Christmas suprise!

I just got back from helping Joseph. I had been sitting here typing away on my e-mail, when Joseph came up to me and hollered "I need underwear!" I looked down and our streaker had returned, this time only wearing Caleb's snow boots. Maybe he figured he had his boots on so he can go outside, but then decided he did at least need underwear. When I looked at him, his explanation was that his diaper fell off. Apparently his pajamas did also. Right now he's dancing fully clothed and happy in the kitchen to Christmas music (Diana Krall!).

Christmas Tag

O.k., I got this from my friend Kimberly, It ddin't take too long to fill out, despite breaks for the kids, and I'd love to see some answers. So Tag, you're all it! Just comment here that you did it so I can check it out on your blog.

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy this entire post and paste it to a post on your blog. Change all the answers so that they apply to you.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper for kids (just like Kimberly--it's harder for the kids to peek in wrapped presents), and then whatever I feel like (and time I have)for everyone else.
2. Real tree or Artificial? We've had both, but I really love having a real tree, especially when we get the chance to go cut one with our family.
3. When do you put up the tree? We try for the monday after Thanksgiving for Family Home Evening.
4. When do you take the tree down? Usually as soon as we get back from visiting our families, so sometime in January.
5. Do you like eggnog? I do! I'm one of the crazy ones that get it in the Halloween cartons, and then whenever I can through the holidays, and like Kimberly too, I like to mix it with Sprite.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I still remember the Ken doll I got that had glow in the dark stars on his pink vest. Yeah, a little cheesy,but it was the '80's.
7. Hardest person to buy for? My dad or some of my nephews
8. Easiest person to buy for? Definately the kids. I could spend fifty dollars on each of them just in the dollar store. But I will not, because then I would be picking up 150 dinky toys, (plus whatever they drag out of Seth's, since he's too little to spread toys yet.)
9. Do you have a nativity scene? yes, I love nativitys! I even leave one of mine (it's just Mary, Joseph, and Jesus) up all year.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I try to mail, but some years...
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I am not sure, I've been pretty lucky. But the funniest was a food storage/preparedness gift from my mother-in-law(I really do appreciate it Judy!), a LARGE box of Kotex! Earthquakes, tornados, pandemics do your worst, I have nothing to worry about in that area.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? O.k., I think the Christmas Story is so funny, and I love the cartoon How the Grinch Stole Christmas (there really is something more about Christmas than the tinsel), White Christmas and Holiday Inn and It's A Wonderful Life are all great, too. Oh, and the Nativity that came out last year or the year before.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? All year round I check for bargins.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Umm, sorry, but yes.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cookies, chocolates, and cheescake, yum.
16. Lights on the tree? Silly question, the thing needs to be GLOWING.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Too, too many to count. Traditional: The First Noel is a favorite, Funny: The Elves Lament and many others. Karen Carpenter singing Silver bells!
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We've always traveled, but I'm very much looking forward to Chrismtas morning in our own house this year.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? If I sing the song I can.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We don't have a store-bought one, we're starting a tradition that the kids make a star for the top each year.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning, with stockings first.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Grandma got ran over by a reindeer and any Michael Bolton or Neil Diamond song
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I love snowflakes, white and blue and silver.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? No traditions, anything yummy.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A dishwasher...a laundry room with real walls...my wonderful family (extended, too).
26. Who is most likely to respond to this? Tasha? Please?
27. Who is least likely to respond to this? Of course everyone will run to respond to this, right?

Caleb's Christmas Song

The other day I was working in the kitchen and Caleb was sitting at the counter with me. Caleb all the sudden asked me what a Tula was. I thought he said Tulip (yeah, horticulturist coming out in me, I hear tulips everywhere...), but he said "no, no, Tula!" I thought Doola? "No,no, Tula!" I finally just said, I have no idea. He sighed his enormous "My mom is so silly" sigh and then said "The tula that gives presents to people at Christmas!" Hmmm, I thought, that does not clear up anything. In the quiet that follwed, I realized that the song on the radio was The 12 Days of Christmas. Caleb was hearing "My true love gave to me" as "Tula gave to me."

Felicity's humor, part 2

For those of you who enjoyed Felicity's last joke, here's one she told us last night:

Felicity: Where are hat's mouths?
Me: I don't know, where are hat's mouths?
Felicity: On their stripes! (gales of laughter, then thoughtfully)Unless they don't have stripes...

I think my favorite part was the after thought.

Fun times and Parkers blessing

I'm a little behind in my blogging, but before I write about Thanksgiving and our Christmas tree and our piano and everything, let me just write down this Caleb quote: (handing me a picture he just colored of Rudolph) "Rudolph is a righteous reindeer!" I'm not sure what he learned in primary yesterday, or maybe he's too cool to say cool anymore and moved up to using "Righteous." Anything is better than Phat.
Ok, alot has happened and I don't want to be typing forever so here's my over view of the last couple weeks:
Thanksgiving: Yummy! We had 22 pies (we did share), got a Christmas tree (beautiful), and enjoyed family.
Decorating the Tree: Lots of fun, but I ran out of lights for the top foot of the tree and had to run to the store to get one more string.
Farris' work dinner: Great babysitter (thanks, Brindlee), and the best orange cake I've ever eaten.
Seth's two month appointment: 12 lbs, 11 oz, and 75% overall
Twilight Movie Night: Good movie, but Jasper looked like he had toothpicks holding his eyes open as wide as possible. Lots of tweenagers sighing at the screen.
Nicki and Melissa staying the night: The kids all ran downstairs to wake them up in the morning, hee-hee.
Kids Christmas Party: We got pictures with Cosmo, and nobody cried this year.
Piano!: Geri and Cody brought Judy's piano down for us, thank you very much, Kendrick and Steve helped move it in the house, Thank you! Farris is enjoying it, and so is Joseph. hmmm...
Judy and Charitie: They came to spend the night before Parker's blessing, and we had fun, although we were starting to drag a little, busy day! And thanks for the piano, Judy!
Ward Christmas Party: Yummy food, and some great costumes, and Joseph helped put the tables away after dinner, very serious the whole time he was "helping."
Parker's Blessing: Parker is a cute little guy. Him and Seth are like Tennessee and Caleb re-runs, they both look like their older brothers. Cindi got some great pictures, I'll post some when I get them.
Whew! I think that's it, crazy and fun times, and this week will be the same, but with cookies. Or Caleb will be disappointed. And now I have to figure out how to un-maze our living room.

Twilight spoof

I'm a Twilight fan, too, (going to see it this weekend with my sisters!) but some people are taking it too seriously, so here's the answer...

The Turkey Talk

I had the funniest coversation with Caleb and Felicity yesterday. We went grocery shopping and then Farris decided to run back in and buy a turkey. Caleb wanted to know where dad went and I told them to buy a turkey. That's when I remebered that I said that to a four and six year old.
Felicity: "A real, live turkey?"
Me: "No, ummm, just a turkey." (I didn't really want to say "No, a dead, plucked, trussed and frozen turky.")
Felicity: "Ohhh, a shooted turkey."
Me: "Yes." (I didn't even want to correct her grammer)
Caleb: horrified voice "Who would want to do that to a turkey?"
Me: "Well, it's so we can eat it."
Felicity and Caleb: "Ohhhhhh."
Felcity: "Still, poor turkey."
Caleb: "What does a turkey look like?"
Me: (I just described a turkey.)
About this time Farris came back. Caleb wants to see the turkey, but when Farris holds up a nice white package with netting, Caleb was a little disappoointed. I think he wanted to see feathers. Anyway, have a great Thanksgiving! And, sorry to all you BYU fans, Farris was disappointed, too.

