Choose

I've seen on a number of blogs I read that the lovely women who write them have chosen a "word" as a new years resolution of sorts. A word they want to work on, and strive to focus on in the next year. I thought about trying to come up with one, and was always coming up with a blank. Until I watched this video. It sealed the deal. My word for the year is CHOOSE.

At our house AGAIN?!

Could not resist sharing this.

Yes, I am aware of the serious lack of attention my poor lonely blog has been receiving. Way too much life taking up time. Stay tuned though, I have lots to share. Birthday, baptism, new pet.....hopefully this week. :)

Is this guy in my house?!

I love the comic strip Baby Blues....almost as much as Calvin & Hobbes. I find so many of these strips that, I swear, I think I have a hidden camera in my house that this guy is getting his material from. This one is especially fitting since we've just visited our dentist, and since then, Jared has become a tad bit obsessive about flossing.

Am I the Only One?

Am I the only one that has a purse cram-packed like the above photo when we are taking the family to a movie, or am I just cheap?!

We do buy a bucket o' popcorn there......

We saw Ice Age 3. Cute. Pretty much like the others, with the added feature of 3D. Although we didn't see the 3D version.....but everything was all close up and lots of stuff coming at the screen anyway, which I found irritating. Definitely not Disney, but we enjoyed it. :)

The Beauty of Organization

I finally finished a very long put-off project this week...

For months, the kids basement playroom has been uninhabitable.

You could not see the floor. They could not use the toys. It was completely beyond the point of them being able to clean it up, and I didn't want to do it and avoided the chore for as long as I could. I planned on getting it done before summer break, but put it off.

Then it was summer break.

The kids were home 24-7.

Then the weather changed, and we had the rainiest June ever. So, not only were the kids home....they were stuck INSIDE! Amazing what a little motivation for peace will do to kickstart me!

After a major purging, many trips to DI and the ward nursery bin, and a number of full garbage bags, the playroom is clean, neat, organized, and beautiful. The kids have also been threatened to within an inch of their lives instructed that they need to do their very best to keep it that way.






To address any questions that may arise from these photos:

• Yes, I am aware that the kids still have too many toys.
• Ellie has been wearing dress-ups since she was allowed to access the dress-up box again. She may never wear normal clothes again.
• The mural? I started that thing when I was pregnant with Jared. It's still not completed. He'll be six in a month. I have a serious problem with follow-through.
  

The Great 8 Tag

**I started this list a WHILE ago, and then it sat in my drafts folder.....so obviously some things are old (like what I did yesterday.....so I added a few to that category when I finished the list today!)**

Thanks to my cousin Shanan for the tag. Although I may not tag 8 people....I don't know if I have 8 people reading me anymore since I've been such a slacker as of late! :) Oh, and I'll be doing these eight things about the family, not just me....makes it much easier to come up with.

Here are the rules:
1) Post rules on your blog--done :)
2) Answer the six "8" items (they are in no particular order).
3) Let each person know by leaving them a comment.

8 Favorite TV shows
*Curious George
*Imagination Movers
*Little Einsteins
*Phineas and Ferb
*Dirty Jobs
*American Idol
*Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives
*Cage Fighting (this would be one of Ron's favorite.....)

8 Things we did yesterday
*I finished the laundry...oops, forgot to dry that last load!
*Ron spent all day at church....meeting and the usual.
*Riley went to her presidency meeting (she's the 2nd counselor in her Young Womens age group) with wet hair because she forgot about it and had just gotten out of the shower when they called to see where she was.
*We all went to church, and the kids were actual decent this week....so fabulous not having to feel like the 3 ring circus! :)
*Nicole went to Primary and got to help in sharing time in Primary.
*The kids were "ungrounded" from the basement, so they went down and were supposed to be straightening up the playroom, but I think it is now in worse condition that previously.
*I made dinner and dessert. Italian Chicken over noodles, broccoli, rolls, and Raspberry Crumb Bars.
*I tried to watch the Oscars, but Ron had the remote....I finally gave up and went in the bedroom to watch the end.

