We're moving

I thought I'd let everyone know that the Wilkinson's are taking the plunge and decided quite suddenly to make the move to Eugene. We have already started loading up the trailer and will take our first load over tomorrow.

These are difficult times, but exciting as well. We are putting full faith in our Heavenly Father and know he will guide us even when it is unexpected and hard.

I am leaving a wonderful ward in Bend with some incredible women whom I am so proud to call my friends. I will miss you all and hope to be back every now and again to say hi.

We feel the timing is right to just go for it and are taking the leap of faith into the unknown.

I think one of my biggest challenges will be moving from a big home to a very very and I mean very little one. I told Pete he's not allowed to take the sports section of the newspaper into the bathroom anymore since there is only one bathroom! :) But this will be a good transition point for us since I will get to be close to my family for a time anyway until something hopefully comes up.

I look forward to keeping in touch with everyone and will be checking in on your blogs as soon as I have computer access again after the move.

Here's to loading a moving van! Can I get a whooop whooop!?! Okay, maybe not.

First trip to the E.R.

I guess it's inevitable at some point to have to take at least one child to the emergency room at some point in their existence. I was hoping to not ever have to go through that trauma of an injury requiring stitches or casts or surgery etc...but Zachy broke our good record we had going up until Monday night. He fell out of my arms onto the kitchen floor and somehow ended up getting a pretty serious cut on his chin. I still don't know how it happened, but boy was it a bleeder! Thank goodness I was able to get a hold of Pete and he rushed home right away and whisked our little guy to the emergency room where he ended up getting six stitches to close up his gash.
Brooklyn and Ryan and I were all pretty worried and anxious for him and what he'd have to endure when he got the the hospital. We said a prayer together and I assured them their little brother would be just fine. It broke my heart to see Ryan crying for his brother and I realized really what a tight bond he and his twin brother share. I just don't think about the fact that they are together 24/7 . They don't get breaks from each other like Brooklyn does since she gets to go off to school or ballet, etc. but they do everything together, so it was a weird feeling to have him gone. I expected Zachy to get home crying for me and wanting me to hold and comfort him but that didn't happen. He walked in the house on his own happy as can be and just said "Hi Momma" as cheerful as could be. What a brave boy!


He got the stitches taken out on Friday and he's just happy it's all over with now!

A Rainy Duck Day with Daddy

Brooklyn and her Daddy braved the down pour of rain in Eugene and went to the Oregon game today. This was Brooklyn's first college game and she's a big fan now! She loved all of it and proudly blew her duck whistle and cheered loudly along side her Dad.

This is Pete....With Brooklyn's duck quacker, she tremendously distracted the opposing team, Stanford, as they would turn around to see where the loud quacks were coming from. LOL, I yelled back at them..."You're letting a 5 year old get in your head!!!" LOLOL! It was hilarious, as many of them were actually laughing. We got completely soaked! It was really dumping rain big time and we were drenched from head to toe. Brooklyn had an absolute blast even though she had NO idea what was going on on the field. It was so cute, even the guys behind us made it quite clear that they would behave with their language as everyone around seemed to be very sensitive to this sweetpea with the loud duck quacker. We made a quick trip over and headed right back to Bend. It was a total blast of a daddy/daughter date! Albeit, she's still a Beaver like her daddy when it comes right down to it. But, like I tell all my friends and my own family....Nobody on Kelli's side of the family would ever follow me to Reser...LOL! If you can't beat 'em,... join 'em. (of course till the Civil War, by the way which the Beavs will destroy the ducks this year...LOL).

Okay....Kelli here again. I had to push Pete off the computer before he went on and on about the Beavers...blah blah blah. Actually, I need to make a correction on something he said about Brooklyn being a Beaver fan...she's not! Ask her and she'll say GO COUGARS!!!!

Farewell Elder Dickison

The Elders stopped by to say goodbye since Elder Dickison has finished his mission and is going home. Pete wrote up this little rap in like five minutes! This obviously wasn't the first take since now the Elders are actually performing now too...is that against mission rules? Elder Brown looks a little bit out of his comfort zone! They are great missionaries and fun to be around.

Pumpkin patch/orchard '08

We spent this years pumpkin patch festivities at an orchard in Harrisburg. What a beautiful location! We climbed on the hay bale maze...yes on, not through. Ate apple cobbler with ice cream and drank fresh apple cider. All free. We picked out our pumpkins from the patch. Free.

Took pictures on the giant pumpkins...only got one good shot. Kids were too distracted!

Took a ride on the horse buggy through the apple and pear orchards. Kids loved this one!

Got free balloons. Picked apples from the trees. Bought fresh produce. Said hello to the costumed piggies and dinosaur.

Had a beautiful time. Now we just need to carve our pumpkins! I love the Fall!

I love the new look of my blog! My incredibly smart, funny, beautiful, gifted and talented sister-in-law Jessie helped me change my old look. She and Matt stayed over with us on their way home from their Idaho/Utah trip. Thanks Jessie for your help. There is no way I ever would have figured out how to do anything you did. So when anyone out there gets tired of this new look, you'll have to come over and help me because I won't know how to change it still!

It's good to take some time out!

This weekend my Mom treated me to a wonderful gift. Tickets for Time Out For Women in the Portland Conference Center. This is an incredible touring conference for women put on by Deseret Book. We enjoyed two sessions of inspiring, funny and motivational talks and music. My mom and I met up in Salem and drove together to the Embassy Suites right next to Washington Square. We got to do a little bit of shopping and eat dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. I love that place! We made it to the conference center just in time thanks to the wonderful invention of navigation in cars! I don't think I could ever find my way anywhere in Portland without it! However, I do have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with my navigation lady. I made several wrong turns, but I blame her for poor instructions. She is very patient though...she never yelled at me for making a wrong turn, she just recalculated the route and proceeded to tell me where to turn. I'm sure in her computer brain she was thinking what a moron I was for not following her directions but she never let me know that! I however had no problem yelling at her for giving me uncertain directions at times. But that's why I went to Time Out For Women...to better myself!
I left the conference so uplifted and joyful. This feeling has carried me through the next few days and I keep praying that it won't go away. I know eventually it probably will with all the different pulls in life, but I'm trying hard to keep this joyful feeling I have.

So this photo is of a group of wonderful women from both my mom's ward and my sister's ward in Eugene and my cousin Susan! It was so good to see you Suz! They all came up to TOFW together and also stayed at our same hotel. I can't tell you how kind and friendly they all are and I was just so impressed with them! I wish Rachel and her sister were in the photo too! It was so fun to meet and visit with all of you! Wasn't it an amazing conference?

I'm looking forward to going again next year. In the meantime, I'll be reading the books and listening to the music I purchased there. Good stuff!

