Here's the Scoop...

Some of you may know my friend, Heidi. We met our Freshman year at BYU, so we're going on 10 years of friendship. Heidi is one of the most unique people I know. To know Heidi is to love her. And since I know Heidi so well and have for so long, I know that when that girl extends a tag via her blog, she is SERIOUS. There is no "ignoring" or "forgetting" to complete a tag. There isn't even just "avoiding" it either. Nope, when Heidi tags, Heidi expects to see answers. And quickly! If you really want to see how her anger can be kindled against one who appears to have thwarted her tags, just read her comment on my last post. Yikes!

And so, for your reading pleasure (and as if you really wanted to know MORE useless facts about me), I now give you...MY ANSWERS TO HEIDI'S TAG! (Cue theme music)

1) Church calling you would HATE to have: First of all, hate is a strong word. I don't know that there are any that I would totally HATE. A few years ago I could've given you quite a list of callings I'd never, ever, ever want, but lately I've kind of mellowed. Maybe I'm maturing?!?! Hmm...But to answer the question, I'd have to say Scouts and most Relief Society callings. I'd rather stay in Young Women's forever.

2) Saying you say the most often: Alrighty, no way!, are you serious?, that's ridiculous, do you know (insert name)?, I was reading this blog and ...

3) Saying you hate to hear other people say: "Supposively" - the word is supposEDly folks! And even though I only have two kids, I'm sooooo over people trying to brag that their four month old is sitting up and really doing everything way ahead of schedule. "My son/daughter is really advanced for their age." Please! You know what? Most kids are average! It's not a crime if yours are too.

4) Most rotten thing you did today: Where to start? I almost threw Juliana out to the curb this morning sometime between 12:15 and 2:30 when not only would she not sleep, but she decided to throw in tons of really loud crying, fussing, head shaking, and sippy cup throwing. I'm sure Will felt the same when he was up with her from 2:30 until 4. Letting Everett watch 4 consecutive episodes of Little Einsteins. Getting super annoyed that Everett pooped in his underwear. That's all I can think of for now, but the day is still young.

5) Explain the fourth picture in the fourth folder on your computer: This one isn't any fun! This is a picture of a big bruise and some scratches on my right forearm after our August 2007 car accident. It's not a great picture of it because the bruise was actually a deeper blueish/purple color. That whole ordeal was/is not fun. And yes, we're still dealing with some of the effects of it. I am grateful, however, that this was the fourth picture and not something more embarrassing. I was 7 and 1/2 months pregnant and I was bruised all along where my seat belt was. Let's just say our lawyer has seen WAY more of my bruised body than I'm sure he ever wanted. Yeah. Yuck.

6) A picture you have of people you don't know: This was actually the hardest one to answer. Believe it or not, I don't have many pictures of people I don't know. Unlike some people, ahem, I don't think to take pictures of strangers in order to mock them on my blog later. That's because I'm just such a good person and never, ever rude or inconsiderate...but you know, that's just me. Anyway, this is from four years ago when Will and I went with John and Chelsea Phillips up to north Georgia for the Ellijay Apple Festival. This is Amicolola Falls and it's actually an awesome place in North Georgia to visit. There's a resort/hotel at the top of the falls and I've known a few people to honeymoon at Amicolola. And obviously, nothing screams "Rural North Georgia" quite like a guy in a Reel Tree hat.

7) Secret dream: To become a TV correspondent because I am particularly qualified in my specific field. This is not the same as a news anchor or reporter. And definitely not like a talk show host. I would just like to be brought in every now and then because I am particularly knowledgeable about a certain subject. Like Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN or Mary Katherine Ham on The O'Reilly Factor. Or Lisa Ling on Oprah. This, of course, would require that I actually BE super qualified at something, but I'm working on that.

