We've been busy

This week has been super busy and it isn't over yet.
Monday we had some friends come play. They are gearing up for a move in 2-3 weeks. Not a just-a-new-house-but-still-close-enough-to-play move either. They are moving 3 states away! So we are trying to cram in as much fun as we can before they go.
Tuesday evening, Roy and I went to a dinner for young lawyers put on by the bar association. It was fun. I met Roy downtown and left the kids with a sitter at the house. I did have a few minutes of crazy laughter in the car after leaving the house. Actually my thoughts were, "I just left me three kids with a 13 year old boy?!" Then a little crazy laughter. In my defense, he came highly recommended (by his mother and then later my visiting teacher) and his parents were both home next door. Apparently this boy loves kids, wants 10 kids, has been changing diapers since he was 7, babysits frequently, etc. Oh, and he lives next door. Gotta love that part. Really, he will be quite a catch for some lucky young lady in about 10 years!
Then Wednesday, I again met Roy downtown and we headed to the temple. This time the kids stayed with a friend. We seem to finally be working the temple/babysit co-op thing. This is our most successful attempt so far anyway. We have actually made it to the second month. Usually what happens is we go to the temple while some friends watch our kids and then the friends never call us to watch their kids. So instead of an even trade it is just us using them. Like I said, it seems to be working this time. HOORAY!
Today was my day off. Hahahahahahahaha.
Tomorrow D has an a.m. play date then I am babysitting two kids for a friend who has to work.
Saturday we are watching the kids for our temple co-op friends in the a.m. then having our moving friends (see Monday) come to dinner in the p.m.
So although we've been busy, I have been out without the kids twice this week! TWICE! Doesn't that mean I should be feeling more patient and rejuvenated?

Rescue Heros

On Friday, a mother in the ward had arranged for anyone who was interested to go on a tour of the fire station. It was a lot of fun. D and K were both very interested in the fire trucks. D even asked some questions. Really insightful questions like, "Where are the axes?" I got a few pictures before my camera batteries died.

K was cute following the kids around and looking at everything. D really likes their 'recovery bus'. It is a bus where the firemen can go if they are on a big fire and need to get food or water or, well, recover. Another cool thing was the fire pole. Our station is the only one around that is two stories so they have a fireman pole to slide down. We didn't get to go upstairs, it is the work out room. They also don't let kids slide down the pole, something about liability or such.
They did let the kids climb up into the big fire truck (and the fire bus). My two brave little toasters wouldn't get in the fire truck. They weren't the only ones. I did however mention to D that if he wants to be a fireman -- which he does -- he's eventually going to have to get in a fire truck. After the tour, the firemen handed out plastic fire hats, stickers and temp tattoos. A very fun hour.
Tonight, we were peacefully having FHE when there was a knock at the door. Imagine our surprise when we opened it to see a police officer standing there. We thought we'd left such happenings behind us when we left the Moldy Creek Apartments. He was here to ask about some neighborhood hoodlums that have been annoying a neighbor. They apparently hang out in a greenway behind our house crawling through wild blackberry bushes to smoke and drink in private. We've not had any issues but we haven't been here in the summer either.
We chatted with the nice officer for a few minutes before he went out to his SUV for a contact card. D went out and the officer let D sit in the driver's seat and showed him how to turn on the lights. It was all very exciting. (Poor K was already asleep in bed.) I could have taken a picture, but the batteries are still dead.

Lest you don't believe me about the sunshine

Semi Coherent Whining

I don't think there's much to report. It has been a week of whining (not me), coloring things which ought not be colored, body excretions in places they ought not be, and messes on every conceivable surface, intermingled with some singing, playing and a whole lotta sunshine.

Really, I know my life is not so bad. Still, it would be nice to go to bed at night feeling like I actually accomplished something visible. Yeah, yeah, I know. It may not be visible but is important because I am raising children, shaping lives, blah blah blah. I get that and I appreciate that (sometimes). But every now and then is it too much to ask for the floor to remain clean for longer than 30 seconds after mopping. Or the dishes to stay clean until the dishwasher is empty and ready for dirty dishes. Or the laundry, oh the laundry.

Yesterday Roy worked hard. He was putting up moulding in the house. I worked hard. I made bread and hamburger buns, cleaned the kitchen and cleaned the kitchen again. When we went to bed, the moulding looked great and the kitchen was a wreck. *sigh*

On the upside, it has been super sunny and nice around here lately. We have been playing outside a lot. And I may whine sometimes, but could there really be anything sweeter than this:

especially when they're all asleep!

