Chain Reaction

Last night we had a chain reaction of events which ended up in us delivering a "thank you" picture of a colored police car and the words "Dear Police, Thank you for keeping us safe. Love, Luke" written across the top. Here's the story.

My spunky Grandma, who has always opted for us grand kids to call her "Jo Jo" (her name is JoAnn) to avoid the Grandma word, paid us a surprise visit last night to come see our yard that I have been working on non stop for the past week. I have made a ton of progress with planting (yay - pictures to come!)

I was working on the yard last night, too, so I didn't have much by way of dinner planned, but when Jo Jo showed up around 5pm we of course invited her to stay to eat with us which also meant her helping me throw together some sloppy joes and a salad at last minute.

At dinner Halle is always a good eater. Last night she ate her full sloppy joe and wanted more, so we gave her another half. She took one bite and then asked if she could go out in the backyard to play with Luke. Cory was still hungry, so after Halle was gone he took the sandwich she didn't finish and ate it.

We sat at table talking to Jo Jo for awhile and after about 10 minutes I heard Luke calling to me from the garage, so I got up to go see what he needed. As I was walking away I could hear Halle busting through the back door and running to the table. All of the sudden I heard her voice cry out, "Where is my sandwich?!"

Jo Jo, who loves to tease, responded, "Your Mommy ate it."

Then I heard Halle scream, "Noooooo! Mommy!"

And the next thing I knew Halle was running across the kitchen for me at full speed, screaming and crying in a sudden fit of rage. I turned around just in time to see her coming. She was going so fast and started sliding on the wood floor, and unable to stop, crashed full on into the wall next to me! She fell from her crash flattened out on the ground and I scooped her up in my arms. A big old goose bump was already forming on her forehead.

I will admit, I tend to sort of panic when my children get hurt, but only for about the first 10 seconds after it happens. After that initial fright I am usually pretty good at settling down and remaining calm. This time, even though Halle wasn't that visibly hurt, she was hysterical and her slamming against the wall took me by total surprise. For a few seconds after I picked her up I was a little nervous, but once I got a good look at her and could see she was fine I was okay. Cory and Jo Jo ran over to where I was holding her and everyone was just sort of in shock at what had happened and how furious a little two-year-old girl could get over someone eating the rest of her unfinished sloppy joe. 

Then all the sudden we heard an official voice over an intercom-like sounding speaker saying some along the lines of "What is your emergency?"

Cory and I snapped our heads toward each other and then quickly over to Luke who was crouched down underneath the bar part of our island with the phone in his hands and a wide-eyed look on his face.

Then Cory said what I was thinking but couldn't spit out, "Luke, did you call 911?"

Luke just sat there staring at us and with tears forming in his eyes, and gave us a small nod. Cory rushed over to where Luke was and took the phone quickly explaining to the dispatcher what had happened. Luke was very embarrassed and upset, so we had to delicately explain a little more about when we should call 911.

The thing is, lately Luke has been super into Policemen. He thinks they are the coolest thing ever. He even has a code word for when he sees a police car when we are out driving - IG88. I've found I had to be on guard because suddenly out of nowhere he'll start yelling "IG88! IG88!" and I need to remind myself everything is okay.  I finally figured out IG88 is the name of a robot from his Star Wars book (no, he has never seen Star Wars, he wanted the movie for Easter but the Easter Bunny brought him a Star Wars book instead).  Anyway, he was worried that the police would be mad at him for calling when it wasn't a real emergency. So I had to explain the police understand that accidents happen and that they are not mad as long as we try not to call on accident again.

As I was tucking him into bed he said, "Mommy, I want to color a picture for the policemen and tell them thank you for all they do for us. Then I want to take it to them."

"Sure, honey," I agreed. I wasn't really thinking about what this really meant and sort of assumed he would forget about it by morning.

How have I not learned that they never forget by morning?? The picture for the policemen was all he could talk about as he woke me up bright and early.

So he made the picture and we started driving, on the lookout for an IG88 to give the picture to.  This was actually after we made a trip to the doctor, and then the hospital, discovering Luke has a broken finger he has been living with since Tuesday (another story for another time).

