Oh, Blessed Day

I am so Happy!!

1. It was almost 60 degrees outside this afternoon.

2. Old Navy flip flops are in stock selling 2 for $5.

3. Soon I won't have to threaten or bribe kids to get shoes and socks on.

4. My toes will feel fresh air again.

5. Hallelujah.

Birthday Bash!

We had a really good time for Ivory's birthday. I tend to not do much when they are little because they aren't going to remember but I must admit, this yearI was a real slacker. Tyler's mom usually comes and takes the birthday girl out for a day of shopping and fun. They get so much stuff it seems, that I don't need to do much besides make a cake. But this year, Vicki couldn't come (she's at Disneyworld), and I found that I was a little TOO reliant on her generosity. The day before Ive's birthday, I didn't have a single thing for her. So I ran to the store and I quickly remedied the situation. I got her four things and I let the other girls choose what they wanted to give her. I think it turned out well. Here she is opening presents (with a little help of course).



I also like to do a creative cake for birthdays. The girls look forward to having a surprise. I didn't have any great ideas, and Tyler said we should do cupcakes (because they are smaller) so I got on Family Fun and found these cute snowmen. I only made a handful and then gave the rest of the cupcakes away, because if you recall, Ivory's birthday was during sick week (they didn't need any more sugar, and I shouldn't have even given them these).



I think she enjoyed it though.



All in all, it was a good birthday. I like having quiet family moments. I know as they get older they will want more friends and to go to other places, but for now, I will treasure a sweet little birthday at home.

And the Winner Is...

KERI SCORESBY! When Tyler pulled the name, I said, "That's seems fitting."

"Funny," he said. "I was thinking the same thing."

So here is to you Keri, for being a great friend (Your Bajios gift cert. will arrive shortly) . Thank you everyone for your comments. I try to remind myself that this blog is for me and my family and that I don't need the comments, but who am I kidding...I love comments. So keep 'em coming and have a great week.

Over or Under?

It is time for me to tell you my funny story, and although Tyler claims it is HIS funny story, I was the one laughing.
When we were first married, we lived in a tiny apartment (most of you know what I mean). It had the endearing qualities that you find in many old establishments. Ours had the joy of a really small water heater, so whoever showered first got the only hot water. This was really good for getting someone out of bed. If you heard the shower go on, you would jump out and shower with your spouse so you didn't get a cold shower later. I am sure it brought us closer together early on in our marriage. Then again, Tyler and I have never been a squeamish couple.
The bathroom we had was very tiny and the toilet was very close to the tub (Tyler could not sit with his legs straight in front of him, he had to sit at a bit of an angle), and there was a heater vent right under the toilet paper, adding to the overall claustrophobia of the room.
I joined the marriage being a firm toilet paper 'under' girl and Tyler was an 'over' guy. He didn't seem set in his ways, so I was sure that I could convert him in time. But the darn heating vent was in the wrong place. It was hard to grab the toilet paper from under the roll. Tyler had mentioned this a few times, but we only had the one bathroom and if I was going to train him, I had to remain strong. But eventually even I was getting annoyed at the toilet paper vs. heater.
One day, I was doing my hair and Tyler had just finished peeing in the toilet (once again, not a squeamish couple). He must have been thinking about the toilet paper problem because he told me again that it would make more sense going over. I was ready to give in, and so I said, "Fine, if you want the toilet paper to go over the roll, we can try it like that for a while." Well Tyler thought--there's no time like the present--so he reached down and immediately switched the roll around. He was very proud of himself and so he reached down, took a good yank on the toilet paper and said, "Now, isn't that better?"
Well, the holder had not locked in properly and the whole roll popped out, right into the toilet that Tyler had just peed in. I just about died laughing. I tried to control the tears as I said, "Yes, your way is much better." I think he was a little chagrined as he fished it out, but I thought it was hilarious. And the roll stayed over the rest of the time we lived there. In fact, I was converted. I am now a toilet paper 'over' girl. Which makes me sad, because there really are fewer 'unders' out there and I feel like I have deserted the cause, but I truly think it is easier to grab the paper when it rolls over, and I have my darling husband who showed me the way.

