Now my kids will be perfect!

My kids are really hard, and I honestly don't think that it's just because I'm their mom. They're so high energy, and they really seem to enjoy fighting sometimes. And they get some seriously bad attitudes. Even sweet little Katy has started biting when she gets mad! So, I'm constantly trying to come up with new ways to deal with them.

A few days ago I realized we haven't been doing allowance since we moved 2 months ago. I think allowance is both fun & important for them. It teaches them the value of money, how to save, etc. So I want to start giving them allowance again. But I don't want to tie it directly to good behavior. I'm not sure why, but I'm pretty sure I've heard that you aren't supposed to. But I really need them to have motivation to be good, and time outs really don't seem to be a deterrent to being naughty!

So here is what I've come up with. I made a chore chart with days of the week across the top, and 7 jobs down the side. I want to give them $2, so 8 quarters, a week. I was thinking of doing a quarter a day if they do all their jobs, plus a bonus quarter if they get all 7. But my friend Gayelinn mentioned paying individually for separate things, and I think I'm going to try that. If they do one of their jobs all 7 days, they'll earn a quarter. And if they successfully do all 7 jobs all 7 days, they'll get that bonus quarter. Here are their seven jobs:

Be Kind
Be Respectful
Do Morning Jobs (make bed, put jammies away or in the hamper, etc.)
Do Evening Jobs (get in jammies, put clothes in the hamper, etc.)
Set or Clear the Table (the boys will trade off)
Feed the Dog (2 dogs here, each boy will do 1)
Pick up after Yourself

I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to quantify if they've been kind or respectful, maybe 3 strikes and you don't qualify for the day. I hope this works! I'm really excited to try something new!

Oh, and I've really noticed lately that if their routine gets disturbed, they're exceptionally bad. So I will do my part by making sure they have good meal & snack times, bed times, etc. And I will take away computer & Wii time when they start fighting, even though it makes my life harder. I think this is all I'm going to focus on for the New Year - being really aware of what they need, and not taking the easy way out (like allowing them to keep playing just because it's easier for me). Wish me luck!

I don't want to see porn!

I just went to Yahoo to check my mail. On the main page they had this:

Shirtless Obama causes stir
Photos of the president-elect taken during his Hawaiian holiday have the Web in a frenzy

That caught my interest, so I opened that in a separate tab. It's just a silly article about how Obama was topless on the beach (imagine that!) and someone got pictures, and how there are tons of people now looking for them online. The article ended with this:

And as for shirtless celebrities versus shirtless politicians, Obama's Web appeal runs second to "Twilight" star Robert Pattinson, thereby upholding the right and proper balance in the world.

The words "Robert Pattinson" were a link to a Yahoo search for Robert Pattinson Shirtless. I clicked on that link, then on the top result. Now that I look back, it mentioned nudity in the description, but somehow I didn't notice. And I thought you usually had to pay for things like that! Or at least have to click on links in the website. But in the upper lefthand corner of the main page there was a picture of Harry Potter actor in the buff! Full frontal nudity! Yikes!

You know, it's one thing to have stuff like that available for those that want to intentionally look at it, but those of us that don't shouldn't have to! It makes me worry for my children. :(

This is NOT where I wanted to park!

I hate snow. Hate hate hate hate HATE snow! I was so excited to move somewhere that rarely has snow, so of course we're having the worst winter EVER! It started Friday, December 12th, and has been really bad since then! The roads got a little bit better the middle of last week, so I ran some errands Tuesday & Wednesday. And that's pretty much the only time I've left in that whole stretch of time! I was trying to get out of the house this morning, and this is what happened!

The very end of the driveway slopes up, and if there are cars in the way so I can't just go while I have momentum, I can't go. My parents both told me to just get up there as high as possible, but I still wasn't able to get going. So I had to back way up to try again. I got stuck in the snow. I was able to get going, then got stuck again. That happened a couple times. Then finally, I really got stuck. I'd work and work and finally get the tires moving, and would just slide further into the blackberry bushes. I finally ended up pretty much perpendicular to the road, and unable to make any forward or backward progress. It had been 75 minutes, and the gas tank said I had 0 miles left, so I gave up.





While I was starting this blog, my mom's friend Carolyn sent her husband Brian to pull me out. They have a nice big SUV with 4 wheel drive, and he was able to get me out! First he kind of pulled me more into the bushes, and my side mirror broke off, but it was already cracked. Then he got me out, and I still couldn't get any traction. So he finally just pulled me all the way out and across the road to the Zion Lutheran church across the street. I drove down to 7-Eleven, and got gas and slurpees. Then I realized that I was wearing the coolest boots ever!


Oh well. When I came back I just parked across the street! That way I can go somewhere later if I need to!

Is this one happy?

Yes, Ryan, that one is happy.

Why are happy oranges yummier than regular ones?

