Hypochondriac Bay

      Monday, Bailey came home from school and told me she had been to the nurse 3 times that day.  Knowing the school had not tried to call me I knew I had a bit of the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" amongst us.  The nurse knew it too apparently.  I knew Bailey liked to go to the nurse.  A lot.  She used to come home with stickers or prizes and every time I asked why she had gotten them she said it was because her teacher gave them to her for being so brave by not going to the nurse.  Aye, aye, aye. 
     I thought we were over this until Monday when I got the 3-peat nurse report.  So Tuesday morning before school I was giving her the pep talk of not needing to go the nurse.  I asked her how many times she was going to go to the nurse that day, expecting a 'zero' answer of course.  I was shocked when she said, 'once'.  She's already planned to go to the nurse!  Aye, aye, aye.

Geography Lover in the House

So Logan has a little love affair with maps of the United States.  We have a platic placemat map of the US and he has carried it around the house with him for months.  He loves to ask what each state is and what that state is known for. 
His favorite night in a long time was Election Night.  Every 2 seconds the US map was shown on TV - he was in heaven.  For weeks after he could tell you what state went red and what state went blue.  The presidential outcome did not catch his attention - but what color California went really blew his mind. 
He loves the Ipad app Stack the States - even though he can't read.  It goes so far that a few weeks ago I picked him up from the daycare at the gym and the lady there told me he was really smart.  I questioned why and she said because of his US map prowess.
Today he wanted a slice of cheese so I cut him a piece off of a 2 pound block.  He immediately looked at his slice and asked me what it looked like.  I had no idea. So to his trusty placemat map he went.  Then he put his slice of cheese on top of Montana - apparently I had cut it to look just like the Big Sky state.  That is a coincedence he can appreciate.

Hide and Seek

       Yesterday Logan had a friend named Carson over. They played all afternoon together before they stumbled onto Rosie, our family's favorite hamster. Of course Logan got her out of her cage and the boys played with her for a minute. I didn't think much of it - thinking Rosie was safe in her cage afterwards. That proved to be unwise thinking.
       Emily came up to me all panicked saying that Rosie was missing. "Emmy," I assured her, "she just's burrowed somewhere in her cage hiding from those boys." Rosie is hard to find lately since Emmy's last bedding purchase was for white bedding. That girl is hard to find in there. "No," she insisted, "she's missing!". So I joined the hunt for Rosie. Turned out - not in her cage. Uh-oh.
       "Hey boys," I asked, "where's Rosie?". To which Carson promptly declared, "She's in Logan's swim suit drawer!". And she was. Right there in the swimsuit drawer. Luckily those boys decided to hide her in a contained location!  No more Hide and Seek games with Rosie.

Hamster Hotel

Important backstory info:  in Emmy's hamster cage she has this pink little house for Rosie. 

 It looks just like an igloo, thus we call it an igloo.

    Last weekend Bailey's best friend, Brynlee, asked us to tend her 2 hamsters while they went out of town.  My girls were so excited to add 2 more hamsters to our house.  Hamster Hotel I called it, Hamster Heaven my girls called it.

     Emmy thought it would be a great idea to put Rosie in their cage, and vice versa.  She thought they'd really get a kick out of seeing some new digs.  I told Emmy that was fine, and then a while later walked past the 2 cages and noticed they weren't switched.  Asking Emmy why she hadn't switched them she replied, 'I just don't think Rosie would like those hamsters in her igloo, going through her stuff.'

Call Tyler "Unimpressed"

A few Sundays ago after church Derek asked Tyler how my sharing time was. 

Tyler said, "It was good.  But mom just got it from Sugardoodle." 

Apparently if you get your sharing time idea from Sugardoodle it doesn't matter how good your sharing time is, how creative, how spiritual, how much time and effort you put it into it - all null and void and counts for nothing if you get it from Sugardoodle.  Then I further disappointed him when I told him all of my sharing times come from Sugardoodle - as does every other sharing time that kid has ever seen!  Mr. Tyler is now Mr. Unimpressed.

I hope they call me on a mission!

