Friday, December 26, 2008

Surviving Christmas

Do you think me Scrooge-ish that by 3 pm on Dec. 26th all our Christmas decor was packed and put away? Even the tree? I just can't help it---it feels as if we have twice as many new toys in the house that have yet to be broken and sneaked away into the garbage, so I need to de-clutter somehow.
Moving on to the small sample of Chritstmas pix that I will share with the public...
Here is the Christmas Eve snow activity before moving on to the pizza/program/white stocking/cemetery visit with the C fam.



Christmas morn around 7:45 am: Here is Ethan's derriere, Mitch appearing to be standing on him, Ike's excitement at wearing new clothes, and Hub figuring out how to work a toy.



Christmas night in our new pajamas (this is only the second year of new pajamas. It seemed like everybody gets new pajamas for Christmas so we quickly caved into peer pressure). See what good little thespians they are? You would really think they were sleeping if you thought Noelle actually sleeps with her eyes open and Mitch sleeps with a constant smile.

Friday, December 19, 2008

My Gift to You

I hate the cold weather. I hate having to bundle everybody up and then try not to lose any of the layers. I hate tracking snow and dirty slushy yucky stuff into houses. I hate getting in a cold bed. But Christmas time is not about me telling you my hates. It's about me sharing my coping mechanisms with you. So here you are and you may thank me later.
First, buy yourself this for your bed:It is a mattress cover warmer thingie! Like an electric blanket, but cooler because you can't see it. It warms your whole bed. I seriously turn it on at 3 pm so it will be nice and toasty hours later. (Can you tell how I really look forward to bedtime?)

Then I warm up the classic corn bag in the microwave and toss it in my bed. Two minutes and it's hot enough to fry you and make your bed smell a little like burnt popcorn. Who doesn't love that? (So Hub is a little tired of the burnt popcorn smell, but that's just cause it makes him hungry)


And finally the traditional cup of hot chocolate. Warmed in the microwave for a perfect 90 seconds. You shouldn't be able to gulp it. That means it's not hot enough. Hot chocolate is for sipping only. And as soon as Stephen's Gourmet Mint Truffle goes on a better sale I will be in heaven literally.

These three elements, a book (in addition to your scripture study and journal writing of course), and you are now a happy camper. Of course, about 20 minutes later you are throwing covers off and sweating a bit, but that is all part of the experience. Merry Christmas!

And as a bonus, here are the kiddies in front of the tree. Sending out Christmas cards is about #451 on the list right now and we're only on #2 (finish shopping already), so this may be the closest thing you get. Ciao.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Special Sister Post and Other Things to Make you Cry With Joy

It is Cold Cocoa's Birthday today! She was a little upset that I hadn't done a special sister post in her honor, but that would just make us seem like we're the kind of sisters that hug. And we're not, so instead I will show my love by revealing this about her: She has always been one of the people who makes me laugh the most. I can only say that about maybe three people so props to her. Plus she shares a lot of my vices and that makes me feel not so guilty about them. Props again. Hurray for sisters!

Moving on so everyone stops thinking about sisterly feelings and gets back to the exciting things of my life.... Look at our garage! Hub installed some cabinets from his parents' kitchen and put them in our garage to make us look fancy-pants organized. I can't wait for the kids to start playing in them and messing up whatever order exits right now.
And here is how Ike earns his room and board. Don't you love having kids who are finally old enough to do REAL labor (not the haphazard shoveling of clothes away and playing with wet rags) and not require your constant supervision?? I'm sure that his enthusiasm to help shovel had nothing to do with the novelty of the snow and he will be the first one out there every snow storm.
And we did get our Christmas tree so you can stop worrying about that. Hub and the kids decorated it while I was at YWs and I was OK with that. Why mess with ornament placement when it gets changed by the kiddies about 45 times a day? That is all.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

We Party Hard Yet Again

This happens every year. After the first week of December we are all partied out. Between Hub's work, the ward and extended family parties we are mostly done with the festivities. It doesn't help that 4 of them were planned on the same day. Anyway. Here is some evidence of the good times.

Ethan telling Santa that he wanted a monster truck and a transformer. Both of which he already has and Santa Mama has some 'better' ideas.

