Together is a Good Place to Be

The Dentist & Eden's Camera

2012-01-25T15:29:00.000-07:00

Monday the girls had a check up with the dentist. Hope was a champ this time around. As soon as we went back the assistant took Hope for x-rays. Usually Hope freaks out and screams and cries and it's a terrible ordeal. This time she was having a nice conversation with the lady the whole time. I could tell she was a little nervous by the sound of her voice (I wasn't allowed in), but she was brave. Next the assistant cleaned Hope's teeth and then Dr. Gifford looked around in her mouth. Hope has had a few cavities that we've been keeping an eye on for a while and I am relieved to report that they aren't getting any worse. So, as long as we take care of her teeth properly we can wait until it is absolutely necessary or she is old enough to have them fixed in the office instead of the hospital.

Next the dentist looked in Eden's mouth. She was not pleased with this. Thank goodness he was quick. No cavities and no weakening. *Phew* She likes brushing her own teeth, but when it's mommy's turn I have to hold her down on the bed and endure kicks and slaps. Worth it though for healthy teeth. Last the girls got to choose a prize from the treasure box. It is full of little nickel toys and this is always Hope's favorite part. Hope picked out a little plastic lizard that she named Echo. He will be a nice fit to her collection of lizards from previous dentist appointments. Eden got a little plastic camera. I showed her how it worked once and she was a natural tourist, taking pictures of everything. The dental assistant positioned the girls to take their picture for the "no cavity wall" and Eden was trying to take a picture of the lady taking a picture. It gave everyone in the office a good laugh.

Since Eden has carried the camera lots of places saying, "Click!" and "Picture." One night she took it to the store with us and while we were driving I looked back to see her acting as if she were taking pictures out the window. Ask her take a picture of someone or something and she does. It's very cute.

Love & Cupcakes

2012-01-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

Noah came home!!! Noah came home!!! Fridays are so exciting when we get to go get Noah. Sometimes Eden walks around the house before we leave saying "Noah, where are you?" And Hope will ask me incessantly if she and Noah can play games when he gets home. When they play pretend she calls this a game. They play great together and Noah has taught her a lot about imaginary play. When the weekend is over I will catch her playing some game that they had been playing earlier in the weekend and it's as if he's with her. She love him a lot.

He loves her a lot too. When they see each other on Fridays he gives her a great big hug and tells her he missed her. I'm always proud to see that he isn't embarrassed to hug any of us in front of his friends.

This weekend I heard him tell Hope and Eden several times that he loved them and he told me a couple of times that he loved being a big brother to them. That boy makes my heart happy. :) These pictures were taken just before his dad picked him up. Hope kept telling him that she wanted him to stay. As he was walking out the door she yelled to him, "Bye Noah! I will be missing you!" And he yelled back, "I'll miss you too!" *Sigh* A dream come true.

I mean they do have moments, just as all siblings do, but they are affectionate with each other, not too proud to express it in public and the good moments far exceed the not so great ones. One of my biggest desires for my children is for them to love and cherish one another. Not just that, but to be friends that enjoy each other's company. So far they are off to an awesome start.

This year has brought new plans to the Maxwell house for healthier living. However, we do allow ourselves a treat or two on the weekends. The past few weekends have been a little out of control for Ben and I, but we've done well during the week and I am confident that soon we will gain control of the weekends too. Anyway, Saturday we had cupcakes! Hope just ate the frosting off her cupcake, as usual, and Eden only took a nibble of the piece I gave her, but Noah ate all his "funfetti" cupcake and even shared some with his turtle friend.

He is growing up so fast.

I love this picture of Eden. It looks like she is super excited about the cupcake, but she really didn't want to have much to do with it. That is just fine with me. One less sugar addict in the house. :)

Grrr...

2012-01-19T17:24:00.002-07:00

Today I made popcorn for the girls' snack. Eden swiped the bowl and headed for Hope's room. Then this happened.

Luckily the bowl wasn't full when she decided to grab and go. I told her to smile in the bottom picture and she showed me her chewed up popcorn instead. The sign of a true rebel.

Not long after, this happened...

Yes. The latch for the fridge broke a day or so ago. To be honest I am surprised it took this long. To her credit though, after doing her egg toss game she came to get me and told me she'd made a mess. :) I love that she is proudly pointing to the eggs in the bottom picture. *sigh*

P.S. I forgot to add that after I took these pictures Hope came over to see what happened. She knelt down and said, "I'm not so happy about this."

Sunday Best

2012-01-19T13:15:00.002-07:00

This year our ward meets at 11 a.m. I am relieved because it is just easier to get everyone ready and there nearly on time without waking up earlier than usual. Unfortunately, it is during lunch and nap time for Eden, but I'll take it.

I was very pleased Sunday morning when Hope allowed me to put sponge curlers in her hair. Usually it takes some pleading for her to even let me comb it. Hope's hair is naturally curly right now and immediately following a wash and air dry her curls are perfect. However, she has her baths at night and when she wakes in the morning she has bed head just like everyone else and wacky wisps of hair have replaced the curls. I've been really frustrated lately with her hair and her lack of desire to do anything with it. So I was excited which in turn made her excited, especially when i told her I was going to make my hair curly too.

Here is Hope with the curlers.

I know a lot of people sleep in these...but this is Hope we are talking about. I knew that would never happen so I settled for about 15 minutes in the morning. Turns out that isn't quite enough time. After a few minutes of having curler free hair, the curls went a limp and her unruly hair was back. She wouldn't let me take a picture while the curls were in tact. So here's hoping for next Sunday!!!

Eden is always a busy body at church. Sunday before last she made 'friends' with a little boy about her age that was sitting behind us and he shoved a fruit loop in her mouth. After a few minutes Eden went back for more. The little boy had a fruit loop for himself in one hand and offered the bag to Eden so she could get one for herself (a suggestion made to him by his mother). Eden looked at the bag and the fruit loop in the boy's hand and ate the fruit loop right from his fingers. Little silly.

I always pack a purse with books, snacks, and toys that I think might distract kids from naughtiness. As of late, few of these work for Eden. She did share her Mickey Mouse toys with a super cute little girl about her age though. Anyway, during the passing of the Sacrament, when the chapel as quiet as it will ever get with the amount of kids in our ward, Eden likes to go exploring. She stood right in front of and stared at the man sitting a few seats down from us while he took his bread. Then off she went...yelling all the way. I immediately got up since I was closest to the end of the aisle, swooped her up and took her in the hall for a few minutes. She kept say "uh Daddy....uh Daddy". (She makes that sound before most of her words, which is both weird and cute.) Thinking she has settled down a little I went back into the gym which was opened up to make more room in the chapel. She was some what decent for a few minutes and then she was off again. This time Ben got up for her. She ran to the far side of the gym while Ben took long strides to try to keep up with her. Usually she doesn't go to far before she stops and comes back. Not this time. While Ben was still on the side of the gym I saw a flash of color running in front where the gym meets the chapel. She was on her way somewhere and fast. Ben's pace quickens as the reality of what is happening sets in and I start to feel the dread I know he is feeling. Ben is not one for attention and he was about to get a lot of it. Eden comes to a fork in the aisles. She can go up to the front of the chapel, where the first speaker is in the middle of their talk or she can go out of the chapel into the lobby, which would not have made this a big deal. Of course she chose to run towards the front, I'm sure to make her way to the pulpit where she would inevitably scream into the microphone if she could reach it. Ben starts to run after her but she has a good lead on him as she caught him off-guard with her new found bravery for exploring the chapel. He is basically jogging down the aisle now with benches packed of people turning to see the commotion. I am laughing so hard that my eyes begin to water, still feeling so sorry for Ben. The man that Eden stared down earlier begins to chuckle and says something to me about Eden...not sure what he said, but my eyes were watering so that I just nodded my head and said, "I know." Ben finally grabs Eden right before she gets to the stairs that lead to the stage where the bishopric is intently watching, obviously entertained. He swiftly heads back the direction he came and turns at the fork in the aisle for the lobby.

I thought for sure he would've just headed out to the van and to take her home, but a few minutes later the gym doors open and in comes Ben holding Eden tightly in his arms. I give him a knowing smile and he jokingly frowns as he sits down. We have a good quiet laugh and he says, "I don't know if you're supposed to run in church or not, but I didn't know what she was going to do when she got up there."

Can you believe this precious angel is actually a little devil in disguise?

Maybe this gives it away just a TAD more. She is trying to repel off my bed. :)

Destruct-OR Strikes Again

2012-01-13T16:48:00.001-07:00

My lack of posts about it doesn't mean that Eden has been causing any less trouble as before. She has her daily routine of spitting juice into various objects. Such as measuring cups, any toy that has some kind of hole in it and just onto the floor. Sometimes she does let it just stream out of her mouth down her chin and then soaking her shirt. Lately though she has preferred to allow her juice to catch some air before it hits the floor, which also allows it to spray near by objects including moms and/or sisters. If there is a colored pencil, crayon, pen, pencil ANYWHERE she can reach she finds it and scribbles on the walls. Toys are thrown about just for the sake of messiness and food is regularly thrown/spit on the floor. All those are daily happenings and I have come to expect to encounter this type of behavior from her daily. Every once in a while though she will do something that really makes my stomach jump into my throat. Today was once such day.

I was researching Valentine's on the computer in the front room when I heard the fridge open. I thought it was just my imagination since we had just installed one of these...

...we did this because Eden has recently gained super human strength :) and had been including fridge exploration to her daily regimen. A few time she got a couple of eggs out of their carton which we were lucky enough to get away from her before damage was done. But after finding the fridge door left open several times we decided one of these were in order. Problem solved. At least when you remember to latch it...

A few seconds after thinking that my imagination concocted the sound of the fridge opening I decided I'd better check anyway. I stroll into the kitchen to find the fridge door closed. I breathed a sigh of relief until the sight of Eden holding two eggs standing a few feet away caused the breath to plummet into my stomach which then lurched into my throat. It only took a split second to realize that the eggs were real and not the pretend eggs that accompanied her play kitchen. Unfortunately, a split second was all it took for Eden to decide she didn't want the stolen eggs anymore and as she tossed them onto the floor I gasped and reflexively covered my open mouth with my hand. She looked up at me and mimicked my gesture, holding her hand over her mouth. It was then that I decided that my first instinct, to yell EDEN!, would not do and I went for the camera. But not before removing Destruct-OR from the crime scene. Little miss wanted to play in the gooey mess she'd made.

She stood by as I snapped the photos and then with a lot of nerve said, "See, See". She wanted to see the picture of her handiwork on the camera. What a little monkey. I realize that this is not as big a deal as I've made it out to be, but I am feel a little dramatic with my writing today. :)

P.S. I love how Mickey is unknowingly lying in the corner. They could've landed him and that would've landed him in the washing machine. I wonder if he knows the incident that barely missed him.

Hope's Self Portrait

2012-01-06T20:24:00.000-07:00

Hope has been very into drawing lately. Today she drew a self portrait and after I acted so excited about it she seemed pretty pleased with herself.

She may be a little artist afterall.

Christmas

2012-01-06T20:22:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a short post because I feel like I highlighted most of it in the previous posts. This year Ben made the girls an awesome little kitchen. The girls love it and it is Hope's favorite color: purple! Great Gma Jones and Hammond gave them some play food and pots and pans and so did mom and dad. Add that to the tea set that Hope already has and you've got a working kitchen. We open presents one at a time in our house; something I did as a child. I like this way because everyone gets to see what everyone else got and you are able to experience each child's reaction to each present. It is kind of long and drawn out, but I like that my kids have learned patience with it.

Noah got a Razor scooter and some computer games and some other little things. I think he was a little disappointed but he is now at the age that his "toys" are more expensive so they are fewer than the cheap stuff the girls get. On Christmas Day we opened up a Wii from grandma Nikki! So that evened out his disappointment. We had a great Christmas!

Traditions

2011-12-31T22:33:00.000-07:00

This year we starting many new traditions for our little family. They aren't big and glamorous. They aren't expensive or take a lot of time, but hopefully, they will make priceless memories. Okay, that was my cheesy line for this post. Now that that is out of the way...

I love Pinterest. I have found so many inspirational ideas which have fueled my own creativity and I am so excited! Anyway, on Pinterest I saw a cute pin about a finger paint Christmas tree. I decided that each year my kids will do one and it will be neat to see how they've grown each year and if they want they can split them and take them when they've grown.

Hope seems to have gotten more and more difficult with each passing month this year and refused to dirty her hands with the paint. What four year old doesn't want to finger paint? Mine, I guess. So this year, the first year, Noah and Eden's hand prints made the Christmas tree.

Maybe next year ALL the children will participate. :)

Another tradition we started was making gingerbread houses. Uncle Brian, Aunt Autumn, Caleb and Cameron came over to make some too. I am so glad they were able to share this experience.

We used graham crackers instead of actual gingerbread this year and will probably continue to until the kids get a little older. We had lots of little candies and Ben found some Snowman Marshmallow Peeps that were cute accessories. Several times I found Hope eating her decorations instead of applying them to her house, but in the end it all came together.

Look at those beautiful kids. Noah was creative as usual and made house number "19" out of pretzels and he made a cannon out of hard candies for the roof of his house. Little genius. Every time he sets his creativity to something he amazes me.