She actually let me do her hair!

Brooklyn absolutely HATES having her hair done. I beg, plead, bribe and then threaten her everyday to do her hair. We ended up buying a bunch of hairbands as a compromise to needing to do something with her hair to keep it out of her face.

Well, today for some unknown reason she complied to me begging to do her hair....Here are the results! I learned this hair style from my lovely sister-in-law Kim. She can do amazing hair styles on her girls and they always look so cute. I am just a wee grasshopper when it comes to styling hair, but I'm happy with my first try. Actually, I'm just happy she let me try!



She wore it for half the day, then took it out! Right before we had to go to ballet class! Oh well. Baby steps.

I had a "feeling" I was forgetting something

Do you ever have the kind of day where you feel like you are forgetting something but you just can't remember what it is? I checked my planner three times just to make sure I wasn't forgetting an appointment or something, but the "feeling" just lingered. I went about my day cleaning up the after breakfast rush mess, calling Pete to let him know he left his new planner on the kitchen counter and that I was holding it ransom until he showed up with a Diet Pepsi Big Gulp for me in return ;) Some days you just need a little pick-me-up. I discovered a gmail account I had forgotten all about since 2006! Spent too much time reading through really old messages that I'd never seen before! (by the way Bekka, your dog is really cute!) Realized the time and rushed to get dressed and out the door with the boys to get some errands done before Brooklyn was done with school. Decided I had just enough time to run to Costco before making it home to greet Brooklyn at the bus stop. It was perfect timing! I pulled into the garage, let the boys out and walked down the street to meet the bus...only the bus never came. I checked my watch. I was right on time, the bus must be running a little late. The bus must be running really late now. THEN IT HIT ME!!!!! Today is Wednesday...early release day!!! I WAS LATE!!! I had completely spaced the fact that I should have been at that bust stop 45 minutes earlier. I rushed back to the house feeling panicked...my poor little girl...where is she now? The light on the answering machine was flashing. There was a message from her bus driver telling me he figured I'd forgotten today was early release and that he'd kept her on the bus to finish his route until he heard from me. I called him back immediately and he had just finished his route and would swing back by to drop her off. RELIEF! I felt so dumb and incapable and knew my mothering license would be revoked somehow. I was so overjoyed to see that big yellow school bus coming up the street. He said Brooklyn had a good time and he even helped her put her tennis shoe back on before she got off, and gave her a sucker and two more for her brothers and put me at ease about my forgetfulness. I love that man! So thank you, Glen the bus driver for taking such good care of the precious cargo you haul. I owe you one! I am feeling really grateful for you today.

Our new afternoon routine

All the footage of Brooklyn's first day of school, catching the bus I felt was a little to long to post on the blog, so here we are picking her up after school sometime in the first week. So far the boy's excitement for seeing the school bus hasn't worn off and they still greet each other with much love and enthusiasm. I don't know how long this will last, but I think it's cute while it does last!

Brooklyn turns five!

We had a fantastic time celebrating Brooklyn's birthday this year at Build-A-Bear with her cousins in Eugene! They had their own private party coordinator who led them along the process of picking out their bears, stuffing them, playing games, picking out outfits and making birth certificates on the computers. Brooklyn must have really liked her since she named her bear after her!
The boys came along to help us meet the party of 6 requirement, but didn't last after this photo. They were making things a little too stressful so my wonderful Mom took them out to the mall playground while we enjoyed the rest of the party. Here they are dressing their bears with the outfits they picked out. Brooklyn picked a wedding dress for her bear. Camryn and Avery both picked out cheerleader outfits. They also got to fill a bag full of bows that fit on the bears ears to take home.
Brooklyn is making her bear's birth certificate. This is when we learned she named her bear Katie, after the sweet girl who ran their party.
Here is the final picture of everyone loving their new friends! Now we're off for pizza!
We love you cousins!!!

quick update to last post

So after about three more "poop" incidents (I'm a slow learner!) I took your advice and have started duct taping the boys diapers on at nap time. It's working like a charm I'm happy to say!

I have been pretty distracted and haven't downloaded or uploaded (whatever!) any photos from my camera in a while. I'll let you know how the boys soccer tots class is going and tell you about Brooklyn's ballet class and how kindergarten is going hopefully soon.

Thanks for the great duct tape advice! You may have saved my sanity...or what's left of it anyway.

So, how's your day going?

Have you ever had one of these days? Well, I've been having a few too many of them lately! I'm thinking about duct taping their diapers on during nap time.

Now if your the queasy type...don't look too closely at this photo. For the brave at heart lets examine how in the world they both managed to get their shorts and diapers off and onto the floor right next to each other and yet both have their "ahem...logs" places right in front of their own crib?!?This is how they feel about the whole situation. They have been saying nay nay nay nay nay to me the whole time. I really think they are more proud of their accomplished feat than sorry for the yucky mess they made for me to clean up.This is what my daughter thinks of the whole situation. She came in to check out the commotion and left the boys room gagging. Always mommy's little helper!This is how I feel about the whole situation....Enough said.

A Ballerina Playdate...Too Cute!

Brooklyn and Ellie have been friends since birth. Born on the same day isn't the only thing they have in common, they both love to make believe. So far on this playdate they have played store with the cash register and money and they had a tea party, but when they moved on to the ballet activity it was too cute to pass up on sharing! Enjoy some video footage...These are the only ones I can share since I forgot to turn up the lights for the first video footage I took and they turned out too dark. But imagine them going through a warm-up and learning some moves.


Heidi...you've got to get your child in a ballet class! She's a natural! She can even do the moves while chewing bubble gum at the same time! Even three pieces of bubble gum at the same time! and all the while asking for more bubble gum! Yes, your girl LOVES bubble gum :)
Thanks for letting her come and play.

Before & After haircuts

Okay, So these aren't the best photos, but it's all I've got. I don't know if I like the longer hair kind of surfer dude look... Or the new clean cut short look. What do you like better?

cute kitty needs loving home

The reason I'm posting this video is to show a friend possibly interested in taking the kitty what she looks like. I only had video footage and no photos! It's lengthy but if you like the kitty and want to give her a home call me!

My niece lovingly cared for her during her stay in Oregon, but now must go back home to Utah. We are trying to find a home for her, so if you are interested or know of anyone wanting a kitty let me know!

A sweet moment in time

This video reminds me what life is all about.

(now if bedtime was this peaceful everynight....I guess I wouldn't know the joy from the sorrow right?)

Some seriously cute 4th of July hair do's!