But it turns out a search for a police isn't always as easy as it sounds. When you want to find them you can't, when you don't want to they always have a way of finding you, right?

We finally ended up at the police station. We walked the picture into the office and asked the woman at the front desk if there was a police officer there we could give the picture to. She said sure, and a moment later we were met by none other than Sheriff Winder.  Luke handed his picture off to Mr. Winder who was very nice and said he'd hang the picture on the board in his office.

And that's how a chain reaction of events ended up in another exciting day in my life as a mom :).

Very sweet poem

 I love this poem I came across tonight.  What a great reminder.

If I Had My Child To Raise Over Again

If I had my child to raise over again

I'd build self-esteem first 

and the house later

I'd finger paint more 

and point the finger less

I would do less correcting 

and more connecting

I'd take my eyes off my watch 

and watch with my eyes

I would care to know less 

and know to care more

I'd take more hikes 

and fly more kites

I'd stop playing serious 

and seriously play

I would run through more fields 

and gaze at more stars

I'd do more hugging 

and less tugging

I'd see the oak tree in the acorn more often

I would be firm less often 

and affirm much more

I'd model less about the love of power

And more about the power of love.

-Diane Loomans-

A springtime wreath

Earlier this week I made a spring wreath - super easy, super cheap and lots of fun!

I've been on the lookout for a blossomy wreath to buy but have found they are a little pricey so I hadn't bit the bullet and bought one yet. Then this week, for some reason, I got the crafting bug and saw that Michaels was having a sale on their flowers, so I thought I'd check out what they had to see if I could conjure up a creation. Luckily I found some fun blossomy ball flowers (is that what they're called??) at 60% off that I figured would work. I was a little nervous whether or not the wreath would turn out cause I've never done anything like this before, but I think it turned out pretty cute.

So here's what I used, all bought at Michaels:
18" wooden craft/floral wreath (about $3.50)
8 blossom ball stemmed flowers ($2.35 each at 60% off - I bought that Ashland brand)
Floral wire ($1.50)

Altogether I spent less than $20 and it took me about 45 minutes to make - easy peasy lemon squeezy! (as Luke would say)

Here's what I did...

Snipped the stems off the flowers with a wire cutter (cut as close to flower as possible so the flower will lie flatly against the wreath)








Then I snipped the leaves off the stems and placed them around the wooden wreath for spacing





Then I used my hot glue-gun to glue the leaves on the wooden wreath (leaving space between every two leaves for the hole to later wire the flower through)










Wrapped wire around base of flowers







Wired flowers on the wreath





Almost there...





Finished!





Tada!





Obviously you could use any color combination of flowers you want. I think all white would be really cute, but at the store I saw the light green and white and couldn't decide which to do so I decided to do a combo. It would even but cute to add some light pink or purple or turquoise..oooo I love turquoise.

Anyway, it was a fun little project.  It didn't take a lot of time, was inexpensive and has added a little spring to our house. :)

"Paper towel" in Dog Spanish (tonsillectomy language)

Random title, I know. But it will make sense once you know the story behind it.

Luke (my 4-year-old son) had his tonsils and adenoids removed last Monday. I was going to blog about it sooner, but the recovery has been tough and I've had very limited time to do much of anything for myself other than taking care of him while still chasing around my active little spitfire of a 2-year-old girl.

Here he is at the hospital pre-surgery. He thought the gown and socks they gave him to wear were pretty spiffy... This was, of course, before the surgery because afterwards you would not have seen this pleasant little smile on his face. He had a hard time coming out of the anesthesia and was actually, as the nurse put it, quite "hostile" toward them when he started waking up (i.e. yelling and kicking) so they had to give him an extra dose of something to put him back to sleep and ran and got me! I held him for a half hour until he woke back up. Poor guy. Me holding him did help, but he still was not happy at all to be there and was still mildly hostile to the nurses until we were out the doors!


Why is this picture uploading upside down? I've tried twice and this has happened both times. I don't have time to try and figure it out now, so sorry you have to look at this picture upside down! But I had to include it. Look at this awesome marker holder they had at Primary Children's. I love this idea -no lost lids and a place to keep the markers from getting lost. We took the picture and Cory says he is going to make us some - yay!

