Tuckered Out

When it comes to my kids' sleep schedules, I am nothing if not diligent. Nap times and bed times are pretty firm. It takes something pretty special and significant for me to compromise my children's sleep.

So a couple of weeks ago Everett woke up later than normal, which pushed his nap time back a tad. But when nap time rolled around, he was outside with Grandpa "helping" him cut the grass. And I got busy doing other things, so I thought, "We'll skip the nap and hopefully have an earlier bedtime tonight."

Later than evening I was in the midst of cooking dinner, so I put on "Toy Story 2" for Everett (currently one of his faves). A few minutes later I went in to bring him to the table and this is what I saw:

It wasn't even 6:30 yet! I felt like a horrible mom for letting him fall asleep on the floor, waaay early, and without dinner. But he was out. I put him to bed and he woke up the next morning at 8 raring to go.

Moral of the story? I'm not nearly as hard-nosed about sleep as I like to think!

And to conclude, a shot of the fab foursome at Ty and Kami's Open House last weekend:

My British Boyfriends

Will and I have a running joke between us about each other's "boyfriends" and "girfriends". These are famous people (actors, athletes, musicians) that we find attractive. I'll admit it, there are certain movies I watch simply for the eye candy. For example, a few years back I used to have a thing for Freddie Prinze Jr. I know, I know, the boy can't act to save his life, but I watched "Down to You", "She's All That" and "Head over Heels" simply to watch Mr. Prinze Jr. on the big screen. Lame? Sure. Fun? You betcha!

Will's current girlfriends include the likes of Catherine Zeta Jones, Salma Hayek, Ava Mendes, Rachel Weisz and Gwen Stefani. All very beautiful women to be sure. (As a side note, why is it that guys in general find Gwen Stefani hot? What am I missing here that I think she's weird looking? Does anyone agree with me? Anyone? Anyone?)

Since I have a thing for British accents, British movies and England in general, it should come as no surprise that a few of my current boyfriends hail from Mother England. Here are some of my current faves, in no particular order:

Ahhh, Mr. Bloom. I first fell in love with him as the very white, very clean elf in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Something about how he seemed to glow, while every other character was covered in filth, really appealed to me. Plus, he was spot on with every arrow that flew from his fingertip. Imagine my giddiness when the "Pirates" movies came out. Yummy! Orlando did lose a few points with me when he starred in that debacle of a movie known as "Elizabethtown", but he still made the list.
Mr. Darcy! Who that has watched "Pride and Prejudice" or either of the Bridget Jones' movies can help but to have a thing for Colin Firth? Oh! Or "What a Girl Wants" with Amanda Bynes where he played her dad. Heck yeah! I even caught some of the edited "Love Actually" and he was spectacular in that as well. He is totally dreamy and does the smoldering look thing pretty well to boot.
A newer fave who seems to have quite a few movies coming out. I first saw Hugh Dancy in "Ella Enchanted" with Anne Hathaway. He was so cute and fun! And then I heard he was in "Evening" with Claire Danes (who I believe he's dating). Also, I just saw the BBC version of the George Eliot novel, "Daniel Deronda" where Hugh starred as Deronda and let me tell you, it was three hours well spent! I think it's those blue eyes. And the smile. Also, he was in the recent flick "The Jane Austen Book Club", which I have yet to see, but really want to because I found out Hugh's in it.

Ahhh, Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Totally dreamy - Again, I think it's the eyes. And actually, I believe he's Irish, not British, but close enough for me. I first caught a glimpse of him in "Bend it Like Beckham", which despite what Will says, IS a good movie! Then he popped up in "Mission Impossible:3" and played King Henry in a Showtime miniseries "The Tudors". And now with the holiday movie season on hand, he's starring with Miss Felicity herself, Keri Russell, in "August Rush", which I have to admit, I'm dying to see simply because he's in it.

So there you have it. I just realized that all these guys are brunettes, while most of the guys I liked while dating were blondes. And obviously, Will is blonde too. Hmm, I wonder what that says about me? Anyway, who are you into these days? And men, don't be afraid to comment!

A Wedding!

Today the Kilgore family welcomes its newest member, Kami!

My younger brother Ty will marry Miss Kami Brough today at 1 pm in the Salt Lake City Temple. This is Ty, my little buddy. Ty, the one who could always make me laugh. Ty, the one who will always, no matter how old he gets, seem like he is 19 (at least to me).

