Mere Motherhood

I Know, I Know. Stop Yelling Already!

2011-12-07T14:28:00.000-05:00

I'm back from Blog Failures Anonymous. I haven't posted anything in a long time and I've missed a few birthdays, too.

So quickly, here you go.

Nathan, I love you, happy birthday!! I'm so grateful to have you in my life. You are awesome and you will always be my Samwise.

Then it was Lincoln's birthday. I honestly thought I blogged about it. But apparently, I didn't. But now I have!

Lincoln is 1!! He is a sweet boy and we are all so happy he's in our family. He loves to sit in the dishwasher, take out all the baking dishes, throw anything and everything (and he's really good at it, this boy's gonna be a pitcher!), he's an excellent climber, and he still loves to give slobbery, wet kisses! He says Momma, Papa, Dada, ball, and "this?" when he wants to know more about something he's holding. He's quite an adventurous eater, but if he's not in the mood for it, even if he likes it, he won't eat it.

last few hours of being less than a year old

Happy Birthday, Lincoln!

opening presents

happy boy

scary cake!

he got over the fear pretty quickly

then we cut his hair. sad, but good.

Jeremy and Emma

There aren't a lot of times where they get along this well, so we had to take a picture to document the occasion. Jeremy was reading to Emma and both were enjoying it.

Star Bellied Sneetch Brownie Balls!

I finally found a tutorial for making these that is actually helpful! yay!

More Lincoln

cause he's cute :)

Megan's Birthday!!!

This deserves it's own post, but time isn't really something I've got right now. So here ya go.

This is what we did to her door while she slept

this is what we did to her floor while she slept

more decorations

Love you, Megan!!

Nelson Ledges State Park

2011-10-19T09:41:00.001-04:00

This place was really cool! Green moss everywhere, caverns you could get lost in. . . . We plan on going back and taking family pictures :)

Bound- Book Review!

2011-10-12T17:47:00.000-04:00

Today I'm reviewing C.K. Bryant's debut novel, Bound, as part of the Dark C.A.R.M.A. Tour. I'm excited to share this book and fabulous author with you. I had the pleasure of reading and doing an edit on this book this past summer.

Bound is a fast-paced read. Here's the book blurb.

When a photo shoot ends in tragedy, Kira discovers her best friend, Lydia, has been keeping a secret. Knowing the truth, and accepting it, will change Kira’s life forever and thrust her into a world of ancient curses, magical objects, and savage enemies. What happens next will challenge everything Kira knows about her world, herself and the shape-shifting warrior she’s falling in love with. No longer the timid mouse her mother accused her of being, but a woman who finds the mental and physical strength to endure and survive.

BOUND is a heroic tale of true friendship, infinite sacrifice and untamed love.

Seriously, what more of a secret can you keep from your best friend than having two completely different souls inside of your body? C.K. Bryant has created a fun story here, with plenty more amazing secrets. I really liked Kira's best friend, Lydia, and her less of a best friend alter ego. Kira was a great heroine who I enjoyed rooting for. I loved her determination to help Lydia despite the dangers. And as with many great stories, the male love, Octavion, interest is interesting and complex and gives opportunities for swooning if you're the swooning type.

If you enjoy adventurous love stories with fantasy twists, you'll enjoy Bound!

If you'd like to learn more about C.K. Bryant and her great book, you can visit her website.

You can go to Smashwords to download the book or Amazon to get it for your Kindle.

The Dish Washer

2011-10-05T23:39:00.000-04:00

I can't do anything with the dishwasher without Lincoln getting into it. He loves it.

Apple Picking!

2011-10-05T23:34:00.000-04:00

Before General Conference on Saturday I took Megan apple picking at Patterson's Farm.

We went with a group of friends and it was a lot of fun.

The guy cut Ben off the picture, but he was there next to Maggie. You can use your imagination because he looks a lot like Austin on the other side of Maggie since they are brothers.

It rained the whole time ;)

Megan and Ben did a lot of apple squashing.

And just for fun, here's a picture of Lincoln. He fell asleep in his high chair and Emma (I still can't believe this happened), took a nap at the same time! Just the fact that she took one is amazing, but that it happened at the same time as Lincoln and, get this, I told her she needed to take a nap so she went upstairs, laid in bed, and fell asleep. All on her own! Holy Cow! I was shocked.

Monday Zoo Trip!

2011-10-05T23:23:00.000-04:00

Out of nowhere I decided at the last minute to take Emma, Lincoln, and one of the little boys I babysit to the zoo. We had a blast!

The kids were so funny with this monkey statue. They asked me if it was alive before sitting next to it. Emma and Sammy kept patting it and talking to it.

And this is just a cute picture of Lincoln sleeping on a mattress in the living room. We are painting Megan's room and so everyone and everything was displaced for a while.

Playing Catch Up

2011-10-05T23:03:00.001-04:00

I promise we had a first day of school just like all the other Mommy Bloggers out there. I've just been really lazy about posting. Sorry, mom :) Here are pictures, as requested.

To get ready for school we had a tea party. Here is the tea party before the tea party. Seriously, for days there were tea parties. Poor Jeremy. I promised him a treasure hunt to celebrate the beginning of school in a more manly way, but it hasn't happened yet. I kind of ate the treasure. . . .

Guess I'll just have to plan another one and go shopping again.

Here is the real tea party that the girls had to celebrate the new school year. There were tons of junk food, freely flowing Kool Aid, and real tea cups (bone china from our local thrift) for the girls I thought could handle them. I made feather barrettes for each of the girls so they could be "fancy."

First day of school for Megan and Jeremy.

Yes, I know this is a picture of Megan and Emma and not Jeremy. I don't remember why he wasn't in this picture.

The cool first grader

Here's Jeremy outside the "Elephant Doors" which lead to the kindergarten classrooms. We were really blessed, he got the perfect teacher and is in the same class as his best friend, Patrick. I was so afraid he would get the grumpy teacher and not have Patrick with him. Of course, the first day of school they were separated for goofing off!

But they've promised to behave and now they get to sit together again ;)

Emma on her first day! So excited!!!!

Notice she's wearing the same jean jacket Megan wore for her first day of school. They are already sharing clothes :)

Very typical pose for Emma, here.

Anyway, there's at least the beginning of the new school year. I'm starting to catch up! More to come :)

Book Review--Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

2011-09-08T21:53:00.000-04:00

Every time I read a book by Shannon Hale, I end it thinking, "I want to BE Shannon Hale." I'm giving this book 5 stars because I love her prose. I love how she writes. It's as if she pays special attention to each sentence and makes sure that each sentence is perfect and almost musical.

I really love Miri. I love that she is a strong character and at the same time, isn't sure what she wants until the end. There were times I was able to relate to Miri, thinking back to being in grade school and wanting the friendships I felt I saw other girls having without me, not caring that I was excluded, but at the same time hating it. Then only realizing later that it was partially my own fault for not taking the initiative.

I'm debating reading it to Megan. There is a scene that I think will scare her, but I think in the end, she'll be fine. Especially if we read through it to the end so she can see it ends ok after the scary stuff.

Book Review-- The Ice Cream Theory

2011-09-02T00:12:00.000-04:00

The Ice Cream Theory by Steff Deschenes

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If I could it would be somewhere between 2.5 and 3 stars. Or maybe I'd do 3 stars for the first half of the book and 2.5 for the last bit.

This was the most recent book club book. I enjoyed a lot of the stories and found Deschenes to be an amusing writer. However, she is quite stuck on herself. The first 2/3 of the book contain stories about mostly friends and family and how they are like certain ice cream flavors. The last 1/3 of the book is about guys that she dated and the ice cream flavors they are like. It's that last 1/3 of the book that lost me. I got tired of her dropping the guys because she got scared, or didn't want to be committed, or whatever.

The whole idea is that people are like certain flavors of ice cream for a reason. Or rather, that certain flavors of ice cream have human characteristics (however you want to look at it). But, she didn't really do a good job of showing that through the book. It was more, "I ate ice cream with this person and most of my memories associated with that person are centered about that flavor ice cream, so that person is said ice cream." Or, "This person liked this flavor best and this is why they are like it since it's their favorite." It was all based on her memories of what ice cream she ate most often with each person instead of what each person was actually like.

That being said, I did enjoy a lot of the stories and I enjoyed her description of each ice cream's personality and there were times I laughed out loud to myself. If you decide to read it, stop when she starts all the stories about internet dating :)

Also, I think according to her I'd be vanilla because I'm pretty conservative. I have a problem with that since I only ever have vanilla in my freezer if I'm planning on making root beer floats. :)

View all my reviews

Revelations and Motherhood

2011-08-30T21:31:00.000-04:00

This post is mostly for me, so I can remember how I am feeling right now. It's not meant as a Toot My Own Horn post by any means. I just need to get what I've learned down so I can remember why I'm doing this.

Every single night I pray. During the day I pray a lot, too. The night prayers always include and the daytime prayers are usually entirely me asking for help with the kids.Specifically Emma and Jeremy. Megan, I pray for, but not with the same urgency and tears. She's my "Good Child" although she has her moments. Emma and Jeremy are the ones that keep me on my toes and frustrate me constantly. Especially Emma.

I pray all the time for God to bless me with some amazing piece of advice or knowledge, to bless me with some wisdom, that will open my eyes and help me understand my children and know how to get through to them. That He will bless me with patience, a more gentle voice, understanding, etc.

It never happens.

I might come across a scripture that helps me for a day, or a week even, before I'm back to being tired, frustrated, and still feeling confused and hopeless.

Sunday as we were on our way to Church we were stopped at the intersection right by our house and as I stared at the red light, waiting for it to change, I thought about revelations. God doesn't grant us new revelations like He did so long ago because we aren't all doing much with what He's already given us. This is something I've heard since primary, that was reiterated in my youth, and have been reminded of probably once or twice a year in Sunday School. It's something I've thought of on my own sometimes.

I realized, while waiting for the light to turn green, that I'm not consistent with a family scripture study routine, we don't have family prayer every day, or even every week for that matter. We are ok with Family Home Evening every week, but there's definitely room for improvement. At Church, we are told these are three of the biggest things we can do to help our families. And I know that, but we haven't been doing them like we should.

If I'm not making these a priority, why should God bother giving me new revelations, more help? Sunday night we had a family meeting and I shared my thoughts with the family. We are all committed to doing better now. We're waking up with Nathan before he goes to school and reading a chapter from The Book of Mormon, then having family prayer. Mornings and I aren't friends, but if we put it off til after dinner, it won't happen because we'll be too anxious to put the kids to bed and we'll be crazy with getting lunches and clothes ready for school the next day.

Today is only Tuesday, but we're determined. Yesterday and today have been better. For instance, Emma has told Nathan and me (separately) that she wants to be more obedient and we can see that she is actually trying. There has been just as much bickering and fighting between the older three, but it's been smaller scale. The kids have actually cleaned up their toys.If we feel instances of extreme frustration, so far it's only been at night when we've gone through the whole day relatively without raised voices.

I'm so grateful for personal revelation. Even if it's something I already knew and wasn't paying attention to. I really feel like this is something that is going to make a huge difference in our family.

The New Secret Sisters Mystery!

2011-07-31T07:30:00.002-04:00

Author Tristi Pinkston is excited to announce the release of the third novel in her Secret Sisters Mysteries series.

Titled Hang ‘em High, this novel takes place on a dude ranch in Montana. When Ida Mae’s son invites her to come for a visit, of course she brings Arlette and Tansy along with her. They are expecting to spend the week looking at horses, avoiding the cows, and making amends in Ida Mae’s relationship with her son. What they don’t expect is to be stuck on the ranch in the middle of a blizzard and to be thrust headlong into the middle of a mystery.

***

Help Tristi celebrate her new novel in two ways. First, come participate in the two-week-long blog contest, where you can win a book nearly every single day! All the details are up on Tristi’s blog.

Second, come to the book launch!

You are invited to an

August Authorama!

Saturday, August 13th

Pioneer Book, 858 S. State, Orem

12 – 4 pm

Games, prizes, balloons, face painting,

and Dutch oven cobbler

prepared by world champion cook

Keith Fisher.

Authors Tristi Pinkston, J. Lloyd Morgan, Cindy Hogan,

Nichole Giles, and Heather Justesen

will all be there to sign books.

This is one book launch event

you will not want to miss!

Shots From This is Kirtland!

2011-07-19T12:00:00.000-04:00

Before the show

Megan's stage fright presented itself in the form of touching her face. All the time.

The Education scene. Megan's line is, "What's arithmetic?' Which, of course, she already knows.

"Horace needs you heellp!'

Education song! "History and numbers!"

Me asking Thankful Pratt to stay with me while our husbands are away on missions since her house burned down.

Emma Smith (Kim) holding Emma. She played Julia Murdock Smith.

Good thing we took pictures on the night Emma didn't pretend to eat everyone's noses in this scene.

This is Megan's favorite scene: Women's Response. She gets to eat fresh peas and green beans while we sing.

Me and the two girls next to me, we did a very winterguard-ish dance with the garden hoes we are holding. It was awesome! Our choreographer was a guard instructor for something like 10 years.

The rocking scene. Emma is supposed to pretend to go to sleep, which she actually did almost every night.

After the show. Boy are we tired and H-O-T with all those layers and lights!

Doing this show was a huge time commitment, but it was also a great source of blessings for our family. I am really grateful that we were able to participate and for everything we learned from doing it.

Things I Learned From Being Elizabeth Ann Whitney for a Summer:

-How to use bobby pins.
-To see the blessings in the hardships
-To have more faith
-The importance of looking for opportunities to serve others
-and while I already knew this one, my testimony of the living Christ was strengthened

In His Fifth Year . . .