Facebook

O.k., I am not computer/technology savvy. I thought I was doing pretty good by doing a blog, especially since I had never even been on the internet until college (Richfield is sort of out in the middle of nowhere, and it took a little while for the phone companies to decide that it was important enough to let us have the option. And yes, I started college in 1996, so that was along time ago, but I still haven't caught up with everyone yet). This last weekend when I did a quick-all-in-one-day trip with my two sister's in law to Burley for Desi's baby shower, Cindi suggested I try Facebook. Then on Sunday my college roommate Amy invited me to join. So I did, and I have no idea what to do, but I'm already amazed at how much time it takes. I know there's a ton of different things I can do with it, all I've been able to do is check out other people's walls and try to figure out who some of the people are that apparently want to be my "friend." I finally posted something, but it seems kind of silly to write one line all the time. So, anyway, if any of you have any great ideas on what to do on Facebook it make it seem like I actually know what I'm doing or any other tips, let me know. Maybe next I'll tackle mp3 players, or maybe get a cell phone one day. Maybe...

AND, Desi's baby shower was great, it was fun to see everyone, and Desi is doing good--she got some great stuff for the almost here little Rylee Nicole. I brought Seth with me and Cindi brought Parker so there was a couple little babies to pass around, and my parents and Melissa came over to Burley, so the Grandma Newey and Grandma Child got some cuddle time with Seth. Mom says that grandmas trump any one else who wants to hold a baby, so they spent a lot of time calling in their trump cards. Dad spent alot of time adoring Seth with his eyes, but he'll wait until Seth's a little bigger to hold him.

Jokes from a six-year-old

Last night when Felicity was getting ready for bed, she had to tell me a joke (this is one of her bedtime delaying methods). I always knew that six-year-olds have a developing sense of humor, which is how we get jokes like the chicken crossing the road, but Lissy's joke was even more...umm...interesting than that.
Felicity: Mom! I have to tell you one joke! How does a tractor eat a pickle?
Me: I don't know, how does a tractor eat a pickle?
Felicity: By sticking his finger in the pickle! (lots of loud laughter)
So, if any of you understand this joke can you get back to me? Maybe it's not Felicity's problem, maybe I've lost my sense of humor from the lack of sleep.

Family photos and Joe vs. the toilet?

Nicki came over to take some family pictures of us. Caleb enjoyed hamming for the camera. As mellow and quiet as he seems, he really enjoys being the center of attention and does some really funny things to get it...as Stacey can attest to his dancing ability!

Here's Lissy...
Here's the family...
Here's Joseph...by this time he was tired of pictures, and didn't want to smile, so Farris was trying to make him laugh, which he did, but then he wouldn't look at the camera.
Caleb was also getting tired of pictures and was just looking for sticks (he likes sticks).
I love this picture, but Caleb was hamming, and the rest of us were laughing at him.
There's my cute family! Sorry Seth is half covered up, he's cute, too.

Now as for Joseph vs. the Toilet...the score is Joseph-0, toilet-1. And Joseph has the shiner to prove it. Those of you who are in the midst of potty training, do not repeat this story to your child. I'm not sure how he did it (I was feeding Seth, thus calamities happen), when Joseph ran in and told me he had to go potty. I sent him to the bathroom, silly me. He was fine for a couple minutes, then I heard the toilet lid slam and lots of wailing from Joseph. All I know is that when I asked him what happened, he pointed to the toilet. I gave him ice to help with the swelling, but he's two, so he ate it, instead of putting it on his eye. He seems to think the black eye is funny now, he likes to look at himself in the mirror. I am glad this happened the day after family pictures. But I will have to get a picture to document this, what a great story to tell his future dates.

Joseph quote

This morning Farris lifted Joseph up to the window and said "Look at that!" Joseph gasped, was actually silent for a few seconds, and then said "Where'd the dirt go?" yeah, I'm hoping the next time he says that it will because we actualy have grass in our back yard, but our first real snow fall is a pretty good second.

cute pix

Last week my friend, Julie took pictures of Seth for his baby announcement. We took a bunch of pictures (the beauty of a digital camera), and here's a few of the favorites:










O.k., so it was more than a few. You should have seen me trying to figure out which ones to put on the announcement, Julie was very patient. Thank you again!
Last week was fun, with Halloween, baby showers, and Melissa, Nicki, and Mom visiting us. The kids had oddles of fun on Halloween. Jooseph chickened out about the Tiger costume, and instead wore Caleb's old duck costume, which he did look cute in. Caleb had a hard time keeping his hard hat on his head, but he loved being Bob the Builder, so (as Bob says) "Safety First!" so he kept putting it back on all night. Felicity was a fairy princess, and has been asking me all week, "How do you spell Fairy again?" On Saturday, I headed to Bountiful for my friend Andi's baby shower, hurrah! I was spposed to go to Farris' cousin's wife's baby shower (yeah, keep that straight) in Ogden also, but anymore driving and I would have fallen asleep. Did I mention that Farris and I were Tired Parents for Halloween? No costume required. Nicki, Melissa, Mom, Aunt Ellen, and our firend Erleen took Felicity to Park City for some all-girl time, and Grandma bought her a bright pink wig. She wore it all day long and Aunt Ellen said she made lots of people smile.

Last week

Well, Felicity had parent/teacher conferences on Thursday. She's like me (her handwriting needs to improve) and not like me (she's above average in math). She also needs to learn to tie her shoes, which is funny because I remember Mary Riley tying my cardboard practice shoes for me in first grade because I couldn't either. Overall, Felicity is doing very good, the teacher just can't let her sit next to her friend Emmalee, or both their grades would suffer. And probably the teacher, too.
All the kids are excited about Halloween, especially because Grandma Newey and Aunts Melissa and Nicki are coming for part of the weekend. Caleb is going to be Bob the Builder (not to be mixed up with Handy Manny, we don't speak enough spanish for that part), Felicity is going to be a fairy, and Joseph loves the tiger costume, but is too scared to put it on, so he might end up being a duck, or Bob the Builder #2. Seth has two costumes, too, my cousin gave us a cute bee costume and (hopefully) I'll finish his caterpillar costume this week. Felciity wanted to have a spooky house, which I'm really not into. So we (Nicki really did it) helped the kids cut out bats and jack o'lanterns and ghosts for the windows and I helped them make ghosts out of white garbage bags to hang from our tree. Spooky enough, although Felicity wants the orange lights and headstones and scary noises and all that. Going to school sure changes a kid. Well, sort of, she still wants to paint her pumpkins with rainbows and sparkles and pretty things. She's my girly-girl.

This is pretty cool...

I hate the big election years becuase of all the huge negativity that is thrown around. It seems like this year they are especially picking on Sarah Palin, so I enjoyed this video. Oh, and I just want to say that Obama really isn't a muslim (does it really matter anyway?), he's not a terrorist, and he does actually say the pledge of allegiance and salute the flag. Not that I am going to vote for him, I have other issues with him, but again all this negative stuff really does bug me. So here's this great video on Gov. Palin. And don't forget to vote!

Update

Just a quick blog today. Yesterday Seth had his two week checkup, he's growing! He weighs 9 lbs and 11 oz, and he is 20 and a half inches long, so he's grown almost a pound and one inch. Not too suprising, this kid likes to eat.
Also, I just want to say: I love to be able to tie my own shoes again!