Some of my fondest memories of Ty are the time we spent together in the Young Single Adult program at the beginning of 2003. I had moved back to Atlanta the summer before and was working for the Church. Ty had finished up Fall Semester at BYU-I and was home working to save money for his mission. We went to plenty of activities, dances, firesides, movies. And I even got to bug him everytime he signed on to AOL Instant Messenger to chat with his 200 friends (the computer was in my room).

I love you Ty and we're excited to have Kami join our family. Good luck!

Elizabeth Gaskell Movies: It's a Good Thing

Or a more appropriate title would be: Elizabeth Gaskell novels adapted into movies by the BBC: It's a Good Thing.

This post is for all you Jane Austen lovers out there, for I know there's a lot of you. If you don't like Jane Austen, her books, the movies, or that time period in British history, you might as well tune out now. But if you're a fan, then let me tell you about North and South and Wives and Daughters, two of the greatest kept secrets of BBC movie watching.

Elizabeth Gaskell was a British author that wrote just shortly after Jane Austen. Her books are pretty good, but man, did the BBC do an awesome job with the movies!

North and South (my favorite by a fraction) tells the story of Margaret Hale, a young woman from the south of England whose family is forced to move up north, to a harsher, colder climate and to people who, initially, Margaret feels are the same way. Of course there's a love interest, Mr. John Thornton, who owns one of the local mills and epitomizes everything Margaret dislikes about the North. The ending is absolutely FABULOUS! Much more fulfilling that the very last scene of Pride and Prejudice where you barely see Elizabeth and Darcy kiss. Super romantic and simply well done. It's about 3 and 1/2 hours, so about half the length of Pride and Prejudice.

Wives and Daughters tells the story of Molly Gibson, the daughter of a widowed doctor. It is, of course, a love story, but one that takes time to develop. Mr. Gibson decides to remarry after many, many years, so Molly has to deal with a new step-mother and a step-sister. The love story involves Molly and Roger Hamley, who initially thinks of her as a sister and only later does he look at her as a romantic prospect.

Either one you choose, you can't go wrong. They are both fun to watch and oh so romantic. So if you're tracking down some good movies to watch over the Thanksgiving holidays next week, I HIGHLY recommend these two. Happy movie watching!

Miss Chubby Wubby

I forgot to post the stats for Juliana from her doctor's appointment the other day.

Weight: 12 pounds, 12 ounces (92nd percentile)

Height 23 inches (82nd percentile)

I'm mostly impressed with her height, since she was born at 18 inches. Five inches in two months is a lot of growing!

And for comparision's sake, here's Everett at two months:

He had a rough start with gaining weight. He wasn't even 10 pounds in the picture. And here is Juliana:

And here is another shot of Juliana with Lydia. Lydia weighs 11 pounds and is an inch or so shorter.

Two Twos

'Twas a momentous weekend for the munchkins. One that will likely never be repeated. They both turned two. Everett counting in years and Juliana counting in months. It's still so funny to me that these guys are exactly 22 months apart. Almost to the minute (Everett was born at 6:36 am and Juliana at 6:31 am).
Many thanks to all the grandparents for their thoughtful gifts. Everett loves them all!

A two year old in all his glory.
He did slightly better this year than last with his cupcake.

I rallied the troops and we made one big doctor's visit today. Everett got two shots and Miss J got four. Here she is with her battle wounds:

But thankfully, Lydia came by to give Juliana some moral support (And if you notice, Juliana's letting you know EXACTLY how old she is!)

NOOOOOOO!!

Can someone confirm or deny this?(Please deny, please deny, please deny)

"Original half-hour episodes of NBC’s hit half-hour comedy “The Office” will stop being shown after next week.Steve Carell showed solidarity with the striking writers. A publicist for Mr. Carell said he had no comment about the strike.Production on “The Office” was shut down on Tuesday, after the writers, several of whom are also actors on the show, began picketing and Steve Carell, the lead actor, refused to cross picket lines. Only two new episodes are ready for broadcast, so “The Office” will enter repeats after the Nov. 15 episode. "

Could this be true? I found it on another blog and I almost fell out of my seat. What say you?

I Scream, You Scream

I'm not much of an ice cream fan, but I saw this on Shanna's blog and thought it looked like fun. And how ironic that I'm mint chocolate chip since that's one of Will's favorite flavors. Here's what else it said about mint chocolate chip:

Mint chocolate chip ice cream wakes up people's taste buds, and you do the same thing when you walk into a room. The chocolatey bits represent your sweet, flirtatious side, and the minty flavor represents your high energy level. You are smart, witty, and you make a great first impression. Your friends value your advice, because you tend to see things from a fresh new perspective.

