Let's Reminisce...shall we?

As I put the finishing touches on our nursery (for the 4th and FINAL time...hopefully) I got to thinking about our journey to this point in life. First of all, here are the pictures of the nursery:

I mainly took the pictures because I'm planning on selling this stuff after this baby has outgrown it...but I figured since I have the pictures I might as well make some use of them.


As I start to reminisce, I'm going to start in stage#1...the pre-children stage in our marriage. I recall the time where I had a set schedule. Not only for myself, but for my cleaning and organizing. I would clean every Saturday, I would do laundry during that day as well, and I would often use phrases like "MY kids will NEVER...."

I remember the pre-children days when I knew that I would have angel children that wouldn't DARE disobey. I wouldn't need to child-proof my house because MY kids would be SO well behaved that they would leave my antique porcelain figurines alone. (I don't have antique porcelain figurines, but it's just the principle of the thing. ) MY kids would NEVER talk back, they would be perfectly behaved, and we would be the envy of all. We would all be dressed to the hilt, never have runny noses (and MY kids would NEVER pick them for heaven sakes), and I would never be the cause of a scene in the grocery store because MY kids would NEVER throw fits.


Stage #2
Let's call this stage...oh...the Only Child Stage (yeah I know. Reeeeaal original).

We FINALLY had our first child. We were prepared. We bought anything and everything we would EVER need for this baby. She had the perfect nursery. She had a wardrobe that Paris Hilton would be jealous of. She had 100% of our attention 100% of the time. If she cried, Chance and I would discuss what techniques needed to be used in that particular situation. Chance and I even fought about naptimes, whether or not to let Morgan "cry it out" (because it seemed so dang cruel for pete's sake).

Morgan was by FAR the most beautiful child in this world...couldn't everyone else tell this? I would read to her not only in the womb before she was born, but as a newborn I would show her black and white flashcards because that helped to stimulate her mind and vision. While I was pregnant I faithfully kept a journal about how "amazing" pregnancy was, and how blessed I was to feel life inside me. I would play Mozart, Bach, you name it.

As our first child grew, I read books, I sang songs constantly, I even got out my art books from college and taught about Picasso, Van Gogh, Degas.

Now.

Let's move on to Stage #3.
The 2nd Child.

We tried for a couple of years to get Grace here. My pregnancy was scary - I was on bed-rest for a few weeks and was TERRIFIED that I would lose this baby. She was very anticipated and welcome when she finally arrived.

Luckily, Paris Hilton's wardrobe worked for this one too...so she had everything she needed. I felt GOOD. I had another little girl, she was perfect, I loved cuddling with her every chance I got, and I VOWED that THIS time I would just enjoy her, and enjoy the little stages she was in. I was determined to Breast Feed (and when THAT wasn't working, I pumped exclusively for 3 months). I was LOVING the newborn baby stage. My patience was endless. I never yelled, I was living my dream. **sigh**

Ssccccrreeeeeeeeeeeaaach! ***sound of car breaks***

When Grace was 3 months old, guess what? Yep..I'm pregnant again. Come again?!?! So that put a SCREECHING hault to my good attitude. Instead of focusing on art lessons, music lessons, reading and stimulating my child, I was just plain ORNERY. (I love those awesome pregnancy hormones...ya know?) My children would only be 12 months apart, and I was FREAKING out. Remember the days when I had schedules for everything?!?

Let's fast forward to
Stage #4
Dwindling Sanity

Yep, the 3rd child arrived, and my sanity departed.

Laundry? What used to take me 1/2 a day now takes me 1 1/2 days to complete. Let's talk about pre-treating. Before my sanity left me, I ALWAYS pre-treat my clothes. Any little spot or potential stain I would attack with vigor, and if THAT didn't work, I would attempt other methods until that stain was finito. Now? It's a good day when I am folding clothes and I don't find a stain that's been permanently heated into a shirt.

Cleaning? Hmmmm.....I am not even going to admit how often I clean now. Mopping my kitchen floor has become a wistful thought. I changed my kids sheets the other day and thought to myself, "I REALLY should be doing this more often". I think I found a few long lost toys, socks, and other such items neatly stuffed in the foot of their beds.

Oh, and patience? Well that's totally gone as well.

If one of our kids throws a fit? Well....lets see how far they can throw it. That's especially fun when I am at Walmart and Grace is screaming at the TOP of her lungs.

