One year!!

We were able to celebrate Jack's birthday at the beach with all the Cannons. It was a perfect setting. I thought twice about planning a big party for a one year old because Sadie was so cranky at her first birthday party. It was the same for Jack. I made a cake for everyone and a little bundt cake for Jack. After being at the beach all day with only a few cat naps, by the time we finished dinner and rolled out the cake, Jack was completely spent. He was annoyed with the ridiculous hat I made him wear and wanted nothing to do with his cake. We are 0 for 2 as far as kids eating their birthday cake goes. Sadie wouldn't eat hers either. Even after Sadie stuck some frosting in his mouth with her finger, he was still unconvinced. Chase whisked him off to bed and the rest of us ate the cake.

Besides ending in tears, his day was quite a splendid one. He woke up next to us in his pack n'play and we immediately sang to him. He spent the day playing with the sand, swimming in his baby pool, taking naps in our arms and wrapped up the day hanging out in the hot tub. I thought it was kind of cool that we spent the day at the beach for Sadie's first birthday (because we lived in San Diego) and Jack was able to experience that as well.



Jack continues to explore whatever possible. He has always loved the dish washer but now has learned to climb up on the drawer while banging all the plates within. He takes all the spoons out and throws them below the bottom tray. It's a little annoying but I love watching him try everything and anything. That is, when it doesn't include exploring the toilet which he would do in a heart beat. Sadie often forgets to flush and I found him in her bathroom with his fingers splashing around in her urine filled toilet bowl. Good times!!

I've never been a diaper genie kind of person. The idea of having human feces just hanging out in a baby's room has always grossed me out. Instead we just throw a dirty diaper down the stairs and take it outside to the garbage can once we leave the house. These flying diapers happen to be Jack's favorite toy. If he sees a diaper sitting by the front door, be will speed crawl,banging his little knees on the ground to get to the diaper before Mom takes it away. He puts a piece of diaper in his mouth and carries it around like a dog. Totally gross!! We have remedied the problem by wrapping a days worth of diapers in a tightly tied grocery bag. That eliminates the smell as well.

My favorite Jackism will always be his snuggles. He loves to snuggle and always gives the best hugs!! I have to be careful sometimes because he likes to give head butts and will often butt a little too hard. He loves sticking his fingers in my mouth and usually giggles a little when I pretend to bite them. I love putting him to bed because he immediately rests his head on my shoulder and nuzzles up to me. About every 30 seconds, he'll look up at me, give me a head butt and another snuggle. It's absolutely dreamy and the favorite part of my day!!

For such a sweet and mellow little guy he gets REALLY angry when you take something away from him(like a dirty diaper) or stop feeding him to answer the phone or keep Sadie from falling off her chair. He demands quite a bit of attention and now that he's close to walking he'll hang onto my pant leg wherever I am standing.

He gets a big grin on his face whenever we see a puppy and LOVES Sadie's stuffed dog Clifford (which is a BIG problem because Clifford sleeps with Sadie every night and she's extremely attached). Sadie has been pretty good at letting him cuddle with Clifford every once in a while, but once she takes him away, Jack screams and has sometimes been known to slap and hit her until she gives him back. He usually grabs the dog, puts him on the ground and buries his head into his matted fur with a sigh. It's even cuter that when he does this he ALWAYS taps his right foot on the ground. Poor Sadie has learned that sometimes it's better to just let him have Clifford than hear the screams and be slapped.

Probably his biggest accomplishment was being over 20 lbs so we could face him forward in his car seat. When weighed at the doctor's office he was just over 20 lbs and 30 inches in length. He's 80% for height and 20% for weight. Tall and skinny just like Grandpa!! His little legs actually remind me of my Dad's. He seems to enjoy the car much more now that the air conditioner can reach him. It was great timing seeing that we took a 6 hour drive down to the Outerbanks. I love looking in the back seat to see my two little kids smiling (sometimes screaming)faces. I still can't get over the fact that I am a mother of two.

He still needs to be entertained while he eats. His toys usually consist of either a band aid box (taking the bandages out and putting them back in), mom's wallet, and his water bottle straw that goes up and down. While playing with these strange objects we slyly sneak his baby food into his mouth. He LOVES Veggie booty, Ritz crackers, gold fish, and Ice cream. When we were at Costco the other day Jack was getting fussy and I had forgotten to bring any snacks. I ended up giving him anything that they were sampling that day. This included ice cream, veggie straws, pizza, and chocolate Cheerios. He's getting a WAY earlier introduction to treats than Sadie.

I've caught him standing a couple of times. He's on his way to walking but speed crawls as his main mode of transportation. He has recently learned to turn around when coming back down the stairs. This is HUGE because I no longer worry about him hurting himself. He's never been one to lunge himself down the stairs. He's actually never tried going down face first so the gates aren't always necessary. He continues to snort and breath VERY loudly when we chase him up the stairs or while he chases a ball. I can't hear that little snort enough. He scrunches his little nose, bares his vampire fangs and snorts loudly like a grown pig.

With his new front teeth coming in (finally) he's been pretty sleepy. The other day we put him down at 7 and he slept until 10:30 the next morning. When this happens he usually just gets one nap that day. He's a little in between the one nap two nap schedule. I'm looking forward to the one 1:00 nap so we can actually leave the house every once in a while. He's not the kind of kid to scream when I put him down. He just lays down and if he decides not to sleep he just sings in his crib for a while. What a delightful child. I am so glad I've had this year of getting to know another one of our heavenly father's precious spirits. I like to think he's one of God's favorites;-)

Don't let that face fool you

Behind those chubby cheeks and dreamy eyes lurk some pretty sharp fangs. Sadie got her fangs before her two front teeth as well. We aren't sure whose side of the family this delightful trait comes from. We just call him the little vampire around here. Considering the ridiculous twilight craze, he fits right in.

P.S. After a year of nursing, he has only bitten me once. Not bad for a little vampire.

We have a four year old!!

Today Sadie asked me if it was still mother's day to which I responded "no", she shot back with "well then I can do whatever I want." I guess we only have to be nice to Mom on Mother's Day. I feel like Sadie woke up and decided that because she's four, she's in charge. With her "diva-esque" personality comes some funny little stories:

Today while we were at Target, she ran up to the sliding doors and yelled, "ABRE"(open in Spanish) and was delighted to see that they obeyed her request. A few minutes later she needed to go to the bathroom and couldn't figure out why yelling "ABRE" wasn't opening the door. I had to help her with that one.
Her little Spanish words crack me up. She'll just throw a couple in there like tonight at dinner. She was explaining how her glass slippers with heels kind of look like slides. One slide goes down, abajo, and the other goes up....ariba. You gotta love that Dora the Explorer.

Speaking of Dora. We record them on the DVR and sometimes some commercials get on there. I was amazed at how well the marketers got to my little girl. She came into my room one morning asking me for some Lelli Kelly shoes with the eye shadow, the lipstick and the mascara, just like the ones on t.v. I used to be able to take her to a store and she would be ok if we didn't buy anything for her. Lately she wants EVERYTHING!! She'll look at My Little Pony pamphlets and explain to me that she doesn't have any of THOSE ponies and needs to get them. I told her she needed to make some more money so she could buy some more ponies and she responded with "but mommy, I don't know how to drive." I guess obtaining the money is no problem, it's getting to the ponies that's got her in a rut.

My mom gave her some new Sunday shoes and no matter how much I tell her they are just to wear on Sunday's I always find her wearing them. When I told her to take them off she said "but mommy, they are just too beautiful. I just can't resist." She says the same thing when her eyes itch and I tell her to stop rubbing her eyes; "Mommy, they just itch SO bad. I just can't resist!!"
I gave her some My little Pony Fruit snacks the other day and she ate a couple and put the rest aside. When asked what she was doing she replied "they are just too beautiful to eat."


Sadie had a friend over the other day and she was talking about private parts (she has an older sister). I thought I had at least a few more years before I had to start discussing human anatomy. I overheard them and announced that we don't talk about those things in our house. Noticing the similarity of the words Sadie said "but we can say Virginia, and Utah, and South America, right Mommy?" Hopefully we won't have to discuss that for a few more years. We'll just keep saying "Virginia...., Utah and South America."

Her prayers sound a little like this: "Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, thank you for this beautiful family, bless Heavenly Father..he loves us, bless Jesus...he loves us too. Please help Jack, he's a poom pom. Please bless Daddy that he will get home safely and he's home now safely. I love my ponies and M&M's. Thank you for my ponies, my Clifford and my bah and bless everything that I love in the name of Jesus Christ Amen."

