Update

Abby and Alex both love to eat Eggo waffles. Abby will call them “yeggos”, “pancakes” and “waffles”.

You both like to help, in fact you have to help. When Alex puts his syrup on he has to make sure that he gets syrup in each individual square. Abby is less particular. They both like to help cut the waffles. They hold the knife and fork first then I hold their hands and cut it up. They both usually eat two a piece. If it were up to Abby she would eat waffles for 3 meals a day.

You both like to help on the rare occasion that you want a sandwich. One of you gets to do the peanut butter and the other gets to do the honey and help cut the sandwich.

Alex loves to play games when he is supposed to get dressed or have his diaper changed. He thinks it’s the start of a wrestling match. He’ll run and hide, laugh and giggle.


Back in the summer time, Abby was helping me sort through the Get Out Shirts getting ready for an event. There was one of the shirts that had a tag on it. Abby said, "We need to buy it" -

Alex wanted Melinda to hold him, she said she couldn't because her back hurt. The light came on in his head, and he ran and got his little back pack and gave it to Melinda, expecting it to make everything better.


Abby likes to pretend that her and Alex are the Mommy and Daddy and Melinda and I are the kids. What makes it so funny is when they intimidate us. For example, Abby was putting “Abby” to bed. She said to her, “I’m going to go potty and I will be right back”, which is exactly what Melinda and I both use to get out of the room when we know that the kids are tired, but don’t want us to leave yet. They understand that they can’t tell us we can’t go to the bathroom so they let us leave and then they usually fall asleep before we come back. Today Ales was pretending to be daddy. Adamantly, (he says everything adamantly, everything) he put his hand on his chest and says, “I’m the Dad”, while talking on my cell phone.

A few weeks ago Abby and Melinda laid down to take a nap together. They were having some girl talk. Abby has a pretty good sense of humor – they were talking about how Daddy was silly because of something I had done. Abby agreed and said, “Yea, he’s silly. We should buy a new Daddy.”

Alex has a nice sense of humor as well. The other day all of us were hanging out in the living room. Alex walked down the hallway and stepped on something and said “Ouch”. Abby thought it was hilarious so she started laughing. Alex must have liked the attention because a few minutes later he walked down the hallway and intentionally (and obviously) said “ouch” again.

Potty Training - Alex

Alex is starting to Potty train. He did well today and went in the potty twice. Melinda even said that he shook it off when he was done. This afternoon he was downstairs in the office, sitting in my chair, pretending to me dad. I left to go upstairs and next thing I know Alex is coming upstairs, crying and in trouble. Turns out he climbed up on my desk, stood there and peed. He peed on my PCM binder.

Alex used the Potty

Abby was helping me sort through the Get Out Shirts getting ready for an event. There was one of the shirts that had a tag on it. Abby said, "We need to buy it" -

Alex wanted Melinda to hold him, she said she couldn't because her back hurt. The light came on in his head, and he ran and got his little back pack and gave it to Melinda, expecting it to make everything better.

Abby wouldn't go to sleep - she said that she was scared.

"But Mom, the dragons".
The dragons don't live inside
But they could come and knock on the door
But we won't let them in
Ohhhh

Rhett, Jared and I were playing Frisbee in the backyard on conference Saturday (29 September 2006)- Abby said look, a triangle. She has been learning a lot in pre-school. She learns a lot of new songs and on the walk home loves to sing. The song she probably knows the best is “I love you” from Barney. She will sing it again and again, faster and faster until she is nearly screaming it and it turns into a rock star version. She also sings, “I’m bringing home my baby bumble bee.” Alex likes to sing that one too. She is learning how to count and use her fingers to show her numbers. She still has to really concentrate to get her third finger up.

Alex used the potty for the first time on 19 September - he pushed so hard and each time he peed a little he would look down and point in surprise and say "look!" I would ask, “Are you done yet?” “Nope, I’m peeing”

Abby asked for some pudding, but she couldn't have any. "But my tummy hurts" she replied. "Pudding won't help your tummy." Thinking for a second, she came up with, "but my nose hurts"

Melted Cables - Cascade Springs - Abbyisms

Have you ever seen jumper cables melt? Neither had I until yesterday. I went to the temple in the morning then came home and jumped the Corolla. The battery was dead because Daddy lets you kids play in the car, even though Mommy is against it. You must have left the lights on or the radio or something so next time we tried to move it, it wouldn’t start.

