Today

A few little things from today: William loves to clean up and this evening, while he was picking up the living room, he cleared off the coffee table and I can't find any of it. I keep our latest magazines, TV guide, and kleenex box there. It's all nowhere to be found.

Claire is writing a book about herself and it's the cutest thing I've seen. I'll have to scan it another time and put it on here.

Desperate for something sweet, I opened two capri-sun like juices and as I was giving one to William, I told him to be careful and not squeeze the juice out and I went right on to set mine down, squeezing half of the juice out onto my sock. Maybe I should take my own advice.
I've decided that TV makes me a bad mom. I usually don't turn the tube on until the kids are in bed, but I couldn't miss the second half of "The Biggest Loser" that started at 7pm, so I had the kids ready for bed before then. For the next half hour, I ignored and asked them to leave me alone so that I could watch my dumb show. How retarded is that? We even did our scripture study during one commercial break and family prayer during another - lame.





I have also decided that I really like being 28. I am NOT ready to be 29 sometime over the weekend. 28 has been a good year for me.

One last thing: will I EVER understand Isaiah? I was happily reading along in 1 Nephi when all of the sudden, I didn't have a clue what was going on. What was happening here? I went back to the chapter summary and there it was..."see Isaiah 48" - well that would explain it. That was one course I wish I had been able to take at BYU - Understanding Isaiah.

It's been a good day: quiet, happy, nondescript, and normal - one that I will forget if I don't write it down.

Jumbo Bumbo

One of my resolutions this year was to learn how to knit. I made a goal of knitting two things, a scarf and a hat. When it comes to learning something new, my philosophy is: if it can be found in a book, I can learn it. So when I was at the craft store purchasing my first needles and ball of yarn, I bought a little pamphlet on how to knit. Well, that pamphlet didn't cut it. So I went out again and this time purchased an entire book on knitting, sure that that would be enough. I was able to knit myself a wooly scarf (the gray one) and was pretty proud of myself. But when it came to knitting something that required more than one kind of stitch, (the wavy scarf pictured), that's when the trouble started. It was pretty depressing when I was stumped and my Knitting for Dummies book couldn't help me. After a couple of false starts and some swearing under my breath, and I think I did throw the yarn and needles across the room at one point (I'm ashamed now...), I finally did it. Now I'm onto a little bag.

I have also been sewing here and there. I made these fannel pajama pants for Claire a while back. They were easy enough, but still time consuming.

A good friend of mine lent me some of her baby things now that her little one is done with them. I was excited to try out the Bumbo seat, seeing as how Rose was getting tired of having to lay back in her bouncy seat. Well, she likes it, but does get tired after a little while. When I first put her in, I could barely squeeze her fat little legs into the leg slots. Then William sat in it and his legs fit. So I decided to measure them. I got out my sewing measuring tape and measured Rose's thighs: 11 1/4 inches. Then I measured William: 11 1/2 inches. Whoa. That girl has some big thighs. But I wouldn't have it any other way!

"We're not going to survive in this world, temporally or spiritually, without increased faith in the Lord—and I don't mean a positive mental attitude—I mean downright solid faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the one thing that gives vitality and power to otherwise rather weak individuals."
--A. Theodore Tuttle, "Developing Faith", Ensign, Nov. 1986, 72

Spinning

Like most kids, mine enjoy a good wrestle. I delegate most of the wrestling to Ryan - he's a natural, as I suspect are many dads. Moms are reserved for cuddling and dealing with owies, illness and tiredness. That's not to say that I don't enjoy pinning my kids to the floor and trying to "eat them".

It's once again Family Home Evening and I'm trying to decide what goody to bake up for our weekly treat. William wants brown cookies (???) and chocolate cookies. I'm thinking either the good ol' chocolate chip cookies or something called Ranger cookies (never made or had them, but they look yummy). After our lessons, scripture and pray, Ryan plays the song "A Young Man Prepared" out of the Children's Song Book and the kids march to the treat. The song sounds like a ripped-off version of the Superman theme song. I'm thinking this whole marching song is going to have a Pavlov effect for the rest of their life. They'll hear that song and start craving cookies. Oh well.

