn't get a harder name when she got married. But, lo and behold, she ended up with Poffenberger. Then, when Cody was born, Emily said she'd incorporate the family tied "Wolfgang" into his name, but they also wanted "Eric," Duane's middle name. When we all knew Andy would be coming (although we didn't know it was a boy until Thursday) we knew he'd have to get a name that was just as long and spectacular. The boys even have the same number of letters in their names! And Andy has a family name too. (My mom's maiden name is Andersen). So, here's to long names.... but mostly to cute boys!

A Quick Fix

Okay, so I'm behind. Things just keep happening (Justin starts school on Wednesday, and yes, we are officially unemployed now) and I keep thinking.... oh, another thing... I really can't handle commenting on another thing. So, rather than do the zillion posts I've thought of doing lately, I'm just going to put it all in one and get it done (or get 'er done... as some would say). Beware Jody, many pictures and videos ahead! That is, if you're still reading my blog, since that's what I normally do anyway.

Anyway, due to some family stuff with Justin's side of the gang, we did not get to quite finish our vacation the week Justin had off work. We ended up scheduling one exciting event for the next Friday: the Heber Valley Railroad.

May I just say I would recommend the experience to anyone! (We have some bounce-back tickets that are good for maybe another two weeks, $10 off, if anyone wants to claim them.) All of us had a great time. Really, it was so relaxing. Like being rocked to sleep with a fresh wind in your face and beautiful scenery all around. I thought Ellie would get bored eventually (I even brought books), but boy was I wrong. She still talks about it now. We rode the train a little ways, had a chance to learn some square-dancing (my favorite part), and rode the train back to the station. Even Meg stopped screaming once the engine began pulling us down the track. I can't even describe how much our family enjoyed this activity.

I got online afterward to see if Justin and I could go on a date some time and learn square dancing (sans the baby on my hip and the toddler in his arms), but I think it's mostly old people hanging out together at square dancing conferences. And as much as I wouldn't mind hanging out with a bunch of old people (my grandparents loved to square dance) I don't really plan on entering some square dancing contest anytime soon.

Okay, next on the list: We're all moved into our new house, and I actually decided to decorate this time. I suffer from "Aren't we going to move soon anyway" disorder. Previous to this house I mostly hung a few things on the wall, and pretended it didn't look like I'm still living in a dorm. My mother mocks me endlessly concerning this problem. Well, our new place has beige walls and green carpet (as Jimmy Zangwow would say: "Holy Macaroni") so I decided I would actually try. Deep breaths everyone. Below is one of my projects that turned out well enough that I took pictures of them before something (or someone) destroyed them.

AnneMarie and Ellie also wanted to join in the fun. They were pretty good painters, even if the concept of one paint brush per color didn't quite sink it. They especially enjoyed adding sparkles to their creations.

Okay, so now on to the short and sweet entries that have amused me over the past few weeks. Below is a picture of Ellie after church today. Depending on when you ask her she: A)tripped and ran into a table, B)tripped and ran into a wall, C)was pushed over by another nursery attendee. I really haven't a clue... although circumstantial evidence does lead me to believe there is a somewhat violent child in our new nursery class. Ellie has never complained about bullying before (Is this because she was the bully?), but she's now told me she's been pushed and bitten. Hmmmm. Anyway, she sure has the goose egg to prove that something happened today. Pictures truly don't do it justice. It's so large it even makes her eyebrow go all swervy. Ironically, her goose egg is in the same place as Meg's bump... so we told Ellie it was cool because now she was like her sister. I'm not quite sure she believed us.

This is a picture of Meg looking like she belongs on Ellis Island. If only I had one of those white hats those children all wore. We tried to get her to smile, but in the end it was only fitting that she look so serious. I should have uploaded it in black and white. Speaking of which, we watched a really good movie about Ellis Island the other day called "The Golden Door." It was subtitled and we had to hold up pillows to our heads during the whole admittance to America thing (apparently baths were not a common thing on the boats), but it certainly helped me understand the whole Ellis Island experience a lot more clearly.

Meg is now eating at the table with all of us. She makes us laugh. Elise and she are sooooooo different. Elise loved food. Just ask the Bomans. They didn't believe us when we brought four Gerber baby food cartons for an evening out, but she surprised them and downed them all. Meg on the other hand has a mouth like a vice of steel. She will open it for pears and bananas. Peas and Squash? Dream on!!! Her favorite part of dinner is what we call dessert. We wipe her up and let her suck on the washcloth. (Come on, tell me you didn't do it when you were a kid). She gets a kick out of it every time.

