what we're aiming for

Some people have asked what's up with Terry's hair these days. So I'll show you what we're aiming for.

I think for most of his life, he had the same 'do, like below. Terry parted his hair and gelled it down on the sides. I used to like it. =) He looked a lot like Neo.

Then he cut it short. I remember the first time too. He went to a really cheap place, and it showed. It looks good here, but perhaps he wants a change.

So here is what we're aiming for: Peter Petrelli. Oh yeah!

LOST...("poof" sound effect)

I LOVE LOST. I love it. I'm a huge fan. Well, not big enough to watch extra stuff online or play games or discuss theories in chat rooms, but I thoroughly enjoy this show. I do like it well enough to know some of the actors names and some things about them though. I like it more than Heroes or even The Office. I love this show.

Of course, I was raised on Star Trek and Star Wars so supernatural stuff always kinda gets me (again Heroes). Plus, there are a lot of spiritual themes, even Biblical ones (!), on this show. It's so enjoyable.

So here is one piece of artwork depicting what's going on this season. I have no idea what's happening or why but I draw comfort that this is the final season and they have to start revealing things. But the entire show is built on questions and intrigue. If you like things spelled out, then you don't like LOST. So this photo is intriguing. Buildings in the background?!

I love Locke. And I really enjoy Ben. He's such a great bad guy. So slimy and manipulative. You just can't trust him. And I like Kate.

And now, what's up with this. Last supper much? See what I meant about Biblical themes? And there's Locke at the center. Hmmmm. The thing is they do everything on purpose on this show. Everything means something. I love it.

So here's Kate Austen. Her real name is Evangeline Lilly. Here's some 4 Bears trivia for you. We came up with Evie's name based on this woman's.

I always loved the name Evie. The first place I heard it was on the movie The Mummy. Except her name is Evelyn and they call her Evie. I liked Evelyn but Terry didn't so when I found out that this actress went by Evi (how she spells it) and her name was Evangeline, it was perfect.

And that's how we came up with our little squish's name - Evangeline...Evie.

And I've read that she is a Christian but it's difficult to know anything for sure based on journalists, right?

Anyway, I LOVE LOST and I'm not about to jump ship or complain about where the show is going. I guess I have faith that it's going to be cool how they explain everything and end it. I'm in it til the end baby!

a first for Noah

The last time I was at the dentist (six months ago), Terry brought Noah along to get him used to the idea of starting to go. All the dentist did was count his teeth and say they looked pretty healthy. Pretty low stress.

So today I had my teeth cleaned and Terry brought Noah afterwards to get his done as well. We weren't sure at all how it would go. I distinctly remember worrying about this back home when the hygienist would ask about Noah and mention how even a two year old could come in. I thought, "Not my two year old! Have you seen him get his hair cut?!"

But apparently he's grown up since then (he IS almost 5 - so hard to believe). Noah did SO great! There wasn't a single tear or anxious moment. He giggled and acted really silly and answered questions and showed off his clean (cavity free) teeth

Here Noah is waiting for his x-ray's to come back. I wasn't in the room for those, but it sounded like he did fine.

I can't even remember what Katrina is doing to Noah here (she goes to our church!) but he was handling it well.

This is their computer screen showing us the x-rays. He only had to bite down from the front, not for those awkward back teeth. Look, you can see his permanent teeth under his baby teeth!!! They're ready to come in soon.

I had to come in with Evie b/c she has to be with brother wherever he is. Oh, and daddy is pretty great too.

Here she is polishing Noah's teeth. He picked the grape flavor stuff. He laughed at this point b/c it tickled and the suction didn't phase him at all.

Katrina thought he was doing so well that she did a fluoride treatment just like the big people do! She filled the little trays with mouse looking fluoride stuff and he had to bite down on it for one minute. I hate doing this only b/c I drool all over the place. Yuck. But Noah did great. He was chomping down on the thing and laughing. What a big boy!

Here is the dentist. All he did was count Noah's teeth b/c he's the "best teeth counter." No cavities!!! What a silly boy, he has his mouth wide open for the teeth counter to look in =)

And here is the video from my cell, which is why it's so grainy...

little squish

I like this little girl. She's my little squish =)

2 little bodybuilders

A while back Terry made these shirts for his two lifting buddies and himself:

So when Shari expressed some interest in having one, we decided to make all of Terry's family shirts for Christmas. These shirts. We even made some for me, Noah and Evie! How cute, yeah?

Ha! It only takes up the entire back =)

out with the old

I know this is way lame, but there's not too much happening in our household at the moment. Just the ordinary. And I happen to blog about ordinary things.

So I did something kind of depressing yesterday. I put away Evie's old clothes that are too small for her. I know, exciting right?