I try to read to Sadie every day but every time I do, I get VERY sleepy. One such afternoon after reading about an hours worth of books, I asked Sades if we could have a little "quiet time". I immediately zonked on the couch and when I woke up Sadie was standing nearby with a glass of water on the coffee table. As I sat up she said "Mommy, I thought you would be thirsty so I got you some water." Sometimes if we're lucky, Sades will snuggle up with us on the couch for a long afternoon nap. This is a new development. Usually she's WAY too hyper but ever since we've dropped the afternoon nap, she's needed a little snuggle to catch up on some sleep.


Sadie had her friend Lilly over the other day who has an imaginary friend "Mr. Nobody." Sadie obviously loved the idea of having a person around all the time to play with so she invented one of her own. Her name is Binky and she's Sadie's "sister." We've had to get out of chairs that Binky is sitting in. We've had to share out food with her. She asked Chase to watch her while we were at the pool so she wouldn't drown. I'm not sure how long this fetish will last, but it's pretty funny for now.


On the way out the door the other day I motioned Sadie to hurry faster than she was currently walking. She responded "I can't go that fast. I don't have my running shoes on." It doesn't help that eating takes about two hours. I've stopped "feeding her" because she is well over the age of having her mom and dad force food down her throat. She is so used to being probed to eat that meal time has become VERY annoying. We're usually done with dinner and sitting in the other room waiting for her to finish long before she's even started eating. She takes her jolly time and keeps us waiting FOREVER. This is why we are usually RUSHING out the door whenever we have to go anywhere because eating takes 6 hours everyday!! It would be so much faster to feed her on my own. Sometimes I give in on lazy days. Sadie fights hard and has a very determined little mind. Sometimes it's just easier to let her win every once in a while.

When we were eating dinner the other night she of course didn't want to eat the enchiladas I had prepared. We threatened no dessert and an early bedtime and she shot back with "it tastes BLAND to me." How does she even know what that means!!

She calls maxi pads "Lilly Pads" and yells her daily conversation from the bathroom while we are eating dinner. She definitely has an "open door policy." When Uncle Chad was being our "manny" (man nanny) for the night he closed the door while she was going to the bathroom. She immediately chastised him and said she only needed privacy (door closed) for #2 and left the door wide open.


The hardest thing for me to hear these days is "I can do whatever I want." It drives me crazy because she CAN'T. It's like we are already battling with a teenager. She's obsessed with being four and because she's four she's no longer scared of anything, can run faster, and can do "whatever she wants." She also checks the sizes on her clothing when she gets dressed for the day and asks "is this for a three year old or four year old." We've marked all of her shoes with a R for Right and L for Left so she can put them on herself. She changes her outfit a couple times a day and puts together some AMAZING ensembles. She told me the other day "mommy, I have prettier clothes than you." With Mimi providing the wardrobe, she's probably right.



When we watched General Conference on Easter Sunday she was BORED!! Once the session was over she shouted out "FINALLY."


She randomly started talking about pirates the other day. She asked me "you know who doesn't like pink...Pirates. You know who sleeps with quesadillas...pirates." We discovered that she can wink at dinner last week. Pops will be so jealous. Aunt Emily too. Neither of them can wink yet and they are WAY older than four!!

Sometimes when I am running around the house doing laundry or cleaning, Sadie will follow my every footstep. When I asked her why she was following me she said "Mommy, I always like to follow you because I just love you mommy."



She is obsessed with cleaning out the dirt in between her toes and attempted to clean out Jack's toes as well. It reminds me of the monkey's at the zoo that clean bugs out of each other's hair.:-)

Other than the daily timeouts (she covers her ears when she's being disciplined), Sadie's a pretty spectacular little being. She has a ton of personality and I love watching her grow into a little lady. We're doing our best to facilitate a little etiquette along the way. She gets mad at us if we don't raise our pinkies when we drink our water and if we talk with our mouths full. The tantrums we can do without, but we love our little Sadie and wouldn't change a thing about her!!

Some day...

I will clean you.

Be gone Bar exams!!

Chase passed the bar!!! Whahooooooo!!! Now he can finally get a REAL computer at work. (They wouldn't give him an updated computer until he passed:-) IRS is LAME!!!