Wow! Is that right on or what?? (wink, wink)

HAPPY FRIDAY!

A Nose for Trouble

The crime scene:

The weapon:

The Perp:

Today at approximately 12:34 pm EST, a blonde haired, brown eyed, quarter Mexican, almost 2 year old male was seen at Chipotle with a dime sized dried grape (otherwise known as a raisin) lodged in his right nasal cavity. How his supervisors (otherwise known as his mom and grandmother) let this unfortunate accident occur is still up to the authorities. Breathing through the nasal cavity became strained as snot and other mucus were subsequently smeared across the perp's nose. (yuck!)

At approximately 1:45 pm EST, a female pediatrician unlodged said raisin and breathing resumed as normal. The lollipop successfully aided in the breathing process.

No charges were filed.

Settlers: It's a Good Thing

I've decided to channel my inner Martha Stewart and start up a regular "Good Thing" post on this blog. To kick off this exciting new twist, I thought I'd blog about my favorite board game(s).
I love the game Settlers of Catan and it's advanced version Cities and Knights of Catan. I'll admit, the first few times I played it, it was a bit overwhelming to remember all the rules and to really "get" how to play and win, but after I got going, man is it a fun game to play! Basically, the point of the game is to get to 10 points. You earn points by building settlements, cities and roads, plus there are special cards you can buy to earn even more points. There are resource cards (wheat, wood, brick and ore) that you use to purchase the aforementioned things that earn you points. Cities and Knights takes it to the next level and in addition to resources, you can also use commodities (paper, wool and cloth) to buy even more point-earning things.
The game is fun with 4 people and even better with 5 or 6. It does take an hour or so to play, but it is so dang fun! We once played with 8 people (the original game plays 4 people, so we added two expansion sets) and holy cow, it was great!

You can't buy this game at your local Wal-Mart or Target, so you'll have to hit up your local "gaming" store if you want to walk in and purchase it (ie, you'll have to deal with the weird Dungeons and Dragons types), or even easier, simply get it on Ebay.
This game is totally addicting and I promise you, once you start playing it, you'll find people in all corners of your life who play it and love it. Settlers has to be one of the best kept game secrets out there!

So there you have it, my good thing of this week. I would absolultely LOVE for all commentors to post THEIR favorite thing along the same vein. For example, today's post has to do with one of my favorite board games, so leave me a comment and tell me what's your favorite board game. Can't wait to read what you have to say!

Blogging Tip of the Day

In my experience with blogging I've discovered a few "tricks of the trade" and since I'm in a sharing kind of mood, I thought I'd pass along a little tip that some of you might not know about just yet: Bloglines

Bloglines makes checking other people's blogs a million times easier. It also allows you to know when folks have updated, so it eliminates the need to actually visit their blog to see if there's been a new entry. I love it!!

For example, I currently have 70 blogs on my Bloglines list. If you notice, I don't have nearly that many on my sidebar of friends and family. There are some blogs I just simply like to stalk (c'mon, admit it, you all have done that too), and therefore, it's super easy to go to my Bloglines page and see who has a new entry. I promise, it's as addicting as checking your email, at least for me.

So if you're interested in cutting down the amount of time you spend clicking on links, looking for a new entry and then clicking back, check out http://www.bloglines.com/. All you need is an email address and you'll be set!

A Sunday Distraction

The time has come for me to find constructive, interesting, QUIET activities to entertain Everett during church. Actually, the time came a few months ago, but because there were two parents and only one child I didn't worry too much about it. Now that we're playing a man-on-man defense, I need some help!

For starters, let me state that I'm not the most creative/crafty gal on the block. Martha Stewart, rest assured I'm not going to be taking your job from you anytime soon! As far as good activities for Everett the only thing that comes to my mind is a quiet book. Since some of these puppies cost more than $20, I was thinking I could simply make one (I know, I know, it's like I'm glutton for punishment). Problem is, I haven't the foggiest as to where/how to start.

As for other ideas, I'm guessing some good activities would involve "soft" things like cotton, felt and ...??? crickets chirping

So consider this my plea for help!!

Do you have any suggestions for things I can make/do/pack for Everett for Sunday meetings? I don't care if you know me, know me through a friend of a friend, or are simply clicking on blog links from other pages and happened to stumble onto here - leave me a comment and throw a sadly uncreative mom a bone!

