What is that?

I love this picture, he is so cute!!! This is right after I was freaking out over what looked like bruises on his bummy. He has one the size of a silver dollar on one cheek and one bigger and less defined on the other. I am the only one who ever has him so I was stressing that he had some disease. Luckily my mother is all knowing, so I made a quick call and she was able tell me in under a minute that it was "Mongolian spots," it runs in her family, and is completely harmless. Apparently he was born with it and I just didn't spend enough time looking at his tush to notice before. Thank you Mom!!!

Dino Fever is Sweeping the Hammond House!!!

The number of "meat-eaters" in our home has doubled! This could be an epidemic...I will keep you all posted...ahhh my leg...I can't fight them both off...wish me luck............

T-WEX!!!

This has been my life the past week. Everything is about T-Rex's. Only she can't even say it so it's "T-wex." She has been stomping around so tough and scary. Last night she said "Mom, pretend I have bone crushing teeth, ok?" I caught her in bed reading this book last night and I asked her what she was doing she said "I am reading this so I dream about dinos! I'm so excited!" Intense!!!
I forgot to mention Jess' birthday fun. Pantera woke up that morning more excited for his birthday then for Christmas or her own birthday. I have never seen her so pumped about anything...it was so cute! Unfortunately Jess had to work all day, she thought that was very unfair. She helped me make his cake and she wrote his name in the frosting herself, then put a dozen or so candles all on one corner of the cake. She made him a card and signed all of our names to it. Then right before he came home she decided to wrap a present that she "got" for him. It was a wood letter E from her cute name set that used to go in her room, until she let Sassy chew up the other letters. She wrapped it up in Christmas paper all by herself. She made Jess feel so good and she cracked me up! I can't believe how big she is getting.

Our neighbor's granddaughter-in-law brought this cute jersey over for Zeke. Major brownie points at the ward activity!!!
Last night Zeke was really fussy and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. We had the elders over so I kept trying to go upstairs to nurse him. Nothing was working until I took him by Pantera. She can get him calmed down so fast!!! He adores her. I get a little jealous sometimes, but I know it makes her feel so cool. My favorite is when she tells him "It's ok, big sis is here."

Christmas never seems to end at my house! We are still singing Rudolph over and over again and yesterday Pantera found my shawl, which gave her a brilliant idea. She proceeded to get into the dish towels and gather her stuffed animals for a makeshift nativity. She insisted that we call her Mary for the rest of the night. She wanted me to pretend to be Pantera and have a conversation with Mary which went a little like this "I am Mary. I am the mother of your Saviol. But I live in Heaven now with the dinosaurs. But the T-rex's don't bite me, they like me because I am a human, not a dinosaur that eats plants." Pantera refers to Christ as our Savior often, but it comes out Saviol and now she is obsessed with dinosaurs...yay!

WE were at Lexi and Skyla's house today. They all love to dress up like princesses. Today was a little different with the T-rex added to the mix. She would dress up and be a princess but if she was in regular clothes she was a T-rex, and don't you get the two confused!!! She roared at my friend when she called her a princess, then threatened to eat her because she "looks like a yummy dino...I'm serious." I love this girl!!!

I am currently waiting for this to dry so I can send it to Meredith and start something new. It is taking FOREVER!!!

Happy Birthday Jess

Today is Jess' birthday. On anyone else's blog you would see a mushy display of emotions for this specific occasion...not on my watch! Every year on Jess' birthday I give him an evaluation and list the things he needs to improve; for instance this year he could learn to take a punch and eat more brussel sprouts. What if someone really made lists like that for their husband??? Creepy. Seriously now, Jess is a great guy and I love him for many reasons so let me tell you a few because I know you want the inside scoop on my hubby, cuz he's so tough and mysterious:
1. I love the way Jess gets OBSESSED with whatever job he has. He could look up different information on natural gas for hours!!!
2. Jess gives the best back rubs.
3. Jess has several alter egos ie. Pong and BPP...don't ask.
4. Jess can be a snot to everybody, but me. He has never lost his temper or yelled at me...I've really tried to get him to it just doesn't work.
5. Jess loves his kids. He is a great dad.
6. Jess gives me just the right kind of competition.
7. Jess smack-talks even when he has no chance of winning!
8. Jess tells me I'm beautiful or hot at least 20 times a day...he make me feel good about myself.
9. His red hair...yowza!!!
10. I love that Jess goes out of his way to embarrass me the way no one else ever could.
I wish everyone had a husband as great as mine. I'm so happy he is who he is.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESS!!!

