Little Snow Beasts

Behold my little snow beasts. The girls LOVE playing in the snow. They get all bundled up and then head out to the back yard to play. They love to make snow angels. They throw snowballs at me by hitting the sliding door. They get a kick out of swinging in the snow, but mostly going down the slide since it shoots them off the end because of the snow and their slick snow pants. I love my little snow beasts!!! They're so darn stinkin' cute, especially when they're happy and getting along with each other.

Suppose it's time to post again.

So, I WAS going to do a really cute post about how Trent and his twin friends Jason and Tyler got into trouble the other day but I just didn't get the pictures taken and loaded like I wanted to. So here is what happened essentially. Tyler, Jason, and Trent managed to push our little picnic table over to the big table one night right after dinner. Dinner hadn't been cleared yet because of the arrival of Tyler, Jason, and their brother Matthew. I had left for ward council and Ben was watching all 6 kids. Needless to say, he found the boys with the picnic table up to the big table, Trent was ON the table IN the Lasagna!!!! What a goof ball. He climbs on everything!
Other than that....lets see. Marissa has a viral infection that has landed us with a nebulizer to use on her for the next while until she's better. Luckily it hadn't turned into pneumonia.
Audrey had a cute Christmas presentation and party at School today. Ben went to see it since I didn't want to take Marissa out of the house just yet. He video taped it on his blackberry for me though so that I can see it. I need a camcorder I've just decided....lol.
I'm excited for Christmas to come next week! YAY!! I love Christmas! Ben has been taking presents to work and wrapping them there. I'll just add bows and we'll be good to go! Anyway, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!!

The Biggest Loser

Ok everyone, here's the deal. My friend Angie over at the Saunders Clan (see side bar) is trying to get up a group to do our OWN Biggest Loser competition. Now, I don't know about YOU, but I certainly need to lose weight. I want to do the competition because it will hopefully motivate me to lose the weight more. Only a couple of people have expressed interest on her blog (Me, my friend Kristie, and Angie's friend Alicia) so I'm posting it on mine. If you are interested and want to join us in January to do the biggest loser leave me a comment!! If you want more details, link over to her blog from my side bar and find her "Biggest Loser" post. It will be fun!!! Come on folks, lets lose that Holiday weight!

Rejoice and Be Merry!!

Life is GOOD today!! It's Christmas Time. There's Christmas music to listen to. Marissa actually slept ALL night in her OWN bed. The kids are behaving. Trent took a morning nap. Marissa actually slept ALL night in her OWN bed. It's Friday. I don't have to cook dinner tonight because of a ward Christmas Party. Marissa actually slept ALL night in her OWN bed. Ben will be home in 4 1/2 hours. My cold is better today. Did I mention that Marissa slept ALL night in her OWN bed??? LOL.
No, seriously it's a big deal to me. Marissa RARELY sleeps all night long, let alone in her OWN bed. She didn't even make a peep last night! None of the kids did. It was SO nice to SLEEP!! Now, if only she would do this more than once in a blue moon. I'd like for it to become a new habit. I can hope right?
Now if only I had a self cleaning kitchen............

Can I Hire a Maid?

Have you ever noticed that life is always worse when you're sick? Of COURSE you have. However, as many of you will attest to, it's even worse when you're the mom!!! You can't just let yourself be sick and not do anything. Children still need to be fed and clothed. They still need to be bathed and taken care of. And have you noticed that all the whining seems worse when you're sick? Whine for this, whine for that. And on top of all that you feel like such a putz because the house is falling in shambles around you because you have absolutely no energy or desire to clean it. Worst yet, is that the culprit is just a stupid, old, ordinary cold!!! Bleck!!! LOL. I'm done ranting now.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We did. We had a great time with my family. We had a nice, big dinner on Thanksgiving. My family all played some fun games and then I went with my nieces to see Twilight (again). I hope everyone else had a good time. Now I look forward to getting home and getting all set up for Christmas!! I love it!!! As a parting, I'd like to state one thing that I am grateful for. I am grateful Inspired general authorities who prepare wonderful talks for conference. Those talks are then put in the Ensign for all to read. I am so grateful for this, because those talks in the Ensign have gotten me through quite a few rough days.

My Great Debate

I can't believe I'm even going to POST this, let alone the fact that I've been THINKING about this. I have seriously been considering Homeschooling my kids!! I know, I know, it's crazy! Growing up I thought homeschool was the most awful thing EVER. The only kids I knew that were homeschooled were brilliant, but were social outcasts with NO social skills what so ever. I thought, "I will NEVER homeschool my own kids! How can anyone do that to them!?" So, why, you ask am I even thinking about it? Well, first off, when we moved here 4 years ago I met two families in our ward that have homeschooled children that are absolutely, socially NORMAL! There is hope! I absolutely HATE what the No child left behind act has done to public school. We can't afford private school. The local charter school has the most polar opposite reviews EVER. I have talked to people who rant and rave about how great it is, and others who rant and rave about how awful it is. I don't see that as much of an option anymore. So, here is my own personal debate outlined for you. If you are so inclined, leave your opinion.

10 things about Homeschool:

1. I definitely have the skills, training, and brains to homeschool my children and give them a great education.

2. Will I have the dedication and patience needed to give the kids a good education?

3. How will it all work with 2 non-school age kids right now?

4. Homeschooling will ensure that I can give them the more rounded education I want for them with lots of music, and science, and other things that have been pushed aside in the public school system.

5. I would enroll them in other social activities like organized sports, dance, play-dates, and such to give them the social experiences they need

6. I have a very good friend/mentor that homeschools her kids that will be an invaluable resource and help to me as I get going.

7. I have another friend with kids the same ages as mine that will be homeschooling her oldest next year because she doesn't like the public school system. She will be there for support and we can each teach to our strengths and let the other fill in the gaps.

8. There is a resource put out by the public school system for homeschooling parents. It's called K12 and it's a program where you get all your lesson plans from the website and once a week you have a conference with a public teacher to make sure your kids are staying on track and not falling behind.

9. Homeschooling will help keep the outside influences I don't appreciate further at bay.

10. I can always decide to put her in school if I don't feel it's right anymore.



10 things about Public School:

1. It's easier on my time and patience.

2. I HATE, absolutely HATE what the No Child Left Behind Act is doing to the school system. I hope Obama gets rid of it soon!

3. They learn to deal with all kinds of people at an early age. This has good and bad aspects which I'm sure you are already aware of.

4. I don't like how lop-sided public education has become. I want my kids to have a more well-rounded education.

5. I have no control over what is taught to my kids either by teachers or other kids.

6. Kids tend to love school in the early years.

7. All the friends they make in school.

8. I would have to apply for a boundary exception because there is NO way I'm sending my kids to the ghetto school they are SUPPOSED to go to.

