2:44 am

The time my children woke up Christmas morning.

We told them to go back to bed.

5:30 am

The time we finally let them wake up.

The neighbor kids slept until 9:00. Maybe we should trade kids.

It's raining snow!!!!!!!!!

My kids are seeing snow falling from the sky for the first time in about four years. Sam has never seen it. Katie doesn't remember. "It's raining snow!!" was Katie's adequate description of what she saw.

So, an old friend's wife started a website and I am so impressed with it!!! It shows you how to do cute do's on you gals...like this one


and this one



and this



and much much more!!!!

this is the place: http://cutegirlshairstyles.blogspot.com

Hannah's baptism

Hannah's baptism day was such a sweet and good day. Grandma and Grandpa came out from Idaho. It was such a special day to watch my little lady make her first steps toward returning to live with our Father in Heaven. Words can never express how special baptism days are...

Driving

Driving can be very hazardous here in Oregon...I will be driving along, minding my own business when I catch a glimpse of some of the most breath-taking things I have ever seen. Then I almost drive off the road trying to get a better look. Whenever I have time, I pull over and take a picture. These shots all are within a half hour of our house. The pictures were all taken with my phone so just imagine how much more beautiful they are in real life!!!

Family picture

So we took our family picture yesterday. We had fun but Sammy and Grace weren't both looking in any of the shots...oh well. We just used a tri-pod and the timer so there wasn't even a photographer to try to get their attention. This is the one we picked. Does anyone have a preference? Which is better color or BW? I like them both.

Halloween

So we celebrated Halloween around here, I just didn't blog about it!!! Here are some pics...it was beautiful here. Not warm but certainly not cold...jacket weather. It rained 10 inches in October but it wasn't bad. So far, so good weather wise...

Grace was a lioness and Hannah and Katie were clowns. Carolyn was a witch and Sam was a fireman. Sam did his own make-up.

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This is the four biggest kiddos on the porch...those are the pumpkins we carved--they are green because we had such a cool summer here that they never ripened. The scarecrow in the background won "Best scarecrow" at the ward party. Of course it was the only scarecrow.

Random observations from an overworked mom...

1. I hate the word "fair."
2. Wood floors are the best things ever made. Between potty training Sam and Grace spitting up constantly, I am glad every day to just wipe up the mess.
3. Even potty trained boys are messy...Sam sits on the potty and sprays his pee all over the floor.
4. Remodeling an old house is usually rewarding and fun but sometimes it gets tiring and overwhelming.
5. I am a closet feminist and I didn't even know it. A few weeks ago I wanted to deck Cyrus' boss when he called the assistants, "his girls" at a business dinner and I found myself irritated this morning when I heard a teacher tell a girl not to throw like one, I felt like yelling, "what the heck is wrong with being a GIRL!!"
6. Weren't Barack Obama and John McCain an awful lot like the two guys on the Mac vs PC commercials?

More election musings

When I was a missionary, my mission president told us that he thought that every person that became President of the United States was fore-ordained to that calling. He thought that God had a special place in his heart for the United States and that it was truly a blessed place to live and those who lead it are truly guided by the hand of God. And he was a Canadian. Now that is not doctrine but it makes sense to me.

Because of this, Cyrus and I always vote and do our research and read and read and read before we make any decisions but then after the election, we support whomever wins. We disagree with decisions but we never talk badly about the president as a human being. So starting next year, Obama's our man. I think he is smart and a good leader as well as a good man. I hope he will corral the national debt (one of my big concerns with him) and pray that we will find peace and good will in our country.

And mostly, I hope Katie will find someone her own age to be in love with. I mean seriously, that kid is like Pepe le Pew with the hearts popping out of her eyes when she sees Barack (I really should call him President-elect Obama but since he is nearly a part of the family, what with Kate's wedding plans and all, we call him by his first name, plus there is also the kin-ship with another fella with a middle eastern name Cyrus').

Just a little aside, Cyrus and I re-finished the floors in this old house of ours. They look great but I don't have my computer so no pictures for a couple of days...sorry.

Tagged about Cyrus

Five things Cyrus loves...

