Haircuts, Dentist, and Attitude

On Monday, I gave Kevin a haircut. He was not very pleased with the idea. However, as I am a lazy mother, my theory on my son's hair is this: If I have to comb it, it's time to cut it.

As you can see from the before pictures, he didn't want a haircut.

It went pretty well, though he cried the whole time. When we finished, he didn't want a bath, so I cleaned off the extra hair with a wet washrag and took him into the bathroom to show him how handsome he was.

At first, he seemed like he was going to cheer up, but then he spotted an old scrape on his forehead. Immediately, (even though it had been there for two days) he said, "It hurt me!" and he began to cry again. So, even though I assured him that this particular injury was already there and hadn't been caused by the clippers, the after pictures are just as sad as the before ones.

You can see the tiny pinpoint scab on the right side of his forehead.

It didn't take long for him to cheer up, however. I had cut everyone else's hair recently, and Kevin was happy to join the hair-cutting club.

Tuesday was Kevin's first dentist appointment. (I had one too, but it wasn't my first, thankfully.)

He did really well! It helped that I went first, and they let him watch. Then, when it was his turn, he was very obedient and held open his mouth when asked. They told us that his teeth looked great and he has really nice spacing between his baby teeth. I was really proud of how well he did. The nurses were impressed and one of them asked me if he was almost four. I told her he had just turned 3 in November, and she was surprised. She said that she didn't usually see such mature boys, mostly girls.

He wasn't scared at all, and the staff did really well with him. After we got home, he started doctoring his T-rex's teeth and repeating things the doctors had told him, like "Doesn't that taste like candy?". It was really cute. I should have gotten a picture.

Instead, here's one of him coloring on the side walk with chalk.

Siff is doing really well. She loves her kennel, and goes in there to sleep on her own. She's doing really well with potty-training and everything else. She does have a bit of an attitude though.

Now, don't get me wrong. She's not aggressive, and she isn't really disobedient. She just knows what she wants and she's not afraid to tell you about it.

For example, last night, Siff was having a bit of diarrhea. She had to go outside every hour or so. At one point, I nearly put her kennel outside and just let her stay out, but visions of her being eaten or something else terrible happening forced me to let her in a short time later. (I have a very active imagination.) So, I opened the door to let her in, and she ran right over to Arkhon's bed and laid down, as though to say, "I want to sleep here, thank you."

I laughed and told her that I would love for her to be able to sleep there, but not until she had been accident-free for a few months. She went pretty willingly into her kennel after that. She just likes you to know her opinions.

She's pretty awesome and adorable. She and Arkhon get along great, and she's so sweet to everyone.

For a random addition, on Sunday, Grig found a garter snake and brought it home.It was really pretty. Arkhon found it very interesting before Grig let it go again.

I love my family.

Kevin's First Primary Talk

In our church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (otherwise known as the Mormon church), they have what is called Primary. Primary is where the kids go during two of the three hours of church.

My calling (the job I was asked to do) in the church is to be a primary chorister. I teach the children songs about the Savior and the gospel. I really enjoy my calling. The primary is separated into three groups, nursery, junior, and senior. The nursery has children from 18 months to 2 years. Junior primary has children from 3-7, and senior primary has children from 8-11.

Junior primary meets together first during the first hour (which is when the primary presidency teaches them lessons for half the time and I teach them music for half the time), and then they go to individual age classes for the second hour. During the first hour, the senior primary meets in their individual classes, and then they come into one group for the second hour.

Every week at the beginning of primary, three kids sit up at the front. As the meeting starts, one kid gives the opening prayer, one child reads a scripture, and one child gives a prepared talk.

This week it was the sunbeams (the three-year-olds) turn to do the opening exercises. We received a call thirty minutes before church started asking us if Kevin could give the talk. We immediately accepted and I was pretty excited about it. It would be his first time giving the talk.

He and I sat down at the computer and we wrote and typed up his talk together. Here is the typed talk. We took turns typing.

Kevin’s talk

Jesus is my Savior and Redeemer.

One time, I lost my play-dough lid. I prayed to Heavenly Father, and I found it! I know that Jesus found my play-dough lid.

My favorite stories about Jesus, are when Jesus walked on water and calmed the storm. Jesus said, “Peace, be still.”  jgmfkfk

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I know that Jesus died and came back to life. I know that Jesus loves me. 

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Jesus saved the world.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Kevin can now write his name on the computer all by himself. He's a pretty smart kid, and so he wrote his name at the top.

When we got to primary, his daddy helped him read the talk. He did such a good job! At first, when he started repeated what his dad whispered to him, the kids were kind of chatty, but as Kevin continued a quietness fell over the room and everyone started listening to him. It was really nice. I was so proud, I nearly cried. He spoke clearly and loudly, and did his very best.

I love my son.

