To all my loyal blog readers, I am sorry it has been so long!!! We went to Colorado for christmas. It was the first time my family has been all together in almost 5 years! I wished we could have stayed longer, we had to fly home on Christmas day:( I am so glad we made the trip, but it made me REALLY homesick.

Both kids did awesome on the plane trip. Pantera made several friends as usual. There was a man who looked a little older then my dad on the plane back to Pittsburgh; you could tell he was missing his own granddaughters when he talked to her. She called him Papa, because he was a Papa. Then she told him "You're my best friend. I have 8, there's Emma, Elyse, Ben...and you!" He was touched and referred to her as "best friend" for the rest of the trip. Then she invited herself over to his house to ride his horses.

I miss my nephews so much! Andrew is reading already and has put away all childish things (ie. giving out pretend blue ribbons). Ryan LOVED Ezekiel. I have never seen him so preoccupied with anything, he just wanted to talk to Zeke and make him smile and sing him songs the whole time we were there. It was so sweet! Jordan came out of his room a couple of times to get food...he was having a rough week. I got to see my sister and Pantera got to see her "Prince RyRy." My family finally met Zeke and tomorrow he gets to meet Papa Hammond. I love holidays! Merry Christmas late everyone!!!

Who Peed Pantera's Pants?

My goal for this week is to not have anymore incidents involving bodily fluids to report about. But this was just so funny that I can't help but share;) On Saturday morning Pantera had a wet spot on her pants. I asked her what it was from. She said "It's from nothing." I asked her if she peed her pants. She said that she didn't . I was not covinced due to the location of the wet spot. I asked her how her pants got wet. She said "I was snuggling Daddy and he peed on me." Fighting back a smile I said "He did? That is horrible. Why would he pee on you?" She said "I don't know he just peed on me!" I asked her if she was telling the truth, she said yes. I said "If I go upstairs and ask Dad, he will tell me that he peed on you?" Her reply "Don't ask Dad." Jess has a slander lawsuit in the works.
The last picture on this post looks so much like Ryan to me. We leave for Colorado on Saturday...I can't wait!!!

"Shh!!! Mom, go back to sleep!"

I awoke this morning to Pantera standing over me and saying "Shhh! Mom, go back to sleep! It's ok, just go back to sleep." When your 4 year old who usually bugs you to get out of bed, tells you that everything is fine and to go back to sleep, you know something is up! I asked her what was going on and where she was going, her reply "Everything is fine, I'm just going to get a napkin. Just go back to sleep." I asked why she needed a napkin, her reply "Just go back to sleep. I peed the bed, everything is ok." My only question is, why a napkin?

This morning Pantera was looking at her pretend princess cell phone. She starts to giggle a little and says "Wilbur just texted me and asked me to marry him!" Then she presses some buttons and says "I told him maybe tomorrow." How romantic! Wilbur is a character from Meet the Robinsons, btw. Ezekiel seems to really like yellow. It could just be a coincidence but he seems to talk the most to anything yellow. He loves doorknobs, if he is close enough to see one he usually starts cooing and smiling. There is a lady that we go to church with that cries every time she sees him. It started the second week we were back at church. She was holding him and he was looking past her smiling. She looked behind her to see what had caught his attention and it was a picture of the Savior, she lost it! And every Sunday since he is extra smiley for her and she sobs every time...it is so sweet. I love our ward.

Risky Business

Tom Cruise eat your heart out!!!



The past couple of weeks have been a little busy. So let me fill you in a little more on our holy roller Pantera. On Thanksgiving we went to Lexi and Skyla's for dinner. Dinner was great we had fun and then it was time to clean up the room they always play in. Pantera comes downstairs with her head hung low. I asked her what was wrong and she told me "I prayed to Heavenly Father and it did not work!" I asked her what she prayed for she said "I prayed for Heavenly Father to fill me with His power so I could shock Skyla, because she wasn't helping us clean." Yes, just like Nephi...minus the authority and the cause.

