Lessons

EmJ learned an important life lesson today...

There is never enough bacon!

Willie taught me an important life lesson today...

A man rode up behind us on his bicycle. The kids and I moved to the edge of the sidewalk so he could pass us. As he rode on ahead, Willie asked, "Who was that?"

"Nobody," I replied.

"Well, he's somebody!"

Thanks, Willie.

Isn't that Cute!

So, it will come as no shock to any of you that I am vehemently opposed to giant flowers and bows being placed on the heads of infant girls. Yuck! This horrid Utah tradition has spread and is consuming the world.
(Speaking of Utah, when I opened up the Ensign this month there was a lovely, large picture of a poor little baby WITH A GIANT BOW ON HER HEAD in the magazine. So don't tell me this is not a Utah conceived plot!)
However, I have a great many family and friends that are or were or have been sometime in their lives, Utahns, and I love them despite it all. I even love them when they put giant flowers on their baby girls.
And since you undoubtedly all disagree with me on the flower thing, go ahead and visit my sister, Lindsey's, new blog:

http://www.accessoriebylindsey.blogspot.com/

She makes some adorable things, that you will all love! I particularly like the Yankee bow...duh!

Finally some Good News

Tttttthhhheeeeee Yankees Win!!!!!!!

Plan of Salvation

Pardon me for waxing sentimental and spiritual for a moment...it's been a long day!

I've been thinking on the Plan of Salvation today. In fact, there has rarely been a minute that it has left my mind. For those of you who read this blog and are not LDS, the Plan of Salvation, or Plan of Happiness, is the term used to refer to Heavenly Father's plan for his children...probably very similar in many respects to other Christian theology. Quite simply, our Father's plan was to provide a Savior for all of His children, that they may, through the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ, return to live with Him one day. In fact, the very first song that most LDS kids learn (okay, I'm totally stereotyping...it's the very first song MY kids learn) says,

I am a Child of God and He has sent me here.
Has given me an earthly home, with parents kind and dear.
Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way,
Teach me all that I must do to live with Him some day.

That knowledge that I am a Child of God and that He loves me was and still is the very foundation of my testimony--the things that I know to be true. If I live worthily here on earth--be good, go to church, vote Republican, repent for being sarcastic on my blog, etc--then my reward will be great. Eternal life with my family great, but I have to do my part here on Earth.

Children are perfect, innocent, and cannot sin. Therefore, when a child dies before a certain age (8), they return immediately into the presence of our Father in Heaven. What a perfect, wonderful, and comforting doctrine!! The last couple of days, many, many people have been praying for a miracle for a young friend of mine. Perhaps the miracle is that he now gets to be in Heaven, not having to experience the pains and temptations of mortality, awaiting the resurrection, where his little body will be perfect and healthy, and also awaiting the time that he gets to be reunited with his family. Though my heart is breaking for his family right now, I am in awe of Heavenly Father's mercy and love for His children.

I am a Child of God and so my needs are great.
Help me to understand His will before it grows to late.

I am a Child of God, rich blessings are in store.
If I but learn to do His will, I'll live with Him once more.

I am a Child of God, His promises are sure.
Celestial glory shall be mine if I can but endure.
Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, helf me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do to live with him someday.


*That Republican thing was just a joke...sarcasm...it's a bad habit!

Trunk or Treat

Happy Halloween!!! I love and hate Halloween...hate it because of all the work involved for one or two evenings of dressing up, love it because it ushers in the whole holiday season. We get to eat turkey soon, and hang Christmas lights, and the music, oh, the music!!! So tonight the kids headed off to a trunk or treat, while I sit here blogging, listening to the game, and congratulating myself for having spent $0 on Halloween costumes this year...man, I wonder if I can pull off Christmas for the same...

Sam is too sick to trunk or treat tonight (she kept saying, "No treat-treat, no treat-treat!"), so she doesn't get to show off the costume I've been slaving over! (You catching the sarcasm?) Actually, Luke and I are dressing as bacon and eggs again this year and Sam is my only child that would jump on the breakfast food bandwagon.