8) Favorite place to spend money: The theater: both movie and musical. Few things beat watching a movie in the theater. Oh, and Barnes and Noble. I dream of one day having a library like the Beast did in "Beauty and the Beast". Although, I think having ladders in my library would be pretty risky. It wouldn't take long for me to fall off one of those.

9) Personal indulgence: Skin care products and make-up items. I love trying new soaps, lotions, powders, liners, shimmers, mascaras, eye shadows, etc. I usually tell Will that I've run out of stuff and I need new _____. I find myself especially drawn to products focused on giving myself a nice palette, ie, foundations, translucent powders, bronzers, concealers. I'm also a sucker for lip sticks, any kind that is different from the regular lip stick. This would include glossy kinds or the kind where you first put on the color and then the shimmer/shine.

10) Girl crush: Rebecca Romijn, Kelly Ripa, Heidi Klum, Megyn Kelly from Fox News, Stacy London...I can't think of any more right now.

11) 3 goals: 1 long term, 1 day to day, 1 silly:

Long term: Raise well-adjusted and responsible children

Day to day: Be on time to the two play dates we have planned for Wed and Thurs

Silly: Find at least one pair of jeans that fit my current figure (not the one I'm planning on having once I lose weight) really well. I'm so tired of ill-fitting denim.

12) 3 things you collect or obsess over:

1) Blogs - Can't get enough of 'em! Love stalking people on them. Love finding old friends. Or just really interesting people.

2) Chic-lit - Those silly fiction books usually about a young, 20-something single girl living in either NYC, London or San Francisco who has some kind of dating problem/fiasco, but ends up with the guy in the end. These books could not be considered serious literature in any way, shape or form, and are rarely worth the time it takes to read them, but like a moth to a flame I get drawn in every single time.

3) BBC period dramas. I LOVE these kind of movies! I've seen a lot of them, own quite a few, but there is always, always room for more flicks of sexy Englishmen with killer accents who snag the ladies.

My Wish Upon a Star

Remember this post? Well, October 24th has come and gone and guess who was front and center for an opening night viewing of High School Musical 3 (or HSM 3 for those in the know)? Me!

I cannot adequately describe the viewing experience, but it was so awesomely funny that I giggle just thinking about it. To be in a theater packed with teens and pre-teens alike, who took every opportunity to squeal, hoot, holler and shout every time Zac Efron, I mean, Troy Bolton, did just about anything, was hilarious. I knew I was in for a good time when the opening shot of the movie was a close-up of Zac in his East High Wildcats basketball uniform, all sweaty from being, naturally, the star player. All the girls went berserk screaming and their reactions did not disappoint for the rest of the show. I realized I had really been missing something by not watching the first two movies with teenage girls. They are in love with that Troy Bolton, I tell you what.

The movie itself was actually pretty decent. Much better than HSM2. The singing and dancing were awesome and yes, the movie was just as cheesy as its predecessors. I loved it! Special thanks to Will who in addition to simply being awesome for offering to take me to see this, especially on opening night, by also scored major brownie points for just sitting there and letting me enjoy it without complaining about its cheese factor or the throngs of screaming girls. Thanks Love!

RIP: Rocket and Big Jet

Officials are looking for the driver of a black, two door Thunderbird with Georgia plates. It is thought that the driver of this vehicle was involved in a hit-and-run accident at approximately 2:30 p.m. on the afternoon of October 25th, 2008.

There were no witnesses, but those who happened upon the accident shortly after it occurred were shocked. Words like "tragedy" "careless" "thoughtless" and even "barbaric" were used to describe the crime scene. Everyone seemed to have a difficult time making sense of the injustice. What kind of person would so decidedly destroy a child's beloved playthings? Who could be that cruel? What kind of world do we live in if Rocket and Big Jet weren't safe in their own driveway? What is this world coming to?

Immediately after the accident, Everett ran to their sides. "Rocket and Big Jet have a boo boo!" he exclaimed. "The car gave them a boo boo." Investigators have several leads, but no arrests have been made. If you, or anyone you know, has any information regarding who may be responsible, please let us know. Officials are hoping the perpetrator will turn themselves (or should we say HERself) in shortly.

