My Little Big Girl!

So Emma likes to climb up on the kitchen chairs and stand on them. This particular morning she climbed up there and was sitting while I cooked breakfast and acted like she wanted to eat at the table, so I grabbed the booster seat and let her have breakfast at the table like a big girl! She loved it! (I still can't leave her by herself, though!)

A Long Overdue Post...

Basically since we moved into our house, I've had this large blank wall that I'd been searching for paintings to fit it that I liked. I'm pretty particular when it comes to certain things, and this was one of them. The only ones I found that I liked were like $300-$400, and I wasn't about to spend that! So, we had gotten together with some of my family and I was talking about my painting dilema to which I asked my grandma (who paints) to paint me something. I told her I didn't care too much about what it looked like, just that it was scenery, to which she agreed to do so. As time went on I was getting nervous about being so vague (since she likes to paint woodsy/tiger paintings). A couple months later, she called and said she had it ready, so I picked it up and I LOVED it! She matched the colors of my house perfect and the painting is beautiful! All I had to do was pay to frame it and it means so much more than any other painting because it was painted by my grandma! Here's some pictures of my picture!

When she comes over to my house she still tells me how much trouble he had with the seagulls and that they weren't quite right, but I think they look great!

The Best 5 Bucks Ever Spent!

Ron & the kids took me to work the other day, but I was about a 1/2 hour early, so we went to the Discovery Shop to kill some time. (It's like Goodwill, but the proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society.) We wandered throughout the store and I saw this bike helmet. It was only $5.00, and it looked brand new. No scratches or anything! So, we figured we'd buy it, since he doesn't have one, and there's room to grow! Since it's been a little chilly, he's just been using it as his "hockey helmet" and rarely takes it off. He was even wearing it when Ron picked me up from work later in the day! (The hockey stick is a Valentines gift from Grandma K!)

Messy Dinner & Sibling Love

Apparently she really likes Taco Salad!

Emma loves to hug her brother to wake him up!

Expressions of Michael

Expressions of Emma

Pictures of Various Events

Sharing Raisins

Climbing on the rocker

Making Valentines breakfast for daddy

Hockey game night w/Grandma K (It was late...)

I guess we need to get Michael a new "hockey shirt"

Ron needed his hair cut, so we had some fun before we shaved it all...

The back...

Annual Valentines Dinner & Big News!

So, we had our annual Valentines Dinner with my family last night at Ryan & Amanda's. We bought Amanda a Chefs of Aloha cookbook while in Hawaii, but I told her she had to make what was on the cover, so that's what we had. It was a macademia nut crusted Mahi-Mahi served with potato cakes & spinich with a coconut cream sauce. Very Yummy! She also made crusted chicken because my mom doesn't like fish. Then, while we were sitting there, Jordan called everyone to attention and announced that his mommy had a baby in her tummy! That's right! Baby #4 will be arriving sometime in October! Congrats!

Seriously?

Okay, I know people have to make commercials to try to sell things, and sometimes there aren't a whole lot of options to choose from, but come on! I'm getting tired of seeing the Fabreeze & Glad odor buster garbage bag commercials in which they don't want people coming in their house because it smells. They generally have the homeowner going into the kitchen only to find the green stink lines drawn around the trash can and full of stinky items. But wait! We've got Fabreeze and/or odor buster garbage bags! That'll do the trick! Let's not TAKE OUT THE GARBAGE or anything, let's buy all these other products that will get rid of the rotting fish smell for sure!

Dang Missionaries!

So, I signed up for the missionaries on Thursday like 3-4 weeks ago. I wrote it on my calendar and thought of it OFTEN. I stayed up late Wednesday night putting together enchiladas because I worked Thursday and Ron wouldn't have to get much together. I don't get off till 5:30, so I don't get home till almost 6. When I got home, I started getting the rest together, noticed that Ron only baked one of the two pans and started freaking out, trying to put the other pan in (it takes 40 min to bake), then noticed there was a message on the machine (Ron NEVER checks it) and it was the elders asking if they could come at 5:30 instead of 6. Well, since it was past 5:30, I assumed they would show up soon. We tried calling them, but not answer (even though it's a cell phone). They never came by, they never called back, and now it's Saturday, and we've yet to hear from them. Needless to say, we had a whole pan of enchiladas leftover. Thanks guys! And guess what?! I'm not signing up again until the both of you get transferred!

Valentines Day(s)

