I Love you Kyle

Eight Years together today!!!

"It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life. "

~Rita Rudner

I miss Sarah

It is so good to get out of your own zone sometimes. I just finished a book I would have never read on my own. It came highly recommended and I still wasn't too excited to read it. It just didn't seem like my kind of book. I muddled through at first - but halfway through I was gasping out loud. By yesterday I couldn't put it down, yet I was sad knowing the faster I read the sooner it would be over. There is one particular letter to Sarah from Jack that took my breath away. Every woman should have a love letter like that tucked away somewhere. I am lucky to have many tucked away from Kyle. Of all the gifts I have gotten from Kyle, if our house burned to the ground I would miss those letters the most. The author wrote the book based off her great-grandmothers journal. I would love to know if that letter was based off something real too.
So go and get this book and tell me what you think
"These is My Words" By Nancy Turner
Here is one review of it:
This rip-roaring yarn, the diary as page-turner, is based on Turner's great-grandmother's diary and covers 20 years in the life of a woman in the Arizona Territories at the end of the last century. Through these pages, we watch the spirited Sarah, unpolished but spunky at 17, improve both her grammar and her grace; come to terms with death and tragedy including Indian attacks, train robbers, and childhood disease; marry twice and love one man fiercely; birth and bury children; and keep a large cast of extended family in her heart and in her kitchen. Along the way, she examines her own feelings toward Indians, Mexicans, and folks from back east; learns to manage money by making and selling her own scented soap; and attracts the love of her life by besting a bully in a shooting match. The language is rich and fine, sounding true to its time without being precious.

I remembered something

So we have been trying extra hard to get the kids to pay attention somewhat during church - or at the very least realize that the people are at the podium teaching us. We started giving treats for remembering specific things people said during their talks. Last night we went over it again with them and had an impromptu family home evening about prophets. We were having stake conference with a special broadcast from the first presidency - there were extra goodies on the line if they remembered something the Prophet said. Immediately after the service before we were even out of the pew Benjamin says "OK mom I remember one thing Gordon B. Hinkley said"
"Oh that's great what do you remember?"
"he said Good Morning my beloved Brothers and Sisters"
"that's it Benjamin?"
"Yep I remember for sure he said that"
"do you remember anything else?"
"NO, why?"
sigh...

Dust Storm

We are at the tail end of a crazy wind/dust storm. We found two strips of shingles in our front and back yard. Looking out our back window at least 3/4 of the houses are missing some shingles. One neighbors fence blew down. It actually started at Ella's soccer game (which they won 8-1) but luckily we were home before the worst of it. I was scared for a while, garbled memories of the tornado I went through as a child came coming back. Tomorrow we will check out our roof (from a distance, not by going up there :)

One week of walking with no problems!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!

Hodge Podge

Mornings:
Good morning!! Lately I find this when I go into the girls room in the mornings. I thought I would nip Ella's escapades into the crib in the bud, she is a little rough on the thing climbing in, but Kyle said leave them alone and let them bond. And he was right every time if find Ella in the crib playing with Maiya its SO cute. Of course two hours later she is locking her out of the room but oh well.

Grumpy Bear:
Maiya has been so grumpy as of late. I hope its because she is not feeling well. If this is her new behavior in general I am in trouble. First off she wants me to hold her ALL the time. Not really to cuddle she just wants to be at eye level with me and in the middle of everything. She refuses to sit in the highchair, and if she does she won't eat anything. It goes beyond ignoring the food. She freaks out, throws it against the wall and does a horror movie impersonation if you try to bring the food to her mouth. Now she does want to eat what she finds in the pantry on her own. She brings things to everyone in the house does this grunt thing and expects said bag to be opened immediately! If its not cue major tantrum and the other newest behavior: hitting.

She is hitting everyone and everything. If you act hurt she will do this air kiss toward you and give you about three more seconds to do what she wants before she strikes again. Here is a picture of her hitting Ella two seconds after the sweet cute picture. Scolding her is a one way ticket to major breakdown. Which I know she needs - but it gets tiring so she gets away with it a lot more than she should. Oh no its happening, the third one is breaking me down!

