The Shoe Monster Has Struck Again

I am over SHOES! @*%# Jake lost another pair of shoes on Monday. To be fair, he only lost one...but it might as well be both.

At the beginning of the summer I bought Jake a lovely pair of crocs. They lasted until the summer sun got so hot that they melted. Yes, crocs can melt in the sun.

We returned to the store and bought another pair of crocs. He left them at Grandma's. To be fair (again) I could be blamed for leaving them. After all, I am Mom. That means I am responsible for everything at any given time.

We returned to the store and bought 2 pair of crocs...this time I bought the cheap ones.

Those lasted most of the summer.

Jake's feet grew out of the Sunday shoes he had, so I went to the store and bought some more. This time, I didn't take the cheap route. I justified the extra expense because I bought them HUGE and figured he could wear them to Church and school.

When Jake started to play on his own more independently, he would frequently come home without a pair of shoes. The first ones to go missing for life were the newly returned from Grandma crocs.

We searched for days to no avail.

Next, were the HUGE and EXPENSIVE shoes for Church and school. That one remains a mystery to this day. I'm hoping they are in Star Valley (the last place they were seen on the boy's feet).

After that, it goes down hill. There were many times that lost shoes were found, but unfortunately that is not always the case.

He comes home almost every day now with NO shoes! Last week, he came home with only one shoe. The other is lost forever. When asked for an explanation, he only said "I threw it in a hole somewhere". We have been on numerous reconnaissance missions for it...to no avail.

The last pair of shoes from the summer went the way of the Shoe Monster on Monday night. It was there one minute, and gone the next.

I refuse to buy more expensive shoes until we catch the Shoe Monster, or at least teach Jake how to come home with his shoes on. Maybe the Frost Monster will bite his toes this winter and teach him a lesson...sorry, I guess that isn't a very nice Mom thing to say. As long as the Frost Monster only nibbles, I'm okay with that.

The silver lining...the remaining shoes make a great match!

They introduced me as Mrs. Schwab today...

Jake had a little Halloween party at his pre-school and I went to help out for an hour. It was so much fun!

Jake is the cow in the back left. His friend Aubrey is Cinderella in the front row, but I didn't get one of her looking at the camera.

They played some games, made some crafts, and passed out some candy (cause we don't have enough yet and it's not even Halloween).

My favorite thing about it was just seeing all the kids that he talks about when he gets home from school. They are a cute pile of kids and they all love Mrs. Lamb. I love that Jake is in school and I get to be one of those "Moms that go to parties".

Another round of the Billy Bob teeth...bigger and better!

Outfit # 3

One of the reasons Allie ends up wearing more than one outfit per day...not to mention the fact that we use more dish soap than a community of environmentalists.

The long awaited Italy post...it's a long one!

Sorry it took so long to get this done. I added all the pictures I took into photobucket and it took longer than I expected it to. I still don't know that I did it right, but the link on the right will take you to them. You can look at them all, or just skip it. There are lots of boring ones, but I left them all on in case you want to see it all. Mike looked through them the other day and said (exact words) "I looked at your Italy pictures last night when I was bored. There's just a bunch of old buildings and naked statues. I wasn't jealous at all. Seriously, was it that all it was? A bunch of tall old buildings?" I guess that isn't Mike's idea of a cool vacation, but we sure had fun.


We started the trip off by flying into Venice. Nancy lives an hour away in Vicenza on the Army base. Her husband was just going back to Afghanistan for another 6 months...sad. She said goodbye to him, and hello to us at the same airport. Then we were off to see the sights. I loved Venice. I think we got there at the perfect time. Not too hot, not too many tourists.

Some of the highlights of Venice

• Gondola ride...wow, it's amazing to see them maneuver boats around in those tiny canals


• Our first taste of Italian food...the yummy mozzarella cheese balls and cherry tomatoes were my favorite. The others were total fans of the ice cream, but it was a little to soft and melty for me.


• I loved the water bus/taxi thing. It cruises down the main waterway. I am a sucker for any kind of boat. Give me wind in the hair and I'm happy (same with my Mom).


