Thankful Thursday

1. Moments like this one - Michael is at school, and Hunter, Walker, and Faith are all taking naps. Hmm. It's nice to be quiet once in a while.

2. Advance warning - I found out that a member of the Primary General Board is coming to visit our Primary on November 9. Now, I'm not particularly grateful that she's coming, but I am grateful that I know about it now instead of being surprised.

3. Fun cake ideas - I saw a fun spider cake in the newspaper, and then I saw the same thing in the grocery store. It was cute, so I made one for Jeff to take to work and some small ones for our neighbors.

4. Kids who like each other. Faith is big enough now that she doesn't really need her little bathtub. So the other day I gave both kids a bath together. Michael was really sweet and was helping me wash her back and belly. And Faith was so excited to be in the big tub with Michael. She was grinning and splashing at him. It was cute.

5. Fun times. A few days ago we went down to Jeff's parents house for a Halloween activity. We painted pumpkins and decorated sugar cookies. The bottom photo is Michael, showing off the cookies he smothered - I mean, decorated - with candy. The other plate has Jeff's cookies, which are almost as smothered. Jeff figured, since we were decorating cookies, he might as well put as much candy as he can fit on the ones he would be eating.

Does that make me Beauty, or the Beast?

This morning Michael has been so happy. He is all smiles, and helpful, and just happy. I asked him at some point, "Are you happy today?" And he said, "I am happy. I'm happy here with you." I know what you're thinking - aaaahhhh, how sweet. And that's what I thought. And then I realized that I've heard that somewhere before. And just as I opened my mouth to say something about it, Michael said, "Just like Beauty and the Beast!!" And I had to laugh. There's a scene where Belle says that line to the Beast. So I said, "Is Mommy Beauty?" And he said no. "Are you Beauty?" No. "Is Mommy the Beast?" Fortunately, he also said no to that one. Then he said, "We're Michael and Mommy!!"

Makes Me Laugh

Michael was hilarious this morning. We were watching the Curious George movie, and near the end, the man in the yellow hat tells George, "You brought adventure to my life." I'm sitting there, not really paying attention to the movie or to Michael, and I hear him say, "Michael brought adventure to your life." I wasn't sure I had heard him right, so I said, "What?" And he repeated, "I brought adventure to your life." Well, you're not kidding, kiddo. If he only knew how true that was.

Later, he was in his bedroom getting dressed. He started crying, and I asked what was wrong. He came into my room and said, crying, "I hurt my foot!" while holding up his left foot for me to see. I said, "You hurt your foot? Oh, no!" And he said, (with no whining or sadness in his voice at all, and now standing on his left foot and lifting up his right foot), "Not this foot." Then he again lifted up his left foot and with his whiny voice, said, "THIS foot." So I said, "I'm sorry you hurt your foot. What happened?" His answer? "It's okay. It happens," in his normal, non-whiny voice. Then he ran out and finished getting dressed.

And in Faith news, she finally cut her first tooth. It broke through yesterday morning. I'm glad she's finally started getting some teeth, but since I'm breastfeeding, I was just fine with her toothless, too.

Aaaaaahhhhhh

The sweet smell of freedom. Okay, maybe not "freedom," per se, and maybe not a "smell," per se - okay, maybe not the sweet smell of freedom at all. But aaaaahhhhh, the joy of knowing that the Primary program is OVER (can I say that again? OVER!! Can I emphasize it more? OVER!!!!!) Woo-hoo!!!! And the best part is that it won't come around again for another year. Woo-hoo!!!!

In all honesty, the program went very well. We ended exactly on time, the kids knew their songs and parts (mostly), and there was only minor fighting over the best spots each time they had to come up to the front to sing their songs. Our chapel is not very conducive to a program. We have a small Primary (about 30 kids), and all the chairs are behind the piano and organ. So short kids can't be seen even when they're standing, and with so few voices, they get drowned out by the piano. So our solution has been to have the kids leave their seats behind the piano and come out in front of it, standing behind the pulpit but in front of the bishopric seats. We only had time to practice that maneuver twice today before the actual program, so I didn't go over the "rules" as thoroughly as I should have. I did tell them to let the little kids stand in front so everyone could be seen. But I forgot about "don't push other kids out of the way," and "don't balance with your hands on the wall and then kick it during the whole song," and "don't stand up and sit down and stand up and sit down while you're singing the songs," and probably a few more that I can't think of right now.

But at this point, I don't care what went wrong. I only care that it's OVER!!!!!