So back to the surgery. The recovery wasn't fun. Poor Luke has been in a lot of pain for the past week and, up until today, had a fever of around 102 on top of it. Luckily the doctor doesn't think he has an infection or anything, just his body's reaction to the surgery.

I have to say I've learned a new level of patience through all this and also learned that sometimes, as a mom, I just need to sit down and cuddle my son and not worry about dirty dishes taking over the sink, toys being strewn across the house, and laundry piling up, which is a hard for me to do. But the truth is there's always time to get to that stuff and there are more important things. I've actually quite enjoyed being able to have an excuse to just take it easy and watch lots and lots of Curious George and Jake and the Neverland Pirates while having my arm wrapped around my boy.

So anyway, back to the random post title. I think it was the day after Luke had the surgery we were having a hard time communicating. He couldn't talk because his throat hurt so he started waving and doing different signals with his hands to explain to me what he needed. At one point he was waving one hand at me and I was trying to guess but just couldn't get what he was trying to say. I could tell he was getting frustrated. Finally, he walked up to me and motioned me to bend down to his level. Then, he moved his face up to just inches away from mine, and very seriously and intently whispered, "Mom, when I do this (doing the waving hand motion) it means I need a paper towel in Dog Spanish, my secret language" (he needed a paper towel to spit in because it hurt to swallow).

Now maybe this is one of those things that's only funny to me because I'm the mom, but his little explanation cracked me up. I had to quickly bite my tongue to keep from laughing at this "secret language" of his. It probably helps to know that he likes to pretend like he's a dog and lately he's had this sort of fascination with languages, especially Spanish - thanks Dora! :) - and has been telling me he wants to learn all sorts of languages. So you take his dog persona and combine it with wanting to learn Spanish, and you get the signing language he has created through his tonsillectomy recovering period - Dog Spanish.



He has since asked me for paper towels to spit into in Dog Spanish several times. I'm glad this method of communication is working out for us. Let's hope by the end of this week we can go back to using English and that my boy will be all better!

Today was much better than any day so far, by the way. I think we're going to be uphill from here!

One of the best compliments I've ever been given & Thomas in the hair

Today ksl.com published a story I wrote about one of the best compliments I've ever been given. Here is the link.

Thanks to my Lukey guy for the sweet compliment :).

p.s. I have to include this little tidbit from our day today. As I was busily trying to get some things done around the house Halle came frantically running and crying to me with this...


Thomas the train stuck in her hair, with his wheels still turning! I quickly turned off the switch and began studying how to solve this predicament. This is actually the second time this has happened. The first time I was able to get it out by pulling and working at the hair for a bit, but this time, no such luck. I had to get the scissors and cut Thomas out, dismembering a lock of my girl's beautiful curls and also leaving her with a tiny bald spot.

Poor thing, she's been retelling the traumatic story to any listening ear all day. The real question is...was it traumatic enough that she won't do it again? :) I guess only time will tell!

My favorite family portraits...

are the ones drawn by the kids. I love this most recent one Luke drew the other day.




He loves to draw, color, paint, you name it. He says he's an artist. I agree.

I just have to include his drawing of a giraffe he did the other day after we went to the zoo. Is that not the cutest giraffe you've ever seen?

Easter crafting

Today I attempted an Easter craft with the kids. Nothing too fancy, unlike some of the amazing DIY stuff I see on Pinterest, but still, we crafted!

All three of us were going a little stir crazy late afternoon-ish after not leaving the house all day (my fault for taking advantage of having an empty calendar day and staying in my pj's till lunch. From there I'm not sure where the rest of the day went.) Anyway, I needed something to keep the kids busy. It was late enough in the day that I didn't want to have to bother with the hassle of putting on makeup and doing my hair to go out, but I needed something different for them to do. We were at that point where they were tearing the cushions off couches, chasing each other around and wrestling and relentlessly teasing to no end. Not to mention Halle's obsession with the fridge which has gotten more and more scary. Now that she is bigger she has learned to climb and reach higher in the fridge, and this afternoon she got into it without me realizing and cracked three eggs onto one of the kitchen rugs. I found her in the act as she was trying to slurp some of the raw eggs off the rug, no joke. Luckily I caught her in time!