Crying it out during the night? Oh yeah...I'm all for that. Chance, at this point, has resorted to wearing earplugs to bed so that HE can at least go to work the next day and not be a zombie.

Childproofing our house? Well, DUH! It was either (a) yell at the kids nonstop to "quit touching that!" or (b) move it out of the house until the kids get older. I chose option (b).

I think it's quite amusing how much MY attitude has changed through these stages. If you would have told me 7 years ago that this is my life, I wouldn't have believed you. Back then, I knew I would live in the perfectly kept house with perfectly kept kids. Now I realize that there are SOOO many more important things than a clean house and clean kids.

I am so blessed to have HEALTHY and HAPPY kids and a house that is comfortable. I love the fact that I don't have to worry that my clean house will be wrecked if my kids play with their toys. I am grateful that I can do something fun for myself without feeling like I have to keep a perfectly manicured home, and that I have a husband that doesn't mind a little clutter here and there.

Sure, my kids aren't perfect - but neither am I! I just hope that as they grow up, they will know how much they mean to our family, and how much they are loved. I also hope that they will appreciate us as parents. I'm so glad that my attitude and outlook have changed through these different stages, because I really don't know how happy I would really be if I was only concerned with perfection.

Anyway, thanks for listening to the ramblings of a semi-sane Mom of 3 1/2 kids.

The End.

Oh boy.

I can't believe that it's been a whole month since I blogged. I started out with the best intentions, and those intentions aren't enough apparently. Lets see....what's happened in a month...

ME

I am now 28 1/2 weeks pregnant. I'm huge, I have no waistline, and I get winded sitting still. I crave sweets 24/7 and I'm afraid that's going to be my downfall. Oh, and did I mention that my patience has left permanently? Thanks to a husband that still loves me even through all of this, and through the fact that I am still snoring like a lumberjack, I am not totally losing my mind. I think that I only have about 10 more weeks to go....and I am COUNTING DOWN.

We're still having trouble with names - and if ANYONE has any cool suggestions, we'd be happy to hear them. Seriously...any.

Mothers Day: I really LOVE Mothers Day. I love that I get to hear my little kids sing in church on Sunday, and I love the effort that Chance puts towards me on that day. He really does try (even though we're nick-naming this Mothers Day as the "Maverik Mothers Day". . . you can probably come up with your own conclusion there.) to make my day special. I got some roses at church and even a Kit Kat (mmmmmm....chocolate.) My Mom came over for dinner and brought a...da da daaaaaaaa MRS. BACKERS CAKE. Oh how I love Mrs Backers. (For those of you that don't know, Mrs. Backers is a bakery in Salt Lake City that has the BEST cakes. They have been around since MY mom was a little girl. President Hinckley had a birthday cake made there for one of his birthday's too. If you EVER get a chance, stop in - get a cupcake or two, a danish, some fresh bread, even a triangle. You won't be sorry.) We ate dinner, stuffed ourselves with cake, and relaxed the rest of the night. It was a very good day.

I played the piano for our neighbor's/friends wedding as well. I was VERY stressed about that day, but it ended up going really well. I had a lot of fun, and I got a very yummy lunch too. Thanks to the Coombs for that day. They are the best people I know.

I'm also looking forward to summertime because I have some fun plans for me and the kiddo's. We have a summer movie pass, and am planning on going each Wednesday throughout the summer...we have school lunch to look forward to (it's free, yay!), and I seriously think that I will be spending most of my summer sitting in a kiddie pool out in the backyard while I watch the kids play. (let's not linger on that image...mmmmmm kay?) I'm already too hot and it's not even 80 degree's yet. We have a couple of fun camping trips to plan, and I am possibly going to try to sneak in a mural for an old friend of mine - and try to get THAT done before the baby comes. All of this before the end of July. Yay!

My last thought (and yes, it's very random): when you are driving down the road, and you see something dead on the side, or in the middle...whatever...do you get the heebie jeebies? I was coming home from my OB appointment yesterday and saw some gross leftovers on the freeway from SOMETHING that died, and shuddered BADLY....and then I thought, "does anyone else have this issue?" okay - let's move on.

CHANCE

He is working when he HAS work, and we're just grateful for any income that we can get at this point. He is continually obsessed with hunting, shed hunting, putting in for hunts, you name it.

