What does that mean?

Over the last few days, the kids have said some funny things that have left me wondering...what does that mean?  I would love to go into their brains to see how they think. 

Situation #1-Ashlynn and Luke were eating Mac N Cheese and Luke was complaining it was 'TOO cheesy!'...of all things.  Ashlynn was happily eating her food and said, "Mommy, I Love this Mac N Cheese.  It is soooo cheesy it makes my hair feel like there is watermelon in it!" 

Ben and I laughed and then said, "What the...?" 

Situation #2- Luke ate a huge cookie and a huge glass of chocolate milk and then said, "Man, I feel spicy now!" 

What does that mean?  So funny!  If anything, moments like this help me 'lighten up' and to remember to smile, laugh, and breathe.  I need to remember these guys will only be little for a little while.

You Know You Have a Girly-Girl When...

...even the dinosaurs get a make over!  Luke was not happy to see this!

Seriously???

It's my blog and I'll gripe if I want to,

gripe if I want to,

gripe if I want to...

you would cry too if it happened to you.

Now that I have tried to be optimistic as I reviewed the positive things from 2009, I would like to give 2010 a kick in the pants!  My patience is wearing very thin...

It all started over 2 weeks ago. Luke woke up with a stomach FLU.  Not bad I think.  I can handle that.  Our family hasn't had a sick visit to a doctor for a year to be exact.  I think we must be doing a great job with handwashing and etc.  No one else got the flu and a few days passed.  Then Luke got CROUP for only a day or so.  Not bad.  A few days later, possible PNEUMONIA and breathing treatments and a lung steriod.  Ok...I am starting to think..."What the heck is going on". 

Luke gets better.  A few days pass...blasted PINK EYE!!!  Then, a few days later Ashlynn, Ben and I develop PINK EYE.  I send Luke to school thinking all is well with him.  He comes down with DIARRHEA and misses a few more days of school.  A few days later, Ashlynn and I get the stomach FLU on the same day.  Ashlynn and I both develop a bad COUGH to top it off.  After several hundreds of dollars spent on copays and medicine.......guess what???  Luke enters round 2 of PINK EYE on Thursday, Ashlynn throws up AGAIN on Thursday evening and Ben and I get PINK EYE on Friday AGAIN!!!  Is this a bad, mean joke? Did someone put a curse on us?

I would like to thank the Physician's Assistant who, when asked why our family keeps getting pink eye, answered me by saying, "You need to learn to wash your hands better."  Guess what dude?...YOU DON"T KNOW SQUAT. I would think a whole family staying healthy for one year says a lot about handwashing!!!  I would like to thank pink eye for being responsible for over $300 we have spent on copays & medicine and being responsible for my 'perfect attendance' child now missing the maximum allowed days of school.  Thank you pink eye for messing up my schedule for several weeks, making me lose wages at work and sending me out of our infested cave looking like a no makeup, glasses wearing, very pregnant, pink eyed DOG.  Thank you for zapping me of any and all my energy to prepare for a new baby in 5 weeks.  Thank you for giving me cracked and bleeding hands from all my HANDWASHING!  Whew.  Am I done yet?  Here's to one more week of pink eye...

Did I mention, the car broke down and required over $400 in repairs too?  Maybe it has  #*$@  pink eye too!

9. Create!

My whole life I always thought and believed I didn't have any talents.  There was nothing I was good at.  There was nothing I could do well.  Thinking those thoughts sure makes a person feel worthless.  I feel like I have spent most of my life admiring the talents of others and wishing I had those same talents.  It wasn't till a few years ago that I actually came to the realization that I could draw and do crafts well.  I have always enjoyed doing those things-but I never thought anything of it.  Last summer I came across this quote from a Visting Teaching Message in the Ensign magazine: 

“Lifelong learning is essential to the vitality of the human mind, body, and soul. It enhances self-worth and self-actuation. Lifelong learning is invigorating mentally and is a great defense against aging, depression, and self-doubt” (“The Journey of Lifelong Learning,” in Brigham Young University 2008–2009 Speeches [2009], 2, 8–9).

I think developing one's talents is lifelong learning.  This last year as I have fought depression every waking moment, it wasn't till I reviewed my 1300 photos that I realized one more blessing in my life...finding enjoyment in 'creating' things.  Each time I made something and took a step back to look at it...I felt joy and more self worth.  If you haven't seen this YouTube presentation from Elder Uchtdorf called 'CREATE'- click on it!!  It will be worth the 1 minute 54 seconds it will take you to watch it.  One of my favorite people in the world is Elder Uchtdorf and his message is undeniably inspired.  Enjoy!

I didn't take photos of all my projects, but I am so happy I took a few. To the rest of the world these may not look like much, but to me and my family they brought us a few smiles.