9. The school I would apply for is the best in the district and other families in the ward take their kids there.

10. I can always pull the kids out if I don't feel it's right for them.



So there you have part of my own personal debate. I really don't know what I'll do yet. Both sides have great advantages and great disadvantages. Who knows if I'll really have decided when school DOES start next year. I may just end up going with public school to see how it goes. I don't know. I hope you all can sense this dilemma I feel. My friends that are homeschooling make me excited to try it for myself. Public school appeals because I don't have the responsibility all on my shoulders. *Sigh* One day I'll make up my mind!!

Give Away?

Ok folks, here's the deal. I have 4 tickets to see Twilight on Saturday, the 22nd at 2:20pm. So far, only me and my friend Jen are going. That means I have 2 tickets left and I need people to go with us!! If you're interested in going leave a comment and let me know. I've been trying and trying to find people to go and have had no success because everyone has OTHER plans to go see it. Guess we'll see if this approach works and I'll keep trying to get a hold of people too. Come on, you KNOW you want to go!!!

Trouble

There's Trouble, here in the Stephen Family, with a capital T that rhymes with D, that stands for DUDE!!! (aka Trent)
So today around lunch time Trent was acting kind of fussy. I put him in his highchair to snack on some banana while I finished getting lunch ready. We have an old-fashioned wood highchair that was mine as a baby. I got the fish sticks into the oven, checked on Trent's banana situation, and then sat down to play a little game on the computer (like 8 feet away from the highchair) while I waited for the fish to get done. A couple minutes later I heard Trent behind me jabbering to himself. So, I turned around to see if he needed more banana, and just GUESS where I found him?..........ON TOP OF THE TABLE!! He had stood up in his highchair, an easy thing to do since it doesn't have a divider between the legs like new ones do, and had crawled across his tray and onto the table!!! Lucky for me he didn't decide to climb OFF the table too!!! What a monkey! He started this whole, "I'm going to stand up in my highchair" thing yesterday. I had to keep making him sit down. So after I found him on the table I returned him to the highchair and buckled him in, hoping that would keep him in place. The buckle on the highchair is just one I put on myself. It's not the greatest. It seemed to do the trick, at least for now..........I wonder how long it will be before he figures how to get out of IT too?

Does this sound familiar???

6:30am Hubby's alarm goes off. Roll over and try not to feel guilty about getting up to start the day.
7am Hear the rustlings of little children in the next room and get out of bed because you KNOW you're not going to stay there much longer.
7:30am Feel like making a nice yummy breakfast, then settle on cold cereal because it's easier.
8am Try to dress the squirmy squiggly baby, the tantruming two year old who has to do it herself, and the 5 year old that has decided her arms don't work any more and she need you to help her get dressed.
8:15am Start cleaning up breakfast then have to go take care of the screaming baby that the 2 year old has decided makes a good horse.
8:30am Go back to cleaning up breakfast and starting chores for the day. Have to stop because the kids are fighting over a toy.
9am Pack the kids up to run errands and take 5 year old to school
9:30 am Return home and put the baby down for a nap. Think it will be a great time to get back to chores, but 2 year old INSISTS on playing outside instead.
10am YET again, try to get chores done, only to have to stop and turn on the TV for said 2 year old.
11am Finally manage to get the dishes UNLOADED from the night before!
11:30am Pack up kids again and go get 5 year old from school.
11:45am Return home and make lunch
12pm Find that the baby has squashed mac and cheese all over himself and needs a bath, or at least a SERIOUS wiping down.
12:30pm Try to get the dishes LOADED into the dishwasher. Stop as baby makes a break for the pet food. Distract baby.
1pm Settle two unwilling children down for naps after cries of "DRINK!" and "Teep Me!!" (interpreted as sleep with me."
1:15pm Put movie in for 5 year old and take a few moments for yourself, because you KNOW you're not going to get another chance. Perhaps hop in the shower, BY YOURSELF, and perhaps, heaven forbid, SHAVE YOUR LEGS!!!
2pm Attempt the whole chore thing again and FINALLY manage to get the dishes loaded and some laundry into the dryer. Find that 2 oldest children have made an "obstacle course" out of EVERYTHING in the family room. Sigh and decided to wait until Dad gets home to tackle that one.
3pm Kids wake up from nap. Give kids a snack.
3:45pm Daddy arrives home and we should HALLELUIAH!!! (How IS that spelled???)
4pm Turn children over to daddy and make dinner. Children come whining to YOU even though Daddy is apparently available and not busy. Tell children to talk to Daddy about it.
5pm Get dinner on the table and sit down to eat.
5:30pm THINK about cleaning up dinner. PERHAPS get around to it, IF there is enough motivation and time.
6pm Spend some family time
7pm Get kids in the bathtub. Reenter the bathroom after taking baby out to get on pjs to find bathroom swamped with water. Take girls out of tub and make soak up water.
7:30pm Bedtime routine filled with, "Wait I need a drink," and "What about a snack??" comments.
8pm Put children in bed and turn out lights.
8:30pm Finally succeed in getting 2 year old to STAY in bed and GO to sleep.
8:45 pm Collapse and watch some TV while thinking about how you still have to clean up dinner. Sigh
10pm Finally finish cleaning up dinner and get ready to go to bed.
11pm Fall asleep only to hear a cry of distress from the children's room as a child has suddenly awaken to go potty.
11:15pm Go BACK to bed
2am Take wandering child back to bed
2:30am Return wandering child back to bed yet again.
3am Give up and put wandering child in bed with you, only to wake up an hour later because you are being kicked out of bed by said child.
4am Take child back to bed and wait in your own bed for any more night time visitors
4:30am Finally fall into a deep, uninterrupted sleep.
6:30am Begin again.

Is it any wonder we never feel like we get anything done?! LOL

Fall Fun

What is Fall without big piles of leaves? My kids LOVE leaves. They think they're the greatest thing about the yard right now. Here's Rissa in all her leafy cuteness.
How about an Audrey Makenna Cheesy grin?

Trent likes the leaves too. Can you tell?The kids had fun crawling through, leaping into, and throwing the leaves.
Even Ben got into the fun and let the kids bury him.

Ok, so I KNOW Halloween isn't until tomorrow night. However, it was Audrey's school party today and my parents were leaving and wanted pics of the kids in costume, so I decked them all out a day early and took pictures.

Red, U of U????

Blue, BYU?????
I feel so conflicted. Let the Ref decide!!!
Hehe, hope you enjoyed our theme this year!

