Potentially the Cutest Thing I've Ever Seen

We spent last weekend with my older sister, her husband, and my oldest brother and his wife and their two kids in Orlando. It was a BLAST! Stace and I saw Wicked Friday night-- AMAZING!!! (Can I please just have the song "Defying Gravity" playing on repeat all the time throughout my life everywhere I go?)
On Saturday we took the munchkins to Seaworld!!! Julian absolutely had a BLAST and was totally entranced with all the new sights to see!

watching the orca show
No, he probably won't remember his fun day in ten years, but you could almost see the neurons firing as he made connection after connection. (Like, when he made fishy faces totally unprompted all throughout the whale show-- he's never seen a depiction of an orca, but he knew it swam in the water so he used his deductive reasoning to assume that it must have been a fish...genius!)
The excitement and wonder in his eyes with every corner turned was absolutely priceless!

Plus we got to spend fun time with family, which is always wonderful. We ended up getting the year pass as it was only $5 more than a day pass! So...if anyone wants to join us, we'll be making TONS more trips this year! We didn't see quite a bit, so I'm anxious to go back already! This weekend? ya down? YAY!

Now to maybe the most adorable thing I have ever seen. Julian didn't get his morning nap on Saturday, nor his afternoon nap. Though he had tons of fun, needless to say: he was totally ZONKED out by the time we left the park. So on the walk out to the car, this is what happened:


and then he descended into an even deeper sleep, and plummeted more deeply onto daddy's shoulders...

So. cute.

Rihanna Makes Him Feel Like He's the Only Boy in the World

Last week we turned Julian's carseat around for the first time from rear-facing to forward facing. I grabbed our video camera before we walked out the door to document the monumental occasion, and I am SO glad I did! He was hilarious! Especially around 1:00 minute!!!

Food for Thought

"What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself..."

-Doctrine & Covenants 1:38

More on this later...

Finger...no, Plate Lickin' Good!

The other night I was sitting in one of my favorite hometown restaurants, The Red Elephant, with Julian and my mother-in-law. Boo Boo was really enjoying the special treat of his own personal cheese pizza. Grandmommy was very attentive to cutting up his pizza while she and I chatted the night away....way, way past Julian's bedtime (perhaps this evening impacted the "Sleep-a-thon"). He was such a trooper though.

He finished his serving of pizza. Well, he must have REALLY liked his dinner because before I knew it, he had PICKED UP HIS PLATE AND STARTED LICKING IT! Seriously?!! I almost died laughing! He definitely did not learn that by example-- he just made up the idea to do that on his own! It was absolutely hilariously adorable.

I'm so glad my new phone takes pictures at lighting speed-- very unlike my last phone! When you have a little one who gets from point A to point B in .0001 seconds, you need a camera that snaps pictures quick! Thank goodness I got this hilarious memory recorded!

Sleep-a-thon

Yesterday evening before I had to leave for a YW meeting, it became apparent that Julian was in desperate need for some zzz's. So we put him down at 5:30 for what we thought would be just a quick nap, even though it was pretty late for one. (His bedtime is about 8:00 p.m.) When I returned home from my meeting at 8:00, I was shocked to see Stace sitting on the couch with no Boo Boo in sight. I looked at him and said "is he still sleeping?!" Indeed, that was the case. I waited for him to wake up, knowing that it was probably going to a rough night for mama. And he never did. I also worried because he had barely eaten much lunch/ snack yesterday. I knew he would be starving. So at 9:00 I went upstairs to do the unthinkable and wake a sleeping baby to get some food in his surely ravenous tummy.

My poor baby was not about to wake up for Spanish rice and chicken or anything else, for that matter. He stayed asleep while I picked him up and carried him downstairs and rubbed his back and talked to him. I quickly realized I needed to let this child of mine keep sleeping, so back upstairs we went. I was kind of dreading the morning when I went to bed last night, because I knew it would probably come around 5 am. When I woke up on my own this morning at 8, I couldn't believe it! He was still sleeping! So then I got in the bath and waited still. Then Stace came in and I told him I was starting to worry about Boo Boo, and asked him if he'd just go peek in and see if he was ok. Stace opened the door at 8:30 and Boo Boo's groggy head popped up and he said "Hi, Dada!" He was ready for the day after his 15 hour hibernation!

