Tribute to My Toothpaste

I know this might be kind of weird, but in the season of gratitude I have to pay tribute to my favorite toothpaste--Crest Whitening Expressions Cinnamon Rush. I love this toothpaste! Not only does it leave a fresh tingling feeling after brushing, it tastes SO GOOD! I could seriously eat this stuff. I don't, in case any of you were wondering. :) So, if you are feeling disappointed in your current toothpaste, try this one! You won't be disappointed.

(I added that last part just to be extra-cheesy. Are you feeling it?!)

Welcome Baby Rachel!

We have a beautiful new addition to the Webb side of the family. My sister Nicki had her baby the day before Thanksgiving. She weighed in at 8 lbs 3 oz and is absolutely gorgeous and so sweet! Her name is Rachel LaRee Haws (a name my sister had picked out since she was a teenager) and she looks every bit a Rachel.

Doesn't Nicki look awesome for just having a baby an hour earlier?! I love this mother/daughter shot.This is such a sweet picture because the nurse was giving Rachel a bath and she didn't like that at all. But when the nurse put her hair under the water to wash it she got so calm. She loved getting her hair washed! You can see the contentment on her face.

Our budding Chef...

Cade is such a neat eater. He rarely ever spills, takes appropriate sized bites, and hasn't needed a bib for who knows how long. We're so proud.

Unfortunately, like in many other things, Myla has proven to be the polar opposite of Cade. But only lately have we begun to see that Myla isn't so much messy as experimental, strategic, and methodical. She doesn't just eat her food, she studies it. She tries unique combinations of food that most of us wouldn't consider. Then after a sampling or two, she'll adjust quantities and try again. It's absolutely fascinating to see her mind at work. You just know that someday there will be a host of signature recipe's authored by Chef Myla.

Tonight she took plain old stew (which is anything but plain and old when Christie makes it), and tried to make a stew sandwhich the way her mom does sometimes - place a spoonfull of stew on a buttered roll and enjoy. (Personally, I don't really get it, it's just like dipping the roll in the stew, but potentially messier, but I am not a food connoisseur like the ladies of the house.) But in the end, the stew sandwich didn't quite do it for her. No, no, when your taste is a as precise as Myla's, there is no such thing as perfection, certainly not on the first try anyway. Next came fruit punch stew (or Kool-stew as I call it), followed by stewed brownies, and then stewy fruity browny.

As I said, watching the young budding chef is absolutely fascinating. A food combination that would normally turn you and I off is of no consequence to the acute sensory perception of Myla's palette. I think she knows that somewhere in the mix is a potential flavor that would rock the world.

Watch out Emeril & Rachel Ray, Myla Jade is coming at you!

Oh Baby!

Well, ya'll know what this means...we're having a baby! I went to the doctor yesterday and had my first ultrasound that told us the baby's heart is beating. I am 11 weeks pregnant and am due June 4th! We are very excited...especially Cade. Already he is touching my stomach and saying, "Baby is little. Baby is cute. Baby in Mommy's tummy." Whenever we ask him if he wants a girl baby or a boy baby he always says "girl baby." We won't be finding out the sex for this one (we think it'll be more exciting that way!) so we'll see in about 6 months if he's right or not.

I am sorry for not blogging very often lately. The first trimester is a killer! When the kids sleep, I sleep and when they go to bed, I go to bed. Those used to be the times I blogged and checked email and all that stuff that I usually love to do but haven't had the energy for lately. But the first trimester is coming to an end soon so hopefully I'll get better. The doctor did detect a little tear in the placenta, so he said I had to take it very easy and the tear would probably heal itself. My question: how do you take it "very easy" with two toddlers? Ah well, we'll figure it out.

Fruit Loop Necklaces

All the grandkids love Grandma Webb. She plays with them, runs around with them and does special crafts with them. This last 2nd Sunday dinner she took them into the other room and made fruit loop necklaces, which they LOVED! Here are some pics:

All the grandkids stringing their necklaces.
Jared
Cade
Emma
Breck

Myla's Photos

Here are Myla's one year (give or take) pictures.

