MONDAY NIGHT MUSINGS

- Mattie has started telling us, "I stink." I don't know why it cracks me up, but just to hear her declare not that she's poopy, not that she needs a diaper change, or not even that she's stinky, but rather definitively I. Stink. Gets me every time.

- So it was incredibly warm last week. Like we're talking in the fifties. As a result, most of the snow we had melted. And as a result of that, we had water puddling up again in our front yard. It was a problem we experienced last summer/fall when we ran our sprinklers and it really concerned us. So much so that we called the contractor who built our house and told him we needed some sort of drainage system in the front. He promised he would come by. Then he told us he did come by when we weren't home (yeah right) and that it looked fine. Then he said he would come by again so we could show him what we were talking about. And he never came. Then it snowed. Then the holidays hit. And then we forgot about it...until now. I wanted this taken care of before winter because I knew that when the snow melted, this would happen. And now, here we are in January, and it's already happening. It freaks me out that it's causing some major water damage to our foundation and I can just feel the thousands upon thousands of dollars of repairs stacking up on our heads.

- Oh, and it doesn't stop there. I already noticed a crack in the garage floor months ago, and but we have cracks showing up in the seams of our walls and we even have the grout in the tile on the fireplace hearth cracking, and it's even worse on our bathroom tub. What is going on here?! Our house is not even a year old! Is this normal?? It freaks me out that this "new" house is just a pile of cheap products and even cheaper workmanship. But I think the most stressful part of all of this is that as soon as the builder got our check, he was MIA. He is impossible to get a hold of, and now his number is temporarily disconnected, his place of business has a "for lease" sign on it, and after Bryce looked it up, Russ Homes LLC did not renew it's LLC for 2011. Not good signs. I really don't want this to go to small claims court, but it's rapidly looking like we're gonna have to pay to get these things fixed ourselves and then go after him for reimbursement. Ugh.

- Why is it that my 22 month old knows how to share and my 3 1/2 year old does not?

- We went to lunch this week in downtown Wenatchee (and when I say downtown Wenatchee, we're talking an equivalent to maybe downtown Provo) to a local favorite, Cafe Lemolo. It did not disappoint! So yummy! I definitely want to go back, but it's kinda pricey. We're not really making the income yet where a $9 sandwich for lunch doesn't really mean much. Ah, someday, right?

- Don't you love Target? I got the kids these cute elephant banks (CJ green, Mattie purple) that were only $2.50 and they have been playing with them every day! They love to put the money in, then open the bottom and shake the money out. You can hear the little clink, clink of coins going in those ceramic elephants all through the house, but it's a good sound. It's a sound of happiness. And best of all, I don't have to worry about them breaking them (except they are pretty cute, so I will be sad if they break, and the kids will even be more sad, but at least it won't be something really expensive that breaks).

- Bryce and I went on a weeknight date this week! It was fabulous! We went to eat at The Thai Restaurant here in Wenatchee with one of Bryce's co-workers, Kyle Silk-Eglitt, and his fiance, Kate. Bryce and Kyle had been there, but Kate and I hadn't, and I was looking forward to trying a new place (I love trying the local places around here - so far, we've had good experiences at most of them). And I got the best dish - Pad See-ew! Ohmigosh, so good! I ate the entire dish, and now my mouth is watering just thinking about it...and I'm trying to do the math in mind for when the next time is that we can afford to go out to eat...

- We traded cars on Friday while Bryce was at work, and when we got there CJ really had to go to the bathroom. After Bryce took him inside to go, all CJ could talk about was the "elebator" that they got to ride. He was so excited.

- And speaking of CJ, his teacher had good things to say today. He didn't cry when I dropped him off (of course, I had to stay for a minute and help distract him) and he didn't get upset when they transitioned to different activities - I guess that's been hard for him - and he even shared his Woody Doll in Show and Tell.

- Mattie is getting so smart! On Saturday, she counted all the way up to 16!

- Mattie whispers in the morning. It's quite nice...

- Speaking of morning, Bryce likes to combine sugar cereal with non-sugar cereal. For example, Trix with Corn Flakes. Ew. I say, commit! Either have your sugar cereal all the way, or your untainted non-sugar cereal. Commit man, commit!

- Mattie's favorite song to sing right now is "Nemo" or "Emo" or "Elmo" or "Bingo" - yes, she calls Bingo all of those different names, but she loves it! And now that she can sing the entire alphabet song by herself, she sings that all the time as well. And she's getting pretty good at I Am a Child of God...CJ likes to work on that song with her. And she can also sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star by herself as well. We definitely have some singers around here (I'm still counting on CJ to be the next Justin Beiber and take care of us for the rest of our lives).

- We've started to notice the impact the real world is having on Bryce...he's getting gray in his eyebrows! Don't worry though, I'm making sure those few gray hairs are plucked (can't have my 28 year old husband with gray eyebrows...)

- A few days ago Mattie was playing with a wooden puzzle. A piece of wood came off and I think it poked her, because she said "ow," but I was able to just blow it away, it wasn't actually a sliver in her hand. However, I made the mistake of asking her if she had a sliver, so now she walks around telling us she has a "wivvah" (sliver). We've looked over her hand multiple times to make sure we're not missing one, and there is none to be found...but Mattie is sure convinced she's got a "wivvah" in her hand.

- Bryce has his first scout camp this weekend. He'll be leaving Friday around 5 PM and won't be back until Saturday around 9 PM. I'm totally not looking forward to a weekend with the kids all by myself. Does that sound horrible? I love my kids, but I also really look forward to, and let's be honest, need that time when Bryce comes home and can help out. Days always seems so much longer when we don't see him at all. And he just informed me that one of his two weeks of vacation that he gets this year will be spent at scout camp. Wha?? I'm trying not to be bitter right now, especially since that's not for another 6 months. We'll be blessed, right? We'll be blessed (just keep telling myself that)...

- CJ has started asking us, "Did you see that?" We'll be watching AFV (America's Funniest Home Videos, if you didn't know), or he'll do something with his toys, or he'll do something on the wii, or he'll perform some act, and he'll turn and ask, "Did you see that?" It's cute...and I always feel bad when I didn't see it :(

- And did you know that we've had a gym membership for about 3 weeks now and I have yet to go? Yup, Bryce's firm was offering a discount to join the WRAC (Wenatchee Raquet and Athletic Club), so we thought we'd give it a try. Bryce has been a few times, but I just haven't found the time (and by time, I mean motivation) to go yet. Goal: make it to the gym ONCE before the end of the month.

Happy Monday!