Katy & the Nativity Scene

Here at my parents house we currently have 7 different Nativity scenes. 4 "normal," 1 Veggie Tale, 1 teeny tiny, and 1 from Peru I think. 1 of them is mine, the other 6 are my mom's. Oh, and there's a little Baby Jesus that isn't part of a full Nativity that I think someone must have made (it looks like it's made out of craft sticks). The set that is mine (one of the "normal" ones) is pretty sturdy and safe looking, so it's been living in the family room for the kids to play with. They hadn't been lately, so in the interest of having minimal stuff in here I decided to take it to the living room with the other 6. A little while later I found the Baby Jesus from my set hiding somewhere, and gave it to Katy. I told her to "Go put Baby Jesus away." Later this evening this is what I found:

Sweet little Kathryn had taken the Baby Jesus and put it where she thought it went, in another Nativity! And she'd also put the one that isn't part of a set with them as well. So three little Baby Jesuses were all together in one Nativity! Here she is being sweet & playing nicely with them. Girls are so different than boys! She's so much more gentle & loving. And she plays nicely with all the little Baby Jesuses! Oh, and the mess of pink and purple at the bottom is her baby, wrapped up in a blanky. Such a sweet little Mommy!

What a good daughter-in-law I am!

Well, first of all I was a bad daughter-in-law. I forgot that I needed to get presents for my in-laws for a while. I don't know why, it just didn't occur to me. I got presents for my parents, assigned sibling, kids, husband, and even myself. :) I wrote the Christmas letter, made the Christmas card, and got most of them off last Wednesday. I was feeling great, totally on top of things! Then I remembered that we have Dan's side of the family as well! Ack!

Actually, now that I think of it, I think I have a semi-decent reason for forgetting. We got an email from the Morrill siblings discussing the elimination of gift giving between siblings & cousins. Later it was decided to just eliminate the cousins & keep the siblings. So I was thinking I didn't have to worry about the Morrill side at all. Well, now we have Dan's brother, Matt, and I have put Dan in charge of it. Hopefully he can handle it!

So, I braved the roads last Tuesday and went to Costco, and found something for my father-in-law. But nothing for my mother-in-law. So I started knitting a skinny scarf for her Thursday evening. I worked hard, knitting every chance I got (and we haven't gone anywhere since Wednesday, so I've had a lot of chances!), and I finished it today! I'm so proud of myself! I plan on braving the roads again tomorrow & putting it in 2 day mail, thus making it before Christmas (good use of the word "thus," huh?)! Yay me! I know it's pretty plain, but it's my first finished knitting project ever! I think it's pretty, and hopefully my mother-in-law will too!

Dr. Pepper

I just have to say that I love Dr. Pepper. It is one of my favorite things in the whole world. That makes me sound like a junkie, but I think I have a healthy relationship with it. I don't NEED it, and I don't even have it every day. And usually a 12 oz can is enough. I just really, really enjoy it.

What is so great about it? Well, I enjoy the sounds of preparing it. It has to be in a cup with ice, and I've learned to love those sounds of the pop can opening & pouring over the ice. Then I really enjoy the flavor, and the amount of carbonation in it (but only prepared the way I like it, I really can't stand it straight from a can, or even without ice to make the bubbles lessen). And I love the way it makes me feel. Being a stay-at-home mom with kids that sleep 11 hours (and I don't even have to get up when the boys do anymore), I rarely suffer from lack of sleep (and if I do it's my own stupid fault!). So it isn't like it wakes me up. It does, however, perk me up. I think there's a difference. It's more of a mental thing than a physical. It makes me feel a lot more motivated, usually about whatever currently needs my motivation!

Tonight, for example, I was dreading the bedtime routine. The boys had just had an outburst at the end of dinner (with Ryan chasing David with his fork while all 3 adults yelled at him), and I was not feeling up to dealing with it. I told them to get in the pajamas, so naturally they went to the rec room to play. I decided not to fight that for a little while, and got myself a drink. A few minutes later, I felt great! I started feeling all warm and fuzzy about my kids. I had lots of patience with them, and did a great job lovingly reading to them and preparing them for bed. It was great! Now I've ended the mommy part of the day feeling like I've been a good mommy. If not for my Dr. Pepper indulgence, I'd probably have yelled & stressed, only to feel guilty about being a bad mommy.

So maybe there are mixed feelings about whether or not caffeinated beverages are okay, but I really think they can serve a good purpose. I don't see how it's different than taking tylenol or something. Just for my mood! And now, isn't that good for everybody?

Printing envelopes is hard...