Happy Valentine's Day

I like to celebrate with special food. It is my way of showing my family how I love them. Also, food indulges multiple senses for making memories, sight, smell and taste. (Sometimes hearing but not usually on purpose ;)
This morning started off with Pink Waffles. They were very good. In an effort to add some extra nutrients I turned them pink with beet puree. Now before you gag, really, they were good! Here's what they are:
(Adapted from Deceptively Delicious)
3/4 cup white flour
1/4 cup wheat flour
1/4 cup oats
1 Tbls. baking powder
1 Tbls. white sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup beet puree (I bought a can of beets to puree)
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup grated apple or applesauce
3/4 cup water
Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients. Combine the two and cook as waffles or pancakes. (I dare you to try it. I double dog dare you. With whipped cream on top. And a cherry.)
Of course, we would hate to be too healthy so I made Buttermilk Syrup (found here) that is basically homemade caramel sauce but it has the word syrup so it must be okay! Honestly, it can't be any worse for you than Mrs. Butterworth's.
We headed to church for an amazing Sacrament Meeting. I taught 14 year olds about Noah and watching or rather, not watching, violent movies. (Somehow every lesson comes back to either movies or dating. That's just the way it goes.)
At home I began work on what turned out to be an amazing dinner. I'm still stuffed. We had Sweet and Savory Flank Steak (found here) with Cilantro-Lime Rice (found here) and No-Knead bread (found here, or here). Incidentally, when you are making the bread, don't grease your dutch oven. Also, it is exceedingly difficult to make your smoke alarms stop alarming when they are all connected to each other. And they are loud.
Dinner finished out with Pizzookies (found here). Whew. It makes to slightly queasy to type about it. I told you, I'm still incredibly full.

D and Roy went shopping Friday evening to get Valentine's Day surprised for their "best girls". They held a secret powwow in D's room getting everything ready to present to us this afternoon. It was so sweet to have D present K and I (A just doesn't care...) the gift bag filled with candy and cards. Then I gave D and K a little candy filled Valentine which D ate ALL of within 10 minutes.
I don't have pictures of anything. But I can tell you this, we had a wonderful day and now I'm ready to slip into a food induced coma.

Swimming in a river of pee...

That's how I feel anyway. I shared K peeing in the Lincoln Logs. She did it again. Then she colored on the wall with dry erase marker (hooray for not permanent marker!). By the time she went to bed last night, we were all happy to see her go.
Sometime in the middle of the night D came to my bed saying something about being scared or something. I really wasn't awake. I mumbled something about sleeping with me BUT ONLY FOR A FEW MINUTES. Sometime after that (could have been minutes, could have been hours....) A started crying but it was not a respectable feeding time. I moved to D's room so I could shut the door for our bedroom and....well, I really don't know why I moved to D's bed other than I did. I fell asleep to the wails of an angry baby (who didn't cry toooo long).
About 6a.m., A woke up to feed so I fed her and put her back down. I figured D's few minutes were waaaaaay up and went to move him out of my bed.
Guess what?
He peed.
HE NEVER PEES THE BED ANYMORE!
But he did last night. At least I wasn't still snuggled up next to him when he did because he peed a.l.o.t. and didn't wake up. So I moved him back to his own bed - tried to sleep on top of my quilt (Roy was unaffected by the pee so slept through the entire experience) but couldn't because IT WAS SOAKING THROUGH. I then made the executive decision to commandeer the recliner in my room from the 2 year old by moving her back to her own room. (She came in because A's crying woke her up. But sometimes she just comes in for no apparent reason. Whatever. Just don't crawl in my bed.)
So to sum up the last 24 hours:
Pee. Everywhere. Let's use a toilet people!!!
*being a mom is sooo glamorous*

Gotta Love FHE

So when your kids are little, every night is family HOME evening night. Still we try to have actual FHE on Monday nights. Here's a particularly er...humorous sampling.
I was in the kitchen making Fortune Cookies. (It seemed like a good idea at the time, okay?) D and K are downstair cleaning up. (Yeah right.) A is sleeping in the swing. I can hear the kids playing and in my subconsious mind I hear something about peeing but it doesn't really penetrate. There is a bathroom down there so... ya know, it was probably wishful oblivion. Anyway, a few minutes later D comes up to tell me that K has peed in the Lincoln Log box. Super nice. Only I really really can't come immediately but I can be there in less than 3 minutes. I figure the job is done so I'll be there soon.
When I get down there not only has K peed but D has taken the liberty of dumping it out. On the carpet. Swell.
I calmly (hahaha) take the box out to the garbage making sure the door slams behind me so they know I'm upset. Roy comes home about this time. In an effort to help out, he goes down to clean the carpet (because I'm the idiot in the kitchen making fortune cookies, dinner and the FHE activity, remember?). Suddenly I hear him say, "Oh no!" I am certain he has inadvertantly used bleach on the carpet and somehow it is going to be my fault. But no. He has inadvertantly used Draino on the carpet and it is in no way my fault.
Scene change to me trying to get D to eat (darn near impossible. he hates all dinner foods right now). Roy is filling bowls with soapy water, scrubbing, emptying the bowl and going again. He eventually is down there on his hands and knees with a blow dryer trying to see just how bad the damage will be. I finally get D to eat all his dinner, K to take her bites and A's fericious appetite curbed. We get pajamas and start FHE. Somehow the spirit of love was not quite like I'd planned for this fun family activity about love. Imagine.

