MONSTERPLEX

http://zudacomics.com/node/1759

My friend, Brock Heasley, is an incredibly talented artist and writer. He is currently participating in a contest with DC Comics. In Brock's own words:

"Every month DC Comics (publisher of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, etc.) pits 10 comics against each other on their webcomics site, Zuda. For a few weeks, people are invited to rank, vote on and praise or damn the comics until one emerges victorious (read: most popular) and the creators of said comic are offered a one year contract to keep making it.
Yes, that means money. Yes, it’s thousands of dollars (not a ton, but enough to keep doing it). More importantly, it means the little boy inside me doing back flips will have his dreams come true. (He’s making me sick. Who knew the spleen was bouncy?)"

So, since the contest is based solely on popularity, Brock has asked me to pass on the word to my blogosphere. If you have a sec, click on the link above - that will take you straight to his comic. You'll need to register in order to vote but it only takes a minute. He gets extra points if you add him as a favorite and leave a comment as well. Also, they count page views, so go back and visit as often as possible. If you feel so inclined, and you have a blog of your own, you can post this on your blog too to spread the word.

I'm not exactly a huge fan of comics, but (1) this one is very good (2) I really want Brock to succeed in this - he deserves it!

Anyway, go check it out!

Haylie's Preschool Picture

I have been wanting to post this picture forever - but the scanner was broken and I finally got it working! I didn't order any school pictures but I was sooo tempted because it is classic Haylie! She has become so much more outgoing since then - it would be interesting to see what she would do if they took her picture at the end of the year...

The Anna-mal Turns Two!!

In honor of Anna's 2nd birthday, I decided to do a post in honor of the many hi-jinks this little monster pulls. These photos were all taken within the last couple months. But most of these things will happen in a typical day.


We heard crying coming from the girls' room and found Anna trapped in the hamper...the only way to get into the hamper would be to climb on top of the dresser...


"Help me"

This is Anna on her birthday after having received her "Violet" doggie. It talks to her - and we were even able to program it to say her name. She loves it.

Wearing Haylie's goggles

Standing on the dresser - notice the hamper behind her that she fell into...

The bathroom door is always closed - but if she sees it open for any reason, it takes her about 2.3 seconds to make her way into the sink.

Wearing Grandpa Garry's shoes (you'll notice she has a thing for shoes)

She actually got her head stuck in the railing at my parent's house. I always thought this was not actually possible - and I had flashbacks to that episode of Full House where DJ spreads butter all over the head of the kid she's babysitting to try and get him out...anyone else remember that? Thankfully, the child is skinny enough and we were able to have her crawl all the way through the railing because her head was certainly not going back the way it came. She was not happy about that.

Wearing Haylie's boots

This is after her latest eye appointment - they had to dilate her eyes and gave her these tiny glasses to shield her from the sun. She actually liked them and kept them on all day! BTW, her cyst is fine - it is not growing and does not appear to be affecting her vision at all. However, she does have an astigmatism now that may require glasses in the future. All in all, her eyes are just fine.

Anna had a pretty bad rash for a while and I was using this nasty smelling, pasty diaper cream and she got into it and spread it all over her face! EEEEEW!

In a matter of months, she went from being deathly afraid of the vacuum to wanting to help me every time I pull it out. She LOVES to vacuum now and refuses to let me help her.

She likes sweeping too.

I put the gate up so Anna can't get into the kitchen so here she is trying to crawl under the gate...backwards...she never quite made it.

Sometimes I forget to put the gate up...

...and she gets into the cornstarch. Look at that guilty face!

Computer geek in training

Diva in training. Wearing my heels - she made it all the way down the hall and to the living room without falling - impressive.

Chillin in the rocker listening to music.

I sure do love this kid. She's got enough energy to power the city of Clovis, and she can yell loud enough for the city to hear. She's strong-willed and throws tantrums. But she has personality for miles. She is too smart for her own good and makes us laugh all the time. I can't believe she is already 2! We love you Anna! Happy birthday!

I Wish I Was a Preschooler...

I volunteered in Haylie's preschool class last Friday. I gotta' tell you...I've always said I'm not a big fan of other people's kids...and I mean that in the sense that - I don't like being responsible for other people's kids. It kinda stresses me out. Over the last 6 months or so, I've been suffering from a bit of anxiety...and being with a bunch of 4-year-olds would seem like the last thing I'd want to do. Well, I've volunteered 3 times now and I think it is quite possibly the best therapy ever. I have come to know all the kids in Haylie's class and I absolutely adore them! On Friday, it was raining outside so the kids didn't get to do their normal outdoor activities to get their wiggles out, so they did some indoor singing and dancing time. I captured this video and I laugh out loud every time I watch it. Can you believe that I actually had the thought that day that it would be fun to teach preschool?? But you know, I had the thought that we are counseled in the scriptures by Jesus Christ to become like little children. Sometimes you just have to get down to the basics and laugh and have fun - I hope this brings a smile to your face. :-D

Christmas Fun, etc.