We were able to spend the 4th of July together with most of my family (missing two brothers & families) and it was AWESOME!!! we spent a day at the beach, then for the 4th everyone came to Bend for a back yard BBQ and a fireworks display off Pilot Butte. My Sister-in-law Kim is an amazing hair artist although she would laugh at me for calling her that. She is way too humble. I wish she lived closer to me so I could learn from her. She did all the girls hair in this cute web of red, white, and blue elastics. I was shocked Brooklyn let her do it...all I ever hear is DON'T TOUCH MY HAIR MOM! I CAN DO IT MYSELF!!!

AWWWW! I wish these two cousins could spend more time together. Too cute.

Is this what four year olds do?

Honestly, I have no idea when Brooklyn made this sign. All I know is I saw it hanging on her bedroom door and it seriously cracked me up! If you can't tell, it's a drawing of her twin brothers informing them that they are NOT allowed in her room!
This gives me an idea...if I draw a picture of a little girl and two little boys and x them out and stick it on MY bedroom door, do you think it'll work???

playing baby

Hi again! Here is another video I enjoy....mainly because they are all playing together nicely. Brooklyn has a great imagination and it amazes me how sometimes she can get her brothers to play along in her game and enjoy it. Zachary is jealous and wants to be a baby too. The funny thing is this morning when I was posting this the boys were watching the video and then they both took off downstairs to this same room to play baby themselves! I went to go check on them and they were both in this same box thing at the end of the bed acting like babies! Cute!

Move over Jonas Brothers, or Naked brothers, or any other brothers band out there!

I love this video on so many different levels. I love how "into it" the boys are. They are so completely busy with drumming that they don't even smile, because you know...they are just too cool to smile, yet I know they are loving every minute of it. I love how they seem to be keeping the beat while exploring the different sounds. I love that Zachary doesn't have any pants on because Pete told me they kept falling down to his ankles. Lots of famous drummers drummed pant less. I love the part when Zacky starts bobbing his head like he's rocking out. I love that they stood side by side with wooden drum sticks and hit only what they should and not each other! I love that they are having a great time at their Grandma Joe's house with their Dad for the weekend and that I had time alone at home! And of course, I love the close-up of my sweetie at the end that just kind of sums of everything. He loves music and his dream is to have a musical family somehow. He might just reach that dream.

Maupin, Oregon

Have you ever heard of Maupin? Well, that's where we went last Saturday with all the activity day girls in my ward. It was a two hour drive from Bend, but it was worth the money in gas to get there because we had a fantastic day at the Swan's ranch. We met the most wonderful sister from the Madras ward who lives on this ranch and since it is the lambing season, we got to go check it all out. The day started out by waking Brooklyn up at 5:00am to get ready to go. The lambs would be waiting for us to feed them their breakfast! We picked up a few of the girls on our side of town and then met the group at the north end of town to caravan our way to the ranch. I had never been to Maupin...why would I have? It's in the middle of nowhere! But I was surprised by the beauty of this area. Sister Swan greeted us and brought us into her house to explain a little about the lambs and the girls got to help prepare the formula and pour the bottles. They helped feed the lambs that needed bottles and watched Sister Swan administer some shots and learned a few interesting facts about ranch life and the work involved in caring for animals.


Here is Brooklyn feeding a lamb her bottle.
She LOVED holding this lamb.
Here she is holding another lamb. She was concerned about it since Sister Swan would be giving it shots in a minute. She knows all too well about getting shots since she just got her own at the doctor's office a few days before....four of them! So she was sympathetic. She told the lamb not to jerk her leg or she would get a bruise...she was speaking from experience the wise child now offering advice to the lamb!
We walked about a mile across this terrain to visit a very old cemetery that they take care of on their 19,ooo acre ranch. People that once owned the land in the 1800's are burried there. The girls got to pull a handcart and surprisingly they said that was one of their favorite things they did that day.
They got to do many other activities this day and we left the ranch a little tired, sunburned and happy.

You're gonna miss this...

I was complaining to my Mom tonight about all the mischievous deeds my children pulled off today, and as I took survey to her of all of the random items I found in our pond/water feature...balls, bowls, my silverware and other random kitchen gadgets they got out of my drawer, trash, their coats and shoes, she just started laughing! My frustration was humorous to her...I don't know why me telling her I was in defensive basketball stance shuffling back and forth across the railing of the pond guarding it from more rocks and balls being thrown into it was so funny! Then I remembered my favorite song of the moment by Trace Adkins called You're gonna miss this. And I will. I know when they are all grown I would do anything to have this back again. These are some good times and it really does go by so fast. They are growing and changing so incredibly fast I don't want to miss a minute of it. The boys vocabulary is really growing and it cracks me up with some of the things they have figured out to say. Tonight they were very excited to find some money and put it in their piggy banks. Piggy bank has never sounded so cute! And as I said goodnight, I left their room to the sound of them pretending to snore and be alseep already! They kept this little act up for awhile as I stood outside their door listening and trying not to laugh out loud.

Brooklyn amazes me with the natural compassion she possesses. Tonight for Family Home Evening we sang Love One Another (three times since each child wanted a turn to accompany our singing on the piano) and then read John 15:12 and discussed how we can show love to others. Our activity was to make a get-well card for our neighbor who is in the hospital after having a massive heart attack. She made a beautiful card and expressed her love for him in her card. Then her Daddy took her to the hospital to deliver it. She remembers him in her prayers every night all on her own. She also accompanied me last week to deliver meals to two different families going through a difficult time. She loved helping me carry in the food and was so sweet. She remembered these people in her prayers all on her own as well! She teaches me in so many ways. I never want to forget how sweetly compassionate she was as a little girl. How quickly she forgives and loves me when I have lost my temper with her and how repentant she feels when she has done something to hurt another. It's almost comical how she expresses her sorrow and exclaims that she will never do it again. She reminds me of Shirly Temple the way she pouts her lip and really gets quite dramatic. I hope she never loses these special qualities she possesses right now. I just never want to forget these special times.

"pull my finger"

Has it really been a month since I last posted? We'll, I always have been quite fickle and am eager to start something new, but then burn out fast. It's my attention span....or more specifically lack of attention span. Anyway, Brooklyn said something yesterday morning that really cracked me up at the time so here's to writing it down for posterity!

Pete is on our local t.v. show called Good Morning Central Oregon every month as their mortgage specialist. He does a short segment about the market and helps the viewers become more educated about the lending process. Yesterday morning Brooklyn crawled into bed with me and we watched Daddy on t.v. together. As she watched her Daddy talking, she turned to me and asked..."Mommy? Is Daddy going to talk about us?" I told her no, that he just talked about his work. Then she turned to me again with a mischievous little smile and said "Mommy, what if Daddy says pull my finger?"

I forgot the camera again!