Rocket and Big Jet

September 2008-October 25, 2008

One Man's Junk...

I would never think to crumple cupcake liners and fill the underside of over-sized Legos, but then again, I'm not almost three and sadly, my imagination is in no way as developed or inventive as Everett's.

(Look closely and you'll notice Everett's "friends" are making their ever-present appearance yet again)

Nice, Everett. Really, really nice. And no, I have no idea how many cupcake liners I threw away. A small price to pay for the smile and giddiness this little project encouraged.

Flying High

What's cooler than your average run-of-the-mill playground?

One that's right next to an AIRPORT, of course!

There's a local airport not too far from here, which is quite different and much smaller than that big ole International Airport down the road. This one is just for little Cessnas and the like. And some genius (I'm serious here, whoever thought this up was really firing on all cylinders that morning) decided to build a playground in the middle of the airport. I took the kidlets there last week and they loved it. Especially Everett.

They had fun swinging,

looking for helicopters (which Everett has put on his wish list about 50 times already. "Mommy, I wanna go up in a hel-o-copter." "Really, Buddy? Ask Dad about that.")

Maneuvering their own airplane,

(Trust me, this took some coordination...)

And overall just enjoying the planes and noise. It was great. Definitely on our list of super cool playgrounds that we simply must visit again.

As an added perk, all that noise and hubbub led to some serious sleeping on the way home. Yahoo! I love it when Juliana falls asleep in the car seat. She transitions to her crib beautifully which makes it easy peasy lemon squeezy for me.

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I've always been kind of a nerd when it comes to music. It's just not my thing. I've never been up-to-date on current artists and songs. I confuse artists all the time and I'm forever mixing up lyrics and then singing them very loudly and very incorrectly at the top of my lungs. I haven't been to a ton of concerts (like maybe 5 total). Overall, I'm just kind of a dork - musically speaking. Whenever I turn on the radio these days I'm completely mystified as to who's singing and what the name of the song is. So, I've enlisted Paula's help to get me up to speed. I'm tired of being one of "those" moms who listens to easy listening and is always complaining about music these days and what are those kids listening to and I can't believe they call this music and gosh, songs where so much better when I was in high school. I've decided to take hold of my musical reigns and actually try to improve. Here's a partial list Paula made for me of songs that I should try:

Rihanna-Don't Stop the Music, Umbrella

Jason Mraz- I'm Yours, You and I Both

Cobie Caillet- The Little Things

Jesse McCartney-Leavin'

Fergie- Big Girls Don't Cry, Here I Come, Glamorous

Sara Bareilles-Love Song, Bottle It Up

Natasha Bedingfield-Love Like This

Augustana-Boston

Leona Lewis-Better In Time, Bleeding Love

Josh Kelley-Amazing, Solid Ground

Ingrid Michaelson

Michelle Branch- Breathe

Jack Johnson

Ben Harper

Madonna-Hung Up

Finger 11- I Will Keep Your Memory Vague, Paralyzer, One Thing

Paolo Nutini-New Shoes

O.A.R- Love and Memories

Nelly and Christina A-Tilt Ya Head Back

I'm slightly embarrassed by how many of those artists I've never heard of. Pathetic, I know. But, I would like your help. Why else do I keep up this blog except to throw out questions into blogland and beg for answers. So please, tell me - what's in these days? Any songs I simply must download? This is my cry for help. Please help me! *************************************************************

Will and I saw Wicked last Friday night. It was awesome! I was a little concerned that it wouldn't live up to the hype, but it did not disappoint. The music is catchy and fun and the dialogue is funny and entertaining. I also really enjoyed the departure from the novel. Talk about a huge improvement! I've been listening to the soundtrack all week and I just love it. It's times like these that I wish my life were a musical. I get this way every now and then. Like whenever I watch Newsies, listen to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat or Les Miserables soundtrack and now, when I listen to the Wicked soundtrack. How neat would my life be if I could spontaneously burst into song and dance. Sigh, if only! Who's with me on this? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Salad Tongs are Excellent Toys

