Christmas 2007

Here's our Christmas! It was a great time. Toys, toys, toys. You'll notice some of Ryan's presents...a shopping cart and an apron. I am training him to be a housewife...or maybe just to be really helpful to his wife someday. The boys would open one present and just want to play with it. We had to do some convincing to keep opening up more presents, that there was more fun to be had! I guess that's what happens when you have really nice grandparents!

Santa Claus

We saw Santa twice this year, at our community center's party and at the ward party. As you can see from the pictures, Andrew was NOT excited about the whole experience the first night, but warmed up to the idea the second time (I have to admit that the first Santa was a little scary). And Ryan, despite praying every night that "Santa will bring me presents", did not want to get too close...just close enough to grab whatever goodie Santa was giving away.

Merry Christmas

Ryan singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". Notice he is interrupted by a burp at the beginning. Burping is another one of his many talents, in addition to monotone singing.

Beautiful Seattle

We were really excited to be able to get some good pictures of us in beautiful Seattle on a clear day. There is this cool park that gives you an excellent view of the Seattle skyline. Thanks Baugh for the amazing photography!

I know what you are all thinking...what a good looking family! :)
By the way, it was freezing that day and we were dying without our coats on. The things we'll do for a good picture.

Billy Banks

Today Ryan was looking through our DVD collection (the little one that we have). He pulled out a movie and told me he wanted to watch "Monsters". I looked to see what movie he was talking about, thinking that I was pretty sure we didn't own the movie "Monsters Inc.". And we don't. What Ryan was calling "Monsters" was really a Taebo workout video featuring a large picture of Billy Banks on the front. That spandex outfit is pretty scary.

"He's my brother"

Recently Ryan has been introducing Andrew to all sorts of people when we are at stores. Once he catches someone's eye, he points at Andrew and says, "This is my brother. His name is Andrew". He usually throws in a flashy smile as he delivers the line. It's pretty cute. Then we get home and just as I set Andrew down to play happily with some toys, big brother Ryan runs him over or just grabs what he has without even looking back. It's pretty much like he doesn't even see him. This leads to many conversations a day such as: "look out for your brother", or "watch where you're going, Andrew is playing there", and "be careful with Andrew", etc. As an oldest child myself, I do feel a little bad because sometimes being the oldest is a pain and younger siblings really do ruin all the fun (just kidding Lindsey and Allie:) But it turns out that my constant nagging hasn't ruined their relationship yet and Ryan still likes having a little brother around.

Snow in Seattle

It snowed! Hurray! In Seattle, the snow doesn't last long, so you have to rush out to play in it as quick as you can. The snow was coming down pretty good, starting around 1:30. It stopped around 4:00 just as Ryan woke up from his nap, so we bundled up and headed out. We were able to build a snowman and go sledding on the little hill behind some apartments in our complex. Even Andrew got in on the fun. We came in at 5:30 as it started to rain and the snow was gone probably by 8:00 that night!

Andrew is cruising and moving all around the house now. Unfortunately he has bad parents who have not prepared the house for him. He took a tumble down the stairs while I was changing Ryan's diaper. He only made it halfway down before I rescued him. It was so sad! Then, probably not an hour longer, he pulled the Christmas tree down and on top of him. Luckily, our tree is puny, but still, it scratched his face! We have since put up our baby gate and tried to put other dangerous objects away. But he is still our happy baby who smiles all day long!
I also need to mention what he has been doing recently. When Spencer comes home, Ryan has learned to recognize the sound of the key in the door and runs to give him a hug. Now Andrew gets excited when Ryan goes running and I tell him that Daddy is home. He crawls as fast as he can and is smiling and laughing, but then about halfway to the door he stops, puts his head down, and cries! It is a sad cry too, so I feel bad saying that it is cute, but it is! We think that he sees how far he has to go and gets discouraged, and thinks he will never get there! So Spencer comes to him and picks him up and then he is all better. He loves his daddy!

Mommy's Job

When Dixie (Spencer's Mom) came to visit a couple weeks ago, we were asking Ryan a bunch of questions, trying to show off his verbal skills and new words he has learned for Grammy. Our conversation went a little like this:

Erin: "What does Daddy do for work?"

Ryan: "He's an engineer".

Erin: "What does Gramps do for work?"

Ryan: "He's an actuary (I probably spelled that wrong).

Then Dixie asked him her own question, something we haven't talked about before.

Dixie: "What does Mommy do for work?"

Ryan thought about this and then answered, "She cooks ninner (dinner)".