Batman. On Gus's terms only, though.

A tae-kwon-do guy. I think.

And a leopard. This is a completely EmJ costume. (I tamed it a little bit....) Her class is doing the play "Where the Wild Things Are" tomorrow, so she took it upon herself to be a wild thing. Very cute.

"It's high, it's far, it's gone. A thrilla by godzilla."

Yankees just took the lead.

So, that's it for me!

Happy Trick or Treating!

I love my family. They're all favorites. However, my cousin Jace holds a special place in my heart. As kids, we fought (and occassionally played ball), as teenagers he introduced me to his cool friends (because California boys are always better, right?), as adults he has become a good friend, a good uncle-cousin to my kids, and my personal chef (okay, not really, but if he ever lives near me, he's invited to dinner every night!). He is the one who came closest to living out my dreams of becoming a Yankee, and I adore him! So, I'm sooooooo so happy that I got to attend his wedding last week. Being there for his special day almost made spending 30 hours in the car with the kids by myself worth it. Almost.

Jace's beautiful bride, Angela. EmJ was enthralled with the bride and bridesmaids...princesses!
Willie and Benjamin were enthralled with the fact that there was a playground right outside the reception hall. Willie ruined his suit. That's my boy!

Angela about to throw the bouquet. I included this picture because it's the only one that shows her awesome shoes. (Seriously, girls, enlarge the pic.)

The groom/mother dance. Aunt Traci looked hot! (She made that observation herself...I'm just quoting her!)

First dance. Awwww!

Sam blended in with the decor, though she didn't show a lot of decorum...hiking up her dress, sliding around on the floor, and leaving the reception for good once she discovered that there was a park.

The boys and cousin Kiffyn. They were smitten...never mind that they have a sister the same age, Kiffyn's cooler.

Lindsey, Sam, and Kiffyn dancing the night away. I think both, no, all three girls are about to collapse from exhaustion.

And she did, as soon as we got in the car Sam was out. She slept well that night, as I recall.

I was exhausted, too, because not only did I drive for 30 hours to get to Bakersfield and back, but I had to lug that tummy around with me. 16.5 weeks and I already look pregnant? Not cool.

(P.S. Yes, that was an announcement. You can all congratulate me now, or say, "Neener, neener," if you already knew, or shoot daggers if I have seen you recently and not said a word!)

One final note. The Yankees won the night of Jace's wedding. (I would wager that if you go back to all the important dates in our family, you would notice a decisive victory trend.) Yes, our family creates our own Yankee magic!!!

Dear Ms. Hudson

While I strongly question your taste in men (did you know he gets pedicures?...and I'm pretty sure he wears lip gloss), I appreciate your beau's performance thus far in the ALDS.

Thank you.

Tell him to keep up the good work.

From,

A Loyal Yankee Fan

Humans and Doorknobs

You know those days when you are CERTAIN that CPS has hidden a camera in your home, is going to show up at your door, take your kids, and sell them to China because they'd be much better off spending 14 hours a day learning some obscure art form like plate spinning or contortionism all while being indoctrinated with communism, than spending any more time with their crazed mother who is taking the short bus to the looney bin.

You know those days. Don't lie.

But then your child goes and says something profound to totally redeem himself, like...

"When I grow up, I'm going to be a human."

Really? Promise?

Or they do something like this...

Throw a goldfish cracker in the air to try and catch it in his mouth, hang out under the goldfish, watching intently to follow it into his mouth, bang eye on doorknob because goldfish drifted a little too far.

I didn't do it. CPS, did you catch that? He gave himself a black eye. But that hidden camera would have caught Luke and I laughing hysterically and calling America's Funniest Home Videos.

Benjamin's First Day of Preschool

A few weeks ago, Joshua came in the house and asked Luke to buy him a "drump" for his bike. A drump? Sure, but we can just make one. So, five minutes later, Joshua was showing of his skills with a sweet new drump in front of our house. (Yes, that is a girl bike. Yes, he would like a new one. Who wants to be the Christmas hero?)