Stupid Birds

I really wanted to blog more about Ivory's birthday and then I wanted to blog my funny moment that Keri challenged us to do, but I can't say that I am in the right mood for cheerful blogging.
I took my kids to the doctor today (finally). It was obvious they were all sick in one way or another, but since I already had Ivory's well visit scheduled for today, I decided to wait it out. And let me tell you, we did not go a moment too soon. Ivory probably has a sinus infection and certainly a ear infection in one ear. From the way she is coughing, I would guess that her throat is not feeling too great either. The doctor didn't run a culture on her because she prescribed amoxicillin and that takes care of strep as well as ear infections.
June has Scarlet Fever. It sounds like she has some terrible disease, but before you gasp in despair, apparently it isn't that bad. She turned kind of red the other day (a mom notices these things). She just looked flushed and her chest was kind of red too. I talked to my mother and she mentioned that it might be Scarlet Fever. Yes, my first thought was, my child is going to die...she has Scarlet Fever...didn't people die of that on Little House on the Prairie? Well, I still don't know much about Little House on the Prairie, but I know a lot more about Scarlet Fever. It is basically strep throat with a rash--that's it. I don't think many people know this because every one I tell looks at me with confusion or sympathy (don't worry everyone, June will not die of Scarlet Fever). I really should just say that she has strep throat because that is what it is anyway, and no one can really see the rash but me, but I have to admit I kind of enjoy the reaction when I say SCARLET FEVER!! It's probably the dramatic side in me. I really didn't think she had strep because she hasn't complained about her throat, but she tested positive. I think Ivory is more likely to have the same thing, but hopefully it won't matter with the gallon of amoxicillin I brought home. Which brings me to child number three.
Robyn was feeling better (I thought). She certainly has more energy, but when the doctor checked her ears, she has a raging infection in one. The doctor even had me take a peek myself. Now, I'm not sure what I am looking for, but I know your ear shouldn't look purple (it looked really painful). So, add one more order of amoxicillin to the list.
Oh, and about the stupid birds. I was sitting here getting ready to write this post and I could hear birds chirping. I looked outside, but all I could see was snow and I was wondering what stupid birds have not figured out that winter has not let go yet. I finally figured out that the girls had left open the Disney Fairies site in another browser and that was what I was hearing. That made me feel a bit better and now there is even sunshine outside. So, hopefully things will look up and I will get back to cheerful blogging. After all, I have a whole fridge of pink liquid that should make everyone a lot happier in this house.

Totally Two

Two already! Poor Ivory has had a runny nose for four weeks now. She must be so tired of the tissue monster by now (i.e. her mother chasing after her with kleenex), but she is still such a trooper. She had a little cough when we went to take pictures, but she posed so cute for each one. I was totally the proud mother. And you can see how absolutely adorable they turned out. She really isn't a baby any more. It almost makes me cry to look at her pictures. I just love the stuffing out of her. We haven't had her birthday celebration yet (we'll see if I can organize three sick kids and feel good about feeding them cake tonight) but I wanted to put a little tribute to my Ives on here. Happy Birthday little lady! You are remarkable!

One Hundred!!

Happy Presidents' Day, but even more than that, Happy 100th post on my blog! Can you believe that I am there already? This is a special moment for me. I have been wanting to do something fun for my 100th post and I have been thinking about it for a while.
So...I'm going to give away a $20 gift certificate to someone's favorite restaurant. You obviously have to leave a comment letting me know what your favorite restaurant is and that will give me your name to enter in the drawing. If you have been reading this blog, but have never commented, this is your time.
Enjoy your holiday! And here is to the next 100 posts, may they be just as entertaining as the last 100.
I'll do the drawing in a week, so get your comments in. Thanks everyone!

Deal or No Deal

I think I have worked out all my bad vibes and I want to apologize to Valentine's Day. V-day, you are still an over-priced, over-advertised holiday, but your motives are pure. I read a few other blogs and realized I want to find a few fun things to do with my family (I liked the idea of homemade cinnamon rolls on V-day morning...of course I would add pink icing). Just small stuff to create lasting memories for the girls. And flowers of course.
Tyler likes to buy me flowers for Valentine's Day. But he is appalled at the prices during this season (yes, they jack the price WAY up just for those poor lads who feel the need to say 'I love you' with flowers). My sister-in-law got married during this lovely month and spent almost all her wedding money just on the floral arrangements because of the exhorbant costs.
Tyler has decided that flowers the day after will be just as appreciated as flowers, the day of. But the devious stores have thought of this ploy, so naturally the prices don't go down right away. I imagine they hold on for a good two to three days to catch all the stragglers and especially the poor men who forgot to get flowers in the first place and are now going to pay in several ways (not just with a checkbook). Tyler came home and told me that he was going to get flowers for me, but $46.00 for a dozen roses was just not in our budget right now, but he still loved me. I conceded that was a wise choice. But later that evening, we were shopping around at Sam's Club and they had two dozen roses for $6.92. Hmmm, it doesn't take a genius to figure out which was a better deal. So, my roses did not come from some underhanded flower shop that would probably throw in some baby's breath and ribbon for FREE!! Instead I just got beautiful flowers. I think I know where we are shopping next year.

