Swindled!

Jared came home from Kindergarten the other day and told Alan and me the following story:

"Today my friend Autumn offered me the deal of a lifetime! She said that if I gave her my treat after computer time that she would give me more money than what I have in my piggy bank!"

I said, "So, did you give her your treat?" He said yes.
I said, "And did she give you her money?"
Jared said, "No, but she's going to bring it to me in a few days!" (This is like 2 days before Christmas break.)

I then very carefully explained that Autumn probably wasn' t ever going to remember to bring him the money, but that it was very nice of him to share his treat with her.

Alan then leaned over to me and said, "Jared just had his first experience being swindled!"

It's about time...

Finally, we are happy to announce that we are...

I am always so reluctant to announce my pregnancies on this blog until we know the baby is healthy.  Well, we had our big ultrasound recently, and it looks like things are good and she'll arrive next April.  (Note: The doctor was pretty sure it was a girl, but he was uncertain enough that he said I could have a quick ultrasound at my next appointment to verify the gender.)

I am so incredibly grateful for this baby that will be coming into our lives.  I know so many couples right now who are longing for more children, and that really puts things into perspective for me.  Jared and Maggie will be so cute with her (Jared was hoping for another little sister!  Isn't that cute?)  All that being said, allow me to vent by saying I have been sooooo sick with this pregnancy!  One of my sis-in-laws says that she feels sicker and sicker with each subsequent pregnancy, and that has also been the case with me, although I'm grateful that my morning sickness didn't really start til after we got back from our Arches camping trip in September.  Alan likes to point out "new features" of this pregnancy--like feeling sick in the middle of the night every single night and throwing up at the slightest yucky smell (poopy diapers, diaper pail, kitchen garbage...)  I've also had dreadful headaches (probably from being dehydrated) that just get so bad that I end up throwing up, too.  Here I am, more than halfway through this pregnancy, and just the past few days I FINALLY seem to only be suffering from morning sickness for just about a half hour each morning, rather than on-and-off all day (and all night) long.

Jared said something cute two days ago:
Jared: Mommy, I'm glad I'm a boy and not a girl.
Me: Well, that's good, because you are always going to stay a boy!
Jared: I'm glad I don't have to have that awful feeling of being pregnant.

My poor kids have probably been so tired of me taking forever to get out of bed each morning and having me complain that I feel sick.  Hopefully we are nearing the end of all that...and on to more but different unpleasant symptoms of pregnancy!

Testimony of Jesus

I'm not good about sharing this like I should, but I am a Mormon, or a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I am proud to be a Mormon, and I have a strong testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ.

My brother wrote an awesome testimony about our Savior on his blog that I wanted to share.  Read it here. He's always been better at words than me.  :)

Real Superheroes

Today after church Jared and I had the following conversation:

Jared: Mom, did you know there are two real live superheroes?
Me: There are?
Jared: Do you know who they are?
Me: Who?
Jared: Well, the first one is Jesus and the other one is me!

(Jared is totally into the superhero phase.  He loves The Incredibles and likes to pretend he has super powers of all kinds.)

This conversation reminds me of a something one of my nieces said when she was little: "Magic isn't real except for Jesus and Santa Claus."

Ha ha ha.  I got a good chuckle today.

What to do, what to do?

Jared has a non-contagious, night-time barfing problem.  I have blogged about it in the past, but not recently, and sadly, we have been dealing with it on and off for about three years now.  It's super lame, both for him and for the parents that have to sit up with him in the middle of the night and clean up messes (us!).

Basically what happens is Jared will sometimes wake up and throw up several times but then go back to sleep and be just fine the next day.  He's been medicated now for two different illnesses (acid reflux and some weird illness called cyclic vomiting syndrome--might be related to "abdominal migraines"), but unfortunately the medications aren't foolproof and we still have episodes here and there.  We have also weaned him off medicine several times since we haven't wanted him to be on anything long-term.  He'll be fine for months at a time until it all starts up again.

About a month and a half ago we got Jared in to see a pediatric GI specialist, who unfortunately doesn't know what is wrong with him!  He said only a few of his symptoms sound like acid reflux, and only a few of his symptoms sound like cyclic vomiting syndrome.  He ordered an MRI of the brain for Jared, which we did, and we are glad that it was normal. (Wow, the MRI is another story in itself.  Jared had to be sedated, and its effects lasted most of a whole day.  The whole ordeal was kind of a big stress--not to mention the fact that we are out LOTS of money for it...Sedation is expensive!)  Anyway, I'm not sure what to do now.  He had another barf episode last night and poor Alan had to do all the damage control by himself since I wasn't feeling very well last night.  Jared is still on medicine for cyclic vomiting syndrome, but it increases his appetite a LOT (it is also prescribed in children to stimulate appetite for weight gain), and I'm worried what will happen to him if he stays on it for a long time.

