...Zero self control...

So, you know how when the kids get home with their Halloween candy, you are looking over the insanity as they are dumping it out and the big kids are talking the little ones in to trading...and comparing the number of "king size" candy bars they received? And you are totally disgusted by the amount of candy in your house?
Now then...
Imagine now, Richard and I at Target. Trying to buy some more plates for Thanksgiving. We wander past the candy row...and we have zero self control. 75% off candy! That never happens right? 20 pounds, AND ONLY $12 LATER, I am literally lugging the two big bags out of the cart to put them in the car. Only to arrive home and be so utterly disgusted and humiliated by us, I of course had to document our insanity.

And Richard took almost all of the candy to work to stick in the community candy jar.

Is there a therapist out there who deals strictly with totally insane people like us?

...Preschool Fieldtrips.

Ethan's first field trip to Hee Haws.

Ethan walked around the animal part of the farm with his arm over the back of this goat like it was his very own pet he fed from a bottle when it was a baby.









Who would have thought that corn could entertain 3 year olds for so long. They all ran around the corn maze searching for the cobs still on the stalks - or the ground - buried in the mud - anything.















Feats of strength. Ethan's current fun. What is the biggest pumpkin I can carry around? I don't know if it is worse here where it can smash all over the tile - or taking them from the big arranged pile at Hee Haws.

...Halloween #1

Halloween 2010. "The grown ups". We are not super halloween-ey folks. We finally decided Thursday we should figure something out for our party Friday. I swear in real life, my hair looked better. It was jet black with a couple flourescent purple streaks. And huge! My kids couldn't believe I got it so big.
So I guess the theory behind Halloween is that you try to dress in the stuff least like your own self. I think it is a curse for those of us - baggy jeans and tshirt with a the least amount of make-up you can get away with in your age bracket- type people. Note the pleather leggings. And giant shoes. Delaney was completely horrified that I had the leggings on. If you consider "You aren't actually going out of the house in those, right mom?" horrified. (The good news is I dug up something out of our old box to put over them.. I am not nearly that confident in my, uh...physique.) The kids were not super in love with Rich in makeup...or nail polish. Sabrina did not approve of the tatoo shirt. I super offended her.
We did have a super fun time and we were thrilled to wash our hair. Incidentally, I don't recommend pleather leggings playing Lazer Tag. Or the big boots for that matter. Bit toasty.

Rich looks a bit too natural, don't you think?

...Date Night

For our rare date the other night - we headed to the sports grill to watch our favorite boys in red kick some tail. I was admittedly a bit hesitant to watch football in public. Due to my...we'll call it passionate...nature when it comes to sports. We had such a fantastic time hanging out with all the other crazy Utah fans! I think I drank about 10 cokes. On the 10th I asked for diet. The waiter mocked me the rest of the evening. And put cherries in it to disguise the diet...

...Lemon memories.

I had this insane need to make a lemon cake the other day. I kept on adding lemon to the icing..trying to get it super lemoney. As I was serving up the cake, I realized that the reason I love lemon stuff is because it reminds me of my mom. Maybe I am a total idiot for not coming to this realization earlier. I just love it when things pop in to your mind and make you happy - just because you happened to buy a cake mix on a whim. (The depressing part of this will catch up to me later, but for now, good memories of all things lemon.)

...Mastering play dates.

Ethan and his friend Ethan were out playing in the yard. I was working out there and keeping an eye on them. They got bored of the sand/water mess, and started hiding in the bushes playing good guy, bad guy.
I hear Ethan tell his buddy, all exasperated, that he is Darth Vader and he HAS to call him "MASTER".

What is to become of this crazy dude?

...Wahooo!

This is a ridiculous thing to blog about after six weeks. However, it is such a momentous occasion, I have to do something to celebrate.

We finally have Delaney's pointe shoes! They fit! They have the little elastic thingeys on them...in an "X". They have the lovely shiny ribbons sewn on to make them look beautiful and official. She has the little bag of lambs wool to stuff in between her toes. All we need now is the giant blisters. She is ready to destroy her feet.

It seems silly, but it has been such a stress in my life for so long! We've made SO many trips back and forth to get them right, and then to get the bits sewn on. My mother-in-law is a saint for helping us. Truly.

(I will politely leave out the swearing, muttering, general crustiness, and finally the "that's it you are NOT going to do this" parts. We'll work on repressing all of that.)

...Okay, maybe we will miss it...

After Delaney danced her self sleepy today, we headed to the Dinosaur Museum. The kids had much more fun than I thought they would. We even talked Delaney into playing in the sand!





We ate at In n Out...which the kids love, because it used to just be a place to go in St George - perhaps the novelty will wear off when they realize there is one 10 mins away now.


