Sticks

Tummy Time

2010-07-25T21:14:00.000-07:00

In between Addy's 9 month and 1 year well-check, I started noticing a bump a little above her belly button. It wasn't going away and almost always was visible. Jared thought it was a hernia and so when we had her one year well check, I showed it to her pediatrician. She thought that it might be a hernia too so we were referred to a Pediatric surgeon. Her doctor also referred us to a Neurosurgeon for her head growth and asked me to go to get blood work down to check for lead levels. It's supposedly a new requirement.

Anyways, lots of added stress leaving that office. We immediately went in to see the Ped surgeon and she took one quick look and said, "Yeah, that's definitely a hernia."

She continued to explain that it looks like there are two, maybe three separate ones and they are epigastric hernias. She explained that what happens is that there aren't enough fibers connecting her muscle in her six pack area and so it's really easy for stuff to just poke through those gaps. She told me that it will keep happening and eventually start to pinch and hurt as she grows older and then when she eventually gets pregnant when having a family of her own in the future, it could be a bigger problem.

She suggested surgery to correct the problem. It would be an outpatient procedure. She would simply make a small incision above her belly button and go in and fuse the fibers in her tummy together and repair the herniated areas. I felt confident in her abilities and the whole concept so I agreed, but still took time to talk it over with Jared and see what he thought.

Meanwhile, we went to see the neurosurgeon and he told me that typically, head growth like hers most likely stays big and then at about 2-3 years old, it levels out and gets more proportionate to the body so it could be nothing. He told me that it wasn't imperative to get an MRI, but suggested it to cover his basis and make sure nothing truly serious was wrong. Since that required sedation, I tried to set it up to happen at the same time as her other surgery.

Everything got set up and we were good to go. The day or two before her surgery, her ped nurse called and informed me that the anesthesiologist said the machine doesn't work with the MRI machine at that hospital so we can either due the surgery and do the MRI some other time or reschedule the both of them for another hospital at least a couple weeks later.

We decided to move forward with the hernia surgery and decided to forgo the MRI since it was more out of convenience and we weren't terribly worried about that part of her medical issues.

The day of the surgery I tried to get a good nights sleep the night before, but totally couldn't sleep as well as I had liked. We had to be up and out and at the hospital at 6 in the morning which meant leaving at like 5:30 and waking up at around 5am. Blah!

When we got to the hospital, I signed in and we waited until our name was called to finalize all of our paperwork. Then, we waited even longer to be called back to the prep area. I just kept walking around with her in the stroller, pacing. When we finally got called back, we were placed in an area with a crib/bed gurney and they took her vitals and put on the bracelets. The nurse agreed that she should stay in her jammies and not the nightgown since she is happy and they wanted her to stay happy. FYI, she was fasting this whole time, since midnight the night before.

The wait was incredibly hard. She started getting antsy which made my job even harder to keep her happy. We looked at pictures, we watched the cartoons, we played in the crib, played some more and took that through cycles. After another hour had passed, I was getting worn out and I listened to the women in the bed with her baby next to us as the anesthesiologist ask her when the baby ate last. She said she had some bottle and cereal about an hour and a half ago. The anesthesiologist responded with the fact that she shouldn't have fed her baby and that they can't do the surgery any more (she had the same doctor and was supposed to go before us).

Needless to say, the woman was ticked off and I heard her talk in a livid manner to her hubby over the phone saying how no one ever told her she wasn't supposed to feed her baby after a certain time and was frustrated that she would have to come back another time to take care of things. Meanwhile, I was sure glad when I heard that because that meant we were next and it would be less waiting.

This is a picture of Addy before she started getting really restless. The lady left with her baby and the next child came in that was behind us. The anethesiologist finally came to us and I happily reported that she hadn't had anything to eat and was ready to go. Then, a little while later, her doctor came and she made marks on her tummy where the hernias were so that she could find them while she laid down for surgery. I then finally got her gown and footies on and the nurse took her away. I waited in the waiting room starting about 8:25 am.

The wait during her actual surgery seemed to go really fast. I talked on the phone with Jared a little to let him know what was going on and then started watching a movie, but didn't get too far into it when the her doctor came and found me. She took me back and explained how things went. She reported that there were 3-4 hernias total that she repaired, but everything went great. She doesn't have a whole lot of swelling like most people have afterwards, but

The recovery nurses were helping her out since she had come too while they came and got me. I tried to hold her cradle style, but all she wanted was to be propped up on my shoulder. That made it a little hard for me to keep her from slouching her head and neck, but it was manageable. She kept falling asleep and then coming too and crying. We tried giving her some watered down apple juice in her bottle, but she didn't really go for that much at all.

While I was rocking in the chair with Addy, the boy behind her surgery came into the recovery room and started waking up and they couldn't get a hold of his parents. It's funny what you hear from nurses while sitting there. They couldn't believe they couldn't find his parents for so long and when they finally got the mom, she was still walking slowly to her son while talking on her cell phone. She even stopped walking to finish the conversation as a nurse was holding and consoling her son who had been awake for a little already. I found that whole scenario kind of odd, but oh well.

They monitored Addy for a little and then gave us a prescription for Tylenol with codeine and discharged us at around 10 am. I went home with her and she slept a whole bunch the whole rest of the day. Having Tylenol to help with pain was a plus for her though.

This is what it looked like afterwards and it has healed up really well. While her doctor was in there, she pinned in her belly button since it was hanging out so much. Her outty I think was even more than mine when I was little. Now, the incision can't even be seen. It looks like its part of her normal belly button. It was a great experience and I'm glad she is better now. We had our final follow up appointment last week and all looks great and there are no more follow-ups needed.

Organization

2010-07-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

We had a play group last week where Hayden's friends, the triplets, came over to play. While the kids were occupied, their mom and I tried to organize something in my house that I have been wanting to reorganize.

We decided to attack the Dining Room and my hall closet of linens and games. I'm quite proud of how things look now. I'll take a picture and add it to the post. I had my games just all over because I had 3 California King Quilts taking up a huge portion of that closet. We ended up storing them in a vacuum bag in a better place. Also, I finally have a place to put all of the shoes that are left lying around my house. I LOVE having a place where they belong so that the kids can get trained enough to pull out and put away in the same place. I will be so thrilled when we don't have to run around the house frantic before school starts, trying to locate one of two shoes. Yay! I can also see all corners in my Dining Room. Whoo who!

New Structure

2010-07-25T21:08:00.002-07:00

I went to the latest roundtable last month and they were supposedly going to cover the new delivery system for Cub Scouts. They started with the monthly theme coming up and then we watched this powerpoint presentation going over the changes made or things that stay the same in all the different resources for scouts.

Essentially, the main thing is that they are planning on focusing the den and pack meetings more on passing off requirements and the 12 core values of scouting. It's supposedly really easy to follow and plan and they take away the old themes completely. We'll see how easy it really is though. I've had a chance to look into it a little better, but not as much as I would like to for starting in September. I guess I just have to wait until this next month's roundtable to get a better grasp of things while getting my packet of info.

Why Is Your Arm Cut Off?

2010-07-25T21:08:00.001-07:00

We had a play date at a friend's house the other day and my son finally noticed that my friend had her arm missing from her elbow down, on one side. He bluntly asked, "Why is your arm cut off?"

Freaking out, I had no clue what to say or how to respond to it. My friend noticing I was stumped in how to respond, she quickly told him, "That's how God made me."

I found out that she was born that way and she mentioned that kids around my sons age are the hardest about it because they want an acceptable answer. She told me that one day, she finally made up a story about how she got in a fight with a truck or something and the truck won. The one nephew responded with something along the lines of, "Whoa!!" and never bothered her about it again.

Kids can be really silly.

Pack Meeting Fun

2010-07-25T21:07:00.000-07:00

For the second year, we made our July Pack Meeting all about fun. This is the second year we planned having fun with water balloons. We met inside to do some awards from Day Camp, etc. and then went outside to have fun in the parking lots. At first, it was organized games, but then it quickly broke out into an all out water balloon fight with Dads and leaders and kids having a blast! It was loads of fun and definitely an easy event that will be sharpied into the planner each year of Cub Scouting.

Edumacation!

2010-07-25T20:54:00.000-07:00

So it's been roughly nine years since I first embarked on my college education. The early hopes of one day becoming the next Diane Sawyer were fresh in the brain. I had a back-up plan to become a producer of a church film coming if the first goal didn't pan out very well.

Now, here I am, 27 years old and still not graduated. Sadly, Fall of 2011, my credits will start expiring on me if I don't hustle into some serious action so on that note, I am graduating in July with my Associates of Science!

I am very excited about this idea. I have always wanted some degree showing that my 90 credits previously earned, have not been in vain. I did a bunch of calling to three different institutions, trying to figure out the best route for me in the pursuit to save my credits and I found a winner!

Initially, when I spoke with the school whom I have 90 credits with, they told me I only have 3 courses left before I can get my Associates, but need to take my last 15 credits there as a requirements before graduating. I said, "Ok. I can do that. I'll just take some religion courses and stuff for fun."

After several more phone calls, I finally talked to a supervisor in the advising department and they told me since I have taken 90 credits already, I can file a graduation and petition of residency to be able to graduate without completing my last 15 credits on campus.

My reply to that was, "SWEET!"

So I jumped on that notion and applied immediately. I was already expected to renew my temple recommend at the stake level that next night, so I quickly finagled an ecclesiastical interview with my bishop shortly before my interview with the stake presidency so I could speed up the process.

All was sent in and I had my transcript form another school sent to this one saying I took my Math course requirement and only needed to take my physical science and upper level English classes to graduate in July.

Last week, I got a phone call back after wondering why I couldn't start registering for Fall classes. They said that I was too late in registering for classes for the Fall and had to wait until Winter. Discouraged, I asked if there was any way to still be able to take the classes in the Fall. She reluctantly said that I could reapply as a part-time/non-matriculating student by filling out one extra form and then mid-August, I might be able to squeeze in for the two classes, but if not, Winter will be set.

So there you have it. I am finally going to graduate college with something by July no matter what and then I will promptly transfer the rest of my credits to a local college to complete my original Bachelors one class at a time for the next several years ;0P

I'm way excited about it all and hope that the two classes I will have to take, won't severely beat me up too harshly being a mom with three kids during the bulk of my day.

YIPEE!!!!!

Father's Day

2010-07-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

Not a whole lot went on. We gave Daddy a new water bottle for his work and I had the kids sign a card for him. The kids also made some gifts in Primary to give to him. They had little packets of Pop Rocks that say, "My Pop Rocks!" He also got some yummy fresh baked chocolate chip cookies that looked so good that I was determined to make some of my own eventually. Not a whole lot of whoopla, but it was good none the less. Happy Father's Day Honey!

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehn, Good Bye

2010-06-26T10:00:00.003-07:00

My parents left on Friday to go back and help my sister. I think they had a very productive and sometimes tiresome stay. The kids wore them out at times, but thoroughly enjoyed playing hide and go seek, taking a walk with grampa and playing Toy Story Mania among other things. Thanks for the visit. The kids remember and miss you guys.

Blah

2010-06-26T10:00:00.001-07:00

Thursday with my family was a total wash and a blah day. I felt really dizzy and gross most of the morning. I tried to recover as quick as possible, but it took a little. While kids slept that day, we were able to play a favorite game of the family which is Acquire. Acquire is a game involving stocks and merger and if you make the most wise decisions and end up with the most money at the end, you win. My family hadn't experienced the game yet so we taught them. I think they really enjoyed it and it was fun seeing how they developed their game strategies.

Peepocks Mommy!

2010-06-26T09:59:00.004-07:00

We went to another state park thing and checked it out a little more. We walked around for a bit taking pictures. The kids loved seeing the peacocks and trying to chase them. There was even one all white peacock there. Hadley called them "Peepocks." After a little, we were getting ready to go eat lunch when the groundskeeper lady yelled out, "Would you like to help me feed the peacocks?"

I looked at the kids and my parents and said, "Sure."

We followed her over to her truck and she proceeded to pour tons of cat kibble into a plastic grocery bag. I figured she was just going to give a little bit, but she wasn't kidding when she said help because that bag was full of kibble. She also gave us a green kickball that was found on the grounds. I was excited about that one :0)

She told us that you just need to go sit in the shade and be real quiet and the peacocks will come over and eat the kibble out of our hands. It was a lot of fun. The kids were quiet for the most part, but every once and a while, they would move suddenly in excitement and they would move away. Hayden didn't like them eating out of his hand so he started just throwing the kibble in their general direction. It was real crazy how fine they were with us being right next to them.

It took us a long time to get through the kibble. We asked some nearby kids to join in and help to make it go faster. There was also a mommy with some baby peacocks nearby. We needed to leave her alone since she had already lost some of her babies.

After a little longer, one of the other kids found a feather that had fallen off of one and Hadley began to get excited. She started chasing the peacocks and yelling at them for a feather. For fear of damage to the peacocks and for their own safety, I called her over and we walked over by a pond to eat lunch.

It was a nice breezy day out and I believe the kids thought it was a great adventure outdoors.

Beautiful Butterflies

2010-06-26T09:59:00.003-07:00

Going to the park is a favorite activity for the kids so we decided to go to one in town. We went to the library to return and pick new books and then it was off to the park. This one is a lot of fun. Playing in water is always fun though, right?

National Park

2010-06-26T09:59:00.001-07:00

We went out in nature and it will be the theme of their visit. We went to a nearby National Park and took a bunch of fun pictures. We walked some of the trails, but I didn't do too much because I felt exhausted really fast from the one I did do. I am way out of shape and need to start walking on a regular basis again. We picked up some Dunkin Donuts for breakfast and ate there. Some beautiful colors all over. By the time we were done, it was into quiet time and the kids started getting cranky and so the car ride home was fun for the first little bit. Not too much to this entry due to the fact that the pictures really speak the right words. We did have some fun racing on the planked trails which was exciting.

Grandme & Grampie

2010-06-26T09:51:00.000-07:00

While my parents flew out to help my sister with college things, they swung by to visit us for a little less than a week. They arrived on Sunday and we went to church and then they gave Hayden a birthday present. More legos always excites this boy.

Here's them goofing around a little.

and another cute one

Sometimes, if we don't do a whole lot during visits, it can get boring so we tried to do at least one outing a day. The next entries explain our adventures.

Let's Race!

2010-06-12T15:03:00.001-07:00

Hayden turned 6 and the celebration stretched through a couple days worth of fun. When he woke up, we had chocolate donuts for breakfast and he opened his first present of the day which was the much requested new video game, Mario Galaxy 2. We went out for lunch at IN-N-OUT. For dinner, we had calzones and he blew out his candle on top a chocolate cupcake which he later didn't want to eat at the time. After Addison went to sleep, we let him open the rest of his presents.

The next day, we had the birthday party and it was a success. As mentioned before, we had a Hot Wheels Party. Due to the end of school, camps and vacation schedules, we had only 3 show up out of the 15 invited. I kind of felt bad for capping him on his invites, but oh well. It was good that the house wasn't totally swarmed with kids. Just a quaint little party. I had planned for about 10 just in case the maybes and unknowns were to show.

Hayden was adamant that every friend that came was able to get an actual Hot Wheels car of their very own. I worked it into the theme and as friends arrived, I had them register for racing. They would draw a number which was associated by a car from the basket. I wrote their names on the cardboard packaging and the name of car and number next to their name on the race registry. While we waited for arrivals, they played with the many different tracks set up throughout our house. We had a city scape set up to drive on our coffee table, a V-Drop set up on a door and some collision courses for some added fun.

For games, we started with the clothespin drop. I had car pictures on clothespins. Each kid chose a set to drop and they took turns dropping them into old salsa jars. We played a couple rounds and the most points won. Hayden ended up winning that one. Then we had a jumping competition with the V-Drop. Shaina ended up winning by going the greatest distance. I used car pictures with names to label where each landed.

After that, we did the prize ball game. They sat in a circle and then passed the parcel and unwrapped a layer each time you get it. Some had prizes and some didn't. SInce I planned for more kids, when everyone got a prize each, I asked them if they wanted to keep going or make it fair for everyone by stopping. The good kids that they were, they decided to be fair and stop. Lastly, we had a mini derby tournament racing down a raceway we had. We rotated lanes and the results came in with Owen's in first, Hayden's in second, Shaina's in third and Natalya's in fourth.

