Oh baby . . .

Tyler's teacher is pregnant and due this month, so when I was volunteering this week we were talking pregnancy and babies and she said, "You can tell this is old news to Tyler". I asked what she meant and she said "When we were doing our Oregon Trail project Tyler was a father of 3 and his fake wife was pregnant - and had the baby on the trail. In his journal entry after the baby was born Tyler wrote, "the baby kept us up all night!". Tyler knows a thing or two about babies.

Shhh . . .

This is what I found last night hanging on Emmy and Bailey's

door when I went to check on them:

Logan Yells at the Home Teachers

Today our home teachers came over. We have the best home teachers - they always bring a great lesson geared for the kids, and then at the end they quiz the kids about the lesson. Every time they get a question right they get a piece of candy. The kids love for the home teachers to come.
So today we had the lesson and the quizzing had begun. Tyler had the first question and got peanut butter cup for his correct answer. Logan saw that Tyler got a treat and wanted one. The home teachers had gone to Emmy next and Logan was getting nervous about getting his treat. After a minute of fussing about it he went into our pantry where our candy jar (unfortunately) was within reaching distance of him. He found in the candy jar his own peanut butter cup and was quite proud of his problem solving skills. He was showing off his candy to all of us when we all started laughing at him (more with him, than at him). Then he got embarrassed and took his treat into the pantry and shut the door (so he was just standing in their dark!). So then we really were laughing at him (this time, definitely at him). Then he got mad . . . and he'd open the door and yell "Not funny!", we'd die laughing, and he'd yell "Stop it!" It was hilarious! We'll see if they bring candy next month . . .

Bailey Crack-ups

Here are a few things Bay has said lately that has cracked us up:

(The background you need for this story is that in Cinderella 3, Anastasia says, "Stop the wedding Mother!" - and this quote is said a lot at our house -

I don't know why . . .)

Last night we took the kids swimming, and as we were coming out of the gym the kids had wet hair, were in flip-flops, and it was in the 20's. We were all freezing! Derek had just buckled up Logan, and then while he was starting the car he said, "Stop the wedding Mother!". Bailey yells to the front of the car, "Dad, there's no time for that - get the warm air going!"

Today in the middle of Sacrament Meeting Bailey leaned over and asked, "When you were a little girl did you love the number 4?"

Bailey has changed her name to Jailey. In preschool they all say their name with their first letter replaced with whatever letter they're learning that week. So Derek and I would be Jerek and Jamy. For whatever reason "Jailey" has really stuck with her. She came home Thursday telling me to call her Jailey. She's started writing "Jailey" on all of her things (with the J backwards every time), and told her Primary teacher today to call her Jailey. In a moment of frustration this weekend when no one was remembering her name change, she said to me "Why can't everyone remember to call me Jailey?!".

That girl's a crack up.

The Groundhog was Right

Though Puxatony Phil seemed to get his forecast wrong for most of the country, he seemed to get it right for me. Yesterday I saw my daffodils had poked through. Part of me says: oh little daffys, I think you might have jumped the gun a little! I hope a frost doesn't come that does you in! But a much bigger part of me says YAY! YAY! YAY! The first day I see my daffodils come through is really and truly one of my favorite days of the year. I love to think that we are through the worst of winter and spring is on it's way. I love that it's getting lighter and lighter in the morning. I love that soon I will not be fighting coats and socks whenever we go somewhere. I love that soon I will not be cold all the time - I am always telling Derek I've been cold since October. I love that my kids will be playing outside longer than it took us to get them ready to go oustide. Spring cannot get here soon enough.

Emmy is Baptized!

Emmy was baptized last Saturday, February 5th. It was a great day because we had so many people there to support her in this decision (Allyson's family had plans to come from Utah, but their family got hit the flu the day before and they weren't able to make it).
She was the most excited person I've ever seen to get baptized. She talked about it nonstop for weeks prior to her baptism. The night before she was up at 11:30 pm coughing - when Derek went to check on her she said, "it's almost Saturday, and that's the day I get baptized!". She was the most excited to be baptized.
Her baptism was at 6:30 so we had dinner for all of our family before and then were off to the baptism. Only 6 kids were baptized that night so even though Emmy was last it was a quick wait.
Our Bishop was there and had Emmy come up and look around at how many people were there. Then it was finally her turn to get baptized. They had filled the font earlier for a baptism before our stake baptism so her water was really cold. It was so cold that was all she could pay attention to. She got in and told everyone it was cold, she got out and told everyone it was cold, the next day in primary she told eveyrone it was cold - she really got preoccupied with it!
Afterwards everyone came to our house for dessert and to enjoy our great day together. Thanks to everyone who came - we really appreciate it!