Speaking of his creativity...another tradition that I passed on to my children from when I was little is that each of the kids drew a sibling's name and got them a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve they got to open the presents from each other. This year Hope drew Eden's name and was only interested in giving her something that Hope herself would want, so mommy took charge got decided that Hope would give Eden a baby doll, which they both ended up loving! Eden drew Noah's name. Again...she's 21months so....Ben and I picked out little Halo action figures that he's been wanting for a while. Noah drew Hope's name and decided he wanted to make her a super hero cape and mask. He picked out the fabric and designed the eagle symbol on the back and did some of the sewing. I was very proud of him and really excited for him to give it to Hope. She was a little disappointed when she opened it, but I think once they have a chance to play with it and she sees how useful it will be to their play she will adore it!

Christmas post will be coming soon! Happy New Year!

Christmas Yummies!

2011-12-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

While making my grocery list this morning I decided that the kids and I needed to make some Christmas treats today. So in true "fly by the seat of my pants" style we got a few ingredients from said shopping trip and got a little messy.

First we melted chocolate chips and cooking oil...

Hope got to stir...

so did Noah.

Then we dipped.

We didn't get as messy as I thought we would, which is just fine by me. Hope has found a new love for chocolate covered pretzels and now I have something to give to neighbors!

I also made these drawing cases last week that I found on Pinterest. I am going to use this as stocking stuffers for Christmas.

Planning

2011-12-20T16:21:00.001-07:00

I am not one for planning. It isn't that I don't like planning or appreciate a well thought-out organized event. I have just never been the type of person to do it myself. This is something that I would prefer to change to some extent. I wouldn't like having every moment planned though. Let's face it, that is just asking for disappointment. Perhaps why I have never bothered with it much in the past because I know that life rarely goes as planned so I just became a "fly by the seat of my pants kinda gal."

Around the Holidays though Ben and I always seem to have the same problem. Where are we spending the holidays and who are we seeing when and so forth. Things are usually decided last minute which only adds to the stress of the holidays. That definitely needs to change. Plans like that are good I've decided.

Anyway, in addition to the vacancy notice that I gave The Waiting Place a few weeks ago, I have started making plans for the new year. I'd like to find some kind of dance class for Hope, although I am not convinced that she will actually participate. She told me that she just wants to have a dance class in her room. :) I am planning on taking the girls swimming and eventually giving them swim lessons so that by summer time they are more comfortable in the water so that we can be frequent pool goers when it gets hot. I am also planning on taking the girls to story time at the library and I am still looking for fun cheap things to do with them during the week. I think if we stay relatively busy and have things to look forward to that will lessen the difficulty of some of the other changes I am planning on making. I'd like to have some kind of craft to make a couple times a month. Having a creative outlet is really helpful for me. I'd also like to take some guitar lessons...but let's not get ahead of ourselves. These are really just random thoughts I am recording for the sake of journaling and to remind myself of what I am expecting myself to do this coming year.

Because I didn't have much planned the past couple of weeks, a lot of "just hanging out" was done.

Hope Says...

2011-12-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

One evening while coloring with dad she hands him her worn down colored pencil and says, "Here. This one ran out of power."

Dad applies the van breaks one night while out on a ride with Hope and she says: "Whoa, you're gonna break the sound barrier with those!" Guess it's time for new brakes?

Hope: How does Santa get up on the roof?
Mom: I told you, he doesn't. He isn't real.
Hope: But how does he get up there?
Dad: Maybe he uses a ladder.
Hope: *laughs* I don't know about that, but I think he uses reindeers.

Hope Says...

2011-12-05T13:08:00.001-07:00

Hope: Should we get a reindeer and put him in the backyard?
Mom: No.
Hope: Yes! Yes! It's a GENIUS idea!!!

Hope talking to Eden before family prayer: Heany Fadder....Heany Fadder...
Dad: HeaVENLY FaTHER.
Hope: Hea...ven..ly Fa...ther.
Dad: There ya go.
Hope: I wonder what He looks like.
Dad: I don't know. I can't remember.
Hope: Did you know a jumping snake is a jumping snake?

***Right now Hope is learning about what animals/reptiles etc lay eggs and which birth babies. We started this learning adventure after she told me that one of her horses needed to lay on its eggs.***

***This weekend while out shopping Eden insisted on getting out of the stroller and so Hope hopped in. Dad and Eden had already walked off a little ways and Noah and I were trying to help Hope get in the much too small for her stroller. Once the tray was fastened in place Hope throws her arms forward and says with much charge, "After them!!!" Noah and I had a good laugh.***

Hope drew this picture while she looked at one of her toy Zebras. She gets better and better every day!

The Waiting Place

2011-12-02T11:06:00.005-07:00

"You can get so confused that you'll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The waiting place..."

- Dr. Suess

That Dr. Suess, he's a wise one. Turns out I am a frequent tenant of the waiting place. I suppose I've always been suspicious that I was living in "the waiting place" at times but never cared to give it much thought until this last year. This last year I felt as though I might be taking up permanent residency there until I realized that I was indeed one of those people who was waiting. Waiting for...

"...a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance...just waiting."

Before this last year I was waiting for things like Ben to finish school, or my kids to sleep through the night, or losing 30 lbs. I think that most people take up a piece of The Waiting Place land for those types of things at one point or another in their lives.

Not quite a year ago I found some very disturbing evidence on the internet that things might not be as great as I was hoping they were for Noah at his dad's house. I was shocked, heart-broken, disturbed, angry, worried, indignant...imagine it...I felt it. I think I felt every emotion possible. My child was not in the loving environment I thought and trusted he was in, and there wasn't much, if anything, I could do about it. I continued to find evidence throughout the year, with each discovered piece of evidence came the full range of emotions. It was exhausting. Some points were emotionally excruciating; I felt like it was a poisonous rope that I couldn't let go of, because my child was on the other end of it. I hated searching for this evidence. I hated reading those awful things, so many lies were told....about my child, about me, about the rest of my family, but I felt like I had no choice. I had to find out what was happening with my child because the people who were supposed to be looking out for him while he was there were not telling me the truth. In fact, they were doing what they could to make me think that everything was wonderful there.

Obviously, I knew things weren't wonderful. After all, I had been married to that man for three years...I know the kind of person he is and what life is like with him. I know enough about that other person (I don't think she deserves the status of 'woman') to know that I certainly wouldn't want to be married to someone like her either...or even live in close proximity. Wonderful is something I knew it wasn't, but I was hoping that Noah was at least loved. That isn't too much to ask for, is it?

***I apologize for not just coming out and saying what it is that I found, but to protect Noah I feel that I should be as vague as possible. To my current knowledge, he was not being physically harmed, which I am so unbelievably grateful for. However, the circumstances, I feel, are very serious and could cause emotional damage for Noah now and in the future. Unfortunately, emotional damage, or the possibility of it, is something that is almost impossible to show the courts or get them to do anything about it. This last point is where much of my time and energy were spent.***

During the first month or so I fought with myself over how to handle this situation. I knew I needed to be very careful about what I did, as Noah's father and step mother are not very fond of me...to say the least. :) I knew that much of the outcome of the situation would be a reflection on how I approached it in the first place. Plus, the evidence could have possibly destroyed their family, did I want to be "responsible" for that? Or responsible for bringing the evidence to all involved parties' knowledge, rather, as the evidence I found was on a public chat board, with no anonymity in this person's screen name or profile picture. Just to clarify, I take NO responsibility for the ignorance of doing such a thing in the first place or the blatant craziness that was spewed across the web.
A couple of days later I decided to just ask Noah's father to consider changing custody so that Noah was with me more and I would have no problem allowing them time together when he didn't have to work. I made no mention of what I had found. I was hoping that by some miracle he go along with it but knew in my heart he wouldn't agree. I was right. He wouldn't even discuss custody with me, leaving me no choice but to retain an attorney. I absolutely refused, could not, no way, EVER, know what I know and do nothing about it.

Once I had affirmation that Noah's father was going to continue to be a brick wall it was easy to make a decision. Then I had to wait...wait for money to retain an attorney. Every Sunday evening that I had to send Noah back to his dad's was heart breaking because I knew what was waiting for him. Of course I never mentioned what I had found to Noah. I didn't want to risk him being hurt any more than he was being hurt already. And don't get me wrong, if you ask Noah will tell you that he is happy at his dad's house and on the outside it appears that everything is okay. Noah has lots of friends and is doing exceptionally well in school, but mother's intuition tells me that under the surface he is struggling. This intuition is the reason I "stumbled upon" this evidence in the first place. I just knew that something was off. Anyway, once I had retained the attorney, I did a lot more waiting. I mean A LOT of waiting...on my attorney. I retained my attorney at the end of April and papers weren't even sent to Noah's father until July. My attorney seemed to have quite a bit going on in his personal life at the time too and ended up switching firms, starting his own firm and moving his office a couple of times. Several times I felt like I had paid a couple thousand dollars to have someone besides Noah's father to fight. Returning calls, and emails were not something he was great at. I wanted to retain a different attorney, but didn't have any more money and I knew that court, or mediation or what ever was in the future was going to be very expensive, so more waiting....

I began to get more and more angry with every passing day. So many times I wanted to drive over there and kick ass. I started to get angry at myself and at my Heavenly Father. How could he allow this to happen to my child and render me so helpless? After all, it was quite a leap of faith and obedience that I took in allowing Noah to be with his father "full-time" anyway. He told me that was what He wanted for Noah at one point so I went along with it and now everything seemed so dark for Noah. It had been dark for long before I was aware of it, which was another reason I was so angry.

Somewhere in all the anger and waiting I realized what was happening to me in the waiting place. Before I knew it the year was half over and I couldn't even remember most of it. I had blinders on to just about everything but this situation and as a result missed out on so many wonderful things. I realized that I had been ignoring the one person who could do anything about this, my Heavenly Father. I realized that for myself, I could never be the mother that any of my children need if my back was turned to my Heavenly Father. After all, He is the only one who can see where we are going and what we'll need to survive along the way. How was I supposed to help my children through their journey if I wasn't open to His counsel or the inspiration that He promised me as their mother when He sent them to me in the first place? It would be impossible. I felt ashamed and even more angry at myself for not realizing this sooner. I am still working on mending my relationship with my Heavenly Father. Of course, I know that the only side of that relationship that needs fixing is mine. Opening up my heart and soul...and my "ears" to His voice seems like such an easy thing to do. Perhaps for some people it is, but I struggle. I know this struggle is one of the many lessons that I am on this earth to learn.
I also realized no one loves my children like I do. That is why they were sent to me. Such a simple thing, but something that I did not always know. No one will sacrifice what I am willing to sacrifice (and have already sacrificed in some situations) for each of them. No one else sees them the way I do. Which is not perfectly, mind you. They indeed frustrate and try my patience, but I am human. I know that my Heavenly Father loves them perfectly, and the love that I have for them is the next closest thing. As their mother this was a gift that was given to me and my children. In learning this my love and appreciation grew even stronger than before and the blinders that I was wearing began to recede so that I could see my children even clearer. Hope's dimples and her love for me and her truly beautiful spirit. The woman she will become...this woman needs my help. She needs my example. Even as I type this out I am learning. The woman my little Hopie will be needs me to take her hand and teach her how to make herself....ALLOW herself to be happy. To be the daughter of a King that she is. She needs me to teach her how to see and reach her potential, which is endless.
Noah. Noah needs his mother's example of forgiveness. During this last year I've wondered so often how can his father be forgiven for this? How am I ever going to reach that point? The atonement. Something like this I am incapable of in this life, but with the atonement, it is possible. Heavenly Father promises us that if we do all we can and ask for His help having faith that we will receive...than He will make up the rest. This will be a long journey for me, for there is much I can do, some of which is allowing "time to heal". This journey, or beginning it, which I haven't done yet, is something Noah needs me to do. I will do it for him and for myself. Noah needed me to spend this past year in The Waiting Place, just as I did. Noah needed me to fight for him, and I will continue to do so. Noah needs my encouragement and example of the kind of mother that he wants for his future children. I have much work to do to become that woman. Noah needs the safety and peace of my home and heart in his life. The man Noah will be will need to learn how to forgive himself for his mistakes from my example. That man will learn to put his children before himself and his desires. Noah needs my example and love to teach him that he is deserving and worthy of his righteous desires. He needs me to teach him how to be worthy to receive them.
Eden needs to know her Heavenly Father. She needs to know she is here for a specific reason and that her purpose is divine. She needs to know how to talk to her Heavenly Father and more importantly, how to listen to Him. She needs my example of spiritual and emotional strength and endurance. Something I didn't know I had or was capable of until writing this and reflecting on this past year. Eden will need to know that she is enough. She will also need to know how to allow herself to be happy and have self-respect.

This is the second time in my life that I have had this experience. I sit down to write something...and instead the spirit speaks to me through my own hand. When I began this post, I intended to write about the struggles of this past year and what I learned from them. Turns out that I have learned about three times as much in the last hour than I did the entire year. I am so grateful that I was writing it all down as I was learning it, because I know that I will need to come back to it often to remember.
For a while now I've known that this coming year is going to be significantly different than this year, and from any other year. I am dedicating this coming year to myself. That my sound selfish, but if you have been reading this...I have a lot of self-improvement to do. Everything that "I" wrote that my children need from me...I do not have most of those qualities right now. At least not in full. The first step for myself is to realize that I am not being selfish by dedicating this coming year to becoming a better person, for I feel my children are the ones will benefit the most.
I'm giving my notice to The Waiting Place...I'll be vacating 01/01/2012.

"No! That's not for you! Somehow you'll escape all that waiting and staying. You'll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing. With banner flip-flapping once more you'll ride high! Ready for anything under the sky."