From there, we went to eat lunch at the pit stop area. I made the tablecloth like a raceway with finishline. We had hot dogs, watermelon, grapes, jello jigglers, doritos, cheetos, and carrot sticks for the healthy conscious kid. Juice was also there. We ran out of time so we didn't end up decorating Twinkie race cars which was sad. We did the cake and singing as parents were arriving and presents real quick afterwards. I think Hayden had a lot of fun. Definitely a cute party and I was so happy when we were done. I survived my first small scale birthday party. Yay for Mommy!

It's been six years and he was a lot of work before we met for the first time, but he is a blessing to have in my life. He's always had a mellow demeanor and the sparkle in his rootbeer eyes have made it hard for me to not smile even during discipline. He's kind and helpful and a considerate older brother to his sisters most of the time. He is so big now and I just want to remind him how much I love him.

Hayden Bayden

Father and Sons

2010-06-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

The ward had the Father and Sons camp out last month in the mountains. We weren't sure how Hayden would do and they decided to forgo bringing a tent since it was going to be frigid that weekend. Instead, they slept in the van. I don't know too many details. I do know I heard the wind whipping around hard when I went to bed alone that night and felt really bad for them. Apparently he had fun because he talks about how I should go with Hadley up into the mountains for a couple days. They both were frozen when they arrived home the next day. Totally understandable.

Kinder Program

2010-06-04T22:18:00.000-07:00

Hayden's last school performance as a Kindergartener happened a week before school let out. He repeated the songs to us over and over. They recited lines from "All I Ever Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten." Hayden's group said, "Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life."

Unfortunately from a photo crazed mom, Hayden's position was not ideal to catch him very well. He was in the back row in between some of the tallest kids in his class. Kinda sad, but I still got some decent shots. This is him during alligator.

At the very end, they showed a slide show to music of pictures from the beginning to the end of the school year. I gave his teacher as many of them as I had and saw a lot of them end up in the slide show. I was glad I could assist them with that and that I had pictures of less covered classes as well.

I like this picture because is shows just how much she cared for her students and how proud of their growth she was and that she'll truly miss them. She was a great teacher that built confidence and taught a lot more than just ABCs and 123s. We look forward to seeing who he gets for a teacher next year.

Increasing Domestic Abilities

2010-06-04T20:44:00.002-07:00

I had planned on making Orange chicken for dinner tonight. I usually use a kit to make it. I realized that it was slightly expired and asked my hubby if it was safe to use still. Upon looking over the ingredients, he suggested that it wasn't a good idea and then made me aware of the fact that it had wine as one of the ingredients.

Knowing better, we decided to stop using the kits. Does anyone want to take them off my hands, I have a couple left that aren't expired? Anywho, it was a sad revelation and I was upset because dinner plans were in jeopardy.

Determined to have Chinese food still, I found my copy cat recipe for Panda Express Orange Chicken and decided to finally give it a go. I tried to get everything in order and then dove right in to the process taking no prisoners. This was the recipe.

Panda Express Orange Chicken Recipe

2 lbs. boneless chicken pieces, skinned

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp. salt

white pepper

oil (for frying)

1/2 c. cornstarch plus (plus means this ingredient in addition to the one on the next line, divided)

1 Tbl. cornstarch

1/4 c. flour

1 Tbl. minced ginger root

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 dash crushed hot red chilies

1/4 c. chopped green onions

1 Tbl. rice wine

1/4 c. water

1 tsp. sesame oil

Orange Chicken Sauce:

1 1/2 Tbl. soy sauce

1 1/2 Tbl. water

5 Tbl. sugar

5 Tbl. white vinegar

Cut chicken into 2-inch squares and set aside. Stir egg, salt, pepper and 1 Tbl. oil and mix well in large bowl. Stir cornstarch and flour together. Add chicken pieces to egg mixture, stirring to coat. Sprinkle cornstarch mixture into chicken and mix evenly. Heat oil for deep-frying in wok or deep fryer to 375 degrees F. Add chicken pieces and fry 3-4 minutes or until golden and crisp (Do not overcook or chicken will be tough). Remove chicken form oil with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Set aside.

Clean wok and heat 15 seconds over high heat. Add 1 Tbl. oil. Add ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant. Add and stir-fry crushed chilies and green onions. Add rice wine and stir 3 seconds. Add orange sauce and bring it to boil. Add cooked chicken, stirring until well mixed. Stir water into remaining 1 Tbl. cornstarch until smooth. Add to chicken and heat until sauce is thickened. Stir in 1 Tbl. oil and sesame oil. Serve at once. You may want to add grated zest of 1 orange to sauce for flavor.

In my rapid preparation of this, I did change a few things and it ended up tasting good despite the moments when the smell of soy and vinegar were kinda strong. I only used 1 lb. of chicken (I think, 2 breasts). I had put 5 dashes of pepper in since it didn't specify and would suggest 2-3 next time. Since I used less chicken, I used only 1 Tbl. cornstarch with the flour mixture because I messed up in reading it and it turned out working just fine with fewer chicken involved. I also didn't have ginger root on me so I substituted with 1/8 tsp. ground ginger that I mixed in with the flour mixture before adding it. I also just used whole red chilies and instead of rice wine, I used Sprite. I counted to 3 pouring it in.

Also, with the way I cooked it, I didn't use a wok, I used a large hard anodized skillet. I heated the oil in the skillet at medium high heat and cooked the chicken for about 7 minutes. Then I added the whole chilies in before stirring in the rest of the ingredients.

Believe me, I know what you are thinking. To me, I found this recipe intimidating because I got confused and was afraid I'd mess up. It took me an expired kit to finally attempt and I think with better food prep prior to cooking, it can go smoothly really easily. Having the flour mixture and other things combined before starting the process of cooking would make it a lot easier. Hope this helps and inspires and encourages you to try making chinese food of your own.

Part 2:

I also did some sewing today to get ready for another baby shower.

I decided to make a hooded towel as usual and a nursing cover as well.

Here are the photos of the finished product. I can do a towel within a half hour and the nursing cover about 40 minutes to an hour depending on measurements and ironing.

Arrow of Light

2010-06-04T20:44:00.001-07:00

Once again, my calling stresses me out a little when it comes to planning events for Cub Scouts. This passed pack meeting was more significant for a lot of reasons. There were a lot of awards earned due to Day Camps the passed couple months. Also, one boy was finally having his Arrow of Light ceremony. I was excited to find a new way of presenting it this time and felt it went really well. The parents were pleased with the program which was the important part.

This time, we had a bridge for the crossover ceremony to Scouts as well as some electric candles and face paint. Here is the run down of the ceremony in case any one out there is a committee chairperson looking for an arrow of light ceremony to do as well.

Required:

Ceremony Table with awards and pins, 1 each blue, yellow, green, and white candles standing on the table, one simple white candle. small drum, spotlight, blue, yellow, green, white paint, large AoL cardboard sign, crossover bridge.

Preparation:

Participants: Cubmaster, Assistant Cubmaster, Webelos Leader, Scoutmaster, Webelos Den Chief, AoL recipients and their parents.

Script:

At the opening of the ceremony, the simple white candle is lit by the Cubmaster and Assistant Cubmaster at the front of the room.

Parents are on one side of the room and Den Leader in the rear with the Webelos Scouts. The Den Leader should blindfold all scouts and have each put his right hand on the right shoulder of the scout in front of him.

The Scoutmaster for the troop Webelos are crossing to should wait on the far side of the bridge.

The Den Leader leads the Webelos to the parents who each take the hand of their son and guide him to the cermony table.

Cubmaster: (while the Scouts are being guided to the table)

As a Cub Scout, you have been guided through the Cub Scout Trail with the help of many Akelas. Soon, when you become a Boy Scout, you will find that, while there are still many people willing to help, you take on more and more responsibility for blazing your own trail to Eagle.

(Assistant Cubmaster removes blindfolds when in front of table)

Cubmaster: (Call out each AoL recipient name) - you have been called before the Pack because you have satisfied the requirements for Cub Scouting's highest rank: The Arrow of Light.

The first band of color is to remind you of the lessons you learned as a Cub Scout.

(Asst. Cubmaster lights Blue Candle, as the Cubmaster reads)

Blue represents the spirit of Cub Scouting : the spirit of giving goodwill and doing your best. Do you promise to fulfill the Cub Scout Promise and the Cub Scout motto, Do Your Best, when you receive the Arrow of Light badge?

(Webelos Scouts answer, 'We do'. Webelos Den Leader applies Blue Paint to each recipient's face).

Cubmaster: Webelos Scouts have faithfully promised always to keep the spirit of Cub Scouting. As their parents, do you also promise to continue to help your boy in his Scouting adventures.

(Parents answer, 'We do').

Cubmaster: (Asst. Cubmaster lights White Candle, as the Cubmaster reads)

The second band of color, white, represents the Scout Law. Youth and adult leaders will cheerfully show you the skills you need, but it will be up to you to live up to the 12 points of the Scout Law. Daily you will be faced with decisions and, at times, the trail will seem most difficult to follow. Make your choices by always remembering the Scout Law. In all you do, do you promise to be forever Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent?

(Webelos answer, 'We do'. Webelos Leader applies white paint)

Cubmaster: (as the Assistant Cubmaster lights the yellow candle)

The third band of color, yellow, stands for the Arrow of Light. Within the teepees of many braves, the Arrow of Light has an honored place. Its shaft is straight and narrow : just as is the path that you Scouts should follow throughout your life. Its tip points the way : the way to success in all that you do. It is pointing to the right : a symbol that nothing should be left undone; if it is within your power to do it, see that it is done. And lastly, this is the symbol of the seven rays of the sun, one for each day of the week; this is to remind you that every day is a new day : a day to Do Your Best in everything:

A day to honor your God and Country,

to do your Good Turn,

a new chance to follow the Scout Law

and to remember these words: On My Honor

Cubmaster: Each boy has blazed his own trail toward the Arrow of Light award, and now the Arrow of Light will help them remember their promise to keep the Spirit of Cub Scouting alive. Do you promise to let its light shine forth from you, to set an example for others to follow in your footsteps, to set your eye on the Eagle and never waiver?

(Webelos reply, 'We promise'. Webelos Leader applies yellow paint).

Cubmaster: Then I, Akela, have the distinct honor to say to you: You are now full-fledged Arrow of Light holders!

(Assistant Cubmaster hands the parents the Arrow of Light awards and asks them to pin them upon the boys).

Cubmaster: Next, we ask the Webelos to pin upon their mom or dad a miniature Arrow of Light.

Cubmaster: You may wear the awards on your Scout uniforms, centered below the left shirt pocket. It is a great honor for me to greet you as a recipient of the Arrow of Light award. (all leaders shake hands of recipients)

Cubmaster: (while assistant Cubmaster lights green candle) The last candle, and the last band of color, is Green; it symbolizes the beginning of your path toward Eagle as a Boy Scout. As your Den Leader applies the paint on each of you, prepare yourselves to no longer be known as a Webelos Scout, but now as a Boy Scout.

Your Den Leader will now lead you to the bridge that connects Cub Scouting with Boy Scouting. As your name is called, cross over the bridge where Boy Scouts will be waiting to welcome you into their troop and present you with the handbooks and neckerchiefs you already have earned through your diligence as Webelos Scouts.

(Webelos den leader leads scouts to bridge. As a name is called, he can shake their hand and wish them well before they cross over.)

Happy planning. We get to do another one in September it looks like.

Mother's Day

2010-06-04T20:43:00.001-07:00

Let's just start by saying that I figure between all of the holidays each year, as long as I can have one out of the however many there are, where my kids are sweet and amazing, then I am happy. With that being said, I believe my one holiday this year was on my birthday because they were amazing then, but Mother's Day was a crap shoot essentially.

For those who are in my ward at church, I really enjoyed Heather's talk for Mother's Day because it summed up a couple things for me around the whole essence of Mother's Day. And no, roses did not bloom beneath my feet either :0)

Sweet gestures were my gifts. Hayden made a cute little edible flower in a pot with a picture of him in the middle of another flower. He also had a card for me as well.

Hadley answered some questions from her teacher in church to go fill in blanks on a poem. I got a kick out of the answers and figured I would share them on here. All of her answers have been from observations and words from me. Here is what it read:

My Mom

By: Hadley

My mom has "blue hair and eyes with brown."

Her favorite drink is "water."

Her favorite food is "hamburger and lunch and fish."

Her job is "the boss."

For fun, she likes to "play with toys."

She likes to shop "at the store."

I love to "hug her like Jesus."

My mom likes "to take me to the park."

Also, my husband never really buys me flowers that much and I kind of am okay with it because I realize flowers are expensive and they end up dying on you anyways. Two Mother's Days ago, he bought me strawberry, raspberry and blackberry bushes to plant in our garden and some rose bushes. I appreciate those since they were my favorite berries of which I could enjoy continuously year after year and the roses I enjoy watching bloom in front of our house.

With that being said, my husband managed during his busy schedule to figure out a cute way of celebrating this year. He told me he wanted to try out something new so from his office, he went online to goflowers.com or some such website and ordered 2 DOZEN roses! Crazy! So Saturday before Mother's Day, he ushered me to answer a knock at the door which had a box of roses complete with vase and a small box of chocolates. It was from him and my kids and it was really sweet.

So there you have it. That was my sweet part of Mother's Day this year. I'm not going to go into detail about my kids misbehaving and making it a rough Mother's Day as Heather described in her talk at church. I'll just leave you with the happiness and hope that I can have another good day on another holiday in the near future.

P.S. Our anniversary should be a lot better this year since I won't be nursing an infant ;0) Here's hoping.

Last Day of School

2010-06-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

My big man had his last day of school this week. It was a half day as well. I felt bad because I ended up being late for pick up since I was traveling from across town after picking up awards for the Pack Meeting coming up. I ended up making it there two minutes before she was suppose to start her afternoon class.

Since we didn't get to have a proper good-bye, we decided to go play at the park for a little with our friends and then catch her at the end of the rest of school. I put together a little gift last minute besides contributing to the group class gift. I took post it notes and wrote notes on the three different things.

1. lotion - to help heal the hands from all the anti-bacterial soap used this year.

2. Aspen Mulling Spice - a heaping spoonful with hot apple juice in a mug is my favorite after a hard day.

3. Chocolate truffles - to help you relax after a long hard day.

In the group gift, I helped out in writing the verbage to the card. I thought it would be fun to incorporate some memorable sayings form the year into the text. I sat down and brainstormed one morning and this is what the creative juices made.

Thank you Ms. Lee for helping us
To learn what we need to know
We'll all remember you and your sayings
No matter where we go.

With simple phrases like, “I am smart!

I know this! I can do this! It’s a piece of cake!

It’s a snap!” takes a lot of heart

You taught me that it’s easy peasie lemon squeezie

and to always do my part.

When “friends” would get restless,

you’d say, “I’m gonna get my horns out!”

and we’d know right away

to fix the noise and not to shout

so we can have a better day.

Thank you, Ms. Lee, for being
So nice and kind and good;
We like you so much, Ms. Lee,
We'd stay here if we could!

The group

They're First Graders!!!

First Talk

2010-06-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it half way through her first year in Primary as a Sunbeam, but last week, Hadley finally had to give a talk during the opening exercises of Primary. I was way nervous because I had no clue how to get her to do it. What was worse was that the topic was rather involved which made it harder to make it short and sweet. She had to talk about how the principles and ordinances of the gospel lead me to Jesus Christ.

I took time to practice it with her only once before church since it took me a little to write what she was going to say. She ended up blaring into the microphone for the bulk of it and she didn't repeat the words as well as when we practiced and the whole time I had to juggle between holding the mic so she wouldn't put her mouth over it, switching the pictures she was holding up and the paper we were reading off of. It was a pretty funny experience all together. THe important thing is we survived and hopefully, the next go around won't be until the end of the year and she'll be more manageable with a less involved topic ;0) Here's what she was saying if you could understand her at all.

-We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; Second, repentance; Third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; Fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

-Faith - A commandment is when Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ ask us to do something. When we obey the commandments, we show Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that we trust them. We show our faith when we obey. Just like Lehi and Nephi and the Liahona. The Liahona showed them where to go, but only worked when they had faith and trusted in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

-Repentance - When we do something wrong, it always hurts us and often hurts others. We may think the hurt will go away if we ignore it. But left alone, the wrong will continue to hurt us and make us sad. Just like when you get a splinter in your hand, if you don’t tell anyone and try to remove it, it gets infected and continues to hurt and make you sad. Heavenly Father wants us to be happy. Jesus makes it possible for us to repent through his Atonement so we can heal and be happy again.