1. Me and the kids
2. Books and Movies
3. Disneyland
4. His Prius
5. Bill O'Reilly

Five things on his to-do list

1. Mud the rest of the drywall on the bathroom walls
2. Paint the upstairs bedrooms
3. Lay the wood floor in the attic bedroom
4. Hang bead board in the bathroom
5. Paint the stairs and downstairs rooms and kitchen...the man has a huge to-do list

Five Favorite Snacks (Cyrus doesn't really snack at all...he likes a meal)

1. Trifle
2. Hot Tamales
3. Caffienne-free Pepsi
4. Stroganoff
5. Fajitas

Five Things You Might Not Know About Cyrus

1. Cyrus' grandpa was born in Iran--he is a Persian. His other Grandparents are Jewish. That is how he got his name Cyrus is the Persian king who freed the Jews in the Old Testament. Berger (Cyrus' middle name) is his Jewish Grandfather's surname and then of course Javadi is his Iranian Grandfather's surname.
2. Cyrus never went to the same elementary school two years in a row. He moved somewhere around 20 times in the first 18 years of his life.
3. Cyrus can learn to do anything by watching You-tube videos. He does a ton of stuff on our house from learning just by reading about it on the internet and watching some vidoes. Cyrus is learning to play the guitar by reading about it on the internet.
4. Cyrus went to UVSC after high school but withdrew when he kept sleeping in so late he missed class and was going to flunk.
5. Cyrus didn't graduate from Seminary then he felt so bad about it on his mission that he got special permission, finished the class he missed by getting up extra early and doing the home study program and got his diploma.

Five Places Cyrus has Lived (since he married me):

1. Rigby, Idaho
2. Provo and Spanish Fork, Utah
3. Moline, Illinois
4. San Francisco, California
5. Astoria, Oregon

He lived in about a hundred other places before he married me. Did I mention he moved a lot ;).

Five quirks about Cyrus:

1. Cyrus loves to go to the movies but I hate to go. He loves it so much he goes by himself very often.
2. Cyrus doesn't let much frazzle him. He handles things in a smooth even manner. Except the girls, all of them talking at once always frazzles him every time.
3. Cyrus loves new socks but he never throws away the old ones so he has more socks than any human being could ever possibly need.
4. Cyrus is sometimes like Michael on the office and he also looks like him. That embarrasses me.
5. Cyrus is the anal retentive chef. Google it. Its from Saturday Night Live. The guy is a chef who can't actually cook because he keeps trying to make all his ingredients exactly the same size then he sees a spot on the stove that needs to be cleaned then he decided to mop the floor, etc etc. I ask Cyrus to make the lunches in the morning and I come in and see no lunches but the dishwasher un-loaded, the counters wiped off and Cyrus in the laundry room doing a batch of towels.


I tag Kara Ikner

Katie loves Barack

A few weeks ago I was watching the debate on Cyrus' obscenely large TV. Katie came in and asked who the guys on TV were. Before I even answered her question, she walked over to the TV and said,"I like that guy.". She was pointing at Obama and gazing at him like a love-sick teenager. I told her that those were the men running for President. She looked again at her new squeeze and said, "I think it would be nice to have a brown President."

I didn't vote with Katie's heart. I voted for McCain but I agree, it will be nice to have a brown president. I just hope he does a good job.

Sam loves Grace

Sammy loves Grace with all his heart. Unfortunately, he scares the crap out of her.

As soon as he sees her, he lays on her or puts toys on her or puts a blanket on her face. "Wacie's cwyin" (Sam for "Gracie's crying") is one of the most common things he says to me. He'll run into the kitchen and say it with all the intensity a two year old can muster, "Wacie's cwyin." He will continue to say this louder and louder until I come with him to check on her. If it takes me ten seconds to follow him, he will have said, "WACIE'S CWYIN'" at least ten times. I will then go to the other room and find her hog tied with pencils up her nose. Just kidding, its not that serious but I will find her with all the couch pillow around her in some kind of elaborate fort or with socks stuck on her hands or blocks stacked all around her so that when she tries to roll over she lands her poor little noggin right on a hard corner.

Sam means well. He really does love Grace. She just has to get used to how he show his love...

Dentistry With A View

I was just getting ready to numb a patient for a tooth extraction (#19 for those who are interested in the details). When I looked out my operatory window and spied this scene. I grabbed my little camera and snapped a couple of photos. Most days I get to see some pretty cool stuff like this since the office is right on the river. Honestly, if the windows opened to the office and I had a fishing pole, I could cast my line into the river without effort.

Cereal Time

Everytime I see Sam do this it makes me laugh. It brings me back to when I was a kid and used to do the same thing. I love that the bowl is as big as his gargantuan head. He's got his two big hands firmly grasping the bowl so he can balance it perfectly. I only wish I could have captured him spilling the contents all over his chest.

