Didn't I just do this?

In this last week I've noticed that yet again, my girls are outgrowing their shirts. How is it that the length from the waist down to their feet can stay the same while the length from their shoulders down to the waist grows? I don't know. Looks like I'm headed for another clothing run soon. I've seen a few funny t shirts that are cute and pretty inexpensive, I may pick up some of those. I also need to get them long sleeved shirts now that the weather is turning colder. Hopefully I can find some good after Thanksgiving sales.

I really do have the best kids

I've always been in awe over how incredible my two little girls are. They really are something special, sent straight from Heavenly Father's arms into mine. I could go into detail the story of their births and how wonderful they were, but I'd like to take a minute and talk about all the wonderful things they are doing now. Yes, I'm going to brag. :D

Miss J - at four years old, she's more mature than any four year old I know. From the outside, she's a beautiful little girl with almost porcelain looking skin. When I fix her hair and she's all ready to go, she looks like an angel. She's always willing to help and it's surprising how rarely she says no to anything. She loves to try new things especially the things that mommy and daddy do, like cooking or cleaning. Her eyes light up with so much joy when I tell her what's planned for the days ahead that it makes me look forward to them as much as she does.

Miss J is a great big sister. She's always there with her sister teaching, helping, or tagging along. She's naturally protective and likes keeping the peace. It hurts her to see someone sad or scared and she will put her arm around you and tell you it's going to be ok. When she speaks, she can rationalize almost anything in the cutest and most logical way possible. Her curiosity and desire for understanding is endless and while some of her questions are over my head, she never stops believing I know everything.

Miss A - at almost three years old, still surprises me every single day. I call her my chameleon because of her many different funny faces and attitudes. She's the spitting image of her daddy when he was young, blonde hair and all, and I absolutely love that. She has a determined spirit and a heart filled with so much love. She loves to suck her thumb and hold onto a blankie while cuddling with me. As she lays her head on my chest and looks up with those beautiful blue eyes, I can't help but love her a little more.

Miss A loves babies and making sure they happy, not sad. When I babysit, she always wants to help feed them or get them a toy. She also loves to watch movies and relax on the couch. Playing with her sister is one of her favorite pastimes and watching what her big sister will do next makes her laugh. When I play the piano, she's the first one beside me, wanting to play too. She never gets sick of me reading her books and will bring one after another for hours on end. When she sleeps, her face is calm and sweet.

My girls are amazing and I seriously, could not have asked for better children. Yes, they have their defiant moments, but those are minuscule and I easily forget about them. With my husband's and I's schedules, I bet most kids wouldn't do well. But our girls do very well and they're still so good! They help pick up their toys and clean the house and set the table and listen to what we say and they do a million other things! We're not forcing them, they want to help. I feel blessed more and more each day because of how marvelous they are.

My precious angel daughters, I love you very, very, very much. Thank you for being you. XOXOXOXO

She's a funny girl!

I babysat for my neighbor the other day and her children and mine were in the bedroom playing with the toys. I'm here at the computer checking my email and what not, when I hear Miss J having this conversation:

*Talking into her play cell phone

"Oh hi."
"We need help. We're in need of help."
"Are you our teacher?"
"Are you a girl?"
"Oh, that's good."
"Do you have a present for me?"

*Hangs up and proceeds to tell the neighbor boy:

"That was our teacher."
"She said she's coming at five-five-three."
"Just a minute."

*Talking on phone again

"Hello?"
"Thank you for calling back."
"You'll be here at five-five-three?"
"Ok."
"Bye."

At this point I'm totally cracking up! I loved the "do you have a present for me?" and "thank you for calling back." Anyway, I guess Miss J and the neighbor made Miss A the teacher and went on to play something else. It wasn't until lunchtime that the whole "teacher" discussion came back up. All the kids were sitting at the table and this was that conversation:

*Miss J to neighbor boy

"Oh my goodness!"
"Our teacher is eating with us!"

*Him
"Oh my!"

Oh my word, such a funny girl! I just love her so much and the way she makes me laugh. She brightens every day. Love you sweetie!

A new addition

This weekend I had the pleasure of greeting my newest little nephew to the world. My brother and his wife asked if we would come up and help watch their other children when my SIL when into labor. They called early Friday morning and we headed up to see them. The girls loved playing with their cousins and we waited patiently for the new arrival. After a few hours of being in the hospital he finally came!