• The pigeons on San Marco square. I was feeding them and letting them crawl all over me. After it was all said and done, Kim said that she was surprised that I would let them get on me. I asked her what was wrong with that. She reminded me that I wouldn't eat my lunch until I had used a bottle of hand sanitizer, but I still didn't get it. "Sue, they're like rats with wings!" Ugh...I wanted to go home and scour my body. I never even thought about where those wretched birds had been before they landed on my head.

Anyway, Venice was great.

The next day we did some shopping in the towns close to Nancy's house. We had fun getting to know Nancy's son Jaron. It really was fun to hang out with the cousin I used to play hours of Monopoly with at Thanksgiving. Thanks Nancy! We had a great time with you, and your house is cute.

We took the train to Florence that night. Mom was an awesome travel agent/tour guide. We had a great book that told us all about the places we were going. (Rick Steve's Italy) Mom would read it and give us the tour of things as we saw them. She got us all settled on the trains and took charge. We had pretty specific roles on the trip. Mom was the tour guide. Kim was the person to find out where we were and what street to go down next. She preferred to talk to people when we were lost rather than try to read a map. My job was to sit back and enjoy the ride. Sometimes I'd carry Mom's suitcase up the numerous stairs. Honestly, I don't know what you would do if you were wheelchair bound in Italy.

Florence was my favorite city. The more I think about the trip, the more I know that was just cool. I loved going out in the plaza at night and hearing the hippy American guy singing Simon and Garfunkel. When I was in college, that was one of my dreams...to travel the world with my dog and my guitar. It didn't matter that I don't play the guitar all that well, I wanted to do it. Anyway, here we were in Italy hearing all these American songs being blasted out in the square. It was really cool.

There is amazing art in Florence. The David was amazing to see in person. We sat there long enough to change our focus from the awe inspiring statue to the people that were coming in to view it. People can't help but walk in the room and look in awe. I had no idea that the statue was so large. It's in this room with a huge dome. We are little tiny people beneath his feet. It was really hard to leave the room. Imagine, as an artist, leaving something like that for the generations to come to appreciate...thanks Michelangelo!

I also loved climbing to the top of the Duomo. It was really steep, really cramped, but really cool. Highlights of the climb:

• Top of the list has to be the poor hygiene of the people going before us. To those people: thanks for making a tight space feel even tighter. Thanks for making my labored breathing even more labored. Thanks for going out the wrong way and squeezing past us in the (previously mentioned) tight space.


• 463 steps. Need I say more?


• The paintings on the inside of the dome. Can I just tell you that I wouldn't have made a good Catholic child. If I had to sit in church and stare up at the ceiling and see paintings of what happens in Hell, I would have had nightmares for life.


• The view from the top...WOW! It was amazing. The city is beautiful. I know Mike might say that it's just a bunch of old buildings, but they are worth seeing.

We left Florence for Pisa. We took the obligatory pictures of us holding up the leaning tower. Then, we took off. We had a train to catch. But alas, we missed the train to Cinque Terre by 3 minutes.

However, we did get an education on "tiefs". We got on the bus and bought our tickets. Kim was doing her job and asking the bus driver if his bus was headed to the place we needed to go (thanks Kim). The bus driver suddenly started yelling to the back of the bus. "Tief. Those girls...the one with the baby and her friend" (remember, this is English...barely. I am translating for you) "Tiefs. You know what that is? Tief! Watch your cameras. Watch your bags. They are tiefs. You know what that is?" Meanwhile, this girl (who didn't look like a "tief") who was holding a baby, started to slink off the bus. We realized that he was saying thief. We saw our first thief...and we wouldn't have even known it. Of course, we were jealously guarding our bags, but we were worried about Mom. The book said the "tiefs" target the elderly (am I a disrespectful daughter or what?) We kept an eye on her. And, we are proud to say that on the whole trip no "tiefs" got the best of us.

