Character Flawed

The big 5!

2010-09-02T07:47:00.001-06:00

Yesterday shaped up to be a pretty chaotic day, although it was better than it could have been. I ended up taking off early because of all the things we had to accomplish, in addition to all the festivities for Alyssa's birthday.

Since the "Check Engine" light came on in the Jeep (again), we were going to take it back in to the shop. But apparently they are really short handed this week so taking out the entire transmission (again) and replacing the torque converter (again) is not something they have time to finish before we need it back. Alas, we will have to work that out next week. Hopefully we can find a car to borrow (again). (Broken record? Yup.)

Matt's FOP meeting went well. They had some good information for them that (we are hoping!) will improve his work opportunities and our family situation related to his work. We are keeping our fingers crossed for that one.

While he was at his meeting, I went to my presidency meeting (thanks to Wendy and Jen letting me reschedule). We were able to make some good progress on the Primary program.

Once all those things were out of the way, we baked the cake and headed out to finally celebrate the big day.

Usually for the kids' birthdays we let them pick a place to go as a family and then what they want for dinner. This time Alyssa wanted to go to the aquarium to see the new penguin exhibit. We discovered that the middle of the day on a Wednesday is an awesome time to go. There was hardly anyone there and we could let the kids run and look at everything without having to worry about people in front or behind us getting annoyed.

The kids had a great time checking out all the tanks and exhibits. (Liam especially likes pushing all the buttons to hear the sounds the different animals make). They have added a few things like a sea turtle in the shark tank (Lyss loves turtles) and an electric eel exhibit that converts the current the eel is giving out into noise coming through a speaker. (That whole thing was very upsetting to Liam who kept wandering around saying, "What's going on?" over and over.)

BUT - the penguins are the best by far! They are incredibly active and seemed to be just as curious about us as we were about them. The girls had a great time watching them swim and dive through the tank. Several times they would stop and float right in front of the girls' faces and watch them back. I think we'll have to go back and see them again when Liam is in a more congenial mood.

Lyssa's next birthday wish was to go to McDonald's for dinner, so we stopped at one with a big play area on the way home. (Apparently a germy play-place is my kids' idea of birthday heaven.) Kenna was the only one who made a real attempt at eating her food, the other two kids could not be bothered to sit down long enough to eat more than 1 chicken (?) nugget. *Note to self: just take them to the play-place and don't bother buying dinner next time.*

We followed our usual birthday tradition of having cake and ice cream with grandma and grandpa, but this time we took the party to Grandpa Y. He hasn't been feeling so hot lately and Lyssa wanted him there so we hauled our mess to my mom's spotless kitchen. Alyssa poured about 3 pounds of sprinkles on her little cake and Kenna used the rest on the cupcakes we had for everyone else. And, like the fabulous mom I am, I forgot to grab the candles when I packed up the stuff we hauled over there so we had to make do with a match in the middle of the cake.

All in all, it was a busy (but very fun) day. When I tucked the kids in for bed last night, Lyss told me she had a great birthday and gave me a big hug.

She's an awesome kid and we love her guts. Thanks for being such a little sweetie Miss Lyss. We love you!

New wheels!

2009-09-01T22:34:00.005-06:00

My dear Miss Alyssa turned a whopping four years old today. Oh my, where has the time gone! Seems like only yesterday I was sitting in the hospital reminding the hospital staff that I had a GIRL* and that - No, even though we didn't already have a name picked out we were NOT naming her Katrina**.

Daddy took the day off so we could celebrate as a family and boy what a celebration it was!

According to our family tradition, she got to decorate her own birthday cake. (Minus the chocolate frosting and the writing...)

We're not big party people around our house so we generally just have the Grandmas and Grandpas from both sides come over for a little cake and ice cream. My Aunt and Uncle arrived at my parents' house just as they were leaving for the party, so they piled in car and came over to join in the festivities.

Kenna just couldn't resist trying to help Lyssa blow those candles out!

Liam certainly enjoyed his piece of cake. It was gone in a flash! I think the cake part ended up (mostly) in his stomach, but I'm pretty sure the majority of the frosting was on his face.

He was also eager to help Alyssa with the presents. He managed to snatch a bow before she could shoo him away.

Reading the fun card the Aunt Tanya sent. There was an audible gasp when she saw that there was money inside...and stickers too! What more could a girl want?

And the finale of the presents - Mom and Dad finally broke down and got the kid some wheels. For some reason we have been reluctant (or too lazy...whatever) to get the kids bikes, so we decided that a scooter might be the way to get both the parents and the kids used to some extra mobility.

Liam immediately made a grab for the scooter while Lyssa was trying on her helmet. Looks like more than one kid might be getting wheels this year since they are already fighting over it. (SIGH.) I forsee many hours of enduring his screams while watching her ride it around.

After everyone left and we ran a quick errand, we let Alyssa pick where she wanted to go for dinner. She picked Arctic Circle based on the fact that they have a playground (and the fact that McKenna kept encouraging her to go there). Mom and dad were less than thrilled with the choice, but the kids enjoyed it.

After we read her new book and got snuggled into bed for the night, she told me that she had a really fun birthday.

Here's wishing you many more my sweet girl...

*There was another baby with the same last name born on the same day as Lyssa in our hospital. The other family had a boy. Somehow they thought that OUR baby was the boy. They had a blue card in her bassinet and one of the pediatricians even showed up for a pre-circumcision check-up. (That was disturbing in and of itself since we certainly didn't request the procedure.) We had to convince every doctor and nurse that came to check on us during our stay that we actually had a girl.

**Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans the day after Alyssa was born. Way too many people suggested we should name her after the storm. Like I want my child to have that kind of a namesake...

Dancing Fool

2009-07-01T18:22:00.007-06:00

When we got home this afternoon I went upstairs to change clothes. When I came back down, this is what I found...

Liam had pushed the chair all the way over to the girls' computer desk, climbed up and was trying to wrestle the mouse away from Lyssa.

After I took the picture, I went back upstairs to put the camera away and heard the music on the game Lyssa was playing suddenly get LOUD. I ran back downstairs to turn it down and found Liam twiddling the knob and dancing his little heart out.

That kid cracks me up.

C is for Cookie

2009-06-18T19:34:00.005-06:00

I am ever on the quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookies. We were in the mood to make a treat for Matt today so I decided to try a new recipe. I tweaked it a little bit to suit our tastes and what I had in the pantry.

They are perfectly soft inside and just a little bit crunchy on the outside. Just the way I like them. They were good enough I think I might keep working on the recipe to get it just right.

This is the way we made them tonight:

2 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. packed dark brown sugar
1/4 c. sugar
1 (3.9 oz.) package instant chocolate pudding
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
1 c. milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl cream together the butter, brown sugar and sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 12-14 minutes.

(If you don't want the cookie itself to be chocolate, substitute vanilla pudding mix instead. That's actually what the original recipe called for, but I only had chocolate and didn't want to go to the store.)

Liam really was enjoying his cookie, despite the face he's making in the photo. He's decided giving people angry looks is a fun game. As soon as you give the look back to him, he breaks out in the giggles.

Boys are weird.

Finally!

2009-06-08T19:33:00.006-06:00

Liam is walking!

My back is loving not having to carry a 25 pound baby all around the house!

(Also...note the pot and lid - these are his new favorite toys. He carries them all around the house and has been known to cry if he is put down to sleep without them.)

Arguments

2009-05-27T06:57:00.007-06:00

This was the argument at our house after we got out of the car last night.

Kenna: "Dad, I think that bright star by the moon is Venus."
Alyssa: "No it's not."
Kenna: "Yes, it is. Right there. That one."
Alyssa: "No, it's NOT. That's a satellite."
Kenna: "No, satellites MOVE. That's not a satellite."
Alyssa: "Some satellites stay still. It's a satellite."
Kenna: "No it's not. It's VENUS. It's a planet."

They went back and forth, louder and louder. It felt a little like watching the Monty Python sketch about the African and European Swallows.

Matt leaned over to me as we finished getting all the stuff out of the car and said, "Do you think other parents have problems with their 5 and 3 year olds arguing about stuff like this?"

If they do...I pity them.

Learning the Ropes

2009-04-21T07:46:00.002-06:00

I'm still working on learning how to use the camera. Unfortunately I don't have nearly as much time to spend with it as I would like. I took a few more shots of the flowers downtown, since my lunch break seems to be the only time I can squeeze in some quality time with the camera.

Tanya had asked me to take some pictures of purple flowers for a friend of hers. I took quite a few pictures, but I didn't get any that I really loved. I definitely need more practice!

Easter Bunny

2009-04-14T07:29:00.003-06:00

Apparently my family has a tradition of doing the Easter Bunny part of Easter on the Saturday before the actual Easter holiday. Somehow I did not remember this and was reminded of it by my mother on Thursday night.

After she told me about it I thought, Wow! My parents are so smart! That makes it so much easier to "enjoy" the whole Easter basket-egg finding-gorging on candy thing and still reserve Sunday for the celebration of the religious type Easter (and not have hyper kids during Church!).

So...this year we picked up an (apparently forgotten!) Easter tradition from my family and celebrated the Easter Bunny on Saturday morning. I am now a big advocate of this approach. It was much more relaxed and fun for every one.

Some Easter basket treasures....

The Easter Bunny was cheap this year. $1 bubbles were a big hit though.

We had a little egg hunt in the backyard since I have not been able to bring myself to brave one of the city sponsored ones. I have nightmares of my children getting trampled and then coming home empty handed to boot.

Intense concentration is required when peeling an egg you are going to complain about eating about 10 minutes later.

Liam attempted to eat the egg before we had taken the shell off and managed to give himself a good schmear of blue lipstick for the rest of the day.

It was a wee tad cold outside, but so nice to have a relaxing morning to enjoy the time with the kids.

Temple Square

2009-04-13T07:40:00.002-06:00

If you have never been to Temple Square in the Spring, you are really missing out. It is absolutely lovely. They plan the gardens out in great detail and are constantly replanting to make sure there are always blooms to look at (so even if you don't go in the Spring it is still worth the time!). My kids absolutely love going up there just to look at the flowers and the waterfalls.

I was able to spend a couple of hours with the camera up there this week and this is what I came home with.

Plan a trip! It is definitely worth a couple hours if you live nearby.

Easter Message

2009-04-12T21:06:00.000-06:00

Pre-Easter Preparations

2009-04-10T06:44:00.003-06:00

Decorating Easter eggs is one of those things that strikes fear into my heart. Multi-colored dye with the potential of staining anything it touches, hanging around in liquid form, and actually meant for child participation. Scary! I feel the need to go break out the spot remover just thinking about it.

Apparently it scares Liam too.

We took precautions (note the large field of while in the photo – hooray for white plastic garbage bags!) and managed to escape without incident.

Matt got involved and made a very interesting rainbow spotted egg using the wax from a candle and soaking the egg in increasingly darker colors. Apparently the process required intense concentration…

Happy Birthday Dad

2009-04-07T07:42:00.003-06:00

Happy birthday to one of the most humble,

generous,

spiritual,

wise,

and amazing people I know.

You have been my inspiration,

my confidant, my comforter, my example,

and my friend.

I love you so much.

And I'm grateful for every minute of your 72 years

that I have been able to spend with you.

Hermana Dinner

2009-04-02T07:12:00.004-06:00

Some of the "Herms" from my mission got together at our Mission President's house for a Dominican feast last Friday.

I wasn't sure how well I would do with the food. To be honest, thinking of Dominican food kind of makes my stomach turn. Nearly 8 years later, I still cannot eat rice and beans together.

I was pleasantly surprised though. The food tasted really good to me (miracles!) most likely because of the talented ladies that made it and the great company.

Thank goodness el Presidente got the chicken foot. This one had longer claws than normal and totally freaked me out. (I woke up to chickens being slaughtered outside our bathroom window for 6 months. I will never forget the flapping sound as they hit the bucket...{shudder}.)

I wasn't the only one that enjoyed the food. Look at those clean plates!

I had a wonderful time eating and chatting with everyone. It has been way too long since I have seen most of them.

Pres. and Sis. J. were gracious and kind hosts as usual. I feel so privileged to have served with such an amazing bunch.

Thanks to Perry and Sis. J. for organizing it, especially on a night I could be there!

We've been busy...

2009-03-26T06:47:00.004-06:00

We ran to the park.

While we were there, we were treated to a new 5 year old phenomenon - POUTING. Kenna is using this new tool at every opportunity.

I am not amused.

Lyssa played while Kenna sulked.

She finally cheered up long enough to chase a remote control airplane around with about 500 other neighborhood kids that were taking advantage of the weather.

Lyssa ran her little heart out. She really wanted to catch the plane.

We had sandwiches...big ones. Lyssa showed proper etiquette by raising that dainty pinky finger every time she took a bite.

Liam played with Mom while Dad tried to get the external flash on the camera up and running. (He finally found it after several years of being hidden in a box.)

We tried out a yummy new donut place. I fell in love with the green one. I think Key Lime is one of my new favorite flavors.

We raced paper airplanes. (Bad picture of me. Yuck. But you can see the shorter hair. I was having a hard time getting the remote picture taking timed just right. Also note the amount of sincere effort the girls put into throwing those planes.) We got a chance to try out our new tripod with this picture. Yay for more camera equipment!

And we got girly. Liam escaped sans curlers, but only because his hair isn't long enough for the girls to put one in it.

Cruise - The Backstory

2009-03-18T08:26:00.008-06:00

In order to understand why this trip was such a crazy thing, I have to give a little backstory about how we even got there in the first place.

On Feb. 10th, my dad had an appointment with his oncologist. The doctor noticed that my dad’s PSA numbers were starting to rapidly jump again (from the mid 300’s to the high 700’s in a month) and let him know that they would need to start chemo again soon. He also told him that the chemo would be less effective this time, so they wouldn’t do as many treatments (3-4 instead of the 9 he had before). The only treatment available after that would be an experimental pill they are testing in Vegas that would require them to drive down there often for check-ups.

He suggested that if there was anywhere my dad wanted to go, or anything he wanted to see, he should probably go before his next appointment, because he would likely not be well enough again. His next appointment was scheduled for the 3rd of March.

So, on the way home from the appointment that day, my siblings sort of joked a little about going on a cruise - something my parents have wanted to do for quite a while - to try and lighten the mood a little. I guess at some point my sister Lori whipped out her handy iPhone and started looking around the internet for cruise deals.

I'll spare all the details on how they eventually ended up finding something, but it was sort of miraculous how it all worked out. They ended up with an itinerary that my dad had really wanted that was leaving the following Sunday.

My sister called that evening and told me about the trip. She said that they were trying to get all the siblings to go along, that it would be a great trip, etc. My heart sort of sank. I knew there was no way I could go. We wouldn't have anyone to watch the kids while Matt was at work, my passport had expired, I didn't know if I could get work off, an old friend was coming for a visit during the same week, we didn't have the money...yeah, you get the idea. I told her I wouldn't be able to go.

I mentioned it when I talked to Matt on the phone that night. But didn't really say too much because I had pretty much decided it was impossible. I didn't really think too much more about it until I got home from work on Wednesday and Matt called me. He doesn't normally call me from work unless it's something really important so when I answered I was a slightly worried. He just said, "Can you get next week off work?" and I sort of panicked inside, not sure why he would be asking. I told him him I probably could and when I asked why he said, "I've been working things out with your sister. You're going on the cruise. You need to call her right now and give her the credit card number."

I was floored. The only thing I could do was cry. I hadn't realized how much it meant to me to go until he said I was going with them. He had been working all day to get work off for the next week and to get things arranged with my sister. He said he thought I'd regret it if I didn't go and chances like this only come around once in a great while. I called my sister, gave her the information she needed, hung up the phone and then sat down on the kitchen floor and just cried. I was overwhelmed.

There were a million things running through my brain...mostly just the gratitude for my amazing husband and his willingness to sacrifice so much for me and for the amazing opportunity to spend the time with my parents and siblings.

That and I was panicking when I realized I only had three days to get everything put together.

St. Patrick would be proud...