...way harder than I thought it would be. I'm being such a good girl this year, getting the Christmas letters ready so early! I am pretty sure I've never mailed them before Christmas before. I also have always hand written the addresses, but decided that in the name of simplicity this year I would print them. However, it has been much harder than I thought it would be. I did a couple test envelopes on blank whites, then started using my cute ones with red stars down the side. They match the paper my letter is printed on. I'm so neat, huh? I love things to match! Well, the printer did this to a lot of them:

I guess that isn't such a big deal, but then it did this to a few random ones throughout the list:

That, I don't think I'm okay with. Partly because it picked bad ones to do it on. My single brother-in-law's printed just fine, but my super cute roomate from BYU & my super crafty friend from BYU have totally ugly envelopes. It's like it knew which ones I wanted to look the nicest, and splooged ink all over!

Now I have a dilemma. I have 6 more addresses to confirm/get, and 5 more cute envelopes before I have to open another pack. So I either have to use the ugly ones & just give a plain white to 1 person, throw away the ugly ones and give white ones to like 7 people, or spend $5.99 + tax on another 50 pack. Sigh. What a problem.

Our Big Nursery Girl!

Yesterday was Katy's first day in Nursery, and she did GREAT! I was just positive that she'd have a hard time, loving her mommy as much as she does. I was so very irritated that we weren't allowed to bring her in early to get used to it. But she was such a big girl, and didn't have a problem!

Dan & I sat in there during the first activity (play-doh), assuming we'd be in for the long haul. But she just sat at the table with the other kids (none of whom were sad at all, which I'm sure helped!), occasionally looking at me to be excited about something she showed me. She was doing such a great job, we decided to leave at the first transition to another activity. She went to the blanket to sit down for the lesson, and I told her "It's time for Mommy & Daddy to go, we'll come back in a little while." She ran over to where we were leaving and started to whine. One of the teachers picked her up, and we left. We walked 10 feet down to a place where we could sit and listen to how long she cried. And she was done crying before we even sat down! She literally cried for only a couple seconds!

We hung around for a while, but she was totally fine! She has a friend named Bethany that she plays with when we go to aerobics at the church, and I saw them together a lot. Bethany's mom told me today that Bethany talked about playing with Katy, so they're good little friends! So cute!

I snuck out of Relief Society a few minutes early to get her, and this is what I saw:

It's hard to take pictures with a cell phone through the window. Katy is straight across in the light colored jumper with a pink shirt underneath. Bethany is to the left of her (holding Katy's right hand) in the black & red dress.
I took another picture when they came around. I love Katy's cute little ponytail!
I think they're getting ready for bubbles or something. And look, she just seems totally comfortable hanging out with the other kids!
Bubbles! Katy is right in the middle of the crowd! SO FUN!

I was so proud of sweet little Katy for doing such a great job! I can't believe she's already in Nursery, and playing so nicely with friends. What a big girl!

Our whirlwind road trip!

Yesterday most of the day was spent sitting around playing Wii with the boys or trying to figure out what to do for a Christmas card. I felt really sluggish & lazy, so I got a Dr. Pepper for a pick-me-up. I don't have caffeine all that often, so even just a little bit perks me right up. Sometimes it does what I want, and I get super energized to clean the house. Other times my newfound excitement goes other directions. In hindsight, I think that is what was responsible for what happened next...

I was texting Dan right before going to the bus stop to pick up David. I said "I wish I was coming to see you." It was his birthday, and I was really sad to not be together. Then on my way to the bus stop I started thinking "Well, why don't we?" If I had planned in advance I would have packed and been ready to go when David got out of school, but I wasn't very much later. I knew I needed to decide fast, and was having a hard time thinking clearly. I asked the children (because their behavior is so important on a road trip!), and both boys kind of didn't want to. Then I asked Katy if she wanted to go see Daddy, and she said "YES!" and nodded a whole bunch! So, I hurriedly packed everything we'd need for overnight. We got on the road only 45 minutes later!

We hit traffic almost immediately, so the trip took 3 hours 40 minutes (including a stop for gas & a quick McDonalds run). The kids were really good, and Katy only got cranky a little bit at the end. I was really excited to surprise Dan, but Uncle Jim let it slip. It was still really exciting for us all to be together!

Today we went to visit Daddy at his new office for the first time! I could have lived without driving downtown with all those one way roads, but we survived. It was fun to see where he works. Here's a picture of his back that I took and sent to him while I was trying to figure out where to park.



I'll post about the OMSI later. I told Grandma I was coming down to pack, so I should get to that! It was kind of silly to come down for one day, but we've had a good time! It's nice to be with Daddy!

FWD:Katy is having lots of fun at the OMSI!

Katy is having lots of fun at the OMSI!

The Big One Point Five!

Katy is now 1 1/2! Yay! The 18 month milestone is such an exciting one - time for Nursery! I'll blog about that on Sunday after we give it a shot!

She seems to think she turned two though. Today on the way home from getting David at the bus stop I said "You need to hold my hand so you don't fall down in the mud." She started shaking her head very determinidly (is that a word?). So I asked her "Do you want to fall down in the mud?" And she said "Yeth" just as clear as can be. I didn't push the issue, and luckily she didn't fall down. Silly little Goo!

anyone want to analyze this dream?