Then we went to visit Grandma...because Delaney finally made it to point shoes. (I really don't get it - but she is VERY excited - is made it even the right word?) Anyway, the end result of this is: I know nothing about dancing. Everyone was so excited to see Grandma - they didn't even tear the shop up too much. ( I forgot to get a photo. I was too focused on the information about orthopedic specialists. Yikes.)


And then we visited Grandma Cora and Grandpa Jay. Where they all ate gummy bears and left with a soda, so they all had black cherry mustaches by the time we got home - just in the nick of time to start soccer practice. Yee haw!

I think we might just miss summer after all.

...What happens when D goes to the mall...

Of course, they are adorable...and every little girl she knows/tends stares at her in awe. How can you go wrong with gigantic green butterflies?

...Saturday nights...

We went to a demolition derby last night in Nephi.
It was so AWESOME! I wish I could have photographed the kids faces when the first big crashes happened. We all loved it. Lots of cars crashing...and PLENTY of people watching in between while the cars were being towed off.

...Park day, finally.

Last year we went almost every week to the park by Richard's office, and spent an hour or two. I am sad to say this was our first one this summer. Beautiful weather today, and dad was even available!

...Really bad ways to spend money.

Delaney got braces today! I am so sad that I didn't have my camera in my purse to get a photo of her with the huge red thing stretching out her mouth. Gorgeous.
All in all, she is pretty miserable. I am not sure whether it is the pressure/pain or the not-being-able-to-eat-caramel.

...Puppet Shows...

Now then, can you even believe this?!!?!? I dragged Emma home from her friends house, grabbed D from dance, threw a sandwich and a water bottle at Ethan in the back seat, and drove all the way to Orem to watch Sabrina's little class puppet show. It started at 12:30. I walked in the room at about 12:34 and my friend had a teary expression on her face and mouthed to me that I had missed it. 12:34!!!! Of course. It had to be Sabrina. She said oh, it doesn't matter...then the first thing she said to Richard when he got home was that I did not come to her puppet show. I feel like such a jerk. The darn teacher could have asked if anyone wasn't there yet - or Sabrina could have just volunteered the information - that I was coming. (Obviously, it was a VERY short puppet show, not a huge deal, but I have a feeling this will be mentioned often during those lovely little "you don't love me moments"...with the team of therapists my kids will have when they are 30.)

Incidentally, her teacher said, oh too bad you missed it. I will send you a photo. (Seriously?) I will post it if I get it.

...Bad attitudes...

Ethan told me tonight: "Mom, I have a bad attitude."

I was laughing and wondering where this little tidbit of truth came from.
We got the "old" version of the "Karate Kid" for the kids to watch this week - for a little family movie night. Apparently, Mr Miyagi tells the Karate Kid, those "boys have a bad attitude".

Smart little dude. He is a boy. So apparently, he has a bad attitude.

...What ever happened to the rules...

This is how the conversation went... (Between Rich and I)
RICH: "I went in to buy guinea pig food, and saw the most adorable baby guinea pig".
ME: ARE YOU CRAZY?
"No, really, she is SO cute. She is like, as tiny as my hand."
That's nice. No way.
"She is one of those that has the crazy hair. She is so small and soft."
Ohh, I bet she is cute. Forget it.
"But maybe it would be so GOOD for Sabrina".
Nice try. I do not want the huge cage/expense/etc.
"Really, she could have the responsibility. She would clean the cage, everything."
Oh yes, like Emma. Roll the eyes. No.
"Okay, we can talk about it tomorrow."
Tomorrow:
"So I was thinking of running over to the pet store today, want to come...Sabrina will be with you?"
(I see now, that was where I went wrong. )
The next day...
"I am just going to run over there since they were out of food the other day, what do you think?"
I think pretty much no.
"Well, I will just go see if she is still there."
Right, then we will decide. Call me so I can say NO again.
35 minutes later...
Welcome home Frizzi. Meet the family!

...Drinking really pays off..

I finally got my reward from "Coke"!
A long time ago, my sister got an awesome diet coke T-shirt. Which, reminded me of a t-shirt my mom had when we were young. I thought it was so cool. I wanted a coca cola T! The best part is, she got it free from coke rewards. So - I started entering in the reward codes from 12 packs. (YES! I know you can just buy them for $10, but that is not any fun!) They didn't have the shirts for a while, so I looked around and saw this necklace made from recycled coke bottles - back when they were a little green. Well, in a nutshell, as lame as it is, I have now entered 190 coke codes and I got my necklace Friday!! Here is my shout out to my fantastic family members who guzzle the stuff, and shared their rewards! It would still be 3 years away without you!