8 Things we did yesterday(for real!)
*Ellie and I went to Walmart
*went to the kids school and traded out take-home reading books
*Riley was on stage crew for the school's production of "The Wizard of Oz"
*Nicole watched the play in the morning with the rest of the school
*Jared had a hissy fit because the afternoon kindergarten class didn't get to see the play
*the younger kids went to the 1st session of their after-school art class
*I turned in Riley's schedule request form to the High School....that is so weird.
*I made a yummy chicken pot pie recipe for dinner....but it wasn't in pie form...

8 Things I look forward to
*Ellie being completely potty-trained (which she is now!)
*The kids look forward to summer vacation!
*Colorado this summer
*Spring!
* Ron's and my 10th anniversary
*Spring.....for real!
*Jared looks forward to 1st grade, so he can eat lunch at school and have 3 recesses
*braces...OFF :)

8 Favorite Restaurants--in no particular order
*In n Out
*Cafe Rio
*Zupa's
*Rumbi Grill
*Lonestar Taqueria
*The kids: Golden Corral....buffet=choices+no waiting!
*Italian Place
*Goodwood BBQ


8 Things on my Wishlist
*paid-off mortgage
*happy kids, read: no more whining!
*huge tax refund
*all the clutter to just disappear and my house to become magically organized
*a maid
*the kids to actually HEAR instructions given to them :)
*Government that works
*World peace?!

Play if you'd like!

These are my kids.....

How does this comic strip artist do this? This is straight from my house. (Sorry....I found these, love them, and want to share. I hope someone finds these as humorous as me!)


The only difference at our house is that Nicole really wouldn't care about Jared reading on his own to boost his skills or confidence.....but the last window.....um...yeah.

This morning......

I shall return....

As everyone can plainly see, my blog is lacking attention from ME! Life has been crazy busy, what with normal goings on, then add to that moving my mom out of her house, doing a mini-extreme makeover on her new place- which is still in progress- and then the Geography Bee to put on tomorrow. Whew! Something's gotta give! I think what I am most worried about is the fact that I am not ready for Christmas, in the least...so until the ducks get in a row, my blog is going to be very quiet.

So watch your Google readers for me to return, or check back in a couple weeks! Until then, have a great holiday season!

Slow week?!

Yep....not much going on around here....at least not really thrilling stuff anyway!

Monday, Nicole had her first piano recital. I am so glad to be done with that song! She's been practicing that little number since MARCH! I will really be so happy to never hear Matt, My Cat ever again in my life. :o) She did well...played her song a little too slow....and moved her mouth as she was counting, and was a bit distracted....which was evidenced by the fact that she let her eyes wander out to the audience during her playing! Oh well, she is her teacher's youngest student, and in my opinion did better than some of the older kids that started piano at the same time she did. If I get the nerve to try and upload the video we took, I'll add that later....I haven't even watched it though....that's how much I don't ever want to hear that song again! Here are some still shots though...

She's so talented, she plays with her eyes closed! just kidding....Mommy the master photographer only got one shot of her playing though, and I didn't check it close enough to notice that they were closed! Oops!

Flowers for our little performer.

The rest of this week was taken up with working on a little project for Father's Day. Which now Ron has a huge idea about, since I needed his help in editing the pictures.

We have a large wall in our dining area that has a picture on it that I'm tired of. So I wanted to take some cute pictures of the kids, blow them up, and make a picture wall. I decided to do a 16X20 of a group shot, and then surround that with 8X10's of each kid. I found some cute black frames for 50% off(woohoo!) at Hobby Lobby, and have spent the week trying to get shots of the kids...I finished off today and wondered to myself why I even try! I finally did get some good ones...but holy cow, my children do not follow instructions! I bet they will look back at these pictures one day and the only memory they will have is me freaking out at them to just look at the camera and smile! I hope that I can come to appreciate the pictures as well, as I gaze at them daily...and forget the frustration felt while taking them! ;o)

Here are some of the rejected shots....thank heaven for digital photography!