The Saga of the Cart Wars

Ok, since Mel hasn't posted about this I am going to because it's WAY too good of a story to pass up. Some of you already know the story, but for those of you that don't, have a taste of humor in your day. One morning this summer a mysterious shopping cart appeared on our block. It is a red shopping cart from some store called "Bizmart." I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist anymore. Anyway, back to the story. One morning around 6am when my friends and I were up to go walking we walked past Melanie and Cody's house. Cody had just come out on his way to work (Cody is a cop/jail security officer. I know that's not the official title, but oh well). The cart was near their driveway and I said, "Hey Cody, you're not supposed to steal grocery carts!" He replied, "It was Mel!!"
Well, a few days later the cart appeared on our lawn. We COULDN'T be the ghetto neighbors (we have a running joke going with the Laytons about being the ghetto neighbors) with a shopping cart in the front yard, so we took it and left it in Mel and Cody's yard.
About a week after that, around dinner time, I heard a knock on the door. I went to answer it and saw Mel running to the car while Cody was yelling, "Hurry Mel, Run!" She hopped in the car and away they sped, leaving the cart in our yard again.
We couldn't just let it stop there, so we took the cart and left it in the middle of their back yard. When they got home, they drove down the block looking for the cart and couldn't find it. When they pulled far enough into their driveway, There it was!! Smack dab in the middle of their back yard, staring at them.
So, another week went by and Mel confessed that she and Cody were going to bring it back and just hadn't gotten around to it. Ben, sneaky man that he is, decided he would get one up on the Laytons and took the cart from their back yard and left it on their porch, right in front of their door.
Needless to say, a couple days later when we got home from the doctor's office after Marissa fell down the stairs (See the, When it rains it pours post if you don't know what I'm talking about) THIS is what we found.

Yes, your eyes are NOT deceiving you. That is a shopping cart ON our ROOF!!!! While we were gone, Cody took the cart and wheeled it into our backyard. He tied a rope to it, climbed onto our Carport and hauled up the cart. Then he climbed onto the roof and hauled the cart after him. He then positioned the cart right on top an eave on the house. When we saw this we just started laughing. To add to the hilarity, the widow across the street was watching Cody as he put the cart on the roof and was REALLY confused. We told her the whole story and she just laughed at us. And there you have it, the saga of the cart wars. Ben and I couldn't top the cart on the roof thing, so the cart is just residing in our backyard until we figure out what to do with it. Manon (the widow across the street) said she thinks it belongs to a Hispanic family on our block. Guess we'll just return it at some point. Hope you all got a chuckle out of all this.

Social insecurities

Hello? Does anyone even read my blog? Am I just posting to no one? I feel so commentless. Maybe my posts just aren't very interesting....hmmmmm. What a bummer.

Tag: All about the 4's

Ok, so for this tag you go to your picture files and post the 4th picture in the 4th file. Here is mine...well sort of. My fourth file didn't HAVE four pictures in it so this is the third. A lthough, THEN I had to resize the image and resave it...so I guess it IS the 4th pic. These are our very good friends Jenn and Aaron. This picture was taken on the day that they took their two adopted sons Jacob (5 now) and Sam (2 now) to be sealed to them. This was one of the coolest experiences I have ever been a part of. It was so great to watch a live sealing. We are hoping to be there again soon with them if they can adopt their current foster-daughter Isabelle.

Let's see here...now I'm supposed to tag 4 people. Who haven't I tagged recently???
Joy, Ally, Heather P., and......Tracy.

What a Ham

Marissa can sometimes be one crazy lady...kid...whatever. Here is one of her latest escapades documented in picture. I was going through all the 3T clothes to pull out the winter clothes for her and she found the black tights. Next, I wanted to figure out which snow gear we needed for her this year, the 2T or the 3T. I had her come over to me to try on the 2T snow suit and coat. She willingly got INTO them, and then refused to take them off. So she ran around the basement, looking like a snowbeast (in snow suit, coat and boots), running into things, and spinning around until she fell into a padded lump on the floor. It was 80+ degrees outside at the time by the way. THEN she decided she just HAD to have the black tights on. She came over to me and made me take off all the snow gear to put the tights on. However, she did not want the tights on UNDER her shorts, she wanted them on OVER her shorts. She then proceeded to put the boots back on. At this point I just HAD to run upstairs and tell Ben to go check out Marissa, and it wouldn't hurt if he took the camera with him. Puzzled, Ben went downstairs. When he saw her dancing around in this get-up, while Audrey played the keyboard, I could hear him laughing all the way upstairs. He snapped a coule pics of her for teenage blackmailing purposes. So here she is in all her silliness, posing for Ben, with her black cotton tights OVER her shorts, giving her a ghetto booty, and snow boots. Crazy kid. She makes me laugh, too bad we didn't get a pic in all the snow gear too.

Stealing Katie's Idea

Ok, so today has been a rough day with children. It's now naptime, and I need to get into a better mood to deal with the kids when they wake up. I decided to steal an idea from my friend Katie. A couple weeks ago she posted 100 things she loved about her kids. So, Katie, I'm stealing your idea. Hopefully it will make me more grateful for my children right now.
100 things I love about my kids

1. How Audrey will help Rissa, just because
2. Rissa's smiles
3. Trent's laughs
4. When they all play nice together
5. How Audrey loves Preschool
6. How Rissa always gets sad when Audrey goes to school without her
7. Trent's wide, one-tooth grin
8. How Rissa and Audrey can play outside forever, especially with friends
9. How Audrey is learning to think of solutions to her own problems
10. Rissa's scar on her forehead
11. How Trent cries whenever someone goes outside without him
12. When the girls play dress up
13. Audrey letting me do her hair every morning even though she hates it
14. Rissa's red, curly hair
15. Trent's little bald head
16. When the girls do things just to make Trent laugh
17. How Audrey likes to take pictures with the camera
18. How Rissa loves to have her picture taken, then has to see it
19. Trent's gurgles, coos, and raspberries
20. How Audrey loves TV, even though I hate her watching too much
21. How Marissa could care LESS about TV
22. How excited Trent gets to see his bottle
23. How they all suck their thumbs
24. How Audrey cuddles her princess blanket
25. How Marissa has to have her puppy AND her blanket
26. How Trent just loves ANY blanket
27. When Audrey acts silly
28. How Risss talks
29. That Trent takes 2 naps a day
30. How they climb and crawl all over Ben when he lays on the floor
31. How Audrey can swing by herself
32. How Rissa learned how to work the glider by herself
33. How you can see in Trent's face that he SO wants to do what his big sisters do
34. How the girls love to go watch Ben play basketball and me play volleyball at church
35. How Audrey loves dresses
36. How Rissa loves pockets
37. How hard it is to get Trent dressed because he wiggles so much
38. How the girls like to help cook
39. When Audrey makes up her own songs
40. That Rissa has to do whatever Audrey does
41. That Trent will go to anyone as long as you play with him
42. How Audrey rides her big girl bike
43. How Rissa just learned how to pedal her trike
44. That Trent pulls up to stand EVERYWHERE
45. When they say their prayers
46. How Audrey sleeps all night long
47. How Marissa gets mad when her trike goes backward
48. How Trent sleeps all night long
49. How much they all love the pool
50. That Audrey makes friends everywhere we go
51. Watching Marissa go down slides at the park
52. That Trent wants to go down the slides too
53. How they all look when they're asleep
54. When Audrey rocks out to the Tarzan soundtrack
55. When Marissa plays with her babies
56. How Trent's curiosity gets him stuck in unlikely places
57. How they love to go visit their grandparents (both sides)
58. When Audrey tells Rissa stories
59. When Marissa doesn't have any peeing accidents
60. How squishable Trent is
61. When they race to be the first person buckled in the car
62. When Audrey is a good sport about losing a game
63. How Marissa want to play too, but makes up her own rules
64. That Trent's favorite toys are odd objects like bubble wands, and foam curlers
65. How the girls fight over who gets to do things first
66. Audrey's silly faces
67. That Marissa loves to read books
68. How Trent follows me around the house
69. How the girls love the library
70. How much Audrey LOVES to play with friends
71. The way Rissa runs
72. Trent's big blue eyes
73. When they get excited to go someplace
74. Audrey's snuggles
75. Marissa's snuggles
76. When Trent falls alseep at church
77. How they all love to go to church
78. How Audrey says "I'm just a little bit cranky"
79. When Marissa wakes up happy
80. How Trent plays in his crib when he wakes up
81. How Audrey wears her swimsuit around the house
82. How the girls love to have their nails painted
83. How tiny and petite Marissa is
84. How Marissa and Trent will be the same size fairly soon
85. That Audrey always wants to go to Lagoon
86. When Marissa cries because I leave
87. When Audrey says "Mom, guess what?!"
88. How Rissa will just play by herself
89. When Trent just happily does his own thing
90. How my kids will try new foods
91. How they get excited to see their daddy
92. How Audrey and Rissa "play" the piano
93. How they have to "pay" Ben for things with hugs and kisses
94. How they giggle and talk at bedtime (as long as they stay IN their room)
95. How much Audrey grows up every day
96. How sweet Rissa can be
97. How Trent just wants to be held when he's tired
98. How Trent explores EVERYTHING
99. All the hugs, kisses, and snuggles
100. How much they love their mommy, even though it doesn't always show