Everett is at that age where his imagination is blossoming before our eyes. We can never tell what he'll come up with next. Some days he's "making" us pancakes (ie blue paper plate holders) and other days he's pretending to be a dinosaur (raaaaah!). He picked up this little gem a couple of weeks ago. I kept thinking he'd drop it, but no. He's taken to carrying around a pair of white, plastic salad tongs and a green and orange Silly Putty container, as seen here:

And what, you may ask, is he pretending they are? Why, Rocket and Big Jet, from Little Einsteins of course! As if I really had to spell that out for you. I mean, it's just soooo obvious, right?

In case you're wondering, the Silly Putty is Rocket and the salad tongs are Big Jet. And when I say he taken to carrying them around I mean EVERYWHERE. To the grocery store, to Target, in the car, in the stroller, to bed, in the bath. EVERYWHERE! It's actually kind of cute and really funny, until I look at him and realize, "My kid is carrying around salad tongs. That's really weird." And then I wonder if we should buy him some more stimulating and/or educational toys...?

He has us so well-trained that I even find myself constantly referring to the salad tongs and Silly Putty as Big Jet and Rocket. Oh! And in the world of Little Einsteins Big Jet is a big meanie who's constantly picking on Rocket and the other Little Einsteins. In fact, when I googled Big Jet I discovered via Wickipedia that Big Jet is the Little Einsteins' nemesis. Who knew four little musical smarty-pants and one Rocket could garner a nemesis, but it seems they have. Anyway, Everett is always having Big Jet pick on Rocket as in, "Big Jet's not happy with Rocket, Mommy" as he crashes salad tongs to Silly Putty. And so, in addition to referring between two LIVE children, "No Everett, don't jump on Juliana!", I've also been relegated to defusing fights between plastic salad tongs and Silly Putty. Welcome to motherhood!

In other Everett news, potty training is going really really well. He loves to go "all by myself". In fact, I was busy getting lunch ready yesterday and all of a sudden he came into the kitchen and announced, "I went poo poo all by myself". I went to check and yep, the boy had gone into the bathroom, did the whole routine and then pull his pants back up "all by himself".

Seriously, that little bum in big boy underwear is just too cute! (Note that Big Jet and Rocket are making their appearance in this photo as well. Never far behind, those two)

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Lydia and Paula came over yesterday, so we did a little impromtu photo shoot. These are mostly for Paw Paw's benefit since he's been wanting a picture of all three of the munchkins for his computer.

This was the first one and it cracks me up since not a one of them is smiling.

After that they kind of got the hang of smiling, or in Juliana's case, opening her mouth as wide as possible and simply sticking out her tongue.

All three of the kids have been a bit sickly this week, which explains why Lydia just really looks bored. Cute, but definitely bored. So then I moved on to taking some of E and J.
I love that due to Everett's mesquito bites on his forehead and Juliana's skinned upper lip (she fell on the deck. It looked painful.) accompanied with their glassy eyes, they're just oozing good health and vitality.

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In case any of you are wondering what bleach will do to dark brown pants, wonder no more! I can categorically tell you with 100% certainty that bleach on dark brown pants will come out a bright orangey/pink color. Please take my word for it and don't try this yourself at home. Especially on two-week old pants. Just don't do it.

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I read "Confessions of a Shopaholic" a few years ago and even though I didn't especially LOVE the book, I am over-the-moon excited that it's being made into a movie. Of course, it's not slated to come out in theaters until February 2009, but it's still exciting. Isla Fisher plays the lead and Hugh Dancy, one of my British boyfriends, plays her love interest. I scoured the Internet for pictures from the shoot and here are the best I could come up with:

Who here thinks I'll actually be able to convince Will to see this with me? Yeah, me neither!