       My parents just got their mission call.  They had the papers in for 8 very long weeks.  Every week we'd expect it, just to wait another week.  My mom kept saying Church Headquarters didn't know what to do with them - I think awesome mission calls just take extra time.
       My parents were willing and able to go anywhere, and do anything.  If that meant digging ditches in Africa, they were willing.  If that meant freezing to death in Siberia, they were willing.  If that meant facing my mom's biggest fear ('snakes the size of buses!' in the Congo) they were willing.  They were willing to go anywhere, learn any language, and face all types of poverty, weather, and culture shock.  Sign them up.  Because that's the kind of people they are.
       Finally it came (!) and a big opening party was certainly in order.  We all went to my parents' house - a few were missing, notably Derek and Tyler who were in SLC that weekend for a Utah Jazz/BYU basketball weekend, but the party went on.
       My mom, who loves guessing games, and my dad, who does not love guessing games, had come up with a plan of opening it to appease both of them.  My dad was going to open it, read it, and then my mom wanted to guess and guess until she got it.
     So my dad read it, and my mom started guessing.  She narrowed it down to mission home, English speaking, North America, and then Canada quickly.  It took her a while though to get the official mission . . . Winnipeg, Canada.  They are going to be office specialists.  They were so excited!
      As we read up about the mission we all felt like this was going to be a prefect fit - for my mom who's never been cold in her life, for my dad who wears a coat year-round, and to their mission president who is originally from Idaho, but now lives in Alaska running a fishering touring company (my dad's wildest dream come true) - this is a good fit.
     They leave in 6 short and crazy weeks - just enough time to buy a 4-wheel drive car and stock up on long underwear!
      I'm most excited that it's close enough to go visit.  Only 22 hours by car!  Sign my family up!  A road trip to Canada to see my missionary parents - simply awesome.

Mission Call Opened!!

Here's the official opening video - I had to upload them in chunks because the file was too big. And then of course they uploaded in the wrong order - and because I'm so awesome at Blogger I can't figure out how to switch them!  So watch them in 1,3,2,4 order. 

I get so excited every time I watch the video!

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Emily Dear!

 

 

Happy Birthday Emily!

 

Here's a little about Emmy as a 10 year old:

favorite animal: killer whale

favorite food: spaghetti

favorite TV show: Phineas and Ferb

favorite movie: Ice Age 4

favorite book: Tale of Despereaux

favorite color: white

favorite treat: buckeye bars

favorite candy bar: Crunch

What she wants to be when she grows up: a banker at ICON

Where she wants to live when she grows up: Illinois

If she could visit anywhere: Egypt

How her friends would describe her; awesome, smart, full of good ideas

How I would describe Emmy: Emmy is the biggest peacemaker I know. She will do anything to make someone happy. If she is given a candy bar, she will give her siblings half without hesitating. If every chair is open in the kitchen, except the one Emmy is sitting on, and Logan insists on sitting that one chair, she will happily move - every time. She never complains - homework, chores, and piano are all done with a smile. She is my only child who still calls me "Mama" which I adore. I am the luckiest to have a daughter like Emily.

Happy Groundhog's Day

The kids and I had a fun Groundhog's Day. We watched online Puxatwney Phil come out of his little hollow oak on Gobbler's Nob and not see his shadow - welcome spring!!  We celebrated his wonderful forecast by making cute little groundhogs coming out of their holes.  I, for one, cannot welcome spring with open arms enough.  Bring on flip flops, bike riding, and swimming!

Mascot Discovered

My girls are both playing basketball this winter and there is a lion mascot that walks around the gym throughout all of the basketball games.  Today we were getting ready to head out the door to a basketball game and Logan said out of nowhere, "Ya know mom I don't think it's a real lion.  I think it's a person just wearing clothes."  Yep Logan, you have figured out a mascot.

Best Birthday Present Ever

This post is dedicated to my sister Allyson who has been
begging me to post this story since November.  Enjoy Al!

 

 

 

      Tyler started middle school this fall and that meant a little more diversity in his classes.  All year he has one period that changes subjects every quarter - Art, Keyboarding, Computers, and Family Science (Family Science is what used to be Home Ec when I was in middle school). 

