Yea for 2008!

Is anyone else super excited for 2008? I sure am!! I'm glad 2007 is behind us and I'm so looking forward to everything 2008 has to offer. Besides, 2008 has quite a few components about which I'm particularly pumped. Namely, it's an even numbered year. I really dig even numbers. Our wedding anniversary is 02/06/04, so this year we'll celebrate our 4th anniversary, I'll be 28 all year, we have two kids, etc. I just know 2008 is going to be wicked awesome for the Giddens gang. Yippee!!

Christmas was nice. Very low-key, but nice. I have a couple of cool stories to share, but I want to wait just a bit before sharing. Our family was extremely blessed by folks who truly embraced the Christmas spirit. So if any of our "Santas" are reading this blog - a big thank you!

We spent the Christmas holidays enjoying lots of family time. Business really slows down for Will during the last two weeks of the year, so it was nice to have him around quite a bit. We visited with family, watched movies, ate yummy food and as you can see, Juliana did quite a bit of sleeping. She slept alone in the Bumbo chair:

With Grandpa on the couch:
And with Dad on the couch:

(Notice how her pacifier matches her outfit/blanket? Man, I'm good!)

Everett spent the holidays playing with his new bounty of toys (thanks grandparents!), but most of his joy came from finding new and interesting ways to utilize that Bumbo chair.




Ahh, life's simple pleasures. Here's to a happy new year to all of you and a wonderful 2008!

Merry Christmas from E and J!

Today was a wonderful Sunday before Christmas (and my birthday for those in the know) and Mr. Everett and Miss Juliana are ringing in the Christmas season in their own special way. Frist of all, they sat on Santa's lap at the ward Christmas party last night.
Everett, as you can see, was a bit leery of that Santa fellow, but Juliana sat there like a champ. And then today in Nursery, he created his own Christmas card using only THREE fingers. I was impressed!
And Juliana celebrated Christmas at church in style, gracing everyone with a celebratory red velvet and creamy silk dress with red and green embroidered overlay. Touche!

The Girlier Side of Life

Since I became a mom to a boy first, I'm totally not used to "decorating" the head of my child. For whatever reason, I've really had to work hard at remembering that Juliana CAN wear bows, ribbons and other fun stuff. So thank you Jessica for giving me a nudge and sending not only a super cool bow, but also a very cute onesie!

She starts off being a little unsure about this whole bow business...
to becoming a bow pro...
to being utterly surprised at how dang big that bow is!

Thankfully Thankful

As a mom my days can sometimes be a bit monotonous. Getting and keeping kids clothed, fed, rested, clean and happy, while essential, are not always full of excitement. Sometimes my days are so full of the same kinds of activities that they blend together and all of a sudden I realize it's Friday. While I'm overjoyed to be a mom and wouldn't trade my two little tykes for anything in the world, I'm soooooo glad when we have a day or when I capture a moment that just makes me happy. Behold, one darling girl with the cutest, chubbiest legs and arms and one handsome, sweet, loving boy who are both so awesome:

Melmo Poo Poo

That's right my fine readers, apparently stuffed animals have potty issues too. At least according to my two-year-old. Everett brought me his stuffed "Melmo" yesterday exclaiming that Melmo had poo pooed. Thinking it was pretty cute I told Everett that we needed to change Melmo's diaper. Everett dutifully brought his beloved Melmo upstairs to his room and grabbed one of his diapers. Being the sensible mom that I am, I decided Juliana's size 1 diaper would be a better fit. Behold, the diapered Melmo:

And just so you know, Melmo's poo poo is stinky (according to Everett)

Is this the sign of a mom that spends a majority of her day in conversation with a two year old that I found this whole episode incredibly cute and highly entertaining?

Change of Address

Thanks Emily for reminding me that some folks might not have our current address. Rather than post it here any Bob, Chuck or Larry to stumble across, please shoot me an email and I'll reply with the address of our current abode. (I'm thinking for Christmas card purposes, if we're lucky enough to be on any of y'all's list). Happy Holidays!

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!