Shiloh Speak

Shiloh:  Bzzzzzz bzzzzzzz  bzzzzzzz.  I am being a bee mommy.

Me: Oh really?  Can you fly around like a bee, for pretends?

Shiloh: Um.... no I can't fly.  I don't have.... uhh.... I don't have bee feathers

*     *     *     *

I was doing some gardening and Sam came up and started digging in the dirt.

Me: Sam beat it!

Sam leaves and and few minutes later comes back and starts licking Shiloh

Shiloh: Sam, you beat!  I am beating you Sam!

*     *     *     *

I roll Shiloh's sippy across the floor to him.

Shiloh:  (In a very somber voice and a look of disdain) Mommy, please don't throw it.

Me: Oh, Ok, sorry.

Shiloh:  Cuz if you do, you'll be sad, you'll have to go time-out

My back window

Sometimes, when I look out my back window, I see the beautiful world and possibilities outside.  I take in the beauty all around and I appreciate it.

Sometimes, when I look out my back window, all I see are the dirty fingerprints obscuring the view.  I want to see past them, I want to find the beauty, but the fingerprints are all I can manage to make out.

Sometimes, when I look out my back window, I see a mesh of delightful fingerprints and trees and grass and beauty running together. I see the tiny hands behind the fingerprints pointing to the birds, or trying to pet the dog through window.  I guess in these moments, I experience the outside like the little people that are experiencing it as they look through the window.

We are often told throughout the scriptures to become more childlike.  I can think of a myriad of different ways to describe what that means, as I am sure all of you can as well.  Tonight, I think it means that I need to be more like the last "sometimes" paragraph.  It means that the fingerprints shouldn't obscure the view and that they don't need to be washed away in order to appreciate what God gives me, but that the fingerprints and the view are all part of the same horizon.  The fingerprints, mixed with God's creations, create an experience that is uniquely mine.

At times, I find it hard to sustain that perspective, but for tonight, it seems perfectly clear (or muddied with beautiful fingerprints, whichever way you want to look at it). Hopefully I can hang on to it for a little while this time.

Once upon a time there was a Brachiosaraus that came to stay with us....

This is Brachiosaurus.  

Not to be confused with this....  They don't even look similar people!

She is just visiting our house.  I promise! We do not need another puppy around these parts, but, apparently, she thought we did.

Are you feeling a little lost? Or maybe you are wondering where in the world we got a name like Brachiosaurus for a dog.  Or you might even be thinking to yourself, "With two kids 2 and under, a 9 month old puppy named Sam, and a lot on your plate in general, why are you having another puppy stay with you?"

Well folks, I am going to answer those questions, and a few more that you may have in the following story.  It's a doozey, and I am just not sure that you are likely to believe it, but it is true.

My kiddos have been sick.  I know...Big. Huge. Surprise!  Yesterday was the first nice day in a little while that the weather was decent.  Shiloh was feeling some cabin fever, so, while I was cooking dinner and Eli was sleeping, I let Shiloh go on the back deck with Sammy. (Lest you think I am a bad mom for sending my two year out by himself, I didn't put his shoes on and the grass was muddy, and if you know Shiloh and his slightly OCD tendencies, then you know he would not want to get his socks muddy, so he stays on the deck. Haha)  I left the door open, and Sammy always barks if someone comes up the drive way, so I thought it a good idea for him to get some fresh air.

All of a sudden I hear Sammy barking ferociously.  I actually hadn't heard him bark like this before.  I go running out the back door to see what is the matter and Shiloh exclaims, "OOOOOOHHHHHHH! Big white puppy.  Little black puppy! Cumere!  Cumere!"