      So his first class of the year was Family Science.  The first half of the quarter was cooking. Tyler loved it.  Every Thursday was his lab day when he got to cook something.  At home, we have enjoyed the benefits of this class.  We've had Orange Swirls and French Bread Pizza brought to us by Tyler's new talents.  It's also me realize the can do way more cooking than I had been giving him credit for. 

      The second half of the quarter was sewing.  He made a pin cusion and this cute, furry football.  From  his new found skills, the best birthday present ever was born.  I have pillowcases for my kids for every holiday.  In September my kids all had their Back to School pillowcases on their pillows and Tyler told me that his had a hole in it.  Sure enough, in the seam was a hole.  He told me, and I promptly forgot.  I certainly wouldn't have thought anything of it until next Semptember when I pulled out my holey pillowcase. 

     A few nights before my birthday I was in my room reading.  Derek came in and told me stay in my room.  Secrets were going on.
     Two days later was my birthday.  I could tell something good was coming by how Tyler was acting.  The last present was from Tyler.  I opened it to find our Back to School pillowcase.  I was a bit confused.  Then he reminded me of the hole he had found.  'Look for it' was what I was told.  Looking for the hole I could tell it had been whip stitched together.  By the most recent graduate of Family Science.

                                                           

   Tyler told me how a few nights before he had told Derek he wanted to fix the hole for my birthday present.  After telling me to stay in my room, Derek helped Tyler find thread and needle.  After he'd done that Derek told Tyler he couldn't be any more help - he didn't know the slightest thing about fixing the hole.  So Tyler went to work.  He whip stitched me the best birthday present ever.

Hamster Happiness

 

Oh Santa, you did good this year.

 

 

 

 

Santa and Emmy are tight these days.  After she received a hamster for Christmas, you might say they're BFF's.  Maybe this was Santa's way of appeasing a 9 year old girl who's wanted a dog for 7 of those years, and maybe this is his way of getting her parents to take babysteps to pet ownership - but either way, you did good old man.

Emmy woke up to find a hamster Christmas morning.  She was shocked, asking Bailey, who was looking in the cage, "What is it?", too shocked to believe it could be a real pet.  In typical Emmy fashion (immediate and completely random) her hamster was named:  Rose.  She now mostly goes by Rosie. 

Rosie gets a lot of attention.  A lot.  Let's just say it's good that the kids have gone back to school so our little Rosie can get a nap!  Because she's nocturnal she goes all night - and goes(!), but because of our overwhelming love for her she also goes all day.  Poor thing needs some sleep.

Emmy looks forward to Saturdays where she gets to don her plastic gloves and clean out her cage (easy said when we're two weeks into it), and has already been to PetSmart to buy bedding and food.  I explained to her that now she has bills - bedding and food.  Water's on me, because I'm generous like that.  I'm glad to see her allowance going somewhere besides candy.

As a side note, Emmy has had a beta fish named Chiffy for a long time.  After Rosie entered the picture Derek started teasing her that she had turned her back on Chiffy.  No, no, no, she still loves Chiffy she said.  Then Tyler started saying he'd like a pet . . . and maybe he could have Chiffy.  Emmy, who now has bills, seizes the opportunity and says, "5 bucks and he's yours".  So Emmy has Rosie, and 5 extra dollars to buy hamster bedding, Tyler has a fish and quickly renamed him Rex.  All is well.



Once there was a snowman

My kids have been loving the snow we've had this week (except for the fact that it has not resulted in a snow day!).  Yesterday my kids were out building a snowman when they needed items for the face.  As I scrounged through the pantry for them I found some of those really big chocolate chips (the kind you buy to melt).  This will do I thought and sent them out with my kids.  The snowman was built, face applied, and everyone happy.  A while later I looked out the window to realize that half of our snowman's face was missing.  Odd . . .  And then a while later realized his whole face was missing.  In comes Logan with a mouthful of chocolate.  After asking him if he knew where our snowman's face had gone, he insisted it had already melted.  Yep . . .  Logan ate our snowman's face off.

Westward Ho!

