Not dreaming anymore...

I was feeling jealous of Spokane and the awesome amount of snow they received. I was also mocking the 24 hour news coverage of our piddly storm.
Here's our "really, really deep" snow as one wizened newscaster described it.

Here we are sledding on our meager snow offering. Both kids loved it by the way. K would scream and squeal everytime she went down the hill. At the bottom D would say, "Let's do it again!"

Anyway, about the jealousy thing, ask and ye shall receive as the saying goes.

What I want to know is if that was "really, really deep" snow then what is this?

We probably ended up with just over a foot of snow. Which I realize is no where near as much as some places but way better than what we had. Incidentally, after the snow we had a freezing rain so there was about 1/2 an inch of ice over the snow. You can kind of tell in the picture of D's legs. He was having lots of fun breaking the ice and throwing big chunks at the garage to break apart.

Also, since snow is not very common for these here parts, the city/county doesn't really have much by way of plows. We went for a drive through downtown yesterday (everything was closed and church was cancelled but WE had to try out our chains...) and there was not a snowplow in sight. We did see a front-end loader pushing snow off the roads though.

In other news, look what I did!!!

That's right, I made stocking this year for our entire family. They are really big, which I didn't exactly plan but since I can barely follow a pattern I wasn't about to go and change it. Too bad I will be behind next year. Sigh. I still have the pattern. Really, I should have just done five to begin with.

Merry Christmas All!

Another 'journal' that I don't write in.

I looked and realized that it is now mid December and I haven't posted in weeks. It isn't that I don't think about posting. I just don't actually get around to it.
Anyway, for those of you who don't know (which is probably less of you than I realized {Rick}) we are expecting our #3 baby sometime next July. D is through the roof excited. He KNOWS it is going to be a boy and keeps asking me if the baby is big enough to find out yet. Um, no. K has no idea and just enjoys being the baby for another 6 months.
Another exciting thing -- K is almost 18 months old. You know what that means, 2 more Sundays before we are officially in Nursery!!!! Yipee! Oh, and she is learning to walk on her tippy toes and scowl at me from under her eyebrows. Its very cute in a she's-too-little-to-have-attitude kind of way.
Since this is turning into a family update I guess I'll update you on Roy. He is busy to the gills between work and scouts. He was sworn into the Washington State Bar Association by a judge a few weeks ago and is now official to practice law in WA. Spread the word... we need clients : )
Ahh, quiet time is over and the whining and teasing has begun anew.

If you want to smile...or not.

I got this link from Sue at Navel Gazing...
The Brokers with Hands on Their Faces Blog
It is humorous. Unless, of course, one of those pictured is your broker. Then, I'm so sorry.
Go ahead and scroll through the pages, there are only about 4 or 5. Happy investing!

Christmas Tree Hunting

Friday, we went searching for the perfect Christmas tree. We went to a place near our house called Thornton's Treeland. It is a tree farm. We were able to go on a hay ride and pet some farm animals. My own little animals really love to see/pet/feed the animals. Then we walked around looking for the perfect tree. There were a couple different variety. We selected a Douglas Fir. It certainly looks perfect. I must say that whoever strung those lights did an awesome job, *pat*pat* thankyouverymuch.

Unfortunately, I did not remember to take my camera to the tree farm. This means I did not get pictures of D pulling the tree cart like a pioneer handcart while K pushed from behind. I did not get pictures of D bumping along on the hay ride or K bundled on her daddy's lap. I did not get pictures of the kids trying to pet/feed the goats, donkey, sheep or llama. I did not get picture of them wandering around a miniature forest looking at different trees. I really wanted to kick myself for not getting all those pictures to record the really fun time we had as a family. *Sigh*

After the tree farm, we had a family surprise. D has been talking nonstop about the train that will be under his Christmas tree. So we invested in this charming little Christmas train.

It's very festive, don't you think?