Random Picture Tag

This is the fourth picture in my fourth picture folder.

It is a photo of Jeff when he was growing up, in Europe somewhere. His dad was in the Air Force, and they lived in Germany for a few years when Jeff was young. While there, they traveled as much as they could in Europe. I have no idea where this photo was taken. Sorry.

Hunter

So I've been watching Hunter and Walker when Terrance has to work. And I've found that Hunter is sometimes hard to understand. He can't say "F" or "S," and instead he makes a "W" sound. So he says, "Where's my wone?" for "Where's my phone?" Here are some examples that made me laugh, or think:

• "I got applewauce on my wirt!" (applesauce on my shirt)
• "I want to go outwide."
• "Let me wee!"
• "I want to watch Wewame Weet." (Sesame Street)
  
• "I'm a big winner!!" (he really was saying winner on this one, although it made me think for a minute)

And just as an example of how well kids pick up on what we say, yesterday he told me, "Beanie lost her mind." Beanie is my grandma, his great-grandma.
I said, "Beanie lost her mind?"
"Yup, Beanie lost her mind."
"Where did you hear that?" (Thinking, who would say such a thing to him?)
"Beanie told me."

Jeff and I laughed about it at the time, and then today I asked Melissa where he'd heard that. She said that, yes, Beanie had indeed told him that she'd lost her mind. Not exactly what she'd want broadcasted to the rest of the world, though.

5 Things About Me Tag

The original is "8 Things About Me," but honestly, I don't think I even watch 8 TV shows EVER, so we're going with 5.

5 Favorite TV Shows:

1. The Office
2. NCIS
3. Saturday Night Live (during election season)
4. Antiques Roadshow
5. House
   

5 Things I did yesterday:

1. Watched Hunter and Walker
2. Bought fabric to make Ana's Halloween costume
3. Gave the paper route stuff back to Chay - yeah!! We're done subbing for this time!!
4. Crocheted around burp cloths
5. Kissed Jeff - but not enough
   

5 Things I look forward to:

1. Having the Primary program over with
2. My Christmas bonus
3. Kissing and hugging Jeff
4. Thanksgiving dinner in Delta for the first time
5. Nikki and Callie's baby shower
   

5 Favorite Restaurants:

1. Javier's
2. Boccia's d'Italia
3. Roosters
4. The Olive Garden
5. Arby's
   

5 Things on my wish list:

1. A new house
2. A dining room set
3. A king-sized bed
4. A recliner for Jeff
5. For Michael to start eating real food
   

I tag whoever wants to do this.

Thankful Thursday

It's been a couple of weeks since I've done this:

• Long, hot showers. So long, that they're no longer hot. Unfortunately for Jeff, sometimes I take my long, hot showers before he gets his quick cold one.
• People who remember Tori. I appreciate Jodi for taking me to lunch on her birthday, and Mom for sending blankets to Utah Share, and Jeff for not being upset that I paid more than I should have for flowers to put on her grave.
  
• Size 3 diapers. Faith has long-since outgrown her size 2's, but I'm too frugal to not use up the last of the package that was already open. So we've been squeezing her into too-small diapers for a couple of weeks now, and just this morning I used the last size 2. Yeah!! Now she can have diapers that fit.
• Size 12-month clothes. Can you believe that my 8-month-old little girl wears 12-month clothes? I had to go buy a lot of pants and other things for her so she'll be warm, and the 12-month pants fit those Hansen thighs best.
• Purple. I think Faith looks so pretty in purple.
• Clearance racks. Okay, it probably doesn't help my fashionability that I primarily buy my clothes off the clearance rack at WalMart, but honestly, I have a hard time justifying expensive clothes when I know they're going to be spit up on and stained. So the $3 shirts I found yesterday were quite welcome.

Two Years

Today is Tori's birthday. It has been two years since she was born sleeping, and even though it is true that time heals, there are still moments when it hits me all over again, and I find myself in tears that are just as real and painful as when it happened. As horrible as that experience was, I'm not sure that I would change it. Is that a terrible thing to say? I just look at my life right now, and I know that if Tori were here, I wouldn't have Faith, at least not yet. And I can't imagine life without her. So no, I don't think I would change it. I guess I just trust that it was what needed to happen at that time. And I know that I will have Tori again. Some people have expressed to me that because she never breathed outside of the womb, that she was somehow not a "real person" or something to that effect. But I know that she was alive inside of me. I felt her movements and I bonded with her even when she was that small, and I feel very strongly that the life she had - even though it was only inside of me - was enough to fulfill God's purposes for her and for us. So Happy Birthday, to my own little angel.