2009-03-17T21:15:00.000-06:00

Oh boy did we celebrate! I was feeling bad that the girls didn't get to go to school and partake of all the activities today...so we decided to liven things up a little at home.

We made green pancakes for dinner (I couldn't think of anything Irish and that was the best bet for food coloring).

To be followed by green cupcakes with green frosting and green sprinkles.

I'm sure we had waaaaaay too much food coloring.

But, it had the great side effect of making Kenna forget about being sick for a couple of hours. Which means, I think she's feeling better, she's just stringing it out in order to get more "green drink". ("green drink" = Sprite - since it comes in the green bottles they think it's green, even though we've pointed out it is not green once you pour it out.)

I really hope no one else comes down with this one. I can do colds, but Sunday night was a LONG one and I have no desire to do more throw up laundry. Yuck. Plus Kenna insisting that she has to carry a bowl around everywhere is embarrassing. It's awkward to explain that at the grocery store.

Also, did I mention that Liam is tall enough to get an open yogurt container off the kitchen table?

Awesome. I love cleaning up after these munchkins.

See, this is why I don't do well with journals...

2009-03-13T06:29:00.008-06:00

So I guess I've proven that, once again, I cannot be trusted to write on a regular basis.

When I get busy, writing goes out the window.

Boo.

I suck.

It turns out that when you leave on a week long vacation with only three days notice,

things pile up while you're gone and the kids seem to want extra attention when you get home.

Who'd 'a thunk?

A recap of the vacation (with photos!) is coming. In the meantime,

here's a little of what we have been up to this week.

On Sunday morning, Liam and McKenna woke up with colds.

Blast.

Matt wasn't feeling all that hot either so he stayed home with the sickly ones

while Alyssa and I went to Church.

Monday was better. McKenna magically got over the cold in a day just in time for her best neighborhood pal Rachel, to come over and play.

They disappeared into the toy room for an hour.

It was heavenly. I actually got to cook dinner in relative peace.

Bless you Heidi for letting her stay.

Tuesday ended up being doctor day. Liam had cried all night.

(I have no idea how the girls slept through it because Matt and I sure didn't.)

He was wheezing and rattling and generally sounding terrible that morning.

Since I was going in to work late because of my own appointment anyway,

I ended up just calling in sick and then taking Liam to the doctor.

Double ear infections and RSV do not make for a happy baby.

The nebulizer treatment at the doctors office worked wonders

(WONDERS I tell you!)

though and we are now the proud owners of this fancy set up to help at home:

Albuterol inhaler and children's mask

Liam HATES it but we are finally getting sleep and wondering how we have managed so far without this. Someone finally decided that when the kid is constantly getting bad colds that go straight to his chest, he might have some asthma issues like his older sister.
Hallelujah!

Wednesday was haircut day for most of us. My sweet niece Shannon got her license a week or two ago and we were privileged to be the first in line for family haircut night.

McKenna (surprisingly) volunteered to go first.
Her request was that her hair stay long enough to still be considered princess hair (even though she knows it probably won't get as long as Rapunzel's).

Then Alyssa (not a fan of the spray bottle).

I went next, leaving about 5-6 inches on the floor, in the hopes that shorter hair would induce the beginning of spring. (No pictures until my cold sore goes away.) I'll let you know how that spring thing works out.

And Liam was last.
It took three people and a dog to get him finished.
Shannon did a phenomenal job in spite of the fact that he wouldn't hold still for more than 5 seconds at a time. (Not exaggerating.)

Thursday was date night. We actually went out to a MOVIE. And then dinner, with FRIENDS.
I wasn't sure either of those activities could still be done!

So we are sick again, but on the mend, no doubt thanks to the new fabu haircuts from Shannon. I'm getting spring fever so I hope the magic haircut works!

Birthday Boy!

2009-02-04T07:08:00.006-07:00

My baby is turning ONE today.

How did this happen so fast?

One minute he was a teeny tiny baby(okay, 9 1/2 pounds wasn't that small, but still...)

Now he's a big kid that can clap and put up his dukes on command.

He stands up (no walking yet!) and crawls like lightning (just ask Aunt Lori's dog).

I'm sad that the baby stage is so rapidly being replaced by toddlerhood!

But I love seeing how his cute little personality is coming out.

Happy Birthday Little Moose!

I know you're tired of hearing about this...

2009-01-28T21:19:00.007-07:00

This is what we've been doing the past few days. How pitiful is that face?

We ended up taking Liam back to the doctor Friday night since he couldn't keep down the antibiotic the doctor prescribed. There was a different doctor in the clinic and she told us there was no ear infection. She also said to stop taking the medicine.

I was so confused.

So was the nurse,

since she had been there the night before when we brought him in.

She suggested that we continue trying to give him the medicine.

Oooo boy.

I was even more confused.

It was a LONG weekend. And not in a good way.

His fever didn't break until late Monday. Up until then, we had to pack him around constantly. (That gets tiring when he weighs almost 26 pounds.)

The good news is, he has three new teeth to show for it. Maybe now he can chew all that real people food he's been drooling for.

This next little bit is for Aunt Tanya. It's a long time coming, but I think I finally figured out how to post this.

Kenna's Directing Debut:

p.s. thank you for all the well wishes.

the baby-sitter is coming over for a repeat tomorrow.

hopefully no one gets sick between now and then.

Ranting and Rambling...(might want to skip this post)

2009-01-23T07:14:00.005-07:00

Yesterday was not my favorite day.

My morning prayers started out asking for help to understand and complete some things I had for a big deadline at work. Let's just say, I wasn't specific enough when I asked for understanding.

I meant "please give me a light bulb moment in which everything becomes clear and I magically get all this really hard stuff done."

I got "here, let me show you how you have been doing this wrong all along and you will understand how you need to do this in the future because you will be redoing everything from the whole last year."

So my prayer was answered, but totally not what I meant.

I was tired.

The inversion made me grumpy.

And I was really mad at myself for not seeing the problem sooner.

But, at least I had a date with my hubby to look forward to.

When I got home, Liam seemed like he was breathing kind of shallow and fast. I didn't think too much of it, but I thought I ought to call the doctor anyway, just to make sure. The nurse was busy, so I made an appointment for the next day and asked that she call me back when she could.

Matt and I got ready to go out. He picked up my niece to baby-sit for us and we left.

Halfway to the restaurant, I got a call from the doctor's office. I briefly explained what was going on with Liam and they told me I had to get him checked out that night.

We ended up in the doctor's office at 7:45. (Who knew they were open so late?) Turns out the poor kid had an ear infection and fever of 102.5 by the time we got him all checked out.

Next stop - Walgreens for the prescription. I've never been to a Walgreens before. I don't know that I'll go back. They kind of scare me.

Matt took my niece home while I got the kids medicated and in bed. (Lyssa still has a cough and Liam needed to take his prescription for the ear.)

Little did we know, the night was just starting. Between Alyssa and Liam, we were making trips upstairs about every 10 minutes. Liam was fussing and coughing. At one point, he threw up all over everything, completely covering himself and me. Lyssa was whimpering and crying all night. How is that not supposed to break your heart? I hate it when they are sick.

After another doctor's visit this morning, we found out Alyssa's ears are both infected.

We have so much medication in our fridge.

I have had enough. SERIOUSLY.

Also, I want a do-over on the date night. Doctor's offices are not fun places for dates.

Inversion Fun!

2009-01-22T06:23:00.006-07:00

Here in Utah, we have this really fun thing called an Inversion. It's awesome. Here's what it looks like outside right now.

See that haze? It's so bad, it looks like fog. Let's think about that for a second - SMOG that is thick enough to look like FOG.

Lovely.

A friend and I walked about 2 blocks to lunch yesterday. By the time we got back, my head was pounding, I was dizzy and my lungs burned.

Apparently it's so bad, that it is "now unhealthy for the general public." NICE.

If I didn't I have funny kids to keep me entertained while we're cooped up in the house I might be even more disturbed by this.

The other day, Alyssa and I were in the kitchen making some Aebelskivers for breakfast. We were talking about what we were putting into the bowls, what happens when you beat egg whites, etc. when out of the blue she says, "Mom, I only kiss boys I love."

So I said, "Oh really? Have you kissed anyone?"

She tilted her head to the side, thought about it for a second and said, "Yes."

Okay, for starters, this came totally out of the blue. Smack in the middle of the egg white conversation we were having. Also, she's three. I thought we wouldn't be having this discussion until at least 14.

"Oh? Who have you kissed?"

She scrunched up her face and thought for another second, "Well....a rebel storm trooper....and...Luke. Luke Skywalker."

I think we're going to be telling Daddy, no more Star Wars movies for a while.

Inaguaration Day

2009-01-20T20:23:00.003-07:00

I really wanted to watch the inauguration today. Too bad work has to interrupt my TV viewing schedule. I did get to see snippets of it when I was at my parents' house this evening. (Sidenote: Is it just me or does Obama sort of sound like a preacher? Something about the intonation he uses and the inflection in his voice.)

I was amazed at the number of people that turned out for the actual ceremony. It will be interesting to see what he does with all the support he has right now. Because of the way Obama sold his ticket on the campaign trail, it seems like he is sort of the people's last hope for government to prove that they are trustworthy and will come through on their promises. He has made so many promises and instilled that Hope into so many I just wonder - what happens if he can't follow through?

I don't envy his position. What a weight to carry on the shoulders of one man! Although he has great power, he can't follow through on anything without many other people supporting laws and bills the way they are written. Is it wrong to put all of the responsibility for getting it done squarely on his shoulders?

Wrong or not, it appears that the entire country, and much of the rest of the world, is now looking to him to solve a LOT of big problems. As much as I disagree with some of his politics, I sincerely hope that he is able to follow through. I pray for him, and those that surround him, to have the strength, insight and support that they need to effect the changes we need to get back on our feet.

Weekend projects and picture blow-out

2009-01-20T06:24:00.008-07:00

Whew! It was so nice to have a good long weekend at home to work on some projects. I could have used a few more days, but it's amazing how much of a difference even one extra day at home can make with my motivation to undertake a project.

I bought some letters for the kids rooms waaaaay back in October and they have been sitting in the basement bugging me to finish them ever since. Saturday morning I gave in and hauled them out of their hiding place.

Here is what the girls' names look like all finished and hanging on the wall:

Detail on the letters.
Here are the planets we made a while back, hung up on the ceiling.

I did get Liam's done as well, but it was late in the evening and the sick kiddies wanted snuggles instead of pictures.

Yes...sick again. Seriously. My mom even commented the other day that it seems like we have been sick for the last 6 months straight. I am on a campaign to rid the house of whatever germs are at the root of it. I have been busting out the bleach at every opportunity. I will win eventually!

The weekend also brought a new tooth for Liam (FINALLY!). He's up to 3, all on the bottom, and only two weeks shy of his first birthday. He almost did as well as I did...I didn't get my first tooth until 13 months.

Here he is showing off some of his amazing new skills:

(Check out the very sick sister in the background.

Asthma + bad chest cold = miserable Lyssa)

And since I finally found my camera cable, here a few more pictures from happier and less sick days.

Matt's Birthday

Playing with the dress-ups they got for Christmas. Check out the pirate hook on Lyssa's hand.

The tutus I made them for Christmas are a big hit.

Happy Lyssa

Liam making faces.

Kenna being a ballerina.

Goofing off with the camera, making faces.

Liam attacked us while we were playing.

Tired McKenna, still snuggling with Hippo.

(Hippo has been her best friend and constant companion since she could hold on to her.)

We're going to party today!

2009-01-13T06:51:00.013-07:00

The kids and I spent all of yesterday evening getting ready for today's big celebration. We made a cake, hung streamers, blew up balloons and wrapped presents.

All to celebrate the one who does so much to take care of us and make us happy.

Happy Birthday to my sweetheart.

I hope we can make this birthday a special one.

Pedophobia

2009-01-12T06:16:00.004-07:00

I had my first opportunity to teach my new Primary class yesterday.

Before I tell you how it went let me just add a little back story.

I don't relate well to little kids. I never have. Even when I was a little kid. I spent a lot of time with adults, and I LIKED it. A lot.

So this 'relating to children' thing is a bit of a mystery to me. Turns out, it's a pretty helpful skill to have when you need to get 10 kids to sit down and listen to you for an hour.

The other thing is-surprise, surprise-we have a sick baby at our house so I was 'functioning' on very little sleep.

With those things in mind, here is how the day started.

I stumbled out of bed at about 8:15 (we have 9:00 Church) when Alyssa woke everyone up with her screaming. Something about running into the wall and hitting her head.

I vaguely remember getting Liam out of the crib and taking the girls downstairs to try and find something to eat. There was a lot of crying and a lot of yelling.

"Put our waffles on one big white plate so we can share!"
"DADADADADADA"
"You didn't put butter on them!"
"MAMAMAMAMA"
"MOM, Lyssa dropped a piece of her waffle on the FLOOR."

ETC.

Meanwhile, I was trying to get breakfast for myself, review my lesson again, and pull together every one's clothes.

Yes, this is the kind of organization you would see in our house most Sunday mornings. And yes, I am ashamed.

I made it to Church with the girls about 10 minutes late (Matt stayed home with Liam). I had planned on going over the lesson a time or two more during Sacrament Meeting, but I got interested in the talks and forgot. (That and a little boy sitting behind us threw up halfway through. Yikes.)

As soon as Sacrament Meeting was over, the panic set in. (Why do I get more nervous teaching 10 Five-year-olds than I do teaching a room of adult women?)

I went to Sharing Time. We were so busy trying to keep the kids' shoes on, ties on, backsides in chairs and eyes focused that it was over in a heartbeat.

Oh the fear! (And five-year-olds sense fear.)

My mind went blank.

I was sweating.

And then...

IT WAS OVER.

I only vaguely remember teaching the lesson. I told a couple stories, asked some questions, sang a song (poorly) and we colored. At least I think that's what happened. It's kind of a blur at this point. (I'm adding blurring memories to my list of blessings.)

I do remember that the Sister who teaches the class with me is amazing. She kept both me and the kids on track.

This whole Primary thing will definitely be one of my trials this year. (I'm sure one of many...) But for the first time, and kind of in spite of myself, I'm actually excited to be in this class. I'm not completely sure why (probably just because I'm masochistic like that) but I'm just going to go with it.

p.s. Pedophobia - Fear of children

p.p.s. I will post pictures as soon as I find the cable to my camera. Apparently, the card reader in my OLD computer will not read the new SD card I got for the camera.

p.p.p.s. Have I mentioned that I really (really) like parenthesis? (Like REALLY.)

Return with Honor

2009-01-09T06:26:00.004-07:00

It is always so nice to see friends that have been away for a long time.

Especially when those friends have been in places like Afghanistan.

One of our dear friends got back from his year long assignment in Afghanistan on Saturday. Oh what a relief to see him home safe and sound!

The girls were ecstatic. He has been a treasured playmate of theirs for a long time. Kenna had been asking me just a couple of weeks ago why he never came over to visit anymore. What a great surprise!

We were able to have a good (albeit short) visit with him last night. It was so interesting to hear about all the things he has been doing. It was kind of strange though, hearing about things that up until that point, I had only read about in newspapers or heard on TV. As he shared some of his experiences, the whole abstract concept of a far away war that I had in my head was shattered by the reality of hearing about it first hand. It was very sobering.

Regardless of whether or not we agree with the reasoning behind the war, we should honor the people that are willing to serve their country, wherever they are called to go, and in whatever capacity they serve in.

Pray for these amazing people!

Hard habit to break

2009-01-07T17:44:00.005-07:00

I have a bad habit.

(Actually, I have several, but that's beside the point.)

The one I'm referencing this go around is my tendency to continually put things off once I feel like I'm behind. I'm not sure how this helps exactly...maybe I think that I'll get around to catching up at some point...but the longer I wait the harder it is to do that.

So here I am, REALLY behind in posting and I keep putting it off because so much happened that I feel too far behind to catch up.

But seeing as how this is the time of year for making changes and resolutions, I'm going to attempt to change this bad habit (again!) and hopefully make it stick.

