ANNOUNCING our BIG Announcement!

::Tap Tap:: Is this mike on? Is anyone there? I have a really big announcement to make, and it's been awfully quiet on the comment front. Here it comes, are you ready?

The time has finally come....we are..........



















MOVING!










HERE!

We are moving to this utterly adorably little house on August 1. Isn't it so cute? Doesn't my van look so at home and perfect there? Actually, I've already started moving stuff over there. I've been packing up here and there and cleaning. We're so excited to be part of a real neighborhood, and to have space.

Also, my kids deserve to have one of these! And this is a particularly large and deep tub, hooray.

And my kids deserve to have one of these. There is A LOT of room in this yard, which you can't fully see by the pic. Sooo excited to have somewhere to send them out to to play.

And I deserve THIS. An actual laundry room, with shelves, and storage (that you can't see) for year supply and pantry. I'm so excited. Moving is a pain and everything, but once we're in, it'll all be so worth it.

We have loved our apartment for these last 6 years. It's big and it's lovely inside. However, we have far outgrown it, and the need for space, yard, bathtub and just moving on is too great. We're excited to see what this new chapter in our life brings.

Anyone wanna come to our painting party? Gonna do it not next week (GREER) but the week after. Want to get everything painted and ready before the furniture comes in. It'll be real fun!

Also, I have decided to start teaching beginning piano, as well as voice. To fund this here move I'm increasing my studio. Sooooo, if anyone knows of people looking for a good teacher, just let me know.

Boxes and dust,

Allyson

A Little Bit of This and That

So, there have been quite a bit of "happenings" or comings and goings in the last month or so. I've been too lazy, or too tired, or too busy to get around to them. So, i decided to do one big picture post and just hit some highlights. Hang in there with me, I promise it won't be too long or boring. Just remember, you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.









First we had Porter and Lanas baby blessing of Crew, or as I like to call him Macrewber. It was a delightful day spent with family, blessing little man, sharing testimonies, eating and enjoying eachothers company. Of course, I failed to take a picture of said Macrewber on his big day. However, here is one of the pictures I did take.





This is Jody (sis in law) and Jere. We really need to take some new pics of Jere. But, for those of you dying to know....he has lost 85 lbs. and is doing much better these days. His pants are ridiculously huge on him, and he is wearing shirts at least 2 sizes smaller.

One random Sunday afternoon, after naps, Maggie came into our room and insisted on getting into Max's bed with him. They played up there for quite awhile, and had the best time. I picked this picture because not that any of you can understand, but in it, she's saying "Ok Daddy?" in only her way. She is so freaking funny and coy. She spends her days bossing Max and us around, telling us no, no no. She copies EVERYTHING I say and do.

Sometimes I just sit and take random pictures of myself. I know, I'm wierd. But, on this same Sunday afternoon, I took a bunch of pics and here I'm having to show my totally charming breakout. I was zitty like a 12 yr. old school girl. What is up with that? You'll all be relieved to know that all zits of left the building, and I'm currently clear.

For my loyal readers, you may recall that last July, on a particularly lazy day, Maggie and I wandered in to Target and picked up the blue chair in this pic. Only buying one chair proved to be a disaster of epic proportions for me. There was MANY a tear and battle over that stupid chair. So, this July, I vowed to rectify the situation. On the day of the great boob squish, when I bought the celebratory hats at Target, I also picked up chair number 2 for a mere 6 bucks. It's been a glorious addition to our already overcrowded living room. But really, when you get pics like this, 2 girls totally engrossed in Cinderella or something, it's all worth it.

How is it possible that my baby is this big? This is a suit that Aunt Dixie picked up at Target last summer for like 2 bucks. i remember when she brought it over "for Maggie next year." I just couldn't imagine Maggie wearing it. Lo and behold, here she is. This was our first big swim of the summer, a fun day at Porter and Lanas.

Max in his pool float. Actually, Maggie likes to corner the market on this float, but occassionaly Max gets a turn. He really loves the water, which is nice.

Maggie and Daddy enjoying the sun and water.