So back to the craft. In times like this I've noticed my kids need to do something where I am involved to keep them focused, and of course they are happier because they are getting attention. I kept thinking of all the fun crafts I've seen on Pinterest, but of course I didn't have the supplies for any of them, so I decided to drum up whatever I could find around my house and throw together a little creation of our own. Minus a couple brief moments of frustration and tears, we had a lot of fun with it.

I went around and gathered any Easter-y colored scrapbook paper and card stock lying around I could find and cut out a bunch of Easter eggs. Halle "helped."


Luke's really into letters, so I came up with a little way to tie a letter activity into it. I lightly traced the letters to spell Happy Easter on the eggs.



Then he traced them.

And Halle "traced" as well.


Luke became a little upset when his letters got out of order. He's very particular about keeping things orderly. I wish I could say he got that from me...but I must admit that a Daddy trait.



He was soon over it and back to work.


Halle was fast at work as well. This is the first time she's had free reign on bottled glue. I was sitting right next to her to make sure it didn't get too out of hand, but still, as I sat there watching her make giant glue dots all over her paper all on her own I realized I must be a little crazy for placing glue in the hands of a two-year-old who just minutes before had been cracking eggs all over my kitchen. But she loved it. The table may have gotten a few squirts of glue on it, but that's when my love for our old hand me table kicks in and I am reminded why I spent hours upon hours repainting it last fall instead of us buying a new one. No need to worry about a little glue or marker here and there.


Making progress...



And more progress...


Tada!


Moment of frustration for child no 2...Halle was oh so mad at me when I suggested where she should place the tape on her picture to hang it on the door. SHE wants to be the one to tell ME where to put the tape, dang it! I must remember these things!


Luke hung his up and was very proud of his "spelling" and gluing. He told me we needed to invite all of our grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles over to come and see our Easter pictures. I said I would try and see if they could all come over, but it might be a little hard for Grandma Dixie and Grandpa Dave who live in St. George. He said that would be no problem, we can always Face Time them.


Halle finally got over the tape issue and hung hers up below Luke's. She was also very proud and thought Face Time was a great idea.

Favorite shoes

Halle has a favorite pair of shoes. For the last month or so she's decided she will wear nothing but her "shiny red shoes."



As you can see, they've gotten their fair share of wear. And now they are just so trashed they make even the cutest outfit look like she's Little Orphan Annie.

Just look at some of the cute options we have that she refuses.



But no way, she won't go for any of these! I've tried, and gave it one last solid try yesterday as we were getting ready for church. Her dress was turquoise, pastel pink and purple, and the beat up dark red shoes not only clashed in color but of course made her look like a homeless child. So I tried with all my might to get her to wear her pink shoes, but after some tears and a tantrum I decided some battles just aren't worth fighting. So of course, she ended up in the red beauties. And it's not only the hashed toes or color clashing that drives me nuts, but they are so worn the velcro is wearing out and they fall off really easily. We've almost lost one or both shoes on numerous occasions as they've fallen off at grocery stores, parks, in parking lots and whatnot, which wouldn't be so bad except that she would be heartbroken. She absolutely LOVES them, which I have to admit I actually think is really cute. And I really haven't fought it much, except for yesterday when the clashing colors was a little much combined with the worn toes.

This girl sure has a mind of her own. She cracks me up. She is two-years-old in every way. But she is such a doll, an absolute joy, and I couldn't love her more. She is my sunshine.

So, I'll put up with the shoes. :) But I just might try buying the exact same pair. Maybe she'd go for a new pair and at least we'd have some cleaned up shiny reds that don't fall off every time I turn around.

p.s. The ones we are missing out on that are killing me are these...