Here is the abbreviated version of December 2008:

I became a great aunt. (She is SOOO CUTE!)
Much to our pocketbook's dismay, we had to replace our water heater. But oh how nice the new one is!
Liam figured out crawling and is starting to pull himself up on things. Scary.
Matt graduated from college!! He had a double major - one in Criminal Law, one in Psychology. (MUCH REJOICING ENSUED)
The girls had their Christmas dance recital.
Kenna had her preschool Christmas program.
I crafted my heart out trying to finish baby gifts and Christmas presents.
For the first time since we've been married, we took time off work around Christmas. All we did was hang out at home and do Christmas type things with the kids, but we loved it!
Matt dug us out of the 4 foot high snow drifts in our driveway on Christmas day. (Have I mentioned we've had a lot of snow lately?)
I got a new Church calling.
Two weeks later I got another new calling.
Major work stress. (Gotta love budget cuts...)

Now that I've gotten all that out of the way, hopefully I won't fall back into procrastinator mode.

But feel free to slap me around a little if I do.

Mix-it-Up Monday: Advent Calendar

2008-12-01T21:06:00.005-07:00

The countdown to Christmas has started at our house. (Of course the kids have been counting down since before Halloween...)

In order to quell some of the incessant questions about how many more days are left, I decided we'd try our hands at an advent calendar. In all the ideas I looked at, this one seemed the most suited to the age and skill levels of my kids (let's be honest, we're really talking about MY skill level, aren't we?).

I started with some left over cardboard boxes we had in the garage, cut the longer sides off, and measured to get 6 rows of 4 columns that were roughly equal. Then poked a hole at the intersection of each set of lines and covered the whole thing with paper. (We used tissue paper, but only because I couldn't find the wrapping paper.)

Then we poked holes in the bottom of Dixie cups, put a brad through them, then through the hole in the cardboard and fastened them in the back.

I had the girls put candy in each cup (leftover Halloween candy we're getting rid of, yay!) making sure that each one fit below the lip of the cup.

Then we cut out small squares of tissue paper, wrote numbers on them (couldn't find my number stamps...) and secured them to the lip of the cups by rubbing glue stick all around the rim.

We got to poke open the number 1 tonight after dinner. The girls loved it!

All in all, it was pretty simple and inexpensive to put together, and wouldn't have taken much time if I had been able to find all my supplies that are currently buried in boxes somewhere.

Now I at least have something to point to when they ask me how many more days are left!

2008-11-28T19:21:00.001-07:00

So funny...

Tagged

2008-11-25T22:10:00.002-07:00

SuburbiaMom tagged me for this a while back. I just realized I never did it.

OOPS.

7 things that I can do:
Fix 'owies' with a kiss
Crochet
MULTITASK
Say no
Cook without a recipe
My job
Be kind

7 things I cannot do:
Be patient
Be perfect
Keep my kids quiet in Church
Be home as much as I would like
Heal loved ones
Get enough sleep
Decorate

7 things I say often:
SHHHHHHH!
Wait your turn.
I can't understand you when you're whining.
Amen.
Are you kidding me?
Any word from the committee yet?
PFD did what?! (Just for Karen...)

7 things I plan to do before I die:
Travel extensively
Go back to school for at least a Master's degree
RETIRE
Learn to throw pottery
Read voraciously
Go to culinary school
Pursue photography

7 things that attract me to Matt:
His eyes
The way he holds me when I'm sad
How he interacts with our children
His thoughtfulness
How he understands what I need before I do
His intellect
His selflessness

7 favorite foods:
Chocolate
Mashed Potatoes
Mom's Pineapple Pie
Matt's Marinated Steak
My Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
Reuben Sandwiches
A really good salad

7 people who I would like to do this

(but only if they want to...):
Carrie
Heather
Anji
Jamie
Tanya
Tyra
Lori

Mix-it-Up Monday: Bead Bracelets

2008-11-24T21:47:00.000-07:00

We did this project on Saturday and the girls had lots of fun with it. (Mom and Dad not so much, but that mostly had to do with the number of times we picked tiny beads up off the floor.)

I purchased some inexpensive beads (a different bag for each child - no fighting!) and stretchy string, all for under $5. We put each bag of beads in a small bowl, tied a bead at the bottom of a length of string for each of them and let them go to it.

(I'm sharing pictures only if you agree not to judge me for the fact that they still have their pajamas on and it was like...3 in the afternoon when we did this.)

Lyssa showing off her final product.

It was easy, cheap and entertaining.

Liam suggested push-ups for next week's activity. We're still in negotiations...

In which I realize how fast two weeks passes...

2008-11-20T19:49:00.005-07:00

Has it really been two weeks since I posted last? That sure went by fast. I have been absorbed with snuggling sick and/or cranky babies. Try as I might, I just couldn’t pull myself away from them. (Okay, I didn’t try that hard because seriously which is better: sitting at a computer or kissing their chubby little cheeks?)

But now they are feeling better and don’t need mom’s attention quite so much, I can give a run down on what we’ve been up to.

Voting: What a wonderful opportunity to participate in an historic election! I was lucky enough to get to the polls when there were absolutely no lines. (I tend to take my time voting so it was really nice not to have someone oozing impatience breathing down my neck this time.) I must say that overall I’m impressed with the general public and their interest in the races. I think more people actually took the time to educate themselves, not only on the presidential candidates, but the candidates for their local offices as well. Although my candidate didn’t win, I am always grateful that we have a chance to cast our vote. (And I am grateful that we can hear about something besides politics in the news now. Two years is an AWFUL long campaign season.)

Anniversary: Matt and I celebrated our EIGHTH anniversary. (Although my dad keeps asking me if I’m sure it’s really eight years and not five. When I remind him that I have a five year old and I had her AFTER I had been married for a while, he just shakes his head like he thinks I’m crazy.) We went out of town for a night while my parents took the kids. I forgot what sweet BLISS it is to be able to sleep in as late as I want to, and what wonders a full night of rest can do for the dark circles under my eyes. We didn’t get to do the things we had planned because of the inclement weather, but it turned out better because of it. Matt surprised me with a trip to the jewelry store to pick out a new ring. We couldn’t find exactly what he had in mind, but found these that have some sentimental significance.

We had a nice lazy, relaxing time. It was honestly probably one of the best anniversaries we’ve had. I love him more everyday.

November Family FHE: Every month my entire family gets together for a big family home evening. This month it was collecting the walnuts under a neighbors’ tree and cleaning them up. It was fun to get to see everyone, as always. We were able to put mom and dad’s new back porch to good use as a walnut cleaning station and cafeteria for the soup and hot chocolate. Dad and Liam took a little nap together on the couch. I wish I had had my camera there to snap a shot. They looked so cute together with their little bald noggins poking out of the blanket they were snuggled in. I love seeing the two of them together.

Speaking of Cameras…a long time ago I coveted a camera that was just coming out on the market. I mean REALLY REALLY coveted. My sweet hubby suggested that I use it as a motivational tool to help me reach some goals I was in the process of setting. (I must apologize to him for my original hostility toward the idea. Sometimes that psychology degree of his gets really annoying when he’s right.) So guess what…I reached my initial goal and now I’m the proud owner of THIS baby. I took it out for a spin during my lunch hour at work one day and had a lot of fun trying out all the features. Here are a couple of the results:

I’m still trying to figure it all out, but I’m hoping the quality of our family photos will improve (as well as the quantity) once I learn how to use it.

Mix it up Monday: We made our tent:

We turned off the lights and gave them flashlights to keep them entertained for a couple hours. Somehow every toy and activity seemed more intriguing to them if it was performed under the cover of a blanket tent. I think we’ll be doing this more often. I’ll also resume doing the mix-it-ups next week. We have a few projects in mind to try out.

This week has found us shuttling McKenna to various birthday parties and trying to comfort Alyssa when she had the misfortune of having to stay home with mom. It has been good for McKenna to have some time with her friends. It's just hard for the little one left behind. While McKenna was gone last night she kept erupting in tears while saying, "I miss McKenna!" (Basically the same routine we go through every night except substitute 'Daddy' instead of 'McKenna'.) Funny how she doesn't seem to like her quite so much when she's home.

That's pretty much it for the most part. I'll spare you the details on the newest sickness that has plagued our house. I'm just hoping someday we will be able to go disease free for at least a couple of weeks in a row. We're all going stir crazy locked up in here!

Mix-it-Up Monday: Blanket Tent

2008-11-03T22:46:00.000-07:00

The kids had lots of fun with the pumpkins this week. I didn't actually get pictures of us carving them though. OOPS. But that aside, our approach this year was a little more successful than years past.

The girls actually dove in and helped clean out their own pumpkins this year, something they have refused vehemently in years past. I don't know what magically changed about it this year, but hey, I'll take it.

The other thing we did differently was having them draw what they wanted their pumpkins to look like on a piece of paper for us before we drew the face on the pumpkin itself. Everyone was happier with the results (the Girls because their pumpkins were closer to what they actually wanted and Mom and Dad because there was less whining and crying).

All in all, really fun.

The only sad part was that we didn't get to eat Matt's amazing pumpkin seeds this year. They got a little more toasty than we had planned...like BLACK toasty.

So...the plans for this week. We're going to make a big tent out of all the blankets and chairs we can find. (And I'm not going to make a fuss about it or get after them to clean it up.) I've shown the kids how to do this a couple times in the past, but it didn't work out the best with the kitchen stools and the small blankets. This time we're breaking out all the blankets in the linen closet and going to town. And if they can handle it, I just might let them sleep there.

Halloween!

2008-11-01T11:02:00.000-06:00

Wow! What a wonderful Halloween this year.

The weather MADE it. It's the only year I can remember that the kids didn't need a coat. It's so depressing to get the kids all dressed up and then have to cover them up with a big bulky winter coat. They loved, loved, LOVED being able to actually show off their costumes.

Matt also had the night off for the first Halloween since we've had kids old enough to go Trick-or-Treating. It made the whole evening a lot easier. I have always packed up and taken the kids to Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood before. That way if one of the kids got tired halfway through or if we had a baby we could leave them with Grandma while the other one got to finish. This time, Dad got to take them out while I passed out candy with Liam.

It was our first experience trick or treating in the new neighborhood. I'm so glad that they still do the house to house thing here. Trunk-or-Treats make me sad. A big part of the fun on Halloween for me was getting to go to the different houses. The best part about it now is that the kids burn off some of the extra sugar by walking around. Definitely makes it easier to get them to sleep on Halloween night.

Par-tay!

2008-10-30T06:28:00.005-06:00

I can finally grab a spare minute to post an update on some of the fun stuff we did this last weekend. And BOY HOWDY was there a lot of stuff.

Friday (the 24th):

I went out to lunch with Tanya and the in-laws. We went to one of my favorite little places here in town called Les Madelines. (Seriously, if any of you are ever in town and are the "foodie" type, you have to go here. Also, if you like pastries, it's a bakery and they have something called Kouing Aman that is SO. AMAZING.) I really love their food; it's light and healthy (well...minus the pastry part) and just plain yummy.

I headed straight for home after we finished, and it was a good thing! There was still a lot we needed to do before the party.

~~~~~~~~
This is where I report that the kids didn't think helping me get ready for the party was all that fun - unless it was the part where we made the cakes for the kids to decorate - and that they fought me all week about it. My take-away lesson for that Mix-it-Up idea? Don't try to teach them how to clean the whole house and get ready for a party all in the same week. (I know you saw that coming, why didn't you tell me?) We learned some really valuable things from it though (like they can help more than I thought they could), so I think it was worth it in the end.
~~~~~~~~

I have a tendency to sort of freeze up and do nothing when I get really stressed. Since I had a lot on my mind with work and other family stuff, not even including the party and birthday, I think I froze up most of the week and didn't get things accomplished like I wanted to. When Tanya got to the house, the panic had just set in where I knew I wouldn't be able to get it all done in time. Lucky for me she saved my booty. I am not overstating this - SHE WAS MY LIFESAVER.

While we were busy getting everything ready, Matt headed to the doctor to get a small cyst taken off his shoulder. (Nothing serious, just irritating.) They ended up having to make a decent sized hole to get the thing out, so he was pretty sore once he got back (and the numbness wore off).

When the kids arrived, the first thing we did was this:

Balloon release, Nienie style...complete with wishes attached.

It was so much fun! They got into it way more than I thought they would and sort of turned the whole thing into a balloon race.

Then we decorated cakes. Somehow this has turned into one of our birthday traditions. We always make a small cake for the birthday kid and let them decorate it with whatever they want. Our girls have LOVED it and look forward to it every birthday, so we decided to share the love.

Some of the kids getting ready to decorate.

My niece, Harlie, with her completed cake. This pose was so cute, I couldn't resist posting the picture!

Somewhere in there our couch broke. When Matt pulled it away from the wall to assess the damage we discovered that it came with an extra accessory we didn't know about. Our first clue was a blade sticking out of the back of it about 3 inches. Apparently a set of scissors got sewn into it when it was being made. Matt was able to fix the couch though and (BONUS!) we got a new set of scissors out of the whole deal. Too bad there is a big slit in the back of the couch where we had to cut to get them the rest of the way out.

All the kids.

All in all, it was a great time. The kids stayed around a little while and played down in the basement while the adults got to talk. My little social butterfly loved her party and I loved having it over so I don't have to worry about it any more!

That's enough of an update from me for one day. More to come!

Mix-it-Up Monday: Carving Pumpkins

2008-10-27T09:38:00.003-06:00

I'm going to have to post a report later on all the happenings of the party and the weekend...they were many and I don't have time to write them all up at the moment. I'm still recovering...

I do have to say one thing about it now though and that is a big ol' THANK YOU to my sister-in-law Tanya. I could not have survived everything without her and her generous help in innumerable ways. She helped me clean, take care of kids, decorate (actually, she did that one single handedly), take pictures, organize and contain party goers, take the kids out for a fun day, and many other things that let me survive the crazy weekend we had. (The woman actually gave me flowers too after everything else she did to help me...how amazing is she? PRETTY DARN AMAZING.)

For now...there will be a lot of activities this week, seeing as how it is both birthday week and Halloween. But our activity of choice for the Mix-it-Up is going to be carving pumpkins since it's not obligatory, but will add to the festivities of both occasions.

I'll get updates on last week's "project" as well as our busy and fun weekend posted later.

I'm going crazy, would you like to come along?

2008-10-23T06:23:00.009-06:00

Let's talk about how yesterday went, shall we? (I need the therapy...)

(I'm not even going mention what happened at work yesterday because this would turn into an ANGRY ANGRY rant. But know that it sucked and I was justifiably grumpy.)

On the way home from the place that shall not be named, I drove around a LARGE parking lot for 20 minutes looking for our other car. (Matt and I normally have to switch cars in the middle of the day since only one has all three car seats in it right now.) He was teaching a training class at a place I had never been before. He had called earlier and told me right where to find the car...and I couldn't find it. Bah. Brain? What is that?

By the time I finally DID fid it, I was late picking the kids up. (Can you say SLACKER MOM?)Normally we just trade off the kids when we trade cars, but since he was working all morning, my parents had them. Thankfully they are AWESOME and were just chillin' with the kids when I got there.

I had to drag the girls kicking and screaming out to the car (can you tell that they love grandma and grandpa's house?). That is always so much fun! And then there was the crying and whining all the way home about why they can't just live at grandma's house because she is sooooo much nicer than me. Fabulous.

Just to add to the joy, Liam decided to practice his annoying little brother skills on the ride home. When I went to take the kids out of the car, he had a big handful of McKenna's hair. Her precious "princess hair" that she LOVES. LOVES.(Now I know why she was whining and crying!) You're treading on thin ice, kid.

I lugged everyone into the house while trying to talk to my mother-in-law on the phone. As soon as we walked in the door, I dropped all 10 bags I was carrying (fortunately I managed not to drop the baby!) and COLLAPSED onto the couch long enough to finish the last 2 minutes of the phone call. The whole time, Alyssa was crying and Liam was waving his fistful of hair triumphantly in Kenna's face, making her scream about her princess hair being all gone. Awesome.

