happy earth day [yesterday] ...

at abi's request, we celebrated Earth Day by picking up trash on one of the trails that we take when we walk to school. we have a bunch of trails through our neighborhood and abi comments on the litter frequently. andy came home early and we got gloves and bags for everyone, the stroller for easton and loaded in the van. we parked at one end of the trail - unloaded with our gear and headed down the trail in search of "all the things that didn't belong in nature."

look at all the stuff i found, mom!

we love you, Earth!

our Easter was awesome

i feel like i need to post this to remind myself how to make easter perfect.
we do easter bunny, egg hunts and candy (ie:secular) easter on saturday in an effort to save sunday for the real reason we celebrate.
it's tradition to have easter breakfast and egg hunt fun at grandma shaw's house. this easter saturday i had a massage scheduled early (i highly recommend massages especially from my good friend and massage therapist Andrea Hubbard). i left home at 8:30 and was rubbed for an hour!! andy took the kids to his parent's house and i met them there. we had breakfast, waited for the eggs to be hidden, hunted, visited ... it was great! my father-in-law brought out some old home videos from before andy was born and when he was a baby - fun to watch and it helped remind me that i need to be taking more videos of the fun things we do!
we came home and had naps and cleaned out the garage ... we can park in there now!
sunday was fantastic as well! abi and i sang in sacrament meeting - we were in a small primary choir singing "He Sent His Son" and then i joined the ward chior singing "Master the Tempest is Raging" and "He is not Here". we had to go early and practice so abi and i were at the church at 8:20 ... andy was in charge of bringing the rest of the troops. he's awesome - with a broken hand, he was only 10 minutes late!
we arrived home at 12:30 had lunch, loaded back in the van at 1:30ish and headed to visit some friends from our missions that were in town. our kids played with their kids for about an hour and a half and then we loaded back in the van and headed to granny's house (my parents) arrived there at about 4:15ish and had dinner and had andy's birthday cake for dessert. my mom had to go sing in her stake's easter fireside and had to leave the house at 5:45ish and so we cleared the table and said our goodbye's and headed home. we changed into our jammies and watched 101 Dalmations (and by 'we' i mean andy and the kids - i read my book upstairs) and then put the kids to bed at 7:30ish. it was PERFECT!
i don't have any pictures of us on Easter ... we didn't get new dresses this year ... but we had a great day nonetheless! halleluiah!

happy mid-winter break!

we spent our sunny mid-winter break outside as much as possible! we went to forrest park and then yesterday we went to the zoo! hooray for kids that behave at the zoo! it was a blast and they finally got to spend their birthday money on toys at the zoo store! (we need more toys like we need a hole in our heads!) we had lunch in the car and then headed home!

we had a great time and can't wait for summer when school is no longer a restriction!

the sun is returning - see trav was right!

midnight potty break

after i checked on the kids and covered them all up i went back to my room and then noticed the hall bathroom light on. i went to see who was up. elyssa was sitting on the potty wiping,+- eyes closed. she stood up and flushed and put her hands tightly over her ears (eyes still shut). then turned to wash her hands, dried them, turned off the light and stumbled back to bed (eyes still shut) ... i walked toward her room and the floor squeaked - she was on her bed when she heard the floor ... she looked at the door to see who (or what maybe? ) was coming into her room. i came in and asked her if she was ok. "yeah.", she said and laid down, covered herself up and went back to sleep ... silly girl.

and now this ... from #2

let me set the stage ... grocery shopping with all 4 kids at 5:15pm. Easton is strapped in the cart, Ammon's hanging off the right side, Abi holding on to the left. Elyssa rides right in front of Easton, with her feet up, resting her back on my chest a bit. it's pandemonium, "mom, can we have this?" "can we get that?" "stop touching things." "keep your hands on the cart." "don't hang off the cart like that - you're gonna fall." "momma can we get some doughnuts this time??"
i started reading my list to myself, sort of under my breath ... "dressing, broccoli, lettuce, carrots, cheese, and ..." i trailed off thinking where to steer the cart next.