Riley really did do fine with the following of directions...it was the wind that kept "blowing" her shots! I crack myself up...

I'm pretty sure I asked for a smile....but instead I got this...

Ellie was much more interested in picking the flowers, smelling the flowers, not sitting down...pretty much anything was more interesting than looking at the camera.

Jared....in between the fake smiles and goofball poses I did get some cute shots of him.

There is the greatest place for pictures down by American Fork Hospital. Someone has a bunch of old cars, and they have built an old fashioned looking garage/gas station to store them at. The old rust buckets are outside, but the inside of the garage has a bunch of restored cars in it. Very fun for pictures!

The group shot....I have lots of these....between getting Nicole and Jared to just hold a pose and smile, and trying to get Ellie to just look at the camera....I almost gave up!

I think one of the most frustrating parts was editing all the pictures, and then downloading them to Costco for printing....only to realize that I needed to crop the pictures before I downloaded them. My editing and actions got all messed up if I didn't...so I had to go back and redo all of them...and I of course picked the photo sizes that require the most cropping (just FYI....if you are planning on printing your pictures in an 8X10/16X20 format, take the picture with a lot of extra space around it to allow for cropping. I, unfortunately, did not, so my favorite pictures that I chose to use lost a lot of their visual interest and charm because of it...dang it. Live and learn.:o) Oh, and 16X20 enlargements at Costco are mail order only. So Ron's Father's Day gift isn't going to be exactly complete when he gets it. Oops! Maybe the big print will show up next Saturday.

Little bits of life.

Various things going on....so here you go!

Nicole- Back to school! The kid has definitely been catching up on sleep.....Monday, she slept in until 10! Tuesday, til 9, and I had to drag her out of bed this morning at 7:20. She really wanted to go back yesterday because her teacher, who has been gone since having a baby a month ago, was coming in for the day and bringing her new baby. So I took Nicole for the last 45 minutes. When we got there though, her teacher wasn't there because she couldn't find a sitter for her older child. But Nicole wanted to stay and her teacher is coming on Thursday, which is also her last day! Holy cow...I cannot believe she is almost done with Kindergarten. That FLEW!

Nicole is now to the "stinketh" phase of her recovery....uck! I brush her teeth well, and her tongue, and have her gently gargle to help the tonsil part, but I can't do anything about the adenoid part....so I remind her not to breathe too close to anyone's face for a few more days. :) Yesterday in the mail she got a cute "get well card" signed by the nurses that took care of her and some stickers. I am SO beyond impressed with the same-day surgery department of this hospital. Awesome care, and great follow-up.

Riley- There was an awards assembly at school yesterday and Riley got 4 outstanding student awards from her English, History, Graphic Arts, and some other teacher that she couldn't remember. They hadn't told parents about the assembly, so we weren't there. She'll get her certificates today so we'll see what the mysterious 4th was! Her Science teacher told her she was on his list as well, but they made him shorten his, so she was taken off since she was getting the others.

The really weird part about this kid is that this last term she's been checking her grades, on her own, and is bugged that she doesn't have all A's....huh?! Seriously, talk about a FANTASTIC change! At the beginning of this year, she could care less what her grades were, and if you told her that she was missing assignments and her grade was down to a D, she'd ask "what's so wrong with that"? So this change in attitude is so welcome! It's great as a parent to watch a child start taking responsibility for themselves and meeting their incredible potential! YAY for Riley!

Here's the kicker....guess where I took her yesterday....???? A JOB interview! Yep, if she gets it, she'll be working in the snack shack at one of the local pools this summer. Such different plans for her this summer. Last summer, I thought her butt was going to grow into the couch. This summer....Youth Conference, EFY, Girls Camp, Tennis Lessons, Voice Lessons, and a part-time job. Crap. If this keeps up, we will be getting her a car in a couple years so I don't have to schlep her around! :)

Jared- Has preschool graduation Friday, and his end of year Water Party on Tuesday. Starts T-Ball in June.