Matt called the second I hung up from talking to his mom. So while we were chatting, I changed clothes and took the kids coats and shoes off (more crying and whining). I took the butter out of the fridge for the cakes I ABSOLUTELY needed to make that night and set it on the counter. As we kept talking, he arrived at his regular work building and said something like, "As long as you remembered to get my uniform out of the back of the Jeep..."

OH #*&$%!

(I didn't actually swear, but I so wanted to...)

So...I changed clothes AGAIN (can't wear PJs to his work...and yes I changed into my pajamas at 5:30), put the kids' coats and shoes on AGAIN and dragged everyone and everything back out to the car. We took Matt his uniform, sat through the lovely rush hour traffic, and finally arrived back home an hour after we left.

I was DONE.

The kids didn't get a bath...I don't think I even remembered to brush their teeth.

The cakes did not get made like they were supposed to. In fact, as far as I know, the butter is still sitting on the counter.

Like I said...CRAZY.

I think I'm going to go read yesterday's post again...

Oh, and thanks to Jon and Kate Plus 8 commercials for the post title. I can't even handle 3 I have no idea how they handle 8.

Mother Mercies

2008-10-22T06:13:00.013-06:00

Growing up, I was not one of those girls that always wanted to be a mom. I mean, I always assumed that I would grow up, get married, and have children, but it wasn't something that I actively thought about or planned for. (Honestly, I'm not sure exactly what I was planning for. Maybe that part of my personality didn't develop until later...)

I didn't really enjoy playing house, I didn't like playing with dolls all that much, and I definitely didn't like taking care of any children I wasn't related to.

So fast forward about 15 years and here I am with 3 kids of my own. I would not put myself in the "great mom" category. Don't get me wrong. I take care of my kids. I feed them. I clothe them. I play with them. I love them. But I always feel like I'm missing out on the Deep Meaning of it all. Like somehow I'm just skimming the surface of being a mother and what all that means.

Some of it probably has to do with the fact that I work. I don't want to, I have to. I have missed out on a lot of the "mom" things because of it. I don't have as many opportunities to bond with my children with the short amount of time we have together.

Some of it definitely has to do with how much alone-in-my-head time I tend to take. (I'm working on that...)

I'm not exactly sure what the rest of it is...but it probably has something to do with the amount of sleep that I (don't) get and the fact that I'm pretty selfish. (Ouch. But it's true.)

Every once in a while I get a glimpse of what I imagine other mothers feel about their children all the time. I had a taste of those true Mother feelings last night. And it was so simple, but so very sweet.

After I put the girls to bed, I went downstairs with the baby to finish getting him fed and changed so I could put him to bed as well. When we finished that, I played with him for a few minutes and then scooped him up in my arms to take him upstairs to bed. As I walked up the stairs with his warm little body snuggled up to me, I had an overwhelming feeling of love for this sweet baby boy and his big sisters. I just could. not. bear. to put him down. I felt like I wanted hold and snuggle with him forever. I sat with him in the rocker by his bed and just tried to savor every tiny detail about how it felt.

As we rocked, this article called "Surviving on the Mercies of Motherhood" came to mind. You really should read the whole thing, but I'll quote the gist of it:

So here's my theory: Heavenly Father knew how challenging motherhood would
be for each of us—physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. So He sends us
“mother mercies.” You know the moments—the ones that sneak up on you and make you smile or laugh—or teary-eyed. It’s like the time I caught a whiff of my five-year-old and realized he’d put on his daddy’s deodorant that morning. Or when he used to pray nightly, “Please bless that morning will come in five minutes.” It’s the time I found a bar of soap in my bathroom with one (and only one) set of teeth marks in it. Or when my preschooler asked me, “Why did Jesus cover our bones with skin?”

Perhaps these little mercies are like the pauses between our contractions of
motherhood—the moments that make us say, “Oh yeah. I really love this mothering
stuff.”

Think about it—what an interesting phenomenon—in our very hardest moments of mothering, Heavenly Father sends us these little flashes of reprieve to help us keep going with a smile. True, we have diapers and back-talking and tantrums and spills, but we also get kisses and first steps and stick-figure drawings and hand-pulled bouquets.

Look for the Mother Mercies in your own life. I promise they will pop up everywhere—when your toddler trips the alarm at the library (like mine did) or when he pours pop down the bowling alley lane (yes, mine) or when you find your envious child stripped down to his nothings at the park, staring longingly through the fence into the city pool (Whose kid is that? Oh, it’s mine). The Mother Mercies are always there. Don’t miss them!

One Sunday while I was juggling my three little ones, an older sister in my ward leaned over and said, “This will all end someday, believe me.” To which I
replied, “Oh don’t tell me that! I’m having so much fun.” Who knew that doing
something so hard could bring me so much happiness? And just like the finale of
childbirth, I’m hopeful that this mothering thing—this exhausting labor of
love—will someday bring us joy we could never comprehend was possible.

This is what I had last night. One of those tender moments that makes you realize what the whole thing is about. A very sweet Mother Mercy that let me see how much I really do love these amazing children and how very very blessed I am to have them.

I do LOVE being a mom and I think I'm finally starting to understand what that means...

Punkin' Pickin'

2008-10-21T06:12:00.006-06:00

Daddy and his girls.

Last Friday we went on our annual trip to the local farmer's to pick punkins. (For some reason I cannot get my kids to say puMPkin correctly. It always comes out punkin.) We started going to a nearby patch when Kenna was just tiny and they have always loved it. It has been a fun family tradition that the kids look forward to every year.

Gratuitous cute baby picture.

This time we went to a different spot. There is a grower a little bit closer to our house. They have a lot of tractors for the kids to play on and take pictures with, as well as a small corn maze. (Which we didn't get to go through because Alyssa was being CRANKY. I hate the transition phase between nap and no nap. This child does not handle it well.)

See... CRANKY

It seemed like the girls picked up every pumpkin they could carry. We ended up with more than we needed, but it was so fun to watch the kids run from row to row checking out all the pumpkins to find just the perfect one (or five...). Liam and I hung out while Matt chased McKenna and Alyssa around the patch and hauled everything back to the wheelbarrow.

Debating the virtues of the 20th pumpkin they've looked at in 3 minutes...

Attempt at a self portrait. Not as good at it as NieNie.

My husband is the photographer...but I always end up taking the pictures.

Go figure. I just want my kids to know that I actually showed up.

I really liked this new place. Mostly because instead of actually weighing the pumpkins here like they did at the patch we've been to before, there were just a couple of teenage boys standing there eyeing people's wheelbarrows and haggling between themselves about how much to charge. I'm not sure if there was any rhyme or reason to it. When it was our turn, the one kid looked in the wheelbarrow and gave us a price. The other one was still trying to tally things up as we paid, got our change and walked away. Let's just say that we ended up paying a lot less than we have in the past. Always a bonus...

Look! A smile!

I had to hand Liam off to dad for a minute. That kid is HEAVY.
He was so excited to be there he could hardly contain himself.

Our haul.

As soon as we get them carved, we are officially ready for Halloween.

Let's just get the birthday party out of the way first.

(Have I mentioned how I don't like parties?)

Mix-it-Up Monday: Birthday Party

2008-10-20T06:41:00.011-06:00

I am the kind of person that composes all these FABULOUS blog posts in my head...and then promptly forgets them as soon as I sit down to the computer.

So BELIEVE ME, I had a bunch of amazing and witty things ready to write. They were all phrased perfectly and would have rocked your socks. Except that I couldn't get them out of my head and into the computer before they disappeared. (Once your kids grow up, do you get your brain back?)

Just use your imagination and I'm sure this will turn out great...

Last week we painted planets...here's what it looked like:

Getting Started

Works in Progress

This is what Liam did while we painted

Mostly done

They are now in the garage with some layers of clear coat added. Once they all dry, I'll put up another picture of them in their final resting place - on the girls' bedroom ceiling.

What we learned:

This should be common sense, but cover EVERYTHING. Especially if you have a younger child participating. McKenna did okay, but Alyssa got paint on the kitchen chair. RED paint. Thankfully Matt got paint that came off fairly easily.
We got wooden balls instead of Styrofoam. If you do this, drill a hole in them before trying to screw in the little eye-hooks. The wood is too hard for eye-hooks this small and the tips just end up twisting off.
Have something that can hold the ball while you paint and while the paint dries. Matt used to paint miniature statues, so he had a lot of do-dads that helped with this. The larger balls had a small flat spot on top, so if you weren't able to find anything you could set them on this for most of the painting.
Glow in the Dark paint makes them even more fun. After the kids finished painting the main part of the planets, we went back and touched them all up with glow in the dark paint. It will make them a little more entertaining, especially since they will be hanging from the ceiling in their room.

This has a been a really fun way to teach the kids more about the solar system. It has helped them to recognize each planet by the color and size and to know their proper order.
Thanks to my awesome hubby for coming up with such a great idea.

This week's activity: a BIRTHDAY PARTY. (Have I mentioned how much I hate parties?) This is a big deal for us, we've never really done one before and we actually have cousins coming this time. We have a lot to get ready, so I'm going to have the kids help me out with all the little things we need to do. Hopefully after helping pitch in with the work, they'll appreciate the party a little more!

Funky Town

2008-10-16T07:00:00.004-06:00

My heart was heavy yesterday. It was one of those days when I just can't seem to get myself out of a funk, mostly because I'm preoccupied with how I got in the funk in the first place.

I'm one of those people that worries way too much about what other people think. And although I've repeatedly tried to get over this, it just doesn't seem to be in my nature. It kills me to think that someone might not like me, or might think that I am unkind or anything like unto it. I OBSESS over it. (Ask my husband...he'll probably roll his eyes like, "Do you even KNOW this woman? OF COURSE.") I just hate thinking that I am the cause for someone else's discomfort or hurt feelings.

So I was pretty much locked in my brain most of yesterday worrying about a situation of this sort and thinking about how it really bugs me that this stuff really bugs me. (Sounds like fun, huh.) Especially in this particular situation where it seems like there really isn't anything I can do about it. No matter what I say, I don't think it will change anything.

UGH.

I hate that pit of despair feeling that seems to make your whole body depressed. It felt like my whole evening was in slow motion. (p.s. Folding laundry in slow motion is a drag.)

My children did little to encourage the funk to lift. Usually, they are pretty good at cheering me up (especially the baby!), but I guess they didn't get the memo that mommy needed happy kids. (It doesn't help that at least half the house has been sick with something for at least the last, oh...six weeks? And that we're still struggling through it.) The girls did alright, but they seemed extra prone to sibling squabbles and WHINING. (Mom's biggest pet peeve. Yay.)

Liam was cranky all evening. Those stubborn teeth refuse to give the poor thing a break. I could not do anything to make him happy for longer than 10 minutes. I had planned on finishing one of my big (secret) projects that has been taking all of my spare time for the last month, but alas, it was not to be. He wanted me to try to hold him all night while he tried to wiggle away. We ended up vegging on the couch during the "debate" because I just COULD NOT TAKE ANY MORE. At least that numbed my senses for a little while. (Is it bad that watching those two speak makes me so uncomfortable that I have to get up and leave the room every few minutes? I am physically incapable of watching either one of them for extended periods of time.)

So yeah...my night was a BLAST. I still haven't gotten the funk to lift completely, but at least it is a little better due to my Amazing (!!!!) Mom and Sis-in-Law. They gave me some good ideas for the birthday party. Now I can finally get an e-mail out since I finally have an idea what we're going to do (e-mails count as invitations, shut up).

Sorry for being such a downer. Hope I didn't offend anyone. Or hurt any feelings...

Here we go again...

We'll have to talk about my phobia of parties later. I'm sure it will come up again soon.

Mix-it-Up Monday: Planets

2008-10-13T05:58:00.005-06:00

This is how the week 'o sidewalk chalk went:

We spent nearly every afternoon outside drawing away. It was awesome - and it was a good low key sort of option for a week where all of us have been feeling a little crappy.

Not really a whole lot to report here. Basically just give the kids the bucket of chalk and let them go to town.

Unfortunately, all the drawings got washed away by the SNOW that feel Saturday night and most of yesterday. (I'm SO not ready for Snow. Let me enjoy FALL first please!)

For the activity this week, we are going to paint planets. The plan is to get small Styrofoam or wooden balls, some inexpensive paints and brushes, and some little hooks so we can hang them from the ceiling in their room. (My kids are kind of obsessed with planets and whatnot, so Matt came up with the idea.) This one should be something they will really enjoy, even if it's a lot of work for mom and dad!

Mix-it-Up Monday: Sidewalk Chalk

2008-10-06T22:09:00.004-06:00

Is it possible for snot to find it's way up into your skull? Because seriously...that's the only logical explanation for how stuffed up my head has been for the last few days. Ugh. So please excuse me for being absent. I've actually had stuff to write about, but I haven't been able to form a coherent thought due to the abundance of SNOT.

We finished our Clean-up Cards from last week and they WORK LIKE A CHARM. Here is what we did:

The girls and I sat down together and decided what we needed to have cards for. We picked toy "groups" (i.e. Books, Balls, Ponies, Stuffed Animals, etc.), but you could do it by color, shape, anything that would help your munchkins and be fitting for their ages. (I could even see doing multiple versions of the cards by the different categorizations, just to keep things interesting.)
I drew pictures of some representative items on one side of the index card (I SUCK at drawing so don't judge!) and wrote the toy group on the other side. (I thought about finding some coloring book type pictures on the internet for this part, but our printer is attached to the computer that doesn't have the internet. This was easier.)
McKenna and Alyssa colored all the pictures I drew and as they colored we talked about what they would need to pick up for each card they colored.

Some of the finished cards

After that, I explained one more time (for the benefit of the three year old, mostly) and turned them loose. Guess what? IT WORKED! No crying and complaining. No, "I'm too tired to clean up" or "MOM, can you come clean this up". It was AWESOME. I highly recommend this activity - it's the gift that keeps on giving! Thanks Suburbiamom!

This week: SIDEWALK CHALK. I am going to let the kids thoroughly COVER the driveway and sidewalk. They love to draw and we all need to get out and enjoy the fresh (FALL!) air.

Kids say WHAT?

2008-10-01T06:22:00.005-06:00

As I was driving home from picking the kids up yesterday, Kenna was singing me a cute little Halloween song that she learned in school. After she finished, I told her what a great job she did and asked her if she had sung the song for daddy. She said, "Yes...but I don't think he was listening to me." When I asked her why, she said, "Because he didn't say anything when I finished." I thought it was really funny, and somewhat surprising, that she would pick up on something like that. Especially since she doesn't usually slow down enough to listen to anyone else if she's in the spotlight.

Kids continue to surprise and amaze me. I really don't think we as parents give them enough credit for how perceptive they can be. They are constantly watching and trying to figure everything out; it's almost like you can see the little wheels turning in their heads. There are so many times when they have repeated something I have said, when I was positive they hadn't been listening to me when I said it. (OOPS.)

It definitely makes me recognize that I need to be careful about what I say and do. There's nothing worse than hearing some of your own shining parenting moments come back out of your child's mouth when they are playing house.

Of course...I would know NOTHING about that.

NOTHING. AT. ALL.

To completely change the subject so as to distract from my less than perfect parenting:
I got some new workout videos in the mail on Monday. I've tried them out for the last couple days and HOLY. COW. All of the sudden I went from feeling like I could be a back up dancer in a music video (from these videos) to feeling like a completely uncoordinated idiot (takes me a while to learn the new routines). That and I woke up this morning wondering where all these new muscles came from, and WHY ARE THEY SO SORE?! I'm walking around like I just got off a horse. I like them though. Very energetic, up beat and FUN. If you like kickboxing/dancing kind of stuff, so far I think they're worth it.