Mitch telling Santa that he wanted a baby doll and a remote control car. He loves the attention he gets from saying he wants a baby doll. Last week it was a Barbie. Next week it'll be a HSM sundress. But for the record: he will not be receiving any gifts intended for females.This was as close as Noelle would get to Santy. She couldn't even look him in the eye. We're OK with this because it is really a strange custom to have people sit on a costumed man's lap.

Ike has never been into sitting on Santa's lap so this is the picture I captured. He corrupted Noelle by getting her to pose in this horrible cheesy manner.

Party #2 was w/ my siblings, our super loud offspring and my parents. There were several different kid crafts going on.

Ike and Mitch painting some Christmas decor. And below is Ethan with the favorite edible craft of all:the Christmas tree that is an upside down ice-cream cone decorated with green frosting and M&M ornaments. There was way too much finger licking involved in this craft and if I wasn't in such a great Christmas mood I could have gone postal (pet peeve of mine--finger licking. Now you know)

We closed out Saturday with a huge family party at DGs. Only one ariel photo kind of turned out.

With those major parties out of the way I was thinking we should have some evening openings to actually go get our Christmas tree (Hub insists on a live one) and to maybe get some shopping done. Somehow, our calendar has filled up again and I'm not sure when it will happen. So thanks for all the tree shots on everyone else's blogs. We may just have to enjoy yours this year!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

We never waste a minute here at our house. Since there is no snow on the ground we decided to still pretend like it was summer and do summer things like take the training wheels off Ethan's bike. He was trying to do crazy things like pop wheelies and go off ramps and that just doesn't work when you have those two extra wheels hampering you, so it was high time he learned.
We went to the track where there was lots of room to steer and no cars to compete with. He loves feeling like a big kid.


We also decided it was time that Noelle learn some more important skills in life. So we taught her how to show her muscles. This is a rite of passage for all children. She is very good at it and does it with sound effects to boot. Sorry those grunts are not included.


As for the older two boys...Ike talked himself into believing in Santa for yet another year (so far) because, as he put it, "There is no way mom and dad would buy us that many presents!" So true, dear. And after another session of helping in Mitch's 1st grade class I am shocked at how much all the little girls love him. They want to sit by him and talk to him and play with him at recess. Maybe little first grade girls find hyper, loud, goofy boys very attractive. I think he's cute and all, but heck, I'm his mom.

What else? Hub finally finished putting up the Christmas lights. At ten o'clock at night. With his headlamp on. I tell you if your hubby doesn't have one of those put it on his Christmas list. Hub has accomplished lots of outside work after dark because of that handy tool.
We also had our PC crash and die. May it rest in peace. It no longer connects to the internet and so what is the point of existing, I ask you? Good thing I have a really old laptop to blog on. And That's All Folks.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Moving on....

Thanksgiving was great fun this year. We only had 35 who could make it to my parent's this year. Weirdly that was only half the family. After porking out on rolls and pie (the only part of the feast I deem mandatory) we had a family talent show. Besides all the traditional musical talents we had Hub rockin' it with his juggling skills and B and L's family show off their newfound yoga tricks. Did L really do the splits or was that just after-dinner hallucinations?

I am never one to dwell on the past so it is now time to move on. This means taking down our wall of Thanksgiving art


and putting up our treasured Christmas decor like this:


Just kidding. I can't buy one of these babies until I can make sure the kids won't break it. We all know what a broken leg lamp can do to a family.

Here's to pulling out all the Holiday movies, music and decorations! Can't wait!

Monday, November 24, 2008

Dear Amazon.com

Dear Mean People at Amazon. Com,

I was already having a bad day since my 8-year-old decided that he wasn't about to actually turn in the book report we spent all weekend doing. Apparently he thought the teacher assigned it as a recreational activity. I should have let him live with the natural consequences of such a decision and be forever scarred by losing 10 points on his 3rd grade report card, but the anal A student in me just couldn't live with......Never mind. I digress. The day just got worse however, when I checked my Amazon shopping cart.