Well, there you have it. 100 things I love about my kids. I really DO love them.

Sheesh, what's with the Tags....it's like Tag Fever!!!

Watch out, it's contagious!!!! So here goes yet another Tag. This is one is courtesy of my friend Kristie.
8 T.V. Shows I Watch
1. Amazing Race
2. Dancing with the Stars
3. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
4. CSI: (Vegas) When I can
5. Cold Case, when I can
6. Criminal Minds, AGAIN when I can. The kids have to be in bed for me to watch any of the last 3
7. Funniest Home Videos, because Ben LOVES it
8. Smantha Who? My FAVORITE new comedy!!!

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Any GOOD Chinese Restraunt
2. Chilis
3. Cafe rio
4. Arby's
5. Sensuous Sandwich
6. Sizzler
7. Wendy's
8. Olive Garden

8 Things that Happened Yesterday
1. Got up
2. Took the kids on a field trip with Audrey's preschool
3. Cleaned the kitchen and front room
4. Checked out the great kids hairstlye site I got from my friend Alana
5. Made dinner
6. Played women's and co-ed volleyball
7. Watched survivor for lack of anything better to watch before bed
8. Went to Bed

8 Things I'm Looking Forward to
1. Halloween
2. Fall weather
3. Leaf Jumping
4. Thanksgiving
5. Christmas
6. Snow Sledding
7. Marissa not peeing her pants anymore
8. My Band concert on the 7th (Hint, hint, you all want to ask me about it and to come listen to all the John Williams music)

8 Things on My Wish List
1. New Kitchen
2. New Bathrooms
3. Finishing the Basement
4. Moving the kids into 2 separate rooms, after the basement is finished
5. A good nights sleep
6. 2 Cars
7. Losing 30 pounds
8. A Vegetable Garden

8 People I'm Tagging
1. Alana
2. Tami
3. Sara
4. Katherine
5. Heather R.
6. Melanie L.
7. Melanie S.
8. Heather P.

Tagged Again. All about Audrey

Ok, so my friend Elise tagged me tell you all about Audrey.

Name and Meaning: Audrey Makenna Stephen. No special meaning. I just really liked the name and convinced Ben that he did too.

Age: 5 years old
Nicknames: Sissy (for sister, not because she's whimpy), Princess, Audrey Kenna-kee, Audrey Mack-a-nenna, Babe, Sweetie, etc.

Favorite Activities: Playing dress-up, going to preschool, playing with friends, riding her bike

Favorite Food: Ramen noodles and mac and cheese (some taste huh)

Least Favorite Food: hhhmmmm...last winter she woudln't eat oatmeal, but now she thinks it's cool

Favorite Toy: Well, it's more a posession, and it's her blanket

Favorite Book: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Favorite Item of Clothing: ANY dress!! She's even tried to wear Rissa's!

What makes her Happy: watching TV. I admit, she's a TV-a-holic.

What makes her Sad: Other kids being mean to her (though she's no angel herself)

I Tag:
Kristie with James

Katie with Michael

Don't Be Deceived by Appearances

Oh, sure I know he LOOKS cute and innocent. Do not be deceived. Behind that angelic face lies the brain of an evil mastermind. He has many aliases. You never know which he will assume, and when. Let me present the evidence to you. (Side Note: I couldn't get him to let go of the purple bracelet, so it stuck around for all of the pics except one
Item #1: Robin Hood in Reverse. Yes. He steals from the POOR (the cats) to give to the WEALTHY (Himself, and the Garbage God). I guess he COULD prefer whiskas to gerber, but let's not go there.

Item #2: The Dish Thief. Just when you thought it was safe to unload the dishes, he comes tearing in from the front room. With supersonic ears that can hear the creak of the opening dishwasher from anywhere on the upper floor, he comes to "HELP." He will steal your spoons and leave them only fit for another washing.

Item #3: The Book Vandal. Books quake when he enters the room. They would run and hide if they could. He stealthily sneaks up on the poor unsuspecting books and then WHAMMY!!! The books are yanked from their nice warm bins only to be drooled upon and crumpled. Despite trying to keep the drooling to board books, and the crumpling to a minimum there HAVE been some casualties.

Item #4: The Toilet Plunger. The bathroom door has been left open by a certain 5 year old who shall remain nameless. Mother is reading books to an attentive 2 year old unaware of the impending doom. Then, there comes the faint sounds of splashing and plops. The Toilet Plunger has struck again!! A rush to the bathroom ensues only to find multiple brushes, scrunchies, headbands, and various other items knocked onto the floor by 2 girls, all in the toilet while the Plunger wears a happy grin and splashes in the toilet that one can only PRAY the certain 5 year old remembered to flush. Much washing and sterilizing then takes place as one tries to erase the evidence of the Plunger.

Item #5: The Pooper Scooper. (You will all be pleased to note that I did NOT pose my child by the litter box to illustrate this alias, neither did I subject you to viewing my litter box online.) NEVER leave the kitchen unattended while the Pooper Scooper is headed that way. SURE, he may fall down the stairs, but it's more likely he will head to the litter box with nauseating results. I repeat, NEVER leave the kitchen unattended while the Pooper Scooper is headed that way.

You now have the evidence. So I ask you: Innocent Angel, or Evil Villian? Only YOU can decide.