Look who has graduated to a big boy chair. He's like 23 lbs. and frankly, I couldn't lug him around ANY MORE in his baby seat. He quite enjoys his new found freedoms. This picture was taken on our way home from Porter and Lanas swim date. He was plumb tuckered out. Max has also started pulling himself up, he can sit himself back up from laying or crawling. He's everywhere all the time, with the scratches and bruises to prove it.

4th of July was another lovely day spent with family. This time we spent it at Mom and Dads. I didn't take many pictures, but this was my FAVORITE. You must click on it and look at Danes face. We were out front watching Erics illegal fireworks display. Those suckers are LOUD and this is Danes reaction to all the noise and scariness. Too funny!

One day we went with Auntie Julie to pick up her new formal dress at Davids Bridal. While Julie was in getting alterations, Maggie amused herself by trying on all the jewelry and parading about in front of the mirrors. She becomes more and MORE princessy every day. Lately she INSISTS on wearing a princess dress (which means, any church dress) every day. She only wants to wear her "shoe princess" and twirls around, or flips her hair about. Tomorrow she turns two, and whenever I ask her what she wants for her presents, or about her birthday, the only thing she ever says is: "Oh, princess? That's fun." So apparently, she's looking for some great princess fun. She also is counting to 10 by herself, singing songs, gone doody on the toity 2 more times, helping me cook, changing her babys diaper, etc. She talks soooo much and everyday there is a new depth and level to her understanding of things.

Finally, Jere wants you to see the icky hole in his face there. His back tooth has been broken and troubled for 2 years at least. It finally got infected and removal was absolutely necessary. Also, his wisdom tooth is poking through to say hello.

This shot taken just before the surgeon came in and put him under for his 2 extractions. The surgeon was very good and very fast, however, Jere was not so good or fast. I am BANNING him from EVER needing or getting any surgery of any kind in the future. He does NOT respond well to anesthesia or the after effects. He takes FOREVER to recover! It has been a most unpleasant 2 days for him (and us) as he suffers and whines through the pain. His mouth is killing him, and he's constantly nauseated. Jere is VERY pre-disposed to nausea and vomiting, so medicine does NOT help. Needless to say, he suffered through 1/2 day of work yesterday and is fighting through today. He's most freaked out about having to do a show tonight. Everyone wish him luck and say a little prayer. The upside, no more nasty tooth collecting yuck and causing problems, one wisdom tooth down, 3 to go.

Other than that, we spend our days cleaning, occassionaly swimming, reading, trying to get things done.

Tid bits and Tats,

Allyson

Max's Excellent Adventure...or, surgery aint' for Sissies.

I'm trying oh so hard to contain my ANGER and frustration. Since the whole beginning of this post was just erased for who knows WHY!? Not to mention I am at a level of exhaustion I haven't known for quite some time. Due to Jere having a little cast party last night after the show, and the last of them leaving at 2 a.m. And then a certain little someone deciding from 3 a.m on would be fun to play the "will I or won't I stay asleep" game. Needless to say, he didn't, therefore I did not get any sleep. So while you may be asking yourself..."why allyson, why don't you just go to bed, since you're obviously sooooo tired?" And my response would be, "I can not go to bed, as I am waiting for my fourth load of laundry to dry." "Well duh" you say. "You CAN go to bed while it drys." To which I reply..."No, NO I Can't go to bed, because I have a faulty dryer that does not shut itself off. So, if left unattended it can run for 2, 4 or even 8 hours." NOT that I'm speaking from experience or anything. I'm just sayin. Hmmm, hmmm. Anyway, hence my need to be awake and not in peaceful slumber! Besides...the story of Max's tube surgery needs to be recorded for posterity sake. AND, I have a bunch of gratuitous shots of my little trooper that must be shared.

So, I give you....Max, the tubed wonder.

