Yeah, I can see ninjas

This morning, I was dropping Katie at school, and in the play yard there was a kid dressed in a NINJA suit!! Seriously. And I'm thinkin' "is it really a good idea to let a 4 year old wander around dressed as a ninja?" the teachers will be all, "where's Billy?" "who took that cookie?" "did someone drop this shuriken?" all day long. Then the parents would come to get him, and the teachers are all "was he here today?" and then there will be searches for a missing Billy, and lawsuits...it's just a big mess waiting to happen, I'm sure. If I ran a daycare, I would definitely have a "no ninja suit" policy.

Betty can see

She's been having trouble reading so we decided to get her eyes checked to see if that would help. Turns out, there is a good chance it will.





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Katie turns three

I'll let her tell you about it if this video works. Chris has class tonight so we'll celebrate tomorrow.

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Werewolves and force fields

So, Thursday morning, we rounded the corner to the school, and there in the sky in front of us was the huge, full moon. Aimee and Betty were all "ooooo! pretty!" Then this conversation followed:

Betty: "What about werewolves! I was SO afraid of werewolves last night when I was sleeping!" (and I'm thinking...really? and you didn't know about the full moon until *just* now? lol)

Me: Oh, well, we have an anti-werewolf spell on our house so they can't get in.

Aimee: "There's no such thing as spells, mom" (Betty made some kind of agreement to this)

Me: So, Werewolves are real, but spells aren't?

Aimee and Betty: right.

Aimee: ...is it like a force field?

Me:....yes, it's like a force field. It keeps out vampires too. Really, it keeps out all monsters.

Aimee: What about Butterflies?!!

Me: What *about* butterflies?

Aimee: what if a butterfly comes in during the day, and turns into a monster at night?

Me: Well, basically, if anything turns into a monster, the force field will grab it, and throw it out.

Aimee: is there a button?

Me: button?

Aimee: to turn it off?

Me: yes, but I'm not going to tell you where it is, cause I don't want you to turn it off.

Aimee: But what about the monsters? what if they turn it off?

Me: they can't get inside to get to the button.

Aimee: Oh, the button is on the inside.

Then we were at the school and they ran inside. So, Werewolves, and butterflies that turn into monsters at night, are real...and so are force fields. But spells, do not exist. Just in case anyone was wondering.

Betty graduates from Kindergarden

I'm sorry I wasn't able to get more pictures. I got there early and grabbed an isle seat about halfway back...but then about 20 parents stood right in the front of the isle the WHOLE time (If anyone reading this ever has a question about doing this...it's rude. Either get down lower or take the picture and go back to your own seat)...so this was the best I got as she was walking up the isle.

The program was lovely and the kids sang and danced to several songs then got their certificates. After, they had a party in their room with cake and all kinds of goodies. Her teacher said she is more then ready to start first grade and we are going to keep reading and practicing through the summer. I'm so pleased with her progress this year. She is growing to be such a nice, sweet, smart girl.

Katie turns two

For this picture you have to imagine her popping her two pointer fingers up and saying "TWO" in her cute little voice. It's pretty darn sweet :)

So, what is katie like as a two year old? She is a handful! She has more attitude then any one person should have...particularly in such a little package. It's more attitude then can be contained. Even when she is completely still and quiet (....like when she's sleeping, as that is the only time she is still or quiet) her little body exudes attitude. It's really very endearing. She also get's a strong stubborn streak...I was talking about this with...Beth or Lydia. Sorry I can't remember which one..but they were saying how that side of the family is so stubborn and Katie has it too. Iwas saying that it's interesting because, Chris and Katie both have stubbornness in a way I wouldn't expect...they don't have to be stubborn for very long because they have the gift(? is that the right word?) of persuasion. Either of them can just charm what they want out of anyone! I think I'm going to make him deal with telling her no to things when she gets to be a teenager. Serve him right :)

Her words are so fun, too. These are some Katie words we love:

Fun = Mun
Funny = Munny
Aimee = meemee
Tickle = giggle
pickle = giggle
seagull = giggle
Get up = gup
come on = mon

"no" is her favorite word right now. No matter what you say, she will respond "no" before anything else. "is it ninight time?" "no", do you want lunch? "no", would you like candy? "no....uh hu!" (she won't say yes, it's always "uh hu!")

We had two parties for her and got to use the tiki lounge for both. It was a lovely time, and so nice to have space to have people over and not be so squished in like our old place.

Fun with Aimee

Don't you just LOVE this kid???!!! I mean, how can you not? She is all about fun and "cool" on her own terms.