Speaking of Meg being different than Ellie: we have discovered that Meg is much more interested by texture and sound than Ellie ever was. She loves rattles. Ellie never shook a toy to see if it made noise in her life. Meg, on the other hand, shakes the toys I bring to church (all quiet ones) any direction possible, hoping, just hoping that it will somehow make noise. Texture is her reason for not liking all foods. Rice cereal and oatmeal are big no-nos. I only get a taste in if I hide it with pears. The other difference is that Meg is very spatial. She understands how things move. Justin and I would try and try to teach Ellie how to put her binky in her mouth. She never got it. (Or she just knew how to make us peform her every whim and fancy). Meg has been doing it for centuries. So, the other day I filmed it. Simply because I am amazed by it. Geeky, I know. And you will now be forced to watch it. Or at least scroll past it. Too bad for you.

Okay, okay... enough is enough. So, we'll let you all be. Have a great end of the summer. We'll see you on the other side of school starting!

And okay, I know I forgot to do the whole Agent 007 thing. I am obviously too tired. Which is also why you should forgive any typing errors!!! See you all later.

Hey, whatcha looking at!!!

Agent 007

One of the blogs I read has alter-ego names for everyone they mention. I like the idea. It helps with the whole private versus non-private game, and it's fun. So, even though it's too late to do it really (just look at one of our past posts and you've got the key to the code-names) I thought I'd try it. Besides, while we were on vacation we all had different names for each other when we ran around town. So, introducing our new code names: Bruno, Zelda, Brunhilda, and Noni!

Family Vacation

Our family vacation was a strange one this year. We had been planning for a long time on taking a whole week to spend time together before Justin starts his MBA this Fall. The whole trip had many permutations, but eventually we decided we'd stay at home and see the sights. This meant spending less on gas, and getting to spend more on activities. It all turned out really well since we ended up moving the weekend before our vacation. I tried to contain myself and only unpack boxes on an as-needed basis, and we kept ourselves busy running around town.


This is actually a picture from before our vacation. Justin's work took us all to a baseball game. Ellie had a great time rolling down the hill. I'm not sure she actually watched the game, but I'm pretty sure she didn't miss much. Meg enjoyed playing with the grass. Unlike most children she loves the strange texture, and it calms her down a lot to let her rub her feet around. Okay, okay, back to the vacation.

A picture of Ellie on our ride to the Dinosaur Museum. This is how she usually looks... a little crowded. In fact, Elise often insists her legs are too long for our car, and has even asked us if anyone else driving would mind trading with us. We told her to go ahead and ask, we wouldn't mind.


We told Ellie to pose like the dinosaur was going to eat her. Pretty good job, huh?



This is Justin and the girls sitting on the park bench at the War Memorial Park (yes, I did say War Memorial... a place that honors dead people) where he proposed to me. Okay, beyond the mockery, he looks pretty good with those two girls on his lap.

Sitting on the steps at the State Capitol. This was an accidental addition to our day. We were driving by and decided we might as well stop and check it out. Elise liked all the steps and the running around.
On Temple Square Elise got to see the Christus. She liked all the pictures on the way there, and asked us to take her picture in front of the statue.

Justin and Ellie by the reflection lake outside the Temple. Elise's favorite part of this activity was seeing the bride who was having her pictures taken. Ellie is obsessed with brides. Consider the following conversation:

Justin: Ellie, are you obsessed with brides?
Ellie: No.
Jamie: Obsessed means that you like something a lot.
Ellie: Oh, I'm obsessed.

Eating lunch with the family.

Walking in the gardens at Thanksgiving Point. Elise was a little frightened of getting her feet wet, but then she really started to have fun. Eventually the elephant sprayed her. We also saw another bride getting her pictures taken at the secret garden. Elise wanted to stay there and watch her for a long time.

We had a great family vacation. So much fun time together, and lots of new activities. At the end of the week, Ellie said this:

Ellie: We should always spend the day together.
Justin: That would be fun, but I have to go back to work.
Ellie: Why?
Jamie: Because that's how we pay for our food and our house.

Pause

Ellie: Let's send Meggie to work then.

What a wonderful family to have.