Seven?!

I can't believe EmJ is seven years old! How did that happen?! Here she is blowing out her candles...it took three tries...

EmJ didn't have a party this year, but Veronica, Clark, and La came to eat cake with us. It's such a treat to have family close by.

A new (old) camera!!

A new swimsuit...getting prepped for spring break!

I was able to go to EmJ's classroom, where they sang to her, ate cupcakes, then mauled Samantha.

And with that we look forward to Joshua's birthday (he keeps reminding me...every day...multiple times a day...). I personally am looking forward to two small get-aways, my own birthday, and opening day! Perhaps then I can focus on the desperate-for-a-party-almost-five-year-old!

Samantha

Will Play for Food

Oh, here's a better picture! Seriously, Samantha looked like a little orphan yesterday. She has a cold--baggy-eyed, red-cheeked, crusty-nosed--and coupled with her rooster hair and shoes on the wrong feet...well, it was comical. And she's comical anyway. She is so proud of her new mobility, and she lets us know. I find her constantly doing the most random things. Some favorites--standing on the bathroom stool, trying to see herself in the mirror, pretending to brush her teeth with EmJ's toothbrush (probably why she's sick, hmmm?); climbing onto the kitchen table; pulling all the toilet paper off the roll and then tearing it into teeny peices; bringing me her shoes and then standing at the door begging to be let out; and, of course, wanting to play with the big kids wherever we may be.

She's still working on her social skills, though. See the little innocent Sam? Eyeing an equally innocent friend.

Aaaaaand, then stealing his binky. I wish I had gotten a picture of her face each time she took the binky and he started screaming. She gave him this look of, "What's your problem?" Beware, kiddo, someday the kids are going to fight back, and they are all bigger than you!!

Spring Fever

Today Joshua asked if we could go on the slip and slide. Um, no. It's freezing. He said, "No, it's warm. Come outside, you can smell it getting warm!"

I will admit that for a minute today, there was a teeny bit of freshness...a springy feel to the air...and it was intoxicating! I have serious spring fever...and baseball fever.

So, instead of the slip and slide, we played baseball. Worked on Joshua's swing. He double taps just like Edgar. That's my boy!!

Treasures

For my birthday I want a treasure box. A special place to store all of the goodies I glean from the laundry pile--because it is a known fact, and should be law, that the Washer gets to keep anything they find in the laundry. Here is a list of the things I will put in my special treasure box...

*Money, lots of money, mostly coins
*Pebbles
*Beebees
*Beads
*Crayons
*Pencils
*Ballpoint pens
*Hot Wheels
*Homework, drawing, and other creations (may or may not include buttons, popsicle sticks, clothes pins, or cotton balls)

and my personal favorite....

*The two-week old YOLK from a hard-boiled EGG! Yes, I am serious. You read that correctly. Yolk. Hard-boiled egg. Yum.



In other news, Benjamin's current favorite movie is Hercules. Yesterday, as Joshua climbed over him to get in the car, Benjamin said, "Get your slimy soul off me!"

Grrrrr...

Benjamin, playing on the swingset. He just figured out how to work the glider and can sit on that swing "foe-eber"!

The kids with their buckets. See the "I Like Kyle"? Sam is in my bucket...it says, "Kirstin + Luke", but on the other side (that Luke conveniently hid) it says, "Kirstin + Yankees"!

So, I tried again and again and again to upload a walking video on here, but blogger hates me. So, here is Samantha, all tuckered out from hours of me making her walk back and forth across the room. She's cuddling her sippy, and that is an entire apple slice in her mouth.

I'm the Boss (and other stuff)

*There was a dead rat on our back patio yesterday.

*Samantha is officially a bi-ped. I'll get a video on here soon, as soon as she'll cooperate!

*Last night for family night, we decorated buckets for our garden. (I'm going to try some container gardening this year...) Luke's bucket says, "I Like Kyle." Go figure.

*Emmeline wrote me a haiku.

mother

oooo xxxx

nice fun FHE

help good teach cool

nurturer

She said, as she handed it to me, "I didn't write 'mean' or 'bad' even though sometimes you yell." Thanks, EmJ.

*Driving home on Sunday night, EmJ pitched a fit because Willie was apparently singing too loud and she couldn't concentrate, etc. I went into a monologue about how Willie can talk if he wants and she needs to just learn to deal because she's not the boss of the car conversation. Gus butted in with, "But I am the BOSS of my tractor and my Wilson!," and single-handedly derailed my tirade.

The Car Mat

Willie and Gus have a car mat. It's a small area rug with a city on it. Roads for their cars to drive one, bridges, grocery stores, parks, you get the picture.