You're the One That I Love...oooh..oooh..oooh

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone out there. I am in a really foul mood so this is perhaps not the best time to be confessing my undying love to my spouse, but since he is so lovable, I will probably get through it without saying one nasty thing.
This post is obviously dedicated to the man of the my dreams. 8 1/2 years ago I met him for the first time in a place that doesn't exist anymore (they tore the building down) and I had no idea that this man would change my life forever. He makes life worth living. Is every day perfect? No. But I would willingly take the bad with the good to be with this man. And the bad really isn't that bad. We hardly quarrel and when we do it is usually about something stupid (like how to spell a word). He makes me laugh every day. He had given my three gorgeous children and another on the way. He is the best father and he helps me all the time around the house. He puts up with my highs and lows and he makes me feel beautiful. He is a spiritual man who leads our family in the gospel. Oh, and did I mention that he is extremely handsome? These are all very general things, but if I had the time I could write down hundreds (at least I hope I could, since he has done that for me many times).
I'm not sure how I feel about this holiday at the moment. Seems like a lot of unnecessary hype. After all, I love Tyler every day. I don't need someone to tell me that I should remember, because he is constantly reminding me through his actions. I hope he knows how special he is to me; how empty life would be without him. I love you honey! Happy Valentine's Day (and all that).

Sweet Love

Yes, I have officially been re-nominated for Mother of the Year. All it took was a little sugar and a lot of love. Just kidding, but I am feeling pretty good about actually doing an activity like this with my kids. Especially since I was the worst sick mom during Christmas time when everyone was making cute Christmas cookies. So now I have redeemed myself. Whew! Don't have to do this again until December.
Oh, June wanted a frosting face picture so here it is...which is really funny to me because she gets more stuff on her face eating a graham cracker, so how she managed to look so clean after eating a cookie with frosting is beyond me.



And here is my cutie Robyn. If you notice a lack of Ivory, it may be because I did this during her nap time. I thought it would be cleaner. Of course, now that I have admitted this, my award will probably be taken away, but it was mine for 10 seconds.

Mormon Lingo

Mormons do have a bit of their own lingo that you have to get used to if you are a convert. Growing up in the LDS faith, most of it came naturally for me, but I have heard many stories from others. My mom always talks about how she thought my Dad was taking her out to eat the first time they went to the stake center (that one is a common misconception). But Tyler had a story of his own which made me laugh, because he grew up Mormon as well.
Tyler (until he was about 15) was always wondering why people would get up and bless the speakers in the opening prayer (In this instance, Tyler thought they were referring to the microphone speakers and not the people who were asked to give a talk). People blessed them so often that he really started to ponder what could go wrong with the speakers. If they stopped working, someone might have to talk louder, but maybe the speakers could fall out of the ceiling altogether. He said he would spend a whole meeting looking at the speakers in the ceiling wondering what could go wrong with them and why everyone insisted on blessing them.
This made me laugh so hard. Changing the meaning of one word can make a world of difference. It really amuses me. Perhaps that is why I love books like Anguished English by Richard Lederer. If you have never read that one, I would highly recommend it for a good laugh. If you know of any good stories, please share.

I Need a Magic Wand

I was watching Sword and the Stone with Robyn the other day. It is one of my all-time favorite Disney movies. The wizard duel is the coolest. And then I was thinking about the way Merlin packed his whole house in one bag and enchanted the dishes to wash themselves...I could really use something like that. I feel that I am pretty easy-going in many ways, but when it comes to clutter and uncleanliness, it gets on my nerves so badly. Perhaps because I know it is all waiting there for ME to clean up. True, I have help from time to time, but with kids you have to shepherd them through the cleaning process and that is sometimes more frustrating than doing it myself. I need to let go of the fact that the house will not always be spotless and focus on one thing at a time.
Tonight was not a pleasant evening. I tried to get kids to clean, but it wasn't going the way I wanted and all children ended up in bed before 6:45. I think they were tired since Robyn was actually asleep before Ivory was in bed, but I didn't feel good about the whole experience. In my mind I was just enforcing rules (like 'Don't throw books at your sister') but I am always the bad guy in the end. I can tell the kids are not pleased when prayers go something like, "Mom is not beautiful anymore." June was a bit kinder with, "Thank you for a mom and dad even if they are mean sometimes."
I'm sure I could have turned cleaning into a big game and sang some songs and we could have all snuggled on the couch for a story before bed, but sometimes that is not how it goes. And when it comes down to it, what is more important--that the house is clean or that they go to sleep feeling they live in a safe loving home. So, I was just thinking that a wand could really help. Then I could focus more on my kids and not being a cranky mom when the house is messy. Has anyone seen one for sale...perhaps on Ebay?