Unfortunately we had to take the first one back to the store. D kept saying, "I'm sad because the engine light doesn't work and the bulldozer car doesn't have it's wheel." Luckily, Sears had another one so we were able to bring it right home and get down to the business of playing with it.

Roy was certain that the toys on the back were designed to come off so you could play with them. He kept saying, "I know they are meant to come off." That's probably why he had to unscrew them, then take them out in the garage and drill out the rivets that were holding the trucks on the train cars. Yup. Definitely designed for easy removal. Even a child could do it. A very big child.

Anyway, now our tree is all decorated. Our house smells wonderfully of pine/fir tree. D has been spending countless hours watching the train go around and around and backwards and around again. K has been a general nuisance knocking train cars off the track like the baby-zilla she is. Roy and D have been scooping up pine needles with the front end loader and depositing them in the dump truck for removal. It has been a very busy weekend indeed.

Help...

Here is K's 'new' dresser. We sanded, painted, sanded again and painted. Now I'm trying to decide if I want to add the decorations I bought for it or not. That's where I want your help. Please comment and tell me if you think I should add the little decorations or just leave it alone.

Tagged

So a long time ago my friend Wendy tagged me. I didn't forget, I just put it off.

8 TV Shows
um....I don't really watch much TV so I'll tell you the *cough*2*cough* I follow
Chuck
Eli Stone
lately I've seen a couple of episodes of America's Next Top Model because Roy is at scouts and I get the kids to bed so I actually have an hour to vegg. Too bad Tyra annoys me.

8 Things I did yesterday
made cookies
drove way too far to buy a Christmas gift
went to baby story time at the library
read a magazine
took a nap
called my mom
ate too much cookie dough
hung out with 12 year old scouts

8 Things I look forward to
Christmas
flying to visit family
getting new family pictures
getting our family albums up to date
my kids going to bed
snuggling my babies (D&K)
being debt free
getting a house

8 Favorite Restaurants
Red Robin
Applebee's
Chili's
Outback Steak House
Grandee's Ice Cream
Lupita's
Olive Garden
uh...Burgerville?

8 Things on my wish list
van/suv
house
rocking chair
Magic Bullet
haircut
vacation
patience, faith, charity
world peace

8 people I tag
Julie
Shannon
Callie
Mel
Mel
(yes I did two Mel's on purpose)
Val
Okay, I don 't know of 8 people who actually read my blog...so anyone else (Mandi--I know you read this now...)

Happy Halloween!

Carving Pumpkins

Yummy, pumpkin guts!

The finished product.

A Dinosaur . . .

. . . and Minnie Mouse!

They are so cute! But I could be a little bit biased...

Culinary ..erm... Masterpieces

Spiderweb Cupcakes

This is actually the second year I've done these around Halloween. They are super easy, look cool and are pretty tasty. I got the idea from Nestle's Very Best Baking website.

Obviously the website picture is way better but I think I did pretty well. I gave some to the sisters I visit teacher. We also gave some secretly for our ward's secret halloween knock-and-run chain letter/treat.

*edited* I only put these on my blog because I was pretty sure neither of the families would ever see it. However, since I just gave my blog address to one of the families I have a brief message for Mindy: If you could just pretend like we were the first people to leave the ghosty on your doorstep when in fact we were probably NOT that would be great! I forgot to tell Roy to check and he is really oblivious to ALOT of stuff. Uh, thanks.

Jack-O-Lantern Quesadillas

We ate these for dinner tonight. It was fun. I don't have anyone to credit for this. It is a conglomeration of many things I've seen. The quesadillas were refried beans mixed with butternut squash puree and shredded cheese. Spread this mixture over one tortilla. Top with thinly sliced chicken breast that has been cooked with salt, pepper, cumin and cayenne pepper. Put sliced cheese on top of that (so your Jack-O-Lantern 'glows') and top with a tortilla that has been cut to resemble a Jack-O-Lantern. Bake in 350* oven for 5-7 minutes. Just long enough for tortillas to crips and cheese to melt. Serve with salsa if desired.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bowls

I got the idea from this cooking blog. I thought it would be fun to have some cookie cups with ice cream for FHE tonight. I don't have a mini-muffin pan so I just used a regular muffin pan. The blog said I could do that.