Getting used to baby

I think we're all getting used to our new little guy. Felicity is still a little upset that he is a he, but she loves to hold him and snuggle with him. She loves his hair, "it's so soft, mom!" Caleb loves to hold him, too, and hasn't attacked Seth once. He always runs up to people and tells them about his new baby brother. As for attacking, Joseph likes to wait until I get settled on the couch with Seth and a blanket and then he pounces on us. Not a great thing, but no injuries yet. He also likes to snuggle up to Seth (sometimes a little too much snuggling for the little guy) and when Seth isn't in the room he wanders around asking for him. Farris and I are a little groggy much of the time, but we're staying away from heavy machinery and we've had cereal for dinner once, which isn't too bad for having baby #4.
Other news, Farris' sister Cindi had a little baby boy yesterday, so he's two weeks younger than little Seth. Hurrah for Cindi and Scott! And sorry we traded due dates again. My babies ('cept for Lissy) come early and Cindi's come late, and we always seem to be expecting about the same time, and it's twice now that we've traded. But that means our boys (Caleb and Tennesee are 8 days apart) are really close in age, so it's fun. We don't know the baby's name yet, Farris forgot to ask (men!), but my mom was wondering if they went with Tex? Just kidding, and congrats again.

Pictures, pictures, pictures!

Nicki gave me a disc with some pictures of Seth and from further back this summer...Here's Seth in the hospital on Sunday, sleepy little guy.
Joseph was pretty excited to meet Baby, we were all a little wary of what he was going to do, but he didn't do anything too scary in his explorations.
Felicity posing with Seth.
Mom got this one of Seth smiling, he's a cutie!
Finally, home at last and both of us in regular clothes instead of hospital stuff.

4th of July with all the Newey cousins.

Mom and Dad took Caleb and Lissy home for a week this summer, and on their way they stopped at Cabelas. I think Felicity would like to take this moose home.
Nicki's famous zebra.

Joseph sleeping at Aunt Ellen's house.

Felicity with her girl Newey cousins. They all spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Newey's house and had a lot of fun running through the sprinklers.

Baby Seth Gavid came as fast as he could

Yup, he's here! Seth was born at 3:54 on Conference Sunday morning. He's our little giant, and it's a good thing he didn't wait for his due date, he weighed 8 pds, 15 oz, so he's alot bigger than the other kids (Lissy was the biggest before, at 7 pds, 6 1/2 oz). He not only came about 2 weeks early, he came really fast. I woke up a little after two with contractions, timed them for about a half an hour, and they were ten minutes apart. I wasn't too worried, this had happened before and they just stopped. But this time they quickly got closer together. Mom, Dad, Melissa, and Nicki were all staying with us so we let them know we were on the way and Mom looked at the clock when we pulled out of our driveway: 3:14. We drove very fast to the hospital, and when they got me into a room the nurses started hustling around, I must have looked like I meant business. Our doctor knows my record and drove fast, too, (she said at that time of day, all lights are green). It must be the perfect kind of birth for her, show up, deliver baby, go home, no dilly-dalling around. And I'm pleased with her, she said Seth is perfect, which of course, he is. He's a cutie with reddish-blonde hair, and a little chunkier than our usual babies. We were still thinking about names, and still thinking about names, and still thinking about names. But on Monday morning Farris called from home with a name he had thought of the night before, and Seth seemed to fit like none on the other names we had tried did. But the middle name was another challenge. We were trying to figure out how to combine the names of the grandpas, Gary and David, and I came up with Gavid, like Gavin but with a d instead of a n. We hemmed and hawed a little bit longer while we packed up the room and got everything ready to go and then we had to fill out the baby certificate paperwork, with just one word left to fill in, so we went with Gavid. And now we're home and he's doing good, entertaining his siblings and trying to find out how to avoid the pokes from curious brothers. We'll put some pictures on here soon so you can see what a cuties he is. And Happy Birthday Robert!

Reflections of Christ

My sister-in-law, Stacey, emailed this to me and I thought I would post it here. It's beautiful!

"For many years the Mesa Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mesa, Arizona) has had exhibits on the temple grounds during the Easter season. This year, there was also a
'Reflections of Christ' photography exhibit in the Mesa Temple Visitor's Center. The photographer was given permission to photograph Pageant cast members for the exhibit. They traveled to various locations in Arizona that the photographer felt looked like the places in Israel where the events took place and recreated the scenes.

The photographer worked with a few other individuals to put together a 5 minute slideshow which includes every image from the exhibit set to the hymn 'Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.'

Just remember when you're watching the video that the photographs are real, they aren't paintings… Incredible!"




If you want more info, here's the website:
http://www.reflectionsofchrist.org/

Further news in the name game

No, we still have not settled on a name, but Felicity has become amazingly grownup about it. I was teasing her and asked if we should name the baby Shrek, but we decided that would be silly. Then she said (and she was in very serious mode) that if we named the baby Tenderheart Bear, people might laugh at him, so "let's name him John." I think they must have talked about John the Baptist in primary on Sunday. I thought it was a pretty normal choice for her, and I'm not so worried about my future grandkids any more. Yes, I would still love my grandkids even if they are named after cartoon characters, but...
Other news, I finished Caleb's quilt top last night, hurrah! Now I just have to finish it. Caleb can write his whole name now, but we're working on writing the number two right-side up. Joseph's dancing ability astounds us, if you want some entertainment, come to our house, he's pretty...um...good. Felicity is in the after school 4H program in the Young Artist class. Last week they pretended to be Michelangelo and taped paper to the underside of the table and then drew pictures. She had fun even though she doesn't know anything about and didn't seem that interested in the Sistine Chapel. Farris is working through the six or seven bushels of pears he picked, he tries to dry a batch every night. We'll be good with pear chips for a long time. And I'd better go now, Caleb is wanting a bottle to put the small pieces of paper he just ripped up into. And as I would rather have them in a bottle then on the floor, even though I don't understand what he is making, I will get him one.

Sorry, Missy, I borrowed your idea for a Top Ten List

Ok, I'm getting to the point where I'm getting really tired of this whole beach ball (and like a Spring Break sized beach ball, not the little ones you get at walmart for your two year old)attached to my body and hips creaking with every step and braxton-hicks and having to find a bathroom every two hours. I know I don't have much time left, and really I am truly grateful for this opportunity I have to be a mother. So to keep my perspective right I'm going to borrow a page from my friend Missy's book (or blog, as the case was) and figure out a Top Ten list on the good things about being pregnant.

10. Really makes you grateful for the day pants actually fit you again and don't have a stretchy belly pouch that doesn't work that great.
9. The whole time you are pregnant you don't have to say no to the baby, or chase down the street after him or find him in the snack drawer fifteen minutes before lunch or clean up glue off the carpet (huh, Tasha!) or tell him to stop eating grass (ok, that might just be my Caleb) or any number of other things you'll be telling him relatively soon after he's not inside any more.
8. When the line is long at a public bathroom, you just have to get a desperate look on your face and people will let you cut to the front. Almost as good as having a three year old that's wailing "I have to go now!"
7. You can cry about anything and people will understand. I'm not just talking Hallmark commercials, but like when Farris came home and found me crying on the bathroom floor because Joseph had peed all over the floor again and then spilled bubble mix everywhere he was very understanding and helpful and never told me to grow up.
6. My fingernails grow fast. I know, that seems trivial, but it's nice because fingernails don't last very long in a world with little boys.
5. Naps. Enough said.
4. Growing a baby is an excellent excuse for ice cream every night.
3. Temple attendance, while a little harder, is even better. It puts eternity all into perspective. And all the little old ladies just light up when they see you waddling down the hall.
2. I love feeling the baby moving and watching my belly jump and having my kids faces light up when they finally feel him kick their hand. Even the rib kicking and bladder punching are great (well, they're not too bad) because you know he's doing good and growing.
1. I know how I am extremely blest to have this chance to not only have three healthy, intelligent (except for the whole walking into walls thing) kids but to have another one coming. I'm not sure why Heavenly Father decided I should get this opportunity, but I do thank Him for it every day.

