A Few Funny Things

1) One of Lincoln's favorite pastimes is to get into the fridge and grab himself a bite to eat. I've put all the stuff that he could spill up high, and the rest, I figure I could catch him before he did too much damage. Recently, he got the bag of apples out. I knew that he had them, and figured he'd pull one out and munch on it, which I was fine with. Several minutes later, I came around the corner to discover that he had taken several bites out of ALL of the apples. It made me smile. 

2) Bennett and Lincoln both quite enjoy singing the "Snowman" song. In fact, they both knew that song before they knew what a snowman or snow was. Whenever we come out of the house, Bennett points excitedly at the snow and screams "Snowman!!!", but really it's just snow. On the way down the front stairs, Lincoln always dips his finger in the snow on the rail, looks up at me with a twinkle in his eye and says "Taste it?" as he licks his finger. Lincoln also, at the end of singing his ABC's says, "Now I snow my ABC's". I guess we've got snow on the brain here. 

3) Several weeks ago, Lincoln found one of my bras on the floor of my closet. He picked it up, wrapped it around his waist and said, "Look mom, belt!!!". Well, kinda. It's a very special kind of belt. It does hold something up, right? I think we'll save that conversation for a few years. Maybe I'll let Matt explain. 

4) This last weekend, we went to see Santa at a mall. Lincoln was screaming "No!" through the whole line. Bennett was fine until I went to hand him to Santa and he burst into tears. Santa gave the kids come candy and a coloring book anyway. Then Monday, I went to a different mall with the kids. This time Lincoln begged me to see Santa. I didn't really believe that he wanted to see him after what had happened on the first encounter. I guess Lincoln decided Santa wasn't too bad of a guy after all. Bennett, on the other hand, still wasn't convinced:

5) Lincoln is coming up on 3 in April and still shows no signs of growing out of the oral phase. I put lights around all our windows inside, and then went outside to do some garland work. Lincoln was watching me work through the window. When I came back in, I noticed Lincoln had something in his mouth. I asked him what it was and instead of answering me, he continued to chomp on it. Turns out, he bit one of the bulbs of a strand of lights. Seriously??? And then chewed it into little shards. Luckily he wasn't hurt. 

Here are a few bonus videos or perhaps you might call them out-takes:

NOTE: For the record, his diaper was clean.

NOTE: Have you any woor? Yes! Three bags foor.

Why I don't blog much anymore.

I remember as an early blogger being disappointed when my friends or cousins stopped blogging, or blogged less, cause it was always fun to see what was happening in their lives. I wondered what kept them from continuing their posts. Recently (i.e. since Bennett), I have noticed a steep decline in my own blogging. This morning (and afternoon) while editing photos and updating the Thanksgiving post, this is what happened: 

I thought the Cheerios that Lucy is too good for was a nice touch.

Lincoln also fell off the back of the couch in our living room and chipped his tooth.

A closer look. His poor dry cheeks. 

And this is what I look like at 2:04 PM. Still in my pajamas.

So, I apologize for being a little sparse with the postings, but this is why. Maybe after baby number 3, I'll disappear altogether. 

American Thanksgiving in Canada

Matt and I determined that this was one of the more memorable Thanksgivings for several reasons. First, this is the first time that I've been the "matriarch" of the family and hosted Thanksgiving. I would have much preferred that my mother were here to do all the cooking and planning. Luckily I had Megan, the master chef, to guide me (and cook most of the meal, thanks Megan!!). Second, it was in Canada. Third, everyone got sick. First Bennett threw-up twice on Wednesday, then Lincoln threw up three times on the way the way to the gondola and two times on the way back. Nick and Matt both got sick Saturday night, and I threw-up on Sunday. On top of that, the boys, Minnie and I all got colds. Happy Holidays! Despite all of that, I think we managed to have a good time. At least I did. Here is our American Thanksgiving in Canada in review:

The Utah road-trippers hit the road for Canada Tuesday at 2 PM or so. Unfortunately the border crossing they went to closed at 11 PM so they had to go back 2 hours and head up towards a different border crossing. They arrived on our doorstep at about 6 AM Wednesday morning. They were able to sleep for a few hours, but I couldn't keep Lincoln and Bennett quiet much longer than 9 AM. Nick, Megan, the kids and I went for a stroll around the neighborhood that morning while Laura, Bobby and Minskies showered.

The rest of Wednesday was spent lazing about, buying food for the feast and making what we could ahead of time. Here's Lincoln "helping" Laura make a pumpkin pie. He asks me all the time now if he can help me make a pie. If only we made them every day.

Nick captured me being annoying as usual and taking pictures while Megan slaves away at the meal.

Thursday, we lazed about in the morning, then spent the rest of the day making food and eating it. Here is the Thanksgiving Party:

The Bird.

Megan's "rustic" stuffing.

Megan's fab salad, the orange jello Matt HAS to have, and candied yams. YUM!

 The centerpiece.

Everyone loves candid shots!

Skyping with President and Sister Mecham

Friday, we hit the road for Banff. Here's Baby Angel Ben-Ben. He slept through all of Lincoln's "episodes" on the way.

Pretty, huh?

Ben-Ben getting pumped up for the gondola ride.

Of course Matt's eyes are closed.

Take two... also not great.

Mom and Ben-Ben.

Managed to smile despite the upset belly.

Gorgeous river valley.

This is what we observed at the observation tower at the top.

Minnie Mouse.

It was steeper than this looks!

Everyone looks like they're ready for a nap.

Snuggles and Tiger's Christmas Photo.

Or maybe this one? Gotta have some soft focus!

This is the best the Adseros could do.

The Collards. Minnie was having a fit.

Minnie spent most of her "vaycay" like this.

We saw this guy on the way out of Banff.

Robert said, "The Candian Rockies are a lot Rockier than our Rocky Mountains". Wynne, you were right, OK?

Saturday, we tried to do everything else we possibly could. Started the morning out going to the YMCA, then we hit Heritage Park, then the Tandoori Hut (which did everyone wrong), then the Christmas lights at the Zoo. We were beat. Here are some winners from the photo shoot at Heritage Park:

Snuggles doing what she does best.

The Collards II.

Again, the Adseros couldn't get the job done.

Cousins. Lincoln would constantly ask Laura if he could "hold" Minnie, and one second into the hold, he'd be done and push her away. So funny.

Wrestle Time!

Auntie L.

Megan was trying to be happy enough for Bennett and herself.

We had a great time, and are going through a little depression right now. The morning the Utahns left, Lincoln came downstairs asking where the were and when informed that they had gone "bye-bye", he burst into tears and couldn't be consoled. He loves his aunties and uncles, not to mention Minnie. He tells me all the time that he wants to go to Minnie's house, although we got news today that there was a big wind storm that blew over a HUGE pine tree at Minnie's (actually Grandpa and Grandma's) house which hit the garage which hit the house. So maybe now's not the best time to visit Minnie.