Nuggets

While I was being a good girl and working out on my new Wii Fit Plus that Santa Ben got me for Christmas, Audrey started yelling from the kids' room.
What I heard went something like this: "Mom ...mumble.. Henry ...mumble.. poooop!"
This is not uncommon, of course. Audrey usually lets me know when Henry has a dirty diaper so that I can come in and rescue her from the smell. (i.e. change the diaper.)

Since I was working out, I reached over and gave Ben a friendly shove to let him know Audrey was calling. I think his eyes actually creaked when they opened and he shuffled off to the hallway.
This is the next thing that I heard: "CRAP! ..... LITERALLY!"
I hesitated for just one moment, pondering the vision that suddenly sprang into my head. On the tame end, my imagination conjured up a stray sitting on the floor, my son innocently staring at it as if wondering how it escaped. On the wild end, I imagined the walls smeared with poop and my son cackling insanely.
As is usually the case, reality sat squarely in the middle.

Henry was naked from the waist down, diaper crumpled and left near the door as if to imply that it had no business in that room in the first place and was politely waiting to be let out. There were several deposits scattered around the room. I wondered if he had pooped with the diaper still on and then festively threw them around like confetti after he figured out how to get his diaper off. The other possibility that struck me was that he had taken the diaper off and then just squatted when he needed to, no matter where he was.

Regardless....

We cleaned up and I resumed my exercising. Ben told me just a few moments ago that, in an attempt to deter Henry from any more stripping, he put the little boy's diaper on backward. We'll see how long that foils him.


On a less disgusting and funny note, here is a "nugget" from Audrey while her father was taking out the trash:

A: "Dad, that's your job."
B: "Yep"
A: "You go and DO it, Dad!!"
E: "Audrey, do you tell Dad what to do?"
A: "No.... That's YOUR job!"

Haha! Indeed!

I know what MY order looks like...

Ben gets home from work rather late these days. The holidays are a busy time for the package delivery services and he often doesn't get home until 11pm or later. Last night, however, he got home at a decent hour. We headed out late in the evening, my mother keeping an ear out for our sleeping children.

After a Christmas present pickup for the kids at Target, Ben was feeling peckish, as he often does after work. We headed over to In-n-Out, confident that the late hour would prove to be less busy than usual. Apparently, half of Orem had the same idea. By the time we waited through the line and made our order, our number was 50 and they were only on number 30. We prepared ourselves for a proper wait. The place was packed and we had to wait about 10 minutes before we could sit down.

After a while, the numbers started getting called out faster and faster. A sweet girl that looked about 7 months pregnant was calling out the numbers, occasionally using the speaker system because it was so loud in there. It wasn't long before we heard the call for "Number 40!" Other numbers continued to get called out, but "Number 40!!" was called again.... Several people came up to confirm what number was called, their number being 42 or 43. A young man in a nearby booth asked for the number at one point and then went back to his conversation, seemingly unperturbed by the long wait for our numbers to get called out. "Yeah, I've been paying attention," he said, laughing (presumably at the poor sap who must have left, forgetting that he had paid for some food.)

Eventually, they sent out the girl with the loud voice, "NUMBER 40!!!" came the call several times, one time even calling out what the order itself consisted of, in case someone forgot their number. Finally, she insisted that it was her final call and then took the food back to some unknown location behind the people manically slapping burgers together.

Finally, we started hearing the promising numbers: 48...... 49.......

It was then that I noticed that the young man who had flippantly insisted that he was paying attention, was at the counter. "I don't know what happened," he laughed.

I looked at Ben, my eyes wide, "What the???"

He looked back at me stifling his laughter.

Thankfully, our order was called then and we beat a hasty retreat to our car. Once in the confines of our vehicle, I burst out laughing.

"How many times did he hear that number called?" I asked through my chuckles.

"At least 5, maybe 6," Ben laughed.

Ben then recounted a story told by Henry Rollins about travel. Henry said that there always seems to be that one bag going around the carousel that no one wants to claim. Everyone watches it trundle by, no one even reaching out to look at the tag. Someone laughingly says, "Hahah! I know what MY bag looks like!" The bag goes around a second time, and then a third.... then on the fourth pass, the "I know what MY bag looks like" guy suddenly gives a surprised gasp as if seeing the bag for the first time, picks it up and walks away. What happened the first three times? Just didn't feel right?