-Baptism - When we are baptized, we make a lifelong covenant with the Lord. A covenant is like a two-way promise to do what is right and become more like Jesus. In return we will be blessed for our good choices. We remember our promise when we take the sacrament at church each week. We remember Christ and his Atonement when taking the bread and water.

-Holy Ghost - After being baptized, we receive the Holy Ghost. It’s like our conscience helping us choose between right and wrong. You could also think of it as the Coach of your baseball team. He tells you what you should do. Sometimes people have a hard time understanding the hand signals that are given by the coach and we make mistakes. You could’ve run when you should’ve stayed. You could’ve swung when you were supposed to bunt. You could’ve pitched a fastball instead of a curve ball. The umpire is Jesus Christ and he wants us to listen to our coach so he doesn’t have to say, “You’re out!”

-Principles are teachings that come from God. Ordinances are things we do when we live God’s principles. We need to remember that if we follow his teachings of Faith and Repentance and be a part of the ordinances like Baptism and the laying on of hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost, we will be happy and become more like Jesus.

Creative Genius

2010-06-04T20:02:00.000-07:00

We finally decided when to have Hayden's birthday party. He also is addiment with the theme being Hot Wheels Racing Party so it was time for me to be creative. I didn't want to do something boring for invites and be a lame mom so after much thought and googling, I came across a cute little diddy to put on the invite along with some modification of my own in verbage. It went something like this:

Start your engines!

Race, Crash and Smash!

You’re invited to Hayden's

Hot Wheels 6th birthday Bash.

A car will be waiting for you to race

or bring your own

if you think it will win first place!

Lunch will be served

in the drivers pit.

We have reserved a place

for you to sit.

The crash overpass and the V-drop

are sure to be cream of the crop

and the other races are guaranteed to take you over the top.

Your car may never want to STOP!

Here is what you need to know

So your car can

GO GO GO.

Racing Date:

Time:

Starters Gate:

RSVP to the Pit Crew

(I took out the private info for posting)

I then had an epiphany to make the invites just like tickets to a big racing event like NASCAR or something, so I looked at how the tickets should look and then edited my design in Photoshop from there. I made them all VIP Admission with their names on it and a couple other cute fun details. I then stuck the two back to back, laminated it with my little machine and went to distribution mode before school got out and I wouldn't be able to track down everyone.

Hayden is just like me when I was little. I always wanted to invite EVERYONE to my party. One year, my mom actually let me and I swear there were 20 or so friends there.

He had a list of about 20 and I made him weedle it down to 15 and from there, hoped we would have some regrets for RSVP. It looks like we'll have around 10 kids or so still, but not too shabby. I will blog about his party in about a week. Hope you enjoy the images :)

I Love My Teacher

2010-05-05T21:20:00.003-07:00

In church, Hadley has been in Primary as a new Sunbeam and I have always been nervous about it all because Hadley is very strong willed and sometimes a hand full. I am happy to report that things are improving for the most part. She really likes her teacher and any time she sees her some where else, she yells, "My teacher! Look! There's the girl! My teacher!" She has also told me how much she loves her teacher.

Sadly, Hadley's teacher will be moving and she will have to adjust to a new teacher. Hopefully the transition goes well enough and she will continue to grow and progress in becoming better at following directions in Primary.

Friend's Birthdays

2010-05-05T21:20:00.001-07:00

Hayden has had a lot of friends have birthday parties recently and its been fun checking things out. I've been doing some re-con to figure out what exactly to do for his own birthday next month. His friend Jackson had a lego party complete with scavenger hunt and his friend Owen had a race car party complete with painting race cars and eating donuts off a string. I keep asking him to let me know who he wants to invite to his birthday party so that if there is someone I don't know of yet, I have time to figure things out before school lets out. His answers keep changing so I'll have to sit him down soon and nail the results down so we can finalize our plans. Wish me luck.

Ward Activity

2010-05-05T21:19:00.000-07:00

We had a ward activity at the park the other night which turned out to be enjoyable. We had hot dogs and other food and the kids got to play on the play ground for a little bit. After a little, the darker it got, the colder it got and the kids, particularly Addy, were getting tired and started crying. We stayed and watched Daddy compete in one of the games they had and then called it a night. It was a pretty good activity and I was able to mingle and meet a few new people which was good as well.

Addy Waddy turns 1

2010-05-05T21:18:00.003-07:00

I figured it was both funny and appropriate to make this blog entry on today since this was Addison's due date. She refused to wait another couple days to make it to May which was sad because I wanted her to have her own birthday month. That's okay though.

Her birthday wasn't anything fabulous. By the time we started celebrating with cake, it was passed her bed time so she was in no mood for eating cake and celebrating. She played around with it after a little encouragement.

Not much made her mouth. We skipped presents and decided to save that for another day.

I'm still amazed that I had no clue I was having a baby that day. It really did tick me off that I couldn't feel any contractions. I am so grateful for my daughter. She is precious in all respects. She is my peace after a storm. Her smile is electric and laughing is contagious. She is thoughtful and coy. There is a ton of personality packed into her tiny body.

She is all kinds of mobile now with her first steps slowly becoming more confident in distance. Her climbing of stairs is mastered. Going down is another question. She loves her puffs, but her own personal crack would have to be eating her yogurt melts. Expensive addiction, let me tell you. I've been trying to curb it with regular yogurt, but once she starts eating those, it is all over and she'll just keep demanding more. She also sleeps like a dream and so do I (like a log more often than none).

Adda, you are 11 lbs. heavier and 10 inches longer, but you are still my baby girl whom I am grateful to have in my life. You are beautiful and I look forward to watching you become your own person even more in the years to come. I love you!

Meine Schwester

2010-05-05T21:18:00.001-07:00

For all of the fighting and bickering you do as little kids, when you are older, you really do love and appreciate your family, especially for me, my two sisters. I was able to have my little sister come and visit me from Provo and I had some fun laughing and catching up with her.

She came down for a long weekend. She is currently trying to figure out where to do her internship for School Psych. I brought her to PIE night at Hayden's school. It stands for Parents In Education and they explained a little more about how being an Empowerment School involves certain details and what to expect. She found it interesting and brought some info back to discuss with her professors (about the testing done and what not).

The next day, I had forgot I was supposed to volunteer helping in Hayden's classroom so I asked the teacher about the school's psych and if she had some time to talk to my sister about her job and internships. Things worked out good because While I helped out, she talked with the school psych and got some valuable insight.

We were supposed to have movie night that night, but plans changed since it was so windy out. Instead, we rented the planned movie and watched it on our own couch instead a school play ground.

The weekend was also filled with eating Carvel cake, hanging out, staying up really late to watch the blue ray version of Avatar and being introduced to a funny music video that brought some memories of my hometown back to me called "the 603." It's on youtube. Totally hilarious and catchy and that explains the hand gesture in the above photo. Queen City Baby. Thanks for coming to visit me meine schwester and I am also glad that most of the Carvel Cake transported survived the 5 hour journey. Love you!

One Year Older and Wiser Too

2010-05-05T20:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, To You!

A couple weeks ago, I had another birthday come around. We weren't really sure how to celebrate because Jared had the PE exam that he needed to study for and take all that week so it was more low profile this year.

We agreed that we would do Carvel cake, my favorite, that night and then shop for presents on Saturday after the test.

The morning started pleasant with a Happy Birthday Mommy! greeting me from Hayden and a quasie hug from Hadley. The kids did good that morning. When I went to drop Hayden off at school, nobody knew it was my birthday so it was kind of fun just relaxing and enjoying the normalcy. The cute gesture that morning was from a little girl I taught Joy School too. Pammie came up to me all quiet and tugged on my clothes and whispered, "Happy Birthday Sister Judd."

It made me smile and I thanked her for it before the kids finished lining up to go inside. I found a deal or two for my birthday while shopping at Michaels. In my spare room, I have my crafts and projects and I needed to organize some more. I already had 4 carts stacked on the sides nicely with the pull out Iris cases and I found a white one on the side as a clearance item. I inspected it and found two of the cases busted in one corner of each. I looked at the price and it was $17.49 which is amazing from the $60 it was. I couldn't pass it up and I got it for even less with a 40% coupon which could make up for replacing the cases that are busted.

I also found a little shelf that holds ribbon. I have A LOT of ribbon and never know the best way to store it. I used a coupon for that too so it was a lot cheaper too. I am excited to have it. I like making hooded towels, but the ribbon for all of them is literally taking over my room :) I've got inventory, anybody want to buy one from me?

Anyways, I really wanted Cafe Rio Pork Barbacoa Quesadillas and I figured I would be cheap about it so I made the recipe I got from a friend and had that simmer in the slow cooker all day. They were so tastey. I loved it!

The kids present to me was the ability to not fight and get in trouble all day. It was awesome! I really appreciated my birthday. It was relaxing and enjoyable and I got to top it off with singing Happy Birthday and eating my beloved Carvel Cake that I picked up during quiet time.

Saturday, we were able to go on a shopping trip where I helped pick out my presents. I needed new skillets because of peelings and what not so my awesome hubby bought me a hard anodized skillet, a beautiful new pot with a strainer in the lid and my very own wok. I was always never about doing stir fry in my hubby's wok because I didn't want to ruin it so now I am excited to let loose and have fun trying my skills out. I also got some much needed basket organizers for my ever growing pantry for more room and a steamer to try and make cleaning a little easier. I'll report on that a little later :)

So, here is to another year being older. For those of you who feel bad for missing it, that's okay because I really didn't want to make a big hoopla. I got what I wanted for my birthday so thank you!

Easter Eggs

2010-04-14T21:52:00.000-07:00

I was a little more on top of things this year since I wasn't pregnant. We were actually able to take some time to decorate eggs. We were listening to the morning session of conference and after it was over, we broke out the kits and Daddy helped Hadley while I helped Hayden and Addison took her nap. It worked out great and the kids had lots of fun. The picture has them all shown.

Hayden was kind of funny. He woke up and walked right passed eggs lying around, sat down at the table and started drawing on a piece of paper. Didn't remember it was Easter and was just doing what he loves. It took him a while to figure out what was going on. There was even the baskets sitting right on the table nearby.

Hadley being eager as always, took a little less time discovering the eggs and started collecting any egg she saw instead of the colors the Easter Bunny helper assigned her. She had fun anf found all of her eggs before Hayden did.

Just like Christmas, Addison was yet again on top of things. After I got her ready for the day, it didn't take her long to discover the nearest egg at her eye level. She was excited about it and looked around to check if it was okay. Later, she was crawling around feeling a little left out during the egg hunt and her expressions and frustration showed.

We had grandpa and Matt come over for dinner. I made a spiral ham with cheesy potatoes, rolls, Jello, salad, and rice. It was really tasty.

Since it was conference weekend, Easter Sunday meetings were the week before and I got to teach the CTR 5 class about Easter. It was a lot of fun being able to help the kids remember the true meaning behind Easter and what happened during the very first Easter. I think they knew and understood it really well by the time they were done. One of the boys really appreciated the sentiment behind the opportunity to be with his grandpa again.

Well-Check For Paco

2010-04-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

My freshmen year in college up at the dorms, I made a lot of friends and had lots of fun with them. One of the memories I have is that we always called the toilet "Paco." We would joke around and say we have to go talk with Paco or that we have a date with Paco. Kinda quirky, but fun.

Well, a little while back, after going the bathroom, I noticed that there was dripping water coming from my toilet. I got all bummed because I didn't have any clue about plumbing and wasn't sure what was causing it.

So, I decided to inspect it one morning to figure out how bad it was. My leak was coming from the top of the tank and streaming down so I decided to lift the tank lid and flush it to see what would happen.

Well, that's when Old Faithful started. Apparently, I had a geyser of water coming off of the cap on my refill valve and as soon as it hits my closed tank, it would stream down the side to the floor.

After googling and asking questions in various search engines of ehow and do it yourselfers, I decided I was going to replace my refill valve. Jared has been swamped with plenty of other things on his plate with the test coming up next week. Not wanting to add to his burden, I decided to get down and knowledgeable and take a crack at being a plumber since they are so very expensive to hire.

I went to Home Depot the other day and made sure with their workers that it was the whole refill valve that needed to be replaced. I then purchased the needed part by Fluidmaster and then tried to figure out when to attack Paco. After contemplating the steps and discussing with my Dad, I went to work this afternoon on the project.

This is the old refill valve

After shutting off the water, I flushed the toilet to drain all the water out. I then sopped up the remaining water to get the tank dry. After disconnecting the washers and couplings, I was able to take the whole valve out.
Next, I put a new washer on the bottom of the shank of the valve and then put it in the proper place while tightening the new locknut in place by hand since you aren't supposed to make it too tight. That was emphasized multiple times. I then reconnected the coupling braided water line back on the locknut.
From there, I had to connect the black tube to the angle adapter clip on the overflow pipe to the valve nipple connector. There shouldn't be any kinks and it should be pretty level.

From there, I had to remove the valve cap to clear out the water and grit in the unit by turning on and off the water a couple times. After that, I reattached the cap and checked the water level by turning the water on and holding the float cup under water for 30 seconds. From there, I adjusted the water level with moving a clamp around.

After a couple hours give or take, I was finally finished. Voila! A brand new functioning Paco! (I recounted this with a briefer form of instructions so you would get the picture without a novel. So don't do just what I explained if you try this at home. Make sure you read the instructions that come with it)

Tada! I am a plumber ;0)

The New Me

2010-04-06T15:15:00.000-07:00

Let's face it. I really only get a haircut every 9 months to a year because my hair grows back at a snails pace. I have really fine hair too which makes it kind of unpredictable. I like pony tails and long hair, but there comes a point when my hair looks ridiculous when down. You know what I'm talking about. Frizzy, static, whispies, and so on to the point where I give up trying to do anything with it besides pony tail or messy bun.

Well, my last haircut was when I was a couple months pregnant with Addison so I guess I was over due for one. I wanted to do a cut that I had done before that seemed to work for me and so I got a slight layer this time and hopefully, I will feel much better not having to fret over what to do with my tangled mess :0)

Before

After

Therapeutic Weeding

2010-03-30T14:12:00.000-07:00

It's spring break this week so I have all three kids around the house. I hadn't realized just how crazy it could become having Hayden back in the mix for just those couple hours in the morning. I attempted to go to the library like I usually do once a week. It was so crazy and out of control.

The kids didn't listen to me, Hadley wouldn't hold on like she usually does because Hayden would not. They kept trying to run onto a computer and play with it. Then, Hadley wanted to go potty so I took them in to go potty. They both went, but then Hadley wanted to go again and decided to lock me out of the stall. Hayden then thought it would be fun to join in. I told them that we were done and it was time to go and took them to the car.

When we finally got home, I was still miffed at them so I decided to put Addison in her crib for her nap and then make sandwiches. I put them on the table and had them eat lunch. I then decided to cool off by going out to my garage and clean up.

Our trash can had a leak and spilled some liquid all over the garbage can and floor underneath it so I washed and scrubbed the can. I then tried to get it off the ground, but it wouldn't budge since it was so sticky so I sprayed some goo gone and then went and checked on the kids. They were doing good so I went back out and tried to clean it off again. It still wasn't moving so I resorted to a spackle spatula to scrape it off. That worked great. Then I mopped and dried the area.

After that, I was still feeling upset a little so I proceeded to weed the front yard. It felt very relaxing and helped me finish cooling down. I am grateful for yard work and having a place to go away from the kids that is still nearby and I can think and just feel good about accomplishing something.

On that note, I do want to blog about my garden because I am proud. I seeded some more plants the passed couple weeks and my carrots and green onions have done great. I love being able to go to my yard and pluck what I need.

Our berry crop

My carrots and green onions

My biggest carrot ever!

The only sad part is that after I seeded more today and showed the kids carrots and what not, Hadley decided that while I was washing the carrots off, she would grab a shovel and start digging up the area just planted. Needless to say, I was disappointed in her. Hopefully, it didn't hurt the seeds to displace them too much. We'll see when the sprouts come up.

Scoop Day!