Sam wanted to get in on the first day of school pictures.

Benjamin, on his first day of preschool!

Awww, all decked out!

With his teacher...Oh, that's me! He is doing great in his "preschool", but is very upset that it's not "real preschool". Sorry bud.

It's October!!!!

Alright, in honor of the playoffs starting (with a Yankee win) yesterday, I decided it's finally time to get the blog updated! So, at long last, here are the first day of school photos! (Sorry about the wierd layout...I'm not sure what's up.) Anyway, first off, we have our healthy, brain enhancing, first day of school breakfast--Crepes with whipped cream and chocolate!

Next, we have EmJ and Willie posing for the camera. Say cheese!

EmJ, in all her new outfit and messenger bag glory. (She just HAD to have that thing, and now she hates it.) I hate the Mr. Rogers sweater, but apparently it's trendy.

And here's Willie, later in the day, all decked out for his first day of PMK. Why do my kids feel the need to, literally, pose for the camera?

And lastly, Willie waiting at the bus stop. The bus was 25 minutes late, and we eventually just drove to school. He was so sad, but recovered when we got there and his teacher declared that the kids would be making a human train to chug to Kindergarten. Human trains make everything better!

Indian Dance

Remember when you took piano lessons when you were a kid, and you got to the end of the first level, and you played this song...

Little Indian, little indian
Round the fire he would dance.
Little Indian, little indian
Do the indian dance.

Best song ever, right? I bet you can still play it by memory.

Weeeeellllll, EmJ is nearing the end of her first piano book, so I checked for the Indian Dance. And to my suprise, political correctness has even entered the realm of piano lessons! It is now called "Tribal Song". I think in the last edition it was "Native American Dance." In the next edition it will simply be "Campfire Celebration."

My, oh my, oh my....

And

Why, oh why, oh why....

Would you pitch to Ichiro with 2 outs in the 9th when first base is open?! Why?!

I was having a perfectly good game up until that point. I was too busy picking my jaw up off the ground to go for Ichiro's homerun ball, which was only three seats over and a row back (I totally could have crushed that Asian lady to get to it). To make matters worse, I could hear Luke cheering from four sections away. (We don't sit near each other when the Yankees are in town.) I should have known, though, in the 6th inning, that things were taking a turn for the worse. It was at that point that Samantha mooched an entire tray of garlic fries from the lady in front of us, and EmJ announced to everyone around us that she was combing Joshua's hair and searching for lice. People cleared out pretty quick.

The end.

Yankees!

*Sam can say "baseball" and "Yankees" (biddeeeeeeeez!). Let the indoctrination begin.

*Benjamin has been working on finding a better outlet for his screaming and tantrums (like throwing sharp objects at the offensive person, food, article of clothing, piece of furniture, etc). Yesterday, I noticed him wiping his eyes on his shirt and muttering to himself, "Stop it! Stop it! No tears! Stop it!"

*Joshua loves Kindergarten, and tells me much more about school and his daily interactions than EmJ ever has. The problem, however, is that he starts talking in the middle of a thought and expects me to understand exactly what he's saying.
"...with the brown shirt" or "...except it wasn't a whole sticker book, just one sticker" or "...and I sat by him on the bus."
So I'll say, "You sat next to someone wearing a brown shirt and they gave you a sticker?"
And Joshua will look at me like I'm an idiot and say, "Just listen next time! The brown shirt guy doesn't even ride on my bus!"

*Also, Joshua has a new friend named Marcelo. He's Italian, and because he's Italian, Joshua feels the need to pronouce his name with a sort of Italian flair..."Today I played with (pause) Ma-chay-lo."

*EmJ refused to do any chores on Friday, because she was the "Helper of the Day" at school, and that's HARD WORK. You have to, like, walk the attendance all the way to the office and make it back without tripping on the sidewalk or missing the Pledge of Allegiance! So, heaven forbid you also sweep my kitchen.