They are so dang cute. My mother-in-law got them for her for Christmas and they look so cute over leggins. But she's only worn them a few times because it wasn't long after that the red shinies took over. Sigh. :)

One of the best compliments I've ever been given

The other day while out with the kiddos I got myself into a little predicament, which isn’t too unusual for me. We were out running errands and I promised the kids we could go to the park afterwards. When we finally made it there Halle had zonked out in her car seat. I got out and went around to Luke's side to unbuckle him and found he’d had a small potty accident during our much longer than usual en route (don't worry, just a little #1). So I lifted him out, carried him around to the back of our SUV and popped open the trunk door, which I’ve found is a much easier place to do changes than anywhere else in the car.

The back row of seats was out altogether due to moving some things a few days before, so there was plenty of room for him to change. I told him the coast was clear, no one was looking, and to quickly put on the fresh pair of underwear I luckily had with me.

But he was embarrassed. "Just close the door, Mommy, and come in here with me. I need privacy."

Well, there was plenty of room back there, so I decided why not. I pulled myself up and into the car and shut the backdoor.

We got him changed and once we were done I began searching for the handle to open to door to get us out. Then, I realized there wasn’t one! It’s the inside of the rear door, so of course there wasn’t.

"Dang it, there's no way to get out of here," I said, with I'm sure a bit of frustration in my voice. Understand I was squatting and all crouched up back there, which was starting to get quite hot as it was a warm, sunny day, so it wasn't the most ideal of circumstances. I looked at Luke and noticed his eyes were wide and beginning to fill with concern, and quickly realized I didn't want to worry him over our small predicament, so I quickly added, "But it's no problem. I can just slide over the seat and get the door open."

"Okay, do it Mommy!" he said with enthusiasm, looking both relieved and a bit entertained.

Not wanting to wake up a sleeping Halle who really needed the nap, I tried to quietly heave myself over the middle row of seats as gracefully as possible, which wasn't very, but luckily she was out like a rock. Once over, I found myself tightly pinned between my kids' two car seats. After a moment of regrouping, I leaned over Luke's empty car seat, outstretched my right arm, and pulled on the door handle. Tug, nothing. Another tug, nothing again.

"Oh no, please tell me I didn't lock us in!?"

"Locked in?" Luke panicked from behind me.

"Wait a sec..." I said, my eyes darting to the front seats. Then, in a moment of triumph, I saw my purse sitting on the passenger seat in all its brilliance, and realized that no, I hadn't locked us in! Of course, the child lock was simply on. Phew.

"We're fine, bud!" I called over my shoulder. Then I turned my head back to see his reaction and quickly realized he was living every moment with me with his face all but about two inches away from mine, eyes burrowing into the side of my head. So that was the hot air I could feel breathing down the back of my neck. Glad to know he is interested, and watching, very closely.

"Alright, looks like I’m going to have to climb over the console to my seat to get us out of here," I said to him with a sigh.

And here it comes. In my mind, one of the best compliments a mom could get, ever.

"You can do it, Mommy," my little boy said with confidence. Then, with an almost awed tone, he said, "Mommies can do anything."

I don’t know if it was the words he said or the sincerity of the way he said it that got me, but it stopped me in the middle of my predicament. I froze for a moment, taking in what he just said. I was touched. I'll admit, my eyes may have even welled up a little bit. "Thanks, bud."

Then I began having all these images flash through my mind of all the amazing moms I know. The mom who is up all night with her newborn trying to chase away colic, the mom who tirelessly runs her kids every which way from carpool to soccer practice to dance lessons, the mom who patiently (or not so patiently) resists her toddler throwing a tantrum for candy in the checkout line at the grocery store, or the mom who stays up late, night after night, helping her child who struggles in school with homework. And these are just a few examples of moms with younger kids, but how about all those moms of teenagers, young adults and even the moms of us moms?

Then I looked back at him and said, "You're right, mommies can do anything."

And with a little more gumption this time around, I hurled myself over my second seat in the last three minutes, and before I knew it, was back in my usual spot in the driver's seat. Then I smoothed over my shirt, put my sunglasses back on and, as composedly as possible, took a step out of my SUV, as if I hadn't just been frantically somersaulting all over my car.