2010-03-23T10:16:00.000-07:00

I love when there is free food and I have always loved Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream so I am way excited that today is Free Scoop Day where you can walk into any of their participating scoop shops and get a free cone. I am way excited and I definitely took advantage of this fun treat with the kids this afternoon. So good I can taste it :0)

Mommy and Hadley

I had grandma meet us there as part of the surprise outing

Poor Addy! So close to eating ice cream but still too early. Maybe next year.

Tandem Drive-Ups

2010-03-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

Wow! I have had some weird luck with tandem drive-ups lately. I forgot to post this a while back, but I had gone to the drive up before pick-up at school and thought I had plenty of time to cash a check. I pulled up and was the first of 2 cars front to back being helped. I thought, no sweat. I am first so I will be in and out in no time.

Well, I was wrong. They started talking with the person behind me first and apparently, she had a lot of questions which kept the teller and supervisor occupied for a while. I was getting nervous as I watched the time keep ticking away. She finally greeted me and I answered her question about cashing my check and then she continued. She answered more questions, again, to the person BEHIND me and I continued to try to wait anxiously as I became late to pick up my son. Finally, I received my cash and pulled out.

When I got to school, Hayden's teacher was waiting there with Hayden at the gate. I ran up to him and apologized to the teacher and proceeded to explain my drive up woes. She re-buttled with some fun stories of her own which made me feel better. Who knew it would've taken that long to cash a check.

Which brings me to today's incident. I went yet again to cash a check like I have done so many times before and was the first one through the drive up again. She said Hi promptly and felt better like this would be easy. After sending my transaction through, she greeted the customer behind me and I thought all is well. After a little bit of not hearing anything, I heard, "Are you cashing this check?"

"Yes."

"I'm going to send it back because you need to endorse it."

Puzzled...I reply with, "It is endorsed."

"Yeah, but since you are the one cashing it, you need to sign it."

"Really? That's a new policy that I've never come across."

She sends it back with a pen and I sign and push send, as I do so, I realize that I didn't put the pen back and start saying, Oh shoot! I forgot to put it back in I'm sorry. I was apologizing to no one since I didn't ring the call button to explain that I had forgot.

A couple more minutes go by and then I hear, "Can I have the pen sent back please?"

I explain yes and that I forgot. She sent the can back and I placed it in and sent it while saying Wow because by this time, the person behind me had received their money and she would not send my money until I sent the pen back apparently since the can was empty.

Not sure what she had been doing all this time, but apparently, it took her a couple more minutes after that to withdraw and cash my check.

Seriously, it really takes that much time and effort? When did all of that change from the several times before this one. I go in the drive up because I don't want to unpack the kids, but lately, it seems like an easier and quicker time, just getting out of the car. I thought drive up was for convenience, not inconvenience!

St. Patty's Day What?

2010-03-18T22:23:00.000-07:00

Ever since I was a teen, I have worn red every St. Patty's Day to sort of represent my heritage. I am a fourth generation Scottish American and my mom taught me that the Scottish wear red every St. Patty's Day. She also taught me that French people wear orange and I can't remember who wears blue. Has anyone else ever heard of this kind of tradition as well?

I enjoy it thoroughly. This year though, I decided to join the crowd partially by wearing a green long sleeve shirt under my red polo. I also did the right thing and dressed all of my kids in some green.

The day turned out to be nice weather and I got so hot that I changed my clothes before dinner and so my hubby came home and started pinching me because I had no green on any more. Just a bland gray shirt. Oh well, it happens. I still had my traditional corned beef dinner which was good as well.

Saving Grace

2010-03-17T17:08:00.000-07:00

One saving grace through my day filled with pee and poop accidents as well as headaches, disobedient children and a scratchy throat that makes my voice sound funny is the fact that since it is St. Patrick's Day, I have had dinner in the slow cooker getting ready by itself all day long.

Ahh...the pure awesomeness of slow cookers and not having to juggle all of that with making dinner. It is MY saving grace today.

Too Sick To Care

2010-03-16T12:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend, I started to feel kinda crumby. The wind has been wicked here and that has kicked up a whole lot of allergies. My eyes have been watery, my throat scratchy and now, my nose is a leaky faucet. I've been taking medicine, but there are times when it wears off and I just feel lousy.

On that note, I started my day off finding Addison in her bucket with a very soaked and poopy diaper. This was discovered about the time I usually leave to bring Hayden to school. While cleaning that mess up, I noticed Hadley decided to pee herself so after tending to the one mess and switching car seats to be set to transport to school, I had to clean and change her.

I used the Kiss and Go Lane today since Hadley was screaming in the car since she didn't want to get in the car to leave and we were about a minute to the bell anyways.

We went to the store to replenish our ever dwindling tissue supply right now and a couple of other things. Hadley had to pee in Wal-Mart so I took her to their family bathroom. I then spent the next 15 minutes trying to convince her to pee in the toilet which ensued more yelling and screaming at mommy.

Finally, after putting her horse in the bag where she couldn't get it, she went and I couldn't be happier. We finished up and I went to check out and the lines were few and long. I decided to pick one and while wrestling with Hadley to stay in the cart, I looked up and noticed three more lines had opened around me and people rushed to fill them.

So, there I was stuck and committed. I continued wrestling Hadley as I waited around 15-20 minutes to pay for things. Finally, I had my turn and when the price matching came for the corned beef I had picked out, she told me there was only a 1 limit.

I said, I have a flier for two here.

She then went, okay and then proceeded. Then she looked at it and noticed it said Safeway Brand and said she couldn't price match it because it wasn't the same brand (To my understanding, you can price match as long as it is an equivalent brand).

Kinda mad, I re-buttled with okay, here's the Albertsons flier that doesn't have a brand listed. She said fine and then said that covers one.

I then grabbed my Smiths add to match for 1.49 a lb. instead which was still decent and she up and refused that one since it had Kroger listed as the brand. Miffed at her by this point, I said, fine. I am too sick to care at this point. She went to put the other two off to the side and I stopped her and said I am taking them anyways (Maybe it would have been different if I had gone to a different cashier).

Then, I went to pick up Hayden early and they were out playing on the play ground. They were called in line and walking in and I noticed that Hayden was dancing. I became nervous as he moved inside. A moment later, I had the room mom call out, "Is Hayden's mommy here?"

I replied with yes and she motioned me to come here. She spoke softly that Hayden peed himself and I told her that I would get the change of clothes from the car. To make it short, I ran back to the car, got the clothes and met him in the bathroom to get him cleaned up.

Now you know, I'm just too sick to care. What a mess! Is it quiet time yet?

Three Beans

2010-03-08T15:59:00.000-08:00

Hayden doesn't look very happy in this photo, but he really was having fun. Just thought I'd post a new picture of my three beans. Life is life. Things are going good. Wrote experiences for their one private journal to remember. Maybe I'll have another good story tomorrow. For now, its back to laundry and other chores.

New Haircut

2010-03-04T14:09:00.000-08:00

Jared gave Hadley a new haircut the other day because her hair was getting so long that it was getting in her food while eating. She got a cute little haircut and then the other day, I mentioned how cute it was to Jared and how I like that shorter length towards the front. He responded with "What shorter length?"

Confounded, we went to investigate. He looked at her and said, "I did not do that. I cut it even."

He asked her what happened to her hair and she responded with, "I cut it."

He asked, "How did you cut it?"

"With the scissors."

"Where's your hair?"

"In my bed."

"Show me."

We proceeded up the stairs and she showed us the clump of hair on the floor between her bed and the wall.

He asked, "Where did you get the scissors?"

"In the box."

She showed him right where they were and removed them from it.

Needless to say, she cut her hair on her own and her curious ways seemed to not turn out disastrous, but we hid the scissors out of the box just to be safe.

You Shouldn't Play With Fans

2010-03-04T13:54:00.000-08:00

What can I say? Other than, we don't play with fans.

I was downstairs getting some things together and all of a sudden I hear crying and "Help!"

Hayden then reports to me that Hadley's hair is caught on something and they need my help. She comes around the corner and walks down to show me this. She was playing with my portable fan that she found in the upstairs drawers and held it a little too close to her hair.

That baby was wound on there good and tight. It took me a while to free the hair from the actual fan and then even more time spent detangling the massive mess. She kept complaining that it hurt as I combed it out and I kept asking her, "Do we play with fans?"

The answer was always, "No, mommy!" with tears streaming down her face. Lesson learned, I hope.

Where's Hadley?

2010-03-04T13:47:00.000-08:00

If you are familiar with past posts, this question is asked every so often due to her spirited and no boundaries type of personality.

If you weren't told in advance, you probably would've never known I have three kids on windy cold days at the kindergarten playground because my daughter likes to crawl inside the basket undercarriage of the stroller and cuddle up there. I have no complaints for this behavior due to the fact that I don't have to fight or chase her to the car. I have never taken a picture of her doing it, but today, I got her in the background of a picture so I am posting this picture and saying, "Where's Hadley?"

"Do you see her yet?"

Here's a hint: She's in yellow and pink.

Dr. Suess' Birthday - March 2nd

2010-03-04T12:27:00.000-08:00

This week, Hayden's school has been celebrating Dr. Suess' birthday by doing activities all week long. I took some pictures to document the fun.

Mixed-up Monday - Wear mixed-up clothing (sorry, I didn't remember to take a picture. I had him in khakis with a plaid polo over a striped t-shirt and swimming trunks on top of the khakis.) Hayden really enjoyed wearing it.

Top Hat Tuesday - Wear a silly "Suessy" kind of hat. I have to put this little bit in about the hat. We do not own any type of silly hats in our house let alone top hats so I became my psychotic self and decided I would take some strips of felt the morning of and sew a top hat real quick. I thought I did an amazing job under a time crunch like that :0)

Wacky Wednesday - Wear silly socks. We only had christmas socks to wear which was still silly.

Twin Thursday - Thing "One" and Thing "Two" day. Dress as a twin with another friend. Hayden chose to be a triplet with his friends Owen and Jackson. Three times the fun.

H & O

J & H

Funny Food Friday- Wear lots of green for Green Eggs and Ham.

She Didn't Make It :(

2010-03-02T10:55:00.000-08:00

I feel like we have made some huge strides with Hadley and going potty in the toilet. I trust her a whole lot when out and about since she finally accepts using public bathrooms now. Today, I am partially to blame for the accident though.

I usually have her go potty before leaving the house but for some reason, I forgot to remind her and decided to go food shopping after drop-off of Hayden. Everything was going great and I then asked her to go potty. She said, "Yeah, I have to go potty," and decided to walk down to the front of the store to go. I had a cart full of things since I was close to being done and we tried to go in the family bathroom, but it was occupied. We waited since I heard them finishing up. I kept growing more and more concerned in my gut because I wasn't too sure if Hadley could truly hold it for much longer. I debated going in the women's room, but wondered how to shuffle kids and cart in there and figured they'd be out in the same amount of time.

Thirty seconds before the door opened, I hear and noticed trickling coming from her bottom down the cart and into a puddle on the floor. I was beside myself and felt like I had let her down. What made my blood boil was that the person coming out of that "family bathroom" that we so desperately needed to use, was none other than an employee of the store.

REALLY?!!

She couldn't have used the women's room? She walked on by and I started to wonder how the heck I was going to clean the mess up. I looked for paper towels and there were none in any of the bathrooms. I looked down the area and no associates were present to flag down, to help clean up this possibly preventable accident. I went a couple paces away from my girls in the cart and leaned over the pharmacy counter to ask them to page for assistance in a clean up. I waited and waited and still nothing. I poked my head around the corner again and an employee walking by asked if I needed anything. I finally explained that my daughter had an accident and needed paper towels to wipe things dry (particularly the cart and my daughter).

The employee reassured me it was okay and went to get paper towels for me. She returned and I started to salvage things. I removed Hadley's socks and shoes all soaked in pee and placed paper towels underneath her. The guy came to help clean up and I was told to go finish shopping. I completed my task and checked out and went to leave for the car.

We stopped at the door to get a receipt checked and Hadley told the lady she peed her pants. The lady said, "Oh no. Did you do your potty dance?"

She then proceeded to ask if I had seen the potty dance on TV.

I smirked and said, "Yes, I think so," and then proceeded to think in my mind instead of say out loud that I knew she needed to go potty and got her to the potty, but it was occupied by the employee standing 2 feet to the right of you. I figured that would be inappropriate and not very Christ-like.

I proceeded with a smile saying thank you and walked to the car. I unloaded everything and left Hadley for last. Luckily, my supply of clothes and things were stocked in the car and I proceeded to clean her off and change her.

To make matters more frustrating, I needed to get some more gas and stopped at a nearby station. I pulled up to the first pump and got out. I ran my card and went to select the right grade of gas and it wasn't responding or registering. I hit cancel and then backed up to the one behind me. I did the same thing and that one flashed a screen saying "See cashier inside for authorization."

Seriously! At that point, my baby was screaming in the car and I had no motive to unload both kids and go inside to get permission to pump gas for my car. Fed up, I got back in my car after canceling yet another transaction and went to the next closest gas station. After I pulled up to a pump, a worker approached me and asked if I wanted him to pump the gas for me. I just chuckled and said, "No thanks. I've got it."

There was no way I was letting him do it for me so I could sit in a car listening to screaming baby while he did it for me. I didn't know if I had to tip him either so why not circumvent that whole situation all together.

Kind of frustrating to experience all that at once and felt a little done after that. I was very proud of one thing though. I never once screamed at Hadley and lost my cool. It truly wasn't totally her fault and I am glad I kept reminding myself that to help her learn better.

Our Christmas

2010-02-10T13:57:00.001-08:00

Better late than never? So I've been super busy and a little overwhelmed so I am just now posting about our Christmas this year.

This was the first year we didn't do any traveling what so ever and I have to admit, it was quite enjoyable. We didn't have to rearrange the kids sleeping schedules or try to keep them out of trouble in a foreign environment and the kids got to go to sleep in their own beds and wake up to Santa's presents the next morning.

Christmas Eve, we went over to grandma and grandpa's house for the present exchange. We take turns with one sibling each year and we had Jared's youngest sister this year. I had a lot of fun shopping for her. I love to cook and I remember having a conversation with her about how she wanted to get into cooking more. I bought her most of my favorite things when it comes to cooking and they were received with great appreciation. I was glad I did it because of the sound of what she had been using (peeled, busted pans). I also gave her the movie Julie and Julia which is a great movie as well.

The next morning, we set our alarm clocks for 5:45 in the morning so we could be up to catch their expressions and excitement. Well, Addison woke up at 6 and had the right idea without knowing anything.

We waited and waited and then at around 7 in the morning, Hadley finally woke up.

We let her check out her stocking and then got her to go wake up Hayden since it was getting later and we were getting antsy.

After Hayden was done checking out his stocking, we did the Christmas story watching a short movie clip of it since I couldn't find my felt figures at the time. Then, we had them open their big presents from Santa. We played with those and then took a break to eat breakfast (I always feel sick on Christmas due to lack of eating habits on that day minus the three times I have been pregnant as it is :0)).

After eating some scrambled eggs and sausage, we continued opening the rest of the presents. The kids enjoyed their new toys. Santa brought Hayden the Lego Star Wars he had asked for

and Hadley got some Littlest Pet Shop animals of her own finally.

Addison got some little people stuff and more things to chew and bite on.

The afternoon was spent with some visits from Jared's family members from out of town. I was so happy this Christmas was so much more peaceful and relaxing. Such a nice change of pace from the usual.

Other traditions from Christmas

2010-02-10T13:36:00.001-08:00

I thought these were important to write down as well. Holiday traditions were:

1. Christmas Eve at Nana's house - we would always spend Christmas Eve with my Dad's family about and hour and a half's worth of a drive away. We would eat some good turkey dinner and the kids would play while the women would do dishes and the men would talk, sleep or grab a smoke.

2. Candy Cane chippers - My nana makes the best candy cane chipper (chocolate chip cookies with candy canes in them). We never could duplicate the goodness of those and every year, she had them waiting in her apple cookie jar as a special treat for us. Ours would always come out flat. She finally revealed that you need to use parchment paper to help them not go flat.

3. the red styrofoam threaded ball ornaments on the tree - I love these simple ornaments and how the lights on the tree hit them. It radiates a certain glow that I just love staring at when sitting in the living room with the tree all lit.

4. setting up the Christmas tree to Manheim Steamroller and Kenny G (I love that music!) - it makes it fun to decorate while listening to amazing music like that. Truly means Christmas is coming.