I remember to brush my teeth every morning, get dressed, and I never forget to put on my watch. When I leave the house I always remember my purse and mostly all the sometimes I remember my cell phone (If it's already in my purse). So why oh why do I ALWAYS forget the camera???!!!!! Since it's the end of spring (yeah right) break, Pete took part of the day off and we took the kids to the Working Wonders Children's Museum here in Bend. It was our compromise to not being able to go to the coast since winter reared its ugly head again in the end of March! I'm not surprised, it pretty much always snows in March and April here but I'm just bugged. I was soooooooo looking forward to going to the beach, but it turned out to be such a fun morning spent at Working Wonders! The kids loved every second spent there and stayed busy trying every activity offered. Now's when I beat myself up for forgetting the camera. I missed photos of each of the kids working the cash register and shopping in the grocery store, making pizza's at the pizza parlor, being a veterinarian at the animal hospital, building things, discovering things, and just thoroughly enjoying themselves. I wished I had photos of Brooklyn making her dad Mexican food in the little Latin village, or wearing doctor scrubs as she bandaged up a big stuffed dog. I want a photo of the boys sitting together at a table playing with play dough, and with the two of them jumping in a pool of balls.
So Mom, family and friends, you're just going to have to imagine how cute it all was since I can't seem to ever remember to bring a camera along to anything we do!

I'm feeling grateful

I just finished reading an article from the Meridian Magazine daily emails I get. It was about the Wilkinson family (no relation) who had quintuplets. I am in awe of mothers of multiples. I thought having two at the same time would do me in, actually I still think that some days. But these mothers such as the one in this article just amaze and inspire me. I love reading their stories because somehow it makes me put my life in better perspective. I can surely handle two if they are managing 5! Watching the t.v program John & Kate plus 8 does the same thing for me. They have twin girls and then just wanted one more, and got sextuplets! I can relate to the stress of it all, but it makes me feel calmer (and grateful) since I was blessed with only twins. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed going grocery shopping or running errands with the kids, but then I look at these families and I think, well at least we all fit in one cart! And I'm grateful for the fact that I can take them out by myself and somehow we manage.

I know God has a purpose for each of us and many times I feel he has given me more than I can handle, but I was wrong. I am grateful for his loving guidance and patience with me to get to where he wants me to be. I hope to get there sometime in this lifetime! I am grateful for my own personal miracles he has so kindly blessed me with.

Happy Easter!

This was kind of a weird Easter for me this year. I enjoyed putting the kids baskets together and loved seeing them get excited over seeing them this morning. I even stayed up late making a breakfast casserole that my Mom always made for us thinking it would be a cool Easter morning tradition and it's really yummy too.......only my kids wouldn't touch it. Then we rushed off to church. I love going to church , especially on special holidays like today but for some reason I had a great desire to attend some kind of special Easter mass or something in a big cathedral, with all the tradition and ceremony. It was a bit of a let down to sit in our very plain chapel. No statues of Christ or any Saints, no paintings or ornate decorations or stain glass or anything. I was wishing I was back in Spain in one of the very old cathedrals I've toured watching the priests in their robes waving the incense or whatever those smoking bowl thingies are that they wave around and just being in the grandness of it all. I wanted to be immersed in the spirit of Christ and really feel overwhelmed by his amazing Atonement and Resurrection. I wanted something bigger today for some reason. It wasn't until I was sitting in primary and the children sang "tell me the stories of Jesus" that it hit me. I felt an overwhelming love for my Savior and felt so touched by the sweet voices singing this simple song. As the tears welled up in my eyes I felt so grateful for the simpleness that can bring forth the greatness of the Spirit. Then my friend sitting next to me said something that made me laugh and it was over. But I felt it! And it was great!

I do wish we had some of the beautiful paintings of Christ that hang in the hallways and foyer in our Chapel. Why is that? Can anyone enlighten me as to why the chapel is so bare?


When we got home from Church and after we put the boys down for their nap, Brooklyn got to have her own personal little Easter egg hunt. Pete hid the eggs all around the living room area and Brooklyn got to go find them. Only once wasn't enough for her. When she found them all she informed her Dad that that was too easy and she wanted to do it again. So Pete put all the plastic eggs back together (she had opened them all to dump out the candy) and hid them all again. They repeated this game about 4 times until she decided she wanted to hide the eggs and have Dad find them. It was at this point I think I snuck upstairs to go take a nap! After the boys woke up, we got ready and headed off to Eagle Crest Resort to join my cousin Susan and her family for Easter dinner. It was fantastic! They had made an amazing prime rib dinner and we had so much fun hanging out with them. I loved watching Jessica (9yrs old) beat the guys at Monopoly! I don't know if Pete's ego will get over that or not! Thanks for making our Easter so great! We love you guys!

from bad to worse.....then better again.

DISCLAIMER......This post is entirely too lengthy and full of mundane details of my day being sick with sick kids. Only my Mom will want to know about each and every detail or maybe she won't. Any way I'm giving you fair warning that you probably don't want to continue reading this post....really.....turn away now....it's not too late!

I think yesterday was one of the worst days I can remember. I woke up feeling so sick and ac hey and the boys didn't feel good either. I got them out of bed and brought them back to my bed to try to sleep just a little bit longer. Ryan cried and cried but Zachy just cuddled up to me and went right back to sleep. After much pleading on my part, Ryan gave in and climbed in my bed too and settled down and let me stroke his head. I was so grateful for the extra time in bed and of course Pete just slept through the whole thing. Why is it when the guy gets sick he turns into a child and gets taken care of and pampered, but when the Mom gets sick she still has to tend to all her motherly duties??? Okay, granted he had a hurt back so really couldn't get out of bed to get the boys, so I'll give him that one.

A little later Zachy all of a sudden sat up and I could just tell it was going to happen so luckily I had "the bowl" on hand and let nature take its course so to say. Poor little guy. I hate seeing my babies suffer. That's pretty much how my day went from there. Pete had to drag himself into work and I was home alone sick and miserable with another sick and miserable baby. We planted ourselves on the couch in front of cartoons to entertain the other two since they had to be attached to me too. They get so jealous when I'm holding Zachy and not them so picture me sitting on the couch with plenty of room for all of us, but all three kids wanting to sit ON me. Not fun when I'm sick myself. Zachy needed "the bowl" several more times that morning and I was just grateful he was using it. I wasn't so smart with Ryan and had to scrub a lot of carpet. Blech!!!!

After I put the boys down for their nap I went straight to bed. Poor Brooklyn was left to fend for herself. I don't even think I made her lunch. That must be why the cereal box and a bag of pretzels were on the couch where she pretty much hung out all afternoon. And I found another plate with pretzels on it in the fort she made while I was sleeping. Luckily, Pete came home for a few hours that afternoon so Brooklyn did have parental supervision! And I got to sleep guilt free.