Me....I should be doing a lot of other things, but I'm escaping it by blogging....hehehe...well, until now. I have no more to tell. Dang. Non-interesting but highly irritating tidbit....it was in the 90's yesterday. I had to turn on the A/C last night for a while to get it to a comfortable sleeping temp....Now that the storm has arrived, it's 40 degrees right now. With wind chill, lower than that!

Feeling the love....

Yesterday was a good day. I was allowed to remain in bed to "sleep" in....but really, who can sleep with screaming, etc. going on?! I was then treated to breakfast in bed. Toast (2 pieces! One with cinnamon/sugar and the other with butter and jam) and frosted mini wheats. Jared and Ellie helped me out getting it eaten.

The best was my hubby whose meetings were canceled so I had lots of help getting ready for church. Bliss! :)

Church left a bit...a lot...to be desired. I'm sure the talks and songs were great, but my kids were in rare form again. Hitting, screaming, head-butting....the usual. What is the deal? My once complacent 2 year old has become a demon in church. So we went out once, then twice, and I would've just bagged it and gone home but I think that would have induced too much guilt in my hubby stuck up on the stand. Besides, if I held out just a bit longer, I was getting a 2 hour reprieve while they went to their classes!

Don't you love getting the sympathetic "knowing" smiles from other parents, but you know behind that smile they are wondering why I can't control my children? My answer...if I had an answer we wouldn't have a problem now would we?!?!

After church, and after daddy got home, the kids opened my gifts for me. I was reminded as I watched their excited faces that this was truly the best part of the day. Watching MY kids, joyful, exuberant, and loud as they are. But they are mine. I love them, and they love me.

I got a fun summer outfit with sandals, chocolate truffles, a flat-iron, some make-up, and the DVD versions of Persuasion and Sense & Sensibility that were shown on Masterpiece earlier this year. Woo-HOO! Then my sweet husband made me dinner. Grilled tri-tip....yum! We tried to have my mom over for dinner as well, but she'd already made plans with her sisters....huh?

All in all , a great day, and some joy from my sweet kiddos.

Recording it in writing almost made the incident today of my 2 year old punching me in the nose because I asked her not to chew on her hair okay....almost. ;)

Mother's Day Love

I got an early dose of Mother's Day today. It started this morning as I attended "Moms & Muffins" this morning with Nicole's Kindergarten class. We began with a little treat of muffins and milk, then we rotated between a game, a coloring page, and making a little book together. It was fun! I felt bad as it went late so I had to leave during the last part when Nicole was coloring, but Ron had to get to a meeting. While there, the kids also presented their Mother's Day gift to us. A plate that they each colored themselves! So cute! It's even plastic, so it won't get broken when she has me use it.

There was also a paper that went with it, titled "My Mom Is Special" and the kids filled in the blanks about their moms. Here are Nicole's answers:
My Mom's name is Andrea.
My Mom is 29 years old. **GOOD GIRL!**
My Mom's favorite thing to do is shop.
When I'm at school, my mom does activities.
My Mom is good at a lot of things but she is best at hugs.
My Mom is really smart! She even knows pioneers.
My Mom has a pretty smile! I like to make her smile by hugs.
My Mom is special because she buys movies gives candy when I'n good. **We instituted the "I'd love to" jar at our house this past week...**

The fun of the morning continued when Jared got home from preschool bringing me this:I LOVE it!!! I've seen those kits in the store to make these cute garden stepping stones and have almost gotten them a few times, but now I have one! He also brought home a little information sheet that he got to fill out about me. Here are his views of mom:
My mom's name is Andrea.
My mom is ___ years old. She never tells
My mom likes to read a book about people.
The prettiest thing about my mom is her shoes. **what?**
If my mom had a whole day to do whatever she wanted to do, I bet she would just sit down.
My mom's favorite food is every food in the whole wide world (not candy). **does this kid live with me?**
At bedtime, I like it when my mom says prayers with me.
My favorite thing that my mom feeds me is waffles, "love to" jar.
My mom's favorite store is Costco.
My mom has blue eyes and brown and black hair.
My mom's favorite thing to say is I love you.
I love my mom because I love her.