2011-07-18T17:01:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday, Jeremy!

Wearing his nightshirt I made him and holding the Lego person he made at the Lego store.

I love the Dr. Seuss fabric line. I think I posted a picture of Emma with her birthday pillowcase I made, so here's Jeremy with his.

Cool clothes from Grandma Rosie

Remote Control Truck!

Wooden map of the U.S.

With all his loot

Jeremy wanted lava cakes for his birthday instead of a traditional birthday cake, which was just fine with me! He also picked out caramel and double chocolate Magnum ice cream bars :)

We love you, Jeremy! We hope you love being 5!


5 Fun Things About Jeremy: His favorite drink is water, he loves Legos, he loves to imagine new kinds of machines and then draw them, he can read but doesn't want anyone to know about it yet, and he is awesome!

Jeremy still gives the best hugs out of anyone I know. He's such a great big brother and he loves to play with Megan. He's almost always willing to play anything she wants to play and is so helpful with Lincoln. He was so patient while the girls and I did the musical, This is Kirtland! this summer. He even came to see the show a couple times and he paid attention!

The only thing this picture has to do with Jeremy's birthday is that it was taken on the same day, but look who's pulling himself up on everything!!


The next Einstein?

Bye!

Inspired Independence

2011-07-04T13:12:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking about Independence Day for a couple weeks now. It's my very favorite holiday. Very. Favorite. Christmas is great and all, but I guess I get too caught up in the commercialism of it because it's a really stressful time of year for me. Independence Day is low stress and, though it might seem odd, filled with the Spirit of God. As I'm writing this it's not even noon here and I can't tell you how many times I've already cried or come close to crying: in the car as I thought about the soldiers who died defending our liberties, as I said the pledge of allegiance at the flag raising ceremony this morning at the church potluck breakfast, as I shared with Nathan my feelings about how inspired our forefathers were, as I talked to the kids about what the Fourth of July really means. . . . Like I said, it's been awesome!

Waiting for the bike parade to start

I pushed Emma and Lincoln in the parade

I wanted to share some thoughts here, not just for those of you who still stop by here, but for myself and my kids.

I can't seem to separate freedom, liberty, obedience to God's commandments, and joy. Every time I start thinking it over I go back to the scriptures. In 2 Nephi 2:25 and 27 it talks about how Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy. It says we are free to choose liberty and eternal life, or choose captivity and death. Later in Alma 46:13 and 20 Moroni fastens on his breastplate the Title of Liberty. He bows to the ground and prays mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren and says that if they enter into a covenant with God that they will maintain their rights and their religion and that then the Lord will bless them.

I made Megan's skirt, of course.

I find it interesting that Moroni said they had to enter into a covenant to maintain their rights and their religion. They had to be obedient to God's commandments to retain those rights, to possess that liberty which was and is so necessary to us all. And in so doing, joy and blessings are received from God.

The liberty which Moroni spoke of isn't that different from the liberty we talk about today. The liberty to worship in peace and safety. The liberty to be in our families, free from persecution and fear. Liberty to work and live as we please as far as we obey God's command.

The Founding Fathers wanted these same things for their families and for the nation. Here's a little quick historical timeline for you. Being a history major and this being my favorite day, I couldn't resist!

In March 1775 in Richmond, Virginia Patrick Henry stood in a church aisle and with his wrists crossed in front of him as if they were chained, he cried out with a voice that seemed to get louder and louder, "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!" With those words Henry flung open his arms as if casting off his chains. Then he slammed his fist against his chest as if driving a dagger to his heart.

That summer an official army was established, but a commanding general was still needed. John Adams nominated George Washington, a hero of the French and Indian War. Washington wrote about his concerns saying he didn't feel equal to the command and that the Americans were "not then organized as a nation, or known as a people upon the earth. We had no preparation. Money, the nerve of war, was wanting." Washington led what we would consider a ragtag volunteer army that had little training and barely enough gunpowder to keep their own weapons firing. Washington worked hard to hide the condition of his army, even from his officers. Not only were soldiers and gunpowder scarce, but clothing was, too. Most cloth had come from Britain. However, because King George III insisted on closing Boston Harbor until the colonists pay England for all the ruined tea from the Boston Tea Party, the colonists boycotted everything they could from Britain. When General Washington realized that the war would last into winter, he sent out an appeal for 13,000 coats for the soldiers. Patriot women in every colony heard of the need and worked making handspun coats for the army. The great need kept them spinning for so much a part of the day, that if they went to visit their friends, they took their spinning wheels with them so they could talk and spin and sew at the same time. Inside each coat the maker sewed her name and the name of her town.

Our friend Maggie

The following winter, Thomas Paine's pamphlet, Common Sense, was published in January 1776. It worked a great change in the minds of the people, leading many to agree that a complete break from England was needed. Paine declared that America had a mission in the world as the champion of liberty. America was a place where universal freedom could take root and flourish.

By Spring, May 1776 Congress was referring to the colonies as "states" and encouraging each of them to form their own separate governments. In June it was proposed that the colonies be "free and independent States," and that they be "absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and that State of Great Britain" be "totally dissolved."

water fight with Ben :)

Weeks later, Thomas Jefferson began writing The Declaration of Independence. For two weeks he wrote, rewrote, scratched out, and ripped up. On July 2, 1776 until July 4th Congress went through the Declaration word by word, changing what they thought should be changed and adding what they thought needed adding. The final version was voted on and approved unanimously. Each man that signed it knew that by declaring freedom from Great Britain, they could be hanged for treason. One of the most famous lines from the Declaration goes, "All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

The scriptures that teach of liberty and joy help us understand a little bit of how the Spirit was working with these men as Jefferson and those from the Congress prepared The Declaration of Independence. God truly had a hand in preserving this nation for a sacred cause. It is He who has granted us with our life, liberty and happiness and I am grateful for those who came before me. I am grateful for those who fought because they saw a corrupt government trying to control them and their families. I'm grateful for those who continue to fight to help us retain our freedom, liberty and those great blessings bestowed upon us by God.

Have a fabulous Independence Day!

Megan the Botanist

2011-06-06T22:34:00.000-04:00

A couple years ago my mom gave Megan a book about flower fairies. It's a gorgeous book with beautiful drawings of real flowers, the fairies that frequent those flowers, and a poem about each one.

This afternoon Megan came up to me, book in hand, and told me she'd found some Nightshade flowers in our backyard. She saw the flowers and thought they looked like the Nightshade in her book, so she'd come inside to check and yep, they were. I immediately told her that was cool and figured the flowers weren't really Nightshade, but some flower with similar colors. But nope, they really were Nightshade.

When I went out to see the flowers she told me that these were also one she recognized from her book. Traveler's Joy flowers.

Amazing!

Videos!

2011-06-05T21:08:00.001-04:00

Nathan got a small video camera and so we've been busy videoing the kids. Enjoy!

Jeremy's soccer practice

Megan's dance with her two best friends for the school talent show

Lincoln sitting up on his own

Memorial Day

2011-06-02T00:19:00.000-04:00

For Memorial Day we watched the parade (it's awesome because it's on the street right by us, so we don't have to travel far, just 50 feet or so) and then we met some friends from church at Sulfur Springs. Megan and I had found this place accidentally a few weeks ago and had hiked around, so it was really cool to come back with family and friends. Unfortunately, I slipped and fell early on in the day so I opted to stay out of the water and just visit with friends at the picnic tables.

Nathan took the pictures, so enjoy!

Then on Tuesday I babysat. I told Emma she had to have quiet time in her room while the other kids were taking their naps. She fought me on it, but I told her if she didn't go up there then I'd put her down for a nap, too. With that she went up to her room to play quietly.

So quietly in fact, that she fell asleep in her sleeping bag. It was pretty awesome.

That night I filled a bunch of water balloons for the kids. They've been begging to do water balloons since it was still 40 degrees outside. It got to 100 on Tuesday so I figured it was hot enough.

READY!

SET!

GO!

This is really the only good shot. They actually have pretty horrible aim because they are too worried about getting hit themselves.

Feeling Liberated

2011-05-30T09:40:00.000-04:00

See my newest bloggy addition over there?

My friend Kristy and I have been working really hard to sew up some of the dang cutest aprons you've ever seen and we've got plans for more. And what's with the "Liberated" in the Liberated Aprons you're asking? (Because you are asking!) Well, our aprons are so cute and functional that you can wear them anywhere. We were inspired by an awesome sewing apron book and decided that we wanted our apron shop to be full of not just functional aprons, but aprons that are so pretty, hip, or cute that you don't want to take it off when you leave the house. They've been liberated from kitchen duty and now their job is to help you look stylish!

So go ahead and click on my awesome button (and grab one for your blog!) that our friend Katie designed for us. Check us out! We'll be adding more aprons soon, so if you don't see something that suits your fancy there will be more to choose from soon. Or if you'd like something specific, say a favorite color or design, let us know!

The Smokies

2011-05-26T18:48:00.002-04:00

Well, summer is barely here (the kids are still in school and maybe in a couple more weeks and it will feel like summer, but anyway. . . .) and we've already had our summer vacation.

Almost every day since November the kids have asked to go camping, and if you know Nathan, you'll guess that he probably was asking himself that very same question since November as well. So what did we do for summer vacation? CAMPING!

Jeremy blowing dandelions near Newfound Gap

Why, yes. I did get frustrated taking over an hour trying to get my pictures where I want them and then decided to just let them lay where they fall. Why do you ask? Don't worry, more information about our awesome trip is coming. Wow. I'm so frustrated I can't make a coherent sentence. Sorry.

a small Midland Brown Snake we found on the trail to Rainbow Falls

Rainbow Falls

One of the salamanders. There are thousands of these around the park.

Nathan scouted out via the internet a couple different places and since I nixed going north (it was still cold here, I wasn't about to go colder and sleep outside!) he opted for The Great Smokey Mountains. And in case you're wondering that's in Tennessee and North Carolina. We camped in North Carolina and did most of our hiking in Tennessee (Though we hiked a day in NC also), so each day kind of required a bit of a drive, but it is beautiful country so that was fine with us.

Here are a few pictures from our trip. Ok, a lot of pictures from our trip. Now, I don't know the names of each hike or mountain, but if Nathan wants to, he's welcome to add it in when he sees that this post is incomplete with accurate names and such. Got that, Nathan?

As we were driving we found this random castle parapet. There was another on the other side of the road.

Nathan's hand here. There were a TON of butterflies here drinking the water in the sand.

One of the butterflies decided Nathan's head made a good home for a little while.

Emma waiting for a butterfly to land on her hand.

Megan and me waiting for butterflies.

Jeremy holding one of many. The butterflies and other insects just loved Jeremy.

Here's a grasshopper that let Jeremy hold it for a while.

Megan playing in the water.

Emma's hand next to one of the dozens of millipedes we saw.

Cold water!

The kids did a lot of rock throwing here.

Emma giving me her "best smile."

Lincoln in the backpack. This kid had the best vacation because he didn't have to walk anywhere :)

Emma being pretty by Indian Creek Falls.

Nathan and the kids at Clingman's Dome. This is supposed to be the highest point in the park.

At the overlook at Clingman's Dome

Lincoln being cute. Enjoying a good thumb.

Nathan was kind enough to pull over and let me take a picture of this dandy place.

Sweet Emma Rose Turns Three!

2011-05-20T19:36:00.001-04:00

Today Emma turned three. She's been asking for weeks when her birthday is and finally this morning I could give her the answer she wanted to hear, "Today!"

Emma is Little Miss Independent. I think it is finally safe to say she's potty trained. She hasn't finished her second potty chart yet, but she's consistent enough that I don't think I'm jinxing myself here. She's gotten amazingly better at clean up time just in recent weeks and we are all grateful for that. I think the idea of being a "Big Girl" is dawning on her. We talk about what Big Girls do or don't do and that helps.

Emma's birthday dress. Probably the most fun clothing item I've made.

Here are a few more tidbits about Emma

*Emma loves pasta. It's been one of her favorite foods for a long time. Whether it's spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, or perogies, this girl will eat it up. However, for her birthday dinner she requested chicken noodle soup.

*Emma loves to be read to.
*She loves to make up songs just like Megan did (and just like Megan they usually have to do with Jesus and her loving her family).

*Emma loves to play super hero. I made the kids super hero capes for Christmas and it is Emma that wears hers on a daily basis. Sometimes even to the store or to pick up Jeremy from school.

*She has a hard time looking at the camera, even if you point it out to her and promise her candy.
*She makes us laugh every day.

*She still draws on walls.

*She loves other kids.
*Emma's bedtime routine recently changed and she's just run with it. No problems. She's been sleeping on a crib mattress in Megan's room so they can share the humidifier (oh the joys of allergies, I've considered joining them) and she's been great.

*One of the highlights of turning three for Emma is getting to go into the Eagle's Nest at the grocery store while I shop. In fact, as part of her birthday presents, that's what we'll be doing tomorrow since we ran out of time to do it today.
*She is VERY excited for preschool. Let's just hope it stays that way once school starts next fall.
*Emma makes us smile every single day!

Emma, thanks for being in our family! We love you and are so glad you are three!

Thanks Grandma Rosie for the clothes!


Thanks Papa for the Twizzlers and Mama for the Queen Bee magnet peg doll :)

Emma requested a bumblebee cake

Quilt Shop Hop!

2011-04-26T12:34:00.003-04:00

Some of the sewing stores in northeast Ohio are currently doing a shop hop. I got a passport for the hop and have been trying to get to each store. So far, I've made it to 5, with 4 of those just on Monday. Let's just say, Lincoln was in his car seat for a very, very long time. And he may or may not have eaten a Cheeto courtesy of Emma while I was in one of the stores.

