Thursday, July 26, 2007

Oh, the Terrible Twos... I Think We've Officially Entered Them!

This past week has really made me realize that we are officially in the Terrible Twos! And I have not been thrilled about it. While Gavin has never been a perfect angel by any means, he has been a pretty good little 2-year-old so far... of course, that is until this week!

It all started on Monday when I asked him if he would go get a haircut. I pulled every bribe out of the book to get him to go, promising him anything from treats to 1 hour worth of Greg playing cars with him, but he refused. Then I told him about all of his friends and relatives that get haircuts, and how they're so much fun (ha ha), but he still said no. (And you should have seen his hair! He was starting to grow a mullet!) So I finally ran out of patience and laid down the law (or so I thought), and told him I was cutting his hair and there was nothing he could do about it. We don't have a razor so I just used my haircutting scissors, and since it can be a little tricky to cut an entire head of hair with those, I really needed him to sit still. Well he would have none of that, so we put him in Ty's high chair and forced him to sit there. He screamed literally the entire time. You would have thought we were torturing him by the sounds of his screams! In the end, it took me 30 minutes just to cut his hair (that picture to the left is the awfully short result)! It was ridiculous. And there were numerous cut lines in his hair from times when he would move right when I was cutting, which look just lovely! Thank heavens his hair grows quickly... the only problem with that is that in a month or so, I will be fighting him to get another haircut. Oh joy...

Then on Tuesday, we invited my family to our house for Pioneer Day (more on that later). Gavin became incredibly possessive of his toys (a very new thing, getting worse by the day) and refused to share them with Connor and Aiden. He would literally pick up armfuls of cars and carry them around with him just so his cousins couldn't play with them! I'm shocked that even though he has probably over 100 little cars, and can't possibly play with them all at once, he just can't find it in himself to share! Oh, the madness! I am just so frustrated with this possessiveness problem so if any of you fellow moms out there have discovered a solution, PLEASE let me know! :)


And yesterday... well, yesterday was the grand daddy of them all. Greg bought me a treadmill for Mother's Day and I run/walk on it every morning. I always do it with the kids around and Gavin just knows to stay away from it... until yesterday, that is! He came up behind me when I was walking at a pretty fast pace and was playing with a dinosaur at the end of the track. I kept telling him to stop playing by the treadmill, that it could hurt him or mommy, and that he needed to go play somewhere else. Well, when I stopped hearing the dinosaur on the track, I figured he had listened, but the next thing I know I hear screaming. He had gotten his hand stuck between the track and the side rails/steps, and fortunately was able to pull it out pretty quickly, but not without pulling off quite a bit of skin in the process (the picture on the right is the aftermath). He has about 4 spots on his hands (2 on his fingers and 2 on his palm) where it is completely raw. He cried for about 45 minutes and I felt just awful - but he knew better, that little stinker! And I think he definitely learned his lesson because when I was on the treadmill today, he hardly came near! If only he could learn his lessons about haircuts and sharing! :) Bummer...

Anyway, on a happier (and much less frustrating) note, I thought I would tell you all about our Pioneer Day! We decided it would be fun to take the boys to the Dinosaur Park over in Ogden and they loved it! Some of the dinosaurs and the sounds they made scared Gavin a few times, but for the most part he loved it. He is still talking about it and asking if we can go back "today" (he asks that everyday). We then came back to our house where Greg and Mike took out Greg's car's windshield in an attempt to replace the seal around it. Well, they failed to check the size of the seal before taking out the windshield, and once they got to the point of putting it in, they realized it was about 2 times too big - and it will take at least another week to get a new seal in. So once again, Greg's car is sitting in the garage - undrivable - and we are down to one car! Oh joy... But anyway, the night ended on a better note by us having a barbecue which Kristin was able to come down for, and we just hung out after that. It was a great night to be outside because it was actually cool for once!
Well, we hope everything is going well for all of you. It is so hard to believe it is almost the end of July! Wow... Until next time! -Ash

Friday, July 20, 2007

Another Boring Week...

Well, nothing too eventful has happened this week with our family, except Gavin has thrown more tantrums than normal, Ty has been sleeping terribly, I cut swoopy bangs, and Greg has been studying for a political science test. Pretty eventful, huh? Anyway, since I really didn't have anything to write about, but I still wanted you all to be able to check our blog and see something new each week, I thought I would stick in a funny email my dad sent me. I'm sure you can all relate! So enjoy!

YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2007 when...

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

10. You get up in the morning and go online before getting your coffee.

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )

12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list AND NOW U R LAUGHING at yourself.

I thought it was pretty funny since I have done quite a few of these! But anyway, hopefully we will have something better to write about next week. :) Until next time! -Ash

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

My Persistant Husband...