Oh Snap!!!

My Aunt Bobbi had posted a comment about how my crazy kid is payback for laughing at her crazy kids. I thought that was a bunch of bologna...until Pantera learned to snap this week. I remembered that I used to laugh at Dallas (I think it was him) for driving Bobbi crazy by snapping randomly to no beat, just to snap. Well now my kid does it but not only does it have no rhythm, I am expected to be silent when she is snapping so I can take in every last click!

We were invited to go to the Science Center with our neighbors today. Both Tera and Zeke had a blast. Tera loves playing with the water and Zeke loves watching Pantera play with the water. The people around us kept laughing because he would kick his legs and move his arms so fast! He LOVES his sister.

Zeke has started "smiling his milk" alot lately. Andrew coined this phrase when Ryan was little (my nephews) it is when a baby is happy while eating or drinking and all the milk comes out the sides of his mouth. It's really gross and sweet. I weighed him again last night and it looks like we will be investing in a new carseat by the end of next month; ours is rated for babies up to 20lbs Zeke weighed in at 17.2...yikes!!!

Fancy Jewelry

Pantera has been saying "Here we go again" alot lately. The first couple of times I laughed at it because it was about goofy things. Then last night she was in trouble for something and I was scolding her, she looks at me, rolls her eyes and says "Here we go again!" Trying to put her in timeout without laughing is horrible sometimes!!! She went to church wearing "fancy jewelry" that we bought for a dollar at Michael's. She thought she looked so good, she told me "Everyone will say: She's so lovely." And she was right, everyone at church noticed her fancy jewels. I remember wearing things like that and hoping for the reaction that she got (when I was little, 22ish).

Good bye Sassy Marooni

Today I finished the Ariel picture I have been promising Pantera for over 4 months. I am a SLACKER!!! But that's 2 paintings in the last month, better then usual for me. Zeke was unusually crabby, drooly, and knawie (new word for someone who is chewing on everything!). Yes, the toothfairy wants to visit this little boy early in the worst kind of way!

On a sad note, we had to take Sassy back to the humane society. Zeke would get all stuffed up and watery eyed every time she would come around him. Then I wouldn't get to sleep at night because he would be up and miserable. I signed a paper stating I would give her back if it didn't work out. And 600 dollars later, it didn't. The worst part is that Pantera continues to make me feel horrible about this everyday! She says things like "I remember Sassy, she was my friend. I'm still mad at you mom." Or "Can't we take the baby back instead?" Poor Sassy, she was even happy to go back to the pound, wagging her tail at everyone who walked by; she had no idea what was going on. Now I feel bad all over again...

Grandma and Papa

Jess has been home so my blogging has been horrible! Grandma and Papa Hammond came to see us. It was alot of fun. We made some great memories like cranium on New Years;) I am so glad they made the long trip to come see us, although Pantera had a very hard time when they left. We went to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum it was really neat and very crowded. I was thrilled to get to see all of the puppets from Mr.Roger's Neighborhood...IN PERSON!!! Pantera liked the water activities, but had a meltdown near the end because Grandma and Papa would be leaving right after the museum. Thank you two for coming!!!

Today being the first Sunday of the new year, we got new students in our Sunday school class. Jess and I co-teach the 14-18 year-olds. Since no one leaves until they graduate, we didn't lose any students...we were up to 17 kids today! It is a hard age group, but I love them!!! They are talking about splitting the class now but we had some really great kids move up so I will be sad if they decide to.

Tonight the missionaries were over to do a discussion with one of Jess' co-workers. I explained to Pantera that they would be teaching him the gospel because he hasn't heard it before and that we need to be reverent. I also told her it would be good practice to be reverent for when she is a missionary. Jess' friend shows up a little early so Pantera decides to start the discussion herself. She gets out her magna-doodle and scribbles on it then says "You have to say: I love the gospel. You have to say: I an thankful for the Atonement. You have to say: I love Heavenly Father and Jesus. Ok, that's good." He laughed. I decided to put a movie on for her when they were getting ready to teach him. One of the Elder's said "Have fun watching the movie." She yelled back "Have fun teaching Josh the gospel!" If only we could all be as brave and bold as Pantera, she's my hero!