I will take a picture soon...

...Orange floats and hula

Just a quick post on our weekend so far. We went to a fund raiser tonight that was a mom and daughter thing - with a Hawaiian theme. There were various booths and all that, but they also had entertainment. As is, at least in my experience, commonplace, they invited the kids in the audience to come and learn a hula. You would have thought that Sabrina had a spring on her chair she was climbing on the stage so darn fast. It was absolutely awesome watching Emma and Sabrina try and swirl their little hips with the pros. (Where was D? She is farrrrrr to cool for that!)
Ethan has been dying for two days to go get an orange float with his dad. Have I mentioned the orange obsession? He saw the picture on an ad he pulled out of the mailbox. They were sitting in the restaurant and some jiggy 50's tune came on the radio and he hopped right off his seat and started doing his dance moves in the aisle. Then started up the Darth Vader song. Loud. A little grandma started talking to him, asking about Star Wars and how old he was and telling him he was really talented. That put an end to the dance. He will do anything in front of strangers, until they start talking to him.

...A rare date...

A couple weeks ago Rich and I went on a date to see his friend in the Tabernacle Choir. We were downtown and I was thinking mexican, so we went to what used to be our favorite place - The Red Iguana. Oh man. It was super tasty.
The choir and the walk and all that was nice also.
I blog - because I actually had my tiny purse camera in my purse!

...Star Wars, Star Wars...

Dum. Dum. Dum. Dum-da-dum-dun-da-dum. Happy Star Wars Day! Thanks to Auntie Beth for informing us of this lovely holiday! Who even knew that there was such a day! We, meaning Ethan, are totally obsessing over Star Wars lately, so this is perfect. He walks around singing the "Darth Vader Song" all day long, and so insanely loud, and on pitch also. Crazy. He fights his light saber duels in front of the fireplace so he can watch his reflection. We are watching Star Wars...and eating popcorn with candy stars. I had grand plans for some new fangled official Star Wars treat, but half of us were bawling, and the other half were whining - so it is just star popcorn. The other day Ethan was talking about O-B-Wan-Tickle me. I was like - what was his name? Now he won't say it again. He already got it right. Darn. The girls are huge fans also. Sabrina and Emma especially. They are such awesome girls.

"Will someone please get this big walking carpet out of my way!"
"This bickering is pointless!"
"We're fine, we're all fine here, thank you, how are you?"
"Traveling through hyper space ain't like dustin' crops boy!"
"Your powers are weak old man!"


"May the force be with you."

...hours of dancing...

Our girls all had their dance recital this weekend. Poor D had dance every day last week. Between the hours of rehearsals for the two shows and then finally the two shows, at least one of us is ready for the summer break. (Poor me, 10 hour marathon competition next week!)
All three of the girls did an amazing job. They all looked absolutely gorgeous! Emma's hair was insanely beautiful, Sabrina looked stunning and so grown up, and Delaney never ceases to amaze me with her calm under pressure. All three of them just hang out, line up, head on stage, perform, go back to hanging out. They don't even seem at all concerned about performing and everyone watching them. Of course, I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off whipping out lipstick, spray gel, mascara, bobby pins, safety pins, snacks, scissors to clip strings, various shoes and hair accessories and arm thingys and crazy leg things that never, ever, ever stay up on Emma's skinny legs.

Delaney was such the dramatic pre teen - her and all her buddies stressing over the fact that there were only TWO NUMBERS for them to get changed! And so and so's tights got ripped in half and this girl's rhinestone belt flipped off, etc. When I got back to the high school with Sabrina and Emma, they were running up to me all up in arms about the fact that they scheduled their dances so close - and all the rest. (Are we understanding the humor here? I suppose I am not doing it justice, but I want to remember.)
All in all, it was a huge success. Their songs were fun. The costumes were fun. Backstage was fun! I will say, due to the time crunch of the two shows, not many photos were taken. Grrrr.

...Only in Lehi?

I was driving home today from my errands. I decided to head up the "Costco hill" to give my little dude a chance to fall asleep. I am sure he was exhausted because he had been walking around in the store for 15 minutes PRETEND SMOKING! Where does he get this? I digress... So I begin to slow at the stop sign, and suddenly two ginormous cows come flying around the corner! Completely disregarding the stop sign! I sat there in my car while these cows plowed forward right at my car. I was totally stumped at what to do in this situation, so naturally I was asking Ethan, what do I do when the cows smash into our car?!? If I try to move out of the way, they might barrell into Ethan's side - wheras, if I sit here, they will hit the front and the air bag would deploy if it was too hard, and Ethan would be fine. The cows slowed and just went RIGHT by the sides of the van. Or course, Ethan considers this quite THE most exciting ride home from errands he has ever had. (And no, there was no car snooze after all THAT)!