I'm glad that Jared doesn't have a brain tumor or anything horrible that is making him sick, but it is a big puzzle what to do and  this really does interfere with our lives.  It makes me nervous to have overnight babysitters for Jared and to go on vacation anywhere (Jared threw up on our Arches trip in September--luckily NOT one of the nights we were camping in a tent!)  It's not fun to have to have your child always sleep with a "barf bowl" next to his bed. I guess I'm just hoping he'll grow out of it someday????

It happened!

After about 3 1/2 weeks of two wiggly teeth, Jared lost both of them on the same day!  One of them accidentally got knocked out by Aunt Angela's elbow while we were waiting for Aunt Rachel to finish her half marathon.  Then, later that day Jared asked me to just pull out the other one.  I was grossed out, but happy to oblige.  I thought the Tooth Fairy would enjoy only having to visit once to get both of those teeth!  Jared received 4 quarters and was pretty excited!

This is just a random video I found of Alan playing the "Couch Game" with Jared and Maggie a couple of weeks ago.  (Shawna: "I played the Couch Game with Jared.  What is that?") This game has existed for about three years and pretty much consists of the kids jumping off the couch onto Alan.  Yeah, it's a blast.

Halloween

We are lucky to have two Halloween parties every year--one with each of our families.  

This year we had a fun chili dinner at my brother's house, ate yummy treats, and sang Pumpkin Carols.  

 I made this spider cake this year.  There was a special surprise inside--green jello guts!

Dishing up delicious chili and cornbread

We lit the candles in our pumpkins while we sang our Halloween songs

These next two pictures are from Jared's Halloween parade at the elementary school. Maggie and I waited so patiently for it to begin...

Jared was going to wear his Mr. Incredible costume to school, but I was worried that he wouldn't be able to go to the bathroom by himself because of the zipper in the back.  So I talked him into wearing last year's skeleton costume to the school parade, and then he could be Mr. Incredible for trick-or-treating.  This year he didn't want any scary face make-up.

The rest of these pictures are from our annual Stout costume party.  It was so fun!  We ate soup and breadsticks, had delicious treats, and played games (donuts on a string, anyone?)

Alan as Napoleon Dynamite.  This was before he gave the wig a trim for his talent show dance.  

Maggie was Dorothy and I was Glinda the Good Witch

Maggie and Uncle Steve went outside for a while to jump on the tramp and find the kitties.

Jared was Mr. Incredible, but I couldn't get him to wear the black gloves or the black eye mask.  Oh, well. 

Jared "helped" make the homemade root beer.

We are already looking forward to next year's Halloween!

Alan "Dynamite" Stout

I still need to blog about all our Halloween festivities, but I just had to post this funny video.  Last night our ward had a talent show, and the final act in the show was Alan doing the Napoleon Dynamite dance.  It was so hilarious!  This isn't a super great video I took because I was trying to film with one hand and hold Maggie with the other.  

This next video is kind of underwhelming compared to Alan's dance, but I also participated in the talent show.  A lady in my ward organized four women to play "Stars and Stripes Forever" on two pianos.  It was actually a really hard song for all of us to learn, and I only had three weeks to learn it.  I think it turned out pretty well, though.

October Festivities

Here's just a random assortment of pictures I just found on my camera.

This is Maggie in her darling dress that her Grandma Stout bought for her in Chinatown in New York.

October wouldn't be October without getting a Jack o lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's!  Yum!

Halloween black cat cookies we made

This picture is of me and two of my former roommates, Caroline and Ann-Marie (two of the Billies).  We got together a little bit ago to say goodbye.  Both of them are moving this week, one to a different country and one to a different state.  I will miss hanging out with them!  Sad.

Stout Arches Trip

In September we went with Alan's family on a little trip to Arches National Park.  It was awesome. Alan and I and our little family had just gone last spring, but Jared was begging us to go back.  He loves it.  We camped for two nights at the campground in the park, and then the third night we stayed in a condo in Moab that Alan's parents rented out.

Maggie hiked a bit, too, on the way to Landscape Arch

Lizard

Alan and Maggie in front of Landscape Arch.  We have a picture of Alan and Jared at this same spot when Jared was Maggie's age, shown below.

Aunt Angela was Jared's special "hiking buddy" on the very long hike to Double O Arch.