That night after the kids were all sleeping I went in to check on Brooklyn and she woke up saying she felt like throwing up, so I ran and got "the bowl" and Pete and I sat with her for awhile. She was crying because she didn't want to be sick and miss her play date with her friend the next day. We said a prayer with her asking Heavenly Father to bless her to heal quickly and feel better soon. We both took some nausea medicine and I went back to bed and somehow she convinced Pete to sleep with her in the murphy bed. Any excuse she can come up with to sleep in the murphy bed she'll try it. (for those who decided to read this saga against my warning, the murphy bed is our pull down bed in our rec room upstairs. It's actually the most comfy bed in the house since we put a temperpedic mattress on it....heavenly!)

Amazingly, the next morning we all woke up feeling so much better. Brooklyn was so happy she felt good and was excited for her play date. The boys were back to their bubbly selves and their same Ole' mischievous shenanigans. After I bathed and dressed them, I got Brooklyn in the tub. Meanwhile, they escaped out to the garage (why was that door unlocked????) and had half of the 20 lb bag of dog food thrown all over the garage floor! So I drag them back into the house with them telling each other no no no the whole way, like they were putting the blame on the other. So I go back to Brooklyn, and again it's too quiet so I run out of the bathroom to find them in the rec room where they have managed to find more marker pens and have colored all over the desk, computer screen and themselves. This time I put them in their cribs until I was done with Brooklyn. That luckily was the last of the drama! Brooklyn got picked up around 11:30 for her play date and I fed the boys lunch and put them down for a nap. Ahhhhhhh....sweet peace and quiet!

never take good times for granted

This morning Pete was playing with Zachy, throwing him up in the air and catching him. Something happened to his back while doing this and he was in a lot of pain. I was really worried about him because of the amount of pain he was in and he couldn't get into any position to give him any relief. I gave him some pain medication I had left over from my surgery back when I was pregnant with the boys hoping it would bring him some relief. I left him lying on the floor in agony to tend to kids who needed to get dressed and fed breakfast. I finally got out the door to take Brooklyn to school (only 40 minutes late!) and expected to find him still lying on the floor when I got back, but he was gone. He'd gone to work anyway and was just getting by.

Meanwhile, on my way home from dropping off Brooklyn, Ryan threw-up all over himself and his car seat. I was hoping he was feeling better today but I was wrong. He's been throwing up since Monday night and can't keep anything down. He doesn't have a fever, but is acting very tired and listless. He just wants me to hold him so he can sleep in my arms....to bad he weighs 34 lbs! I have very tired biceps.

So I get the boys in the house, strip Ryan out of his disgusting clothes and get him in the tub. We sat the rest of the morning in his room rocking in the rocking chair while he tried to sleep, with Zachy crying for me to hold him too and read him a book. He eventually wandered off into the toy room and entertained himself with his talking piggy bank and some books and let Ryan have his mommy all to himself.

Later, I realized my delima of picking Brooklyn up from school since I couldn't put Ryan back into his car seat which was still full of puke. So I called Pete to see how he was doing and if he could pick her up which he did. He dropped her off at home then went back to work, but that didn't last very long since a few minutes later he called me asking me to meet him out in the driveway with a wet rag. He had thrown up too! I don't know if he's sick from the pain meds or if he's got what Ryan has, but he came home to sleep for awhile. Poor guy just got up and went back to work to meet clients there. I hope he makes it!

The day started out so good and went so bad so so quickly.

Oh no....I think I feel a little nausea coming on!

"this is the best day of my life"

Sunday afternoon... the boys are napping and we just finished lunch. Brooklyn say's "mommy, will you make something with me?" I said sure, do you want to draw a picture? She thought that sounded good so I got out the paper and crayons. A few minutes later I got a huge craving for chocolate chip cookies so I asked her if she wanted to help me make some. That of course sounded even better, so we set off gathering all the ingredients. We put on our aprons and got to work. Since the boys were asleep, we had the time to really enjoy the moment. We weren't rushed and Brooklyn got to really be involved in the whole process. She helped measure and pour and mix and stir. She helped scoop the dough and of course lick the beater. She carried the cookie sheet to the oven and helped set the timer. While one batch was cooking we decided to put m&m's on the next batch, so that was her next job to stick 3 m&m's into each ball of dough. As she was finishing her task she said "Mom, this is the best day of my life!"

And my heart just soared.

It really is just the little things.

I love this girl!

sweet saturday

I had such a wonderful experience going to the temple early Saturday morning with 4 sisters in my ward. It was so fun getting to know them in a way you just don't get to at church. I love and admire these women and am in awe at their own life stories and spiritual strength. I look forward to more trips with them in the future.

It was a fun trip for me not only because these ladies are so funny, but also for the fact that it was the first time back to the temple for one of them after 8 years, for another it had been 3 yrs, but only can count really on one hand how many times she'd gone since her first time, and then another sister had just taken out her endowments a few months ago. We were all excited to be going, but they weren't shy admitting how nervous they felt after such a long absence. I felt honored to be with them, remembering how easy it is to take things for granted and how special this trip really is.

Seeing their obvious nervousness at a particular part where they are required to remember some things make me giggle. As one sister got up, she had the biggest smile on her face and that just made me beam! I couldn't contain my giggles (not too irreverent though). I loved her enthusiasm for what she was doing and her desire to understand and "get it right".
The other sister I thought was going to pass out! I hope they never call on her to speak in Sac. meeting! I loved teasing her about this.

This trip was one of the happiest moments I've felt in the temple. I couldn't hide my big smile!

I tried to keep this as anonymous as possible, even though these sisters probably don't read my blog I just want to tell them they all touched my heart in a different way and I love them for that. Thank you for an amazing day!

The Little Girl that cried Woof

We all went to Red Robin tonight for din din. All of us ordered tons of food and ate it all. Towards the end Brooklyn starts crying her head off saying her leg hurt. Come to find out, the whole thing was a sham. She faked the entire ordeal....unbelievable. Well, although deep inside I admire that type of good acting, needless to say, Kelli and I weren't happy campers when we ultimately found out. She is indeed quite the drama queen. I'm such a softy when it comes to disciplining her, thank you kelli! My gosh, I never in a cazillion years realized how powerful a daddy/daughter relationship could be.....I think she's onto me too, I will work on it, I promise.
peace out, ya'll. This is Pete btw. Booyah!

Hanna Montana - whoohoo!

I took the girls (Brooklyn, Kaitlin and her cousin Kennedy) to the Hanna Montana 3-D movie Saturday afternoon. I hoped it would serve as a good distraction for Kaitlin since her Mom couldn't drive over the pass to visit her because of the snow. She LOVED it and so did her cousin. Brooklyn got bored and I have to admit so did I a little. I did crack up when Brooklyn kept asking me where all the people in the front rows went, so I tried to explain how 3-D worked but she just kept taking her glasses on and off to figure it out. All three girls would reach out to grab something that appeared to be right in front of them. That was cute! We ate lunch at Subway then headed back home after a quick stop at a snowboard shop that was having a fundraiser with a mini mountain set-up with snow and ramps. I can't believe how young some of the kids were going down the ramps! Brave.