Anyway, I thought I'd share a picture of some of the fabric I've picked up recently from the stores (and also from Stitch Cleveland which isn't participating in the shop hop, but the fabric is too pretty to not include).

I've numbered them, so if you click on the picture you can see them better. Here are the plans for each. . . .

#1 a peasant dress for Emma
#2 a peasant dress or shirt for Megan
#3 ruffle layer skirts for both girls
#4 um, more peasant dresses :) There will be many dresses worn this summer. Pants just don't stay on Emma's butt.
#5 pajama bottoms for Jeremy (he picked out this fabric and LOVES it.)
#6 peasant tops for the girls (pink with yellow sleeves for Megan, yellow with pink sleeves for Emma)
#7 this material is for an apron to go in the apron shop when we finally get it up and running. What? What's that you say? What apron shop? Well, yeah, I haven't mentioned it on the blog yet, though some of you in the Cleve Land area may have heard me mention it. My friend Kristy and I are starting an etsy shop selling aprons. We are almost ready for launch, so get ready to see some dang cute aprons.

Also, you may or may not know this, but Denyse Schmidt who is a fabulous fabric designer was somehow finagled into doing a line for Joann fabrics. I can't tell you how excited I am about this! The other day I went to Joann just for a zipper for Emma's Easter dress and came home with these, too. These will also become an apron for the shop, but for now I get to look at them. I was bummed that our store only has a couple of her fabrics for this line when there are so many dang cute ones.

Easter Happenings

2011-04-25T18:21:00.001-04:00

The Easter Bunny came to our house. Luckily he didn't give out a ton of candy like last year. He gave some candy, so the kids would be happy, but then he dropped off camping pillows to each kid as well as some fun Easter pencils.

Isn't this funny? My friend Kristy and I saw this as we were scouting out good picture taking spots.

The girls in their Easter clothes. I made both. Megan's skirt didn't turn out quite the way I wanted, but oh well.

Jeremy and his favorite Easter Egg (which the kids all called dinosaur eggs).

Megan with her favorite Easter Egg.

Emma with her favorite Easter Egg.

This Girl, That Girl. This Boy, That Boy.

2011-04-23T19:07:00.000-04:00

Emma

She's had a lot of fun today.

Big Smiles.

Messy Face.

Dirty Knees.

Megan

Lost her first tooth. And still has a twinkle in her eye (yes, there were tears shed over the worry that it might not be there anymore).

Found some Easter Eggs.

Got a great sugar high.

Lincoln

Started solids.

And despite his face here, he likes them.

One of these pictures reminds Nathan of my brother, Daniel, but I'm not sure which one. So I put both.

Jeremy

Loves to be outside.

Loves Nature.

Loves to help Dad.

Also found some Easter Eggs.

Smorgasbord of Lincoln

2011-04-14T23:44:00.000-04:00

Time has flown. Really. Lincoln is 6 months old already. Seriously, where did my baby go?

He's teething,can you tell?

We've been spending as much time outside as possible. Here is he discovering grass for the first time.

Get this blanket out of my way! I want to see what this green stuff is!

Lincoln is such a joy in our family. Sure, he keeps me awake all night long, but he gives me slobbery, wet kisses every day as he says, "Ba ba ba," so it's okay. Right now he loves to eat, play with his toes, and roll over (especially during diaper changes).

The other kids are still enamored with him for the most part (Emma being the only one that's feeling a little jealous of the time I spend with him instead of playing Memory with her). His eyes are still a shocking blue and I really hope they stay that way.

Right now he's in my arms, fast asleep and looking like a fat cherub. I love it. Unfortunately, it's nearly midnight, so I better put him in his crib and myself to bed.

Lincoln, thanks for putting up with the craziness in our family. We love you!

Fabric Seeds Giveaway!

2011-04-07T12:00:00.002-04:00

My fabulous sister-in-law who has an online shop for her dang cute aprons and quilts and literally the world's best caramels has a shop for fabric now, too! YAY!

Her shop is called Fabric Seeds and right now she is having a . . . . GIVEAWAY! Let's cheer for awesomesauce giveaways! Wahoo!

Ok, now here's what's up. Right now she is featuring fabric by Moda and Riley Blake Designs. She has these fabrics in yardage, fat quarters, jelly rolls (does anyone else think of jelly filled donuts and get hungry when they hear "jelly rolls"?), and charm packs. She also has quilt patterns for sale.

She says on her Fabric Seeds Blog that there will be more fabrics and patterns to come. I'm sure that soon to come will be her own quilt patterns because she is an amazing quilt designer.

So go by there, order some fabrics, an apron, and don't forget the awesome caramels, and enter the giveaway . . . . . . right . . . . . . . now!

Book Review--Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin

2011-04-06T13:35:00.000-04:00

Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I finished reading this for a book club discussion a couple weeks ago. It was my second time reading it, the first being for a college class. The second time through it hit me harder how sad it really is. The first time I read it I think I was too busy trying to think academically to really read it. The first time I gave it 5 stars because it was so different from anything I'd read to that point and shocking. This time, because I was reading it with a different goal in mind I can't quite want to give it 5 stars. There's nothing about his writing style or anything of the like that has gone down in my view, it's just that there just aren't any really happy parts of the book and that makes it hard for me to want to give it 5 stars. I know the subject matter of racism isn't a happy topic, and being that it's a true account he couldn't change story to make people feel good (that would have defeated the purpose of the book), but I feel like if I'm going to give a book 5 stars it needs to make me feel good about something.

I do recommend the book as a book to be read by a more mature audience, 15+. There are few swear words being used in general conversation, and a chapter that deals with sexuality, but he covers it in a vague way, or at least as vague as he can be and still get the basic message across.

The book is one that should make you squirm in your seat and feel uncomfortable, make you think about how and why you act and think the way you toward other races.

View all my reviews

Pictures for Grandma

2011-03-25T23:26:00.000-04:00

My mom asked for pictures of the kids (assuming she wouldn't be able to recognize them at the airport next time we visit) so I thought I'd do a post of our recent activities.

Playing with Lincoln. Of course.

Emma LOVES the game Memory and asks to play it constantly. Really. I mean constantly.

I took Jeremy on a play date to the children's museum (and by consequence, Emma and Lincoln). So here are a few pictures of the kids from that day. Most are of Emma because she kept running off anytime I wasn't super glued to her side. Jeremy spent most of the time with his friend, Arthur and his dad.

Jeremy wouldn't enter the sand pit. After several attempts to get him to go in I finally gave up. I thought it was because he was having his "social issues" where he just didn't want to play with other kids, but when we left he told me it was because he didn't want sand in his clothes and then have to go to school in dirty clothes. Makes sense.

We've also been experiencing more snow.

I've been fighting against it though and refuse to wear my coat most days.

And see that blasted orange piece of something I'm not supposed to say sitting there at the end of my drive? It's been there for about a month at least. Will someone from the city please finish the street so I can back out of my driveway without worrying about hitting that huge thing? I mean really, the snow is gone now, and won't be back for a couple days. Do something now!!

Quick! Seriously, the drive from the city buildings isn't that far from me. See those houses behind the orange thing? Those are the city hall.

And here's Emma with her black eye. She tripped at a friend's house two Sundays ago and hit her eye against a train table. She doesn't even realize it's there, so that is good. But now she's got a scratch above the same eye because she took her stick horse and knocked down a picture frame from the mantle. It landed on her head before breaking on the carpet. Or maybe it was her hard head that broke it after all.

And in baby news, Lincoln rolled over!!

He was going for the blanket you see on the far right. He was very excited when he finally got it.

The only other thing I've got pictures of that we've been up to is that I've made more of those little wooden peg dolls. I bought this serving tray at Joann Fabrics for half off and then bought some sheet metal at Home Depot. I cut it to fit in the tray, glued it in, and ta-da! The magnets I glued on the bottom of the dolls after I painted them stick to the sheet metal and have made for lots of play time for the girls.

I actually have one ore doll that I made for them, but the magnet fell off, so I have to glue it again.

I had Nathan drill into two of them and then thread ribbons through little metal things we screwed into the holes to make necklaces.

I'll get a picture of the girls wearing the necklaces later. They are asleep right now.

Well, Grandma, I hope those pictures will last you for a little while :)

I Double Dog Dare You

2011-03-18T11:12:00.000-04:00

Have you ever seen this video with Brian Regan? He talks about how serving sizes are too small. Last night we were playing a game with some friends and brought out a huge bag of M&Ms. They were just the plain kind (I like peanut better), but still, they were chocolate. After a couple small handfuls we started reading some of the nutritional information on the bag. A serving size of M&Ms is a quarter cup. A quarter cup! I of course, being a girl and able to pack away a lot of chocolate, scoffed at the idea of a quarter cup being a serving size and announced that I could eat a quarter cup of M&Ms in one handful. Nathan, who of course has a much better understanding of measurements, said I could not. We went back and forth a little bit and then he did it. He dared me to eat a quarter cup of M&Ms in one go.

Usually I don't take Nathan up on his dares. He usually offers to pay me $50 to $100 for his dares, but they are things like, "Eat one of Lincoln's boogers" and then I say no.

He offered no payment for this one. I guess he thought the chocolate would be payment enough.

Anyway, I stood up, went to the kitchen for the appropriate measuring cup, and dug out the M&Ms. I poured them into my hand to see just how much bigger than a normal handful it was. It overflowed a bit and to be honest, I got a little nervous. But only a little. I still thought I could do it, even if it was more M&Ms than I'd expected.

I poured the M&Ms back into the measuring cup and left them on the table for a bit. I got a cup of milk in an attempt to rid my mouth of lingering chocolate taste from the candies I'd already eaten. I wanted to wait until I really wanted more chocolate and wasn't just eating them because they were in front of me.

Well, that didn't happen. I mentioned in the beginning that we were playing a game during this. Well, Nathan did something in the game that ticked me off. I don't remember exactly what it was, maybe he killed my Congenial Bunny or something, but I got mad, grabbed the measuring cup full of M&Ms and began downing it.

It

Was

A

Lot

Of

M

&

Ms

.

But I did it. There were two M&Ms that got stuck in the measuring cup. I sat there shaking the cup and trying to hit it against my mouth without knocking the M&Ms overflowing from my mouth out. They wouldn't budge. So one of our friends grabbed two more from the bag and I added them to my mouth. (The two in the cup were wet with my spit, hence her not grabbing the two from in the cup.)

I may never eat another M&M as long as I live.

At least not the plain ones.

Book Review-- Star Scout Rising: First Trail by Gary Darby

2011-03-17T10:58:00.023-04:00

I'll be honest, the cover terrifies me and every time I put the book down, I placed it upside down so my kids wouldn't see it

Gary Darby's first novel, Star Scout Rising: First Trail, is a science-fiction tale about a young man trying to establish an identity for himself that is separate from the bad rap associated with his father. Del Baldura is part of an organization called Star Scouts. He and his team of Junior Scouts are working to learn about a terrifying alien creature in an area that should be empty of other people when the unthinkable happens. One of their team members is kidnapped by poachers. All the while, another set of villains have their own plans. This leads them to another adventure in what Darby calls "Out There" in reference to outer space.

The Star Scouts appear to be an organization somewhere between the Boy Scouts, the military, and Starfleet of Star Trek. They boldly go where no one has gone before, they go in peace, and they go to learn and discover. I liked Darby's main character, Del. He was a well thought out and believable character. Darby also had an incredibly evil character, who was just a little too much for me. I like my villains less obvious with their cruelty and selfishness, but that might just be me and my wimpiness. I think it would have helped me if I saw the villain from someone else's view point instead of being in the villain's head for those scenes.

Being that I'm not really a Star Trek fan, don't know anything about the military (yet--give me another year and we'll be there), and I was never a Boy Scout, most of the book is new to me. I think the idea is original and fresh--putting these programs together to make something new and then putting them in space for awesomeness.

There were some things I really struggled with while reading the book which are apparently not a big deal to other readers who have reviewed this book--it's received a lot of positive reviews. There was a great need for another pair of eyes for an edit before publishing this book. There were enough grammatical, punctuation, and formatting issues that it was constantly taking me out of the story. I had to work too hard to get back into it. If those errors had been caught previous to publishing the story, I know I would have liked the book a lot more because I would have been able to focus more on the characters and what they were doing instead of sitting there with a pencil and marking out, through, or writing notes. I couldn't help myself.

Other than the major typos in the book there was only one other thing that made the story difficult for me, and that was the blatant and obvious use of LDS scripture and innuendo. While I don't have a problem reading LDS fiction or nonfiction, or even a story with LDS scripture or innuendo, I want said book to be marketed as an LDS fiction, non-fiction, or obviously about about Mormons. I felt like Darby was trying to preach Mormon scripture without telling his readers what he was going to be doing.

Taking away the printing errors and religious innuendo, the book was exciting with characters that were fun (except the scary villain!) and interesting. The book doesn't come close to answering all my questions at the end, but rather leaves us with more questions than we started with. However, that's ok because Darby is already working on the sequel as this book is part of a trilogy.

You can learn more about the author here or purchasing info here (or here for Kindle).

Disclosure: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher for review, but this did not influence my opinion.

Mere Motherhood, Part 2

2011-03-09T11:39:00.001-05:00

Thank you for the comments and notes with the votes of confidence. I appreciate them all. Truth is, I know I'm not a horrible mom, but there are days where I feel like I am and I think that is normal, unfortunately. I know my kids are really good kids. For the most part they are polite and care about others. They have their days and times, but for the most part are really good.

