Happy Shaina-Day!

November 4th was my 24th birthday! It was a good day. Jeff got all dressed up for work as usual and left as usual that morning. But around 10am, he walked in the front door holding a lovely bunch of flowers and a glorious bag of peanut butter M&M’s! He decided to surprise me and pretend he had a subbing job that day, when really there were parent-teacher conferences that day, (so no sub-jobs). Yay! Some things we did:

• We walked to the library, where Jeff supervised Jay while I browsed books unhampered—that seems like a small thing, but it was SO enjoyable for me!
• Jeff gave me a sweet new running watch (my old one was 4 years old and duct taped together). I’m wearing it in the cake picture above. Can I just take this opportunity to say I CAN’T WAIT TO GO RUNNING AGAIN!!!! For now, I just use my watch as a timer when I cook.
• We ate peanut butter M&M’s
• Jeff took Jay to the park while I lounged luxuriously on the couch and read my library book. (another small but heavenly gift)
• I opened cards from dear family members.
• The Whites gave me my favorite Disney movie of all time: Beauty and the Beast!  Yippeeeee!!!
• I made my birthday dinner and cake before my birthday so there was no cooking on the big day and so I could enjoy it at least twice before…
• …I went to Missouri the day after my birthday to visit my dear sister and her family!!!! That was what my parents gave me for my birthday—a plane ticket to Em’s house! Awesome gift.

My flowers and peanut butter M&M’s (and my library book).

A blurry action shot of me huffing and puffing. That’s what was left of my pumpkin roll birthday cake by my actual birthday. This is the first time in like my whole life that I haven’t chosen chocolate cheesecake for my birthday cake. Darned pregnancy taste buds. At least there was plenty of cream cheese in the pumpkin roll’s frosting! and now on to…

Visiting Missouri

Jay and I made it to MO in one piece—it was his first time on a plane! He loved looking out the window during take-off, but flying during nap time did turn out to be a challenge. (20 minute nap!) I love my sister Em. We had tons of fun hanging out for a whole week. It’s been almost 2 years since I’ve been to Missouri (we used to live there!), and when I left, I was pregnant with Jay!

Cousins! Jay, Dan, and Steve were quite the trio. They worked on sharing toys with each other all week. It was a challenge at times. One thing they all shared easily was a stuffy runny nose, sadly. Jay picked it up a day or two after we got there, and he still has it!

No trip to Missouri would be the same without a visit to my Grandma and Grandpa Brown! Em and I have 3 1/2 of their 7 1/2 great grandkids. Grandma had us over for Sunday dinner and even took us out to lunch one day too!

No sister time would be complete without major craftiness. This time we managed to choose ALL sewing projects. If you can’t tell by the look on my face, I’m not in love with sewing. BUT, the things we made turned out great anyway! I made a sweet high-tech nursing cover (complete with a buckle), a maternity shirt, and 2 pairs of PJ pants for Jay.

We basically traced one of Em’s shirts and made it up as we went along…and after some long hours of tricky sewing and seam-picking, it turned out! It’s actually huge and comfy. I may even attempt to make more. (Em made the cute flower embellishments—I love them).

Here are some of the things Em made: baby booties for Rose!!!! I adore them. Why do we have to wait nearly 3 more months before Rose can wear them?

All of that sewing required 2 trips to Joann Fabric Store (45 minutes from Em’s house). 3 little boys plus fabric store equals zzzzzzzzz.

They all loved playing the piano together.

We went to the park one day. I was surprised that Jay managed to climb these stairs without help. He’s getting so grown up! Em and I also tried to make pumpkin spice donuts, but they were a greasy, miserable failure so I won’t even post the pictures from that venture. (shudder)

The Trip Home

Our flight home was Friday evening. When I got to the airport, I found out it was delayed nearly 2 hours! The airline gave us a $20 meal voucher, and we hung out in the airport for 3 1/2 hours! The only dinner-y place I could find in our part of the airport was this place called Beers of the World. Seriously. That was the restaurant’s name. Can you see it on the menu? (We had a hamburger and water). I was surprised at HOW MANY people stopped and told me how cute Jay is while we were eating! I mean, I know he’s cute, but at least 7 or 8 people who were walking through the airport took the time to stop, lean over the restaurant railing, and tell me what a cutie I have. Warm heart.

