My Greatest Blessing

December 17, 2005

Happy Anniversary to us! :-)

Lazy Days and Sick Days

Last week we spent a fair amount of time at home becuase the kiddos had runny noses and I didn't want to share the love too much. As you know Sam went potty in the toilet for the first time and Lauren started walking. Maybe it was a good thing we were home more than usual because I got some good videos of the kiddos in action. I spent the week wiping noses, fishing cars out from under the fridge, stove, and piano, playing referee, and listening to Christmas music. All in all a good week. :-)

Sam has been "talking" on the phone a lot lately. It's always so funny to listen to because you can tell that in his mind he's having a real conversation with someone. Last week I got a great video of him talking to my friend Natalie.

Camera update: Some of you have asked about our camera...it's still broken. It doesn't take pictures, but it does still take videos. That's why you're getting an onslaught of videos from our family on the blog.

Progress

Just a quick post to say that Sam just tinkled in the toilet for the first time!! Gosh...I'm so proud of him. He ran into the bathroom saying, "I have to go potty! I have to go potty!" and indeed he did. I think some M&M's are in order.

In other news...Lauren is walking all over the place. This just started yesterday. I'll post a video later when I have a little more time. Right now I've got to run out the door. More to come...

A Sucker of Her Own

Ever since Halloween Sam has been way into "suckers"...well, this has piqued Lauren's interest in this little treat on a stick. Recently I let her try one of her own. This was her reaction. Too cute. Too funny. :-)

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Sam is all about it being "Christmas time" at our house. You can hear the magic in his voice when he talks about it. We decorated our little tree for FHE on Monday night and he had such fun hanging all the red balls. One fun tradition we started this year is I've wrapped my collection of Christmas books under the tree (I currently have 17) and Sam gets to unwrap one each night before Christmas. I'll either re-wrap my favorites or go buy some more cheap ones at the dollar store (I bought four there a few weeks ago). Oh, and one of the books I bought this year was a little golden book of "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer." That's the book Sam unwrapped last night and I'd forgotten what a weird story it is. Does anyone else think it's weird? Just lots of random characters and story twists and random scary monsters that eat reindeer. I'll stick to just enjoying the song and forget about the book. Anyway, despite Rudolph's somewhat twisted story I LOVE this time of year. I can't help but feel hopeful and happy.

PS- Sorry about the poor camera job. I thought I was making it so you could see the whole tree...didn't realize it'd be turned on its side. Ooops. Also, do you hear the music in the background? It's Alabama's Christmas CD. I grew up with this CD/tape and it just makes me happy to listen to it...brings back all kinds of happy memories.

Baby Steps

Tonight Lauren took her first steps on her own! It was very exciting! The flash on our camera is busted, but luckily Evan remembered that you don't need a flash to take a video. Anyway, it's only a matter of days before she's running around the house with Sam. Crazy! :-)

Update (12/3/09): Lauren is still NOT walking...she could totally do it if she tried, but has no interest in exploring this wonderful new mode of transportation. She cruises the furniture and cupboards, but only rarely will try a few steps on her own. Oh well...all in due time, I guess.

Motivated!

Okay, I may regret putting this out there but I wanted to share this (click here), mostly because I'm still in awe over the fact that this was me six years ago! Pre-marriage and pre-babies. Anyway, reading my friend's blog post has totally motivated me to lose weight...and believe me...I have A LOT of weight to lose to get back to where I was. I realize that losing all my baby weight may be a pipe dream, but a girl can dream, right? Can someone really lose 75 lbs?!? Thinking about it just depresses me and makes me want to eat chocolate, but that's the sort of behavior that needs to end...and end NOW. Anyway, I'm feeling motivated...Thanks, Jess (my friend I ran the marathon with) for the reminder of the old me. I want her back! ;-)

Happy Halloween!!

I'm DYING over the fact that it's already November and Halloween has come and gone. In my opinion, Halloween is so much more fun now that I have kids. I think Sam "got" Halloween this year. He loved dressing up as Thomas the Train and LOVED that people just kept giving him candy. Lauren just looked cute in her chicken costume and threw a fit every time we tried to keep the hood on her head. Oh well...

We gave Sam a little tutorial on how to trick-or-treat before we left for our ward Trunk or Treat. He rang our door bell and Evan taught him to say "trick or treat" for his candy and then "thank you" after he gave him the candy. It was cute and we could tell Sam was excited! :-)

Lauren found this little pool of ducks to play with at the Trunk or Treat. You can see how it all started...she first just played with the ducks outside of the pool, but before we knew it she was inside and there wasn't anything we could do to get her to stay out!

Her buddy Joel (Lauren and Joel are only three weeks apart) came and joined her. They had a good time crawling around the pool with the ducks.