To finish up the drama of custody, mediation was last Tuesday. We were there six hours. Custody is staying the same, but Noah will be spending much more time with me and therapy is required for Noah and "the crazy". Hopefully this will help improve that relationship. I was very frustrated after mediation because I felt like I had done all I could and still didn't feel like it was enough. After this post, I realize there is much more I can do and will do.

Thanks...and Stuff

2011-11-27T14:19:00.001-07:00

Ben and I decided that this would be a good year to start our own Thanksgiving traditions. (With the exception of Noah being at his dad's. We don't want to make that a tradition.) So we spent the day cooking and decorating for Christmas. Ben actually ended up cooking the entire meal, minus the broccoli casserole. This was not my fault however. I fully expected and was prepared to make Thanksgiving dinner. I was even kind of looking forward to it. Ben had other plans...last minute plans.

When we were discussing what/how/where we should spend Thanksgiving, Ben said that he didn't care too much for Thanksgiving and didn't really have any attachments to particular foods for this specific holiday. I got the impression that if it were up to him we would spend it like we did ever other day. I, on the other hand, have many attachments to particular Thanksgiving dishes and wouldn't feel like it was Thanksgiving without them. Mainly turkey and broccoli casserole. I told Ben that we didn't have to make a big deal out of the stuffing, we could just do stove top, and he said, "We'll if we're going to make it, I want to make something fancy." Or something to that affect. Classic Ben. If you are going to do it, do it right the first time and go ALL OUT! So before I knew what was happening he had found recipes for stuffing, green beans, turkey, and bread pudding. So much for spending the day like any other day. :) Poor Ben spent so much time preparing food. I did offer to help many many times, and did when I was allowed. When we sat down to dinner Ben was very disappointed with everything. The stuffing, which I thought was yummy, he said tasted just like stove top. He was very concerned that the turkey was not completely cooked because our thermometer was having problems and he lost his appetite while carving it. I don't think he even finished his plate of food. :( I thought everything was great though.

Here is a picture of Eden's Thanksgiving dinner.

And Hope's.

Oh dear. Yes. That is a cucumber. Which she did not eat. She only chewed it up and spit it in the garbage. I did make a plate for her, but she refused it as she does every night. She was very curious about the turkey all day long and kept asking to see it as it was brining and then cooking. I think she did eat a couple of tiny pieces of it, which I was very surprised at.

Eden only took a few nibbles too. This is uncharacteristic of her. She is usually a good eater, well, compared to her sister. But she had the stomach flu all week so I'm sure her appetite was not as usual.

Here are some pictures of decorating.

Hope helped fluff out the branches and kept sticking small stuffed animals in the tree to decorate it. No, I didn't make Ben decorate AND cook. He got down the tree and put up the base layers and I did some too. Let me just explain something about Ben, because I feel like his perfectness is making me look bad. If something needs to be done, Ben wants to do it himself. Part (if not most) of this is because of what I mentioned about him before. "If you are going to do something, do it right the first time and go ALL OUT." Perhaps he feels that he is the only one that can do whatever it is right and would rather do it himself to avoid mishaps and having to clean up someone else's mistakes. He will not admit this, but I think it's true. At least that is what I tell myself to make myself feel better when my husband is doing all the work and I am standing around incessantly asking, "What can I do?" Perhaps he IS the only one that could do whatever it is right and the best. He has never disappointed before and I can't imagine that he will ever start.

I am sure that all sounds like I am irritated with this aspect of my husband's personality. That is not the case. I love that he has the attitude of "do something right the first time." Too many people do things half-heartedly and end up with less than ideal results or just big ol' messes. If I am being honest here, I am one of those people. I truly admire this quality of Ben's and want to adopt that quality in my way of thinking too. Although, I do get a little frustrated and offended sometimes when Ben won't let me help with things. I know that another part of the reason he does so much is because of his love for me and his desire to please me. He is certainly a gentleman in the fact that he wants to save me the trouble of doing something so he will do it himself. I will never understand how someone like him could love someone like me the way he does, but I am certainly grateful for the wonderful blessing of having such a man in my life.

Oh...we were talking about decorating.

Middle picture: Eden was playing peek-a-boo by putting a stocking on her head and lifting it up to say "Boo!" She spent most of the decorating time watching Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, but every once in a while she would come in and oh and ah over the tree and ornaments.

So first just us Thanksgiving didn't go quite as planned, but luckily we have a lifetime of Thanksgivings to figure it out.

Hope Says...

2011-11-23T22:19:00.000-07:00

Mom: Did you eat the frosting off that cookie?
Hope: Sure I did. I tried just looking at it. But I wanted it.

*Hope lies on her tummy rests her chin in her hands and sighs.*
Dad: What is that sigh for?
Hope: Nothing. I'm just thinking about grandma. I miss her.

Dad: Are you excited for Thanksgiving?
Hope: You're welcome.
Dad: No, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. We are going to have a big turkey dinner.
Hope: Who will be joining us?
Dad: No one. It's just going to be us.
Hope: Oh. There's going to be a lot of food.

What a shame it is to have such brilliantly witty children and not write down every word that comes out of their mouths. So much has been said that I'm sure I have forgotten, that I swore in the moment I would remember forever. From now on I will do my best to document those beautiful words on this blog to keep for my children and to share with you.

Homemade Playdough

2011-11-09T17:41:00.002-07:00

When I was in the second or third grade I had a science project due at school. Probably my first one ever and if I remember correctly, I waited until the night before it was due to even start. (It is amazing how parts of your personality like procrastination start at such a young age and stubbornly stick with you until you realize that the only way it will get unstuck is if YOU unstick it.) Anyway, the project was that I had to create one of those little boxes that you look into and the environment was colored all over the sides of the box and the subject was somewhere in there. I spent a few minutes trying to google what this was called, but no luck. It is driving me insane now. I'm sure Ben will know (he knows everything) when he gets home. I kind of got off track there...DINOSAURS. We had to mold our favorite dinosaur out of playdoh or clay and create the environment in which it lived in this little box. Well, because I waited until the last minute I had no clay or playdoh. Mommy dearest saved the day. She said she could make some homemade playdoh and that it would work just fine. I don't remember if I expressed my disappointment or not, but I was thinking, "Homemade playdoh? This is going to suck." She went off into the kitchen and a short while later I had a lump of play dough! I was pleasantly surprised because A) it didn't smell nearly as horrific as store bought playdoh B) it was a shade of blue, which was my favorite color and finally C) it had an awesome sandy texture which I have always loved. Needless to say I finished my project and mom gave me a memory that I have recalled on many many accounts thus far in my life. Every time I have thought about playing playdoh with my kids, or I am squishing that sick smelling stuff through my fingers I think about that night and how mom had made playdoh that was so much better than any store bought stuff.

Today, probably close to 25 years later I decided to give it a try myself. I found a recipe online and to my surprise already had all the ingredients on hand. My mom suggested that I let the kids help make it and I did just that. Well, Hope anyway. Noah is with his dad, and here is what Eden was doing...

...eating a cookie.

Hope was snacking too, on a pringle. In the middle picture you can see her putting salt in the pot with one hand and holding her chip in the other. :) That's my girl. I asked her what color she would like the play dough to be, although I already knew what she would say. Purple! It is her favorite color, and luckily we had some purple food coloring, so purple play dough it would be. I gave them some cookie cutters and Hope was very proud of herself for making the shapes, check out the bottom right picture.

Mom- be sure to click on the collage to make it bigger, Hope is making some pretty priceless expressions you will want a close up of! In the top right picture she was really get into it and stood up on her chair to find the most efficient way to smoosh her playdough.

Eden did as expected. She was excited but didn't know what to do with it. I tried showing her a couple of things and finally she was content with tearing it into pieces and throwing it on the floor after unsuccessfully trying to slather it in her hair.

Eden played about 10 minutes total and Hope about 15. Short-lived, but at least it stores in the fridge for a while. Or so I'm told.

***DIORAMA!!! Ben told me. :)***

An Amateur's Crayon Roll

2011-11-03T15:06:00.001-06:00

First item of business is to give credit to the blog that I used to accomplish this project.

Thank you Skip To My Lou! If you want to make a crayon roll I would highly reccommend using that site instead of mine, but just for fun...read on! :)
Secondly, I have to tell you that this is my second crayon roll. I made one a few months ago that is too embarrassing to post a pic of. Straight lines are not easy to sew for EVERYONE okay? I want to make these cute little crayon rolls/colored pencil rolls for stocking stuffers this year, so yesterday I made another for practice. Every time I make one I learn something different to do next time. That is what practice is all about right?

You lucky duck. This time I took pictures of most of my steps so that I could document this sewing project on this here blog. I figure if I am going to learn how to do something why not take family and friends along on the ride so they will have further proof that I am not the perfect person they imagine me to be. *hahaha* In any case it will be fun to see my progress (assuming I make some) with sewing.

Here goes...

Step one: Pick out fabric. Simple enough right? I needed two pieces that were 5 x 16 1/2 inches, and one corresponding pattern/color that was 6 x 16 1/2. The website I used said to use 5 x16 1/2 fusible interfacing, but I didn't have any on hand, so I just used an extra piece of fabric cut to those dimensions. I also needed 30 inches of ribbon and crayons for the finished product.

**A tidbit I learned: Choose a pattern that is better at keeping track of your sewing lines (like stripes) for the 6 x 16 1/2 piece, unless you want to spend a ridiculous amount of time marking lines.***

Here are my three pieces of 5 x 16 1/2.

Step Two: Fold in half and press the 6 x 16 1/2 fabric. This will be the pocket for the crayons. Place it on the right side of the piece of 5 x 16 1/2 fabric that will be the inside of your roll. The edge pockets will be 1 1/4 inches. All other pockets will be one inch. There will be a total of 16 pockets. Adding 1/4 inch sew the first pocket and proceed with the other pockets measuring out an inch for each. Leave an additional1/4 inch for the last pocket. At this point the bottom of the pocket is still raw.

Step Three: If using fusible interfacing press it to the wrong side of the piece of 5 x 16 1/2 fabric that will be the outside of the roll. If using felt or other material pin it to the wrong side of the fabric.

***A tid-bit I learned: This part is very tedious but if you are an amateur like me you will want to take the time to measure and mark each pocket line, making sure that they are an inch apart (with the exception of the end pockets which will be 1 1/4 inches wide). If available use a water soluble pencil OR mark it on the wrong side of the fabric so that your marks won't show on the final product. Also, back stitch at the beginning and end of each line you sew. That may be obvious to seasoned seamstresses, but this post is titled "amateur" for a reason.***

The outside of the roll is on the left and the inside with the pocket on the right.

Step Four: Fold the ribbon in half and pin the ends to the right side of either piece of fabric. Place the right side of the remaining piece of fabric (the piece with the pocket) on top of the ribbon and the right side of the piece of fabric it is pinned to. Now you will be looking at the wrong side of the fabric. Pin it.

***A tid-bit I learned: Make sure that the majority of the ribbon is hanging out on the inside of the fabric. Not on the outside of the fabric. Duh.***

Step Five: Sew 1/4 inch seam along all the edges, but leave about 3 1/2 inches on one of the ends so that you can turn the roll right side out. Remember to back stitch at the beginning and end of each line. Trim the edges.

***A tid-bit I learned: This is a very important step. You may want to place a reminder pin so you will give yourself enough room for turning. Also, if you think anything less than 3 inches is enough room for turning you would be mistaken....or very talented if you pull it off.***

Sewn and trimmed.

Step Six: Using a chopstick or wooden spoon handle, or anything else that would work, :) Turn the fabric right side out.

Step Seven: The website I used says to blanket stitch the opening that you left for turning. I don't know what this means, so being an amateur, I simply sewed it shut. Why not? If you have cool options on your sewing machine you could do a cool stitch to make it look like part of the design. Trim the edges that you just finished. And press the crayon roll.

Step Eight: Fill with crayons!

Then roll and tie the ribbon.

TA-DA!!!

If you were actually able to accomplish anything by using my instructions I must congratulate you because as I reread this post I realized that giving directions IS NOT one of my strong points. And there you have more proof of my imperfection. Sillies.

S.U.G.A.R.

2011-11-01T15:40:00.001-06:00

Sugar is no stranger to my children. It's not something I am proud of, but if I am being honest, it is a part of their daily diet. Right now I am sure that you are imagining me shoveling spoonfuls of sugar into my children's mouths cackling like the witch in Hansel & Gretel. You would be wrong. You would be right however, if you picture me shoveling "smarties" into my own mouth as I type out this post. :) In all seriousness, what I mean is that my girls would rather have apple juice than water, and Hope would rather have a cookie than what is for dinner. Noah does pretty well, but he is older so it is easier to reason with him and explain to him that what he is about to eat will inevitably cause him tummy troubles.

Usually Hope can hold her sugar pretty well. I am sure it is because they are good friends. Yesterday was different. After trick-or-treating at dad's work she experienced her first MAJOR sugar crash and sprawled out on the couch watching t.v. until it was time to go out for yet MORE candy. Poor thing, she had the low, but not really the high. Usually my kids don't bounce off the walls from their sugar intake.

Last night Eden did though. Ben took her home early from trick-or-treating so they could hand candy out to the kids and be warm in the house. When Hope and I finally made our way home Eden was pretty hyper. Chocolate smeared on her face and her hands sticky with sugary goodness; hyper was a new reaction for Eden. Needless to say, she didn't go to be until almost two hours after her usual bed time.