"I DID IT!"

At the tender age of 14 and 1/2 months:

• While rocking him to sleep and singing or simply humming the tune of "I Am a Child of God", he will pop up-- even when half asleep-- to sing "help" and "teach" at the exact timing when those words come up in the song. Last night he did this, and then at the end of the song, after he clapped (he always builds your self esteem by clapping when you're finished with a song), he goes-- again, half asleep-- "I did it!"
• He will try to climb up on furniture, and then look at you and say "help!" Then, once he's accomplished the feat, he'll proclaim "I did it!"
  
• Today, Kardesia taught him "I got this." :D
• He walks/ toddles around everywhere and it's so dang cute! Will post a video soon:)
• He is definitely a flirt: stopping women in their tracks with his smile and wave...I've been told multiple times today "oh, he's gonna be a heart breaker!"
• If you sing "Hush little baby" to him, when you sing "mockingbird" he'll go "tweet, tweet!" when you sing "billy goat" he'll say "maah, maaah!"
• He can count to three!
• He loves it when I count on my fingers...for some reason he thinks it's hilarious. :)
• He knows the color yellow. "lellow." If he sees something while we're out and about that's yellow (like the cereal topping tonight at a yogurt shop), he'll point at it and say "lellow!"
• If he sees an illustration of a butterfly anywhere (in a book he's seen hundreds of times, or a book he's never seen before, or on the plate he was eating off of this morning at Grandmommy's, or a real butterfly, he'll raise his arm high and open and close his fist because that's what we taught him the butterfly does (flutters). It's amazing to me that he recognizes these animals no matter what depiction he sees.
• If he sees a heart anywhere he'll say "heart" and put his hand over his heart. And then he'll want to touch your heart.
• He loves to show you his elbow and say the word. Then he'll want to touch your elbow, and the random lady's in line behind you at the grocery store.
• He points to all of these things and says the words: earring, neck, chin, cheek, nose, mouth, eye, ear, elbow, knee, toes, foot, feet, hair, hand, teeth, tongue, back, arm, cat, moon, star, book, ball, basketball (all sports balls are basketballs to him), toys, Jesus, fire (and then he'll say "hot!"), banana, strawberry, blueberry, pasta, bread, milk....etc.
• While at church, if ever we pass the cultural hall doors, he points to them and says
  "basketball!" because he knows there are basketballs behind those doors. Crazy boy! How does he remember? I took him in their once about 2 months ago and he played with a basketball...
• He likes to brush his teeth and his hair. And he will gladly brush your hair for you too. Such a kind soul.
• He knows the following animal sounds and will make them when he sees a picture of them: cat, dog, duck, donkey, rooster ("doodle doo!"), pig, frog, bunny (hop! hop!), fish (makes a fishey kiss face), dinosaur, horse, cow, sheep, goat, owl, kangaroo (hop, hop!), butterfly (the fist thing), mouse (peep, peep), monkey, turtle (he just says "tuhtle, tuhtle)
• I love how his meow is almost always hoarse sounding. It's so cute!
• He loves to find the MOON at night! And the sunshine and the moon in books:)
• Still, his favorite toy of choice, above and beyond any others, is a ball to chase or kick. It's awesome because now he stands up and kicks the soccer ball all by himself! Before Stace always held his hands to do this.
• He likes to knock, knock and then say "who's there?"
• He says "where is it?" (he'll bend his arm and stick his hand out when you say it too) and "I don't know"
  
• When I ask him "can you stand up?" He does just that! I was amazed at how he knows what I'm asking him.
• Today I asked if he could go over and put something in a bag and he did it. Same thing as above.
• He can do shape puzzles.
• Lately I've been getting a lot of "she is so beautiful" compliments on him...while he's wearing BLUE. To me, he is so obviously all boy, so it's crazy! But they always say "he's too gorgeous to be a boy!" and I always take it as a compliment because my mom always used to tell me that my big brother was so beautiful that everyone thought he was a girl when he was a baby-- so to me, it's a compliment:)

photito courtesy of Freya and Sarah! I haven't been nearly as good about pictures lately! :(

"Joyous Soul"

I want to remember these conversations always. Last week I was talking on the phone with my mom a few days after she had spent some time with Little Boo Boo.