I guess the "I've been paying attention" guy just wasn't feeling it.

What's up with us?

I love my kids. Some days I forget, but it's still true.

This little guy helps me remember that I love my kids.

Especially when he's like this. 

Over the past few weeks, he has acquired the best monster-style laugh. It comes from deep in his throat and it rasps up into the cutest growling "ha ha ha ha!" I can usually get him to do it if I'm tickling him or doing something he thinks is funny. It's a contagious laugh too. You can't help but laugh when he's laughing.

He's also learning to speak at a startling rate. At first it was just a couple of words: Dada, shoe, ball... I think he learns a new word just about every day now. He uses several variations of Mama, G-G (great-grandma), Papa (grandpa), hello, cool, book, more and milk sound about the same "moe", baby, diaper, down, the requisite "peepee" and "poopoo" and of course "No"... 

He loves to sit on my lap while I read stories to him and Audrey. He helps when we clean up their room at the end of the day, though is brand of help typically means that he puts away the same toy multiple times in between playing with it. He also climbed out of his crib for the first time yesterday which I only found out when he knocked on the door after he felt his nap was over. Good thing we're getting those kids a bunk bed. I don't need any more broken arms!

Audrey is such an inquisitive little "why?" girl, which, according to my mother, is hereditary. 

This is her snarly, "I'm not going to be cute for this picture" face.

One of her recent developments is the "I don't have anything, Mom." statement while holding something behind her back. Usually it's something she thinks, or knows, that I wouldn't like her to play with.

About a month ago, I started a Co-op preschool with five other mothers. We meet once a week and rotate teaching and assisting. We are focusing on the alphabet this year, teaching one letter each week. Audrey is the only girl in the group, which doesn't seem to disturb her at all. In fact, she seems to like getting all the girl attention and getting to use all the "girl" colors when they draw or write.

Just about every Friday, we head up to the Salt Lake area because Ben only has one class at the U and it seemed silly for him to drive an hour there and another hour back just for a class that is fifty minutes long. We usually spend the day with my sister-in-law and her two younger kids. Audrey and Henry like spending time with their cousins. When Ben comes back, if the kids (or the grown-ups) aren't too tired, we try to go and do something fun! We went to Harriman Beach, which is a man-made pond with sand around it, and let the kids splash around a bit.

The kids don't get to see Ben much during the week, so we're looking forward to Ben's fall break. We don't have anything specific planned, which suits me just fine!

I'm working on the outline for a new book which I will try to slam out during Nanowrimo in November. November will be a busy month for me for sure!

I have loads of pictures and stories to share, but we'll just take it one step at a time. Stay tuned for more soon!

Hurricane in Lavender

Yesterday morning I got the kids up, changed Hank's diaper and locked them in their room. They usually get up a wee bit early and I'm not ready to go up and do breakfast yet. So, I get them comfortable and let them play in their room for a while until I'm ready to get up myself. Usually they're pretty good except me for the occasional death scream from Henry that means he thinks Audrey is trying to kill him.

I should have known that something was wrong when they got completely quiet. Anyone that has kids knows that's typically not a good thing. A happy playing child sings, hums, yells, screeches and makes all kinds of racket (Audrey even pretend cries now). A naughty, mischievous child is quiet as the grave their parents want to put them in once they find what they've been up to.

Well, I opened up the door and found my dear, sweet daughter on her chair looking at a book. And my dear, sweet son is on the bean bag looking at a book. Huh?! I looked again and saw this:

At first glance, I didn't really see what looked wrong. I had to step into the room and have a closer look. In the following pictures, please note that you aren't seeing glare of any kind whatsoever. The white spots on these surfaces is something else entirely.

The second thing that hit me was that I was smelling quite a potent helping of lavender. I recall thinking to myself that the only thing that smelled like lavender was... oh... NO.... lavender baby powder.

What she did to get it on top of the recliner, I can only guess.

When we asked Audrey if she had got the baby powder off the dresser, she claimed complete innocence and that Henry had gotten it down. Nevermind that his head doesn't even reach the top of the changing table part of the dresser and the baby powder was on the upper section.

She finally admitted to pulling down the baby powder but insisted that Henry helped her to make the mess. I suppose I can't argue with that, though I know that Henry mostly just goes along with what Audrey does.