I am not an impulsive shopper. I like to put things in my online cart and then think about them or not think about them and check on ebay and the ads for better deals before I actually hand over any moolah. Sometimes this process takes weeks. Sometimes it takes months and I forget that I ever coveted anything. As you can see, this method works well for my checkbook. So imagine my anger when I check my cart and see that three of my items had increased in price nearly double!!! Come on! That little bouncy hopper that was worth 7 bucks yesterday is now worth 16? How about a little warning?

To your credit you did try to soften the blow and there were two items in my cart that were actually reduced. By a total of three cents. THREE CENTS. Thank you so much for your generosity.

I know you are trying to teach me the lesson that if you snooze you lose, but the joke is on you Amazon. Because in my twisted mind I know that a hopper that was once worth 7 dollars will be worth 7 dollars again. The Hyper Dash that went up nearly 8 dollars? I've seen it on sale at Shopko and that's where I'll get it. So there. Yeah, my kids might not have as great a Christmas this year, but it's worth me sticking it to the man. And the man is you, Mr. Amazon. And my kids will thank me for this valuable lesson they are learning about principle over presents. Won't they?

Since I hate to leave on a sour note, I will still use you for your product reviews. I find those very informative.
Sincerely, Megz

Friday, November 21, 2008

My secret fashionista

I knew the time would come. I just didn't expect it to come so soon and to come from the mouth of my 8-year-old boy whose sense of fashion usually means mixing and matching hoodies with athletic pants.
The conversation Wed. morning:
Me: Hey, guys, do you like my shoes? I haven't worn these forever!
Mitch:Yeah Mom! (what a sweet brown noser)
Ethan: I don't know (He didn't even look. He just knew it was a safe answer)
Isaac: NO!
Me: What do you mean no? These babies are Hilfigers!
Isaac: Whatever that is. They're just weird looking.
Me (starting to get a little defensive): What do you mean? I used to get all sorts of compliments on these shoes......ten years ago.......do they really look weird?
Isaac: Yeah, they just are weird looking.
Me: (tears streaming down my face now) So I bet you think I'm fat too?! (Just kidding on this last part--it just seemed like a good thing a pregnant lady would say)

I usually would not give much credence to Ike's opinions on my clothes. But he does have good vision and the fact that he didn't give a passive comment like Ethan meant he really had an opinion. Plus I was helping out in his class that day and I think he had a little moment of Mommy Might Be an Embarrassment. I also knew that after ten years it was highly unlikely that my Hilfiger clogs were still the talk of the town. In a good way, that is. So I gave in and changed shoes to something a little less eye catching. I hope by this small allowance I bought enough time in my son's eyes that he will still let me come and show my face (or feet) in his class for a few more years. But dang. I'm way too young and cool to start being embarrassing to my kids. Right?

Monday, November 17, 2008

Recent Deets

Life has been life lately. No cute pictures to chronicle the everydayness, sorry. I've been trying to update our 5 scrapbooks (a thrice-yearly project so it's not as bad as it could be), index records for family history (we have a ward goal and it's been a great excuse to learn how), started some online Christmas shopping, and then you know, just other stuff. Exciting stuff. Like cleaning house, helping at school, taking kids here and there, trying to cook real food and hope nobody notices when I don't eat it because it's kindof gross. But to spice this entry up I have narrowed it down to a couple of family highlights for the week.
* Played charades for the family night game. Nothing is funnier than Ethan coming up with his own charade. Like 'it was me playing soccer and riding my bike and going on a hike.' All in one. How could we not get that??

*Noelle learned to burp and loves it. No, she can't actually burp. But she says the word burp in a guttural voice and then laughs hysterically. Is there a girl in there somewhere? Time will tell....

*For a scout goal Ike helped plan, make and clean up dinner. Some of those scout goals are a little annoying (who wants to make a bird house? Not this mom) but I highly recommend this one.

*Mitch insisted some of his eyeball fell out. No amount of common sense could convince him otherwise because he 'felt' it. He does have a scratch right next to his eye, but rest assured, all of his eyeball is intact.

*Hub came up with a list of potential names for our next girlie. Sadly, the name selection process will not be an easy one as he has a few doozies on there. Which I better not share since some of you may have dear grandmas with those names and I'd hate to offend.
CIAO.