The next time we stepped off a train, we were in Cinque Terre (five lands). It is just that, five towns along the coast. That was a great place. We hardly saw any tourists, I think the tourists that do come, stay a while. The towns are all linked by scenic paths. You can walk, or by-pass the trails and ride a train. We took 2 of the hikes and enjoyed every minute. Our hotel was really nice. It was right by the beach. We took an hour one of the days to sit by the beach and relax. We watched the people (saw more of some than we wanted to) and talked. I think that was where I started to miss Mike and the kids the most. I couldn't be that close to the sand and not think of how much Allie would enjoy the taste of sea sand (I imagine the salt makes it taste better). Or how much Jake would love playing in the water. Mike would have been amazed by the LARGE people changing into swim suits wherever they pleased. It was just a really nice place to be, and it's hard not to miss those at home and want them there to see it all too.

We went from that to Rome. Rome was busier than any of the other places. I told you all about the mold...the whole city just had a different feel than any of the others. More modern and busy. We saw some amazing things there. We went to the Vatican the first day. Once again, the art is amazing in person. Michelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel was beautiful, and not what I imagined from pictures. We stared up at the ceiling for a long time trying to drink it all in. I never really studied it much, and I didn't know that this painting was just one in a series of paintings of The Creation. It's God, giving a soul to Adam

Another highlight was Michelangelo's Pieta'. What an amazing artist to be to great in different mediums.

I'm starting to get bored writing all this, so I'm sure you are getting bored reading, so I'll move on to the next day in Rome. We saw the old stuff the next day. The Colosseum, the Forum (just crumbly ruins), all the cool things to see in that part of town. I know I've said it before, but it is just amazing to see such history. The Colosseum has been around for over 2 thousand years. We walked around in places where the people who founded Democracy walked. It really does put America's "youth" in perspective.

I liked Rome for the historical aspect. I am way more interested in finding out more about the places we went now.

I loved the trip. I loved my traveling buddies. I think the only complaint that I could have is that now I have the taste in my mouth again, I want to keep going places. I want to go to Switzerland, France, Alaska, Austria, etc. etc.

Thanks Mom and Kim for making it possible and for making it so much fun. Huge thanks to Mike, and those who helped with the kids while I was gone. I missed them, but the silver lining is that absence makes the heart grow fonder. I love their voices, their faces, the cute things they all do (including Mike) all the more because I was starved for them in Italy. It was a great trip and one that I will remember for life...

It's Free Candy Day at Lee's Marketplace!

The kids have said and done some silly things lately, so I wanted to write a few of them down.

When I got back from Italy, the kids were really clingy (I was clinging to them too). So, as I was looking at the pictures we had taken in Italy, the kids were on my lap. When I got to the picture of the David (taken at severe risk because there was a "no foto" rule), Allie looked at the picture and said "naked boy!" Yes, he is naked, and he is definitely a boy...edited for your viewing pleasure...





The other funny Allie story is one that you might have had to be there to appreciate fully, but I'll try to do it justice...We were outside playing yesterday. As Allie likes to do now, she identified some dog poo. "Look Mom! It's poo!" I was in conversation, so I acknowledged her, then got back to chatting. She wouldn't give up. She kept telling me and pointing it out. Finally I turned to her and said "yes, I see it. Just walk around it." Meaning, walk around it and stop telling me "it's poo". She looked at me for a minute, then said "okay" and started to skip in a circle "around" the poo. We all died laughing. She stopped and looked at us, wondering what was so funny. She was just doing what I had told her to do...literally.

The last story is my favorite. It's one that I wish I could have had a camera for. We went to Lee's. They have little kid carts there, and I made the mistake of trying them out once. Now, the kids love them and beg to go to Lee's to use them.
Downsides of the little kid carts...

• I come home with sore heals (if I can't move out of the way fast enough, Allie runs me down).
• Sometimes we get to the check out stand only to find an extra bag of cookies or chips of some sort.
• Sometimes we end up buying more than we went for to solve the fights...if Allie gets a pile of bananas in her cart, Jake wants an equal portion of bananas in his cart too.
• Poor unsuspecting elderly folks get run over in the race to the checkout stand.
• Sometimes we get side tracked for long periods of time so Jake can hear the thunder and see the produce get "rained" on.