Beware of reading other people's blogs, You might get tagged. Thanks Cicily

i am: 29, a wife, a mom, the primary president, and primary pianist
i think: about too much, all the time.
i know: that God always has a reason for everything, but whether or not we know what it is is the question
i want: to make enough money to not live paycheck to paycheck
i dislike: Lima beans....YUCK!!!!
i miss: my friend Kristie and brother Donald in Texas
i fear: seconding Cicily, loosing my husband or kids
i feel: overwhelmed by clutter in my house
i hear: the lovely sounds of children....well not really. Trent is napping and the girls are playing downstairs
i smell: Nothing, but I WISH I was smelling fresh baked bread that I didn't have to bake
i crave: Slurpees!!!!!
i cry: less now than when I'm pregnant. I finally understood how someone could cry over diaper commercials!!!
i usually: have to make dinner, and I HATE making dinner all the time
i search: for the kids' loveys at least once a day
i wonder: when Ben will get a raise.
i regret: Not being more social in high school
i love: my family, my friends, and the Gospel (de-ja-vu huh Cic.)
i care: (sorry cic, gotta steal your answer again cuz it's SO true) way too much about what people think about me
i always: feel like I clean and clean all the time and never accomplish anything
i worry: about Ben losing his job
i am not: losing much weight even though I've been walking daily (gggrrrrr)
i remember: playing jumprope every day at recess
i believe: that SOME day life will make sense
i dance: Only when under great duress, or crazily with the girls in the front room to the Tarzan soundtrack
i sing: in the shower, at church, in the car, at home, anywhere really. However I do NOT randomly burst into song in public places like a musical.
i don’t always: like myself
i argue: rarely, but when I really feel strongly about something LOOK OUT.
i write: lots and lots of lists.....I'm a list-a-holic.
i win: Nothing I ever WANT to win. Like that HD TIVO they were giving away on the Ellen show. I WISH I could win one of those.
i lose: my sanity most days of the week
i wish: I were more like my friend Kristie.
i listen: To music to give me energy enough to clean
i don't understand: why kids have to ask "What?" a million times when you ask them to do something.
i can usually be found: at home, because I have no life really
i am scared: of falling off high places and getting in car wrecks in the snow
i need: my friends to help me feel better about myself.
i forget: to take the meat out of the freezer for dinner all the time
i am happy: to have all the blessings I DO have right now.
i tag: Amy and Elise specifically, plus anyone else that thinks it might be fun!!!!

When it rains, it pours

So, this summer has been a crazy one for Marissa. First, she broke her arm. 2 weeks after getting her cast off Audrey cut her hair. Then that same night as the hair cutting, she cut her forehead on a china tea cup that broke. Well if THAT wasn't enough, last wednesday she wanted to go downstairs to play. She happily took off to find her baby dolls downstairs, when I suddenly heard THUMP, THUMP, THUMPETY-THUMP, BANG, SCREAM!!!! I ran through the house and down the stairs to find Marissa lying face down at the bottom of the stairs screaming. I picked her up and took a look at her and noticed the large trail of blood down her face. The source was a large HOLE in the middle of her forehead!!! I quickly got a towel and applied pressure to be able to asses the damage. Noticing that she would DEFINITELY need stiches, but that this was not an ER trip kind of emergency, I called Ben at scouts and told him to come home immediately because Marissa was going to need stitches. After hanging up with Ben I called the doctor's office to get her in. Well, Marissa was such a brave girl. In fact, after she got over the scare of falling she didn't cry AT ALL!!! Didn't cry when they cleaned her hole, or when they put numbing cream on it. Didn't cry when the doctor poked and prodded the hole in her head to figure out how best to sew it, and didn't cry when the doc sewed her up with 5 stiches. She came out of the doctor's with a bouquet of suckers and was just fine. Now, you are all sitting there asking yourselves, "WHY did Marissa fall down the stairs?" You see, as I picked up my crying little girl, I noticed the incriminating evidence on the floor beneath her. It was snow white. Yes, snow white.....well sort of. Earlier that morning Audrey and I were cleaning her room and I handed her the Snow White dress and told her to take it downstairs to all her other dress-up things. She left the room with the dress in tow and reappeared a few minutes later. I Naively assumed that she had actually taken the dress downstairs and put it away.........yeah right. She had gone to the top of the stairs and tossed it down the stairs which meant it landed in the middle of the stair well. THIS is what Marissa slipped on and caused her to tumble down our steep, hard, barely carpeted stairs. *sigh* I told Audrey if I ever found her dress up clothes on the stairs again, they would go straight to the trash. I told Marissa she is not to have any more major injuries for a LONG time. I can hope right?? Ben took pics on his blackberry, so we'll see if he'll upload them so you can see Marissa's hole. It's now been a week and half since it happened. She got the stitches out on Monday, and again, didn't cry at all. Now it's just trying to keep her from picking the scab off. She's already going to have a big enough scar smack dab in the middle of her forehead without her picking at the scab!!! Is she going to survive childhood?!?!?!?!?!?

The Scissor Fairy Strikes Again

I swear we have a naughty scissor fairy in our home. The scissor fairy struck again on Saturday for the 5th(!!!) time. The scissor fairy attacked on Saturday morning. It was a peaceful morning until, BAM!!! Chaos broke loose. The fairy found a new victim this time however and went for Marissa's hair instead of Audrey's. The scissor fairy has already attacked Audrey 4 times, twice drastically so, and twice not so noticeably. This attack was a drastic attack. Audrey claims she did not see the scissor fairy, though all signs point to her knowing more than she lets on, about said fairy. Despite drastic hair cuts, a couple spankings, other various consequences, the hiding of all scissors for months, and the overhanging threat of a head shaving should the fairy ever return, that naughty little fairy still could not resist the hypnotic pull of Marissa's auburn ringlets. Let me show you the results of said scissor fairy's handiwork this time. (Sorry if the pics aren't really clear, we had a hard time getting Marissa go hold still for some good shots)

This is what Mariss'a pigtails looked like BEFORE the attack. Nice, long, and curly.

This is what became of her pigtail after the scissor fairy attacked.

And here is Marissa's short, pixie hair cut that was necessary after the naughty fairy had her way with Marissa's hair.

So I had made the classic parenting mistake of threatening a punishment I had no desire to fulfill. I was hoping the THREAT of shaving her head would keep Audrey from cutting hair anymore. Alas, it did not work, and just as she was on the verge of getting said shaving done that night she saved her sister from a nasty cut on the head while in the bathtub. So, I had my way out, but we know the next time will have to be something very drastic to keep her from ever doing a hair cutting session again.

Random Ramblings

1. Sanity is beginning to return to our home. First off, I came to my senses and decided NOT to get Audrey's ears pierced and to return to my previous rule. Audrey may get her ears pierced when she can take care of all her own hygiene needs. Shower alone, dress, do hair, and take care of her clothes. When she proves thus, she may get her ears pierced whether that be at 8 or 18 years old.
We have also opted out of the business we were looking into. We just couldn't justify the $500 with the lack of sucess we were having. Therefore you may all breathe easier in knowing we will not be bugging you.

