I love to hear it!

Both of my girls have been saying the funniest things lately and every time, they make me giggle.

First of all, Kallie has started experimenting with Knock-Knock jokes, or if she were to say it, "Knock-Knock tokes." She'll tell one after another, with the ending always having something to do with oranges and bananas, and occasionally valentines. Don't know why the valentines idea is thrown in there--but the oranges and bananas are certainly from one of the few Knock-Knock jokes I remember. You remember that one, too, right? If you remember any others, feel free to add them in the comments so I'll have a few new ones to use on her next time she's in a toke-ing mood.

The other Kallie-ism lately happens when I tell her thank you. Instead of saying, "You're welcome!," which we have taught her to say, she now says, "Anytime, mom. Anytime." I can't help but laugh at this, which only encourages repetition. So, for now, we laugh and live with it.

Whitney's newest is probably one of my absolute favorites right now. Whenever she does anything worth showing off, (which, when you're two, is almost everything you accomplish), she stands up and shouts, "Look a' meeee! Look a' meeee!" Occasionally, she will follow up with an explanation of her exploits, such as, "I'm a princess." Or, "I'm a ballerina." Or, "I'm dancing!" I really wish I had words to do her little voice and actions justice in my description. Seriously, one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

Whitney has also been better at asserting what she needs lately and is gaining the vocabulary to express those needs. Just this morning, while I was laying in bed, convincing myself it was time to get up, Whitney yelled from her bedroom, "I need to get out of bed!!!," followed up with, "I need OUT!!!" a few times. We've been holding off on a big girl bed until we're a little more settled, but the way she says things, I'm tempted to leave her in her crib for a while longer just to listen to her being cute!

Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam!

Yesterday was Kallie's first official Sunday in Primary. I was a little concerned about how things would go for her because it was our first Sunday in our new ward, too. She was amazing! There was one little girl in Kallie's class who was having a hard time going to Sunbeams. So, here is Kallie, the new kid, and she turns to the little girl, Olivia, and says, "My favorite colors are purple, pink, and green!" and then she told Olivia that she liked the buckles on her shoes. Olivia's mom was right there, (she's the one who told me the story), and thought it was the cutest thing ever because Kallie was trying in the best way she knew how to help Olivia be comfortable with going to Primary. I thought it was the cutest story ever! :)

How to Make an Entrance

For those of you who will be attending a new ward in the future, let me provide step-by-step instructions so you'll know how to make an great first impression on your new ward.

1. Spend 10 minutes after Sacrament meeting looking for your kids' classes. After making a complete circuit of the building, realize that the Primary is meeting in the chapel--where you left 10 minutes before.

2. Stand at the door of the Sunday School classroom scanning for your husband, only to realize he's not in there. Start pondering if there's only ONE Gospel Doctrine class to attend in this ward.

3. While you're pondering, feel absolutely relieved to see your husband walking down the hallway. After informing him that there are only single seats visible from the north door, walk together to the south door.

4. Open door and promptly accidentally hit the light switch, (which happens to be located OUTSIDE the classroom. Someone from Europe must have designed this building...), which turns off ALL the lights in the Sunday School room. Take a second to register that it was YOU who hit the lights and turn them back on as soon as you realize what happened.

5. Stand and smile, (while still looking for seats), at everyone in the class, who simultaneously turned around to see who turned off the lights.

6. Locate the only 2 seats remaining in the classroom...at the VERY front, facing the rest of the class members.

7. Suck it up as you walk to the front to sit down in Sunday School for the first time in MONTHS.


Other than that, church was great yesterday. First of all, we're in the same ward as my in-law's best friends. So, we had that connection. Then, yesterday, we realized that 2 families Ryan knew from his mission had since moved into the ward as well. One of them happens to be a Microsoft employee whom Ryan connected with at a BYU Recruiting event several months ago. Funny that we moved into their ward! So, we now have 3 connections. Then, I ended up sitting next to a woman who has a son in the Bangalore India mission, where my cousin is currently serving. Four connections! I thought that was pretty good for our first day.

To my Arizona friends!

I am going to be in Arizona (East Valley area) January 21-23. It's going to be a very quick trip, but I would love to see as many people as possible while I'm there. I'm actually coming for my youngest brother's wedding--so I will be doing wedding things for part of the time and I won't have a car. But, I would love to see anyone down there who wants to see me. Please leave me a comment and let me know so we can work out something with scheduling! :)

Announcing...

We are thrilled about the newest forthcoming arrival to our home! We just purchased a new kitchen dining set and can't wait until it gets here in a couple of weeks. We went shopping this morning with the express purpose of buying a table and chairs. We're currently working from a 4x2 plastic folding table and it's just not working so well. I found a local store that was having a huge sale and decided to head on over. They had 2 locations across the street from each other--and at the second store, we found a table and chair set that I LOVED. The only problem was it was cream/oak and my kitchen is red/white/black. So, knowing that the selection at those stores was smaller than the main location 9 minutes away, we took the drive to the main location. I found the exact same set at the main store, but realized there was a black chair among the cream. After talking with an associate, we discovered that the set did indeed come in black and because they're consolidating their locations to the main store, it was an extra 10% off. SCORE! I was (obviously) more than excited. They had all 8 chairs in stock, but had to order the table, so that will be arriving in 2-4 weeks. I can't wait until it gets here! Until then, here's a pic of the set... (We didn't get the bench--just 8 chairs.)

We made it!

We're here! As much as I've missed blogging in the past week or so, I'm really not feeling like doing a huge post tonight. So, here are the essentials...Our trip up was great. The girls were perfect little travelers. They missed naps, didn't get meals on-time, etc., and didn't have any major meltdowns or arguments at any point on the way here.