Spring Dresses

Grandma H. sent new spring dresses for the girls, and they LOVE them! See how cute they are. Aimee and Betty loved to twirl in them, but Katie couldn't twirl fast enough to make her's lift up...so she helped it along :)

I think I need to have Uncle Grady just follow my kids around with a camera all the time...They look all cute and sweet and lovable in all these pictures (not that they aren't those things in real life...but after telling them to quiet down and go to sleep 4 or 10 times, it's hard to remember those qualities...)

Banana?

I guess banana is hard to say lol.

Funny...

So, Mia has been hanging out at our house today. At lunch, both little girls wanted an apple so I just handed each of them one and told them to sit at the table with them...they were mostly good at that, but I did have to keep reminding them to take the apples back to the table. As we were winding down lunch stuff, I checked diapers (as they were walking around with their apples again...) Katie needed a change, Mia did not. So, I say "Mia, take the apple to the table...(they both head to the table) Katie, lay down for a diaper change. (they both turn to the carpet)" lol let's try this again..."Mia, sit at the table (both turn to the table)...Katie, lay down (both head to the carpet)" Silly girls...so, the third time..."Mia, apple at the table please" (they both walk to the table and I grab Katie and lay her down for a diaper change) And of course "Good listening girls!" lol

Cute kids

No pictures in this post...just updates on what the kids are up to and some cute stuff they do...

Aimee is doing great. She is always so happy and loves life so much. She is doing great in school...she is reading and doing her math near the top of her class. She loves to go out and play with friends and is turning into a real social butterfly.

Betty is constantly wanting to be in charge, which can sometimes make her a great helper (and sometimes put her right in the way of what I'm trying to get done...) We were going for a drive the other day and it was getting late and Katie was grumping about being in her seat, so Betty stepped in and sang all the verses of "hush little baby"...I don't even know where she learned it all, but she did a great job, then sang it again and by the time she was done, Katie was relaxed and falling asleep. Betty is also doing great in school and loves her teacher and her class.

Katie is learning a ton right now and is in a really fun stage. She's learned several signs for words, which is nice because when we teach her a new concept, like "sorry", she can get the hand sign pretty quick and then work on the word as she goes. My favorite that she uses a lot right now is "please". The sign is an open palm in a circular motion on your chest. It's so cute to see her do it because she pokes her tummy way out when she does it...like she want's to make sure you can see it. When she is upset like she doesn't want to nap and is crying she will look at you with the saddest eyes and do the sign and say "Meeeeeeeeee!" (her version of please) It's the sweetest thing ever and takes a ton of willpower not to give in to whatever she wants lol. We usually encorage her to say please when she wants something. Today I asked if she could "ask nicely", so I got the please sign with "Niiiiii" lol (her attempt at "nice")

More fun Katie "talking" stories...

I'd had a bear of a day so we decided on happy meals for dinner. On our way to the drive though the other two girls were jabbering with what they wanted, and Katie started adding her order over the top of them with loud "jabber jabber jabber Frefries, jabber jaber jaber kin (chiken), jabber jabber jabber" lol

Favorite word she says right now "Money" (which means "funny")..Its the best after she's been laughing cause it comes out as a little sigh. She's also stated saying "Mon" for "fun"

Chris' Birthday party

Sunday we had a birthday party for Chris. It wasn't anything fancy...we had his sisters' and their families over for Zuppa. We were a little packed in this small space, but it was so nice to have everyone together. I don't think we do it often enough!

Lydia and Beth were noticing how much Betty and Laurel look alike. They really do! and we thought we'd show everyone how beautiful they are.

Just so you can see Katie

She seems to be getting bigger and more grown up all the time, so I thought I'd post a quick video to show off some of her new skills :) Some of her signs are a little off, like doing "food" when she says "more"("Moe-e" lol, so cute!)...but since she usually is only asking for more food, we know what she means :)

It's that time of year again...

Resolutions!

Everyone else is doing it, so I figured I might as well write down and make my resolutions for this year public as well :) Then I'll feel more accountable or something :p

So, this next year...

Our family is going to work on reading the Book of Mormon. I've created a scripture wall where we are trying to create visuals for each chapter to hang up. We are also keeping a reading chart where we can put stickers to see how well we're doing, and we have a monthly goal written down with a reward for finishing it...this month, it's to get though first Nephi and we'll have a root beer float party at the end.