Well, yesterday we had an incident involving the car mat, the vacuum, a very scared four year old, and a lot of smoke.

"DADDY, THE VACUUM CLEANER IS EATING MY CAR MAT!!!!!!"

My house still smells like burnt rubber. And gone are Luke's Saturday morning ranting about how his boys will learn to WORK, WORK, WORK....perhaps they are a bit young!

Testimonies

Yesterday, during family night, we were talking to the kids about testimony. Trying to help them realize times when they have felt the Spirit testifying to them, felt good when they made good choices, etc. The evening broke down with the following conversation:

Me: EmJ, can you think of a time when you felt your testimony grow?
EmJ: When I watched a movie about Joseph Smith. I think it was when I was 3.
Dad: How about you Joshua?
Joshua: Say your prayers. (That's his standard answer for everything.)
EmJ: Joshua had a testimony once, but he forgot where he put it.
Joshua: Duh, in my BRAIN!

Thinking about it has kept me chuckling all day.

Benjamin has a play food set that includes some fake ice cream cones. Today, at IKEA, he noticed a poster advertising frozen yogurt. He started asking for ice cream, and I responded that we could have some when we got home. He started sobbing, and when he finally calmed down he said, "But, I don't want pretend ice cream!"

And finally, a status update. We took Sam and Benjamin in for their checkups. Benjamin weighed in at 34 lbs (approx. 3 lbs MORE than Joshua) and 39 inches. Samantha, the pipsqueak, weighed in at 18 lbs. 4 oz. and 29 inches. Never fear, however, her head is in the 75%! Quotable quote from our adorable doctor regarding the Sam, "Oh, she's tantruming already, what a precocious girl!"

Good Reads

I can't believe I waited 26 years to read "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis. Wow! I highly recommend it.

And now that I've finished stuffing my brain with important, relevant, and useful information, I'm going to begin reading "Confessions of a She-Fan" by Jane Heller. This woman wrote my book, stole my idea, lived my life. Oh well, at least I'll enjoy reading about it!

(Just a note. In the time betwixt drafting this post and publishing it, I've found Ms. Heller's account to be interesting, yet vulgar. So, she stole my dream, then added many a four-letter word to make it her own. My version would have been much better.)

(And a second note. In the time betwixt the first note and this one, I've almost finished the book. While Ms. Heller is "living the dream" as far as I'm concerned, I am less than impressed with her book. "It's a good lasagna, but not a great lasagna.")

Samantha is 1!!

Blogger is not treating me well as of late...but here are some adorable birthday pictures...finally! First, Samantha is parched after eating her cake!

She licked the frosting off her cake one finger-full at a time.

The kids were WAAAAYYYYY too helpful in opening gifts. In this picture I think she has about had it!

She did love her new toys, blocks, books, coloring book. We've been reading "The Pig of Happiness" over and over again. Sam just like the ducks..."nat nat, nat nat"! (That's the sound of Samantha quacking.)

Samantha and Dad on her birthday morning...8:48 am...exactly one year old!

Toddler Talk

*Foe-eber: The length of time requested to play with a certain toy or watch a certain movie.


*Pork-a-cheese: The language that Zack is learning to speak on his mission in Brazil.

*Da-schwa: Sam's name for Joshua.

*Gosseth: The thing that Joshua keeps reminding us that we're not supposed to do because it's mean to talk about other people.

*Rellow: A favorite color of the rainbow.

*Resplode: Another word for "blow up."

*Covered: The peanut butter is in the...

*Moven: The thing you are not supposed to touch because it's hot!

*Nat-nat: What a duck says.

*Nat-nat: What a cow says.

*Nat-nat: What a puppy says.

*Nat-nat: What a kitty says...you get the picture...

Displaced

Samantha has been displaced...in favor of a new/old dresser...see her crib in the corner?! I love it. It's almost as good as when Benjamin's bedroom was the bathroom.

But, the reason I post this picture has very little to do with Sam, or showing how we lay out our church clothes on Saturday night *rolling my eyes*, and much to do with EmJ's comment about our furniture choices.

We recieved this hand-me-down gem from my parents. As soon as they dropped it off, we pulled out the painting supplies. Emmeline said, "Why do we have to paint the dresser before we can use it?" I told her that it needed a fresh coat of paint just to make it look nice. She thought for a moment and said, "Oh, so that it looks like it actually came from a store!"

Oh my.

Happy Valentine's Day

Luke's car got decorated by some seminary students this morning. Should I be concerned? Since we are such good regifters, Luke stuck the hearts on my car.

Benjamin didn't get all the athletic genes, apparently. His antics this morning were remniscent of Steve Urkell. While Benjamin was busy trying to figure out what the helmet was for, Joshua and Luke were playing catch with a football. Joshua was catching every toss, however, at one point I heard him say, "Hey, that one didn't even hit my chin!"

