Pete Pages

Monday, May 4, 2009

Adjustments

Well, we've moved. Last week was fairly crazy to say the least and I was happy to get through it without the baby coming. Hewitt has had the hardest time adjusting to the change it seems and when he cries to go "home" it makes me cry (I want to go "home" too!). The kids have had a hard time getting to sleep at night and are waking up an hour or so early every morning which makes for extra whiny and fussy kids (and an extra tired mom).

We had dinner last night with my parents and on our way home to Provo Hewitt said, "I don't want to live to Arizona. I don't want to live to Grandma and Grandpa Pete's house. I want to live in HOLLYWOOD!" (Note that Hewitt still mixes up his prepositions)...

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

"Tasha"

My friend Sara brought a darling little gift by for our baby yesterday. Tosh saw me open it and immediately started taking off his clothes, wanting to try it on. I've always thought that Tosh was a rather "pretty" boy, but I think this proves it...

Tosh running around in a pink dress did throw me off a little. The really funny thing was that he did not want me to take the dress off and every time I tried he would yell, "Noooo!" Burke laughed so hard about it when he got home from school; it only was when he started calling Tosh "Emma" and saying things like, "Come on little sister Emma..." that I insisted the dress come off.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Ten years today

I am one very lucky girl. I love you Rob!
Thanks for the best years of my life...

Monday, April 20, 2009

Bangs

I got my hair cut over the weekend. It's the first time in 18 years that I've had real "bangs." I'm sort of having a hard time getting used to them. Of course I was styling my hair a bit different in 1991...

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

According to my kids...

I've seen this on several blogs and on facebook as well...definitely worth a good laugh. I asked Hewitt (4) and Burke (almost 7) the following questions and got these responses:

1. What is something your mom always says to you?
H: Because
B: No

2. What makes your mom happy?
H: A laugh
B: When we do what she asks us to do

3. What makes your mom sad?
H: When I’m sad
B: When we don’t obey

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
H: She laughs
B: By telling me new jokes

5. What was your mom like as a child?
H: She liked going to the beach
B: She liked playing with dolls

6. How old is your mom?
H: 44 (thanks Hewie)
B: 33 and ¾

7. How tall is your mom?
H: Um, like 16
B: 5 foot 5 (close, thanks for the extra inch)

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
H: Drawing with me
B: Fun activities with her family

9. What does your mom do when you’re not around?
H: Draw with pencils on paper
B: Clean the house

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
H: That happens! (Does he mean that I'm already famous?)
B: Being a good mom

11. What is your mom really good at?
H: Playing tennis on the Wii
B: Helping her kids

12. What is your mom not very good at?
H: Baseball
B: Having kids sit on her lap with a baby in her tummy (so true)

13. What does your mom do for a job?
H: Building in construction; helping friends
B: Chores

14. What is your mom’s favorite food? 
H: Celery (what??)
B: Taco salad

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
H: Because she helps me
B: Being a good mom

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
H: Daphne
B: Velma
(does this mean my kids think I'm smart and gorgeous?)

17. What do you and your mom do together? 
H: Play the Wii
B: Do cool projects

18. How are you and your mom the same?
H: When we wear jeans and t-shirts
B: Our last name

19. How are you and your mom different? 
H: When we aren’t dressed the same
B: She’s a girl; I’m a boy

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
H: When I have kisses
B: She gives me hugs and kisses and she is my mom

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
H: Dad takes us on vacation and on drives
B: He does fun things with her and us

22. Where is your mom’s favorite place to go?
H: To Arizona (certainly not yet...maybe someday?)
B: Grandma and Grandpa D.’s house

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Sadly celebrating

It looks as though we have sold our home. The house is under contract and we close at the end of this month (the week before my due date)! What a whirlwind this past week has been. In my usual style, instead of starting to pack or deal with the realities of moving, I have been spending my "spare time" making a quilt for the baby. My thoughts and emotions have vacillated from feeling extremely grateful that our home has sold (and to a great family, btw) to feeling extremely sad that we are moving and so soon! I wish I could pack up all of my dear friends and take them along...we have been so blessed these past 4 years to live in this wonderful neighborhood.

Rob's folks have kindly agreed to let us stay with them until we can find a place in Arizona. I'm guessing/hoping we'll be moving down there in July; before school starts and just in time for the real heat. So, here's to a new chapter in our lives; let the chaos (umm, I mean adventure) begin.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Only a mother would write this

For at least a year now we've been trying to encourage Burke to read chapter books on his own. He is a very good reader, but has had a hard time with the transition of wanting to be read to and wanting to read on his own (don't worry, we still read to him plenty). I knew that as soon as he gave it an honest try he would fall in love with it and that is what has happened this month. We are now having to ask him to put his book down to eat dinner, tell him to "stop reading and go to sleep" and today when he came home from school he ran directly to his room to pick up with where he left off (with no interest in a snack even!)... This is really exciting to a "first time" mom (as I always am with whatever stage Burke is entering). This morning I came downstairs to find Rob and Burke silently eating breakfast while Rob was reading The Ensign and Burke was reading The Friend. I love it!

Pete said...