Sam diligently said "trick or treat" and "thank you" for about the first five cars at the trunk or treat. After that he just told me "he didn't want to say that anymore." Oh well...people still gave him candy and that's all that matters, right? Anyway, a fun day for the Thackers...hope you had a happy Halloween too!

Giggles

We just got back from a fun trip to Spokane. The kiddos did great in the car and now they're playing and giggling. It's music to my ears. I love the all out laughing that I hear. It's so cute. Now they're wrestling and I'm wishing I had a camera to record it.

Oops...Lauren just bumped her head. The giggling is over. Sigh. :-)

Broke

Hi there...Just wanted you all to know that I think our camera is broken. While I was showering yesterday Sam got his little fingers on the camera and did who knows what to it. I think he pushed every button several times and now I can't get the flash to work and actually flash. Sigh.

One more thing...not only is our camera broke, but we are too! Ha Ha! :-) So, that means it may be a while before we have a post with some pictures. Aaagghhh! And Halloween is next weekend! I'll have to borrow a friend's camera for that one. Anyway, hopefully Evan can fix the camera after studying the owners manual in great detail. I'll keep you posted.

Lauren's first few steps...with a little help!

Music to my ears...

A friend gave us this little "baby" toy trumpet that plays the same song over and over again. Well, all day Sam "played" the toy trumpet around the house and was excited for his dad to get home so he could play the trumpet with him.

We couldn't resist getting the whole performance on video. It's very cute and I'm excited for the day when Sam plays a real trumpet just like his dad! :-)

Fall Fun

On Friday we went to a local farm and pumpkin patch with some friends. Sam has been begging me for weeks to go to a petting zoo, so this was right up his alley. Besides a petting zoo they had a fun play area for the kids with tractors to ride and climb on, a big slide, and not to mention the huge bin of corn to play in. Anyway, Sam LOVED it. Lauren liked it too, especially when she could get out of the stroller and crawl around.

On the drive up to the farm I kept telling Sam we were going to a farm and a pumpkin patch. Well, he must have heard me wrong because since then he's started calling any and all pumpkins "pumpkin hatches." We'll be driving down the road or going into Fred Meyer and he'll see a pumpkin and say, "Look, Mommy...there's a pumpkin hatch!" Or, "Look, Mommy...look at all those pumpkin hatches!" It makes me chuckle out loud every time I hear it. We've tried to correct him, but he won't have anything to do with a pumpkin patch...it's a "pumpkin hatch!"

And, finally the petting zoo...The other funny thing Sam did was he kept taking handfuls of corn from the huge corn bin and then he'd run over to the animals and "feed" them corn. He did this at least three or four times...running from the corn bin to the animals. He'd get up to the pen where the animals were and say, "Here Sheep (or pig, or duck, or horse/mule)...have some corn." Then he'd drop it on the ground inside the pen. They're probably not supposed to eat corn, but I couldn't interfere with his fun. Besides I was having too much fun watching him! :-)

Our new pet...

We were at a friend's house last week and in her D.I. pile was this enormous stuffed dog. Well, Sam immediately fell in love with it and instead of going to the D.I. the dog came home with us. Sam named it, "Soft Dog" and loves to feed him (usually bread), pet him, and ride him like a horse. As you can see from this picture, he also likes to put him to bed at night and he gets a soft pillow and one of our best blankets. :-)

Here Comes Trouble

Lauren's in the power crawling stage where she gets into EVERYTHING! I'm certain she'd crawl to Alaska if I let her out of my sight long enough. She seems to know when the front door is open because any time it's open she makes a B-line for the door. She has no problem crawling outside and loves to crawl on the sidewalk, lawn, mud, and rocks.
She also thinks it's fun to pull mom and dad's books off the shelves. The other day she was in our room with me while I was folding laundry and would say, "Uh-Oh" with every book she pulled off the shelf. It was cute.

The Big Brother

Sam has a small cold and when he has a cold he thinks a Kleenex is the solution to everything. Well, yesterday morning on the way to church I handed him a Kleenex and then hear

this conversation in the back seat...

Sam: See, Lauren (holding up the Kleenex for Lauren to see)...this is called a Kleenex. You go like this (in my rear view mirror I see him demonstrating how you wipe your nose) and the Kleenex gets all your snots!

Lauren: squeal, ah-dah, ah-dah, squeal...

I LOVED it. It made my mama heart so happy to hear. Lauren is so lucky to have a big brother who I'm sure in the coming years will teach her many things.

Happy Birthday!!

September 21st is Evan's birthday and Lauren's is the 22nd, so last night for FHE (September 21st) we celebrated both birthdays. Woohooo!!! It was fun...Grandma Hatch and Analise (Evan's cousin) joined us for the fun.

Happy Birthday, Evan...I love you so so much!