The Wedding Cake

As promised, I am posting photos of the latest wedding cake. Can I just say, this one was the most challenging yet. I had been told that square cakes are harder to cover with fondant, so I was expecting a little more difficulty. But the square cakes were actually not any big deal. What WAS a big deal was that the weather got very cold the night before I did the fondant, and I could not for the life of me get it to roll out nicely. BWAH!!!!!!!! I rolled the fondant for the bottom cake out three times, and it still didn't work well.

There were some ghastly gaps and ridges in the finished product, which necessitated the addition of wide ribbon and creative positioning of the flowers to cover it. But I think the end result turned out very nice. The lady who it was for seemed to really like it, so I guess that's what really matters. Callie did the flowers, and did a GREAT job covering my mistakes.

I really like the square cakes, and I hope I get to do another one soon.

Busy Busy Busy

I say busy busy busy, but right now it's more like tired, tired, tired. Too tired to clean the bathroom. Too tired to prune the rosebushes. Too tired to update my blog. I had one blissful night of straight sleep. One. It was so nice. But the kids are once again waking up at night (mostly Faith), and I'm too tired to listen to her cry, so I feed her, and put her back to sleep, and thus fuel this awful cycle of her waking up at night. Honestly, the last time I remember being so chronically tired is when I was pregnant with her.

But don't get your hopes up, Dad - I'm NOT pregnant, and won't be anytime in the next few months, at least. I'm just tired. Maybe I need to start taking the iron supplement again. Or maybe I just need to sleep.

So what has kept me so busy? I've actually had an order from my etsy site (to see it, click here). Etsy is a site that sells handmade articles, and I listed name doilies and crocheted dresses on it. So I made a name doily, crocheted a dress, and made another name doily for Grandma to give to her friend. My Primary presidency was reorganized, so I've been updating all of our Primary lists and such to give to my new counselors, and I've been figuring out the last details of our program in two weeks. I will be SO glad when it's over.

I did a wedding cake with Callie, had un-Thanksgiving dinner with the whole family, and a Columbus Day / birthday party for Jeff's dad with the Sabin family. I also worked a couple extra shifts so my day person could take a vacation. Thanks, Callie, for watching my kids, and Jeff for being so good and taking them the other days.

I've started babysitting Melissa's boys on days when Terrance has to work. She lost her daycare spot because now that Terrance is laid off, she doesn't take Hunter and Walker to daycare everyday anymore, and Theresa (the daycare lady) told her that since she is depending on that income, and since she has a waiting list, Melissa needs to either pay for daycare even when her boys aren't there, or she needs to find another provider. So Melissa called me, and I've been taking them. So far I've had them twice. They are so much fun, and I've enjoyed having them. But four kids is CRAZY. So for any of you doing your family planning, don't plan on having 3-year-old twins, an 18-month old, and an 8-month-old. You'll go bonkers. You'll have fun, but you'll go bonkers. Especially if you don't have a vehicle that can transport all four of them, and you have to stay home and find activities for them. Of course, if I did have a vehicle to transport all of them, I'd probably still stay home, because where do you take four little kids without going bonkers?

Tomorrow I promise to post photos of the wedding cake Callie and I did on Saturday. Of course, tomorrow I'm also going to a craft fair, and going to a Halloween activity with Jeff's family, and taking the kids for a while so Jeff can do some work outside. So no guarantees. It might be Sunday before I post the photos.

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I have to write just a note here about my friend April. Her mother died yesterday of brain cancer, and even though I never met her mother, I love April and my heart is aching for her. If any of you want to read a truly tender blog, click here. This is her blog, and for the last few months April has been sharing her experiences and thoughts through her blog. It is sometimes very sad, but it's also very uplifting. She has an amazing testimony. I don't want to go through what she's been through, but I do want to have her level of faith.

Bathroom Humor

Jeff took the kids to Lowe's yesterday to pick up some stuff for the house. While they were there, Michael said he needed to use the bathroom. While Michael was going potty, another man came in and was doing his thing. Michael said to Jeff, "He going potty?" Jeff said yes, he was. Then Michael said, "What's his name?" (Michael wants to know everyone's name lately.) Jeff said, "I don't know." Michael thought about that for a minute, then he said - very loudly, and very slowly - "MY.....NAME.....IS.....MIIIIIII.....CHAEL!" The mystery man cracked up. He left before Jeff and Michael exited their stall, so Jeff never actually saw him. But when they walked out, a man was standing outside the bathroom. As they walked by, Michael said, "He go potty?" Jeff didn't know whether to laugh or be embarrassed.