Now that I have my camera back I just can't stop taking pictures. I've really been wanting to make Gingerbread men so we invited our friends over to help. (Anna slept through it all - that is why she is absent from the pictures)


Haylie, Elora, and Cami looking on while I roll out the dough


Cami is ready to cut out a Christmas tree!


Haylie, Elora and Erin

Watching the little men bake - we can't wait to eat them!!

As I was cleaning yesterday, Anna really wanted to help out...so...

She got to sweep some...

Then...

She found a spider and followed him around the room. At one point she was almost "nose-to-nose" with the spider because she wanted to get a real good look at him. Definitely no arachnophobia here!

Enjoying some spaghetti O's

Haylie has a very unique "style" (if you can call it that). Lately she has been under the impression that tights are actually leggings - to be worn alone...I humor her in the house but have to put my foot down when it is time to leave the house. This is one of her more creative outfits. Notice the princess note pad tucked in to her tights. And her snow hat topped with reindeer antlers that are broken so she has to hold them up with her hands. And the bare midriff is incredibly attractive, is it not? One day she is probably going to be very unhappy with me for posting this...;-)

And here she is eating the gingerbread house she made at preschool. She said "Look, Mommy, I'm eating like a pig!" Yup.

Notice the frosting on her nose? Must have been good!!

Winter Wonderland

My camera broke the day before Halloween, so that is one excuse for being such a blog-slacker. We just bought ourselves a new camera for Christmas so I've been snapping away!

First, I have a couple pictures of our FREEZING cold morning this morning. Our outdoor thermometer read 27 degrees!!



I don't think this picture captured the frost real well, but it was WHITE outside. The field at Haylie's school was completely white, it really looked like it had snowed. Brrr!

Last Saturday, I got to go to a Scholastic books warehouse sale and got lots of books for the girls for Christmas. I decided that this year we were going to minimize, so the girls are only getting books and a few little articles of clothing for Christmas. In the afternoon we all decorated the tree together, then that night we went to the Clovis Christmas parade. Here are some pics (in no particular order!!)

Haylie and Mommy at the parade - it was COLD!

Anna and Daddy - Anna is pointing at the horses

Here are the girls playing with their Little People Nativity that Grandma Jo got them last year - it is the BEST gift because they can play with it and they leave my other Nativities alone! The only thing I don't like is that there are a lot of pieces and Joseph is currently missing - it makes me crazy when I can't find all the pieces (yes, I'm a little OCD!)

Haylie decorating

Daddy and Haylie and Anna

Anna LOVES the bells we put on the tree

The finished product

We are all so excited for Christmas. Today we are going to be making Gingerbread dough to roll out and cut out gingerbread men tomorrow. Cookies and treats are some of my favorite things about Christmas! And, of course, celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I do hope I can be a good example to my children and teach them the true meaning of Christmas and help them to know what really matters.

Rumor Control / Miscellaneous

So a couple weeks ago, Haylie asked me why she doesn't have a baby brother. I told her that maybe she would have a baby brother someday. Then I asked her what she would want her baby brother's name to be (this has been a topic of discussion between Eric and me forever since we don't ever agree on names). So we had a lovely conversation about Haylie's imaginary baby brother. Another time she asked me I told her she should ask Heavenly Father for a baby brother when she says her prayers. So every once in a while she asks for a baby brother when she says her prayers. Well, the other day, we brought her friend Mason home from school with us and when we all got in the car she turned to Mason and said "I'm going to have a baby brother." Uhhh.....Haylie....how many people have you said that to? So, for the record, I am not pregnant - if Haylie has told you she is going to have a baby brother, it is merely a wish and not a statement of fact. I'm quite confident that she has told her teachers at school too - I wonder if they'll start looking at me funny when they don't see my belly expanding...Anyway, I just felt the need to stop my 4-year-old's rumor before it got out of control. :-)

Speaking of Haylie, her teacher pulled me aside yesterday and told me that Haylie has been making other girls in the class cry. (WHAT?) She said that Haylie will say to them "You're not my best friend anymore." - and they get sad and cry. She said that she was not going to say anything to me but it has been happening on a daily basis and she has tried talking to Haylie and it has not stopped. When did my shy little Haylie become the kid that makes other kids cry?? So when we got home I had a talk with her about being nice to her friends. We'll see if that helps. I'm so glad that she has come out of her shell, but I do hope that she learns to keep it under control!

So I've made some changes to the blog - I've been getting spam in my comments so I disabled anonymous comments and did some other things to keep the spammers out - hopefully it doesn't make much difference.

I'm going to try to do better at posting - it's been an interesting couple of months and I have a lot to write about...just haven't been making the time to do it!