Can I just tell you how wonderful it is to hold a newborn baby? Oh, he was such a sweetie and handsome to boot! I love the newborn baby smell and watching them sleep all snuggled up in a blanket. My girls were thrilled to get to hold him and give him loves and Spouse and I enjoyed our time with him too. I thought it might be hard being there and not being pregnant myself, but it was actually wonderful. In a way, I was living through them and sharing in their joy.

It wasn't until we came home and Miss J and I had this conversation, that I was a little sad:

Her: "Mommy, do you have a baby in your tummy?"
Me: "No sweetie, I don't."
Her: "I think you have a baby in your tummy."
Me: "No hun, I really don't. I'm so sorry."
Her: "But I want you to!"
Me: "I know. Me too."

I know she's too young to really understand the process, but it makes my heart sad to see her want a baby brother so much and not have one yet. Miss A is even picking up on it and she too is asking for a brother. I don't know what else to tell them other than we have to wait for when Heavenly Father is ready to add another addition to our family. For right now, we all will just have to enjoy other people's little babies. :)

Over and over and over again

I've heard about other kids going through that repetitive stage, but I had never experienced it, until now. Little Miss A is in love with the movie "Finding Nemo" and wants to watch it all day, every day. She even goes as far as to get mad when it's paused to eat lunch. I do let her watch it once a day but no more. You know you've seen a movie one too many times when you and your husband start quoting passages like, "can't hear you Peach." I like the movie and all, but it's starting to wear on me.

Adding to our ferris wheel of repetitiveness has to be the "Swing Swing" song by the All-American Rejects. Again, I like this song, but you can only listen to it so many times. We have it on CD in our car and that's the first thing the girls ask to listen to. They'd listen to it over and over again if I let them, but I'm not that nice. ;) I'm thinking we need a FHE lesson on moderation. Do you think I could convince a three and two year old to do things in moderation? lol

This is why we have children

Sure, we sometimes have rough days, but most of my parenting days are wonderful. Little Miss J has been so cute recently and I want to share a fun glimpses into my parenthood. I love this girl!

1. We weren't introduced until today, but apparently there's a puppy living with us. It's a boy, he's green, and his name is Charky (um, ok). He escaped from view a few times and caused a serious dilemma for my three year old, but thankfully he's safe and sound now. I don't think I ever had an imaginary friend so this to me is priceless.

2. Today was her first trip to the dentist and for the most part, she did pretty well. The lady helping us was so sweet showing Miss J every tool they would use to clean her teeth. Mr. Slurpie became the favorite as she got a kick out of putting it in her mouth. When it came time to clean her teeth they were only able to get four done, which was fine. We'll go back in a few weeks and finish up. I was really proud of her and I even found out that she has ticklish teeth like her mommy.

3. "Mom, if there's anything you need, just let me know." I stopped in my tracks, jaw dropped, and responded with, "well, we do need to clean up your room." Her reply, "oh, ok!!" That was pure heaven.

I'm so blessed. :)

It has been a day

Have you ever had a day where nothing went as planned? Now given, most of my days aren't as planned as today was, but still. It was like a train wreck, just one thing after another. It started this morning when my SIL and I were going to head out to exercise. She ended up being late, which was fine, but I guess it threw everything else off.

I ended up getting home later, which meant we couldn't get some shopping done until later. Again, this would have been fine except for one thing. We went to Wal-Mart (yeah, I know, today is a terrible day to be at Wal-Mart) and everything was peachy until Miss A was not happy about being in the shopping cart. She let me know by flinging her head backwards, causing the top of her head to hit the top of the cart. Blood started coming out and fast, so I grabbed her and ran to the bathroom. It took awhile for the bleeding to slow but I couldn't see how deep it was, so I kept a paper towel and pressure on it while we ran over to the dr.

Thankfully, it was a superficial cut and didn't need any stitches. I didn't like, however, that my daughter was bleeding and yet we still had to wait an hour at the dr's office. Anyway, after that we were hungry so we grabbed some dinner. At this point, we thought it would be safe to go back to Wal-Mart and finish our shopping. (See, I should have realized that it was time to call it a day, but no.)