2. I hate to advertise, but I must get word out. I am SERIOUSLY looking for piano and clarinet students. If any of you know anyone in the Ogden area intersted, PLEASE contact me. I prefer to teach people I know rather than advertising in the music store. Therefore, I will try this avenue of word-of-mouth first and see what follows.

3. My newfound freedom is quite entertaining to me. You see, Ben now has a friend to carpool with to work every day. That means I get the van. Now, I haven't taken advantage of using the van for a day excursion yet, but the KNOWLEDGE that I CAN leave if I want to is SO empowering. I find myself more patient with the kids and less watching the clock for Ben to get back from work all because I know that IF I want to, I can leave and go somewhere. Go figure.

4. I have finally sucked it all up and begun walking every day......at 6am. I go with my friend Cicily, and hopefully my friend Heather will be joining us soon. 6am was the only time that we couldn't come up with an excuse not to go. Our husbands are home, the kids are still sleeping, and it's nice and cool. We knew that afternoons wouldn't work because then we'd have to take the combined total of 7 kids between the 3 of us. Evening wouldn't work either because we'd always be coming up with excuses not to go (too tired, couple time, family time, date night, friend time, etc.). So....the only alternative was 6am. We actually went for a few days, then bummed out until we found that pants weren't fitting correctly and we were NOT going to buy new pants. The only other option was to get our rears in gear and walk!

5. Fly lady works. My house has never looked better since I joined up with FlyLady. I love that she just tells you to jump in and start getting out of CHAOS (Can't have anyone over syndrome). I have just been trying to whittle away at the clutter, junk, and non-useful/non-loved items, as well as just taking a few minutes to spruce up at least one room in the home every day. Now, most of you know I am FAR from a clean freak. My house always looks "lived in." What has really changed is that a) I finally have a child that crawls and he is EVERYWHERE and eats EVERYTHING and that's a lot with two other kids leaving papers, and crumbs everywhere.
b) I finally just got sick of always being behind and feeling like I had to panic clean for anyone to come over. The house is FAR from great, but at least the kitchen and front room are usually tidy nowdays. c) I want to be more like my sister Vickie and my friend Kristie who have nice orderly, tidy homes that you feel comfortable in. Not to mention I want to be a better wife, mother, and homemaker. So there we go. If any of you struggle like I do, then go check out FlyLady.com and just remember that you don't have to do it EXACTLY like they say or at the speed they say, but that you just have to DO.

Ok....I'm done rambling now.

To Pierce or Not to Pierce, That is the Question.

Audrey came home yesterday and asked to get her ears pierced. I just don't know whether or not to do it. I planned on getting her ears pierced at SOME point during her childhood if she asked for it. She turns 5 in a couple weeks, so it could be her b-day present. My sister Vickie said she let her twins pierce their ears when they asked to do so when they were 7. She also suggested if I do it to tell Audrey she has to wear her studs for a while before getting changeable earrings. My sister-in-law Vanessa has had her girls' ears pierced since the beginning. Audrey's friend Gloria, who is a month younger than Audrey, got her ears pierced this summer. My mother-in-law is very much against piercing Audrey's ears so young. She'd rather we wait until Audrey is a teenager. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this topic? The funniest thing is, that her inspiration to get her ears pierced came from the neighbor boy who has an earring.

Don't Try This at Home

Let me set the scene. It is 11:30am. Audrey and Marissa have refused to eat much breakfast and are thus complaining that they are STARVING. Trent has just waken up from a 3 hour nap since he woke up this morning at 6:30am and didn't have the best night last night anyway due to hayfever. Trent is one hungry dude now. I'm hungry, well because I just am. I need to feed Trent and make the girls lunch before they whine me to death. So what do I decide the solution is? I ask Audrey to feed Trent. Interesting. Let us just say that I think there was more food ON Trent than IN him. He managed to steal the spoon from Audrey half way through, so Audrey gets another spoon which he also manages to steal. I take the spoon back and wipe it off for Audrey to recommence with the feeding. Well, in the mix is Marissa who has decided that if AUDREY gets to feed "Dude" than SHE does too. So Marissa gets her own spoon and climbs up on the chair with Audrey and proceeds to "feed" Trent too. Messy, messy, messy. I guess it all worked out in the end though. Trent got fed.....mostly, Audrey and Marissa weren't whining any more, and I managed to get lunch made without too many distractions. I should have taken a picture of the kids though. Trent was COVERED in Cheddar Broccoli soup and Audrey had it in her hair and on her clothes. Marissa ended up the cleanest, however SHE was the biggest contributor of the mess! Go figure.

The Vortex of Doom, and My New Toy

Ok, so the vortex of doom is ticking me off!!! You know that mysterious place where all the missing socks go?? Well, it's sucked up my umbrella stroller AND Marissa's blanket. Seriously. It's annoying. To be truthful, I think someone stole the umbrella stroller, which must have meant they needed it MUCH more than I, but it had two chinese jumpropes in the back bag, and THAT I'm ticked off about being stolen. The blanket however is seriously gone without a trace. I've combed the entire house looking for it. Inside and Out. I've checked in cupboards, under beds, in all the toy drawers, the closets, EVERYWHERE I can think of and I can't find that blanket. Marissa's going to go ballistic if it's gone for more than this naptime. I'm lucky I got her to sleep without it right now....what am I going to do at bedtime if I can't find it?!?!??!?!?!? So, if anyone knows the whereabouts of either the blanket, or the vortex of doom, please inform me so that I don't go any more insane than I already am!!

Now, on to my new toy. I scored. Big Time!! The family down the street is moving to California where her husband is stationed as an interpreter for the army (?). Anyway, they didn't want to take the piano with them since it's a BIG piano so they GAVE, yes GAVE as in for FREE, me the piano!!! I know, I can't believe it either. So Ben and I rearranged the house and put the TV downstairs so that there was room for my new toy!! I LOVE my piano. All in all, I guess it cost about $300 dollars in the end to move it and have it tuned but that was so worth it. I play it every day and I'm REALLY excited to have it during Christmas because that's my favorite time of year to play. So, here's a picture of my newest acquisition. Oh, and if anyone knows someone who wants piano lessons let me know. I'm serious. I'm trying to get 3-4 students to help out with money.

One of THOSE days

Do you ever have one of THOSE days? Of course you do, we ALL do. Well I'm stuck in a rut with THOSE days. All I can say is that I need to rant, so here goes. Do you ever feel like everything in life is going wrong? It doesn't help to be sleep deprived either. You feel like you want to kill your kids, your house looks like....well like people LIVE there and don't clean up after themselves, you feel fat and ugly, and you just feel all around like a crappy person? Welcome to my world of the last few days. I just need to suck it up and get over it, but sometimes the depression just spirals out of control until you're sitting like a blob on a chair bawling your eyes out. Now, I'm not saying this to alarm anyone, I just have to get it off my chest and start climbing back up the sides of the pit. Anyway, I'm sure life will start looking up....I mean it already looks better today than it did yesterday. Improvement right? Ok, I'm done ranting now. Everyone can go back to their lives now. Thanks for listening.