In her dresser were clothes from 9-18 months and since tubs were on sale I decided to git-r-dun. It made me sad though b/c it reinforces how much she's grown. These first two years of her life have gone so much faster than with Noah for some reason. She'll be two the last day of March already! And I keep getting the last two years mixed up, thinking that she'll only be one. Oh sad.

So this is a picture that I took last year at this same time when I put away all her newborn clothes. Look at how little she was!

Here's the boy, little changed except in height =)

Now these pictures are from yesterday. Here is Evie's overflowing dresser (which by the way used to belong to my Gramma Helen so I like it a lot)

The tubs

Cleaned out drawers

This is new. I hadn't been hanging her clothes until now since she had so many sets of stuff

And then it was time to play in the closet

I like this though - the organization of it all. Here are all of her clothes 0-18 months! I have all of Noah's still as well. You never know if we might have another one. And that is my hope so...yeah.

indoor entertainment

I am so tired of winter. You know how the novelty wears off after Christmas and you're just so done with it? Yeah, that's us. We actually considered going for a bike ride with the kids yesterday b/c our temperature gage said 45 degrees! Boy were we glad we didn't after we went outside. Brrrrr. We decided on a walk instead and it sure was chilly.

So the rest of the time we're stuck inside.

One thing that's become a favorite of Noah's is the Wii. Terry got me a Wii Fit for Christmas. Here are all of our Wii Me's! Terry is sleeping b/c he hasn't done any work-outs for a while =) Isn't Evie just SO cute?! Oh, and little Snap and Noah. I love it.

So here is the boy. He is running in place after a cat on the screen that leads him through a course on the island. Lately he's been doing the advanced version so it takes a good 7-10 minutes!

He also likes the bike riding one. For that he has to run in place on the balance board thing and I use the Wii remote to guide him to the different flags he has to get. Sometimes we might jump into the water, or off a bridge, or off a mountain. =)

We brought in these bubbles from outside the other night. Of course, we had to thaw them out in the microwave and that might have done something to their molecular structure b/c they didn't form as well as they should have. Evie had fun at any rate. She was like, "b...u...b...b...l...e." Look at that concentration!

Oops! Bubble is gone! Oh, do you think I should get bangs cut out for her? This was Thursday, when I work, so I wasn't there to fix her hair =)

What kind of toys does Evie like?

Anything that Noah plays with.

Here she is attempting to make a track just like big brother. Though, she's running out of table...

And she's got this track upside down =)

But they had fun.

january heat wave

I'm probably a whiner (on facebook I was like "boo hoo. my kitchen is 61 degrees"). I know that compared to some places in the world, the weather we had last week wasn't that bad. Like Canada for example...or Watertown SD where my brother and Ana were last week.

But dude, it was frigid here (-15 below wind chills) and we felt it even in the house, which we were bound to all week. So we were all pretty ready to get out. Today we ventured into the balmy 43 degree sunshine.

There was still snow everywhere but it was getting all squishy feeling. You know, as opposed to squeaky. When it's squeaky, you know it's cold out.

Here is Noah at the green slide spinning the brains around in his head. I think this is why he is so silly - 5 minutes straight of spinning =)

When we were done at the green slide we didn't quite feel like going home. So we walked around the school and south again to the softball yellow slide. Here Terry had to maneuver around a large drift on the sidewalk by going up the hill to the swimming pool (Noah has been frequently asking if it's summer yet and going by this place didn't help).

Good thing I put their boots on, eh?

Evie needed a little help getting back up to the landing. After this her cute little footprint path was sufficient in aiding her though.

I was surprised Noah made it up the climbing walls w/his boots. Way to go buddy!

Poor Snap. He came along for the walk and was probably having a good time until Noah wrestled him down the slide. Don't worry, I stopped him after this.

Climbing up the rope ladder.

I don't know what this thing is called. You hang on to it and then push yourself to the end. Terry had to push Noah but he held on pretty good.

Oh, and all these pictures were taken on my cell phone. I think they're pretty good!

nap time

Sunday afternoons are a relaxing time for all...b/c we "make it so," as Captain Jean-Luc Picard would say to his first officer William Riker.

Here is Noah trying his hardest to nap on the couch w/daddy. Okay, perhaps he's not really trying at all. He's just squeezing his eyes shut tight. Daddy however would love to just go to sleep as you can see.

All Noah actually wants to do is watch his new show.

Don't worry, we were nice. He got to watch it.

After a nap.

Lovely Sunday afternoons =)

after the storm

For the Christmas blizzard of 09, we really didn't get all that much snow accumulations. What snow we did get was drifted around the snow-belt-trees on the ranch. They were no where near as large as last years, but they were sufficient for daddy to dig out a sweet tunnel for Noah!

Noah has just climbed the first drift. There must have been two before you came to the really big one.

Noah is at the base of his tunnel.

Here he is coming out the top.

See, there is the bare grass as soon as the drift ends.

And here is a video of Noah playing around his tunnel: