Pictures

Sabbath Activities

Well were we live we have a little over a week long celebration in our town of our heritage and history called Fiesta Days. They have a wide variety of things for us to enjoy, from a carnival, rodeo, different displays and parades and other things. Tonight we enjoyed one of the first of a few activities of Fiesta Days that we as a family will enjoy.
The hubby found out at church he had some responsibilities for his calling to do, which interfered with the time of this activity. So he called and talked to some people to see if things could be moved up or back so we can still enjoy our family activity, which he was able to move things up. When he told the guy he was doing stuff with what we were doing, he was kind of surprised that we were going. I was a little shocked, because I didn't see anything wrong with what we had planned.
So what did we do tonight?.....
We went to a concert. There was a free concert in the park. There was a group called Joshua Creek performing. I didn't know much about them except this...they sing Christian music. Here in Utah they play spiritual music on some radio stations on Sunday and I had heard a song or two of theirs on the radio. Turns out after going there they LDS, but either way Christian or LDS, isn't the message the same? They did some fun songs and they did some spiritual songs, all and all it was a good time. And we had good quality time as a family.
Being a primary teacher to 3-4 year old sunbeams, often I don't feel I get much out of church. So I didn't see why someone would question our choice of activities when I felt more of the spirit there then often times I do when I'm trying to get a group of 7-10 3 year olds to sit in their chairs, listen to my lesson, not tell 10 minute stories about nothing. I found it very uplifting and something we could enjoy as a family.
So the question is this, what do you find appropriate for Sabbath day activities? As long as we are together as a family and being uplifted somehow and we aren't spending money I think for the most part I'm ok, although everything is on a case by case basis. But then you think is someone having to work? Well were they working, I don't know. But the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs every Sunday and people do firesides on Sunday. I think their are a lot of enriching activities we can expose our children to, to help them appreciate the arts, whether they be Mormon or not that we can enjoy on Sunday. And go check out Joshua Creek, turns out one of the guy teaches at BYU (and I think I had a class with him).
And funny thing, while we were on our way home we were listening to our Sunday music on the radio and they were talking about an upcoming event for this group for $20 a family, and we just enjoyed them for free for a couple hours.

Happy Anniversary

Well 7 years ago today, I married my wonderful husband. I just wanted to let everyone know how blessed I am to have such a wonderful supportive man in my life. We have been through A LOT the last 7 years, more than I could have imagined. We've been down roads I'm still trying to figure out what I'm suppose to learn from it, but we are still in love and happy with each other. Down one of the paths (trials) the Lord felt we needed to travel together, 15+ other couples journeyed through with us in a business endeavor. Because of some poor choices one man in particular made things didn't not go well (and that's a HUGE understatement). When all was said and done, all of the marriages ended, except ours. How blessed I am to know that what we have is real and will last forever. And even though things aren't always easy or happy, at the end of the day we love each other and we are family and family never gives up on each other. So to my wonderful husband, happy anniversary. Thank you for making me the luckiest happiest woman every. Thank you for being an active father in our children's lives. Thank you for seeing the real me and trying to help me see it. I love you! Here's to countless more years to come!

Happy Birthday!

My precious boy,

Five years ago today you changed my life so completely. From the day you were born you had a way of drawing people to you. At first when you were born is was by your amazing eyes. Your LONG eyelashes and your blue blue eyes, had the nurses paying more attention to you then the other babies in the hospital. Then your personality started taking over; your sensitive, loving, social, happy self made people want to hold you and play with you. Everyone loved you when they met you. You love being with people and are so outgoing, I hope you continue that through your life. You are not afraid to met new people and make new friends. I have a lot to learn from you. You have a sweet testimony of the your Savior and Heavenly Father and their love for you. I hope and pray that you continue to build on that and only make it stronger and never loose the desire to share and talk about that knowledge. You have made me so very happy. I love the way you look out for you siblings and want to share with them and take care of them. I hope you have a wonderful birthday. I love you more than you will ever know. I wish you all that you ever want out of life and more. I love you.

Mom

You can be anything you want to be!

As I was helping my 2 1/2 year old little girl, Baluga get dressed this morning she was talking this very topic, that you can be anything you want to be. She started talking about a doctor and I asked her if that is what she wanted to be, and she said that is what I wanted to be. I said you can be anything you want to be, and she you can (meaning me). So I informed her that she too can be anything she wanted to be. So I asked her what she wanted to be and she told me a penguin! Good for her, and then she told me she wanted to be a penguin doctor. Now she didn't mean a doctor that worked on penguins, like a vet, but a penguin that is a doctor! I was telling me husband about this, so we decided to ask her again what she wanted to be. This time a Rice Krispy! I later asked her again and this time she said she wanted to be Traci, from Hairspray. At least this time she picked the right species, and something that is living. I hope she never forgets that she can be ANYTHING she wants to be.

Long time

Well it's been a long time since I've blogged, well at least here. I've been a little consumed by a new website that is helping me and other reach their goals to be more healthy. I've really liked it and have found it very helpful, I'm glad my friend Heather told me about it. So if you have a goal to be healthier this year, go check it out, and if you sign up (which is free), feel free to check out my page.
So to the reason I really decided to write, an update.
The kids are getting big. Speedy finally decided to roll over two days ago, being days away from being 6 months (ABOUT TIME). I decided to try potty training AGAIN with Baluga and seems to be a success this time around, hooray! Stir Fry has a loose tooth! Are you kidding me, the kid isn't even 5! We also noticed a little while ago that he has his 6 year old molars coming in, ones almost completely out! We are doing pretty good about eating healthier and for the most part the kids have been good with it, even the whole wheat bread or multi grain bread I've been getting. I hope all of you have had a good new year so far!

Our Craziness

Well we had been planning a trip to Seattle to visit my family for Christmas, but I didn't post about because we wanted to surprise my parents. Stir Fry got his cast on about a week and a half before we left. The splint had caused a sore in the crease of his elbow, so they put the cast below the elbow and only after about 4 days it was getting loose, just before we were about to leave. The last thing I wanted was to be in Seattle and have a cast fall off. So we went to the doctor and it was loose enough the doctor just pulled it off. Since the sore was better they put the new one above the elbow and we were ready to go. It snowed the night before we left, and since we leave at 0'dark thirty there was still snow on the ground that hadn't been driven on and weather was pretty bad, until we hit Idaho and the sun came out. Speedy didn't tolerate the 16+ hour trip every well, but the other two did good. My little brother came with us and he was a good help, because I was losing it towards the end. My older brother and family went to Seattle for Christmas and knew we were coming and were at my parents house for a couple days before spending some time with her family, so they made sure my parents were around. We FINALLY got there! We debating on how to surprise them, besides just knocking on the door. I brought one of our big moving boxes from the move and we had Stir Fry and Baluga hide under it and we rang the door bell and hid around the corner. So my mom answered the door to have this big box just sitting on her doorstep. She lifted it up and there were my two oldest. She was in shock and couldn't believe it! Pretty good Christmas present if you ask me. Back to the craziness, so moments before we showed up my brother's oldest child threw up, their second child threw up during the night and first thing in the morning Baluga threw up. After that things were pretty calm for a few days. Stir Fry started to get cough, but nothing horrible, it was usually just at night. A couple days after Christmas (which was just a couple days before we were to leave) Speedy threw up a couple times in the middle of the night, and it also looked like he was starting to get pink eye, which then spread to the other kids, but never got really bad. So we had the doctor call in a prescription, which we had to pay for, $40 for a LITTLE bottle of eye drops! We got up again really early to leave for our trip home. Needless to say after the first trip I was a little overwhelmed of the task ahead of us, and this time my baby brother wasn't with us. I had my dad give Speedy a blessing ended up getting one myself. We were getting ready to go and Stir Fry threw up! Then he ended up getting a blessing and then we said a prayer before we left which was different than expected and had a lot of detail. Anyway so we were on our way. We made our first stop of many to feed Speedy. We stopped on Coffin Road exit, which is like a ranch/farming exit. We should have known better! Stir Fry threw up while we were stopped! And then we got ready to leave and our car wouldn't start! Of course this put in my tears! What were we going to do? We were on a road that didn't get used often. Part of my father's prayer before we left told the Hubby to listen to the spirit. He saw a car coming and took off. These people decided to stop and help some strange guy on a rarely used road, which they questioned but did anyway, which I am grateful for. They tried to jump our car, no luck! Luckily they were from a ton 10 minutes away and knew a lot of people. They knew a guy who had a tow truck and a man who owned a battery/starter shop in town and called them for us. By the time we would have gotten to the shop it would have been closed, but they told the owner to wait for us. We got a new battery and we were back on our way. About 20 minutes later we saw a REALLY bad semi truck accident, which left me just too overwhelmed and thankful to contain myself, I lost it! If our car wouldn't have died, who knows where we would have been if we got back on the road when we were ready. Speedy did a lot better this time than last, which I am grateful for, because I couldn't have dealt with that. We got about midnight and all of our smoke alarms were going off! Fortunately no fire. Although Stir Fry said this loud noise made him throw up again! We had been gone for over a week, who knows how long they had been going off. And because of the time we got home all the stores in town were closed for the night, so Jeremy had to make a trip to the next city over to get new batteries, since we weren't sure how much of the battery had been used. We eventually got to sleep. Lots of craziness, but all and all we had a good Christmas and good time with family. Definitely one we'll remember through the years. It just makes me very grateful for an earthly father who listens so closely to the spirit and gave the blessings and prayer he did that day. It also make me grateful for a Heavenly Father who knows us and watches over us. I'm grateful that he watched over us that day and protected, and that if he couldn't have made our car start he sent us "angels" to help us. My testimony was definitely strengthened through these trials. How can you question if there is a God and if he cares and listens and watches over us when something like this?

Mother knows best

Well things have been crazy around here lately. Jeremy and I are the co-chairs of the Activities Committee at church, which means for this time of year, the Christmas party. Since the move this has been the first BIG Activity, which has left me a "LITTLE" stressed. Although we have a great committee with people willing to serve. So I've been busy getting all the loose ends taken care of, or as best as I can. This ward has done a ward gift for each family, so Jeremy volunteered to make vinyl stickers for each family, since his dad has a vinyl cutter, which is not at our house since it's not being used on a TV set. So we cut, wedded, and masked 90+ stickers!!!! TONS of work, to say the least. We did "Families are Forever", "Return with Honor", and "No Empty Chairs", they turned out good though. The party was this last Saturday morning, so it's over and I can breathe.
But to the title of this post....
With the snow coming, that meant the garage floor getting wet from snow melting off the tires, which in turn meant boxes getting wet. So I started moving the boxes we hadn't unpacked yet in the house. There was a diaper pail out there I decided to bring in and put down stairs for the use of diapers of course. But the kid found other uses for it. They put their toys in it, and then Stir Fry started standing on it, which I told him not to do. While I was working on the stickers for the party, he stood on it yet again, and I told him to get down. What did he tell me? "You can't see me, I'm invisible!" Then what happens? He falls off! It's only like a foot high or maybe a foot and a half if you are generous. He immediately starts crying and holding his arm. Oh course it's almost the end of the business day, which means no time really to schedule an appointment and get in, nor do I know if it's serious or something he'll get over. So I call and schedule an appointment for the next day and ask about what I should do if it's broken. So we wrapped his arm to his chest and waited to the morning to see if it still hurts. Well in the morning it still hurt, so we were still on for his appointment. Two and a half hours after showing up to the office we were walking out the door with a broken arm and a splint! This all just days before the party and not having an extra 2 1/2 hours to waste. But everything got done and things worked out. We got back tomorrow to get the cast on and another x-ray to see if it's broken in two places, it's definitely broken in one place on the radius and could possibly be broken in one place on the ulna. So all the holiday pictures will have a cast in it.
So when your mom tells you to do something, she's probably right and you should listen!

8 things meme

I got tagged by Emily at the Sassy Lime to do this, so I here I go.
It says to list the rules, but didn't see any so here are my rules. List 8 things about yourself that most people might not know about you. List the person you tagged you and tag 8 other people.

1) My kids are my life, and I often forget about myself and just focus on them, which makes it hard for me to think of 8 things that people might not know about me.

2) I don't sew much, but consider myself to be pretty good at it.

3) To go along with number 2, although I can sew costumes, I tried to make speedy a patch quilt, and it's no where near even, when I went to fold it it was very lop sided. So I can sew harder things but not straight line and straight rectangles of material.

4) I consider myself to be a better than normal cook.

5) I have a hard time talking about myself, especially the positive, that's why for number 4 I didn't say I'm a great cook, even though I am.

6) Growing up I didn't like my curly hair, and it didn't help a boyfriend once told me he liked straight hair better. But now that I'm older I like it. I like the fact I can do my hair in one minute and just scrunch and go, which you straight hair people can't say, you have to blow dry it straight. Lucky me!

7) I'm Thanksgiving is over since now I can listen to Christmas music. I don't like to skip over Thanksgiving, so I like to wait until after to start "thinking" about Christmas (although of course I have because I've been thinking about what to get people, who doesn't?). Although those darn radio stations have been playing Christmas music since almost the day after Halloween!

8) I look forward to holiday baking, making all the goodies, but I'll have to make sure I give most of it away, since sometimes when it comes to that stuff I have little self control.

So here are the people I tag to join in the fun. Stephanie, My sister-in-law Cori, Heather, Heather, Laura, and who ever else wants to that reads this that I didn't put.

The day is here

Just a reminder that the Mary Kay deals are going on today and tomorrow. The link to the site is http://www.marykay.com/supersteph/default.aspx
The specials are: buy two eye shadows two get one free, perfume buy one get one half off, buy one color (all make-up besides eye shadow) get one half off of the same product, spend $40 before tax and get a free travel size satin hands. Place your orders now. Happy shopping.
If you need more info see the previous post.