Kallie did wake up crying inconsolably after an hour of napping. Turns out she just needed to go potty. Unfortunately, we were nowhere near a rest stop, gas station, or other bathroom access area. Fortunately, we were in the middle of nowhere and Kallie didn't mind making yellow snow. (Whew!)

The Seattle area was supposed to have a HUGE snowstorm this afternoon, (the biggest since 2002, if that means anything to anyone), so we left our stopping point early this morning and enjoyed perfect weather and decent roads the entire 2nd half of our trip. It has, however, been snowing for the past few hours, (not normal for this area), and we just found out that church is canceled tomorrow.

We're hoping to have our truck delivered on Monday or Tuesday, but I suppose that will depend on how things end up with this storm. I am more than ready to be in our own place again. I feel like we're within inches of FINALLY having a spacious home...and it's all I can do to keep myself patient in the mean time.

Hmm...I guess I felt like writing more than I thought. Our internet service won't start until about Dec. 30, but we'll be back (or still) at my in-laws over Christmas. So, hopefully, I'll have more blogging to do at some point before then...

P.S. My friend Charissa is hosting her monthly Scentsy giveaway. Head on over and check it out! You can win 3 Scentsy bars--which come in the YUMMIEST flavors!!

Signing Off...Temporarily

I can't believe this weekend has finally arrived. When we came back from our house hunting trip, it seemed that the 4 weeks until we moved would never come. But, there are packed boxes stacked all over our apartment. The walls and refrigerator are completely bare and the second-hand donation pile is growing a bit every day. And, we're finally ready to finish the job. Although we're not packing the truck until Saturday, we're packing our bags and moving ourselves up to my parents' house on Friday to stay for a few days (possibly a week).

This means that the next 2 days are crunch time for us. Ryan's staying home from school so we can get it all done. People in the ward have offered to babysit, so I'm taking them up on the offer so we can be more effective with the short amount of time we have. I'm just really glad I've been packing a box here and a box there for the last 2 weeks. And, although a small apartment means you're living on top of each other, at least it also means there is less stuff to haul away when all is said and done.

With all the packing, my computer will be going down tomorrow morning--I probably won't even turn it on when I get up. And, I will be away from blogging until we get internet service set up at our new place. Which may not be for a while. So, next time I write, it will be from our new place in Seattle!

Do you beleive in MAGIC?

MAGIC Marker is what Whitney climbed onto a stool to grab yesterday while I was in the back of the house. I found it all over my countertop and linoleum kitchen floor when I came out to see what she was doing.

MAGIC is how I would describe my reaction. I put her in timeout without raising my voice.

MAGIC is the type of Eraser I keep around for just such emergencies. It was an old MAGIC Eraser, however. While it took every speck of evidence off the countertop, the floor did not fare so well.

MAGICally, I was able to find some great advice on the internet. I doubted it would work, but was willing to try anything.

Like MAGIC is how the combination of toothpaste and baking soda (and a little elbow grease) worked to clean every stroke of ink off my floor. When Ryan came home, he couldn't even tell where the incident had occurred. I wish I had taken pictures!

GIVEAWAY!

Have you ever wanted one of those really cool pieces of art where someone takes pictures of every day things that look like different letters--and then combines the pics to make your name? (I think I saw something like it on Oprah before I stopped watching her.) Anyway, Unlikely Letters is giving one away! All you have to do is post about them on your blog, let them know in the comments, and you'll be entered into their giveaway. In the event that you don't win, the prices are incredibly reasonable--so they would also make a great Christmas gift! The giveaway closes Dec. 7, so hurry and head on over to check them out!

The Children's Place

I love The Children's Place (TCP)! Not only do I love their clothes, but I LOVE the killer sales they put on throughout the year. And, I love their birthday club--which gives me a discount to use on top of the killer sales. Now--why am I writing about this today? I also discovered that I love their customer service. Here's the story...

This morning, I got Whitney's birthday club e-mail from TCP. Whenever I get these e-mails, I head on over to their website to see what they've got. It usually happens that they're having one of their sales, so I usually decide to buy a few things. Today was no different. Whitney needs some new pants and Kallie needs some new shirts, so I got busy browsing the sale pages. I ordered several things, looked over the order, and then placed it using my birthday coupon code. When I got the confirmation e-mail, I realized I'd ordered the wrong size of one item. (Dang it!)

Phone call #1: TCP cannot change an order once it's been placed, but TCP would be happy to cancel that order for me. I just need to go in and completely re-do the order. Great, thanks, bye. (At least I already knew what I had ordered, right?)

Well, after I placed the second order, I entered my coupon code...only to find it didn't work.

Phone call #2: They gave me a new coupon code without any hassle. Great, thanks, bye.

I didn't realize at the end of the second conversation, but I should have stayed on the phone as I placed the rest of the order. It was just after I hung up that I realized the first coupon I used, which said 15%, in fact gave me a 20% discount. The coupon code I had just been given over the phone only gave me 15%. Now, I hate to seem whiny over 5%--but since the original coupon code they sent gave me 20%, I wanted to know if they would still give me 20%.

Phone call #3: While all of the Customer Service agents were nice, this one was great. I explained the situation about the coupons. The agent explained that the code I had been given was one that had been offered on those websites that list coupons--so it wasn't valid anymore. When I told her that it came straight off the TCP e-mail, she put me on hold while she got a 20% coupon code from her supervisor. GREAT! Thanks! Bye!

It did take a little while to resolve the issue, (I was on the phone for 20 min. the last time), but in the end, they completely honored the original discount. I was very impressed--and came away loving TCP even more!