Chance is so excited to be a daddy again, and he is always rubbing my tummy and talking to the baby to get it to move. His favorite thing to do is to jiggle my tummy and then wait for the baby to kick his hand. As a side note....that's not MY favorite thing for him to do. Chance is always thinking of names (some crazy, some kind-of okay) and he keeps looking at little babies in our ward and neighborhood and saying things like, "Aren't you excited?? You forget all the fun things that babies do!" He's such a good Dad.

I fell in our church parking lot one day after church, while holding Crede, and after being concerned for me, Chance made a day of it, and teased me non-stop. He makes me crazy because I CANNOT keep a straight face with him even if I'm ticked off. So all day long, I was forced to laugh at myself. Chance and Morgan even made some pretty cute artwork over our ENTIRE driveway. Here's some pictures of the finished product:

Just for the record, this isn't really how it ended. Crede was just fine - no cuts or scraps anywhere. Chance likes the flare for a good story.

MORGAN

She got to go on her first field trip yesterday to Hoagle Zoo, and had the time of her life. She keeps talking about it, and she wants to go back as soon as possible. We cut some bangs on our little Morgan about a month ago, and that didn't turn out as I'd hoped, so now we're growing THOSE out, and probably won't cut anymore for a long, long time.

Morgan is being such a good big sister to Grace. Everyday she is wanting to go outside to play and Grace tags along with her each day. Morgan does complain a little, but she watches out for Grace the WHOLE time, and helps her if she needs it. She'll tighten Grace's bike helmet, and she'll help her on the swings.

Speaking of bikes, Chance has helped her overcome her 2-wheeler fear, and she's now riding a 2-wheeler FINALLY. After last summer's fall with the whole "head split-open" thing, she has been a tad leary. Yay bug!! You are doing so awesome on your bike.

Morgan also wrote her first book recently. It's called, "The Three Pony's" and it's "rittin by Morgan". She drew all the pictures herself, and she sounded out all the words herself. It's about the cutest thing ever, and like I always say, she's a genius. I'm totally not biased. She's a genius. Her kindergarten teacher read it to her class as their morning reading book. Cute cute.

GRACE

Poor Grace. We bought her some "thumb guards" yesterday to help her stop sucking her thumb. They look like a PAIN to wear, and she complains about them a lot. Her teeth are in desperate need of the thumb guards though, and we're hopeful that they will work. Basically, they are our last resort.

She is totally potty trained now, even at night. She has been pretty easy compared to her older sister, and I'm SOOOOOOO grateful for that. Way to go Gracie.

Grace and Crede have really started playing well together (about 80 percent of the time), and it's really funny to listen to their conversations. They played house this morning for about an hour, and Grace kept insisting that he "come eat his dinner!" He kept saying, "okay, I'm coming!" The other 20 percent of the time, Grace is taking Crede's toys, and Crede is screaming his best blood-curdling scream he can muster. Our neighbors probably wonder what is going on in here. **sigh**

CREDE

Well he's still my cute little boy. His new thing is that he laughs about EVERYTHING. He has this throaty cackle that he uses all the time, and he doesn't sit still for anything. I really think that he takes after his Dad. He is so funny. He now can count to 10...I'm thinking even 12 or 13....yeah I know - he's a genius too.

I'm finishing Crede's bedroom (the decor) and am having a fun time doing it. I'm making some dump trucks/cement trucks/back hoe to hang on his wall, and I made a cute (wait...let's say cool instead.) magnet board as well. I think that it's going to look pretty neato when it's all finished. I'll take pictures.


Well I'm thinking that is our month all wrapped up nice with a big bow on top. If I think of anything else that's happened, I'll make sure to update. Have a lovely day, and we'll keep in touch!

Here Comes Peter Cotton-tail...

Oh my word...I really do love Easter. It's spring, the tulips in our yard are coming up, it's FINALLY getting warm outside, and yes, there is a LOT of candy to be had (by me). I went through about 3 bags of Cadbury Mini Eggs, and about 6 boxes of girl scout cookies this spring so far. **eh hem** I know, I know....I have a small sweet tooth lately. I tend to rationalize the fact that I'm pregnant, and I haven't gained THAT much so far..... let's move on, shall we??

