Olivia's Celebrity Look-A-Likes

M and Ms little fort...........

For some reason, every day when I make my bed, M and M climb behind the pillows and play. Here they are sharing a snack, which I found all over my bed that night when I took everything off of it.  I think it's funny how kids find their secret places in the most unique spots.

Big brother is here!

Grassheads rock!

Olivia's latest school science project...........the grass head.

In Praise of Lazy Parenting

Here is the link to that cute article!  I did it!

"Look, Mama!"

Well, that's it, I am officially in the "Look, Mama" stage.  All day, Molly follows me around or shouts to me from the backseat, "look, Mama."  I look and she proceeds to do something ingenious, like..........

trying to snap her fingers

    imitating someone on TV

        drawing a circle

              standing on one foot

                balancing something on her head or hand or knee or toe

     placing her head on the ground as if she might do a somersault

                                  actually attempting a somersault

                                           doing a funny face

                                                  turning around in a circle

                                                       

And the list goes on..........I find myself all day saying, "good job, Molly.........nice............way to go"....and any other encouraging phrases I can think of at the moment.

Am I encouraging mediocrity?  I forgot how funny this age is.....and how much I love it!  I wonder if Max will go through the "look, Mama" stage or if it's a girl thing?  Either way, you've got to love how kids marvel in the smallest accomplishments, and how much they thrive on their parents' approval.  And, it's so darn easy to approve of them at this young age.  All that they do really is great, and new and fun.  

Which leads me to wonder.......why does that change?  Why, as our children get older and we get older do we tire of the little accomplishments and only get excited about the big ones?  

Today I am marveling at the little ones more.  I pat myself on the back for making my bed, combing my own hair, and feeding the fish all by myself.   I am not going to allow myself to look around and see how every other parent seems to be doing it better.  I read a funny article today in Wondertime, which I tried to find a link to, but am not technologically there (but don't worry, I patted myself on the back because I know how to check my email), about a mom who is very much like me, and it made me laugh.  She is a mom who forgets to put the money under the pillow from the tooth fairy sometimes, lets her kids watch too much tv, doesn't eat organic or grind her own flax, and best of all, stands up for the fact that even with all of that, she adores her children and will not be bullied into the mom-style of conquering a daunting to do list every day that leaves you without energy for the real stuff in life.  I laughed because I relate, yet I find myself trying to live both sides.  It has given me food for thought. 

So there is my essay for the day..........didn't I warn you that I sometimes ramble and sit upon a soap box or high horse or something or other?  

I think I may need to talk to adults more.

A face that not only a mother could love!

Patrick, 2 months old!

We miss you Sweetheart and Patrick!

(and Grandma and Grandpa, too, of course)

I have a family here on earth......

On Mother's Day they were so good to me............

Olivia made me this card with a poem using the letters in my name!

My husband pulled through with flowers!

And my favorite candy........

One of my favorite movies........

A new book that I haven't read but wanted to........how did he know???

Also, the darling made me the cutest "gift certificate," yes, you heard me, HANDMADE, which said that I was entitled to a new outfit to fit my growing tummy!  He actually TRIED to shop for maternity clothes for me, but got totally overwhelmed and gave up.  

I feel the need to repent of all the times I have called my husband a bad gift giver.......he redeemed himself and then some this year with gifts, and most of all with thoughtfulness.  He made me pancakes for breakfast, cleaned it all up, and made the yummiest flank steak for dinner.  His kind deeds and the words he wrote me in his card were the biggest treasures of all. I have an awesome family.

Sorry for the sickening sweet post!  I heart being a mom!

A conversation with Molly....

I made some raspberry jello the other day, which I love with cool whip on it, and asked Molly,

"Molly, do you want some jello?"

She looked at what I had, and answered, "no, wed (red)."

I said, "You are right, it is red, but it's called Jello."

"No, wed."  She replied again.  OK, you win.........

"Do you want any Red?"  I asked.

"Yes!"

Sometimes it's not worth the battle.