So, on this particular trip, I was going to the store for bread. Of course, we came out with more than that. While I was looking for the bread, I thought the kids were right behind me, but they weren't. I started to panic. How could they have gotten very far? It was a matter of seconds. I called for them, I looked up and down the aisles close to me...I started to worry. Then an older man caught my eye and, as he laughed, pointed to the bulk candy bins. I hurried over to find my kids chowing candy. Allie saw me and shoved more in than can be chewed without choking. Jake was stuffing his pockets. The looks on their faces were priceless. They knew they were wrong, but it was candy like they had never before seen! I think it had been under a minute that I had lost sight of them and they had already devoured enough to rot teeth. I was embarrassed, but I totally laughed too. Are they old enough to learn about repentance? Are they old enough to know that it wasn't just a free for all? I don't know. I was tired, so I just told them not to do things like that. Then we tried to pay the cashier. She just laughed and said not to worry about it. I insisted that we aren't just talking about a few gummy worms...they had their fill. She didn't know how to ring it up, so there were no consequences. It was free candy day at Lee's! Next time we'll have clothes with bigger pockets.

The Pumpkin Patch

It's the third year that we have gone to the Pumpkin Patch in Santequinn. It was really fun this year. Mike had to be in Salt Lake for UEA, so even though I was still tired from my Italy trip, we decided to go with him. My Mom watched the kids while Mike and I went to Park City for the night (thanks Mom!). When we got back, we went to find a cute pumpkin.

We had a big group, my Mom and both of my sisters went with their kids. Mike's sister Dixie works right off the freeway in Spanish Fork, so as we were driving by, we decided to kidnap her. Mike called and told her to be at the front of the building and we'd pick her up. He was afraid to tell her where we were going in case she decided that going to a pumpkin patch with a bunch of kids was not cool. She surprised us though and came without much persuasion. We had some really annoying traffic that added an hour to the trip...silver lining, Jake got a pretty good nap while we crawled along.

The tractor ride is always fun...looking for pumpkins in the field is always fun...

Jake was pretty bummed because he wanted a white pumpkin (he remembered getting one last year). They didn't have white pumpkins this year. He had to settle for a plain old orange one. That disappointment surprises me because orange is his favorite color. Allie found quite a few that she liked.This is Mike, Dixie, and Allie. It was nice to have Mike there to keep an eye on the kids while I took pictures. I remember last year trying to hold kids and pumkins.

We had lunch and ice cream...then hit the road for home! It's a fun tradition. I love this time of year!

Pull it off in one swipe

What's worse... the injury or the mark left by the bandaid?

Family Pictures

It's usually quite a fiasco to have our pictures taken. There are threats (from me to Mike), there are promises of treats (from me to all of them), there are dozens of rejected pictures. Last year I made Mike a little crazy because we went out 3 different times.

We have a big 24x24 inch frame that we put a picture in each year, so I have to be selective. For one thing, I don't want to stare at an awful picture the rest of the year. And another is that I have to crop it to make it square. So sometimes I'll love the picture but it can't be put in those proportions.

I haven't looked closely at all the pictures yet, so I won't be posting a big family one, but here are a few of the ones I know I love. Thanks for taking them Heather!

Jake spent the entire evening saying "cheese" without changing his face at all. Once there were bribes mentioned, he could usually snap out of it enough to at least look at the camera and give a smile.

After the official pictures were over, we let them play on the slide for a while. I had my camera out and made everyone mad by taking even more pictures after they had had their fill. Allie loves to make this face. It actually hurts my mouth to see her do it. If you can zoom in on it you can see the skeletal structure of her mouth...eww.

What outing would be complete if Allie didn't eat something from off the ground? Once again, I was too far away to stop her, so I thought I'd just snap a picture...

It's amazing how fast she can go from this...

to this...

I'll look at the family ones and put a few on later...

Busted!

Dang that girl! It's night time now and she promised sweetly to stay in her bed...30 minutes later I heard the clanking of toys. Am I a fool for putting them back in the room?