The first view of Double O Arch. Jared was a pretty good hiker on this long and hard hike, but he did need Uncle Spencer to carry him back the last mile back to the car.

Dark Angel, as seen through the bottom arch of Double O

Jared and me in front of Double O.  You can also see Dark Angel in the back.

Our family in front of the petroglyphs on the Delicate Arch trail

This is as close as we got to Delicate Arch.  Jared is still too young for the hike.

Jared and Aunt Emma at the campground

 These next few pictures are at Sand Dune Arch, one of our favorites.  The kids loved playing in the sand and the grown-ups had a long jump competition.

On the way back to the car after Sand Dune Arch

In front of Double Arch (not to be confused with Double O Arch).  Maggie was so cute in the backpack.

 A lot of us went hiking in an awesome place in Arches called the Fiery Furnace.  You have to get a special hiking permit to go there, and they won't allow kids under 5.  Jared was really excited to go (although he had actually been in the Fiery Furnace when he was 2--before they made the rule about being 5.)

Everyone underneath Surprise Arch

Alan helping Jared on the slick rock down from Surprise Arch

Alan and I kissing underneath the Kissing Turtles arch.

Alan and Jared in the Kissing Turtles

Everyone at a natural bride-looking arch in the Fiery Furnace

Jared playing in a pothole in Raven Canyon by Skull Arch

Skull Arch in the Fiery Furnace--one of my favorite arches

We can't wait until our next Arches trip!!

Flooding, again...

Three months ago I posted how we had a minor flood in our basement due to a problem with a pipe in our neighbor's yard (only about 1/2 of one bedroom got wet, and we were able to dry out the carpet and mat quickly.)

Well, two days ago, imagine my surprise and horror when I went down in my basement to grab something and heard what sounded like a WATERFALL coming from the window of that very same bedroom!  It was so awful!  The whole carpet (and all the furniture we were storing in there) was drenched in gallons of water, plus the water seeped under the wall into the neighboring bedroom and down the hallway as well.  I called Alan first to ask him if he could come home from work and then he and I both made phone calls to neighbors to get some help.

We had about 7 or 8 people come to help clear out the water in the window well (it was 2/3 full--likely from a sprinkler problem in our own yard this time--we haven't had time to diagnose it yet, although the water outside is turned OFF) and also the rooms in the basement.  We ripped up the carpet completely in one bedroom and then got fans blowing in the other room and the hall.  People who came to help were so nice!  Seriously.  Several of them stayed several hours and one couple in my ward even left to bring back a couple of pizzas and some root beer.  Wow.

Yesterday, after talking to a couple of people that had dealt with floods I got all freaked out about mold in the drywall, so we decided we needed professional help.  We called our home insurance company and had them send out a restoration company, whom we are paying a LOT of money to use their big fans and de-humidifiers for three days.  They also sprayed some kind of anti-microbial cleaner under all the carpet that is still intact downstairs.  We are going to have to repaint the room ourselves, replace the carpet padding ourselves, and get our carpet re-installed (we saved it--it is currently draped over our big playground in our backyard.  I hope it doesn't rain soon.).  Furniture is scattered all over the basement and I sort of hate the chaos that our basement will be in for the next couple of months until we get this all sorted out.  As anyone else who has had flooding knows, it is totally lame.

I'm having kind of a lousy week.

Kazoo

Jared got a cheap little kazoo for his birthday this summer.  He loves it.  A couple days ago he said to me, "Mommy, did you know that my kazoo can play Halloween songs and Christmas songs?  Cool, huh!"

Jared is growing up so fast.  He already has two loose teeth!

One of my favorite sights to see

Occasionally, I will walk into a room and see this:

I love it!

New Closets!

We love our house and are planning on living here a good while, if not forever.  However, there have been a few major drawbacks to our house.  I guess every house has them, right?  Anyway, among other things, our house does not have a coat closet and does not have a pantry (but it does have a nice, large kitchen!)  Anyway, we used this little portable coat closet ever since we moved in (shown in the corner in the picture below):

Several months ago my sis-in-law Brooke had the idea to put closets on either side of the window in our "dining nook" and then put a window seat in between.  Alan and I hired our amazingly-talented family friend Brian to build these closets for us.  (See Brian's website here if you would like to hire him to do a project for you, too!)

Here is the "before" picture:

And here is the "after" picture:

The closet on the left is a coat closet, and the closet on the right is a pantry with shelves:

And there is the amazing storage bench in between the two closets!  

We couldn't be more thrilled with the result!  We still aren't quite finished yet.  The closets need to be painted, and we are going to paint our whole kitchen a new color while we are at it.  I'm excited for the new look of my kitchen!!