Today after our run I let Zeb wander over to the dirt pits to play with his trains while I chatted with friends. Apparently after the past few days of rain the dirt pits are now mud pits. I wondered what was keeping him so distracted for so long! I'm quite certain he was totally stuck.
But he was in pure heaven amidst the muck and grime- until I pulled him out. Once he realized how dirty and gritty his hands and feet (and trains) were- he wanted them CLEAN! We washed him off at the doggy drinking spigot and I took off his pants so that he didn't get the stroller dirty on the run back to the car. He's such a funny little boy.

zeb and MORE free stuff.

Zeb has been so much fun again! We've pulled out of the post baby freak out and Zeb is back to normal toddlerness (with the regular doses of screeches and arm flailing) -rather than insane nasty mean toddlerness. He is so much fun to talk to and play with! He's full of crazy little phrases- and really funny smiles. We have moved into another semi-unpleasant phase however. He is whining incessantly. Do all toddlers go through this? Everything he says is in this terribly long and high pitched whine. "Peeeeerrcccyy. where are youuuuu? Mamaaaaa- heeeeeelp pleeeease". It makes me INSANE.
Oh, and check this out!!

Does it ever stop!?! I feel like everybody is giving things away lately! the sandwiches, the chicken, the pop, the government, etc. It's the one upside to the economic crisis! Today I just found out about "the Mars real Chocolate relief act". Every Friday morning (until september) at nine AM the company is giving out 250,000 coupons for free candy bars! Check out the site here. happy chocolating!

okay, okay, so I really HATE kfc- but....
they are giving away an entire meal free! The coupon print out ends at 9:59 this evening- but you can use it through the 19th. You can print out up to four!! The meal is for 2 grilled chicken pieces (you still have to pull off the skin to make it healthy though!), a biscuit, and two sides! pretty snazzy, huh? Check it out at

unthinkkfc.com!

hooray for ralph!

Hip hip hooray. We (and I use the term "we" quite liberally)have just passed a major hump on the road to finishing med school! Kent just attended his last class and took his last accompanying test!!!! Sure, he's got crazy boards in June- and then a shelf following each rotation for the next two years-and then another set of boards- but he's out of the classroom and into the hospitals (starting in July)!

I can't believe how hard Kent works day after day. It's outrageous how many hours he studies. The amount of information he is responsible for is overwhelming! I am so grateful for such an incredibly smart, dedicated, and motivated husband. He finds such great balance in spending time with me, with the rugrats, fulfilling his calling, and doing school. I am the luckiest girl in the world.

Thank you so so much Kent! Hooray for finishing the past two years!!!!

Today is the first day that we measure Ike's age in months rather than weeks. It's kind of monumental for a baby. 3 months just sounds so much older than 12 weeks.

We have been blessed to have the easiest first 12 weeks of a baby EVER. I think it's all because of my prayers begging for a good baby. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with teaching seminary every morning at six if I had a baby that didn't sleep or that stressed me out (perhaps I should have focused some of my prayers on zeb too!). I got just that- a baby that sleeps like a champ and is so easy that I often forget he's around. Happy three month Ikey.

Waaaaaaaahoo.

The white trash in me just can't help coming out this time of year. Here come the yard sales! I don't know why I get so excited about them. Growing up we NEVER went to them (that I remember anyway). As far as I recall my mother taught us that they were "dirty". Now I just can't help myself. I've found myself scouring craigslist for the new listings and organizing my plan of attack. I only stick to the nicer/closer neighborhoods and try to attend the yard sales that have children's items. And in my defense the sales around here are pretty spectacular.

Some of Zeb's most fabulous clothes come from yard sales! His shoes too. This past weekend I found a yard sale that had TRAINS. I've said it before- but these trains are nigh impossible to find at yard sales and inordinately expensive new. I hit the sale up at nine on the dot the first day it opened. The place was already packed! I did get my pick of trains, however! Zeb's favorite was the battery powered Thomas. I got it for a mere 50 cents.


Happy yard sale shopping!!

National Train Day

We found a little piece of heaven (and hell) for zeb today. It was national train day and they had a big celebration at the main train station downtown. Zeb wore his train shirt and brought along two of his favorite trains.

As soon as we walked into the place Zeb was in complete awe. They had SOOOOO many train displays. Most of them were absolutely ginormous and spanned entire rooms. Zeb focused on the ones he recognized :). I didn't get a single picture of the kid smiling- or even looking at me. He was far too excited and distracted.
I was most excited about the real train on display to tour and look at. Zeb on the other hand was absolutely mortified by its size and sounds.










Getting him to get on the train was hard enough- but ascending the stairs to the top of the train was ridiculous. He was shaking in fear. I had Ike in one hand and Zeb crying and trembling in the other. I tried to put him down for a picture and the end result was a wailing child and a really funny picture. Once we got to the dining car he did calm down long enough for a decent picture- but he was still too distracted to look at me.

It was a good day- but I can't figure out why sometimes this kid is a complete scaredy cat and other times he's a little daredevil. He trembles about trains yet runs around with eddy the huge boxer dog? He still cries when I run the vacuum sometimes but he'll walk straight off the stage at the church or jump off tables? Such a little weirdo.