Jay was quite the little trooper. In the airport, he ran around playing happily and rarely wandered too far from me. Our flight didn’t leave until 2 hours past his bed time, so he got pretty droopy on the plane. We were lucky to have an extra seat so he didn’t have to sit on my lap the whole time.

Next sleeping position. The flight from St. Louis to Pasco, WA had one stop in Salt Lake City. We got there an hour AFTER our connecting flight left! I quickly borrowed someone’s cell phone when we landed, and managed to call Jeff before he made the hour long drive to pick us up at the airport. Whew. Anyways, the airline gave us a hotel room voucher plus a $6 snack voucher. We sat out in the cold for at least 20 minutes waiting for the hotel shuttle to pick us up. It was almost 1am when we got there, and Jay was a sad looking little red-eyed boy. He didn’t make a sound from the time we got off the airplane till the time he was snuggled in his hotel bed!

Tired cheeks! Our room had 2 queen sized beds, so Jay took one of them. It was his first time sleeping in a non-crib, and he didn’t even roll close to the edge! (I think he was too tired to move much at all, poor boy). Let me take a minute to describe our RIG: I had one carry-on sized rolly suitcase, a backpack, a belly, and a stroller to maneuver through the airport. Jay and I got pretty good at it by the end, but we were a wide load.

Saturday morning, after a hotel breakfast, I let Jay watch some Nick Jr. while sitting up in bed. I remember LOVING hotels when I was little because we got to watch cartoons in bed! Jay liked it too. Can you tell? Our last flight was on time, and it only lasted an hour. We had a spare seat again, even though it was a tiny airplane. Blessing. My big stomach is not comfy for Jay to lean on, and it hurts when he elbows and knees me. I’m so thankful that we had extra space on 3 of the 4 total flights we took on this trip! I’m so glad we made it HOME AT LAST!!!

Basically, I had an awesome, exciting week-long birthday celebration!

Autumn in the park

Is it just me or is the sun more golden and glorious in the fall? I absolutely adore how much richer the yellow leaves look against a blue sky with that thick fall sunshine pouring all over them!

This is how one of the gorgeous trees in our park looks today. Even though I miss my dear Appalachian fall colors at this time of year, I’m still thankful that we have SOME deciduous trees around here in the desert of central Washington!

Crisp, fresh fall weather makes me giddy! When Jay and I went to the park yesterday it was super windy, so there was a carpet of newly fallen leaves to frolic in. So, we frolicked!!!! Jay thought throwing leaves into the wind and letting them blow onto his face was great fun, and he squealed and giggled with delight while we played. I even tried making a “leaf angel,” but sadly this does not work quite as well as a snow angel (not worth a picture).

On Saturday morning, Jeff came with us to the park. It was cold and our feet were freezing and wet by the time we left , but we had fun blowing bubbles anyway:

The ground was so dewy that the bubbles just stuck all over the place without popping!

mmmmmm soap

King of the Mountain! (or picnic table)

   

As you can see, we spend plenty of time at the park. Unfortunately, some idiotic people drew and wrote obscene, offensive things all over the playground. So I took a Sharpie of my  own out there one day and did a little editing. There is still plenty that I didn’t cover (and I think they came back after me and did more—grrr) but I need a fatter marker before I even attempt to tackle it!

And now, for a video of Jay going down the slide like a big boy! I am bummed that I didn’t record the time[s] that I didn’t managed to catch him at the bottom—he never cried, even though he flipped around and landed on his back in the mulch! Tough guy. [By the way, Jay is definitely the only cute person in this video]

Happy Halloween!

Fall is FUN. The air is crisp, the leaves are lovely, the pumpkins are bright, and it’s Halloween time! I made Jay’s costume out of cardboard and paper and rubber bands. He was a PB-Jay sandwich! There was a tri-ward trunk-or-treat last night so we went. Our ward wasn’t in charge of it, so nobody told us what to expect. Well, it was a MADHOUSE!! Kids everywhere, crowded hallways inside, etc. Jay was overwhelmed. They had game stations inside the church building, and that’s all we ended up staying for (since the trunk-or-treating part didn’t even start till Jay’s bed time). Jay threw a few bean bags and won a prize. On the way home, we stopped by the White house so Grama could give Jay a treat. Whew!