I just suddenly remembered the dream I had last night, and I have to post it. It's just really random & funny!

Mitt Romney was president of the US. I ran into him somewhere, but where is kind of fuzzy. I think it might have been just walking around our neighborhood (but not our real neighborhood, just our neighborhood in my dream). He came to our house to hang out with us (I'm 90% sure Dan was there). Then he started flirting with me & put his arm around me (with Dan there, apparently not caring)! Then his presidential duties called him away.

Then we were at some polar bear swim, just watching other people do it. Only they had to actually swim a pretty far ways in water with chunks of ice in it, not just take a quick dip. Oh, and Joe & Mary Ann LeDosquet were there (haven't seen them since high school I think), and I had to hug their daughter to make her stop crying. And Dan's friend Joey was there with his kids, but I don't think his fiancee was there. And I don't remember my kids being there.

So, any psychologists out there want to analyze that for me? I promise I don't have a secret crush on Mitt Romney.

Poor Wachel

Let me give you a little background here. A couple months ago I hadn't run in like 7 years. Then I came to visit my parents, and all 4 of my siblings & father ran races (some a marathon, others a 3 mile) that weekend. So I decided I should take up running again.

I got into a really good routine in Utah. MWF I would run with Molly while pushing my jogging stroller with Katy in it while David & Ryan rode their bikes. We started out going about 1.5 miles total (I walk the first & last 1/4 mile), and increased gradually to almost 2 miles total. Then TThS we would walk 3 miles with my friend Gayelinn. I was totally comfortable running around the neighborhood with the whole gang because we had sidewalks everywhere and big straight places where I could see the kids when they went ahead.

We've been staying with my parents for 3 weeks now, and I'm still trying to find my groove. The kids don't have their bikes & I only have a regular stroller (not my jogger), and I wouldn't know where to go with them anyways. So I've been running on the treadmill, which has gone pretty well. I like knowing how fast I'm going, and letting the kids just play next to me. The only problem - and it's a pretty big one - is that Molly doesn't get exercised. And that big black dog has so much energy, she can't afford to not get some of that energy out! My mom has taken both Molly & Sadie a couple times, but it's pretty hard to do.

I've also been concerned about knowing my distance, which is a part of the reason I hadn't gone for a non-treadmill run yet. My mom recommended running by time rather than distance, and I decided that that'll be a good solution. That way I can just increase a minute or two every week or so.

So today I left the kids with my mom & drove to the Soos Creek Trail to run on with Molly. So I warmed up by walking for 5 minutes, then started jogging. My plan was to jog for 5 minutes, then turn around and jog back for 5 minutes, then walk the rest of the way to the car. But only a minute or two after I started jogging I saw a .5 mile marker. So I thought I'd probably make it to the 1.0 mile marker around 5 or 6 minutes, then I'd turn around there instead.

It got to be 6 minutes and I was looking for the mile marker. And suddenly, I was on the ground! My big black pup had run right in front of me with no warning, and I tripped over her! And somehow, I managed to simultaneously scrape up my shoulder, elbow (how do you do both of those?), both knees, and the palm of my hand. And my cell phone. Rude Molly! I was doing this run for her, and she got me lots of owies!

It's hard to take a picture of your elbow.
This doesn't look too bad, but it was stinging so bad! I like having my skin, and now it's missing!
This is my knee, in case you can't tell. The scrape stings, the bruise hurts. Ow.

Poor, poor Wachel.

Twilight!

(no spoilers, don't worry!)

First of all I have to say that I love love love love LOVE the Twilight books.  I read the first 3 last October in about a week.  Then I bought them for myself for Christmas, and read them again a short while later.  Then I reread those three in preparation for Breaking Dawn coming out.  And I read Twilight for the fourth time in preparation for the moving coming out.  And every time I read them again, I keep thinking that since I already know the story I'll be able to casually read them in my spare time.  Wrong!  Every time I read them, I get sucked in, unable to do anything else besides the bare minimum to keep myself & my children alive.  And I am not unique in my love & obsession for these books!  When Breaking Dawn came out, pretty much every woman in my neighborhood was reading it & talking about it for quite a while following the release!

So I went to the movie with high hopes.  I went to the midnight showing, for crying out loud!  I don't think I've stayed up that late other than a handful of times in my brief unmarried college student life, >7 years ago!  I was very, very, very excited!  I get in trouble with Dan for expecting a movie-based-on-a-book to be too exactly like the book.  His explanation is that "they are different tellings of the same story."  I tried to go to Twilight with an open mind about it.  But I know the book so well, and remember so many details about it, so every time the movie wasn't quite on, it jumped out at me!  So as I noticed so many differences between the book & the movie, I tried to look at the reason for the difference.

Some differences I totally understand.  You just can't fit every detail in a movie & still keep it a reasonable length.  Things that were omitted or altered for that reason I grudgingly allowed.

