Bekahism #22

While riding in the van on the way to church.

Bekah: "Mom, is magic real?"
Andrea: "No, magic isn't real."
Bekah: "But Santa's reindeer are magic!"
Andrea: (Inwardly) "Shoot!"

Ana-ism #4

While eating breakfast.

Ana: "Mama, ow do you beh ceweal?"
Andrea: "How do you pour cereal?"
Ana: "No, ow do you beh ceweal?"
Andrea: "How do you pour cereal?"
Ana: "No! Ow do you beh ceweal? A ... E ... O ... "
Andrea: "Oh! How do you SPELL cereal? C-E-R-E-A-L."
Ana: "But ow dom dere awe two O's?"
Andrea: "How come there are two O's? There aren't any O's in 'cereal.'"
Ana: "But dere yight dere!" (Points to the bag of Tootie Fruities.)

Announcing girl #3!

Seth and I were all aflutter when we went to my ultrasound appointment yesterday. I had no preference of gender; all I wanted was a healthy baby. So when the technician announced that it's a girl, I was genuinely happy. Then I remembered that we already have a girl name picked out (the boy names have continually moved through a like-it-a-lot, like-it-less cycle), so when I thought, "This is little baby Miriam!" my heart soared.

Bekah's initial response was a little different. When I told her that she will have a baby sister, she flopped down on the couch and said, "Oh, great!" I told her that Heavenly Father knew that she would be a great big sister to a little baby girl, and she responded, "But didn't Heavenly Father know I wanted a BROTHER?!"

We know she'll warm up to the idea. She loves her little sister Analee, but I think the novelty of a brother seemed interesting to her.

Now I can buy the couple of things I need before the baby is born: a baby book and a photo album. Pink or purple, of course!

Here are some ultrasound pics!

Her little profile.

Arm next to her head. She'd better move that down before the labor begins. Bekah had her arm next to her head during the delivery, and that forced the doctor to use forceps.

Her tiny hand and all five fingers! She's waving at you!

Her face. The dark circles are her eyes.

Growing up

"Today is the greatest day of my life!"

That pretty much sums up Bekah's feelings about her first day of preschool. In fact, she uttered that just a few minutes ago as she colored the paper she brought home with her.

The "preschool" she's attending through the middle of January is actually part of the high school's parenting/child development class. Near the end of the semester, they arrange to have four-year-olds come in so the high school students can teach and interact with the young'uns.

I hadn't thought that preschool was a necessity, but back in August when Bekah told me about Mack (her cousin) going to preschool, she determined that it would be a great injustice if she couldn't go to a preschool too. So I contacted the high school's child development teacher, and she told us their program would start sometime in November.

In order to stave off Bekah's preschool hunger, I told her she would start after Halloween. For the next two months, she announced to anyone who would listen (and several who didn't ... those were primarily store clerks who didn't realize the squirt was addressing them) that she would start preschool after Halloween. So the DAY AFTER Halloween, Bekah demanded to be taken to preschool. It broke her heart when I told her that not only would her preschool not begin for a few more weeks, but that it was also Sunday and she would never go to preschool on a Sunday.

But the day finally came. Bekah carefully picked out her clothing for the day ("I want to wear something nice."), insisting that she wear "nice socks" (I'm not sure which socks of hers are not nice ... they're SOCKS for Pete's sake!), and her nice shoes (she rejected the sneakers that I suggested she wear). Here is the "before" shot:

I wonder if that fake tattoo on her hand is "nice" enough for the first day of preschool.

We drove to Bonneville, parked in the faculty lot, and walked up to the building. Second hour was just letting out, so we had to wade through a sea of highschoolers to get to the right room. (Tomorrow, we'll take the door that leads directly to the room. Who knew that was there?) Ana held onto my hand. Bekah hugged my leg. Somehow we made it.

Bekah was happy to meet Mrs. Child, and to find that her coat would have a home.

Putting her coat away in the right cubby. Tomorrow, she'll also put her Scooby Doo backpack there.

Then Ana and I left, and I must admit, it felt mighty weird to go shopping without two little girls to argue over the Crystal Light containers.

At noon, we went back to pick up our little preschooler. She reported that "everything was so much fun!" Since today's theme was "cars," she got to play with cars, wear a nametag with a car on it, color a picture of a car, read a book about cars, and make and eat a snack shaped like a car.