This is Lauren's 1st birthday, so it's kind of a big deal. We got some FABULOUS pictures of her opening presents and eating our birthday cake (dirt cake...Evan requests this every year for his b-day).

Just a Few Observations...

Observation #1: Lauren is still super cute and is a daddy's girl...


Today after I picked Evan up from the bus I got Lauren out of the car and went to carry her inside the house. However, she had other ideas. She started crying and looking at Evan and it was clear she didn't want to have anything more to do with me. The minute I gave her to Evan she was a happy camper. Then later tonight when Evan was vacuuming he picked her up and held her while he worked. She was perfectly content and loved every minute. Now when I try and hold her all she does is try to squirm herself out of my arms. She's definitely a daddy's girl.

Observation #2: While the cat is away the mice will play...

I went out of town over Labor Day weekend and left the kids home with Evan. They had such a GREAT time and went all sorts of fun places...the zoo, the children's museum, and the Burke Museum (UW campus). Anyway, here are a few pictures from their time together.

Sam sitting in his favorite window at the zoo watching the penguins swim by...

Sam looking at the giraffe...another favorite of his!

It was raining the day they went. Lauren doesn't look too thrilled, but Sam sure does!

Sam and Lauren playing with these cool blocks at the children's museum...

Observation #3: I give a mean haircut...Not too shabby if I say so myself!

In an effort to save money I've started giving Evan a haircut when he needs it. I think this is the fourth haircut I've given him and for the record we have indeed saved a lot of money. I was super nervous the first time I cut his hair, but now I'm much more confident and definitely not as nervous. Anyway, now if only Evan could learn how to color my hair. Then the real savings would begin...don't think I haven't thought about this. I just have to find someone willing to teach him.

Observation #4: Sam is experiencing some spiritual growth.

On Sunday morning Sam was ready to go to church in his sunglasses and anxious to bring his *pink* bag full of Lauren's clothes. We somehow convinced him to leave the glasses and bag at home, but it was the first thing he went to when we walked through the door after church. Anyway, he's adorable and I couldn't love him any more! ;-)

Every night part of our bedtime routine is reading the Book of Mormon with Sam. We only read one or two verses, but Sam has gotten in the habit of doing it. Well, lately he wants to read them all by himself instead of one of us reading to him. I caught him on camera "reading" the other night. He saw me and got embarrassed and so unfortunately you get the inhibited version for your viewing pleasure. Oh well...it's still cute.

Observation #4: My kiddos like to wrestle...

I caught this cage fight on camera. :-)

Observation #5: Sam is a true boy...

Tonight he wanted to fill his dump truck with dirt and go digging outside all while wearing his new dinosaur rain boots. It was late and a little past his bedtime when he announced his plan to go digging, but I had to let him have his "boy" moment. Let me just note that I have a cold and sound like a frog in this video and when I was filming this I all of a sudden felt like I needed to cough up a lung...

"Uh-oh" and "S-A-M"

Well, friends...this is as good as it gets around here...I tried to get some really great "uh-oh" videos for you to see and ended up with these two. They're alright, but not stellar. I'll keep trying. I sure love my little girl. She's just so easy going and fun to have around...well, I guess that depends on who you talk to. Sam prefers for her to stay far away from his books or his animals. You'll notice the animal line-up in the background of the 2nd video.

Sam is learning the letters in his name and is pretty excited about it. We worked on it for the first time the other day. We "colored" the letters in his name. I'd take a turn and then he'd take a turn. It was fun and it's exciting to see him learning! :-)

News from the Thacker Family

Our first piece of breaking news is that Sam has made the switch to a big-boy bed!!! :-) Oh my...he was so excited to sleep in what he calls his "boy-big" bed. He loves the added independence it has given him. Although I don't think he realizes he can get out of it in the morning without us helping him because he still cries for us to come and get him when he wakes up.

Lauren's latest and biggest accomplishment is that she can say, "Uh-oh!" I haven't been able to catch it on video yet, but I'm determined. I'm confident our next blog post will have the proof for you all to see. Anyway, this picture has nothing to do with this latest news worthy accomplishment, I just thought it was a cute picture.

We have these educational placemats that I found at Walmart. They're great! They've helped Sam learn his ABC's and now they've been the means for him learning his shapes, so three cheers for educational placemats! :-)

The kids LOVE their daddy to give them horsey rides. I love Lauren's giggles in this video!

Father and Sons Campout

Friends in our Shoreline ward...

GREAT picture of father and son...

Setting up the tent...


Sitting around the campfire...


Sitting outside the tent...the next morning...

Evan said Sam had a hard time going to sleep. He kept telling Evan he was "all done sleeping" and that he wanted to go home! I guess eventually Sam got tired enough and fell asleep.

Sam's favorite part of the trip...throwing rocks in the river!