She went on and on about how special he is.

She said "I know I'm the Gigi (Grandma), but I mean, really. He's special, Kimmie."

She said "He's just so happy, and he's so, so smart. I mean, I've been around a lot of babies..."

"He just has this joyous soul. That's exactly what it is. Just this precious, joyous soul."

She said that phrase a lot throughout the rest of the conversation.

His other grandma, Grandmommy, has said many similar sentiments.

Grandmommy always talks about how SMART he is. She's the mother of three geniuses, so when she says my little Boo Boo is super intelligent, I know even more that it's true.

Grandmommy also often says:

"he's destined for something special, Kimmie."

"He really is."

Happy Valentine's Day Surprise!

This morning I surprised my boys with breakfast in bed! I know the menu doesn't look too exciting, but Stace has been so good with the way he's been eating, and I didn't want to sabotage him with powdered sugar and butter and pancakes! If I had, I know he would have felt sick for the rest of the day. (And that's no way to spend Valentine's Day!) So he got some healthy favorites: yogurt with walnuts, eggs and strawberries. Boo Boo got a special twist on his favorite: CHOCOLATE Cheerios ( Lucky boy! ) & strawberries (or, "ba-bayr-ies")!!

Boo Boo was so sweet. I had to wake him up to do this before Stace had to go to school. But I think he quite enjoyed it, despite the look on his face in this pic! :)

More Cheerios please!

We ended our special morning with a little love book from Grandmommy:)

Boo Boo got two presents for Valentine's Day: a little Valentine's Day alligator (he LOVES to go "chomp, chomp" when he sees one!) and the Care Bears movie! It was my favorite movie when I was just a wee one, and so when I saw it at Target for $5, I knew I had to get it for him. I haven't let him watch tv or movies since he was born (and even if they're on the background, he's never been interested), save one little Scholastic "Danny and the Dinosaur" dvd that he watches while we read the book together. So this was big for Boo Boo! He didn't quite get it though-- in fact, I think he thought it was pretty lame that he couldn't even open his new "book!"

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I'm excited for the rest of the day...I have a few more tricks up my sleeve!

Now Accepting Valentine's!

Now that Julian has finished practicing how he will sort through his Valentine's Cards,

He is officially ready to receive love letters!

Mama got festive with this holiday...with no plans of stopping! :D Here I am with my FIRST EVER SEWING PROJECT!!! Thank you mom for inspiring me and buying me a sewing machine for Christmas, and thank you Amelia for teaching me how to use it! This felt pennant banner really should be a lot cuter considering how much time I put into it...but...whatevs!

My favorite part is the hand stitching around the letters! This is because it's all quite messy when you look up close, but with the hand stitching, it almost looks like it's supposed to be that way! So...I'ma go with it:)

And here is a quick preview of another project I'm working on...along with a painting for a certain someone! Happy Valentine's Day weekend everyone!

LOVE YA!

Something Wicked This Way Comes...

I never did tell anyone about my favoritest Christmas present!!! After telling him for years how much I wanted to see Wicked (it debuted in London the month after I left after studying abroad), my lovely husband TOTALLY surprised me and got us great seats to see Wicked on Feb. 25 in Orlando! I had no idea it was even going to be there-- it really was a shocker! I'm so excited!

I am a HUGE musical theater fan. Here are the shows I've seen:

Lion King (3 times)

Mary Poppins (3 times)

Phantom of the Opera (3 times)

Les Miserables (2 times)

Chicago

Miss Saigon

Grease

We Will Rock You (musical of all Queen music)

High Society

Add Wicked to that list in a couple weeks! Whew hoo!!!

Little Tidbits

*Julian takes about six or seven steps now, and then crouches down and decides to crawl. It's so cute when he walks! Stace & I got a video of him taking several steps the other day, buttttt...he was completely naked (tehehehe) so I can't post it! Will try to get another one:)

*Speaking of naked, his "boat" sounds just like "butt"...it's cute:)

*He went to the doctor last week and he said he was very impressed with Julian's verbal skills and pronunciation. Julian even says "doctor" now!

*Yesterday he was reading books with his daddy and Grandmommy, and while reading, Julian picked up another book and handed it to his Grandmommy and said "read that!"