Potty-Training: New Heights of Nastiness

With Everett's 3rd birthday rapidly approaching - T minus six weeks- and with him finally (finally!) showing signs that he actually wants to be trained to use the potty, we've started down the ever so fun road of potty-training. We've been on board for just over a week now and I've got to say (fingers crossed and knock on wood) that it's going really well. He loves to pee-pee on the potty and yesterday after church he finally (finally!) decided to try for a #2 as well. I can tell my life needs some excitement when Everett's urinary and bowel movement successes are the highlight of my day. But excited we are and I can't believe he's becoming potty-trained. Yea!! He loves his Thomas, Batman and Superman underwear, most of the time preferring to run around in only that.

As for the title of this post, I thought there were few things yuckier than changing poopy diapers, but Everett proved me wrong this past week when he had a few of those kind of accidents in his underwear. Yuck!

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Aside from all things potty-related, we do have other things going on. The weather here is gorgeous and we've been visiting our local parks more. As I'm getting older, for whatever reason, I'm really beginning to enjoy this time of year. The leaves changing, the cooler temps, the apples and pumpkins. We're planning on going to the North Georgia Apple Festival and orchards in a couple of weeks. And for the first time in my life, I think I'm even slightly excited for Halloween (that's for you, Heidi). Yea for fall!

Last week Will and I went to see Les Miserables and it was wonderful! It was my third time seeing it and I'm not quite sure why, but it affected me more this time than ever before. I cried several times and I even gasped out loud at one point because the scene was simply so powerful. I've discovered than since having children I tend to get a bit more weepy about certain topics; ie moms, parents, kids, families. Anything even remotely related to those things and I start to get all teary-eyed. But yes, it was fabulous and we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. And now we're eagerly anticipating Wicked in another week and a half.

In other news, I got a hair cut. Our camera is being funny, but I'll post some pictures next time. Ok, I think I've bored enough of you by now. Hasta la pasta!

Trouble Sleeping? Here's a Solution!

Lately I've been realizing more and more that yes, sir-ee, I'm most definitely a mom. Up until now I've always felt like an early 20-something (Because 28 is still obviously early 20's, right???) that was kind of just "playing" mom. I know, it doesn't make a lot of sense written out like this, but trust me, I just didn't feel like I could be lumped in to the whole mom group. I felt way too young (uh, nope) and way too hip (wrong again) to be a mom.

Crossing the threshold into motherhood didn't come when I got pregnant and delivered my kids or when I started wiping someone else's bodily functions and it didn't totally disgust me. It didn't even come when words like "boo-boo", "yucky" or "poo-poo" entered my everyday vocabulary. No, the moment I realized, "Holy cow, I'm a mom!" was last night as I was trying to go to sleep. Will's out of town on a business trip and I was in bed alone. I tossed and turned a bit and then couldn't fall asleep because I had blasted kids tv songs STUCK in my head! Specifically:


Little Einsteins
"We're going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship
Zooming through the sky, Little Einsteins.
Climb aboard, get ready to explore.
There's so much to find, Little Einsteins.
We're going on a mission, start the countdown:
5...4...3-2-1
Everyone to rocket, rev it up now
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"

Arthur

"And I said hey, what a wonderful kind of day!
If we can learn to work and play
And get along with each other.
You've got to listen to your heart
Listen to the beat
Listen to the rhythm, rhythm of the street
Here's a simple message
And it comes from the heart:
Believe in yourself, that's the place to start"

And one of Everett's favorites, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse:

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

[Mickey:] It's me!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

It's the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Come inside, it's fun inside.

Yeah, nothing like lyrics from kids programming running through your head to really knock you out! I was so annoyed that it seriously took me another 20 minutes or so of trying NOT to think about those songs before I finally conked out. Welcome to motherhood, Natalie!

