A Mishmash* of Stuff

I know, I know, all three of you have been waiting, pleading with the cosmos, checking daily for an update. I don't know how so much time has gone by.

First, here are the pumpkin carving pictures I promised a long time ago:
Scoopin' out the GUTS!

Dane designed the "face" himself.



Because Dane has shown little interest in potty-training, we decided to go ahead a buy a little potty chair (instead of the toilet seat thing that I preferred so I wouldn't have to wipe poo out of a container). He did really well with number one, but he simply would not do number two. He'd wait until we put on a diaper at night and then let loose. To be continued...

We've also had lots of snow:


Following one particularly enjoyable snow outing, Dane told us he needed to go potty:


Soon, it became apparent that he was not just going potty...

He pooped! Hooray!
Dane could finally take down the Henry engine that has been hanging in our bathroom as poop incentive for probably five months.

Then we celebrated at Chick-fil-A! What a big boy!
We've had very few problems since then. I realize that every kid is different, and that the fact that Dane is still an only child makes a difference, but I think being patient and just waiting until Dane was willing (even if he's a little older than average) made the process quite easy. Hooray for Dane!

We had a great Thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle/cousins, my grandpa, and Joel's mom. The food was delicious, the company was fun, and we almost had enough pies for every adult to have one all to themselves.
The next day, Joel's mom took us to Chick-fil-A again! It is our favorite place.

And, we saw Santa!

I was also really excited to discover that a grown up Ginny Weasley was eating lunch in the next booth:


The following day was Joel's birthday. If I were a better wife, I would have had some profound, hilarious tribute to him on the special day...but I'm not, so here's what I got:
He is so excited about this present (he asked for it, I promise)

Dane loved singing to Daddy and helping him open his presents.

Yes, Joel is wearing a tweed jacket with leather patches.
Mom also took us out to the Braza Grill, a Brazilian Churrascaria, which was a big treat. We ate a lot.

We were also able to get a Four Generations of Hoods picture:

It's not a totally direct line of four generations, since Becky had to sit in for my Dad, but it is nice nonetheless. We're glad we got to spend time with Grand Pa again; Dane hasn't seen him since he was 9 months old!



And just today, this very day, (see, now I'm all caught up), we converted Dane's crib into a toddler "big boy" bed. He is almost 39 months old. Again, not having another child who needs a crib allowed us to keep him in a bed from which he could not escape. But now that he's getting up at night to go to the bathroom, we decided it was time for him to gain some independence.

There are a lot of cuter bedding sets out there, but how could I pass up the opportunity to fill Dane with joy with the assurance of sleeping with his best toy buds every night?


He has already noiselessly come out, used the bathroom, and returned to bed once tonight.
'sigh' He is so grown up.

Finally, I want to give you even more evidence of how cute Dane is:
I was practicing my violin, and Dane figured out how he could practice violin, too.

That is a ukulele and a tube for extra violin strings. Heehee.

*There is a family in our ward named Mismash. Also, a family named Bollwinkel.

Thanksgiving and Dashing Through the Snow*

My parents came into town for Thanksgiving, which was an especially nice treat for me since I haven't had Thanksgiving with my side of the family in eight years. But having dinner with their lonely daughter wasn't their only reason for coming out. Kenji had his senior recital a couple days before Thankgiving, and he did a great job.


You might find it glaringly obvious that I, his beloved violin-playing sister, was not invited to play in this sextet. Maybe he's trying to punish more for not including more photos of him on my blog. Maybe he's just aware that I hadn't touched my violin in more months than I'd care to admit. Regardless, I was terribly offended.
Here Kenji is with his proud parents and his proud teacher.


Dane was very well-behaved during the recital and then enjoyed himself in the fountain in the lobby.

I didn't take any pictures on Thanksgiving Day, but dinner was delicious, and I successfully cooked my first turkey (with some giblet-removing help from my dad).
The next day was Joel's birthday. If I were a better wife, I would have posted a nice tribute to him on his 31st birthday. But now it's too late. But we still had a happy day together. Happy birthday, dear.
Dane also had a little run-in with my mascara.

Then came time for

SANTA RUN!!!

Shortly after my previous 5K experience, Rika said she'd be in Utah for Thanksgiving and wondered if we could run a 5K together. As I researched the options, I discovered a race in Ogden that required all runners to dress as Santa. We were in. Soon, my dad decided to run with us, and we began creating our costumes. The shirts, hats, and beards were provided. Here were are, gearing up:

You can't tell, but we had bells on our shoes.
Warming up





Here you can see all the Santas milling about:

And then, we're off!







We made it!



It was fun to run all together, though I was definitely the slowest and ended up walking a little bit. Boo. I feel like a big lame for walking at all, but it is a lot easier to think you can make it the whole way when you're sitting on a chair reminiscing than when you're actually running.
Dad got first place in the Hood bracket with 34:36.
Rika got second with 34:50.
I got third with 38:00, which is a bit of an improvement from the first time of 39:14. I tried to sprint at the end to get in under 38 minutes, but my legs disobeyed.
Mom and Kenji were good sports for hanging out in the cold cheering us on. It was a fun day.
Thanks to Kenji for being our photographer. As usual, I forgot to take a picture of him until we were having dinner afterward.

The next day, Kenji played in Music and the Spoken Word. If any of you happened to be watching, they had a close up of him for about 2 seconds. Swish.


At the famed "performers only" door #2 at the Tabernacle.


And Dane got his second-ever but first non-hideous haircut.



Joel's mom came into town, too. We all had Thanksgiving dinner together. It is fun to have both families together like that every once in a while.
That's pretty much it. I was especially thankful for family this year, and I'm grateful that so many family members were able to come and hang out.

*Please note: there was actually no snow during the dashing.