Sorry!

January 29, 2012
Pearl is really into games lately. She loves all the classics. Candy Land. Chutes and Ladders. Trouble. Memory. Cooties. And of course, Sorry! And she usually wins every single time.

Swap party

January 28, 2012
Each January, my friend Libbey has a swap party.

Here's the rules. Each guest brings up to 10 items to swap. Anything goes... household stuff, books, clothing, toys, jewelry, purses, shoes, anything. Each guest then gets 10 stickers to put on items you want. If more than one person puts a sticker on the same thing, names are drawn for the winner. Once you've won something, you can't win again until everyone has had a chance to win.

Everyone leaves happy because you have a chance to de-junk your own house, but go "shopping" for free stuff! I took Pearl to the swap party last year and she had so much fun that I took her again. It's good bargaining power because she has to bring at least one thing she doesn't want/play with anymore in order to come. We "shop" together and she usually leaves with more loot than me. This year she came home with some animal-shaped paper plates, bracelets, two books, and this canopy thing you put over your bed. I scored this amazing pink knee-length coat and a necklace.

I sure hope Libbey doesn't care if I steal her idea and do a summer swap party! Maybe by then we will have cleaned out our storage room.

4 of our favorite people

January 27, 2012
We got a visit from 4 of our favorite people today! My cousin Bryan, his hilarious and sassy wife Chandi, and their two pipsqueaks, Andlie (3 years old) and Haze (7 months) were up for the weekend for a couple of job interviews. They live in Cedar City so we don't see them as much as we want, but it's pathetic that it's been TWO years since our get-together! Especially because we love hanging out with them!

When we were first married, Bryan was going to USU and living with my Grandparents for a year before his mission. Since I worked nights, Bry-guy became Jeff's basketball buddy. Little did Bryan know, dinner and basketball games would eventually turn into "moving buddy." More specifically, moving my 1-ton cedar chest moving buddy. Bryan has NEVER let me forget THAT move. Phfff... so what if the stairs were tiny and narrow? think it pert-near killed him... until he mentioned tonight he wanted to do a weigh-off between my cedar chest and Chandi's. Ha!

Bryan has always the "cool" cousin. Everybody loved being with him! Chandi is so hilarious!!! I love her. Andlie is so well-behaved, I couldn't believe it! We didn't have a single fight between her and Pearl. And oh my gads, and they have the cutest baby Haze ever, with his chunky thighs and chubby cheeks! I couldn't get enough of him!

We ordered pizza, made cupcakes for Kimmy's 24th birthday (sheesh when did my sister get so old?), and just hung out. It was so much fun and I was really sad to see them leave. So if anyone out there has any spare prayers you need to use up, pray Bryan gets a job offer and moves closer to us!

Aggie beanie

January 26, 2012
Seeing as how Cole has yet to remove this beanie today, it seemed only fitting that we take him to the basketball game tonight.

I'm serious. The kid put his "haa haa" (think long a sound here) on first thing this morning and wore it all day.

He did amazing at the game! I was bracing myself to not watch any of the action because I figured he'd be running up and down the stairs, whining, and bored. But Cole has more of his Dad in him than I want to admit. He happily munched away popcorn and stared wide-eyed at the basketball court for all but the last five minutes or so of the game. And had it not been for the little girl behind us who gave him a sucker and thought it hilarious that Cole copied everything she did, I think he would have made it the entire game on our laps.

I'm resigned to the fact that we're going to be getting three season tickets next year or I'll never get to go to a game again.

Late night

January 25, 2012
It was a very long day at work today. Too long. I barely got the kids from daycare before they start charging you $1 a minute per kid. In cash.

Too many meetings. Too many "emergency fires" to put out - thank you 2012 Legislative Session. Too many things to get done and not enough time to do it.

And I'm only supposed to be part-time. Apparently not this week.

Something has got to give. It doesn't seem to matter that I have my calendar blocked off from 3:30 on, somehow I always get pulled into a meeting, get a call from a reporter who needs data yesterday, or someone drops by needing help. I really need help learning how to say "no" which also includes leaving when I'm supposed to.

Otherwise my family might not ever eat a homemade meal again.

State of the Union

January 24, 2012
I did my part tonight as an American and watched Pres. Barack Obama give the State of the Union address.

My family (and sadly, the majority of Utahns) think I'm some crazy left-winged liberal. I assure you I'm not. Is it so crazy to want policies and funding to actually support education, public health, and social services? And to feel that government is a good thing, both at the federal and state levels? I mean, who doesn't want clean water, health insurance, public schools, roads to drive on, military defenses, National Parks, abuse and addiction help, medical research, and on and on and on.

