Squirrel Skirmish

Remember a couple of posts ago how I mentioned that my mom had sent Easter eggs and I had hidden them in the back yard?  That didn't go over so well.  

We have two resident squirrels who we have named Bonnie and Clyde.  Generally we are pretty good friends with them.  We leave nuts out for them on our back porch, and in turn they give our boys a good show as they eat them.  As I was hiding the eggs, I looked over and saw Bonnie, running away hugging a bright yellow egg.  I yelled at her, "Oh no you don't!" and starting chasing her down.  Giant though she is, the egg was still a bit cumbersome, and she dropped it.  Lest you think I am not a good sharer, I wouldn't have minded if she had taken the candy, but those eggs had DOLLARS inside!  After I had finished hiding all 48 eggs, I returned indoors.  

A few minutes later I glanced out the window, only to see Bonnie again, this time with fists full of jellybeans, scampering along the fence.  My back neighbors (who had their windows open) must have thought I was just a little bit strange as I shrieked, "BONNIE!" and took off after her.  She got away.  I examined the back yard.  I found several of our plastic eggs with holes bit clean through them and the candy inside gone!  

I know it shouldn't have shocked me.  Squirrels do in fact eat through the shells of nuts, so why should plastic stop them?  But I was shocked, really.  Our squirrel friends were living up to their names and robbing us! At least they were considerate enough to leave the dollars inside the eggs.

In true David fashion, I gathered a pile of pebbles and set up my guard post on the back step to wait for my Goliaths to return.  They didn't disappoint.  And yet, my pebbles didn't seem to bother them too much, even when I met my target.  They were bold little rascals, especially Bonnie.  She kept scampering away with armfuls and mouthfuls of candy, the telltale shiny blue wrappers of Hershey's chocolate bars glinting as she dashed away.  And again, if you are thinking that I am a mean beast for throwing rocks at squirrels, let me defend myself.  I thought about how eating chocolate makes dogs really sick, and I wondered if the same were true for squirrels.  Despite our differences, we are still friends, you know.  I didn't want to be responsible for killing Bonnie and Clyde with chocolate.  And of course, there was still the issue of those dollar bills.  :-/

Well in the end, there were still plenty of plastic eggs for my boys to hunt that afternoon.  And in case you are interested, the final score was Marchant boys:  43 ½ eggs, Bonnie and Clyde:  4 ½ eggs.  

Another event of note happened that night.  We had our very own Easter  Bunny visit us in our backyard!  For those of you who live in Colorado and know that it's infested with rabbits, that may not be too impressive.  But it was the first time in the almost two years we have lived in this home that we had ever seen a rabbit was in our backyard.  We thought it was pretty timely.

See that gray speck out there?  That was him.

Happy Easter!

I tried to get a picture of the boys together, but McKay was having none of it.  These must suffice.

I hope you each had a lovely Easter.  I am so grateful for this day and what it means for me and for my family.  These words from President Monson ring perfectly true with me:

"No words in Christendom mean more to me than those spoken by the angel to the weeping Mary Magdalene and the other Mary as they approached the tomb to care for the body of their Lord: “Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen” (Luke 24:5–6).

With this pronouncement, those who have lived and died, those who now live and one day will die, and those yet to be born and yet to die had just been rescued."

How grateful I am for the Savior and the truth that he has rescued me.  I love Him, and I know He lives.  

Is that the doorbell? Again?

In the last few hours, my boys have received:

• Two (large) packages, one from each set of grandparents
• A chocolate bunny a piece, brought over by a neighbor 
• A treat bag from each of my two visiting teachers, brought over independent of one another

There are a few dozen filled plastic eggs in the backyard, sent by Grammie and Tooge and hid by Mom, waiting to be found by two little boys.  The second package from G&G Marchant arrived during nap/quiet time, so that will be found when they emerge from their rooms.  Add to that the treats they received recently from an aunt, and the books brought over by another neighbor, and these two little guys seem a bit spoiled to me!  Easter morning will be a bit anticlimactic after all this hullabaloo!  

Have I ever mentioned that I love where we are?!  We are surrounded by great friends, neighbors, home/visiting teachers and ward members that make us feel pretty special.  Oh, and those packages that come so frequently from the grandparents?  We LOVE those, too.  Thanks, folks.  My day has been made.

Um...

I had one of those parenting experiences today that is hilarious when you hear about it from someone else, but ceases to be so funny when it happens to you.  Both my boys had doctor checkups today.  As we were walking into the doctor office, we passed an obese man.

Ty:  "That guy is BIG."
Braden (the neighbor boy we watch in the mornings):  "He's really big."
Ty:  "Yeah, and fat, too."

No, these children following me don't belong to me. I have no idea whose children they are. :-/  Oh, please, sidewalk, open up and swallow me now.