My Little Trooper

So, let me tell you about my little trooper, Marissa. Poor little 2 year old has a broken arm!! It is sad, but true. While we were on a hike (really more of a walk on a nicely paved, flat path) she fell and broke her arm. You see, my neice Gaby accidentally tripped over Marissa and they both went sprawling. Marissa started screaming bloody murder. Of course, I didn't think much of THAT considering it's Marissa and she is a DRAMA Queen, it was WELL past nap time, and she'd fallen and gotten hurt. She had a scrape on her left cheeck and a fat lip, so I thought, "she's tired, so she's just over reacting." She screamed a lot longer than usual, but I still didn't register that her arm was hurt because she was sitting in her stroller and she fell asleep before we got to the car to drive home. We got home and I put her down for a nap. She woke up around 5pm and THAT'S when I noticed that something just wasn't right. She'd hold her arm close to her body and wouldn't use it. She'd also scream if anyone bumped it. So, we took off for an urgent care facility in Provo to see a doctor. The doctor checks her out, moves her arm around and declares that he doesn't think it's broken. There is no x-ray tech on hand to do an x-ray however to confirm this diagnosis. The doc tells us if we REALLY feel it's necessary that we can come back in the morning for an x-ray or go to an ER. Since the doctor was SO sure it wasn't broken we didn't bother. However, when Riss STILL wasn't using her arm a full day later I called my pediatrician and gave them the scoop. They told me that as long as nothing changed I could wait and bring her in when we got home. We got home, and I took her in, and they took an x-ray to find out that BOTH her bones were broken!!! Stinkin, stupid urgent care doctor!!!! Anyway, now she's in a cast and our biggest problem is trying to keep the dumb thing dry!!! Ah well, such is life. Here's a pic of Riss with her temporary cast on.

Cousins, cousins, and more Cousins.

Well, so here's the scoop on our vacation to Provo. We were in Provo, well the kids I and were, from July 2-18th. Ben was there about half the time. We went down on the 2nd and Ben and I went out for our Anniversary on the 3rd. We've now been married 7 years. Wow. We celebrated the 4th of July down in Provo with my sister Vickie and her kids, and her friends. Here's a picture of the kids at the parade. From Left to right (Back: Emma, Jacob, Katie, Joseph, Jarrett

Front: Audrey, Jayci, Parker, Jenna, Marissa) They had a fun time watching the parade and then going to our annual family picnic held at my cousins home a block away from the parade.

Later that night, my nephew and his wife came over with my sister Anine and her family to hang out. Here is a picture of Trent with his closest relative, my nephew's baby Jenner. They are 4 months apart.

On the 7th, my brother and his family came into town. We all had a great time playing and just hanging out. We went to Bridalvale falls (where Marissa broke her arm, info to come on that later), the swimming pool, played a family game of kickball, and had lots of fun going to the bakery every morning and playing games and watching movies at night. Here's some pics of our time together.

My twin nieces Jayci (left) and Jennifer, AKA Jenna (right)

Here are 3 of my nieces acting VERY silly at my nephew Adrian's b-day party. We got him Incredible Hulk cupcakes. There's Becca (left), Kim (center), and Niki (right).

Last of all here is "Baby Madie" my niece Madeleine. She is 1. She's with my mom, AKA Grandma.

What do you Remember???

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew 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. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. 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 I haven't already.

In the meantime, I'll work on getting some pics posted from our Trip to Provo. Does anyone know if I can download the pics straight from my digital camera to the blog? I'm getting sick of loading them to the comp, then to the blog.

Midnight Musings....or Amuzings

So it was really 2 am, but midnight sounded better. It had been a rough night with Marissa waking up multiple times. Ben had been a real trooper in helping out with her. Now, Trent wakes up for his nightly feeding and it's around 2 am. Ben had JUST put Marissa back to bed, and brought Trent to me. I took him to the front room to feed him, and as usual dozed off while feeding him. It's now around 2:30am and I can hear Ben snoring in bed. I burp Trent and put him back to bed and go to climb into my own to go back to sleep. Well, Ben's snoring got really obnoxious after a few minutes so I nudged him and said, "you're snoring. Roll over." And what does Ben reply, while half asleep? "It wasn't me!" So I said, "Yes, Ben, you're snoring, so roll over." Ben says, "It wasn't me, I just got back in bed." At this point I'm laughing to myself and have to refrain from saying, "and just who else is in this room to be snoring then?" I was a good girl, and didn't say it.....at least not until the next day when I asked him if he remembered our conversation. So, instead I said "just go back to sleep." He rolled over, stopped snoring and went back to sleep while I layed there and chuckled to myself for about a half hour. If it hadn't been in the middle of the night I probably would have been laughing outright. I love Ben, and that made my night.

A Week in Review

Ok, so here's the scoop on what happened last week.
1. We went bowling as a family for the first time. We took pics, but they're all on Ben's blackberry so we'll have to wait for him to load them on. We went with our friends the Hess's. We all had a great time. The nicest thing was that this bowling alley is $1.50 for shoes and $1.50/game before 5pm every day. So we went bowling for $12!!!! That's 4 people for that price. Unfortunately, we forgot to specifically inform Audrey that you cannot run down the alley chasing a ball. When she did just that, I yelled for her to come back and scared her. THAT sent her into a melt down and she spent the last 10 minutes sitting in a cool-down chair while Marissa bowled her (Audrey's) last frame. She'll learn.

2. We went swimming for the first time this summer. It FINALLY warmed up enough for us to go to the pool, so last weekend we went to use our season passes for the first time. Ben, howered did not get to participate except in taking pictures (again all on his blackberry) and watching Trent on the sidelines. You see, as I was packing up all our stuff I thought Ben's swim trunks looked a little off. So I checked them out and found that they had NO elastic left in the waist band. Since it was time to go, and the girls didn't want to wait, Ben just sat out and we got him new trunks later that night.

3. We attended Members Only Zoo Night on Thursday with the Hess's. The highlight of the trip was riding the new carousel that opened up. It worked out perfectly that the time it took everyone to wait in line and then ride the carousel was the same amount of time it took me to feed Trent. I had to get creative though. I forgot to bring a bowl to mix Trent's rice cereal in. Luckily I had put the dry cereal and formula into a plastic baggy. So I poured some water in, squished it around to mix it and then tore a hole in one corner. I then proceeded to squeeze it out like frosting into a plastic spoon. It worked pretty well.