I am trying to think of some blog cheese...
Isn't it just so wonderful that I live in a place so city, that I can get to the store to buy a fresh pineapple and crab, yet so country that there can be bovine/auto incidences to entertain my 3 year old (soon to be - chain smoker).

...depressing Sunday...

I was trying to help a nursery leader find a mom today. As we walked down the hallway, she asked me if I was pregnant! Wow.
Truly, a month ago, I don't think it would have bugged me as much. But...I have been doing so well getting a workout in for the last 5 weeks. I realize I have made cookies 5 times in those five weeks, but I didn't eat ALL of them!
In the end, she told me how Ethan had been sitting in nursery telling her that he is not going to be my baby anymore. That he will be the big kid now. I am trying to believe her. But, at the end of the day, she took one look at me, and suddenly it all made sense to her.

...Easter morning...

This morning I jumped (okay - flopped out of bed) and wandered sightless down the hall to preheat the oven for my orange rolls. Then I fell back in bed. I laid there trying to go back to sleep, praising my kids in my mind that they were still in bed when the sun was starting to come up.
I was just on the edge of sleep when I started to hear this sound in the basement. Plop. Plop. Plop, plop, plop. I got up again, (with glasses this time) and headed down the stairs where I could see Ethan in the kitchen in the basement opening up Easter eggs. He says to me with a handful of treats - "MOM! I am hungry!"
I said "Oh my! The Easter Bunny came and brought some eggs"! Instantaneously, Emma and Sabrina were there - and within 5 seconds Emma was crying because Ethan got the first egg
(and consequently, the first candy!)
Of course, the girls had been up for an hour and were just waiting for us to make some noise so they could come and snag all the eggs they had scoped out already. I am happy to report that aside from the initial hysterics, they were all so kind about it. The big ones pointing out low hidden ones to the short ones. No pushing or shoving. And no more tears.
We then settled in to eat these yummy orange rolls I tried, which took forever to make, and about 15 minutes to be devoured. After all, I feel, as I am sure everyone else does, that on a day when you will consume your weight in sugar, what you really need to do is start out with a nice healthy serving of white flour, butter, and sugar.

Two side notes: I am totally failing as a "holiday parent" since my 3 year old has no notion of the Easter Bunny. Last night when Sabrina mentioned it, he put on his shoes to go check the mail for the Bunny. Poor dude. (Why the mailbox? No clue.)
Next: Thank heaven Richard is on the ball. When I brushed the teeth and headed to bed, he very nicely reminded me that I might have forgotten to hide the eggs. Not only that - but at midnight I was FILLING them! Does anyone remember when I had a brain. I need to go back and find it!

...Words of wisdom...by Ethan

I think this will be a recurring title. It is boring to everyone but me, but maybe I will remember some of it.
I fixed Ethan his breakfast and told him to hop up to the table. He immediately headed over to the tv room. I said what are you doing? Eat your breakfast. He was totally exasperated at me and said:
"MOM! I NEED to turn on the news! I have to see what is HAPPENING while I eat my breakfast!

Yesterday, we were arguing about the fact that, indeed, you DO have to wash your hands EVERY time you go to the bathroom. Yes, even if someone else "finishes you up" - Everyone needs to wash their hands. With soap. Ethan just looked at me in that "I know SO much more about this than you do" sort of way and told me:
"the garbage man says I don't have to wash my hands when I go potty". Great. I rate right below the garbage man.

Later, I was on his case because I had told him to put his shoes away like 10 times - starting the previous afternoon. I said Ethan, why have you still not put those darn shoes away? Totally serious he said:
"I am not putting THOSE away, I need to leave them out until next winter - or at least until Halloween!"
Poor me! He already figured out that if he just leaves his stuff everywhere, it will be ready when Halloween comes. Wait. What?!?!


Blog cheese: He is so hilarious and just like his crazy dad.
HEEELLLLPPPP MMMMEEEEEE!

...Fifteen years of togetherness...

We are celebrating our fifteenth wedding anniversary! It cannot have been that long!
Truly, the time seems to have flown by, and yet I can't even imagine that I ever did not have Richard in my life. He is the best decision I have ever made, and I cannot wait to spend another 15 years times infinity with him.
When we went out to celebrate, we were talking... about what we will do for our anniversary in 15 MORE years, and he reminded me (again) that he will be calling me grandma.
I am usually a hater of things like birthdays and anniversaries - I have issues, yes, I know - BUT this year, I have loved stopping to think back on how different we are after this time has passed, and how much we have survived, and hopefully learned, and how much more we love each other now, and all of the things - wonderful and miserable - that we will get to do in the future together.
I have no clue why the text/photos arranged this crazy way...