Hope was SO excited for trick-or-treating! She ran from house to house and Ben and I had to call to her to slow down and wait for us. It is too bad that Noah wasn't here, I am sure he would've appreciated her enthusiasm. Thank goodness it was somewhat warm outside too. It was actually kind of cold, but warmer than usual for a Utah Halloween night. Because of this Hope and I got to go to more houses than in years past and she kept telling me that she wanted to fill her bag all the way to the top with candy. She would knock on the door, hold her bag open in anticipation of the candy soon to be dropped in and shout "Trick-or-Treat!" when the people came to the door.

She was an excellent trick-or-treator and very proud of her soft kitty tail, which was a black feather boa I tied around her waist.

This picture was taken on our way to daddy's work for trick-or-treating.

Eden caught on very quickly about taking candy and putting it in her bag. She wasn't scared at all of the scary costumes.

Hanging out in dad's office.

Can't believe it is already over. On to Thanksgiving!

Last Week of October

2011-10-31T11:15:00.002-06:00

I love October. I think it is my favorite month. Fall is definitely my favorite season, unfortunately, the state I live in does not understand it's role in the seasons. In Utah the weather is what I would consider "Fall-Like" for maybe two weeks. Three if we are lucky that year. Anyway, with colder weather comes sickness and we caught it. The girls are recovering from the Croup and spent the last week and a half acting, sounding and looking quite pathetic. It was heart wrenching in this house morning, noon and night...especially night, as Croup worsens at night. Because her voice was so hoarse, Eden's cry didn't sound real at all and was difficult to hear if I was in another room. So when she was sleeping I was not because I was afraid I wouldn't hear her when she did wake up. Eden would whimper, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" as if there were something I could do for her but I felt so helpless. I just kept reminding myself how comforting my mother's touch was, and still is, to me when I do not feel good and hoped that she would feel some of that same comfort from my holding her. Thank heaven for medicine, because it starting working pretty quickly. Hope actually got sick first, and had a few scary moments, but wasn't quite as pathetic as Eden. I am sure her age is mostly to thank for that.

Here is a look at one of the low points this last week.

Daddy's touch is just as nice as mommy's. One night he even got her to sleep when I could not. My kids are quite lucky to have such a great daddy.

Surprisingly, there were moments that I found to make the trick-or-treat bags that I've been thinking about making the kids. I have to take a moment and do something I never do; brag on myself. I have spent such a long time being intimidated by sewing (damn you 7th grade TLC) that I am just now gathering the courage to give sewing projects a chance. This is my third project and I have to say that I am quite proud of myself for accomplishing this project with a final result that is better than what I was hoping for! I didn't have a pattern to work from, so I took some suggested measurements from people online and went to work. It was a lot of fun and made me feel pretty good about myself. Granted, it is a simple bag, but right now I need all the recognition I can give myself.

Eden's is the bag in the first pic. Being that I went a week and a half before Halloween, the fabric store had little to choose from in the way of Halloween prints. The fabric for her bag was my least favorite while I was in the store, but once I finished them all it is now my favorite. I got glow-in-the-dark fabric paint and embellished the print here and there on each bag and hers was the best fabric to do that.

I knew I wanted the bags to be "lined" too, so it took me a while to figure out how to place everything to sew it correctly, but it was pretty easy once I got it figured out. I used transparent ribbon for the handles, which is my only regret. When I started sewing the handles in, I realized that they probably wouldn't last long and might fray rather quickly. Hopefully by then I will be more skilled with sewing and can fix the bags with a different type of handle. We'll cross that bridge when it breaks. Noah's bag is the spider web pattern. I really liked this fabric and was disappointed with my glow-in-the-dark spiders that I drew, but I felt like it needed a safety mechanism, thus the spiders. Hope's bag is the pumpkins. I embellished the faces of a few pumpkins. The kids really liked their bags and thought it was awesome that they glow-in-the-dark. Eden really didn't give a darn, but hopefully she'll think it is pretty cool next year.

On Saturday we stopped by a local pumpkin patch and the kids picked out pumpkins. Hope just wanted to kick them and toss the little ones around. I don't know where that behavior came from, but luckily she didn't break any of them. At one point I found Eden hugging a green pumpkin but of course missed that moment with the camera. When I asked her to hug it again she hugged Noah instead. I got a picture of that which is cute too. Check out the bottom right picture. Click on the collage to make it bigger...MOM. :)

Noah took a break on a hay bale and Eden must have thought this looked like a good idea. She sat next to him and grinned really big like she was doing something cool. It must have been because Hope soon followed.

We saved carving the pumpkins for Sunday evening. I took no part, except documenting the event. Pumpkin insides are one of the most disgusting things....EVER. But it's one of those things that it is so disturbing that you can't help but keep looking at it. So I took a picture. :) Noah actually carved his own this year. I told him he could use a butter knife and he did surprisingly well considering how dull it was. Next year I will have to get one of those pumpkin carving kits so he can use better tools. Now that I think of it, I think I said the same thing last year. Oh well. One of these years it will happen.

Hope thought the insides of the pumpkins were gross too and would have nothing to do with cleaning them. She enjoyed watching dad and Noah though. She requested one with a silly face and a cute little nose and daddy obliged.

While the big kids made messes with pumpkins, Eden made a mess with yogurt.

She likes to put it in her hair. At one point she was slathering it on her arms like it was lotion. Silly monkey.
She also found Noah's gameboy entertaining. Although she used it as a telephone instead of a game. Noah thought that was pretty funny.

Here are the finished jack-o-lantern's.

Mickey Mouse even made an appearance.

Noah is spending Halloween with his dad this year but in just a few hours the girls and I will go trick-or-treating at dad's office.
Hope woke up a little earlier than usual this morning. She came into my room with a proud smile on her face hands on her hips and said to me, "It's Halloween! Can we go trick-or-treating now?" She has continued to ask me if it is trick-or-treat time every 20 minutes since we woke up.
Stay tuned for a post about the much anticipated trick-or-treating!!!

Fall Break

2011-10-22T23:57:00.002-06:00

The new park is a big hit in our house. One day we went twice. Not really my idea, but I have to say I am glad that the kids are going outside to play without my having to bribe them. I suppose the cooler weather has something to do with it as well. During our first trip to the park Noah found that a couple of his friends were there playing and spent the rest of the afternoon playing with them at the park and at our house. This was the day we went twice. We went twice cause Noah and his friends decided they wanted to go back, but Eden was taking a nap so I told Hope that she would have to wait to go with me when Eden woke up.

Hope was actually starting to get sick this day (when she is wearing the pink) which is why she is lying on a bench eating a PB sandwich. She wouldn't eat lunch, which is not unusual for her by any means, but we had already spent all morning at the park and were going back for seconds so I told her that if she wanted to play she would need to eat something. It took her the entire walk there and about 10 minutes after we got there for her to finish.

Every time we go she makes a new friend. I am so proud of her! In the middle picture where she is wearing blue she is playing hide n' seek with Noah and his friends and she is hiding in the toddler play area under the bridge. I think she was the last one to be found during that round.

Noah was more difficult to catch with the camera unless I asked him to pose. He likes the new park a lot and I am really happy that he has good friends to enjoy it with. He didn't want to ride his bike to the park because he thought he would end up "ditching us cause he goes so fast". But on the way back he asked Hope if he could ride her bike. Little stinker. I love the first picture of Hope chasing him. Noah is old enough that I feel okay about letting him and his friends go down to the park alone. I will have to get him a watch though so that I can start giving him time limits instead of meeting him there when his sister wakes up. Even though he is ten years old (and I was roaming the neighborhood when I was a lot younger), I still seem to hold my breath when he walks out the door until I see him again. Oddly, I don't think that feeling will ever go away, even when he's an adult.

Eden really loves the park. Eden actually loves pretty much everything right now. She is a very happy little girl who proves to be worthy of her new "Destruct-OR" nickname everyday. She is really starting to grow up and I am finding it a little bittersweet. I am relieved that she outgrew her miserable infancy. She was NOT happy. I am proud and amazed at how fast she learns and is able to do things. She has an Evil Knievel streak which is a little scary because either she isn't learning from her mishaps (such as falling off the couch, etc.) or she just doesn't give a darn cause it's fun and exciting till it hurts. I am inclined to believe it is the latter. She will even do her own countdown, sometimes standing at the edge of the couch she will say "one two three!". Luckily she hasn't actually jumped off without someone there to catch her, but it is really only a matter of time. She is able to go down the slide all by herself now and will sit at the top anticipating what is about to happen (see the first pic). You can see her anticipation grow if you watch her closely. She sits there for a few seconds and a smile begins to spread across those precious little cheeks as her eyes dart from side to side. She slowly scoots her little body forward and puts her hands on either side and her smile gets bigger, it even looks like she is mumbling to herself under her breath. One more scoot and a little scream....then PLOP! She lands in the wood chips and usually scatters/covers herself with them. A few times she was able to land on her feet after sliding, but I think its going to take some more practice.

This time she seemed to be playing peek-a-boo with the wood chips. All around me mothers were telling their children not to play in the wood chips cause it would make them dirty. That was my first instinct, but I decided to ignore it and get out the camera instead. Which I'm glad I did. She enjoys washing her hands and gets a bath every night, so why not? ***This is something new I have been trying to teach myself; to just let the little things go. I've been cleaning up a lot more messes after the fact, but my children and I are happier for it and I am sure they learn something from making those messes. And if not I am getting some really cute pictures anyway.***

Speaking of Destruct-OR...I got a picture this time. I told Ben that I think this is the way she protests when I go in the bathroom and don't let her follow me. A shower is worth re-folding the t-shirts I suppose. :)

In this last one she is proudly looking at her accomplishments.
And a few more moments of her proving her worthiness.

There were moments that the camera didn't witness of shredded toilet paper and juice and milk that she would drink from her cup only to spit on the floor. When I say EDEN! this is her cue to move more quickly and efficiently at making her mess. Practice makes perfect and she's getting a lot of practice. Soon she will be a perfect little Destruct-OR.

I had big plans for Friday which fell through (more on that to come) and was pretty down about it. So first thing after the kids and I woke up we headed out. We stopped at Krispy Kreme for some yummyness and stopped by Ben's work to surprise him with his favorite donut: raspberry-filled. Then we headed up the Provo canyon. I intended to get out and walk around Bridal Veil Falls all morning and let the kids play and use up some energy, but as plans go (see the first sentence of this paragraph) that didn't happen. We had been out of the car for about two minutes before I decided we needed to get back in. The sun was not out enough to warm up the area we were in and it was really windy. Hope was more sick by this day, Eden just had a little windbreaker instead of a good jacket and I had my Raynaud's to consider. The kids were pretty disappointed that we were getting back in the car so early, but having donuts when we got in helped. I decided we would drive around the Alpine Loop and take some pretty pictures. Noah sat up in front with me and took lots of pictures. I was hoping we would see some animals but all we saw was a cute little squirrel. Fall is my favorite season and this is one of the reasons why.

This too.

The New Park

2011-10-15T22:56:00.001-06:00

For months now my children and I have been watching an awesome new park being built just around the corner from us. We would drive by it often and see the progress being made. Although, I must say, it seems that it was very slowly made as I'm pretty sure we've been waiting for it all year. I think there was some budget problems that slowed it down, but last week they had a very official ribbon cutting ceremony. The weather has been pretty good for the last week so I took the girls down to play a couple of times.

Here is Eden enjoying the playground. This area is specifically geared toward smaller children and the larger area for the big kids.

She finally decided she wanted to go down the little slide and would wait for me to hold my arm across it to slow her speed. Even though she was going pretty slow she still screamed as if she were going super fast.

Mostly she enjoyed playing in the wood chips, which I figured was okay for now since they are new and smell so good. :)

I was so proud of Hope the last time we went. There were a ton of kids running around and they were mostly older kids. I thought she would be scared since they seemed to be playing a pretty intense game of tag and were jumping from fixture to fixture. At one point she was up on the second story and it look as though she wanted to go down the slide but there were a couple of boys standing beside her that were talking to her and I just assumed they were being mean. I shouted up to her, "Hope are you going down the slide?" She said, "not right now, I playing with these guys." Serves me right to assume the worst of someone. :) They were indeed playing and seemed to enjoy having her play with them. It made me a little sad and a little proud all at the same time. Sad cause I realized how much she missed Noah and having her best friend to play with and proud because Noah has taught her so well to play "spaceship" and other big kid games so that she could join in. Also proud because she was confident enough to play with the much older children.

In this picture I was going down the big slide with Eden since she had wondered over to the big play place and Hope thought it was so cool to go down with me. I was able to turn and get this awesome shot.

Hope is in the middle by the boy in the black shirt. She is going from a pole to the floor of the play place. She maneuvered quite well on that stuff.

Noah is excited about this park too, so next time he is here we are planning a trip.

There is a little grassy hill in part of the field of the park and I can just imagine all the kids sledding down it in the winter time! It turned out to be worth the wait and opened just in time for the weather to cool down. Now hopefully it won't get too cold too fast.

Farm Country

2011-10-13T22:08:00.002-06:00

Today the girls and I went to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. We met some friends there and had a great morning. We've never been to the Farm Country part of Thanksgiving Point, but now that I know how much the girls enjoy I will have to go more often. Of course next time it would be nice if Noah and daddy could join us.