4. On Friday we headed to Ben's parents house for a mini-reunion. It was his parent's 40th wedding anniversary and Cameron and Ruth were in town from Texas. We headed down and so did Duncan with his girlfriend Stacy and her two girls Carly (10) and Shelby (6). (We really hope that things go far with Dunc and Stacy because we REALLY liked her and the girls). On friday evening we all headed down the Thanksgiving point for the Scottish Festival. The funnest part was listening to the bands while the kids all danced around in the middle of a large field. On Saturday morning we headed to Kiddie Kandids for family pictures. That was NOT so fun as both my girls refused to eat breakfast and then proceeded to whine, pout, scream, and cry that they were hungry. We survived. Then it was home for some downtime before heading down town to catch a Bee's baseball game. Then Ben and I packed up and headed back to Ogden.

It was a packed, yet fun filled week and this week is shaping up to be more of the same. At least we're not bored!!!

Finally Caught

I FINALLY got Trent to smile long enough for me to take a picture of his smile! He's actually laughing, but that's better than nothing. Our camera has a delay between when you push the button and when it actually takes the picture. It's always a suprise to see what comes out because you don't know if the kids moved, or stopped smiling when the pic was actually taken. He's five months old now and just a joy. He's almost always happy and will just play by himself for hours. What a good little man! Enjoy the picture of Sir Spits-a-lot, Dude, TrenTON, Mount Vesuvius, or whatever else you call him.

Ummmmm.........

Ok, this story started out pretty normal. Audrey was putting on some of her "Makeup" that she'd gotten for Christmas. Well, then Marissa wanted in on the action, so Audrey was being a good big sister and walking her through how to put the makeup on. That's when it got interesting. Here is what I found when I came back into the room.

Apparently my children had decided to become clowns. Not only that, but somehow painting their legs with lipgloss seemed like a good idea. Following are some lovely pictures of each of the girls. This picture, however is the best picture of Marissa's leg. It was completely painted purple by the end, but when she stood up, her capri bottoms covered it. Lucky for me. It's all over the inside of her pants now. :)

As you can see, Audrey was pretty in pink? Her cheeks, arms, and legs were covered in lipgloss.

I didn't have the heart to stop them, and secretly I was egging them on because I was hoping all the makeup would get used up and that we'd have to throw it away.

I guess this is what I get for telling them that after they made themselves all "pretty" I'd take their pictures!!!

Tagged

So, I have been tagged by my friend Tracy and now apparently I'm supposed to post 7 things you probably don't know about me, then tag someone else who will most likely see my blog. Hmm.....well, here goes.

1. I am naturally an introvert. I know, I know you are all saying "what the heck?" but it's true. In high school I had hardly any friends until my senior year. It was during my senior year that I came to some enlightening conclusions in my life. First, was that if I didn't like myself how could I expect anyone else to like me. And second, if I wanted a social life with good friends then I had to start putting myself out there. It was really hard to do, but with the help of some of my best friends, Kate and Bonnie, I was able to mostly conquer my introvertedness. I still have things that I hate doing. I hate calling people on the phone. I don't like being the first to introduce myself, but I will force myself to do it. So, now I don't seem introverted, but I still have many of those tendencies.

2. I play the clarinet, but that was not my first choice of instrument. I wanted to play the flute, but my brother and sister claimed they would disown me if I did. My mom essentially said, "We have a clarinet. Play that." So, I played the clarinet, and not the flute. If I had to do it all over though I'd play the french horn.

3. I am a crossword puzzle book junkie. My current favorite puzzles are called Double Trouble. They are like crossword puzzles, except that every box can hold up to 3 letters of the answer and not just one. I love word puzzles and games. Ben won't play Boggle with me unless I handicap myself, and the only person who will play scrabble with me is my sister.

4. I am anal about my kids outfits. I HAVE to have the correct bottoms to the correct tops or it drives me crazy. That's why we only bought separates for Audrey, so that I wouldn't care what she put together. That's also why Ben rarely chooses the kids' clothes. I'm trying really hard to conquer this and just let it go. It's hard for me though.

5. I love amusement parks. I look forward to taking a trip to Lagoon every year. Last year I was really ticked off, because I was pregnant with Trent and couldn't ride any rides, let alone the new roller coaster that opened up. Needless to say, Ben was a real sport and didn't ride it without me. Thanks Ben!!!!

6. I hate cooking. I like to bake desserts, but I hate cooking dinner every night. Thus, I look forward to summer with enthusiasm because Ben will grill every night if I want him to!! I think what I hate most about cooking is all the dishes.......boy do I hate dishes.

7. I have asthma. I developed it while I was pregnant with Marissa. We don't know if it was caused by the pregnancy, something in our crappy apartment we lived in at the time, or if I would have gotten it anyway. We discovered my lovely condition on a trip to the ER because I couldn't breathe. Let me tell you, it SUCKS getting asthma as an adult. Suddenly, things that never bothered your breathing do, like exercising and allergies. Blah.

Well there you have it. 7 things you may not have known about me. How did I do? How many of those things did you know? I guess I'm supposed to tag someone else now so ummm..........
Tag you're it.......JENNY!!!!!!

Tantrums and Potty Training

Well, this weekend we went down to Provo to visit my parents. My brother Steve was in town with his wife Corie. Well, Steve was SORT of in town. He was taking two of his boys to Lake Powell for some male bonding, so we all hung out with Corie while he was gone. It was a good trip, except for Marissa's night time screaming fits. She woke up in the middle of the night both Friday and Saturday just screaming away, and no one would do but MOMMY!!! Well, it just so happens that one of those times she woke up I was nursing Trent and couldn't hold her. Oh my goodness, talk about screaming bloody murder. Ben took her to another room and let her scream herself out before she came back in, sweet as could be, and climbed in bed with me and fell asleep.
Sometimes I don't get Marissa. This morning she came into my bedroom at 6:45am hollering away and when I asked her what was wrong she wouldn't tell me. So I ignored her and let her have her tantrum. Ends up, she must have needed to go potty and instead of saying anything she simply screamed her head off on the floor and proceeded to pee her pants on the carpet. Joyous. I mean she could have just said "potty" instead, but NOOOOOOO. Ah well, maybe someday she'll mellow out.

Graduation Day

Today was a special day for Audrey. It was her graduation day from preschool.

She had a great time. They did a really cute program where they sang a bunch of songs for us. There were songs about counting, shapes, colors, and other things. I was so proud of her, especially since she finally overcame her stage fright and actually particitpated in the program DURING the program instead of two hours later!!

Here is Audrey with her Teacher, Brooke Malan. Audrey loves Brooke tons. We used to be in the same ward together when we first moved to Ogden. Brooke did a great job with the kids this year and I'm excited for Audrey to go back again next year, since she misses the deadline by a couple days to start Kindergarten.

Here is Audrey with a couple of her Preschool Pals. She's with Dawson and Olivia before the program began. It was a great day. We celebrated afterward by taking her to McDonald's with her friend Matthew who also went to school with her.

Entrance Into Cyberspace

I did it!!!! I have now entered the world of cyberspace with a blog......now if I can only figure out how it all works. And we'll see if I keep up with it too. Who knows what will happen. At least I'm giving it a shot right?