But, I will say this. I can't stand the Tea Party. I can't stand most of Utah's ultra-conservative views. I can't stand the legislative session going on right now in our state... for many reasons. And I absolutely can not stand people who bash our President. I don't care what political views you have, what political party you may or may not support, no American citizen should EVER disrespect the office of the President of the United States. I may not agree with everything our President does, but I sure will respect the position and power that comes with it.

Now Congress, that's a whole other ball game!

All about me

January 23, 2012
Tonight's FHE was about writing your own history with journals. I'm seriously loving the A Year of FHE blog! We've been simplifying the lesson plans way down but they still work great! Pearl had some interesting ideas about what a journal is and what you should do with it. I think she just wanted to get down to business and start coloring, cutting, and taping. I showed her some of my "journals" (blog and photo books) then let her make her own "journal" using the All About Me book download. I even found a couple spare Christmas cards that she used to cut out a family picture of us. The books were filled with all kinds of interesting facts and favorites. I'm sure someday we'll get a kick out of reading them.

Snow!

January 22, 2012
I knew we wouldn't be able to keep the kids contained too long today with yesterday's rain/slush/snow storm that hit.

Hopefully the fascination with snow blowing lasts long enough to put it to good use when they're older.

Corn-on-the-cob in January

January 21, 2012
Corn-on-the-cob in January. Crazy, right?

We got five ears of corn in our Bountiful Basket this morning. Being the good wife and mother that I am (insert laughter here), I spent all afternoon cooking with our fresh veggies and fruit we'd gotten. It got quite chaotic with cookies baking, rice cooking, corn boiling, and beans simmering. Oh, and Jeff pineapple salsa-ing in the middle of everything.

But the payoff was not only a yummy new recipe (Black Beans and Rice with Chicken and Apple Salsa) and dessert but the chance to get to use these handmade corn-on-the-cob holders my Grandpa Jewkes made for Christmas. Aren't they ingenious? And check out the cool box that holds them, with it's sliding lid. The kids loved them.

Office visit

January 20, 2012
Don't get me wrong. I enjoy staying home with my kids. It's just exhausting. And involves a lot of self-restraint to not put them in timeout for life or yell at them all day.

But as all mothers eventually learn, you can't scream at your kids in public. At least not as long or as loud.

So we try to go on outings in the afternoon to keep us all sane. Today we went to Carter's because I had a 20% off coupon and my kids keep growing. Then we stopped at Jeff's office. The kids love it! Jeff... not so much. His office is a lot less kid-friendly than mine. It's way too quiet so two excited pipsqueaks begging for candy or to play with the 10-key machine kind of stands out. Not to mention the fact that Cole climbed up on the window sill and put hand prints all over the clean glass and then rearranged all of Jeff's magnets and office decor.

Cake bites

January 19, 2012
I got a sweet treat from a student who interned with me last semester. I have to admit, I've never had a cake bite before and oh, baby! These were heavenly!!! So good that I actually drove back into work on my day off to get them. I couldn't believe I had scurried out the door without them and was fretting that they'd be bad by the time I got back to the office next week.

They were totally worth the drive!

Ear infection... again

January 18, 2012
I'm starting to wonder if Cole's ears are actually his Achilles heel because he's got another ear infection. Last year we went through a spurt of four straight months with ear infections. Each time in a different ear.

He was so grumpy and getting up in the middle of the night that I just had this feeling that something was off. And that it was probably his ears. The only problem is, unless his ear infections are really, really bad, he won't get a fever. He had an ear infection last month and I didn't even know it! Had we not gone in for his 18-month check-up, all of us would have suffered through sleepless nights until it eventually got so bad a fever broke out. So after a few nights of putting Cole in our bed to get him back to sleep, I sent Jeff and the kids to the Instacare.

Diagnosis. Ear infection. Again.

At what point do we seriously consider getting tubes? He's had at least eight diagnosed ear infections in his life (always during cold and flu season) but they always clear up. Our pediatrician feels that you shouldn't get tubes if the infections clear up each time. Besides, tubes don't guarantee you won't get another ear infection and can even make them more frequent. But the doctor at the Instacare suggested we ask our pediatrician about them again because Cole could have constant fluid in his ears. Which might affect his speech. Well, that got me super paranoid because the kid has maybe three words that are distinguishable to someone other than myself or Jeff.

(Oh, and the real reason I took this picture today, was to show you this awesome bottle from the pharmacy at Target! Seriously! I've never had a pharmacy fill his prescription in a bottle I can tip upside down to get the medicine out. This will make it so much easier to get the last dose out and zero spills. Plus, Target does a great job with health literacy concepts with big print and simple instructions on the label.)