Let the Countdown Begin!

Now that Halloween is over the holiday season officially begins (at least in my warped mind!). If I had my way we'd decorate for Christmas the second Halloween is over. I love this time of year...the music, the decorations, the feeling of Christmas, the service that people give others, celebrating Christ's birth. I do realize that we still have Thanksgiving, but to me it's all part of the holiday season. I want to enjoy it as long as possible!

Here are some pics of the kids last year at Christmas. It's amazing how fast time goes and how much they change. I love this one of Myla eating Cade's tie.

Halloween Fun with Grandma!

Kevin's mom came to visit us this week and it was so much fun to do Halloween stuff with Grandma!

For family home evening we painted and carved pumpkins.
Both Myla and Cade loved doing that and keep asking to do it again!
Then we went to Mother Nature's farm and had a great time there!
We decorated pumpkins and went on a hay ride and played in the hay maze. It was so fun!
Thanks for coming to visit Grandma!

7 Random Facts...

Thanks Taryn for the tag. This is hard for me, to think of 7 random things about me.

1. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night to find my arm straight up in the air, like I'm doing a "Heil Hitler" salute. My brother apparently does the same thing. Must be genetic.

2. My very first kiss was with Kevin, my husband. He wasn't my husband at the time, we were dating. Believe me, I was never that girl who would only kiss my husband...it just turned out to be that way. I never wanted to kiss anyone else.

Just a little interjection here, Kevin is helping me do this because I can't think of anything randomly interesting.

3. I almost didn't submit my papers to go on a mission because I finally got the job offer from Disneyworld that I was hoping for...3 months late! I decided to go on a mission and ended up going to Florida anyway! How's that for "coincidence?"

4. Kevin told me to write that I don't like cockroaches. Does anybody? That doesn't seem too random. He says that I freak out more than the average person when I see a cockroach. He's right I think. One time I had a 10 minute standoff with a tiny cockroach who decided to plant himself right in front of my door as I was trying to go into the house one night late after apron club. I kept stomping my feet and waving my sewing box at it, but he wouldn't leave! Stupid thing. I finally overcame my fear and jumped over it, at the same imagining that it was going to fly up my skirt and attach itself to my underwear. Those suckers are evil I tell you!

5. I love kid's clothes. I'll spend hours online after the kids go to bed browsing Old Navy, Children's Place, Gymboree and cute boutiques finding cute clothes. These kids have more clothes than Kevin and I do put together, but for some reason I have a hard time resisting. I already have their Christmas clothes purchased and tucked nicely in the closet waiting for Thanksgiving to be over!

6. My name is Christie Rae. I was named after my great grandma (Christie) and great grandpa (Ray). Whenever someone calls me by my full name I feel like I should be in the South eating grits and fried chicken.

7. I love to take HOT showers. When I say hot, I mean hot. In fact there have been a couple of times in my life where I have fainted right after getting out of the shower because it was a tad too hot. That's when I know I need to turn it down, but just a little. I feel it has to be hot to kill the germies. Kevin says that is the soap's job. Whatever. I like having my skin be a nice flush pinkish red when I get out. A hot shower is the perfect antidote to any of life's problems. :)

Okay, there are my 7 random facts. Now I am supposed to tag 7 other people. And those people are to tag 7 people when they write their random facts. So here goes. I tag: Heather, Maren, Aubrey, Dawn, Kerry, Alisa, Nicki. Whew! It was hard to find 7 people who didn't already do this tag, in some form!

Boo!

Today was a fun-filled Halloween celebration. To start it off we went to Boo at the Zoo with our good friends Kim, Mohammed and Amineh. We had such a good time! We saw all kinds of animals and the zoo-keepers fed a lot of them pumpkins. There were booths and face painting and kids dressed in costumes. We had a great time. The kids were tuckered out by the time we left. It was a perfect morning.