McKay Day

McKay's birthday was pretty low-key.  He woke up to a pile of presents and balloons, and of course, wanted to open them immediately!

Taking Pluto for a ride in his new shopping cart!

Since we do our date night/babysitting swap on Saturday night, we opted to take all the kids yesterday and have a little birthday party for McKay.  Mac requested a baseball cake, so this is what I came up with:

Not gonna lie, I'm a little embarrassed about how it turned out, especially after looking at my sister-in-law, Angie's blog and the cake she made for her little boy that turned two the day before McKay (we were actually due to have our babies on the very same day, but apparently Benjamin won the I'm-going-to-Earth-first race).  But all that aside, McKay seemed pleased as punch with it.  And since I made it for him after all, I can't be too disappointed in my effort, I suppose.

Happy Birthday McKay!

Two

I can't believe that our little McKay is two today.  It seems incredible that that much time has already passed since we welcomed into our family, and yet I can hardly remember life without him.  It must have been a lot more boring then!  He has brought so much life, laughter and fun into all our lives!

Here are some facts about McKay at age two:

•He is an extremely musical kid.  He started singing primary songs when he was around 15 or 16 months, and is now almost always singing or humming something.  From I am A child of God to The ABC song, and Choo Choo The Big Train to Search, Ponder and Pray, if you hear someone humming around our house, it's probably him!

•He loves sports, basketball and baseball being especial favorites right now.

•His favorite thing to eat is fruit.  There is not a single kind of fruit that I have ever given him that he hasn't gobbled down--even grapefruit!  Grapes and watermelon are definitely some of his most favorites.

•He seems to be mellowing out a bit!  We haven't had nearly so many injuries/tantrums/daredevil behavior in the last month or so.  He is still a very active and busy kid, but it is becoming more manageable!

•He is definitely still a momma's boy, to the point where he often won't let Adam even pour him a drink. He is my shadow and my sidekick!

•He is becoming more bossy, especially to Ty.

•He is still a thumb sucker, but now he usually only does it when he is tired or sad.

•He is FAST!  The kid can run almost as fast as his big brother can.  Maybe I will get a little runner after all?

•He is extremely verbal.  He speaks almost completely in full sentences now.  For example, recently I was cleaning up bread crumbs around his chair after dinner.  As I was walking away, he said, "You missed one, Mom."  I said, "I did?  Where is it?"  He responded, "Right there.  Under Dad's chair."  Pretty impressive communication skills, dude!

•He knows all the basic colors (black, brown, white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink)

•He is beginning to recognize shapes

•He can count up into the 20's, although he can't identify printed numbers.

•He can sing the alphabet, and can recognize letters ("There's ABC's on it, Mom!"), but can't idenitfy individual letters yet, either.  (Kind of interesting--Ty was just the opposite--he learned letters and numbers first, and shapes and colors came later.)

• He has such a fun little sense of humor.  Often when I sing him a bedtime song he will sing it with me in a funny voice.  He is always saying and doing things that absolutely crack us up!

I was playing around on iMovie, and put together a little slideshow of McKay's life.  We just love this kid!!  Happy Birthday to one of the most fun and funny little boys around!

Then and Now

This is the last Disneyland post, I promise!  As I was looking through the photos from our trip, I couldn't help but compare them to the pictures we took last time we were there, almost exactly 2 1/2 years ago.  That time, Ty was 16 months old, and I was something like 14 or 15 weeks pregnant with McKay.  Our family has changed a lot since then!

Then:

Now:

Then:

Now:

Same ride:

Different Kid!  (This is actually a pretty decent before and after of Adam's jaw, too!)

Then:

Now:

 Then:

Now:

I like the idea of watching our family's growth through our Disneyland photos!

To the Beach...And Beyond!

We broke up our week of Disney with a trip to the beach...unfortunately we chose the coldest day to go! It was really pretty chilly, but that didn't stop Ty from running right out into the ocean--jacket and all!  The kid is such a water baby!  He was shivering basically the whole time we were there, but he was also smiling.  Whatever, dude.

McKay and I were content to sit in the sand and build castles together.  He even tried a sample of the dirt.  Yum!

After we spent the morning at the beach, we went back to our hotel for a looong nap.  We had to gear up for this:

Dinner at ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney!  Since our ESPN Zone here in Denver closed a couple of years ago, the one at Disney is more of a novelty, especially for a certain unnamed 30-year-old member of our family. :)
And just in case the boys didn't get enough race cars at Autopia, we let them drive the virtual kind at the arcade.