Well, I can finally say that after our second trip to Wal-Mart, we said the famous words "clean up on aisle seven!" for the first time. No joke, Miss J threw up in aisle seven. I felt like crying but ended up laughing because after everything, what was one more thing. My poor girls had had it, so instead of finishing our plans for the day (we meant to visit family then go on a date) we came home. They took a bath and were in bed by 6:30. It's almost 8pm now and I'm going to bed too. I'm all fun-ed out.

"Bring Him Home Santa"

I heard this today for the first time. It's beautiful and my favorite Christmas song this season. My eyes tear up every time I hear it play. Stop and think for a minute when you listen to it. You won't regret it.

The song is titled "Bring Him Home Santa" and their website is bringhimhomesanta.com. If you download the song, 50% of the proceeds will go directly to the St. Jude's Children Research Hospital.

The disposition of a child

Yesterday, my husband and Miss J were watching a movie about the birth of the Savior. For some reason the actual words were in Hebrew, so my husband needed to explain what was happening to our three year old. The part came where Mary and Joseph tried to find shelter at the inn. Here is what happened after that:

Husband: Look, there's no room for them at the inn. They can't stay there.
Miss J (adamantly) : But daddy! Daddy! There's lots of room at our house! They can stay here!

I marvel at the pure innocence and sincerity of a child. Miss J continues to teach and remind me of what's really important. I thank her for that. :)

Well wouldn't you know

Miss J and I were talking today about how Heavenly Father created us. She then proceeded to tell me that He started by drawing us on a piece of paper. Then used candy to put us together. LOL

So, I can understand the whole drawing idea. After all, many artists sketch out their artwork ahead of time. So that's seems logical. But the candy is a little harder (no pun intended). Maybe it's because most of us are really sweet? :D Either way, it was a priceless conversation and made me smile.

Transition nap phase

Miss A is starting to think she doesn't need a nap. Noooo! It was hard enough adjusting to Miss J not wanting to nap and she was 2 1/2. Miss A isn't even two yet so naturally, I think the idea is nutso. Although, on one hand, it could be nice. Maybe she would go to bed easier and stop waking up in the middle of the night (she can sleep through the night but lately she's been up a lot). But on the other hand, she still needs a nap most days. So I'm thinking of putting her down every other day instead of every day. That way we get the best of both worlds. We'll see how it goes.

A quick quack

Miss J, my eldest daughter, said the sweetest thing tonight after giving her and her sister dinner. She said "oh thank you Mommy for making us our dinner. You're so sweet!" Awww! Her sister, Miss A, does the same thing when I give her snacks. She will repeatedly say "thank you mama" until I say you're welcome. Double awww! It's moments like these that reaffirm why I love being a mom. I am truly blessed to be their mother.

Egg nog is the good stuff

I'm so proud, my eldest daughter has tried and now loves egg nog! Woohoo! She's definitely ours because we love egg nog too. I honestly didn't think she would like it, but it came from my glass and apparently my glass has the good stuff in it, so she took a sip. Her eyes widened as she started to drink and then my glass became hers. Funny girl! The only downside I can see to drinking egg nog, is all the saturated fat in it. Why does the good stuff have to be so bad for us?

Tackle It Tuesday

I finally got to a project that I kept putting off. My girls have a play kitchen that has needed some serious love, but I never wanted to do it. Today I had some time and decided to tackle it head on. I washed it top to bottom, and it looks great. I didn't get to washing their play dishes, but hopefully tomorrow. It just feels better to have them play with clean toys and I don't have to worry if anything goes in their mouth. Anyway, glad to have it off my to-do list!

Tackle It Tuesday is hosted by 5Minutes for Mom - so join in!

With heavy heart

A few hours ago I was told that precious little Ian had passed away yesterday. My tears and heart are so heavy right now. I don't understand why he was taken so early and I will probably never know. But I, and my family, kept hoping he would beat the odds and prove to everyone that he could pull through. Everyday I read about his ups and downs and I felt like in some small way I was right along with his family, worrying, crying, and praying for him. There wasn't a day we didn't pray for him and his family. And even though a part of me knew this was a possibility, I never believed it would happen. Not to him, not to his family.