I want to do (finish) something at least once a week that makes me smile. This week, I'm going to work on this little flock of birds. I made one to see how it would turn out the other day. At first I thought I should have enlarged the pattern, but once I got it stuffed, I fell in love! The one little guy I have makes me smile HUGE! I'm excited to see what a flock on a branch over the computer desks will do. I have a small list of sewing and art projects that I'm really excited about, and I want to feel like I'm getting through them this year instead of continuing to add to them...I'm tired of feeling like I'll smile someday...I'm going to start creating my smiles on a more regular basis. Plus I'd like to get my craft blog going and I hope this will help me breath some life into it.

I'm going to be better about keeping the house cleaner....at least clean enough that I feel we can function in it. I've never been very good at keeping a clean house, and I don't see that changing overnight...or even over the course of the year. But I'd like to focus on doing better...things like keeping the kitchen clean enough that I can cook in it without needing to clean part of it first, and making sure that the clothes we need are at least clean and dry when we need them. I know that may not seem like a huge goal, but it will be a big improvement on my stress level if I can stay on top of it better then I have.

I'm going to work on being more patient with my kids. I'm going to focus on answering their questions better instead of saying "*sigh* don't worry about it". I'm going to tell them "later" much less often. And I'm going to take the opportunity to stop whatever I'm doing to let them show me what they are doing every time they ask.

I'm going to find a way to be more active. Last year I tried to start running...but I can't start with the hills around our house, so it felt like a big production to get out and go to the park to run...a 30 min run would turn into an hour and half of my time, and it fizzled out pretty quick. Right now, I'm walking Betty to and from school daily, and that helps, but I'd like to get some more exercise. I'd really like to get an elliptical, but we'll have to see if we can fit it into our tax return budget. So, right now, the exercise goal is in the planning stages, but I'll do whatever I can to make it happen.

So that is my list of goals for this year. I hope to keep on top of them.

My husband's mind

So, people always post cute and silly little things their kids say...well, here is one from Chris. This is an email he sent me from work....

I just had a hangnail that was bugging me, so I grabbed my fingernail clippers and took care of it. Fascinating I know. Then as I was putting it away, my mind wandered to flight regulations and improvised weapons, and then it jumped to Samson killing 1,000 people with the jawbone of an ass (yes it literally jumped from killing people with fingernail clippers to killing people with the jawbone of an ass).

Which of course derailed for a minute when I had to ask myself again, “how the Hell (or maybe Heaven in this case) could the jawbone of an ass last long enough to kill 1,000 warriors that were armed and presumably armored?”, and, “Did he just carry one around knowing that it wouldn’t be viewed as a weapon?”.

So anyhow, back on topic, I know of 1,000 people that have been killed with the jawbone of an ass, but I know of zero people that have been killed with fingernail clippers (though I have to assume that there has been at least one). So if I went to board a plane with the jawbone of an ass in my bag, (which as we now know has more deaths attributed to it) would they confiscate it as an improvised weapon?

What if you were an ass farmer (ass rancher? Whatever it is called, I don’t want to have it as my title)? Would it make you less likely to have the jawbone confiscated?

Just thought I would share my thoughts and musings with you.

First Snow and Halloween

We had our first snow the other day, and the girls were very excited to go play in it. How cute are they?!



Not long after that, Katie spent a few days sick...fever, throwing up...overall not feeling well. She had slept all morning on my lap, so during her regular naptime, I didn't figure she would sleep, so I put her in front of a movie...where she fell asleep, poor thing. but I got a cute sleeping baby picture out of it :)Tonight was Halloween. The girls had SOOOO much fun. We are used to having a Church party sometime before, then not doing much on Halloween itself..well, we didn't do anything big, but we did trick-or-treat around our neighborhood. This is the first time we've lived in a neighborhood where we could do that. It was great fun, and we all enjoyed the brief socializing we got to do with our neighbors. Aimee wanted to be a fairy, Betty a cheerleader. My sister-in-law, who is the most amazing shopper, went out and hunted down costumes for them...even came back with that adorable chicken outfit for Katie. I was so grateful for her help (especially because with Katie sick, I had been less then motivated to get stuff together).

Katie is really hard to get a picture of right now...you turn the camera her way, and she charges for it to see herself on the screen.
The first house...Katie's first time trick-or-treating...She really was confused about the whole thing for a while. Before long she figured out that people would come to the door and put stuff in her bag. She'd push though her sisters to help knock on the door...then she was very "businesslike" about the whole thing. By the time we were done she was trying to say "Trick-or-treat" (which sounded a bit like "Eeee-eee") and "bye-bye" when we were done.