Here's what happened:

Cookies? Check

Bowl? Check

Cookies shaped like a bowl? Not so much.

I couldn't get them to detach from the muffin pan. I sprayed and everything. Oh well. They still tasted good.

Next time he gets the shot!

K was still awake because she had taken a 5hour nap! D was feeling flu-ish because we went to the Dr office on Thursday. While there I decided we should get our flu shots. Well, d's reactions was something like this:
"Idon'twannaflushotwaaaaaaaaaaa{breath}
Idon'twannaflushotIdon'twannaflushotIdon'twannaflushot{breath}
waaaaaaaaaaaaIdon'twanna..."
You get the idea. Well, that's okay because they have this great alternative to a shot and that is to inhale/snort it through your nose. When I got the info on it I really should have had that little mom warning voice in my head but I didn't. You see, a flu shot is a dead flu (how do you kill a flu?) but the inhale/snort is not dead. This means I allowed a nurse to squirt a live flu into my son's nose. Seriously?! I didn't think this was a bad idea?!? Whew, I really dropped the ball there. So Friday night D has a fever. Saturday he seems to be fine until Daddy took him out to go hunting and D 'lost it' in the car. Saturday night he 'loses it' a couple more times in the middle of the night.

Sunday morning he seems to be fine. Church isn't until 1. It is the blessed primary program. D has been practicing and looking forward to this for several weeks. He has a part that he has faithfully memorized and practiced. He went to the practice/party Friday. I really don't want him to miss this. We decide to just go to Sacrament meeting then come home.

Here's how it went down.
We arrive early so we can get a seat in the front (third row). I notice the middle front two rows are reserved for primary. Curious. Then D's teacher comes over and lets us know that the kids are going to sit as a class for the WHOLE meeting, not just after the Sacrament. D, of course, refuses. We work out a deal that when his teacher goes up to the stand he does too. All goes well until D's teacher heads to the stand. He has brought a train with him and wants to play with it. Roy took D up to the stand only to have him crying from the stand, "I want my train". I go up to talk to him in an attempt to get him to stop before everyone notices (too late). The program starts while I am leaning over the front of the stand calming my four (going on two--I swear) year old. I return to my seat only to be followed shortly by a tearful D. "I just want you guys." Meanwhile, parts are said, duet sang, more parts. Then it is one of D's favorite songs. I try to convince him to go up. Nope. After the song is the Sunbeams parts. D's teacher come to get him to give his part. He is last. He stands up there and says nothing. Not one word of his carefully rehearsed part. His teachers tries to prompt him. He starts breathing heavy. Think stalker on the phoneline. That's what his breathing sounds like. Finally, he and teacher return to their seats. He lasts 2 seconds before he is heading down to us. We packed up and left. Unfortunately, we sat in the front. We had to walk past everyone on our way out.

We are really gaining a reputation here.

I want to blog...

...but the one year old is still kickin' around and the four year old is feeling flu-ish.

Here's a couple of super cute pics though.

Where to start...

First of all ROY PASSED THE BAR!!!!!! *HUGE HUGE sigh of relief* Not that there was all that much doubt, but until that pass comes in you're left wondering. Now we can get on with life. Oh, yeah, we already did that. Now we know life can go on as we know it.

I had a strange occurance this week. I discovered that I good friend from high school not only lives in the W. Washington area but she actually lives in Vancouver! We spoke on the phone and made arrangements to meet the next day. We met at a park where we had a picnic lunch and played with our kids. I have made some good friends here but it is always great to spend time with someone who has known you since before you could drive a car. Let alone with carseats containing your children in the backseat. Proof once again that I did indeed have a life before I was a mom. Sometimes I forget... (Hi Dannelle!)