Mary Kay

I'm hosting a Mary Kay online party this Thursday and Friday, November 15th and 16th. Come check out the things they have to offer. There are few specials going on to take advantage of. Buy two eye shadows and get one free. All other color products (lipstick, gloss, blushes, ect.) buy one get on half off of the same product (doesn't have to be the same color just same product.). Perfume buy one get on half off. Also if you spend more $40 or more before tax, you get a free travel size satin hands, which makes it totally worth. For those of you haven't tried satin hands, it is a must have, and doesn't bother my super sensitive hands. If there is one thing I would suggest buying it would be that, or spending $40 in other products you want so you can get that in travel size. Go check out the website http://www.marykay.com/supersteph/default.aspx?tab=home and under comments when you order put down that your host is Erin. Help me get my hosting benefits by just even ordering the cheapest thing you can find. Remember to place your orders this Thursday and Friday (November 15th and 16th). If you have any questions feel free to email me. There is no shipping fee so everything is the same price as if you were to order it at a party and you don't have to worry about the pressure of a sales rep to make you buy more than you want or feel like. I hope you find some great holiday gifts for you and others.

Erin

The things they say

Well Stir Fry and Baluga were playing on the floor, I heard the funniest thing. They were playing with race cars and having them go down a track, and I heard what sounded like, "Are you ready? Hold onto my boobies!" come out of Baluga's mouth. Whether that is what she said or meant to say I don't know, but it definitely put a smile on my face.

The cosutmes

So this years theme for the costumes were the Wizard of Oz. I made Baluga's Dorothy dress, and Stir Fry's Tin Man costume. I didn't make Speedy's lion outfit, it was one Stir Fry wore his first Halloween. All and all I think they turned out pretty good. The kids had fun trick or treating. Baluga came home early when some older kids in masks scared her and she came home and helped me pass out candy. I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween. I had too many pictures to put on one post, so make sure you check out the next post too.

We're off the see the wizard

Holiday Gift Ideas

My friend Stephanie is going to be throwing an online Mary Kay Party. If any of you are interested let me know. She'll be having some specials, and it's a great time to do some holiday shopping for others and yourself. It's a great opportunity to get the quality things, without hosting a party, doing it when it's convenient for you, and no pressure to buy things you aren't sure you want. If you are interested leave a comment, and I'll post later with more info.

I'm at it again

Well if any of you remember, last year at this time I took my first attempt at sewing and made my kids Halloween costumes. Well I'm doing it again this year. They are almost done. Baluga's needs a few eye hooks sewn on, and Stir Fry's needs some minimal sewing that hopefully get done by this weekend. Speedy's costume I'm not sewing, they don't make many patterns for that little of babies. We are doing a theme again this year, but I'm going to wait until Halloweeenish when I have pictures to disclose the theme. Wish me luck in getting them done and I hope you are ready for Halloween.

New Pictures

I know it's been awhile since I've posted, and there is no good reason. Do I need one, I just had a baby? Speedy had bad jaundice and had to be under or attached to lights almost 24/7 the first week home. Which made it hard to adjust when things weren't "normal". My mom came in town a week after the baby was born to help out. We were able to get a 4 generation picture or my daughter, myself, my mom, and her mom. My brothers who were gone for the summer are back, which makes us, especially the kids happy! My parents and siblings and their families were all in town a little over a week ago for Speedy's baby blessing. So we had a full and loud house, but it was fun. It had been over a year since we had seen my older brother and his family and the kids had a good time with their only cousins. Our house is now empty and it's nice but I'm missing it. There were a lot of good times that weekend with my family, enjoying each other company, feeling the spirit together and having spiritual experiences. We laughed and we cried and I want to thank you all for that. I feel it brought together even more. So here are some pictures of the things that I've talked about.

Four Generations of Girls

Stir Fry fishing with his Uncle and Aunt

Speedy "Tanning"

Speedy's First Bath

Go to the next post to see some more pictures. I had too many to fit in one post.

More pictures

The kids ready for church

Stir Fry being silly

My family

The Cousins (impossible to get 6 kids 4 and under
to take a good picture)

Baluga and Uncle "Bake"

Self Diagnosis

The other day one of my new neighbors brought over a starter for Amish Friendship Bread. Today was day 10 and it needed to be made, so I decided to try to make it while Speedy was sleeping and Stir Fry was watching a show. Baluga wanted to be involved and pointed out all the messes I was making in my kitchen. In an attempt to keep her busy and out of my hair while I was cooking I gave her some chocolate chips. For only being 2, Baluga talks pretty well and is pretty easy to understand. Although sometimes she likes to gabber when singing songs or just talking to herself. While playing with her chocolate chips she was doing this, but sounded like she was saying, "I O.C.D, I O.C.D, I O.C.D." over and over again. Now is this a prediction for what is to come, self fulfilling prophecy? Either way I thought it was pretty funny to her my 2 year old call herself what sounded like OCD while she was organizing her chocolate chips.

He's arrived!

Well before I start, I never posted a picture of Baluga's room. So here it is, it's not a great picture, but you get an idea of what it looks like.