I think the problems I have with them are normal problems for a lot of parents and children. I just get discouraged when trying to improve myself and them and I don't see it as quickly as I would like to. It's scary knowing that the big things that bug me about my own kids are the things that I really can't stand about myself and have thus far been unable to change, despite years of trying. And then there's the whole exhausted thing. I guess if I went to bed at 7PM like Emma I could run around the house, shaking my head, sticking out my tongue, and displaying other forms of silliness, but I don't. I'm often tired and grumpy because I go to bed late. I'm often hungry because I forget to eat until 3 or 4 and then realize if I eat then (because I'm ravenous and can't seem to eat something small), I won't be hungry for dinner. But I keep doing it. I go to bed late because the only time I get to read, write, sew, or spend time with Nathan or friends is after 7:30 at night.

So, no worries. I know I'm not horrible. How can a mother who agrees to play 50 rounds of Memory be horrible?

Mere Motherhood

2011-03-08T12:48:00.001-05:00

There are days (weeks, months, years) where I feel like I will never be the mom I want to be. It's only Tuesday and I'm ready to give up on the week. I know what I'm supposed to do.

be patient
talk kindly and with a soft voice
make nutritious meals and make them on time
read more to my kids, let them watch less tv (or movies for us since we don't have cable)
play enriching games with them so they will learn and know that I want to spend time with them
use a time out method instead of spanking
be consistent
encourage questions
encourage messy play
when one of them has a problem, be a child psychiatrist and help them figure out the answer on their own, or make them think they figured it out
schedule play dates for them with their friends and then return those play dates by inviting their friends here
let them help out around the house and give them responsibilities, helping them follow through on those responsibilities
read from the scriptures with them every day
have family prayer every day
help them make forts
help them play their video games
help them play boardgames
be imaginative with them
encourage them to discover their talents
when one is disobedient, know exactly what to do to help them see where they went wrong, what they should have done, and how to fix it. and do it all with the soft, kind voice and without the spanking

The list could go on. Some of these things are just a matter of making myself do them: playing more, reading more, encouraging messy play--and some of these things are downright confusing: such as being a child psychiatrist (oh my goodness, Jeremy makes we wish I'd stuck with psychology as a major), getting them to accept responsibilities, getting timeouts to actually work. . . .

Others it seems like the world works against me: family scripture study and prayer

Some I do really well with one day and awful the next (consistency problem). Others, I'll be honest, I simply don't want to do: encourage questions (only sometimes), video games, forts, (gasp) invite their friends over.

These days I have a really hard time getting past these failures. I know I should try to look past them, say I'll do better tomorrow, or get myself involved in some service for others, but I've tried to look past them, do better tomorrow, and if I get involved in service for someone else then I've got one more thing to tell my kids to not bother me over because I've got to get a meal made for someone else or bring something to some activity or whatever it is.

How in the world is this to be done and not end each day feeling like crap?

Tie Dyed Cookies

2011-03-05T15:39:00.000-05:00

This is only what's left (read: rejects I didn't take to the chili cook off), but the kids and I made two different types of cookies yesterday. The first was a lime cookie dusted in powdered sugar which I found on Martha's website. She does a cookie of the day thing. The other cookie recipe also came from her website. I think she called them Art Cookies, or something like that. "Each one is a masterpiece" or some phrase like that. Anyway, I call them tie dye cookies. Basically you make sugar cookie dough, roll it out, cut squares with a pizza cutter, and then let the kids put one drop of dye on each dough square at a time. Then they blow through a straw onto the dye to make it move around on the dough. Some of their creations looked really cool. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of all of them before we left for the cook off (of which I was one of the winners! Yay!).

So while this is a kid-friendly cookie making activity, Emma is sadly still too young to participate. She started drinking the dye and her right arm is still yellow. Emma was, well, Emma yesterday.

But I think you should try making these cookies with some kiddos sometime. Personally, I'm not about to eat them. I'm not a fan of sugar cookies unless they are soft and have good frosting. I'm also not a fan of food coloring. But if you don't mind your kids' teeth looking blue and green while eating a cookie, try it :)

Crafty

2011-02-26T19:28:00.000-05:00

I've been more than a little bit busy lately. My friend Kristy and I are starting up an etsy shop. We will be selling the cutest, prettiest, best aprons in the universe (other than the ones my sister in-law makes, of course). So much to our pocketbook's chagrin, and much to the pleasure of my heart, I've been buying tons of fabric and patterns.

I had some leftover fabric from a dang cute plastic apron and decided to use it to make something for myself. Here it is.

I didn't have a pattern to go off of and I've never made a purse before, so this one is a bit rough, but still, I love it! I took a dinner plate and traced out four circles, two on the plastic and two on a lightweight denim I had leftover from a skirt I made 6 years ago (I know because I made the skirt after having Megan and none of my dresses or skirts fit anymore). So the dark part you see in the picture is the denim, it's what's lining the purse. It was fun putting it together and I learned some new sewing stuff, too.

Now here is where I sewed it.

And yes, that is a bowl of Girl Scout ice cream sitting there. It has now been devoured. So this awesome sauce sewing table is what Nathan ordered for me when we got my sewing machine. It arrived yesterday and we set it up so I could get going on all the aprons. Since it sits next to the computer (there is seriously no room for anything else in this room) I told Nathan that I can sew while he sits at the computer and does Extraction, or Indexing, as the Church calls it now. That man is well into the thousands with how many names he'd done. And all in about one month!

Anyway, expect lots of sewing from me in the next while.

Another project from this weekend was these cuties. Actually, they are little pegs from Joann craft store. I have no idea if the package called them peg people or not, but I saw these on Grace Violet way back in 2009 and really wanted to make them but didn't think I could make cute ones like her. These, instead of going on a ribbon necklace like hers, have been turned into magnets and put on a message board I made. I took a 12X12 wooden board, painted it red, cut out a 10X10 sheet of metal, nailed it onto the wood, had Nathan drill two holes on top and tied ribbon through the holes. These two little ladies are the magnets for it and went as a birthday present for Megan's friend today. I plan on making more of these little cute dolls.

Help Me Teach Jeremy A Lesson

2011-02-24T09:41:00.000-05:00

In order to teach Jeremy a lesson about caring for his toys, I am offering his Marble Race toy on the blog (not for reals, people, this is just to scare him, that is unless one of you makes a really, really good offer). So here you go. the toy.

Magic Mommy Juice

2011-02-22T12:55:00.000-05:00

Tired? Easily frustrated? Feeling overworked?

Try Magic Mommy Juice!

All kidding aside, this is amazing. A couple weeks ago I bought a couple of hard plastic bottles to use for water. I haven't been a big water drinker since leaving Texas because I think the water everywhere else I've lived is nasty. I decided to make a conscious effort to drink more water anyway. The first week I had a hard time drinking all of one bottle. I came close, but had to force myself to get to the end of that bottle. I didn't notice any great changes in me, but kept doing it.

After about a week I could drink a couple water bottles and then I realized something. I felt better. I wasn't nearly as cranky with the kids and I could handle frustration better, too. So, I've been trying to keep it up. I can drink three bottles now and I've noticed that not only do I feel better (and behave better), but I'm losing weight a little faster. I finally fit into a skirt I thought I'd never fit into again! Yay for water!

So there you go, folks! Your Magic Mommy Juice! Go out and get some today!

Tex-Mex! (or, as close as it gets in Ohio)

2011-02-15T12:45:00.000-05:00

For Valentine's Day I decided to take the family out to dinner. Where, was the question. We just haven't found too many places where we can all eat that is nice. You know, that isn't Wendy's, Arby's, or Burger King. Nathan informed me that it was my turn to pick a restaurant, which I am terrible at. If someone asks me where do I want to eat, I almost automatically think Olive Garden because I can't get enough of their salad.

Nathan wasn't too far off in his offered idea, however. At least, as far as distance goes. There's a Mexican place next to the Olive Garden called Abuelo's. This was our last ditch effort to find a good Mexican place. We've tried quite a few "Mexican" restaurants and they've all been terrible (with the exception of a place in Columbus, it was good, but no fire to the food). Like Luke Skywalker, this was our last hope.

We arrived and had a hard time finding a parking spot, so that was conflicting. It meant people ate there, so it had to be decent (the last place we went had only one other couple eating there and we could tell why), but it also meant that we faced a possible long wait (being Valentine's Day we did try to get out the door as quickly as possible).

We walked in and there were tons of empty tables. I immediately thought, "Great. All the filled parking spaces were for people going to Olive Garden. They know what we didn't--that this place is gross." Apparently, Nathan was too busy noticing the nice atmosphere to realize there were only a few couples there and so he was thinking, "This place has to be good! Look at their nice statues, paintings, decorations. . . ."

We were sat down immediately, unlike all the people at the Olive Garden who probably had a two hour wait ahead of them. Opening up the menu did give me some hope because the food looked really good. I decided to order something big so I'd have left overs for lunch and so I could sample as many of their flavors as possible. Luckily they had an option that let me get four enchiladas, all different kinds. They also offered cheesy potatoes as an option to dry rice. I know, not very Tex-Mex or Mexican, but still, I don't like most Mexican rice and these potatoes did have jalapenos in them, so there.

The spinach enchilada, the guacamole enchilada, and the chili rellenos were SO GOOD! Yummy! The chicken enchilada was ok, but the rest of the meal was fabulous. I think even my parents who have been blessed with not living somewhere where GOOD Mexican is hard to find would have approved.

So yay! We finally found a Mexican place we are willing to go back to. It is a little pricey, but if the alternative is what we've been eating, I'll pay the extra few bucks a plate. we even had the manager come by to ask us how our meal was. He told us they are based in Texas, so all the recipes are Tex-Mex recipes that have been toned down for Ohio tongues. Most people here can't stand spicy, so it's hard to find a good spicy salsa, but this place had one they offered in a tiny cup. Nathan asked for more in a bowl and they brought it out in a container barely bigger than the first. I guess people don't usually ask for more of the spicy salsa.

Yum!

Stranger Danger

2011-02-11T20:38:00.000-05:00

picture by Megan

Emma used to be terrified of strangers. Nathan sat her down and had a little talk with her, explaining how scary and horrible strangers can be. So, for months afterward she was scared of a tired looking man who picked up a little boy in Jeremy's preschool class every. single. day. He was the stranger she envisioned. No one else seemed to scare her.

A couple weeks ago I told her she should ask him his name so she won't be scared of him anymore. Now she is no longer scared of this nice man, but she still isn't scared of other more real strangers, either.

Case in point. The other day I needed to go to JC Penny. We were leaving when she noticed the TV at the photo area. She ran in, sat down and started watching. I called her over and over telling her it was time to go and got no reaction from her. I called her and said I was leaving, bye. No reaction. I walked away where she couldn't see me. No reaction. I said that I hoped a nice stranger would find her. No reaction. So what could I do other than pick her up and drag her out of the store?

I went and found a stranger. I asked some random guy to help me teach Emma a lesson on stranger danger. He walked up to her and started talking to her. I have no idea what he said since I was trying to stay hidden but still be able to watch. Before heading over to her he was concerned about really scaring her, so I told him not to worry, not much scares her and besides, I wanted her scared!

I watched. And watched. and watched. watched. blah. Nothing. She looked at him. Looked back at the TV. At one point she got up, grabbed a stuffed animal from under the TV stand and then sat back down. That's when he gave up and walked out. What a pathetic stranger. I doubt he even offered her candy. Fooey on him.


Sitting in a fort the kids made (picture by Megan)

So what could I do other than go up to her and drag her out of the store? Nothing. I was hungry and wanted dinner. I went in, grabbed her, and left.

I guess next time I should find a scarier looking stranger.

Book Review--My Life in France by Julia Child

2011-02-04T10:43:00.000-05:00

My Life in France by Julia Child

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I thought most of the stories I read were interesting, but the book itself wasn't interesting enough to hold my attention. Usually I'd just pick it up and open it randomly, read a story or two and put it down. She lived a very interesting life, I guess, but I have a very different relationship with food, butter, and France.

View all my reviews

Book Review-- The Memory Bank by Carolyn Coman

2011-01-29T19:28:00.000-05:00

The Memory Bank by Carolyn Coman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thought I'd let Megan give the first review of the book. My review follows hers.

Megan's Review:

I really liked this book. I like the funny things about it. It was kind of sad when Hope lost Honey. I liked Hope got candy, it made me hungry for candy! It was kind of exciting when Hope's garage opened and she was taken to the Memory Bank.

Kellie's Review:

This book was really different from most children's books. The closest I can think of would be Lemony Snicket's series, but even then there are major differences. I LOVED that the author used amazing illustrations to move the story along.

There are two sisters, Hope and Honey, and they have terrible parents that are kind of in the same vein as parents in Roald Dahl's books. They kick Honey out of the car one day and leave her on the side of the road, telling Hope to forget her. The rest of the book is Hope's adventure of trying to get her sister back because she is unable and unwilling to just forget the sister she loves.

The Memory Bank stores the strongest memories and also, memies (someone's first memory). Hope is taken there when her memory account drops too low. I loved the characters at the bank, from the man in charge of memories, to the woman of the dreams area, to the women who pick through the memories, they were all fun.

It's an awesome story and one that has an unexpected, but happy ending.

View all my reviews

The Mystery of Friendship

2011-01-27T22:29:00.000-05:00

DISCLAIMER: This isn't necessarily a soapbox post, though it might seem like it to some. I write it because I don't want to forget what I have recently learned about myself. I have really struggled with this in the past and because of these things I've recently realized, I have promised myself to really try to never be bothered by this again. So if you are one of the women through my life in the last 8 1/2 years that have talked to me about this topic, please don't feel like I'm preaching to you. It's something I've discussed with so many of my friends and I was determined to try to figure out why so many of us feel this way.