Other news

Besides the nightly struggle to get Joseph asleep, everything is going good. Things have slowed down for Farris at work now that the semester has been going for a couple weeks, the first day of the semster 102 students came into the office for him and the other advisor. He can actually eat a lunch now and he's getting home much closer to his regular time. Felicity does like school (despite homework every night, and learning about boring things like the number 17), especially recess. Well, who can blame her? Caleb is doing the ABC Kids program at the library once a week. He was a little nervous at first, but had a lot of fun the first day because they did the letter C. He's learning how to write his middle and last name now, too. He calls it his paper work. I've been busy trying to keep the house from falling apart, but sweeping and mopping doesn't really appeal to me right now. I've also almost finished a halloween costume for the baby (he's going to be a caterpillar. Farris shakes his head and says "poor kid". But he'll be really cute. He just might not appreciate the pictures when he's 15) and I've been working on Caleb's quilt that has trucks and cars and tractors and planes so he loves it already. We've been working on baby names and appreciate all the suggestions given. Except for maybe Felicity's. She has wanted to name him Ice Cream, Sunshine Bear or Tenderheart Bear, Diego and many others that I don't think he'd survive the first grade with. Well, Diego wouldn't be too bad, but it was a second choice for her because she couldn't name a boy Dora. When I was telling her some of the names we had thought of, like Aaron, Jackson, Mckay, Logan, she laughed and told me they were silly. Caleb thought Joseph would be a good name until I pointed out he already has a brother named Joseph. We'd better get cracking on all these baby things, because I'm NOT waiting until the 21st. I'll find a trampoline first.

How to not go to sleep, By Joseph H. Child

Repeat these several times each, as loud as you need to get adults attention.
"Sing Popcorn Tree."
"MILK! Want MILK!"
"Where's baby doll?"
"Pillow in living room."
"Sing Child of God."
"Where's Daddy's basketball?"
"I want Daddy's football."
"I need to go potty."
"I get candy!"
"Wake up Caleb buddy sleepy head!"
"There's a big alligator in my room."
"I need to go potty."
"No, poop."
"Hug? Kiss?"
Stretch all of these over an hour period, plus much running around and crawling into every other bed in the house but your own. Be as cute as possible to tone down any anger from adults. Eventually go to sleep, you'll need the energy for tomorrow night.

Pictures and other news

Nicki gave us some pictures from Lissy's birthday party and one really Joseph-ish picture, so here's those pictures I've been promising!

This is the very Joseph-y picture:

This is Duck, Duck, SQUIRT!

Now they're playing Cold Potato, but really it was just Throw Water Balloons At Someone

Here's the relay race:

This is Felicity's cake, it's supposed to be a jewelry box with a Strawberry Shortcake doll on top, but we couldn't get it to stand. The kids didn't care, they were very excited about all the candy jewelry.

In other family news, Joseph stuck a large bead up his nose yesterday morning. I couldn't figure out hat was wrong with the kid, he kept saying "Owie, Owie" and pointing to his nose. He's got a cold, so I thought his nose just hurt from that. Eventually I figured it out, and we tried to blow it out. It didn't work. So I started to hunt for the phone number for the clinic here and when I finally found it we gave it one more try and this huge black, square bead popped out. Little stinker. This morning he was telling Dad not to stick beads up your nose because it hurts. Very wise, my two-year-old.

The new blog link

I just put a new link to a blog on here, the emergency prepardness lady in our ward recommended it, and it really is good. She has good ideas on how to do food storage in a practical way (why store stuff you hate?) and different recipes that you can use, and they look really good. My cravings have been ramped up (Have you ever heard of someone craving ham and cheese sandwiches? I'm weird. But the chocolate milk shakes sounded really good, too) since I looked at it. So check it out, there's some great ideas on organizing kitchens, pantrys, and kid stuff (snacks, lunches, etc). So enjoy!

Caleb's turn

Now it's Caleb's turn to be in the funny spotlight. Yesterday he decided he wanted to make Flower Pie. Yes, FLOWER pie, not FLOUR pie. He picked some clover and put it in his special bowl, then he told me about all the sugar he needed to mix it with and how he would stir it and bake it . I wasn't too enthusiastic at this point, but when I started making dinner he asked for the ingredients that were going into the pizza and he was having so much fun I had to give him some (but I nixed the baking idea). So his Flower Pie had: Flowers, flour, sugar, pineapple, olives, and two kinds of cheese, and then a plum cut in half. Then he stirred and mixed and squished and put it into the fridge to wait for the day I gave permission to bake it. He was so proud of it and wanted to share it with our neighbors...but as sweet as they are to the kids I think they might actually try it, so I'm going to nix that idea, too.

weird times

'kay I know that I've already blogged about Joseph and Potty Training, but this time I just have some funny things to say. He can be so bizarre sometimes. Part of our potty training is having him "practice" when he has accidents. So we have him practice taking off his underwear, getting on the toilet, sitting until he's ready to get down, and then getting his underwear on again. The book we got the idea from suggests to have them do it ten times, but for our sanity and his lack of attention span, we only have him do it five times. He hates it and has been very creative in figuring out ways to get out of it. One of his favorite is that he has to give me hugs and kisses, so he's too busy. He also likes to yell "I want to dance!" and then starts to boogey naked around the bathroom. Today I must have been tired because I tried to sing him that Ray Stevens song "I want to sing and dance" but he wasn't very amused. Maybe it's my pirate accent, or my lack of remembering the lyrics. He does like me to sing "Where is Thumbkin?" and the french version which I have no idea how to spell, both with actions. Someday you can sneak into our house and listen to me tiredly singing (with my thumbs going) those two songs for the twentieth time in twenty minutes. When he's not practicing he's trying to sneak out of the house in his underwear. The other day my neighbor was taking out the trash and caught me on the doorstep scolding a whitey-tighty clad (and nothing else) little boy about going outside without me. She has grandkids, she should understand, right? So yeah, we're the rednecks of the neighborhood, kids running around naked and me singing Ray Stevens. Oh, yes, they call him the streak (lookatthat, lookatthat), he likes to show off his physique (lookatthat, lookatthat)...

Scary

So yesterday was a little bit scary. When I woke up and tried to get out of bed I had a really hard braxton hicks contraction. I didn't think much of it because I've had a lot of those. But then all morning I had them over and over again, and my stomach felt really tight. Every time I moved, even just leaning forward, it was really painful. I took a nap after lunch, but every time I moved it hurt and kept me from sleeping. So I finally called my doctor and was told to go to the hospital. Farris came home as fast as he could and my friend Julie (thank you!) took the kids and off to Provo we went for a bunch of tests. The baby was good (he was moving so much it was hard to get his heartbeat, I think we might have another crazy kid on the way) and I hadn't dilated at all, but it felt like I was in labor. Eventually all the tests came back, and I have a urinary tract infection that was causing contractions. Luckily, everything else is good so I'm on antibiotics and lots of cranberry juice (yuck) and any other liquids. I didn't even know I had one, the kids had all had fevers spread out over the last week and a half, so when I got a fever and fatigue I thought that's all it was. Anyway, I feel better today after a lot of sleep last night. I'm still pretty tired and I have an occasional contraction but nothing like yesterday. So a little bit scary but nothing too bad.