Uh, what else? I know there were five or six things I wanted to throw out there. Uh...

Oh, I took K to baby storytime this week. It was so fun!! D has been going to storytime since he was 2-3-ish. This was my first experience with a baby lapsit program. It was great. We sang song and did mother/child interactive activities. It felt great to really devote some one-on-one time with K for a whole 30 min. while D played elsewhere in the library. (He was still in view-- mostly-- through a glass door.)

I joined a gym in an effort to become physically fit and enjoy a healthy lifestyle. Now, I'm tired and I can't walk because I did 500 too many lunges.

My mom is coming to visit tomorrow. Maybe I should clean my house... Nah...

Shameless Sales Pitch!

For those of you who don't know, I sell Creative Memories products. Here's a little pitch for y'all. It's actually an email that I sent out to my customers. Check it out!



It's time to start thinking about Christmas gifts! Creative Memories is making it easy this year with new Project Bundles!
Pick one, two or order all three!

Blessings Tree
An elegant, framed tree on which to display your family linage, grandchildren, friends and more!

Christmas Cards and Tags
Create 20 homemade cards and 20 gift tags to share with your family and friends.

Christmas Memories
Everything you need to make an 8x8 Holiday Album.

Each of the three ideas are available to purchase in product bundles for increased savings! To see pictures and full descriptions check out my website and don't forget to look at ALL the new stuff (there's tons!). I have something for everyone whether you're looking for traditional, digital or slide-in scrapbooking or want some nice decorative ways to display your memories around the house. And remember, you can order online and your order will be delivered directly to your door.

So what are you waiting for? Call or click over to my website today!

Our House

Typing that title totally made me think of the song. So I had to look it up and listen to it while I type this.

Alright, I've been planning on doing this for a long time. I keep waiting for everything to be clean. I have finally determined that will never happen. Here are pictures and descriptions of where we live now. If you're not interested then stop reading now. Otherwise, I'm going to progress like this is the most interesting thing you've ever read/looked at.

Here's the front.It's a townhome so only half of it is ours. Our neighbors are super. They are quiet--we almost never hear them. They have a 15-ish girl who's going to watch the kids so I can go to Super Saturday. We'll see how it goes.

Vaulted Entryway, very nice. (Try to imagine it is one flowing picture...)

The Kitchen with WALK IN PANTRY!! I was so very excited when I found that out. I actually have an empty cupboard!

Dining and Living Rooms. Really, the whole bottom floor is open.

Notice the chairs? K loves to climb on the table so now we keep the chairs facing out unless someone is sitting in them.

Okay, my kids won't leave me alone to finish this so watch for part two. Coming soon...

Slug update.

I look back now and think, "21, meeh"

I can step over/on 21 between my car and front door.

I'm running out of salt. Seriously.

Oh, and I saw two slugs making new slugs. EW.

General Conference was AWESOME!!

I really love General Conference. It is always so great to hear the prophet and apostles speak. Plus, 'going' to church in your pajamas is nice.

D actually watched most of all four sessions!! Grandma 'Net sent a Conference packet that included pictures of the apostles and ties for him to color whenever one of them spoke. He would get sooo excited whenever one of the apostles or first presidency spoke because he could color a tie. That's what got us through Saturday.

For Sunday, I took an idea from a great friend who has 6 kiddos to entertain during conference. I fill 6 quart jars with various treats and labeled them with different gospel words. For instance, a jar of mini-Oreo's is labeled "President Monson"; a jar of Cheeto's is labeled "The Gospel"; a jar of Peanut M&M's is labeled "Temple". So whenever a speaker mentioned one of his topics, D would jump up and down and shout, "He just said 'Joseph Smith'!" Then he would open the JS jar and hand out a mini-Nilla wafer to each of us. It was very sweet. Really. Way too much sweet by the end of Sunday afternoon. We had to take a walk in the rain because there was way way to much sweet bouncing off the couch.