Monday, November 10, 2008

My secret life as Hannah Montana

This revealing questionnaire was meant for Mitch, but since he is never home/awake during prime blogging hours we defer to 4-year-old Ethan. Who apparently had been nagged quite a lot about cleaning his room lately.....


1. What is something mom always says to you? Clean my room


2. What is something that makes mom happy? When I clean my room


3. What makes mom sad? Not cleaning my room


4. How does your mom make you laugh? When she tries to catch popcorn in her mouth and it always misses


5. What was your mom like as a child? quiet and goofy


6. How old is your mom? 41 [thanks a lot]


7.How tall is your mom? 41 tall


8. What is her favorite thing to do? Play with us


9. what does your mom do when you are not around? Do stuff


10. If your mom becomes famous what will it be for? Being a cheerleader [what the %!@?]


11. What is your mom really good at? Sports. I mean some sports.


12. What is your mom not very good at? She's good at lots of stuff so I don't know. [oooh, that is so sweet! You don't have to clean your room anymore, sugar buns!]


13. What does your mom do for a job? You work at home, Mom. Doing cleaning work.


14. What is your mom's favorite food? All food [so he hasn't realized I somehow end up with the smallest portion of veggies on my plate....mission accomplished!]


15. What makes you proud of your mom? when she plays the piano.
16. If your mom were a cartoon character who would she be? Hannah Montana


17. What do you and your mom do together? play


18. How are you and your mom the same? we play games


19. How are you and your mom different? she doesn't let me get drinks out of the sink


20. How do you know your mom loves you? she said it before


21. what does your mom like most about your dad? when he plays games with us. Like the ones you don't like to play. Like the long ones. [amen, kid]


22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? maybe the store or Hawaii.
That was a fun tag courtesy of Addie. And kudos to Disney for marketing so well that my 4-year-old boy knows who Hannah Montana is.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

A Day in the Life.....

...of an exit poll worker.
6:30 a.m. Leave the house adorned in 'professional clothes'. Haven't really owned any of those for say 8 years now, but made do.
6:45 a.m. Realize the address for the precinct I was to poll was incorrect. Thankfully I am very good with Spanish Fork geography and find the correct school.
7:00 a.m. Try not to say bad words as I see where I am to stand to approach voters. OUTSIDE. IN THE STORM. Now my very handy training manual said to be prepared for the weather, but since my polling place was a school I figured there would be plenty of room inside for me to accost voters. However, this particular polling place had a setup which allowed no room between voting and the exit door. The only way to catch them once they were done voting was to stand outside in the elements. Which were not favorable.
8:11 a.m. Look at my watch and try not to cry as the wind picks up and my toes lose all feeling and my 'professional' hair gets less professional looking.
9:10 a.m Dear sister, CC, arrives with her winter coat and some hefty boots which ruins my professional appearance but I don't care. And I still want to cry because I have 11 more hours of this.
10:00 a.m. Rain, snow, sleet, blizzard, or whatever you want to call it hits and I hightail it inside to wait it out. Sorry networks. Nobody is telling me all their voting secrets while standing outside in a storm.
10:45 a.m. Election worker realizes that the voter turnout is sparse enough to not warrant such strict traffic control and allows people to exit from an interior door which means, yay! I can come inside!
11:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m. Politely approach every 4th voter and ask them to fill out my survey. Meet lots of nice people. Meet some not-so-nice people. Ate a baggy of gummy worms and Mother's Cookies delivered by lifesaver CC. Felt like I earned every penny of that check Edison-Mitofsky is going to send me.

The end. Hub is super and took the day off of work to be Mr. Mom. I didn't even leave him a very long note because I knew how competent he was. (He even tried to put Noelle's hair in pigtails but gave up after the first one failed.) I did have many moments of 'Why the heck am I doing this?' as I do every election year when I end up working at the polls. But this was a slightly different scene and I wouldn't have to set up those stinkin' voting machines. Or maybe I have a chemical imbalance that makes me think it would be fun. Who knows? Can't wait for 2012 to do it all over again....