...loathing "Late Nights"

Who knew that it would even be possible for me to HATE a game more than the stupid "stick your hand in the fridge blind folded and you have to eat the first thing you touch" game? Seriously, they actually play this all the time. It is currently under the umbrella of "things that are banned" at our house.
Tonight, out of the kindness of my heart, I told Delaney her friend could stay for a "late night". As soon as we finished up dinner, 5 girls came in the door ready to party. (Come on D! roll the eyes) They had the genius plan of playing "Chopped" (like the Food Network show). I was a little hesitant, but just figured I would not be the party pooper, since I was just feeling grouchy.
A few hours later...my kitchen was covered in peanut butter/carrots/melted chocolate - and by that I mean HALF A COSTCO BAG of chocolate chips - sugar/pretzels/pickles/grated cheese/craisins/crackers/veggie crisps - and by that I mean HALF A GIANT COSTCO BAG -lime juice/pepperoni/mashed up potato chips/chinese noodles/broken glass bowls - which I am sorry to say contained the melted chocolate until it shattered all over my freshly - and I mean 120 minutes before - steam cleaned floor. We won't even go into the two dishwashers full of dishes to be washed. Or the sugar coating on my floor. Yes, that was after the chocolate was mopped up.
Now we know. There actually IS a game I can absolutely LOATHE more than the "fridge game"!

Blog cheese: THEY had a fabulous time.

...One not-so-soon-to-be Eagle Scout...

We were chatting at dinner about a friend of Richard's that had 15 guys in his scout group having their "Court of Honor" tomorrow. We were talking with some of the kids that were over about their brothers and discussing how I guess I will soon need to figure out all of this stuff that is SO foreign to me.
Naturally, we all start asking our main man, Ethan, if he is going to be an Eagle Scout. He assures us that he will and starts his ramblings and telling us how he is going to start now. I jokingly said - Hey, you should get going right away, I mean, you have quite a bit of time on your hands right now. He was completely in agreement and pulled his chair back from the table ready to head off to work...
I laughed and told him that he should learn to knit. He could knit scarves and mittens for the homeless. He looked at me and said, "Mom, that is a hard thing. Just cutting off tags is NOT a hard thing."
Blog Cheese: I am constantly amazed at how these guys are SO SMART and pick up on the world around them.

...birthdays galore..

All I really need to blog about today...is that it is a joyous day in my life. Birthday season 2010 is over. Concluded with a bang! Swimming at the pool with 15 of our close peeps and about 15,000 of our not-so-close peeps! All while it poured snow, and blew, and poured more snow. It is so sad - but truly, I have never been so relieved to be done.

Happy Birthday to all my girls! We shall return to partying in 2012!

...Reliving the glory of 7th grade.

OHHHHH Mannnnnn! Jr. High registration was tonight. Delaney was just totally relaxed. I however have had insane amounts of dread every time I walk by my huge dry erase calendar I use to semi-control my life. I even did the other face cleaner today, due to the fact that I feel like I look super old, and feel super old, and was trying anything to help me face the fact that my child is going to JR HIGH!
HER main concern was hooking up with her peeps to figure out lockers. And wearing these crazy high heeled shoes with her jeans.
We listened to the story about how seventh and eighth grade actually matter and how there will be a lovely little ceremony after eighth. We got the schpeel about credits and electives and all. And heard all about flex time where they get to basically dink around for a half hour a day if they hand in their homework.

Then we took the tour.

It was all lovely, I was cracking jokes and asking about the kids, you know, staying "loose". We walked down a hall and the guides told us it was the eighth grade hall...then the ninth grade hall...then the lunchroom... and poor directionless Delaney acted lost after the first corner. I tried to point out that there were signs and point out where we entered the school and where we turned and it made no difference.

Then we tried lockers.

What will become of her. She started turning the dial...casually, then I pointed out the instructions with the numbers on it. Wow. I tried to show her how to just flip it around the first couple times, and then go for the numbers. Then I was like - no, the other right...and now left...no, that was 49, you needed 43...no, the other left....you have to stop on the 31...okay now try pulling up on the handle....no, where it moves. Well, maybe try again. Again, same basic story. She was acting so ditzy and my stress levels were definitely increasing. The little guy next to us, passed with flying colors. I said - hey, I hope you get a locker next to her so you can help her out. She turned red and gave me a look of death.

Then we registered in the computer lab.