I mentioned Samantha's love of macaroni and cheese in a previous post. I think we'll expand that to include any and all pasta. This was her first attempt at ravioli. She inhaled it. What a mess!

I wish I had thought to take a picture of the kids' Valentines that they made for their classmates. Joshua and I covered Hershey's nuggets w/pink scrapbook paper (hooray for using scraps!), and he was so proud to bring the candy to his class, including a bag of treats for his teacher.

EmJ, on the other hand, insisted on creating her own valentines. They were pretty cute, but the best part was the regifted Halloween candy. Yup, that's right! Next year, when you're wondering what to do with your thousands of Dum-dum lollipops...just tape them to your homemade Valentines!

Some of you are saying, "Wow, how resourceful!" Others of you are saying, "Man, they personify white trash!" Hilary is sending the short yellow on over to pick me up. But you are all JEALOUS that my Halloween candy is gone!!!

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!!!

Diaries

Emmeline wants a diary. With a lock. The lock is vital. There is just such a diary in this month's Scholastic book order (heaven forbid she actually want a BOOK!), and it costs $7.

Poor, poor EmJ only has $3.

She pestered and pestered and pestered and pestered Benjamin yesterday to loan her some money, until he finally broke down just to get her to quit annoying him.

I promptly got Benjamin's money and returned it to him, reminding EmJ that her birthday is coming up and that the world is full of diaries with locks.

EmJ cried that she wanted "That diary!"

Joshua, ever compassionate, said, "Emmeline, when I get some money, I will buy you a Diarrhea!"

Benjamin is Three

First of all, we were thrilled to host Tony, Heidi, and their kids this weekend. It was so nice to visit with friends, stay up late and talk like grownups, see the kids interact so well, and eat yummy peanut butter cup s'mores!! Benjamin thought they came into town just for his birthday, and he was thrilled to have them around for some of the celebration.

Benjamin is three!! I can't believe it! Here are the birthday pictures and stories...in backwards order. First of all, the birthday money. $4!!! This is not the first time Mr. Krabs has fallen asleep clutching his loot!

A train set from Kitty Grandma! This is a fabulous toy...trains, trucks, rockets, and it glows in the dark. Wow! I have had as much fun playing with this as Benjamin!

Benjamin helped frost and decorate his cake after church on Sunday. He wanted a "diamond-saur" cake...and it turned out lovely!

Benjamin's birthday breakfast of choice, pancakes. Notice the goggles--they are an essential part of his outfit.

The Friday before Benjamin's birthday was also my mom's 50th birthday! Happy Birthday, Mom! Her cake is cracking me up.

We celebrated my mom and Benjamin's birthdays together on Friday. Gus was less than thrilled with the frosting-less angel food cake!

A Batman big-wheel from Uncle Zack! (Did you know that Zack?!) This toy has been just in time for a few sunny, warmish days! Hooray!

But, of course, the favorite gift was the stickers. My mom got them for free in the mail and stuck them in his gift bag. He was so excited we had to take a gift-break and use them all up. I love it that kids are so easy to please.

Okay, last but not least, the next birthday girl. She got this car from my parents a few days ago and LOVES it. She tries to kick the older kids off all the time, and loves to sit on her car and honk the horn. It's great for meal time--since she has learned how to climb out of the high chair--as it keeps her in one place for a few bites.

Big Walker

Samantha just let go of the couch and took her first unassisted steps!

(I've got to pull out Joshua's baby book and see who wins the early walker award.)

Samantha is 11 Months Old!

I can't believe that Sam is 11 months. We're about to hit birthday season here at our house...which is always a fun, busy, crazy time that includes way too much Chuck E Cheese. Anyway, here are some 11 month photos of Sam. In the first, she is playing with her brothers. She loves playing with her siblings and is getting pretty good at imitating the things they do. She loves to "color", drive cars, use the play tools, do acrobatics (basically, sticking her bum in the air and yelling "peek-a-boo" in samlanguage), brush her hair and teeth, and "cook." It's adorable.


Sam is supposed to be smiling at me, but instead she's playing peek-a-boo! Sam is cracking us up right now with her talking. I swear, she has her own language....maybe she should have been a twin?! Last week, I took her to an indoor park and she learned the joys of climbing (and knocking other kids down (which is quite funny considering she UNDERweighed every kid there by about 15 pounds)). Anyway, every time she got to the top of a structure she would triumphantly say, "ee day ah!" To which I would respond, "Yes, you did it!" But then I'd get the Look. Sam's patented, precocious look that says, "Seriously? You haven't got a clue. Stop talking now." I waited to see if "ee day ah" was a fluke, but no, she says it every time she climbs onto anything...followed by the Look. Another favorite is "ew dice mo." I thought maybe, "screwdriver"? (Insert the Look, here.) Most kids, you struggle to understand, but I don't think she wants to be understood. At least she says some normal, English baby words, too--mama, dad, no, hello, etc.