Neighborhood kids:
So at first I viewed it as a positive that there are a lot of kids in the neighborhood. And deep down I know it probably is but I am getting a little tired of it. We have very uppity neighbors to our left and right with daughters Ella's age - that won't really let them play over here. Then there are boys Benjamin's age down the street and one street over that have no problems sending their kids over for hours at a time and I am a little too uppity to send my kids over to their house. So my afternoon consist of either six kids in my house or me walking the streets doing the awkward "do you mind if my kids play over at your house" thing, or my kids whining and fussing that I never let them play with their friends. UGGGHHH - It reminds me of the swing thing when the kids were smaller. At first I hated playgrounds that didn't have swings because the kids loved them so - but after HOURS probably days actually of swinging and owning a swing set ourselves I wished the kids had never laid eyes on one:)

Last but not least a late HAPPY MARDI GRAS - here is our homemade king cake!

My First Science Fair Project

Dang it!

I checked after watching the news this morning and we have an almost finished jar of 2111 peanut butter - lets hope none of us get salmonella!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17155561/

Vehicle life support no more...

Its gone - we exchanged the Chevy for some very expensive scheduled maintenance on Gracie. Our most awesome mechanic is a church member - he is donating his services to try to get the Chevy drivable for a very needy family and we got a new timing belt and water pump in the Toyota. I am grateful - It was a very fair trade and I am glad we are done with it actually. Having one car is solidifying my resolve for frugal living. I say with only slight hesitation I have gone 100% into cloth diapers. I have mastered the correct number of layers for night and nap wear. The final frontier is out and about, but we won't get out much with one car:). I have made one trip requiring a diaper change and armed with leftover newspaper bags for the dirty diaper it went just fine. Now I have one issue with saving money on grocery shopping. Almost all books and websites I read on saving grocery money tout once a month grocery shopping. The idea is stocking up on sale items, bulk buying, and eliminating numerous trips and therefore extra money for miscellaneous junk. I get the point but I can't honestly picture it. For one I wouldn't know where to begin on getting everything for a month. It would probably require a lot of time at once. I don't think I am organized enough - but if it would save more I might try.
Here is a once a month shopping family:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/story?id=127871&page=1

The other tips so far have been a big help - I should give this one a try too. How often do the rest of you shop? Do you think going less often would save you money?

Happy Birthday Aunt Beth

Love you!!!

The Good then the Terrible

So my walking continues - I enjoy the company a lot and I have had more energy. But (there is always a but...) First the good - the itching is getting better!! yah! In fact Monday I barely itched at all. I was so excited I decided to do some extra walking on our off days - well I don't know if it was because of walking everyday and picking up the pace a little or what but I think I have shin splints in just my right shin. It hurt bad yesterday - but I didn't want to give in and not walk this morning so off I trudged and about 10 minutes into our walk I could feel the front of my lower leg start to tighten. I started stopping about every block and stretching but I kept going, repeating in my mind "no pain no gain". By the time I got home I was wishing for death.

I sat on the sofa and would you believe it got worse! It felt similar to labor pains concentrated in my shin. Thank my lucky stars Meg had the day off - I sent Ella to wake her (which is not an easy feat) and she lovingly took over - I loaded up on pain medicine and spent the rest of the morning moaning intermittently on the sofa. I will now read up on my new flavor of ailment and decide by tomorrow if I will be walking on Friday.

Did I do that?

Totally unrelated conundrum - I got zeke some new chewies they are like pig ears but in long strips - It would be an understatement to say he absolutely adores them! He waits at the counter like a child begging for candy. But holy cow they give him the WORST gas in the history of dogdom. He has always been heavy on the flatulent side but whoa these are bad. I don't have the heart to get rid of his treats. I am not buying more but until they are gone I need to buy more matches.

Benjamin's Fort

Its working...

Benjamin has a major problem cleaning up - he has never been too big on it - but even when he tries he falters. We have had major break downs on both sides over this issue. As a mom I try to keep my cool but when I say "pick up your dirty clothes" four hundred times a week it leads me to the land of mental breakdown.
We are figuring out Benjamin is a visual learner - so my Mom gave me the idea to give him a picture of his room clean and tell him to make his room look like the picture. So I cleaned his room, took a picture, - blew it up and printed it with the title "MY CLEAN ROOM" and hung it on the wall. Skeptical I explained once again what he needs to do to his room everyday. The next morning I walk in and he is straightening the pillows on his bed and there were dirty clothes in the hamper. HALLELUJAH
Now there is a "OUR CLEAN BATHROOM" and "OUR CLEAN GAMEROOM" sign. Lets hope it keeps working.