Emmy has just started a Pioneer unit in school.  As part of the unit, they are each assigned identities, and will go with their family across the country.  Emmy has been so excited about this - and tells us all about her family, their ages, professions, etc.  Last night Emmy had to write down her supply list - everything she was going to take with her on her journey.  She had 1000 pounds to allocate however she wanted.  After she had written down her giant "To Pack" list, I helped her add up pounds to make sure she was in the 995-1000 pound range her teacher had assigned.  We added them all up and she was way over.  So I suggested she look over her list and figure out was was a neccessity, and cut the rest. The first thing I pointed out was her spinning wheel (for a whopping 25 pounds!).  That was met with, "But Mom, you know that spinning wheel is the thing I'm most excited to take."  Ok, on to something else . . .   Then I came to a fiddle.  I told her she should only take things that are going to help her surive - anything else had to go.

Emmy:  Ok, I'll take off the fiddles.

Me:  Fiddles??  How many did you pack?

Emmy:  3

Me:  why 3?

Emmy:  Because this is their only entertainment and I wanted each person in the family to have one!

In the end, the fiddles got cut, the spinning wheel stayed.  To the pioneers I say:  Too bad you didn't have Emmy with you.  Sure, she would have bummed food off of you, but she would have brought entertainment.

Lion Love

Tonight at dinner we were going around the table saying our favorite things in different categories.  We got to animals and decided everyone should say their two favorites.  Here's how it went:

  Tyler:  monkeys and tripod fish

  Emily:  hamsters and tiger

  Me:  penguin and tiger

  Derek:  moose and squirrel

  Bailey:  lion . . .       . . .   I love lions so much I don't know what could be second!

It Takes All Kinds ...

Bailey came home from school yesterday and told me that her friend had hurt her feelings.  I asked what happened and here's the tale I was told: 

Bay:  Well, Brynlee and I made up a club at school, and it's called the

 Just Say No to Drugs and Just Say No to Bullying Club. 

And we invited Bryn to be in our club and she said,

 "No, I've been in that club before and it was terrible!"

And Mom, that really hurt my feelings.

While listening to this tale of woe Tyler did not let the moment of sacrcasm go, and quickly told Bailey she should name her club the Counselor's Club.
I had to explain to Bay that some people like drugs, and some people like bullying, and some people like both.  But we just have to be tolerant of all.

Dare to Dream

Derek and I have been talking to Emmy about what sport/activity she wants to do.  She's done clogging for the past few years but this summer decided she wants to quit.  We're fine with her quitting, but want her to do something physical.  A few nights ago Derek and Emmy were talking about what she'd like to try - soccer, basketball, swimming, - hoping Emmy would like one of his suggestions. 
    The conversation ended with no plans of what Emmy would like to do next.  A little while later Emmy came out of her room really excited.  Calling Derek she said, "I know what I want to do!  I know something I'd be really good at because I"m little!"  Derek was all ears.  Finally, Emmy had decided what she could do.  He was a little shocked at her idea.  "I want to be a horse jockey!"  Yeah ... we're going to go with swimming.

A Letter to Cousins

Emily just wrote a letter to her cousins Kamryn and Halli.  It was so cute I had to put on here (no editing was done, pure Emily) - enjoy!

Dear Kam and Halli,
    A couple days ago Tyler and Bailey and I went to a across the street garage sale.  They had a bunch of stuff!  Seriously!  They had Thanksgiving stuff, Halloween stuff, Christmas stuff, clocks, stuffed animals, bikes and scooters!  They had everything!  Bailey and I were looking around but then I saw this turkey decoration! It was so cute!  And it was only 25 cents!  So I went home and told my mom about it.  She said it was ok to buy!  So I ran to the garage sale!  I paid for the turkey!  I've never bought something from a garage sale before!  Then Bailey and I looked around somore.  Then Bailey found a little carebare in a box.  It was 25 cents!  Bailey and I ran home to ask our mom if we could by it.  She said it was ok but you only have 3 mins.  So Bailey and I ran to the garage sale.  Bailey picked up the carebare and bought it.  She was so happy!
Love,
  Emily

Leapster Love

Things I don't love about this picture - kind of couch potato-y.

Things I love about this picture - out of the whole house they choose to play their Leapsters next to each other, and they both have their beloved blankets.

Caught?

My caption of this picture:  "Logan just dumped out yet another bottle of shampoo and

 turned the water on without any worry of the consequences."

Logan's caption:  "Uh oh"