Without the bulky jacket under his red “jelly” shirt, Jay looks a little more PBJ-ish. He just wanted OUT of that cardboard bread after about 5 minutes!

On Friday night, we carved our pumpkins! Jeff got a huge one, and he used a carving pattern. I made it up as I went along. The little pumpkins had skins of granite! They were so hard, I couldn’t use our cute little carving kit knife, and they almost bent my kitchen knife! So much for small pumpkins being easier to carve—I was out of breath by the time I cut the top off of the first one!

The carving carnage

“This is fun…”

“…what is this thing?”

“…is it a snack?”

“… no way…so, what do I DO with this stuff?”

“…should I put it away when I’m done?”

The finished products in their glowing glory. Jeff’s needed an extra candle or two. Mine is the happy one on the left, and Jay’s is the ghost one on the right. Yay pumpkins!

My other story of the week is also exciting: I GOT A COSTCO CARD of my very own! It has my picture on it and my name on it and I have already USED it once. Weehawww! It was a hard decision whether or not to pay the $50 for the card because it’s not like we have 10 kids to feed or anything. But I fee like such an independent woman with my own card. I’ve never been to Costco alone before (well, Jay was with me). Something I didn’t expect was: I couldn’t find anything! I’ve never been there without someone who knows where everything is, so I ended up heaving the heavy cart for miles around and around that store. I never found the coconut milk. (do they even have it?) I was faint by the time we got out of there. Why is everything so tiring when I’m pregnant?

Speaking of that baby, here’s what I look like these days. Jeff buckled my shoes this morning. I can still do it for myself, but bending over is not very fun. Rose seems to be extra bony!! Any kind of pressure on my tummy hurts, even the doctor’s rolly heart beat listener thingy-ma-bob. At lunchtime yesterday, I suddenly felt sick, achy, and NOT hungry. 10 minutes later, I felt this big rolling movement inside, and suddenly I felt fine. Rose had been jammed up in my ribcage or something! I’m so glad she decided to move out of there. Ow!

And last on the list, a little comparison just for fun:

         
Left: 10/31/2010, 26 wks (Rose). Right: 3/6/2009, 27 wks (Jay)

Happy Halloween!

Monkey (and more)

Annnnnnd we’re back! We didn’t really go anywhere, but now that we’re finally settled in to our little home, life has happily slowed down, and I haven’t had anything to post for a few weeks. Jeff has been subbing 5 days a week (yay!), and started training for his second marathon (crazy).

Meanwhile, I have been using my energetic days to play house, walk to the library/post office/grocery store (they’re all within 4 blocks of our house!), and take Jay to the park. On my lethargic days, I read, knit, and watch the cats play in our yard (we’ve named them Pippin—after the hobbit, and Puma—looks like a mountain lion. They are frisky felines). Right now I’m reading Jane Eyre (quite riveting), and Julia Child’s autobiography, called My Life in France. It is really making me want to move to Paris!! On sunny afternoons, I have been sitting in the sun on our porch to knit while Jay plays. My bones rejoice in soaking up all of that vitamin D! I think I may be getting old. Over the past 2 weeks during Jay’s naptime, I have also spent plenty of time preparing a sacrament meeting talk about temples. It is now DONE: I somehow managed to stand in front of PEOPLE today and TALK for 20 minutes! I feel soooo relieved that it’s over.

Jay is the most interesting one of us these days—he has started learning a few new languages! Yes, our son can speak dog, cat, monkey, horse, and the occasional cow or pig on certain days. (see the video) Jay is also becoming quite the little climber. Yesterday, Jeff found him sitting on top of our computer desk! Another thing Jay loves is THE PARK! We have a nice little park right around the corner, and Jay has recently learned how to go down the big tall slide all by himself! He goes down backwards on his tummy. I need to take a video of it. He would go down the slide all day if his pregnant mother had the energy to catch him at the bottom for that long! Jay is such a happy little fellow. We love him.

This week we had a tiny little puppy visit us. This street is great—we get to enjoy animals without the work of having pets of our own! [Oh, we got pumpkins this week but forgot our camera at the pumpkin place. oops]

That’s the end of White family updates!