Early Friday (August 24th) morning 3:45 AM I had my first contraction. I was thinking that this was it, but hoping it wasn't because Stir Fry was having his preschool open house that morning. Well they continued to come, and then I thought maybe my water had broken. So the mother-in-law was on her way to our house, which takes about 15 minutes. We almost just left the kids home with the door unlocked for grandma when she showed up, but we waited. We got to the hospital and I was 4 cm after less than an hour of labor. At this point I was ready for the drugs, but was told my doctor might have me wait an hour to see if I progress, which he had done just 30 minutes earlier for another one of his patients that was there. Are you kidding me!?! Do you not see that things are getting worse fast!!! They finally called the anethesiologist and I got some relief. Before it was over I had a lot of pressure and felt like pushing, and was just hoping there was enough time for it to kick in. By the time it was done I was to 9 cm. Only minutes later our little one was born (thank good the drugs were starting working fast and the doc gave me extra because he could tell things were happening FAST), after a little less than 2 hours of labor, and only being at the hospital 40 minutes. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 8 oz. and measured 19 1/2 inches long. I have yet to decide on a blogger name for him, so for now we'll just call him Speedy, for obvious reason. So for his blog day view, Speedy.

Count down

Well I'm glad to report that things have improved, (almost 1 week and 9 pounds down later) although we are still going slow on adding to the diet.
On another note, I had my LAST doctors appointment today. Holy cow where did the time go? I'm 3 cm, which with my other two I was only 1-2 cm up until labor. They stripped my membranes today and scheduled me for an induction on Monday, August 27th. So sometime between now and then there should be another addition to our family. We are still debating on a name, we have a list of about 4 that we go back and forth on. Everyone is kind of leaning towards one name, which they are just trying to convince me to agree to use. We'll see.
So my next post will probably be as the mom of three, wish us luck!

Could it be any worse?

Well I'm sure it can, but right now it doesn't feel like it. With the number of days left until my due date, being able to count on two hands, it starts getting miserable anyway. But having some of the hottest weather this summer and having no air conditioning and just a swamp cooler, I feel what I can only imagine a menapausal woman feels like. I sweat so much it's gross. Then to make things worse a few days ago I came down with a bug, that is supposidely going around. Which leaves me more tired, achey, and uncomfortable than normal. I'm not sleeping, or at least not that much. And I spend a lot of the day in the bathroom. I haven't ate much, because it only makes it worse. Hopefully things get better, the good news is the kids have been pretty good for the most part over it and understanding. And the hubby has been more than willing to help, that is if I can think of anything that might help, and dealing with being in charge of dinner, since I don't join them. So let hope things improve quickly and I feel like I did before this sickness happened, then I'll be a lot happier.

Missing home

I always wish I live closer to my family, but there are times that makes me miss it even more. Like at the beginning of the week when we had a pregnancy scare at night and left me thinking who would I call if we had to go to the hospital to have a baby. It's times like this that make anyone miss their parents (especially your mom, for us girls), if you aren't lucky enough to have them close by.
In other news, besides me missing my family. We've got all (well except for a few odds and ends) into the house, that is not to say it's unpacked. Most of the house it packed and not unpacked. The kids seems to be adjusting well, and seem to be a nice neighborhood. Baluga is now in her own room, after sleeping in Stir Fry's room for several days, waiting for the paint job to get done. It turned out cute (I'll post pictures later). Hopefully we'll be mostly unpacked by the time the baby comes, which hopefully isn't for another couple weeks, well I guess we have about 1 more week until baby can be born and not premature. Wish us luck.

The one some of you have been waiting for

I mentioned I think in my last post that we were looking for a house. We have found one and signed papers yesterday. We should be moving in this weekend. People have asked for pictures so here are some. I didn't have the time or desired to format them to put them strategically through the post so deal with it. The first few are of the outside. The old owners have been out for weeks, and the sprinklers haven't been one since, so the lawn is showing that along with a lot of weeds. There is a big sand lot in the back which can see in the corner of one of the pictures growing weeds. When it comes to pictures of the inside we don't have much except for the living room and kitchen. As you walk in there is an accent wall, which you will see on the right and then the living room. Then that leads into the kitchen/dining room. On the main floor there is also 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. In the basement, which you can see the banister from one of the pictures in the kitchen, has a big family room, which will probably turn into the TV room/office/play room, because it's so big. It also has another bedroom. There is also an unfinished bathroom that is framed and wired. There is also another room that is framed with lots of shelves, that will be used for food storage for now, which can later be converted to a 5th bedroom if we want. So wish us luck this weekend, in moving, finishing packing, unpacking, and cleaning and everything else.