1st grade happiness/blues

Felicity started first grade yesterday, it was her first full day of school with eating lunch and everything. She enjoyed it, but said the day was really long. She said the teacher told her the days wouldn't be so long soon( I think the teacher said feel so long), and she was wondering how early she got to come home today. That took a little bit of explaining, and I think she was still a little skeptical of my explanation. Farris is driving her and one of her friends into school, and then her friend's mom is bringing them home in the afternoon. It's nice because I don't have to hurry so much in the mornings, but I'm still a little jealous. I love to watch these tiny little kids walking so happily and confidently into a huge school (OK, it's not huge, it's just a lot bigger than what I was used to!). Sigh, the inconsistencies of being a mom. Caleb was a little grumpy when she left yesterday morning, he refused to give Farris and Felicity hugs, I think he's jealous. He does get excited when we say that he gets to go to Kindergarten next year. I don't think Joseph noticed much, but he was delighted to see her when she got back. There was a little less arguing in the house. I shut Felicity's door so Joseph couldn't go in and mess up her markers and crayons, which is a huge source of contention in our home. Someone told me that first graders change so much in the first few months of school, with confidence and independence growing. That is another inconsistency, it makes me want to cry and to smile. I know I have a long way to go before she's gone, but it's still one of those apron strings getting cut. Goodness, I think I better go have a good cry. Or just play with the boys while I still have them all the time. Maybe both.

Goings on and begging for a baby name

Whew! It feels like I've been really busy the last while, too busy to blog...and then I think, what was I doing??? We did have Felicity's birthday, which entailed several six-year-olds and a few others with water balloons (only one kid cried), we've put up about five gallons of beans, picked, dried, and jammed LOTS of apricots (with more coming, plus plums, yum), frozen quite a few bell peppers, and spent lots of time weeding our garden that seems much too big now. We also had Grandma Child and Charitie spend Thursday night and Grandma Newey and Nicki spend Friday night, and a lot of Farris' family for dinner on Sunday. Oh, and I've finished the top for the baby's quilt, I'm planning on taking a couple recuperating hours today and see how much I can finish. Speaking (Blogging?) of baby, we'd appreciate any suggestions of names for our baby boy. Cindi told me last night she only has eight weeks left, and since I'm due a couple weeks after her (and with my record and her record, I just might beat her getting a baby) so the baby is coming soon. Make a good suggestion and it will at least be on the list we take to the hospital. Just remember our last name, and try not to be too mean. We're slowly getting ready for him, gathering clothes and other baby things. I got a new baby swing at a yard sale, and we've had a lot of people give us clothes since he'll be a fall baby instead of a summer baby like Joseph and Caleb were. Our other kids are doing good. Joseph is trying to grow up and be just like Caleb, he repeats his big brother and does all the crazy things Caleb does. It's really frustrating to him when Felicity won't let him color with her or play with (break) her things. It will be good for him to have a little brother that he can play with in about a year or so. He loves his hat and wears it all the time. We've prohibited it at church, at the table, and during prayers, but he's wearing it pretty much all the rest of the time, he even sleeps with it sometimes. Just don't touch it, he likes to wear it his own way, which is so low he has to tip his head back to see. But if you try to fix it, ouch. Caleb is getting bigger and growing up so much right now. He loves his bike Rocket and is getting a little too fearless on it for my sake. He's got one more year before Kindergarten, and we might be organizing a mother preschool for him to go to this year. He's really into tractors and tried to sleep with his tractor coloring book last night. Felicity just turned six and is all registered now for 1st grade. She's excited, we'll see how her first all-day-long day goes. Her birthday was a lot of fun. We made birthday invites on the night of the father/son camp-out when it was just us girls at home. Her party was a water party, with water balloons and other water games and I made a jewelry box cake with candy rings and necklaces. Nicki took a lot of pictures, so I should be able to post some up here soon. Mom and Nicki left after lunch and we all crashed for a couple hours. On Sunday the primary sang to Felicity and gave her a pencil, she was like a little puppy, just wiggling all over the room. Then Rocky and Cindi and Desi and their families came over for dinner. Felicity wanted ebel skevers, so we added crepes and lots of fruit and home grown veggies to the mix, then had cake and ice cream. The kids all had fun, but were tuckered out. And so was Farris and I! And this blog is way too long, and I'm still in my p.j.s, so I'll go for now.

It's raining!

I love the rain. Growing up in a drought has made me appreciate every drop that comes. This has been a good day already (I took a nap and when I woke up I thought an hour had gone by, but I slept for two hours, wow!) , but the rain makes everything seem even better. It's been over 100 degrees this weekend, so the rain has cooled everything down and made our plants happy.
It seems like every family has their own Sunday dinner traditions. My mom declared it her day of rest from the kitchen, and about half the time she would put in a roast in the slowcooker and we were on our own in making the rest of our meal. It was actually kind of fun, we'd poke around to see what everyone else was fixing up. Our tradition is evolving into breakfast dinners. I don't make anything for breakfast beyond oatmeal unless we have visitors, so our french toast, waffles, crepes, and ebelskivers (they're these yummy pancake balls with a fruit filling that my mom made a lot growing up) are only made a dinner time. Sunday feels like a good day to make breakfast at night because it feels kind of special with out spending three hours cooking and cleaning. Plus, Farris helps out a lot with sunday dinners (hurrah, he's home at dinner making time!) and he makes excellent french toast. So, now I'm happy from eating a good breakfast dinner and from the rain. There's nothing like food and cooler temperatures to make a pregnant woman happy. Maybe I'll even have some ice cream...

trips and temples and (fruity) kids

We're back from our trip to Idaho, we had lots of fun and enjoyed spending time with family and being in our homes. We are glad to be back though! Felicity and Caleb were gone for two whole weeks and I think they were missing their rooms and the regular routine. They were showing lots of grumpiness the last few days and I'm hoping that a couple nights of real sleep and regular activities will get them back on even keel. The highlight of our trip was going through the open house for the new Twin Falls Temple. It was gorgeous! I wish we could go through it all again, we went on Saturday and because of so many people waiting to go we didn't get to look as closely at everything as I would have liked to. I can't wait to sit still in the Celestial room and just sit. Guess I'll just have to do some sessions there! We're all very excited that the Magic Valley has a temple, finally, finally.
We've been busy with fruit lately...I think I understand why Washington chopped the cherry tree down. He was tired of finding those gross worms in the fruit! Some friends in our ward gave us permission to pick from their tree, but it hadn't been sprayed and we spent a lot of time dissecting to find the good cherries. I don't think I'll be able to eat cherries for awhile now. Then, when we were in Idaho, Farris spent about three hours at a strawberry farm and came back with nine gallons of strawberries. Mom (thank you again!) helped us freeze some and make jam with the rest, and it's yummy! Yesterday on the way home we stopped in Burley and picked raspberries (thanks again, Judy!) and brought home a lot to make more jam and maybe just freeze some of those, too. We've had two offers this week to pick apricots and eventually we want to raid some peach trees, too. This winter I will be very grateful, I just hope I don't keel over with all this now.
Our garden decided to double itself while we were gone, including the weeds unfortunately. Our tomato plants are loaded with green fruit and our bell peppers are popping out all over, our carrots are getting close to pick, the watermelon has a little melon and the beans and corn are getting really big and I think our strawberries are looking much better if we can find them under the weeds. Yikes! We've created a monster. Now we have to do something with it all.
The kids are doing great. Joseph had fun trying to keep Grandpa Newey from taking naps (from just saying "wake up, sleepyhead!" to joining his cousin Michael in bouncing blocks off grandpa's head), Felicity is observing our driving much how a teenager would, and asked me if the other car could hear me talking to it? Caleb is the same mellow kid, he loved playing with his big boy cousins. When we were driving through Jerome he saw some cows out the window and announced it. I was making sure I knew the way I was going and not really paying attention and just said "Really? Lucky duck!" and he confusedly answered, "No, Mom, COWS."
Whew, I knew this was going to be a long one. And I know we don't put pictures on here, I'm sorry. Someday we will leave the past and actually get a digital camera, until then, you'll have to come see us and take your own pictures. Our house is always open for guests. Especially if they like to weed...