I am so grateful for our church and for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the peace it brings into our lives. I love being able to serve in the primary. The children's simple testimonies are some of the strongest that I have ever heard, and I feel privileged to be able to teach them and share my testimony with them.

uhythehyg75y78y7thy8t6ght (a.k.a. Kevin's First Blog)

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This is about as much of a blog as I got done today. I woke up late because I had a really restless night, and Grig was nice enough to let me sleep in. I had this dream that a friend was hanging out with me and she suddenly got a call that someone was trying to get into her house and her children were home alone.

I woke up, wide awake, and was unable to get back to sleep for a couple of hours. It kind of freaked me out. So, this morning, after Kevin woke up, I sat down at the computer to blog, and  Kevin said, "I want to type," which is something he really likes to do lately. I think it's because I've been doing it more.

Anyway, so he wrote a bunch, and then something came up and I never finished. So, this is today's blog. We're going to call it "Kevin's First Blog" and leave it at that. He is pretty stinkin' cute.

Events of Some Magnitude

Last week, my husband cut my hair.

It was getting obnoxiously long. When I would lay down in bed, it would get caught under my armpits, and I would be stuck.

So, after months of not getting a haircut, I finally asked my husband to cut it for me. He was a bit scared. He'd never cut hair before, but I was sure he'd do a good job. He let me learn how to cut hair on his head, so I thought it was only fair that he should learn to cut hair with me.

They watched a short youtube video, and then with my mother coaching, Grig cute my hair.

He did a great job. I am very happy with my shorter hair.

I love this guy.

The other crazy thing that has happened this week is that Grig found out this his job is closing. The plant is going to remain open until the end of October, so he has some time to look for work, but it is a little scary. 

When he told me, however, I didn't feel any worry at all. I just felt peace and a sense of excitement. We'd been praying for a while to ask if Grig should be looking for a different job. We felt like this was the answer. 

We don't know what the next few months will hold, but we know the Lord iwll take care of our family. We appreciate the prayers in our behalf, and are so grateful for those who have been willing to do so.

The other momentous thing that happened this week was that our puppy turned 1!

Happy birthday, Arkhon!

We were going to have a party with him and his brother, but Loki's (Arkhon's brother) owners ended up having company at their house and couldn't come. We were sad, but didn't let that deter us. 

I ended up walking into town to obtain the ingredients we needed. By the end of the walk, Kevin and I had traveled over five miles! That's pretty impressive for me.

Once we got home, we baked Arkhon a cake. We were watching my friend's kids, so they helped me bake it.

Here's the cake without all the frosting on. It was shaped like a dog.

I have a recipe for homemade dog treats. We mixed all the ingredients together, and then I shaped it into a dog shape.

Then, we put a can of canned dog food on top for frosting. It made it look pretty disgusting, but the dogs liked licking the "frosting" off of my fingers.

Here's the cake with the frosting and the dog bone candle.

 Then we placed a bone on top and inserted a candle into the bone. I think it looked pretty awesome when it was done.

We also made a peanut butter bar cookie cake for the rest of us to eat, since we didn't actually want to eat the dog's cake.

Once everything was ready, we lit the candle and sang "Happy Birthday." Arkhon got to sit at the table for the first time in his life while we sang, and then Kevin blew out the candle for him.

He was very good about leaving it alone until we gave it to him.

The dogs really enjoyed the cake. Then we gave Arkhon a couple of presents, mostly from the dollar store.

Really, I decided you shouldn't buy any dogs treats from anywhere besides the dollar store. We got a whole box of treats for a dollar. That made me pretty happy. 

Arkhon had fun. It's crazy that he's a year old now. We haven't had him for a year yet, but he's turning into a great dog. He listens super well, and he has very few issues. Mostly, he still jumps when he's excited, and he will occasionally whine when we leave him behind. 

He doesn't have accidents in the house anymore either! We figured out that if we ignore him when he's excited until he calms down, and then make him lay down before we pet him, then his jumping is becoming less. I think he's figuring out finally what we want. He and Kevin are best friends. They chase each other around the living room, and he never even nips Kevin. 

Kevin's getting better at being gentle as well. 

Aside from the news about Grig's job, things are going pretty well. Please pray for us. We feel as though this is supposed to happen and that the next opportunity that Grig gets will be good for our family, but we also know the power of prayer and would be grateful for any extra faith on our behalf. 

Thank you again!

Kevin's First Birthday

Last week, Kevin turned one.

It was a monumental day for me.  It is hard to believe that a year ago I was in the hospital.  If you are interested in the events of that day, click on the following link: Top Ten Injuries in My Life.  It's number four. 

Kevin obviously didn't know that anything was different on his birthday.  We ended up having three parties, which will be featured in this week's video.  The first party was a private family party.  We skyped with Grig's parents and with my parents simultaneously. It started out pretty good, except that Grig's father was on a business trip and had to be skyped seperately.  So, we ended up having one computer for my parents, one computer for Grig's mother, aunt, and siblings, and one computer for Grig's father.  It was very exciting.  At first, Grig's mother couldn't get her skype to work, but after some assistance from Havelock, they got things figured out.  We were glad they could join us.