Lest you think I don't love the others:

They just aren't a ridiculous as the 2-year old. At least, not right now.

Look at those eyes! And flawless skin. You can almost catch a hint of D's dimples. And the food dribbling down A's lip is priceless.

Fun at 2

This is a bad shot of a fat lip. No one knows what happened. K tells us she bonked. We think it was the spout in the bathtub. But again, no one really knows....

Yesterday I was upstairs doing something desperately important (I'm sure). K was downstairs. I thought she was putting her socks on to go outside with D and daddy. She called up to me, "Mommy, I stuck. Help mommy." I really thought she just couldn't get her socks on and needed help. I made her wait. She was so patient. Every few minutes she would call, "I stuck, help." But in a calm and not sad voice. Imagine my surprise when I went downstairs and saw this:

Well, I'll be. She really was stuck.

In other news, this is what happens when a two-year old dresses herself.

At first glance, this may not appear too bad. Then you notice the pink on the sides of her blue pants. Then you notice her shirt is orange. Finally you notice her shoes are actually on the right feet!

What you can't see so well is just how much this outfit clashes. Also there is a lovely red headband on her head.

After Halloween, I was looking at the pictures I took and realized I didn't have any of K besides a bad shot of all three kids. Of course she would not put it on again until a couple of days ago. I snapped some pictures and she immediately took it off. Still the cutest little ladybug ever!

Help! Oh wise ones...

I have spent much time today arranging and rearranging pictures on my rug. I went to a home show and saw this:

I'm referring to the picture arrangement, not the people. I thought it looked cool so maybe I'd try it in my own home someday.

Well, that day has arrived. But now I want your professional opinions. I can not be trusted. I have spent way way too much time over analyzing this. So here are the arrangements I came up with.

1.

2.

3.

Er...I am aware now that looking at these on the computer they all look the same. BUT THEY'RE NOT. I swear. Um, I also realize that the rug is a very busy background. It couldn't be helped. I measured my wall and was fitting the pictures into a very specific part of the rug. So. Yeah. What I would like is for you to get out your magnifying glasses, abandon your children and stare at these picture for great amounts of time until you have an epiphany about what I should put on my wall. Because that's what I did. All except for the epiphany part. Or, you can write in and tell me I'm crazy and to just put the stupid pictures up all ready.

Funny-isms

These have been percolating in my drafts for a while. Enjoy!

A week or so ago the kids and I were in the car. D started singing a song. I sang the second verse - which he didn't know. When I finished D said, "Thanks for singing to me mom. That was totally great!" Spoken like a true 'valley girl'.



D and I were having a conversation about Santa and his reindeer. I said something about Rudolph. D told me there is no such thing as Rudolph. He's just a story. "There are no reindeer with glowing red noses." (yet flying reindeer are okay....?)



K is constantly cracking me up with her language. I love when kids are learning how to talk and use vocabulary. Lately she has been telling me, "Alone me! Alone me!" Which means, 'leave me alone'. She also says, "I's not yours, i's mine." And "I sowwy"



A loves to eat. She gets so excited she starts panting in double time. She loves peas but avocados...not so much. (K however loves avocados.)

D came down the stairs one evening and asked me, "Mom, do you know what an 'exoskeleton' is?"
Me: "Uh, yeah. Do you?"
D: "Yeah. It's when your skeleton is on the outside of your body."
Me: "Right." What the...? He's 5 people!

Last night, D was explaining how to make a volcano to his daddy. He was telling about the lava exploding. He used the terms ploop and plooping. When he said plooping, I couldn't help it anymore (he was seriously cracking me up). I asked him, "Did you just say 'plooping'?" His response, "Not pooping, plooping. Pl, pl, pl, plooping." Really, I knew that I was just having so much fun with his new word, plooping. I think I shall have to find an excuse to use that in conversations.

I was sitting on the couch while K was playing in front of me. She decided she needed to go get something so she put her hand up (like a hi-5) and said, "I be right back." She even bounced her hand a bit to emphasize I should just stay put.