At least they were bonding, right? Right?

This is the spot Henry's head left on the floor when Ben changed his diaper.

No, you're not seeing things, it's all over his clothes and all over his head.

When we told my mother about the disaster in their room, she said sweetly, "At least they didn't do it with Vaseline." True.... but there is time enough in the world for that.

The good news: their room is going to smell great for a long, long, long time.

Conversation with a Teenager

We went to a family barbecue on Saturday for July 24th (Pioneer Day for those of you not in the know, and most likely not in Utah). While I was lazing around waiting for the steak to be cooked, I struck up a conversation with my 15 year old niece. Before judging, please note that I wasn't fishing but mostly trying to tease her and the conversation ended up being too interesting to just quit on.

Me: So, who's your favorite aunt?

E: Uh... I don't know. (with an are-you-crazy? look)

Me: Oh, comeon, you know you have one. Who is it?

E: Er.... that's not a very nice thing to say.

Me: It's okay. I won't tell anyone. Who?

E: Uh........................................... I guess I'd have to say...... Ben.

*blink blink*


Me: Yeah.... Ben's an Uncle....

E: Oh... yeah.

Me: So.. who's your favorite AUNT??

E: Um.... my Mom?

*sigh...*

Onesies into T-shirts

We stopped using onesies on Henry some time ago. He's just too wiggly to try to button up a onesie along with putting on pants. I had a few onesies that would still fit him though and it always irks me to have stuff (especially clothes) that I can't use. So I decided to make t-shirts out of them.

They were all about the same size in the body, but the snap areas were a bit different for some reason. (Incidentally, I ended up not doing the camo onesie. Don't ask me what my logic was, I don't remember.)

I cut the bottoms off at the waist and used an overlock stitch to secure the edge of the fabric. I didn't fold a hem because they would have all ended up being belly shirts. The fabric got jammed several times before I realized (ahem! my mother suggested!) that the fabric was so thin that I needed a stabilizer under it. Some folded tissue paper worked nicely and the last three shirts were done a whole lot faster! I had all five done in less than two hours (rethreading, unjamming and tissue-hunting included).

Here are four of the finished shirts.

And here is the fifth!

This face makes it all completely worth it. (Plus I have five, count 'em five, more shirts in his dresser now and that's not too shabby!) Hooray for onesies recycled into t-shirts!

The Fabric O!

I hate Walmart on principle; but, oh! how it is like crack....

A few days ago, I was passing by my new favorite section in Walmart - Fabrics. Since I got my sewing machine this past Mother's Day, Ben has intermittently been guilting me with reminders about using it.
I have a few projects in mind and I AM going to be using it on a regular basis, but the idea of looking through fabric and trying to figure out how much I need is overwhelming.
Anyway! I was passing by the fabric section and I saw a huge sign. $5 Bolts! "Whoa." was quickly followed by "Wow!" I glanced through them and was immediately freaked out by the concept of "what do I make with it if I buy any?"
So, I had to walk away and ponder about it.
I went back today and made up my mind to pick up a few bolts. Each one has 5 yards of fabric so it comes out to a dollar a yard, which isn't bad. (I've been trying not to think about the quality of the fabric, so don't even go there.)
Here is my booty and I am thrilled:

Visions of flirty skirts are dancing in my head!

I broke out my sewing machine and now I'm just trying to make sure I find some patterns that don't exactly LOOK homemade... you know what I'm talking about. Oh, and the grey and black striped fabric was Ben's request. He wants me to make a hot pencil skirt out of it... Heehee!

Happy crafting! I'm in heaven!

Found You!!

I just came in from a rousing game of Hide-and-go-seek with the hubs and three of my nieces.

Before I go on, picture this: it got to 90-something outside today and I was extremely happy to just stay in the air conditioned heaven of my dungeon room. However, I was coaxed out of my cave by an email. "Your photobook is ready for you to pick up." YAY! So, after the kids went to bed and we were sure they wouldn't be whining and crying for the next hour and a half, we ran off to Costco to pick it up. It's beautiful! (There are only two typos, bad me!)

Anyhoot, when we got home, we called the nieces up and accepted their proposal for a romp in the yard. I didn't exactly go kicking and screaming... more like whining and threatening heat exhaustion.