Camping at Outhouse Flats

Happy 4th of July! We had a great time this weekend (but it sure felt great to take a really long nap on Saturday after everyone had left!) . On Thursday after many calls to coordinate efforts, we met my mom, dad, Tasha, and the kids at Nicki's in Ogden and then headed up to Outhouse Flats by Pine View Reservoir in the Ogden Canyon to go camping. Now, the camp ground is not really called Outhouse Flats, but my mischievous dad and his equally so friends named it that when the forest service first opened the campground on a flat area between the highway and the reservoir. They had planted trees, but the trees were still really small compared to the outhouses. The kids tried to put up signs saying Outhouse Flats, but the forest service didn't think it was funny and kept taking down the signs. Frustrated, dad and his friends looked for something more permanent. Such as the white reflective highway paint. And Dad's cousin Paul's dad worked for the highway department...all was going well. They only had one more hitch in their plan. In the middle of painting the new name on the highway, going both ways, the local sheriff's deputy stopped by. They hid, but it was a cold night and the paint was steaming up from their hiding place in the bushes. The deputy's flashlight shined right on it. But after reading what was written he just laughed, announced to the steam that he'd be swinging through the area in a little while so they better hurry, and left them to finish the job. So to get back to the original topic, we went camping at Outhouse Flats, but the trees are much bigger now. Melissa and Rob joined us in a little while, then Chad and Tarilynn and kids, so everybody was there. Grandma and Grandpa were practically floating with all their grandkids around them. In the morning we went to the Huntsville park for the town breakfast and parade. Huntsville is growing but it still has a lot of the traditions that it had when we were kids (luckily, since we were out of the town we missed the sheriff driving through town at six with his siren on to wake everyone up for the breakfast. That was a tradition gladly missed) and it was really fun for Dad to see so many people he grew up with, including his cousin Paul. After the parade we went to grandma Newey's house that Aunt DaNeice owns now and had lunch with our cousins. We left to meet a college roommate of mine for a few minutes and then met back at our house here for dinner, except Chad and Tarilynn who headed back to Idaho. Saturday morning we just enjoyed being together and then packed everybody up to head back home. Felicity and Caleb jumped in with grandma at the last minute and I'm still trying to remember if I packed enough underwear for them in the frantic packing. As loud and busy as Joseph is, it sure is a lot quieter with the older two gone, and it was amazing how much faster we got ready for Church this morning. We do miss them, Joseph wandered the house this morning looking for Felicity. We'll pick them up when we head to Idaho for a family reunion this coming weekend. When we talked to them on the phone I think we missed them more than they missed us, Felicity was just excited that she got french frys and a hamburger for dinner. And speaking of that, I better go make dinner, Joseph is declaring he's hungry.

The toys vs. mean mom

In my last blog I meant to talk about the conflict I've been having with toys. My Inner Mean Mom (apparently not so inner) has come out and attacked a couple times the last few weeks, and we're trying to decide how to stop this. See, a few weeks ago the toy room and the family room were a mess with multitudes of toys. I told the kids they had to clean up before dinner, and Caleb looked at me and said "no." Inner mean mom started to rise. I told him I was going to put some of his toys in time out unless he cleaned up. He just said no again. So I told him I was going to get a big bag and everything that wasn't cleaned up was going into the bag for a long time out. He laughed and said no and started running around the room. Inner Mean Mom was not Inner at all any more, and all the toys throughout the house, even the stuffed animals they sleep with were shoved in the guest bedroom. After I calmed down I made a deal with them that they could get a toy out each time they made their beds or helped us or something like that. They were really good about cleaning up after that, and we had guests coming and a play group at my house, so I eventually brought all the toys out (except the toys I decided were D.I. bound). Then on this last Friday the Mean Mom reappeared. This time it was Felicity that said no. It's really the defiance that gets me mad, as long as the toys aren't too chaotic and are all in the toy room out of sight I'm o.k. But when they start acting like teenagers (or two year olds) look out. Anyway, this time I had the kids put the toys on the shelves and then the whole toy room went into time out for a week. I have the door barricaded and everything. They had a few toys up in their rooms and they have their bikes and books and coloring so they're o.k. (they've been pretty creative: Joseph played with a cardboard box last night, and Felicity and Caleb were using books to make tents for their stuffed animals.) So now we're thinking about keeping some toys out and switching every few weeks. They really don't have a huge amount of toys, it all just seems to multiply when it's on the floor. And the bag of 150 balls and bags and wagons with 500 or so mega blocks doesn't help. So that's the situation at my house. The mean mom is still lurking but maybe I can keep her inside for awhile.

toys and dancing and stuff

Yes, it's definately summer, we jumped from 60 and 70 degree days to 90 degree days. Felicity and Caleb have started their communtiy classes. This week and next week they both have a dance class everyday, Felicity's in creative dance. She loves it, but can't wait for ballet next year. Caleb is in an all boys Super Heros dance class. I was hoping maybe it would teach him not to walk into walls and doorways (yeah, we have a little problem with that). This morning he told me that he learned that Super Heros have stinky feet. So maybe he'll have to learn some grace later. Caleb did get a bike for his birthday, it says "Rockit" on it, so whenever it bucks him off or is a little hard to turn he sighs and says "Come on, Rocket, let's go!" We found a trike for Joseph and had to give it to him for his birthday a little early because he kept trying to steal Caleb's bike. Last night for my night off I went to a fabric store that's having a good sale and got material for a quilt for little baby #4. I've finished Joseph's quilt top, but since I've never actually quilted the whole thing together before, I'm not sure when he's going to get an actual blanket. Mom (and Nicki), I might have to come visit with a couple projects in tow. Well, Joseph just walked up and announced that he's poopy, so I better go. Next time I should talk about Joseph's growing vocabulary, he never stops talking now, which is pretty funny.

boys, boys, boys...continued

Soooo...I got my ultrasound today. Felicity was disappointed. She got bored pretty quick after the announcement and tried to walk out. She seems to be coming around, and has already decided we should name the baby "Mark" after one of her friends here (Yup, Julie, that's your Mark). Caleb and Joseph don't seem to care now, but maybe they will when they realize the balance of power is still in their favor. I'm glad, he's a healthy little guy and is a little bigger than average, the due date is October 21st, his size is on schedule for October 12th, but it probably won't change the due date. It is really neat that they can check how many chambers the heart has, if the spinal cord is growing as it needs to, if some of the major arteries have fused together and all of these other things to rule out health problems. He's looking good, and we're excited to have another little guy running, jumping and playing. Even if I do have to sanitize everything, all the time.

boys, boys, boys...

I know I just wrote yesterday, but I want to complain and see if any one else with little boys has the same problems. I'm talking bathroom, so if you're squimish, stop reading now. When I first got married (yes, this was at Deseret Book), I worked with this great lady who told me that with her sons she put a sign above the toilet that said "It's not as long as you think. Stand closer." Caleb has decided he wants to pee like daddy. I thought he was doing so well, and he does most of the time, but saturday I realized that I need to sanitize the floor around the toilet and the toilet seat about every other day. And to make it worse, Joseph who is still getting potty trained, wants to stand up too. The problem is he's short and no amount of toe standing and streching is going to make it. But he is demanding that he stand up. After I tell him about how special his seat is and all that I can usually get him on it, but he has problems with that, too. He's not real good at aiming inside the toilet (I might have to try that bullseye trick with the cheerios), the other day he put his finger in the wrong spot and it was like a hose when you put your finger in front to spray the garden, except it was the rug and walls. Now, don't be scared of going in our bathroom, I use a lot of Lysol (we're working on a year supply) and I steam the tile in the bathroom, and I'm learning to move the rug so I don't have to wash it every other day. But do I have any sympathy out there? Any great ideas? Any other good stories so I know that I'm not alone? This week I'll find out if we're having boy #3 or girl #2. Either would be wonderful, but sometimes I think I can handle the girly-dramatics more than the boy- sanitize-the-world. We'll see.