I was trying to get her to pick a seat and sit, and she was not wanting to sit by the guy and his mom on the back row so she was all hesitant. Naturally, that was when the Counselor said, hey, what is your name, why don't you come up and be the example for everyone, you know, since you are still standing. So we all got to watch Delaney register for 7th grade on the giant screen.

I know she is going to figure all of this out and will eventually find her classes and notice what she is doing before she ends up in the boys locker room - I will pace the floor until then. And invest in some Valium.

SABRINA!

Ten years old! Amazing.
Sabrina is an absolutely crazy, hilarious, wild, tempermental, fun, sweet, nurturing part of our family. She has taught us so much over the years. She has the strongest spirit in her. We are amazed at the stuff she comes up with - even though it seems as though she is tuning us out most of the time. She just did a family night lesson last night, and just whipped out her scriptures and turned to some "things she had marked" that she wanted to talk about with us. I thought she was just going to have us do a crossword game thing, but she had a whole plan and had everyone gather their scriptures to read along. Even Ethan. Wow.
She has a few very rare talents..underarm noises being her favorite. (I know, I pray she will grow out of her love of "potty humor"). That is where I will leave that one to the imagination.

One thing that is totally amazing us right now is her piano playing. Her teacher will suggest a song and Sabrina will assure us that there is no way she can do it, and a week or two later, has it memorized. I see a miracle in that every day. 5 years ago at this time, she was totally deaf, and is now playing even the hard primary songs from the book! (aka.. the songs with three or more flats.)

Sabrina is always ready to go. No matter where we are going she wants to come. She was our only kid that just loved the 10 trips a day to Home Depot when we were in that (dreadful) stage.
Even if we are just off to Smith's to grab sour cream - she is in the car ready to roll.

She loves, loves, loves her dates with her dad. She loves to get those on the calendar and reminds us constantly and suggests ideas constantly of ways she can get his undivided attention. We love that about Sabrina, that she just loves to have us to herself.

She is so insanely friendly and kind - so far beyond her years - or genes for that matter. She is constantly off helping some kindergartner who is bawling for some reason or another. She looks for the kid alone and is right there all the time. A little gal moved in and that very first Sunday, she had her name down and found her at recess the next day and played with her, so she just wouldn't feel sad being in a new place. She is such a great sister to Ethan and will be such a nurturing mom.

She is our little alarm clock/appointment keeper. If we need to remember anything - we tell Sabrina. We can even tell her we need to be up at 7 and she will be up at 6:57, telling me I am late.

We love Sabrina so much and are so very glad that we get to have her with us in our home!

In true Sabrina fashion...she saw her 10th birthday in a different way...She announced to Emma, "Ten years old! Only eight more until I can move out!"

...Interviews, and more interviews.

Emma and Delaney have recently had interviews with our Bishop - since Delaney was advancing from Primary and Emma is getting baptized on Saturday.
I am completely and totally shocked at the nervousness this has created. Delaney was pale as a sheet when she finally had to go. I even tried to explain that he was just going to talk to her about her Faith in God and just talk to her about being a good kid. She seriously was so nervous about it. Adorable.

Emma has been worried about her "talk with the Bishop", since the beginning of the year when her Primary teacher told her class they would do that right before the big day. That is literally the only part of the baptism she has had any concerns about. I cannot even tell you how many times she has asked me what I think he will ask her and what will happen if she gets it wrong. We have been over ALL of the questions (and answers) so many times, I actually got mad yesterday when she stared at me stumped. I think the poor little thing was so scared she could not even formulate a coherent thought.

We had to wait a minute for him yesterday. While we sat in the chairs outside the dreaded office, a guy in our stake presidency came out in to the hall. This guy is the sweetest guy you have ever known. He is so tender and nice. He turned around and came back over to her to shake her hand and told her how pretty she looked and all and she stuck her hand up and would not even look at him. Oh my Emma. She was so terrified when we went in, her voice was shaking as she talked to Bishop Lyman. We don't even have like an old mean lookin guy. He is like the same age as Rich and nice and funny as can be.

They choose the oddest things to freak out about.

...The same old lessons.

We spent an evening straight out of our new favorite show "Modern Family" tonight. There was some disgusting behavior that had taken place and I said, "OH GROSS! Who did this?" All of the girls insisted it was not them. Naturally, Richard had to take it to the next level and made them all sit in the bathroom until one would fess up. So...Rich and I ended up eating dinner all alone with Ethan. They sat in the bathroom arguing up a storm about who was the guilty party. We ate our delicious sandwiches and laughed our heads off. The did the whole - Sabrina, just say it was you...plan. Of course, that didn't stick. The best part about this whole thing is they weren't even in trouble - it was no big deal - and yet, they all went nuts. Kids.
It reminded me of the time when my siblings and I were all dead meat for eating the boy scout fund raiser chocolate covered almonds that were stored in our home. We sat forever until we finally talked poor Shan to take one for the team. I feel really guilty about that still. I guess that is why I still have it in my Alzheimer's brain. When I have brought it up, in our old age, everyone else - except maybe Shan - had enjoyed those nasty old waxy nuts. Perhaps now that I have blogged about it, I can fill that little spot in my brain with something actually useful...like my phone number+area code.