Some things are changed to make more exciting for a movie.  I'm not sure how I feel about those.  I don't want to put any details at all in my post, so I'll have to just be vague about it.  But there are defintely some things that were altered just for entertainment factor.  I guess I can see why they might do those.  But come on, the book has clearly done well without them!  And your biggest audience is going to be people that love the book, so why change it from what they know the story to be?

The smallest differences were the most irritating to me.  When Stephenie Meyer describes what they're wearing, for example, THEY SHOULD BE WEARING IT IN THE MOVIE!  When she describes the color of walls, THEY SHOULD BE THAT COLOR!  The reason those things were SO SO SO irritating to me is that they're pointless!  They need to wear clothes, why can't they wear what the author said they're wearing?  I don't get it.  Either the costume person didn't know what the book has them wearing, and is stupid & ignorant (read the book, duh!).  Or the costume person knew what they were wearing in the book and thought that he/she could choose better, and is incredibly self centered.  Either way, it's really irritating that they couldn't follow the book on those small little details!

I guess the differences are my main complaint about the movie, becuase the book was so good that the movie should be just exactly like it!  My other complaint is the acting.  There were a lot of times that lines weren't delivered very well (and not just because it wasn't how I imagined!).  And there were lots of times that the characters' behavior wasn't as subtle as it should have been.  Maybe they thought we're all stupid and couldn't understand things unless it was overacted.  Or maybe they're just bad actors.

Overall, I just don't think they did a good job capturing the feel of Twilight.  They had the story line (sometimes mixed up), but Twilight is so much more than that.  Something about it makes grown women neglect their home & family to lose themselves in the world of Forks.  They didn't make that happen for me. I'm disappointed, because it's not like they can just try again to make it better. It just didn't turn out that great, too bad. Hopefully they'll do a better job on New Moon.

I will go see it again with my mom & sisters, though, and I'll try to have lower expectations this time.

proof that girls are different than boys

You know how they say that boys will turn anything into a gun (or sword), even if you don't allow them in your house? I have certainly seen that, even though the boys mostly play with blocks & watch PBS or Playhouse Disney (so they aren't exposed to that kind of thing). Well, apparently the same is true for girls & girly things. This morning Katy found this slightly damp rag on the floor of the hallway (Why was it there? Mom? Do you know?). And immediately picked it up, found her baby, and tried to wrap the baby up in the dirty rag! I asked her if it was the baby's blanky, and she said "yes!" I don't think she's ever had a blanky for her doll, what made her think of it? She just knows that babies like blankies I guess!

I took the dirty rag from her & put it on the washing machine, then went and found a fairly small blanky in the toy closet. I swaddled her baby up in it, which made her very happy! She lovingly cradled it in her arms, then resumed playing with her baby in tow. We girls just love babies!

See Honey, when I feel the illogical urge to have another baby even with 3 naughty kids, it isn't my fault! It's in my DNA! Oh, and maybe it would help if we didn't make such adorable offspring!

Mean Molars!

Poor Katy is having a hard time getting her molars through. As a result she (and therefore, I also) have not slept well lately. Right now she has one about 1/2 way broken through the surface, one about 3/4 of the way, one that feels right about to break through, and one that still just feels like a bulge that'll come through eventually. I don't know which one bothers her the most, but the poor thing is definitely in pain! I was just feeling around in her little mouth, and I had my finger on the side with neither tooth actually through the surface. She started biting down a little bit, and I guess she decided that it felt good, and bit down really hard! I was trying to get her to sleep, but I said "Ow!" a bit too loud when she did that! Poor little Goo still hasn't fallen asleep (about an hour after putting her down). And if the past couple nights are any indication, it may be a while...

what's going on in that cute little head?

I love it when my little ones do things that give me a glimpse into their minds. In this case, Katy is showing me that she is not yet confined by ideas of how things "should" be. She still gets to think of things all on her own. Maybe that's more insight than is deserved, maybe she's just a silly baby!

Here Katy is, playing with her toy kitchen. To the left of it you can see a big container of toy food & dishes. If I was playing with it, I would choose THOSE things to put in it...

...not Katy! In the dishwasher basket she has a daisy from the backyard, a duplo car, and some foam that somebody (most likely Katy or Molly) pulled out of a chair. Silly girl!

Blog Catch-up: Cornbelly's!

Here's another blog catch-up. This one is from 2 weeks ago, October 28th. I had gone to Cornbelly's once already, and had such a great time, we decided to go again! This time we went with my friend Gayelinn & her kids. In fact, we did activities together pretty much every day during our last two weeks in Utah, so a lot of these blog catch-ups will include them!
Here's David & Britner driving the little pedal cars. So fun!

Ring around the Rosies with Rachel, Katy, and Kyson on the jumping pillow. If you look hard you can see Katy's big smile!