Escape!

The dreaded day has come. Allie has learned that she can get out of her crib and have free roam of her room. She tried it out yesterday during nap time. She played in her crib for a long time. Then I heard her requesting a toy that had fallen on the floor. I didn’t want to go in there and have to fight her to go to sleep, so I left her alone. The room got quiet so I thought she was asleep. Then I heard the “beep beep” of her little toy car and went in to investigate.
Man oh man…not cool. Not only was she out of her crib, she was naked. I got her dressed again and put her back in, only to find sounds of freedom a few minutes later. She kept climbing out as soon as I put her in, and she never went to sleep.
When night time came, she was exhausted and I hoped she had forgotten the possibility of escape…no chance. I had to use my angry voice after 4 escapes for it to sink in.
Today, we are fighting the same battle for her nap. I have taken out every toy in her room, but I can’t take out the dresser full of clothes that is occupying her right now.
Jake never did this. He could, and would climb in and out on his own to get toys he wanted to play with. But when I put them in there to sleep, he would stay. I don’t know what to do about this girl. I guess the only consolation is that she still can’t open doors. (No one tell her that all she has to do to get hers open is pull real hard.)

I asked Allie to show me how she got out...I took pictures...I couldn't have a post like this without pictures!

Skinned Grapes

Does anyone else have a kid who likes to peel their grapes?


It makes for a difficult clean up if you let them dry...just in case you needed to know.

I'm Home!

I'm home. I walked into a clean house. It even smelled good (especially since I had been surrounded by cigarette smoke and b.o. for a while). Mike had even done the laundry while I was away. He had everything under control. The kids were all tucked into bed (it was almost 2 in the morning). I kissed their little heads and wanted to wake them up...instead I forced myself to sleep. Jake came in at 7 this morning and snuggled right in. He said "you're home Momma. I missed you". I told him I missed him more and he said "thanks".
When I heard Allie stirring around in her room, I opened the door and peeked my head into her room. When she saw me she said "oh, you home from Italy?" Then, before I could answer she told me that she had taken her diaper off. I guess that is a new thing she started doing while I was away. She gets naked, then falls asleep. Who can help what happens to a two year old in the middle of the night with no diaper. I just wish I would have known about this new thing, then I would have put a diaper on her when I went in to kiss her good night. (She was totally wrapped in a blanket when I looked in, so I didn't notice the naked factor.) She is still clean and sober from playing with poo though. She has been ever since the lecture I have mentioned earlier in this blog.
Anyway, it's great to be back. I had an amazing time. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I got sick of dragging my camera around everywhere, and I didn't want to look at it today. It was hard enough going through my back pack trying to get the stink of the last Hotel out. When they have you mark the little boxes in customs...you know "are you bringing any weapons into the country?" (like any of the dudes who do would mark "yes") "did you bring in any produce or meat?" They should really ask "are you returning with any foreign smells?" They wouldn't have let me back in. Or, "are you returning with mold spores in your lungs from the hotel bed, sheets, air conditioner etc?" Then they wouldn't have let my Mom in. She got sick in Rome from the mold. She mentioned that it was harder for her to breath in our hotel and in the Metro. Upon closer examination, the Metro had mold stalactites (or is it stalagmites? Whichever one means mold growing from the ceiling in cave like formations). Mold was coming out of any opening it could find in the walls. Our hotel room had the same problem (minus the cave structures. I'm sure they wiped those away before we came in.)
Anyway, it was great. I'm writing right now to keep me from going to sleep. I keep trying not to think about what time it is in Italy (the middle of the night), and how much sleep I missed out on over the last two days.
I'm focusing on my fun memories, and these two kids that keep asking "where did Mom go?" whenever I leave the room. I love it all.

P.S. Pictures to come later...if you care.

Italy here we come!

I think I'm all packed up. I have cleaned the house (only to come home to an absolute mess, I'm sure). I have caught up on the laundry (only to come home behind again). I have cooked some meals and left them in the freezer (hopefully to come home and find them eaten instead of fast food wrappers). I have set up day care and left cute notes for the kids to find.