Hope LOVES horses right now. She has a whole herd of little toy horses that she carries around with her everywhere. I was excited to see that a pony ride was included with the purchase of the entry ticket and I was sure that Hope would be too. That wasn't really the case. The pony ride was the first stop we made and although she seemed to enjoy watching the ponies and the other kids ride the ponies, she didn't want to do it herself.

However, her cute little friends were very excited to have a pony ride and eventually, at the last minute, Hope gave in and agreed to ride one. I was carrying Eden in one hand and trying to take a video with the other hand while making sure that Hope didn't fall off the pony so I didn't get very get pictures or video of it. I felt bad that Ben wasn't there for Hope's first pony ride experience, so I was trying to take as many as I could.

Hope's friends: Aubrey, Brooke & Zoe

Next we went to see the donkey and goats. The girls fed the goats. Well actually Hope watched her friends feed the animals. She "didn't want them to tickle her" so she just threw a few kernels of corn in their general direction. The goats were really funny. They all seemed to have silly personalities and made me laugh inside. I can see how being around them would make someone happy. Unless they were cleaning up after them, I guess. :)

Eden got brave enough to get down from the safety of mom's hip and got pretty close to some of them a few times. Every once in a while she would get a little freaked out and come running back to my side. I love how she is crouching down in one of the pictures to look at the the animals.

Then the kids ran around the little grassy field and played a game of "Boo" with the haunted house prop. The girls would take turns peeking through the window at the other girls and say "BOO!" Then all the girls would scream and giggle and run around. It was pretty cute.

There were about three little play houses set up to look like an old western town and Eden found the jail to be quite interesting.

A carriage ride was also included in the ticket purchase and we chose to ride in one that looked like Cinderella's carriage. Look at Hope taking up all that space and her friends are all squished to one side. Love her smile in the bottom picture though.

Our last stop was the produce play area. It was set up for the kids to see how things are planted then harvested then taken to a big farm truck with a conveyor belt. ;)

They had lots of fun. Thanks to Heather for the invite!
One last thing....

Toes!

2011-10-06T18:07:00.001-06:00

Ben went to an MBA meeting at UVU last night and didn't get home till around 7 so the girls and I went for a milkshake and did our own pedicures. When I was a teenager I constantly had my toenails painted and that was one of not many "girlie" things that I liked to participate in. It has been a really really long time and we were bored waiting for daddy so I busted out grandma's foot bath. I knew before I got it out that it was a disaster waiting to happen with DestructOR running rampant. Oh, by the way, I have nicknamed Eden "DestructOR". (Insert previous disclaimer here.) But I thought Hope would enjoy it and water messes aren't too bad to clean up so I went for it.

DestructOR was just as excited as Hope, and I knew she would be. She didn't even make too much of a mess. Don't get me wrong, she was soaked and the towels that the foot bath was sitting on got soaked, but better the towels than the carpet. She liked splashing in the water and thought it was funny that I would try to get her to stop. You can see her trying to get her foot in it in one of the pictures.

Hope thought that the foot scrub was halarious and she even let me put lotion on her feet. Usually she is very anti-lotion. I started painting Hope's toenails when she was 12 months old. I didn't realize what an accomplishment this was until I tried to paint DestructOR's toenails (who is 18 months). But we'll get to that in a minute. Hope has always sat almost perfectly still and seemed to understand even at an early age that she shouldn't touch anything until the paint was dry. She would even blow on her nails in an effort to make them dry faster. She is doing it in one of the pictures above. Hope insisted I paint her fingernails too and didn't get my joke about have to pay me for a mani/pedi instead of just a pedi. Usually she likes to alternate colors on each finger, but this time I talked her into just one color for her fingers and one color for her toes.

The actual nail painting was more of a task than the foot bath because DestructOR was intent on grabbing the open nail polish. After many attempts I finally gave her a closed bottle to carry around and she thought that was pretty cool. She even put it up to her and Hope's toenails acting like she was actually painting them. She sat somewhat still while I quickly painted her toenails. But the moment I was done she sat on her knees....toenails down on the carpet. Surprisingly, none got on the carpet and a little even stayed on her toes. She kept looking down at mine and Hope's toes and then blubbered some non-sense while grinning at her own painted toes. All in all I am glad that I ventured pedicures.

Maybe if I do it more often DestructOR will get used to it and learn to sit still like her sister did. I'll let you know how it goes.

Hope's 4th Birthday

2011-10-04T11:40:00.000-06:00

We celebrated Hope's 4th birthday in Texas this year! It was extra special because we got to have her party with my family that we don't see very often. Hope really enjoyed being around all of her family.

The Decorations & Carousel:

Ben and I put up purple streamers and got a few purple balloons for the kids to play with. Hope thought this was really cool. Then most of us went to the one of the malls there in Houston where there was a two story carousel. We rode it a couple of times and then walked around and Hope got some cool pink sandals that she doesn't like to wear. :)

The Cake:

Since January Hope has been telling me that she wants a Tom & Jerry birthday cake. Since her birthday isn't until August I thought for sure she would forget and change her mind. No, she reminded me at least once a week from January til the day of her party. Of course Ben and I were going to make one, until we decided to go to Texas. It would've been too much trouble being out of our element and with so much other stuff going on, so I finally convinced Ben to order one. We ordered a Cinderella background and found the Tom & Jerry ornaments at Hallmark. I know Ben was disappointed, but I think Hope thought it was great and she really liked having the little figures to play with after the cake was eaten.

She really only wanted the frosting anyway, which we got to coordinate with her favorite color and the rest of the decorations which were purple. Love her dimples in the bottom pic where she is blowing out the candles.

Presents:

Everyone spoiled Hope with presents and she loved every minute of it. Luckily, we were able to fit it all in our luggage for the plane ride home. Thanks for all the presents!!! I would list everything that she got but I am afraid I will miss something. I will just say that it is obvious by the pic in the top left that she is very pleased with all her gifts!

My happy little Sunshine.

She is already talking about what kind of party she wants for her next birthday. At least she knows what she wants.

Last Week

2011-10-03T14:59:00.000-06:00

In relation to my last post, I am trying to be better at updating my blog. With my siblings being scattered all over North America I often wonder what their day to day is like and miss not being able to spend lazy, just hangin out kind of days with them. When we were growing up we would always say that we would buy a bunch of land somewhere so that we could all build houses on it and live next door to each other. My sisters and I wanted to take our kids to the park together and on shopping trips and have our children be close in their relationships with each other. Yes, we were that kind of family. We still are, but shopping trips prove to be more difficult when you are about a thousand miles apart. I suppose pictures are the next best thing to actually being there, so here you go.

The girls and I go for walks regularly. There are a couple of ranches near by and we usually go check out the horses. The horses have only been near our side of the fence once though, so we don't have pictures of them yet. Sometimes Hope likes to push her stuffed animals in the grocery cart instead of riding her bike. Today may have been the last shopping cart trip though because the wheels have stopped turning and Hope doesn't like to put a lot of effort into pushing a non-willing buggy. :)

As soon as Noah got home on Friday he and Hope started right where they left off the last weekend Noah was home. Noah likes for me to save diaper boxes so that he can make things out of them. This weekend he made armor and a little sword for Hope. He is so great about including her in his play.

I love Hope's "deer in the headlights" look in the top right picture.

Hope and Eden are always so curious about what he is doing and follow him everywhere. I love it. Noah and Hope kept telling each other how much they missed each other while Noah was at his dad's house. Is there ever a better moment as a parent than hearing your children express their love for one another?

Other noteworthy moments this weekend:

Eden found a new place to look at her books.

Noah reading a story to his sisters before family prayer.

If you look closely you can see that Eden has a huge smile on her face. She loves sitting with her big brother and sister.

"How can one read a story with no pictures in it?" - Alice In Wonderland

2011-09-29T17:09:00.002-06:00

Lately, I have been somewhat frustrated/concerned about my blogging friends because of their lack of blog updates. I realize that life gets busy and that my friends are probably out in the actual world (as opposed to the blogosphere) experiencing life. I also realized that I don't do so well at keeping my blog updated myself. For this I quickly rationalized, "no one reads it anyway" and "nothing happens here". Well, I can't really say about the first but as soon as I finished the latter sentence I knew it was not true. There is a ten year old, four year old and an 18 month old in this house, as well as a cat. Something is always happening here.

Just this morning Eden had decided to fill the toy grocery cart with all the t-shirts from dad's t-shirt drawer. For any of you who know Ben well, you will know that this does not mean a few shirts. There were probably about 20 or somewhere close to it, piled high in the little green buggy situated near the end of the hallway. Eden was happily and quite busily waddling to and fro carrying armfuls of shirts. I was trying to make myself look like an actual human being in the bathroom so I decided to let her finish making her mess and I would pay for it, I mean, clean it up later. Soon though, Hope randomly decided to push the cart over spilling the contents throughout the hallway. Eden was devastated to see all her hard work disrespected by being spewn about the floor (much like mommy was when she saw the many, many, many once nicely folded t-shirts in piles all over the house). Eden began complaining saying bits and pieces of words-some actual, some made up. Her tone was obvious though, she was not happy with her sister and she was telling me all about it.

That was just one of a few events from this morning. I didn't get a picture of it because I didn't think anyone would care to hear about it. But look you just sat through and read an entire post about it. :)

***P.S. I just want to clarify, that although the tone of this post my be sarcastic and indicate some level of frustration with the messes that my children make that in no way means that I do not love my children or love being a mother. I may include this disclaimer in all future posts...I haven't decided yet. ***

Twinkle Twinkle - Abracadabra!

2011-09-29T16:41:00.002-06:00

Several weeks ago when Noah and I went to Lagoon, Ben stayed at home to take care of the girls in between working from home.....and apparently, doing crafts. This is what he did, spur of the moment, all on his own. I thought that maybe he saw the idea on one of the craft idea sheets at the craft store, but he said he came up with it. This man is a genius.

He took the girls to Michael's (I think, it might've been Hobby Lobby) and let them each pick out what would go on top. When I first saw the wands, I thought that the sunshine wand was for Hope since she has been our Sunshine since day ONE. But I guess she picked the heart and Eden actually picked the sunshine.

At first, Hope would swing her wand in the air and say a mess of words. I think it took about 24 + hours to realize that she was trying to say "Abracadabra".

Eden still sings "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" every time she see the wand.

Noah thought these were pretty cool too. He asked Ben if he could make him one. :) Muffin also enjoys watching the ribbons fly through the air and every once in a while he'll swat his furry little paw at them.

Does anyone ever get sick of me bragging about what an amazing/talented/smart man I am married to? I suppose if you do you can keep it to yourself. :}

Coloring & Preschool

2011-09-23T17:28:00.001-06:00

Eden has a new love for coloring. Surprisingly, most of the time she colors intently, holding the crayon near perfectly and leaning in close to the paper as if she is considering carefully where to put her marks. For the rest of the time she is sticking crayons in her mouth and either sucking on them or chewing them to pieces. She reminds me a lot of Noah when he was her age. He would sit for long periods (for an 18 month old) and draw or color. Looking at his art you can see how he has nurtured his creative gift over the years. It is amazing. So perhaps little miss Eden will be another artist in our family.

Hope enjoys coloring as well, but not like the other kids. She cares nothing for staying inside the lines, or even finishing the object she's coloring. She's content to scribble her crayon around the page for a minute or so, but Hopie is really more interested in following Noah around and singing songs.
She can now write her name and I am helping her with preschool activities which she is very excited about. Everyday she asks me, "Can we do preschool stuff?" Rememer that time, when you were excited to learn? You know, it's right before you get to be about 8 years old and realize that sometimes learning is difficult and not as much fun as finishing patterns and tracing lines. Below is a sample of her work.

Noah's 10th Birthday Party - Zelda

2011-09-19T15:30:00.005-06:00

***Let me preface this by saying that I feel a little guilty about posting Noah's birthday (which isn't really until Wednesday) before posting Hope's (which was August 5th). My only excuse is that all her bday pics are on Ben's work laptop and we keep forgetting to transfer them. No need to worry! It is one of hundreds of tasks on my mental "to do list" that is swimming wildly in my head. I'll make the post sooner or later.***

The planning for the party began exactly one week ago. Why? You ask. Simply because I have been so preoccupied that I didn't realize how quickly time was flying and that in order to have a celebration for Noah and his friends it would've had to have been last weekend. First thing I did was get on Facebook and ask for help. "How do I turn Noah's party into a life-size video game?" My ever witty brother soon answered, "Fill his room with bats and have him kill them with a boomerang." Once I finished laughing, I realized that I could do that to some extent; I would just find a pinata. This was the first idea for the party. Other siblings and mommy dearest gave me awesome ideas and called me several times trying to help. I can honestly say that this party would have been a complete disaster or never would have happened if it weren't for my family and Ben. So to them, THANK YOU!

The kids all arrived together, which was both a relief and weird. A relief because they were about ten minutes late and my heart started hurting thinking about the possibility of everyone being a no-show to my child's birthday party. Weird, because....it was just weird that they all showed up at the same time. First, I explained that this was a Zelda themed party and asked if anyone was familiar with the game. More relief...they were all familiar. I handed them each their homemade drawstring bags which contained a compass, a rupee, and an ocarina. Pretty proud of myself for sewing the bags. This was my second sewing project and granted they didn't turn out perfect, they were recognizably a bag. Next the kids told me whether they wanted red or blue potion which was funnelled into an a cool little potion bottle. Brian and Autumn helped with the dispensing of the potion since I was making a huge mess. Thanks guys! They also got a slice of pizza and then they all ate and Noah told them about his many adventures with playing Legend of Zelda.