The Mechams are much better than I am about remembering to bring a water bottle everywhere they go. And Katy always wants a drink. It's really, really amazing that we didn't all get sick a few days after this outing, since everybody shared germs! Kyson & Katy sometimes had a hard time sharing, but here he was just being super nice, giving Katy a drink!

Then Kyson joined Katy in the wagon. Good friends!

Here we are on the hay ride. Gayelinn, Kyson, and Mistelle are on this side...

...and David, Britner, Ryan, Katy, and me are on the other side. I couldn't figure out how to remove red eyes on my parents' computer, sorry!

This was a really, really fun day. We left straight from school, and didn't make it home until really, really late (I think it was after 10!). I'm so glad we went!

Brotherly Love

This is the sight I saw when I went to check on David getting dressed. Both boys always make their beds with their Lovey on their pillow, like this. However, the pillows & Loveys are usually in separate beds! I asked why Ryan's pillow was in his bed, and he said Ryan had slept with him. I think I forgot to check on them before going to bed last night, so I have no idea when that happened! Here is the information I've gathered from talking to them:

Ryan got in bed with David sometime after David was asleep. I asked Ryan if it was in the morning or the middle of the night, and he said the side of the night. Who knows what that means? David said that he didn't wake up when Ryan came to his bed, he was just surprised when he woke up in the morning.

Ryan actually slept in David's bed. Or at least he said so.

They are both happy about it, for the time being! If David hadn't liked Ryan in his bed, he would have moved his pillow back when he was making his bed. And I asked Ryan why he had done that, and he said "Because I love him!" So cute!

These 2 boys fight a lot, but sometimes I get a glimpse of how much they really care about each other. It sure warms my heart!

Blog Catch-up: Happy Halloween!

I haven't uploaded pictures in a while, so I'm quite behind on blogging. I'm going to try and spread it out so as not to overwhelm anyone who reads our blog (does anybody?). And I'm doing it backwards, starting with the most recent thing I need to blog about. That way I'm not trying to do a whole bunch to get up to date, I'll just put them there when I get a chance!

Wouldn't it have been cute if I'd posted these on Halloween? No such luck. But here they are now! Here are our cute jack-o-lanterns. The one on the left is Ryan's - he wanted big oval eyes & lots of teeth. I told him I wouldn't do lots of teeth, but I'd do a few. I did 3 on the bottom & 2 on top. Then the 5 days between carving & Halloween made the top two go away somehow. Go figure. David's is the middle pumpkin. He wanted square eyes, and he drew this cute mouth. The right one is Katy's, I designed it after a cute "squinty eyes" face she does! See, you can see her 8 front teeth!



Once again I was able to convince my boys to be what I wanted them to be for Halloween. I couldn't find any boy costumes that I liked, so I made the Peter Pan & Captain Hook costumes. I bought the Tinker Bell though, I wasn't that ambitious!

Say "CHEESE!"

Katy loves flowers. Whenever we went outside at our house, she immediately ran for the flower bed, and started filling her little fists with flower petals. Tonight we were outside playing fetch with the dogs (well, fetch with Molly, Sadie ran around barking at her), and Katy loaded her arms with leaves! I thought it was cute that she found something else to "collect" now that flowers aren't as available! So I went and got the camera. I told her to say "cheese," and she actually did! So I switched it to movie, and she did it again! Cute!

The things that are stressing me

This post is going to be a big ol' get stuff off my chest post, way more for my benefit than anybody else. Please indulge me in my ranting.

As pretty much anybody I've had any contact with in the last month knows, we are in a limbo period right now with Dan working at a new job in Portland, the kids & me living with my parents in Washington, and our house sitting around Utah, trying to get sold. In typical Rachel fashion, the more stress I feel, the more likely I am to sit around doing nothing productive & eating lots of junk. Not a good state to be in less than a week after Halloween! I'm hoping that putting my thoughts into words will maybe help me deal with it in a more productive manner, helping save me from eating myself to obesity!

To start with, I really miss my Danny Love. He started his trip to Portland 19 days ago, and I've only seen him 2 days since then. And it was over last weekend as we were working frantically to pack & clean, so we haven't had any quality, leisure time in 3 weeks. I miss it! Even if we spend too much of our time together just sitting together in front of the boob tube, at least we are together! I'm glad we get to see each other for weekends, but I don't know how long I can last with just that much!

Then there are the dogs. Our 7 month old Lab puppy & my parents 4 year old Sheltie are having a hard time getting along. And I have to say, it's about 90% Sadie. Molly occasionally barks back at her when Sadie gets mad that Molly has food, but Sadie growls and shows her teeth to Molly pretty much every time she comes near her! And she tries to take any food Molly has. Oh, tonight I gave each dog a pork flavored pressed rawhide bone, and Sadie just left hers sitting there while Molly chewed on hers a whole bunch. Now Sadie's is still just sitting there, and Sadie is chewing on Molly's! I suppose there's a chance that it's easier to chew on now that Molly has done part of it, but I think it's more of a show of dominance! Look at me, I'm chewing on your bone! Rude! I really love both dogs, and I really want them to be buddies. And I don't want my dog's presence to make our stay here harder on my parents. Just be nice doggies!