...Weeks that are too much to handle...

In my effort at "reality blogging" I will just say that this week began with a miserable birthday brought in being thrown up on. This week ended being thrown up on...and I mean ALL over on. Rich walked down the hall to do something with his new laptop and came back down 5 minutes later with me standing over the washing machine TOTALLY naked and Ethan crying for me to hurry and get his shirt off. (My poor husband can do nothing but shake his head...)In between the throw up sandwich I have cried at least twice the amount of time I have slept, my eyes feel like too full sponges. I have proven to myself one more time how little control I have over my life and what a horrible mom I can be. I have done so much laundry - I may as well live in the darn laundry room. (I am officially calling it a day early - I can't take any more this week)!!!!!
Cheesy blog moment: Tomorrow is a new day...perhaps the sun will shine its sunny face down on all of us miserables. Just a bonus: I am coloring this post the same color as...

EMMA

Emma turned 8 last week! Can we even believe our "little" Emma is already eight years old? I am totally amazed how fast our lives with her have flown by.
We had yet another marathon birthday party for Emma. The best part about it - for me at least - was just sitting on the steps listening to the complete mayhem coming from the pile of little girls giggling and being crazy in the basement. They had a ton of wild fun at her "pretend sleepover" and she absolutely gloried in all the attention. She just beamed the entire time as everyone hung all over her.
Emma is such a bright spot in our family! She is insanely sweet and loving. She is always there for hugs and kisses, and snuggling up anywhere soft. "Soft" is a huge part of Emma's life. She loves anything and everything that is soft. (This must be why she loves to cuddle up to her mom!)
She is such a smart kid! Every now and then she will come home and tell me how she knows something that a SIXTH GRADER(or third, fifth, whatever) knows. She will then perform her feats of knowledge - like double digit math, and spelling crazy words no one knows. She used to arrive at school every morning and tell her teacher an amazing math fact - like 20 times 10 equals 200. How could you not love being greeted with THAT adorableness every day?
Now then, we have a very firm(at least at one time it was) NO PET policy at our house. Emma loves animals - not the big kind - the soft furry kind. In fact, she loves soft, furry animals so much that Santa even had a temporary moment of insanity brought on by the christmas spirit and brought Emma a guinea pig. It is her favorite thing ever.
Another thing I love about Emma is that her sweet/kind/adoring personality also has a feisty little temper to go along with it. From the minute she was born the nurses proclaimed her a red head. And true to her very nature, she has strawberry blonde hair. Soft and sweet + a little fire.


I love Emma so much and we could never be without her in our home!

...Stunned by the sheer poundage...

So, Costco...Today I ran in to Costco to restock the fridge. I literally could not even push the darn cart by the time I was done. It is positively amazing how much food is consumed within these walls. A sampling of the stuff I bought today:
6 pounds of pears
3 pounds of bananas
5 pounds of pea pods
5 pounds of carrots
6 heads of lettuce
6 pounds of apples
5 pounds of onions - okay, not normal, but still.
3 pounds of broccoli
10 pounds of chicken
5 pounds of cheese
10 pounds of t.p. - okay, I don't know how much it weighs, but it counts.

I cannot even believe how heavy my cart was. I threw on a couple bags of salt, a bucket of food storage, and a pot for my tree and the ladies at the checkout were shaking their heads wondering how I stuffed it all in to only one cart - with a child to boot! Poor E was dying for a slice of pizza - but I just could not maneuver the thing through the maze of the food court! Richard will wonder what we will do with it all, and by next Wednesday, we will all be searching for a snack!

Blog cheese moment: I am really grateful I can buy this huge pile of food to feed my kids!

...A whole lot of orange peeling...