Anyway here are some pics from Saturday when the kids were coloring and watching conference.
BTW for one who was having sentimental feelings over a Sesame Street song, those MormonAds after each session were ......ah....... powerful stuff. 'Nuf said.

*yes, I'm sure I'm not pregnant!*

Slugs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails.

D's new favorite hobby, Slug Salting! Today, it has been raining. This is not unusual here. We headed out back armed with the afore pictured rain gear and a salt shaker. Our 10 minute search yielded. . . drum roll please. . . . .. . . . . 21 slugs of various shades and sizes!
Ugh.
They are so gross. I will share what happens when a slug is salted. The younger ones quickly turn into what looks like marshmellow goo. The older ones shrivel down to half their size and die. It is not pretty, unless you're four then it's pretty interesting!

*For those of you who are sympathetic to slugs, we do have salting standards. We only salt slugs who are invading our space aka our yard. Slugs found in the wild, on walking trails etc are only subject to intense scrutiny and then left alone.*

Why you should NOT ignore. . .

The 15-Month-Old:

The 4-Year-Old:

The Breadsticks:

Health Insurance Update

Yea! I just called and we have health insurance for October. Whew.

Health Insurance

I have been trying for three months to get health insurance. This morning I had a conversation with a rep that pretty much sums up my experience with ANY health insurance person/company.
Background: We sent in an application THREE weeks ago for KP. When I say application, I mean books. We, really I, had to complete a 40 page book for. each. person. Even the baby. Yea. Anway, I called to check the status and found that it still hasn't been received. If not received by the 22 (today) we miss the deadline to have insurance for next month. Again. So after being on hold, I finally get a real live person.

Rep: *very bored, grumpy tone* ThankyouforcallingkpthisisasjklhowcanIhelpyou.
Me: Yes, I mailed my application over two weeks ago and it still hasn't been received.
Rep: So how can I help you?
Me: ummm, Well, why hasn't it been received.
Rep: Oh, it hasn't been received.
Me: Right.
Rep: *still bored,grumpy tone* Well, you probably didn't submit, you started filling it out and didn't click the submit button.
Me: Uh, actually I MAILED it. I can't apply online.
Rep: Let me do some checking.
**Exchange of personal info**Confirmation that I am indeed not in the computer.**
Me: So what do I do? I need insurance for October, I mailed it three weeks ago in your little postage paid envelope thingy. I've already been pushed back a month because I can't apply online and the mailed version didn't arrive in time.
Rep: It just has to be received by today, why don't you go online and apply.
Me: *frustrated sigh* (cuz, duh why didn't I think of that) I can't apply online. I've already done this. I've talked to tech support, I been that route and I can't do it because I'm in Washington.
Rep: Where did you go?
Me: KP.org
Rep: Did you register? Did you click the button?
seriously could it be that easy. i mean really, why didn't i think of that only 700 times
while I am filling out your ginormus amount of paperwork. obviously i must be the
idiot you think i am.
Me: I have tried it all. Really. I can't apply online because I'm in Washington. All I can do is open a PDF file to print.
like I'm going to print 40 pages per person on my printer that has to be manually fed
every single piece of paper.
at this point she keeps talking over me and asking me all about applying online like I am
some sort of imbicle who can't figure out their website. she was really not hiding how she
felt at all.
Rep: Would you like me to help you?
Me: *resigned to do this again* Sure.
Rep: Go to kp.org/care wow, same gosh-darn website as every. other. time.
Enter your zipcode yup
Click on the "How to apply" button whoa, really. whooda thunk it? why didn't I ever
think of that
Now just scroll down here....*silence*....Let me see .... *more silence*....Well .... uh..... it looks like.....Let me just check this....... *more silence*..... Ah, yes, I see you can't apply online because you are in Washington.
Me: silence (wow, really, no kidding, you mean I actually knew what I was talking about. Get outta town. Whoa.)
Rep: Well, your application has to be entered by today. It all has to be entered manually (because you didn't apply online) so it could take a while. Someone could be working on it. You could check back later in the week because if someone enters it the date would still be the date they began working on it.
Translation: I can't/won't do anything for you. Good luck Bozo.
Me: Thank you. Bye.