And the kids. Well, specifically the boys. I don't know if they're showing their stress about the whole relocation situation or what, but they have been so naughty lately! It's been a little while since I've done a reward system, and I get so sick of putting them on time outs. So it seems like I'm constantly just talking at them, reminding them that their behavior isn't appropriate, and they don't even seem to notice. I guess I need to figure out a new reward system, but just the thought of working on something like that wears me out. Anyone with something that's worked for them is welcome to share!

It makes me sad that Katy cries when Grandpa comes in the room. But tonight she actually gave him a goodbye hug, so maybe she's warming up to him. That would sure be nice!

I still haven't cleaned out the car since our road trip because it's been really rainy. It's really bad.

I'm so worn out from the month of packing & cleaning that I just want to sit around. And being back at my parents' house probably makes me feel like I should just let my mommy take care of me. I don't consciously think that, but maybe that's part of it. So I haven't done laundry yet, and my kids have left messes in pretty much every room of the house. Katy is particularly bad, especially with all the things that are at her level here that wouldn't be at my house. I don't know how much to Katy proof, how much to try and teach her not to touch (she is 17 months old, not very obedient yet!), and how much to just resign myself to cleaning up 10 times a day. I want to help with cooking & cleaning & whatnot, but just not yet. I think that makes my parents nervous though! I know I'm slacking, I just need a bit of a break! Then I'll help more!

Oh, and I try not to think about it, but a major stressor is selling our house! I'm not very impressed with our agent. He was the first one to call me after I put my house up FSBO, and he had a great sales pitch. Apparently that's what he spends his time on instead of selling the house! Our contract with him is up January 11th, I will get a new agent that very day if he hasn't sold it yet!

That's all for now. Thanks.

Altoids

It occured to me recently that I miss Altoids. None of you knew me when I was a teenager, but I used to power down on these badboys like candy. I had the best breath ever...and you could tell from ten feet away. So, the nice thing about my new job is that I am downtown and near...everything actually. 25 seconds away is a freaking convenince store for crying out loud. Anyways...since we are back in the pacific time zone I will go back to being awesome and eating unreasonable amounts of the curiously strong mints. Its gonna be sweet. This post is moslty just a warning to Rachel that I may start brushing my teeth less as there is no need...right?

First Day of School, Take Two!

Well, since we have no idea if we will be here for a short or long stay here in Washington, I enrolled David at Meridian Elementary! I went there for 5th & 6th grades, and all 4 of my siblings have been there as well. In fact, Hannah was there only 2.5 years ago! We missed the bus on our first day (I was planning on driving him, then changed my mind at the last second, apparently a bit too late!), so I got to drive him and wait with him for class to start. I asked what he was nervous about, and he said "nothing!" I asked what he was excited about, and he said "the whole school!" So hopefully he's having a great day!

"Hey, he's not in our class!"

"I'm the new kid!"

There are only 12 kids in his class, can you believe it? His class in Utah was about twice that, and it was quite a bit smaller than the morning classes!

David's first day of school at Meridian!

David's first day of school at Meridian!

Still Alive!

After a couple weeks of trying to pack all our earthly belongings (some for an indefinite stay in WA, the rest to put in the garage until the house sells), trying to get my house perfectly beautifully clean, and trying to enjoy our last bit of time in UT doing all our favorite activities one last time, we have finally made it to WA! If I ever get around to it, I have lots of things to blog about - we went to the Planetarium, Dinosaur Museum, Farm Country, Cornbellys (twice!), Kangaroo Zoo, and Discovery Park. Then we had the most exciting adventure of all - a nice long car ride (15.5 hours from driveway to driveway, including stops), complete with dog & cat! I can't complain about anything but my lack of preparation - the kids were pretty close to perfect, the animals were really good (except for Molly occasionally thinking she should sit on my lap...), it was just a really loooong day, which would've been easier to handle if we had left earlier & gotten a better night's sleep the night before. But we made it! Yay!

Farwell to Keaghan

Today my good friend Joey and his soon to be wife came over to bid us adieu. This picture is David and Ryan with joeys oldest kid, Keaghan. They have been friends since they turned 4...so David is pretty sad about the whole thing.

I'm glad they got to see each one last time

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The Evil Test

If this doesn't make you smile, then you are evil. No two ways about it.

shows how much he thinks of my cooking abilities!

I was in the mood for something warm for lunch, so I popped 2 freezer pizzas in the oven.

Ryan: Mom, what do I smell?
Me: Pizza, I'm making some for lunch.
Ryan: You know how?
Me: Uh, yeah, they're just freezer pizzas. And I know how to make real pizza, too.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ryan!