Friendships

Nathan and I were talking about this Saturday night. In the 8 1/2 years Nathan and I have been married I have had more than a couple friends express to me how they feel like they have very few friends and even fewer close friends. They lament that when it comes to girls' nights out or families getting together, they feel left out. I'll admit, I've felt this way and I'm guilty of complaining about it. A lot. Especially when Nathan and I first got married and when we first moved to Ohio.

I think I've figured out why this is.

When we were in grade school we saw our friends every day. Whether we had many, or few, we saw them in our classes, at lunch, after school, and on weekends. We didn't have many opportunities to feel alone and friendless (although I'm sure teenage angst helped to us feel those things anyway at some point) because if we needed a dress for the school dance, we had at least one friend who would go shopping with us. If we wanted to go see a movie, we had a friend to go with us. If we wanted to eat at Denny's after the high school football game, we had a group of friends to go with us.

In college it isn't much different. I lived in an apartment complex full of girls around my age. I had 5 roommates each year of college before getting married and they were awesome. I never had to go anywhere alone if I didn't want to. I knew my roommates were my friends and we did everything together.

But most women, when graduated from high school or college, no longer have the daily interactions with the friends they've spent every day with for years. Those who enter the work place, unfortunately, don't always make friends with those they work with, but try to make time for friends from college, talk on the phone, email, catch up, etc.

Then comes marriage. Of course now I don't live in an apartment of 6 girls, in a complex filled with 60 other girls. Us married women, we live with one person. A man. A man who doesn't understand the need for cute earrings, or have any desire for a manicure, or want to make a YouTube video pretending to be a chef while you are hiding behind him, pretending your arms are his and creating a mess (or do other equally silly things college girls do with their roommates). Don't get me wrong, we have a wonderful relationship with our husbands, but it isn't in any way similar to the girl friend relationships we had in high school and college where we knew we had friends because we were always with them.

Sometimes when there is a large group of women, and in my experience this is at Church where we have a women's group called Relief Society, cliques form unintentionally. It isn't like the cliche high school where the cheerleaders run the school and only talk to you to make fun of you. At our age and situation what happens is a few of the women find they have something in common: kids around the same age, or no kids at all, same hobbies, or they studied the same things in college, or have callings at Church that throw them together one one time or another . . . and then they form friendships.

Others who feel outside those friendships sometimes look on them and think to themselves how they wish they had a close friend like that. Someone to switch babysitting with, exercise with, have chick flick nights with, or someone who would be comfortable dropping by unannounced and just hangout on a Wednesday afternoon. They want a larger circle of friends like they had earlier in life.

I remember thinking in our Church group in Logan, Utah how much I wanted to be friends with a specific girl. There were about three girls I really wanted to be friends with, but there was one in particular. I thought she was funny, nice, and there was just something about her (probably that she is from the south and so I felt a little geographical kinship with her). I had no idea how to go about it. "Hi, I've known you for three years now and in your mind we are probably considered friends, but I'd like to notch it up a level by having you tell me to my face that you consider me a friend and then maybe we could go to Sonic and have lunch while our hubbies are at school."? Instead I invited her and her husband over for dinner, I went to activities and tried to be friendly with everyone (it was really hard for me since it is sometimes painful for me to open my mouth and actually talk to people), I tried to participate in the Sunday School class that she and her husband taught. While I gradually realized we were better friends than we had been before I took the initiative (or at least I felt better about our friendship), we didn't just hang out randomly or do girl movie nights, or anything like that. The interactions that were so prevalent with my high school and college roommates still weren't present.

Nathan and I decided that it is this lack of constant interaction that sometimes causes women around my age and in my situation to feel as if they don't have friends. Despite Facebook and "friending" people, we sometimes feel alone. I think Facebook sometimes makes it worse, actually. We might live far away from those we went to school with and so we keep up with them on Facebook and then we remember how we used to have friends that would do stuff with us. But now, we stay at home with our kids and have to talk about Elmo and dinosaurs instead of current events and life. Or, we go to work outside the home, maybe with people we don't particularly care for, and are too tired to initiate a girls' night out or go to the one we know is happening. Or maybe we are just tired of watching Twilight :) So we stay home and feel friendless. Then on Sunday we look at all the women at Church and see those sitting together talking about how fun it was doing craft night, movie night, dinner, play group, sports night, etc. and we wonder, why didn't I know about that? Why wasn't I invited? How long has that group been going on? I went to that once and no one talked to me. Or when I initiated that group no one came.

We think all kinds of self pitying things and have our feelings hurt when no offense was meant. The truth probably is, we missed the email, we probably really needed to go to bed earlier that night, or those women probably got a small group together because one of them really needed a girls' night out to release stress from work or home or both. No one was intentionally left out, it's just that it was probably a sudden thing and so a few girls who have the most in common with the girl who needed the night out were the ones immediately thought of when phone calls were made or emails sent. Sometimes this does lead to cliques, but they are unintentional. They form because those women are comfortable with each other. If one was to offer the suggestion of broadening their "circle" the others would more than likely agree, but they don't think of their friendship as exclusive so the idea to include more doesn't pop up.

Those of us with kids are so dang busy and tired that it's hard to go out and see people anyway. I would love to go to lunch with a friend or two, but between getting the kids to two different schools, picking up the kids from two different schools, carpool, getting the daily house chores done, etc, I don't always eat lunch, let alone eat it with a friend.

So from now on I promise myself to not be offended when I don't make friends right away (this will be hard in 1 1/2 years when we move), or when I look at three girls talking about how fun some activity was that I wasn't invited to. I won't be upset when I think back to how I used to have friends, because I know that I do still. Some of us are further apart geographically, some of us are close, but busy. Still, I know that if I needed something important, they would help.

I will be better about initiating friendships and keeping them going by inviting others over for dinner, movies, games, etc. I will no longer sit around hoping for invitations from others, but will be the one to offer them. If those invitations are not accepted, or fewer people come than hoped, I will not be offended, but realize that those who didn't come probably had really good reasons. I will remember that there have been activities I've been invited to and have had to turn down even though I wanted to go.

I'm sure Nathan will be happy to have the whining over with.

Mormon Mommy Bloggers

2011-01-17T13:25:00.000-05:00

Now I know why my blog isn't one of the popular ones. Have you read this article? It's written by a feminine atheist who loves reading Mormon Mommy Blogs. Here's what I've deduced from the article that explains why my blog isn't crawling with sponsors and comments.

1. Despite drinking 1-2 cups a day, I am not drinking enough hot chocolate.
2. Although I love me a cupcake, I don't make them enough.
3. My house doesn't look like an Anthropologie catalog.
4. My husband isn't a designer and he doesn't wear square or rectangle rimmed glasses and he doesn't do that spikey thing with his hair.
5. My kids have never looked like they are Baby Gap or Gap Kid models.
6. I don't bother trying to make life look happy all the time.
7. While I would love to have more vintage dresses, I don't. The one I own isn't really for every day wear, it's more of a Halloween thing.
8,. I don't have bangs, but I used to and have thought about getting them cut again.
9. I haven't reupholstered an ottoman (I guess my dining room chairs don't count).
and finally . . . .
10. Any dinner party I throw doesn't feel whimsical.

Well, now I know the areas I need to work on. Good to know it has nothing to do with my actual blog. I wonder if Nathan will mind changing his hair style and wearing glasses so my blog will be popular. I'll take one for the team and get my hair and nails done, then go shopping at Anthropologie. I better have 50 comments on my next blog post after I make all these changes.

;)

Things You'll Learn Before You're One

2011-01-14T13:08:00.000-05:00

Lincoln, there are some special things you'll learn in your life.

You'll learn to crawl, then walk.

You'll learn to run and jump.

You'll learn how to play games with your older siblings.

Lincoln, you'll learn to play sports, ride a bike, read good books, and obey your mother.

But first, you're going to learn one very important thing. . . .

How to say, "Howdy!"

Texas

August 2011

I can't wait!

Budding Talent

2011-01-08T13:18:00.000-05:00

Megan has always loved art. She has always loved to draw, color, finger paint, use play dough, glue random stuff together to create a sculpture, the list could go on and on. Problem is, with my OCD, I have a hard time with the mess that is often created along with the beautiful creations. And as far as play dough is concerned, I can't stand the stuff. It stinks and makes a huge mess on my floors.

Today, Nathan took Emma and Jeremy to the store (I desperately needed some Emma-Free Time) and Lincoln was asleep. So I made a list of subjects: English, Math, Science, History, and Art, and let Megan pick one she wanted to learn more about. Funnily enough, after picking Art, she gave me a grammar lesson on how to use periods, commas, and semicolons. I had no idea she knew how to use them.

So, we Googled "famous watercolor paintings" and took a look at some beautiful paintings. We also looked up oil pastel paintings. We learned about the mediums and what you use the paints and pastels on. I got out some 4X6 canvases I bought two Christmases ago and never got around to using and let Megan get to work.

She titled this one Fairies at Play/Night is Coming

She did the bulk of this one. She decided I could help with the sky and the clouds.

This is mine. Exciting, I know. I named it Up Close Spotted Dinosaur
Art class always made me nervous because I was never good at it. My dad and my siblings are great at art and my mom's handwriting borders on fine art, but not me or mine.

This one we experimented with the oil pastels first, then we added watercolor.

We named it Flowers at Sunset.

These snapshots don't do the colors justice. I told Megan we'd frame them because she did such a great job. I'm excited to do more of these with her. It was actually really relaxing after a very difficult week. We don't have anymore canvas, but we have plenty of watercolor paper. I think we've found a fun weekend activity for the two of us.

While my parents were here we went to the Cleveland Museum of Art. I had no idea they had so many famous paintings there. Monet's Water Lilies and a few Renoir's and Van Gogh's, too. I'd like to take Megan back to the museum sometime and give her more time to look at the paintings and different mediums.

Merry Christmas and a Christmas Childhood Memory

2010-12-24T21:20:00.000-05:00

Happy Christmas, Y'all!

Lately my kids have had me repeat over and over a Christmas story from my childhood. I thought I'd write it down here for them, so Megan can read it to them when I'm tired of saying it twenty times.

So here it goes.

My earliest Christmas memory was when I was very little, probably around six or seven. It was Christmas Eve night and I was asleep in my bed when I was awakened by a sound. Jingle, jingle, jingle! I jumped out of bed and tiptoed out of my room so I wouldn't wake my younger brother, Daniel.

I left the room and tiptoed to my parents' room. I placed my ear against their door and listened to see if the sound was maybe coming from their room. I heard it again, but not from their room. Jingle, jingle, jingle! I gasped. It was coming from down the hall in the living room.

Could it be Santa that was making the jingle sound? I crept down the hall and stopped just at the corner. I listened again. Jingle, jingle, jingle!

I froze to the spot. I couldn't move. What if it was Santa and I caught him while he was putting out my presents? Would he be nice about it? Upset? Would it be like in the movies where the kid gets to help Santa hand out the rest of the presents and ride in the sleigh? Would he disappear before giving me all my presents and then I wouldn't get everything I wanted?

I couldn't risk it. I ran back to my room, jumped in my bed, put the blankets over me, and went to sleep.

The end.

Book Giveaway!

2010-12-08T00:14:00.000-05:00

So, my friend Nicole is giving away a "signed" copy of Mockingjay. I used quotes because Collins cheated and stamped it, but still, it's very cool. For your chance to win this awesome prize, go here. Or go and read her cool blog, but don't enter; that way I can win :)

Happy Birthday, Megan!

2010-12-05T22:10:00.002-05:00

Megan turned 6 on Saturday. She wanted a fairytale birthday so we told everyone to come ready to share their favorite fairytale with us and dress up if they want. It was a lot of fun. We started off with a story I was pretty sure none of them were familiar with (except for Megan), Bubba the Cowboy Prince. It's a cowboy version of Cinderella set in Texas, so of course it is awesome.

Then we had a fairytale scavenger hunt. I'd placed random fairytale items around the house like Snow White's apple, Cinderella's broom, Bubba's cowboy hat, three stuffed bears to be the Three Bears from Goldilocks and the Three Bears, a bean from Jack and the Beanstalk, etc. and had the girls look for them. Then we played a game called Kiss the Frog. The girls sit in a circle, one girl is the princess and is blindfolded in the middle. Each girl picks an animal to be and I pick one girl to be the frog. They make their animal noises and the princess has to listen well enough to find the frog while blindfolded. When she thinks she's found the frog, she gives the frog a Hershey's Kiss.

Blowing out the Birthday candles. This cake was baking attempt #2. And yes, that is the dress I made Megan for her 3rd birthday. It apparently still fits.

This is Megan at three in the dress.

It was a fun party and I was impressed at how well Megan's friends knew her. She received almost all arts and crafts stuff; one girl even got her a create your own storybook set, which is basically a scrapbook with tons of paper, stickers, die cuts, and stuff so she could write her own book.

Those are ribbon wands in the vase on the table. They were our party favors along with some Pixie Sticks which we called Pixie Dust.

This is where the girls pretended to be captured by an evil witch.

So, since Megan is now six, I will share six wonderful things about Megan.

1. She always tries to do the right thing, even when it is hard.
2. She loves her siblings very much and always tries to include them in her playing.
3. She loves to help out around the house and with her siblings. She even read Jeremy and Emma their bedtime story for me the other night since I'd fallen asleep on the couch!
4. She is dang smart.
5. Megan has an interesting sense of humor. She likes to be silly and has fun coming up with silly sentences with Jeremy and Emma.
6. She loves her Heavenly Father and Savior. She shows amazing faith and is always willing to pray for others when she sees they are sad or in need. She is a wonderful example to me.