Cade checking out the elephants - his favorite exhibit.
Kim, Mohammed and Amineh

Such a cute family!

In the afternoon we went to the ward Halloween block party and had so much fun. The Webbs came too and Cade and Myla loved hanging out with their cousins and Aunt Jamie and Uncle James.

Spiderman Cade and Pirate Breck

Pretty Pumpkin Emma

Sweet Pirate Bradley

Cheerleader Myla

Master Jedi Kevin with Myla

The Block Party Parade!

Grandma and Grandpa Visit!

Grandma and Grandpa McMillan came to visit last weekend from Utah and we had a wonderful time! So cute.
Kevin made cookies FROM SCATCH! I was so impressed! Grandpa loved chocolate chip cookies so Kevin wanted to make him some. And they were yummy!
Just ask Grandma!
The kids love being tossed, jiggled, bounced...and Grandpa and Daddy made them pretty happy doing it. This is the leg bounce ride.
Thank you for visiting! We had a wonderful time! (And thanks for the birthday dinner and shopping!)

The Big 3-0!

Sorry we've been AWOL for the past week or so. Life has been crazy busy and by the time the kids are down and the house is put back together I'd rather sleep than blog. I know, how could I!?

Last week I turned 30. I had a great birthday! It started out with my awesome, wonderful, fantastic friends suprising me at Charleston's for lunch! I had no idea it was happening. Maren walked into the church after a primary activity and told me she was kidnapping me (She also had a large basket filled with the black and white polka dot and lime green plates I wanted from Ikea!). She led me to Charleston's restaurant where there were my great friends from apron club and bunko waiting. I had such a great time. Thanks so much to all of you! I am so blessed with wonderful friends.

I had a great birthday at home with my family. We just relaxed all day (everyone was sick!) and ate Islands for dinner (my favorite burger ever!). It was a good day and I just love being with my family. Kevin was going to take me to dinner and then sewing machine and fabric shopping, but we were all sick so it was postponed.



Last night my sisters Nicki and Jamie took me out to Matta's for dinner. We had a great time visiting and eating and admitting to strange sleeping habits. :) Thank you so much! I love my sisters.

Me, Nicki, Jamie, Stephanie

Thank you to all of you who called, emailed, or sent fun packages (like Yoga mats!). You all made my birthday so special!

The Mommy Escapades: Potty Training

There a lot of funny things that happen to me as a mother that I decided to start a little mini-blogging-series called The Mommy Escapades. Cheesy? Probably, but it will be fun to document the little things my kids do that make it totally worth it (or totally exasperating) to be a Mommy.

I decided to start this little series this morning due to a little mishap we had in the bathroom. Cade has been potty training for about three weeks, and has really been doing a good job. We are only down to changing his underwear about 3-4 times a day. Before we easily went through all of his underwear every day, which totals 12. He really has trouble going poo in the toilet. But I understand that is normal.

Anyway, this morning I was getting Cade ready for preschool and he said he needed to go potty. I told him to go and as he is sitting on the potty chair he is calling for me to come watch him go pee pee. As I walk in he lifts the hand that is pointing his pee pee into the potty to wave hi. In order to demonstrate what happened next I want you to imagine a hose that is on at a pretty high water pressure. What happens if you let the hose go? It swings around wherever it wants, spraying everything in it's path! Yes, this is what happened. Urine was everywhere. Myla had followed me into the bathroom because it is the highlight of her day to grab the toilet brush and put it in her mouth while Mommy is preoccupied with Cade and the potty. Then she likes to dip it in the toilet and run it through her hair. Anyway, Cade had thoroughly soaked my legs, Myla, the bathroom floor, and even managed to get it on the mirror! What does he do? He laughs. Hysterically. Which makes Myla laugh. Which makes me laugh.

Oh potty training. When will it be over?

A Day at the Zoo

Last week Jamie, Nicki and I took the kids to the zoo for a few hours of fun! It was October break, so by the time we left it was pretty busy. We got there when it first opened, so we were able to see some cool animals before it got too hot and before the crowds were too bad. We saw the elephants and monkeys, as usual, but this time we also saw the wallabees. The kids really got a kick out of them, especially when they hopped around. We had a really good time!