Good Try, Honey

Tonight while my friend Gayelinn & I were carving pumpkins with our kids, Katy went outside, found this (I still have nasty looking tomato plants in my garden! Too much to do!), and brought it inside & put it on the table. She thought she had found a nice little Katy sized pumpkin to carve! And really, it IS quite orange, and roughly the same shape, with a green thing at the top just like a pumpkin. I totally understand why she thought it was one! Sweet little Goo just wanted to get in on the action!

She's a Workin' Dog!

Usually I am a wimp and drive the mile & a half (round trip - the school is around 3/4 of a mile from our house) to take David to & from school. But yesterday morning we ran errands for hours, and hadn't found time to walk the pup yet. So we walked to get David from school. And I had this brilliant idea on the way home!
Molly actually did really good! It took just a little while for everyone involved to figure things out (she wanted to walk on my right side, and if she ended up on my left side we'd get tangled up in her attempt to get back to my right.). And she did a really good job of not running too far ahead, until near the end when I guess she was anxious to get home. David only had to jump off to keep from falling 2 or 3 times! And boy, did he think it was fun!

more bragging about my smart boys

David's kindergarten class has a calendar with various homework projects/activities (like the jumping jacks...look down a few posts if you don't know what I'm talking about!), and we're supposed to pick 3 a week, and turn it in at the end of the month. I'm a little bad at remembering to do them each day, so we frequently end up doing 2 or 3 at a time. Today we picked one from last week - "Draw a picture with a pumpkin, a bat, and the moon in it." I sent him to the table, and this was what he did:

He started telling me about the phases of the moon, and that the blank part was a new moon. I told him that he should write it so other people would know that, and he only needed a little help (he wanted to spell new "noo," which makes perfect sense to me!). What 5 year old knows about the phases of the moon? I was really impressed!

Then I told him that I thought Miss Lindberg probably wanted a picture that just had those things in it rather than a picture of those things. So here was his second go at it:

So those are three clouds, two are raining and one has lightening. Down at the bottom is a scary metal spikey fence. The gray triangle is a haunted house, which he clearly forgot to put details on. Then he drew a circle (kinda) for the moon. I told him he should color it so we would know it was a moon. I expected yellow. Nope, he colored it gray, with white holes that I can only assume are craters! Smart boy!

On to boy #2! Ryan, who just turned 4 in July, is fast becoming an excellent reader! He doesn't really get the "sounding out" concept, and I am much, much quicker at supplying the word for him than I am for David. I figure I'd rather have him enjoy reading than stress him out about it. So he's taking a turn every night, and really loving it! And he's getting a large vocabulary of sight words, some of which surprise me. Tonight, for example, he read "black" and "blue" with no hesitation! And somewhere he learned the rule of an "e" at the end of a word making the vowel say its name (I've taught David, so maybe he was listening?), and kept having a really hard time not saying "some" with the "o" saying its name! Silly English language has so many exceptions! Anyhow, I have been having him read a different book every night, and not ones that we've read recently, and he is doing great! I'm so proud of him!

Showing our House Tonight!

We have people coming to see the house tonight between 5 & 7! That means I have 3.5 hours to prepare. And naughty little Katy hasn't taken a nap today (She seems to think that napping is optional once you get to 16.5 months! Not so!), so I'm going to now go put her down and work hard! Please, please, please pray for us, cross your fingers, or whatever else you think might help!

And he's off!

The big adventure of our relocation has started! This afternoon Dan left for Portland! He prefers to do long drives in two days, and I prefer to just get them over with in one. So since I'm not going with him, we didn't have to fight about it this time! We looked for cheap hotels in Boise (5.5 of 12 hours away, so pretty close to half), and couldn't find anything less than $70 or so. So we decided to spend a little more and get him something nice. We found one for $99 that had great reviews, so we splurged on it for him. It looks well worth it! He sent me these pictures a few minutes ago. I sure wish I was there with him!



So here, I pretty much took the rest of the day "off." I was still a mommy, I just wasn't much of a maid. I figure I deserve a little down time before returning to the business of cleaning & packing! There sure is plenty to do around here! If only these kids would stop creating laundry & dishes & various other messes, I'd have more time to get to the big stuff. Well, I'm headed to bed now, a little earlier than usual (there's no Danny Love here to spend time with!), so hopefully I wake up tomorrow totally energized and motivated to work hard! I can do it!

What's better than having a rocket?

Having TWO rockets!

This morning Ryan showed me that he was building a piano - he really meant a keyboard - basically by making lots of stacks of blocks and putting them next to each other. Then this afternoon he came upstairs and told me he wasn't building a piano anymore. I asked what he was building now, and he said I had to guess. Knowing Ryan, and having heard the sound effects he made while coming up the stairs, I guessed a rocket. He said "Nope!" I thought for sure I was right, so that threw me for a sec. Then I asked what he was building, and he showed me and announced "TWO rockets!" Silly Ryan.