My bags are packed and now I'm ready to go!

I guess the only thing left to do is hope this back ache goes away, and hope I remembered everything.

See you when I get back!

Tomato soup...mmm mmm good

Jake and Allie love tomato soup. I actually hold them back from eating it every day. When Jake was little he was a pretty picky eater, but he loved cinnamon roll oatmeal. He ate it every day with a banana. Guess what Jake won't touch anymore...yep, any kind of oatmeal is out of the question. Even in cookies!

When I discovered that they liked tomato soup, I decided that I wouldn't let them have it enough to get sick of it. All the case lot sales are going on and I bought 2 cases of tomato soup. Jake was with me, so he knows that we have "a plenty of tomato soup" (as he says.) He requests it almost every day. I think half the fun for him is cooking it. I let him empty the can in the pan. Then Allie and Jake both get to dump a half a can of milk in. There are two reasons for the half can thing. The first one is that there is always a mess when the can is that heavy and full. The other is obvious. There are two kids. They have to split the work. They do fight over who gets to stir first, and that always results in a mess, but before I can get a rag to wipe it up, they are licking it up like little puppies. Jake likes to see the milk blend in with the soup and make "strawberry milk".

We barely heat it up, then I don't hear another peep until the soup is gone. Seriously, I almost get bored on tomato soup day. They are so engrossed in breaking up crackers and taking gigantic bites that they don't even think to fight over spoon colors or sippy cups. They used to fight over the crackers, but I solved that by giving them each a sleeve. Between the two of them, they eat an entire can by themselves and finish off a sleeve of saltine crackers. It's incredible.

I know that it's a little odd to make a whole post about tomato soup, but for any of you with picky eaters, or kids that barely eat anything at all at lunch, it really is remarkable to find something that two kids like this much.

When my brother Steve saw her drinking out of her bowl like this he cracked up. He asked if I taught her to do it. When you like something you'll do what it takes to get the last bite.
Allie can't be trusted to wear a shirt while eating...imagine that.

Notice Jake plowing on in the background. No time for pictures...just eat.

October 1st

I know this sounds lame, but October 1st is my favorite day of the whole year. Why pick a day? (you ask). I remember walking across campus at Utah State on October 1, 1999 (I remember the date because my first nephew Easton was about to be born and I was really excited about it). I remember looking at the beautiful blue sky contrasted against the changing leaves. I remember the chill of fall in the air, and feeling totally content. I can still picture it all in my head. I loved my years at Utah State. I was totally happy and I felt like this was the place for me to be right then. I went to an Aggie football game that day--I think it was the Homecoming game. I just remember feeling like it was the best day ever. So, that day, as I was walking to the stadium, I decided that October first would be my favorite day of the whole year.
Not all the October firsts of the coming years stand out in my head, but I do know that they have all been good days. Today is no different. I stand at my window and look out at the hill and I love it. The sky is a brilliant blue, the leaves are changing, the air isn't as crisp as I would like it (it's been pretty warm out), but it's just been a good day. Even the things that normally make a day hard, have not been a big deal today. The kids are getting along well. We put out the Halloween decorations. Allie wore a swim suit for her outfit today, and I just didn't care. Jake stayed in his jammies until 20 minutes ago and I just didn't care. We all played with Allie's doll house, and there were no fights over who got to play with the car or the baby's crib (I decided that I could share and let Allie play with them). It was just one of those mornings that you wish could happen all the time.
They were a little wild at lunch. Allie wouldn't sit down in her chair, but just kept dancing around in her swim suit almost losing her balance at least 20 times. I later found out she didn't want to sit down because she had gone "doo doo", I can understand not wanting to sit. Thank heavens I didn't let her get in her swim suit without a diaper, which is what she wanted to do. The day might have been a lot more annoying. Maybe I am looking for it to be a good day, so I am creating the good day. Who knows, but it has been a good day. Anyway, I know this has been a post of my ramblings, but I just wanted to point out that October 1st is a great day...maybe it can be a favorite day for all of us!