At the end, I had them knock at our door so I could get a good picture. Overall, it was a fun night, and they pulled in a good haul...I made them put all the candy in one bowl that we will all share. (notice the bags? I think next year I may make some halloween themed ones just for trick-or-treating...they were perfect for it!)

Pumpkin patch festival

So, I've been bad with pictures mostly because my camera had been broken. Then my dad got me a new one for my birthday! Yay Dad! Then, I got sick, so I haven't taken many pictures...but now I'll do better...

So last night, we went with Chris' sisters and their family to a pumpkin patch. We had a great time and were so glad they called us to join them!
They have evenings were there are booths and hay rides and they play Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin in a big field. We had dinner while we watched.

Then we went on a hay ride. Not a lot of great pictures because it was pretty dark by then.
At the end, the girls got their faces painted. Betty wanted a black cat...Aimee wanted to be pink lol.

It was a really fun night. We didn't get pumpkins last night because there were so many other things to do.

Pictures of the bags

So here are the pictures of my new grocery bags. I must say, I've discovered that having pretty grocery bags is truly one of life's simple pleasures. I love little things like that that make me smile...and it's so much better having made them myself! I've used them 3 times now (yeah, I forgot things that many times...good thing we have stores that are close...) They guy at wal-mart said he liked them cause they fit really well in the loading area, unlike the ones that you can buy at wal-mart. (he just slid the handles right where the holders were for the plastic ones). The lady at the store tonight asked if I'd made them and said they'd turned out really nice. I also like how sturdy they feel when they are loaded with groceries. And, I keep them in a little stack (gotta find a good place to keep it) and then I can slide my ongoing shopping list inside the pocket of one...that way I'm less likely to forget them when I go to the store and I have a place to keep a list of things we need. Oh, I'm so going to have to make more of these, so I can get a whole week's worth of groceries in them. And I was thinking they'd make great bags for the girls for Sacrament meeting...maybe with slightly longer handles....hmmmm...now where did that stash of fabric go??? :)

Yay me!

So, for a while now I've been wanting some good reusable grocery bags...and I've secretly been coveting really pretty ones(like these maybe or These...). But so many are so expensive, and I couldn't see spending a ton on grocery bags. So, I looked up a pattern and found this one. I've made 3 now. Mine are a little...lumpier, then the one here, but they are so pretty, and I'm so proud of myself for how they turned out. Especially since I don't sew very much. Plus, I spent only $9, and have lining for 3 more(and fabric for more if I could find it...), so I think I did pretty good. And I think mine are prettier then the other ones. Of course now Chris has put in a request for some that are a little less..."girlie". we're going to take them out shopping and see how we like them today, then maybe I'll throw some more together...

I'd post a picture, but my camera is broken, so I'll see if I can get Grady to take one for me later.

Are you ready for General Conference?

So, I've started thinking about what we are going to do for Conference this year...this will be our first one with just our little family...no planned trips, or friends, or family staying with us. I really am wanting to form some great traditions surrounding this so it can be a weekend to look forward to twice a year...so here is my game plan. Feel free to share any other ideas anyone may have.

First, we don't get TV signal (I know, dad that you gave us the money to get the signal box thingie...just haven't done it yet, and I'm actually kinda liking not having TV on all the time). So the computer will be on, but ONLY to watch conference...no games, or Facebook, or surfing. All weekend.

I will be printing out Conference packets (this is April's, but it looks like fun, and I'll watch for an October one on Sugardoodle.net over the next few days....there may be one on there that I'm missing) These worked great for at least one session in April.

Another part of my plan has to do with food. Smell is a big trigger for memory or whatever, so I'm planning a really fun menu for the weekend. Bacon and Egg Pie, Roast and potatoes, french onion soup, pumpkin pie, cookies, muffins...I'll make a big batch of bread dough to turn into cinnamon rolls, scones, and dinner rolls....basically we're going to try to focus on filling the house with yummy smells all weekend...and keep the sugar content down as much as possible...plus the girls can help with the bread dough during one session of conference! Keeping hands busy will hopefully help keep mouths quiet.

Along with keeping hands busy...Chris and I will play quiet games with the girls when we are not doing conference packets...pulling out Katie's toys, coloring with them, checkers, etc. I'm going to order some Chinese jump ropes for cat's cradle and get some fuzzy posters for them to color.

I'm really excited for this next weekend and hope it will be great. Aimee told me today that she doesn't like Conference...I really hope I can change her mind about it.