Bekah's super-excited for tomorrow, when the day's theme will be "colors." I'm sure we'll get to hear all about it.

Bekah decided her car needed to be more colorful after she got home.

Ana decided she needed her picture taken too.

T to the M to the B to the G

Lots of people have bucket lists. A lot of them include lavish cruises, trips to Paris or sky diving.

I must say, I consider myself pretty easy to please. This past weekend, I was able to cross something off my bucket list. Seth and I got to see my favorite band in concert at The Depot in Salt Lake City.

For those who aren't familiar with my love for the band They Might Be Giants, you may read a little about of my infatuation here.

When I found out that TMBG would be coming to Salt Lake, I asked Seth if we could go. He readily agreed. See, I've brainwashed him to be a TMBG fan too. In fact, he knows several of the songs better than I do.

So we made a trip of it. We were, without a doubt, the only people at the concert that night who went here earlier in the day:

Seth standing next to Thomas Grover's headstone.

This is Seth's ancestor's grave in Farmington, Utah. Seth had never been there before, so we got directions and took a side trip. Thomas was in the first high council of the Church, he was Joseph Smith's bodyguard, he was entrusted with the safety of Joseph's family while Joseph was in jail, he crossed the plains with Brigham Young in the advanced company, and he was in the first Utah legislature.

We also spotted this slightly odd headstone decor:

Turns out, the mother of the child buried here had written a note on the skull that explained a lot. Andrew had apparently loved Halloween, so his family decorated his headstone for the holiday.

We also spent a little time at Temple Square touring the Church's new Family History Library and checking out the Museum of Art and History, where we found this:

Part of the exhibit on the Tabernacle in the Museum.

My great-great-great-grandpa is Henry Grow. See the resemblance?

After an incredible dinner at Bombay House (if you live in Utah and have not yet experienced the goodness of Bombay House, I highly suggest you go there), we went back to downtown SLC, spent a considerable amount of time looking for legal parking, and made it to the concert.

The venue was very different from any other I've attended a concert in (all two of the previous concerts I've attended). For one thing, it's inside. And since we got there early enough (7 p.m.), we scouted out a very choice location for our viewing pleasure. Although Seth assured me that, if I chose, we could sit on a chair around the perimeter of the floor, I opted for us to stand for four hours about five feet away from the stage. And ... it ... was ... awesome.

Highlights:

We were right in front of John Linnell and his keyboard. I mean, RIGHT in front. We got to see every goofy face he pulled while playing and singing. We got to see him cover his cup to keep the confetti out. And we got to see him pick up a fan and blow the confetti off his keyboard later on.

We were also close enough to see John Flansburgh sing, play guitar and generally act like a kid with ADHD by walking all over the stage to do random things--fixing a mic stand here, moving instrument stands there, and playing with puppets and a video camera (along with Linnell).

This was a special Flood concert. For those not savvy, Flood is TMBG's album from 1990. It's a classic. Even those unfamiliar with the group might recognize some of the songs from this album: "Birdhouse in Your Soul," "Istanbul," "Particle Man" and "Twisting." So we got to hear every incredible song.

Aside from those, we also got to hear several non-Flood songs: "Meet the Elements," "Why Does the Sun Shine," "Why Does the Sun Really Shine," "Shooting Star," "Clap Your Hands," "James K. Polk" (yes, this band is cool enough to write songs about our past presidents, another geeky love of mine), "Cowtown," "Mesopotamians," and, although Seth thought it could never be performed live, "Fingertips."

Although we left our mommy camera in the van, Seth was so kind as to shoot these high-quality cell phone pics:

Flans on his Telecaster, Linnell on the keyboard.

John Linnell and his mad, super-awesome accordion skills. This, people, is why I play the accordion.

Marty (the drummer) playing the bells. Pay attention to those intrusive hands in the foreground ... we're coming to those next.

Lowlights:

Drunk people who feel the need to shout out responses to everything anyone on stage said. Like the girl who tried to carry on a conversation with the opening band. And the 6'-tall guys who, five minutes before the beginning of the concert, shoved their way through the crowd to butt in RIGHT in front those of us who had stood there for two hours previously to save our spots and contradicted EVERYTHING John and John said from the stage.

(You'll notice a common thread in the lowlights: most of them concern the aforementioned two guys.) Being elbowed by people who don't understand that we all had very little room to stand, let alone break into interpretive dance. I felt like I was back on the 8th grade basketball team boxing out my opponent all night because I had to strategically place my arms across my middle to protect myself from the jabs. And my poor, stomped on toes.