Cinco de Mayo!

I hope everyone is having a bueno Cinco de Mayo! We are "celebrating" by having Tostada bake for dinner...I new recipe I got from here. Found it blog hopping! I love new recipes, especially when they are easy.

So...my chocolate cake plans yesterday very sadly hit a bump...I only had 2 eggs, and since all the neighbors were at church being good, I had no one to borrow from. But thankfully I had a chocolate chunk brownie mix from Costco that only required 2 eggs, so I made that instead. :)

I was going to make lemon bars for tonight, but I'm now out of time. So sad when life revolves around what dessert you are making...

Jared woke up yesterday afternoon with a nice little fever. By this morning it was obvious that, yes, he had strep. I promise, all who have not been in my home, it isn't a germy pig-sty. I even switched out all the toothbrushes for new and disinfected the drawer and bathroom when Nicole had it last. I'm about to tie my kids hands down to keep them out of their mouths and bathe them hourly in sanitizer. I'm already steeling myself for a couple days from now when Nicole gets it again...which she will because the drinking cups were only refilled last night instead of changed for new(yeah, and I wonder how and why they get strep...), and hers got mixed up and she got Jared's. Why me?! Her ENT appointment is Wednesday though, so maybe he'll test her then and we can treat if needed.

Weekend wrap-up

Saturday:
1 dad gone to a service project
2 soccer games, with nice, calm, and almost warm weather, yay!
1 dad that did make it to 1 1/2 games, thanks dad!
1 afternoon spent organizing, filing, and shredding in kitchen, resulting in a less cluttered counter
1 wonder dog got a bath so he doesn't have to stay outside or in the laundry room all the time....those few warm days he did spend outside made him awfully dirty....probably due to him rolling in the dirt...dumb dog :P

Sunday:
1 two year old that woke up at 6:30 am
1 mama who after being kicked, hit, head-butted, licked(what is wrong with my child?!), and bitten by, and shushing above two year old 200 times in 45 minutes of church gave up and came home for naps
2 happy kids who came home with mama and two year old and are now playing mario kart

Oh yes, I should get the mother of the year award. I figure I'll make it up with a gospel lesson tomorrow for FHE. :) I'm off to make a chocolate cake for dinner...err, dessert!

So sick of....

strep.....

Nicole.

Has strep again.

It has been SIX DAYS since her last dose of antibiotics from her last case.

This is her 5th case in a year, and her THIRD case in 7 weeks.

I should've had her cesspool tonsils yanked on Tuesday instead of canceling and having to wait for an appointment with the new ENT.

And once again....she isn't even sick. Just complains of a sore throat and her voice changed.

So, we switched to a cephalosporin instead of amoxicillin this time. A little better since it's only a 5 day course instead of 10.

I can't wait for May 7th....that's when we see the new ENT and we'll get the FOR SURE, NO TURNING BACK tonsillectomy scheduled!

I'm now off to throw away all the toothbrushes and disinfect the bathroom.

In short...

Nicole...tested positive for strep...again...on Monday. She'd been complaining about a sore throat since THURSDAY, but had no other symptoms, and seemed fine. Other than the occasional sore throat complaint. She went to school, played soccer, to friend's houses to play, all with strep. Mother of the YEAR award! Finally her voice changed and I took her in.

Ellie...tested positive for strep today. Sigh...

Tonsils....I may be canceling Nicole's surgery as I have found a different ENT that removes tonsils using a different method....that results in less bleeding and shorter recovery time, but most likely another wait for surgery. Oh well, she'd no longer miss school for it....final decision coming soon!

