sample video

Here is my very first video with the new Flip camera. Alex picked the color, and she really, really wants to play with it. You can tell she is working on her charm.

active bottoms

If you are in need of a more active bottom, there are several styles available at TJ Maxx.

a very Maulden Christmas, Plan B

Well, after packing up the car and getting on the road to Reno last night, we had an unexpected surprise. We had wondered if the weather would be a problem, but it was fine. Instead, Alex started crying and complaining of a tummy ache about one hour into our 8-hour drive. We stopped and tried a potty break, but to no avail. Just past Wendover, she threw up in the car - those of you other parents who have ever cleaned puke out of all the crevices in a car seat know how special that is. :-)

We drove for a while before finding a turnaround point (there are no exits west of Wendover for a LONG time), and went back to Wendover where we spent the next hour and a half in the Wendover Peppermill, breathing cigarette smoke, chasing Sam, and watching Alex throw up again. Despite her unhappy tummy, she was impressed at the "pretty lights" in the casino. At that point we decided we were through, and headed back home to Salt Lake. Happily, the kids slept and Bryan and I enjoyed a nice 2 hours of uninterrupted talk time - a rarity! We had both just had our coffee in preparation for driving half the night, so we were wide awake. We arrived home at 2 a.m. and collapsed into bed.

So, we are spending Christmas at home after all. We had no food in the house because we had planned to be gone, so we got Chinese take-out for Christmas Eve and spent the day unpacking, washing clothes, cleaning up, and catching up on sleep. Now it is Christmas day and we're all feeling well. A big storm is moving in and we're just going to stay home and watch movies and watch the snow fall. Merry Christmas to all!

famous last words

Alex was coming out of her room at 9:30 pm complaining, "I'm not tired!"
"Well, you can stay in your room and be quiet, or sit in the time out chair for a while. Which will it be?" I said. She chose the chair.

A few minutes later, while transferring wet laundry from the washer to the dryer, I heard a soft snore. Guess she got some time out!

parking vandals striking again

Well, it's that time of year again. People (VA hospital staff) are illegally parking in spots designated for our office at work, causing us to have to park farther and farther away and walk through the snow. Last year I sicced (sp?) the VA police on them and was rewarded by seeing the parking patrol giving tickets. See the link below.



http://hunca-munca.blogspot.com/2008/01/justice-is-served-in-va-parking-lot.html

We'll see how long it takes for the offenders to get their tickets this time. Hopefully not months like last year.

Sam's crunchy and sparkly snack

Believe it or not, Sam ate part of a broken Christmas ornament today. I was cooking dinner and saw him walk by crunching something in his mouth. It occurred to me to wonder what he was crunching and when I looked, he had all these sparkly shards in there. Unbelievable. I was glad he hadn't cut himself. I tried getting him to spit it out but it was all stuck inside his mouth, so I swept it out with my fingers the best I could and I think he must have swallowed the rest.

Crazy kid! Has anyone ever eaten anything weirder?!?

where dreams end up

I was putting Alex into bed the other night and she said, "Oh, this is the place where my dreams come out."

How sweet, I thought. "Your dreams come out while you're sleeping?"

"Yeah. They come out my bottom!"

we fish you a merry christmas

Alex was trying to sing, "We wish you a merry Christmas" today in the car, but wasn't quite able to remember it all. She told me they had taught it in preschool. So I sang it for her and she said, "It's not 'we wish you', it's 'we FISH you a merry Christmas, mom." I tried to tell her no, it really is "wish," but she would not hear of it. She insisted it was "we FISH you" and after a couple more tries, I could see this would not be an argument I could win today. So, we are "fishing" you a merry Christmas. A few minutes later she told me, "Mom, if you are bad, then there will be no Christmas this year." I said, "What makes you say that?" and she said, "I told Ava that if you are bad, Santa brings you coal. But Ava told me that if you are bad, then there will be no Christmas this year." I think I know what Ava's been hearing from someone...

Her Cubbies class tonight was pretty entertaining, too. The teacher was quizzing the class about several Bible stories and asked "How did Jesus come to Earth?" The answer
- "In an airplane!" I wouldn't have been surprised if Alex had said that, but it was another kid. Another question was "What is a miracle?" One girl said it was like a maze, and another said it was something you want. It really must be confusing to figure out Christmas when you're hearing it all for the first time.

Alex wants us to make a birthday cake for Jesus this year. But I think she has ulterior motives. She said, "If Jesus couldn't blow out his candles, because he's just a baby, then someone could help him. [pause] Like me."

She watched Rudolph the other night, and has been prancing around pretending to be a reindeer. Christmas really is fun with a four-year-old.