I walked around to my son’s door for the second time, got him out and then scooped my daughter out from her side. Then, with one hand holding my boy’s and the other resting on my sleeping baby slung over my shoulder, we made our way to the playground.

And as we walked I thought Mommies can do anything – that has to be one of the best compliments I’ve ever been given.

Today I was a boogey monster

hToday the kids decided I was a boogey monster. Flattering, I know. They were protecting baby from me so they built a barricade so I couldn't get past and eat her up.


I was stuck in the kitchen for awhile while they frantically built this blockade and ran around shouting orders to each other.

Luke to Halle: "Hurry, if we don't build quick Mommy the Boogey Monster will get your baby and eat her! Bring me some building things fast!"

Halle: "Oh no! Scary Mommy Boogey Monster!


So they built while I was stuck in the kitchen knowing the quickly growing "barricade" would be quite the mess to clean up later, but I was actually loving the 30 minutes of entertainment my new label was providing the kiddos. Maybe I will have to encourage them to pretend I'm a boogey monster more often.


Once the game fizzled and they settled back in the kitchen for a snack I went back to my room so I could blow dry my hair, and I found baby tucked into my bed, safely hidden away from Mommy Boogey Monster.

I'm loving...

Of course...

I was always a Samoa girl and still am, but I'm really loving the Thin Mints this year! Thin Mints were always my mom's favorite...maybe it's a mom thing. Just bought 3 more boxes from some girls outside Walmart this morning :).

I held out for a long time but I finally gave into Pinterest and I'm obsessed! It's awesome! So fun, so many good ideas, love it. I found a couple recipe and craft ideas on there that I can't wait to try. If you haven't given in yet you should, just know you won't be getting much sleep for a couple days cause you'll be browsing all night!

These are sooo yummy. I am a lover of cinnamon so when I saw these new Cheerios I knew I'd found a new favorite. And they have good fiber and protein for a this yummy of a cereal.

I needed a little color in my kitchen and saw this little saying at Hobby Lobby the other day. Love the saying, love the colors, love cupcakes!

And last but definitely not least, this book, Unbroken. After my Dad said it was one of the best books he's ever read, I started reading it the other day. I'm not into it very far yet but I can already tell it's one of those flat out amazing books. Excited to read more about Louie and his story.

Now, I'm going to go and find myself some thin mints :).

My hilarious (unnamed) cousin's blog

My cousin, who I will leave unnamed because she doesn't say her name on her blog and after reading you will understand why, started an awesome blog - Project Ignore. So far she's told a couple awkward date stories and they are hilarious! She's a great writer and has a funny sense of humor, and I can't wait to read more. You've gotta check it out.

And you will also get to see awesome sketches from her like this...

Or like this...I gotta say, this has caused me remember some awkward dates I had back in the day and I'm sure glad I am past that stage in my life! But still, it sure is fun to read about someone else's. :)

Bring it on Project Ignore!

Love Walked In and some beach time ramblings

I read Love Walked In and really enjoyed it. It had me from the very first page with the references to old movies her infatuation with Cary Grant. Lots of fun. But then it got into the deeper story and it took off from there. I really liked the storyline and I love how she switched off narratives throughout. And just look at this cover... the book had me won over by the cover alone!

But I had an extra reason for loving it....I read most of it while relaxing on a towel at the most beautiful beach I have ever been to in none other than Hawaii! Yes, we went to Hawaii over our anniversary. Cory surprised me with the tickets three weeks before. He was going to try and wait until right up until we were leaving but I kept bugging him about going to Vegas or something for at least a night and he was being all standoffish about it, which bugged me, so I was just going to go ahead and make a reservation when he finally cracked down and showed me the tickets! I know, I am no fun! Surprises never work out as we envision them to, do they? But still, I was surprised and it was wonderful. A full week of 80 degree weather and pure bliss of lounging at the beach all day and eating fresh sushi and crab almost every night. Ahhh. It sort of all just seems like a dream now.

So anyway, I devoured Love Walked In on Day One of our trip where we spent the entire day, practically dawn till dusk, at a paradise of a beach. So I may be a bit biased toward the book because I mean, come on, I was reading it in the most perfect of circumstances.