5. Plum Pudding for dessert - this was a family tradition for dessert every year. Nana made really good plum pudding.

6. The infamous pickle ornament - I bought my sisters their own pickle ornaments a couple years back. Every year at nana's, the kids would hunt through the ornaments of the tree to try and find the pickle ornament first. Who ever did, would always get an extra present that night.

7. Santa tracking - My uncle was a volunteer firefighter and every Christmas Eve, we would listen to them broadcast news of where Santa had been spotted and track him throughout the night.

I'll have to add more as I remember them. I've always wanted to record them so I wouldn't forget.

Tradition

2010-02-10T13:20:00.000-08:00

Ever since I can remember, the tree topper on our Christmas tree growing up was an Aluminum Star with garland glued around it. My Mom and Dad didn't have a whole lot of money and my mom went and made a star for our Christmas Tree. She took some cardboard, aluminum foil and garland that she had and made a simple star to use that we as kids, loved and adored. It was tradition. Mom had no clue she would ever leave this kind of impact on her own daughters.

When we were older in our teens and mom had the star from her mom's tree to use, we still insisted on having the aluminum one on the top as well because after all, it was tradition. That star represented so much more than just a tree topper. It showed us simplicity and frugalness. It taught us the important parts of Christmas and what can be made and done with little money. It has been so important that we have made our own aluminum stars to go on our own Christmas Trees to carry on the long and important tradition.

It's the simple things in life that we can old dear to ourselves. It may be some silly looking star to others, but to us, it's our home and our family and our love. An aluminum star that represents struggle and ingenuity in a time that is tough. Never forget the love that a simple star can represent. A good tradition to always remember never to forget.

This is my star.

Cupcakes!

2010-02-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

For all those readers in the area that happen to read my blog today, I just wanted to give you a heads up that today you can go to Retro Bakery and get free cupcakes for their 2nd Anniversary of business. It's a fun date or kids outing. Enjoy!

We chose the following cupcakes that were really yummy:

Hayden chose the "Cookies and Cream" since it is his favorite ice cream right now.

(Chocolate cake topped with crushed, chocolate sandwich cookie buttercream)

Hadley kept pointing around the Mint Chocolate Chip one and...

(Chocolate cake topped with green mint buttercream and mini chocolate chips)

this one, so I made the executive decision to get her the "Pink Lemonade" which she enjoyed.

(Lemon cake topped with pink lemonade buttercream and hot pink glitter sugar)

This is "Chocolate Fountain" which was my choice. I decided to save it to split with Jared when we were done dinner. It was rich and good.

(Chocolate cake topped with chocolate buttercream and dipped in chocolate ganache)

Blue Books

2010-02-06T21:05:00.001-08:00

I would just like to make a quick shout out to the teachers of my past for having me write in those blue books in school. I have kept them and I enjoy reading them from time to time. I wasn't a great journal keeper growing up. I would start and then stop and then start again so those blue books were the only consistency and record I had of certain memories in my junior high and high school years. So if anyone is a teacher and ask their kids to do blue book journaling, personally, I find them very worthwhile and valuable, so thank you.

P-schetti

2010-02-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

Here is an unknown fact. I used to hate eating Spaghetti. Nothing about appealed to me. I can remember one time I was over a friends house when I was younger and really liking how the mom prepared it. Maybe that made a huge difference. I know I was a picky eater as it was, but I now enjoy an occasional spaghetti dinner. I love Stauffer's meatballs and I now have a great recipe courtesy of Jared's grandma for the most addicting and delicious breadsticks that are so ridiculously easy. Anyways, I guess the main purpose of this entry was to announce that my kids actually like spaghetti. I was so proud of that fact that I thought I would share it.

It's Raining Glitter!

2010-02-06T20:52:00.000-08:00

I'll get to Christmas eventually but the next couple of posts I thought would be some fun thoughts. For Christmas, Hadley got two Barbie dolls from the Nutcracker and 12 Dancing Princesses. She plays with them a lot and they other day, she was playing at the dining room table and I looked down and saw glitter everywhere! I was trying to figure it out and then looked at the dolls and there was glitter on the skin of the dolls that was falling off. Why would they put glitter on dolls that fall off like that. Don't they realize the mess created by them? Okay, so that was more of a personal rant :0)

Santa!

2010-02-06T20:26:00.000-08:00

Late post, but I wanted to tell you about our more successful gig that happened after the holiday ball for work. We were hired to go to the Aliante Library to take pictures of kids visiting with Santa.

Our agreed contract was for $250 which included onsite printing of photos equaling up to 100. Bringing our own lighting and back drop to use for the photos. We showed up and found out that the room we arrived early to set up in was full of kids and parents during a bell performance. We ended up getting things out and ready in the hallway so we could scoot things in quickly to test and be ready.

We successfully got things ready in the hallway and moved it all in and were ready to go after a few adjustments. I found some difficulty working though since the kids were so excited that they were right up against my back trying to see Santa. I kept asking them to scooch just a little bit more backwards. On top of that, the line to sit on his lap moved in between my lighting so every couple pictures, I dealt with parents or kids standing in my way and having to retake pictures.

We finally got the line moved out in the hallway so I had more room taking pictures and no interference of lights. I also took all of the pictures while kneeling on one leg. At one point, I remember my legs shaking uncontrollably due to the pressure.

I had a great time though and got a tip of candy canes to bring home so I can make some chocolate chip candy cane cookies. Mmmm!

Holiday Ball

2009-12-14T13:38:00.000-08:00

Jared's work has an option where every paycheck, he gives up a little bit of money to participate in a group as part of his work that host fun activities throughout the year for little to no money. Every year, they have a holiday ball and the option to stay at the hotel for a discount. It's how we did the cruise two years ago.

Anyways, after last years ball, there was a lot of discussion about how disappointed people were with the photographer at the event. We had offered to do it but were turned down. Well, this year, they took our offer seriously and we agreed to take the job.

The original plan was that we would do the whole thing for $1000 and give each patron a photo print of choice. Right before the event, we got mixed signals and realized, we weren't going to be paid the original amount and that we were expected to sell a la cart. We were ticked off because we do not have a merchant account so we decided to go into it hoping for the best and worked it that we would hand out business cards there and let them choose what they want and order online.

We had troubles finding a babysitter for the night. No one could watch the kids and all of a sudden, Jared's parents rearranged to be able to at their own desire. I also had the brilliant idea that I was going to wear my new red blouse to the party, but needed a formal black skirt to go with it. I decided in a crazy psychotic moment that I wouldn't find the right one in time so I decided a couple days prior to make my own skirt from a pattern I liked.

I picked up the fabric and the day before, I started to cut, mark and sew my skirt. To make a long story short, I stayed up until midnight to complete the bulk of it and then the night of the ball, finished hemming it an hour prior. I was so proud of myself and loved the look and feel of it. All of you and the ward could probably tell since I wore it several weeks in a row to church ;0)

I had a lot of fun taking pictures and eating the good food that night. I was super tired and kind of ticked off that we decided to leave before getting a chance to slow dance with my hubby, but it was a fantastic date night for the both of us to do what we like to do and have fun together.

P.S. We only made just under $300 in sales for the night and it was depressing. We definitely learned a lot from the gig and would do things a lot differently and demand payment if we ever did it again.

This is me posing while testing lighting and background

Scouting For Food Mess

2009-12-09T10:45:00.001-08:00

Upfront, I just want to state that I am fine organizing things and putting events together, but when a wrench gets caught in my plans, I tend to have a kanipchen that leads to ulcers, stress or something else in my mind.

Every November, the scouts do Scouting for Food and different packs and troops claim areas of the city and deliver and pick up bags of donated food to deliver to Smith's for the food drive. I was already concentrating on doing the recharter before deadline and the scouts decided to put this in the middle of it as well.

I had things all figured out until the Sunday before Wednesday when we had planned on distributing the bags in our area. That Sunday, I received a phone call from the counselor of the primary over me in our church and she informed me that since there was a primary activity on Wednesday and next week is Thanksgiving, we should cancel the den meetings for both weeks. I immediately spazzed out and informed her that we were planning on doing our scouting for food drop off that night. She asked if we could move it so I had to start making A LOT of phone calls to see who of the boys as well as the leaders, could make this change in schedule to help out. I had the boys meet at my house since I had my kids and no husband until a little later. I managed to have 4 leaders and a parent around to help with our boys. The parent took his own boy and covered their neighborhood and the other two groups split up to cover the rest of the neighborhoods assigned. They met back at my house for pick up and brownies.

Among all that, my kids were cranking due to poor naps and hadn't eaten yet because of my lack of preparation to feed my kids among the chaos. I had Jared bring Little Ceasers home for us since I couldn't come up with a solution. All in all, I survived Tuesday night with part of my sanity in tact. On Saturday, during lunch, we scheduled to pick up all the bags left out by the doorsteps. I was kind of concerned since I hadn't heard from a leader or two whether they could help or not so I kept hoping everything would turn out fine since leaders were calling and saying they couldn't help out any more.

I had the boys meet next door at one of the leaders house's and after waiting a little with only three leaders, I was in a bind because Scouts requires two deep leadership with boys so we didn't have the numbers to split into two groups. I ended up asking if they one wife would join his husband and she agreed and I felt relieved. Everything worked out in the end and it made me happy, but YEESH people. No more surprises!

Christmas Enrichment

2009-12-09T10:43:00.003-08:00

For those of you who don't know, our church does a thing called Enrichment (now called Relief Society classes or nights) once every 3 months or so. It's where members of the relief society, or women in our ward, get together and learn or do something. It being Christmas, we ended up rotating houses for our activities. The first house was appetizers and mingling. The second house, we learned how to make soda candy and peppermint bark which was awesome and then the third house, we had a service project, crafts and desserts. I made a lemon meringue pie but ended up bringing the whole thing home for one of two reasons that I can gather. The first being that there was no knife to cut pieces so there for, no one took any, or it just looked that hideous and gross, that no one dared to try it. Oh well. More for me.

I ended up signing up for two crafts and decided to just bring them home to finish since it was getting so late anyways. I made a tile quote that said, "Christ is the center of our home, a guest at every meal, and a silent listener to every conversation. " and a plate that said "Santa, I can explain!" on it. I look forward to having these fun new additions to my house and decor for holidays or not.

I also helped with the service project by coloring some pages for books about stories in our scriptures. That was fun to do as well.

Pack Meeting Chaos

2009-12-09T10:43:00.001-08:00

December's Pack Meeting turned out to be real chaos. I had been asked by the Relief Society president of our ward, to move the night we had it so that all women involved in cub scouts be it a calling or a child's mom, could participate in their Christmas Enrichment night festivities. I decided to be flexible and so I moved nights to the night before instead at the same time, but at a mom's home. Everything seemed fine until I started getting emails and calls saying that leaders wouldn't be able to make it. Then I started spa-zing but pulled it together because I knew I at least had two leaders and a cub master coming. A little before the meeting took place, I found out that the cub master couldn't get off work along with a den leader not being able to come. This left me with the task of planning and MC-ing the whole night. On top of that, I had all three kids with me because Jared was at a meeting.

I had planned to arrive early to set up and stuff, but we didn't make it all out the door fed and ready to go until about 5 minutes til. There goes my early set up. When we got there, my two older kids immediately started running around, exploring their new surroundings and yelling. I was busy trying to get things ready so I didn't stop them right away. I tend to get stressed out in these situations. The other two moms there tried to help me set up and get ready what I had brought with me as I kept finding things missing and activities needing to be crossed out due to lack of time and materials. Hadley kept trying to play with all of the musical instruments around the house and not very gently, I might interject. I at least tried to keep her from doing any damage to those amongst the hustle and bustle. Both my kids also attempted to let the family dogs back in the house as well.

We didn't start until like 20-30 minutes passed start and when we did, Addison was screaming and my kids wouldn't sit still. So...I tried to conduct things around their active movements. I welcomed the newest wolf in to the Pack and we made self-portraits of ourselves for people to guess out of watercolors. We played find the christmas decorations around the room that each had a point given to them to see without knowing, who collected the most points. We handed out achievements and we had a skit and we decorated/ate cookies. All in all, I think the boys had fun despite the chaos which was important and even though it was a nightmare for me and I didn't get things all done as planned, the important thing is that I survived to plan another day. PHEW!

Black Friday Success

2009-12-09T10:42:00.004-08:00

I forced my sister to help me out while she was visiting. I had a couple things I was aiming to get this Black Friday and needed her help if I was going to be successful in a short amount of time.

We left our house at 5 in the morning and headed over to Joann Fabrics so I could get snuggle flannel for $1.50 a yard and fleece for $2.99 a yard. While waiting in line, I decided I had time to do a run into Babies R'Uz real quick. I had my sister stand in line while I went in and got wet wipe boxes for $5 a piece (usually they have diapers for $10 too but not this year :0( oh well). On my way to the checkout, I passed the clearance racks for clothes and read a nifty sign that said and additional 50% off already marked prices. I was hooked. I quickly scanned through and took cute items that were $4 and under originally and a couple $8 and $10 items. I made a steal, I feel.

I brought that stuff to the car and joined my sister back in line. The doors opened and we decided to forgo a cart since it slows you down and went straight to flannel. I pulled a couple cute things and gave them to my sister and told her to go pull a number and if it's called by the time I get back with fleece, to start getting so many yards of the top 3. I made it back in time and then we ended up getting an earlier number from a husband whose wife wasn't ready to cut yet. Score for us! Once we were done, we headed over to Old Navy to get my kids winter coats for $15 a piece. By 7:30, we were out the door and driving home. I was so impressed with myself for getting everything done in 2 1/2 hours. I couldn't have done it without my sister. I owe her big time!

Gobble Til You Wobble!

2009-12-09T10:42:00.003-08:00

I love Thanksgiving and all of it's glorious food. In the past, we have gone up to Jared's grandparents for the holidays, but last year we had it at Jared's family's house.

This year, I wanted my sister to come down again and with her, I thought it'd be fun to invite my brothers from another mother over as well. It was looking pretty grim that the brothers could make it due to old plans already set. I got a call though the week before saying that things have changed and they would love to come join us for Thanksgiving along with a significant other for one of them. I was so excited because I thought it'd be a lot of fun seeing everyone and hanging out. I didn't want to intrude on Jared's mom with all of those extra bodies so I decided to have a home Thanksgiving this year.

To maintain my sanity, I made a list of all of the food I was planning on cooking and just kept checking things off my list as I went. I made a pumpkin and lemon merangue pie the night before. Thanksgiving morning, I put the turkey in and made a chocolate mousse pie (Thanks Keyonna, it was amazing!). I then went through the rest of the steps. One of my "brothers," Jason, told me he was amazed at how calm I was acting. I told him it was because of my list.

The turkey ended up being awesome. It practically "fell" off the turkey in whole breast chunks which made Jared's job of carving it pretty easy. I was a bit disappointed in my brothers though. I thought for sure between them, my husband and his cousin, that we wouldn't end up with a whole lot left for left-overs. Boy was I wrong.

Other food involved was raspberry jello, salad, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, homemade stuffing, Rhodes rolls and rice. I was so stuffed! I had so much fun though and the kids loved the extra love and attention. My other "brother," Brent, and his "friend" helped out with clearing and loading dishes which was greatly appreciated. It was so good to see them again and I had fun eating, talking and playing games with them.

Brent and Jenny

Recharter Shuffle

2009-12-09T10:42:00.001-08:00

For Cub Scouts, once a year, the chair person is in charge of rechartering for their group. Our recharter deadline was coming up and I found the process pretty easy. I tried to get as many people as possible to be done their training so we could receive the discount again this next year. The only snag was that I found out that the boys leaving cubs to the troop level and their leaders, weren't included on the recharter for the troop. Feeling bad, I decided to make my life busier by collecting the applications with signatures needed to give to the troop so the boys and their leaders wouldn't get lost. It was a huge headache, but I was glad everything got worked out alright. I now feel very comfortable with the whole process and know what to look out for the coming years.

Leader Specific...Check

2009-12-09T10:41:00.000-08:00

Since I started being involved with the Cub Scouts as Chairperson for my calling in church, I have gotten a little busier. The position like all other scout positions, requires training. I finished all of my online training pretty quick, but I still had to go to a physical class for leader specific that was 3 hours long. A last minute training session came up and I decided to take advantage of it. It went from 6-9 at night and I am so glad I got it done and over with. Now, I just have to go to the second hour and a half if I ever change my position to something else. Phew! Now I can get a patch in the mail that says TRAINED on it to put on my uniform.