Once everyone was full the adventure began. I gave them each a Bremen mask which Ben and I made from a mask, a feather boa, spray paint and a sharpie. I think I had to tie just about every one's mask on, as you can see from one of the pics they were having some difficulty doing it themselves.

The first dungeon was Skulltulah's House. They needed to wear their masks as they ventured through the big spider web so that they could rescue bugs from the web. To open the gate to Skulltulah's house they had to play a song on their ocarina.

Dodongo's Cavern was next. I explained that they would find their power bracelets by killing the bat. Noah went last and after a couple of whacks candy and prizes...and power bracelets went flying!

The power bracelets had to be worn in order to accomplish the next task, which was target practice with bombs at Arbiter's Ground. I filled enough water balloons for each kid to get two bombs and they took turns throwing their bombs at the target (which Ben made to look like the Triforce) until their bombs exploded. One of Hope's bombs was exceptionally strong and survived many many throws at the Triforce. Finally daddy threw it way up in the air and when it fell it exploded and all the kids thought the grass crater that it left was very cool.

I don't know what was so cool about it, or why I felt the need to share the picture of the grass crater, but there you have it.

Caleb also had a resilient bomb. In the bottom right corner you can see Brian showing Caleb how to throw his bomb way up in the air.

The last "dungeon" was City in the Sky. Ben placed boards around the yard and dug a trench in the sandbox. The kids had to collect all the boards and build a bridge across the trench to get to the Triforce (the cake). However, I didn't communicate my intentions well to Ben before he dug the trench and the objective got a little lost. The kids still had fun though and I am just relieved that we were able to pull it off in a week.

Next, we sang Happy Birthday and had birthday cake. I was disappointed with how the cake turned out, but it was a learning experience and when Noah first saw it his face lit up and he said "Awesome!" That made me feel good because I thought it looked like a mess.

Last was presents. He got a race track and a couple of cars for the track, an AirHog rocket, and a Nerf gun with darts. From Uncle Brian's family, Brian's old comic books which Noah thought was amazing and kept making comments about how old they were.

It was a great party and hopefully a very memorable one for Noah. I have decided that these kind of parties will only occur on my children's 5th, 10th, 13th and 16th birthdays. With a big celebration for their baptisms around their 8th....but that doesn't count since it is technically not a bday party. They can have family parties in between and dare I say I am excited for the next "big" bday party. Which will be next August for Hope's 5th birthday! I think I will give myself the entire year to plan and prepare for it instead of just five days. :)

***This picture was after he opened the present from gpa Bosley, a laptop and a wireless mouse from Aunt Cheryl's family and a laptop case from our family.***

Happy Birthday Noah! You are LOVED!!!

Finger Paint

2011-09-09T22:30:00.000-06:00

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago. I have been pretty distracted lately, so I apologize to the few of you who read this blog. Anyway, we decided to bust out the finger paints one day and this is what happened. Hope enjoyed it, but she really didn't like getting messy and would run to wash her hands every couple of minutes.

Eden thought that making a squishy colorful mess was great fun. Of course she does this many times a day with things other than finger paint.

She had stuck the purple paint in her ear and it took several days to get it out entirely. So long as she had fun, right? :) This is where she ended up shortly after though.

There was a funny colored ring around the tub afterwards. It reminded me of The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, when the cat leaves a pink ring in the tub after eating cake in it.

Stay tuned. More posts coming!

Noah's Lagoon Day

2011-08-18T13:06:00.002-06:00

Since Noah was unable to be with the family when SirsiDynix had their Lagoon Day, Ben and I decided that Noah could have his own special Lagoon Day. Originally, Ben had planned on taking the day off work so he could go with Noah, but work got in the way, so Noah had to settle for mom.
This is Noah's last week of summer vacation and staying at mom's house, so I am so grateful we got to spend all day just the two of us.

Noah and I both agree that Wicked was by far the best ride. We both also liked the Roller Coaster (the old rickety white one) and rode that one twice. The first time we went through the line there was a little family of raccoons exploring the roof and looking might freaked out about the crowd. In retrospect I wish I'd have gotten a video of it cause it was cute and so weird to raccoons roaming Lagoon.

P.S. Icee's are one of the greatest things EVER invented.

A Mosaic for Noah

2011-08-12T11:05:00.001-06:00

A few years ago I did these collages for the blog and Noah decided he wanted to do another one, with more input from him. The first one I did I just guessed at what I should put. This time around the answers are all him. Here goes.

1) What's your name? Noah
2) Favorite food? Beef Stroganoff
3) Where are you from? Salt Lake
4) What is your favorite color? Orange
5) Who is your celebrity crush? Sakura
6) What is your favorite book? A Wrinkle in Time
7) What is your dream vacation? Italy
8) What is your favorite dessert? Lemon bars
9) What do you want to be when you grow up? US Marine
10) What is your favorite painting? Naruto
11) One word to describe you? Courage
12) What is your nickname? No dog

***Stay tuned for posts about Hope's 4th Birthday and our first family vacation!!!***

Do You Smeeeellllllllll What Eden Is Cookin?

2011-07-17T13:05:00.001-06:00

We've got quite a little wrestler on our hands, and I'm sure her daddy is proud since WWE is one of his favorite things. And, Eden seems to always be the victor no matter her opponent's size.

Swimming

2011-07-01T16:40:00.000-06:00

Before I lost an organ we did manage to go swimming a few times at a local pool. It is a nice swimming pool with a huge kiddie area, a separate deep pool and two water slides.

I took Eden once and obviously had no hands to take pictures of that outing. We'll have to take Ben with us next time and take more pictures...and everything is always more fun with daddy anyway.

While Mom's Away

2011-07-01T16:34:00.001-06:00

This month has been filled with sickness. In a previous post I mentioned that Hope and Ben had Strep and Eden had a stomach flu. A couple of weeks ago I had a gall bladder attack and our family, minus Noah, ended up at the E.R. at about 2 AM. I was sure they were going to send me home and tell me it was just really bad indigestion, so I was quite shocked with then doctor told me my "gall bladder had turned against me." Her exact words. And that is what it felt like, like it was trying to destroy me from the inside out. I ended up spending a few days in the hospital recovering from a cholecystectomy and an ERCP. I went home for a few days and then back to the ER with some complications and stayed another couple of days in the hospital.
It all seems like a big blur to me, but the world kept spinning outside of my pain medicine induced sleepy hospital room. Here is what the kids and Ben did while I was gone.

Much thanks to Ben for holding our family together as he always does! My superman!

Splish Splash

2011-06-09T14:16:00.000-06:00

I will be the first to say that the last two weeks, which happen to be the first two weeks of Noah's summer vacation, have sucked. Noah started out with a cough, Hope got strep, Eden had a stomach flu and now Ben possibly has strep. Despite the many encounters with high fevers, vomit, diarrhea, amoxicillin and just plain miserable children, we have had a few good moments so far this summer.

Top center left shows Eden making her surprised face when the water would fall on her. She loved it. We are all looking forward to when everyone feels better and we can start doing the really good stuff.
Next week hopefully we'll have some pictures to share from an actual pool.

The Park

2011-06-04T16:08:00.000-06:00

Noah is amazed that I took so many pictures during our 45 minute excursion to the park. I am just trying to document better and I am sure he will appreciate it when he's older. If not, his wife and children will, right? I know my dad will have something to say about that. :) Look at how many adorable pictures I took in just 45 minutes! Eden was especially thrilled to be able to go down the slide with the help of her big brother, Noah and Hope is so happy to have her best friend, Noah, here everyday for the summer (so is mommy).

Old Friends

2011-05-28T09:47:00.001-06:00

My good friend from High School recently had a birthday celebration and invited a bunch of her old friends. The good thing about this is that they were my old friends too!!! I am so glad I was able to make it to the get together. I had a great time!

Michelle was my best friend senior year and a couple of years following high school. I have so many awesome memories of our friendship: code names, the fairytale story we wrote for English class (which to my devastation I've misplaced), silly notes with misspelled words, late nights and long talks,"our boys" ( I think we had a couple sets), the huge blood blister I got on my foot from walking/running barefoot to your house after I found out about my parents, and all of those very creative little poems that we referred to as jingles that we would leave for our friends and cute waiters, Club Omni, Pizza Hut in the middle of a school day, Dirty Dancing quotes, and all those songs we loved to sing at the top of our lungs in the car. I love you dearly and I hope I never forget those times!

Heather and I have been great friends since we were 12 years old! She was my first friend when my family moved to Utah. Sleepovers, Newsies, Alex and Aaron...need I say more?, lip syncs, cheer tryouts, parties at my house, letters to and from California, quoting you from 6th grade..."kiss off", chasing our neighbor Colt around the cul-de-sac, mean notes in junior high, sharing lockers, the time you fell off the handrail outside the junior high and fell right on your face. You just kept crying and saying "I don't know, I don't know". Country Apple lotion from Bath & Body works, living with Bill and Tamra, taking missionary prep. Running into you years later at a graduation at UVSC....We had lots of good times, lots of bad times and lots of in between times. I've loved and cherished you through them all!

Marci, unfortunately I don't know you very well. But you are lovely and I look forward to getting to know you more during our future girl's nights. :)

Karlee, a fellow Viking swimmer with whom I share an "orthodontic bond". No pun intended. I have only a few memories of you, like the swim team bus and finding out that you had missing adult teeth just like me!!! I have to admit that I was a little intimidated by you because I always felt like you were just too cool for me. The feathers in your hair a couple of weeks ago just proves it. :) I look forward to getting to know you better too.

Megan....dancing queen and crazy, sexy, cool fellow swimmer. Club Omni, Stake Dances, "Crushed Eye-liner", misunderstood tissues falling to the floor, your "boy crazy but feet always on the ground" attitude (I'll explain later if you want). You are beautiful, wonderful and smart and I've always loved being around you!

Thanks for reminding me who I was way back then ladies! And thanks for a great night!

Where We've Been....

2011-05-24T12:17:00.000-06:00

Be Back Soon.....

Happy Birthday Eden!!!

2011-03-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

Eden turned ONE year old on March 5!!! I can't believe it's already been a year. It has definitely been a tough couple of years, first with the miscarriage, and then getting pregnant right away and the very difficult pregnancy and the EXTREMELY traumatic birth and the fact that Eden was not a happy baby for about the first 8 months of her life. She just didn't feel good or couldn't get used to her little body. She wanted to be held constantly, even while sleeping(which she did very little of at night). Once she started crawling she got a little happier and it's been better and better ever since. She and Hope are slowly but surely creating a great friendship and she and Noah have always been great together. He asks if he can hold her and likes to play with her and has that awesome look of love in his eyes when he looks at her.

I still don't want to go into details about her birth but to be brief; I dilated from a 5 to a 10 in about 60-90 seconds while my epidural wasn't working correctly. Eden's precious little face was bruised from coming down the birth canal so fast and then she was having a little trouble breathing right at first. The placenta wouldn't deliver...so it had to be yanked and then there was still a piece left and I wouldn't stop bleeding for several minutes.....*sigh* my midwife finally got the remaining placenta and gave me like 3 shots to stop the bleeding which it finally did as they were discussing if they should take me to the OR. Whew. Poor Ben was traumatized as well and all the doctors and nurses were saying they couldn't believe how fast it all happened. I remember being so surprised that a human being could survive that kind of pain. It took me a couple of days just to get over the trauma of it and start to heal physically.

Anyway, it was a long hard journey, but we got an angel out of it and here are so pics of her birthday celebration.

Playing outside with Noah and Hope.

Opening presents and reading the instruction manuals.

BIRTHDAY CAKE!!!

Getting to Know My Valentine

2011-02-16T11:46:00.003-07:00

Meet Tux, the newest Maxwell! This cute kitty was one of my Valentine's Day presents from Ben this year. The first night we had him he was pretty timid and didn't come out from under the couch for quite a while (until I moved the couch and pulled him out from under it, actually). By the second night he was warming up quite nicely, but still a little shy. Muffin was quite wary as well. Ben said it looked like Muffin was trying to decide if he was supposed to eat Tux or not. :) By now, though, Tux and Muffin are starting to play a little and Tux has found great friends in Noah, Hope and Eden. Tux will go right up to them and try to play. I knew that Noah would be great with him, but I was a little concerned about Hope. I didn't know if she would squeeze the love right out of him or not, but she is surprisingly gentle. He loves to snuggle and I am so enjoying watching his feisty personality come out from hiding. I know that Muffin will love having a new friend too as he has seemed a little lonely since Sassy disappeared. Anyway, welcome Tux! We love you already!

Here Hope is generously sharing daddy doggy, mommy doggy and baby doggy with Tux.

Look ALike?

2011-02-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

These are pics of Hope and Eden about the same age wearing the same shirt. Do you think they look alike?

Cruisin'

2011-02-02T13:55:00.000-07:00

What is the first thing you do when you wake up? Occasionally, this is what happens at our house.

Laundry baskets become creative vehicles of play,shrieking laughter and stuffed animals are strewn about. Check out how many Noah has. I think he is getting ready to try to put them in the basket with his sisters.

Also, notice Hope giving Eden a kiss...a rare moment, indeed.

Pajamas...messy hair...messy house...lots of fun.

What Happened Here?

