Genius

My Genius thoughts today.

E is a Genius.

We took her to see the Lion King in Las Vegas in January. We saw it one time, she has never seen the movie, and I have not played the soundtrack until yesterday. About 15 seconds after I pushed play, you know the "Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba Sithi uhm ingonyama" part, she said to me... "Oh mom, this is the Lion King music! You know, when mom and dad and E when to see the show and with zebras and Ephalents"

She is 2 and we saw it 3 months ago...Genius.

Whoever invented this is a Genius.

I'm talking about the pocket in the back that prevents blow-outs. Amazing.


Whoever thought up the Style TV series Clean House. For some reason I love to watch people who live in a cluttered mess clean up, sell their crap and then have a nice clean organized home to live in. Genius.

Baby pictures

Here is a preview of W's baby pictures and our family photos.

My cousin took them...she is amazing!

View them at: http://photo.kylienixon.com/

I know I'm biased, but my kids are adorable!

Crazy Month of March!

W is getting so big

I took him in for his two week appointment and he had gained a whole half a pound!

I have so much milk...

MOOOOOOOO!!

During the past few weeks there has been a lot of this ... (snuggling in bed) Thanks to MQ not feeling well due to an infection in my uterus! I went in for an appointment with my doctor and he quickly admitted me to the hospital...again...to receive a very strong antibiotic to try to knock it out. They said I would only have to stay for 48 hours, just long enough to receive the full dose of antibiotic, but I was there 5 days! Luckily I was able to have W with me in my room because he was such a new baby. Thanks to Mama Nix for taking E who could not stay at the hospital with us!

E is such a great big sister!

She wants to do everything I do, she was pretty sad when I told her she couldn't carry W in the snuggler.

Thanks to Gma VD for helping me for a week...I miss you so much! I need those extra hands.

We had a wonderful weekend in Bear Lake at the cabin. During Conference I always find myself realizing how blessed we are to have a prophet on the Earth.

I love Conference and I think we have it every 6 months because that is how often we need that power boost to make sure we are going in the right direction and doing the things we need to be doing.

E and Papa Pidge making a snowman...


Mama Nix and aunt Tash being creative so she can play in the snow, gotta love ziplocs and duct tape!


(Sorry I didn't pack you snow boots...I was thinking 'it's April, we wont have snow!!')

Easter Egg hunt in the snow.

This was a first.

That's all for now, Happy Spring!

He's here!

Baby W was born last week and we couldn't be more excited! He is as handsome as ever and arrived with much less trauma than E thanks to the scheduled C section! Thanks to all who came and visited us at the hospital.

Officially, my three favorite people!



The first thing E said when she saw W in the nursery getting a bath was... "Oh my, he has a big bum!" Hilarious

Been to one of these lately??

I'm pretty sure these are the best games ever, and by far the best fans ever.

....The fans are brutal, but the Best.

This is my favorite student cheer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARpzavb7PQk

I love the comment "that's better choreography than the Mormon Tabernacle Choir!"

Again, Brutal but the Best.

I haven't spent a day in class at USU and I cannot call myself an alumni, but I do consider myself a True Blue Aggie Fan!!

As E would say..." Go Aggies!!"

Time to post she says...

I have been delaying this post because I don't have any pictures to put up. Sad story, I have somehow misplaced the charger for my brand spanking new camera. Bummer. I really cant find it.

How are we?? We here at the Van D house are doing well. I have been nesting (like a little hen) and organizing everything in sight, except for the office, and finally taking the time to create a cute nursery and room for E. I decided to do molding/chair rail in both rooms and had my brother along with his two friends (one of which whose name is Jace...weird) who are in woodshop at dear ole Davis High come help me. They were life savers as I really didn't know what the heck I was doing. Needless to say E's room has turned out really well and I am ready to paint.

I am so proud of E lately, she has made some major strides these past few weeks.

1. Potty training without a glitch!! I'm serious, only like 3 accidents...total! And when she had an accident she did it on a towel or on hard floor, no carpet mess! She is amazing.
2. Moving into a big girl bed and only getting out during the night to go pee pee!! Again, amazing.

*I am putting this note for myself when I go back and read this in 5 years...I really don't think raising all my kids will be as easy as it is to raise E. Just FYI

Last week we spent 10 days in St George and Las Vegas because M had classes down there for work. E and I loved the warm weather and went for many walks. For the record I really hate Las Vegas because I think it stinks and there are way to many people, but E and I hung out in our condo and had a great time while M was in class. We ate at the Cheesecake factory, Macaroni Grill and watched the fountains at the Bellagio. The next day we woke up and I asked E what she wanted to do, she replied, "I want to watch the water, water, water and mucus (aka music)" She loves those kind of things. Went to Disney's the Lion King...E loved it and I found there were perks to being 8 months pregnant as they upgraded us to fabulous seats so I didn't have to climb the stairs or over people. ;) We were also able to spend some time with M's parents and my grandparents who are both serving missions in St. George. E got spoiled and loved every minute of it! Good times.

M and I are going to the Bill Cosby show on Friday, pretty excited about that.

I'm sick of being pregnant. Only 2 1/2 weeks to go. Hopefully this one gets here easier and with less trauma than E.

Counting down the days...

Little Men

I just finished reading this...I might be that much closer to knowing how to raise a little boy, or children for that matter.

Here are some of my favorite lines. I think they say enough.