We took the kids to get their pictures done on Wednesday. Pantera saw a cup from a coffee shop (any guesses as to what happens next?). Pantera asks the photographer who's name is Kylie if she drinks coffee, Kylie says that she likes hot chocolate. The manager is in the studio and Pantera must get to the bottom of this so she asks Kylie "Does she drink coffee?" Kylie says that her manager does. Pantera replies "Oh, so she likes to listen to Lucifer." This is followed by wierd looks in my general direction from Kylie and her manager. I'm learning to get used to it:)

The Primary Program!

We knew Pantera would call attention to herself somehow during the Primary Program, I wish you all could have been there! Right after they started the program she yells out "I forgot my Book of Mormon!" Her teacher tried telling her she wouldn't need it but she insisted that she did so she ran back to our pew to get it. Then when it came to her turn she took her book of mormon stories up with her and opened it on the podium, just like every adult she has ever seen give a talk in church. She got up and said her first part without incedent. Then it came to her thankful part...she froze! One of the teachers had to help her remember what she was thankful for inbetween goofy faces at the audience. Then the teacher told her that was good and to sit down. She said "No, I need to tell them a story!" Everyone was laughing as she proceeded to high-jack the microphone and give her own talk. It went something like this, "(creepy breath into the mic) The prophet was the last one with the Book of Mormon. He had the power of the priesthood because he always listened to Jesus..." I wish I could remember the entire thing because it seemed like she was up there forever! I was laughing so hard I was crying! After Sacrament a member of the stake presidency came to find Jess and I. He asked "Are you Pantera's parents? You have a great responsability with that little girl. I'm seeing the future General Relief Society President."

Ezekiel had his 2 month check-up today. He weighs 14lbs 12oz and is 24 inches long, putting him in the 95th percentile for weight and 75th for height. I got a call from the Steelers today asking about draft plans, but I'm thinking we'll stick with the home team and talk to the Bronco's. It's tough trying to decide to go to Kindergarten or straight to the NFL!!!

Dress up woes.

Before Ezekiel was born, I read somewhere that the older sibling might regress in there potty training. As if an infant does not provide you with ample laundry loads, let's add a preschooler who pees there pants...everyday. She mainly has troubles when she is playing with friends or when she is dressing up. So I took away her dress up clothes until she could go 7 days without an accident. As you can see she still finds creative ways to dress up. She had an accident at the park a couple of weeks ago and just kept playing because there were other kids there. I accidentally scratched Zeke's face the next day, she noticed and asked what happened. I told her it was an accident and I feel really bad about it. She replied "Let me tell you a story about another little girl who had an accident. Once there was a girl who loved to play at the park..."

Pantera knows my phone number. Jess does not. Ezekiel's eyes are 2 different colors, one looks like it is going green/brown, the other is still blue/grey. Here is one more funny Pantera quote "That's funny mom, there is a food chicken and an animal chicken!"

Faux-Hawk!!!

Ezekiel's hair is finally long enough in the front for his first "faux hawk." This is my very favorite little boy hairstyle. Unfortunately in the pictures his hair never shows up very well, he has alot of hair I promise. He even has cute little sideburns, he's such a stud! There is a kid in my sunday school class who's sister just had a baby girl named Mackenzie. He thinks that Ezekiel is so cute, so he wants them to get married and he has a couple name for them...EZ-MAC!!! It made me laugh, but seriously he's already taken.

I went to the Children's Place yesterday and bought 14 shirts, 2 pairs of pants, Zeke's first pair of skate shoes, 2 sweaters, and 2 pairs of thick tights for Pantera. According to the tags this should have cost $300 on the dot. I spent $56.79 it might have been the best deal of my life and it was all winter clothes! I still have my bargain afterglow, sorry I had to share.

So I trapped 2 mice yesterday. They just showed up out of nowhere and chewed through my hot chocolate packets. Luckily they seem to be isolated to one drawer, but they must have a death wish messing with chocolate in my house! Anyway, Sassy kept me up barking at what I thought was the mice in the basement the past couple of nights. She started early tonight so I followed her down to see if I could catch it. To set the tone for you, I don't like my basement, it is creepy and has a random opening filled with dirt that I think has dead bodies in it. I love to play tricks on myself when I am home alone as it is, without the dog constantly telling me there is someone or something in the basement. So I finally get up the courage and follow her down. She leads me to the corner, where there is a 4 foot by 4 inch peice of wood missing from the wall. She sticks her nose up to it and all of the sudden a HUGE PAW swipes her across the face!!! I jump and run upstairs to grab a flashlight. I muster up the courage to get down and look again...it was my neighbors cat in her basement. I will sleep better tonight.

