today in a nutshell

dislikes:

*graham throwing fits because i don't understand what he wants - so sad! i'm trying, buddy!

*the house turning into a disaster zone AGAIN.

*attempting to bake salmon in parchment paper. i overcooked it. also, the salmon had no flavor...the vegetables underneath the salmon had way too much flavor...it was a big bust. that's what i get for trying to make something other than sloppy joes.

*it's too cold to play outside.

likes:

*going to library story time - toddler time for harrison at 10:15 and baby time for graham at 11:00. i love the children's programming that our local library offers! both the boys love it, too.

*finding new ways to get ground golden flax seed into the boys diet. this morning i put it in our pancake batter and this afternoon i substituted six tbsp. flax for two tbsp. butter in my oatmeal raisin cookie recipe. both turned out great!! next time i'm going to try to substitute even more flax and see how they turn out. (by the way, i've made chocolate chip cookies and substituted flax for the eggs and those, also, turned out great!)

*jer giving the boys a bath so i can start cleaning up the disaster zone.

*my new catch phase - "it's not time to play, it's time to obey."

who knew stickers were a beauty aid?

a real life conversation...

i was lying on the couch while harrison was placing stickers all over the right leg of my sweatpants.

mommy: wow, thanks for the stickers, buddy.

harrison: you're welcome. i turning you into a beautiful princess.

mommy: oh, that's so sweet, harrison. thank you for turning me into a beautiful princess.

harrison (to daddy): daddy, i turn mommy into a beautiful princess!!

i'm sure daddy was thinking it would take a lot more than a few stickers to turn this grey-sweatpant-wearing, no-makeup-wearing, pony-tail-wearing, non-showering mommy into something befitting the title "princess"! or maybe that's what i was thinking!! it's so nice to know that harrison doesn't think about that stuff, though. : )

protesting without words

graham is right on schedule (at least for my boys). he's nearing 14 months of age and just starting to throw fits. with harrison i found this quite frustrating. with graham it simply cracks me up.

graham has somehow figured out how to go limp and go stiff at the same time. baffling. he throws back his head, arches his back and drops his body to the floor...all in one quick, fluid motion. this happens multiple times throughout the day - anytime i'm attempting to get him to do something he doesn't want to do. if i try to pick him up (under his arms, around his ribcage) he's learned to straighten his arms up over his head so that i almost lose my grip. yesterday i actually did lose my grip and he fell backward onto the floor. he didn't like that so much. and i sure did smile down at him and say, "that's what you get for throwing a fit, buddy."

i'm such a good mom.

it gets me laughing because i daydream about throwing my own little tantrums. can't you just picture me throwing myself on the floor because i had to make dinner AGAIN? or clean up toys AGAIN? or wash clothes AGAIN?

what? you wiped your booger on mommy's pants?

thud. kick, kick, kick. AAAHHHH!

as john lennon put it...

"so this is christmas...and what have we done? another year over and a new one just begun."

here are pictures of the white family christmas 2009.

our sweet little munchkins.

harrison was trying to hold graham's face and turn it toward the camera. apparently graham thought harrison wanted a hug.

harrison saying "hi" and graham waving "hi".

brotherly love.

christmas eve night at meme & papa's house. we ate dinner with them (chicken and dumplings), went to christmas eve service at their church and came home to open gifts. it was 7:30 or 8:00 pm by this point and graham was long overdue for sleep. all the action kept him wide awake, though, and both boys had SO MUCH FUN with their new toys! the word "spoiled" does not even begin to cover it.

harrison's new dyson vacuum, which he loves.

graham's new books, which he loves.

although harrison received this fire truck from meme & papa the night prior it was still a huge hit the next morning!

graham got a pull along daschund puppy dog toy. he was just a wee bit happy about it.

we got out of bed pretty leisurely on christmas morning. we enjoyed opening gifts as a family and then jer played with the boys while i started cooking christmas dinner. meme, papa & uncle zach spent all day with us, too.

the boys are in their matching pajamas playing with graham's new maracas and harrison's new race car.

harrison concentrating hard on driving his race car.

graham playing his new triangle. again, just a teeny weeny bit excited.

we all went to the denver zoo's annual zoo lights spectacular. it was really cold but we all had a great time.

i bundled graham up so he could barely move. he was forced to stay in the stroller most of the time but sure loved when he got a brief moment to walk around.

uncle zach and harrison rode the choo-choo train. harrison has been rockin' the scrunched-up-nose look quite a bit these days. cracks me up!