Happy Birthday Tommy

We miss you very much Uncle Tommy! I know you would be making two birthday cakes today and Benjamin would be a formidable wrestling opponent now. We will celebrate again!! God be with you, til we meet again...

Itchy leg syndrome??

So I started walking with a friend this morning. Our plan is to trade each week (Mon, Wed, Fri), meeting at the other person's house and walking before our husbands leave for work from 6:30-7:15 ish. A little over halfway through, my usual exercising nemesis returned - itchy legs. And no before you think it, its not dry skin - it goes WAY beyond that - its like a slow burning creepy crawly feeling about a quarter of an inch under my skin. If I make any move to rub or itch - it worsens and a vicious cycle of stopping and clawing at myself begins. - I tried to refrain due to having company on my walk and not ever touching my legs seemed to help a bit, but it still drove me crazy. I am posting something I found on someone's else blog. If anyone else has this and has tips I would appreciate it:)
Other Blog:
Anyway, halfway through the walk my legs began to itch. Not just a little bug bite itch, but insane, maddening itching - mostly on the fronts of my upper legs and my butt cheeks. I had to stop every few feet to scratch - I didn't even care that I was drawing blood with my nails - I had to scratch. I couldn't scratch my butt cheeks though my jean shorts so I smacked my butt. I looked crazy, walking down the street, stopping every few feet to bend down and scratch my legs and then spank myself.Worse still, this wasn't the first time this has happened. It happens often when I go walking at a brisk pace for a good amount of time.Well, I decided to look it up on the Internet, not expecting to find anything. I'm not the only one. It's called..... Itchy Leg Syndrome. (Very technical you see.)I found several articles, among them, one from Prevention magazine which states:
Believe it or not, itchy legs is a common complaint, particularly among new walkers. Some experts believe that it may be due to poor circulation. If sluggish blood flow is to blame, the itching should subside as your body gets acclimated to your new activity.Another site explained:
It usually occurs during exercise performed after a long period of inactivity. The itching is not on the skin, it's inside the actual limbs. There are millions of tiny capillaries and arteries inside our muscles which expand rapidly due to the demand for more blood that is brought on by exercise. When fit, these capillaries remain open allowing maximum blood passage, but when unfit and inactive they tend to collapse, allowing only minimal blood passage (which is sufficient for a sedentary person however). The rapid expansion of these vessels causes adjacent nerves to send impulses back to the brain which are interpreted as an itch.

Happy Birthday Grandma !!!

I think this month's First Presidency message is profound. For those who are interested:
http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,2043-1-3945-1,00.html

Like mother like daughter?
Stinky feets!