User Error

So my hair dryer stopped working the other morning. This did not come as a big surprise. I bought the dryer at DI and it has worked for several years. Not bad for a $3.00 blow dryer. The price sticker is still on it. However, without a dryer, I can't really do much with my hair. It either goes up in a pony tail, or a braid. I was ready for change all around. So, I chopped my hair off (sorry no pictures of that). Usually I have to ask Tyler several times to get a hair cut, but this time I only said something once and he endorsed a hair cut. I was in shock, but I decided to take advantage of it. So off I went to get a cut, and I bought a new hair dryer on the way home. Oddly enough, the new hair dryer didn't work either, and it sunk in much too quickly that I had never tested the outlet. We don't plug in many things in the bathroom (pretty much just the hair dryer) and I guess I have been expecting the DI dryer to fail at some point. So I didn't think to test the outlet. But sure enough, after I found the master switch and pushed it, all power was restored to BOTH dryers. Oops. So I took the new dryer back and the lady asked if there was anything wrong with it. Nope, just user error. So, the DI special will last a while longer. I am getting my three dollars worth for sure.

Sleeping Together

I was just thinking last night that most of us spend a good twenty years or more of our life sleeping by ourselves. And then suddenly, you get married and it is expected that from now on, you will share your bed with someone else. There is nothing written telling you what to do if your sleeping habits are different than the one next to you. No, it is merely trial and error. Good luck if she sleeps with the fan on in the winter and, oh well if he steals the covers and you can't budge him an inch. These are just things one needs to deal with once you gain a sleeping partner. And what if your co-sleeper is sick...
Tyler was shivering as I went to bed last night and I could tell that he had a raging fever. It perhaps wasn't the first time that I wished we had a guest room. I mean, most people get offended when someone coughs on them, so who is going to willingly crawl into bed next to a sickie and have him/her breathe on them all night. I debated between sleeping on the couch or sleeping on one side all night (facing away from said sickie). I finally opted for the comfort of my own bed; at what cost, I don't know.
I don't really miss sleeping alone. I enjoy the comfort of having someone close by, and I have gotten used to most of Tyler's sleeping quirks. But every once in a while, I could stand sleeping solo.

A Mouthful

Sunday evening. We had just returned from the finance class that Tyler is teaching for the ward (along with many wonderful guest speakers). I came home a little early to get kids in bed, so Tyler ran home through the snow because he didn't have a ride. We decided to watch a little Stardust together and I settled in with my usual evening snack--cold cereal. Tyler was standing in the kitchen wheezing a bit from his run in the cold. He mentioned to me, "I really shouldn't run in the snow, I think I have some asthma." To which I replied around a mouthful of froot loops, "You're not in shape."
He just stared at me, with his jaw slightly agape and disbelief in his eyes. Great, I thought, I have seriously offended him. So I tried to backpeddle a little. "You're not fat...you're just not in shape." This time he laughed out loud, and I couldn't decide if I was hurting his feelings or if he had gone crazy.
Apparently, I am not the most articulate while eating and with froot loops in my mouth, the first comment he heard from me was, "You look like sh**." No wonder he was looking at me in shock. It is really not the kind of language I would use, and it would be rather rude to say. Now it was my turn to laugh as I thought of him trying to decide why I would say such a thing.
This certainly isn't the first time we have had miscommunication over a mouthful of cereal (the crunching can really interfere with hearing as well) but I believe the old adage from my mother would save me a lot of trouble--'Don't talk with your mouth full'

I Blame the Snow

So I have noticed some of you are as sick of the snow as I am. Yes I know it is good for the environment, but too much of a good thing...drives you crazy.
I have made peace with my children and although we miss playing outside we get along just fine indoors. You all know I am a lame mom in the winter because I don't like snow, but now I must admit that I am sometimes a lame mom in the summer because I am allergic to grass--so my kids are used to being inside. I do still let them play outside (I promise I am not a terrible mom, just lame.)
What I really don't like about this whole winter thing, is being cold. Sometimes I spend an entire day with the heat on and never warm up. My last resort is a hot bath and that will usually do the trick, but I have to wait until kids are in bed to get one of those. (No that is not my tub, although it's pretty huh?)



And then I have this embarrassing problem that my body can't stand hot water. Yes, I know I am an idiot. Even as I write this I feel like a fool. I take a hot bath to warm up and then I get HIVES from the hot water. I kid you not. I can't go in hot tubs because I get heat rash, and I if my bath water is too warm, I get it from that too.
So, I am all toasty warm as I write this, and my legs are itching like crazy from the hives on the back of my knees and around my ankles. Personally, I blame the snow!