The first thing we established before we started were boundaries and game style. I'm sorry, I'm not about to go running for base with "It" chasing after me. So, once found, found. Round one was pretty fast, I found everyone without too much trouble. Round two is where things got interesting. I was the first one found, so I went back to the porch swing where I witnessed two of my fellow hiders running from one spot in the yard to a new hiding spot. I really felt that was down-right fishy. PLUS they chose a hiding spot in what some considered to be out of bounds. SHAME, SHAME!!

So, we went over some re-worked rules at the end of that round. Yes, you are allowed to change your hiding spot, but now that the Seeker knows that you are doing this, it'll be much harder to sneak around without getting caught. The out of bounds spot was deemed okay in the end, but it ended up being the worst spot to hide after that round.

We had a few more rounds where I discovered that moving my spot caused just as many problems as it solved and I was found in ridiculous spots (In the middle of the lawn in full sprint, sneaking through the side yard, kneeling behind some potted tomatoes). After that we paused briefly for a beverage break.

After that, the biggest problem for some of the hiders was to keep quiet after having their carbonated drinks. Do some people seriously not know how to stifle their burps??

I witnessed in one of the final rounds Ben climbing a tree, Cammy hiding in a hollow spot in a bush (in plain view from a certain angle), and poor Baylie wandering round thinking they must be moving because she couldn't find them. The resulting hullabaloo from that area of the yard came when an indignant Uncle accused his bush-hiding niece of giving away his spot.

Heard from the front yard: "I saw you pointing!"

"No, I just did this..."

"You gave me away. I saw you!"

"Hoot, holler, complain, complain!!"

When the three finally came back to the front yard, it was explained to all parties that "it's just a game" and "you don't give away other hiders". All was (mostly) forgiven... but I was nearly positive that someone *cough! cough! BEN! cough!* was going to say "Screw you guys, I'm going home!"

Final round!!!

I was found in 10 seconds... lame....

Ben had compassion and said to go hide again... everyone got a second chance... I don't know where everyone else was found since I WAS THE LAST ONE! YAY! Of course, he found me sneaking down the side yard, in full view. Lame....

Well, I guess the point I was trying to make is that I haven't played a good game of hide-and-go-seek since I was a kid! Aside from coming in hot, sweaty and smelling like I-Don't-Know-What, I had a good time! It's been ages and I felt just a little bit young again.

Next time you're in Utah in the summer, swing by and we'll hit you up for a game!

The Culprit: Baby Bear

Not two seconds ago, I came skipping down the stairs after chatting with my mother and my niece, who is staying in Utah for a couple of weeks. Upon entering my room, Audrey's head whipped around and she had that guilty smile. You know the one.
I asked her what was going on, at which she giggled nervously and smiled even bigger.

"What happened, Audrey."

Audrey lifts up her white bear, "Baby Bear touched your buttons," and pointed at my computer.

Uh-oh... "Did you touch my buttons?"

Audrey lifts her white bear to cover her face, "No, Baby Bear touched your buttons."

Aha.... "What buttons did Baby Bear touch?"

Audrey points at several on my keyboard.

"Okay, well, tell Baby Bear not to touch my buttons anymore, okay?"

"Okay," she cuddles her white bear close and whispers, "Baby Bear, don't touch Mama's buttons, okay?"

At which Baby Bear, in a soft, squeaky voice, says, "Okay."

Kid Moments

Henry moments don't happen too often yet. Usually, when asked to say something like "Mama" he responds with an energetic "Duhaaah!" a la Timmy from South Park.
We keep telling him the names of things: Cup, Fingers, Ears, Toes, Aubergine... the usuals. He, however, is taking his own sweet time in giving us some satisfaction.
Thus far:

Baa! = Ball

Ksssh = Kitty

Dada = Dada (He mastered that one a long time ago.)

Hi = Hi (whaddayaknow!)

Recently he was sitting in his highchair having some lunch. I had been watching him and he looked straight at me, pondered for a few seconds and said, "Mamamamama!"
It was awesome!


Audrey has been up to her usual verbal tricks:

We were at Walmart and she saw a display with tricycles on them.
She ran over to them: I want to buy this.
Mom: Do you have $40?
Aud looks at her hands: No.
Mom: Well then?
Later on, she saw something else she wanted. The conversation was exactly the same except that she also looked inside her pockets to see if she had any money. Cute!