Here are our kids Saturday morning before all the Easter Egg hunts began. We woke them up extra early to get them all ready, and Chance hid Easter eggs out in our front yard for a "practice run". This is to guarantee that our kids will optimize their candy/egg intake during the crazy Easter Hunt. I crack up every time Crede pulls this particular face. I say, "Crede! Look at Mom!" He'll just stick his chin up in the air and look at me down his nose. This is what I got in this first set of photo's. Chance is holding Crede's Easter basket and showing him how to put eggs inside and keep running. (Silly Dad). The group photo is of Morgan, Grace and Crede with their cousins, Aspen, Tucker, Tatem and Hadlee before the Clinton City Easter Hunt began.




Now THESE photo's need a little 'splainin'. First off, the bottom pics are after the Easter Hunt...Grace eating candy already (and drooling it all down her face), Crede chasing down the Easter bunny to give him hugs (he took a liking to that guy), and our cute little kids in front of the Easter Bunny. (Morgan made sure to inform me that it wasn't the "real" Easter Bunny, because she saw his head inside that mask. Thanks bug....I was a little concerned.)

Have you ever eaten an "airhead"? Well Grace had one Saturday evening and it turned her tongue completely blue. I was cracking up. Oh, and to top it off, she still sucks her thumb, and it turned THAT blue as well. Nice. We made sure to brush their teeth extra well that night. The last few pictures are on Easter morning as the kids realized the Easter Bunny came. Hooray!! (The Easter bunny almost forgot to get the baskets out, but shhhhhhh.....you don't have to say a word.)

Here's my 3 little kids before leaving for Church. It was our Stake Conference and we had to leave extra early that morning. I'm tellin' ya....I am SOOOOOO not a morning person, and the last 2 days about killed me. Don't they look cute in their Easter best?

Grace, I need to formally apologize to you for a minute. See, you get all of Morgan's "hand-me-downs." That's not a bad thing, HOWEVER, you are not as small as Morgan was at your age, and so I put on all these "cute" clothes that I think will look wonderful on you, and they're just a TAD small. (including this year's Easter Dress). I'm sorry little Racie Roo. You're a cute little girl, and one day I'll figure out how to dress ya'.

Okay so after Stake Conference, we raced home, put the kids to bed for naps, (the song "These are a few of my Favorite things" comes to mind during this time of day) and started getting geared up for the Bailey family party at the "Grand-Bailey's" house. I had to make a salad and pack up for what seemed like an entire weekend in order to "be prepared" for any type of incident. Poopie pants? check. Not in time for the potty? check. Cold weather all of a sudden? check. Mosquito's? check. UVA and UVB rays? check. Dinner spilled all over the front of you? check. You get the picture, right?

Well here's all the pictures of the grand-kids at the Bailey's before they were unleashed for the big Easter Egg hunt. (There are 14 1/2 grand kids so far. WOW!) I was laughing at Grace and Crede...they feed off of each other and decided that Grace's basked would make a nice hat for Crede. He's looking at her and thinking, "How do I look?" Morgan is coloring her princess picture that she got during the hunt. (I forgot, she lost another tooth. That makes 2 now. Yay Morgan!)

Well as you can see, our Easter is quite the ordeal. I love it SO MUCH, but I am completely pooped afterwards. Oh, and to top it off, Crede's birthday was actually on Easter this year. I didn't dare attempt anything more than what we were already doing, so this is why we celebrated it a day later. So tonight I sit here looking at our HUGE tupperware bowl FULL of candy and thinking that it should last us at least until Halloween.

Ahh...my little Crede. Happy Birthday!

Here's my very first train cake. I got this idea off of the Internet, and Crede absolutely adores trains, so - TA DA...here it is. Whenever we go over the train tracks in the car, if there is no train, Crede starts throwing a FIT, so we've had to start telling him the train is asleep...just a side note there.


Yep, here's a close-up of the "engine". How do ya' like the oreo headlight? The only thing I'd change...well I'm not going to say - it'll bug you too if I point it out (but if I DON'T point it out, you might think that I just didn't care.....oh never mind....just enjoy the cake ).

Grrrowwwer! That tiger cage sure is life-like. And the caboose? It only needs one axle to support itself. It's got amazing balancing ability.