So, I had been trying for a few weeks now to get down to the Temple. So, I came up with a plan to go for Ron and my Valentine celebration for yesterday (Ron has Thursdays & Fridays off, thus woul be working on Valentines Day). However, Ryan has been working out of town & Amanda has been working Friday nights, which means that she takes a nap in the afternoon to prep & the kids were staying the night at my parents. So, I asked my neighbor to see if she could watch them, to which she said yes, but a few days later cancelled because she ended up having to work. Then, finances led to where we really needed to be careful with our spendings. (I know what you're thinking "you're going to the Temple, it will all work out, you're supposed to be there, etc etc etc. I thought it, too! Trust me) Anyway, as Friday neared, I still had no idea what was going to happen (by this point, finances looked better as Ron's overtime check went through). Unfortunately, last week Ron's grandma took a nasty spill, but that meant that his mom was coming for a visit. We love having her come because she's always willing to take the kids from us, however, this visit, we felt, was primarily to take care of Grandma Shmeesh. So we didn't want to give her extra responsibility. But, yesterday Grandma Shmeesh was feeling better, so we got to steal Grandma K away. We had lunch, then went to the pet store, then out to a farm to see some Watusie (sp?) Bulls, then to see Grandma Shmeesh for a minute, then the plan was to go see snow, but we found out 58 was closed. So we talked about going to the hockey game instead. Long story short(er), Grandma K took the kids to the hockey game so that Ron and I could use our gift certificates to Tahoe Joe's and the movies! Dinner was great! The movie (Pink Panther 2) was funny! And the kids had a blast with Grandma! Then, this morning, Ron went to his golf lesson, and just before he got home, the kids and I made him breakfast, including mini heart shaped toast, which Michael helped cut out. The rest of the day was filled with laundry, dishes, & watching the boys so Ryan & Amanda could get away for Valentines! Hope everyone else had a great one!

Why?

Why is it that about 6 out of 7 nights I have 2 children that don't just go to sleep when they are put to bed? I have pretty much the same routine (I bathe every other night, but everything else is the same) every night, so it's not like they don't know what's happening! I'm pretty sure that Emma's problem is that she is a.) Still getting used to no pacifier and b.) Michael usually comes out of his room and cries loud in the hallway, leading to her crying. However, I have no idea why Michael feels the need to either come out of his room, or cry and cry and cry until he FINALLY falls asleep! It's getting REALLY frustrating! When will I get to the point where I can just say "okay, go to bed" and they do it?!
Does anyone else have bedtime issues?

Enjoying The Moment

"What can young mothers do to reduce the pressure of raising young children and enjoy their families more? Recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction. Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: 'The biggest mistake I made as a parent is the one that most of us make...I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of my three children sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.'"

M. Russell Ballard

Tonight was one of those "moments" captured in photographs, however, I don't know if I want to remember what I was feeling when I came home and saw this!

I guess this is what happens whe you have 5 kids at once ages 1-5, 4 of which are BOYS! (The nephews spent the morning at our house)

It only took about 45 minutes to clean up, because as soon as you clean something, one of the kids decides to get something back out! Enjoy the moment....enjoy the moment....

Sleeping Michael

The night before Ron's mom flew in to town, I had told Michael that he needed to go to sleep because the next day he was going to get to pick up Grandma from the airport and that she was coming on the airplane. He, apparently, was so excited because he kept coming out of his room. (Usually if he does that he's crying, but not this night.) He finally stopped coming out after awhile and when I went to go let the cat out, I noticed that his light was on. So I opened the door and found this! (Yes, he's sitting on several stuffed animals and even has one leg in-between the bears legs.) He was so tired that he couldn't keep his eyes open when I woke him by snapping pictures! Early the next morning, he came in to our room to lay down with us (like usual) and when he woke up for the morning at 7:30, the first thing he said was "we're gonna go get grandma from the airplane?" So cute!

How Do You Solve a Problem Like EMMA?!

Ever since Michael started pulling himself up on things, I've been nervous that he was going to climb out of his crib. The crib I have is SOLID wood and there are lots of pieces that stick out. I didn't move it to the bottom level with Michael because I was pregnant with Emma and didn't think I could bend over to put him in his crib, so I just hoped for the best. Luckily, he never tried to get out, but I was still paranoid about it. I take after my mother in the sense that I am SO paranoid about most EVERYTHING and always think something bad is going to happen in the smallest of situations (it's even to the point where when I used to ride the bus to/from, I would plan out what I would do if something happened to the driver ie: they pass out, someone shoots them, etc.) Usually, I panic in silence, but it's just something I do. Another thing I do is ramble and jump from subject to subject, so back to the story...So, the other night, I put both kids to bed and had started my routine clean-up. We've taken the pacifier away from Emma about 3 weeks ago, so she still has a hard time falling asleep without it and just stays in her room and cries. Usually it only lasts about 5-10 minutes, depending on how tired she is. I normally ignore her, but this night I thought I'd wait in the hallway and........THUD! I ran in there as fast as I could and sure enough, she tried to climb out and flipped out of bed! She was crying hystarically as I scooped her up and held her. Luckily, no bumps, bruises, scratches, or concusions were had (which is what I was expecting would happen) so that was a relief! I was too nervous to put her back into bed, so we waited for daddy to come home so he could put the crib down to the LOWEST level. Here are some pics of her in her "newly remodled" crib.

Already trying to climb out!

Mad because she can't climb over!

Look at that face! (Keep in mind, this was after 11pm! Just a wee bit tired!)

Emma's "Spa Day"

Yesterday, Ron's grandpa took Michael to the Bakersfield Jam game, so Emma and I were home alone, so I decided to have a spa day.

First was the Bubble Bath...

Next was the shampoo...

Then the rinse... (See! She DOES have hair!)

Playtime with Tigger...(Although, the cat didn't enjoy it as much!)

Last was the manicure!

It was fun to have some "girl time". I know she really enjoyed not getting smacked and pushed around in the tub! She was even able to play with toys without getting them stolen away from her! I look forward to many more "girl time" days with her! Maybe next time I'll be able to do her hair & make-up!