I was filing my nails recently and Audrey pointed to the nail file: What's that?
Mom: A nail file.
Aud: It helps your lips to grow?

At the dinner table to the tune of Old McDonald: I love butter on my bread, E - I - E - I - O!

Imagine when you change your mind mid-word: I have to go poo - otty....

Until next time... :)

I'm feeling much better now...

I was in a horrible mood a few days ago. Everything was difficult and I just felt sortof sad. I'm not sure why and I just couldn't come up with any way to alleviate the crummy feelings.

So, I went looking around online for a deskmate. I used to have an alien that would say aloud everything I typed into it's box. This provided many hours of silly amusement. I tried finding it years later, only to find that it just didn't exist anymore. At the very least, it was well hidden.

I also used to have a program that each time clicked on, would make a sheep appear (up to about a dozen, I think). The little animated sheep would wander around the computer screen, doing silly things, eating, sleeping, getting abducted by aliens, etc. That program is still around. I'm toying with the idea of downloading it.

I did end up finding in my hunt, a program that would make a cat appear on my desktop. It does a lot of cute things too, and I can even play games with it, if I so choose. CUTE!!

He chases butterflies, eats kitty food, sleeps in his little cubby, puts paw prints on your screen, and generally behaves in a cute manner. That cheered me up a bit.

But here's the thing that REALLY cheered me up. This one can't be downloaded onto your desktop which is really a shame. The website saves your preferences though and so you can go back to it whenever you want. It asks you a few questions about your "ideal guy" and lets you pick what he looks like. You can even attach your own beau's face to his head creating a bobble-head effect.

Then he floats in his ManQuarium and gives you lovely compliments.

Yeah.

When he first spoke up, Ben's head snapped around and he said in complete shock, "What is THAT?!"

"That's my manquarium. He compliments me. Hee hee!"

Eye-roll, "Ooookaaaay..."

It WAS very silly, but it was MY kind of silly and it cheered me up almost instantly. An artistic man giving me compliments from my own personal aquarium and he even looks like the love of my life.

An example of what my virtual man tells me as I'm working on my computer. Most are cheesy and some are really funny :

"My ManQuarium is meaningless without you!"

"There's room in this ManQuarium for one more... care to join me?"

"You're more beautiful than a Picasso. Less creepy too." (HA! HA!)

"Does my ManQuarium exist when no one's around to see it. Do I exist without you?"

"I know, guys are supposed to be into cars and stuff, but I'm just into you."

"Before I met you, I just felt so... trapped!"

"Goddess I wrote you a haiku: My ManQuarium, Full of my Goddess' charm, And lots of weird fish"

"Goddess I could just swim here, talking to you for hours."

"My wetsuit is at the dry cleaners... what does that mean?!?"

Ben is completely creeped out by the ManQuarium, but if anything, it just makes it funnier to me. I'm sure I'll get tired of him eventually, but how can you get tired of a captive audience telling you how awesome and beautiful you are?

Bliss...

So now I have a virtual kitty to play with and pet... a virtual man to compliment me tirelessly... what more could I want? How about a virtual child that does everything I tell them to without whining, crying, or throwing up on me? That's the ticket!

Flowers on the Sill

I have not always been a lover of roses. For many of my teenage and early adult years, I thought they were campy, cliche and didn't really smell all that great. I think it must have been shortly after meeting Ben that I started enjoying these flowers. He was well aware of my feelings about them, but even so, every bouquet he gave me had at the very least one rose in it. He's given me many flowers over the years and always arranges them himself.

A few days ago, I happened to notice that several of the many, MANY rose bushes in the yard were about to burst forth in bloom. I grabbed my clippers and took a stroll through the back and front yards to find some vase-worthy specimens. After trimming them and cutting off the most offensive thorns, I popped them in a vase and took them downstairs. The first night I was amazed at the intense aroma coming from the blooms, especially the lilac. The second night, it was almost overpowering! (The vase is on the window sill just inches from my side of the bed.)

The purple one on the left is some sort of variety that looks like crepe paper when it opens.

There was only one white rose that looked ready to open and it's still, even today, sitting there in bud form.

Lilac.

I think I've become a bit of a fan in the past few years.

I believe I've come to appreciate the beauty, scent and romance associated with roses. Though they still are not my favorites, they have moved up the list significantly.

