Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2010 June

I think Dalton may have finally learned to drink from a sippy cup today. But if not, the morning wasn't a total loss: Maggie taught him how to give five.

Maggie: Aunt Jamie lives fara, fara way.

Maggie: Daddy take it into a part. (took it apart)

Busy week. Brynn got married, Maggie and I got sick, and we went to the zoo yesterday. Also: packing. And more packing. And laundry.

Just an update on general things. This blog post will probably reflect the chaos in my home and life right now.

Monday was the free day at the Utah Museum of Natural History. Maggie got to go with Colette this time. I didn't have a ton of fun because Maggie was being ornery and I was being short on patience. We left because she was trying to climb into an exhibit. Also, I purposely didn't bring my camera so I wouldn't feel like I had to post pictures on my picture blog. So sorry to all you people who only look at that blog (guess they wouldn't be reading this). I have too much going on.

Today I focused on getting some sewing projects out of the way. I used up a lot of fabric scraps. I also finished going through my scrapbooking stuff and posted some stuff to sell and give away. Hopefully that stuff is out of my life soon. I have been scrapbooking like mad over the past week, trying to finish the pictures I printed so those can all be put away. I'll be done soon.

We are at that point in packing where we've pretty much packed everything not in use. Most of the house is pretty bare, except for the storage room, and, by extension, the office/craft room. Which is where we spend most of our inside time, now that it's hot. I fished a piece of felt out of Dalton's mouth today. Twice.

As for kid updates, I have two big ones: Dalton is CRAWLING. When Maggie started crawling, she scooted forward a bit, and just did that for a while. Dalton all of a sudden started crawling on Saturday, and he just took off. It is so cute to hear the pitter patter of little knees around the house.

As for Maggie: the girl can do 100 piece puzzles (or at least the one we have).

This week I found myself using my sewing skills for lots of useful things. I made a "leash" for Maggie (so no one snatches my darling child in the big city), sewed straps onto the sunhat Alyson sent for Dalton (thanks!), mended my skirt, finished my baby sling etc. All for the cost of $1.37 for a package of sew-on snaps and $6 for the sling (which saved me about $30). I love when I need something fixed and I go and fix it. I still need to make cases for our new camera and laptop.

I got a jury duty notice today. I think I have a good excuse.

We've had a busy few days! We moved out of our house yesterday. Brook put a lock on our storage room door, Erin cleaned all the bathrooms, Ember cleaned and played with the kids, and Logan did everything I asked him to without complaining. Franco also came over and helped John and Brook fit an amazing amount of furniture under the stairs and did lots of cleaning. Thanks to everyone's help, we were out of there in the afternoon.

This morning we went to IHOP for Father's Day and went hiking. We went to Donut Falls. Then we decided to go to Silver Lake and let Maggie walk on her own. It was a warm day, but up the canyon the weather was perfect.

So, now we're officially living with John's parents. Jodi is over, in the glow of her 40th week of pregnancy. Hopefully, we will get to see a new baby before we leave! And we're hoping in a baby-coming way, not an India-delaying way.

The other day I thought I heard Maggie say, "Do you see a small opening?" Kind of an odd thing for a three year old to ask. The third time she said it, I realized it was probably from a show, and finally remembered it from Finding Nemo.

Me, Reading My Gospel ABCs: A is for Apostle.
Maggie: A is for a popsapicle.
Me: Hee! Tell Aunt Rachel what A is for.
Rachel: A4? It's like regular paper, but a little longer and skinnier.
Me: Are you talking to me?

I went to Tasha's today (after Dalton's doctor appointment, but before Walmart, Old Navy, and Target). We were going to walk to Thanksgiving Point, but it was so hot and the babies slept so late, we decided just to drive. We got the kids free ice cream cones, and the 25 cent ice cream cones for ourselves. Then we walked through the mini gardens to the farm. We checked out the farm from the parking lot, and walked back up to the (air-conditioned) dinosaur museum. They have several different dinosaur fossils in the lobby, including a Triceratops, one of the ones Maggie can name.

Dalton had his early 9 month well visit on Thursday. He also got two of his 12 month immunizations early. He is 28" long (60%), 16 lb 11 oz (5%) and 44 cm head circumference (20%). Skinny and tall. Still. I had Maggie weighed as well, as I plan to use Benadryl to knock my kids out on the airplane. She is 28.6 pounds.

Today Dalton started pulling himself to standing. Just like with crawling, he suddenly started doing it and hasn't stopped since. He first did it in the shopping cart at Target, then practiced on me and on Grandma's coffee table.