First Snowball Fight of the Season

We awoke this morning to a couple inches of snow. Pantera was so excited. She said "I dreamed about this." Then quickly said "I didn't really dream about this, I dreamed about captain Hook." Since that was cleared up, we dressed for snow and went on outside. Pantera grabbed a handful of snow and hid it behind her back, then told me she had a secret for me...can you guess what the secret was? She thought she was so sneaky and she really enjoyed the snowball fight she provoked.

The primary program is on the 30th, I can't wait. Pantera's part is "I am a child of God. I know I can follow his plan and be happy." Then she stands up again and says "I am thankful for ___________." This blank is to be filled in by the child. As you can imagine this made me (not to mention the primary presidency) a little nervous for what Pantera would come up with. At first she said she was thankful for kangaroos. She only said this because she thought kangaroos were fictional creatures and she thought she was being funny. When I told her kangaroos are real, she didn't think it was so funny. After that she decided to keep what she was thankful for a secret until the program. Well at practice she stood up and said she was thankful for cars, Nephi, the prophet, Heavenly Father, Jesus and some other super sweet spiritual things...go figure!

Ezekiel is getting bigger by the minute. He is such a cuddle bug! Last night I couldn't get him to stop fussing. I tried everything and finally just stopped and looked at him in the eyes, he stopped right away and just started smiling! All he wanted was my full attention on him and he was the happiest little boy you've ever seen. Those smiles just melt my heart! When he wants me to nurse him he will look at me, spit out his pacifier, and suck on his hand ferociously...it is hilarious. I love my kiddos they are so great!

Encore anyone?

Here are the new lyrics "everybody makes mistakes, everybody makes mistakes, that's right. Sometimes I'm in a jail, I've got to make a plan. I might be crazy, I do it anyways. Nobody's perfect I got a rockin." Followed by words that I don't think are real. We weighed baby Zeke yesterday, he is 13lbs!!! Apparently eating every hour tends to bulk one up.

Wal-Mart

So every Wednesday I make the 20 minute trip into the nearest Wal-Mart. You wouldn't believe me from the cute pictures, but my kids decided to tag team me today! As soon as we entered the store Ezekiel started screaming and I couldn't get him calmed down. He ate right before we left but apparently thought he was starving which due to public nudity laws there was nothing I could do in the middle of Wal-Mart. So I am holding a screaming baby and pushing one of those monster carts made for multiple children. Luckily for Pantera the extra seat was enough room to perform a mobile concert. There I was with a screaming baby and a Hannah Bontana wanna be trying to get my grocery shopping done in the busiest store on the planet. People kept laughing at Tera and telling me "Wow, you've got your hands full." As if I didn't know that! So we get to the checkout (FINALLY!), Zeke's still screaming, Tera's still singing and dancing; There was someone bagging groceries and putting them in the cart. It was such a lifesaver!!! I almost started crying and I told the lady how much it meant to me, because 1.They never do that at Wal-Mart and 2.Heavenly Father knew I NEEDED it!!!

Today in the car Pantera was looking at the pictures in the Book of Mormon. She asked me if Nephi had long hair, I told her they don't talk about his hair much so I don't know. She came to the conclusion that his hair must have looked like Jane's from Return to Neverland. She also said "I wish I had a sweatband like Nephi!" Then at lunch she had Kung Fu Panda ravioli. She offered me some stating "It's made with real Kung Fu Panda meat." How could I refuse?

All Smiles

The past couple of days Ezekiel has been smiling alot. It is so cute. And the best part is that he is really smiling, it's not just gas. I love that he smiles when we talk to him. On another note, Pantera just asked me if we can buy a horse. I told her we have no place to keep it. She said we can take care of that first then buy a horse. I told her the horse alone would cost $2,000, she said she would save her money. And now she is dancing around singing "I'm gonna buy a real horse, dow, dow! Horses are responsibility...my responsibility, dow, dow!" We are not getting a horse. Pantera keeps singing the Hannah Montana song "The best of both worlds" except she doesn't know the words so she sings "you get the best of bone worl, rock at the show and then you rock at the show, the best of bone worl...the best of bone worl."

