After church one Sunday while Carson was still in Nursery, he came home and told me this story:
C: One time, at church, there was a burned up bush on top of a mountain. And there was a voice! It was Heavenly Father!
Me: Who was he talking to?
C: Joseph Smith! He had to climb up. (He moved his hands in front of him to signify "climbing up.")
Me: What did he say?
C: Take off your shoes.
One morning I had to wake Carson up early. He sat up out of a deep sleep and proclaimed: "(mumble mumble) MOM! I just lost the spaghetti in my bed!" Then he snaps to a little bit and shakes his head to clarify, "No, bread!"
When we were in Seattle this summer, Austin had a bike wreck in which he broke his left cheekbone and got a massive black eye. When we returned to Provo, Carson learned to ride his own bike and one day he wanted to ride it down the grassy hill in our back yard. At the bottom of the hill, he crashed. I helped him up and, thru sobs, he cried, "I broke my cheekbones!"
Carson, like most kids his age, goes thru phases where he tries out sounds and asks what they mean. Mostly they're nonsense. Par example: "What's a blash clash?" And sometimes he tries using his nonsense words in sentences, as in "But the floating house came from a blash car!"
Another Sunday in church, he must have played a game or learned a story involving toy soldiers. When he came home, he showed me how to stand straight and tall like a soldier. But he was wiggling like he needed to go to the bathroom. I suggested that maybe he should go relieve himself, but he indignantly replied, "Soldiers don't go pee-pee!"
A few months ago, we went for a family outing to get ice cream at the BYU Creamery. Carson said something in a scratcy voice, and Austin asked him if he had a frog in his throat. Carson said, "No, the frog is just," (pause to make a cold, shivery face) "COLD!"
Running up to me while playing with Seamus:
C: Seamus was trying to get into me! He was trying to eat my bones!
While we were eating lunch on a picnic bench one day last week, Carson struck up a conversation with a lady on the other side of the table. He noticed that she had something written on her hand and asked her what it was. She told him that when you get old, you have to write things on your hand to help you remember them. This past weekend, Carson took the liberty to write on his hand with a pen he found. He showed me and then told me, "This helps my brain to remember to stay in my head."
27 March 2012
26 March 2012
Christmas Highlights
For the 2010 holiday season, we were pretty immobile. We were lucky enough to drive to San Diego to be with my family for Thanksgiving, but Christmas was spent in Provo, pretty much anticipating Cora's birth, and being very careful not to do anything to entice her to come early. (As cute as it sounds, I just didn't was a Christmas or New Year's baby. I like to keep my celebrations separate.)
So this year we lived it up. Not too long after returning from our Maryland Thanksgiving (and an October jaunt in San Diego with my family again), we flew out to my parents' house in Ohio for Christmas. We got to stay for 2 whole weeks (benefits of being on a student schedule again), and over the course of that 2 weeks, siblings trickled in, eventually culminating in a nearly complete McHardy family Christmas. Less only Tobi who is still on a Mission in California. (Sorry, kid. We'll get together again when you return!)
Highlights:
Erynn: I was able to see several good friends from my former life. Sarah brought her little boys over for a play date with Carson. I think it was a good break for him to have kids to play with. And it was good for me to catch up with one of my oldest friends. Later that week, our mutual friend Lisa was in town, and we got to go out for an evening with my friends and their husbands. We talked, ate sushi, and went to a live show performed by another old friend that I was in a band with once.
Austin and I also celebrated our 6th Anniversary--the first time ever (since our wedding) that we've done anything celebratory on the actual date of our anniversary. Having a Christmas-time Anniversary, it's usually more convenient to celebrate in, say, September when there's nothing else going on. But this year it worked out this way. And after an evening with friends, Austin and I were able to spend a kid-free night in a local hotel. Nothing fancy, but at least I never had to wake up to deal with crying children!
Austin: Poor Austin struggles with Ohio. He certainly does enjoy hanging out with my family, watching movies, playing games, and philosophizing. But we're usually only there during cold months, and even at the best of times, the state isn't much of an outdoor mecca. And when he's on vacation, he likes to spend it out adventuring and exploring. But this year, he discovered a "Metro Park" down the road from my parents, complete with woods, river, running trails, and indian mounds. He spent some portion of most days running in that park.
Also, inspired by a GPS he had received from my Dad for Christmas several years ago, he has taken an interest in Geo-Caching. This time around, Carson was old enough to have fun with Dad on these "treasure hunts", and so they spent a bunch of time searching the area for buried treasure. I think this was equally a highlight for Carson as well as Austin.
Carson: Carson loves Granny's house, so he was mostly just happy to be there. He had fun seeing all his aunts and uncles and playing games with us. But his highlight was, of course, Christmas morning. And despite the fact that he received several awesome car-related gifts (Lightning McQueen toys, a Hot Wheels race track, a pack of classic Chevys), the gift that received the greatest reaction was a t-shirt that Paul and Aleta got for him. It's a black and grey 2-layer shirt with a screen-printed tiger on the front. For some, inexplicable reason, the tiger has a wheel in its mouth. On the sleeve of the shirt is another little tiger head--this time with no wheel. Carson went on and ON and ON about how much he LOVED his tiger shirt (pronounced tah-ger). And, to anyone whose attention he could accost, he explained, in very excited 3-year-old tones, that "the tiger on the front is eating a wheel! And this one," pointing to his sleeve, "already ate the wheel!"