How's that for toilet humor?

On ...

Michael on worms:
"Heavenly Father put the worms in the dirt. I want the worms out of the dirt."

Michael on making money:
"I need some money."
"Mommy and Daddy work for our money. When we do work, we get money. What work can you do to get money?"
"Please?"

Michael on anything that is missing:
"Grandma took it to her house."

Faith on dill pickles:

Confessions

I can't call this "Confessions of a mid-20's woman," because I no longer fit in that category. So let's just call it "confessions," okay?

1. I blog-stalk total strangers. There are two blogs that I have bookmarked, and I read every new post, even though I've never met the authors. They are personal blogs about these people's personal lives, but I find them fascinating. One of them is very inspirational and uplifting, and the other is just a very well written, usually humorous, entertaining blog.

2. When I get a new hobby or interest, I have to have EVERY supply for it. Like when I started to crochet, I bought every size and style of crochet hook. There are some that I've never used, but at least I know I have them if I ever decide to do a project that calls for them.

3. I am very orderly about the way I eat my food. I eat all of one thing (usually my least favorite thing on the plate), then all of the next thing, then all of the next thing, etc., until I reach my favorite part of the meal. Last the best of all the game, right? If I have a handful of M&Ms or something like that, I eat all of one color, then all of the next color, then all of the next color, and so on.

4. I count stairs. I know how many steps are on every staircase that I regularly use, and a lot that I don't. If I went up to Weber State and walked around, I could probably still remember how many steps are in each section of the walkway.

5. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't quit working when Michael was born - would it have been SO bad to keep working? I just loved that job so much, and I really do miss it.

6. I have a secret crush on Peyton Manning. There, Jeff, it's true.

7. I don't like to ride in the car when someone else is driving. I have to have control. I'm good with either of my parents driving. That doesn't bother me. But if it's anyone else (even Jeff), I get really tense. I don't like to not be in control.

8. I don't have a lick of fashion sense, which is bad because Jeff is color-blind. Between the two of us, we don't have a clue what looks good.

9. I have a recurring dream about driving into Pineview Reservoir just above the dam, with Michael in the car. Every time I drive past the spot I dream about, I breathe a sigh of relief.

10. I love how Michael talks and sings all day long, but I also really love it when he stops and I can have pure silence for a couple of minutes.

11. I believe that Michael and Faith see things I don't. There have been times when I come into a room and ask Michael what he is doing, and he tells me he is talking to the kids. I ask where the kids are, and he points to a certain spot and tells me they were there. He can tell me how many and if they were boys or girls. Sometimes I like to think that Tori comes to visit them.

12. Now I am crying. And I am at work. This is not good.

13. I still don't know who I will vote for in this year's presidential race. To be honest, I'm not thrilled with either choice.

14. If you ramble when you are talking to me, chances are I will totally tune you out. Get to the point, already.

15. With that said, I'm done.

Thankful Thursday

• I'm really glad that Jeff understands computers. I've been trying to figure out how to set up a website where I can maybe sell some of the dresses and other things I crochet, and I am WAY out of my league.
• I am thankful for tag games on blogs. Stupid, huh? But it's fun to find out new things about people - like, Callie, I did not know that you shave your arms. And I think that's totally weird.
• I'm glad that I got to watch the vice-presidential candidates debate tonight. I'm still just as undecided as I was before, but at least I learned more about them and where they stand.
• I love KSL classifieds. It's so fun to find great deals - even if I don't buy them.
• I love that Michael loves to ride the bus to school. Today he ate all of his lunch without complaining and then ran to get his backpack so we could go wait for the bus. It's so cute to watch him get on and off the bus.
  

onions

James is the man who lives across the street and drives the black SUV. Michael is always looking out the window to see if he's home or not, and he always lets us know. Usually it sounds something like this:

Michael: James is not home.
Me: No, he's gone.
Michael: He went to the store to buy onions.

Let me point out that James never buys anything else at the store. He ONLY buys onions, according to Michael. Later:

Michael: James is home now!! (With a big smile and looking excited.)
Me: Yup, he is.
Michael: He bought onions?

So rather than go to the store to buy onions to make another batch of salsa, maybe I'll just go ask James for some of his.