Two Cousins = Double the Fun

What do you get on the first Fast Sunday after the birth of two cousins born 8 days apart? Besides one sharp dressed almost-two-year-old?

That's right, a doubly fun blessing day!!


Now that we're in different wards, we had twice as much fun blessing the girls. Paula and LD, along with Miss Lydia and Logan's parents, came to our ward in the morning and we repeated the favor to their ward in the afternoon. In between was a scrumptious brunch prepared by the girls' Mexican grandmother. No, we didn't dine on tortilla espanola or churros. Incredibly there was nary a tortilla in sight. It seems their Mexican blood is running thinner by the minute. Muchas gracias abuela!

Of course, after each meeting we had to take the requisite pictures. Juliana did awesome and her dad didn't do too shabby either.
Will gave Juliana a beautiful blessing. I'm so grateful for Will and his wonderful spirit. Among other things, he blessed Juliana with a sense of humor, which I think is awesome!
Both Juliana and Lydia had the same blessing dress and in an ironic twist, Lydia was actually asleep during these pictures, while Juliana was wide-eyed and awake. Definitely outside the norm and only goes to show that these two lovely ladies are constantly keeping everyone on their toes. One wonders if they didn't plan this out ahead of time.

Our little angel

We were so glad so much family could come to Juliana's blessing, but we definitely missed those who didn't make it! A special thanks goes to Grandmama Lynn, David, Paul and Autumn for watching Everett while we went to Lydia's blessing. It was so nice to let Everett get in his full nap and it made him a much happier camper for the remainder of the day.

BFFs

Everett and his friend, Tyler, got together last week for a little playdate. These two have lots in common including:

1) They're big boys

2) They're bruisers - running full steam, bumping into corners, falling down on concrete - nothing phases them

3) They make other kids their age cry

4) They eat like champs

5) They love playing outside

It's always good to get these boys together because we know if one is crying, it's not because they're hurt or in pain, but rather, they're just in shock that someone else is beating up on them. Is that a combination for a solid friendship or what?
(And yes, the fact that Tyler's not wearing his shirt in these pictures is a tad strange, but, as some of you can relate, once the kid has decided he doesn't want to be wearing clothes, there's little that can be done to stop it!)

Pretty in Purple

I just realized that the last four posts are about Everett. Oops! Lest you think we're not enjoying our little girl, be assured that we are. She's just not at an age where there's a ton going on. She is now 7 and 1/2 weeks old and quite the chubster (Check out her arm folds!).


Juliana sleeps like a champ. In a 24-hour period, she probably sleeps between 18 and 20 hours. Last night was especially awesome. She fell asleep between 9 and 9:30 pm and didn't wake up until 6 this morning. I fed her and she was back asleep by 6:30 and slept until 8 when her big brother decided to jump on top of her. Yeah, we're working on that.


She still has blue eyes, which is totally exciting for me. I've wanted a blue-eyed child for as long as I can remember. And the fact that they seem to be getting lighter is absolutely thrilling! And no, contrary to popular belief, not ALL babies are born with blue eyes. I was born with brown eyes, as were all of my siblings. Everett's stayed blue for about a minute, so Juliana's really going for the gold with these puppies. Let's keep our fingers crossed! As for who she's looking like I keep thinking Will, although after taking these pictures, she seems to be looking more like me. Hmm...

This Can't Be My Child

To my dear friend Heidi:

Remember when we were in college and you always wanted to dress up? Like that time we dressed up in pink and white to see "Legally Blonde" or our "Black Sabbath Sunday" where we treated our BYU ward to us in all black? And remember how you always had to beg and plead with me in order to get me to go along with any of your crazy ideas?

Well, you know I'm no fan of Halloween. Nu-uh, not me. Halloween, as you well know, encompasses just about everything I dislike - dressing up, cooler weather, candy, getting scared/being scary, the color orange. Yup, it's all yucky. Halloween and I mix like oil and water. So much so, that I figured out that I haven't been trick-or-treating in 18 years.

So, my dear, wonderful friend, imagine my surprise to spawn a child who appears, at the tender age of 23 months, to LOVE the holiday I despise most. He loved dressing up, he loved the candy and give him a few years, and I'll bet he loves the scary factor as well. So take comfort in knowing that even though you're not around to bug me about dressing up and having "theme" days, it looks like I won't be getting off the hook that easily.

Love,
Nat