When everybody left our house Brooklyn sobbed that she couldn't go with them. I have never seen her so upset...and that's saying something! She wanted so badly to be able to keep playing with the girls and threw the mother of all tantrums. She is quite the emotional girl....I wonder where she got it? So I tried to calm her and sympathize with how she was feeling and try to come up with a solution, so we called a friend in the neighborhood to see if she wanted to play, but being that it was now 4:00pm she couldn't so we decided to get on her scooter and go down to a neighbors house at the end of our cul-de-sac whom we hadn't met yet but I was pretty sure her son went to Brooklyn's preschool and introduce ourselves and see if he wanted to come outside and play. It turned out to be wonderful. This little boy and Brooklyn had a blast playing together and his Mom and I got to hang out and get to know each other. I never would have walked down to their house if Brooklyn hadn't been so desperate for a friend, so I guess good things come out of desperation sometimes.

In the meantime while all this was going on, Pete had taken the boys to get haircuts. When they got back Pete must have gotten distracted because the boys ended up flooded their bathroom with water. They had both sinks running full blast with cups in their hands filling them up and throwing the water everywhere! The office area upstairs was turned inside out and the doors were covered in permanent marker! He swears he only turned his back for like 2 seconds....and know what? that could be true because I know how fast they can wreak havoc!

Brooklyn has got ATTITUDE

I was just on the phone when Brooklyn came into the room demanding my attention and disobeying my pleas for her to wait a minute. I apologized to my friend on the phone and then looked at Brooklyn in the eyes and told her she was being rude and needed to wait to talk to me until I was off the phone. Brooklyn just snarked back "why can't SHE wait a minute!"
How'd ya like that one?

Marriage advice

I've been reading these articles in Meridian Magazine online called The First Principles of Marriage by H. Wallace Goddard. I can't tell you how much they have touched my heart and strengthened my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He writes about how gospel truths help us solve the problems we face in marriage, and can be applied to all our relationships. Here's a quote from chapter one.

"We will only succeed at marriage as we use eternal gospel principles to become more of what God has invited us to become. Marriage is God's graduate school for advanced training in Christian character. Those who are truly successful at marriage are those who are applying the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives."

Even if you feel you have the most perfect, wonderful marriage you still need to read this!

A) Because nobody has a perfect marriage. We all have irritations and breakdowns in communication. And if you claim your marriage is perfect and you have no problems, well, you are probably deceiving yourself.

B) By reading this you will be humbled and come to the understanding that you have a lot of work to do on yourself to live up to Christ's standards. At least that's how I felt!

I have been enjoying reading this and wanted to share it with you guys. Maybe you've already read it since I'm usually the last one to find these little nuggets of gold, but if you haven't read it yet it I urge you to go find it!

After you read it let me know what you think.

Izzy's & Bright Music....That's a family night

So tonight we took the kids out to dinner for Family Night. We have in the past avoided restaurants like our lives depended on it because, well....they kind of did. There has been nothing relaxing or fun about taking our kids out to restaurants and I'm sure the restaurants thank us for not stepping foot in their door. The boys have this thing for throwing their food across the room if they don't want to eat it. They can't just leave it on the plate, or push it aside, they must hurl it as far away from them as possible! They also have a thing for chewing up their food and then spitting it out instead of swallowing it....gross. They do that with their drink too. Take a sip then spit it out and then try to finger paint with the grossness on their tray. I seriously want a kitchen that I can just hose down from ceiling to floor, that's how messy they can be. Come to think of it, I could just hose them down too while I'm at it! but I digress on what I intended to say.

So, like I was saying, we took the kids to Izzy's tonight and I am amazed at how smoothly it all went! The boys did remarkably well...calm, happy, no fighting even sitting by each other! They did make a bit of a mess, but just dropped their green beans onto the floor instead of chucking them across the room. They ate with their own forks and didn't spill their milk! I was amazed! I still almost can't believe it. If your wondering what the big deal is you-have-never-eaten with my boys! And then of course Brooklyn ate too much and said her tummy hurt as she laid down on the booth seat with her head on my lap....which totally made me remember how my parents used to take Lauri, Rob and I to Kings Table and we would do the exact same thing! Eat too much and then have to unfasten our pants and we'd want to lay down on the way home! Rob would shiver like crazy because he'd eat too much ice cream! But I digress again and don't wish to delve into the early stages of overeating in my life.

So back to family night! Dinner was fun. We then came home and got jammies on and brushed teeth, then gathered in Brooklyn's room for the "lesson" portion of the evening which included listening to The Land of Obey from our Bright Music collection. Fun stuff. We sang and danced and hoped that somewhere in the fun our kids would learn to actually obey us. The main lyrics to the theme song say..."Come along to the land of obey, where the people are happy they say. Where they learn very young to do the things they should, so when they get old it's easy to be good. It's a catchy tune, but I don't know if it will help Brooklyn obey any better since I overheard her say "I want to go to the land of NOBAY" since it was time to go to bed and she didn't want to! She's four years old people! What do I have to look forward to when she's a teen?

Valentines

I've never been that big of a fan of Valentines Day. I remember being in elementary school and feeling the pressure to give everyone in my class a valentines card and wanting my envelope that we would make every year and hang from our desk to be full too.
When Pete and I got married, I appreciated the efforts made to make this a special day, but still, to me it feels like a forced thing. I have to buy a card and think of a special gift because of the date on the calendar, not because I'm "feeling it" so to speak. I know it's a great opportunity to tell your special one that you love them, but for me, it's so much more meaningful to get flowers in the middle of the week just because he was thinking of me. Or a little love note out of the blue when your not expecting anything. Maybe it's because on Valentines day your expecting something. I mean isn't this the day you have to prove that you love your significant other? This Valentines day, Pete tricked me.....he told me how sorry he was that he had forgotten it was Valentines day. I honestly didn't really care that much, okay, maybe I was a little bummed just because I like and need validation just like every other girl, but I still believe it's more of a consumerist day to make Hallmark and the candy companies very rich anyway.
So, we all headed downstairs for breakfast and I was so suprised to see the table covered with two arrangements of flowers and two beautiful gift bags and two helium balloons and a big stuffed unicorn. He had gone to town for his two special girls!
It was love at first sight for Brooklyn and her unicorn (which she named Valentine) and I was suprised at how special this made me feel considering that I usually profess to be a bit of a Valentines grinch. The thought of him taking the time out of his busy day because he wanted to make me and his little girl feel loved on this Valentines made my grinchy little Valentines heart grow a few sizes bigger.
Maybe this holiday isn't really just about making Hallmark rich afterall.