Look at that laser-beam concentration!  And he claims he isn't a gamer! :)

It really was such a fun week.  We were able to meet up with an old friend of mine at Disneyland.  We did a semester at Nauvoo together when I was 19 years old, and then ended up teaching at the same elementary school three years later.  My fifth grade class was "reading buddies" with her first grade class, so we got to spend time together every Friday afternoon.  Ah, good times.  The last time I saw her was almost four years ago, so it was really fun to meet each other's kids for the first time and catch up!

On the weekend, we were able to spend time with my great aunt and uncle in San Pedro.  They are about 70 years old, but you wouldn't know it!  They are super fun and totally spoiled us while we stayed with them.  We loved it!

On Monday morning while we were staying with them, I was able to go for one of the most enjoyable runs of my life.  They live very near the ocean, but it's not a sandy beach area.  There are cliffs that drop off a couple hundred feet, and rocks and ocean below.  At the top of the cliffs is a dirt trail.  I was able to run a few miles on that trail, with the sun shining bright overhead, daisies growing on either side of me, geckos darting around, pelicans, yes PELICANS flying overhead, and the salty sea breeze blowing.  The only thing that could have made it better would have been if Adam was with me.   It was sublime!  If I could run that trail every day, I would give up the treadmill for good!

Although it was a fantastic week, we had about a 12-hour stretch that was R-O-U-G-H.  I want to record what happened just so I can remember it later, because even the best vacations can't be totally perfect, right?  On Saturday night I was getting into my makeup bag to get some stuff to get ready for bed, and I sliced open my finger on my uncapped razor.  It hurt instantly, and I ran to the sink to wash it out.  Adam got me a bandaid, and I figured that was that.  A few minutes later, though, the blood had seeped through the bandaid.  So my Aunt Gaye wrapped my finger in gauze and taped it.  That only lasted for a couple of minutes before the blood had seeped through that, too.  I kept sticking bandaid after bandaid on top of each other over the gauze to stop the bleeding, but I just couldn't get it to stop!  By this time, it was almost midnight, so Adam called Kaiser's 24-hour help line to get advice on what to do.  The nurse said that I needed to apply very hard pressure on the cut, and that if it didn't stop bleeding in 10 minutes, I needed to go to the ER to get stitches.  I didn't think that a shaver could have cut me so deeply that I would really need stitches, and I certainly didn't want to find/wait in some ER in California all night, so I said a quick prayer and pressed the living daylights out of my finger!  Sure enough, a few minutes later the bleeding finally stopped!  Adam and I were both relieved, to say the least!

The next morning we were preparing to go to church with my friend, Emily in Santa Monica, and were literally minutes from leaving, when it was discovered that McKay was plunging the bathroom toilet. :-/  He had totally soaked the only tie and church shirt that we had packed him.  So Adam pulled out my hair dryer and went to work!  We knew that this delay was going to make us late, but then as we were driving down the freeway, we heard the sound that no parent wants to hear on the way to church (or really anytime, for that matter).  McKay was puking in the back seat.  He had just eaten breakfast, it was a bumpy car ride, and he just got carsick.  So Ty and I ended up just going to Sacrament Meeting while Adam cleaned up McKay and hung out in the car.  We had planned on driving up to see the LA Temple, and we decided we still would.  So, yes, McKay is a bit underdressed in these pictures!

When we got back, Gaye and Larry were out, and we couldn't find the key they gave us (we found it on the floor of the car later), so we ended up hanging out at a park for another hour or so until they returned home.  It wasn't our best day ever, but I guess it could have been worse!

Well, that about sums it all up!  There were a few bad moments, but for the most part, we LOVED it, and I am already planning when we can go again!

The Happiest Place on Earth!!

We spent all last week vacationing in Southern California:  four days at Disneyland/California Adventure, a day at the beach, and a visit with extended family on the weekend.  We have been on some really awesome family vacations, but this one really was the best ever!!

We rode on some awesome rides:

Buzz Lightyear Astro-Blasters

Ole' Dead-Eye Marchant

The Rocket Ship Ride--a definite favorite of both boys!

Autopia--Ty's favorite part of our entire vacation!

I think we drove the Autopia cars probably 7 or 8 times while we were there!

King Arthur's Carousel

McKay LOVED the carousel!

New Toy Story 3-D ride

California Adventure Ferris Wheel

Dumbo Ride--What a Classic!

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

The Teacups--I was a spectator for this ride.  Had I got on, there would have been some definite puke action!

We met LOTS of new friends:

Best day of Ty's Life!!

McKay's new pal, Pluto,  is now his constant companion!

And we otherwise just had a blast:

Mickey's Toon Town--such a fun place for the little guys!

Watching fireworks while enjoying Mickey lollipops--doesn't get much better than that!

 I learned that if you run your kids ragged enough, they actually will fall asleep anywhere--even on a cafe table!

 

The Happiest Family on Earth! :-)