Since the battery was completely dead, I hooked up the cables and decided to let it run for a few minutes. I came inside and ate a bowl of cereal then went back outside. The cables were smoking and the coating was dripping off. I tried to grab the handles, but they were burning hot. I used a plastic bag as insulation. The good news is there was no damage to the electrical system – the bad news is I melted the left fender on the truck. Fortunately, I didn’t damage the body and I’m hoping that the fender, since it’s plastic, will be easy to replace. Just the same, I decided that I’m not old enough to own a vehicle.

I did get the Corolla started and took it to Ballistic Paintball where I bought a new mask – one with thermal lenses so they won’t fog up. The problem is, I’m so full of hot air.

We took a family trip up to Cascade Springs. I have never driven up the right fork of American Fork canyon before. It’s a nice drive, but Melinda was getting sick, and though I didn’t know it at the time, so was Abby. I was feeling it a little, and I know for sure that I would have gotten sick if I hadn’t been driving. Once we reached the top, I pulled over at an overlook and looked back at Abby who had the throw up face on. She spit up crackers and cheese. Most of the pictures from that day show her in Alex’s overalls, and without a shirt. I sprinted around the truck and puller her and the car seat out so the smell didn’t saturate the truck. Abby must have inherited the Lazear car sickness genes. This is the second or third time she has thrown up just because we were driving.

The Springs were beautiful. Unfortunately, there had been a fire there a year or two ago, so what otherwise would have been nice foliage was just burned, naked trees.

You kids had a great time looking at the water, and the fish. You were good troopers as we walked all around the springs. Once we got back into the truck we drove down the canyon on the other side to Midway. Both of the kids fell asleep.

When we got to Bridal veil falls we woke the kids up and let them play in the water, which was very cold. They played around the a bit. Alex searched out and threw the biggest rocks he could find. I was afraid that he was going to throw one on his foot. He took his shirt and his shorts off, but didn’t really like to get in the water. He sat on a dry rock and he searched for other rocks to throw. Abby did the same, but was a little more mobile. We were debating about whether or not to climb up to the falls. It was Abby that made the decision for us because she kept asking to go. The hike was really pretty rugged, but even a groomed trail, just rocks and drop offs. The kids did a great job. Melinda had a rough time though, because she was wearing flip flops, and she was pregnant. I was really glad we hiked up though – it’s one of those things that we could have easily talked ourselves out of, but didn’t and now we have good memories in exchange.

Alex did a lot of grunting and man sounds as he was climbing. He likes to jump and over exaggerate actions like all boys do, just to make it more exciting.

Alex is still a messy eater. Abby rarely gets a drop of food on her. Alex usually wakes up at first and is in good spirits. Abby likes to roll over and hide under the covers when you try and wake her up.

Here are some Abbyisms’s

Don’t spank my ‘boom’

“Grabage” for Garabage

She gets ‘to’ ‘for’ and ‘of’ mixed up
Will you take a picture to me
I’m going for school
Is this to me?

‘My bruder’ for my brother

In one of Abby’s prayers she said, “Thank you we can go to bed and get nice and warm.”

I took Abby and Alex over to Dewey Bluthe park and met Rachel there with her kids. The kids have a good time playing together. Rachel brought some scones that she made. Abby and Kyah were playing house. At one point Kyah was trying to breastfeed Abby.

I would write how Alex talks but it’s more sounds instead of words so I don’t know how to spell what he says. He is talking well and he keeps getting better. Melinda and I are still the ones who can understand him the best, but he’s learning just fine.

Lately they love watching ‘The Jetsons’s.” Alex says that he wants to watch “George”. Abby sings about “Cosmic Cosmo” which is the rock star ‘dreamboat’ of the movie. They both love to go on walks. Abby likes to say, “Let’s go on a little walk”.

Alex likes to argue with us about who is the boss. He likes to tell us what to do, or what not to do. If we tell him, “I’m the boss”, he says, “No, I’m the boss.” He is very adamant. He likes to run away from you if you want to change his diaper, or get him dressed. Melinda makes me handle him because it usually ends up being a full on wrestling match.

Summer Events

Melinda and I went to Las Vegas for a delayed anniversary get away. Nanna and Poppy watched the kids for us while we were gone from Monday the 12th through Wednesday the 14th. On Sunday the 11th we went for a family walk and Melinda and I were both so somber about leaving, I felt a lot like I did before I left for Peru. And we both agreed that we felt something similar to the day we had to give Alex over to the doctor for his surgery. We were just so sad about leaving our kids. This was going to be our longest time away from them – two whole nights, and 3 days. Monday morning as Melinda was getting ready, including buying their favorite cereal, and folding their cloths, she actually cried. I think it’s sweet that she loves them so much. Just the same it was good to get away, and by the time we started to enjoy ourselves, it was time to come home. They did just great while we were away – they were happy to be with Nanna and Poppy and were well behaved. The funniest occurrence of the stay was on the second night. Abby was sleeping with Nanna in her bed. Nanna must have been snoring, because she was awoken all of a sudden by an annoyed little voice saying, “Nanna, be quiet!”. Then, in frustration she threw herself back down on the pillow and sighed.