Cora: Cora, after pretty much giving up entirely on the walking thing, decided to start picking it up again at Christmastime. So she spent a lot of time falling down, crawling fast, and then trying to get up again. She mostly had it down by the time we left. But there was still plenty of time for crawling adventures. The biggest and, might I add, most horrifying of which, I will relate to you. (Warning: This is not for the weak of heart or stomach.)
On Christmas night, Cora was crawling around exploring the semi-finished basement where our room was. This was normal, and I didn't expect any particular problems from it. I knew I'd probably have to fish something out of her mouth, but again, that was normal. What then, wasn't normal was the object that I DID have to fish out of her mouth. I picked her up to change her diaper in preparation for dinner. I saw that she was munching something, so I squeezed her cheeks and stuck my finger in to get it. (Ack! Ack! my stomach is turning and my skin is crawling at the thought of even typing this!!!) What I pulled out was a big, dead, black, fuzzy SPIDER. Gaaaaahhhhh!!! Seriously, I am not joking when I say that this thing was at least the size of a quarter--and that was with its legs curled up. Oh my gosh, I screamed bloody murder and flung that horrid thing across the room. Then I ran upstairs and ruined everybody else's appetites by telling them what I had screamed about. Yeah, that was Cora's highlight.
And I think that about sums it up. Good times were had, memories were made, awesome gifts were given and received, and all returned home safely.
So this year we lived it up. Not too long after returning from our Maryland Thanksgiving (and an October jaunt in San Diego with my family again), we flew out to my parents' house in Ohio for Christmas. We got to stay for 2 whole weeks (benefits of being on a student schedule again), and over the course of that 2 weeks, siblings trickled in, eventually culminating in a nearly complete McHardy family Christmas. Less only Tobi who is still on a Mission in California. (Sorry, kid. We'll get together again when you return!)
Highlights:
Erynn: I was able to see several good friends from my former life. Sarah brought her little boys over for a play date with Carson. I think it was a good break for him to have kids to play with. And it was good for me to catch up with one of my oldest friends. Later that week, our mutual friend Lisa was in town, and we got to go out for an evening with my friends and their husbands. We talked, ate sushi, and went to a live show performed by another old friend that I was in a band with once.
Austin and I also celebrated our 6th Anniversary--the first time ever (since our wedding) that we've done anything celebratory on the actual date of our anniversary. Having a Christmas-time Anniversary, it's usually more convenient to celebrate in, say, September when there's nothing else going on. But this year it worked out this way. And after an evening with friends, Austin and I were able to spend a kid-free night in a local hotel. Nothing fancy, but at least I never had to wake up to deal with crying children!
Austin: Poor Austin struggles with Ohio. He certainly does enjoy hanging out with my family, watching movies, playing games, and philosophizing. But we're usually only there during cold months, and even at the best of times, the state isn't much of an outdoor mecca. And when he's on vacation, he likes to spend it out adventuring and exploring. But this year, he discovered a "Metro Park" down the road from my parents, complete with woods, river, running trails, and indian mounds. He spent some portion of most days running in that park.
Also, inspired by a GPS he had received from my Dad for Christmas several years ago, he has taken an interest in Geo-Caching. This time around, Carson was old enough to have fun with Dad on these "treasure hunts", and so they spent a bunch of time searching the area for buried treasure. I think this was equally a highlight for Carson as well as Austin.
Carson: Carson loves Granny's house, so he was mostly just happy to be there. He had fun seeing all his aunts and uncles and playing games with us. But his highlight was, of course, Christmas morning. And despite the fact that he received several awesome car-related gifts (Lightning McQueen toys, a Hot Wheels race track, a pack of classic Chevys), the gift that received the greatest reaction was a t-shirt that Paul and Aleta got for him. It's a black and grey 2-layer shirt with a screen-printed tiger on the front. For some, inexplicable reason, the tiger has a wheel in its mouth. On the sleeve of the shirt is another little tiger head--this time with no wheel. Carson went on and ON and ON about how much he LOVED his tiger shirt (pronounced tah-ger). And, to anyone whose attention he could accost, he explained, in very excited 3-year-old tones, that "the tiger on the front is eating a wheel! And this one," pointing to his sleeve, "already ate the wheel!"
Cora: Cora, after pretty much giving up entirely on the walking thing, decided to start picking it up again at Christmastime. So she spent a lot of time falling down, crawling fast, and then trying to get up again. She mostly had it down by the time we left. But there was still plenty of time for crawling adventures. The biggest and, might I add, most horrifying of which, I will relate to you. (Warning: This is not for the weak of heart or stomach.)