My Substitute

It would be nice if parenting was like basketball and you have some subs waiting on the side line for their turn to come in and get a chance to "play". It would be nice to have a couple people just waiting around, where at a moments (I guess more like a micro-second) notice they could relieve you of your duties for whatever time you need to re-coop. There are tons of times where I would like this, for example, when the kids don't take long enough naps and I'm not ready to get up from mine and the same goes for night time and getting up in the morning, and nameless other things. But yesterday I NEEDED one of these. Approaching the end of pregnancy makes me more emotional at times than normal and more tired. The day started off fine with the kids, but it was about dinner time things started falling apart. The hubby had been at work since 4:30 AM and wasn't going to be home until 8:00 PM at the earliest. I had dinner in the over and Baluga was asking for gum (she recently figured out the not swallowing gum issue, so she has had it more often), which I told her no because this would be her who knows what number of piece for the day. She wasn't happy with me, so the screaming and crying began. It didn't help that I think she was starting to get tired and I think she missed her daddy, because she hadn't seen him at all that day, and she is very much a daddy's girl. Then it led to her wanting chips, which in turn I said no, since we were close to having dinner (her crying and screaming hadn't stop since the rejection of her first want). Lately all she has wanted to eat and will eat without force and constant telling her to take a bite (if that even works) is snacks and treats. So I've had to hide them, although I missed one box and it was out in site. After about 25 minutes of this crying and screaming and asking for things I wouldn't let her have she finally ask for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which I finally gave in, even though dinner was minutes from being done. So the kids had sandwiches and I was the only that ate the dinner I made, but I was done, I was reaching my limits, I'd rather give her a sandwich then continue on the road we were on. Which that worked for a couple minutes. I let them have a few chips with their sandwich and that is of course all she ate and wanted more and I told her no, and the crying and screaming all started again. At this point I was at my limit, so I decided to go upstairs and let her throw her fit, I couldn't deal with it any more. So what happened. She brought her fit upstairs to me. How thoughtful. Of Stir Fry is following her, but he had finished his "dinner" and wasn't throwing a fit. After several more minutes of the screaming at my side, I was in tears and at the beginning of falling apart, so I got up and locked myself in the bathroom just to be alone. At this point the floodgates opened, so Stir Fry could her me crying, I'm sure Baluga might have been able to over her crying and screaming. At this point Stir Fry keeps on telling me through the door that it's ok. After a couple minutes of being in there and Stir Fry telling me it's ok, which progressively got louder and louder, since I wasn't responding, I came out (but mind you Baluga is still screaming and crying). I came out and told Stir Fry that I needed her to stop crying and then laid on my bed. At that point my substitute came in! My little 4 year old took over. He calmed her down (I don't know how) and they both climbed on the bed with me and he snuggled her and hugged her and whispered to her. I didn't ask him to do anything, he did this all on his own, which was almost reason enough for me to start crying all over again, but for different reasons. He's such a good helper, especially when I need him the most. So this one is for my sweet little boy Stir Fry who I love more than anything. I love you!

Who wouldn't want...

So the hubby likes photography and has been doing it more lately. I think he likes doing nature shots best because what you see is what you get, where with humans and anything else that can move on it's on it's unreliable. He's taken some good shots of our kids, but yet again back the problem I just mentioned. They don't want to hold still. They don't seem to understand the difference between their natural smile and the smile they give when they say "cheeeeese". A few months ago he took this picture of Baluga and you can see what I'm talking about. She thinks she's smiling but she's not. He still loves this picture, though.
So this where the title of this post comes in. Jones Soda allows people to submit photos for the chance to make it on their bottles. We thought this would be perfect and goes along with the types of pictures they put on. After reading my friend, Stephanie's current post, I decided why not use my blog to advertise it and have all you guys (how ever many or few that might be) to vote on my baby's (although she isn't much of that any more) picture and help put her on a bottle or two. So go check out my little Baluga and vote for her picture. And if you like it send it along to people you know and have them vote too. Wish us luck we'll need it, and if you read Stephanie's post you'll know why.

Catch up

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, so here goes.
Baluga eye is healed, although there is a red mark still there that will hopefully fade. She's been getting into a dress craze, so I decided to make her a few dresses (there is one dress that is purple with flowers I haven't gotten a picture of) that only cost me a couple bucks to make and required very little sewing and no pattern.

She also recently had her first hair cut ever, by me, which I don't think I'll ever do again and just leave to professionals. She got a couple inches cut off

We've also made some pretty big purchases lately. We bought a new kitchen table, since we were quickly outgrowing the one we got when we first got married. A tiny 4 chair set. We found this one and loved it. It's counter height and very dark wood, it almost looks black, but you can see some red in it if the light is just right. It has a leaf that fold into the table, so when it's open it's a big square and can fit 8 people.

Which then led to our next purchase. We didn't want the kids playing with playdough and other things (especially since it's so high and I didn't want to worry about them falling off the chairs and getting hurt) on this and wanted something they could play on and eat on when we had people over.