Nanna said that she enjoyed Alex always saying “Thank You” which he does very consistently. It sounds more like “doo doo”.

Alex, as a typical boy, loves to tease his sister, much to our frustration. Abby has no problem screaming when she is being borrowed, and it’s a powerful scream too, which mostly hides Alex’s laughter as he runs from her carrying her doll, or stands on her blanket, or pins her to the ground. Abby has some good wrestling moves as well and takes her turns pinning Alex down, then it’s his turn to do the screaming. As soon as we break it up, they laugh and go right back at it. We are trying to teach them to let the other one go when they start to scream or cry, but we haven’t made much progress yet.

Alex just loves Toy Story. Buzz Lightyear is his favorite. He says it “Buh Lye La” (he still usually only says the first syllable of words, but he does speak in complete sentences now). He watches toy story with wrapped attention and will later pretend that he is Buzz as we run and jumps around the house. I would really like to buy him a Buzz Lightyear toy.

Both of you kids are really good at going to Nursery. Sometimes Alex has a hard time at first, until he gets distracted. I think he will have a hard time going to Nursery by himself once Abby moves up to Primary next year. Alex’s favorite toy is the Fisher-Price cash register. Abby loves the dolls of course, but they both really enjoy doing puzzles. Abby is up to the cardboard 12 piece puzzles, the one that just show the outline of the pieces. Alex still likes the wooden cut out puzzles.

We went camping this last weekend, from Thursday, to Saturday. We went with most of Melinda’s family up to Current Creek. It was about a 2 hour drive. The spot we found was shaded by Aspen trees – which, due to the time of year, continually dropped sap on everything. The surrounding area was really beautiful. Alex wanted to ride the “bikes”, or the four wheelers. We went on two rides together, both on about the same course, up to the top of the next hill where we could look down over the valley. There was a nice mix of aspens and pines, a lingering amount of snow on top of the mountain and it was just amazing.

Easter

Today was Easter. We did the Easter egg hunt yesterday afternoon. Melinda had prepared sand pails for them with candy. Most of it was just left over from the week before when we met up with the family in Vernal. Mom did a little Easter egg hunt with candy and plastic eggs. We were going to color eggs, but Melinda forgot to buy some at the store and it seemed like too much work at the time, so we just used the plastic eggs.

We had a good time in Vernal, even though it was a long drive there and a long drive home. On the way the kids were feeling sick which made them ornery. On the way home they slept most of the way, but I was tired and sore from playing and sun-burned from spending so much time at the park. Mom and Fred and Rachel and Greg and Melinda and I went to the Vernal temple to do sealings. Becky forgot her recommend, and Robby did feel well. It was great to be outside in the sun – we played Frisbee and threw a football.

Alex's Birthday

The 7th was Alex’s birthday. Melinda got up really early that morning and went to WalMart to get him some presents. The first thing he went after and his favorite gift of the day was a box of Wheat Thins. Only after he grabbed the box, had Melinda open it and grabbed some crackers was he ready to look at this other presents. He knew it was his Birthday and he was pretty happy about it. I slept in his room part of the night because he woke up crying. I asked him a couple times in the early morning if it was his birthday, and he just nodded his head yes. We went over to Chik-Filet for lunch and the kids played on the play set.

Abby is really smart. Melinda and I are both very impressed. Just yesterday Abby was saying that “Tomorrow is Sunday. We get to go church.” She then added, “No Shopping on Sunday”. We assume that she must have learned that from primary, but how amazing that she would remember it and recite it.

Today I am helping her with her “ABCD’s” as she calls them. I printed our large, hollow block letters for her and she has done 4 complete sheets tracing inside the letters. She loves it.

Abby's Stitches

Fred and Mom and the kids came over to stay while they had school off for ‘Blue’s Week” On Monday while they were here Melinda and I went down with Poppy to Saratoga Springs to get a load of stuff. While we were gone we got a call that Abby and fallen and cut her head. Turns out that Fred was working in the bathroom, replacing the faucet, so there was a whole bunch of stuff in the hallway. Abby was trying to walk down the hall, tripped, and hit her left eye on the cold air return. She got a nice cut right along her eyebrow line. They tried to keep her calm until we got back. Roxy was doing a good job of trying to sing to her. It was sweet. When we got done and got back home she had fallen asleep downstairs on the couch while watching a movie. It was scary to see her laying there, asleep with blood running down the side of her face. We decided to take her in to get stitches. We didn’t want her to get scar on her face. She ended up needing five stitches. She will probably end up with a scar, but thankfully, it will mostly be covered by her eyebrow.