Miss Myla the Diva

This was the only picture I could upload to blogger tonight. I have a ton of cute ones that I'll try to upload later.

Brian Regan Live

Our cheek muscles hurt. Our abs are sore. We have headaches. And it is all worth it! We just got back from the Brian Regan show at Dodge Theatre and we didn't stop laughing for 90 minutes straight - which explains our various ailments. Brian is so funny (yes, we are on a first name basis). Everything he jokes about is so true and it comes from real life...which is why it's so funny! We went with some awesome friends, which made it even more enjoyable.

Here is one of Kevin's favorite bits that Brian does:


And here is one of mine:

Little Miss Myla

Little Miss Myla has quite the personality. She is one kid that knows what she wants and is always on the move. She has her daddy wrapped around her finger (which is really cute, but sometimes frustrating for him) and her big brother as her protector (like she really needs one!). She has started talking and says about four words: no (this is her favorite), ball, more, and Mama. Her little voice is so cute. It's fun to here her start talking and trying to mimic what we say. Here are some pictures of what Myla has been up to.

Myla got a dolly for Christmas last year from her Grandma Pat. We pulled it out the other day and she loves it! She sleeps with it, she drags it around the house, she cuddles with it. It's really sweet.

Myla also just got some new sunglasses. She just broke my pair because she loves putting them on and playing with them, so I got her a pair of her own. The package said they were "unbreakable." Well, we'll see.The funny thing is that she likes to push them up on the top of her head like I do. She does this with a pair of Bob the Builder goggles that she likes to wear too.

Myla loves to throw her food on the floor and smear her food in her hair. We have discovered that if she has a napkin she'll wipe her hands on the napkin and then tear the napkin into a million little pieces. But if she doesn't have a napkin she uses her hair or Kevin's arm.

Miss Maren's Monkeys

Cade is LOVING preschool! He gets so excited when it's time to choose his show and tell item, put his backpack on and head off to school. Miss Maren is the coolest and created a blog to highlight what's going on at preschool. Check it out!

DA (Doodlebops Anonymous)

I know that I am going to be ridiculed, mocked, and laughed at by many of my friends...but I don't care. I can't handle the anonymity any longer. I've gotta let it out. My name is Christie and I LOVE the Doodlebops! I don't know what it is...their cute personalities, the way DeeDee, Moe, and Rooney always seem to get along and when they don't they make up fast, their songs, their rad dance moves, their groovy costumes...I really can't put my finger on it, but I love the Doodlebops. Here is my favorite song Get On The Bus with Bob the Busdriver (he's pretty cool too). C'mon, just watch it.



Okay, you can all mock me now. Don't worry, Kevin thinks I'm out of my mind too. I suggested that we be Doodlebops for Halloween and he quickly shot that idea down (that's a bit comforting for me actually.) Now I need to get Cade or Myla on board.

So there you go...it's out in the open. Strangely, I don't feel relieved. :)

Oh What a Night!

I wish I had pictures of this night...but I forgot my camera. After Women's Conference on Saturday the Webb girls went out. My mom, Aunt Colleen, cousin Dawn, sister Nicki and sis-in-law Jamie and I went to P.F. Chang's thanks to our sweet cousin Dawn who works at the corporate offices. We had a great time and ate yummy food. We teased our waiter and each other. My mom announced to the waiter, when he asked if we'd like drinks, that I was in AA and it'd be too hard for me to see them drink. (My mom loves to do stuff like this. One time, when Kevin and I were first dating, we were at the store with her and my little twin brothers and they were acting up, so Mom said in a loud voice "Kevin, keep your kids under control!" He was so embarrassed. He's since learned how to deal.) We laughed and reminisced and had a great time! I think by the time we were done our waiter didn't know what to do with us. I love spending time with the girls in my family...they are awesome! And thanks Dawn for treating us!