After spending about the entire day frosting this dang thing, I had to run Morgan to her new gymnastics class, run home and try to shove dinner down my family's throats before the "partaaaay" started with the Bailey extended family. After eating our gourmet meal of Macaroni and Cheese (with a side of peaches or applesauce for that nutrition jazz) I had Crede sit next to his cake for a shot. Here's my cute little 2 year old looking at his CHOO CHOOOOOOO!

The family finally showed up, we finally lit the 2 little candles on the top, and we finally sang "Happy Birthday" to Crede. He was just a-grinnin' during our song, and he blew out the candles on the FIRST blow. No spit or ANYTHING. Yep, he's talented. So talented in fact, I should just stop there so that I don't sound like a biased parent. Morgan is in the background doing an "empathy blow" (you know....like when you're watching TV and you find yourself smiling....and you're a little embarrassed because you're by yourself, and you didn't realize that you were enjoying that commercial so much) , and Aspen (Crede and Morgan's cousin) is leaning in for the front-row view.

From this last picture, you can probably guess what one of his presents is. Yep, you might guess a ball, but you'd be wrong. He got some matchbox cars from his Grandma Angell. He was carting those around ALL day. His favorite place to play with them? In the windowsill. Morgan and Grace even snagged some to play "house" with. Grace's rendition consisted of a lot of yelling and phrases like, "NO! You go potty!" Morgan's was a little more laid back with phrases like, "let's go play over here away from those boys.." yadda yadda - you get the drift.

One little funny thing that Crede's doing right now is the fact that he ALWAYS has to have a ball. Let me specify....a bouncy ball. They fit perfectly into his little sweaty palm, and he seriously carries them EVERYWHERE. Sometimes he'll have 2 - one in each hand. Once I put him down for a nap with one, and when I went in to check on him, that ball was still in his clutches....sound asleep and all. Oh, how I love my little boy.

Okay, and I'll quick fill you in on what he got for his birthday. Matchbox cars, a big bouncy ball, a big dump truck, some way cute flip-flops and shorts, and a lawn-mower (which is nice because our old one lost a wheel last summer and I wasn't sure how that was going to work this year).

Crede, we love you SO much. I am so happy to have a son. You are MY little boy, and I love the fact that you are a "Momma's Boy". Dad, on the other hand, is glad that you are growing out of that stage. You are my only child with MY color of eyes, and you are the smartest 2 year old in the world. We love you! Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday Grace!

Well here's our birthday #3 in the last month. Grace turned 3 on the 30th, and she had a very fun birthday. Here's my attempt at some flip-flops. Grace was pretty excited about them, and they tasted o' so-yummy! I like making cakes for kids who don't really care what their cake is. Morgan these days is so picky, it's crazy! Grace was just lovin' the M&M's on the side and all the FROSTING!!!

And here's our birthday girl cheesin' it up with her cake.

We technically didn't celebrate her birthday until a day later because that was the only time we could have her family birthday party. When you're 3, you don't really know the difference, so - sorry Grace! She got to go to the Doctor earlier that day (which is always such a treat), the Doctor said she was perfect and healthy, and she didn't even need any shots. YAY! I have a question though. Who likes trying to help their 3 or 4 or even 5 year old pee into a cup?? That HAS to be my least favorite thing about going to the Doctor these days. EW! We got the root-beer sucker as requested and after Grace gave the nurse a hug (her own idea I'll have you know) we left to go home.

Grace was DYING to unwrap her huge present that I wrapped earlier that day (in Santa wrapping paper) and put in the front room - she would NOT leave the thing alone. Crede even walked into the kitchen with a big strip of ripped wrapping paper that he tore off the package, little bugger. After policing the finished birthday cake and wrapped present, it was time for her Partaaaayyy!

For her birthday she received, (1) big purple ball that you sit on and bounce (it has the Disney Princesses on it - so Grace LOOOOOVES it), (1) Kitchenaid-looking mixer and cookie cutters and measuring spoons to use in our "kitchen" downstairs, (1) pair of barbie princess slippers, (1) Elmo book that makes sounds (which Crede has commandeered), (1) "Bolt" movie (which Morgan has commandeered), and OUR present that we gave her which was a big wooden dollhouse.

Here's Grace while singing "Happy Birthday", all ready to blow out her candles. During Morgan's birthday, I about turfed it with her cake in hand, and you know something? I about turfed it with THIS cake as well. Chance kept calling me a spaz. At least I didn't completely drop the thing, right? I just chalk it up to being pregnant and off-balance. It seems as though more accidents happen to me while pregnant. Anyone else have these issues??!