It's Great to be 8!

My little Emmy turned 8 a few weeks ago and would definitely say "It's great to be 8". Her birthday was on a Saturday so we were able to celebrate all day. She had her favorite breakfast (eggs and sausage) and then a friend party. We only do friend parties on even birthdays so this was very exciting for her. We had 11 little girls here for games and lunch and Emmy loved every minute.
After her party my mom took her shopping to pick out her own birthday present. This is Emmy's dream come true. The girl can change her mind 1000 times about anything. My mom let her walk up and down every aisle and change her mind again and again. Finally she came home with 2 gold fish, a giant heart shaped pillow that says BFF on it, a giant red teddy bear, and many other treasures.
We met Emmy and my mom for dinner at the restaurant of her choice (Wingers - loves that popcorn). Then we were off to our school swim night at the YMCA.
The next day Derek's parents came and we had another party with grandparents and cousins - it was such a fun weekend celebrating Emily.

Fortune Cookies

Tonight we had Chinese take-out for dinner. After dinner Tyler was reading his fortune.
Me: What does your fortune say?
Ty: It says carolers will be coming to our door.
Me: Tyler, it can't say that.
Ty: It does.
Now I'm starting to think maybe they make holiday fortunes . . . ?
Me: Let me see it.

The actual fortune: Don't be hasty, prosperity will soon knock on your door.

I'm hoping for a more financial prosperity over some singing.

Snow Day

Tuesday night we got a lot of snow (here that equals 6-8 inches) so school was cancelled yesterday. The kids were so excited! There was just a sense of excitement at our house. Dance and scouts also got cancelled so our whole day was empty. What a perfect way to spend a snowy, snowy day. This is how we spent our day:

making snowmen (of course!)

decorating gingerbread houses

and making igloos with friends.

The kids had a blast - they'd play in the snow, come in to get warm, have something to eat, and head back out to the snow. Last night it was dark and I still couldn't get Bailey to come in the house. My kids were betting on another snow day today, but their luck ran out, and they're back to school. We had a great snow day.

Gems of Bailey

Here are a few gems from Bailey after the past few months:
One day I was helping Tyler practice the piano in our living room. Bailey and Emmy were playing in the family room. All of the sudden Bailey starts crying. Not "I want attention" crying, nor was it "I want Emmy in trouble" crying (moms can differentiate). This was "I'm really hurt" crying.
So I go into the family room to find her really hurt and laying on the floor. I ask her what happened and she yells, "Emmy made me do the splits!" Isn't that hilarious? To comfort Bay this is what Emmy added, "But Bailey, you really did the splits!"
Then this week Bay went to preschool and I heard this report from her teacher, "Bailey came up to me and told me she had an announcement" An announcement? From Bailey? What does she have to announce? Her big announcement to her class: "I'm popular".

That's what she told them - aye, aye, aye.

P.S. to the Fire Alarm

My friend, who's in Scouts, just told me that for Pack Night this week we are having a fireman come to talk to the boys . . . I just hope we don't recognize anyone. Or vice-versa. That is hilarious timing.

Worst. Stake Conference. Ever.