Sam was barking at a really big white dog.  There was a little black dog, i.e. Brachiosaurus, under the truck.  I try to tell Sammy to be quiet and come in the house, but now that I am outside with Shiloh, Sammy is not worried, he wants to PLAY!  Before I can really get my wits about me, the little black dog comes bounding right past me and towards Shiloh.  I hadn't realized it was a puppy yet. I about face and head towards Shiloh to make sure he isn't knocked over.  Do you remember how I told you the grass was muddy and soggy?  Do you also remember how I mentioned that I had left the back door open while Shiloh played?  Well, soggy, muddy, bouncy, black puppy runs right past Shiloh and in through my open door and into my house.  I am trying to catch the dog.  It is jumping on my couch and picking up every toy, which there were quite a few to chose from, along the way.  I finally catch it and put itxz out.

This is when it dawns on me.  Sam....Where is Sam?  He didn't come chase the puppy in my house?  Where is white dog?

Well, people...He and white dog were no where to be found.

How did I end up with a black puppy and no Sam?

Well in this little time of reflection, Shiloh starts screaming at the door.  He wants to go outside and play with black puppy! Was black puppy still there.  I had put her out a few minutes ago. Surely she had run off by now.  NOPE.  She was sleeping on the deck, basking in sunlight.  To try and keep Eli asleep, and to make the Shiloh screaming stop, I opened the door and let Shiloh go outside with the puppy.  I played with them for a bit to make sure the puppy was nice, and she was very nice.

I went back inside, but Shiloh didn't want me to shut the door.  So I opened the door a little,  Shiloh knew that it was open, but the dog didn't.  I call Kenny and tell him to keep his eyes open for Sam on his drive home. Then I hear Shi talking to the puppy, In The House.

 The puppy had made itself at home in the back of Sam's cage.  Just then, through the open back door, Sam comes bounding in, covered in mud from head to tail.  He runs for his cage and sits with Brackie.  Now I cannot get either of them out.

Well I finally get the puppy out.  She lays on the deck.  She won't leave.  She keep             s scratching at the door.  She thinks she belongs with us.  After dinner we drive up and down our road, knocking on random doors, asking if anybody recognizes this puppy. No surprise, nobody does.  While we are in the car Shiloh continues to ask what black puppy's name is.  He says black, brack.  So we started saying Brack or Brackie.  Then Shiloh, pulling from his incredible memory of a dinosaur show we watched  and says Brachiosaurus. From there on out he wouldn't call her anything else.  She wouldn't leave our house.  She stayed here all night.  I called the Humane society and they are going to try and find a foster family for her.  So I guess she is here until Monday.  I have a thing against pounds I won't take her there.

I promise she is just visiting!  This was a really crazy afternoon, and I promise that it all happened.

You know how life gets crazy? ....yeah me too

*WARNING* This is a photo dump, and a post that doesn't have much to do with anything in particular.

Now that the warnings and clarifications are out of the way, on to the good stuff.  Things have been a bit crazy around our parts.  There are many reasons, but probably the main reason is that I have a two year old and a 9 month old.  I don't think that I really need anymore reason than that.

Amid all of the doctors appointments and scans and hospital visits,(for myself...to be discussed in a future post when I am ready to talk about my health and all that it involves) we have been having fun as a family.  We somehow have managed to fit in.  We have done everything from play in the snow to playing on the swing set in that backyard to playing follow the leader in the snow when it was 55 degrees.

The two pictures above are Shiloh and I playing following the leader in the tire tracks in the snow.  Kenny and Eli are taking the picture.  Shiloh had the hardest time understanding the concept of staying in the tire tracks.  He ended up very snowy indeed.

 Here are my two cutie pies.  They love this little swing set that we happened to get for FREE. Our friends manage and apartment and the tenants were evicted.  The tenants were mad and so they didn't clean up anything and left everything they didn't want, which was A LOT!  We helped our friends clean out the apartment and in return we got anything we wanted that was left behind.  The previous tenants had a little boy and we got some cool stuff, but this little swing set was tops by far!  It is just the perfect size and is used all of the time.

