Fall, Last Try, I Promise

Wow. So this is a lot more work than I anticipated, this blogging business. Turns out I am not necessarily an idiot or don't know how to use computers, as was thought to be the case. You actually do have to put the pictures in backwards! So you have to think about which pictures to put in, then reverse everything, and then upload them, and THEN you can write stuff about your pictures. (If this is not really the case, and there is an easier way of doing things, I hope somebody tells me, but maybe not for a while because I still haven't shared it with anyone, but the person who told me how to do this. Ha! Ha!)
This was a really fun maze. Here is Manny with his friend Zylen--the one who looks a bit like Michael Jackson (don't worry, he and his mom will not be offended by that, that might be his ultimate goal in life at this point in time, he's 3 and watches MJ's music videos and knows all his songs and dances).

A bigger view of the maze for tiny children

Here is Manny playing in the sandbox, but I really want to focus on the line behind him. That is the line for the pony rides. You have to buy your tickets for the pony rides before you enter the farm. I think they do that so you don't see how long you will have to wait in line. Tricky! Good thing we went with friends and my friend's husband could wait in line for us! (Sadly we were those obnoxious people who have someone else wait in line and then when it gets close to being your turn 5 people bump in line in front of you. But I was not about to try to keep my child occupied in that line. I am not at Disneyworld and don't plan on going.)

Here is a picture of a pony

Manny riding a pony

I didn't get a good full picture of him riding the pony becasue as you can see he doesn't really look confident riding and looked like he might fall off. I didn't dare get too far away from him.

Manny kept trying to stick his fingers into the fence to try to tickle the bunnies.

Here is a bunny mansion.

Waiting for the train, desperately trying to climb the fence to get to it.

The lovely Martinez family. Sara, Isabella, Diego, and Alex. Thank you Alex for being our spot holder in line!

Here is Monica and her MJ wannbe son Zylen. He really likes his mom.

He did this all on his own. I didn't even tell him to.

"Choo Choo!"

Actual proof of the braces. And on the train.

Contentment and excitement.

Monica kept trying to tickle him to get him to smile and he would give her dirty looks.

Tickling

"Why does she keep doing that? Who are you?"

Running through fun tunnels

There was also a giant hay pit for the kids to go crazy in. This is right before Diego shoved that handful of hay in Manny's face.

But still smiling

More hay. Almost falling off a hay bale.

Now he's got the hang of it.

They even had Funnel Cake!

Mainly just eating pure sugar.

The happy bunch after picking out pumpkins.

And this is a super long post with tons of pictures and long comments, but it's my blog so I can do whatever I want. Yay!

Fall, Try #2

We will try this again. This is Manny's first experience in a bouncy house. He had to wait so impatiently until it was his turn (the nice lady waited until they had a group of small kids, that way only small kids would be jumping and there would hopefully be no trampling of small children). When it was the small kids' turn Manny got up there and did this. Other kids had to crawl around him. I kep trying to tell him he could stand up and jump like his friends. Follow his friends' example (although I don't always encourage this)! But no. This is what you were so excited to do? Lay there like a blob? Apparently, yes. When the little kids' turn was over he didn't seem displeased with his attempt.

I am a failure. It did it again. It always posts the pictures on top! Try #3 will soon follow.

Fall

So, better late than never. I am still trying to figure out how to put pictures up nicely on the blog. Hopefully this one works.

As you can see we had a great time. We thought it would be a good idea to pose in this awesome cut-out. But Manny definitley had no desire to put his head in a hole and smile, Zylen is checking out his cool pig feet, and I have no idea how Sara posed her baby so perfectly in the sheep head hole and manage to put hers in the goat's all at the same time. Do you see how hard I am trying? (I am in the horse.)

P.S. I sure do not know how to post pictures. Is it supposed to only post things at the top? I thought I could post a picture, write about it, then post another picture and it would appear at the bottom of the first one I posted, but this is not the case. I can't figure it out right now and it is too late for me to really try. Know that we had lots of fun besides this cut out (Manny had his first time in a bouncy house, rode a pony, played in some hay, rode a train, and more). Hopefully I can post these pictures later, as this is supposed to be a journal.

For Future Reference

So, I am really enjoying my Christmas break. Yesterday was my first official day off. Manny and I went to playgroup and then we went to the Museum of Life and Science (which is super great, and even better that it is free to Durham residents on Wednesday afternoons), and I even kind of cleaned the bathroom and the playroom. I was so impressed with my productivity skills that I decided to do nothing today. And when I say nothing, I really mean nothing. I never left the house. I maybe looked out the window once. I figured--my husband isn't here, I don't have any homework, I have no responsibilities! Yay! Manny and I played, watched movies, played on the computer, and pretty much did nothing. (Don't judge, but we had chicken noodle soup, made by my mother-in-law, juice, and crescent rolls for supper.) But then it was 9:30 and Manny was having a melt down. What?! It's 9:30? How did that happen? So the moral of the story is that even though it is my Christmas break and we can do whatever we want, letting Manny do whatever he wants and letting him stay up late is not always the best idea. Turns out it's a bad one. Just for future reference.