But it did happen. I am truly grateful for the knowledge and understanding I have of the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. That makes this time a little easier. But my heart is still so weary. Living here, in their old home, makes it harder. I walk into a room and think "this is where Ian and Emily played" and "this is where Ian slept."

I can't even think straight. I have so much to do and I don't want to do any of it. I don't want to do homework and I don't even want to leave the house. Honestly, I can't remember a time in my life where I have been more sad for losing someone.

To Ian, sweet, sweet Ian. You will surly be missed. You taught us all, especially me, to never, ever give up. To keep on fighting because it's worth it. You have blessed and touched our lives just by knowing you. You're definitely a special boy, one that Heavenly Father needed by His side right now. We love you and we will never forget you.

Pedal Car Giveaway!

5 Minutes for Mom is giving away these adorable pedal cars! I'd love to win the Harriet Car for my girls, they would have so much fun. This is such and amazing giveaway so hurry and join in! If you'd rather having something other than the car, you will receive a $179 gift certificate to chose from one of the other items mentioned at 5 Minutes for Mom at the Pedal Cars and Retro Collectibles store.

I need to invest in a plastic floorcloth

What, you've never heard of one? Well I need one, so maybe I will make it myself. Why kids think it's so funny to throw food on the floor, I may never know. So I figure if I have a plastic floorcloth, similar to a tablecloth, I could use that instead of having to mop and sweep. That seems logical enough right? A daily wash down seems easier than pulling the broom, dustpan, mop, and bucket out. Yet another reason I miss our dog; she was so good about "cleaning" the floor for me. She would eat the big pieces so you really couldn't tell it was that dirty. lol

Anyone else in need of a floorcloth or is it a hopeless cause?

Bad mommy :(

Today was preschool day and I was in charge of treats. Along with some grapes and cheese, I decided to make no bake cookies. I tried to do everything right. I made half of the batch with peanut butter and half without, for my daughter who is allergic to peanuts. Well, we all were eating our cookies when said daughter found a little piece of cookie on the ground. Kara was here and even she said something about her being able to eat it or not. I, however, didn't even think twice and said it was ok.

Sure enough, the cookie she grabbed had peanut butter in it and she broke into hives. I felt sick to my stomach. I'm usually so good about this kind of thing. I'm kicking myself for not realizing that it could have been one of the other cookies. I mean Kara did, I should have! I feel like the worst mother ever and even worse that my friend had to see my big mistake. :(

Thankfully Kara was there, because she let me borrow her car to rush to the dr. By the time we got there my girl need a shot of epinephrine. She didn't like it but she did pretty well. The dr asked what happened and I broke down because it was my fault. He was really nice and said accidents happen but I know I could have prevented this.

She's fine now, bless her heart. I'm not going to forget again.

CRD

Have you heard about the CRD? I'm sure most of you have. I come encounter with it every day and if I'm lucky, more than once in twenty-four hours. This makes my day truly special and we have so much fun over here when it's activated. My children are so privileged to each have one.

If you've never heard of this you should be jealous. A child-radar-detector, CRD, allows a child to detect when their parents aren't paying attention for that split second, and they reek havoc. Oh yes, this is the good stuff. The stuff you write home about and tell all your friends how proud you are. Here are some examples of the CDR in action.

Example #1 - Spouse just cleaned up one child and turns to get another paper towel. I'm feeding Baby-Baby and turn away for a split second. Eldest's CDR clicks on like an egg timer. Time slows down as she dumps her milkshake into her lap. One second passed and we see the aftermath. We now have a milkshake for a daughter, we should her Chocolita.

Example #2 - Eldest and Youngest run into my room to supposedly get books. Instead of following them, I decide to sit down for a minute. I mean they are my children, why shouldn't I trust them? Activate CDR. The house is quiet. Birds are heard squawking in the distance. After one minute I get up and go into my room. Both children have dug their fingers into the chest rub and are applying it to themselves.

Example #3 - I'm happily watching my girls play together. I go sit down at the computer and turn away for 2 seconds to refresh a web page. CDR triggered. 2 seconds pass and is followed by screaming. I turn and see Youngest with a black eye.

How did these children inherit such a thing? Why didn't the ultrasound tech pick this up before they were born? This wasn't in my contract. Is there an uninstall button? Off switch? Where's an EASY button when you need one.