Is that really all he thinks I do??

K is for Kite!

I wanted to post a picture of Ryan's cute preschool group. I take turns teaching preschool to Ryan and 3 of his friends that are in our ward and apartment complex. It's just 2 days a week for 2 hours. We go over a letter each day, and each week focus on a color and shape. The boys love it and I think the Mom's love it even more (especially when they don't have to teach!). I actually don't mind teaching...I like finding ideas (www.preschoolexpress.com, it's great) and coming up with fun things for the boys to do. But even better is when I get to bring Ryan to someone else's house and know that he is going to have a ton of fun, and then I get to go home, put Andrew down for his morning nap, and get 2 hours of peace and quiet...all to myself. You wouldn't believe what I get done in that 2 hours :)

'Tis the Season?

Every year around this time, Spencer and I get into a debate of when to turn the Christmas music on. In my family, we liked to turn it on right after Halloween. Spencer thinks that is, "spitting in the face of Thanksgiving". I like Thanksgiving as much as the next guy, but it's just one day. There isn't much celebration or traditions besides eating the turkey dinner. I wait all year to pull out the Celine Dion Christmas CD and I need to give it as much time as possible. In fact, it is playing right now (spencer is at school). So Spencer and I usually compromise on the music. I listen to it in the car and at home when he is gone, and then I can listen to it openly after Thanksgiving. Is Spencer a Scrooge or am I really, "spitting on the face of Thanksgiving"?

A Good Find

We love where we live for many reasons. One great thing about living here is we have accumulated a lot of free stuff. When people are moving, or just don't want something anymore, they can put it out by the dumpsters and UW will come move it for you. But if it's something good, usually it's gone fast, claimed by a resident. We always look when there is stuff out and usually it is only garbage worthy, but we have come acrossed some good stuff: a chair, bedside table, doormat, card table, VCR (with remote and batteries), and our neighbors gave us their portable dishwasher. Yesterday we got our best find yet. We have been in need of a better stand for our TV, seeing as Ryan knocked ours over the other day and it landed on him! I was pulling into the parking lot and I saw an armoire. It looked great, but sometimes from far away stuff can trick you. So I examined it closer and it was in almost perfect condition. We love it! We are very unsure of why anyone would throw it out! Spencer reattached the doors and it is like brand new.

I also have to mention that my going through the "garbage" is in keeping with family tradition. My Grandpa is known for his walks in which he would go out, usually on garbage day, and save anything good that people had gotten rid of. He would clean it up and either keep it, give it away, or sell it at a big garage sale. My mom has also started collecting things. She got my sister a table and chairs, some toys, and a stroller. Who needs Craigslist when you have garbage day!

Daylight Savings

Daylight savings is no fun anymore. Our kids don't get how awesome it is to turn the clocks back and sleep in an extra hour. They wake up at the same time. Daylight savings is even less fun when you forget about it and show up to church at 9:00 a.m. (which is really 8:00 a.m.) and nobody is there. I would feel really sorry for someone if that happened to them.

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween this year. It was really fun since Ryan understood it better and was excited to light our pumpkin, decorate Halloween cookies, go trick or treating, dressing up, and all that other good stuff. Spencer has admitted that he doesn't really like Halloween so I have been trying to show him how fun it can be. We made a scary scarecrow which we used at Trunk or Treat and outside of our house on Halloween. I felt a little bad because there were some kids afraid of it. We dressed up as Tweddle Dee and Tweddle Dum for a friends Halloween Party. We look awesome don't we? My mom made those costumes for her and my Dad about 20 years ago and they have gotten very good use over the years. I also dressed up a little when I took Ryan out trick or treating. I just did my hair funny. My old roommates know the secret of that look....I hope that Staci, Sarah, Marcy and Jenny appreciate my hair! Ryan had fun going out trick or treating. He knocked on all the doors and said "trick or treat" and was very polite and would only take 1 piece of candy. We even let him have one piece. But I think that's all he's had. We're not being mean or denying him...he just doesn't ask for it so we don't give it to him! I think Spencer and I finished off his trunk or treating candy in about one night. We were watching the Rockies play and we needed some comfort food!