On Christmas night, Cora was crawling around exploring the semi-finished basement where our room was. This was normal, and I didn't expect any particular problems from it. I knew I'd probably have to fish something out of her mouth, but again, that was normal. What then, wasn't normal was the object that I DID have to fish out of her mouth. I picked her up to change her diaper in preparation for dinner. I saw that she was munching something, so I squeezed her cheeks and stuck my finger in to get it. (Ack! Ack! my stomach is turning and my skin is crawling at the thought of even typing this!!!) What I pulled out was a big, dead, black, fuzzy SPIDER. Gaaaaahhhhh!!! Seriously, I am not joking when I say that this thing was at least the size of a quarter--and that was with its legs curled up. Oh my gosh, I screamed bloody murder and flung that horrid thing across the room. Then I ran upstairs and ruined everybody else's appetites by telling them what I had screamed about. Yeah, that was Cora's highlight.
And I think that about sums it up. Good times were had, memories were made, awesome gifts were given and received, and all returned home safely.
Some notes from the Holiday Season
I never finished my Thanksgiving post, but I realised that, while we had a good time, to write about everything wouldn't be super interesting. We had a delicious, traditional Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings--including a labor intensive, delicious, gourmet stuffing made by Logan. I contributed apple and blackbottom pies. And Sarah and I made a pact not to let each other eat ourselves into disgusting, piggish discomfort. And for that, I was grateful. Leftovers are always so yummy, so why make youreslf uncomfortable feeling like you have to eat it all at once?
Up at the Wilcox Farm, Austin and his brothers put their backs and brains into hanging swings in the barn and a zipline next to the house. The kids were thrilled with both, and even the adults had some fun with the swings. More than one person attempted to swing high enough to kick the rafters in the roof of the barn--tho I'm not sure anyone succeeded.
The highlight for our little Cora was that she took her first steps. Although I managed to bring both of our cameras, I foolishly didn't charge the batteries on either one. So I got zero pictures on our Nikon, and very little video with our camcorder. Fortunately, however, I did get video of Cora walking. Logan set her up on the rug in the living room, and she probably took 10 steps before she either fell or reached her goal. She did this a handful of times, but then gave up walking altogether for the next month or so.
The highlight for Carson, aside from having a blast playing with his cousins (especially including wrestling with Rocky on the indoor trampoline) was family friend Randy's blue convertible Corvette Stingray that he drove to church on Sunday. Carson's favorite show is still Top Gear (car enthusiast show on the BBC), and seeing such a sweet ride in real life sends this little boy into fits of excitement. Hearing Randy rev the engine and (appripriately) peel out of the church parking lot were both very thrilling to him. (And it's possible that Randy and Carson were both enjoying the car on basically the same level. Sheer giddiness.)
The highlight for me was a lunch date out with all the adults. We went to a swanky place in Frederick, MD called Volt. It's the first time I've ever eaten at a real foodie establishment. I was intrigued by the elaborate presentation and the extreme diversity in the ingredients. If I'm completely honest, I think I'm a little too pedestrian to really appreciate a place like that, but I was very happy with everything I ate.
I think the highlight for Austin was being out of doors and with his brothers. He was able to play Turkey Bowl football and joke around and have the types of discussions he can't have with me because I don't like to debate for debate's sake. He got to use tools building the zipline and swings, and he got to have a break from the city life we've been living for the last 3 years.
It was a good Thanksgiving. It's always good to spend time at home.
Up at the Wilcox Farm, Austin and his brothers put their backs and brains into hanging swings in the barn and a zipline next to the house. The kids were thrilled with both, and even the adults had some fun with the swings. More than one person attempted to swing high enough to kick the rafters in the roof of the barn--tho I'm not sure anyone succeeded.
The highlight for our little Cora was that she took her first steps. Although I managed to bring both of our cameras, I foolishly didn't charge the batteries on either one. So I got zero pictures on our Nikon, and very little video with our camcorder. Fortunately, however, I did get video of Cora walking. Logan set her up on the rug in the living room, and she probably took 10 steps before she either fell or reached her goal. She did this a handful of times, but then gave up walking altogether for the next month or so.
The highlight for Carson, aside from having a blast playing with his cousins (especially including wrestling with Rocky on the indoor trampoline) was family friend Randy's blue convertible Corvette Stingray that he drove to church on Sunday. Carson's favorite show is still Top Gear (car enthusiast show on the BBC), and seeing such a sweet ride in real life sends this little boy into fits of excitement. Hearing Randy rev the engine and (appripriately) peel out of the church parking lot were both very thrilling to him. (And it's possible that Randy and Carson were both enjoying the car on basically the same level. Sheer giddiness.)
The highlight for me was a lunch date out with all the adults. We went to a swanky place in Frederick, MD called Volt. It's the first time I've ever eaten at a real foodie establishment. I was intrigued by the elaborate presentation and the extreme diversity in the ingredients. If I'm completely honest, I think I'm a little too pedestrian to really appreciate a place like that, but I was very happy with everything I ate.
I think the highlight for Austin was being out of doors and with his brothers. He was able to play Turkey Bowl football and joke around and have the types of discussions he can't have with me because I don't like to debate for debate's sake. He got to use tools building the zipline and swings, and he got to have a break from the city life we've been living for the last 3 years.
It was a good Thanksgiving. It's always good to spend time at home.
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