What is the deal with people that need EVERY bit of orange peel and white stuff off of their oranges? I have never understood it when Richard spends twenty minutes peeling one orange - when I could have peeled and EATEN 20 oranges in that amount of time...But NOW Ethan needs every single speck of the white off the darn thing before he will touch it. Mom, get that white string off my orange, mom get this white stuff away from my fruit, mom there is STILL more of this yucky stuff on my orange, mom...you get the idea. Of course I do it, because after all, I am still dealing with guilt from my baby bros pb&js and the whole "small triangle" incidences. I was going to put a cute little photo of an orange - perfectly peeled - but, seriously, who has the energy. (in an attempt to be an adorable blogger - I will add in a really cheesy voice- I just love my quirky guys)

...12 amazing years

I keep asking myself where the time has gone? How is it that she got to be this tall? How did she get to be so beautiful? Where does all of her goodness come from?
Delaney just turned twelve! She is almost a teenager. I am turning in to the mom of a teenager. She has Jr High registration in less than a month. Today was her First activity with the Young Women! Wow!
We had a marathon birthday party - SIX HOURS - on Saturday. It began with a movie...the new Percy Jackson. I was sitting at the end of a row of chatty girls and every time some "event" happened in the movie, there was a whole lot of chittering down the row. It was absolutely hysterical. When the movie ended they all went nuts critiquing the whole thing and how it was nothing like the book and just being so darn dramatic! I was just smiling, laughing my head off on the inside.
We all came back and had a pizza/cake/hanging out until I finally took them home so I could go get some stuff done at 9:00 P.M.

The stuff we love about Delaney:

She is a fantastic sister! I cannot think of a time she is not willing to play/read/share/be a
friend. They look up to her so much.
She is the most helpful daughter in the world. I just couldn't live without her!
She is absolutely gorgeous. I just know I am in trouble. See next:
She is "allergic" to boys. (Thank Heavens!)
She finishes far too many sentences with the word - "so...yeah".
She is very patient with my mothering - admittedly, I am such a geeky mom.
She loves food - just like me. She is totally willing to try anything new. I love that!
She is a shopper. She tortures me often, but it is really not that bad when I have her company.
Plus: She is great at finding super deals when she is spending her own money - and loves everything else when I am buying.
She is so determined. She has worked on her splits to get them perfect and is so proud of
herself!
She is obsessed with purple!
She is so crazy smart we don't know what to do with her. But she is too modest to admit it.
She tries to make everyone feel good about themselves with little compliments all the time. She
always notices any little difference in her sisters and they just beam.
She has an incredibly strong spirit and giving heart. She is such a great example of a follower of Christ. We love her insights and love of the gospel.

I am so proud of her. She is so full of goodness and purity and beauty I am constantly amazed.
Happy Birthday Delaney! We love you so much!

...a Mom with some needs...

I know I am addicted, but I have no will power, what can I say. Some day I will resist and be better, maybe. The sad thing is, I opened the package before I even got the darn quick photo taken! I am truly pathetic.

...Awesome Monday nights.

For the past several months, Ethan and I have had a standing date on Monday nights. As soon as Family Night is over, we ditch everyone and head for the tv, for Monday Night Football. Sometimes there is a favorite team to cheer for, but more times, it is just awesome to watch, so Ethan can yell TOUCHDOWN! and throw his arms up in the air like the ref. We had a great time! The best part was after about an hour of this, Ethan would tire out, and squirm down to lay on my lap, and eventually fall asleep right there in front of the tv. I love it when I get to snuggle them while they sleep. Ultimately, I would take him to his nice bed, but I enjoyed it while I could. Tuesday mornings always started with - "Did my orange guys win?" (or blue/white/red) How they hold on to these things in their sleep is a mystery.

We extended the season a bit, by watching the last playoff game last Monday with popcorn, which makes anything in Ethan's life a party. But alas, it is time to say goodbye to football. Monday night he was pretty devastated that we could not have our date. It made me happy that we've had the time together. Go Saints!

...Interesting anatomy lessons.

Having one little boy join our family has brought upon us MANY opportunities for discussions on anatomy at our house. We have been amused since day one by the curiosity this small, extra item has created. The latest in our self discovery:
Ethan is very in to washing his own self in the tub these days...He was explaining to Sabrina the situation of needing to clean his penis...She agreed heartily that it was a great idea. Ethan then told her that next he needed to wash his poo-ness. (Get it: pee-ness, poo-ness)

Naturally this lead to hysterics, which then led to more conversations about things:

Sabrina, who is most definitely our potty humor child had to (once again) discuss the specifics. We went through the whole sha-bang about what everything is, blah, blah, blah. Richard walks down the hall from his office and she informs him that Ethan has a penis and SHE has a "Gaveenus". (G as in giraffe.) I think we can all agree that poor little Emma stuck in the middle of all this is going to have some serious confusion when she actually stops to think on it.

...A new start!

Here's to my attempt at joining the blogging world! I have great ambitions to make my blog real. My life has crazy stuff, and fun stuff, and stuff you would not wish on anyone. I hope I can capture all the "stuff" so I can look back and try to remember the good...especially when dealing with the "wouldn't wish it on anyone".