Well we partied it up last night with the Bailey's, and then when everyone left, picked up all the toys that the 10 kids played with, yelled at OUR kids to get in their pajama's, (wait, not yelled...we asked in a gentle, calming voice), and collapsed onto the couch to watch a PBS "Frontline" special on how the health care system in this country is very screwed up. What a finish to an exciting day.

This morning I spent a little bit of time trying to put together Grace's big Doll-House that we gave her. Here's her playing with it in her room. I don't think she's even gotten dressed yet today due to the fact that she's too busy playing with all her toys.

Now I realize those pajama's are a TAD small....but Grace refuses to wear anything different. They have Disney princesses on them, and so they are golden in her eyes. The shirt is a nice mid-riff, and would be totally in style during the early "Friends" episodes. Not so much now. And it's almost Spring, right? So capri's are all the rage again.

Well Grace, we sure love you, and love the fact that you are potty trained, that you actually talk now, and that you are turning into such a pretty little girl. We're SOOO blessed to have you in our family, and are grateful for each day we have with you. Happy Birthday little girl.

Sunny Days!!!

Everyone else in my blog list had a HUGE exclamation as their title...I only thought it fair to add my own. I've been stuck on the Sesame Street theme song all day, just for the fact that it starts..."Sunny Day"...then from there I'm just not so sure. "Keepin' the Clouds Away....duh duh duhhhhh duh duh duh da da dAAAAA Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street!"

But I am moving on....

This week we've had some fun times at our house. (and out of our house.)

First of all, we went to the "Sportsmans Expo" in Salt Lake, and had a pretty okie doke time. Here's a pic:

That little thing that Morgan is holding is a 2 month old bear. It was the cutest thing EVER. They had a bunch there and would trade them out when one got tired. They would suck on your finger like a bottle. Cute cute. This was REALLY the highlight of the evening. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy chattin' it up with salespeople, but this was seriously neat. I even had my "hunters' orange" on for the evening. :)

Secondly, it was my birthday...now I'm not writing about this day to brag or anything, just wanting to show off my rockin' birthday hat.

Is this the most BEAUTIFUL hat you have ever seen? I knew it was. Morgan made this for me during the 2 days I was gone for my scrapbooking overnighter. It's totally made out of paper and tape. I was actually VERY impressed with the fact that it stayed on my head. Morgan is very ingenious with her imagination. Way to go Bug!

My day started out around 8am (Chance let me sleep in!) when Chance and the kids came into my room with Breakfast in Bed. There were eggs. There was toast. There was even a brownie and 2 snack cookies (I am not sure why the desserts, but at least my birthday candle stuck in the brownie pretty well.). Everyone sang "Happy Birthday" and then left me in sweet quiet while I ate. After eating breakfast, we went to church for yet another fun-filled 3 hours (well really only 1 1/2 hours) of battling with kids who are NOT being reverent. Okay let me 'splain. Grace actually does really well during Sacrament Meeting now. We're really only battling with my little Crede. He's a bugger when we are trying to be quiet. (but that is a WHOLE 'nother post).

After church, Chance told me he was making dinner. I had all kinds of dinners imagined. Deer roast? Elk steaks? I did NOT know what to expect. Well he made....da da da daaaaaaaa.....Stouffers frozen lasagne with brocolli as a side dish. He really did think things through and went through a lot of effort to actually grocery shop for me. I just gotta say though, that lasagne was SICKENING. Chance kept saying, "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought this was going to be good.". My Mom came over to eat dinner with us, and she was being the good sport of the day. She ate her whole dinner. **dry heave**

Before we sat down to eat, we snapped some pictures:

Morgan was mad at Chance in this picture...who knows why. She is becoming such our little drama queen. (I about said drag queen. Wow.) Anyway, my Mom is holding Crede, and Grace is just excited to be saying "cheeeeeese".

Here's Chance cookin' up our grub. I should start calling him Chef Ramsey. But he'd have to be English and cuss a lot. Perhaps I will call him Chef Chancez (You have to say it with a french accent.) That is lookin' GOOOOOOOOD. Oh, and so is the brocolli. ba da ba CHING


Here's my cute husband enduring my camera shoot. He really hates it when I take his picture. Cute little husband of mine. Thanks for making my birthday a lot of fun. I love you schmookims. (I really don't call him that) I really did have a good birthday thanks to this man.