Summer has officially arrived and is exploding with color every day! Must be time for a garden party!

By way of Updates

It's been a while since I've given any kind of update on the kids. So...

Audrey: still growing like a weed, NO POTTY ACCIDENTS in WEEKS!, loves going to the park to play with her cousins (or anyone for that matter), has successfully cut her TV intake to less than 8 hours a week (not her choice, of course). When she can't watch regular TV (only on Wednesdays) she will ask for her "Jesus Movie" which is a narrated scripture slideshow or "animal movie" which is BBC's Planet Earth. We will almost always let her watch these shows as they are spiritual and/or educational (clever girl!). She received her first ever french braid last night after bathtime which was a bigger accomplishment for her mother but props to her for standing still long enough for me to muddle through it. She asks all the time to go to school and is always disappointed when we tell her she has to be five. As an update since the last blog, she played with her new flannel board during church today and was better behaved than she has been in weeks! Yay!

Some recent, funny Audrey-isms:

When kissing me goodnight she pats my cheeks, "Mama you're not ouchy. Daddy is ouchy, he has polka-dots on his face!"

Singing to herself the other day, "Patty-cake, patty-cake, bakers man, bake me a cake as fascist you can..."

Oh, and she LOVES playing kickball.

Henry: still growing like a weed, is walking so well it's strange when he decides to crawl and is "this close" to running, has been trying to cut his molars for weeks and just might break them out in the next few days, loves his mom and dad so much that he doesn't like when they leave for ANY reason at all (even if it's to get him some milk), will stay in nursery only if mom or dad is in there with him (he just MIGHT be ready to go in by himself by the time he is 18 months old), loves going on the swing at the park, loves when dad throws him high up and catches him. He is learning how to go down stairs backward, but most of the time forgets and starts going up again. He does the cutest little "ant stomping" dance where he stands and stamps his feet and giggles.

He is also learning what the camera means and is turning into quite the ham.

In case you haven't heard, Ben has been accepted to UofU and starts there this fall. He will be gone a lot more, but (hopefully) will be done in 2 years or less. We should also be paying in-state tuition (hooray!). He gets up for work at 2:30 every morning and catches naps here and there throughout the day, but it's been great to have him home for the summer. He works out in the yard every Thursday and has made some serious improvements. He and Dad built my garden bed (which I love!), the new side yard gates, and miles and miles of pruning, weeding and mowing. He's still a devoted NASCAR fan (boo) but has recently started watching movies with yours truly (yay!)

As for me: The crafts, if you read regularly, have been logged. I have at least another 20 projects waiting in the wings though, so look out! The gardening has yet to be logged... it's going fairly well. I have corn, pumpkins, watermelon, cucumber, carrots, radishes, beans, lettuce, peppers, sunflowers and various flowers sprouting all over my garden. I also have an enormous quantity of elm seeds trying to sprout as well and are getting mixed up with the flowers.

My writing has been waylaid by special events going on in the Flyff world. I know; waste of time, but it's a FUN waste of time. I also picked up some new reading habits lately and haven't been getting to sleep until after 11pm every night, which wouldn't be bad if Ben didn't get up at 2:30, Henry at 4:00 and again with Audrey at around 6:00. I've taken to letting him out of his crib at 6 and letting him and Audrey play in the room until I can drag my fanny out of bed.

I made some amazing shish kabobs tonight that were a hit with the crowds here (thanks for grilling them, Ben). It's astounding what a little fresh rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper can do. They were too pretty to eat, but we did anyway and they were awesome! I will be attacking the leftovers tomorrow at lunch time.

Keep an eye out for more new blogs. I have a few brewing in my noggin... Until then.

Sunday will be...

...Awesome!

Because I just made the cutest little lap flannel board with cute little pictures for Audrey to play with during Sacrament Meeting. 

No more wiggly, jiggly, whiny, hitting-her-brother, fake-crying little girl. Right? Right?

Inspiration struck me whilst holding my little preschooler in the last 15 minutes or so of Sacrament Meeting. It was the moment of: 

"Mama, I'm hungry!" 

"It'll be time for Nursery soon." 

"Yay! See ya later!" 

"No, it's not time yet. After the prayer." 

"Awwwwww!" 

"Do you want to go to Nursery?" 

