International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

In case you didn't know (and, no, I didn't make this up--look it up) September 19th is International Talk-Like-a-Pirate Day!  We didn't do too much Pirate talking...well, maybe Ty did, but we don't understand what he says anyway.  So instead of “Arrrgh-“ talking, after I got back from my dance class Ty and I changed into the appropriate attire for the evening.  I took a whole 2 minutes to get our "costumes" together so please don't judge.  Our hearts were in the right place. 

The Great Pirate Costume Reveal for Russell

 Ty was just making sure my eye was still there.  I didn't quite have time to explain the whole eye patch thing to him.

 I love this little Cap'n!  (Again, I had just gotten home from a dancin' workout...just thought I'd send out that little reminder.)

 Since it was Monday night, for Family Home Evening we played "hall bowling."  This means that I've been saving the last 6 baby puff snack containers (which got a little hard because Ty kinda slowed his intake a few months ago), set 'em up (that was my job), and we rolled a ball down the hall to knock them over.  Ever the thrower, Ty didn't quite get whole rolling the soccer...err...bowling ball down to the pins.  Good thing we had walls to act as bumpers!  He'll probably catch on a little better in a few months.

 Here's our lovely game.  You're welcome to come and play; it's pretty easy to pick it up.

 You know what that is, right?  Pirate's Booty.  :)  I think that's a good note to end on.  Until next year, practice your Pirate Talk!

Baby Dream?!

Sometimes I have weird dreams that I get super involved in and when I wake up and tell them to Russell, they make no sense and he probably thinks I'm still asleep.  For example: last night I dreamed that I was in a waiting room with Russell's PT class...waiting for something.  Russell went back to the doctor and the next thing I know, I heard a baby crying.  I ran to go see it (because somehow I knew it was my baby, even though I didn't remember thinking I was pregnant) and I was told that I had my baby.  Apparently, the dr.'s and Russell decided that they "didn't want to wake me up," so they went ahead with the C-section without telling/asking me and I was still numb so I couldn't feel anything.  The baby was very fat-faced and squishy-looking with a bunch of dark hair; not what I'd expect a child of ours to look like.  Don't you just hate it when people cut out your baby without even telling you?!  Weird, weird dream.

I guess I just have pregnancy on the brain.  [I'm not pregnant.  I repeat, there are no babies growing in me!]  Lately, it seems like everyone (females mostly) is pregnant or somehow involved in pregnancy.  While Ty probably would enjoy a sibling and I'm warming up to the idea of more children, I'm not a social baby-haver and won't add kid #2 because "everybody's doing it."  (No pun intended, but I did laugh out loud when I realized what I wrote.)  Don't worry, cyber friends: we'll keep you posted when our family does expand.

 

(In this picture we were supposed to be looking at our future children.  I felt a little strange taking this...)

Anyone?

I know you're out there, you blog-readers.  I support you reading, too.  Thanks!  I would, however, love a bit of support headin' over this way.  Come on, we haven't had a comment in like 8 posts!  "Stop posting about boring stuff that nobody wants to comment on then," you're thinking and I understand that.  Feel free to comment about it!  :)  No pressure.

Sincerely,

Solitary Family Blogger

The Apple of His Eye

I have green eyes.  This picture, my drivers license, and many other sources can attest to this fact.  Unfortunately, Russell is not one of those sources.  My eyes are green, have been for years, and there's not really much dispute about it. Unless, of course you're Russell.

Last night as we were going to bed, I was being goofy and telling him that he needed to kiss me good-night with his eyes open so that he was sure he was kissing the right person.  Here's what went down:

R: "I don't need to keep my eyes open.  I already know what you look like.  You have pretty brown hair, blue eyes...uhhh...blue-green eyes..."
C: "What?!"
R: "You didn't let me finish!"
C: "Oh, you're finished, alright."
R: "I was just saying that your eyes are..."
C: "Whatever, Russell.  Who HAVE you been kissing?!  Maybe it is a good idea for you to keep your eyes open."
R: "No, I was saying..."
C: "Oh, what were you saying?  I'm sorry--go ahead."
R: "You're eyes are...green.  I said the wrong color."
C: "Yup.  Are Mandy Moore's eyes blue?"
R: "No--I don't even know!"
C: "Yeah, it's obvious that you don't pay too much attention to eye color."
R: "I love you?"
C: "Love you, too.  I trust you.  Good night."