*Samantha threw a deskful of papers into the toilet yesterday. I found her, started taking the papers out, and started scolding..."No, we do not throw anything in the toilet." Sam nodded her head and looked at me with a look that said, "I know, I'm so sorry this happened to you. I can't believe the nerve of some people!" I simultaneously wanted to laugh and throttle her.

*I promise I WILL put first day of school pictures up soon. I just haven't gotten around to unleashing them from the camera!

*EmJ attended a town hall meeting with Luke a few weeks ago. Of her first foray into politics, she said, "There was more stomping, yelling, and clapping than talking." Yep. Accurate. You should have brought the 50,000 tomatoes from our garden to throw at Jay Inslee. Nobody would have suspected the little Aryan girl.

*I roasted a chicken! Well, okay, Luke did all the dirty work...but it was tasty. The next day, I made chicken soup. And it was yummy! I even harvested all our carrots and onions for the soup. I was so proud of my little garden and my little chicken and the fact that I actually cooked two fabulous meals in a row....that's some kind of record, right?!

The End of Summer...

Yep, summer is over. I wish I was sad, but I'm definately not. I'm looking foward to school, jacket weather, the playoffs, and all that good stuff. We decided that, for our last summer hurrah, we'd take a little road trip (well, okay, Luke had to work and we just happened to stow away...). We went to Yakima (blech) to visit some dear friends (hooray). When it came bedtime, I made a little space for Sam on a crib mattress in the dining area. This picture is how I found her in the morning. It was very cute.

On the way home, we stopped at Snoqualmie Falls...it's a lot smaller than I remember...EmJ snapped this cool picture. I think I'm going to suggest that she enter it in the Reflections contest.

Then today, we went to Jetty Island. It's a manmade island in Puget Sound that you take a free ferry ride to get to. Though the ferry ride is all of 30 seconds, my boys thought it was amazing. The beach is fabulous, too. I predict that we will spend quite a bit more time there next summer. Hopefully on days that are not drizzly, windy, and cold.

And so, with summer's end comes Back to School! As you can see, we are all ready! I think I'm more excited than the kids. I can't wait to see Joshua's little face as he gets on the bus tomorrow!

Alright, time to get the kids in bed so they can be ready for school!!!!

Cookie!

The girls and I were at the mall the other day and Sam started yelling, "Cookie, cookie, cookie!" I'm never sure if she's saying real words, or if she means what she says, so I asked her if she wanted a snack. She nodded emphatically, so I whipped out an orange, peeled it, and handed her a slice.

She took one look at it, threw it across the mall, and shouted, "COOKIE!"

I guess she knows what she's saying.

Quiz

A gift certificate to a ritzy salon leads to a serious lapse in hair judgement. You...

a. tell the truth

b. hide under a rock for 3-6 months

c. blame it on your scissor-wielding toddler

Funny

This is hilarious...

www.shannonhaddenphotography.blogspot.com

My sister's family had portraits taken last weekend, and they had a little, um, incident! (Remniscent of the famous Dad vs. the Praying Mantis episode that occurred some 20 years ago...)

Time to Blog

MAJOR BREAKING NEWS!!! EMMELINE LOST HER FIRST TOOTH!!! I figure I'd better match her excitement level. I think that the thrill of losing the tooth is matched by the thrill that EmJ, the wimp of all wimps, pulled it out herself--gore and all. Hooray!! The tooth fairy schedule must have been awry on Friday night because whoever had the early shift only brougth 25 cents, but whomever had the late shift missed the memo, visited EmJ a second time, and left a whole dollar. Dang that undermining toothfairy minion!

Now that the major announcement is taken care of, enjoy the rest of our random summer pictures!!

That's my girl!

My mom and I took the kids to the flight museum last week. It was heaven for Gus..."Look Joshua, it's a gun-sooter, a gun-sooter, Joshua, see it? It's a gun-sooter, Emmeween, a gun-sooter!"