2011-01-26T14:54:00.001-07:00

Here's what happened. We were all sitting down to dinner...everyone was clean and Ben was giving small bites of spaghetti to Eden on a little spoon. Soon Hope required my attention in the restroom to clean up a mess that I am not going to talk about....*sigh* :) and I ended up giving her a quick bath while everyone was finishing dinner. After she was clean I went back into the kitchen and this is what I saw.

My response: What. Happened. Here. Of course I quickly realized that I should be grateful that she was eating as it is nearly impossible to get Hope to eat anything. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Eden will continue to have the same appetite as a child that she does as a baby. We are really only beginning to introduce "grown-up" food to her so she's never had anything likes this before.

I'm thinking she likes it.

Remembering What Matters

2011-01-19T11:39:00.001-07:00

Lately I've been distracted with the insignificant things in life.

I'm trying to fix that by focusing on what really matters...

A New Year

2011-01-14T13:12:00.000-07:00

This new year is going to be full of beginnings and endings, and hopefully, they will all be happy ones!

The first, my sister and her family moved to Texas for employment opportunities. She is expecting her third child. She has girl and boy twins so she doesn't care which this baby is, but I think its a girl. :) She is due in August and I'm crossing my fingers that we'll get to take a family vacation to go see her family and my dad. I miss those babies something bad, and Hope and Noah miss their Aunt Shush, even little Eden sometimes acts as if she is looking for Faith and Elijah, her little buddies.

Ben will be getting his BS in Psychology in May, and perhaps starting a graduate program in the Fall, probably at the U. Last month he was promoted at work, it is a great opportunity for Ben and our family. The fact that he is employed right now is wonderful, I know many families are struggling with unemployment, so I am grateful that he has work, even if it's not in the career field he'd like, this is wonderful until he finishes Grad School.

My mom will be retiring April 1st and I'm so excited for her. My mommy dearest has always been my best friend and we've been blessed to have lived with her the past few years. She and my babies have an awesome relationship and I'm so thankful that they've had the opportunity to have that connection. Not to mention that she and Ben have formed a great friendship. After my mom retires she will be off to visit her dad for a while and start to make her rounds to visit her grand kids (we are all spread across the country).

Ben and I will be renting this house from my mom and getting it ready to sell so that she can enjoy her retirement and not worry with all the home improvement projects we'll be doing this year. I will try to get before and after shots of all the stuff we'll be doing around the house. That should be interesting. :)

Now that Eden is here, and will be turning 1 in March, I feel like our little family is complete, (at least for the next several years) and I'm so excited to start the next chapter: Hope and Eden starting school and other activities and watching Noah continue his journey of becoming the incredible person he is and just settling into our little family.

Sorry no pics this time, we got a new camera and until the new software is uploaded you'll just have to wait! ;)

Monkeyheads: New Items

2010-12-17T14:54:00.000-07:00

Monkeyheads: New Items

Monkeyheads: Pixie Dust Tutu

2010-11-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

Monkeyheads: Pixie Dust Tutu

Monkeyheads: Diamonds & Pearls Bracelet

2010-11-08T13:27:00.000-07:00

Monkeyheads: Diamonds & Pearls Bracelet

Monkeyheads: Lower Prices!

2010-11-06T15:30:00.000-06:00

Monkeyheads: Lower Prices!

Monkeyheads: The Trinket Bracelet

2010-10-31T19:50:00.000-06:00

Monkeyheads: The Trinket Bracelet

Monkeyheads: My First Pearls Bracelet

2010-10-29T22:42:00.000-06:00

Monkeyheads: My First Pearls Bracelet

He's 9

2010-10-28T15:55:00.001-06:00

Who is this kid and what did he do with my baby?

Monkeyheads: 50% OFF HALLOWEEN BRACELETS!

2010-10-25T11:43:00.000-06:00

Monkeyheads: 50% OFF HALLOWEEN BRACELETS!

Monkeyheads: New Bracelets in our Etsy Shop

2010-10-21T17:01:00.000-06:00

Monkeyheads: New Bracelets in our Etsy Shop

Monkeyheads: Bracelet Giveaway!!!

2010-10-14T20:50:00.000-06:00

Monkeyheads: Bracelet Giveaway!!!

Etsy

2010-10-12T13:37:00.000-06:00

Until things regulate on Monkeyheads blog we have set up shop here

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Monkeyheads

I would really appreciate my friends and family support in spreading the word! :) And, still checkout the blog for giveaways, but you must be a blog follower or make us a favorite on Etsy!

Look at Me! Look at Me!!!

2010-10-05T14:34:00.000-06:00

Check it out!!!

monkeyheadsboutique.blogspot.com

Posting new items all the time so check back often!!!

Hello Again

2010-09-10T23:37:00.007-06:00

Here's what the Maxwell's have been up to the past several months.

We've tried to introduce Eden to as many members of her family as possible...and she's loved every single one of them.

(Eden with Grandpa Maxwell, Aunt Donna, Grandma Jones and Aunt Whitney)

We took a couple trips to the Zoo.

Hope turned THREE!!!

And of course Ben made the most amazing cake ever - a sunshine in honor of Hope being our little sunshine who is ever singing "You Are My Sunshine". :)

Grandma Bosley rented a cabin at Sundance that we enjoyed for a few days.

Precious little Eden has proved to be quite a high maintenance child, so bear with me as I continue to update our blog. We have lots more to come, including Noah's 9th birthday post!!!

Finally

2010-03-13T18:32:00.006-07:00

Eden Lily

March 5, 2010 @ 2:51 pm

7 lbs 13 oz

20 1/2 in.

Frosty

2010-01-27T11:05:00.009-07:00

Ask me how much I enjoy the beautiful snow during these Utah winters. The answer is that I don't. It isn't that I don't want to participate in winter activities; I would love to learn how to ice skate and ski and spend the day sledding bringing my kids home to yummy mugs of hot chocolate. The first winter I spent here in Utah I learned that I have Raynaud's and being in the cold has since been quite painful for me. Once I had Noah I felt terrible about not being able to stand being in the cold because he was missing out on all the fun things he could do in the snow. I only need a few fingers to count how many times I have ventured out there with him. I am so grateful that now Noah has a step-dad and a sister that doesn't mind being out in the cold as much as I do.
Here are some pics of their sledding adventure.

Thanks Ben for being a good sport and taking the kids sledding!

Precious Babies

2010-01-23T17:54:00.004-07:00

Elijah and Faith Palea were born January 5, 2010. Both babies are healthy and strong and were able to come home with mom (Cheryl) after just a few days.

Welcome to our crazy family precious angels! Aunt Lindsey loves you!!!

Jingle All the Way!

2010-01-01T21:45:00.010-07:00

This Christmas was off to a slow start, with two pregnant women in their third trimester, one toddler, one stressed out husband rushing to finish finals and one wonderful mommy dearest trying to pick up everyone's slack. We didn't even get up all of our decorations until the week of Christmas, but that was when Noah was able to start his vacation, so I think it was a nice surprise for him to come home to all the pretty lights and ornaments.

My ever-talented Ben made this adorable table and chairs for Hope to enjoy her tea sets. I had a table similar to this when I was young and that is probably my most memorable childhood Christmas morning. Knowing Ben, I begged him several times to keep it simple and home-made looking. I know it was a struggle for him; I'm sure if I'd have let him he would have made a very fancy and detailed one for his little princess. It turned out perfect (just as I imagined) and little Hopie couldn't stop smiling about her tea table Christmas morning.

Noah is getting old enough now that Santa has a hard time delivering reasonably priced and useful gifts for him to enjoy. Luckily, everything came together at the last minute and Noah had plenty of pleasant surprises to unwrap. A couple of the presents are Harry Potter books. I am proud to say that my eight year old genius can read and actually understand those ridiculously thick books. :)

Noah has been the designated Santa for the past couple of Christmas mornings. He does a great job passing out all the presents. Ben labeled one of my presents To: A Wonderful Mommy and when Noah read that he delivered it promptly to grandma Bosley. :) See mom, all the years we've told you how wonderful you are, what better proof than that?
This is Noah delivering a gift to Aunt Cheryl.

This is Noah playing with an Alien guy from his Lego building set. I love his eyebrows in this picture.

Noah was set on catching Santa this year and finally after days of trying to convince him that Christmas would be a lot more fun if he just enjoyed the surprise he said he would wait till next year. Santa didn't want to risk it though so he piled gift boxes at Noah's bedroom door with a sign that said "Better luck next year". When Noah opened the door at 4:30 am all the boxes came crashing in on him. (They were empty so it didn't hurt).

After everyone finished unwrapping their presents Chef Ben made everyone a yummy omelet and pancake breakfast.

Thanks so much to grandpa Bosley who was Santa's helper this year and made this Christmas possible. Love you dad!

Noah and the Hobo Fairy

2009-11-10T11:09:00.004-07:00

A few weeks ago my mom was telling Noah a story about when she was a young girl and lived close to some train tracks. She told him that the hobos would knock at their door and her mom would have them sit on the porch and give them something to eat.

When Noah lost his second tooth he told me that we had to clean it really good cause the tooth fairies used the teeth as light bulbs to regenerate their electricity. There was a little bit of blood in the tooth that I couldn't get out and he told me that we could just give it to a "hobo fairy". It had been weeks since my mom's story and so it took me a minute to understand what he was saying. Then Noah wanted to make an envelope for the tooth and put a Reese cup with the tooth as a special surprise. Next he wrote a note that said:

"Please take this tooth to a hobo fairy. And please take this Reese's to a hobo fairy.

To: Hobo Fairy From: Noah Please talk to me."

Of course I couldn't resist having the hobo fairy write him a note back. Ben used his fancy handwriting skills and made the paper look old and singed around the edges and I wrote a little thank you poem. Noah was so excited to see that the hobo fairy had actually left him a note!

This child never ceases to amaze me with his awesome imagination.

Trick-or-Treat

2009-11-10T11:05:00.001-07:00

Tea Party

2009-10-26T11:53:00.003-06:00

Uncle Mike and Uncle Mark sent Hope the cutest little tea set I have ever seen. Hope absolutely LOVES it, and will spend hours rearranging the cups and using the tiny spoons to scoop from the sugar pot and creamer. In the pics below, she was having a tea party with Muffin. Thanks Uncle Mike and Uncle Mark!!!!

Muffin is always very interested in what the kids are playing with, but I think he was a little confused with this one.

Baby Maxwell

2009-10-22T13:02:00.004-06:00

Ben got his wish. He's always wanted two little girls, and yesterday we found out that the baby I am currently "building" is in fact, a girl! So far she looks perfect and healthy and it was such a relief to actually be able to see that instead of just trying to believe it.

Daddy was in charge of picking her name and he did a great job...

Meet Evelyn Lily Maxwell!

Scarecrow Festival

2009-10-20T17:09:00.009-06:00

Saturday we spent the evening at Thanksgiving Point's Scarecrow Festival. Noah went on several of the inflatable slides, but Hope didn't want to part with her shoes long enough to give it a try. Just as well though, because there were a ton of kids that I'm sure would've trampled her.

We saw lots of pretty fall decorations and lots of pumpkins.

Noah got his face painted like a skull and afterward didn't understand why all the other kids would stare at him as he walked by.

It was nice to get out of the house and celebrate the Autumn season (its my favorite), but after all that walking it was also nice to be home.

PUMPKINS!

2009-10-19T12:27:00.006-06:00

This year Ben planted some pumpkins in his garden. They turned out beautiful and we got about 12 pumpkins total. Friday night we decided it was time for some carving, so after gathering my courage (I've never done it myself before, and the inside of the pumpkin is one of nature's most disgusting things) Noah and I picked out a couple of pumpkins and went to work. I thought about letting him have a go at actually carving it, but after seeing the knife in his hand I decided to go with my gut and have Ben carve his pumpkin.

After Hope saw my reaction to the inside of the pumpkin she kept saying "Yucky, huh?" I tried to get it on video, but didn't happen.

Here's the finished pumpkins.

Happy Birthday Ben!

2009-10-08T11:29:00.002-06:00

Thirty years ago today my husband was born. Ben is truly one of the smartest people I know (actually he may be the smartest) and the most talented. He is one of the few people on this earth that could not only do anything they wanted, but do it extremely well.

I don't necessarily believe in soul mates. I believe that few people have someone that they were actually meant to be with and that all the rest simply find someone to get through this life with. I don't know if Ben and I started out as soul mates, but I do know that somewhere along life's craziness that we were divinely guided to each other.

Happy Birthday Ben, I love you!!!

"Today I'm Eight"

2009-09-28T16:23:00.007-06:00

Noah was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on Saturday September 26, 2009. His father, Josh, was able to baptize and confirm him. I asked my mom and Cheryl to sing "Today I'm Eight" which is a song that my mom wrote for my brother Brian's baptism. It was a wonderful day. I am so proud of Noah.

Noah with his father waiting for the program to begin.

Noah with his cousins Liberty and Christian.

Keola, Mom and Ben and Hope.

Noah sitting by grandpa Perkins. Grandpa Perkins gave a talk on baptism.

Me and Noah. Doesn't he look like a little angel all dressed in white?

Noah with Uncle Brian and Uncle Keola.

Congratulations Noah!

Noah Turns 8!!!

2009-09-28T16:07:00.009-06:00

My little monkey is eight years old. I can't believe it. The Saturday before his birthday Ben and I took him to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Later that night the whole family met at Pirate Island in Orem for presents, pizza and games.

Sunday we celebrated his baptism with cake and a special present from mom and daddio (Ben).