These were such funny little pictures that I had to post them.  I would have to say that dinner time is one of our family's favorite times.  Shiloh always has a story and, for the most part, we are all happy.  Kenny and I always have at least one laugh out loud moment because of one of these two little goof balls.

Here is my little ball of energy.  Eli keeps me on my toes, people!  He is into everything.  He has been crawling for about a month and a half now.  I have nicknamed him my little tornado.  There is just no keeping up with him or his messes, but for the most part he is pretty happy.  He is also very loud.  He never stops jabbering and most of the time it is definitely in "outdoor voice" decibels.  He is also pulling himself up to everything.  He is starting to stand on his own and love to hold onto my fingers and walk around.  Sometimes he just lets go and tries on his own.  He hasn't started walking, but he can't wait to be able to pester Shiloh even more than he already does.  He adores Shiloh and anything that Shiloh is playing with.  He has also turned into such a social bug, not in the same way as Shiloh, but he does love other people and to be picked up by anybody who will let him slobber all over them.

Oh my Shiloh!  He is such a funny, unique, and sweet little guy.  He loves, loves, loves to read.  He could sit in my lap for and hour or more straight and just have me read books to him. Often, if you can't find him, Shiloh is in some odd place (such as my closet laying on clothes, just lounging, seen in the above picture) reading a book.  He definitely got the reading gene from me.  He loves to love.  He can make anybody his best friend within a matter of seconds.  He will also talk anybody's ear off.  He also is a really great tantrum thrower.  Although they do not happen as often some other kids' tantrums might, his are epic!  They start over really small things and they last FOR.EV.ER.  Like the other day we had one last for 2 hours!  I am not exaggerating.  There was not a moment of silence from the screaming and the kicking and hitting and such.  It all started over a little craft pom pom that the dog licked.  At least once it is over he goes back to being his cute little self.

Congrats if you got to the end of this.  Hopefully you gleaned some of the updates that you wanted amid the chaos.

A Pantry...Finally

 In my house in Provo, there was not a pantry.  There also was not a utility closet or a linen closet or anything besides the teeny tiny closets in the bedroom.  We did have an attic space, but it wasn't always a convenient storage spot for things that we used frequently but wanted hid out of sight.  We lived in that house for a little over 4 years.  I dealt with it okay, but I didn't have two children in that house either.  I had one... for the last six months of living in that house.  I swore up and down that the next house that we bought would have storage closets galore and for sure, at bare minimum, it would have a great kitchen pantry.

 Fast-forward to about a year and half ago.  We are looking for houses.  We decide on this one.  Guess what?  There wasn't a pantry.  There wasn't a coat closet or a linen closet.  There is a small utility closet, which is more than the Provo house had, but not much.  Granted, this house a huge master closet and 1500 square foot barn, but I am not going to store my towels in the outside barn, or my chips for that matter.

Kenny built a pantry.  He hasn't ever framed before.  He did a great job!  We still need to put on the door and the trim and to paint it the same as the rest of the kitchen, but I am so excited about this, that I don't even care it if isn't finished.  I have been using since the shelves were put in!  Here are some pics of the process.

Kenny's first framed wall.

  Both framed walls up.

Shiloh sweeping the floor.

First piece of drywall hung.

 Inspector Eli checking out daddy's handy work.

  Two walls up.

The shelving process.

Kenny having to literally lay in the shelves to screw some of the things in.  He wanted to use whole pieces of mdf cut to the shape of the pantry for the shelves to make it stronger.  Therefore, he had to get creative in the way he put it in.  He has a mathematical mind and had the process all figured out before he even began.  All I have to say to that is WOW.  I never would have been able to think that way.

 Here are the boys demonstrating how strong the shelves are and Kenny was also taking a much needed break from his hard work.

Tada!

Pics to come when the door is hung and the walls are painted.

I know that this is a bit of a photo dump, but I was really proud of Kenny and I was really excited to have this new pantry.  As you can tell by the pics, the children, for better or for worse, were very involved in "helping" mommy and daddy out.