*He LOVES Danny and the Dinosaur! I kid you not, I could recite that 70 page book by now.

*He's not a fan of diaper changes...wow, it can be hard to get that little behind clean! But one way to distract him is to sing Jingle Bells! He likes to say "hey!" after we sing "one horse open sleigh." Stace is the founder of this practice:)

*He thoroughly enjoys getting into dresser drawers, cabinets and shelves and taking everything out of or off of them. (this makes him a good helper when taking clothes out of the dryer.) Now we just have to teach him to put things back! (He enjoys putting clothes in the washer too, but doesn't get too far before wanting to take out what he's put in...:) When he puts clothes in the washer/ dryer he says "good job!"

*I am slightly worried he is going to be obese...this child eats sooooo much. :/

*When asked, "can you laugh?" he goes "HA HA HA!" Thanks to his grandparents for this cute one!

*He is such a flirt/ super friendly!!! He just waves and smiles at everyone we pass by in the grocery store, when we're out and about, and when he's at church. He's a charmer, that one!

Confessions of a Wannabe Domestitician, Part 1

Why, yes, I did just make that word up.

"'Wannabe?' But you have been a housewife for almost five years now, Kim" you say. Yes, yes. That's true. It's part of the sad part! For quite some time, I have wanted so much to be able to feel like I could cook amazing meals and sew the cutest clothes and craftiest projects you've ever seen. Well, y'all. I feel like those desires are sooo far from where I currently stack up in the domestic goddess arena. So, so terribly far. I thought I could bake...that was the one thing I could say: "I can bake!" but then the sweet potato suffle I seriously slaved over for the Sirmans Thanksgiving Reunion was such a bust, it all but completely shot my self confidence in the kitchen.

I was never taught to cook, nor was I taught to sew (we'll talk about sewing in another post in the near future). I mean seriously. When I got to college, I was one of those who didn't even know how to boil water. (Wait, is there actually a category for that? I said "one of those"-- but I'm pretty sure I'm the only one.) Pathetic, I know. I'm really throwing myself under the bus here with this post! Well, the word "confessions" is in the title, soooo...

I think part of the reason I feel like such a "wannabe" in the kitchen is because I'm someone, like most people, who doesn't really enjoy, or get satisfaction out of, doing something unless she's not terrible at it. I guess it's the awful mindset of "if I'm not amazing at it right away, then I'm just not meant to do this and so what's the point?" Totally awful, I know. I think a healthier approach would be to challenge oneself and say "I'm going to do this, and I'm going to be dang good at it if it's the last thing I do!" So that's the catch: I don't just want to cook. I want to be able to cook really, really good food. That seems like such a far cry for me. If you know me, you probably read that last sentence and laughed at the idea. I call myself a "wannabe" because I'm not known for the tasty meals I pull out of my oven. It's the same way with singing. Growing up, my friends always told me they loved my voice. But when I got home, I was not the singer in the family. That role rested upon the shoulders of my two amazing, beloved sisters. I got the vibes that I couldn't sing like them, nor would I ever be able to. Soooo...I should probably just stop. Even though I loved to sing. That's lame!

Enter 2011. I was ready for my desires to stop being wistful hopes in my head that also made me feel guilty because God didn't pre-wire me to know what in the world I'm supposed to do with a pressure cooker. (Yes, the one that's been sitting on my counter for three years.) So I have begun to tackle my resolutions and I'm feeling good! :D yeah! I made a meatloaf last night that my husband looooved. Oh man. Never thought that would happen! I definitely got a high from that! So right now my first ever pot roast is in the crockpot and I just finished making some pretty mean mashed potatoes! I'm so excited for when Stace comes home to try them!

"There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we erect ourselves."

Ronald Reagan

Thank you, Mr. Reagan.

PS: Just finished eating our pot roast and Stace says "wow...this is really, really good. It tastes like pot roast from a fancy restaurant!" and about the mashed potatoes "I could eat these all day. In fact, can you make a bigger batch?" Y'all...this is the best dinner I've ever made! I'm so excited!

SUCCESS!
PSS: The Pioneer Woman (the lady whose recipe I followed and whose blog I linked to above) cooked her pot roast in the oven, but I put mine in the crock pot, because...well, it just seemed like the right thing to do.