We just got home from the worst Stake Conference ever. Harsh, you say, hear me out. A few weeks ago a couple friends and I decided we should join the choir singing at Stake Conference. For them, it was about a love of singing and hymns being praises and such, for me it was a way to sit and listen to Stake Conference, from my cushy seat, for 2 hours, while Derek had the kids. Genius I'd say.
So today I was enjoying Stake Conference while watching Derek and the kids. Halfway through, I saw Derek take Logan out and leave the other 3 kids on the bench. Not too concerned at this point. Our last speaker was Cecil O. Samuelson - as in President of BYU and General Authority. Derek and I were at our Stake Center, becuase I was in the choir and all, but it was also being broadcast to 2 other buildings and 2 nursing homes (do we live in Utah?). He was in the middle of his talk when all of the sudden the fire alarm goes off. Ear piercing fire alarm. People covering their ears fire alarm. Babies crying fire alarm. It is so loud that he had no choice but to stop his talk. Through the siren he did manage to say, "kids are cute, but there are things they shouldn't touch".
Emmy and her friend were out getting a drink from the water fountain when the alarm went off, and they both sprinted outside.
The fire alarm is going and going and High Councilmen and the Stake Presidency have gone out to the halls to figure out what is going on. My friend Kim and I start asking ourselves if there's any way it's either of our 2 year olds, since they were both out of the chapel at the time. No way we convinced ourselves, they're 2 - they couldn't reach the fire alarm. It's definitely not either of our boys.
Finally, after several minutes, like 5 ear-splitting minutes, while Elder Samuelson can't do anything but stand there, the siren goes off. The strobe lights on each alarm, however, are still going strong. A counselor in the Stake Presidency comes back and assures Elder Samuelson that it was accidental, and we don't need to start evacuating, to which Elder Samuelson says to everyone, "It was an accident, we'll have a disciplinary council after the meeting. If you need surgery repairing your ear drums, send your bills to your Stake Presidency." And the meeting proceeeds.
Here's the unbeknowst to me part . . . Derek had Logan, and his friend (partner in crime I'd suggest) in the Relief Society room listening to the talk. Derek saw the boys looking at the fire alarm lever and he distracted them away from it. Ten minutes later Derek saw Logan beelining for the fire alarm - despite Derek's chase, the alarm was pulled. When it started Derek was hoping it was just in the Relief Society room, when he heard Elder Samuelson say, "Everyone stay calm" Derek knew he was cooked. Derek ran out of the room to see the High Councilmen looking to see what alarm was pulled. Derek told them where it was, and they told him to stay put. They had a key to turn off the alarm, but not the strobe lights. So the alarm was off, lights still going, and Derek and Logan had to wait otuside for the fire department to come.


After they got the lights off, they had to have a talk with Logan. I'm sure that went well. The firemen said since he had called them, he might as well get a tour of the fire truck. So Logan got a tour of the fire truck and met his first fireman.

Right after the alarm got turned off, Derek's friend - who was another building - text him and said, "It was your kid wasn't it?" Other favorite texts have asked if we think the fire alarm will make the report that Elder Samuelson gives when he gets back to Utah, the fact it was Logan who pulled it "was no shocker", and when will his disciplinary council be. My brother thinks we should print the picture of Logan and the fireman and mail it to Elder Samuelson with a note that says, "It was me".

When I first saw Logan after the meeting all he could say was "loud, loud". After we went into the Relief Society room to see just how low this fire alarm lever was. Logan was so scared he didn't even want to go in the room. Maybe the fireman's talk did sink in . .. . Needless to say, I will not be singing in the Stake Conference choir again - we need all hands on deck.

Heat Wave

We have had unusually hot weather the last 2 weeks. Today's October 1st and the high is 91. It's just still hot, hot summer around here (which I do not complain about, winter will be here soon enough).
This week Emmy wore a dress to school and she wanted to wear her dress boots with it. I told her it was too hot to wear boots to school but she insisted and off she went. She came home from school taking off her boots as fast as she could.

Me: Were your feet hot in those boots?

Emmy: Yeah! I told my teacher my boots were full of sweat!

Is that the sickest thing you've heard all day?

Late Start Wednesday

Every Wednesday our whole school district starts school 15 minutes later. The point is to give teachers 15 minutes of grade-wise collaboration time. So instead of school starting at 9:05, we start at 9:20. Last year we had Late Start but the buses still came at the same time - the kids just played on the playground for an extra 15 minutes in the morning. This year, due to budget cuts, the buses come 15 minutes later so they don't have to pay for the extra playground duty-people.
I love Late Start Wednesdays. School starts so late already that I never have to wake up my kids. So on Late Start days we get so much done before school. Both Tyler and Emmy get through their piano lessons, and can work on their spelling.
Tyler has the same spelling homework every week. On Wednesdays his assignment is to have his spelling list in one room and his paper in another. He looks at his list, starts with the first word, and spells it outloud while he walks to his paper and then writes it down. Logan has caught onto what he's doing and every Wednesday morning Tyler walks through the house spelling words outloud with Logan a step behind him yelling E I E I E I E I (I'm guessing from Old McDonald). Another reason to look forward to Wednesdays.