A chip off the old block

I've always heard that one day you'll look at yourself, your mannerisms, and quirks and realize that you have become the spitting image of your mother. Sadie and I were looking at some old photos the other day and she pointed to one of my Mom in her 20's and said "look mommy, it's you!" Although many wouldn't look forward to the moment when the leaf falls close to the tree, but I couldn't be more pleased to be compared to such an amazing woman. I've learned so much from her and find myself doing all the same things and wanting all the same virtues for my children.



I remember driving to piano lessons while listening to either Billy Joel or Mozart (those were the only options). I can easily say that's about all I let my kids listen to. If you happen to jump into my car, you'll hear some Mozart. It calms me and calms my children.



I used to make fun of mom for tapping her fingers on the steering wheel while she drove. I do the exact same thing!! I play the concertos with my fingers!! I hope that in 20 some odd years I can become half the woman that she is. In the mean time I'll focus on all the wonderful attributes I have been taught by my marvelous mother:

1: There's nothing more therapeutic than a little shopping. When I first got home from my mission, I was totally depressed and wanted nothing more than to return to Spain. We were all eating dinner and as I looked around at all my siblings, I just started to cry. My mom, who wanted my transition to be easier said "all you need are some new clothes and you'll feel a lot better." That night she took me down to their store and we picked out a few articles to brighten my day. That little spree to the Children's Hour was actually quite enlightening. I didn't feel like the odd ball anymore.

2: There's no greater joy than doing what you love. I think my mom is one of the only people on the face of the earth who LOVES her job. She wakes up excited every morning to head down to her boutique and see all of her friends. She works hard, but to her it's fun!! Sometimes we have to peel her away.

3: Pure devotion. My mom would do anything for her children. With that comes dedication. She taught us that if we ever want to succeed in anything, we have to work hard for it. Her countless hours with me at the piano, and lessons were not in vain. Every time I sit down at a piano to play, I think of her and how hard it was to get us to practice.

4: Pure style. My mom has the most amazing taste in everything. From dishes, to napkins, to clothing, to hair, she is one classy lady. I would often go on buying trips with her to New York, LA, and Vegas. Sometimes I would doubt a few of the pieces she picked out, but once they were shipped to the store, she couldn't keep them on the floor. People buy her merchandise because it's amazing. She really is a very talented buyer. She thinks of her individual customers and always has them in mind. I was always proven wrong when I told her something she picked out wouldn't sell. It always did!!

5: Etiquette. You can just call her Emily Post. She's pretty much a reference guide to any question regarding how to handle any situation. From setting the table to writing a card, we were always on our toes to impress at the dinner table.

6: Dinner tonight, no problem! After working at her store all day, taking us to piano, or picking us up from ballet, she some how managed to make an amazing, healthy meal. I am always calling her for cooking advice or for a favorite recipe. She's an incredible cook and very innovative in the kitchen.

7: Have faith. She recently told me that she never worries about her children because we are all faithful member of the church. She knows that if we're paying our tithing, attending church, and magnifying our callings then the Lord will worry for her.

8: Never give up. No matter how many times I tried out for something or ran for an election she was always behind me 100%. They weren't always successful endeavors but she never discouraged me from trying again. I recall one day when finding out I hadn't placed in a certain group, I learned that she had been to the temple all morning praying that I would.

9: Forgiveness. I wasn't the nicest teenager. In fact I am probably accountable for a few of my parent's gray hairs. Mom and I didn't always get along, but now that I am married and have children of my own, I realize the heart ache that comes from a child who doesn't appreciate all you sacrifice for them. I appreciate her now and even though it's a little belated, she was always forgiving and loved me no matter what.

10: Read and read some more. This woman loves to read. She can finish a novel in two hours!! I was shocked when we took a flight to LA and she read a book cover to cover. At birthday parties I was always embarrassed because instead of giving Strawberry Shortcakes or GI Joes, my mom always bought books for our friends. Of course, now that I'm older, I realize those are by far the best gifts. They keep on giving every time you open them. When Sadie was born she put together all of my favorite books we read as a child and gave them to me to start my own collection. Such treasures!!

11: I'm going to brag now. My mom has taught me humility. I can mention my mom's name pretty much anywhere and people know her. They either know her from television where she does a weekly book review, or from her amazing store, The Children's Hour. I Googled her the other day and she was all over the place. She's never one to shout how cool she is from the housetops, but everyone knows how amazing she is!!