We love you, Megan and we are so grateful to have you in our family!!

The Policially Correct Winter Program

2010-12-02T15:21:00.001-05:00

This is the only picture I could get. I was trying to control Emma and console Lincoln at the same time.

Can I tell you how much I hate political correctness? It is the spawn of Satan.

Jeremy had his school's Winter Arts Festival today. It is supposed to be the equivalent to old school Christmas singing programs--except today kids are supposed to stand there and sing songs about building snowmen because snowmen are generic and safe.

We live in a neighborhood full of diversity. There are high concentrations of Jewish people and black people. This is awesome in my opinion. I think it's cool that the kids get to make friends with children who are different from them. Of course it was necessary to alter what was traditionally a Christmas program when we were kids, to something that would represent all the children who would be singing. This however was not done.

Every single song was about winter, Kwanzaa (which is a made up holiday people, it's like secretary's day or grandparents day; I know if I still allowed anonymous comments I'd get hammered here, but it's true), or Hanukkah. There was one winter song that mentioned December being a time for "Ho, Ho, Ho" and that was the extent of Christmas. The only mention was a reference to the commercialization of one of the most sacred holidays. Excuse me? Really? While the words Hanukkah and Kwanza were repeated and even shouted at times through the entire program, the word Christmas was used maybe twice.

I'm sorry, but I have a problem with this. Are they worried that the Jewish population will get upset if a small group of kids (that doesn't even need to include their kids if they want) sing Silent Night or Angles We Have Heard on High? Stupidity!! Do people really not see that "political correctness" has made our society stupider? On so many levels people are dumber because of political correctness. I could go on here, but it's a different topic.

Jeremy has no idea what Kwanzaa or Hanukkah are. No clue. He doesn't realize that the songs he sang today were in honor of those holidays. You'd think that if they were trying to have the kids understand the diversity of the songs they would be singing, that they'd bother to teach them something about the holidays. By the way, his class didn't sing the winter song that mentioned "Ho, Ho, Ho." The whole group did sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, which I also thought was ridiculous.

So in my frustration I wrote a letter to the principal explaining my disappointment. I'm sure it won't change a thing, but at least I feel better and know that I didn't just sit on my hands and ho-hum about it. And next time there's a winter program, I'm going to get involved before the day of the program.

Book Review--Psion Beta by Jacob Gowans

2010-11-27T09:55:00.002-05:00

Psion Beta - Excerpt from 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award entry by J.W. Gowans

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jacob asked me to read and edit this book for him. He's been trying to publish it for three years and I think he'll do it. The book is excellent. It very much reminded me of The Maze Runner and Ender's Game, so boys who enjoy a good adventurous fantasy book will really like this one. I found it to be a little violent for me, but I guess that's what you get in a book that takes place during a war with people training for battle.

The characters were well developed minus one who ended up being very important at the end. He is writing a sequel book, so I'm hoping we learn more about this character in the next one. There is minimal language in the book, so be forewarned if you pick it up, but nothing horrible.

I really enjoyed reading it and stayed up pretty late to finish it (without realizing how late it was). I recommend it to anyone who likes The Maze Runner, Ender's Game, or any good fantasy adventure. I hope Jacob gets it published soon because I'd really like to see this book go far.

View all my reviews

Harry Potter Speaks the Freedom Language

2010-11-19T04:30:00.000-05:00

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

More Lincoln Pictures!

2010-11-17T17:30:00.000-05:00

I can't get enough of this little boy. Today I left him on the floor after diaper change and went to check on Emma. I heard him start to coo so I grabbed the camera and was lucky enough to get some cute smiley pictures! And like any good mother, I had a hard time narrowing down which ones to post :)

This one is my favorite.

Just had to do some black + whites. For some reason I'm getting into those right now.

Awesomesauce Contest

2010-11-17T13:24:00.000-05:00

An awesome contest is going on at Random-ish. My friend Nicole is giving away copies of awesome books, signed by their authors (or in the case of Mockingjay, stamped). Go take a gander at her blog and enter the contest. Or, go take a gander and don't enter, so I have a better chance of winning :)

Family Home Evening

2010-11-15T19:54:00.000-05:00

Tonight's family home evening was a lesson on gratitude in preparation for Thanksgiving. The kids traced their hands and wrote things they are grateful for in the fingers. Then we did the best activity. One of my personal favorites--The Popcorn Volcano.

Emma

2010-11-15T00:36:00.000-05:00

Emma is sick. She's been sick for a while but I hadn't thought much of it until these last few days. Most of what's been going on has been on my Facebook page, but I know some of you either aren't on Facebook, or we aren't "friends" :) Which we totally should be.

Emma has had diarrhea for weeks. I was changing nasty diapers 6-10 times a day with just her, so between her and Lincoln--and we all know babies poop constantly--I didn't move much from the diaper changing station. I took her to the doctor about it last week and they said to increase her fiber intake, increase fluids, blah, blah, stuff I already knew, and to also bring in a poop sample.

Two days later Emma takes four naps. This child doesn't nap and hasn't napped since she was 12 moths old. She might fall asleep in the car around 4PM, the most inconvenient time of course, but she doesn't fall asleep three more times. The last time was on the living room floor and Megan tried to wake her up. Emma wouldn't talk, move, make eye contact, nothing. Megan and Jeremy rushed to me yelling about something being wrong with Emma.

I went to her and she looked awful. She wouldn't stand on her own, so I put her on the couch. I asked her a few questions like what her baby brother's name was and got no response. I asked her if she was ok and she shook her head slowly.

We got into the pediatrician's office quickly and they determined that she was dehydrated, probably from all the diarrhea. We hydrate her and go home. She eats a few crackers, throws up. Throws up again a little later.

Saturday the fever starts. 100.2 and today 103.2. I took her to the hospital and they did some tests. She has a UTI, again probably from the diarrhea, is constipated (interesting since she has diarrhea, but that's what the x-ray showed) and a cold on top of everything.

What scares me is that the fever isn't really going down. It got to a low grade fever while in the hospital, but as soon as we got home it started creeping up again.

The poor thing is in my bed. The cutie woke up at midnight and happily told me she stayed in her bed all night. When I hugged her I noticed the fever was back and took her temp. I'm hoping that a good sleep and Tylenol with help her tonight.

Pray for us, please.

Simple Serendipity

2010-11-10T08:14:00.000-05:00

My friend Sara is talented. Go here to get to her Etsy shop. Nothing is over $5. And it is all beautiful.

Perfect as our minds turn to Christmas presents!

Harry Potter Movie Clip!

2010-11-08T21:39:00.000-05:00

A Mighty Change

2010-11-06T19:11:00.000-04:00

This was our family activity two weekends ago, It was warm enough that we didn't need jackets. The leaves were gorgeous. We drove around northern Ohio looking at covered bridges (and a cemetery, but that's because Nathan is weird like that).

This is the longest covered bridge in the United States.

Dropping leaves into the water

You really have to click on this one to see it well. It's worth it.

Proof that Lincoln was there, too.

And here we are today.

Book Review--The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

2010-11-03T09:06:00.000-04:00

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have to say that I enjoyed The Maze Runner more than The Scorch Trials. That being said, I did really enjoy Scorch Trials. The story is engaging and curious and scary. There's a different kind of danger in this book. Both books I'd place in the YA genre, definitely not for middle grade readers, but for some reason I'd place Scorch a little higher than Maze as far as age appropriateness. Probably because of the type of violence as opposed to the amount. Maze had its fair share of violence, but most of it was with the Grievers (mechanical evil things that go after the boys). In Scorch, the violence, for the most part, is a result of people having gone mad or afraid of going mad or starving.

I've never been a teenage boy. This makes it a little hard for me to know if the dialog is true to life. There are times where I just feel like what's being said isn't real enough for me. But then I think back to the young teenage boys I've known and think, maybe it is accurate and they are just that weird and lame sometimes.

I loved the twists in the story. Dashner did a great job keeping us (I read this with Nathan) on our toes. I still don't know what I think about Teresa.

My one big beef with the story would be the same beef I had with Maze--too many slang words. I just don't think that realistically they would use them that often. I don't use slang that much, but maybe other people do and so the number of times the characters use their slang doesn't bother them. But it bugs me.

Other than that, I really enjoyed it and I can't wait for the third book so I can find out what the *shuck* is going on.

View all my reviews

Happy Halloween

2010-11-01T20:45:00.000-04:00

We took the kids to a trunk or treat at the church on Saturday since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year.

Jeremy went through many costume ideas and finally settled on ghost, which I thought was going to be much easier than it turned out being, but oh well. He was a very cute ghost. Nathan really wanted to paint Jeremy's face and I knew from the beginning that Jeremy would not be up for it. Somehow, Nathan convinced him to do it and of course, as soon as the face paint was applied, Megan had to freak out over how scary Jeremy looked, which made Jeremy freak out and decide he didn't want the face paint anymore. Then he started worrying about what other kids would think of him with the face paint on and thought they'd make fun of him. So all night at the trunk or treat I pointed out other kids who were in face paint.

I was pretty happy (and so was Jeremy) when it was all over and it could just be washed off.

Emma was Tinkerbell, which apparently was the "it" costume for little girls this year. I made Emma a new tu-tu (last Halloween's was purple) using three different greens and dyed a turtleneck onesie green (I'd like to say that the uneven coloring that makes it seem more forest-y was on purpose), and just bought the wings at Joann Fabrics when I had a half off coupon. She was very excited and for weeks has been telling people she would be Tinkerbell for Halloween.

Megan was Tinkerbell's friend, Rosetta. I totally cheated with Megan and had her use the same pink tu-tu I made from last year's costume. It still fit and I figured she'd match Emma this way. Her wings we already had (on sale at Carter's forever ago), and all I had to buy was a new leotard (old one would have worked had she not suffered a bloody nose at dance class a couple weeks ago) and tights.

Lincoln stayed in the van. I decided it was way too cold to take him out of his warm and comfy car seat, but had it been warm enough, I would have dressed him up as the number 42. Which costume would have consisted of a piece of computer paper taped to his front with a large "42" written on it. Clever, I know.

Nathan made himself a really nice pair of vampire teeth this year, but forgot to bring them to the trunk or treat. I neglected to dress up since lately I'm so tired I consider it a huge success if I get out of my pajamas at any point in the day.

The kids had fun and this is the first year we've pretty much given them free reign with their candy. Nathan let them go at it as soon as we got home from the trunk or treat and then after church today told them they could eat whatever candy they wanted for ten minutes, which turned out to be more like half an hour. Usually I confiscate the candy and allow them a couple pieces each every day (picking through their bags when they aren't looking and eating my favorites). This way the candy lasts longer and they tend to forget about it after a while, thus leaving more candy for me.

It's probably a good thing Nathan is letting them eat what they want. He says it's better for their teeth to eat a lot of candy at once and have done with it, than to drag it out. Also, it's not like I need to be eating a lot of candy and chocolate while nursing and trying to fit into my old clothes.

The only candy he really told them they couldn't eat (yet) was the Box of Boogers. Yes, the picture at the top of this post is a box of candy boogers. We bought 8 boxes at the grocery store because they were 25 cents each. I handed them out at the trunk or treat except we kept one box for our family (minus me and Lincoln, you couldn't pay me enough to eat one). According to a little girl in our ward (church congregation), "They just taste like fruit snacks. They don't really taste like boogers." This made Nathan smile and so of course he had to ask how she knew they didn't really taste like boogers.

Bowling for Soup, Texas, and a Great Brother In-Law

2010-10-22T16:13:00.002-04:00

I have to say that I have the best brother in-law ever. Seriously. Normally I keep my music at the bottom of the blog page, but today (and for who knows how long) it is right here at the top. It is also on auto start which I don't normally do.

Why the switch and what does this have to do with my brother in-law? Carlos sent Nathan a link to a song and told him that he thought I'd like it. So of course Nathan sent it to me. Check out the first song on the play list. It's by Bowling for Soup and it's called Ohio (Come Back to Texas). Is anymore explanation needed? I didn't think so.

I LOVE this song. I laughed out loud (many times actually, Megan kept asking me what's so funny) and I cried (luckily the kids are in a different room, so they didn't ask me what was wrong).

Nathan, don't you think I belong in Texas? I do. And Texas belongs in me.

Here are the lyrics according to elyrics.com

"Ohio (Come Back To Texas)"

She said she needed a break
A little time to think
But then she went to Cleveland
With some guy named Leelan
That she met at the bank

There's nothing wrong with Ohio
Except the snow and the rain
I really like Drew Carey
And I'd love to see the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame

[Pre-chorus:]
So when you're done doing whatever
And when you're through doing whoever
You know Denton County will be right here waiting for you....

[Chorus:]
Come back to Texas
It's just not the same since you went away
Before you lose your accent
And forget all about the Lonestar State
There's a seat for you at the rodeo
And I've got every slow dance saved
Besides the Mexican food sucks north of here anyway

I think I made a mistake
It's not that easy to take
She went to make a deposit
Then she cleaned out her closet
Guess I'll sit here and wait

For her to come back home (I'd wish you come back home)
It shouldn't take very long (so long so long)
I bet she misses the sunrise
And Mrs. Baird's fruit pies but I could be wrong

[Pre-chorus]

[Chorus]

Troy Aikmen wants you back
Willie Nelson wants you back
NASA wants you back
And the Bush twins want you back
And Pantera wants you back
And Blue Bell wants you back

I got a premonition
I'm taking a petition
And the whole state's gonna sign

Come back to Texas
It's just not the same since you went away
Before you lose your accent
And forget all about the Lone Star State
There's a seat for you at the rodeo
And I've got every slow dance saved

Come back to Texas
It's just not the same since you went away
Before you lose your accent
And forget all about the Lone Star State
There's a seat for you at the rodeo
And I've got every slow dance saved
Besides the Mexican food sucks north of here anyway
Besides the Mexican food sucks north of here anyway
Besides the Mexican food sucks north of here anyway

Book Review--Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

2010-10-22T09:41:00.001-04:00

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book while in labor with Lincoln. I thought it was fitting. I'd started it before with Nathan, but we got caught up in something else and never finished it. I decided I should read the whole book before having him. And I did. But mostly because he came on 10-11-10.