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Proof that we do Halloween

We carved pumpkins like all good Americans. (OK, Royal We in use. I mainly supervised while Hub and kids did all the dirty work)




We came up with some 'creative' costumes that involved no shopping trips, makeup or hair dye. Sure, Mitch is a cowboy for the second year in a row. And Isaac's last minute idea of going as a BYU Fan worked perfectly with his existing wardrobe (I think he was mostly looking for an excuse to wear a BYU hat to school for once). As you can see from the photo, Ethan the skeleton and Noelle the tiger are actually in sinful Store Bought costumes. I feel guilty everytime I look at them. And it wasn't me who bought them. Hub knows I have issues with that and went behind my back a couple of years ago to Walmart and came home with them. Apparently he was slightly more ashamed of our poor costume choices than I was. I just really feel like I should be the type of mother who makes her kids their own costumes. The fact that I still can't thread a sewing machine or that my kids don't really like to dress all out does nothing to extinguish my dreams of grandiose homemade attire.


Here is Noelle with a tear running down her cheek. She was very offended that we made her wear this piece of fake fur. She really thought a baby tiger had to die just so she could earn her tootsie rolls. No, the stinker just doesn't want to wear what we want her to wear. Thankfully, she got over it after the first treat plopped in her bucket and she realized that sugar was way worth the price of a baby tiger.


To finish the holiday we watched 'Ernest Scared Stupid.' Does anybody else have fond memories of Ernest P. Worrell movies?? Apparently my memories should have stayed buried as this was way too scary for my two younger boys. Great slapstick was not worth Mitchell and Ethan being scared to go to bed.

Moving on to November... the kids are in bed with threats of time changes running in their heads. Remember the good ol' days when the end of Daylight Savings Time really meant an hour extra to sleep?

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

DECISION 2008

This will be my first and only official political post this election season. I have had great self control and vented all my political opinions on other people's blogs so my blog could remain a neutral zone. Just call me Switzerland.

But I am officially done voting as of 10:30 a.m. It's off my conscience and now I don't give a hoot if Obama comes up with any more terrorist friends or McCain discovers he owns another home somewhere. I've voted and I am free! I spent a great deal of my weeknights trying to stay awake while reading the very handy voter guide. Those amendments to our state constitution make fascinating reading material. And how fun is it to read all of the ratings on our judges? But more importantly---I hope you read up on our choices for governor. SuperDell informed me that I could be held eternally accountable if I didn't open my heart and mind to him as my candidate.

I will be spending the actual election day conducting exit poll interviews for the National Election Pool---the one the major networks use. How fun is that? But remember that the most accurate exit polls in Utah are the ones aired on KBYU (shout out to Daddio)

Lastly, the early voting line was still a good 15 minute wait and the ballot is pretty long so I don't even want to imagine what it will be like on election day during the rush hours. Plan accordingly and Happy Voting!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Never Riding in a Car With Kids Again

We just got back from a great weekend in St. George. Room and board provided by the hospitable Q and T family. Sadly, I forgot my camera and didn't want to wait for T to send me pix so you'll have to trust me that Mitch consumed 5 s'mores in one sitting and that Q and Hub went water skiing behind the jet skis at the lovely Sand Hollow Reservoir. It was a nice, relaxing time once we got there.

But the moral of the story is I cannot go on another long car ride with my kids until they are old enough to be doing the driving. I risked my life about 487 times unbuckling my seatbelt to help find a blankie, book, water bottle, etc. Then there were the several tantrums in the car because I had not packed adequate snacks (meaning 'I am starving but not starving enough to actually eat an apple') and let's not talk about the urgent need to use the potty ten minutes after leaving the last potty break stop. Did I also mention the part where Noelle threw up and Ike had to plug his nose the rest of the trip home?

We do have a portable DVD player and I brought some books on tape. That helped with the older kids but did nothing for Noelle but give her something to compete with noise-wise. Hub had the excuse of driving to keep him busy and I was tempted to trade spots with him. But I was still hoping that somewhere along the line everybody would fall asleep and give me peace to read or take a nap myself. Didn't happen.