I have a secret

January 17, 2012
It's vain and worldly. But I wouldn't complain if I was a Victoria's Secret Angel. I mean, who wouldn't want to walk down a runway in a sparkly bra and panties knowing you have big boobs, and luscious, long, wavy locks? Seriously.

But this is real life. And I'm a real woman. With a flabbly stomach from two pregnancies, deflated breasts from nursing two babies, and thinning hair from two children who exhaust me with their energy and spunk everyday. And that's just the upper half of me :)

But as all women, a bra is one of those pieces of clothing society deems mandatory. And I've learned from Oprah that a bra fitting is an essential element of looking and feeling your best, even if your upper half isn't quite "angel" status. With no bras that felt like they fit quite right and the temptation of a mega-sale, I went to V.S. expecting to walk out of the store with my head down at the confirmation that I really had shrunk.

Surprise!

I ended up walking out with my head held high and a bright pink bag in hand! Two bras on clearance for less than $30. Sweet. But the best news? I'm two inches smaller and one cup size bigger than I thought. I didn't even question the bra fitting, I was so pleasantly shocked. It almost made up for trying to keep Cole from spilling all the bras and panties on the floor and Pearl holding up every hot pink, lacy bra she could find and shouting at me "this one is cute Mom, try it on!"

Our family tree

January 16, 2012
My attempt at holding weekly Family Home Evenings hasn't been faring too well. You might roll your eyes when I say this, but coming up with a lesson is hard for me. I'm not as organized as I think I am or as I once was. And if I get really honest with myself, I just don't put in the effort I should to get organized. So, A Year of FHE to the rescue. I figure I can mooch off of another, more righteous mother's quest to keep her children spiritually safe and copy - er, simplify - her weekly lessons. She even has a monthly theme, for crying out loud!

Tonight we made a family tree. A much more simplified - and a week behind - lesson than what was planned but I think it was a hit. Pearl was super excited every time we said one of our ancestors' names that had the same name as one of us. Even Cole got in on the action, scribbling all over our tree and erasing half of our family's names with his sleeve.

CTR

January 15, 2012
Come the start of this year, I sort of forgot that Pearl would move into a new Primary class. In fact, I completely spaced this milestone until Pearl told me she had a new class with a new teacher but she couldn't remember what her class was called. I had to stop and think for a few minutes what comes after Sunbeams.

C.T.R.s (which stands for Choose the Right)

It's really weird knowing Pearl is a CTR-5 now. But with her new ring she got in Primary today, none of us should forget anytime soon.

Sleeping in

January 14, 2012
Yesterday Jeff's parents dropped by and surprised us with an offer to take both kids and stay at a hotel for the night so we could go do something fun.

You know what we did for our date night?

I mopped the floor, folded laundry, vacuumed, and went to the grocery store. Jeff had a nap and watched football. Then we went to dinner with Jeff's parents and the kids, bought Jeff some new shirts, and watched Inception at home. We didn't know quite what to do with ourselves given multiple hours of peace and quiet.

But you know what the best part about date night was? Getting to sleep in.

Cook-off

January 13, 2012
As a reward for reading the Book of Mormon last year, our ward had a Chili cook-off tonight. We typically miss these types of events or come empty-handed and mooch off of other's goodwill.

But not tonight.

I figured, what the heck? Why not try out my White Chicken Chili recipe amongst the competition? Besides, I should probably bring something seeing as how my kids won't eat my own chili. The competition was stiff. And I lost. I admit, I was a bit disappointed. I had a lot of people tell me it was really good and I think Jeff helped rig some of the voting. Plus, shocking! Pearl actually ate a bowl of my chili and liked it! She even asked me why I lost... to which Jeff answered with a laugh and me a glare.

Oh well. Let's get serious. Me? Win a cooking competition? Right.

Make-up treat

January 12, 2012
I've worked a lot this week. I didn't even get my regular day off because of all the meetings I've had scheduled. My family's just not cut out for a 40-hour work week for mom. And kids.

So as a lame try at making up for so many long days and late nights, I gave the kids a dollar and said they could pick something out of the vending machine.

Now, I know a bag of Cheez-its in no way makes up for hours away from home, but it sure made them smile.

Peeing your pants is cool

January 11, 2012
If peeing your pants is cool, then my kids are the coolest.

Yes, both of them peed their pants today. Pearl has this horrible, disgusting habit of refusing to go the bathroom in the morning. She can go hours and hours after getting up and unfortunately for her, she didn't make it in time today at school. We have implemented a new (er, old but apparently forgotten) rule... you have to go to the bathroom before leaving the house for school.