12: Love and be loved. I feel loved and all my siblings feel loved. Whether it's because she's concerned about your recent troubles, or flying out to help you with a new baby, or her generosity, Mom makes you feel loved. There is no greater feeling.


Happy Mother's Day Mom. When I grow up I want to be you!!

Happy Mother's Day to me!!

Mother's Day rocked this year. Chase made German pancakes, fed both the kids, and had dinner cooking in the crock pot all before we left for church at 9. Sadie went up with all the primary kids and sang (well she actually just stood there and smiled) primary songs to me. I can't believe I finally have a kid who sings to me in the primary programs. I actually got a little choked up watching her up there.

When we returned home, Chase made nachos and then we ALL took naps. Everyone, ALL AT THE SAME TIME!! It was amazing!! When we woke up, we had Chase's delicious dinner, put Jack back to bed and then ate some delicious chocolate fondue. Sadie was wired so we watched 101 Dalmatians all snuggled on the couch. It was a perfect day. Good food, a little church, lots of sleep, and some chocolate. What more could a mother ask for?

Sadie's Pony Party

We were fortunate enough to have a family in the ward that keeps horses and ponies. Their daughters compete in pageants and Riley was trying to earn money for the Children's Miracle Network. It's the best way to throw a party!! Not only are we making Sadie's pony dreams come true, but I'm also donating to a great cause. It's also nice to be able to help Riley in her competition. Sadie and all her friends had SO much fun. Nothing is more fun than riding a pony, especially a REAL one.

We started out with some face painting but that didn't last long once the pony rides started. Cute Riley and her mom, Marilyn were out there for an hour giving all the kids a ride. Most of them didn't want to be done so it was a good thing there was cake to look forward to.

We got Sadie a big rainbow Cake from Costco (I wasn't in the mood to slave over a pony shaped cake this year) and put ponies all over it. Sadie was pleased and that's all that matters, right?





Sadie was insistent on wearing this riding helmet that was WAY too big for her. There were others that would have fit better, but this one was THE one. I got her to wear a cowboy hat a little later. She still looks pretty cute!!

Jack was a total trooper during the whole event. He just hung out on Chase's hip and watched the pony rides. He wasn't quite big enough for a ride of his own.

Here's cute Marilyn with the birthday girl. What an nice lady to walk all those kids around the stable over and over again!!

After about an hour Jack started to fade. Poor Chase had no choice but to just hold Jack as he slept. His arm went completely numb.

There always seems to be a lot of wind on Sadie's birthday. Luckily the candles held out for a whole ten seconds for her to blow them out.

I found little finger prints all over the rainbow cake. I think while some kids were getting pony rides, the others couldn't resist the frosting while waiting for their turn.

We were very pleased with the turn out!! Look at all those kiddos!! I'm glad the Copan's had such a large round table. I'm also glad Ashley was there to help me distribute the plates, cake and water. Every kid wanted part of the rainbow in their piece which made for a lot of demanding and not so much of the "please and thank yous." It was hilarious!!

Then it was time for the pinata. I couldn't believe Party City had one of these. In fact they had a whole "My Little Pony" section. Pinkie Pie was a hit, literally. Those kids whacked her pretty hard.

After every kid had a turn whacking the pony, my strong, ridiculously clad husband took one for the team. They make those pinatas way to indestructible!! Once the candy was out the kids raced to the scene to collect as much candy as possible.

By the time we had finished cleaning up, everyone was pretty tuckered out. Sadie's eyes were red and puffy from the dust and pollen, and Jack is looking at the camera with total disgust.

We are on the activities committee and were needed at the ward to set up tables and displays for the talent show that evening.

The whole ward sang Happy Birthday to Sadie and she was literally on cloud nine the entire evening. She loves to dance and took every opportunity to do so on stage, just like Angelina Ballerina!!

It was a lot of fun and luckily Jack got a good nap before it started because after all the musical numbers, dancing and ice cream, we were all ready to pass out!! Sadie waited as far the the parking lot before she fell asleep in the car.

*Special thanks to all who came, Jenny Henshaw for taking most of the pictures (I'm so glad she was there:-), and for the Copan Fam for a great party!!