So congrats to all of you family vacationers out there who drive with the kiddies for more than 4 hours on a frequent basis. I applaud you and invite you to visit us next time you're in town because we won't be leaving the house again for several years.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

It's a .......

I know you had the day marked on your calendar. And the fact that it was yesterday and you didn't even call to inquire just means you have great self-restraint. But we have had our ultrasound and the physical stuff looks great and we know the gender and now we can spend our next 20 weeks fighting on a name.

Mitch really wanted a Fred. Ethan really wanted a Sara. Isaac wanted a boy, then a girl, then another boy, then (at this point I tuned out and made a mental note to inform him that he is not involved in our family planning). Noelle's only interest in this pregnancy is the fact that my expanding belly seems to be very humorous. But the bottom line is that I now have a reason to purchase these:
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building the suspense like all good story tellers....keep scrolling

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Ta-Da! Won't our baby girl look adorable in these minx fur booties?? (That is faux fur, btw. I only harm animals when I eat them and when they do their bodily functions on my lawn. )

Monday, October 20, 2008

Harvest Time/Fall Break/ UEA/ Deer Hunt or whatever you want to call that really long weekend

What do you do when you have two days off of school and the weather is be-Utah-ful?
You go on a nice fall hike with all the kids, no hubs and the trail happens to be straight up. Oh well, just mark off the weights on your exercise list since you ended up carrying 23 pounds of fun.


What's next? You go to the infamous Red Barn Pumpkin Patch for the second time that week (the first time was a dry run with Ethan's preschool class). You go with lots of family that is in town and you take up a whole wagon to yourself. You try to get an adorable picture of the kids and their special pumpkins, but instead you end up with this picture:


This screams resentment that mom would take them away from the various corners of the patch just so she doesn't get her blog deleted for not having the requisite Pumpkin Patch Post that everyone has to have. (seriously, who doesn't have one of these posts??)

Then you 'allow' (because he always nicely asks permission so I can't resent it if he just goes) your Hub to go golfing. But it's OK because you then go to lunch w/ all the related females in town and then participate in our own version of Super Saturday: Darling girly hair bows!This is Noelle modelling hers all at once. I made those suckers all by myself w/ only minimal stealing of ideas from the more craft-minded sis-in-laws (shout out to T). And it required just lots of glue gun use. Talk about a craft that was made for me.

Then you have the highly anticipated C Fam Halloween Party. The tradition did continue while my parents were on the mish, but let's face it---there are lots better treats and games when Grandma is behind the agenda.

Ethan and Zack did their costume shopping several years ago at WalMart, obviously.


The most popular costume is Avery the Vending Machine. The kids wouldn't leave her alone as she actually dispensed candy.

Ike and Mitch enjoying their word search. In the background you can see Hub's eclectic costume of whatever he could find 5 minutes before departure. Also, there is Q and his much envied arm tats. Ethan whined on the way home that he just wants his own tattoos now.


You then attend a baby blessing on Sunday and leave for school early to see a hot air balloon lift off to kick off Red Ribbon Week. Life is pretty darn G-rated exciting over here (minus that tats-envy, of course)

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

To Poke or Not to Poke?


I really wish everybody out there would do their civic duty and get a flu shot. Then I would feel OK about not getting them for me or my family because our risk of infection would be greatly reduced.
I confess we have never got them in the past. Ever. Because I hate shots and I hate taking my kids to get shots. Not because I am a bad mom or because I want us all to be super sick. I just debate what is worse: A sick kid on a couch for a few days peacefully watching movies, or taking four highly combative children into the doctor's office to get their shots and the ensuing crying and thrashing of arms and legs.
I know, I know, I have heard all the testimonials of those who swear by the shots and say if my family had every truly gotten the real flu, then there would be no debate in my head. And I am slowly being beaten down by guilt and am mentally picturing doing it this year. But it would really save me the trouble if you all just did it instead. Thanks!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Question Time

A reader recently asked the following question: Megz, you really need to keep those in cyberworld updated on your 'delicate condition'. What current symptoms are you feeling? Sincerely, A Concerned Reader