The Bee Hurt My Nose

Shiloh talks...A LOT..especially when we sit down to eat!  He is very into telling stories and tall tales.  Almost everything that comes out of his mouth is some story or creative imaginative tale.  He also has an impeccable memory.  He will recall things from months ago, even a year ago.  He likes to add these little details into his stories....

Here is one example that happened a few mornings ago at breakfast.  Keep in mind that we were not in any way shape or form talking about this story or anything like it.  It just came to him.

Shiloh:  The bee hurt my nose and it rand away.  It flewd. and and and I am freakeen out in the backyard      That bee it hurt my nose. I'm really happened in the backyard. (I think he meant "it" as opposed to    

"I'm" but I wrote it verbatim)

Kenny: Where is the bee now?

Shiloh:  The mommy bee had a baby in the nest.  The baby was crying in the nest in the mom's body.  That baby had wings.  Those babies most of the time have wings.  Those bees have wings all day.  

Yeah...Yes!

We were laughing so hard.  The truth to the story is that about a week after Eli was born, we were sitting on the back deck.  A bee landed on Shiloh's nose.  He tried to wipe it away.  It stung him on the nose and the arm.  As you can see he loves to embellish!

Snow... The follow up post

The snow is STILL comin' people!  Even as I type this follow-up post I see hints of flurries out my window.  Granted, it has slowed considerably.

Here are a couple shots of the limb that fell onto my house....

 Don't judge...the Christmas lights are still up...

If you look really hard at this picture below, you can see where the huge limb broke off of on my maple tree.  I am not a great photographer and it was cold, so I was doing quick shots.  There is also a fair sized limb on my roof still as well.

Here is the view out my back door.  I don't think that we will be having any fun-filled days on that slide and swing any time in the near future.

On Wednesday, we also lost power for 7 hours.  Luckily we have a nice propane heater that was installed in the front room by the previous owners.  It was out from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.  Let me be the one to tell you, keeping 2 small children entertained in a single room for 7 hours is very very difficult.  We were snowed in with not a whole to do.  We aso tried to do naps in the front room, (pack and play and small tent style) it did not work, and that might be the largest understatement of the year.  It was catastrophic.  It included Shiloh freaking out about me shutting the tent door and then about me reopening it.  Then he went quiet, whilst Eli freaked out about the pack and play.  Eli fell asleep and Shi got up and had a melt down and WOULD NOT come close to the tent.  He tore blankets out and was running a way and screaming like a banshee, which of course, woke Eli up.  I ended up bundling Shiloh up and putting him down in his room, then I rocked Eli and put him back in the pack and play in the living room.  He was mortally offended that I would  put him down in it again, so I bundled him up and put him down in his crib in his room.  They both slept wonderfully.  The adventures of two small children.

Hopefully the snow stops soon and I can drive my car again and not be snowed in my house.  I am going a bit stir crazy.
 

Ummmmm.....snow is falling all around...and breaking off huge tree limbs off of my tree.

Last night, it started snowing...AGAIN.  We just had a good 8 inches of snow a couple of days ago.  We had another storm start last night.  We woke up to a good 7 or 8 inches this morning with only more snow in the foreseeable future.  I just wish that our tractor would have enough traction to plow our extremely long driveway.  This morning, at about 1:30, I awoke to the hugest thud against my in my room I have ever heard.  Kenny shot straight out of bed, which, if you know him, is a huge feat.  My heart was pounding.  We looked outside and a HUGE limb from our maple tree was laying against the house and on the front deck. (I will have to get a picture of that here later) We also woke up to the power going on and off at least 10 times, and every time it turned back on the oven would beep.  The weather advisory radio also woke us up twice.  The funny thing is that both of our kids finally slept through the night for the first time in a couple of weeks... The picture above is from the first snow.  I am working on pictures from this snow.  It just has to be day light outside first.