 

OK, don’t feel obligated to read this next part—in the 2 books I’m reading, I discovered 2 beautifully written descriptions of food: one is of a very BAD British meal (from Jane Eyre), and the other one is Julia Child rhapsodizing over her first French meal. Even if I don’t particularly like food right now, I still appreciate good food-centered literature. Bon appetit!

Jane Eyre’s nightmare breakfast (from Ch. 5):
“The refectory was a great, low-ceiled, gloomy room; on two long tables smoked basins of something hot, which, however, to my dismay, sent forth an odour far from inviting. I saw a universal manifestation of discontent when the fumes of the repast met the nostrils of those destined to swallow it; from the van of the procession, the tall girls of the first class, rose the whispered words -
"Disgusting! The porridge is burnt again!"
"Silence!" ejaculated a voice
A long grace was said and a hymn sung; then a servant brought in some tea for the teachers, and the meal began.

Ravenous, and now very faint, I devoured a spoonful or two of my portion without thinking of its taste; but the first edge of hunger blunted, I perceived I had got in hand a nauseous mess; burnt porridge is almost as bad as rotten potatoes; famine itself soon sickens over it. The spoons were moved slowly: I saw each girl taste her food and try to swallow it; but in most cases the effort was soon relinquished. Breakfast was over, and none had breakfasted. Thanks being returned for what we had not got, and a second hymn chanted, the refectory was evacuated for the schoolroom. I was one of the last to go out, and in passing the tables, I saw one teacher take a basin of the porridge and taste it; she looked at the others; all their countenances expressed displeasure, and one of them, the stout one, whispered -
"Abominable stuff! How shameful!" (from Jane Eyre, ch. 5)

Julia Child’s first French meal:
“Suddenly the dining room filled with wonderfully intermixing aromas that I sort of recognized but couldn’t name….My stomach gurgled with hunger.

I couldn’t help noticing that the waiters carried themselves with a quiet joy, as if their entire mission in life was to make their customers fell comfortable and well tended…

…We began our lunch with a half-dozen oysters on the half-shell… This platter of portugaises had a sensational briny flavor and a smooth texture that was entirely new and surprising. The oysters were served with rounds of pain de seigle, a pale rye bread, with a spread of unsalted butter.

Paul had decided to order sole meuniere. It arrived whole: a large, flat Dover sole that was perfectly browned in a sputtering butter sauce with a sprinkling of chopped parsley on top. The waiter carefully placed the platter in front of us, stepped back, and said: “Bon appetit!”

I closed my eyes and inhaled the rising perfume. Then I lifted a forkful of fish to my mouth, took a bite, and chewed slowly. The flesh of the sole was delicate, with a light but distinct taste of the ocean that blended marvelously with the browned butter. I chewed slowly and swallowed. It was a morsel of perfection.

…at La Couronne, I experienced fish, and a dining experience of a higher order than any I’d ever had before.

Along with our meal, we happily downed a whole bottle of Pouilly-Fume, a wonderfully crisp white wine from the Loire Valley. Another revelation!

Then came salade verte laced with a lightly acidic vinaigrette. And I tasted my first real baguette—a crisp brown crust giving way to a slightly chewy, rather loosely textured pale-yellow interior, with a faint reminder of wheat and yeast in the odor and taste. Yum!

We followed our meal with a leisurely dessert of fromage blanc, and ended with a strong, dark cafe filtre…

“…Mairci, monsoor,” I said, with a  flash of courage and an accent that sounded bad even to my own ear. .. Paul and I floated out the door into the brilliant sunshine and cool air. Our first lunch together in France had been absolute perfection. It was the best meal of my life.” (from My Life in France, p. 18)

Isn’t it great how BOTH of these quotes are “food poetry,” even though one is describing a disgusting meal, and the other a heavenly one?

This is a tiny sample of the luscious literature I have been feasting on!

Our kids are getting big!

My baby is growing up!

My Aunt Stefani sent these Sunday clothes to Jay a while ago, and he has finally grown in to them! He looks so grown up. Sniff. Jeff took him to nursery at church for an hour today too! Next month Jay will be old enough to go to nursery all by himself. Who will entertain me during Sunday school then?