Tagging

Ok, my first tag, here it goes. (this counts for your tag too Staci :)
1. What is your husband's name? Spencer James Grange
2. How long have you been married? 4 years and 2 months
3. How long did you date? 4 months, then engaged for 2 months…that sounds really fast and crazy when it’s written down. 4. How old is he? 27
5. Who eats more? Me, always. Pregnant or not.
6. Who said I love you first? Spencer said it first, right before he went home for the summer. I said thank you. But Spencer was a good sport, hung in there, and I said it back about a month later. Then Spencer moved back to Utah
7. Who is taller? Spencer
8. Who sings better? I think it’s about even as far as our voices sound, but I know how to read music better
9. Who is smarter? Spencer, seriously, I can barely read the crazy equations and engineering calculations he does. But I do like to remind him sometimes that we scored only 1 point different on the ACT’S (I’m a good test taker and guesser)
10. Whose temper is worse? I think it’s about even, although it comes out different.
11. Who does the laundry? I do, doing it right now! Spencer did it a lot when we were at BYU and both worked though
12. Who does the dishes? I do. Spencer is pretty slow. And after entertaining the kids all day, I would rather him do that.
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Spencer
14. Who pays the bills? I take care of making sure the bills are paid, but Spencer makes most of the money. Although my job takes care of our rent
15. Who mows the lawn? UW maintence
16. Who cooks dinner? I do. We have tried Spencer cooking on Saturdays…he sometimes remembers.
17. Who drives when you are together? Spencer
18. Who is more stubborn? Tie.
19. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? It used to be Spencer…but I think we’re even now
20. Whose parents do you see the most? Our parents are great and both get to come out pretty often, but I think we've seen the Grange's more recently.
21. Who proposed? Spencer (but he had it pretty easy, he knew I would say yes because I already had my dress!)
22. Who is more sensitive? It depends…we both have our moments
23. Who has more friends? Me...I'm all Spencer needs right?
24. Who has more siblings? We’re tied, 2 each.
25. Who wears the pants in the family? We both think we do.
26. Where did you meet your husband? BYU, Helaman Halls, we were in the same ward, we didn't start dating until after his mission.
27. What was the first thing you said to your husband? I think I told him something about how he knew my friend Rachel Stitt. He had been a kind of pen pal to her when we were in high school (their brothers arranged that at BYU). She bought an Everclear CD because he told her he liked it and I remember listening to it in her car.
28. Where was your first date? Monster Truck Rally with his little brother and then to the Malt Shoppe, my favorite place
29. Where was your first kiss? In Spencer’s car, parked somewhere up Provo Canyon. Shortly after we kissed a policeman came and told us we couldn’t park there. Spencer is embarrassed about this. (especially since it happend 2 more times after that at 2 more parks! I had 9 roommates, we had to go somewhere to kiss)
30. Where did you get engaged? In a park in Provo during sunset. Then Spencer had to rush off to do his night custodial job at the RB.
31. Where were you married? Columbia River Temple, Richland WA.
32. Where was the honeymoon? Victoria, British Columbia and a night at the Salish Lodge at Snoqualmie Falls.
33. If you could have changed anything about it what would it have been? Longer, for sure. We had to hurry back to school.
Tag you're it:
Jenny (you need more on your blog ☺), Allyson, and Lindsey.
Now you just have to copy the questions, answer them, post it, then tag 3 more people.

brainy baby

No, this isn't Andrew's Halloween costume. I've been putting Andrew to work to make us some money! UW has lots of different research studies that are looking for infants to study, so I signed us up. Andrew has done 2 studies so far and earned 40$! Each time we only had to go for an hour. This picture shows Andrew with his special brain reading cap on. He was such a good baby and didn't cry or even seem to mind it at all (I guess there are lots of babies who do not like it). They put this hat on and then he just watched some images on a computer monitor. Easy. They called Andrew their "star baby" because he was able to get through 49 images, a record they said...I don't know if I should be proud or not...I guess he's really good at watching T.V.!

The Farm

2 weeks ago we went to "The Farm" (that's really what it's called). It was one of my favorite things we've done in Seattle. There was a great pumpkin patch, hay rides, a petting farm, and a hay bale maze in the barn. It was perfect for kids. Ryan had a ton of fun climbing up into the loft and riding a slide down into the hay. I think Spencer's favorite part of the day was that we only spent 1$. We picked out a small pumpkin and that's how much it costs. Everything else was free for kids under 3 and parents are always free, I guess because they assume you are bring in your kids. The big draw at The Farm is their corn maze which is huge and looks like the state of washington. It actually looked really cool and would be a ton of fun...if you didn't have a 2 year old and a baby. We could just pictures ourselves, getting into the maze a good ways and then one of our kids having a freak out or some other baby emergency and then we wouldn't be able to find our ways out! The day was beautiful as far as weather goes too. It was really foggy in the morning, which was kind of fun to drive out into the country and tromp out into the field in the fog. But then it burned off and it was warm and sunny. I love fall!