Our first tomato and cucmber from the garden. We've been enjoying beans for a while, and now the tomatoes and cucumbers are ready! Yum!! Our corn is gorgeous and has been fun to watch grow, but I don't think it's going to produce anything. And we're still waiting on carrots.

I found the kids down here one day vacuuming. Love it!

Long story. We took the older kids school shopping for family night a few weeks ago. Distraught that he didn't get anything, Gus picked out a pack of play-doh and insisted that he needed it. He was dead set on getting the play-doh. I sent Luke and the kids to the car while I paid for our merchandise, and, true to form, left the play-doh with the cashier. Benjamin fell asleep on the way home, and I thought I was in the clear. NOT SO! The next morning, he went on a search for his play-doh and upon discovering that it was NOT in the bag became very upset. I, of course, blamed it on the cashier, which caused a string of three-year old insults to spew from Gus' little mouth..."lame-head" "stupid guy" "poop face" "dorky porky"...He even called Luke to complain about his fate (Luke gave him some more name-calling ideas). So, that afternoon, while Sam was asleep, we made play-doh. My penance for shafting my son and letting the unsuspecting cashier take the brunt of his wrath. The end.

Samantha--being sassy.

One hot Saturday, we ended up babysitting most of the cousins at our house. So, I put them to work washing the cars. Yep, I'm the coolest Aunt ever!

Sam's first pigtails--They were adorable, but my attempts to get a picture resulted in pictures of Sam trying to grab the camera.

Sam sat in Primary with me a few weeks ago. She grabbed a Book of Mormon and made herself at home on one of the little chairs. I was so proud! Furthermore, I like this picture because her hair is neat, her clothes are clean, and there is no food on her face. Plus, that wicked farmer tan needs to be showcased!

Did I mention the cherries on the blog? We picked cherries from a neighbors tree (a 5 gallon bucketful). It took three solid days of pitting to work through all the cherries, and I haven't yet been able to stomach the resulting jam or pie filling. This picture is of Benjamin's "cooking" with the cherries. I frequently find random kitchen stuff all over the house because of Benjamin and his projects. In the past few weeks we've also picked blueberries and plums...and our freezer is full to the gills.

And that's it. Maybe in the next few weeks, I'll be a little more diligent about posting our summer adventures!

Beat the Heat

I thought it was high time I post. I have much to say, but not much patience for sitting in the sweltering house to say it...

*Luke and I went on Trek last week. That deserves it's own post, and I'll do one as soon as I get my hands on some pictures.

*"Delicious jams and jellies," is from National Treasure. "Why can't it just say, 'Here's the treasure, spend it wisely?'" Great flick.

*Benjamin went to bed the other day with a bunch of goldfish crackers in the cargo pocket of his shorts. Way to go, Napoleon!

*Yesterday I sat outside in the kiddie pool. All by myself. It's about 4 feet in diameter and 12 inches deep. At one point, a bee was attacking me, so I started shrieking and splashing at it...I'm pretty sure my neighbors have pretty valid concerns about my sanity.

*We have a lovely city councilman running for re-election on an "ecofriendly sidewalks for our city" platform. What? Call me crazy, but I think we have bigger problems.

*I'm starting to lose my faith in public libraries. It started way back when Joshua was a toddler and was pulling board books out of the bin. The librarian said, "Oh, no, we musn't touch the books." It has escalated recently, as the library capped attendance on a magic show. Now, I have no problem with them capping the attendance, but it was a show for kids. So, doesn't it lie to reason that you let the KIDS into the show and ask the parents to wait in the library so more KIDS can enjoy the KIDS show?

*The heat wave is making me insane and grumpy. We have a growing list of home improvements to make, but I just moved A/C to the top of the list. Who cares if the roof leaks, at least I won't be hot for those three days in July...

*Have grocery stores ever considered installing a drive-thru for people who only need to pick up one thing? I may even consider paying a service fee for that.

*Did I mention that we are SWELTERING?!

*I'm going back out to the kiddie pool now. Maybe I'll run through the sprinkler while the kids are napping.