Things recently I don't want to forget.
Manny singing "Owd McDawdawd Aad a Fawm" (Old McDonald Had A Farm) incredibly loud at the grocery store
Watching No Wipe (Snow White)
Manny thinks the song goes--We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Happy New Ears
Watching him hop on the floor like a frog while saying, "Mibbit, mibbit."
Manny singing "You've Got a Friend in Me" into his microphone/toy cucumber

Braces, the stinks, and Church magazines

I recently had orthodontic braces put on. What a bad idea. Why I was such a dummy and lost my retainer, I don't know. Turns out, they hurt. More on adults than kids. And I want to kill myself evertime I have to floss my teeth. Seriously. How I survived braces the first time without killing myself is I just never flossed. Ha! Ha! And why am I getting braces? Well, since I now look at teeth all day long, I have become obsessed (with my own teeth, not everybody else's. I probably wouldn't notice yours unless you were in my chair. Okay, if they were black I might notice). I have a crossbite that is making a dent in one of my teeth and it is getting bigger. It was driving me crazy. Since I am at the school all the time anyway I figured, why not? When I went for my appointment I remembered why I was getting a discount. The guy doing my braces has no idea what he is doing. He only needs me to graduate and will never do braces again. It only took 3 hours to put on the top braces and then 2 weeks later it only took 2 hours to put on the bottom. But I can't be mad. That is how it always is at a school. They are there to learn. And they have to get everything checked by their instructors, which also takes time. But I'm glad they do because my provider put the braces on the wrong side at first and had to switch them to the other side when his instructor pointed it out (that was the three hour appointment).

I am hoping to only have them on a little while so I don't ruin Jessie's wedding pictures again with braces. So I will do everything my provider tells me to do. Here's hoping he kind of knows what he is doing or that maybe his instructor does!

Good news is that maybe I will lose all the weight I gained while sitting in class for hours at end. Just thinking about brushing and flossing my teeth almost makes me not want to eat. But probably not. I sure love food. And I need to snack to stay awake during class. Bummer.

Another random thought is that Manny has these disgusting crocs with some sort of fuzzy/furry fabic inside. He insists on wearing them all the time. I have to rip them off his feet to go to bed. They are incredibly stinky. His feet smell so bad it almost makes me cry when I remove his shoes. I've tried washing them (the shoes, although I do wash his feet as well), but it only helps for the first hour he wears the shoes. Then they are back to their full stinkiness. Maybe someday I will find a solution. Most likely the solution will be he will grow out of them. Kids grow fast, right?

I am really excited about my Conference issue Ensign because I wasn't able to watch all of it. I know I can watch it online, and I do watch some, but I just love having it written. I love to read. Especially on the bus on the way to school. And with it I believe Manny's first Friend magazine is coming! Yay!

And I am really sorry this blog is so lame-o. Maybe someday when I actually share it with someone I can ask how to add pictures. Maybe that will help. I really would like to have a journal with pictures.

The Jokester

Manny is becoming quite the jokester. He is really good at hiding things and hiding himself. He will hide under a blanket or under a laundry basket and wait patiently until you find him. I only sometimes hear little giggling. And he thinks he is hilarious when he does this.

He also has really caught on to the meaning of "Tada!" When we were at the library the other day he found a book he has been looking for for over a month (we checked it out one time and now he asks for it everytime we go to the library). He would not put it in the bag; he wanted to carry it around himself. We are walking around looking for other books and I turn around and he is not holding his book. "Emanuel, where is your book?" I ask in a panic. I immediately start looking around for it, asking people around us if they have seen this book. Then I hear, "TADA!" He had set it on a shelf and remembered where he had put it. He was so proud of his little joke.

Later that day he had been picking at his nose (he has had a little cold so had tons of crusties on the outside. They seemed to come back as fast as I would clean them. We were at home so I figured I didn't care--I would probably want them off, too). All of a sudden I hear, "TADA!" He has a giant, disgusting booger on his finger and looked so proud of his work, like he had been working at it all day and had finally gotten it off. Gross.

And now his latest trick is that he thinks he is a professional joke teller. It took me a long time to figure out what he was saying, but he says, "Peanut Butter. Jelly. Sandwich" and then laughs hysterically. He will say this over and over and he never gets tired of it. (I believe he told that joke to me constantly for at least 15 minutes the other night.) And he says it like it is a joke. I am really trying to capture it on video. Maybe it will be funnier if you actually hear/see it.

Tada! I have succumbed to the blogging world and now have my own blog. It's a little pathetic, I know, but turns out I am terrible at keeping a journal. And this is way better than posting everything on Facebook. And who knows, maybe I won't share this with anyone. We'll see. (Yeah right, I can't not share pictures of my cute kid. And I'm a bit of a blog junkie. I love to see how everyone is doing. I am pretty bad at keeping in touch so I almost feel like I still know people when I read their blogs. So maybe I can share, too, for those who want to know how I am doing, but don't want to call me on the phone.)