Elyssa says, "we're buying the word 'and'?"

abi in real life

(working on a pistachio)

her: Momma, sometimes when you're not here or you're not around ... i call myself "the boss."

me: you do, do you?

her: I really do, cuz i'm the oldest. like just then, when i was with Elyssa, Ammon and Easton in the playroom, i was trying to make myself the boss so they would let Easton play.

me: hm.

her: is that ok?

me: i guess.

she saw me typing this and came over to make sure i typed it right.

her: i can't believe you just wanted to copy what i said.

me: you're cute.

her: i can't believe you're copying what you said and what i said.

me: you're funny, too.

her: i'm serious - i don't like it when people don't let my little brother play.

me: ...

her: i think you're done putting things on your blog now.

easton = linus?

meet easton's taggie - it's dirty (the picture doesn't do it justice!)

he loves it
he holds it with his right hand while sucking his left ring finger and then rubs one tag between his left thumb, pointer and middle fingers (it's clean now!)
and he's the most darling baby ever
when he's not driving me crazy!

i need to make some videos to share so that you can become more aquainted with this little boy - he may not have words but he definitely knows what he wants! stay tuned!

impromptu new year's eve party

i get these crazy ideas at the spur of the moment - like "hey! let's have a New Year's Eve Party and invite the neighbor kids over! and whom ever else wants to come!!"

then andy reminds me that our house is a mess and we haven't prepared anything ...

details ... let's party!

i broke out my new 4 tier buffet server and made some cookies, filled it with our christmas goodies and voila!

our 2 (count them, two) guests were from 2 doors down - justin and mckenna
we watched Meet the Robinsons (i really like that movie - great message and cute flick!)
played with toys

abi did juggling tricks and [i didn't get a picture of it - but] we played Uno Attack for about an hour too!
counted down to 10:00 pm with the kids (alicia's GREAT idea - besides they wouldn't have made it to midnight!)
and clinked our glasses!

great time had by all and i think we'll do it again - albeit i'll plan ahead next time ... and maybe invite a few more people!!

Here's to 2008 - let's make it GREAT!

a Christmas to remember

with all the counting down and ramping up, anticipation and decoration, christmas music and christmas movies and christmas presents ... this year's crowning celebration seemed to come and go all too quickly. (i need to figure out how to slow down time - does it seem to anyone else that the older we get the faster time flies?)

traditions are so fun! i decided this year to start a new tradition and join these 2 at Figgy Pudding every year from now on ... we went with them a few years ago and skipped the last few but went again this year and made a night of it ... it was SO fun and i totally want to make it our tradition! can you guess who was behind the camera??

on Dec. 22nd we headed to the westlake center carousel as we have for the past umpteen years - although we decided this year to not have it on the Monday before Christmas - instead we opted for the Saturday before!

this year was markedly different than past christmases because we celebrated 2 christmas mornings. last sunday (dec. 23rd) was Christmas Eve Eve for the rest of the world ... but at granny's house it was just Christmas Eve. my parents, youngest sister and brother were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to spent christmas day traveling to my oldest sister's home in Texas to spend the week between Christmas and New Year's with them. So, we followed tradition and donned our new jammies and read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' and then Luke 2 and visited and ate and then when we decided that the kids needed to get to bed we hurried home because at 7:am we were expected to be back for Christmas Morning! My dad asked Santa if he'd make a special trip one night early - and since he (my dad) is one of the best "Santa's Helpers" he was more than happy to oblige. We woke at 6:30ish (ok ... so we didn't get out of bed until 6:45), decided that we'd get the van ready and then wake the kids. we loaded the gifts and stuff we were taking with us and then got the kids in and made our way to granny's. sure enough, Santa had been there and left some fun stuff for us!

Granny's tree was upside down again - she started doing that last year to accomodate all the myriad of ornaments she has in her collection. she figured that if there were more hanging room at the top of her tree then she wouldn't have to worry about little hands and also there would be more room for presents ... it just works better all around to have the tree upside down!!

after opening presents and eating breakfast - we followed tradition and took naps! it's boring - and i want to have different traditions ... but this one always seems to be the winner!

we loaded our 'granny-christmas' into the van around 4:30 and headed home for showers and change clothes from our jammies that we had been sporting all day! then to grandma Shaw's Annual Christmas Eve party.

Christmas morning came quickly for this gift-wrapping-procrastinator ... i was up until 3:30AM - i almost caught a peek of Santa and i think i heard him mutter something about having to change his route because of one little helper that wasn't in her bed when she was supposed to be!! i promised him that i wouldn't be the last one on the block to hit the sack next Christmas so he took my word for it and filled my stocking quite nicely - not one bit of coal in sight!

after opening our gifts here ... we loaded in the van and headed to grandma shaw's for breakfast and more gift opening.

the favorites this year:

Abi: Fur Berry, White Tiger and Lady and the Tramp Water Baby

Elyssa: Roller Blades, Pooh Bear Water Baby, and Fur Berry

Ammon: Motorcycles being hauled by a pickup, Train track with train and bucking bull in the middle, and Cowboy Boots!!