Well, Monday marked an exciting day in Greg's life... because he finally got the 50" Plasma TV he has been begging for for 3 years now! (I, on the other hand, am still in sticker shock! Even though we had the money for it, it's still hard to drop that much money at one time!) It all started when I told him Monday morning that I needed to go to Costco for a few things, and he said, "Call me when you go down and I will get some lunch there with you." At first, I thought nothing of it. But then, as I really got thinking about it and how much he has been talking about TVs lately, I figured out that most likely he was coming to look at them and then talk me into letting him buy one! (Mike and Lindsay just bought an LCD from Costco about a month ago and have been raving about it, so Greg was really getting worked up, especially after we spent the 4th of July with them and that's about all Mike and Greg talked about...) And sure enough, the moment he walked into Costco to meet me, he was at the TVs telling me what a great deal they were! (Costco has great marketing for these TVs since they are the first things you see when you walk in.) After about 15 minutes of just staring at them, I decided that maybe it was finally time to let him get one. He has seriously been asking for one of these ever since they came out! And to be quite honest, I am sick of hearing him talk about them and whine about how he wants one, but he can't get one. :) So I finally broke down and there it is, Greg's prized possession. I sincerely hope our checking account recovers quickly! And Greg, all I have to say to you is Happy Birthday, Happy Father's Day, and Merry Christmas for the next 5 years! :) Until next time! -Ash

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Happy Birthday, America!

My title is compliments of Gavin since all day yesterday, he was walking around singing Happy Birthday! I would like to think he knew it was America's birthday, but something tells me he just learned it from the Sprouts channel on our satellite... Darn! (And it continued through today... He kept turning to me and saying "Happy Birthday, Mom!!!" So seriously, where are my presents?!) But anyway, for those of you who have read Lindsay's blog already (since she was much more on the ball than me), I'm sure you can tell we had a great 4th of July! Since she basically covered everything we did, I thought I should cover the little things she didn't... Hopefully she didn't leave them out for a reason!

Well, the morning was supposed to start with the traditional McDonald's breakfast at 8:00. But of course, as Swenson luck would have it, both boys were up the middle of the night and when it came time to get up (bright and early at 5:30 a.m.), I apparently turned my alarm off in my sleep. Thank heavens one of those insanely heavy, loud trains came by, shaking my bed and all, and woke me right out of bed at 6:50!!! (Ha ha, I think that's the only time I've ever been thankful for one of those huge trains rolling by.) So, by the time everybody was bathed/showered and ready to go, we obviously missed the McDonald's breakfast... And I was really looking forward to that Egg McMuffin! :(

Fortunately though, we still got down to the Provo Parade in good time, which of course was the highlight for Gavin. He is still talking about the "Shreak Fiona" float that went by. And as Lindsay said, I still can't believe some people gave up their seats to us! It was so nice to actually be able to sit down... well, then stand up, then sit down, then stand up, then sit down... :) You know how it goes whenever a flag comes by or our armed forces come by. In fact, I actually leaned over to my mom at one point and said, "Don't you think they're really overdoing it with the flags this year? I'm so sick of standing up!" And she just gave me a surprised look and said, "Well it is Independence Day!" Ha ha... What a horrible person I am. And of course, it wouldn't be the Provo Parade without my Dad vocally booing Chris Cannon as usual. Fortunately, he has toned down the volume since I went last!

Once we got back to my parent's, of course the boys went swimming (and when I say boys, I mean ALL the boys... my dad included!). They had a really good time, though Gavin's face in this picture doesn't seem to show that! But he really did... Once that was all said and done and the little boys were exhausted, the big boys (i.e. Mike and Greg) were itching to go do something so we let them go go-carting. And of course, they had to go TV shopping while they were out (stop trying to get my husband to spend money we don't have, Mike! :) ) While the boys were gone, my mom, Linz, and I got into an interesting conversation about what we don't like about ourselves, how we wish we could take fat from certain areas of our body and put it into our chests, and how you're supposed to smile with your teeth not touching in pictures! Ha ha, it was interesting... but hilarious.

Once the boys were back, we decided to go shopping. Lindsay needed to get some hair stuff and that was about all we were planning on shopping for... or so we thought. In the end, Linz got a fabulous deal on her hair stuff and ended up spending a lot less money than she was expecting, and I ended up buying $90 worth of clothes... $90 more than I was planning on spending! ;) Oh well, at least I will look cute on our cruise! (Which honestly may be spent in the room the entire time... and NO, not for the reason you may be thinking! I am about 3 years behind on my sleep right now and I am ready to catch up!!!)

After shopping, we headed back to my parents for a barbeque, where Gavin was dipping everything he could find into his chip dip. I never knew strawberries and chip dip went together, but according to him, they do! Yuck! Then, of course, it was time for the grand fireworks show. And it was grand, let me tell ya. Our $30 box of fireworks from Walmart was gone in about 5 minutes, and by that point, Connor was already bored with them and Gavin was in the house crying because he hated them! In fact, I tried to get Gavin to watch them from the house with me but that just made him more upset. (I was honestly shocked because we were watching some fireworks the other night on the news and he thought they were the greatest things ever.) In the end though, he was willing to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks from my parents' second floor and he actually really liked them! I finally figured out the problem he was having earlier when he kept saying, "Fireworks cool! Fireworks far away!" :)

Our 4th of July ended at about 2:00 this morning when we finally got to bed! We got home at 12:30, then dealt with some major tantrums from both children! Seriously, what did they have to complain about? They didn't have that bad of a day, come on! But really, we had a great time (and YES Kristin, we missed you!) and we hope you guys all had a good 4th too. Until next time! -Ash