250 lbs of Wheat!

2009-12-09T10:40:00.002-08:00

Since the price of bulk wheat had gone down at the bishop's storehouse, I decided to take advantage of it. I occasionally went down there and picked up bulk bags of red and white wheat for the passed couple months. I finally found out that a ward member was going to have the stake sealer and canner at her house and I got excited to finally get to mylar bagging it all. WIth her help, I went over one day and bagged all 250 lbs. of our wheat for storage thanks to her help. I feel so much better and look forward to next time as well. Thanks Michelle!

Groceries & Menus

2009-12-09T10:40:00.001-08:00

We had a class for Relief Society last month called Groceries and Menus. I was asked to talk about my methods for running my groceries and meal plans in my house along with three other women in the ward. I showed everybody my first version pre-picking kid planning. I had a whole lot more variety and a bigger plan set up. Here is a picture of it.

After my kids got pickier on what they eat, I had to revamp my thinking and it resulted in this. I call it "Mom's Menu 2.0."

I made this little beauty recently. I took a sheet of metal and put electrical tape around the edges so I wouldn't hurt myself. I might make it cute with ribbon one of these days. Then, I made labels for days and weeks with scrapbook paper and laminated them. I also made magnetic color coded meals to put on and arrange however, for my 3 or 4 week meal plan for the upcoming month or so.

I am so happy with it. It has been my piece of mind and makes my life a whole lot more simpler. Of course, almost all meals on said version are what I know my kids have eaten or will eat for the most part. Less of a headache for my husband and I at dinner time :0)

I remember my father-in-law seeing my first version and telling me I should sell this method to other women out there. I sure you can make money off of it some how. I'm happy to inform people that my husband is working on an application for this very purpose on the IPhone that blends in your recipes as well as an editable shopping list to cross check with your pantry. It'll be fabulous and we hope to have it done in the months to come.

I told everyone I planned out my meals as follows. Once a week, I make bread for our family. I make a batch of 4 loaves, but use one loaf of dough for a dinner such as pizza, calzones, chicken pillows or navajo tacos. Every Tuesday night is "Taco Tuesday." I got this idea from my mother-in-law. We always have some form of Mexican that night. The rest, I rotate between chicken, pork, steak, beef and miscellaneous meats and meals. This way, I can rotate through my meat source and have enough variety to not get bored or sick of one thing or the other. There were handouts for the night as well and I even learned some new things. Let me know if anyone wants the handouts and I can email them to you. Happy planning!

Trunk-or-Treat or Trick-or-Treat

2009-12-09T10:38:00.000-08:00

We carved pumpkins on Halloween which turned out to be fun. Daddy did his own pumpkin, Hayden drew this face for his and Hadley drew marker on hers. I finally carved one of my artificial pumpkins as well. I thought it turned out pretty cute. Here is a picture of them a day or two after Halloween since I wasn't on top of taking pictures day of. Jared's pumpkin's mouth had WWWW across it. Kinda funny.

We had the trunk-or-treat and I think we planned things out pretty good. I fed the kids in advance so we wouldn't have to try and feed them there. It was a good thing too because it was freezing cold out. We got a parking spot in the lot and then went around trunk-or-treating with the kids. Hayden was Anakin Skywalker and Hadley was Snow White. Addison was a Pumpkin, but her hat didn't fit her. Hayden didn't want to be Anakin Skywalker. He was upset because he wanted to be Luke Skywalker. I told him this was the one he pointed to and so this is what he was going to be. To make him happy, we gave him a Darth Vader beanie to wear and glove and then he finally thought it was a cool costume. The sad thing is that the costume I made Hadley, I didn't hem enough and so by the end of the night, Hadley's dress on the bottom was black. You can see in the picture. Very sad.

I promise to take better pictures of them in their costumes and post those after the fact obviously.

Anakin and Snow White (unaltered dress)

My little pumpkin!

GORILLA!

2009-12-09T10:37:00.000-08:00

The school had a fundraiser and the principal said that if the kids reached their goal for sales, he would dress up in a gorilla suit and stay on top of the school throughout the day.

Apparently, it was a good enough incentive because here is their reward the day of their Halloween parties. Each class took a turn throughout the day, visiting the gorilla outside. He read them stories and handed out bananas. I was there taking pictures for the yearbook. I originally thought, he was going to be throwing the bananas down to the kids from the roof. Instead, there was a box on the ground that the kids picked out of. Oh well. It was still pretty fun to witness.

The only downside to this whole experience was that when I got to my car to leave and bring Addison to her doctor's appointment, I was rolling out of the parking lot and heard a thumping sound. I pulled into a spot before leaving the parking lot entirely and saw that my right back tire was flat all the way down to the rim. Bummer!

I called Jared after I found where I had left my phone and he told me to pump it up and bring it home so I could take Addison to her appointment with his car and get a friend to bring Hayden home from school. All I can say is that I am grateful for having a pump in my car. I am also grateful for all that people did to help out, especially my husband. I love you! It turns out that the tire had a screw stuck in it and the front right also had a tear in it as well. New tire on the back and a patch in the front for me.

My Kids

2009-10-19T23:10:00.000-07:00

My kids have really and truly become my whole life in a nutshell. I never really questioned waiting a while after marriage to start having kids. I always wanted to let things happen and today, I am the mother of 3 beautiful kids. Each of them are unique and each of them, I love dearly with all my heart despite the tantrums and frustration that emits from them from time to time as they are learning and growing.

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we have the opportunity to visit teach on a monthly basis, sisters or women in the ward from various backgrounds and ages so that we can learn and grow together in friendship, love and service. Each month, we are urged to share a message with the sisters we are assigned to teach. In the past, my visits have varied in subject depending on who the person was and how to get to know them for who they are in life. Some of them, I will have a prepared message to inspire them with and others, just a simple conversation of comfort and laughs. Sometimes, there is good food involved and other times, tender moments.

I really appreciated this months message in particular because it was meant to help give strength and encouragement to moms out there and give them peace of mind that their efforts are appreciated.

The message title was "Nurture the Rising Generation." There are always questions to answer in each month and the first question was, "What is my responsibility to the Rising Generation?"

I appreciated what Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the presidency of the Seventy said, "Our rising generation is worthy of our best efforts to support and strengthen them in their journey to adulthood....In every action we take, in every place we go, with every Latter-Day Saint young person we meet, we need to have an increased awareness of the need for strengthening, nurturing, and being an influence for good in their lives."

We need to be an example to our children and do the right things instead of just tell them. You never know when they are listening and watching and trying to become like you. One of the kids I use to babysit sent me a thank you note in the mail a couple years ago saying just how much my decisions as a teenager, helped her strive to make good choices and goals in her life. We really do make a difference in kids lives as we interact and teach them. The importance of being "an influence for good in their lives" is vital and we need to remember.

The second question asked was "How can I nurture the rising generation?" I liked a couple tid bits that are important to this question. How Julie B. Beck, Relief Society general president stated, "Nurturing requires organization, patience, love and work."

I have found that statement to be so true. When I am truly organized and truly take the patience and work to show them I love them and spend time with them on their own, they behave better than when I am engulfed in doing other things around the house. It also helps with what Barbara Thompson, the second counselor in the general relief society, said that it makes a difference when others "say or do just the thing that is needed to reinforce what a parent is trying to teach."

Then all of a sudden, its not just mom or dad who are telling the kids how to do and say things, but its others who they look up to as well.

Finally, President Gordon B. Hinckley spoke some powerful words on the subject that we can draw comfort with in saying, "Never forget that these little ones are the sons and daughters of God and that yours is a custodial relationship to them, that He was a parent before you were parents and that He has not relinquished His parental rights or interest in these His little ones....Rear your children in love, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Take care of your little ones. Welcome them into your homes, and nurture and love them with all of your hearts. They may do, in years that come, some things you would not want them to do, but be patient, be patient. You have not failed as long as you have tried."

So with these uplifting thoughts, I trudge onward in trying to be more patient with my kids and continuing to try the best I can to nurture them as they grow and learn and try new things. Have you tried today? My kids and your kids and all kids deserve your efforts to try.

Networking

2009-10-19T13:02:00.001-07:00

I've mentioned before that Jared and I are on the yearbook staff as photographers for Hayden's school. On Friday, they had the big sellers for the recent fundraiser go on a limo luncheon with the principal. We were asked to take pictures so I went with our two cameras and snapped some shots for the yearbook. In the process, the limo driver asked if I could take pictures of his limos for his website. I told him that'd be great and we swapped business cards. I thought it was really cool that I could pick up a side job just by volunteering our services in the first place. Go Me!

Pasta Dinner

2009-10-19T13:01:00.004-07:00

We decided last minute to go to Hayden's schools' PTA Pasta dinner. I was happy since I didn't have to come up with dinner to cook. It was suppose to be $5 for our family, but they didn't take our money. The food was good. The Spaghetti had really amazing sauce with it so I'll have to try and find out what they used cause it tasted awesome. Here's a picture of me and the two oldest. Addison was in her bucket seat down on the floor.

The Great Pumpkin Patch Adventure

2009-10-19T13:01:00.003-07:00

It's been three years since we first went to this pumpkin patch. The first year, I went with our Joy School group and the pumpkins didn't last all the way until Halloween. The second time, we went too late towards Halloween and there were barely enough left. THis year, I think we timed it the best and we went as a family which was fun. We took a bunch of pictures and had a Girl Scout Leader help us out with a family picture real quick. I hope you enjoy them. More are on our site. We ended up with 3 pumpkins to bring home, two of which are pretty big and we topped the afternoon off with a new smoothie concoction that consisted of pomegranate, raspberry yogurt and the base of julius. Good stuff.

Cart Returns

2009-10-19T13:01:00.001-07:00

This is just something I thought about today and wanted to make a comment on my blog. While I was out doing some grocery shopping with my girls, I had loaded up the car and was getting ready to return my cart to leave. Normally, I try to park somewhat close to a cart return so that I can return them with my kids waiting in my car. At the nearby grocery store though, the cart return which normally takes up one parking spot, had been pushed into the middle of two parking spots.

On this such occasion, a truck had decided it didn't care about the cart return and parked IN FRONT of the opening to put your carts in. I was a bit frustrated because I feel bad leaving carts (especially on a windy day) near my car as I leave instead of where they belong. All I could think about was, can this guy please get a ticket or something so that his truck can move out of the way. Come on. I guess this is just my version of Colbert's wag of the finger. I wag my finger at the driver of the truck who blocked my nearby cart return.

Lost Pet

2009-10-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

I am all for returning lost pets to people. I think its sad if someone loses a pet because it escaped from their home. However, I just have to preface this with, I DRAW THE LINE when it comes to insects and all creatures alike.

The other night, Jared got ready to go get the mail in the evening like he enjoys doing. I was wrapping dinner up with the kids. All of a sudden, I heard Jared say, "Sarah? Come here."

I walked over as he stood at the door with it partially opened and he then asked, "Did you put up any Halloween decorations out here?"

I replied with, "No. Why?"

Then he pointed to the floor and asked, "Is that real or fake?"

I looked down and to my horror and disgust, I saw the HUGEST Tarantula I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. WAIT! MY WHOLE LIFE BECAUSE I HAVE NEVER SEEN ONE IN PERSON. Seriously. This thing was huge. It had to be between 4 and 5 inches in length. GARGANTUAN! It was just sitting there in our open doorway on the inside of our house. I can STILL see the image in my head with the detail on the thorax and everything. I replied with, "No way! Where did it come from? I don't know if it's real."

Jared then explained that after he opened the door and walked out, he heard something drop from above him and then looked over and saw that sitting there. We then proceeded to stare at it to check for movement. We grabbed the camera and took pictures and then I went and got a broom and some on hand insecticide as if that would do anything to this HUGE TARANTULA. Did I mention it was HUGE?!

So Jared pokes it with a broom and it does move so it is alive and real and it crawls out of our doorway to the outside again. He grabs the spray and sprays it. It crawls over to the side of the house and he follows it while taking pictures. He gives it another good spray and then impales the thorax to make sure it is good and dead. He then sprayed the outside entryway really good, looking to see if anything else was lurking around.

When he got back inside the house, we realized that I had handed him a camera with no card so sorry for no pictures, but if you want to, you can peek around the corner of the house and take a glance at the dead carcass still.

Needless to say, we were both pretty buzzing after that encounter and I didn't want to go to sleep until I had some happy thoughts in my head so that if I woke up at night, I would still be able to fall back asleep. Thankfully, it worked out.

Relief Society Broadcast

2009-10-14T12:41:00.001-07:00

I enjoy going to the Relief Society Broadcast each conference. They always have some message that is good to hear to reboot my system and feel good about myself and what I'm doing. The food before doesn't hurt either where we get to catch up with people outside the ward. I brought Addison with me and tried to time her feeding right but ended up giving her a bottle while there. She was super tired and was fussy because she just couldn't quite fall asleep there. Every time she got close, a kid would make a noise or someone would walk by. Finally, about 15 minutes until the end, she fell asleep and sure enough, when the lights went back on to leave and everyone moved about, she woke right up and screamed the whole way home and it took a while to get her to finally calm back down and pass out. Poor Addison.

I do want to mention that I loved the talk about MIND THE GAP. I'll try to post some highlights a little later. I didn't write notes because I was juggling Addison so I'll wait until the Ensign to read it over again.

First Pack Meeting

2009-10-08T07:58:00.000-07:00

We had our first official Pack Meeting at the beginning of the month and it went pretty good. We only have 8 boys in our pack and although 5 of them were receiving awards that night, our attendance was weak with a whopping 3 boys present. Also, we are assigned a certain half of the gym to use for these meetings and when we got there to set up, apparently another group was using it and we had to move to the Relief Society Room which screwed up other groups who were supposed to be in that room. It was totally screwed up and a little awkward having it in that room. I felt kind of bad because it was the bishop's son's arrow of light ceremony too. He wasn't pleased with the move at all. Hopefully, we'll be in the gym in November and thereafter so things will seem smoother.

Side note: I was successful at sewing on my numbers, patch and emblem before going to the meeting and I think I look a bit silly in the uniform shirt, but oh well.

PTA Meeting

2009-10-08T07:57:00.001-07:00

I volunteered Jared and I to take pictures at the school's County Fair coming up. They're going to have a Model T car there and we're going to be taking pictures of people with it. I went to a board meeting to get more info and nail down the details for the night and that meeting went so much better. It was in a classroom. I only had 2 kids. There were other little kids and they all sat at a table watching Dora on a DVD player while eating donuts. It was such a breeze. That's the way all meetings should be run :0)

Scout Store

2009-10-08T07:56:00.000-07:00

As part of my new duties as Cub Scout Committee Chairperson, I have the responsibility to head down to the scout store across town to pick up awards, certificates and books as needed. At the end of last month, I took my first trip down there and didn't get lost finding it. I picked up a uniform for me to where to the meetings and handed my registration form in to the office. It worked out pretty nice. Now I just have to figure out how to use the account at the store for our pack with my new authorization. Then I wouldn't have to get reimbursed for any of it.

Park Play

2009-10-08T07:51:00.000-07:00

A group of moms from school decided to get together at a park after school on Friday towards the beginning of the month. I prepped a bunch of food to bring with me so we could eat lunch and then come home for quiet time. I brought sandwiches and cookies and freeze pops because it was hot outside.

Surprisingly, both of my kids ate the lunch I packed for them which I found very exciting since it's a struggle sometimes and the cookies and freeze pops were a hit too. The six of us moms sat and chatted while the kids played on the playground and in the water.

An interesting part to our park day was the we were noticing a group of high school kids gathering in the parking lot. At first there were a dozen or so but that number soon grew into 30-40 kids. They all finally meandered on down to the very bottom corner opposite us. We were wondering why in the world they were there and what they were doing. It didn't take long for us to figure it out as we all of a sudden witnessed a circle of observers and two kids in the middle throwing punches. We couldn't believe it. One of my friends immediately picked up her cell phone and called the cops with info about it while others started yelling at them to knock it off and that we're calling the cops. The kids started to scramble and run while we tried to describe things for the cops as good as possible. As the barrage of cars peeled out, we kept yelling out the types of cars and their colors. I also took my nikon camera and snapped some shots of the kids leaving. It took the cops 15 minutes to get there and they were all gone by then of course. The area was patrolled for a little and as we left, the officer gave us his card so we could contact him directly next time it happens.