Phone etiquette

Brooklyn will occasionally answer the phone and does a decent job communicating with the caller. Today Pete called to check in and say hi and Brooklyn answered the phone before I could get to it. This is what I heard.....

Brooklyn: Hello?

Pete: Hi Brooklyn! It's Dad!

Brooklyn: Dad! Your interrupting me! I'm watching cartoons!

Hey everybody it's family night!

I am still kicking myself for forgetting my camera last night for our family night activity. I missed some precious shots of my kids bowling for the first time! Ryan threw his ball down the wrong lane two times, but was so proud of himself as he threw his hands up over his head yelling yeah! Zachy became very attatched to one special orange bowling ball and nobody else could touch it. As soon as it left his hands down the lane, he ran back to the ball dispenser to wait for it to be spit back out. I enjoyed watching Brooklyn place her ball on the ramp (for bumper bowling) then back up to make a running start up to her ball, and push it off as hard as she could. We invited our friend Ben and his two children Kaitlin (8) and Bennett (3) and they had a great time with us. Kaitlin beat me several times at the Dance Dance Revolution game. It's been a long long time since dancing lessons at Irene Albino's (is that how to spell her name?) And Brooklyn won a ton of tickets that you can redeem for junky little toys playing the Let's make a deal game. It was a fun night! What did you all do for FHE?

Happy Birthday Ryan & Zachary!

I guess in my house now the "terrible two's" is officially legal. As I reflect back on the whole two years of their lives I realize there is not a whole lot I can remember! I'm just thankful I have survived! I am a survivor! That's what I am. I can endure to the end. I just hope I can recuperate some of the lost functionings of my cerebral cortex.....or maybe it's the memory loss that helps me survive? Anyway, regardless if I do ever get any smarter or stop having major brain stalls, I couldn't be more grateful for my beautiful baby boys.


We celebrated with our own little family last night when Pete got home from work. He had to go to a signing which made him get home much later than usual, which meant I had to endure an extra hour of Brooklyn asking if we could eat cake now.
They loved their "jungle animal" birthday cake.

For some reason, all three of them wanted the plastic hippo. Why the hippo? I'll never know.

Pete let Zachy just GO FOR IT! Ryan wanted nothing to do with actually eating it.

The end result......he must have snorted the frosting because I was wiping blue snot from his nose all night.

I love that they are two, and even though they were clueless that it was their birthday we had fun celebrating. For Pete and I, it's like we've earned another badge for the year. And for Brooklyn....well, she just loves a party if it means there will be cake!

This video is a little long, but I love how excited Zachy was to get his new "puppy". He was very concerned when it went to sleep and closed it's eyes and was so excited it woke up again!

I miss Mitt

Romney suspended his campaign for the better good.....or because he knew he had no way of winning. Either way I'm bummed about it and wished it had been a better outcome for him and for America. I enjoyed his speech and really feel he would have been great. I do believe he will run again in the future and hopefully America will be ready for him then.

I'm torn now because of the fact that I like Obama so much better than McCain. Which isn't hard because I just don't like McCain, nor do I think he is all that trustworthy.....anyway......I'm torn because of Mitt Romney's speech. He would rather have McCain win because of his committment to battling the extremist Jihad. He didn't give him his endorsement or anything but he really doesn't want the election to go to the liberal Democrats.

We need to discuss this topic now. What are your thoughts on the matter?

P.S. Brooklyn wants to tell the world ...."I love you, and I hope you have a great time at Spring when it comes, and I love all the colors of the rainbow, but especially orange.

I'm such a crybaby

I NEVER thought I would cry during an episode of American Idol tryouts, but it happened. The story of Asia Epperson was so touching. She was on her way to audition when she got a call from her brother telling her her dad died in a car accident. Her audition was so sweet and the judges were so touched and Paula cried and then I cried. I didn't loose it blubber cry, but I really felt for her and her loss and I hope she does well. Am I the only one? Come on now....fess up. Sally? If you didn't cry I will think something is wrong with me!

I know Jaime and Spencer have an American Idol blog so I think I'll go see what they had to say about tonights show. I thought it was a fun episode tonight. A good break from the bleak Super Tuesday coverage. I swear, if McCain wins I'm voting for Obama. Is there any chance for Romney??? I'm so disappointed! What are your thoughts on this?

snowing...plowing...snowing...plowing...snowing

This has been a great winter! I love all the snow we've been getting, but it does seem pointless to keep shoveling and plowing when the snow keeps falling. Brooklyn has been Pete's plowing assistant this morning.
Look! we have our own snow wall! Just like we see driving over the mountains :)
The snow is about level with our back patio (it's heated, that's why there is no snow there) that has two steps down off of it to the next level, then another step down on the other side of the covered table. It's getting deep!

Pete and Brooklyn went down the road to plow a family's very long driveway because the Dad is out of town. Brooklyn got off the quad to visit with the kids because she's social that way and Pete left her there thinking she wanted to stay and play and came back to our street to keep plowing. I was in the house oblivious that he had left her there so you can imagine my suprise when the phone rang and it was brooklyn on the other end telling me Dad had left her behind and she wanted to come home! I taught her our phone number and it came in handy because she called home all by herself! I sent Pete back for her and when she came in the house she said, "Mom, I missed you so much! Did you miss me? Were you worried about me?" My heart just melted! She told me how she dialed our numbers and pushed the talk button all by herself and I was so proud of her...and thankful! Now excuse me while I go talk to Pete about leaving our child behind at someones house who she doesn't know!

Just a cute photo for Grandma to enjoy!

For me, it's a once in a blue moon thing, to get a photo of all 3 kids looking in the same direction, and all smiling! So this is for you Grandma! Enjoy!
*sigh*.....if only their angelic faces in this photo represented what they truely acted like during church. And if only Brooklyn didn't believe that those ties around her brothers neck are for adornment purposes only, and NOT LEASHES to pull them around by! And if I didn't have to bribe Brooklyn with a million dollars and a pony for her to wear this yellow shirt JUST ONCE! And if only I hadn't had to participate in a WWF wrestling match with each boy just to get those little microscopic buttons fastened on their collars, and then if only I hadn't needed to go shower AGAIN from all the exurtion put forth into dressing these children because by then I was then sweating like I'd just ran a marathon! (or lost a terrible wrestling match).