Second Grade Spelling

Today Emmy came home with the homework assignment of having to write a sentence for each of her spelling words. She decided that each of her sentences would be about apples. Here they are:

I studied about apples.
I hurried to pick apples.
I cried when there was a worm in my apple.
I worried about my apples.
People gave me apples when I got married.
(This was orignally: I married apples. I intervened.)
I carried my apples everywhere.
"I love my apples" I replied.
I tried to get my apples from the tree.
I copied my neighbor picking apples.
I fried my apples so they would be good.

I thought they were hilarious!

Mama

Tonight Derek is out with Tyler and Logan at our ward's Fathers and Sons. I love Fathers & Sons, and not because I get a break from the boys in the family. But because I love to have time with my girls. We planned a girl night - eating out, going to a park, and watching the latest Barbie movie.

When we were at the restaurant the waitress kept calling me 'Mama' - "Mama, can I refill your water? Mama, did you save room for dessert?" All night she called me Mama. Emmy said, "How does she know you're a mom? Is it becuase of me and Bailey?" Yes, it's because of you and Bailey. I hope everyone knows I'm a mama. I was proud to be called 'Mama' - even if by some stranger waitress.

7 Years Down the Road . . .

The rule in our family is that you have to be 12 to get your ears pierced. My girls talk about getting their ears pierced quite frequently - planning what kind of earrings they'll get, if it'll hurt, etc. But lately Emmy has been telling Bay that she'll wait until she's 14 so she and Bay get their ears pierced together when Bay's 12. That puts this 7 years from now.
So this week the girls come to me with a plan: they're going to get their ears pierced the same day and then they wanted to know if we could go out to lunch afterwards. 'Sure' I say, you got it. Then they say, 'can we go to Wendy's?' (I know, dare to dream girls). Again 'sure' from me. Then they say, 'I hope it has a playland!'
We'll see if 7 years changes things.

Family Laws

I just got home from Education Week in Rexburg. I got to go with my 3 sis's-in-law. We had a blast staying in an off-campus apartment and having some mom-time.
One of the classes I went to talked about having Family Laws. She told us that you need to have the kids help come up with laws and consequences so they buy into the laws. So the kids and I had a family meeting where I wrote down on all their rules they wanted for our family. There were some goodies:
No tattling
No arguing
Include everyone
Don't slam doors
Shut outside doors
"No" means "No"
Clean up after yourself
No jumping on others
No pouting
No screaming
Don't climb on couches
No blaming others
No hitting
Take turns
Share
No lying
No running over people with your bike
No food on the carpet
No whining
No punching
No choking people
Don't make others do what you want
No kicking
No pinching
No breaking stuff
Be tough about little things
No bragging
Don't put 2 things in the oven at once
No name calling
No pushing
Don't shoot anyone with your BB gun
Don't throw the exercise ball at others
Don't feel sorry for yourself
No touching others

I thought there were some solid new rules for our fam! Just in case you're wondering what we're going to do with 30+ rules, we put them all into 4 different categories so we now have 4 family laws, which covers everything - even shooting others with our BB guns.

Pine Wood Derby

The Pine Wood Derby

a.k.a. Night of Horrors

Last night was our first Pine Wood Derby. Tyler and Derek had picked out a model to make online, and then went to a friend's house who helped Tyler cut it out with his saw. Tyler sanded it, painted it, added a Batman tattoo, added wheels, and soon we had the coolest Batmobile in town. Not only was last night the Pine Wood Derby, it was also the night Tyler was going to get his Wolf Badge. This was a night I was really looking forward to. My parents came to cheer on Tyler.

The night had excitement . . . the night had promise . . . the night had some problems.