Kevin quickly figured out how to open presents. In some ways, he enjoyed ripping off chunks of wrapping paper more than anything else.  He would rip off a piece, wave it, and laugh.  It was very cute.  However, once he saw what was inside of the wrapping paper, he was thrilled.  It took us a while to go through his presents, but when he was finished, we had a very happy little boy on our hands.  He just wanted to play for a while.

All Kevin's presents.  Family picture!

 The second party took place a different day with my local extended family.  We all had dinner at my grandmother's home.  I cooked the main course (hamburger and rice casserole) and everyone else brought a side or just showed up.  We ate dinner first, and then Kevin got to open a few more presents.  He was really excited.  He liked playing with his cousins.  I got a pretty neat present too, even though it was technically for Kevin.  I received some patterns and fabric so I can make him some clothes.  We'll have to see how that goes.  My mother recently gave me a sewing machine that she bought at a garage sale, so hopefully it works.

Kevin loved his new truck!

 After presents, we had pumpkin pie, apple pie, and some fudge.  Everything was delicious.  Kevin couldn't figure out what to do with his candle, so another cousin had to help him blow it out.  Every time we sang "Happy Birthday" to him, he looked really confused.  He enjoyed the pie, but he didn't eat it very long before he wanted to get down and play again.  We had a good time.

The third party involved a gift from Grig's parents and a friend of the family.  It was a new wagon.  Last night, Grig and I assembled it, and Kevin loved it!  While we were trying to put it together, he kept jumping on top and spinning the wheels.  Then, once we had put it all together, he wanted to get in.  We pulled him back and forth in our hallway, and the dog even joined him!  After he finished, he started pulling the wagon, which I was really impressed by, because it is not small. 

Kevin had a wonderful birthday, and we want to thank everyone who helped to make it possible.  Thank you for the birthday wishes, your love, and your support! 

First Snow...(Kind of)

Click here to go to the video

Kevin has a great time with the first snowfall that he can remember.

Halloween Highlights

Okay, so I said I wasn't going to reveal Kevin's costume yet, and that I was going to wait for the vlog tomorrow.  So, be very excited!  It's very cute. 

I will give you some hints though. 

We had an exciting evening last night.  First, at 5:30 p.m. we went to a Trunk or Treat.  Kevin had a great time.  He walked around in his nice warm costume and followed other kids all around the parking lot.  He was so confused.  People would hold out their bowls of candy for him to take something, and he would stare blankly at the bowl and then look at the people as though to say, "What do you want from me?"

At first, we would grab the candy for him and put it in his small Easter bucket that we converted into a Halloween bucket.  Then, we went inside the church for an Alic in Wonderland Halloween party.  The people in charge did a great job!  There was all sorts of fun games for the children.  Lots and lots of sugar was handed out.  We ate some great cupcakes after Kevin won a cupcake walk.  Basically, there were paper plates taped to the floor, and Kevin would walk from one to the next while the music played.  When the music stopped, the children stopped.  Then, if they called the number of the paper plate he was standing on, he got to go get a cupcake.  We helped him eat it. 

He's only eleven months old, after all.  He only has one tooth!

Then, we got some apple juice.  Kevin loves apple juice. 

We only stayed at the party until 6:30 p.m.  Then, we went Trick-or-Treating at my Grandparent's home.  As we approached the door, I came up with a fantastic idea.  We put Kevin on the ground in front of the door, put his Halloween bucket next to him, rang the doorbell, and ran.  We hid in the bushes just off the front porch.  Kevin was busy pulling his candy out of his bucket when my Grandma opened the door.  She looked really confused when she found a baby on her porch all alone.  It took her a second to recognize Kevin, then she started laughing.  We emerged about then.  She ran and got her camera.

We spent a few minutes there and then we went Trick-or-Treating around her cul-de-sac.  It was here that Kevin started to understand the concept.  He started taking a piece of candy from their bowl and putting it in his own.  Sometimes he didn't want to let it go when he'd grabbed it, but he had a great time.  It was kind of cold, but he was bundled up warmly.  I think Grig was the only real cold one.  I had a nice warm cloak on. 

While we were Trick-or-Treating, we passed another child who was also wearing an African animal themed costume.  Kevin was prey while she was a predator.  We joked around with her mom that she was going to eat our baby.  Her mom joked back that she would hold her back.  As she walked away, we heard the girl say, "Mom, I'm not a REAL animal."  Grig and I laughed a lot about that.

Other than Kevin trying to get inside everyone's homes when we knocked on the door, it went really smoothly.  Then, after skyping with my parents at my grandparent's home, we went back to our apartment complex.  Then, Grig and Havelock took Kevin out for a few more houses while I played watchdog to the door. 

Grig got to bed awfully late considering he was supposed to be at work by 4 a.m.  However, it was a fantastic night.  We all had a great time!  I think Kevin really enjoyed his first Halloween.

I sure did.

Yes, Kevin was some kind of African Animal...see if you can guess which!