Mix-it-up Monday: Clean up Cards

2008-09-29T06:39:00.004-06:00

I have been reminded again this week of how incredibly uncooperative kids can be sometimes. Remember how I talked about putting together a poster this week as our activity we were going to try? Um...yeah. This is how far we got:

Please note that the drawings haven't been glued to the posters yet. *sigh*

So while we (or at least I) tried really hard to get the posters finished, it just didn't happen last week. We're going to keep working at it this week though. Hopefully we'll have finished products to show in a day or two. A couple of pointers if you decide to do something like this:

Give them something specific to draw. When we first started out, I told them to draw pictures of some of their favorite things. I got whole sheets of paper back with tiny little drawings on them. In the end I gave them half sheets of paper and told them to fill it up with a specific favorite thing (favorite color, food, animal, toy, etc.). It worked a LOT better.
For smaller kids with short attention spans, do one drawing and then come back to do another one later. I just could not keep Alyssa focused on drawing for any length of time (even though she will sit and do that by herself ALL DAY long). Plus, I wanted it to be fun so I wasn't going to tie her to her chair and force her to sit there until they were all finished (even if I wanted to at times...)
Keep the magazine pictures to a minimum if you choose to use them. I really wanted the girls to be able to draw out their own items rather than just look them up in the books. For some things, we will come back to the magazines, but I feel like they are getting more out of the activity if they actually get to draw the items themselves. Plus, it's difficult to find all the right items in the magazines, depending on your supply.

It really has been a fun activity though. It's a good way to get to know your kids' likes and dislikes, even if you think you already know. I was surprised with a few of the things they picked, and a few of the things they didn't pick.

Although we didn't finish...at least we didn't completely tank. With Saturday's trip to the Zoo, we still managed to fit in an activity that we haven't done for a while.

This week's activity: Making the clean up cards described on my friend SuburbiaMom's blog, HERE (scroll down to: #2 Toy Card Game). I'm looking for anything to get the kids excited about cleaning up. Hopefully this will do it!

Did you try something new this week? If you did, let us know what it was and how it turned out!

Talk to the Animals

2008-09-28T21:59:00.005-06:00

This weekend we had a chance to talk to all sorts of wild animals. After we got all our work (okay, MOST of our work) done on Saturday morning, we made an impromptu visit to the Zoo. We didn't pick the best day to go. The place was packed with people since they had their annual fund raiser that morning. But the weather was nice and we got to see quite a bit in the short amount of time we had.

Matt with the kids by the giraffes. (The giraffe

walked right behind his head just as I snapped the picture.

One of the guides showing the girls a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach.

(Yes, the ones they ate on Fear Factor. Yes, Alyssa actually touched it.)

Me, McKenna and Liam on the train

Matt and Alyssa on the train

The girls had a great time, minus the part about not seeing a hippo. (Kenna was really disappointed.) We did get to see the white alligator though. A good opportunity since I guess he is going home to Louisiana next week and there are only 10 of them in the world. The rest of the weekend was filled with this animal....

I am teething! My gums hurt...

Showing off the new teeth he sprouted about a week ago...

We had a great weekend!

Splash Park

2008-09-25T07:21:00.010-06:00

I love it when Matt's sister Tanya comes for a visit for lots of reasons. One of them is that we get to do fun things like this:

Erin, Harley, and McKenna

When Aunt Tanya came to town about a month ago, we took a bunch of the cousins to a near-by splash park. We had such a great time!

Kenna and Lyssa chillin' in the sun

It was a perfectly warm and cloudless day. The water was cold, but it didn't seem to bother the kids too much, especially the boys. They spent almost three hours running around in all the different fountains, splashing each other, and sunning themselves on the warm concrete.

Jerem, Alyssa, Liam and Matt playing with the fountains

Logan, Jerem, Tanya and Erin

Kenna, Jerem, Logan, Erin, Alyssa, Harley and Liam getting warm

Even Liam got in on the fun. He didn't like the cold water very much, but he was happy to be carted around and be close to where all the action was with the other kids.

I had never been to a splash park like this before, but I certainly want to go again. It works out much better than the pool since I have a hard time keeping track of all three kids by myself. (I REALLY need to get the kids signed up for swimming lessons next summer...)

Thanks for getting us all together Tanya! We've always got a place for you whenever you can come visit!

Ring any bells?

2008-09-23T19:19:00.004-06:00

We were treated to some especially good news today. Dad has been responding so well to the chemotherapy that he gets a break! His PSA is down several hundred points (to 250!) and the lump in his neck is completely gone.

As a tradition in the hospital where he receives his treatments, outgoing patients get to ring the bell on the day of their last chemo treatment and everyone cheers for them as they head out the door.

Ring-a-ding!

We are looking forward to seeing some hair covering up that bald noggin' for the winter time. (He and Liam are going to have a race to see who can grow hair the fastest!)

Guinea Pigs

2008-09-23T06:14:00.004-06:00

My parents were the unwitting subjects of one of my culinary experiments last night. I had called them on Sunday to see if they wanted to come over for dinner. But my sister Lori beat me to the punch (Curses!) so we had to take a raincheck until last night.

Wonderful people that they are, they consented to try a new recipe I came up with, but that might have more to do with the fact that their kitchen is currently being torn up (to install new tile!) and they can't get to their appliances to make their own food. Either that or the irresistible pull of grandchildren, take your pick.

While Grandma and I chatted and cooked, the girls dragged Grandpa around the house and up to their room. Apparently they told him all kinds of stories about the planets like how Mercury and Venus ran away to get married. How sordid! (They have been a little obsessed with planets lately. Kenna even had her own "Planet Day" a few weeks ago where we were only allowed to do planet related things all day. We didn't get to go to the "Plantearian" like she wanted, but we did watch our Planet documentary DVDs and she drew planet pictures ALL DAY.) Poor Grandpa.

We had won tons made with ground turkey, baked instead of fried. They turned out pretty well if I do say so myself. There are a few minor tweaks that I will make to the recipe (thanks for the suggestions mom!) but I will definitely make them again. It was a good change from the normal routine, and Alyssa scarfed them down (it's a major accomplishment to get her to eat anything these days).

After dinner, the girls insisted on Grandma and Grandpa staying long enough to watch a movie. We picked one of the Wallace and Grommit shorts, during which Kenna acted as a play-by-play announcer and built-in laugh track. (Her giggle is so contagious!) By the time it was over, it was getting late and Grandma and Grandpa had to go. We were sad for them to leave (i.e. the girls SOBBED as they watched them drive away) but happy to have them come over.

I'm so glad that we live close. The girls ADORE them and I miss them so much when they are away.

Besides...who else would have agreed to be my guinea pigs?

Mix-it-Up Monday

2008-09-22T08:25:00.006-06:00

Matt made some bread with the kids while I was at Church yesterday. (Really...can they PLEASE get over all these illnesses already?) It was so nice to come home to the smell of nice warm bread and the girls loved being able to do something new and show off their handiwork. It kind of solidified an idea I've had bouncing around in my brain for a little while.

A little while ago I brought up how extremely boring I am as a mom. As we have been trying harder to plan more activities and projects for the kids, I have noticed how much we are all enjoying the extra FUN time together. It has been so good for all of us to get out of our comfort zone and try some new things.

So here's the idea...Every week, I want to do a project or an activity with the kids. On Mondays I'm going to be posting our activity/project idea for the week in an effort to make sure I follow through due to the threat of public embarrassment. If you want to come along with us we're always happy to have company. If you have any ideas you've tried or want to try, we could certainly use some of those!

This week we're going to let each child make a poster about themselves...with pictures, drawings, whatever they want to put on it that has something to do with them. I was able to get a bunch of old magazines from my sister that I plan on letting them go through and cut up to find some pictures, as well as letting them pick some of their favorites of themselves from the ones we've taken.

We'll post some pictures when we're done. Do the same if you end up doing the project as well, and let us know so we can come take a look!

Fall Cleaning

2008-09-20T21:50:00.005-06:00

There is something about the Fall that inspires that "Spring Cleaning" feeling in me just as much as the Springtime does. As the whether has cooled off a little, I've been feeling the need to clean things out and get the house in order. And as usual, there is always more to get done than we have time at home together for. In an effort to make a small dent in all the projects, we had to divide and conquer.

I was finally able to get Liam's 6 month pictures taken today (shut up, I know he's 7 months old...he's been sick.) He was kind of tired by the time they got around to actually getting him in front of a camera, so he was a little more reserved than his normal smiley, talkative self, but they still turned out pretty well. We had to alter plans a little bit since Lyssa is still nursing her cough and (as we found out with YET ANOTHER DOCTOR VISIT yesterday) a sinus infection. I will have to get her 3 year pictures done later, hopefully in the next couple weeks.

Matt stayed home with the girls to work on getting the garage fixed up. When we purchased the house, we were so excited that the garage was already built out with shelves on both sides. Great, we thought, a place to put Stuff. Turns out when you have a place to put Stuff, you can't park both cars in the garage and still get the doors open. This is a problem with three small kids that you have to get in and out of both cars every day. So, some of the shelves on one side of the garage are going away and of course, all the boxes and Stuff that is still piled on the floor of the other side of the garage must be gone through and put away. (Shut up...I know we've lived in the house over a year. Don't you still have boxes you haven't unpacked?)

The Stuff (note the Jeep parked OUTSIDE the garage...)

He took a bunch of boxes in the house so the girls helpfully unpacked and put away some of the books while daddy was busy with the power tools outside. He was able to get the shelves that are staying reworked and one of the sections that needed to go removed. Lots of progress!

In true daddy fashion, he purchased ice cream for his little workers. The Scary Ice Cream Van that cruises around our neighborhood looking for children to ~~abduct~~ sell ice cream to happened to drive by while they were out working. (Seriously, have you seen these? Large 15 passenger van with some stickers slapped on the side and annoying music...looking all suspicious and child predator-y? I refuse to go outside when I can hear it nearby.) But the kids loved the ice cream, as evidenced by the fact that they were COVERED in it when I got home. There were a few other projects that got started - getting the food storage organized after case lot month, cleaning out the kids drawers of clothes that are too small, cleaning out the boxes from the garage - but for one reason or another we couldn't get finished. (It would be so nice to have at least one whole day we could both be home all day together!) Hopefully the Fall Cleaning bug sticks around long enough for us to get the rest of our projects done!

p.s. I TOTALLY forgot to post this on Saturday night after I got sidetracked while trying to upload the pictures...I AM A DORK.

I have a friend!

2008-09-19T06:34:00.008-06:00

I saw this over HERE the other day and had to share it (if only so no one thinks I'm off my rocker when I start singing it). Listen to the whole thing and really pay attention to the words...I promise it's worth it.

(Check out the guy rockin' it in his blue shoes and orange guitar...and the guy in the group of background singers that looks completely ashamed to be there.)

When you get done go HERE and read all the comments. Also very funny.

Three going on Thirteen

2008-09-18T05:59:00.008-06:00

Alyssa has acquired quite the attitude - perhaps it's because she turned THREE a couple weeks ago (how do they grow up so fast!) .

Some of her recent comments:

Said in the most pitiful, little kid voice you can imagine: "Daddy...*sniffle*...do you have something I could use to wipe my tears away?"

After being told to go get her socks so we could help her put her tennis shoes on when she wanted to wear her sandals: "But that's not the POINT."

Holding her Cabbage Patch Baby and walking up to daddy while he's doing the dishes: "This is my baby. Her no like you. Her spits at you. Pffft."

After being reprimanded for being mean to her sister: "I don't want to live with you any more Mommy." Then when I asked her who she wanted to live with then she says, "With you. I don't want to live anywhere else. WAAAAAH!"

After being told she couldn't have a cookie unless she finished her dinner, "You're the meanest mommy ever!" (I really didn't think I would hear this until she was at least 10...surprise!)

Whenever she's mad at McKenna for something: "SISA!" (She can say "Sister" perfectly fine, but when she's angry it gets shortened to this...)

For such a petite little thing, she definitely knows how to hold her own. Her sister has felt her wrath on more than one occasion; especially since she has an uncanny knack for knowing just how to push people's buttons and Kenna is usually the victim. (This frightens me...I am not looking forward to her teenage years with anything resembling JOY.) She has also mastered the fine art of sucking up (especially to daddy) complete with batting eyelashes, hugs, and anything else she thinks might butter you up.

Most of the time though, she is sweet and happy and willingly plays whatever role Kenna has assigned to her in their make-believe world of choice for that day. Her starring roles include Luke (from Star Wars), R2-D2, Darth Vader, the prince (from any random assortment of fairy tales), the stereotypical villain (from whatever story they happen to be obsessed with at that moment) and many others. (Should I be concerned that she generally plays "the bad guy" or even "the guy" for that matter?)

She loves to dance and sing, draw and color, play with her "cash dollar" (otherwise known as a cash register), and play on the computer. Cooking is a favorite as well. We can always expect her to climb up on the stool and ask to help whenever we are making something...even if it is cereal. She is amazing at puzzles and obsesses over them. Her giggle is infectious and her curiosity is insatiable.

We have greatly enjoyed these three years of getting to know her, and hope to have many more.

We love you, Bug!

I'm baaaaaaack...

2008-09-17T06:05:00.018-06:00

What a crazy few weeks it has been! Wanting to leave the post about Stephanie and the auctions at the top of the blog for a little while has been a good excuse for focusing on some other things.

We seem to have been plagued by sickness...Four visits to the doctor in one month! Kenna was in once for a foot we thought might have been broken (X-rays were clear!). Alyssa was in once for a nasty cough. We found out she has some asthma that makes the cough deeper and stick around longer (still has it despite the prescription). And Liam has been in twice, once for an eye infection (eeew, goopy green eye) and on Monday for an ear infection. The last time we were in the doctor's office (Monday), I asked our pediatrician whether they had a frequent flyer program. Sadly, NO. And even more sadly he said that even if they did, we wouldn't qualify. I would have thought for sure we qualify for SOMETHING. Boo. Guess not. Needless to say, we would like to stay away from the doctor's office for a while as we generally only visit for well child check-ups.

Work has also been kicking. my. trash. (WARNING - Boring work content ahead...) The first couple weeks of September are the busiest (and most stressful) of the whole year in my particular line of work. We outline all our projects and budget for the following year. Given the volume of work (real estate purchases and construction mainly) and funding that we deal with, it is a major undertaking. To make the matter more difficult, this year we absorbed another portion of the United States into the area we work with, so we had to establish all new baseline numbers for our performance measures. There are around 35-40 pages worth of numbers to fill out. (Each number can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours to put together.) I have been glued to the phone and my desk for two weeks trying to gather all the information. As soon as I turned in my plan last Friday, I heaved a huge sigh of relief that the whole process was (mostly) over again for another year. It felt good to finally detach myself from the phone and the desk chair and not have anything work related to worry about over the weekend!

Friday evening some of us girls had a chance to get together again for dinner. This time Jamie was able to come with us. It was so great to see her! I very much enjoy spending time with these women. (We missed you Shauna!) You would never know that we had spent so much time apart since we talk like there's no tomorrow! We were at the restaurant for nearly 4 hours and I didn't even notice. It has been so much fun finding out what everyone has been up to.

By the way, I could use suggestions for a restaurant that will tolerate 5-6 rowdy 30-something females since I'll be planning the next dinner. (p.s. must have Diet Coke for Shelly)

A little help?

2008-08-27T20:40:00.005-06:00

Last time I posted I talked a little about some folks that are in desperate need of some assistance, both of the spiritual kind and the temporal kind. Looks like the internet is banding together to help out this wonderful family that has touched so many lives.

They have declared tomorrow Nie Nie Day and several websites and readers of Stephanie's Blog are donating items to help contribute to her and Christian's recovery fund.

I have made a little donation of my own (see above picture) and hope that you will go take a look the all the amazing items up for auction.

It's a chance to reach out and help some people that have truly made themselves a force for good.

Go check it out!

Savor the moment

2008-08-20T15:40:00.008-06:00

Just so you know...Having a brood of sick children is detrimental to blogging.

I know, I know...it comes as a big surprise. After all, you should be able to just sit and wipe a snotty nose here and there or give a hug or two and everyone should be happy vegetating on the couch. You would think that would leave plenty of time for internet surfing and blog typing. Not so, my friend.