Easton: his very own Flip Phone, Race cars with track, and Pound and Play Xylophone - balls that you hammer through holes and xylophone all in one!

Andy: Brown coat, Touk, White 'Church' shirts, Belt (unfortunately just useful stuff for dad)

Me: my ZUNE(!!), matching Watch and Bracelet, and 2 purses

at about 10am we witnessed a genuine White Christmas!! it's been a VERY long time since we had one of those ... and it didn't stick around for very long. just long enough to get a few of these pictures! i will forever remember this Christmas because i've truly been 'dreaming of a white Christmas, with every Christmas card i write ..."

[i actually sent out Christmas Cards this year ... well - i printed 100 pictures, wrote in 80+ cards, printed out our letter, cut and folded it to fit in the envelopes, printed labels, stuffed envelopes, applied the address labels and return address labels, and mailed 13 of them so far ... i need to buy more stamps!]

we know that it's not all about what we get for Christmas - that the real reason for this season is the baby Jesus was born. at my parent's house there is a stocking hung for Jesus with a poem inside that helps us remember that we need to give Him a gift - a gift of self each year, everyday. (Abi drew Him a picture)

Wow! Christmas came and went in a whirlwind this year - I'm with Harlan Miller when he said "I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month." in fact ... i think this year i'm going to light my pumpkin spice candle and do something related to Christmas around the 25th of each month. i'm also starting to decorate on Nov. 1, 2008 - then hopefully come december i won't feel like "wait! slow down! don't go so fast!"

I hope your Christmas was Merry and Bright!

i was up at 5:30 on the 26th for the after Christmas sales! they were fantastic again this year! i donned my 'after-christmas-sales-shopping-sweater' and headed to Wal-Mart first. i was alone this year, my parnter-in-crime was in Texas ... and so i didn't have anyone there to say "you don't need that!" (clearly my efforts to channel Mindy with my sweater didn't work!) and i spent twice my allotted amount. i shopped for coming birthdays, and next year's Christmas ... i think i did a GREAT job - just spent a little too much. in the long run i saved us a lot of money - it's just a little hard for andy to swallow when i come home with my arms loaded down and my wallet quite empty!

and now we're headed into the New Year ... we're counting down here at home with our kids and some friends! come on over!!

live and learn

sometimes its hard to take people's word for it. from personal experience, i can tell you that i don't like to be told what to do (or not do as the case may be). but when it involves a bad taste in my mouth (literally or metaphorically) i try to take heed. i can't say the same for my darling little 3 year old son ... who did NOT learn from the example of his big sister. during lunch today he was suddenly gone from the table - i heard him in the bathroom and found bits of wet bath salt on the counter. he too had tried to sneak a savory sip of the super soapy sundae that i brought home ... over a week ago!

some kids never learn [maybe i should have taken the straw out after the first 'would-be thief'] some moms never learn!

more tooth fairy sightings

saturday, dec 8th, elyssa finally got that extremely loose tooth out of her mouth - with her own tongue. she won't let anyone touch them ... the thought of losing teeth is not pleasant to this little girl. even the incentive of money from the tooth fairy isn't enough! she cried when she discovered that they were loose. (i took a picture of the actual event - the blood and recently dislodged tooth - but as i have mentioned before, my camera needs to be decommissioned and summarily executed, leaving behind only the SD card to carry on in a newer, faster, better camera! please help me! and thank you if you already have!) needless to say, we are on the fast track to toothless grins, only cut-up apples, and brace-face!

looks can be deceiving!

this past sunday, when we left the primary appreciation dinner the presidency handed these out to the teachers (both of the men got bags of candy!). if you look real close there's a line on note that says: "of course don't take a sip" - too bad elyssa didn't read the note before wrapping her lips around the straw! in trying to sneak a taste, instead she got a mouthful of bubble bath! YUCK! her face was priceless ... too bad i wasn't on the ball enough to get a picture! i guess i was too busy helping her wash it out and explaining the consequences for not asking before touching things that are not yours.