Strange Happenings

1. All three kids slept till 7. What's going on? If you know us well, you know that we have early risers. Very early. We're talking between 5-5:30. We've been given lots of great advice on how to make our kids sleep later. Tried it all. Doesn't work. Nap, no nap, to bed earlier, to bed later, less to eat, more to eat, dark curtains, white noise, in bed with us, etc. etc. etc. Nothing works. And then, this morning we were given a gift. All three kids slept soundly until 7. Even better--not one got up in the night. No potty trips, no bad dreams, no feedings. It is amazing how much better I felt after a decent night's sleep. I was patient, loving, happy. In fact, I think I'm going to blame every bad mommy moment I've ever had on the fact that I've been horribly sleep deprived for 5 years. It's nice to know that when I'm well-rested, I'm actually a fairly decent mom. Now if I could just convince my kids. . .

2. Adding to the bliss of a good night's sleep, I've had a great morning. Grace is off at school, Emme is with my friend Heather, and Max is back asleep. (Love this boy!) I was making some banana bread and thought I heard a voice. I turned off the mixer and heard a creepy little girl voice saying, "Let's be friends. I like you." I started doing my mental check list. . ."Girls, not home. Tv's, not on. No radio. No baby monitor. Doors are locked, no neighbor kids." It was starting to unnerve me a bit. I finally found the culprit! Emme's Lily LeapPad doll is running low on batteries and was going off randomly in the living room. Freaky! But, it reminded me of yet another strange happening. . .

3. When Grace was little, she had a talking Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird toys. She choose to take Big Bird with us on a trip to visit my parents. He would talk when you pushed different body parts. If you pushed his hand, he'd say, "You found my hand!" or if you pushed his stomach, he'd say, "I'm hungry." You get the picture. My dad is a notoriously bad sleeper. He'll wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning and then be up for a few hours before he's able to fall back asleep. (Yes, Dad I'm going to blame you for all of our sleep problems!) He'll usually get up and go to the kitchen or living room to read for a few hours. One night during our visit, we must have forgotten to put Grace's toys away. Little did we know that Big Bird was running low on batteries. So in the middle of the night, my dad fumbled his way through the dark house to the living room. As he tried to find his way toward his favorite chair and a lamp, he suddenly heard a slow, rattly voice say, "I can see you!" He stopped in his tracks and then heard, "I can hear you!" So creepy! He told me the next morning that it took him a few minutes of searching before he tracked down the culprit. Big Bird had been left under the couch. Needless to say, when he was returned to Grace the next morning, the batteries had been removed!

Need Something to Watch?

They found me!!!
Look at what I got in the mail.

I just thought if you wanted something fun to watch on a weekend night you could borrow this if you want. It's pure enjoyment I tell you.

Do I Look Like A Car To You?

Setting:

Mary and I are sitting on the couch with the girls sitting in their little chairs in front of us, getting ready to have FHE. Grace is pouting and whining that she has to get up off of the floor onto the chair. I tell her because of her whining and arguing with me that I'm starting to feel the spirit of contention in our home. (Side note, we had an FHE lesson on the spirit of peace and contention a while back)

Dialogue:

Grace - (whiny voice) Daddy, I don't want to sit on the chair.
Dad - Grace, I'm starting to feel the spirit of contention in our home.
Emme - Mommy, I'm feeling the spirit of contention in my bum.
Mom/Dad - smile, snicker, hold it in.
Dad - (under his breath) It's called gas.
Emme - Huh? I don't need gas. Do I look like a car to you?
Mom/Dad - Can't hold it any longer, bust out laughing.

Dryer Lint, Toilet Paper, and Romance

In honor of Valentine's Day. . .

One of my favorite things about Jon is that he is romantic in unexpected and completely odd ways. One day as I was doing laundry, I found this message spelled out in dryer lint and stuck to the wall.




Another time, I came home to another message, this time spelled out in toilet paper on the bed.

Quite the resourceful man. Who needs Hallmark? Seriously, I know Jon loves me because he is happier serving me than he is being served. I love you, babe!



For any of you who are wondering why I would post a picture of Jon kissing some fabulous bombshell, this picture is from my blonde stage.

What A Show!!!

Let's see if I do justice by explaining what Grace and Emme did for me and Mary.

When I got home from work Grace ran up to me and gave me a piece of paper telling me that it was a ticket for the "show" tonight.