A rough morning, to say the least

The other day, Olivia got up at 6:30.  Not unusual.  She typically gets up, makes her bed, quietly comes downstairs, closes my door so softly, so she doesn't wake me, and then does her thing.  Her thing ranges from sneaking TV to sneaking potato chips, to doing totally great things like drawing or emptying the dishwasher (nice, but noisy).  But this day she felt lonely, so she decided to wake her brother and sister up, who in turn woke her mom up.  Not a good move.  I started out the day grouchy, and immediately sent her to her room.  M and M were stinkers all morning and their nap could not come soon enough.  As a side note, their nap lasted close to 4 hours, so not all was lost.  So, after walking her to the bus I went upstairs to get clothes for the kids for the day, and I found a note that said, "Mom.....I love you........I'm a brat..........Olivia."  It broke my heart!  I did not call her a brat, but she obviously got that message from me.  And I'm sure it wasn't the first time.  So, to undo her sad feelings and my pangs of conscience, when she got home, I told her that I found her note and I had her sit down by me and write five really great things about herself.  She was resistant at first, but then in a sideways glance I caught her smiling, revealing the exact outcome I was hoping for.  Here is her list:  

1. I am the love gill

2. I am a good gill

3. I am thotfl.

4. I am rilly good at reding

5. I am rilly good at lafing

So, change gill to girl and phonetically sound out the rest and you've got her list!  I could add 100 more, including, she is helpful, she has a winning smile, she is confident, she makes friends easily, and she is the best big sister and helper ever!  I highly recommend this exercise not only for our kids, but for us.  What do you consider your five greatest attributes?

This is why he can get away with anything!

For Grandma....

Grandma Bonnie couldn't believe Molly could be a big enough girl to have french braids!  And she was so patient while I did it........thanks, Elmo!

Breakfast.....it does a body good!

I started out on the right foot this morning at 6:30 when my tummy woke me up starving.  I ate a nice bowl of this:

But, at 10 AM while out doing errands I could not resist picking up a box of buttermilk glazed:

And, of course, a:

So much for good intentions!

Molly the caretaker.........

(photo by Kristen)

Today at McDonald's playland Molly and Max were up in the play structure and after a while Molly came down and walked up to me with her ever-so-concerned-brows-knit-together look and said...........

"Where's my Maxy, Mommy???"

I thought this was just too sweet.............

And then, there was work to be done!

Jonny finally got a chance to mow our meadow/yard.  We really need to look into getting a goat to keep up with our half acre lawn and weed-fest!  Max held onto the lower bar the WHOLE TIME.  Talk about a boy with persistence!  It took close to an hour, and he helped push the whole time!  And, cried when it was all done.  Jon is the most patient father to allow this.  I get frustrated after just a few minutes of this while I am vacuuming.  

Max loves the lawn mower so much that we decided to get him his own so he doesn't have to wait around for the once a week mowing!  He mostly likes to mow the patio, since it's easier to push that way!  Thanks again, Craigslist, for the great deal!

More cute zoo pics!

Feeding the Lorikeets was a big hit.  They were extra hungry.  

Molly eating Cotton Candy!

And, the Queen of Candy, herself!

We're goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo. How about you, you,you?

So when you get a sunny day, you have to take advantage, which is why I rousted my bunch out of bed early Saturday morning to get a jump on the crowd that I KNEW would be swarming the zoo!  It was sunny, but chilly in those early hours when everything was shaded.  Right off the bat, Olivia fell on the pavement going down a hill too quickly in her new flip-flops, and really hurt her knee!  Luckily, the zoo med "Chip" came to the rescue.  Very luck for Olivia, since her lame mom didn't even have a napkin to stop the bleeding let alone a Band-Aid.

The zoo train was the biggest hit of all. Here is a very RARE picture of all three!

Earth Day makes me feel guilty!

I think this Earth Day thing is a great concept, but truly, all of this green stuff makes me feel like such a loser.  Yesterday I listened to all sorts of things that I SHOULD be doing to make this earth remain a beautiful place for my kids. I watched Oprah because she had Julia Roberts on and did you know that Julia is almost too beautiful to look at AND she composts all of her food garbage?  Julia, you are freaking me out.  The only think that gave me comfort is that she admits that she still uses paper towels.  WHAT??? Yesterday is the first time I realized that paper towels aren't the best thing for the planet.  Here is a partial list of things I am doing to ruin the earth:

1.  Disposable water bottles

2.  Disposable diapers........times TWO!

3.  I am a paper towel FREAK.  I use them for everything.  It's part of my OCD.  I love that you can clean with them and then get rid of the evidence.  Am I not saving water by not using rags that I would have to wash???

4.  All of my hair, face, and cleaning products have bad stuff in them except for my Burt's Bees lip balm.

5.  I am having another child, which is totally irresponsible of me.  Just think of the damage he/she will do to the earth.

6.  I throw away my food waste or put it down the disposal.  I do NOT compost and feed my compost to worms and then put the worms POOP on my lovely garden.

7.  I don't grow a garden.

8.  I use fertilizer.

9.  I wash my car in my driveway.

10.I keep forgetting to take my reusable bags to the market with me, even though I did take the important step of buying them.

11.I drive everywhere.

12.I use BLEACH on everything.