Yummy

No, we aren't feeding Andrew chocolate. It's just prunes.

Why I love little boys...

It has been unseasonably warm here the last few days. (but the rain is back today). We've had lots of chances to go outside. I love watching Ryan and his little friends play. The other day Ryan and his friends built a "beehive" which realy was a big pile of sticks and branches that had fallen during a windstorm. I don't know how they came up with that and why they thought a beehive is made of sticks, but it kept them occupied for quite awhile. Last night they took someones Big Wheel and took turns riding down the hill. There was usually two boys on it at one time, one driving and one holding on the back. It was hilarious to watch them. They got excited each time and ran back up the hill just as excited (Ryan had to be finally brought in by force when it got dark). I just think it's so funny that boys don't have to be taught to be "boys". They know right away that sticks are swords. Rocks are fun for throwing in the water. Jumping off steps and other high things is awesome. I even saw Ryan tackle his friend to the ground the other day (I think his dad has something to do with that one). I was a little worried when I had Ryan that I wouldn't know what to do with a boy...since I have all sisters...but I have been glad to find out that I didn't have to teach Ryan how to be a boy. He already knew.

Happy Birthday Spencer

Happy Birthday Spencer. Here's my top 10 reasons why I love Spencer:

10. He's a genius.
9. He's one of the nicest people I know. That was one of the things that really impressed me when we were dating.
8. His karate chops and kicks. (spence's family knows what I'm taking about).
7. Spencer has really nice hair. If we ever have a girl someday, she would be lucky to get his hair.
6. The way he parents. He is always so considerate and thoughtful in his parenting. He really thinks it through what he says and does with the boys.
5. His careful attention to details. I might make fun of this sometimes, but it really is a good quality.
4. He loves his family and always talks so highly of them. When I was deciding to marry Spencer, I knew that if I became a part of his family, I could expect the same good treatment he gives his family.
3. His great smile. He has nice crinkle smile lines.
2. He's goofy.
1. The way he treats the people he loves and cares for!

Why do you love/like Spencer?

Where's Ryan?

Ryan was a little upset when his cousin Luke took over his seat in the stroller. Spencer improvised and made a new seat.

BOO!

Elder Grange

I wanted to share with everyone one of the funnest FHE's we've had. It seems like all of my friends have little boys, so maybe you'll be able to use this too! In the Friend this month, there is a page on preparing to be a missionary. So we read the page and then actually did some of the activities. First we dressed Ryan up like a missionary, in a tie and suit coat, and then put a Book of Mormon in his backpack. We even made a missionary badge for him and told him his name was Elder Grange. I wish we would have had Spencer's missionary stuff, but it's at home. We did look at his pictures though. Then we read scriptures, pretended to iron clothes, sorted laundry by colors and whites, measured water and poured into a pot (that was cooking :), and finally we taught Ryan how to "teach the gospel": He knocked on a door, Spencer answered, and he said "I want to teach you about Jesus!". There was some other activities you could act out too, we thought we could do this FHE again and cover some other things. I also included a picture of Spencer as a missionary, because he is the cutest Missionary EVER! Yesterday, it was 5 years since he came home.

Check out my Slide Show!

More from Denver

Here are some more pictures of our trip to Denver. We were happy to be able to enjoy the deck Spencer help put in last summer at his parents house. Ryan loves marsh-a-mellows. (That's how he says it). Spencer was really happy to get to go on an all boy hike. I guess hiking is a little different when you have to bring your wife and babies along. I also threw in a picture of the whole Grange Family at our family reunion this summer.

Ryan must have known the camera was on.
-S

Bathtime

While we were in Denver, we decided to give Ryan a bath in Grammy's big tub. Ryan wasn't so sure of the jets at first, so we offered to make it a bubble bath. We put a little too much soap in I guess, because soon the bubbles were up to his neck! It was hilarious to just see his head poking out of the bubbles. Spencer thought it looked like fun so he jumped in. Don't worry, he's wearing his suit...his birthday suit! (that's our favorite joke). By the way, you'll notice that Andrew looks like Ronald McDonald. Poor kid gets a little dryness around his mouth.

Go Denver!

We just got back from a great trip to Denver. The boys missed it so much that they insisted on wearing Denver sports teams outfits to show how much they love Denver.