The saddest part of the story is while she was at the Dr.’s Office. She was content to sit on the table while they took her temperature and she really liked the pulse monitor they put on her finger. I think she was nervous, or just not fully potty trained yet, but she ended up peeing on the bed while she was waiting. She really fought getting the stitches. They ended up having to wrap her up in a blanket to hold her still, and then have a couple people hold her head still. The saddest part is when she turned to Melinda and said, “Mommy help me!”. When the Dr. started the stitches she turned to her and said, “Doctor, don’t touch my eye!”. (By the way, I made Mommy take you to the Doctor). When everything was done, she got a sucker and immediately started feeling better.

Five days later we had to go back to get the stitches out. Abby was fine at first, but once we sat her on the bed she started to get nervous – “Hold my hand, Daddy”, she said. She wasn’t so excited about the pulse monitor this time, and when they took her temperature, she started to cry. When it came down to getting the stitches out I held her arms and laid my shoulder across her body. Melinda and a nurse held her head while the other nurse took the stitches out. She said to me, “Daddy, I’m stuck”. She cried while they took the stitches out, but once again at the end, a sucker made her feel better. As I carried her over to the sucker jar, through her tears she said, “Alex wants a sucker”.

She has been Alex’s interpreter lately, and she really does a pretty good job of it too.

Christmas Recap 2005

On Christmas day we got up, and opened presents. We were planning on going to Church up in Sandy, but by the time we got done opening our presents, we wouldn’t have been able to make it. We decided to go to Church at our ward. Abby got to wear her new Christmas dress that Nanny picked out for her. She was very, very excited about it. She is obsessed with dresses. Melinda had to keep the dress hidden from her, because once she sees it she has to wear it.

When we pulled up to the Church on Christmas Day, instead of seeing people arrive, we saw people leaving. I parked the truck and ran inside. I spotted Ryan, our home teacher who told me that Church had actually started at 10:20, instead of 11:00. As we started driving home, Abby started crying. “I want to go to Church”, she cried. She had been so excited to wear her dress at Church, she was heart broken when she couldn’t go inside. We stopped by another ward house just to take her in. She was excited; but it didn’t last long and then she wanted to go home.

Just today, Melinda took Abby to the store with her. On the way there, Melinda was telling Abby what they were going to get at the store. As they walked the store and went right pass the milk, Melinda then noticed Abby looking through the cart. She then turned to Melinda and asked “Where’s the milk?”. I am so impressed at how smart she is, and how observant. I really think she is extra intelligent.

Alex is learning well. He does such a good job saying his prayers over meals. He is putting his words together well, but usually only says one syllable of the word. They are such good friends. Alex always wakes up first. I take him out to get him breakfast, but he always asks where Abby is, saying, “Abba?”.

Abby was sick the other day with a 24 hour flu. Melinda brought her in a drink and she had to make sure that it was apple juice. Then she said, “Shut the door”. She acts like such an adult, even though she is so young.

One day Abby was watching Charlotte’s web. At the point where they sell the pig down the street to the other farm, and the little girl cries and cries, Abby started crying too. “Piggy gone”, she cried. She was truly upset and wouldn’t stop crying even though Melinda was holding her and trying to explain that the pig was happy now because he could talk and dance. Abby still wouldn’t be comforted. It took her quite awhile to calm down.

One of the CD’s we have in the truck on the song on it, “My Girl”. Abby really likes the song and enjoys singing along, especially to the chorus. The cutest thing is that she sings “Ti-ger”, instead of “My Girl”

She really loves to sing. Lately she has been singing “Once upon a December” from Anastasi. She sings, “Once upon a Decembe, someone holds me safe and once upon a Decembe”

Melinda has been trying to teach Abby to say her last name. It usually comes out Chrifenenen. It’s really cute. She usually extends her “ings” by saying something like “Openenen it” Overall she talks very well.

Abby and Alex were downstairs playing. Alex came upstairs to get Melinda and ask her for some crackers. She got a little package for him and then he questioned “Abba?”. She got some for him too. Now, with both of his hands full he couldn’t go downstairs by himself. So Melinda carried him down the stairs. When she sat him down he went over and both of them sat down in their chairs ate their cookies. They are very considerate of each other. If one of them gets something, then want to make sure the other one gets one too.