Now for the last pictures and last purchase for now. We got Baluga a new bed. With the baby on the way it needed to happen sooner than later. She was sleeping in the crib which we converted to a toddler bed, but wanted to get her a bed before the baby came so hopefully she would be adjusted to her new bed. The head board and foot board look the same, except of the course the foot board is smaller.

She loves her new big girl bed and has been sleeping well in it, thank goodness.
Now for the last little bit of news. We are looking for a house, which is exciting and a little stressful. I feel like I should clean and dejunk now. Then part of me thinks what's the point when we'll have to go through everything when we move. Just thinking about it makes me more tired than I already am. So there's what's going on with us lately.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to me! Well I'm not one to praise myself, but I just had to post this.
My little 4 year old brought this home from preschool yesterday. It was a bright pink paper that said "My mom" and then had fill in the blanks, which I'll just have in bold text.
My mom
Her name is Erin
She is 5 inches tall
She weighs 5 pounds
Her hair is gray (I'd like to add that it is NOT!)
Her favorite movie is.... Over the Hedge
Her favorite thing to do is... Catch Butterflies
She makes the best... Food Ever
I love her because... I love her

I hope all the mother have a wonderful mother's day and all of us children remember the simple things that we love about our mothers!

Poor thing

Up until yesterday, weather has been pretty nice around here, which is leaving the kids wanting to play outside ALL of the time. Wednesday they were outside in the back playing and we weren't out there for more than a couple minutes when this happened.
There are a couple cement stairs from the back door leading down to the carport area, which she has gone up and done tons of times. But this day, just wasn't her day. I just barely sat down to read my book and looked up to see her face plant into the first stair and then flip over backwards. Fortunately this is the only damage on her check and nose.

It's one of those things that you see happen, that seem to go in extra slow motion, but yet you couldn't get yourself there to do anything about it. You gotta love it when that happens.
I think it's still a little sore and definitely swollen. She's funny about letting me touch her ouchies. She'll let her dad check on her teeth coming in and feel her gums without a fuss, the minute I try anything like that she cries and says "no, mommy!"
This last picture I took today, while she cried and said, "No, no, no picture mommy!" The first two pictures were taken by her daddy, which she was pretty cooperative about, and of course for me this picture was taken in between her putting her head on my pillow crying and telling me not to take her picture. She's also said a few times when we have asked to look at her cheek, "No, not look at me!"
She's been kind of funny about it. And this has been her first real accident and I feel bad since it happened on my watch, but to keep myself from crying and feeling too bad, I need to tell myself kids will be kids and they'll get hurt. The last few days she has seemed to be more clumsy, so maybe she's just getting into that phase. Hopefully she won't be too self destructive for my sake.

The truth comes out

Well there is something that I've been keeping from most of you, and now is the time to let it come out. I'm pregnant. I'm half way done with this pregnancy, too bad it is the easier part that is over. I decided I would wait until I had my 20 week ultrasound so that not only could I announce I was pregnant, but hopefully also announce if we were adding a boy or a girl to the mix (I say this because with Baluga, she was stubborn and we didn't find out when we were suppose to because she wouldn't let the ultrasound tech good a look at her heart and other thing as well as in between her legs). We found out today that the kids will be having a little brother. So there you go, the boys will now out number the girls.
I'm lucky that with my pregnancy I haven't had to deal with weird cravings, or I guess maybe I should say the hubby is lucky, since he doesn't have go out and get them, since I assume pregnant women who have those cravings don't mind eating them at the time. But the problem is my little Baluga has got them!




The other day we were having lunch (some leftovers from the night before). It was a ham and cheese loaf (so like a hot sandwich) and some apples. Baluga LOVES to dip her food and one of her favorites dips is mustard, which Stir Fry and I aren't found of but the hubby is. I gave her some mustard to dip her "sandwich" in, since that is what her and her daddy did when we had it the first time around. I also put some peanut butter on her plate so she could dip her apples in there. Did she use the peanut butter, of course not! She dipped her apples in mustard! I showed her what the peanut butter was for and dipped a couple bits in there, but she kept on going back for the mustard. I fought my instinct to tell her no and that was gross. But then I thought who was I to taint her taste buds. I should really let her decide, right? If it won't make her sick, who am I to tell her not to eat it, even if it's something I wouldn't imagine trying!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my baby boy. Well he's not really a baby anymore in terms of his age or anything else, but I think he'll always be my baby boy in my heart. So to my little Stir Fry here are some cute things I love about him:
His super long eyelashes (it sad when your baby is born with longer eyelashes than you!)
His cute smile
The tenderness he shows towards his little sister (most of the time)
His concern for me
He thinks band-aids will make all things better
The dimple on his ear
The fact he stopped throwing his fit after I left this morning to get in the shower, before opening his new playdough toys, so I could at least supervise the mess
And because he's mine

Now I could go on, but it's my boy's birthday and wants to play with his new playdough and I told him I would open it when I was done getting ready, so I think he's waiting long enough.