 
Little Rose is growing fast too—23 weeks down. 17 more to go!

Jay is getting so long! While I was dead this summer, he must have grown a few inches, and now this lima bean green suit is FINALLY too small! Sleeping baby = irresistible.

Life is good—not delicious quite yet, but good.

p.s. We got a lawn mower—isn’t it great??

p.p.s. Mom—this one’s for you. Our porch has a trellis with honeysuckle climbing up. It’s almost too cute and quaint for words! I love it.

Sleepy Cheeks!

Yesterday during lunch, Jay ate his PBJ-wich like a silent machine. I thought to myself how weird that he’s being so quiet. Then, I noticed his eyelids drooping. It was still an hour before his normal nap time, but he was exhausted already! I felt kind of bad sitting there taking a video of him and giggling when I should have been putting him to bed, but I ask you, how could I resist??

Our Little Cottage

On October 1st, we MOVED…for real!! Yes, believe it or not, we are now living in our very first HOUSE!!!!! Our home teacher here in Grandview is trying to sell this cute little place, and he was happy to have us rent it from him in the mean time-- no contract, just month-to-month. Since we get the whole house and a yard for only $500 a month, I’m really hoping it doesn’t sell till next summer!

I wanted to wait till we have this place under control and organized before I posted about it, but that is obviously going to take a lot longer than I want to admit (with only a pathetic pregnant lady, an inquisitive 1 year old, and a working husband in charge of getting it all together). So today, Jay and I took some pictures of what we’ve done so far…

The front

The front room, complete with weird little wood stove fireplace thingy. I like the mantel though—this year I won’t have to hang our Christmas stockings from the window!

The eating room, full 'o boxes

La cocina—this is where I’ve done the most work, because I can’t cook in an untidy unorganized kitchen. The house had not been lived in for a while when we got here, so it was pretty dirty. I had a major mopping frenzy to get this floor cleaned up. Do you see the ole dishwasher? I think it was the first one ever made, but it still works like magic, and I can’t believe how easy it makes my life!

Speaking of labor-saving devices, check out my gorgeous “new” washer and dryer!!!! We got ‘em off of craigslist for a deal. Laundry is no longer a heave-ho-across-the-parking-lot-pay-a-million-quarters ordeal!!! I wonder  if laundry will ever feel like a chore again?

The previous 4 pictures were of the rooms stacked along one side of the house. There are 2 bedrooms, a sun room (above), and a bathroom along the other side of this narrow little place.

Jay’s room. No, we don’t have 800 Huggies diapers, we saved those boxes to pack baby gear.

The bathroom has a door into the kitchen and a door into our bedroom. I won’t put a picture of our room up because it is boring: square with a bed in the middle.

The back yard has random land forms. For example, I took this picture from the top of a round grassy mound—maybe we have a hobbit? That square shadow is made by this random gazebo porch that the neighbors constructed on top of their shed. We have a shed too, but it’s just a shed. You can’t really tell by the picture, but the grass is pretty long. We don’t have a lawn mower. Come on, WINTER!

This must be the hobbit—he hangs out behind (or under?) that mound I mentioned. We think he belongs to someone in the neighborhood, but he likes our wild back yard a lot. That’s fine by me—no mice or creepy crawlies in our house! He’s a fierce kitty—we heard this screeching the other day, and discovered that it was the hobbit-cat defending our yard from a much bigger, scarier, uglier lion-cat. This morning, I saw him attack a squirrel that was nearly as big as he is—the squirrel only barely got away. I haven’t tried to pet him.

So there you have it. Our new house. It feels huge. Before now, the biggest place we’ve lived in was 650 square feet. This house is 1050 square feet—almost twice the size! Not easy on this feeble recovering invalid-mommy. I stopped taking my anti-puke medicine on Saturday, and it has been rough. I only barf once a day without the medicine, but I feel yucky all the time. After a happy reunion with my beloved Kitchen Aid mixer, I have started making myself soft, yummy bread again, which helps. Jay’s cuteness and Jeff’s sweetness help a lot too, but the thing that will help the most won’t happen until February, or whenever this squirmy  little girl decides to meet us! In the mean time, we have a HOUSE!