Now for other items of business.

My Scrapbooking overnighter was a lot of fun, and I'm glad that it's over for another 6 months. It's surprising how much sleep I require nowadays. It's not so much that I'm pregnant, it's that I need a LOT of sleep! I only got about 5 hours, and i was DRAGGING the next day. Wowsers. Well, while I was gone, Chance did a really good job taking care of our kids. He drove Morgan to ballet on Saturday, he actually did Grace and Morgan's hair (Morgan always teases him because he can't do a ponytail holder. He does some boy-scout knot thing instead of pulling the hair through, twist, and repeat.) The only thing I am going to point out is the fact that he put Crede in his "emergency" pajama's that I only use if all his others are horribly dirty, and the laundry is horribly behind. These pajama's have been handed down for generations, (really only for about 10 years, so lets say decade.) and are VERY holey and old. Here's Crede eating his breakfast Saturday morning.


do ya notice his feet? Look a little closer.


closer...



closer...



okay here is a close-up.



poor Crede. You know how irritating it is to wear holey socks. I can't imagine having almost my entire foot sticking out of my pj's and NOT be bugged. I do believe these pajama's have now been officially retired. Sorry little boy!


And lastly,

Here's some pictures of Grace. She is now getting up in the morning and going STRAIGHT to her dress-ups. She layers and layers them until she looks like a little marshmallow. And you KNOW you can't go anywhere without sensable heels.


I particularly like the pink hat that's been put on either backwards or upside down...I'm not sure which. Does the name Christopher Columbus come to mind? Yankee Doodle? Napoleon Bonaparte? That's it. Napoleon Bonaparte. He was only about as tall as Grace is....so lets go with that. :)

How's that yogurt Grace?

Well I'm leaving with good potty news. The elmo underwear was a big success, and Grace is now OFFICALLY potty trained. I still have to give her either a cookie, or chocolate everytime she poops, but I think that's a SMALL sacrifice in my opinion.

Well goodbye, and Happy Potty.

A Little of This....A Little of That.

Does anyone else ever have the delima about which words, if any, to capitalize in their post title? Just wonderin'.

The last week has been pretty uneventful, but I'm updatin' anyway.

Chance:

He's been starting to go "Shed Hunting" more and more. If you don't know what shed hunting is, let me fill you in. You drive up to the mountains, you park your truck, and you walk around for 5 hours looking at the ground for deer antlers that have dropped. Now does that sound exciting? I sure think it does. But here's the thing. Chance LOVES it, and finds some really cool and big horns that way. Here, I'll show you a couple of pictures. Chance is going to LOVE the fact that I've, once again, used a deer in my blog. You're welcome.

These horns Chance actually found during the "Antelope Island" shed hunt. Pretty nifty, 'eh?

Sometimes Chance even makes stuff from his finds. This is an elk antler lamp he made. He's even made some tables, and smaller table lamps. He is actually pretty talented. I just don't like this stuff spread through my house, which is why he has his own hunting room. He can decorate however he wants in that space.

One side note, Chance wants to name our unborn (sweet and innocent) baby, Shed, if it's a boy. Uhhghhmm. Now. I love you Chance, but I just don't see it. Chance has made a deal with me. He will let me name our baby, Emma, if it's a girl if he can have full reign over the boy choice. I am just not sure that I'm ready for that kind of commitment. We're still in the negotiation stage, so I'll have to keep ya' posted on this one.

NEXT!!!

Emily:

I have been trying to stay sane here in my house of Toddlers. I like to refer to my life as Toddlerland. There are some days where I honestly feel like I do the same thing over and over and over. My kids don't age, I don't age, it's just the same day over and over. Kinda like the movie Groundhog Day. I am looking forward to Summer. HOLY COW I am looking forward to Summer. I think wintertime is hard with little tikes. What can you really do? Movies? nope. Library? nope. The Mall? (no money?) nope. Any ideas anyone?!

Lets see. I have been getting ready for our scrapbooking overnighter this weekend. I'm actually pretty excited for it this time. I have my laptop, and some scrapbooking software called "Memory Mixer" and I'm going to start scrapbooking that way. I'm trying to figure out how to post ya' an example, and when I figure that out, I'll be sure to let you know.