So why don't I go with Roy's work insurance? Because it costs at least $200 more a month depending on the plan. $700 a month is a heckva lot to pay for basic-not-that-great health insurance. At least it is to me.
I have done a ton of research and this is the best insurance for the money we can spend. However, I'm about to head back to the research board because if it's this hard to apply, how hard will it be to get a claim covered?!

Movies

So, we totally watch edited movies. Yup. We're that kind of folk. Anyway, I have a 50% off coupon to this website. I can use it as many times as I want between now and Wednesday. I am calling all of you (the whole 4-5 who read this) to comment with some of your favorite movies. I want some ideas of some movies we might like. Don't worry, there'll be no judging from this quarter. I'm too busy repenting for all my mistakes, weakness and general repentance needs to worry about anyone elses. seriously.
Comment will your ideas. Also, if you check out the site and want to get a few movies yourself, I would be happy to pass the 50% off code on. It's only good until Wednesday though so browse quickly.
Did I mention you should comment. now. with some good movie suggestions. now. COMMENT!! You can do it...

The blog book

I am persuaded to enter a submission into a blog book. It is for a good cause or you can best be sure I would not do this. Anyway, to check out the rules go here. To check out the cause go here. There are lots of ways to help if you want. For those of you who are dying of curiosity, I will be submitting the one and only funny blog I have ever written, the Bike Ride one.

Random Stuff

I'm wasting some time in the blogging universe.
Check out this link:
Who's your friend?

After watching that (ZAP!!) there was a knock at my door. When I opened it there were (or was?) the missionaries. Super. Don't get me wrong, I like the Elders. But all I can think is how I haven't brushed my teeth; not wearing a bra; haven't brushed my hair; Jesus is a friend of mine. Welcome Elders!

Anyway, they just tracked right into us. Now they know where we live. It's good too because we're supposed to feed them next Monday.

Well, hope you get a laugh from the music. Maybe I'll go brush my teeth now. Maybe.

THE Birthday

Last week was D's fourth birthday and I am now finally getting around to writing about it. When planning for the party, I admit some minor depression and 'homesickness' for my previous place of living. I couldn't help but thinking about who we could have invited if. . .

During a brainstorming session, I happened upon the brilliant idea of inviting D's primary class. True, I didn't know any of the kids in his class. True, I didn't know any of the parents of the kids in his class. True, I still can't remember his primary teacher's name. I wasn't about to let that stop me. On the Sunday before his Bday, I asked D's primary teacher (what is her name?) for a list of the kids in his class. Fortunately two of the four kids were in class! YEA! I was standing there when the parents dropped the kids off so I also knew who the parents were! DOUBLE YEA!! Now I had to work up the courage to talk to these complete strangers. Long story short, I talked to said strangers and they were actually nice. They didn't kick me in the shin and run away or anything!

During the week we made party invites and delivered them to the homes of all four primary friends and one other friend who is just young enough to still be in nursery and someone from Roy's work who invited us to his daughter's bday party last summer when D and I were visiting Roy (pre-K). Wahoo, 6 friends and untold siblings. After all it is quantity we are shooting for, right?

D wanted a firetruck birthday cake so this translates into a firetruck birthday party. Luckily, there is a park in town that was built by a fire chief in memory of his daughter (she drowned). Not lucky that this poor family lost a daughter but lucky he was a fire chief and built a park that has a FIRETRUCK PLAY STRUCTURE! How perfect to fit into the firetruck theme and I don't have to do anything extra! Except of course make a firetruck birthday cake.