A rather eventful park visit if you ask me. Oh well, as long as the kids had fun and were safe, that's all that matters, right?

BUNCO!

2009-10-08T07:50:00.000-07:00

I promised my husband back when we were going through some financial speed bumps that I would give up my monthly Bunco night so we can save more money. I went from January or February to September. I was so excited to go again. A friend of mine asked me if I could go and carpool with her. I got the okay from Jared and took off with her to Bunco. I brought Addison with me just in case she needed me while I was gone. It ended up working out great. Addison hung out in her car seat on the floor for the first bit and then when she started making noises, I held her while playing. I think she appreciated the attention and observation time because she was smiling and quiet while on my lap. She eventually passed out for sleep while sitting with me. Everyone there was amazed at how great she was and I was again grateful for my Addison. I didn't do great for Bunco, but I didn't do horrible either. I was able to get at least 1 Bunco for the night which made me feel good and I brought home a glass pumpkin with candy in it as my end gift from the exchange.

I'm glad I got to have such fun. It's refreshing to just get away for a couple hours to do something you enjoy that'll make you laugh.

Open House

2009-10-08T07:48:00.002-07:00

I kind of wrote a more detailed account of how the Open House for Hayden went on his own journal, but just to let the rest of you know, we made it an outing with just Mom, Dad and Hayden so we could both spend time getting to know his new classroom and his teacher. It was fun having Hayden show us around his classroom by following the scavenger hunt list. We went towards the end of the night and it was a lot less busy to talk with the teacher which was nice. We went over a couple of things about Hayden with his teacher and made some goals to help improve him with his writing skills and straightening his speech back out because of some phase or something. All in all, it was fun and informative. We missed the powerpoint explaining the different words she uses to explain things so we can use them at home, but that's okay. As long as he has a stamp on his hand, we know he's been good that day.

ANTS......

2009-10-08T07:48:00.001-07:00

I hate ants and earlier this month, I found a trail of them in my living room all of a sudden. First off, I was glad they weren't in my kitchen or pantry of food because that would've been disastrous, but they were still in my house around some crumbs on the floor so I followed them to the entry point and put down a trap and then called my pest control to handle the rest. Gratefully, they are gone and I don't know if they are totally gone, but I definitely need to watch out for crumbs more to avoid the situation again.

8 Years

2009-10-08T07:44:00.000-07:00

On the 8th of September, I met my husband either years ago. We were so busy with the kids and our lives that we didn't really celebrate in any way. Jared beat me to saying Happy Anniversary when he got up and we didn't really do much other than that. I'm still very grateful for deciding to go to that football game though. We talked about it the other day when I was sorting through old clothes. Shui ge, wo ai ni!

Worst Meeting Scenario Ever!

2009-10-08T07:29:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention this and since I'm behind in blogging and need to catch up and back track, I figured I would throw this in here. As I mentioned before, Jared and I are on the yearbook committee for Hayden's school. THey had a meeting at the beginning of the month in the early evening that Jared couldn't make so I went with the 3 kids and I was prepped with food and IPod for entertainment and thought we'd be set. Boy was I wrong. When I got there, they told me it was going to be on the stage instead of the classroom. Immediately, my heart stopped with dread as I smiled and said, okay when in fact inside my mind I was like, "WHAT!! Are you kidding me?! We were supposed to meet in a classroom! You know. Isolated. Only One Exit Point! DO you see my three kids with me?"

I tried to be optimistic as the meeting started. I got the kids to sit down and be good but as other kids started to wander, my kids thought it would be cool to not listen and wander too. Do you know that there are quite a few exit points to a stage that my daughter Hadley can easily escape from?

Exactly. So needless to say, the meeting went long and my kids ran in and out of our meeting spot continuously. I don't think I caught much of the meeting. I got flustered and frustrated at the whole scenario and by the time I went out of the school building to go pick up pizza for dinner, I was choking back tears and sadly scolding my kids. I was so fed up that I texted Jared and told him I was DONE! If ever there was a time when I truly wanted to binge on chocolate when I shouldn't, THAT night was definitely it.

Thankfully, Jared convinced me to eat something else like cream puffs to curb my frustration. The next time they emailed me for the next meeting, I tagged the end of my email with "Please make sure it is in a classroom this time."

Okay. I'm done venting now. Boy was that a drain on me as a whole.

I Heart Food Storage

2009-09-10T22:52:00.001-07:00

I love case lot sales. For those who don't know what this is, it is a wonderful thing that a nearby grocery store does twice a year. They price typical food items for a cheaper price in bulk and you can pick up some to build on your food storage. As a LDS woman, I find this concept important because food storage is made to help out in times of needs whether there is a disaster by nature or a disaster financially which happens a lot these days. There have been times in the past where we have had to scrimp and save to amend our budget for different life style periods. Those moments have been easier to manage while having an ever growing food storage in my own home. It gives me a huge peace of mind knowing that if anything bad should happen, I can still provide common needs for my family and my kids.

Anyone who knows me well, knows this for a fact. They also know that I have devoted my pantry which is huge to begin with, but also another closet on the side. After this passed case lot sale, I have even moved into underneath beds for storage. We also received 2 huge water barrels to start up our water supply storage as well which is VERY important for us.

Anyways, on this recent pilgrimage to my semi-annual case lot sale, I encountered three funny comments from passers by. The first one was by a middle aged black woman as I was stacking my cart with the cases full of things. She saw my cases of sugar and said, "Is that sugar?"

I replied with "yup." Then she asked, "You can buy it in a case like that? How much is it?"

I then whipped out my spreadsheet that I prepare every time and responded with, "They are each $1.89 for 4 lb. bags and there are 10 in a case which you can get for $18.90."

She replied with, "Wow! That's really good and smart. You can buy sugar all at once and not have to come back and forth to the store to buy more whenever you need some."

That just flabbergasted me because I have been doing this since college and it never occurred to me that people spend so much money just buying a little at a time and have never considered buying and storing lots in their own home. Craziness! Should I be telling my friends more to do this as well?

The second comment came after I had picked up all the cases I needed. I was working my way through the store, picking up my less than a case full of items. I was in the baking isle and my cart had 6 bottles of vegetable oil and 5 jars of peanut butter and I was proceeding to file in 10 boxes of cake mixes. A young woman around the same age as be passed by and when she got a little further away she back tracked and said, "Excuse me. If you don't mind me asking, What exactly are you making?"

I smiled and told her, "Nothing in particular. Every year, this store has a case lot sale where you can buy things for cheaper. I like to bulk up on things I use so I can store them at home. This creates a sort of mini grocery store in my own house so that if I need something to bake with, I don't have to pile my kids in the car and go to a store in order to bake it."

She replied with a simple, "Oh, okay, " and walked away.

Then finally, I had to get help out to my car because I had 2 carts full of food. The middle-aged man who helped me out asked me "if I liked baking?" as we loaded all of the flour, sugar and other essentials into my car. I responded with an energetic, "I sure do!"

I guess that ends my experience this time, but I just wanted to leave you all with a thought to ponder. These really are hard times and life is pretty unpredictable with the economy. You never know what kind of storms will approach you next that you have to work your way through and I just want to reiterate how important I find food storage in my life. I encourage everyone to try and build their own up as well. It will bless you in times of need and if you need help figuring out what to do or how to do it, let me know and I'll try to help you out.

Good luck and take care! Happy Storing!

A Butcher, A Baker, A Momma...Wait!

2009-09-02T10:56:00.001-07:00

That's not how it goes, but that embodied my day today :0)

Who buys 14 pounds of hamburger?! Wait, I did. Who then takes those 14 pounds of hamburger and then browns, tags and bags it all into portions for the freezer? Wait, I do. Two days before that, I also had about 12 pounds of London Broil Beef Top Steak since it was on sale too and bagged and tagged those for the freezer. I also bagged and tagged to freeze 5 pounds of Mozzarella and 5 pounds of pepperoni. Yeesh. I think I've got things down to a system now. My freezer is once again adequately stocked with meat for future dinners and I am feeling good. So that covers me as a butcher. Check.

Baker. Today is bread making day. Typically, I make 4 loaves worth of dough for bread and then make 3 loaves and a dinner of either calzones, pizza or chicken pillows. We bought pizza last night as a fundraiser so instead, I'll half the recipe and end up with just 2 loaves instead. Now I'm a baker. Check.

And of course, last but not least, I'm a momma of 3 kids that each demand a part of me during every instance of the day. It's some juggling act somedays and although I admit I was sooo done yesterday, it's a new day and I am going to try to make it better. I've played with the kids, cuddled Addison, helped Hayden read his book from school a couple times and look forward to cleaning up a little more today in hopes of rescuing my sinking ship of messes placed around my downstairs. I'm a Momma of 3! Check.

What's New

2009-09-02T10:23:00.000-07:00

So I have recently decided to make my life a little more occupied by accepting my new calling of Cub Scout Committee Chairperson. I thought it only involved organizing and planning events and 1 monthly meeting, but apparently it involves more. I have another meeting in put in the mix and another meeting every couple months with the den leaders and master as well as attending the pack meetings and putting on the Pinewood Derby and Blue and Gold. Of course, a lot of it is delegating and what not so it probably isn't as bad, but it still does change the routine again.

On top of that, Jared and I are on the PTA at Hayden's school and will be helping with putting together the school's yearbook. Crazy, huh? We volunteered to be photographers for events we can make and then to do design and layout.

And finally, I am trying to do Joy School with Hadley still. I got one person interested, but now I am feeling a little overwhelmed and so now I'm not sure. I want to help a person out, but I need to organize that and get it going to know what my teaching weeks would look like. Oh my goodness.

Deep breaths. Anyone know any stress relieving tactics for when kids are screaming and yelling and not listening? :0P I guess they were right when they said your life gets busier once your kids start attending school on a daily basis.

Finally!

2009-08-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

Finally! I have waited three kids and around five years of my married-mom life to be blessed with this information. Go figure that a doctor finally decided to give me this beauty of a sheet with my third child. I'm so glad I have it now. It makes giving Tylenol and Motrin to my kids, less of a guesswork. I'm so grateful for this information. If you've been deprived from this information as well, here it is. How to Medicate Your Child Correctly:

Momentous

2009-08-26T13:43:00.001-07:00

I think this is totally huge. Today after getting home from school, I was getting the kids to eat their lunch and Addison was crying so I tried to feed her. She continued screaming and not wanting to eat so I figured I had to try something else. I quickly prepped a bottle of 2 oz. of formula. Mind you, Addison hasn't accepted any bottle of formula as of yet and that is why she hasn't been left with a babysitter yet. Finally, I put it in her mouth and she ate and ate and kept at it and soon enough, she was passed out and fed with the 2 oz. I was so excited that I could hardly contain myself. This is such a momentous step in our lives. This will open up so many more doors for us as far as things to do.

First Day of Kindergarten

2009-08-24T14:11:00.001-07:00

I was super nervous going in to today about how Hayden will do now that he is expected to go to Kindergarten. Before going to school, I fed them cinnamon rolls and we got all ready and brushed our teeth. I also took the opportunity to take some outside pictures of Hayden since I figured it would be too chaotic to get good ones once at the school. We then all got into the car with our backpacks (Hadley wore her princess one there because she wanted to be a part of it all too) and drove to school.

The morning drop off seemed like a whirlwind of a process. There were no places to park in the parking lot so I parked in a nearby neighborhood and we walked over. We were trying to get off the sidewalk to the crosswalk strip and the ramp down wasn't there. There was just landscape mound of dirt and plants. The stroller didn't bode well in the soft dirt because it started to tip. I tried to steady it while holding on to Hadley but still struggled to get it upright totally again. A nearby Dad saw my troubles and helped me finish the job. Great start, eh?

We got to the playground area and we set down his backpack in the line by his door and then we started taking a bunch of pictures with his friends from Church who were also in his class. Before I knew it, the bell had run and his teacher was lining everyone up to go inside. She had all the parents stand on one side and she told the kids to blow a kiss goodbye and tell their parents not to worry and that you'll be fine. And without saying goodbye and I'll see you soon, or hugging him, they filed into the classroom and that was that.

Crazy! There was a Boo Hoo Wahoo breakfast at the school for anyone who wanted to stay and chat with others, but Hadley didn't seem up for sticking around so we just ducked in briefly and then proceeded back out of the school. As we started to leave, Hadley had a separation anxiety attack and started crying and screaming and yelling, "HAYDEN! HAYDEN! Where's Hayden! Oh no! Where's Hayden!"

Apparently, I hadn't prepped her efficiently. I tried to calm her down and told her that Hayden had to go to school, but we'll be back in a couple hours to get him. She then insisted on playing on the slides in the school yard and I promised her we would go play at the park together while we waited.

We made it back to the car and we went home to grab some water, freeze pops and snacks and then headed to the library for books and movies and then to a nearby park to play. It was lots of fun running around. We even took a break to eat our freeze pops. We chased each other up the climbing wall and down the big blue slide. I think she appreciated playing with me and it got her mind off Hayden being gone even though at first, she would run around the playground and shout, "Where are you Hayden? Come on, let's go! Hayden?"

When we got back to the school to pick Hayden up, we waited in the car looking at library books. I was going to feed Addison while waiting too but she had fallen asleep so I decided to wait. I watched his class play on the playground for a little and then went on the playground to wait for them to get out of class while back inside.

The door opened and the teacher waited at the door, asking for your kid's name before releasing them to us. Hayden caught my eye inside the classroom as I looked in from a distance. He had a huge grin on his face, way excited to see me, we waved at each other and he came running out to get me. I asked him if he had fun and he said yes! Hadley gave him a huge hug and said, "Hayden, you're here! ohhh."

Hayden's comments about his first day are in his journal to remember. As we walked back to the car, his friends were all shouting by to each other and see you tomorrow.

Fusion Playtime

2009-08-19T17:10:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you take a five year old boy and have him play with a 3 year old girl? You get fusion and it sounds a little like this:

*sounds of fighting by making noises with his mouth*

Hadley shouting, "Go get him Cinderella! Yeah! You can get him!"

princesses and action figures/balls fighting each other

Hadley shouting, "You can do it Snow White! Yeah! Alright!"

I thought it was pretty inventive and fun to listen and watch. See, boys can play with their toys and girls can play with theirs' and still have constructive interaction :0)

Trash Picker

2009-08-17T08:42:00.000-07:00

I will admit that if I am going for a walk and it's trash day, I have been known to pick up big things that look nice on the side of the road. I haven't done it too often, but I have done it. Well, this morning, I was looking out Hadley's window while the garbage truck was out front and I caught them looking through a neighbor's trash looking at DVDs that had been chucked. They spent about 5 minutes looking at each of them and deciding what to keep before moving on. I found it funny and I guess it never occurred to me that the trash guys do the same thing. Just wanted to share that fun image.

*Just for clarification, they did look at the trash once they put it in the truck and were down a house or two. Didn't see them look through papers though which is good. I still shred everything.

They'll Be Days Like This

2009-08-13T07:59:00.000-07:00

Remember when you were growing up and your mom would say, "When you have kids, they're going to do what you did growing up and then it'll be pay back time."

Well, I'm here to say that it is totally true on some parts. I don't remember all of the things I did when I was in the toddler years, but I definitely believe my kids do things I have done before which makes the saying true and thus the title, "They'll be days like this, momma said."

The first recent instance had to do with Hayden and his eating habits. For a while now, Hayden has been a great eater. He'd eat his food fast and good. However, Hayden slipped into a terrible phase the passed couple of weeks. A little while back, Hadley had a cold sore on the inside of her lip making it painful to eat. She refused to eat anything and we tried to get her to eat some things, but more often than not, we sent her to bed hungry.

Well, we think this triggered Hayden into a bad phase of eating because one day, he all of a sudden didn't eat as normal. We would give him food that he liked or asked for and he would nibble like a mouse on it or not touch it at all. Perplexed by his behavior, we asked what was wrong and he complained of a sore on the his tongue. I saw a little sore, but really, why can't he still eat some food in a different way than normal. It was soooo frustrating, watching him take 2+ hours to eat his normal breakfast, lunch or dinner. He looked thinner than ever and he is already a very thin little boy. Sandwiches went uneaten, timeouts were given that ended up super long and privileges were lost left and right.