Mrs. Bhaer: “You see we don’t believe in making children miserable by too many rules, and too much study….So I made an agreement with them, I was to allow a fifteen minute pillow fight every Saturday night…” page 20

“Boys at other schools probably learned more from books, but less of that better wisdom which makes good men. Latin, Greek, and mathematics were all very well, but in Professor Bhaer’s opinion self-knowledge, self-help, and self-control were more important, and he tried to teach them carefully.” page 30

Mr. Bhaer: “…Now each of you tell me what crop I shall try to sow in you this spring, so that next autumn I may get a good harvest out of my plots…Each of you think what you need most, and tell me, and I will help you to grow it;… for we are all parts of the beautiful garden, and may have rich harvests for our Master if we love Him enough.” Page 44

Mrs. Bhaer: “ I have a regard for children’s little treasures and think they should be treated respectfully.” Page 149

I recommend this little treasure. Such a fun read.

These are a few of my Favorite Things! xoxo E

Here are E's favorite things in 2009.... Grandparents!! She has 2 sets of grandparents, 2 sets of Great grandparents, and one set of Great Great Grandparents! You are so lucky E!
Elder Uncle J

Tu-Tu's, dancing, Tasha's custom headbands and anything pink!

Sleeping

Uncle Parks, Playing in the snow

Aggie BB games, and making funny faces

Aunt Tash, Food

Aunt Tash and her Ipod with Man From Snowy River

Santa and Babies

Disneyland!

Mickey Mouse and Tasha's awesome B-day cakesBinkies
All Animals and Daddy
Her kitchen
Bear Lake and otterpops in the summer time....

Just a few.

Cant Wait!

I cant wait for Christmas Eve and Christmas this year! E is at such a fun age that everything is exciting and she totally gets the whole Santa thing! She keeps telling me that Santa is coming to bring her horsies and books tomorrow, and today I can say "Thats right!" She is currently sitting in her bed...should be sleeping... reading her Christmas book about Santa and Snowmen. She actually found her stocking stuffers a couple of weeks ago! I thought I was being so tricky and hiding them in a good place, but she is on to my game! And to make things worse...I can't find the stocking stuffers now! I hid them from her, and in turn hid them from myself. I don't know if it is my crazy prego brain or what but I cannot find them anywhere! If I cant find them by tonight, I am off to Walmart to make sure she has something to go in her stocking.

Another fun aspect about Christmas this year is that I get to explain to E what it is really about, our Savior Jesus Christ. We have been on hunts in my moms house and ours for all the Nativities so she could find the baby Jesus. She now recognizes them when we are out and about shopping or in someones front yard. I love to see her begin to understand, and I love to be the one to share with her the awesome truth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas

Loves

MQ

P.S. Quesiton for all you Moms out there with older than E kids....when do they stop taking naps? E has just been sitting in her bed talking for about and hour now without sleeping. She didnt take a nap yesterday and fell asleep at 7:30. What is the deal?

Daily Dialogue

(Disneyland last year, she only wanted to ride the merry-go-round)

E: "I love zew mommy"
MQ: "You do??!"
E: "I do! I really do!"

8:00 am (knocking on my bathroom wall which is shared with E's room)
E: "MOM!! I Awake!"

E: "Daddy is at work, he's busy"

On the phone
E: "Dad, where are you?"
M: "I'm on the train"
E: "You commin home?"
M: "yep!"
E: "Oh, Okay. Bye"
E: (directed to MQ) "Daddy is commin home"

E: "Mom, my hands, I need a wash. Ewe Gross Sick!"

E: "Mom, lets read a book. Bear and Duck book."

E: "Santa is comming. Santa bring horsies and books"
MQ: "What else is Santa going to bring E?"
E: "Um....some toys"

E: "Mom, I wanna call Tash" .... "No, Brent"

E: "Mom, I need a snack"

E: "Mom, mucus (music), I wanna dance"

E: "Here mom, sit a me!"

MQ: "E? Where are you?"
E: "I'm tumming!"

MQ: "Oh E, you are my favorite!"
E: "Tank you"

Viva Mexico!

M and I just got back from an 8 day cruise to the Mexican Riviera with our friends Kevin and Chelsey. E was with Aunt Tash, Grandma and Great Grandma...I think she had a major vacation to! We Rented a Honda Rino in Mazatlan ...

Hiked up this stupid mountain. BTW I am six months pregnant and have been having serious hip problems with this one so naturally I didn't want to go on the hike. I said, you guys go ahead and I will wait here in the Rino. But after major peer pressure "Oh just come on MQ, you will regret it when we get back and tell you how awesome it was!" I went. I hated every minute (I don't handle heat very well either) and frankly had a major bad attitude (sorry M and K&C), ran down the mountain only to find at the bottom of the hike a HUGE 6 foot black snake!! Yes, you know how snakes do that hissing thing and lift their head up and open their huge mouths?? Yeah, it did that to me accompanied by a large chomp to indicate it was going to eat me alive. So, naturally I screamed, ran to the Rino, and jumped in without even opening the door. K said he didn't know a pregnant woman could run that fast. Its funny now, but at the time I was terrified!

We went to an awesome glass factory in Cabo San Lucus and M got to blow glass.

Ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, bought a pin...

And ordered Nachos. What I didn't realize was that they were Nachos Grande! Seriously the plate was bigger than my 6 month prego belly, but oh so delicious.

We loved Puerto Villarta, its absolutely beautiful. Sorry no pics, we cant find our camera. Thanks M for such a fun time! I love spending time with you!

Meet E

We Love this Girl. Happy 2nd Birthday!

Thank you Cousin Kylie, we love the photos! www.kylienixon.com