Then it was Fern's turn. He came running over to me while I was making dinner, babbling something, and grabbing his pants. I picked him up and felt wet everywhere. Then I saw a puddle and realized he had managed to pee through his shirt, pants, socks, shoes, and all over the floor. Cole also got reminded of an old rule, no playing with your-you-know-what!

Finished

January 10, 2012
Tonight we finished reading the Book of Mormon as a family. It started back on January 19, 2011 with me telling everyone they had to sit themselves down for some scripture time whether they liked it or not. It took a few months but the groans turned into pleads to read if Jeff or I forgot about it. Even Cole runs into the living room to hand each of us our scriptures after bath and pajamas. Granted he then proceeds to run around squealing and pestering his sister, but he knows it's scripture time.

After we got done reading, I asked Pearl how she could ask Heavenly Father a question and how to know what His answer is. We basically boiled things down to "I don't know" followed by
"praying" and "it makes you happy." We then asked Pearl to say a prayer to ask if they were true and to thank Heavenly Father for helping us finish the Book of Mormon. We may not have had the lightning in the sky experience I was hoping for (that would make things much easier to explain to a 4-year-old), but I can tell you I notice a difference when we don't read consistently. Things just feel happier and we are more forgiving of each other. We didn't get any less drama, stress, or chaos but we kept plugging along in life.

That's how I know the scriptures are true. I guess Pearl's simple answer to my questions was right. You feel happier.

Learning to read

January 9, 2012
I really am amazed that Pearl can read. Seriously, how many of us actually remember how hard it was to learn to read?

I know I harp on her a lot. Too much. About all kinds of things. I guess I have ridiculously high expectations because I know how smart she is and how good of a kid she is. But I forget to stop and tell her how proud I am of all that she does. She has yet to loose a single star at school this entire year! At church, she told us they have a sticker chart for being reverent and she got a sticker.

She's flown through her letters, sounds, and books from school. When she showed me her new book and smiled because it had "Cole" in it, I couldn't help but be reminded how much I love that pip squeak. Granted we often fight when she is reading because that twirp has such a good memory that she can just memorize the entire book without really sounding any words out. Pearl did tell me that "reading is harder than I thought" but she is determined to get to the "chapter books."

The consequences of late church

January 8, 2012
One of the consequences of being LDS is having a different time for church every year.

This year, it's our time for the dreaded 1 p.m. start time. It's dreadful. You pretty much spend all morning trying to not scream at the kids and lose the spirit of the day or spill lunch all over your church clothes just waiting for church to start. By the time you do make it to church, it's nap time.

Now, I'll admit my kids have never been good about napping. But coming home at 4 p.m. doesn't help either. Cole was hyper and then begging to be held. That's when I knew the inevitable was coming. A 5 p.m. nap. Three hours before bedtime.

We gave in... we didn't have much of a choice.

I spoke too soon

January 7, 2012
I spoke too soon yesterday.

Not even the weather reports warned us a good 5-6" of wet, heavy snow was coming our way last night.

Apparently winter really is here.

Winter weather

January 6, 2012
Does anyone else think it strange that in January in Utah, we could be outside all afternoon without hats, mittens, boots, and snow pants? At one point, we didn't even have our coats on!

I have a feeling that we're going to pay for it later.

Waiting for Dad

January 5, 2012
There are days when it's not just Cole who eagerly waits for Dad to come home.

Pearl and I are just too big to stand in the windowsill.

Curls

January 4, 2012
I'm not sure why my hair turns to ringlets somedays. (It started way back in college, just after I met Jeff. Seriously. He says he put the spring in my life.)

It's probably my out-of-whack, overly sensitive hormones.

Which would also explain all the huge, ugly zits.

Bad decision

January 3, 2012
I can't really think of any bad decisions Jeff and I have made in our marriage.

Until now.

Remind me again why we decided it was a good idea to have the dwarfs share a room? Or better yet, tell me that someday we'll have our old bedtime routine back.

The price of beauty

January 2, 2012
$100.

That's the price of beauty.

Now if I can 1) figure out how to actually apply this stuff like the models and 2) find the time amongst the chaotic morning routine to do so.

New Year's Elf

January 1, 2012
Do you believe in the New Year's Elf?

We do.

I'm at it again

I'm at it again. Four years running with a daily photo. It's my journaling. A way to remember all the things that someday I'll be too old to remember. Let's face, I forget them now. Life's daily happenings. The little details that seem so unmeaningful in the moment of chaos, messes, and noisy children. The little moments that make up an entire life. Our life.