I had more planned for this post, but Rose is calling out for help. The swing isn't cutting it. The video is a representation of typical dad behavior. I watched on, thought it was funny, but never would have done it to my kid. William loved it, but then again, he's a boy.

Toothless

My little Claire is so funny. She came home from school very excited about something. This is somewhat how our conversation went:

Mom, do you know what?
What?
There are eight kids in my class that have lost teeth and Mrs.___'s (her teacher) baby has eight teeth! Do you know what I think?
What?
I think that the tooth fairy took a tooth from each one of us and gave it to her baby! I really do; I'm sure that's what happened.
That makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?
Yeah, I'm really sure.

The whole conversation took place with a huge smile on her face; she was really convinced and thrilled. Very cute.

New Layout

If you've been a visitor to my blog the past several weeks, you may have noticed that I have once again changed the background. While the previous background of pink and blue birds with lace was super-cute, it was stressing me out. Too much stuff - I could barely read the text and it was detracting from my ever-so-awesome photos. So, away you go cuteness. Hello plain, simple, and clean green. Why green? Maybe it's due to the lack of green outside and my longing for spring. Once again I must curse something...bare with me...curse you groundhog for seeing your shadow!! I'm so cold!

A Hard Few Weeks

There has been some sort of seemingly never-ending virus going around. It's an on-and-off again fever with a runny nose, cough, and the occasional puking. This has been in our house for over two weeks now. Luckily, Rose, Ryan and I never contracted it, but poor Claire and William were knocked out with it over and over.

One day, William was asleep on the couch with a fever and Rose was taking her afternoon nap when I got a call from Claire's school. She was sick with a fever of 102.1. So I frantically found a neighbor who sat with the other two kids while I braved the cold to pick up my sick daughter. These pictures are from that day.

Hopefully, this illness has finally left with it's last final puking punch this past Friday night to Claire. We can only hope it's really over this time.

Poor babies.

One more picture

I had forgotten to put this picture on my previous post. While I was making dinner, William was busy tearing apart the living room. Yes, that is his blanket on the ceiling fan. Boys.

Mischievous Man

I must say that as far as sibling rivalry goes, my kids are pretty good friends. There are those days when I have to put them in separate rooms for my own sanity, but for the most part, they play well together.

When Claire is in school, William does miss her, but only a little. He enjoys having the house (and toys) to himself. He is quite independent, case in point: he just came into the living room with a bowl of chocolate chips and offered me one before he had any. He had gotten into the bag, poured himself a bowl (not too many mind you, just the amount I would have given him had he asked) and put the chip clip back on the bag in the pantry. He's so sweet about his sneakiness that it's hard to get mad at him. I do enjoy the occasional chocolate chip, mind you.

He's so different from Claire, who would have never done that on her own. But that's William. He had a particularly mischievous day the other week. He decided to make his own breakfast (chocolate malt-o-meal) resulting in a ruined bowl and a smell that has been in the house literally for weeks (but I couldn't be mad at him because Ryan left William in charge without telling me - Ryan let me sleep in since I had been up with the baby, got Claire off to school, put Rose in her swing and left for work. Yes, a hungry 3-year-old was left in charge and I was sound asleep, thinking my husband was still home with the kids). Later that day, I found William sitting on the toilet, going through my wallet - I'm just glad he didn't drop anything. And then once again, I found him playing in Rose's crib (which he was not supposed to climb into because the side rail is somewhat broken thanks to Claire climbing on it when William was a baby and I prohibit the kids from standing on it so that hopefully it will make through perhaps one more baby).

He really is a sweet boy and from what I've witnessed and heard about from friends' and family's kids, he really does have a clean record. Love him!

My Big Girl

Rose is now three-months-old. It's hard to believe; time goes faster with each baby. She is so sweet and a wonderful baby. She is sleeping through the night in her crib now. She also laughs and thinks Daddy snorting like a pig is hilarious. Her hair is starting to come back, though she is still my baldest baby. She also has lots of dimples and is a master at sucking her thumb.



Hey eyes are still changing, but they will be brown like the other two kids. She has the funniest little ears - we call her our elf. They only stick out at the very top. When she's surprised, her eyes get huge.

We love her rolls and overall chubbiness. What a beautiful little person she is.