I hardly dare start to write this again, as AGAIN everything was magically erased. My computer hates me, A LOT! I'm seriosly at whits end. I can't even type 4 words before the cursor jumps somehwere randomly and I'm typing somewhere else, and have to stop and fix. OR, everything gets highlighted and erased. So, I'll dispense with my usual charms and just say, Max was awesome! He got a blessing the night before from Uncles Porter and Troy. I was really worried about him not being able to eat or drink after midnight. He never cried, the whole morning. He sat on the bathroom floor while I showered and just played happily. Never cried after getting to the surgery center. The staff was all properly in awe of not only his utter adorableness, but how good he was being. He even smiled for them all and waved. I love the Priesthood and blessings and prayer.

While waiting out in the lobby, I took this little pic of Prince Max and I. I fear I might be taking this hat thing too far. But, I can't tell you the new found freedom i feel, in knowing that I just don't have to do my hair at all sometimes. So GREAT! Anyway, after a few minutes they called us back and I got to change Max into this:

How freaking cute is he in this wee little gown, AND booty socks. It was more than I could take. Once again, he was rather pleasant.

He cried for a brief nano second when the nurse dared to put a blood pressure cuff on him. A cuff, i might add, that was the size of MINI! So cute! But, he sure looks small sitting on that big bed. While this was going on, I was having to listen to the lady in the bed next to us literally whine and pout that she had to take her toe ring off before her surgery. At first she refused, but then the doctor told her, lose the ring or lose the toe, her choice. She changed her tune real quick. Imagine how pleased I was that Max wasn't giving anyone lip or attitude. Just taking it all in like al ittle man.

Just checking his blood pressure, as the cuff was a no go. He really liked the little tabby thing you put on their chest.

This was his sweet nurse putting said tabby things on him. She was pretty much in love with Max. There was a little battle over who got to be his nurse. That was fun.

This is the cute Russian anestheologist just before she whisked him away for his big surgery. And really, when I say the word surgery, I have to use that term VERY lightly. Because I kid you not....she took him down the hall, fully awake, and literally 10 minutes later (after perusing my Relief Society lesson) the doctor was standing beside me telling me everything went swimmingly and I could go back to recovery to retrieve my now screaming child. Yep, he was "under" for a grand total of 4 minutes. And he was PISSED when he woke up. So, I made him a bottle, fed him and changed his clothes, and we were on our merry way. He cried a little more, but then fell SOUNDLY asleep on the way home. He slept for 2 hours, woke up, ate and went back down a mere hour and a 1/2 later for another 2 hour nap. It was great. But the BEST part was....he slept ALLLLLLLL night long. Nary a peep until 6:30 a.m. It was UH-MAAAAAAAAAZING! (read that with your best opera voice please).

The next morning he was a very happy camper, enjoying his newfound ability to pull himself up and show off his awesomely large and ever increasing in size thighs! Man that kid is made of squishy cement! So, all I have to do for a few days is put drops in his ears. I also purchased some silicone to put in his ears for baths and such. He's such a good baby, he just lays there so nicely for me to put drops in, and he actually smiles at me. Who does that? Have YOU ever had drops in your ears? It totally sucks!

So, there you have it. Max the magnificent is now tubed and ready to go world. Here's hoping they do their job, fall out on time, and all is well in Van Patten land.

There is SO much more to talk about, believe you me. Hopefully I'll have time to drop a line or 100 tomorrow about what's happening in our life.

Tubes and tushies,

Allyson

This post brought to you by the letters D and P and the number 2!

D is for DIRTY! A certain little someone in our house has finally begun the crawling, phase. And by crawling I mean army, commando style. But don't be fooled, this boy can get AROUND. He's quite speedy and he's pleased as punch with his new found freedoms. He has also begun pulling himself up, which is a treat and a half when trying to bathe him, let me tell you.

Pictorial evidence of his pulling up. It's just a bonus that you get to see him in his swimsuit and swim hat. Seriously? Too cute! ANYWAY...with this new found "crawling" freedom comes a newfound clothing problem. When one uses their belly to "sweep and mop" the floor, you run into problems, such as this:

And this. It truly does not do it justice in these pictures. But, I won't lie, when I picked him up off the floor on this particular morning, I was more than disturbed. You'd think I never mopped or something. However, the ever present mop next to my front door would say otherwise. Also, it doesn't help that with him pressing on his precious belly, he's barfing all the more. So, barf, crawl through barf, spread the joy. It's precious really, just precious. Needless to say, he's getting his fair share of baths. I'm just not so sure his clothes are gonna survive this phase. Bring on the walking, lest he have to go naked from here on out. So, there you have it, the letter "D" for DIRTY!