Okay, so clearly I'm no Martha Stewart, but the cake was received well.

So, anyway. We met at the park. I had already heard from two parents saying they wouldn't be able to make it. *sigh* When we arrived there were no friends waiting for us. Mind you, I had planned it this way and arrived early, but still. . . After a couple of minutes the first of the crowd arrived. Yea, the rush was sure to come. . . any second now. . . . .

Maybe now . . . . .

um.

Finally, another friend arrived with a sister! Yes! (Oh, did I mention that ALL the kids in D's primary class are girls?) We offically have three guests! The count did make it up to four, sort of. A 9 year old sister came after school got out. This was great news for me because she just happened to love little one-year-old-wiggly-pain-in-the-neck-when-you're-trying-to-take-pictures-and-cut-cake-and, well you get the idea.The kids played at the park, ate cake and ice cream, played at the park some more, ran around while I tried to discuss fire safety, played at the park, opened presents and played at the park. All in all a very rewarding experience.
And the treat bags you ask? Well, two days before the party was to take place we went to our local fire department and asked if they had anything they gave out to kids for such events. We came away with plastic fireman hats, bags, badge stickers, a coloring book and a fire saftey ribbon. I bought some red and white helium filled balloons and sent each child home with one. Oh, and a couple of Smarties to help them remember to be smart around fire. (Am I clever or what?!)
Really, everyone had fun and we got to make some new friends. A successful party.


BTW we did a family party at home that night. D wanted a train cake. He got a train cake but no train playground, train hats, train napkins, etc. Just a cake and the Happy Birthday song.Before you get too excited about the two cake thing. The train cake came from a molded cupcake pan like this. It was decorated with left over frosting and M&M's from the fire truck cake.
We had dinner, put candles on the engine, sang Happy Birthday, blew out the candles, opened some presents, went to bed. Everyone was soo tired and crabby we didn't even eat any cake. Plus D & K were still coming down off the sugar-high from the last party.

Tears over Elmo?!

So I am innocently cleaning in the kitchen while Sesame Street plays in the background. Poor little Elmo is learning about babies and how they take alot of time from the people he wants to play with. Before you know it Elmo and Gina are singing about how there's always enough love to go around. Now honestly, it was not that big of a deal! Yet, here come the weepy eyes. NO, I DIDN'T CRY. I just thought about it. (I'M NOT PREGNANT)

I don't know what's happened to me. Four years ago, this little person came out of me and ever since then I get sentimental and weepy over news stories, sad songs, dog food commercials, you know. . .

What is it about being a mom that makes a perfectly reasonable person become weepy over the most ridiculous things?

BTW D's birthday is FRIDAY! Four. Years. Old. How/When did that happen? At the same time, seriously, only four years?!

Kid Talk

Said while talking about a Black Slug we saw.
D: Maybe it was a spider.
Me: No, it wasn't a spider. Spiders have 8 legs. The slug didn't have any legs. He just has sticky stuff on his belly to help him squish along.
D: Well, if you say so.

Driving home from a trip to the mountain.
D: See, I told you it would take a long time to get home.

He was so matter of fact about things. It cracks me up!

At the park

After the drama to get there, this is our day at the park (the sweet and condensed version)

Going for a bike ride or near death experience.

I got a bee in my bonnet this morning and thought I'd take the kids in the bike trailer to the park. I also opted for the work-out mostly uphill route. It's only a little over a mile according to Roy's GPS. I figured I might as well get in a good exercise on the way. Here's how it went:

Starting out, going down hill, woo-hoo I rock! Look at me I'm the best mom and I'm exercising!
There's a hill coming up but not to worry, I have all this wonderful momentum from my downhill. Oh, except the remote for the garage just fell out of my pocket so I stop my precious momentum to retrieve the remote and put it in the trailer where it should have been to begin with. No problem though, I only have to go uphill to the garbage can up there only 7 miles away! (maybe an exaggeration, but I doubt it.)

