Halloween

Introducing Princess Avs and Panda Ashby. I thought they looked pretty darn cute. It apparently is serious business posing for photos on Halloween, no one would smile. Some of the definite highlights of the day were:

• Avery and I going to the grocery store, she was the only one in costume and got lots of oohs and ahhs.
• Avery's dress was long on her so she would hold it up in the front when she walked. She did that with a royalty like reverence, it was so funny.
• The weather was unbelievably good for trick or treating. Neither girl needed a jacket, long sleeved shirts did the trick.
• When the girls would trick or treat, they wouldn't hold their pumpkins up to let our neighbors put the treats in, they just held them in front of their bodies. The girls are short, so the poor people had to bend practically to the ground to land the treats in the pumpkins.
• We managed to hand out all of our candy (really we left it in a bowl on the porch while we were talking to our neighbors and it mysteriously vanished....)
• The girls did actually fall asleep prior to midnight. Hopped up on all that candy, I thought we'd be in for a long one!

The no TV week

Last Tuesday after I put the girls to bed, I was up decorating cookies while Roger was securing birthday gifts. It's not uncommon in our house for the girls play in their room before they settle down for the night. Last Tuesday was no exception. I could hear them playing and didn't think anything of it until Avery starting crying and was coming downstairs to tell me something. I met her in the stairwell and saw that she was covered in white stuff. That's never, ever a good thing. I went upstairs with her and there was white stuff everywhere. Said white stuff was my expensive face lotion. I was furious. I continued to investigate and saw that lotion was all over Avery's bed frame and the carpet near her bed. I looked in the bathroom and there was RED stuff all over. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I was so furious that I removed myself from the situation. I left them upstairs until Roger came home. Apparently they found a couple of tubes of lipstick and thought it would be fun to paint everything in sight, including themselves. Then realizing that they weren't supposed to be doing that, they tried to clean up with my lotion. They were also using a towel that is now permanently covered in red lipstick. I hate, and I mean HATE, things like that. I know they know better and it infuriates me. We thought it was appropriate that they lose TV privileges for a week. It actually didn't punish me as much as I thought it might. I will be the first to admit that my girls watch way too much TV. I think I'm just nervous that I won't know what to do with them when the TV is off. But I think we did just fine this past week. Here are some pictures of things we did.

We played with play doh. Those are snowmen because we are excited for snow. Have you ever tried to make stick arms out of play doh? It's not that easy, that's why my snowman looks like a penguin.

We carved pumpkins. Roger was working late so he missed out! Avery didn't want me to carve hers, she opted for coloring on it instead!

And we made more cookies for school. What's Halloween at school without sugar cookies?

Overall it wasn't too bad of a week. I learned that we are capable of entertaining each other without the TV. I will now make a renewed effort to reduce how much we watch!

I was tagged

I was tagged by my friend Alisha on Wednesday. That means that I'm supposed to write six interesting things about myself. I've been racking my brain to figure out something that maybe everyone who knows me doesn't know, but so far I'm coming up blank. Alisha is harassing me to write it... so here goes nothing!

1. I started taking dance lessons when I was 8. The studio I danced at changed ownership right before I started high school so I stopped taking classes. However, I was then a member of the Cottonwood High School Dance Company, so really I didn't stop dancing regularly until I was 18. I have so many great memories of dance. I feel so torn about it now as a mother. My mom spent so much time and money for me to dance and sometimes I really, really hated it. I am so grateful now, but I don't know how much I would push my girls to dance if they didn't want to. I probably wouldn't and then would regret it. Neither girl is enrolled in dance now, but it's really something I would like both of them to try.

2. My memory is really, really good; about some things. For example, I can remember that my junior high friend Jessica Freed's birthday is on April 21st. I haven't spoken to her since probably 1997. However, I can't remember any grammar rules or what I learned in eighth grade French class.

3. I used to loathe the color pink. I don't so much anymore, but it's still not my favorite. Part of the loathing was probably that I didn't want to appear to be girly at all, it wasn't something I was very comfortable with. I knew lots and lots of girly girls and I just didn't think it was for me. I realize now that even though I didn't feel like I was one of them, there were better ways to deal with it than to despise the poor color pink!

4. I grew up in Utah, minutes from the canyons and I'm a terrible, I mean really truly horrible skier. I took lessons through the school in eighth and ninth grade and I was the worst in the class both years.

5. I've never stayed up for 24 hours before. My friends and I would try to pull all nighters when I was younger, but I couldn't ever stay up for the entire 24 hours. Ask anyone who knows me, I need my sleep!

6. I learned last week that I like to sew. I've had a sewing machine for a while now and haven't used it much. I was doing a very simple project last week (making bags for school kits) and I realized that I liked it. I felt amazed at what I could create when I was sewing. I know my abilities (they are few) when it comes to sewing, so I think that if I stay within those boundaries and learn a little more at a time, that I could probably make myself a good little hobby!

This kind of turned into a trip down memory lane . I figure that the people I am friends with now, probably don't know much about my childhood anyway, so it's ok...right?

I think I'm supposed to tag some people too, so here goes (you can send me all the hate mail you want, just do it!) All you Virginians are it.... Kelly Worth, Nancy Worth, Margaret Worth and Kim Ellsworth!

Ashby is 5!!