Hewitt was just telling me about a new game he created where you can't touch the ball with your hands or feet. He said, "You can only hit the ball with your leg or foot-wrist." And so I clarified, "You mean your ankle?"
(10/8/09)

Me to Hewitt: Whatcha doin?
Hewitt: Arting. It's making art.
(10/2/09; Hewitt's 5th b-day)

Two jokes by Burke:
What does a storm wear?
Thunderwear!

What do you call King Kong's feet?
Big Foot!
(9/26/09)

I had the following conversation with Tosh:
Me: Are you a boy or a girl?
T: Boy
Me: Is Livvy a boy or a girl?
T: Baby
Me: Yes, but is Baby Liv a boy or a girl?
T: Girl
Me: Is Daddy a boy or a girl?
T: Big boy
Me: Is Mommy a boy or a girl?
T: Mommy a babe!
(Not prompted, I promise! 9/3/09)

Hewitt had set up a bunch of toy figures and Tosh was trying to play with them... Hewitt was telling Tosh not to touch them and I asked him to share the toys or to go and get some more figures for Tosh to play with. Hewitt said, "These are not toys! They are art!" (9/3/09)

We were driving along a road near our house (a rather quiet highway, really) and Hewitt suddenly exclaimed, "Mom! I just found the road to our old house! Keep driving straight!" I looked up and realized there were some big mountains in the FAR distance. Hewitt clearly thought he was staring at Utah. (8/28/09)

Hewitt brought home a little "Groundhog's Day" craft that he had made at preschool and kept calling the groundhog a bear. When I tried to tell him it was really a groundhog he looked at me like I was very silly and said, "It's a BEAR Mom, not a CORNDOG!" (2/2/09)

I explained to Burke about the recent airplane crash into the Hudson River and knowing that he would be very concerned, I quickly told him that all of the passengers were just fine. He looked at me with a worried look and said, "What about the birds? Are they okay?" (1/15/09)

I have a trunk full of old performing costumes from when I was a kid. Hewitt saw the trunk in the basement and told Rob that he wanted to open up the "treasure chest." Rob asked him if he knew what was in the trunk/chest and Hewitt replied that it was full of clothes. When Rob told Hewitt that he didn't want him to make a big mess Hewitt said, "I won't make a mess, I will just get out one clo." I guess that "clo" would be the singular form of clothes... (1/13/09)

Burke is always mentioning how he wants us to have lots more babies because he wants "hundreds" of brothers and sisters. I was explaining to him this morning about how it gets harder and more dangerous to have babies as a woman gets older...he looked at me and said, "Well, you look young Mom, like 19!" Then he leaned in closer and said, "Well, I do see some indents in your skin around your eyes (those would be wrinkles--thanks for noticing)." (12/26/08)

Hewitt blew his nose and must have accidentally gotten some snot or tissue in his mouth because he said, "Yuck! That tastes like cow dung!" (12/24/08)

Tosh got to Hewitt's cup of water at the table today and dumped it all over Hewitt's lap and onto the floor. Rob asked Hewitt, "Are you a little wet?" and he said, "I'm a BIG wet!" (12/24/08)

Rob was playing "Memory" with the boys and when Burke got a few matches in a row Hewitt said, "Wow Burkie, you're on fire!" (11/08)

We just bought some sod for our park strip and while Burke and I were looking at the pallet, I mentioned that some of the pieces looked like crabgrass and that we needed to find the best pieces of grass to buy. Burke looked at the sod for a little while and said, "None of it looks like crap grass to me!"

While I was flossing Burke's teeth he said, "Wait--I need to tell you something." I paused flossing and he said, "You sure know how to be a good mom!" (now there's a treasured compliment!)

Hewitt watched Rob kill a fly in our kitchen and then asked, "Did he cry? Did he want his mommy fly?"

I told Hewitt that I was going to get Tosh a snack and asked if he would like one. He paused and then said, "I'll take a milkshake." What am I, a drive-up window?

Hewitt was asking for toast today and when I pulled out the bread he said, "No, the 'letter O' toast!" I finally figured out that he wanted a toasted english muffin.

Burke came down for breakfast and said, "Mom, it might not look like my bed is made and you might not like it, but it's really stripes that I did as a design on my bed."

Hewitt has really liked eating plain tortillas lately. When I asked him if he wanted one he said, "Oh. Sure. I'll have a mamma mia."

Hewitt understands things very literally. When Rob told him that he "needed to fly" this morning (go to work), Hewitt asked, "Where is the fly? In the house?" When Rob asked him if he had a runny nose he said, "No. It's just boogers."

When Rob was leaving for work he hugged the boys and told them to "be good for Mommy and do exactly what she says." Burke said, "OK bye Dad, you be good at work and do exactly what your boss says."

We were discussing prophets in the scriptures for Family Home Evening and when Rob asked Burke which prophet(s) wrote the Book of Mormon Burke said, "Nephi, Jacob, Enos..." and continued to name the books in order. Rob and I were pretty surprised and couldn't help laughing.

I was just eavesdropping on Hewitt while he was playing with his toys and heard him say, "Ladies and jumpingmen..."

Burke was heading off to a neighbor's house to play and stuck his head back in the door and called, "I'll be traveling by bike."

When the garage door opens for us to drive in, Hewitt will pretend to be scared and say, "Oh no, it's the garage mouth! He's going to eat us!"

Hewitt got distracted and starting playing with his toys during lunch and when I reminded him to please keep eating he said, "But Mommy, I'm working."