Finally, yesterday, the miracle happened that I had been waiting for and he ate his breakfast, lunch and dinner, super fast, normal and was happy again. I am so glad to have the change back to normal. It makes the mood in our house so much better because it really stinks having to not reward your child for such a long time.

The second instance was a complete disaster meltdown. We drove over to the library like normal every week and I gave my normal speel before getting out of the car and what was expected of them. I took out the baby, put on Hadley's teddy bear leash and we walked over to the front doors.

My kids love to push the handicap button to open the doors and usually Hayden can push it and then Hadley can push it after him without knowing it didn't do anything new. Well, today was different and it happened so fast that I had no clue what happened. Hayden pushed the button and it didn't open with the first tap so he tapped it again. Then Hadley comes over and starts trying to push it and it opens for her. Hayden then gets furious and starts tapping the button multiple times. Hadley rebuttals with pushing it in between him. During their back and forth, I am trying to talk reason into them, especially Hayden, but he starts screaming and bawling and yelling "Noooo!" and Hadley responds to his emotions by starting to cry and yell, "Mommy!"

Oh my goodness, seriously?! It's just a button, right? So they are really amped up now and making a huge seen while the doors are staying open for the whole inside library to hear and I all of a sudden say, "Okay, let's go to the car."

Screaming increases saying, "No! I don't want to go to the car. I want to go to the library. Mommy...Mommy...Mommy!" etc. etc.

I put them all back in the car and have them in their seats. I tell them to be quiet and stop crying and then we'll talk. Finally, it is calm enough for me to speak my peace about what just happened and the consequences of their actions. I told them that because they behaved so poorly, they can only get one movie a piece, no exceptions (books are still free game). Hayden rebuttaled with, but I want 2 movies! I reminded him of his behavior and bad choices and said he had a choice. He can either calm down so we can go back into the library and just pick out one movie while being good OR we can go home with nothing.

Thankfully, he accepted my offer to go back in and we came to the agreement that Hadley could open the doors on the way in and Hayden could open the doors on the way out. The second attempt turned out a whole lot better and I am so grateful. I hate meltdowns so much.

So Momma said, they'll be days like this, they'll be days, they'll be days, momma said.

Ode to the Potty

2009-08-10T07:56:00.000-07:00

I'm kind of proud of myself. I had been putting off potty training Hadley for a while because we have had so much going on where I didn't have a good chunk of time to just go through the motions with her. I had tried previous attempts in the same way I trained Hayden and nothing had been working.

Finally, I googled potty charts one day and came across these cute charts that I think are real winners and everyone should give them a go. I came up with the game plan that I would introduce the potty in steps following the chart and get her to at least get to know the potty. Then, Friday morning I dove into it totally and it was rough. She is very strong willed and it was hard to get her to want to follow through quite a few times. I had her do straight undies with her normal clothes on and put a pile of clothes and undies near by to get ready to go through a lot.

The chart went up and stickers were prepped. The first day, we had 3 different accidents and then 3 successful trips to the bathroom. I found that it was hard to figure out when to bring her because she showed no signs and then would have an accident. I finally estimated and came a little off so I reduced the time and found more success. I had a 30-40 minutes window each time. I also gave her more fluids to give her a jump start and a drink or two on the potty when she was turning up nothing.

On Saturday, we had greater success with 3 good potty breaks and just 2 accidents. On Sunday, we took it slower because I wouldn't be able to help her at church so she wore a diaper for church and through nap time and then I put a pull-up on her for the rest of the day because we had family coming for dinner. Surprised, she went right to the potty on her own with a dry pull-up, did everything by herself and went potty. I was so proud of her. We did our happy celebration of high fives, rocks, stickers and some m&ms for the win after she was done. She went 3 trips again and did great. Then, this morning, she went right to the potty and did her thing by herself again so I do have to say, I do see the light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to potty training and I know I am not in the clear, but we are on our way to having just one kid in diapers now. Wahoo!!!

Sidenote: Hadley didn't like being on the regular potty with even a smaller seat on top so we have stuck to just her little potty in the bathroom to start. Hayden was easy and used the normal potty, but Hadley had to do it this way.

6th Anniversary

2009-08-05T08:57:00.003-07:00

It's hard to have an enjoyable anniversary when bringing a baby with you. We were trying to figure out what to do and I had nothing fancy to add to the decision making, but Jared finally decided for us. We ended up going to a Wolfgang Puck restaurant for a little bit of fine dining. We didn't realize it wasn't totally enclosed as a restaurant and so Addison had a hard time for the first half. I wanted to try to feed her because I thought she wanted to eat, but she just couldn't fall asleep with the noise level so we took turns eating alone for the first half and then Jared finally got her asleep and then we could finally talk and spend time with each other and let me just say, the food was good and the dessert was excellent. Everything looked so pretty. THe crab cakes were great and my non-chocolate dessert was great too, but Jared's decadent chocolate dessert looked amazing and tasted amazing according to him. I still can't eat chocolate thanks to Addison, so I just watched him et it and asked him questions about it. We were truly stuffed after eating and I was glad to celebrate our 6 year mark.

Jared, you truly are my love in life. You stole my heart eight years ago and I've never looked back. It has been quite the journey with ups and downs and uncertainties here and there. I appreciate all you do to ensure that we are happy and safe and looked after. You sacrifice a lot and I realize it all the time. I love your smile and the laughter we share. Having 3 kids makes alone time scarce, but appreciate the talks we get to smuggle in here and there while kids are sleeping. I love the adventures we've been on together and the time spent in the kitchen cooking as I learn to em-better myself in different ways and talents. You are a great dad to our kids and they truly love you. Thank you for encouraging me to try new things and work towards my goals in life. You make me realize I can do things I thought weren't possible. I love you so much! So fracho nao! Shui ge, wo ai ni!

Pool Party

2009-08-05T08:57:00.001-07:00

Jared's co-workers had a pool party the other weekend which was a little bit away, but we still went. We weren't sure if we were going to swim at all though since it was stormy that day. There was however, a clearing in the weather for the second half of the party so the kids finally got to swim for the first time this summer season. Kind of sad, but they enjoyed themselves until the were purple and blue and shivering. I brought desserts of cheesecake, chocolate peanut butter cookies and lemon bars. I love leftovers. It was good to get to know the co-workers a little more and although it was a little exhausting, I'm glad we got to participate.

Family Scare

2009-07-23T07:26:00.003-07:00

We had a little bit of a rough and emotionally draining Sunday afternoon a couple weeks ago. We had gotten home from church and we were having quiet time. We were all relaxing in our bedrooms and around 3 in the afternoon, Hayden came to our door with a knock. We asked him what he needed and he responded with, "Um...I don't know where Hadley is. I can't find her."

We responded startled with , "What?! What do you mean?"

He then responded with, "I think she went outside."

We went over to the front door and Jared sure enough found it cracked open. We then reached a panic and Jared went outside and started looking around while I talked to Hayden about it and looked inside. Jared asked a neighbor who was talking to another, if he had seen our daughter. He replied, "Yeah, I saw her poke out her head about two minutes ago and then go back inside."

The other neighbor told Jared, "She's probably hiding in her room inside."

Jared didn't believe him because we know our daughter and if the door WAS open, she definitely, didn't stay inside. Jared then decided to grab the car and start driving around. I told him, Hayden told me that, "I watched her out my window."

Jared drove down the street and checked at the park strip in the middle just to check since he figured she would go there. He saw a couple kids moving around here and there, but didn't see her. Meanwhile, I kept looking around the house and I asked Hayden more about what happened. He mentioned that he thought, "Hadley went outside to go find grandma."

I kept looking out the window and hoping she didn't go on the main road and wasn't hurt or lost. I said a quick little prayer in my heart as I continued to search. Jared kept driving the streets and called me at home saying, "I really hope you have good news for me and that you have found her."

I told him no and while I was on the phone, I heard the words, "I see her."

I was relieved and listened on the phone as Jared threw the car in park and ran up to her and told her he was so worried about her and brought her to the car. He had found two groups of children with parents a street up from us walking in opposite directions and Hadley was with one of them. He talked to the lady who was holding her hand and asked if she was ours and then asked where we lived in case she needed to call child protective services on us in the future or something, I don't know. While they walked to the car, I heard Hadley say, "Look out! (or Be careful!) Gotta watch out for cars."

At least, I had taught her something good to know. When we got her back into the house, we scolded her and talked to her about what she did and then she had a time out. She had been wearing her dress, her diaper was sagging and her feet were black from the street. I felt so bad. We gave her lots of hugs and telling her we loved her and to never do that again. I had no clue how to cope with this, but I knew I definitely needed to send Jared to the hardware store and pick up an additional latch for our door on the top now that she knew how to unlock the front door. I did not want that happening again so here are the pictures of our new lock to keep our adventurous Hadley inside where she belongs.

and an even closer look

I have never been so concerned before in my life. I guess all parents have to experience it some time in their life about a child. If any of my children were to do it, it had to have been Hadley. I am so very grateful for my daughter and for kids in the neighborhood who were caring enough to see that she was by herself and that was wrong and to go find their parents to help out. I'm grateful for her safety and realize just how precious she is in our life.

Hot Date Weekend...Sort Of

2009-07-23T07:26:00.001-07:00

I admit that Jared and I don't get out much. The other weekend, we were able to go on not one but two dates. I also admit, it wasn't the greatest week to go out due to a shortage of available babysitters, but we managed to make things happen. Jared really wanted to go and see Harry Potter the Friday it came out and so we planned on going in the early morning. I found a friend to watch the two kids to swap baby-sitting with her and we brought Addison with us since she doesn't take to bottles well. It was really good to watch. I really enjoyed it. I am one of those people who have never been good at reading books. I am a very slow reader and I guess that discourages me. If I try to read anything too fast, I don't comprehend it as well and I am the type of person who likes to remember and understand what I read. One day, I might get around to reading the series, but for now, I enjoy the movies. The one book I did read was Prisoner of Azkaban and I remember being so disappointed after seeing the movie and didn't want to go through that again.

Then, on Saturday night, we had purchased tickets for cheap to go see the play West Side Story at an outdoor theater. I was frantic in finding a babysitter because everyone I called was either busy, out of town or didn't want to. Finally, I found one girl we hadn't tried before. I was nervous because Hadley sometimes doesn't do well with those she doesn't know, but this proved to work out great. We again took Addison with us and she slept during most of it. The play was alright, there were a few pitchy moments here and there which made it hard, but it was still enjoyable. It was kind of cool too because it was a stormy night all around and while watching the play, we could see thunderstorms all around us. We were in this pocket of perfect weather for the duration of the play. On the way home driving, we saw the coolest streaks of lightning across the black sky. Jared and I had wished we had our cameras to capture them all, but crazy awesome. They all seemed to go horizontal across the night sky. It was like the strikes were dancing. Sooooo beautiful! Nature is awesome.

The kids ended up really liking her as a babysitter. In the morning, Hayden knocked on our door and asked, "Are you my mommy?" and "Where did the girl go?" I thought it was funny and I was glad that our hot dates worked out pretty good.

Shower For Cami

2009-07-14T10:25:00.001-07:00

I got to go to a baby shower a little bit ago and I was so busy, that I didn't get to put together the present I had wanted so I went with half and then decided to make and deliver the rest later. Most people have seen a trend with me and my present is pretty predictable for the most part. Always a hooded towel involved and usually blankets. My husband told me that he thinks I should make a bunch of hooded baby towels to sell on etsy. I told him there is no way people would pay for even the slightest profit off of them. He swears he can do sell them so I have bought the appropriate supplies and will start in on that endeavor to see just how it could possibly turn out. This one for Cami came out so cute. I loved it.

(picture to come soon)

Here is also a picture of the receiving blanket I made that has matching burp cloths.

Hadley's 3rd Birthday

2009-07-14T10:24:00.002-07:00

Hadley has always seemed older to me appearance wise, but she officially turned 3 a little bit ago and I just wanted to let everyone know about the celebration. We were able to have a play group full of friends for Hadley's birthday which was filled with cupcakes and rice krispy treats and playing with friends. That night, we made a microwave molten chocolate cake and had her blow a candle out and have that for informal celebrating. THe next morning, we ate breakfast and then had her open presents from us as a family. Later on, we had Jared's parents over for her birthday with good food and chocolate cake for dessert.

Hadley loves princesses, Tinker Bell and lots of girly stuff currently so she got a lot of that for her birthday. One of the fun things she received were wall stickers of princesses to put on her white bland walls. Now the girls room looks a whole lot more fun. Here are some pictures above of our multi-day festivities.

I can't believe it was 3 years ago that this strong-willed little firecracker came into our family. She is huge now compared to the little 7 lbs. 5 oz. that she started out as. Pretty crazy. I love her so much and even though times are difficult sometimes, she still knows how to show me love and make me laugh.

My Crown

2009-07-14T10:24:00.001-07:00

Everyone remember when I had to get a root canal back in the beginning of February, well, after giving birth and finally getting prepped for my crown, I finally got my permanent crown placed in my mouth. What a process!

Back in mid-June, I had dropped the kids off to be baby-sat and went down to the dentist for my pre-crown appointment to make a temporary. When I got there, they asked my name and then proceeded to tell me that my name wasn't on the schedule. After looking, they told me I was scheduled for the next week. I had gotten confused because they called to reschedule me and when I talked to her, I was under the impression that she meant the same week for the new day when she really meant the next week. As I left, my dentist caught me on the way out while on break and told me to go back in and he'll check his schedule. He then told me he could fit me in as long as I didn't mind a trainee helping him. I told him no and we proceeded. It took them an hour and a half and I walked out with a plastic tooth until the permanent one was made.

When I went back in the beginning of July, no anesthesia was used and it only took them a half hour to take the plastic tooth out and put in the permanent one. Super easy and it only hurt once while clearing out the old to put in the new tooth. I'm still cautious about chewing with it since my parents have had a lot of bad luck with crowns breaking on them, but hopefully, my luck will be for the better.

Sneak Attack of Sickness

2009-07-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

I have no clue what caused it but my fourth of July was pretty uneventful. About halfway through the day, I was sitting with Addison and the kids were getting close to finishing their quiet time and I all of a sudden got this wave of dizziness. I couldn't sit up or walk because it made me nauseous with the spinning. I went to lay down and every time I tried to get back up and moving, I'd be dizzy again. I ended up throwing up once because it was so bad. I asked Jared what I should do and he suggested that I eat food and slowly try to get back to a vertical position instead of lying dead in the bed, helpless. I followed his direction and by the time the kids were eating dinner and getting ready for bed, I had eaten an entire pack of crackers and was walking again. Still not completely better, but more so than before. We ended up just watching the fireworks outside Hayden's bedroom window for our celebration. Pretty lame, but the kids enjoyed it. Quite a few neighbors did their own fireworks for us to watch and enjoy. No pictures either :0(

Talk In Church

2009-07-14T10:22:00.002-07:00

After over 2 1/2 years of laying low, we were finally asked to give a talk in church and it was on one of our most busy weekends. We both said yes despite having to do a bridal shoot, edit pictures, creating a video montage, family reunion, etc. I was asked to talk about personal revelation and Jared was asked to talk about the spirit of revelation. I was a bit worried about how it would all come together, but it worked out good in the end.

We sat in the pew until it was our turn to talk and when I got up to go speak, Hayden turned to us and said, "I have to go potty." Yeesh. So Jared left with Hayden and Hadley to the bathroom and Addison stayed in her car seat at the pew while I gave my talk. Good thing she was content and sleeping for some of it.

I learned a couple new things while writing the talk and if you are interested in reading it, let me know and I'll send it to you.

JamBerry Goodness

2009-07-14T10:22:00.001-07:00

I love the summer because berries are soooo cheap and good and I love my berries. This year, I decided to go on a rampage and I bought a bunch of strawberries and raspberries to make a lot of freezer jam. I LOVE freezer jam and I'm so glad to have a chance to have it all year round by making so much. All I can say is freezer jam, whipped cream and waffles. Mmmmmm :0)

Ice Age 3

2009-07-14T10:21:00.002-07:00

We decided to take the family to the movies back on the 3rd of June and we saw Ice Age 3. The kids did pretty good at it. Addison slept through it mostly and Hadley got fidgety the last little bit, but I thought it was pretty good. One part with the gas scene was pretty hilarious. As usual, a lot of adult comedy that kids might not pick up on.