To make myself feel better I have come up with this list of things I DO to go green:

1. I turn off the water while I brush my teeth.

2. I BOUGHT the reusable bags.  Once I took them to the store.

3. I stopped at the store on the way home from a run once to get some bread.

So.......Happy Earth Day to you all.  It's just another guilty holiday in my book.

I have these little beauties all over my house!

Olivia learned how to make paper airplanes this weekend.  And, there are no plain old white ones here!  She is my little creative gal!

I think he may need a brother........

Grandma's taking good care of Olivia's new horse!

Thanks, Grandma Bonnie for giving little Patrick lots of love.  Olivia misses him so bad!  Give him a squeeze from her, too!

My favorite purchases of late

These are in NO particular order...........

1.  Hanna Andersson's little girls underwear.........they are thick, super soft,  and cover Os entire bottom!

2.  A purple blowdryer from Sally Beauty called "Plugged In."  I have never been so in love with a dryer!  It makes my hair silky soft, and I hardly have to flat iron it!  Yee haw!!!

3. Trader Joe's ABC pasta!  My twins LOVED it with butter and parmesan cheese.  Bonus: it has spinach and tomato flavored pasta as well as whole grain all mixed together!  Molly ate two bowls!

4. Fuji apple from Costco.  I love these apples.  We are an apple family.  We go through these like crazy and I have never bitten into one that wasn't sweet!

5. Mini desserts from PF Changs.  At two bucks a piece, these little gems deliver BIG flavor and SMALL guilt.  I highly recommend the chocolate.

6. Bare Minerals.  This was a re-purchase because I was out, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this stuff.  It feels great on my skin, and covers all of my red bumps that Olivia loves to point out when I'm not wearing it!

7.  Seychelles Eyeliner pumps in Indigo.  They are darling and strappy and a "just right" shade of blue.  Now I just need somewhere to wear them!  Check out the shoes at www.piperlime.com 

8. Gap girls flip flops for Olivia.  They are two for $8 and have a track record for NOT giving her blisters.  They have some darling shades and colors at www.gap.com  

9.  Burt's Bees lip balm.  I buy this over and over too.  One for my purse, one for my nightstand. Your lips can never be too moisturized!

This list brought a smile to my face, which I need so badly these days.  What are some of your favorites???

Blank

I thought that I would blog about the fact that I have nothing to blog about.  I want so badly to be interesting, thought-provoking, inspiring, motivating, funny, quirky, edgy, and such, but guess what?  Any of that that I ever had has LEFT the building.  

Is it just ME that gets dumb when I am pregnant?  

I truly have no originality left. I cannot read anything except brainless magazines.  I can barely carry on a normal conversation, as many of you have noticed.

And, it's BUGGING me.  

So, while my kids are still cute, my husband is still the best, and our life goes on eventfully as usual, I have nothing but space.

Thank you all for blogging such darling things.  It is quite entertaining for me in my comatose state.  

They are back!

The fresh strawberry milkshake is back at my beloved Burgerville.  If you are in town, stop in for one........or two.  Also, try the yukon gold waffle fries...........YUM!  This was our lunch today. It was yummy!  

A warning:  Be prepared to spend the most money you've ever spent at a burger joint.  My meal cost me $12.  OUCH!

A baby was born

Olivia would like to announce the birth of her baby horse, a colt, who she named Patrick (in honor of St. Patrick's Day). The proud mother, Olivia's horse Sweetheart gave birth to this cute little guy on March 26th in the wee hours of the morning.  It was so fun to see this little newborn!  Olivia loved it!  She was like a proud little mama!

Easter Pictures

Spring Break.........

We had fun in Utah for Spring Break.........here are some pics at Grandma and Papa's house! They loved the bath, the dogs and the horses.

Big news!

Once upon a time there was a girl who couldn't get pregnant.  For twelve years she and her husband tried (and the trying was always fun!) to no avail.  But then one cold night in February, it finally stuck!  And she finally got to see a test say "YES!".  She realized she is not a failure after all.  And, while she has been hugging the white chamber pot for weeks on end, this family could not be more thrilled to welcome another little one..............yes, the LAST little one!

And the six of them lived happily ever after............This is our TRUE TALE.  Stay tuned for more details which will surely come if I can ever stop puking.

OK!  I am coming clean to all of you out there who might be wondering why I have had the flu for 6 weeks and yet my waistline is rapidly expanding........we are expecting baby #4 (not #4 and #5, we are sure it's just ONE!).  We are thrilled about this SHOCKING discovery since the doctors told us it could NEVER happen.  That just goes to show that docs don't know it all and that God is in charge!  So, that's the big news...........we can't wait to welcome #4 at the end of October.