Don't worry ladies, there's enough of me to go around!

This is the cute outfit we got from Heather Atwood in our ward. We have been so spoiled with this little boy! Everyone at church is so excited to have new babies and so they all buy him a TON of presents!!! They are so sweet.

Yesterday after church Pantera comes into the relief society room and informs me that she was "bad for primary." Great. I told her that she would not get juice at nap time because she was bad (apparently this is a really harsh punishment) and she replied "Why would you do that to me! That's rude!" Then proceeded to throw a fit all the way home. Then nap time rolled around...

She made such a big stink about laying down that Jess had to put on the doorknob guard so she couldn't open it to get out and scream at us. Unfortunately, I left my cell phone in the bedroom that morning. Jess gets a call from my brother Alex who is in boot camp in Missouri asking if Pantera is ok. Apparently she answered the phone when he tried to call me saying that she was trapped in a room and she was choking. He called my sister Meredith and told her, so Meredith calls my phone and Pantera tells her the same thing. I guess she was talking really fast and frantically and Meredith told her to slow down and asked her where she was at, Pantera replies "PENN-SYL-VANIA." I went up and took the phone away and let everyone know that she was not captured, nor was she choking to death, just nap time with a shirt that's to tight.

Happy 4th Birthday Pantera!!!

Halloween was so much fun this year! Pantera was so excited to wear her costume. She was a "princess witch." In our borough we can only trick or treat from 6-7pm and each area does it on a different night of the week. I have never seen so many kids in my entire life!!! The only problem was that Pantera thought she needed to stop and talk to ALL of the kids about their costumes. She is so social it cracks me up.
We went with her good friends Lexi and Skyla although she really made her own pace. Ezekiel was a cute little bumble bee.

Today was Pantera's 4th birthday. Last night she was so excited because she was turning 4 and now that she is older she would have "hair" on her "butt." This morning when she woke up Jess asked her how it feels to be 4. She looks around and says "Ugh, I feel old!" Then she ran into the bathroom and was utterly disappointed. We had a great little birthday party for her. Lexi, Skyla, Phagen, and "the other Tera" were her guests, along with some of mommy and daddy's friends. She seemed to have a good time.

I love little Pantera for so many reasons. She drives me absolutely crazy at times, but I couldn't live without her! She has so much personality in such a little body. She is the funniest kid I have ever met. She is so smart and creative. She has the most energy of anyone I have ever met and once she learns to channel that I know she will do great things. I am grateful to be her mother. I love you Pantera!

Tagged

I was tagged by my Aunt. I have to write 7 random things that you may or may not already know about me.
1. I have been cutting my own hair since I was 3.
2. I hate the feeling of sweat pants. Eww.
3. I hate the feeling of cotton balls. Again Ewww.
4. I was scary spice in a dance concert in 7th grade.
5. I LOVE pranks.
6. I love the Killers.
7. I am an on demand milk machine;)
Now I get to pick 7 people to list seven things about them. You have to do this or else!!! Meredith, Katie, Mom, Mary, Marie, Courtney, and Natalie. Remember, OR ELSE!!!

This past week or so has been interesting. I have found that I have the perfect little sleeper on my hands! He wakes up once or twice a night to eat but sleeps great other then that. Oh, don't be jealous Pantera still wakes me up several times a night; which is getting really annoying! She also has started in on what appears to be sibling rivalry. Last week she threw a toy at him and when I asked her why she said "I threw it at him because I was jealous!" I started really feeling bad for a second there, then I realized that she doesn't know what jealous means. She managed to use it in the right context though! She thinks that jealous is when you are mad so you throw something like Tinkerbell does on Peter Pan. I explained to her that jealous is when you really want something someone has or want to be like someone else so bad that it makes you angry. Then I asked her "So Pantera are you really jealous of your brother?" She said "Yes!" I said "What about him is making you jealous?" She says "His peepee!" Freud you win again.

Pantera loved this book "The seven dwarfs find a house." She almost memorized it and liked to read it to Zeke over and over it was very sweet. Until she ripped to book into shreds, I still don't know why.