So please mom, PLEASE ENJOY THIS PHOTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

living in a bubble

I've come to the conclusion that I must live in a bubble and that there is an entire world of people out there that I don't know about and that I really don't understand. I enjoy watching American Idol. I love seeing a contestant walk into their audition with confidence and some kind of normalcy to them, and then sing a song that showcases their talent. But the people.....why are their so many people that say things that make me so embarrassed for them, and then to make their situation even more excruciating, they just can't hold a tune. Why are their so many people that feel the need to showcase their weirdness? Or even if what they spill the beans about on national t.v. is admirable or cool, don't they know it just comes off as just weird in the context of American Idol? Like the kid who shows up for his audition with his dad touting the fact that he's never kissed a girl and wears a heart necklace around his neck of a heart with a keyhole, while his dad wears another necklace holding the key to his heart, and they explain the whole story of how his dad will give the key to his future wife on their wedding day, yada yada yada. It just comes across as so extremely corny, yet it's really admirable! Then there was the kid who pulled out a plastic bag full of his own fingernails that he keeps! I just about gaged! Why oh why did he feel the need to share this disturbing secret with Ryan Seacrest, knowing that the whole world will now know about this? So many people that they "exploit" for entertainment purposes willingly show up and give them what they want! I just don't understand the need so many people apparently have for the spotlight. I've never met a person like any of these talentless contestants in real life. What about the guy with the long hair and long fingernails who wrote his own song for his audition and came in with a big fan. Do people like him really exist in the real world? And if so, how do they survive not living in reality? Like I said, I really must live in a bubble because I have yet to meet someone actually like that. If they are so out of touch with what is real, how so they survive real life? I wonder what they do for a living and why they think being a famous singer when they can't sing would be a good thing? Do people really get so caught up in the celebrity world that that is what they think they need to be happy? I just don't get it. Oh well, please just don't pop my bubble.

News of the passing of Pres. Hinckley

It's Sunday night and I just learned that Pres. Hinckley passed away tonight about an hour ago. I have mixed feelings because on the one hand I am so glad he is now reunited with his sweet wife, who we know he missed so much. But on the other hand my heart aches that he is actually gone. I miss him and I love him and I am so sad that I will never get to hear him speak again with his humor and clever wit and his forthright honest way of speaking to us. He was our Prophet for I believe 12 years and I don't think anyone could doubt the love he had for all of us. I felt it every time he spoke. I love that he worked so hard to unite all faiths and showed such deep respect for other faiths. I feel such deep gratitude for the tireless work and dedication he gave to the church, making it a more public, global church. I love that he had interviews with both Mike Wallace from 60 minutes and Larry King and the way he answered each question presented to him with such conviction, and humor and I just have to say that he was just so cool! With such amazing leaders as him, how could I not be proud to be a Mormon!

More Brooklynisms

Brooklyn keeps shocking me with the things she says. I don't know how my 4yr old comes up with some of these, but she says them with meaning and intent. Some of the latest that I can remember...."Oh my smack'n eye", "Oh my stink'n head", "Oh my freak'n screaming out loud", "Oh for crying out loud" (well, I do know where she pick this one up, it's a daily or hourly, or more like every couple minutes phrase I find coming out of my mouth) and another common one she created is "Oh my holy smack'n freak'n head". She has many other variations of the above aformentioned phrases, usually adding different body parts, or names but the same general idea. In fact the first words out of her mouth this morning as she woke up was "Oh my freak'n crazy head!" as she frantically searched the bed for a missing small toy she had slept all night with, along with her usual posse of stuffed animals. I said to her "what did you just say?" and she repeated it like it was the most normal and common thing to say upon waking up and looking for a misplaced toy. I just hope it doesn't get worse. She already tried out the "Oh my God!" phrase on me one night as I was laying with her to get her to sleep. I could tell she was just using it to test me to see if it was okay or not. I think she must have inherently sensed it wasn't okay to say that for some reason even though we've never mentioned it before. I think she noticed a classmate from preschool saying this and wanted to try it out on me to see what I did. We were just laying there in the dark and she all of a sudden said it three times in a row. I told her I've never heard her say that before and if she just learned it today, but not making a big deal about it. I asked her if she thought it was okay to say God's name that way when we are expressing anger or surprise etc. and explained that we love God and his name is special, and tried to explain what taking his name in vain means on a 4 yr old level. I told her it's okay to ask me if a new word she heard somewhere is good or not, but usually if you never hear Mommy or Daddy saying it, it's not a good word to say. She was so cute talking to me about this and she's never said it again. I know freak'n and stink'n and smack'n aren't the most wholesome words to come out of a child's mouth, but I can't help it......it just makes me laugh!

Another reason I love my husband

PMS Sucks. Some months I feel I'm battling fierce, vicious demons who want to suck the very soul from my body, yet other months I barely notice a change. Hormone balance is a real thing and this week I can tell I am one messed up chick. I feel I need to admit myself to an anger management /psych ward. This morning was a classic case in point, where I didn't want to get up and face the day and I felt such pent up anger at the universe I guess because nobody did anything deserving of my bad mood. I went about my usual morning routine but everything made me mad...Brooklyn was too squirmy when I needed to blow dry her hair so I raised my voice at her...the boys threw their eggs on the floor (as always) so I raised my voice at them...Pete wanted to hug me but I was too angry at what? so I shrugged him off and went on in my bad mood...you get the picture. Well the last straw was the boys AGAIN for the gazillion time had crawled up onto the counter in the mud room and thrown everything down onto the floor making a huge mess and my poor hormonally depleted brain just couldn't handle it so I burst out crying and wailing and gnashing of teeth and locked myself in the bathroom before I hurt somebody, or give them nightmares of a raving mad lunatic mother until they are 37. Then I notice the time and I realize that if I don't pull myself together Brooklyn will be late to school, so I exit the bathroom to find a very quiet house. Pete had loaded up the kids and took Brooklyn to school. You are probably thinking ahhh, what a sweet husband he is, but me in my pms'ing hormonally challenged body am a little irritated that he didn't tell me he was leaving. I know, I know, I'm awful, but it gets worse. He comes back home and I won't talk to him, but he's really trying to be kind and help me out by doing the dishes and asking me if I'm okay, so I just lay into him about this and that, and somewhere in there I think I even called him stupid (sorry honey!) but as I was ranting, I notice his eyes....so full of compassion and love. He didn't get angry at my stupidity and irrational behavior, he just apologized. All of a sudden the ice daggers hanging from my heart just melted. I was a puddle of humility and remorse and I just grabbed him and hugged him so tight explaining that he had nothing to apologize for and that I was so sorry for the way I had been treating everyone, etc. I don't know how he did it. I'm sure it wasn't easy, but he possessed this morning the true essence of Christ-like love. He was humble and patient and kind. He would have been very justified in being angry at the way I was acting, but somehow he had the strength to rise above it all and give me what I needed...pure love. Somehow his love overpowered my crazy hormones and sent them running. I had a great day after this. Just another reason why I love my husband.