P is for Poops! I decided that July would be the month that I just forced potty training on Maggie. I mean, diapers are expensive, I should just put the kibosh on that right now. Well, after one day and three bouts of pee all over Maggie and the floor, I said enough already. Perhaps she just isn't ready, 'caues goodness knows, I'M obviously ill equipped for this part of parenthood. So, we put her diapers back on and went merrily on our way.

This is a picture of her happily dancing around the living room the night I bought her big girl panties for the big "potty training of '09" event. She really does look adorable in her panties. Oh well, maybe someday.

Cut to a week later. I'm sitting at the table talking with Tregors when Maggie approaches with a look of distress and says she's pooping and needs to go potty. With a roll of my eyes I take her to the bathroom and remove her diaper. There WAS a big of a skid, so perhaps we were really gonna do this. I set her up on the toity and she gave it a push and immediately said, "ok, I all done" and reached for the toilet paper. I told her to give it a more valient effort, she didn't. So, I took her in, wiped her bum and put on a new diaper. She soon thereafter found a corner and I was sure she was finishing the job. Imagine my surprise when I checked and her diaper was still clean. About 40 minutes later she came up again with an even greater look of distress, telling me she was making poop and needed to go to the potty. I dutifully took her in there, and the best part was her walking in. She walked on her tiptoes the whole way, saying "ow, ow, ow" with each step. CLEARLY she was ready. So, again, skid in the dipey, set her on the throne, wait for the magic. Two seconds later "ok, I all done." Oh no, not this time sister. THIS TIME we're gonna drop some kids off, if ya know what I mean. So, I informed her she was gonna have to try a little harder. She MUST make some poops fall in the potty. She gave it a go, nothing. I kept cheerleading, and she gave it one final push. Wouldn't you know, there was success! I was cheering and hollering hooray. She mostly looked at me like I was retarded and wanted to get down. So, I told her she earned some candies and this was the greatest thing ever. Apparently she wasn't all that impressed with her forray into the grown up world of pottying, 'cause she' hasn't mentioned a need since. Hmmmm All I can say, here's hoping it's at least a sign that she's closer to ready.






Well shoot, now I have to sahre her other potty story. What? She'll appreciate knowing this about herself someday, right? Last night we were at my Mom's to have a bath. Her diaper was dry so my Mom put her on the toilet. She has NO concept at all of making water falling. Mom told her she needed it to sound like this (and turned the faucet on), and I made a "pssshhhhh" sound and said she needed to make some water fall. Next thing I know Maggie is pushing on her little "badge" and saying "Pssssh, psshhh, pssssssh, (whisper) waterfall, psssshhhh." Then, she looked up at my and said, "ok, I all done." I might have been crying I was laughing so hard. I'm just saying. Kids, they are the greatest source of entertainment EVER!!! Needless to say, P is for poop, and for psssssssh!

Thanks for sticking around and finishing this post. Sorry it was so long. There is SO much more to talk about, but I might be a bit busy in the next few weeks. Hang in there!

Pees and poops,

Allyson

My friend Melia

Ok, this is random at it's best, and frankly my friend Melia deserves an entire post, which maybe someday I'll do. However, I'm only here to say, you MUST click on over on my sidebar on her name. Do it, click on Melia and read her blog(oh hey Melia, how are ya? Hope It's ok, me sending strangers to your blog). I JUST discovered it tonight (bad Melia, bad bad Melia for not sharing). I really have not laughed out loud more in a long, LONG time! She is hysterical, witty, smart, insightful, funny, hilarious, rye, and so much more. You won't be disappointed. Oh, and I should mention, her baby Anders (2 weeks older than Max) truly gives my beautiful boy a run for his money on the cute scale. Holy crap that kid is adorable! Anyway, that's all I have to say.




Peace and bloggy love,


Allyson