Shiloh is 2: part II

So I am a little behind on blogging, but I have to post the second part of Shiloh's birithday celebration.  We went to our dear friends', (Gramma)Chairety and (Grampuh)Yogi's, restaurant to have dinner.  The plan was: we bring pizza, Billy (i.e. the man that works for Chairety and Yogi, and who is lovingly referred to as "uncle Billy") makes cake.  We would have a low key, and fun celebration.

 

Here is Chair with little Eli

I should have known better.  If you know Chairety and Yogi, and I do, nothing is ever low key, especially when Shiloh or Eli is involved.  When we showed up they had the place decked in Disney's Cars paraphernalia, which is a Shiloh fave around our parts.  They had toys cars and trucks and such decorating the place, all of which were gifts to be taken home by the Birthday boy. 

Shiloh...was...in...HEAVEN!

We really had a blast!  We are so grateful for great friends who treat us, and our kiddos, like family.  We are so blessed to have had God place them in our lives.

Here is Shiloh with his "brack" cake.  His favorite kind of cake, and the only kind he has ever had.

 

We had a lovely time!  Shiloh had a blast and we really are so thankful for our good friends who made this day a very special on indeed for our Shi Shi.

Valentine's Day + How I met Kenny = the influence of God in my life

I realize that I have written kind of a crazy title.  It kind of looks like a "one of these things is not like the others" statements, but it isn't. Just keep reading, it will all work itself out in the end, I promise.

Many of you know how I met Kenny.  I may have even written it somewhere on this blog on another day when I was feeling especially sappy.  I will shortly retell the story, mostly because I am too lazy to actually go and look through my old posts and it is just plain old fun to reminisce, right?

Katie, my friend and below stairs neighbor had jumped in the apartment complex swimming pool with her clothes on.  I was on the balcony laughing at her and just conversing with her from three floors up.  Tall, dark, and handsome (i.e. Kenny) was walking by.  I thought he was very handsome indeed.  Then I had a thought, or a spiritual prompting, if you will.  "you are going to marry someone like him one day, you need to talk to him, so you can figure out what kind of man that is."  You know how those thoughts hit you like a ton of bricks and in the blink of an eye, and yet I brushed off the feeling/thought anyway.  It was a bizarre thought.  It was ludicrous to think that about a handsome man I had never met.  Besides, how was I supposed to talk to him he was three floors down.  Again, the thought came, only more urgently, and I almost involuntarily started to yell to him from my balcony. 

"Hey you're cute, what's your name!?"

Really?  That is the best I could come up with?  Well, I have to be given some slack.  There were about 3.8 seconds before he would have walked away, and who knows if I would have ever saw him again.

Needless to say, he stopped.  He didn't ask my name, I had to volunteer it.  He probably thought I was a bit crazy.  I even asked him to stay right there so I could stop yelling at him from my balcony and actually come and talk to him for real.  He stayed, and we talked and I guess you could say that the rest is history.

In hind sight, I truly love Our story.  I was always a bit embarrassed about it at first when people would ask me how I met Kenny.  I always thought that is made me seem a bit desperate.  But now, when I look back, I can see God's finger prints all over it.  I can actually see the thoughts and impression about talking to Kenny for what they were... spiritual inspiration.  God knew that Kenny and I would work well together.  He knew that Kenny was everything I needed.  He knew that Kenny was walking out the door, and that I had to act quickly.  He knew that I would love Kenny with all of my heart and that Kenny would love me with all of his.  He didn't care that it might be kind of embarrassing to tell the story at first, or that it was an unconventional way of meeting.  He knew that I am the kind of person, or daughter rather, that you have to hit over the head with inspiration, but not say, "you are doing this or else".  He knew that if he had said, "Brittani you have to talk to this guy, you will marry him."  that I would have felt all sorts of defiance running through my veins.  Luckily we have a Heavenly Father that lets us choose.  Luckily I have a Father in Heaven that knows me well enough to know how to get through to me. 