Needed: A real day of rest

What a week! we finished planting our garden, dropped my mom off at the airport a couple hours before the President of the United States flew in (luckily, we missed all the security and media), went camping, had a birthday party, had visitors from where we lived before and I lost Joseph for 45 minutes. For those of you who know Joseph and how fast he is and how much of a terrible two year old he is (he's not even two yet, but he is the busiest little creature. We do love him alot) will not be suprised at how quickly I became terrified when I found the backyard gate open and not a Joseph in sight. The kids and I searched the house three times, drove the neighborhood, alerted friends and neighbors, and looked all over the place. Finally, I checked the house one more time, and he was fast asleep on our bed, curled up between four or five pillows. It took about two hours for my heart beat to slow down. I'm a little embarassed now, but I did get to meet some neighbors that I hadn't met before. It's wonderful how quick everyone set down whatever they were working on and immediately helped me, what a great neighborhood I live in! Thank you to everyone that helped. And happier topics, Caleb turned four on thursday. For his birthday we got together with Farris' sister and her family. Her little boy, Tennessee (yes, my Virginian friends, they couldn't name a little boy Virginia, so Tennessee was chosen instead. Sorry) was born 8 days after Caleb, so we celebrated together. We went camping on Friday night, then had a birthday party Saturday morning. I made a tractor cake, the pattern says that it's an excavator, but apparently (Farris wants to write to the editors of Familyfun.com) it is a backhoe. Caleb enjoyed it anyway, it was diamantled in about three seconds. After the party, we slept. And cleaned. Then some of our friends from Many Farms, AZ came by, they were dropping their daughter off for school, so we had a nice catching up session with them and they took off this morning for the long drive home. Whew, this weekend has been busy, I'm glad it's sunday. If you can call working in the primary a day of rest, anyway.

Felicity is done with kindergarten

We went yard saleing this morning, I'm so tired I'm just going to sit down at the computer for awhile instead of doing all that stuff I should be doing while Farris is home. There has been alot going on this week, Felicity is all through with Kindergarten, Farris is never going to leave me at home with the kids for two and a half days again (ok, that may not be true) and we set up an appointment for our ultrasound, so more on that in a couple weeks. On Monday we had my monthly doctors appointment, the kids got to listen to the baby's heartbeat; they loved that. And, no they did not hear two heartbeats, despite the persistent rumors floating around (and Felicity's prayers). Tuesday Farris left for a conference until Thursday in Park City Utah and got snowed on. When he came home house and children were all in one piece, mom was very, very tired. It's nice to have another adult around to take over when I need to crash. Thursday morning was also Felicity's graduation, she did a great job on her part and won the sweetest smile award. Friday we went in for her assessment test, she passed with flying colors, so first grade here we come. Last night Farris was having fun with the boys, they were playing basketball on our little hoop downstairs and after several tries and misses, Caleb said "it must be broken." So that's what was wrong all those years in p.e. when I couldn't make a shot to save my life. Then Farris was playing a game on the computer with Joseph and accidentally taught him to say "shoot." Unfortunately, I laughed so now Joseph thinks it's funny. Could be worse, I guess. It's been raining quite a bit these last few days, so no work in the garden, but everything is looking great, even tiny cherry tomatoes starting out. Joseph did some extra weeding and we are now one squash plant short, but Felicity doesn't mind at all.

Busy Week

We have had a busy week this last week, lots of good stuff going on. Our garden is growing, thanks, Judy, for more raspberries and all the strawberry starts! We did get them planted and the kids seemed to better understand that they water the plants, not the parents. We had a nice mother's day weekend in Idaho with our families. On thursday, Farris went to work for a couple hours then picked up Caleb and went to Arizona for the high school graduation where he worked before. We were a little worried that Caleb would be bored in the six hour drive (one-way), but he really liked the time with his dad. It was nice for Farris to catch up with many of our friends down there, everyone seems to be doing well, and we do miss all of them. Felicity went on her first big field trip to the zoo. Her favorite part, she told us, was when they ate lunch. She did like the animals (a tiger, the monkeys, skunks, big kittys, and snakes were her favorite), she didn't like the stinky buiding that some of the animals were in, but she did like the bus ride. While all this was going on, Joseph was helping me plant some flowers and other plants. he went through three pairs of pants that day and by the time Farris and Caleb got home, he wasn't wearing pants at all. Joseph likes mud. On Saturday (after more mud and plants) we met some of our friends from Utah State, we had fun seeing everyone again. I still don't remember some of the pranks they claim I did. That's part of being a mother, we forget everything. Our garden is going good, we just have to fix the sprinkler that is more like a fountain, and the sprinklers that are more like part of a drip system. That's for next week.

grocery store helps

A friend of mine has asked around for help at one of the grocery stores here. She saw a display called "Soccer Moms" at a store when she was visiting her sister. The display had a recipe and all of the ingredients right there (conveniently, many of the ingredients were on sale) for a complete meal--main dish, side dish, veggies and sometimes a dessert. All were quick fixes, healthy, and not too expensive. The store changed the display once or twice a week. I told her I could help out with that, but now I'd like some feedback on the idea. When you guys are making dinner, what are some things you wish were easier? Do you want to try things with new ingredients, or are the old basics good enough? Are you more worried about price or quickness or healthiness or as much or as little from scratch as possible? Any other ideas that would make this whole idea better? Any feedback would be appreciated! Thanks!

Raspberries and terrible twos don't mix

This has been a busy week and a half, not any more big things since Lissy's fall, just busy. Speaking of that, she got her stiches out five days after her fall but was disappointed that they didn't give her another stuffed animal or anything. She's been fine, no headaches, no complaining except when I put a small band-aid on (she liked the big attention getting bandaids). She's enjoying the last days of school, the kindergarten only have a couple more weeks, so now they're doing all the fun end of the year things. Exciting, she gets to eat her first school lunch tomorrow. They introduce the kindergarteners to it at the end of the year so it will be an easier transition to first grade. That's almost as good as the zoo trip her class has planned. She's also had two birthday parties for friends the last two saturdays. The first one she came home and said "I had too much fun. I had more fun than a seal catching it's first ball." I think she's going to be the writer in our family. Caleb is really enjoying the warmer weather. He'll play outside constantly if I let him. And he loves dirt, he's spent his whole life with a backyard of dirt, so our tiny patch of grass is an exception. Joseph loves it outside, too, but I still have to keep a close eye on him, he likes to pick our new plants, eat dirt and whatever else he finds and he'll follow any dog or cat he sees. His little vocabulary is growing, we've started helping him say his prayers. The other day I was helping him say dinner prayer. I said "thank thee.." and before I could say for the food, he said "Gicki" which interpreted is Nicki, my sister. He loves "Gicki and her beep (jeep)". On sunday we went to Farris' brother Rocky's ward to see his baby blessed. The whole famly was there, including a lot of Farris' cousins and grandma. The kids had loads of fun and wore themselves out quite a bit. Farris' mom brought us some raspberry starts and we planted those last night. Have you ever planted raspberries with a five-,three-year old,and 22 month old? Not great. Jospeh liked to pull the starts straight out of the box, goodbye roots. Caleb and Felicity took turns spraying us with the hose and running into the house with muddy shoes. We also had close calls with their little shovels (we armed Joseph with a little snow shovel, plastic blade, for that very reason). We're going to get more and some strawberry starts, too, when we visit Judy next, we'll see how that goes when we plant them. It's library time now, hopefully I'll do better and write sooner next time, without any more High Drama from Felicity.