You  have to know that this conversation was interrupted many times with fits of laughter. I'm glad that we have fun together and that Russell keeps things nice and...fresh.  You blue-eyed brunettes had better watch out!  :)

Summer Vacation Part 4: SoCal

Following our week in Windsor, we went down to Southern California for 3 reasons: 1) Russell's good college buddy's wedding 2) Alana's baby blessing and 3) go to The Price is Right!  [See our Anniversary post for more info/pictures] 4) we had to actually go back home to Henderson sometime!  So, we drove down (and were followed by some of our fam) and had even more fun.

Ssdac (Russell's bud) and the new Mrs. Ssdac coming out of the LA Temple.  It was a VERY crowded Saturday, but we're glad we could be there for this important day.  I think Russell may have even been more excited for this day than our own wedding...

Ty and I had to wait outside during the marriage ceremony because we didn't have a babysitter and I think he got a little bored/loopy.  I just thought this was funny-looking: he's just chillin' in the middle of the grass.

The wedding party.  (Russell's on the far left, in case you couldn't tell.)  The guys got many compliments on their neon green ties.  How many were genuine?  I'm not sure.  At least if there were a power outage, we'd have a light source!

Our little fam in front of the LA Temple.

At the reception that evening, Ty was having a BLAST "dancing" with all of the little kids around.  More like, he loved crawling into the middle of the floor and going up to any kid who was dancing and try to get them to play/dance with him. 

Russell and Ty doing the YMCA, I think.

Ty-Ty and his newly-married "Uncle Ssdac."

The Swift family (my sis) after church where Alana was blessed by her dad. 

Oh, look--another round of Ty's favorite game: Stick-your-finger-in-the-baby's-mouth!  Seriously, I'm surprised she didn't gag.

Ty-Ty demonstrating his ability to climb stairs at Hunter's parents' house.  We don't have stairs in our place so "unfortunately" he doesn't get to practice much.  He was pretty good--quick too--and was quite proud of himself.

We ate at this really good Chinese restaurant (seriously, I had to exercise strong self-restraint to not lick the plate of the lemon fish), but Ty was not really into the whole eating/sitting still thing.  We emptied our diaper bag of all toys/things to get Ty distracted and happy to no avail.  The look on his face pretty much sums it up.  The look on Russell's is good, too. ;)

Ty and his Far-far.  Sure, now he's happy!

On our way back to the car we stopped for a while at a European restaurant.  Okay, we actually weren't in the restaurant, but they had a band playing (sax, drums, piano, bass) and they were fun to watch/listen to!  Soren even danced some. 

Looks like Far-far got Soren!

While the husbands were out doing something manly, Tina and I took our 3 kids to the park.  We played a less-than-awesome game of Tetris trying to get all 3 kids and car seats in the back of the Corolla!  Someday, we'll have to get a bigger vehicle.

We did have fun at the park, though.  Ty found out how fun it is to climb up on the jungle gym and slide down.  We repeated the same path about a dozen times.

And of course we end with nakie post-bath boys playing in Soren's bed.  I think we could move Ty to a toddler bed now if we needed to; he loved playing on the "big boy" bed!

Thanks for letting us visit!

Summer Vacation Part 3: Windsor

Lots of pictures, so I'll write few words.  (A thousand times "lots" is enough, right?)

We spent about 5 days in a condo (well, 2 actually since our group is too big for 1) in Windsor, CA and had a fun time.  Thanks for the place, Mom and Dad!  Naturally, we just have a lot of fun together.

Ty really liked having cousins (and their toys) to play with.  Soren educated Ty on cars and other such vehicles.