With Mary on the love seat and me with the Max on the couch, Grace ran around and turned off every single light in the house. With everyone sitting in the dark, Grace finds a flashlight and hands it to Mary to be used to as a spotlight and gives me a glowstick.

With some Disney song playing in the background Grace started dancing around with the flashlight being shined on her and with me waving the glowstick around. After a couple of songs, Emme took a turn and danced around in the dark.

Once Emme was done, Grace got back up and started the finale. She decided to sing for this part of the show. Once again, all of us were in the dark watching the show. Grace starts to sing about the nativity but wanted people to act it out. So she stops singing and gets a small blanket to wrap around Emme's head so Emme could play the role of Mary. She finds a blanket and tells me to put it around me so I could play the role of Joseph. She found a baby and wrapped it in a blanket and laid it on the floor in front of Emme as baby Jesus. After Emme, me and baby Jesus were all set, Mary shined the light at Grace and she started to sing again. The song went in the direction of the shining star so Mary pointed the flashlight to the ceiling. Grace sung about the star, angels, and baby Jesus. After a few more lines Grace stops us and starts telling us that when she gets to the line "this is the spirit of God" that we all needed to join her in singing and raise both of our arms. So she starts singing again and finally gets to that line. Sitting the dark, a single flashlight shining on the ceiling, and our arms raised to the ceiling, we joined Grace in singing the line, "This is the spirit of God."

What a show!

A Young Creative Mind

So the other day I watched Grace work intently on a project. She has paper, pencil, scissors, and tape. She would draw body parts, cut them out and tape them to her balloon. It was a lot of fun to see her work on this and to see how happy she was when she finished.







That was fun to see. But her creative mind didn't stop there. I was playing with the girls one night and had to go take care of some business. I was gone maybe 5 minutes and when I returned this is what Grace's creativity turned into in that 5 minutes.



It was funny to see how much she could do in 5 minutes. What a cute crazy creative kid.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

I think I've been tagged about 25 times on Facebook to write my list of 25 random things about me. And a new blogging friend tagged me to write 8 random things about me in a post. So, I'm going to compromise and write 15.

1. I've never written or received a text message. I broke down and got a cell phone last year, but only use it for emergencies or traveling. I am way behind the world in technology. And I get old and grumpy when people use cell phones without courtesy or common sense.
2. Today I took Emme to the dentist and while we were there another little boy fell off a chair and hit his head HARD. I ran over and picked him up and tried to find his parents. His dad just looked at him and said, "Well, we tell him not to climb on stuff." He wouldn't hold him or comfort him or anything. It made me cry. I just don't buy into making little boys tough by withholding nurturing. Don't buy it at all.
3. No matter how many times I see the movie "Rudy," I cry at the end. I think it's hands down the best sports movie of all time. "Hoosiers" is second. The other sure-fire movie to bring on the waterworks? "Shadowlands."
4. I'm obsessed with eyebrows. I love to pluck, mine or other people's. I believe that every college roommate and every mission companion has received an eyebrow job courtesy of me. I even had one friend who would pay me for regular upkeep. My sister Alyson has the best eyebrows I've seen.
5. One of my biggest regrets is not keeping up my mission language.
6. When I was younger I daydreamed consistently about a time machine that would take me back to the days of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Sometimes she would visit me. I thought about everything we would wear, eat, say, and do in great detail.
7. I've never read any of the Twilight series and I have no interest in scrapbooking, stamping, or card making of any sort. And yet I still consider myself to be a very average Mormon mom. Maybe it's the mini-van, the three kids in my thirties, and the tired "When did I last shower?" look.
8. I cried with happiness the first time I tasted gelato (ice cream but better).
9. I love seeing my children's developmental milestones. Favorites are potty-training, talking, and independently making sandwiches and putting on seatbelts.
10. I subscribe to Reader's Digest, the Ensign, Good Housekeeping, Parents, and Food Network Magazine. And that basically sums up my life.
11. My husband taught me how to drive a stick shift while we were engaged. And we still went through with it.
12. Do you know that scene from Mary Poppins when she is searching for something in her carpet bag? She sings "Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha!" when she finds it. I do that when I find things I'm looking for. I never realized it was from Mary Poppins until my husband pointed it out.
13. I desperately wish someone would nominate me to be on "What Not to Wear," but I don't think I would be able to bring myself to spend $100 plus on a pair of jeans. It feels too indulgent and actually makes me feel a little sick to my stomach.
14. I want to have more children.
15. Sometimes I try to dance like Beyonce. It's not pretty. But it's fun.