We needed this like a...

We had a new experience yesterday. Having three kids and no major injuries was pretty miraculous, especially when one of the kids is a human cannonball. But yesterday we got our frst taste of running into the emergency room dripping blood. OK, she wasn't dripping blood any more, she was pressing a washcloth to the hole in her head. To start at the beginning, I was upstairs when Felicity started crying. I wasn't worried, she is our drama queen and I figured Caleb was teasing her again. But then she came upstairs with blood everywhere. I know, logically, that head wounds bleed alot, and blood doesn't scare me (unlike some of the men in my family, hee-hee, Dad and Rob), but the first time you see your child..anyway, no gross details. I grabbed her and a washcloth, put pressure on it, and realized that I had no idea where the ER was, and the boys had no shoes on(Joseph's could be anywhere), and I was starting to panic. I left Felicity pushing on the washcloth and called around until I got our friend, Jenny. She calmed me down, told me where the ER was, and I dropped the boys off (no shoes) at her house. And, of course, it was snowing. Felicity was a little better now, just worried that the doctor was going to give her a shot. I told her about when I cut my head open, but I didn't tell her about stiches. If she was afraid of shots, the idea of stiches would really freak her out. When we got to the hospital I was calmer,and the nurses and doctor were great. I called Farris, which was good because he had come home early, saw the van was gone but Caleb's shoes were still in the kitchen and there was drops of blood coming up the stairs and down the hall. He was pretty worried. Felicity was feeling lots better, they had deadened the area with some topical stuff, and gave her coloring stuff, book, and stickers. Then they had to deaden the area more with a needle, by the time she was recovered from that, the doctor came an stiched her up. It was pretty deep, they had to stich the muscles together and then five stiches on her skin. She was ok, and when they gave her a teddy bear, she told me that it was the great day. Stuffed animals make everything better, even a hole in the head. So, the drama was over, and Felicity has a great story to tell the kids in her class today. And now the kids can do their worst, 'cause I know what to do. At least until the next time I see one of my kiddos with blood all over.

A call for help!

I'm asking for help! I'm the secretary in our primary here, and for an upcoming activity we're learning about the Good Samaritan. We thought we could have the kids put together a simple craft that they could take home to so they could be secret helpers around the house. Like, they make their sisters bed,then they put this flower or whatever on her pillow, and it has a little poem attached to it that says something about how a secret helper did something nice for you, so now it's your turn to do something for someone else. And then it keeps going around the house. I volunteered to find a poem, and after googling several different phrases (I'm not sure if "secret service" is a good thing to Google or not), I haven't found anything. Any ideas? Please comment soon, the activity isn't until May but we wanted to start getting things put together soon. Thanks!

Our week

Sorry I haven't written in here for awhile. Here's an update on the kiddos:
Caleb has a list of four heros, completely his own make: Daddy (of course), Superman, Captain Moroni, and Bob the builder. Maybe Bob is his practical choice, his fall-back guy. I do think he needs to learn a little bit more about Cap. Moroni, yesterday he wacked Joseph in the face with his sword. I can only hope he thought that Joseph was trying to take away his religion, his liberty, and his peace.
Joseph, meanwhile, is talking a lot more. Felicity taught him to say awesome. I tried fiddlesticks, but I'm afraid he'll pick up "dang it" alot quicker. He's enjoying the warmer weather, and has been helping his siblings dig a deep hole in the back yard. No reason, it's just fun. Maybe they're trying to make in to the Olympics?
Felicity is glad to be back in kindergarten after spring break, by friday she was telling me that she hadn't been to school in weeks and weeks. She's planning her birthday party now, she has a theme(Fancy Nancy), list of guests (everyone she's ever met) and her presents (mostly my little pony stuff) all picked out. This will probably change, as her birthday is not until August.
My sisters came for a visit on sunday and monday, we went to some gardens not far from here for the tulip festival. Not quite like Holland, but it was really pretty and lots of fun. The kids loved the children's garden, especially the bear statue that growled. They've had a good time the last couple weekends, Grandma Child and Aunt Charitie came up last weekend, they had loads of fun. No one's coming this weekend, if anyone would like to fill the time slot so our kids won't get bored.
It's graduation week for the university here, so Farris was busy this last month making sure the kids who want to gradute actually deserve it, and getting everyone else ready to come back for fall or summer semesters. Hopefully next week will be slower so he can actually start eating lunch again.
Yesterday was my fourteen week visit to the doctor, everything's good, no two heartbeats despite Felicity's prayer for twin sisters. Whew. And I think that's everything for now. I just heard the door open, which means two little boys are escaping...

My favorite song

This is one of my favorite songs at the moment. The video is a little wierd (not graphic, just odd), so if it bothers you, just close your eyes!

Insects or bugs?

Bugs seem to be a theme in my house at the moment. The small black ants that we inherited with our house have moved back in, and Saturday night our babysitters helped the kids catch a couple and put them in sandwich bags with a handful of grass (Caleb's was named George). The poor ants got prodded enough that I think they were gone before they could even starve to death. Yesterday Caleb's sunbeam lesson was on insects and the saintly teachers took a small herd of four-year-olds outside to find bugs. Now Caleb is really excited and this morning he caught a couple more ants in sandwich bags. He named one Jacob, after his cousin, and poor Jacob was thought to be asleep (I thought he was suffocated in the bag) and so the bag was opened and laid on Joseph's bed so he could sleep. Now Jacob is lost...the devious little guy was pretending so he could escape. So now Joseph has an ant in his bed. Meanwhile, Felicity is setting traps for the ants, consisting of sandwich bags filled with (you guessed it) grass tied to the legs of my kitchen chairs. I asked Caleb what the difference between bugs and insects were yesterday, he thought about it for a minute, and answered, "I don't remember." When I have surprise visitors today and they see the baggies tied to my chairs and ask why, I think I'm just going to say the same thing. It will be easier than telling the story about George and Jacob.

Potty not-so-humor

O.k., so Joseph, who will not be two until the end of June, has recently decided that he needs to be like everyone else and use the potty. We decided to jump right in and put him in underwear, cold turkey. That lasted about two days. After about 15 changes and a nice little puddle on the floor of the city library, I gave up. I still encourage him to use the toilet, and he has gone a little bit, but diapers are my friend. There's a definite difference between the desire to be grown up and the ability to know what's coming.
And in passing, it's still snowing outside. My daffodils haven't bloomed (my crocus have!), and I'm getting twitchy for summer. I have a yard this year, hurrah! I can't wait to plant and weed and actually try out what I learned five years ago in college (I spent my tuition learning about plants, which was more fun than you probably think). Anyway, I'm getting used to the weather here again, which is warmer than Logan or Rexburg or Idaho, but colder than Rough Rock, Arizona. Yes, Amy and Kimberly down in warm Phoenix area, I am a little jealous, but I will let you come visit us any time this July and August that you want to (anytime you want to, really). So, we'll see how this spring turns out.

Beginning

Well, thanks, Missy! I've now been pressured to start a blog. Since my life is fairly centered around my family, that's what I've named it. And for our first blog...da-da-da-da! We're announcing baby #4, due October 21st. I'm about 12 weeks along now, and I feel worse than I did with any of the other babies! But I am better than a few weeks ago, and I really can't complain because I haven't thrown up yet. It's the going around for a month and a half feeling like I'm going to throw up any second that's not the greatest. But I have a great doctor (thanks, Christy!), I'm only 20 minutes from the hospital--that's a switch from 2-2 1/2 hours that we were when we lived on the rez, and my parents are overjoyed at the prospect of grandbaby #12. So, alls good here. I'll write more later and flesh out the blog.