2007 get to know you email.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:35
2. Diamonds or Pearls? Diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Children of Men.
4. What is your favorite TV show? By far the Office – I am so into Jim and Pam they have become real to me. After that Heroes.
5. What did you have for breakfast? Yogurt – I am still hungry
6. What is your middle name? Carolyn but now it’s legally my maiden name
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Chinese
8. What food do you dislike? Nothing unfortunately, well maybe spicy food and fruitcake.
9. Your favorite chip? KC masterpiece Barbecue
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Robert Earl Keen as usual and Wicked
11. What kind of car do you drive? Toyota minivan and a Chevy minivan on its last leg, literally – so soon I’ll be driving nothing, cept when Kyle is home.
12. Favorite Sandwich? Ok, nothing healthy about this one – honey ham on gummy white bread with crushed up potato chips (see number nine) – and a close second is PB & Honey – that can be on wheat
13. What characteristics do you despise? Snobbiness and overprotective germ-a-phobes, usually these come together.
14. What are your favorite clothes? Long skirts and jeans (no not at the same time) oh and my “jesus-walkers” aka knock off Birkenstock sandals.
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation? Not so much where but who – my dream is a vacation home that Kyle and I own – a comfy cottage with room for lots of grandkids near a lake with woods and a cool porch/deck with a fire pit. An outdoor table with limitless watermelon and a clothesline for wet swimsuits. The walls decorated with only books and family pictures, I could go on and on…
16. What color are your eyes? Blue
17. Favorite brand of clothing? Is thrift store a brand?
18. Where would you want to retire? See number 15.
19. Favorite time of day? Afternoon
20. Where were you born? Metairie, LA (New Orleans)
21. What is your favorite sport to watch? I actually like stupid stuff – Like strongman competitions and the lumberjack contests – I am not really a sports person at all – but I have been known to get into football with Kyle.
22. Who do you think will not send this back? n/a
23. Person you expect to send it back first? n/a
24. Pepsi or Coke? COKE
25. Cats or Dogs? dogs
26. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Night owl
27. Pedicure or manicure? Pedicure, now please!
28. Do you prefer funny or mushy cards? The funnier the better – but mushy has its place sometimes.
29. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with everyone? Nope!
30. What did you want to be when you were little? A cash register lady!!! – My Me-Maw used to let me take every single thing out of her pantry and “scan” them all at my store.
31. What do you have in your trunk right now? An umbrella stroller, a little potty for the kids – hopefully I’ll never need it, and jumper cables.
32. What is your best childhood memory? Talking late with meg, Saturday movies with mom, camping with dad, pranks on Tommy, summers at the lake, Christmas time, etc, etc, etc – I had a great childhood.
33. What are all the different jobs you have had in your life? Babysitting, Kings dominion (Grizzly Roller coaster, Scooby Doo roller coaster, and janitor – I actually like the last one the most – more freedom never just stuck at one post for hours on end), Chinese restaurant, Lease agent at apartment complex (only job I was fired), Occupational therapist at hospital, rehab center, then home health, and last but best of all: MOM!
34. What is your favorite Holiday? Christmas
35. What is your favorite dessert? I love them all but if I had to pick it would be a classic, warm brownie with vanilla ice cream.
36. Favorite Getaway? Hot, hot bath!
37. Ever been to Africa? Nope – It’s fascinating but I don’t know if I ever want to – unless Kyle and I go on a mission there during Retirement. – but I don’t think the church sends old people there?
38. Glasses or Contacts? Both
39. Ever been toilet papering? Yep – did the wrong house once
40. Been in a car accident? Yep – as baby, right mom? and we hit a deer once
41. Favorite day of the week? Saturday, my man is home
42. Favorite restaurant? Bottoms-up Pizza in Richmond – Geez I miss that place.
43. Favorite flower? White rose
44. Favorite movie? There is my ever evolving top ten – The Graduate, Say Anything, She’s having a baby, The Color Purple, Garden State, Shawshank Redemption, Urban Cowboy, Fargo, Narnia, Sixteen Candles. new category: movies I absolutely HATE: The Notebook (an abomination of book to movie), Boys on the side, and Last Kiss, and 99% of action movies.
Ask me tomorrow and it will be different.
45. Favorite Past time? Reading
46. Favorite ice cream? Pineapple Coconut -Hagen daz’s (how the heck do you spell that)
47. Favorite fast food restaurant? Wendys or Taco Bell
48. How many times did you fail your drivers test? 0
49. From whom did you get your last email? Everydaycheapskate newsletter
50. Sandals or tennis shoes? Sandals
51. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Wouldn’t do that – the only place I would max a credit card would be the hospital for my kids. But I always spend too much at IKEA
52. If the speed limit is 60 what is the fastest you will drive? 65 unless I am late then just behind the fastest car.
53. What is your bedtime? 11ish
54. Whose response to this are you most curious about? Everyone’s
55. Last person you went to dinner with? Kyle and I went to Outback with our gift card from Nana – thanks!
56. What are you listening to right now? Sesame Street – I have the exact same answer as Hallie who sent this to me – I swear it’s on in the background, girls are watching it.
57. What is your favorite color? White then navy
58. How many tattoos do you have? One– It’s awful – I am leaving it exactly as it is – a horrendous warning when the kids think they want one someday.
59. How many people are you sending this Email to? – my blog friends
60. What time did you finish this email? 11:15 am

"Somebody help me"

My boy is growing up.