A Motherhood Moment

I have a habit of whenever Everett asks me for something like a drink, a snack, a tv show, to go somewhere, etc. to tell him, "Sure, but first I need a kiss and a hug." He's usually quick to acquiesce.
Tonight, after Juliana had gone to bed, he and I were watching "The Incredibles", one of his new favorite movies. He asked for something to drink and when I told him that his options were water or milk he responded resoundingly with, "Milk!" I then asked for a kiss first and once he gave me a little smooch I got up to get his milk. I had only taken a step or two when he exclaimed, "Wait, Mommy, come back!" I turned around and he then said, "I want to give you a hug too." Talk about my heart melting. That Everett, he sure is a cute kid.

You've Come A Long Way, Baby

Finally, Juliana's birthday post! Only five days late. I'm actually kind of proud of myself for being less than a week overdue with this. Small victories, right?

We Giddenses feel pretty lucky to have this little lady in our family. She came into the world two weeks early, so she's gone from looking like this:

to looking like this:

Most of us agree, she didn't look a thing like she does now when she was born. More so than Everett's did, her looks have really changed over the course of the last year. She has eight teeth and golden-colored hair. That's the best way to describe her hair color. It's not exactly blonde, it not exactly brown, it's just kind of...golden. Her eyes are currently a hazel-ish color, but they could be turning brown. It's really hard to tell. She crawls everywhere and cruises like a champ, but she's yet to take those first few steps into the walking world. Everett walked a week after his 1st birthday, so I'm waiting to see if Juliana follows suit. She's totally off the bottle - just decided she didn't like it anymore, so that's a relief for me. I tell you what, I can wean them off bottles like nobody's business but when it comes to pacifiers, I'm a total dunce.


In general, Juliana seems much more dramatic than Everett was at her age. I haven't decided if it's due to gender or personality. Case in point: We had her birthday "celebration" yesterday (it was just a cupcake). When Everett turned one he sat there calmly as we sang Happy Birthday and then promptly dug in with both hands. Here's Juliana as we were singing:

It's difficult to tell if all the thrashing about was due to the quality of singing or just being scared and dramatic. Nevertheless, she eventually settled down enough to eat her cupcake. I mean, eat the chocolate frosting. She didn't really touch the cake part of the cupcake. Which could have been a good thing since it was a beast getting all that chocolate frosting off her face and out of her nose and hair.

Probably my favorite picture of the day:

The end product of letting Juliana take control of her own cupcake eating?

For comparison's sake, here's Everett after he finished eating his cupcake on his first birthday:

Yep, Juliana's just more dramatic. In every way.

In other blogworthy ramblings, did any of you catch the premiere of "Privileged" on the CW? I stumbled upon it just as it was starting last Tuesday night and I think I'm hooked. It's fun and quirky and fashionably forward for sure. The lead is played by a girl that was on "Reba", if any of you ever saw that show (anyone? anyone?) and one of the girls played Effie in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2". "Privileged" kinda/sorta has the same vibe as "Gilmore Girls", where you have to be paying attention to catch all the fun things they say. As I currently watch only two shows faithfully ("The Office" and "Ugly Betty"), I think my tv-watching schedule can handle this fun little ditty every Tuesday night. If you didn't catch it last week, definitely try to scope it out tomorrow night. It comes on after the new 90210, which I've heard is abysmal and in no way reflects on the quality of this particular show. Check it out and let me know what you think.

One Whole Year!

Even though we're not at our house this week and I have no easy way of posting pictures on the blog, I had to at least mention on here that today is Juliana's 1st birthday! Yep, a year ago today we brought this incredibly fun and very loving little gal into the world. Our family is better for her being in it. She is wonderful and smiley and even though she may not be the best about going to people other than immediate family, she is awesome. We love her bunches and are thrilled at how much she has grown and learned over the past year. We sure love her!

Happy Birthday Juliana!