It pretty much sucks the life out of you and anyone else that haplessly wanders by.

So much so that YOU get sick.

And then there's no one there to wipe your nose and give you a hug and WHY IN THE WORLD would they let you sit on the couch and vegetate when they all feel better and have been cooped up in the house for a week and a half.

And you start feeling very sorry for yourself...

And then...

Things happen to remind you how you should be grateful for all these snot covered moments.

I don't know if you blog stalk like I do, but there are quite a few that I like to read when I have the time. A couple of those are C Jane and her sister Nienie.

This last weekend Nienie and her husband were in a horrible plane crash. The pilot passed away shortly after arriving at the hospital and Nienie (Stephanie) and her husband (Christian) are suffering from serious burns among other things.

There's more to the story if you care to follow the links, but it has effected me more than I would have thought (since I've never actually met them).

It has raised so many questions in my mind: What would I do if something like that happened to me, or Matt...or both of us? So many questions, and not enough answers. I have pondered a lot about their situation and their little family and me heart goes out to them and all those that love them. How quickly life changes...

As I was thinking about them and the questions their situation has brought to my mind, I got a text message from my brother-in-law.

It appears that the excitement about the kidney transplant for Angie was premature. Matt's little brother Aaron is no longer a match...which means we are searching for a donor again. It's tough news to take, especially after she has come so far and done so much knowing that a kidney was waiting for her as soon as she was well enough.

It is still sinking in.

Out of the few coherent thoughts that I've had about it all, I'm most keenly aware that life is a very precious, very delicate thing. And sometimes it takes things like these to remind us of it.

Every moment is one that we should savor...

...even if it's covered in snot.

Family Reunion

2008-08-10T18:41:00.004-06:00

We had our big ol' family reunion this weekend with all my dad's brothers and sisters. I was able to see several aunts, uncles and cousins that I haven't seen for a long time. It's amazing how much everyone changes in a year!

I spent most of the time wrangling the rugrats. But I did get to talk to some nieces and nephews that I haven’t chatted with for a while to get caught up on their news. Some of the biggest headlines in the immediate family:

Mandy is expecting baby #1 (a girl!) and is due in December.

Stefanie is engaged! She and Tyson are getting married December 20th. (Looks like December is going to be a big month!)

Shannon and Shantel are almost done with their respective schooling endeavors. And my sister Jill is just starting up.

Lyssa sat and nursed this bottle of bug juice for about 15 minutes. (Good thing we took it out of the paper bag!)
Check out how red her cheeks are. They were playing so hard!

Mom spent some of the time with Grandma to get some people in old family photos identified. (Check out the set up they’ve got there. A digital photo frame and 3 laptops…poor almost 96 year old grandma was a little over-whelmed!) It was such a cute picture seeing the two of them together trying to figure out who everyone was.

We ended with the traditional water fight (the girls had fun dumping water on each other as you can see in the photos). You should see how fast people can move when that water starts to fly.

It was just a nice relaxing day to hang out and catch up with everyone.

Check-ups

2008-08-08T23:28:00.002-06:00

We took the kids in to the doctor for their regular check-ups this afternoon.

Is it crazy to anyone besides me that 6 month old Liam is only 7 pounds lighter than his almost 3 year old sister?

Anyway...everyone is healthy. Liam will NOT have to wear a helmet after all. Such a relief! It only would have been for 6 weeks, but oh what a long 6 weeks it would have been.

Shots were traumatic...more for McKenna than for Liam (Alyssa lucked out this go 'round). Heavens, you would have thought they cut her leg off. She gingerly coaxes her pants over each band aid every time she goes to the bathroom. Liam just cried for a half second and it was over. This just goes to further prove that girls equal DRAMA.

And after we gave them shots...we left all three of them with my poor niece to baby sit for the night. At least we gave them Tylenol before we left.

p.s. We had such a fun night out. Tried out a new restaurant, went miniature golfing and ended the night watching the fireworks at the state fair on the way home. I could get used to this Friday nights off thing.

First Day of School!

2008-08-07T06:37:00.000-06:00

Monday we took the girls to their preschool open house. Aside from Kenna being upset that her classroom wasn't the right color (OH TRAGEDY!) it was a big success. The teachers seemed very capable, the staff was nice and the school is new and clean.

School starts today. They were so excited yesterday they could hardly keep still. All afternoon they were bombarding me with questions about school, mostly consisting of stuff like:

"Mom, when do I go to school again?"
"If I go to sleep right now can I go to school when I wake up?"
"Why can't I go to school right now?"
"Why can't I go to school every day?"
ETC.

I'm excited for them too...but this is one of the days it REALLY sucks (more than normal) to be a working mom. I won't be there to send them off this morning. And that kind of breaks my heart a little. I want to be there to get them all dressed up and do their hair and cry as I wave from the doorway and all the other silly sappy stuff that moms are supposed to do on the first day of school.

Not that Matt isn't completely capable...(minus the hair part, although I did remind him to brush it before I left this morning). And maybe they won't even care that I wasn't there this morning.

But my babies are growing up...

And it makes me sad...

Because I feel like I'm missing a lot if it...

I just hope that someday they can understand why we've had to do things the way we do and how hard we've tried to make their childhood the best experience we can.

And...that I can take advantage of all the moments that we DO have together. They are over way too soon.

Update

2008-08-06T19:33:00.001-06:00

We got some great news today...

They are going to move ahead with my sister-in-law's kidney transplant!

She has been waiting so long and has worked so hard accomplish all the things they told her she had to be able to do before they would do the surgery.

She had to learn to walk and talk again after two strokes almost took her from us a couple of years ago. If you had seen her then and could see her now, you would not believe the amazing progress she has made.

And now, it looks like they are going to give her a transplant date in a couple of weeks.

All I can think of to say is...WAHOO!!

Cinema in the Park

2008-08-03T22:20:00.007-06:00

Well, the night out at the movies was a big hit. The kids all had a great time...

although you might not guess that about Liam from the picture...

It was such a nice evening. The weather even cooperated.

We had a big blanket, plenty of popcorn and enough excitement about the whole

thing that the kids actually stayed up for the whole movie.

(Quite the accomplishment considering it didn't end until about 11:15

and they normally go to bed at 7:30.)

We're up for some more adventures.

Thanks to everybody for their suggestions. We're going to be trying out

some of them soon. If anyone wants to come along or has something planned

we'd love the company!

Any ideas?

2008-08-01T06:12:00.005-06:00

I have a confession to make.

You see, it's not like I started out with this in mind. I just turned around one day and there it was, staring me in the face.

I am a supremely boring mom.

We don't get out much (or you know, EVER). But I have a lot of (mostly) good excuses - Matt isn't home in the evening, I'm not home during the day, I'm pooped by the time I get home from work, housework needs to be done, the baby is too ~~little~~ young, blah, blah, blah.

But I see so many other moms doing this stuff and how fast my little ones are growing up and I think that those excuses won't mean SQUAT in 10 years when I finally make the time, but my kids no longer want to hang out with me.

So I'm turning over a new leaf. Starting with taking them to the movie in the park tonight - by myself, and WAY past bedtime (my rules are already flying out the window!).

But after that I need IDEAS. See, I'm not a very creative person, I don't know where all the cool hang outs are like splash parks and museums and farms and stuff.

So I'm begging...I know you guys all do amazing and fun things with your kids all the time. So fess up. Share your ideas for fun family outings - whether you're close-by or not.

I need all the help I can get!

Slip of the...slip

2008-07-31T06:24:00.006-06:00

Yesterday started off like any other day.

Alarm goes off at 4:24. I stumble over to the dresser, mash the snooze button and crawl back to bed.

Repeat at 4:33.

Repeat at 4:42.

At 4:51, the alarm goes off again. Since I now have 9 minutes to get ready before I have to head out the door, I make a beeline to the bathroom and get ready as quick as possible.

At 5:07, I pull out of the garage and head to work.

Everything continued in the normal routine (minus some mysterious head cold that attacked me half way through the day) until I got home with the kids in the afternoon.

Now, I'm sure this is a sight to behold anyway...picture a mom of three in her work clothes (knee length skirt and nylons of course). She has, count them, 4 bags of varying sizes on her right shoulder and is trying to get a baby carrier, complete with a 21 pound 6-month old baby, out of a Jeep with a lift kit. (Also a copious number of commas at her disposal...) As she is occupied with this, the other two children run across the yard to check for ripe tomatoes.

This poor haggard mother (pity me!) lugs the carrier (HEAVY) and the massive amounts of luggage (AWKWARD) toward the other children, waving at the neighbor driving by while calling to the kids to come in the house. As she turns around to walk in the house with said burdens, she notices a strange restrictive feeling about the middle of her calves and looks down.

Her slip is pooled around her ankles.

And the neighbor was a witness.

No wonder they put their house up for sale.

Aside from The Great Embarrassment, this evening was great. Matt's dad and aunt (probably my favorite of them all) came over with some strawberry pie. The kids about keeled over with excitement (we don't get many visitors at our house) and had to show them every trick in their repertoire and every toy in their collection. We had a nice chat (in between the "flip overs" and zoo of stuffed animals that paraded through the room). They are just plain good people and fun to talk to.

Happy Birthday Sis!

2008-07-30T12:08:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday to my big sis who is:

the most organized person I know

also one of the most selfless and giving

a clean freak (in a good way)

a great travel buddy

fun

a life saver

a great friend!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LORI!

p.s. this is the only picture I had.

don't hate me.

:o)

Some days...

2008-07-25T13:30:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Mom

2008-07-23T06:57:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday to:

the most supportive friend

the best cheerleader

a great motivational speaker

the definition of selflessness

patience embodied

McKenna's best friend in the whole world

and

the best mom we could have ever asked for.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

Girls' Night Out

2008-07-22T05:49:00.007-06:00

I went out with three old friends last night.

I have to admit, I was a little worried how it would work out. There is something very scary about meeting up with people that you haven't seen for a long time...Especially since I arrived at the restaurant before anyone else and had enough time to wonder if anyone else was coming.

But really...it turned out to be one of the best evenings I've had for a long time.

Since I moved around so much as a kid, I really missed growing up with the same group of friends my whole life. This is the closest I get to having that kind of relationship. There's just something really...refreshing...about being with people that have known you for a really long time...especially if they can still pretend to like you.

We got caught up on what everyone has been doing, shared pictures, laughed about dumb stuff we did when we were little, found out what other people we knew have been up to and just generally had a great time. Looking at us talking and laughing at the table, you wouldn't have known that we haven't seen other for 8-13 years. (And according to our waiter, you wouldn't have known that we were all in our 30's either. Such a nice boy.)

(We even took some cheesy pictures at the restaurant. You can see them here on Anji's blog.)

Thanks to Shelly for getting us all together!

What will $25 get you?

2008-07-17T21:23:00.000-06:00

6 gallons of gas....or....this...

SICK AND WRONG

(at least it was a good watermelon...it better have been for that kind of money)

That is all.

Memory Lane

2008-07-16T09:38:00.003-06:00

My friend Heather had this on her blog (strangely enough, she got it from HER friend Heather...) and it looked like it might be fun!

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Okay, fess up people (all 2 of you that might read this!)...anything funny, strange, cool, embarrassing, or awful you remember about me??

Back from the edge...

2008-07-15T06:34:00.010-06:00

I have had a revelation...[cue dramatic music]...the craziness is not getting much better. BUT...I think that things have calmed down enough for me to add the reading and writing of blogs back into the routine. I have found that the craziness doesn't get to me quite as much when I have a writing outlet. So here I am, (hopefully) back to stay.

I've scrapped all the catch up posts. I don't have the heart (or the memory) to go back and finish them all, so this is the list of what may or may not have keeping me busy the past couple of months:

Matt's weird work schedule (which has now been resolved, not really to our liking, but at least it's workable)
Matt's school (now finished, WAHOO!)
Planting a garden (picked our first tomatoes yesterday)
Many doctor's appointments for Liam (hopefully this one will get resolved soon...it makes me so sad to go up to Primary Children's.)
The girls' tumbling recital
Getting our medical records stolen (don't go to the U of U clinics)
Trying to finish a quilt (so very close....)
Matt's many required training classes for work (ugh, I thought we were past needing a baby sitter during the day)
Fixing a broken lawnmower (why would the place that sells the parts be closed on a Saturday and then have to special order - not the main spindle - but the screws and washers that hold it in place?)
Camping
A niece's baptism (Congrats Erin!)
Finding several old friends (I now like Facebook...)
Various coughs, colds, flus and other fun things
Sending my Mom-in-Law to Washington DC for her internship
Worrying about my Dad being sick with Pneumonia
Swimming our new little pool with the kiddies
Playing Hi-ho Cherry-O NON STOP (WHY OH WHY did I buy that game?)
Potty training (I think we're finally there...)
And oh, I think I'll stop there so I don't bore everyone to tears...

So yeah, that pretty much summarizes a couple of months of my chaos minus one tiny thing. The sad tale of the misplaced memory card

A couple of weeks ago, Matt had to help with some background interviews at work during the day so we were in need of a babysitter. My gracious sister-in-law came to our rescue and took the kids for a few hours for a couple days. We thought it would be fun to send the girls with their little Bean Camera so they could take pictures of their cousins and the things they were doing.

When I picked them up on the second day, they were excited to get the pictures off the camera and look at them on the computer. (They also had some of the pictures from the camping trip on there that we hadn't downloaded either.) When we got home I opened up the camera to take out the memory card and lo and behold it wasn't in the slot. We searched all through the diaper bag and couldn't find it. So I called my brother to find out if they had seen it somewhere in the house.

Through a series of questioning, he found out that the kids had noticed the camera was dirty. Being the concerned helpful children that they are, they had carefully taken it out of the camera and WASHED IT because they thought it was also dirty. We got a good laugh out of the whole deal. They promised to keep looking for it just in case it survived the bath.

So this last Sunday he called to talk about plans for our big family home evening and mentioned that they had finally found the memory card.

In the pocket of some item of clothing...

That they had just removed from the WASHER and DRYER.

I think it's toast.

But I'll post the pictures of there's anything left.

(we did get think the whole thing was pretty funny though)

So there you go, you're all caught up. We're back from the edge of insanity and we actually lived to talk about it. Hopefully it stays that way!

To a grieving family...

2008-06-28T16:35:00.002-06:00

http://www.legacy.com/DeseretNews/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=112264312

Thank you for the opportunity to attend his funeral and learn more about what a wonderful person he was.

May the sweet memories of a life well lived comfort you during the difficult times ahead.

We love you Tanya and Nathan! Our hearts and thoughts are with you.

The most horriblest day ever!

2008-06-18T22:16:00.003-06:00

Today was going great. We got a big project approved at work, I got a lot of to-do's finished, etc. When I have days like that it always gives me motivation to get a whole bunch of things done at home as well. I was all excited to get home and work on some of the projects that have been plaguing me...

And then I got home...

And then the kids decided that they make up for the good morning I had...

The boy wanted to be held, A LOT...and would immediately start crying whenever I set him down.

Alyssa decided to take a stand against potty training and took it out on my carpet...literally.

McKenna just decided she's tired of her little sister hanging around her all the time and used her as practice for a promising career in boxing.

For example: As I was getting Liam out of the tub (have you ever tried to dress a crying and very wiggly child? Loads of fun I tell you...) I heard screams outside the bathroom door. Alyssa came in with a bright red cheek and big crocodile tears streaming down her face. McKenna had hit her because, according to the offender, "She was following me around." OH THE HORROR.

I sent Kenna to bed (with no bedtime story as punishment for hitting her sis) and as she was crying down the hall to her room she yelled in her best 'woe-is-me' kind of voice, "Today is the most horriblest day EVER!"

Yes. Yes it is.

Not really, but it felt like it.

Lest ye think...

2008-06-10T09:12:00.004-06:00

...that I have fallen off the face of the earth, I am posting a quick note here to say that no, indeed I have not fallen off the face of the earth. It, instead, has decided to crush me with its entire weight for a short season.