Now Derek and I are not the handiest when it comes to tools - and car making might be at the limit of our handy skills, so on the way there we really had one goal - just not to be embarrassed. We didn't need to win, we just needed to not be embarrassed. That was the whole goal of the night.

So we get to the church for the official weigh-in. Our car was too light so Derek added some weights to it. He taped the weights onto the bottom of the car with electrical tape, got it exactly 5 ounces and we were off to the races!

The gym was divided in half - for spectators and racers. To get into the 'pit' you had to have a 'pit pass' that all of the boys wore quite proudly. The races started and Derek said to me that he was worried that with the weights on the bottom he hoped Tyler's car wouldn't get high-centered down the track. "Oh that won't happen" I assured him.

Then they called Tyler's name - Derek and I were on the edge of our seats - with one goal in mind: don't get embarrassed. Off they go . . . and then his stops . . . half way down the track. The race-director-man declares a need for a pit stop so Derek can move the weights to the top of the car. So Derek goes off (calling himself Guido from Cars) to fix our Batmobile. Now the race has to stop and wait for our car because the race-director-man's brackets are on his computer and he can't skip Tyler and then come back to him. Well Derek thinks they're going on with more races, so he takes his time . . . his sweet time . . . his 'take all the time you want' time to fix the car. And the rest of us are just waiting for him to come back. The race-director-man starts telling jokes to fill this time. People start wondering what Derek is doing to this car. People start wondering where Derek went to fix this car.

Finally Derek comes back and the race is back on. Tyler puts his car back up on top and off they go . . . and Tyler wins (fastest time thus far too). So we won one heat - which wasn't even the goal, but we had lots of embarrassment which was the goal (so not really a victory). Then Tyler went on to win a few more heats - making our initial embarrassment lessen. We get through the whole race and Tyler ends up taking 5th - way better than we ever thought we'd do. Unfortunately, the story doesn't end here.

So the race is over and while they're letting siblings race their cars and getting ready for the awards I was standing at the back of the gym holding Bay. She had fallen asleep at home taking a really late nap, and when we went to Pack Night we had to wake her up and she never fully woke up. Through the races she was really clingy and kept trying to fall back asleep. So I'm standing at the back of the gym holding her, when all of the sudden - and I don't know if I heard it first or felt it first - but Bay starts throwing up . . .gallons. Gallons and gallons. It's everywhere - in her hair, in my hair, our shoes, and all over the floor. We're just soaked in the stuff. And I become a deer in the headlights. I don't even know what to do or where to start. As I'm standing there, horrified beyond belief, I just hear moms telling their kids not to get in it! While I'm still standing there petrified a few friends and Derek start bringing me paper towels - they're wiping me down, their trying to mop up this giant mess - and a few paper towels are not going cut it. So we're doing our best to clean up and in walks our friend with the giant mop and bucket (you know the one you never want to have anything to do with). So Bay and I head out to the car - where another friend gives me a gallon ziplock bag so I can strip Bay down. And we just wait for the rest of our family to come out. While I'm dealing with Bay, Tyler gets his Wolf and I miss it -though Derek did want Tyler to pin the 'mom's pin' right on me and my puke shirt! Derek gets Tyler a ride home with someone else so we can go home and end the horrification.

Poor Bay was really sick - after I scrubbed her to death - she climbed right in bed and went back to sleep.

The whole thing couldn't have been more embarrassing - and that was the whole goal of our family!

Notes to self for next year's Pine Wood Derby:

• Use electrical tape to add weights
• Tape weights on top of car
• Don't throw up

*Think this might win for longest post ever?*

Eenie Meenie

Both my girls are obsessed with doing 'eenie meenie minie mo' to decide between anything. They do it to decide who puts them to bed, what shoes they're going to wear, and how their hair is done. But Bay's Miley Cyrus twist cracks me up every time: "Eenie meenie minie mo, country-fi it, hip hop it, and my mother says that you are not it".
And here's a compltely random side note: since this week is Teacher Appreciation week, all of the kids in Tyler's class had to write a thank you to their teacher. I just got done assembling them into a book. Here are my two favorite (thankfully neither were from Tyler): 'You are stern, but fabulous.' and 'I like Mrs. B. she eats chocolate.' Kids are too funny.