My first princess birthday cake for Ashlynn.  I have a feeling it won't be the last one I make for her. She loved it, but was a bit traumatized when we cut it up and ate it. 

Made in honor of Luke's deceased pet snail named Snaily Pyster (pronounced PIE-STIR).  He was so distraught about losing him that I thought making him a t-shirt would help him feel better.  He LOVED it and tried to wear it for a week straight. 

Back Story: My mom is not afraid of bugs, snails, snakes, mice....or anything like it.  At her cabin in the mountains she saw a snake one day and ran around the front yard chasing it.  She wanted to catch it and show it to Luke.  My Dad, Ben and I all yelled out, " I wouldn't do that if I were you...what if it is poisonous?"  She didn't care and kept chasing it.  Luke's eyes were popping out of his head.  He looked terrified and amazed by what his Grandma was doing.  She caught the snake and showed it to Luke.  Forget the snake...Luke couldn't take his eyes off his amazing Grandma.  A week later I overheard Luke talking to a group of boys at my work.  He said, "Did you guys know that Grandmas are the only ones in the world who can catch snakes?"  Thus the reason for creating the t-shirt. :)  I love it.

8. Friendships Made In Heaven

     One of the things in life that has brought me so much unexpected joy is watching my children play, interact with and love their cousins. It is a simple joy that I never tire from observing.  I guess part of it comes from the fact I never had the opportunity to develop friendships with my cousins.  My sisters and I were always the youngest and lived far away from any of our cousins.  Sadly, I don't even know how many cousins I have and I can only name two of them!  This is not a tradition I wish to carry on.  I am so thankful my children know each of their cousins from both sides of our family.  They can name them all by name.  They worry and think about them.  They miss them.  They include them in their prayers.  They don't want to say good bye to them....these are truly friendships made in heaven.  I LOVE it!  Luke even made up a rule all by himself..."If cousins come over, then I don't want the TV to be on.  ONLY PLAYTIME!"

     For example, at the close of a visit with my sister and her family, we asked Ashlynn to say goodbye to cousin Avery and her brothers.  Ashlynn and Avery both started crying...a lot.  I (being clueless to this particular bond of friendship) kept asking Ashlynn what was wrong.  I asked her if she was hurt.  I asked her if she was fighting over a toy with Avery...and etc.  Finally, Ashlynn blurted out between sobs..."I'm SAD MOM!!!"  I was startled and couldn't believe my 3 year old was crying at the thought of saying goodbye to her cousin.  Ashlynn followed Avery out to the minivan...crying and hugging her all the way.  After their minivan drove away, Ashlynn ran up to her room, buried herself in a blanket, curled up in a ball, and repeatedly told me how sad she was. She didn't want to play or do anything.  The poor girl was needing some chocolate to help the situation!  It was sad, but so adorable.

7. Luke's 1st Day of School

I want to finish my Top 9 of 2009 by the end of January-so I better keep writing. 

Another wonderful thing to come out of 2009 was watching Luke go to kindergarten for the first time.  Luke was nervous-but I may have been more nervous.  When the time came to separate, I discovered I was more excited for him than anything and I didn't end up crying.  Luke started reading in preschool and he was more than ready to keep going with his new achievement.  It was making him mad that he couldn't read more than he could.  Every night he would thank Heavenly Father he was able to read and he prayed he could read even more the next day.  It was too cute. 

Here's a side effect of your children learning how to read:

After Luke ate all his Halloween candy in one night and became sick the next day, I wrote on the white board, "No more candy for the kids."  Luke decided he didn't like that message and he erased and rewrote the message to say, "No broccoli No carrots".  Since he didn't know how to spell broccoli or carrots, he drew pictures instead and added "I love Dad".  Later on when I asked him why he did it, he asked me, "How did you know it was me?"   Ummmmmm.....I am not sure....the next suspect would have been his Daddy! 

6. Two Trips to Cascade

During 2009 we were able to make two great trips to visit my parents in Cascade.  During the first one, my parents borrowed a pontoon boat and we had a wonderful day on the lake.  It was perfect weather and perfect company.  My sister Jaime and her family came too and we loved every minute we were able to all be together.  I can still remember how good the sun felt that day.  I didn't want the day to end.

     During our second trip we went canoeing, had a few great campfires and even tried a zip line at a friend's house.  Luke may be shy, but he is quite the dare devil.  He LOVED the zipline and insisted he do it with no hands every time.  I lost count how many times he went down the zipline.  I almost had a heart attack each time he did it.

     Overall, it felt good to surround ourselves with family and enjoy all the yummy food my mom makes. Our kids love visiting their Grandma and Papa.