I have at least a dozen started-but-not-finished posts. I have just been so overwhelmed by all the goings on of late that I haven't been able to read any blogs, let alone publish my own. Bear with me folks. Our house is a very crazy place to be right about now.

I have every intention of getting back to both the reading and the writing...but alas, I think it will be another week or two until I can catch my breath. We still have some major things coming up that will be, and have been, consuming a lot of my time and mental energy.

Just don't be surprised if one day you stop by only to find that there are a bunch of entries from a month ago that weren't actually published on the date listed at the top of the post.

The reason would have something to do with what paves the road to hell...

By the way...

2008-05-22T06:52:00.003-06:00

Oh and this....

This is TOTALLY me.

FYI.

Time flies when you're having...something...

2008-05-22T05:43:00.005-06:00

HO. LY. COW.

I cannot believe how fast the last few weeks have flown by. Last night I was thinking, "Oh, I haven't posted something for a couple of days. I really should catch up." No, it's been a WEEK. What strange time warp did I get sent through? It certainly doesn't feel like we're already to another Thursday.

And, as a side note, how in the heck did my birthday get so close so quickly! Gah. They're sneaking up on me...

See, this is what happens when your life is a crazy mess. To be fair it is usually the good kind of crazy mess; but with a little too much of the insane worked in to the last little while.

To catch up:

No, we still haven't really resolved the scheduling issues at Matt's work. It's getting closer (I think) and hopefully it will be better because the sergeant is actually sort of listening to the officers now...sort of. Matt has been working on a new schedule that the sergeant didn't immediately shoot down, so he is continuing to tweak it. Hopefully that will land us a little closer to a workable schedule.

We did, however, manage to get things with school worked out and he is a third of the way through the L.A.S.T. C.L.A.S.S. Do you even know how excited I am for him!?!?!

Last weekend was great and horrible all at the same time. We were able to spend a lot of extended time with Matt's sister from GA - and I love love LOVE having her come to visit. As she helped out with the kids all weekend I had an epiphany of how great it would be to have a nanny. I would hire her on the spot. She's fabulous and the kids already miss her. (Lyssa asked me on the way home Monday when Aunt Tanya was coming over, then cried when I told her Aunt Tanya had to go home.)

It was also Matt's little brother's wedding reception here in UT. It was fun for the celebrating and the party aspect of the whole thing. It was the meeting the old neighbors from the ward thing that was the not so fun part.

**I guess it would help to insert a little side story here. Matt and I grew up in the same neighborhood from the time we were about 15 so we both knew all these people. This particular group of folks is pretty good at spreading rumors (be they true or untrue) about the teenagers there. It caused a LOT of hurt feelings for Matt and I, my parents and I'm sure a whole bunch of other teens that fell victim to it.**

So imagine my non-desire to see these people ever again and then get to spend an entire evening "reminiscing" with them all. Whee. That was fun. (In case you can't tell, that was sarcasm...)

Good thing I had a cute happy newlywed couple to keep me distracted. Aaron and Rachel looked so happy and excited to be together. It was fun to watch them and think about what it was like to be in that stage of life. I hope they take advantage of it and love learning to live with each other.

In other news, we have an awesome friend that traded us lawnmowers to we could actually mow our lawn. There are parts of the backyard that are so thick you can't get through them with the one we had. Since his lawn is so small and ours is so HUGE, the one we had worked better for what he needed. Now we have the super-industrial professional lawn maintenance ultra mulcher - or something like that. You should have seen it dragging Matt across the backyard, literally.

I can pretty much guarantee you don't want to hear about the other stuff bumbling around in my brain at the moment, so I think I'll stop while I'm ahead...or at least not THAT far behind. Please don't beat me up if my posts continue to be a little few and far between for the next little while. Until we get all the school and schedule nonsense out of the way, I'm just having a hard time finding time to get around to it.

Knock, Knock

2008-05-14T20:50:00.002-06:00

What is it about young children that makes random knock-knock jokes so hilariously funny?

This is what I was subjected to at the dinner table tonight...well, every night really.

Knock, knock
Who's there?
Peez
Peez who?
Pizza pizza peez.

Knock, knock
Who's there?
Banana
Banana who?
Banana orange apple.

(and about 300 more variations of the same...)

The girls burst into fits of laughter after every single one of these and I'm left feeling like a totally clueless idiot because I just do not get why any of these are funny.

Maybe it's funny because they know they are ever so slowly driving me insane.

And this goes on for hours, HOURS I tell you - wafting up the stairs while they are in the playroom, echoing down the halls from the bathroom, coming through the vents after I have put them to bed. No matter how nonsensical the punchline is, it is always uproariously funny to 2 and 4 year olds.

The MADNESS.

The only good thing about this is that they are not screaming at each other. I'll give up my sanity in exchange for my eardrums any day.

Oh the insanity!

2008-05-13T11:34:00.003-06:00

The weirdness with the schedule continues...

The union has gotten involved.

People have started giving their two weeks notice.

And the officers are having to sign up for a new bid AGAIN today...even though they just did that last Thursday - 5 days ago.

So now...no more weekends off.

And who knows how Matt is going to be able to finish his class.

Oh, and do you have to see each other like, more than 30 seconds a day, to count as a couple? Because it ain't happenin' here...

Scheduling Nightmares

2008-05-12T07:23:00.004-06:00

Don't you love it when people decide to mess with your life without asking you what you think about it first? Fun, isn't it.

(Insert unamused face here...)

Matt works for a law enforcement agency here in the valley and over the last 3 weeks or so they have been messing around with the work schedule. Most of the officers have spouses/kids that they have to work around and it's a pretty delicate balance to keep everyone in a work schedule that works for their personal situation. For example, we work opposite schedules with me getting to work at 5:30am and trading off the kids at around 2:30pm. Everybody gets a manageable amount of sleep (mostly) and the kids get to spend all their time with either mom or dad instead of going to a day care or babysitter. It's not ideal, but it works for us and where we're at right now.

Now they've decided to change the schedule and apparently they have given very little thought to how this will effect their employees (it usually helps if you ask them about it before you change things...). We thought we were done with this last week when they had the new bid. But NOOOOO, now they're talking about going to 12 hour shifts...making things even worse than with the schedule they just put out a week ago.

In short, this is why our lives have been in turmoil the past few weeks and why I've had little motivation to write anything. My mind has been incredibly preoccupied with the whole business and I've taken to holing myself up in the sewing room in my spare minutes so I don't have to think about it. (On the upside, the quilt top got finished!)

Matt has spent every waking moment (and a lot of ones where he should have been sleeping) thinking about this schedule and trying to figure out a way to keep it the way it was and still meet the new requirements. He presented some of his ideas to his sergeant a couple weeks ago and that didn't really go anywhere, but I guess one of the other officers mentioned it to the department head and he asked to see what Matt has been working on. He e-mailed it out to him this morning so it's out of our hands once again. I've got my fingers crossed that this guy will see the big picture and do something a little more reasonable. If you can spare a little prayer for us, it would be greatly appreciated!

In the meantime, we're trying to figure out how we're going to get Matt to his last class to finish school. They turned him down for the time off he needed to attend class.

(Insert another unamused face here.)

We'll not talk about that. I'm still angry about it.

Anyway...hopefully this will all work out and we'll be getting back to the happy fun posts again.

Now excuse me while I go back to pinching myself until I to wake up from this scheduling nightmare to find that life is back to normal.

Brain freeze...

2008-05-07T13:58:00.005-06:00

Okay, I'm having a blogging breakdown - so while I gather the remaining pieces of my brain and attempt to work out of this funk, I leave you with a fun game of...

Guess the baby!

I know it's not very hard....but aren't they cute?

Where is global warming when I need it?

2008-05-01T07:55:00.005-06:00

This is the post wherein I don't mention the fact that there was snow on the ground when I left my house this morning. It is also where I don't mention that it is STILL SNOWING. Or the fact that it is bone chillingly cold...or that usually by this time of year we have ditched our winter coats already.

But seriously...for the love of corn...WHAT IS UP WITH THE WEATHER?!?! Excuse the yelling, but I'm having a really hard time believing in global warming when it was 33 degrees outside when I left my house on the morning of MAY 1.

Seriously, I even had to break out the colored text for this.

I WANT SPRING! I really don't want to go directly from winter to summer. Please. Please can we have spring? The slightly cool temperature with the nice breeze? You remember that time, right? Kind of like the fall but with green leaves and flowers?

can we have spring...pretty please?...

That is all for my rant...but only because I can't currently see outside a window.

Thank you.

Amen.

Quick pics

2008-04-30T20:54:00.000-06:00

I just realized I haven't posted some pictures in a while. (Probably because I haven't been taking them as I lust after a new camera...) So here's a quick pic update.

The girls helped Daddy plant flowers in the front yard on Monday night. It was a long and arduous process as I'm sure Matt will attest to. But they had a blast.

The new watering cans will get a lot of use I'm sure.

The only problem now is keeping them from picking all the flowers.

Here we have a great example of Kenna's Star Wars obsession. She actually sat down with the DVD case and copied it - hence the word "WIDESCREEN" written at the top. From the way it was explained to me Obi Wan is at the bottom left, then Han Solo sort of sitting on his head. Leia, excuse me, PRINCESS Leia is next (with the bun shaped hair) then Luke and his lightsaber. (This particular movie is her favorite because Leia's hair is the prettiest. Well of course! That's how I pick all my favorite movies!) The gray thing next to Luke is one of the ships...Matt will have to say which one, I don't know a Tie Fighter from an X-Wing. The gray circle is the Death Star. You can see a picture of what the real cover looks like here, on the top left.

She is starting to creep me out with this. I regularly hear her puttering around the house humming the Darth Vader theme.

Here are some of the pictures the girls have taken with their new little Bean camera.

They have hundreds of pictures already - most of them of the carpet or the grass. I'll spare you.

You're welcome.

Skimming the surface

2008-04-29T22:14:00.000-06:00

When I was a little girl, I was fascinated by my dad's ability to skip rocks across the surface of the water. I remember him teaching me how to pick a smooth, flat rock from the many that littered the beach and showing me how to curl my finger around the edge. He taught me how throw it hard and low so it would have the right speed and angle to bounce across the water several times before finally losing its momentum and slowly descending to the bottom of the lake.

Lately I've felt a little bit like those rocks...like I'm just skimming the surface. I know that I'm missing out on the depth, but at the same time, I'm not really sure how to change it.

I crave more in so many areas of my life - more depth to relationships, more spirituality, more knowledge and understanding, more compassion - but how does one go about adding all of this "more"? How do you find the time to really seek it when there's so much other junk that screams for your attention?

Life seems so busy. There are innumerable ways to use the time we have; so many options continually at our fingertips. It's easy to get caught up in all the day to day "to do's"; to sprint from task to task without ever really stopping to think about what we're doing and whether it's really important. Or sometimes we know what's important, but for whatever reason, we end up avoiding it or just putting it off.

This whole issue has been occupying an inordinate number of my thoughts lately...and I still haven't come up with any conclusions on how to remedy things, aside from learning how to live without sleep, that is. (Even with as as much practice as I've had, I'm not very good at that one.)

If you have any suggestions...I'm all ears.

In the meantime, I'll be skimming along the surface of things, trying to figure out how to slow down enough to finally get some depth.

Week in Review

2008-04-27T21:56:00.003-06:00

Since I was a little preoccupied with other things this last week, writing everything down sort of fell by the wayside. I need to play a little catch up with the "goings on" before I get into the thoughts that have kept me so distracted.

Monday: Got the invitation to an old and very good friend's wedding. We were best friends when I lived in Hawaii back in 6th to 8th grade. I am so excited for her. She is an amazing person - I can only imagine that he is too. I wish I could go and be with her on her big day!

Tuesday: I got to go to chemo with dad and the rest of the "entourage". (Mom and 4 out of the 6 kids were there with him.) He has a little train of people that follow him through the office. I personally think it's SO cool that my sibs make the time to come with him to so many of his appointments. I am grateful for such a close knit family!

Kenna had tumbling so I got to hang out at my sister's house and contemplate a family history project with her. (My sister has a tumbling studio in her garage...)

While there I learned that my niece is expecting a baby!! She is the one that miscarried not to long ago so I am doubly excited for her and her hubby. What great news!

Wednesday: Some sad happenings with friends from work. I found out that a former co-worker and beloved grandpa type friend has been diagnosed with cancer. It breaks my heart to hear that yet another person in my life has been afflicted with this horrible disease.

Another sweet hearted person that is in my work group found out her 23 year old nephew was killed in a car/motorcycle accident. This also breaks my heart. I have some nieces and nephews around this age and couldn't bear to lose any of them, especially like that.

Thursday: Crazy busy day at work. So many things had to get done and it felt like I just couldn't find the time to do it all.

I found out a project that was scheduled to move forward this week didn't go because someone didn't get the submission packet turned in until today and it missed the approval committee meeting. It killed me to see the project get stalled after the person had known the urgency and had promised to move it forward. I was extremely disappointed, especially since the person responsible has not yet called to let me know - I had to find out from another source.

Got to go to lunch with a dear friend. She needed mashed potatoes and I needed some time out of the building. Being with her always cheers me up.

I was also able to spend some time with mom and dad, and review the family history project with them as well. I actually got some of my old junk cleaned out of their basement too. (I've only been married for 7 ½ years...and officially living on my own for 11. It's about time!) I found some old cards and letters which I'm thoroughly excited to read again...just as soon as I can catch a spare minute at home!

Matt had his last day of class for the semester. One more class and he's done!

Friday: Another busy busy work day. Deadlines were moved up, which always creates a special type of chaos. We finished the most important items though, and I was able to sneak out a half hour early to get a head start on a weekend with the whole family at home. I love Matt's weekends off - four days straight of having him home in the evenings goes a long way to improving my sanity levels.

Saturday: Matt took the girls shopping to get a few of the things we need to get the yard/garden in shape for the summer. As much as I really hate yard work, I'm excited to get things spruced up and looking nice. I know the girls will love having some flowers in the front yard that they can help take care of (they even have their own watering cans now thanks to daddy).

I was able to get a few things done around the house while they were gone, and I got a little one on one time with the boy.

Grandma and Grandpa T. took the kids later that evening so we could have a night out. They had the 4 other local grandkids over too so it ended up being a very fun evening for the kids...although I'm not so sure about poor grandma and grandpa.

Matt indulged me and took me to look at a camera I've been ogling for a while. It finally came out on the market this month and I've been anxious to get a look at it. Not that we can afford it right now, but it's nice to know what you want should you ever be the recipient of a large sum of money you can't figure out what to do with. (I must say I'm unimpressed with the staff of Best Buy and their knowledge of digital cameras.) We ended up getting a small (and cheap!) digital camera for the girls to play with.

We went for a late dinner and ended up running into Matt's brother Joe. Seems he was working the off-road show at the convention center up the street and was able to get us in for a peek after we finished eating. It was fun to look at all the tricked out Jeeps and other off-road vehicles.

It was even better to hear about all the progress that Angie (Joe's wife) is making though. The last few months have been amazing. She's almost rid of her cane and they are talking about moving forward with her transplant in August.

Sunday: Church was nice. The girls were pretty good and Liam slept most of the way through it. I had a dead arm, but it was worth it to get the chance to concentrate on the lessons. My visiting teacher still thinks I'm her project, but she's nice and helps with the baby when I need it. The Relief Society teacher did a great job and I had to hold back tears all the way through the lesson. (When did I get to be such a cry baby!?! I get choked up at everything these days...)

We had a pretty nice slow day at home. The girls were able to go outside and try out their new camera. Lyssa took a bzillion pictures of everything. Kenna's were a little less prolific and a little more interesting. I was able to press all the quilt blocks (finally!) and finish getting them arranged. Matt was able to work on a schedule readjustment for work in the hopes that they take his suggestions instead of what their current plan is.

If you actually read all that, I'm impressed. I barely had the attention span for it myself. Here's a little reward for your stick-to-it-iveness.