"Yes!" 

"Then be quiet and play with your Doodle!" 

*Pout!* 

*Sigh!*

It was then that I recalled in the recesses of my mind that there were other mothers that I had observed patiently and serenely giving their children church magazines or coloring books featuring Captain Moroni and the Stripling Warriors. These perfect little angels would quietly look at the magazines or color in the books (completely in the lines, of course) and never complain or get carried out screaming by their furious-faced parents.

Hey! Can't I have perfect little angels too? Darn tootin', I can!

I printed out pictures, letters, numbers and shapes on cardstock. I colored the ones that were black and white and then used self-laminating pouches to seal them. (You can't be too careful with a drooly one-year-old in the family.) A little double-sided tape and a small square of felt, and voila! I had a cute little "quiet activity" for my daughter.

The alphabet, courtesy of Microsoft Word fonts...

Numbers 1 - 10, also courtesy of Microsoft Word fonts...

Shapes, courtesy of Microsoft Word clip art!

The Nativity! It wasn't until I finished laminating these little pictures that I realized that I was missing the star... maybe I'll just have her use the star from the previous group.... :)

And Noah's Ark. Unfortunately, this collection is missing Noah, of all things! I'll have to dig up a cartoony picture of a bearded man at some point.

I anticipate an amazing Sunday in which I can listen to the speakers, come away inspired and spiritually filled, while my two children behave themselves. It could happen...

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeasy!

I just completed THE most satisfying project TO DATE!!! It was fast, fun and looks more sophisticated than it really is. (The hardest part was setting up my brand new sewing machine which took me the better part of an hour!)
When my father saw it, he said, "I thought you were going to make one of those."
I was taken aback, "I did."
He seemed taken aback himself, "You made that?"
"Yes."
"Well, that's clever!"
Woot! I'd consider that a compliment!

Anyway, without further ado...

My little girl! Yes, I helped make her.. but that's not what I'm talking about today.

My little girl and her brand new tutu! That's right! A tutu!

You can't tell in the picture but the tutu is made of baby pink and lavender strips of tulle.

I found the tutorial here, though, it was so easy, I didn't need to look at it again after the first time. Total time spent (not including shopping for materials) was about 30 minutes, give or take.

Is there anything prettier than a little girl and her first tutu? Any tutu for that matter....

Audrey Moments Inspire Such Joy!

Audrey was playing with her Mr. Potato Head. After a while, she took off all the pieces until it was just the potato part and this is what she said:
"Look! It's a Naked, Scary Mr. Potomus!... Look, he's naked, he's naked... He looks like a poop!"


Audrey was talking on one of her pretend phones. She offered me the phone and told me to talk to Dad (who was out in the yard working on putting in new gates). I told her that she could talk to Dad, but to let him know I said to hurry up and come back inside. This is what she said:
"Hurry up, Dad. You wanna come inside. It's so cold and chilly outside. Your hat will blow away!"


Playing in her room, this "argument" drifted down the hall and into our room. Her voice as she said this became increasingly loud, somewhat snotty and sing-song.:
"Yes... No... Yes!.... No!.... Yeeeeesss!.... Noooo!..... YeEeEeSsSs!!.... NoOoOoOoO!"


Ben blows his nose at which Audrey gives a soft scream of surprise.
"Daaaad!"
"Dad needed to blow his nose."
"Well, don't blow it loud on my ears!"


Audrey brings me the twisted, crumpled headband part of a broken crown.
"It's a piece-a-crown.."

Whimsy Attack!

I had an attack of The Whimsy recently. To make my children's room fun and visually appealing, I made tissue paper poms to hang from the ceiling.

Though I certainly can't compete with Martha, these were easy and fun to make. They don't have to be perfect and they're so cheerful!

I hung them with ribbon and, due to tall 3-year-olds, I had to put them quite out of reach. 

I played with density and shape a little and got some interesting textures and sizes out of it.

In an effort to make a different shape, I came up with a fluffy butterfly effect, so out came my puffs, pipe-cleaners and googly eyes and I made this critter:

Childhood should be magical. Imagination is blooming in my daughter and, all too soon, these little frillies will be too silly or childish for her. My hope is that, when she's much older, perhaps with her own children, she will remember the fun and silly things her Mom did and find joy in bringing The Whimsy to her family!