Oh, and I can't forget the Lava Flow smoothies...

The only part that wasn't great was that after being in the sun that entire first day, and us shunning sunscreen and choosing to lather ourselves in the Maui Babe Browning Lotion we picked up at a local market which claims to be the "local secret" for an all-natural fast and dark tan, we got completely fried! And I mean FRIED. I have never been that sunburned before in my life. So bad that on Day Two we couldn't even stand to be out in the sun, so we had to road trip it around the island the whole day and go on some hikes in the jungley areas where the sun doesn't shine. Oh man, it was bad. I blistered big time, and through all my years life-guarding over summers in high school (or more accurately directing water slide traffic) I never once blistered. Needless to say, we learned our lesson that 80 degree sun in the tropics is different than 80 degree sun in good old Utah.

But I do love that Maui Babe stuff. It smells like coconut and coffee beans mixed together (although I don't drink coffee I do love the smell of coffee beans!) Mmmmm. So I just had to go and find a picture of it to share. If you are ever in Hawaii and see this stuff BUY SOME, you won't regret it, but disclaimer: make sure you have a base tan built up before using!


So back to the point. The book. I am super excited because I hear they are making a movie of it and Sarah Jessica Parker is going to play the main character. I sure hope so. I love when books are made into movies, especially good ones and especially if Sarah Jessica Parker is in them. She's one of my favorite actresses, and I'm pretty sure if we knew each other in real life we'd be friends. And we'd go shopping together. And she'd share her shoes with me (my feet would magically shrink a few sizes, of course).

Okay, done rambling now. Loved Love Walked In. :)

Love this

So it's been awhile since I've blogged. It's been a busy winter...and a winter full of bugs! (By bugs I mean sick bugs). Yes, we've been a bunch of sickies around here which means all else takes a backseat to me making sure my little ones get the TLC they need, and me getting the much needed sleep I need to make it through! However, the hubby and I did return last week from an extra awesome anniversary trip this year. I'll post more on that later.

But today, I want to share a quote I saw earlier. I LOVE this.

"The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache."

-Marjorie Pay Hinkley

Are those words of wisdom or what?

Here's the pouty face of my little sunshine that gets me laughing everyday. The best part about this particular pout was that it was in response to me asking her to please not dip her fingers in her ketchup and lick them during a visit to chick fil a. You can see what she thought about that.

The things they say...and doughnuts

Luke has said a couple classics lately I was just writing down in his journal. Maybe they are only funny to me because, you know, I'm the mama, but I thought they were worth a share.

One day the kids were talking about brothers and sisters. Luke said, "Hansel and Gretel are brother and sister, Leo and Annie (characters from Little Einsteins) are brother and sister, Luke and Halle are brother and sister, and Mommy and Daddy are brother and Sister!"
Hmmm. Still not quiet sure how to explain that one!

All the sudden he's been getting very dramatic with us when he gets in trouble. Like the other night Cory had to reprimanded him for something (I can't remember what) and Luke told him, "I don't want to live with you anymore!"
So Cory asked, "Then where are you going to live?"
Luke said, "My room!"

Ever since Halloween Luke and Halle like to play pretend that they are witches and find wands around the house (could be anything...a hanger, toy, wooden spoon, basically anything long and skinny works for them) and "cast spells" and pretend to change each other into different animals and make each other bark like a dog or chirp like a bird and whatnot. Then there was a Halloween Little Einsteins they watched where a witch casts an "evil spell" on someone and the kids have to sing a song to help break it. They got really into that episode (you've probably caught on from this post that Little Einsteins provides a lot of the TV entertainment in our household).
So with those things in mind, the other day after church Luke and Halle were running around the house playing. They must have been playing witches or pretending to cast spells because all the sudden I heard Luke say, "Halle, you can break the evil spell by saying, 'Glory to God' or 'Jesus from Heaven!''
I was pretty impressed he picked up that much from church that day!

p.s. What I wouldn't give for one of these babies. But I can't, because I'm on a sugar detox. More on that later :).