Daddy is Mean

Look what daddy did to Hannah's cake! She didn't think he was funny. But, luckily, dad had some regular candles and Hannah got to lick the icing off the prank candle. Silly dad!

Monster Truck

The local fairgrounds had a monster truck rally this past weekend. I tried to convince Annie to go with me, but she graciously declined (I think because she was afraid she might like it and she didn't want to find out how redneck she really is!). So, the next night while she was "paling" around with Bill Ay....err (oops)...I mean Lainie, I rounded up the ninos and took them down to the rally. They all had a grand time and thought the monster trucks were cool. Sam has been talking about it ever since. Here are some pictures:

My children take pictures

My children love to take pictures with my phone...every time I plug it in, I get little gems like these...





Yep, this is really what their room looked like...you should have heard the fit they had about cleaning it up. Four kids throwing a fit in unison is quite a sight to behold. Almost as amazing as this mess!!!

When I was a kid...

When I was a kid, my Grandpa fell down the stairs of his basement and bruised his bum. Not just a little bruise, one whole butt cheek was black and blue. I know this because my Grandmother took a picture of it and put it in her photo album. I remember staring with equal parts horror and fascination.

I tell you this because I fell down my front porch steps today. I slipped on the slippery wet wood and down I went. My bum hurts a lot. Unfortunately, no one here seems to care...let me tell you about what my day went like today.

Get up, feed everyone.
Help Cyrus hold up a piece of drywall
Run downstairs and put in a batch of laundry.
Back upstairs to put tape on a few seams
Downstairs to fold the laundry just taken out
Upstairs to hold more drywall
Down the hall to feed Grace
Downstairs to see why Sam is crying
Feed everyone lunch
Hold more drywall
Downstairs to do the dishes
Upstairs to hold more drywall (this involves standing on a ladder and holding really heavy of drywall over my head while Cyrus screws them in then drops a screw then needs to find a different size screw then needs to switch the battery on the screw driver then when my arm almost falls off, I yell at Cyrus to please hurry up!!! then he finally gets the piece up and starts to measure for the next one while I head downstairs)
Downstairs to finish the dishes
Upstairs to hold more drywall (we have 16 very steep stairs!!! By this time, my bum is not only throbbing from my big fall, but also burning from all the up and down)
Downstairs to sweep and vacuum the floors
Upstairs to help hang insulation
Downstairs to check if a light is working
Upstairs to hold wires while Cyrus does some wiring
Downstairs to do another load of wash (I am getting hopelessly behind my three load a day minimum)
Upstairs to tape more seams
Downstairs to nurse Grace
Upstairs to bring Cyrus a drink
Downstairs to make my family dinner
Upstairs to help Cyrus clean the rubble that is left from all the dry-walling
Downstairs to get the kids ready for bed.

With all the up and down you would think I was using a stair-master.

And so it goes every Saturday but this one was worse...my bottom was so sore from falling and still I had to go up and down stairs, up and down ladders all day. What a silly day.

Fortunately for me, my grandma isn't here to put a picture in the family album!!! But here is an almost as humiliating photo of me helping Cyrus hang the drywall.

Things over-heard at the Javadi House

We have been having a lot of fun with friends here at the Javadi house. We had a family move in just after us with five of the nicest children you could ever imagine. Our kids play every day. Mostly they play Pilgrims and Indians with a little sci fi twist....here are a few things overheard in our crazy house...

Carolyn:
"Hannah, you can't touch that it has a magical force field around it!!"

Hannah (walking around with legs stuck inside her shirt):
"Look, I'm a midget troll."

Katie (after coming home with a HUGE hole in her tights)
"I just saw a string and I pulled it. I think that is why I was cold at recess."

Mama:
"Sam don't put soy sauce in the toilet." (Not once, not twice, THREE times Sam has taken the soy sauce out of the cupboard, locked the bathroom door and dumped at least a half a bottle in the toilet...what GIVES, he never gets the Teriyaki sauce or the Worcestershire sauce, always he gets the soy sauce.)

Sam:
"PRETTY!!!!!" (This is one of Sam's favorite words. Today he used it to describe how the bathroom and his naked little body looked after he smeared them both with an entire thing of toothpaste while I was helping Cyrus hang a piece of drywall.)


Katie (after the fire department came to their school to discuss fire safety and gave each of the kids fire hats):

"Our school was full of firemans. They were us!!!!"


Now a few silly things I have seen:

Sam following his lawn mowing dad around the yard wearing a Cinderella dress and casting spells with a Harry Potter wand.