Soren, Carl, and Ty playing cars on the bathroom floor.  Why the bathroom?  I don't know.  (And, yes, Ty is wearing a diaper.  That's all he's wearing, but he is covered.)

Mor-mor with the 2 grandkids closest in age--and matching!

There was a little park at the resort, so we took advantage of that...for about 20 minutes.  Carl and Soren made a "train" going down the slide.

I think this picture is SO cute!  Sawyer was there, too, but he was busy yelling at the people in the pool through the fence.

Baths were taken, though since we were on vacation, I fear a few may have been missed.  Whatever.

All in good fun...

Soren and Ty playing under the table.

Ty is helping to read the Mariner's book to Alana!  How nice.

Carl and baby Alana.

For those of you who don't know, the Pedersen genes carry an excellent ability to sleep anywhere.  Soren, the 3rd generation, demonstrates below:  (The kid was only sleeping on a couple of couch cushions on the floor, anyway..."Piece-o'-bed" as we called it back in the day.)

Aaaaand generations 1 and 2 managing to demonstrate just how incredible that sleeping ability is. 

Not to out-do himself earlier in the evening, though, the grand prize for lamest place/way to sleep goes to Kai, who apparently was too tired to go next door and get in bed or even look around for a blanket.  Congratulations, Kai. You look a fool.  Then again, if you're ever on "Survivor: Couch" you'd totally win.

Sawyer, just happy to be playing.

The ever popular Sawyer vs. Ty size comparison.  (Sawyer is a little less than 3 months older.)  Even though Sawyer tried to cheat by standing on his tippy-toes, clearly Ty is the tallest.  My arms also got a welcome break when I picked up Sawyer who is significantly lighter than our little chunk.  It was probably going to happen sooner or later...

Enjoying time in the pool with Daddy.  Ty-Ty really loves being in the pool. 

Yikes!  Stripes!  (And really dorky grins, but that's not important.)

Playing on the steps in the water because, well, Ty just didn't want to get out.

Uncle Kai-Kai throwing Soren up and maybe catching him after.  Good thing the water wings were there to break his fall!

We had a good time playing games, watching the little kids play, and staying up way too late.  We're lucky to have such good family on both sides!

Summer Vacation Part 2: Johnson's Beach

While in Windsor, we made a few stops at Johnson's Beach.  And by "beach" we mean the blocked off part of the Russian River, the waterfront at which we played as children as displayed below.  (Picture circa 1987.  I loved that yellow swimsuit.)

 

And now we bring our kids here.  Ah, the circle of life. 

 There's the ol' snack shack on the right.  The water level was a bit low, so there was plenty of beach and shallow water to play in.  It really is a pretty area; very non-Nevada.

 Far-Far and Sawyer

 On their way to the beach! (Okay, on their way to the car to then drive 20 miles to the water. Same thing.)

 The older girls hiding in the shade for a bit.  I'm sure we have a picture of the 3 of us at Johnson's beach 25 years earlier somewhere...

 

Curt and Lel rented a canoe and we took turns going out on it.  If you look closely (or click on the picture) you can see Curt and Kai paddling, and Leslie and 2 little heads--belonging to Soren and Carl--riding along.

The parents modeling the chairs.  You can see the boardwalk in the background.  See?  It is a beach!

Russell and Julia watching the little boys play.  The water really was perfect for them to play in.  The rocks instead of sand?  Not so comfortable for crawling around on.  Sorry, boys.

Aaah!  Looks like Ty and Soy are joined at the hip!  Don't worry--they're not.  They both were way into picking up rocks, occasionally putting them in their mouth, and driving cars/trucks over them.

This was right before we actually got in the water and swam to the other side.  It's been a long time since I've really been swimming and not just waded...I should probably do that more often!

My mom and Ty-ty playing on the shore.

So Tina may or may not have forgotten a swim diaper for Soren, but she figured he'd be fine for a bit in a regular one.  Turns out, those suckers really do absorb a lot of water!  So much, in fact, that the absorbent stuff can't all be contained!  Gross.

(Side note: pictures were taken over our 2 days at the water.)