It is kind of funny, to think that Valentine's day could strengthen my testimony of God and His influence in my life, but it has.  Today, because I love Kenny and because I have thought of him all day, I have thought of how much I owe God for bringing him into my life, no matter how unconventional our introduction was.

Shiloh is 2!!!!!

Can you believe that I have a 2 year old?

Well I can't.  It seems almost unfathomable to me, and yet, at the same time, it feels like he has always been in our little family.  I can't remember what it was like to NOT be a mommy.  I really wouldn't have it any other way.

Shiloh is a bundle of joy, and temper tantrums.  But what 2 year old isn't?  

Shiloh Loves to help.  He can successfully stand on his step stool and put the silverware away correctly.  I find that very impressive. He loves to "wash" dishes (or stand on his step stool, run dishes under the cold water, take them from the dish drying rack and put them back into the sink, fill up clean glasses with water, drink it, and then accidentally-on purpose pour it out on the floor) He likes to shove Eli's Cheerios and binky in his mouth, even if he doesn't want it.  He likes to help me cook.  He loves to help me feed Sam.

Shiloh is a talker.  It amazes me how much clicks in that little head of his.  The other day he was saying, "Shidoh Kenniff Woolyums (Shiloh Kenneth Williams)" over and over again. I told him that was his full name.  Then Sam came up and took his carrot out of his hand.  He proceeds to sternly reprimand the dog like this, "Sammy Kenniff Woolyums, No No No!"  Kenny and I laughed.  Can anyone guess what I say when he is in trouble?  He knows so many words and talks in sentences.  He does have an interesting word for raisins though.  He calls them Rainies.  I love it.  I don't have the heart to correct him.  He also calls baby chicks, baby chips.  I won't correct that one yet either.  Whenever he gets in trouble, he automatically says, "Sorry mom, sorry mom, sorry mom, sorry mom" amid a shower of kisses on your leg or arm or hand or whatever of you is closest to him. He won't let you talk or try to explain to him what it is that he did wrong.  He just wants to move one.  I guess we all should, right?

He has a really sweet side.  He loves cuddles and kisses and hugs.  If I am gone for even a few minutes, when I come back in he says, " Mommy, I miss you."  Then he gives me a hug. He will then proceed to give Kenny and Eli and Sam a hug and tell them that he missed them too, even though they stayed at home with them.

 *WARNING Poop Story Ahead*

We are working on potty training in the most nonchalant way we can.  I am not going to be pushy or anything yet.  He sometimes seems quite interested, and other times, he is not interested in it at ALL.  The other day I was going to go to the bathroom.  I asked if he would like to sit down on the little training potty and try to go.  I told him that his daddy would be really proud if he went potty in the potty chair.  He agreed.  He sat there and grunted.  He tried.  He kept telling me, "it not working mommy".  I said that it was ok.  I also would ask if he would like to get up.  He was determined.  He wanted daddy to be proud of him.  We read books.  We sang songs.  I think he sat there for close to 20 minutes.  When he stood up, there was the tiniest, smallest, littlest piece of poop ever, like the size of a couple of grains of rice.  He was so proud.  We had to leave it in there to show daddy.  It was hilarious.  When he showed Ken, he beamed.  This was such a funny experience, and the first time he had ever actually (and I mean actually in the loosest sense of the word) gone potty in the potty chair, so we took a picture.

Shiloh's general likes:  the color green (for now), cars, trucks, tractors, trains, animals (especially turtles and dogs),playing with blocks, crashing the blocks towers that Ken and I make for him, playing with micro machines( or in his words, little cars) playing with Sam, tickles, his doggie and blankie, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, chocolate, carrots, broccoli, green beans, milk, tormenting little brother, and claiming that everything in the house or in someone's hand besides his own is his.

We sure do love him and are soooo happy he is in our family.  Happy Birthday Shiloh!