Remembering Summer

2009-09-02T12:16:00.009-06:00

Summer started out great...and then things got crazy. We did manage to fit in some fun things, but luckily we all like each other enough that even just hanging out can be exciting.

We visited the little park a couple blocks from our house.

The planetarium at Gateway.

The Discovery Museum at Gateway.

Hope did her best to help daddy with his homework.

Check out the way Hope is looking at her big bro.

Noah rode his cool chopper bike.

Gma Bosley made a cool newspaper hat that the kids quite enjoyed.

The kids built forts with couch cushions and anything else that they could find.

And we could always count on Ben to provide some entertainment.

We got a wading pool to cool off those hot summer days. Cousin Caleb was able to enjoy it too.

We spent an afternoon catching the many grasshoppers in our backyard.

Now summer vacation is over and Noah has started school again. Luckily he really likes his new teacher and is already making new friends.

Pictures A Little Late

2009-08-27T14:41:00.006-06:00

These are pics from Hope's birthday party. We just celebrated as a family but Hope enjoyed it all the same.

Ben made this yummy cake from scratch with home-made bavarian cream filling!

Happy Birthday Hope!

2009-08-05T14:55:00.006-06:00

Hope is 2 today! I can't believe it.

Here's a few choice pics from the last year.

Pretty Toes

2009-07-20T22:22:00.004-06:00

Hope got so excited when she saw the silver nail polish and I told her we were going to paint her toes. I don't paint them very often, but I really should because - LOOK HOW CUTE!!! Actually, I couldn't get a very good picture of them because our camera is not that great, but you get the general idea.

Seriously?

2009-07-17T15:55:00.005-06:00

A few days ago, as I was snooping around blogs, I happened upon a post titled "Lazy Day" in which the blogger was confessing that she had shirked her daily chores for ONE day and that the next morning she found that ignoring housework for 24 hours is not worth the terrible mess that she woke up to.

Seriously?

Then I remembered a few years ago a friend of mine talking about her cleaning schedule. For example, she cleaned her bathrooms on Tuesdays and Fridays, and she vacuumed at least once a day.

Seriously?

Okay, I admit that during my first marriage our apartment (when we weren't living with his parents) was spotless. This is because I use cleaning as a defense mechanism. When I get upset or irritated or angry I scrub my stress away.

So now, I would like to blame my messy house on the fact that I am a happily married woman. Ben, those dirty dishes and the muddy kitchen floor is a product of our love and admiration for each other. :) Okay, I can't blame my happy relationship for my disgusting abode, I suppose I will have to assume responsibility for that.
Don't get me wrong, I totally appreciate having a clean home, I am just wondering...

Seriously,

am I the only person I know that does not clean her house everyday? What do you think, should I make a cleaning schedule for myself?

Tennis

2009-07-16T14:34:00.003-06:00

Noah is taking tennis lessons this summer. These pictures were of his first lesson. His instructor said that he improved a lot in only 30 minutes! Of course, I was surprised at how well he was doing at the beginning of the lesson.

I can't wait to see how well he does at the end of summer.

Traditions

2009-07-07T20:50:00.004-06:00

Growing up my family had very few traditions so I find myself wondering what to carry on to my own family during holidays and such. This year for the 4th, we really didn't do anything because this has been a mad house trying to prepare for Cheryl's wedding and the company that is coming from out-of-town. Ben and I did get a few fireworks at the very last minute for Noah and him to light in the backyard, but that was about the extent of it.

Last year, I tried to get a little crafty and make something festive for the 4th. Turns out no one in my family likes strawberry shortcake...including me.

So here is my question for the blogging world - What are your traditions?

Fort

2009-07-02T15:12:00.004-06:00

What do you get when you mix a bored 7 year old, a fussy 2 year old, a desperate mother, no car and a bunch of card tables? FORTS! We've been collecting card tables for Cheryl's wedding so the kids and I decided to make good use of them and build a fort. It provided hours of entertainment and a cool place to have lunch, and even Muffin enjoyed it.

It's What Fun Is!

2009-07-02T15:02:00.006-06:00

Last Saturday Ben's work had Lagoon Day. Sadly, Noah was with his dad so we are planning another trip so that we can go as a family. This was sort of a practice run for Hope. You'll notice she is wearing two different outfits. This is because the seemingly innocent Odyssey ride got her all wet. Okay, technically it was my fault because I was "in control" of the fish we were riding in.

They have a lot of cute new toddler rides and Hope did much better than expected. The only time she got upset was at the very end before we started to leave and we tired to squeeze one last ride in. The moment we sat down she started crying. Poor thing was so tired.

This pic was taken just a few minutes after we got in the car.

Now that Hope has had initial contact with rollercoasters, when we go with Noah they will both be able to enjoy all the great rides!!!

You Okay?

2009-06-29T17:15:00.004-06:00

Last week Noah collapsed on the couch cushions that he was using to build his fort. Hope is always gravely concerned when he gets hurt, so she rushed right over to him. Of course, he was just playing around, and I got a cute video too.

Shopping at Gateway

2009-06-26T11:58:00.002-06:00

Dad-e-o

2009-06-21T23:03:00.004-06:00

Happy Father's Day Ben! You are a wonderful father,I couldn't ask for a better dad for my children. We all love you TONS!

Reminiscing

2009-06-19T17:30:00.000-06:00

May

2009-06-05T18:52:00.009-06:00

May was a crazy month. I know that some of you are wondering about my pregnancy blog. I deleted it because I am no longer pregnant. At my first doctor's appointment we found that the baby had stopped growing at 6 weeks and 1 day so I had a D&C the day after the appointment. It was pretty rough for both Ben and I, but we are feeling much better. We feel that that little spirit will join us again when there is a body that is sufficient for her.

On a lighter note, a lot of great things happened too! Here are a few highlights.

Ben has been building a playhouse in the backyard that the kids are very excited about. The pic below was taken at the beginning of May, and Ben has changed the design since. I will post a newer pic soon.

Noah had an art show at school and graduated from 1st grade!!! Where did my baby go?

Ben and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary. Every year we get a cake from Granite Bakery the same place that did our wedding cake. YUMMY!

Hope had her first sucker. I know that 21 months is a long time to wait for a sucker, but I have a choking phobia, so I don't care.

I refinished some picture frames for Hope's room. I still haven't put them up, but they turned out a lot better than I thought they would.

I was actually trying to get a picture of Elmo, and the kids got in the way. :)

Noah will be spending most of the summer here (YAY!!), so I am sure that I will be posting lots and lots of pictures soon.

Easter

2009-05-11T21:24:00.004-06:00

Better late than never to blog about Easter! Noah displayed his incredible artistic side once again and made a Pikachu egg.

Hopie got a big fluffy Easter bunny that she uses as a huge pillow.

We had a great Easter!

Spring Break Wahoo!!!

2009-05-04T03:34:00.006-06:00

Noah got to spend Spring Break with his mom this year. Grandpa Jeff was in town to start it off and we had a great time visiting. After grandpa's visit we just lazed around for the whole week and took it easy. I felt kind of bad about it, but if you were to ask Noah what he wants to do on a vacation it would be to play video games and he did plenty of that. Every now and then I told him he needed a break and to go play outside. He would for a while...

Noah is one of the top readers in his class!!! He likes to read to Hope, and since she loves books too, she is more than happy to listen.

There was lots of just chillin out, which is what we do best.

My Little Smarty Pants

2009-04-01T21:30:00.007-06:00

This post is solely to brag on Noah.

I got Noah's report card last Friday and he has almost all 4's which is the highest possible. The lowest score he got was 3.25 in telling time and they just barely started learning that concept. I'm so proud of my little monkey.

Not only is he smart but he's super talented. He looked at the cover of his new Wii game to draw this picture. Come on....you know he's gonna be a famous artist one day! :)

You Belong in the Zoo

2009-03-26T12:26:00.006-06:00

Last Friday Ben took a half day off work and came with me to get Noah. We decided it was the perfect day for a trip to the zoo and now that Hope is a little older she might enjoy it as much as Noah would. Here are a few pics of our outing.

Noah would want to push Hope in the stroller every once in a while and when she would get out and start walking, of course, he wanted me to push him in the stroller.

Can I just make a quick comment about how bad the reptile/rodent house smells. Holy cow, I thought I was going to pass out! Thankfully, that part only lasted a few minutes and the rest of the day was a wonderful way to start the Spring season.

Give Said the Little Stream...ONE LEFT!!!!!!!

2009-03-04T21:53:00.004-07:00

The first THREE people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be a joke book, autographed picture of myself, handmade bag, or a little invention of my own! I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows?
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. Believe me... it may blow your mind!

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on your blog. The first 3 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did, win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Sounds like fun, right? So, let's play!

A Walk in the Park

2009-03-01T15:58:00.006-07:00

Spring is on the way, and Hope has discovered a love of the outdoors. Of course Noah has always loved being outside as long as he has someone to play with, so on Saturday we went to Nielsen's Grove Park and let the kids run around for a while.

Yes, we have swings in our backyard, but for some reason they aren't as fun as the ones at the park.

And yes, this is my child climbing on city property. :)

In Memory

2009-02-26T21:46:00.006-07:00

On February 23, 2001 my grandma passed away. She had been sick for several months, but it was still quite shocking to everyone. I think she was the kind of woman that everyone thought was invincible. She was truly the center of the Williams family and was a woman to aspire to be like. I didn't get to know her very well, and that has been one of only a few regrets that I have, never-the-less, she has touched my life in many ways. Here are a few of my favorite memories of her.

She referred to her purse as a "pocketbook".
Said pocketbook always smelled like Juicy Fruit gum.
And of course, she always had "chewin gum" handy.
She was always giving someone something.
She was quite sassy and there are a ton of stories to prove it.
Her favorite flower was the star lily and for that reason it has become mine. Every time I see one, I think of her. That is why my profile picture is one of lilies.
When she came to visit she always had Wal-Mart brand peanut butter cups and peanuts (although, I'm sure those were more for gpa).
She was never wrong ;)
She liked the National Enquirer (thought it to be true) and one year that she was visiting for Christmas I put one in her stocking.
She gave me a big white teddy bear for my baptism.
She always tried to make me feel comfortable. (Because we lived in another state, I was always shy and withdrawn when we would visit.)
When I lived in Myrtle Beach we had a tornado drill while I was in school. I remember being huddled down in the school hallway and crying because gma and gpa were driving to see us and I was worried they'd get caught in the tornado.
Gma had a quilt shop once and made me a purple quilt with my name stitched in it.
She had a great smile.

Pictured above is my mom and gma, Peggy Williams.

February 22, 2007, Allie passed away. Allie had been my sister Cheryl's dog for 13 yrs. My mom and I went to pick out a dog for Cheryl's Christmas present one year, and instead we found another member of our family. Not only was she one of the most adorable doggies ever, but she loved everyone and every animal. If someone new came into the house, she treated them as if they were there to see her, and greeted them with kisses, kisses and more kisses. If another animal came into the house, she wanted to be it's mother and gave kisses, kisses and more kisses. When Allie passed, my mom, myself and Cheryl were with her. We all felt that grandma was there especially to greet Allie and welcome her to heaven. I'm sure there were kisses, kisses and more kisses!

Cabin Fever

2009-02-20T11:52:00.007-07:00

It seems like everyone I know is itching for warmer weather and we are no different. This is what cabin fever has brought the Maxwell House to.

I guess a little crazy never hurt anyone.

Six Things That Make Me Happy

2009-02-15T20:13:00.002-07:00

I was tagged by Lacy. You are supposed to list 6 things that make you happy, so here goes.

1) My children's laughter.
2) Ben's touch.
3) Puppies & kittens. :)
4) THE OFFICE - I love love love this show. If ever I am in a bad mood all I need is an episode of The Office.
5) Hope dancing.
6) A good potsticker.

Link to the person who has tagged you. Write down six things that make you happy. Post the rules, tag six others and let them know you did it. Then tell the person when your entry is complete. I tag Tiffany, Britney, Michelle, Tara, Brian and Natalie.

Video Game Craze!!!

2009-01-19T20:20:00.003-07:00

So this is my progress with heading off another child with a video game addiction. Not going great, but it sure is cute.

Fun in the Snow

2009-01-14T15:14:00.002-07:00

End of 2008

2009-01-14T14:47:00.005-07:00

I didn't realize until just last week that I had only taken a few pictures of Christmas. I was pretty disappointed, I suppose that is something I will have to make a priority for the new year.

Anyway, we all had a great Christmas and we were all spoiled rotten, as usual. Thanks to everyone who made this Christmas extra MERRY!!!

Grandma Verla's house is like going to a winter wonderland! She has a ton of great decorations and I can imagine how magical it must all seem to a child. The kids loved looking at all of the pretty festive things and especially enjoyed her singing stuffed animals.

Hope has a new fascination with oral hygiene. The other day daddy got her her first big girl toothbrush which features Elmo, one of her favorite characters. She is borrowing mom's in this photo though.

Noah is very proud of Hope's interest in video games. I, however, intend to nip this in the bud. Is that the right expression? :)

2008-12-08T15:35:00.001-07:00

I know I am biased because I am their mother, but man, I have beautiful children!

Gingerbread House Festival

2008-11-24T15:32:00.006-07:00

These are a couple of the amazing gingerbread houses that we saw at the Gingerbread House Festival at Thanksgiving Point.

Noah and Caleb decorating cookies.

We all agreed that this was the best part of the whole thing. On the way out the kids played in the leaves and you can see they had a great time.