Thank you Concerned Reader, for inquiring. For the most part, I have no complaints that anyone really wants to hear about. But there was something that happened tonight that was rather traumatic. I actually had to take a potty break in the middle of my kickboxing class. Some of you may say 'What's the big deal? I take potty breaks every ten minutes and I'm not even prego or jumping around.'
But for me? This was big, bad news. This is me. The girl who has a bladder stronger than Hoover Dam. The girl who came home from 4 days at girls' camp and bragged about never using those gross bathrooms (this practice is not endorsed by those in the medical world, btw. Something about high risk of UTIs, blahblahblah). So as you can see, my 'delicate condition' has finally wreaked havoc on one of my strongest organs.
I am sure that this is a temporary condition and once the babe is born I can return to never needing to use public restrooms again. Though I highly recommend the ones at Dillard's and the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. They are rather elegant. The end.
and if anyone calls me out on my fake Concerned Reader I will be really mad at you

Monday, October 6, 2008

Just Stuff I wanted to Say

We had a nice conference weekend. Only a minimal amount of sugar was consumed (don't gummy bears, M&Ms, popcorn and orange rolls have minimal amounts of sugar?) and the kids drew lots and lots of pictures.


Isn't this picture mommy heaven? Of course, this was before any fights erupted over stolen crayons and whose picture was best and before Noelle started drawing on the table.


I only had the chance to fall asleep during one talk in the afternoon session before Hub rudely shook me. It's nice to be able to actually hear most of the talks and glean something from them. I propose having General Conference changed from semi-annual to multi-annual. Are there any opposed?
On a different vein---Every Mother's Day Hub takes the kids to the local nursery and lets them each choose a flower to put in an arrangement for me. I love this because they love it and because it means I don't have to do the choosing myself. I just can't handle that kind of pressure. All those different flowers and all the different colors...it just makes my head hurt thinking about it. But this way if the arrangement looks a little funny I can just blame it on the kids. And truth be told, their haphazard picking never looks bad.
So this is what I got on Mother's Day:
And this is what it looks like today:
Is this symbolic of their love for me?? Or should I just have the caveat that if you give it you have to water it? What is wrong with me that I can't manage to water these plants? Or should I just be thankful that I can keep my kids hydrated and anything past that is a bonus?

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Memory Lane

I give in to peer pressure sometimes. Just not when it's about Facebook. And I have boycotted tags since everyone else seemed to boycott mine. But this time the tag was similar and I have nothing else I want to share so I am doing it ( much thanks to DKAZ and Holliann).

20 years ago
1. I was just starting middle school and my homeroom teacher was my friend's grandpa. Rumour has it he is still teaching to this day.
2. I got my first acid washed levi jacket.
3. I finally got my own room due to brother #3 leaving on his mission. Granted, that didn't last long since brother #2 came home from his mission and took away all my new found freedoms.

10 years ago
1. I was newly married and living in an old duplex in Provo.
2. I had just started my internship for DCFS and was in my final year at BYU.
3. My new hubby taught me how to do laundry and I taught him it was OK to buy treats from the grocery budget.

5 years ago
1. Prego with boy #3.
2. Learned all the names of dinosaurs and heavy machinery.
3. Tried to make my own Christmas stockings but had to have my mom do the actual design and sewing part. So basically I had my mom make my own Christmas stockings.

Yesterday
1. I made a real live hot dinner. One of the first since soccer season officially ended.
2. I went to Young Women's and witnessed lots of hormones.
3. I only had to put one kid in timeout the whole entire day. (He wasn't in timeout for the whole entire day, just that...you know what I mean!)


There you go. Too bad we don't have a scanner so there are no photos from 20 years ago. You will just have to imagine my permy hair and huge glasses. I tag whoever else wants to try to figure out what they were doing 20 years ago.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Pesky Birthday

Yesterday was the Big Day for Noelle. Fortunately, she only turned two and didn't seem to notice that we could only squeeze her celebration in between our morning and evening church activities that we had going on. In fact, she probably would have appreciated a lot less attention and people trying to make her play with things just because they were her 'presents'.

Here she is retreating from the cupcake that was on fire.