And lastly, I have this lovely C-PAP machine to use at night. It came as a result of my snorin' study (see previous post). The plus side? I don't snore anymore, and I don't get horrible headaches in the middle of the night. Yay. The downside? Well let me first just SHOW you what this thing looks like:

It almost looks like something not of this world. That blue band thingy wraps around my head to keep the face mask over my nose and mouth, and the tubing blows the oxygen continuously through the night. Every night (and this NEVER gets old, let me just say) Chance will say, "Where are we flying to tonight?" Nice. It has also given me some nice face-marks in the morning. It's TEN TIMES worse then bed-sheet face that we all get on occasion. Ah well. Let's move on.

Morgan:

Our little 6 year old just lost her very first tooth on Friday. Morgan is such a girl. For about a week, all I heard was, "Mom! Look at my tooth! It is SOOOOOO loose!" This would always be followed by me or Chance saying, "Morgan, do you want us to pull it out?"...which would always be followed by tears and running away. On Friday Morgan walks upstairs crying. I said, "What's wrong?" She said, "I don't want my tooth to be backwards!" She is near hysterics. So she opens her mouth and her tooth is completely turned around backwards. I said, "Are you SURE you don't want me to pull it out?" Morgan: "NOOOOOoooooooooooooo" (as she runs away). Well about 10 minutes later she comes running downstairs and proudly announces that she pulled her tooth out. Whew! (only about 20 more to go.)

Morgan drew a picture for the tooth fairy, and put that and her tooth under her pillow that night. Well the tooth fairy made 2 attempts to visit, but was thwarted each time by a little girl who was NOT asleep! Finally around 5am the tooth fairy made her appearance, tried to get the 81/2 x 11 piece of paper out from under the pillow SILENTLY, and slipped the dollar under there. An hour later when my girls woke up (see previous post for my morning issues), Morgan was so excited to see her dollar. Here's our little toothless wonder:

Grace:

Grace has been up to her ususal. Getting into stuff, being goofy all the time, and goin potty every once in awhile. I think you can really consider yourself "arrived" as a Mom when you find yourself sitting with your toddler in the bathroom cheering her on, "you can do it!! go poop!!" And when the blessed moment finally arrives, you are sincerely excited for your child. We usually celebrate with chocolate and cookies. We're making progress, and I have even bought elmo underwear for Grace when she can keep her pull-ups dry. Gotta love pottie training. **gag**

In this picture Grace has some residual Skittle on her face from going potty. Oh and there's also some on her shirt. We're still learning how to eat them without drooling all over the place.

Another funny thing Grace has started - happens at bedtime. She will sit by her open door, line up her baby dolls right next to her, and read books to them. She will usually do this for about an hour before relenting and going to sleep. During this hour, she will sing at the top of her lungs. Her very favorite song goes like this. "A B C D E F G noonowmoooomalllaaaatadooooo". Sometimes she sings her Mom and Dad song too. It goes like this, "Mom likes meeeeeeeee, Dad likes meeeeeeeee" and the tune varies each time it's sung. last night I took a picture of her babies all lined up after she fell asleep. On my cute detector, this is about an 8.

AND LASTLY.....
Crede:

He's been talking up a STORM. He can now count to ten (before Grace I might add), and he says 4 letter sentences to me. I'll get him up in the morning and he'll say, "Pajama's all wet Mom." because the lovely Walmart brand diapers he wears to bed have leaked once again. If any of you have ever watched "Sid the Science Kid" on PBS, you'll understand this next little dooha. In the beginning of the show Sid says, "There's Gabriella!" And she says, "Watch what I can do!" Then she does some cheerleader dance. Crede walks around saying, "ya ya hooooo! ya ya hoooooo!" and sounds just like her.

Hmmmm.....Crede has been buddying up with his big sister for some more exciting mischief, and has been spending a lot of time in timeout. I'll go get him out at the end of it, and ask, "Why did Mom put you in time out?" He'll totally tell me why. The last time he said, "Jumped on the couch." Yep he's a genius.

Well now, if you've read this much of my post, you must really enjoy hearing the ramblings on of my family. Enjoy your day, and know that I'm here in Toddlerland enjoying myself thoroughly.