I would have given the book 3.5 stars instead of four, but that wasn't an option. It was really funny, which is why I bumped it to 4 instead of leaving it at 3. The only things I didn't like were the few references to either their not being a God, or God having made a mistake when he made the world. They were made in jest, I think, but they still bugged me.

The story was fun and people who enjoy British humor will enjoy the book. But if you don't like British humor, don't bother with the book. There were plenty of times where I laughed out loud, despite the hard contractions I was experiencing while reading.

The basic story is (but not really) Arthur Dent is rescued from the earth seconds before its destruction by a friend of his who he didn't know was an alien. Because of this they go hopping from one space ship to another and find their way to a ship that has the last female earthling-Trillion. Arthur, Trillion, and the others find a planet that was supposed to only be legend and by so doing, discover the meaning to live the universe, and everything. Oh, and get a new earth:)

I think Nathan and I will go as Arthur Dent and Trillion for Halloween and make Lincoln be the number 42.

View all my reviews

Book Review-- The Blind Side

2010-10-21T03:06:00.000-04:00

The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

To be honest, I only enjoyed half of this book. Anytime he started talking about the history of football I got bored and eventually started skipping those sections. If he ties these tangents in somewhere, I missed it or didn't make it that far.

I enjoyed the heart of the story about Michael and the Tuohys, but returned the book to the library when it came due instead of renewing it, probably because I'd just gotten to another side story about an ex-football player and didn't feel like muddling my way through another boring part.

Also, there was more swearing than I expected in the book. Almost every one of the side football stories has quotes from coaches or players using vulgar language.

I'm skipping the rest of this book and watching the movie instead.

View all my reviews

Pictures of Mr. President--Lincoln

2010-10-19T14:09:00.000-04:00

Here are a few pictures of Lincoln.

We sometimes call him Mr. President.

Grandma has been asking for pictures for days.

I'll put his birth story on here soon.

All Bundled


9 lbs. 6 oz. = big baby (but not my biggest)

Megan and Lincoln

This is how we usually find Emma when she's with Lincoln. Her finger is either in his eyes or in his mouth. In fact I just had to step away from the computer because she had her finger in his mouth and was crying because he bit her.

Proud Big Brother

One Week Old

Sweet Baby Boy

Guess Who's Keeping Us From Dinner? The President Obama in Cleveland Edition

2010-10-17T20:32:00.001-04:00

Today as we started backing our van out of its parking space at church we realized that there was a long line of cars behind us also waiting to get out. This is unusual. Since we don't get out of church until 3:30, then add another half hour on top of that for finding children and each other, we are all pretty hungry and everyone wants to get home. We are typically a fast moving group of people as a whole, so lines to get out of the parking lot aren't a problem we see most Sundays.

Then we noticed that there was a car parked specifically to block everyone's exit out of the lot. There was a woman standing next to the car and looking down the road. So of course everyone got out of their cars to ask her why she was keeping a few hundred people from their dinners.

Her answer: President Obama is coming and we need to keep the road clear for his motorcade.

Oh. Is that all?

So I made the kids get out of the car so they could see a presidential motorcade. Looks pretty much like it does in the movies or on tv. Lots of cop cars. Lots of black SUVs with their windows rolled down so you can see the Secret Service men with their big guns daring you to throw a Book of Mormon at them.

When it was over, one of our home teachers, a very tall black man named Leonard, came over to me and told me they were driving so fast he wasn't even able to pick out which big black car Obama was in (they were going well over the speed limit). Then he said, "Oh well. It's not like he's someone important." And he was serious. That made me smile. I like Leonard. It isn't often you meet a black person in Cleveland who doesn't think the sun and moon don't rise and set for Obama. I could write a mini post on Leonard and how cool he is, but I won't do it here.

When it was over Jeremy looked at me and said, "I thought you didn't like Obama."

So of course I had to explain to him that even though I can't particularly stand this president, he is still the president and it was cool to watch the motorcade, even if it was him in it instead of someone I would have preferred to be running our country.

So there you go. President Obama was in Cleveland, Ohio today. Driving down Cedar Rd. Past the LDS chapel. And kept us from getting home on time.

Baby Lincoln

2010-10-12T05:16:00.002-04:00

Baby Personality Ponderings

2010-10-09T17:09:00.000-04:00

This afternoon I was thinking about being in labor. For obvious reasons. However, it wasn't this baby's labor I was thinking about. I was comparing each of my kids' labors with their personalities (so far, because those will change a little as they mature).

Here's what I came up with. Enjoy!

Megan: My water broke on it's own. Apparently this is not actually a common thing. Talking to my ob/gyn most women have to have their water broken. Well, Megan is a drama queen and wanted a more spectacular entrance, so she pushed and broke that water. Then there was nothing for almost 32 hours. Megan is still a drama queen with very little to back up most of her "performances."

Jeremy: I remember sitting on our southwestern style couch and crying from the pain of the contractions. My mom looked at me and said, "I'm pretty sure that if they hurt this bad, you're supposed to go to the hospital." Jeremy wanted to come. He was ready, but at the same time, he wasn't. The contractions should have been doing more for the labor considering the pain factor, but Jeremy was also a little reluctant to come on out of the womb. Eventually he didn't have a choice anymore after hours and hours of pitocin, he was here. Jeremy is much the same today. He will get really excited about getting old enough to do something or will work really hard to get somewhere, and then decide he's not actually ready and wants to wait. Then we have to remind him how cool it is to be in primary, soccer, preschool, etc. and threaten him with taking his soccer ball away.

Emma: She was content to stay there forever simply because I needed her to come out. Jeremy weighed almost 10 lbs. and I was terrified of having another baby weigh the same or more. She wouldn't listen to me no matter how much I pleaded with her to come out and she ended up being 5 days late (would have been later if we hadn't scheduled to be induced) and weighing almost as much as Jeremy. Still, Emma doesn't like to listen (well, can you blame her? she's two.) and does things in her own time. I frequently have to take her hand, place it on the toy I'm asking her to clean up, move her fingers to a grasping position, and help her put the toy away.

Interesting.

How Could I Have Forgotten?

2010-10-08T16:41:00.000-04:00

Seriously, how could I forget to post this?

Blogging. Saving children's lives every day.

:o)

10-10-10 and the Scriptures!

2010-10-08T10:18:00.000-04:00

Now more than ever I want Lincoln to come on 10-10-10. I read this article on Meridian Magazine a few minutes ago and I think it's really cool.

The Scriptural Number 10 on 10-10-10

Delicious Giveaway!

2010-10-04T22:42:00.000-04:00

You don't want to miss this!

Apple Pie

Cracked Blackberry

Ginger

Lavender-Honey

Maple Pecan

Original

Pumpkin Spice

Raspberry

Rosemary-Orange

Snicker Doodle

What do all these flavors have in common, you might be asking?

My sister in-law makes some of the best food and desserts I've ever tasted, but one thing she is a master at is caramel. She is talented in many areas--quilting, gardening, cooking/baking--and her blog Bizzee Bee is dedicated to those things.

When she first started her blog I wrote on here about how cool and amazing her quilts are--because they are dang cool and amazing.

She recently started her own gourmet caramel shop online and to celebrate she is holding a giveaway. All you have to do is leave a comment telling her what your favorite Dr. Seuss book is. How easy is that?!

Right now there aren't many comments on there, so you stand a really good chance if you go over there right now!!! RIGHT NOW! Stop reading me and go! Really, show a sister some love and hop over there to take a look at her caramels, quilts, and flowers. If you are in the SLC area then you are even luckier because that's where she is and you could meet her at the Farmer's Market and take advantage of the fact that she grows the most beautiful flowers and tastiest veggies.

Lucky you :)

10-10-10 and Fox News

2010-10-02T16:31:00.000-04:00

Fox News came, well, the cameraman came. I didn't know what to expect, but it wasn't just a cameraman reading off the interview questions from behind the camera.

He filmed me making dinner (ha, heating up enchiladas that were made by someone else ((thanks Diane!)) and frozen by me:) and setting the table (something I always have the kids do so I don't have to). It is very uncomfortable talking and setting a table in front of a camera.

He filmed Nathan playing a game with the kids and us eating dinner. It was a little weird eating in front of the guy. I felt I should make him a plate of food or something and ask him to join us.

Then we sent the kids to the basement to watch a movie (by this time it was waaay after their bedtime, so they felt pretty cool) and that's when he read off the interview questions from behind the camera. We only had to redo a couple answers, so I think we did pretty good. Too bad it's not like a digital camera where we could see how we did before letting him take that footage out of the house.

He said if we actually are able to pull it off and have Lincoln on 10-10-10 then it will be shown nationally on Fox, not just locally. If it doesn't happen on the 10th, then it won't be shown at all, obviously.

I'm guessing the story's airing would depend on what time of day he's born, so we'll just have to wait for that one. But my doctor is thinking he can pull it off. He's finding out who the nurses will be on 10-10-10 and will talk to them. He is going to stay in town so he's available instead of depending on the doctor on call, so that is awesome.

We'll see what happens!

The Date is Set

2010-09-24T14:55:00.000-04:00

It's official!

Fox News is coming on September 30th to interview us for the pre-baby segment. My house needs help. That was the first thing I thought of when I hung up the phone. So I started doing paint touch ups and painting the trim around the floor, and then moved on to painting our built in china hutch. It's been interesting trying to keep kids away from all this.

Then I realized I need help. I've never been good at clothes, makeup and hair and now I'm going to be on TV (assuming everything goes according to plan, I doubt they'll air the interview if 10-10-10 doesn't happen). Anyone want to come over and help me and my house look good?

Coming Down From a High

2010-09-21T23:27:00.000-04:00

Have you ever experienced a crash from a book high? You know, you finish this really great book or series and it ended how you wanted and you couldn't have asked for more. But for some reason you find yourself driving to the grocery store and thinking of the characters and what they are doing now? You're anxious about what to read and feel listless when you realize, the story is over. You keep walking back toward the bookcase, thinking you'll just read a chapter and then make dinner before you realize you finished the book already.

Then what's worse is when you've read the book before. . .like three times now. . .and it still gets to you. It's not like it's even the best book you've ever read, just a really good one with characters you love, and if you were a kid and could get away with it you might be one of them for Halloween.

This is me right now.

Tonight I'm going to start a new book that I haven't read before (I have seen the movie, however). I have to read fast because book club is coming up. I hope it cheers me up because I'm really bummed.

Then after that I will be reading a book I read in college. I loved it and now that I'm in Cleveland, I thought it be good to read it again. In my opinion, it's a must read. Especially if you live somewhere like Cleveland. I opted to buy this instead of borrow from the library because our closest Borders is closing and was having a huge sale.

Sadness abounds when a book store closes. I went to this particular Borders all the time when we first moved here. I hated living in Cleveland where I knew no one and had no place I could go and feel comfortable. The Borders wasn't in the nicest part of town, but at least it was familiar. I went as often as I could, which was usually at night after Nathan was home and could put the kids to bed. Sitting there with a book or my laptop reminded me of being back in the Logan Borders and made me feel comfortable again. When I bought this book I told the cashier this and she said that she'd heard similar stories from most of the people that had come in the store that day. I thought it was really interesting that so many people would choose a bookstore to help them find solace in a crazy city.

It's amazing the feeling we can experience in a bookstore or library. One of my favorite children series has a line that is repeated through most of its 13 books. It refers to a library and it goes, The World is Quiet Here. I love that. The World is Quiet Here. When you are with books the world takes a backseat and only you and the characters exist. The dirty dishes, lint on the carpet, and kids begging for juice can all fade away. Ok, maybe not the toddler begging for juice, that one's a little harder to tune out, but still, I think you get what I mean.

When you're reading a book, all media is turned off. You aren't thinking about that sewing project, or the stupid game on Facebook that has sucked up so much of your time, or the fact that your toilets need to be cleaned. This is why I am anti-Kindle or any other electronic book thingy. Give me a paperback, please.

All of the thoughts that usually rage in your head, bouncing around begging you to pay attention to them are calmed and quieted when there is a book in your hands. Which is why, I think, I have such a hard time letting go of a great book. I've finished it, but I'm not ready for it to be done with its therapeutic work on me.

Homemaking

2010-09-15T11:18:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was very busy. It started on Thursday with me doing something everyone else thinks is part of the ploy to get me to go into labor early. Then continued on Friday with me sending out a simple email. See, I decided that since Nathan wasn't willing to take out the nasty bushes in front of our house, that I would do it myself--at 35 weeks pregnant.

Take a trip down memory lane and remind yourself of these nasty bushes. I'd already cleared the ground cover to a certain point before tackling the bushes.

Did you notice how huge those bushes are? I hated them. Really.

So Thursday I got out a saw and cut them down to a point where they could be dug out and in 3.5 hours, they were stumps. On Friday I took out a shovel and jumped on it, trying to break up the earth around the roots of the bush. It was a no-go. I went back inside and wrote an email asking people from Church if anyone was interested in making some money by digging out my bushes. Our bishop got the email and called one of our newest members, Darren, who is trying to save money to go on a mission. Darren came over and got to work. In a little less than 3.5 hours, the stumps were gone. Leaving us with dirt. A lot of dirt.

