Nana week

So, those of you who know my mother know that she totally rocks. For myriad reasons. She came for a much needed Nana visit last week and Eli has been asking for her ever since. Unfortunately, I missed out on many of my mother's wonderful traits, such as those of precision and perfectionism; fortunately, I married someone who possesses those that I am missing. Here are a few of the reasons why, in the words of Crush the turtle, she so totally rocks:
1-She is skinny, cute and way too hot to be a Nana. When I go places with her, people always compliment her on "being my sister" or some lame joke like that. But I know we both like it, let's be honest. I hope that I am as healthy and look as good as my mom does when I am a Nana. She always implicitly taught me how important it is to exercise and eat right, not to look good, but to be a healthy and happy mom.
2-Along those same lines, she has more energy to keep up with Eli than I do. SO splitting his requirements makes him a breeze. And she is more than willing to do it, always trying to entertain Eli when I am fed up with the kid and laughing at his eccentricities, making me see how truly funny he is.
3-She is one hell of a bargain shopper. That woman can sniff out a deal from a mile away. We went down to Santee Alley for some serious street shopping. Note: I would not recommend doing this on a Friday afternoon unless you want to spend three and a half hours in traffic on the way back.
4-She is the definition of handy. She can do anything, fix anything, solve anything-and furthermore, she just does it even if you tell her not to: she cut and colored my hair, cut Eli's hair,

scrubbed the disgusting crap off of my stove top (of which I was afraid), fixed Adam's wool pants (which I thought I had ruined), taught me how to make freezer jam (which I thought was hard, but isn't), and refused to let my dishes sit in the sink. And she read "No bad bunnies" to Eli about 100 times and bought him all kinds of birthday presents in between her chores around my house.

5-She goes home to this, and still loves all of the yucky boys in her house anyway!

We did everything there is to do while she was here: visit Disneyland with cousins and aunts,
visit the beach,
eat lots of frozen yogurt and treats, watch our favorite shows, and shop until we no longer wanted to shop. Thank you mom. When you get finished with your laundry, please come back.

It would have been too cruel to take a picture

while I was trying to get Eli dislodged from Duane's kennel, but make no mistake, I was laughing and wishing I could the whole time. Yes, I know. I am cruel and insensitive...but it was so freaking funny. He tried to climb in there and at some point realized he was far too large-a mighty good lesson, I'd say. That's when I heard the shrill shrieking from the garage. I had to take the kennel apart to get him out. And it took a really long time because I was laughing so hard. Bless the kid's heart. It is not even 9 yet. Usually this sort of incident is an indication of how the rest of the day will go, so I guess bless my heart too.

PS Chel-send me the pictures so I can post about Nana week.

No Bad Bunnies

Eli got kicked out of nursery on Sunday for biting, which is bad for several reasons:
1-It's bad. We don't bite.
2-We read this book every single night. Right before church, Eli was sitting on my bathroom floor flipping through the pages and saying "BAD!" to the bunnies who were biting, hitting, kicking and throwing their trucks...he KNOWS he is not supposed to bite.
3-He bit two different girls... REALLY adorable and well dressed ones. Is this an omen for what dating my son will be like someday?
4-Everyone in my entire ward knew because Adam went to one of those secret Sunday school classes and could not be found; so they had to bring him through all of the hallways, to the secret catacombs of the primary room to me where he continued to act out and be a complete brat. And then, when Adam went back and sat with him, he did it again.
5-When we ask him if we bite, he says "Yeah! Ha ha!" Oh gosh.

I love this book. The opening line says, "Every little bunny's good, they mostly do the things they should. But sometimes feeling sad or mad can make a little bunny BAD!" (That is Eli's favorite part.) Is my kid just a bad bunny? I know you are all going to say he will grow out of it, but lately I wonder.

Pictures I stole of Dizzyland

I'm not sure that Adam and I will ever truly convert, but Eli is a promising investigator into the Gospel of Disney...(we believe in giving our kid his own accountability where Disney is concerned, so as not to taint him with our own inherent bias.) But we obviously had fun last week with Adam's family. They left the lovely Newport Villas on Friday with one night to spare. So the Spencers joined us for one more day of play in Newport to send February out with a bang. Much to Ashley's chagrin, we played two games of Settlers...I think the fact that she and I each won a game, denying our husbands a slice of victory made up for the fact that she had to play in the first place. We admired Lamborghinis...I don't know how to spell that, argued about whether or not women are allowed to drive them, ate a fair amount of delicious food, swam with the kids and enjoyed the sun and coastline in all its glory. I'm still feeling guilty about how much fun February was this year.

Favorite Eliisms and their English translations

"Audee, Audee? Woo Woo?" =Where is Audrey? Where is Lucy? Usually asked when I mention the word Disneyland.
"Ah no." = I don't know. Usually the answer to the aforementioned questions.
"Emmo...yeah. Muck...yeah."= I want you to get me some milk and turn on Elmo so that I can watch Elmo for five minutes (and no more) while I drink my milk.
"Hah hoh?"= Can I have a hot dog...for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in between?
"Nack...yeah."= I want a snack so that I can feed it Duane.
"Mo mo! Hah!"= Repeated while chasing Duane around the house with his lawn mower.
"Eat. Yeah." = The two words he says perfectly together.
"Hi D."= Hi Duane.
"Ne Nee. Yay!"=Nursery and/or necklace...great when he is talking about nursery, not so great when he means necklace because it usually ends up broken.

Interesting and unrelated sidenote: I joined the grocery game, got myself a Sunday subscription to the LA TIMES and officially started clipping coupons. I am already a fan for the following reasons:
1-I love reading the Sunday paper, so it was a good excuse to get it for the coupons.
2-This chick's list is amazing. She knows about every sale at your personal grocery store and she tells you exactly what to buy and when to get amazing deals.
3-This system is 100% consistent with food storage ideals.
4-I am in a total grocery rut, buying the exact same things every week. This is helping me branch out, try new things, and substitute items for others because they are on sale.
5-I saved thirty seven bucks at the store today!

One drawback: A lot of the coupons are for frozen food items. I don't usually buy this stuff . But, I am willing to try it if for no other reason than to try it.

I think my husband needs a nap

or something because he doesn't need a vacation...the whole month of February was one continual party-I'm still waiting for Heather and Ashley to post pictures of us playing at Disneyland and Newport since I didn't take any. Maybe that's it, all that partying. In any case, I went to go let Duane out last night before calling it a night. Adam had just come home, exhausted from a crappy day in the lab and splits with the missionaries. He was collapsed in bed. As I walked by the garage, I heard the fan on my not so quiet car going. Weird, I thought. I opened the door, and the car was running-with the garage closed. Thankfully, no one was in it...although I did momentarily panic and think the absolute worst. SO my husband had parked the car, gotten out of the car, closed up the garage, and turned in for the night while our car went happily humming along. Huh.