Hamilton

I have negative feelings about our soon to be president and if you are excited about him feel free to call me up and we can argue about it ad nauseum, so honestly what is the point.  Personally I think there is a 50% chance he will end up being impeached.  I see you Mike Pence just bidding your time quietly.  I do have three things to say though.  One, get your kids into coding and robots.  I don't care what the president has half the country convinced of, automation is the future and nothing is going to stop it.  So make sure sure you and your kids are ready for it.  Don't believe me, just look at how that "triumphant" Carrier Deal went down.  Two, "fake news" is not news you don't agree with.  Fake news is actually just straight up fake news.  News is suppose to be a presentation of facts. We've seen a blurring of this as we've gone more to online news presentations and blogs to receive our news.  The most innocent presentation of this is opinion pieces read as news.  Newspapers have always had opinion pieces but now they can be found on the same page as the actual news as opposed to in their own section where they are in a paper form of a newspaper.  They are usually marked as an opinion piece but I don't think people take the time to think about the fact that if you can hear the authors voice it is opinion  and should be read with a grain of salt.  The worst are stories that are just plain made up.  Because of twitter and facebook these stories can get a lot of traction.  Just because a piece says what you believe to be true, doesn't mean it is.  Check sources.  And Third, the point of this entire blog is Hamilton is so far from being "overrated" it is not funny.  You have to seriously question the judgement of anyone who who say that...sure that is just my opinion but if you want to take it as fact I'm okay with that ;)

I've been obsessed with Hamilton since last spring.  Some of my friends kept talking about it.  Andrew, Nancy and Bridget and I'm talking about you.  Good grief it got so annoying.  Why does everything have to be Hamilton, Hamilton, Hamilton.  They were constantly making Hamilton references, posting videos, or talking about how their kids were obsessed.  I've loved musical theater since I was a kid.  I think I watched Gigi 100 times the year I was 9.  It wasn't appropriate. I asked my mom why she let me watch it.  She told me I loved all things musical and she couldn't stop me.  So it isn't surprising I caved and finally put Hamilton on my Pandora.  The first song that came up dropped an F bomb.  I turned it off real quick because the kids were running around.  Andrew told me there was edited version.  I was like, great but I still just didn't get it.  Then I sat down and listened to the song Burn.  IT WAS GORGEOUS!  Seriously it was the female songs that lead me into this musical.  After Burn I listened to Helpless which lead me to my first Hamilton Facebook reference.  Then I listened to Satisfied and It's Quiet Uptown, That Would Be Enough, and Take a Break.  After I became obsessed with those songs I bought the edited CD's.  I started listening to the music while I did my lawn chores.  I fell in love with Leslie Odom's voice next.  "Talk Less, Smile More."  Aaron Burr, Sir, Wait for It, Washington on Your Side, Your Obedient Servant, The World Was Wide Enough...oh his voice is so good.  "I hear wailing in the streets, somebody tells me you'd better hide. I see Angelica and Eliza were both at his side when he died.  Death doesn't discriminate..."  Guys this musical is so good.  I often wake up with the words of one song or another going through my head, "I'm not throwing away my shot..."  I wonder what used to be in my head before Hamilton.  I must dream Hamilton.  I wish I could have seen it in New York before the original cast left but since I couldn't I'm extremely excited that my mother in law promised to get me tickets for when it comes to Utah.  It seriously will make my year.  If you like musicals, or music, or history it is definitely worth checking out.  You can listen hear for free or buy the cleaner version here. It takes a little bit of creative license but you can read all about Hamilton here if you want to know what was changed.    

Curious About the Most Popular Baby Name of 2011 or About What Your Teacher's Did With Their Free Time

How many years have I been obsessed with the baby naming site Name Voyager?  I think Bridget introduced it to me when we were in Jordan pregnant with G-Bear  So somewhere in the range of 5 1/2 years I've been following this site.  When it comes to baby naming sites it is the premier.  Forget those name books, this puts them all to shame.  You can look up names, their meanings, their trends, her blog about baby naming phenomena, where names are most popular, and good names that go with the kids names you already have.  This is just the free stuff! I've used it with three of my four children.  Even when I'm not pregnant, even when I think there is probably little more then five percent we will have any more children, I still love looking at this site.  Recently Laura posted the top 1000 names in the United States for 2011.  Seeing as I added a child that year I was definitely interested in the trends.  Her name actually happens to be on the rise...of course seeing as it isn't even close to the top 400 girls names I think it is safe to say she's not going to have to worry about sharing her name in any of her classes anytime soon.  She also did this awesome run down of some of the trends she noticed. Thanks Twilight for changing the direction of names for an entire generation.  Sort of makes me appreciate those totally ridiculous Harry Potter names.  Also how about a push for the name Nellie...I can't be the only person who finds that name adorable.  And then in NPR news there was this article about the latest partisan divide, turns out young conservative moms are the ones coming up with the crazy, I mean unique names.  The irony here being my names are getting less traditional as I get older, what does that say about me?