Nathan didn't want to leave it plain (ha! part of my plan worked!) so Saturday we went to Home Depot and bought these.

In this second picture you can see how much space the bushes and little ground cover took up. After planting the mums, Nathan spread out grass seed over the dirt. When payday comes again, we'll do some more. Also, all those other plants there in front of the house, those will be coming out ASAP, which might be in the spring.

Also part of our day was a lot of canning. I actually got up really early and went to the Church where a bunch of girls got together to can peaches and tomatoes. I was lucky and got to bring home half of the left over tomatoes (we ran out of jars). So Nathan and I decided to can homemade salsa. We did this in Logan years ago and afterward couldn't stomach store bought salsa for a very long time (we did the same thing with spaghetti sauce in Logan--ours is just the best). So after putting the kids in bed I ran to the store and got the peppers, onions, and garlic. Then it was on to salsa heaven.

Too bad I didn't think to buy tortilla chips while I was at the store!

Last of all . . .
Nathan took Megan out with him while I was canning the peaches and tomatoes (Jeremy and Emma were on play dates) and bought a new pane of glass for the garage door (if you look in the post from yesterday where the kids are playing in the rain, you'll notice how bad the door looked before) and some paint. Here's our "new" door--complete with raccoon prints all over it. Yes, I didn't shut the door as soon as I got home and a raccoon got in. Then when I shut the door, the stupid thing was still in there. While the door was up it must have climbed on to the door from the top of our van, leaving it's muddy prints everywhere. I guess it freaked out because our stuff was everywhere in the morning, there were muddy paw prints all over the car and van, as well as a messy, stinky present on the van windshield. So now we just have to wash it to make it look nice again.

Rain, Rain . . . Don't Bother Going Away!

2010-09-14T09:06:00.000-04:00


I love the action shot Nathan got here!

Dancin' in the rain


Love them rain boots.

Please note the garage door's nastiness. My next post will show it corrected, finally!

Felt Pirate Maps

2010-09-13T13:55:00.001-04:00

I made Jeremy a pirate map for Christmas a couple years ago and since then I've made quite a few as birthday presents for little boys in our ward or at school. Last year the kids had a week at preschool where they learned about pirates and Jeremy and Megan (who now has one as well) offered their pirate maps to the class to play with for the week.

At the end of the school year I offered to each of the preschool teachers to make their classes a couple maps. I figured it would take less than a week to get them all done and that I had all summer to do it. Well, I completely forgot about it until the week before school started. Luckily, it really did only take a week (I finished sewing literally two minutes before we left to take Jeremy to preschool orientation) to make 9 maps. I gave each class two boy maps and one girl map.

If you want one (or two) I'll be happy to make you one for $5, or I can put a tutorial on the blog and you can make your own.

The Vibe Posts, Or What's Been Going On

2010-09-12T20:54:00.003-04:00

Funny Emma

Emma has made it a habit of falling asleep during dinner at least twice a week. This is her sleeping and eating at the same time. Honest. She is difficult to wake up when she gets to this point. Sometimes Nathan picks her up and throws her in the air (which will wake her up and cause her to laugh, but if we wake her up any other way she is not happy). Other times we just take her upstairs, wipe off her face, and put her in bed.

Mommy's Day Off

Also, I don't know how I missed this one, but Nathan took the kids camping and gave me a day and a half to myself. They drove out to Pennsylvania and had a great time while I cleaned the house, got a massage, and took myself out for lunch. It was much appreciated! Thank you, Nathan!!!!

My Attempt At Being a Copy-Cat

Remember those awesome pictures that my friend Mary took of Jeremy and Emma? Those were their birthday pictures, so I didn't bother having any of Megan taken. Well, I decided that was stupid and I should have had her included anyway. Too late now. Mary had her baby the other day and will most likely not be taking pictures for a while.

Let me apologize, Mary. I know I'm totally copying your stuff, and I'm really sorry. I wanted pictures to match the awesome ones you did and didn't want to bother you so close to having your babe. Mine are nowhere close to the awesomeness of yours.

I tried taking Megan to the same locations on the Case campus. Only problem? I didn't check the setting on the camera before starting, so most of them look really bad. I'm more of an Automatic Setting kind of girl, where Nathan actually uses the different settings on the camera where you have to know what you are doing. He was apparently the last one to use the camera before I took these. Also, even though I worked with PhotoShop for years when I worked at the USU archives, I am not that good at it. Nathan, is like the He-Man of PhotoShop. So when I eventually get around to re-shooting these, I'll have him run them through PhotoShop and make them look good.

Backtracking

2010-09-12T20:17:00.001-04:00

I realized that I've missed quite a few posts, and a couple of them I feel bad about missing. Others are more of the "this is what's been going on" vibe.

So here's the first of the I-feel-bad-for-missing-this-post post.

Wahoo for Jeremy's First Day of Preschool 2010!

Jeremy is actually doing really well so far this year. I know we haven't even had a full week of school yet thanks to Labor Day and Rosh Hoshanah, but he seems excited to go, he's practically running into the classroom (instead of me shoving him in and then running away), and he's trying to be obedient to his teachers even when he doesn't want to. He's told me the names of a couple other students in his class and has even admitted to me that one of them is his friend (huge improvement since Jeremy doesn't really like other kids much). He's enjoying gym, where last year those days were almost impossible for him. I'm really proud of him and all the growth and improvement he's made.

The second I-feel-bad-for-missing-this-post post is . . .

Happy 30th Birthday, Nathan! Congratulations on being old!

Yes, we celebrated Nathan's 30th birthday at the beginning of the month. While I think this birthday should mark the end of his teasing me and calling me old, it probably won't. Nathan wanted flan instead of a traditional birthday cake this year and lasagna for dinner. It was all quite tasty. Nathan is now one year closer to having his age make sense of all the gray in his hair. Don't worry about it! You know it will make your patients trust you more than those young'ins.

Here Comes Fall

2010-09-02T12:40:00.000-04:00

The first day of school hasn't quite arrived for us here in Cleveland. However, Megan has had her orientation day for kindergarten. They are phasing the kids in and her day was Tuesday. She doesn't actually go back until Friday for the Teddy Bear picnic. Jeremy's preschool orientation day (which is also phased for the students) is Friday, and then his first real day of school is next Tuesday.

So here are a couple pictures of Megan on her "first" day of kindergarten.

When I saw that Lisa Frank was still around, I had to buy her the lunch bag. She wanted it because it's a cool rainbow horse, I wanted it because it was Lisa Frank.

All excited:)

Binary Mom

2010-08-21T10:03:00.001-04:00

I couldn't find my post where I wrote about our babe being the product of our absolute nerdiness, but I'm sure it's in the archives somewhere. If you're not up to date on the baby situation, here's a quick recap. If you are already fully aware of our nerdiness, then you can skip this part and go on to our cool news.

We've been planning a 10-10-10 baby for over a year.
Miraculously it worked out so that my due date is exactly 1 week past October 10th.
This is good because I have big babies and being induced a week early is prime as far as I'm concerned.
10-10-10 is binary.
It equals 42.
I don't know how binary works, but Nathan does.
Have you read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? If so, you may already understand the magnitude of our nerdiness.
If not, then here it is: a civilization builds a super computer to come up with the answer to "life, the universe, and everything."
The computer does the work and years and years later comes up with the answer.

42.

The answer to life, the universe and everything is 42.

Again, 10-10-10 in binary is 42.

This is how nerdy we are.

Cool News

So, a few weeks ago I had a doctor appointment and asked about how to get this thing scheduled. Do we schedule it? Him? Anyway, he asked what day October 10th falls on and when I told him it was a Sunday, he was not optimistic about us being able to schedule it for that day. Apparently, the hospital is usually short staffed on weekends. He talked about getting me in the Friday before or the Monday after.

I tried to reconcile myself to the idea of it not working out. Nathan and I joked about ways to get in on the 10th, but we knew none of them would really work. Then I joked and said, we should contact the news station and tell them about what we've planned and see if they'd want to do a human interest story on us. Then the hospital would have to let us come in on the 10th because, hey, free advertising. Can't pass that up.

Well, Friday I decided to go for it. What did I have to lose? So I went to the Fox News site, emailed them with our story and in less than two hours I had a woman calling me back to tell me not to offer the story to anyone else because they want it! Crazy, eh? So now on Monday I have to call my doctor to tell him he has to get me in on the 10th.

I'll let you know what happens on Monday when I call my doctor.

I Dreamed a Dream

2010-08-19T23:30:00.000-04:00

It's official. It's back to school season. Want to know how I know?

A) The fact that I saw brown leaves falling from a tree today could be it, but it isn't.

B) Maybe that the school bus drivers are out learning their routes? Nope.

C) The annoying commercials on Hulu with the junior high kids wearing my fourth grade wardrobe as they dance around and claim to have the beat? Wrong again. They also claim to look sweet, but that's debatable.

D) Not even the endless paperwork associated with getting my kids ready or the kindergarten kickoffs and school park play dates are the real tipper-offer here.

No, the right answer would be. . . I'm having my routine nightmare. I'm in high school, in the front office, late for class, and I don't even know what my classes are. I can't find my schedule card. Or my locker. Or the person I'm supposed to talk to about getting a new one. I wander around, lost, and thinking I am going to fail high school because I don't even know what classes I'm in.

I hate this dream. Yet, I have it about 50 times a year and almost always during the school year.

This is how I know it is back to school time.

Baby Business

2010-08-13T16:11:00.001-04:00

Remember this post? It's happening again. These three examples are all within 3 or 4 weeks of each other, btw.

The first time this is how it went down.

Guy at register: So, this is your last one, right?
Me: Huh?
Guy at register: This is your last one.
Me: [My last what? Box of Oreos? He notices my confused look and points at Emma, Jeremy, then my bulging stomach.] No, and actually I have another one, too. I've got three kids, this will be my fourth, and I want one more after that.
Guy at register: Seriously? Wow. [Goes back to his job.]

Second time.

Girl bagging my groceries: Are you done after this one?
Me: No.
Girl bagging my groceries: Really? How many do you want?
Me: [Is she talking about scoops of ice cream?] I've always wanted five, so one more after this.
Girl bagging my groceries: I've got one and that's all I can handle. God bless you.
Me: Yeah. [walk away]

Today.

Guy with a cart: Here mam. [Pushes a cart with a broken restraining strap and an annoying wheel at me]
Me: Thanks.
Guy no longer with a cart: [Eyes wide, head shaking] God bless you.
Me: [Very confused look on face] Huh?
Guy no longer with a cart: This is your last one, right?
Me: [Still confused] Last what?
Guy no longer with a cart: [Points to my belly] Your last one.
Me: [Look down at my own belly] Um, no.
Guy no longer with cart: [Head cocks to the side, eyebrows furrow] Last one?
Me: [Shaking my head] NO. [Slowly and loudly, enunciating each word] I want one more after this.
Guy no longer with cart: What?
Me: I want five kids. [Guy starts to back away] I plan on having one more after this. Is it really any of your business?

Really? And why do all of these idiots work at the same grocery store? That was the last straw so I went to customer service and spoke to a manager. Luckily, he was horrified that I'd had these experiences in his store. I expect to not be asked any more baby related questions or have God's blessings called down upon me by strangers wearing grocery store smocks.

Book Review--The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

2010-08-11T19:34:00.000-04:00

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book, but I have a hard time recommending it to anyone I know. If you are an avid European history person (while it wasn't my emphasis, I did study this era), then you'd probably be ok with it because you'd know most of it already. I wasn't too shocked about anything. Besides all my history classes, I remember watching the movie and not being shocked at all, while everyone else I know who saw the movie was extremely shocked and felt scandalized;) If you were one of these people, don't read the book!

The movie leaves a lot out and changes things up. So if you saw the movie and expect it to be like the book, you'll be disappointed. Or possibly feel more scandalized.

All in all, it really was an enjoyable read for me. I really like how Gregory wrote Mary Boleyn. She's a very complex person that's hard to like and hard to dislike at the same time. Now I feel like I need to read a text book, though.

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It's So Nice . . .

2010-08-02T19:45:00.000-04:00

I love having Nathan home during the week. I don't know what I'll do once school starts again. Cry, probably.

Anyway, today we have had lots of fun! Monday is the "free" day at the Cleveland Zoo. I say "free" because while all we have to do is show our licenses to prove we live in the county to get into the zoo, we also pay a lot of taxes for this one free day a week that we only take advantage of about 3 times a year.

However, today was more free than usual. We hadn't been in the zoo for five minutes when a lady came up to me and asked if we wanted her Zoo Bucks. Zoo Bucks work like money for the extras that the zoo charges for: the dinosaur exhibit, feeding the birds, riding the train, camel rides, etc. They were leaving and she said her son hadn't wanted to do any thing extra and so she had an entire book of Zoo Bucks (which equals $12, but costs $10 to buy). So this is what we did with them!

Megan wouldn't let go of a flamingo feather she found. She carried it through the whole zoo.

I wanted a picture of Nathan getting his head eaten by this dinosaur,

but there were lots of people waiting for pictures. Dang.

Jeremy insisted that he doesn't like robot dinosaurs, only real dinosaurs. That's too bad.

I don't think he'll find many exhibits with those.

And here's Nathan's favorite quote of the day from Jeremy:

"Tyrannosaurus is a meat eater and we're meat!"

Megan and Jeremy asked if they could do the camel ride as we were driving into the zoo and Nathan told them no "because it probably costs $4 a person." Which is exactly what we found it does cost.

But with our Zoo Bucks . . . ta da!

Free!

So a happy time was had by all. We also. . .