Thank Heavens for...

Thank heavens for Pediatric Dentist! On Valentine's Day my little ones experienced the dentist for the first time and did better than expected, and I'm sure the pediatric dentist and the fun office helped. Stir Fry had some cavities, so he had his first of two appointments yesterday to get one side done. He did so good. I could tell he was nervous and maybe even scared, but he didn't cry and was very brave. He held my hand the whole time and I told him to squeeze it if he got scared or nervous and he never did, I wonder if he forgot. My little three year old was braver than most people older than him. I'm so proud of him, and am happy there is such thing as a pediatric dentist, since there wasn't when I was a kid.

I'm in the mood for Love

I decided I would do a Valentines Day post so here goes.

14 reasons why I love the hubby
1) After almost 6 years of marriage and kids he still opens the door for me
2) He has NEVER missed a pregnancy doctor appointment with both of our kids
3) He helps out with the kids without being asked
4) He lets me have a day off when he knows I need it, and would any other time if I would just ask
5) He sees the best in me
6) He thinks I'm a better mother than I think I am
7) He gets up with the kids at night
8) My comfort comes before his
9) He likes to cook and is more than willing to take care of dinner
10) He washes the dishes
11) He always cleans the bathrooms
12) He supports me in all I do
13) He encourages me
14) He makes me feel better about myself

So with that said I love you! Have a great Valentines Day!

I'm losing it!

Do you ever have those days as a parent that you just can't hold it together and question your abilities. Well today is one of those days and it's only 9:30AM!!!! Someone help me please! It started with a rough night, where Baluga cried close after I laid in bed, but at least she fell back to sleep. Then a couple minutes later Stir Fry came in saying his blankets were off and needed help getting them back on. Oh course that wasn't the end of it, then about 12:30 Baluga woke up again and wouldn't go back to sleep, so that meant one of us going in there and rocking her, which ended up being me. Of course she was asleep almost instantly, go figure. But what happened when I tried to lay her back down? Of course she woke up and screamed her head off, but I left anyway. Did she go back to bed of course not. Then the hubby got up with her and laid on the couch with her, and finally two hours later she was in bed. Did I get much sleep during that time, of course not. The hubby will often fall asleep on the couch and stay longer than he needs to, so I'm always checking the clock and looking to see if he has made it back to bed. After Baluga was in bed, she was fine until the morning, but then we have Stir Fry's normal getting up at way too early for me (6:00-6:30) and we make him go back to bed until 7. Well this morning he did his usual but this time he was covered in pee because his pull-up was too full, so we had to take sheets off, but new clothes on, I didn't even bother to put new sheets on and put him back to bed. Good start to a morning! So I was already tired and low on patience. Well this morning has only added to that. I don't ask for much as a mother. I'd like to eat at least 2 meals a day, and get 30 minutes of exercise in (if i choose). The minute the video went in, started the neediness. They can be quiet independent when it's works well with their time, but heaven forbid they give my 30 minutes! I need this, or this, or I'm going to make a huge mess, or do things I should normally be able to do on my own and of course not listening of doing anything I say. It drove me nuts and of course me and the kids suffered for it. I hope this day passes quickly and we all survive. It's days like this that make me question my ability of being of parent.

Bargain shopping

I live right across the street from Albertson's. We are so close the parking lot lights illuminate our bedroom. But do I shop there? Not very often. I don't like there prices (on non-sale items and sometimes sale items), there produce is crap (whenever I have gone there for produce it's hard to find stuff, not that there isn't, just that I don't think it's good quality, I'd even go as far as to say horrible quality). Now this isn't to say all Albertson's are this way, because I have been to other and haven't had problems, just the one by my house I don't like. I have another store that I favor that is close by that has better prices and produce. So when do I shop there? Last minute, "Oh I forgot to get that when I was at the store" items, when someone gets sick spur of the moment and I need medicine quickly, or when they have good deals. The things I tend to wait for to go on sale are fruit snacks and granola bars for the kid when they are a dollar. So yesterday was the start of their 10 for $15 sale of Quaker breakfast products. But when you bought ten you got $5 off, so it was 10 for $10. Another problem with this Alberstons they never prepare well for a sale, especially 10 for $10 sales. They run our of items (or at least the good stuff) usually the first day. And with so many people getting rainchecks (which they now put an experation date on) if you don't time it right you can never use them because the products are always gone (I don't know if that is their way of saving money or what, but as a shopper I don't like it). So I headed over at 6:30 AM!!!! to get my stuff, so I could stock up and have things to choose from. I got 50 items, granola bars, cereal, instant oatmeal, oatmeal bars and cookies. So you can do the math, I spent about $52 after tax. But the amount I saw on the bottom of what I saved was even better. I saved $135!!!!!