In non baby related news, who doesn't love a little teacher action.  As the child of a teacher I started to suspect in high school that someone would have to be a little cracked to deal with other people's minions for so little money and respect, and here's just a little more proof.  Sweater guy is by far my favorite.  For a big guy he's got some pretty smooth moves....

Infiniti JX

I'm a little bit in love with this car...although no worries, I haven't lost my mind or anything.  I know I will NEVER OWN IT :)

Favorite Swaddler, Favorite Jeans

I love Aden + Anais blankets. I found these blankets when Peach was just a small fry.  Now with Cheetah we've acquired four more.  If you love to swaddle they are the perfect blanket.  Large enough to fold in half with ample room on each wing, they keep baby wrapped up tight.  In the summer their light airy, feel makes them the perfect choice.  Swaddle baby up without getting to sweaty.  In the winter we double swaddle for that cozier feel, just like in the hospital.  The come in all kinds of adorable patterns and the muslin just looks beautiful. I use them to swaddle, as nursing and car seat covers, they are the perfect blanket to put between my daughter and her winter car seat cover, and this lovebirds blankets was absolutely gorgeous in our family pics.  You can order them online from their site or you can find them ten dollars cheaper at Target. Love them!!!!

My other favorite this week...American Eagle original boot-cut jeans with stretch.  I'm not going to lie, the baby weight is just not coming off.  I'm going to blame my lack of self control, stress eating, and the long recovery time from the c-section.  Three postpartum months in maternity jeans though was starting to really wear me down.  Thanks a lot Oprah for telling me to throw out all my fat jeans.  I didn't really want the expense of buying new pants but I just couldn't tolerate having nothing to wear any longer.  I put the call out and my friend Jamie told me to check out American Eagle.  The jeans run a little big so I can enjoy being in my "normal" size.  I love the Indigo Original boot-cut stretch.  The stretch makes them comfy enough on my scar tissue but the jeans are substantial enough not to show underwear lines and to give me a little extra support.  Plus right now all the jeans in the store and online are $10 off.  After spending hours looking at 70+ dollar jeans it was a welcome relief.  Worth checking out if you ask me.  

Somewhere Over The Rainbow...a picture overload :)

When we first moved in out new house the former owner told me about a group she belonged to.  It was MOPS or Mother's of Preschool.  I'd never heard of the group but she seemed so enthusiastic about that I ended up joining.  Twice a month I meet at a large church in my neighborhood with 90 other mothers.  Our children are split up by age and play together in large, clean, toy filled rooms where they sing and are taught a bible story.  We have been split into tables of nine that sit together every meeting.  We eat a brunch, we share mothering advice, we do crafts, play games, listen to speakers, pray together, cry together, etc.  We even have secret sisters.  It is all the things I love about Relief Society combined into an every two week occasion plus some!  Besides the formal twice monthly meetings we have lots of other play groups.  For someone new in a town it is a major blessing.  This last week one of my table mates invited a bunch of families out to her parent's home for an old fashion hayride.  My kids were so excited about it, and when it looked like rain they were so disappointed it might be cancelled.  Luckily for them the party went ahead as scheduled and we even got a rainbow for our troubles :)  I took a boat load of pictures and never got the one I hoped for, all three of my children looking at the camera, smiling for a great fall shot.  Oh well.  If you find one you enjoy in the bunch, let me know which one!

This giant rainbow was over us...it is probably a sign that I am on the internet way to often  but I kept hearing this song over and over in my head...

Jamie's dad is a family practice doctor.  Right after residency he bought this home and some ponies.  30 years later he still has a barn full of ponies and spent two hours taking kids for rides on them.  My kiddos were in HEAVEN!  GIGI loves horses.  I wish I had the time and money to get her into riding lessons.  Doesn't she just look like she'd make a lovely rodeo queen?  As for us, Dr. J and I were like, "Oh thank heaven's, there is hope after residency."  Hopefully someday in the future we can be the most awesome grandparents ever, just like Jamie's dad.

The kids had a fun time hiding behind these trees, trying to scare other kids on the hayride.  It wasn't really scary but it was cute to see.

Jamie's parent's have a little oval track and train on their property.  My kids loved it.  Peach probably rode the oval track 50 times.

Peach gets in on the horseback riding.  Only two years old but she rode like a pro.  When other mom's saw her up there they brought their little ones over for a ride as well.

Hayride...Captain E was so excited about this part.  This was the highlight of the night for E!

The train really just had an on switch but the kids loved being the one who got to drive it!

Gigi got a little crazy on the hayride.  I wish I could capture their personalities and hold onto them in my heart forever!

This is probably my favorite picture of the two kids.  I tried to get Peach in there but of course she wouldn't comply!  Kid pics for me are impossible!