Neighbor kids wearing huge indian head-dress and shooting the other children with a stick.

10 kids (mine and my sweet neighbor's) screaming their heads off while a dog jumped all around them. (While this one looked a VERY funny it made me a little mad since the dog's owner didn't do anything to control his mutt who scared the crud out of the whole crew and made all the babies cry, plus he also licked Grace--the dog not the owner).

A herd of little children sliding down the side of the hill on their bums (the sliding was cute...the grass stains in the aftermath, not so much!)

Kick ball with Sam. He would kick the ball and then run a bit then pick the ball up and head off to do something else. Good thing we had several balls. After a while he just wandered around picking up more balls and lining them up to "count" them...one, two, fee, fee, sebin, nine, ten.

More Katie

I took a closer look at these pics of Katie I took today and found MORE cute ones so here are a few more...

K-K-K-Katie beautiful Katie

This picture, I took by mistake but I thought it was soo cute...

Kindergarten has been fabulous for Katie...she had a rough summer with lots of changes and getting back to a consistent routine and stimulating her bright little mind have been wonderful for her. She is happier and easier in every way than she was just six weeks ago!!! I had worried about sending her off to Kindergarten but now I wonder if maybe I should have opted for the all-day variety (just kidding...it is just too long for me be away from my baby. We gotta ease mom into this school business!!)

The River

Tonight Cyrus took the girls on a walk along the river and took some pictures of the bridge and the water. This place is fabulously beautiful. The other morning I was on a walk on the river front (which is about a two minute walk from our house) and the fog was just burning off. It was so remarkable and I felt so thankful for this beautiful place we call home...the tops of this hills were just peeking out of the fog and the water was rolling gently, the sea lions were barking (they always are) and the boats were just coming out. It was beautiful. I truly love this place.

something you never see.,...

A picture of Cyrus and I together...this was on Lainie's blog and I stole it!!!!! Thanks Lainie for a fun trip to your place and for taking this photo...

Quiet...

Yesterday I was trying to be nice and babysat one of Hannah's friends after school despite her mom first telling me it would only be until 3:30 then telling me at the last second her dad would pick up at 5:00. When the dad didn't show up until 6:10 and I missed Katie's Kindergarten back to school night, I was officially mad. So today we are having a friend vacation..no extra kids at our house and boy is it quiet and my house is clean...maybe we should have these more often.

Idiot...

Please disregard the post below this one. Cyrus hijacked my blog temporarily...I have been thinking about going private and not inviting him.

Dear Peckerwoods...

That's right, Peckerwoods! Keeping this G-rated. But, all you Peckerwoods who have gone and made your blogs private without so much as a "Oh, by the way, we don't want you to look at our cool family." (Annie made me edit what I really want to say here--chickens!!!!) How about you look in the closet and find that box labeled "decency" or "friendliness" and pull out your head and send me an email so I can get on your "A-list" of friends to see your blogs. I'm shocked and appalled at the unmitigated gall of some of you!

Anyway, love all of you still the same. I'll be waiting for those emails! :)

Cyrus

Our backyard

Under Construction

Here are some pictures of what my house looks like. This is what the work men left behind. We had a good framer and a wonderful and honest plumber, three flaky painters (ok one was good but the lady he worked for was as flaky as they come) and a dishonest electrician.




Now the rest is up to us. We will finish the drywall, put a cute tile back splash on the tub hang beadboard on the cabinet that the tub is in and on the front of the window seat, paint and hang trim, put up new doors in the whole upstairs, and lay new wood floors in the girls attic bedroom. Then some guy is coming to fix up the wood floors. Next we move onto the laundry room...and the mud room...and the kitchen back splash...and the fence...and the retaining wall in the backyard...I am afraid my house my have that pile of rubble till the day I die...................

Mountain Goats

We took the kids to the Regatta here in town...they had jump houses and slides and miniature golf and a climbing wall and it was ALL FREE!!! And of course there were fireworks (those are fairly common here--at least two big shows in our first two months). My girls, of course loved climbing the rock and made it nearly to the top (hence the mountain goat title). I of course got one foot off the ground. It was fun though

One of the coolest things about living on the coast is there is TONS to do on the weekend during the summer...the downside is there are tons of people clogging up the roads every weekend...ok sometimes you have to wait for two minutes to turn left...so the roads really aren't clogged but everyone here complains so I thought I would join the chorus for a minute. It is wonderful here. I don't think we have liked a place we have lived this well since we left Rigby.