Today was Ashby's birthday and I thought we had a pretty fun day! She slept in (yea more for me I guess). Then we had under the bowls (a variation of the Worth family tradition, under the plates) and opened a few presents. She wore new clothes to school today and took some cookies with her. Then we came home and read some books until it was time to meet Roger at Chili's for her birthday dinner. After that we came home to cake and her biggest gift... a new bike! Unfortunately the screen on our digital camera isn't working so I couldn't see how blurry the picture was, but I'll post it anyway. I think she was happy with her day. Of course she made the comment that she didn't get all those things she wanted that she saw on TV.... we are terrible parents huh! Lucky for us, we get a much needed break from the TV, more details about that to come.

I can't believe my little girl is 5. I remember thinking when she was brand new how long it would be before she would be 5. Now it's here and I can't believe it. I hardly remember my life without her. She a truly such a joy, we love her so much!

Birthday cookies for school. (they are supposed to be spiders, but I couldn't find black string licorice.)

Ashby at Chili's. She wore her hood up the whole day, it was very cute!

Ashby with her requested birthday cake. Can you tell what it's supposed to look like?

She did a great job blowing out her candles.

Blurry picture on bike. She has a purple helmet on, but it looks like a mullet, cool.

My sister-in-law Kelly, requested a picture of Avery on her bike and here it is. She hasn't really ridden her bike since she got it (Avery, not Kelly). Hopefully she will want to now that Ashby has one too.

Do we really care?

I've been a terrible blogger lately and I'm going to try to do better. I saw such a funny headline on CNN today that I thought I would write about it. Here it is....Martial arts TV star picks presidential candidate. The martial arts TV star in question is Chuck Norris. I was laughing so hard. Does the American Public really care who Walker, Texas Ranger picks for US President? I do have to admit that I have kind of a soft spot for Walker, Texas Ranger because of Conan O'Brien. He used to have the Walker, Texas Ranger lever that he would pull during his show to show random clips from Walker, Texas Ranger. It gave me many a good laugh. However, I still don't think Chuck Norris' political opinions will influence my own!

The visitors

OK not like from another planet like it sounds, just from Utah. My parents came for a visit just a few weeks ago. I've been really slow to update the blog, it was protesting pictures last week and I'm just barely trying again. We had so much fun with them here. We did lots of fun things as well as lots of relaxing! Roger was off the whole week which was so unbelievably nice. Here's a load of pictures to prove the fun!

Avery wants to be a princess for Halloween and her birthday was the perfect excuse to get a princess dress. Thanks mom for accommodating! Ashby fell at school and skinned her nose, lovely huh?


Grandma also brought their Christmas presents. These dresses were too darn cute to not let them wear already. I love it when they will wear matching dresses!

Here's a view of downtown Pittsburgh. We rode the Duquesne (pronounced Doo-cane) Incline up to the top of Mt. Washington and tried to take pictures of the breathtaking view. The incline was built in the 1800s to get workers from their homes on top of the mountain to work near the river. They had a museum up at the top where we learned lots of cool stuff about Pittsburgh. They had these amazing old newspaper photos from right around the turn of the century that showed Pittsburgh in the middle of the day, but it looked like night time because of all the pollution. Pittsburgh definitely benefited from pollution restrictions.

Ashby and Grandma looking beautiful in brown!

We took a fun trip to Wilmot, OH. There we met one of my mom's friends that she met through work. Joann told up about the world's largest cuckoo clock. Unfortunately the actually cuckooing was rather anti-climactic, but we enjoyed the buffet lunch. After that we continued west into Amish Country. The drive was absolutely beautiful. We enjoyed a day of shopping in Berlin, OH. There were so many fun homemade things to look at (we tried not to buy!)

Another definite highlight was the dinner cruise on the three rivers. The view was amazing. Here's our little family on the boat.

We love you Grandma and Grandpa!

Also while they were here we canned grape juice, went hiking at Harrison Hills Park and ate lots of good food! We miss my parents a lot and were so glad they could come for a visit.

What I want to be when I grow up...

I thought it was high time for another top five. I was thinking I was going to do one about fall, because I seriously love it, but I've been thinking about this topic a bit lately. There were so many things I wanted to be when I grew up. When I grew up (got to college) I couldn't get serious about any of them. It frustrates me a little that I didn't have the ambition to become any of the things on my list. It's never too late though, right?

I also got a kick out of thinking about each different thing I wanted to be. I went through so many phases where I was determined that I was going to be one thing or another and it's fun to think about those times. Being a mother was never something I wanted to be when I grew up. I always just figured I would, but I didn't think about it that much. I am always envious of women who knew and know that's what they always wanted to be. I am so grateful now that I am a mother; I think it's working out pretty well!

Top five things I wanted to be when I grew up (in no particular order):
1. Paleontologist, who didn't go through a dinosaur phase?
2. Archaeologist, I got so obsessed with ancient Egypt.
3. Professional dancer, unfortunately I don't have enough skill, but it was always a desire to make a career from what I love doing.
4. Doctor, I didn't ever know what kind, but I wanted to all the same.
5. Research biologist, I wanted to discover the cure for cancer or AIDS.

It's really not too late for some of those professions, I'll be a mom first though. I hope I don't ever lose sight of things that used to interest me. One day I'll be able to give these passions more time...

What did/do you want to be?