One final picture...I had to get EmJ in here, too. Sam learned how to get on the leopard seat and is completely proud of herself! I love her expression in this photo, though, still kind of grinning, but starting to get irritated that EmJ is hovering. With her constant mothering, Sam wears this face for EmJ quite a bit!

Walk before you Run

I decided to post these videos, despite my less-than intelligent commentary, because they are fitting with how I feel today...

Samantha can push something and walk, but not run...and yet, she continues to try to run. The part I can comiserate with on this particular morning is the tantrum throwing. (Go ahead, read the following two posts, you'll see!)

Just a note: I did not take these videos to showcase Sam crashing, though it's funny. She turned 11 months old on Friday, and I was trying to record some of her tricks and babbling. She was a less than willing performer. Hence, just the crashes.

Bad Attitude

This morning, I laid in bed and planned for the best day of my life. My plans grew complex, and my laugh grew more maniacal with each passing thought. The best day of my life will be the day I get to repay my kids for all they do...

This will occur the night before a drivers' test, a big game, the senior prom, or some other important event.

I will...

*start crying for no apparent reason (every hour on the hour, all night long)
*fall out of bed (every half-hour, on the half-hour)
*tip-toe into their rooms and stand over them, with my face inches from theirs, until they wake up with a start. I will then whisper, "I have to go to the bathroom." (at 12:45)
*ask for milk (at 1:15)
*ask for water (at 1:45)
*ask for candy (at 2:15)
*ask for a new pair of shoes (at 2:45)
*ask for multiple other things in a voice so whiny and choked with emotion that they couldn't possibly understand me (at 3:15)
*tip-toe into their rooms and stand over them, with my face inches from theirs, until they wake up with a start. I will then whisper, "My foot is asleep." (at 3:45)
*tip-toe into their rooms and stand over them, with my face inches from theirs, until they wake up with a start. I will then do my best imitation of an unreasonable sleepwalker. (at 4:15)
*after I fall out of bed at 4:30 am, things will be mysteriously quiet. Silent. For thirty minutes. At 5 am, their alarm will go off, and I will run into their rooms, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, to ask if I can watch a cartoon and demand my breakfast!

The second best day of my life will occur on the first time I go to visit my children in their own homes. They will have slaved to make me a beautiful, tasty dinner. They will be proud to show off their skills.

I will...

*Take one bite of food, make a face, examine the food, spit out my bite, then push the plate away and say, "This. Is Gross."
*Five minutes into the meal I will get up from my seat and start wandering around the house. I will jump on the couch, give the la-z-boy a couple of good roundhouses, turn a cartwheel for good measure, and practice my sliding on the kitchen floor.
*I will move without rhyme or reason from one subject to the next, never allowing them to respond to my first question or request, which they couldn't understand in any case because I was speaking with food in my mouth.
*After sliding on the kitchen floor, I will ask what's for dessert. If it's something good, I will return to the table for exactly 22 seconds, take two bites of food, then leave the table and resume turning cartwheels.
*During a lull in the conversation, I will suddenly break into tears because, "I really wanted you to make chicken nuggets, but you didn't make them for me. And also, I fell at school today and scraped my knee."
*I will excuse myself to use the bathroom. On the way, I will comment on the garbage "that stinks", the refrigerator "that stinks", and the bathroom. "This bathroom stinks. Who was supposed to clean it this morning. You must have forgot. This bathroom stinks." The bathroom commentary will occur WHILE I'm using the bathroom....and will suddenly cause everyone to be done with their meals.
*I will find something to complain about, even if they serve Twinkies for dessert.
*On our way out, I will knock their mailbox off the post and do doughnuts on their front lawn. Just for kicks.

More Bad Attitude

I love it when we're sick. Love it.

I love being sneezed on. I love telling kids not to wipe their noses on their sleeves, only to have them do it three seconds later. I love waking up mulitple times at night because I hear coughing, coughing, more coughing. I love it when babies refuse to sleep. I love it when Luke sleeps through everything, and I just let him because he has to get up at 4 am and do whatever it is he does all day, which may or may not be productive or bring bacon, but will surely be fun. For him. I love the week after we're sick when Luke gets sick. I love it when he stomps around the house complaining about people who don't take care of themselves, don't wash their hands, and pass him their germs.

In my world, there will be no boogers.

The End.