Here she is trying to look enthused about Mitch's picture he'd made her.
THE DAY AFTER:

Mitch loves playing with Noelle's My Little Pony and brushing its long mane.
Ethan is a great daddy to Noelle's new baby.
And here is Isaac enjoying Noelle's new wheels.
Where is Birthday girl and why is she not enjoying her loot or at least yelling at her brothers that those toys are "mine!"?
Here she is. Playing with Isaac's building toys. Oh well. At least everybody is happy.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Potty Time


Noelle sitting on the portable potty seat last winter. That was when it was fun. It's not fun anymore

There are many different theories on potty training. It's one of those sensitive parenting issues where you are an eager over-achiever (come on, was Jr. really potty trained at 18 months??) or you are a little too passive ("Sis will do it when she's ready even if it means staying home from kindergarten") or you are perfect like me and aim for anything before the third Birthday.

Noelle is two on Saturday and it's time she got acclimated to the potty lingo (of the appropriate nature, of course. She's heard potty lingo her whole life living with her brothers). We have checked out potty books from the library and even checked out this Elmo movie:
Have you seen this? Noelle likes Elmo but she's still not really into TV (she knows that TV time is the best time to play with her brother's stuff because they are clueless), so it was not really that beneficial to her. But her brothers? They LOVED it. Those forbidden potty words coming out of Muppet's mouths was mesmerizing. In fact, Isaac felt a little guilty watching it and told me later that he didn't think it was really ''appropriate'' some of the things they were saying. (And if you know Isaac, this was a very ironic comment)

Also, there are various potty board books that we've checked out. Again, the different euphemisms out there make these books more entertaining than anything. How many different ways can there be to describe basic bodily functions? Many. I know the ones we use are pretty strange to outsiders, but hey, I think yours are probably pretty silly too.

Noelle has little interest in actually sitting on the potty right now, so we're not giving up our diaper budget yet. Just tell me this: Are boys or girls easier to potty train? Because I've heard impassioned testimonies on both sides.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Moving on from the Hairy Belly

This picture has nothing to do with anything, but I needed to get your attention off the previous post. Apparently if you post pix of hairy bellies everybody in the ward wants to talk about it. Anyway, thanks for the nice comments (and as for some of the not-so-nice comments....that really could have been my pre-baby belly! If you squinted really hard and were standing far away. In the dark.)

But the big news besides that other big news we're done talking about, is that Mitch is getting new shoes!! Wahoo for him!

Why is this big news? Because technically, as the second boy, he doesn't need new shoes. He is blessed to be the frequent recipient of smelly, already worn, slightly ugly shoes from his older brother. This has been a fairly smooth transition until recently. For some reason Mitch has not wanted to wear the next hand-me-downs, and instead is wearing his sandals everyday to school. But it's getting colder and his sandals seem to be shrinking and little boys need to wear shoes if they are going to be good competition in chasing girls at recess.
My issue is always the bottom line. Why buy new shoes if there are a pair of shoes that would work? Shouldn't he just be grateful to have shoes to wear? Even if they have Ike's foot germs in them? I just couldn't justify buying him new shoes. We would just have to come up with creative ways to make him wear them. Involving grounding and magical powers that kill Ike's germs.

This is the part of the story where Hub comes in and saves the day. He is why the kids get Happy Meals on occasion and more presents at Christmas and on Birthdays than they would otherwise get. He said, "Just get the poor kid a new pair of shoes for once." That was it. Done deal. Decreed from the man who makes the money. Hopefully Mitch will love his new pairs of shoes so much that he doesn't notice he's wearing Ike's old pants and shirt....

Monday, September 15, 2008

A Timeline of my Tummy

This picture is how my stomach looked a couple months ago. You might think that looks like a different face, but it's just the strange angle of the camera and the weird black backdrop we have in our house. Scroll down for a current picture.
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And this is how my tummy looks today. I am bursting out of my nice polyester shirts. And somehow I have a hairy belly now. But this is nothing compared to how it will look in a few more months.


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This is a profile shot of how I will look at the company picnic in case they have one in the spring. I'm not sure why my shirt will be undone. Let's not focus on that.
There you have it. Due date March 6th. Pray for a quick ab recovery.