Fountain of all Knowledge

2008-04-22T10:53:00.005-06:00

I found it. The fountain of all knowledge. No, it's not the internet, silly. It's my MOM.

Can I just tell you that my mother is the most amazing woman on the planet? She's like my own personal, walking reference library. I can ask her anything and she springs to my rescue.

As in, yesterday morning:

"Mom, we want to plant a garden. Tell me everything you know."

I'm not sure if she told me everything she knows (well, because she knows A LOT) but man, with what she told me I could have my own farm.

I am seriously floored with the amount of knowledge this woman has in her head.

That and she's so amazingly generous with it.

As in, yesterday afternoon:

"I'm here to look at your garden."

That's right. She came over to my house to give me a personal consultation. How amazing is she!
She also gifted me with some stellar advice on putting together my quilt. I do not know what I would do without her.

Weekend of AWESOME

2008-04-20T21:14:00.000-06:00

You know those weekends where you get everything accomplished that you want to so on Sunday night you can sit back, relax and take a breather knowing that you did everything you possibly could to make the most of the time you had?

Yeah. Me either.

But this past weekend came about as close as I can get to that.

Matt had Friday night off work since he has been putting in so much extra time teaching training classes. We were able to go out and spend some time with friends that we haven't seen in like... forever, due to my AWESOME parents and their willingness to baby-sit even though they've already watched the kids twice this week while Matt was at school. We haven't had any nights out for a while so it was VERY VERY MUCH appreciated and needed.

Saturday I was able to spend some time working on the quilt. Due to Matt's EXTREME AWESOMEness, he took the girls to the grocery store and left me home with a sleeping baby and a load of material to cut. SWEET. I got all the pieces cut out that I needed to while they were gone. I was even able to get a bunch of blocks sewn up later that day due to AWESOME children keeping themselves entertained while mom was holed up in the basement.

Today was pretty good as well. The AWESOME kids behaved through Sacrament Meeting, the rest of the blocks are sewn because my AWESOME baby took a 3 hour nap (I'm positive it's because of the constant prayer running through my head "Please let Liam sleep long enough for me to finish this..."), the AWESOME kids actually ate dinner and my AWESOME laundry got folded and put away. (Okay, so the laundry is far from AWESOME, but I was on a roll with the theme there...)

So what if the bathrooms didn't get cleaned and the yard didn't get worked on and the garden didn't get planted...Or the kitchen floor still needs to be scrubbed, or the garage still has unpacked boxes, or the mirrors still have fingerprints. I had myself a weekend full of AWESOME.

Plus, I GOT MY BLOCKS SEWN YA'LL.

And isn't that what's really important?

(Don't answer that...)

Medicine for an (already) rough day...

2008-04-18T07:29:00.003-06:00

It's 7:30am and I'm already having one of "those" days.

Then I find this...

And I get me a good giggle.

Too bad I don't have a Hawaii Chair or I would REALLY be set.

Quote of the Day

2008-04-18T07:03:00.004-06:00

"You have a choice. You can wring your hands and be consumed with concern for the future or choose to use the counsel the Lord has given to live with peace and happiness in a world awash with evil. If you choose to concentrate on the dark side, this is what you will see....Now the brighter side. Despite pockets of evil, the world overall is majestically beautiful, filled with many good and sincere people. God has provided a way to live in this world and not be contaminated by the degrading pressures evil agents spread throughout it. You can live a virtuous, productive, righteous life by following the plan of protection created by your Father in Heaven: His plan of happiness."

~~ Richard G. Scott, Ensign, May 2004

"How to Live Well amid Increasing Evil"

Say hello to Jack Daniel!

2008-04-16T18:55:00.002-06:00

So, a friend and I went out to lunch for her birthday today. As we were chatting and perusing our menus, our server came by to introduce himself. He asked if we wanted anything to drink and then I noticed it.

His name tag said Jack Daniel.

It's just one of those in-jokes that he must have with the other servers, I thought. Like "Gumby" or "Jimbo" or something.

My friend noticed too and said, "Is that really your name, Jack Daniel?"

This was his reply:

"Yes, and I have a sister named Sherry and another named Brandy."

...

This is either a very interesting case of predestination for career by naming convention or a sad example of "theme names" gone wrong.

P.S. Don't get me started theme names.

The hottest thing since the little black dress...

2008-04-15T18:55:00.002-06:00

Okay, so just after I hit the publish button yesterday, my little Lyssa decided she'd come to my rescue and give me something to blog about.

I was sitting on the floor, changing Liam's clothes before heading over to the big shindig when she walks down the stairs and stands in front of me with the 'innocent' look on her face. As I'm looking her over to see if her clothes are still passable enough to let her out in public, I notice little tiny white dots glistening in her hair. Then I notice her hands are shiny...and wet.

Since she had just been at the table finishing her dinner...alone...I became, how shall we say? Concerned.

Me: "Lyssa, why are your hands all wet?"

Her: "Iunknow." (her version of I don't know.)

Me: "Well, what happened?"

Her: "Iunknow."

Me: (using my amazing powers of deduction) "Were you playing in your milk?"

Her: "Ummm....*long pause*...YEAH!"

Me: "Why were you doing that?"

Her: "Because I wanted to be 'tylish"

Me: "You wanted...wait...what?

Her: "I wanted to be 'tylish."

Me: *fit of giggles*

Two comments:
1) Where did she come up with the word (and the desire) to be stylish? Heaven only knows she didn't get it from her fashion challenged mother. (Or maybe she did and that's why she chose something like milk...)
2) Everyone knows that milk is TOTALLY out right now. It's all about the carrot juice.

Me=Slacker

2008-04-14T16:28:00.000-06:00

So I've totally had a bunch of stuff percolating in my brain that I wanted to write about. I get all these fabulous posts crafted in my head on the way to and from work, or in the shower, or lying awake in the middle of the night, but by the time I take a minute to sit down all the witty and funny stuff is gone (some would say it was never there...) and my mind goes blank. Perhaps it has something to do with this:

Mr. Liam has entered the "I don't want to be happy unless you're holding me" phase. I love holding the little guy, but come on. He's 15 pounds already and I am not nearly buff enough to cook an entire dinner holding him in one arm. (Yes, I'm a weakling and need to go to the gym. Or, maybe I should just start bench pressing my kids...)

Or this:

I dug out an old project that has been bugging me for like 2 years since I bought the material. Matt and I desperately need a not-so-wintry quilt for our bed so we don't roast to death in the summertime. I had most of the pieces cut out (or so I thought...) so I have been trying to finish up that part so I can start on the sewing. I'd better get going too, it's 80 degrees today! (I know it's just Utah weather playing tricks on me, but a girl can dream, can't she?)

Or these:

They're girls. Need I say more? (Although, these two girls are outside playing "Star Wars" at this very moment. Lyssa is R2-D2 and Kenna is Princess Leia.) I guess we know who's the boss.

Or even this...

The humidifier we had to buy to fight the cold/croupy cough sickness the girls have had for the past few days that we are praying Liam doesn't get and which necessitated a trip to the doctor's office on Saturday (yay for Saturday clinics!) after spending a night in a steamy bathroom with Kenna. The girls are still complaining about the gross medicine they got.

*(I was going to put a cute picture of Lyssa sitting on the potty with her legs crossed for that last one, but figured I wanted her to still talk to me when she gets older so I nixed that idea.)

In other news:

Kenna has now started telling me how to drive. Well, more accurately has started telling me how to drive again. We were on our way home the other day and she was asking me what some of the road signs meant. As we pass the "Speed Limit 40" sign she says,

"I know what that means."

"Oh?" I reply.

"That's how fast you're supposed to go."

"That's right." I say proudly.

"Mommy, the orange line isn't on the 4. You're going too fast."

BUSTED

This child was sent to me for some very specific reasons, the most important of which is to test my patience. The second (and the one I'm talking about here...) is to make me laugh. She does both with surprising frequency.

She demonstrated her "Princess Leia Run" for me today too. Priceless. Who knew Princess Leia runs like an angry ogre? MY DAUGHTER, that's who.

See? I just ran out of steam when I realized what time it is. I need to go heft my 15 pound two month old, make dinner and get an FHE lesson ready for the big ol' family get together tonight. Perhaps I'll compose a coherent post on the way home from the party tonight and actually have something better to say tomorrow.

Perhaps...

Probable reasons for not blogging (much) this week...

2008-04-11T15:57:00.002-06:00

It was my dad's birthday and we were too busy partying.
Two of my three children (ACK! THREE! Still getting used to that...sorry.) have coughs that have kept all of us awake at night.
I'm lazy. (I know, crazy talk, right? RIGHT?)
I may or may not have spent a day in bed and/or hugging a big porcelain bowl.
Potty training is hard work.
It has snowed four times this week and I'm protesting.

So I guess I have some catching up to do. We actually had some other stuff happen this week, like...good stuff too.

Matt got a phone call from his sergeant on Tuesday night asking him to come teach a Defensive Tactics Class on Wednesday morning. While this created a bit of a panic when it came to baby-sitting arrangements for the kidlets, it's a great opportunity for him career-wise. Especially given that the sergeant called him, not the other way around. My ever helpful sister (Hi Lori!) came to our rescue, as so many of our family members have had to do lately, and took all three (ACK! THREE!) of the little rugrats for the day. The sergeant also asked him to teach four more classes in the next two weeks. Hopefully this is a good sign that advancement might be a possibility when his eligibility date hits.

We got some good news about dad as well. Turns out his PSA numbers went from just about 700 down to just about 500 after the chemo. This is like, stupendously amazing! The chemo is slowing down the cancer cells and that my friends, is some of the best news you can get.

I know more stuff happened...but after that, it doesn't seem all that noteworthy. Plus see reasons numbered 2 and 3 above. Lack of sleep and laziness is a bad combo.

The adventure begins...

2008-04-08T22:13:00.000-06:00

We started potty training Lyssa on Sunday.

Have I mentioned how much I dislike this stage? So much so that it's probably been ME that hasn't been ready for the last 6 months (though, to be fair I was huge, pregnant and VERY nauseous for part of that time).

Apparently she is incredibly motivated by sugar right now, so we're bribing her with jelly beans. Yes, processed sugar. And it's working (so far...please don't jinx me...) so we're going to keep doing it.

So far, it's going better than expected. We'll see if the trend continues...

In a semi-related note (on the bribing issue...), Kenna can now be bribed to do almost anything with her "Lego Star Wars" game on the XBox. Having something nearly foolproof for bribing a 4 year old has proved invaluable, even though I'm not a big fan of her plopping down in front of the TV. I suppose the poor thing can't help it. She has gaming coursing through her veins...

Happy Birthday

2008-04-07T22:11:00.003-06:00

Happy 71st Birthday to the best dad ever!

We love you.

p.s. I have the best husband ever too. He brought me some beautiful flowers today for no apparent reason. I really really like him.

Liam - Month 2

2008-04-04T06:47:00.000-06:00

Dear Little Liam,

My sweet boy. You have been such a wonderful blessing and addition to our family. You are a very good baby. The only time you really cry is if you are hungry. The rest of the time you are happy to watch your sisters run around the house or sit and play "fat dog" with daddy. You have been very alert and strong since the day you were born and continue to improve every day.

You are starting to recognize people and we have been treated with some of the cutest big baby grins I've ever seen. You are such an adorable baby with your big blue eyes, long eyelashes and cherub cheeks. The talking noises you make are starting to get more frequent too. I can't wait to hear your little voice say "mama" for the first time!

You have brought a special spirit with you that has made the whole house more peaceful. You are our little piece of heaven. Somehow snuggling with you can make everything seem right with the world. You have been a great comfort to me in the last couple of months and I have felt very strongly of your importance to our family and the timing of your birth.

Thank you for taking it easy on us. For having such an easy going personality and such a sweet disposition. I love you little Buddy.

Say What?

2008-04-03T21:29:00.001-06:00

I went to pick up the kids this afternoon from my wonderful Sister-in-Law and this is the exchange that followed between the kids and I:

Me: Lyssa, come get in the car sweetie.
Alyssa: *wanders around to the other side of the car where said SIL is putting her sister in the car*
Me: Lyssa, come here and get in the car. Brother is crying. We need to go.
Alyssa: *follows SIL to her car*
Me: LYSSA. COME HERE.
Alyssa: *starts crying*
Me: *walks over and picks up child to put her in the car*
Alyssa: I want her. *motions to SIL*
Me: *dies a little inside, but puts her in the car anyway*
Alyssa: *continues crying*
McKenna: My heart is breaking a little too, mom. I'll miss Jessica.

Where do these children come from and where do they pick up these phrases?

It begins...

2008-04-02T19:20:00.004-06:00

Dad started chemo yesterday.

They hadn't gotten the biopsy results back yet, so we were all thinking they would put it off until next week. So imagine my surprise when I get a text from my sister J. in the middle of my meeting telling me that dad was starting chemo right then.

I didn't take it well.

I managed to hold it together for the rest of the meeting, then promptly came back to my cube, called my sis to get some of the details, hung up and started crying. (You know that whole "it hit me like a ton of bricks" thing? Yeah. That's what happened.)

We did the chemo thing with Matt's dad a couple of years ago so we're semi-familiar with how the whole thing goes. But I'm not sure whether that makes the whole idea easier or harder to deal with.

Talking to dad tonight made me feel better though. He sounded more like himself than he has for a month. He was so chipper and happy. I felt all my worry wash away just hearing him talk.

I know that he will have more bad days and the worry will all come back, but it's nice to know that there are also some really good days to balance those out a little.

Alyssa - Month 31

2008-04-01T21:06:00.001-06:00

Dear LyssaLou,

You are my little firecracker. Everyone thinks that you are the quiet and shy one...until they get to know you. Inside that cute, tiny, sweet little girl is the heart of a lion with a set of lungs to match. You can out yell your sister any day of the week and are usually the one that wins in a fight over toys. You are fearless. But you are also so sweet. You love to snuggle and shower mom and dad with hugs and kisses.

You may be small, but you are tough - both physically and mentally. You are so smart. Saying words and putting together phrases that a two year old definitely shouldn't know. I am amazed at all you understand and how well you can communicate. You have figured out how to do so many things all by yourself. You are always trying to catch up to Sister and you want to be able to do everything she can do. Slow down a bit little Bug. You are wonderful for who YOU are. You don't have to be just like sister. We love you for you and for all your unique talents and abilities. Don't worry so much about keeping up. Just be you.

I love how helpful you are. You want to be involved in everything. You love to cook with mom and dad, or help with laundry or with loading the dishwasher. You are learning quickly how to keep things clean and are even good at reminding mom when I need it. I hope that I can help encourage this in you, so you will always be the type of person that loves to do things for others.

You are also a great actress. I have never seen a kid that can turn on the tears and the sad face like you. But you also know how to ham it up and be a cheese when you want to. You love to dance, especially when we're changing your clothes and you can run around dancing and singing "naked baby, naked baby" at the top of your lungs. You are always good at making us laugh.

I hope that we can teach you all the things that will help you be the best person that you can be. Your parents are not perfect, but we love you and we want you to be happy with who you are. We ask you also to have patience with us as we continue to try and figure out this parenting thing. Know that everything we do is motivated by our love for you and your siblings.

I am so grateful for you. For your kisses and hugs that make everything all better, for the happiness and laughter that you inspire, and most of all that we have the chance to be your parents and have you in our family.

Just when you think it's safe to break out your sandals...

2008-03-31T20:56:00.001-06:00

We had a HUGE Snow storm this morning. HUGE. We're talking a harrowing, white knuckle, going 25 miles per hour on the freeway all the way to work because the snow plows apparently don't come out before 5am, kind of adventure. And that, my friends, is NOT my idea of fun.

Please Utah...it's SPRING. Let's have SPRING weather. Because this is one girl that is very tired of driving in the snow.

Because, let's be honest Utah, your drivers here...they kind of suck.

p.s. To the guy in the big lifted 4 wheel drive truck that passed me at 70 miles per hour with 4 inches of slush on the road...Was that you I saw 15 minutes later slid off the side of the freeway with your bumper 20 feet behind you?