One more gripe: People who are mean to the performers. The blond tall guy picked up a handful of confetti that had fallen to the floor, waited until Flans was crouching down next to the edge of the stage, and hurled it at his head. Another concert-goer threw a glow stick on the stage and almost hit another band member.

But, as Seth says, the highlights WAY outweighed the lowlights. My nerdy little heart soared as we listened to and sang along with my band.

Now, for the next thing on my bucket list: learn to play the bagpipes.

I'm going there someday ...

Last night, I shot some pictures of the Young Women in our ward outside the temple. I had taken pictures of most of the girls months ago, but there were a few that we had missed, and the YW presidency wanted to get all of them for a collage they're making for their Night of Excellence.

Before the girls arrived, I had MY girls be my models while I figured out what light settings to use.

Analee (munching on a breakfast bar and clutching her juice) and Rebekah outside the Idaho Falls Temple.

This is Bekah taking the modeling seriously.

Turns out, I shouldn't have shot so many pictures of Bekah and Ana ... although how could I resist? My poor Nikon ran out of battery power about 10 minutes later.

Bekahism #21

The girls have had runny noses for the past couple of days.

Andrea: "Uh-oh, Bekah. Your voice sounds a little hoarse."
Bekah: "What does 'hoarse' mean?"
Andrea: "Sometimes when you're sick, your voice gets tired."
Bekah: "I want my voice to stay this way! I sound like Yoda!"

Halloween 2009

Our fall festivities continued Friday (October 30) night when we piled up in the van to drive to Shelley and experience the Pumpkin Walk. I had read a blurb in the newspaper about it, but it really didn't give a lot of detail, so we weren't exactly sure what to expect. All I knew was there would be pumpkins on display, and it was meant to be fun, not spooky.

It turns out that the Pumpkin Walk is a section of a city park that has lots of pumpkin displays made by various people and groups. The displays were based on movies or books, and the characters were made out of various gourds.

Mr. Pumpkin Dude, Mrs. Pumpkin Dude, Rebekah and Analee.

Bekah and Ana next to our favorite display: Monsters, Inc. Complete with oven mitts on Mike, Boo, and Sully peeking from behind Boo's door.

They also had lots of cutouts to pose by. The girls had lots of fun choosing characters to pose as, and later, taking pictures of their own.

We pointed out the Star Wars cutout to Bekah, so she had to position herself as Princess Leia, while Ana is Luke Skywalker and Andrea is a young Obiwan Kenobi.

Ana wonders what is going on with her daddy, who is posing as a disproportionate lady.

Bekah shot this glamorous picture of Seth as Belle and Andrea as Jasmine.

Ana had Seth help her take this picture of Andrea as the Count on Sesame Street. Not only did Ana get to push the camera's button, but she also chose her model and setting.

The next day, Halloween, turned out to be perfect. We decided that Halloween should ALWAYS be on the Saturday before Daylight Savings ends. It was great being able to visit the grandparents before dinner, take a quick break at Arctic Circle, then get the neighborhood trick-or-treating underway. Usually we're scrambling to eat as soon as Seth gets home from work, visit everyone and go to a few houses before getting the girls to bed late.

The girls, of course, wore their princess dresses, and Bekah was very adamant that she would NOT wear her coat over her dress, no matter how cold it was. "Nobody will be able to see it!" So we had them wear tights, pants and long-sleeved shirts under their dresses, and then we were grateful when we realized that it was a fairly warm evening for being October in Idaho.

We started out by visiting the grandparents.

Analee, Grandpa Wirkus, Rebekah.

Analee, Grandma Scott and Rebekah reading a book.

Seth reading his book while Grandpa Dennis takes a picture of Analee, Grandma Susan and Rebekah.

Analee, Old Grandma Grover, Rebekah.

We then did the Arctic Circle thing, and visited most of the houses on three different streets in the neighborhood. The girls made out with quite the haul, although they were exhausted by the time we called it quits. Bekah asked, "Can we go home now?" And along with Ana's usual "Have me!" when she wants to be picked up, she also rested her head on my shoulder and asked to go to bed.

As for next year, Bekah has already told me what she wants to be. "A cowboy again! No, a ghost. I want to be a witch! Can I dress up as a pumpkin?" Hmmm ... we'll see.

To see more Halloweeny pictures, click here.