So as I'm pedaling up this hill D decides he wants to have a conversation.
"Mommy what was that?"
*pant*pant*pant* "Just the *gasp* gears *pant*wheeze* shifting."
D: "Blah, blah, de blah"
Me: is he talking to me, what does he need, he better be dying or I am NOT answering
D: "MOMMY!"
Me: "WHAT?!" said in the most pleasant, loving mommy voice ever
D: "What was that sound?"
Me: "THE GEARS!!" *pant*pant*gasp*pant*(I keep changing gears looking for the jet propulsion gear. It must be here somewhere)

I look up sure that I must be only inches from the previously mentioned garbage can. Nope.

I finally make it to the garbage can. what the. . . I thought the hill ended here!!!
must. . . keep . . . going. . .

D is mentioning something about the Little Engine that Could.
What!? Does he know? Can he tell? Why is he talking about the Little Engine that Could. Does he seriously expect me to start chanting I think I can I think I can I think I can because I am sooo NOT!

Finally the stoplight to turn right. If I remember correctly the park is really close now. Fortunately, I am now coasting down hill and panting like a sick dog.
It is a short jaunt through this neighborhood, a dirt trail, one more block in another neighborhood and presto! Park!

So, short jaunt through neighborhood goes well, its all downhill. We arrive at the dirt trail. must stop, need air *pant*pant*

Of course, it is uphill at first. no problem, it's nice and short and I've been coasting for three blocks.
Push, push, push, can't. stop. must. keep. going. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can't I mean can
Whew, made it, coast time. . .

Now the last block then the park. Oh look, I am so surprised, the last block is uphill. At this point I stop and look dejectedly at the hill.

Then I start walking.

We finally make it to the park. I unload the 200 pound children from the 400 pound bike trailer and concentrate on not throwing up. At this point I make the executive decision to stay at the park until Roy gets home from work tonight and can pick us up!

So... it's been raining a bit recently . . .

. . . and he couldn't be happier!!

I am a culinary wonder!

Sunday night I invented a salad and it actually tasted pretty good. It was a Macaroni-Ranch-Bacon-Vegetable masterpiece! I cooked the macaroni and bacon (okay, Roy cooked the bacon) and mixed them together with a bit of Miracle Whip and dry Ranch mix. Then I added some freshfromthegarden green onion and lemon cucumber (new to me too!) and some freshfromthestore tomatoes. It was brilliant if I do say so myself. Maybe I'll publish a cookbook. A very short cookbook.


My photography skills (or lack thereof) should not be held against the salad. It really did taste and look wonderful.
But enough about me. Anybody had any great ideas for dinner tonight?

Babies are soo silly *say in sappy baby voice*

I recently introduced K to olives which of course are meant to be stuck on fingers before eating. Now she thinks anything round should go on her fingers before she will eat it. This means that I now cut finger holes in grapes, blueberries and anything else round and edible. She will stick her pointer fingers up and wait for me to stick the food on before she will eat it. *sappy voice* sooo silly

In a related story, we had corn on the cob the other night. I had cut some off the cob for K and D. I was peacefully eating my dinner and K kept saying, "muh muh muh" (translation: gimme gimme gimme) and reaching for the table. Finally I determined she wanted to cob I had been eating off of. I decided, what the hey, she could hold it until I was ready to finish my corn. She. ate. it. all.

The ridiculous little thing only has 8 teeth!

In an unrelated story, we went to church today. Sacrament meeting went surprisingly well. We didn't start entertaining the ward until Sunday school. Then it was a clown show staring the not-old-enough-for-nursery-too-old-for-infant-carrier wiggle worm. It started with ball throwing which quickly progressed to cracker spilling (very noisy cracker spilling) and ended with playing in the hallway so everyone else could enjoy what was left of the spirit.