Weather...cold. snow flurries. I am so excited to be going to Arizona next week to NINETIES! I might even get TOO hot! Oh, the joy of that thought...

Saturday doings....

General Conference weekend....lots of running between sessions, and then shushing of children during sessions so we can hear anything. My kids are not well behaved at church...general conference at home....sort of a joke! I even printed out the handy-dandy kids conference packets that were emailed to me....they entertained for about 2 milliseconds. The leftover boxes from an IKEA purchase were somewhat entertaining. Until the shrieking started when one or the other of them started offending the other. For those that caught Elder Nelson's talk, I'm pretty sure I was doing the opposite of his counsel in how to correct our children at about the exact time that he was giving that counsel....sigh.

Soccer games today. Jared's was at 8 AM...ugh! :) The early hour and the typical Utah spring-like conference weekend weather made for fun times....I'm sure it was below freezing with the wind chill! Nicole's at 1 PM wasn't much warmer. I have to give it to the kids though, they get right out there and play! Jared had two or three goals...he is still the aggressive boy he was last Fall, and if he gets the ball he'll take it all the way down the field to the goal. He's not shy about jumping right into the middle of the group of kids to get that ball either...we need to work on him not stealing the ball away from his own teammates though! We're deciding that Nicole might be more musically inclined rather than athletic though! She pretty much stays away from the ball, and if it does make it's way to her, she looks at it, wondering what she should do next! At least they keep it entertaining for us!

More of conference tomorrow....the best part is that I get my husband home on a Sunday, and I don't have to fight with the kids at church! Happy Day!

Cuts & Curls

Fun Saturday...and what a handsome boy...
Wait....something is amiss...what is wrong with this child's left eye?

We were getting ready for Nicole and Jared's 1st soccer games of the Spring season. I had asked Nicole to get me something off the counter for Ellie.

Jared saw it first.

The race began....he was off to get there first. Of course, NO ONE is going to do something that Nicole was asked to do, so she was hot on his heels. So hot on his heels that when he got to the counter that the thing was sitting on, she didn't stop and bashed into him, sending his head and eye into the edge of a very unforgiving granite counter top...rounded edges even, but his upper eyelid opened up very nicely. (Feel free to click on the picture for a larger view of the inch long slice!)

And in a very fine mommy-moment, before I realized that he was cut open and bleeding, I got on his case about trying to beat Nicole to something I had asked her to do. Great, my kid got hurt trying to do something for me, and I acted bugged by it. (I have since asked for and hopefully obtained forgiveness!) Nicole got a talking to as well...about being a bit calmer even when she feels like her glory is being stolen.

So, instead of soccer, we bundled off to the after-hours pediatrician and got him all fixed up. No stitches....he got super-glued! Hopefully leaving less of a scar....at least a scar without the stitch marks surrounding it. He was very sad to miss soccer....he had new cleats to wear after all! Oh well, there's always next week!

Funny part...when it happened, Ron was out extending callings to some ward members. Well, I obviously needed him home, so I called him. He of course, didn't pick up so I called him back to back about 4 times. By this time, he tells the couple he is meeting with that I know where he is and what he is doing, so someone at home must be broken or bleeding for me to call him like that...truer words had never been spoken!

To close a little shot of the new thing I tried with Ellie's hair last night. Rag curls. I think I need some practice as half of them were out this morning when she got up (at 5:30 AM....WHT?!). She seemed to like them though. She called them her bows and didn't want me to take them out! I fixed the flat ones this morning with the hot twists. I should've taken an after picture of her, but she didn't look a lot different that the curly Easter shot in the post below!

Is it bad....

that my kids have watched this twice today?


No, I say! I was able to deep clean two bathrooms due to this movie!

They are outside playing now, and Jared came in and used the bathroom, and said, "MMM, it smells good in here!" Not that it smelled bad before, but it didn't have that fresh, clean, clorox disinfecting spray clean smell to it!

The pieces and parts of the movie I have seen so far look cute....maybe I'll sit down and watch it start to finish for myself tonight!