Of Nerds and Cowboys

No one at the Annual Hyde Halloween Party asked Mike and I to be in their pictures. No matter...we found a way to represent.

Thought provoking questions from Annie

While reading the scriptures last night, Annie asked this question....in this way.

"So, I don't want to sound like a dork in front of Casie, but I just have a question. We just read that Heavenly Father can do ANYTHING right? Well, if he REALLY wanted to, could he make Tamagotchi's come to life?"

The cute thing was that she was VERY sincere about it. She has a deep desire to see her digital friend walking and talking with the humans.

We told her that Heavenly Father could if he REALLY wanted to. :-)

Jackism

When I asked Jack what he was doing as he scooted a chair over to the fridge, (eyeing the cookies on top), he responded with, "Just chillin'".

A scary Halloween story to share with you children

On the way home from visiting family, the girls asked Mike to tell them a scary story. This is what he came up with.......


It was a dark and stormy night...yes it was.
Suddenly the lightning flashed!
And in the flash you could see a severed unicorn head!!
And the lightning flashed again!
And you could see that the horn of that unicorn head is stabbed into an elephants eye!
And the lightning flashed again!
And you could see that the elephant is sitting on a large severed crocodile hand!
And the lightning flashed again!
And you can see that within the grasp of the severed crocodile hand, is the body of the severed unicorn!

whaaa ha ha ha ha ha.

We all laughed.

Feeling Better and Feeling Sad

Today Annie woke up with only a little swelling and mostly clear skin! She told me that little girls prayers go to the front of the line. I think she is right! We still have six more days of antibiotics, but I think she is going to make it. :-)



Now for some sad Annie news.......

Because of financial struggles, Annie's awesome art teacher had to cancel all his classes! He is starting a new job and doesn't have time for art lessons anymore. This is Annie's final project from Art Lessons.



I hope and pray he will be able to start teaching again soon. Annie has learned so much from him, and does so well under his guidance. Maybe I will have Annie pray for him:-)

Because of an awesome suggestion from one of my readers, I have created a blog just for Annie's art. You can check it out here.

Back to the ER

This post title would be more dramatic if I had posted about the last three times we had visited the ER in the last two months. First Mike's knee, second Mike's complications with meds, third Mike's blood clots, and today I took a fourth visit to the ER. This time it was Annie. She woke up with a red swollen face and blisters. I don't know where they came from and the doctor has declared it to be either a bacterial or viral infection of the skin. She is on anti-biotics and a topical cream. Poor Annie.

Even though she looks miserable, she has been a trooper. She has had a good attitude and laughed when I told her she looked like a cute red chip monk.

Here is the biggest of the blisters. There are tons of little ones all over her cheeks that you can't see in the picture. They actually popped this one in the ER.

After we left the ER, we headed to the store to pick up Annie's prescription. I also let her pick out any cereal she wanted and TWO cute little Halloween toys. Sick kids need to be spoiled a little.

Now, on to happier Annie news.........

A couple months ago, Annie was asked by a neighborhood preschool teacher to illustrate some books for her. Annie took her job very seriously. After hours of work and a little help from her sisters and Mom, she finished them up last night. I think there were about 15 books in all. She is such a cute and creative artist. I am amazed at how easily it comes to her. Here are just a few samples of her work.

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"Moreover, when ye fast be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward". 3 Nephi 13:16

OK, this morning, my kids were beyond disfiguring their faces when I reminded them of our decision to fast for Mike. There was much weeping and whaling and gnashing of teeth, but... we made it! I was so proud of all of them for their willingness to sacrifice their comfort for someone they love. Ellie's words at the end of the day were: "This better work, or it SO won't be worth it!" I hope we as a family can all gain a stronger testimony of fasting. It is definitely something we need to work on. I hope this Sunday will mark the first of many Fast Sundays we spend fasting together as a family.

Fun with Casie

Casie and I have taken up a new hobby together: The card game, PHASE 10. On Thursday nights (because school starts late on Fridays) and weekends we can be found at the kitchen table trash talking and teasing each other over who will phase next. We tend to get a little goofy as well. We've said things like; " I am honored to offer you this lovely 7". Then the other will answer by saying, "I am exceedingly grateful to not pick up the 7 you just offered me." It's really fun to have a child old enough to play games that I enjoy too. One thing that has made me laugh is realizing how superstitious Casie is!

She is convinced she plays better if she:

#1 Is wearing her Divine Nature ring.
#2 Taps her fingers on the table while I am dealing
#3 Doesn't touch her cards before they are completely dealt
#4 Is the FIRST to touch her cards after they are completely dealt

We invited Mike to play with us once, but he totally whipped us both. He is no longer welcome at our game table.

Casie is dealing the cards as I write.....wish me luck!

Love ya Dad, but.......

After a nice FHE discussion about fasting, we decided to fast as a family for Mike's knee to heal quickly. Ellie agreed to participate, but had one request:

"I'll do it as long as we don't fast tomorrow,.. because it's mini-corn dog day."

Chocolate Milk

Jack: Want Chocolate milk Mommy.

Mommy: Ok. (I get out the milk and Hersey's syrup because we are out of the Quick powder I usually use)

Jack: (Because it wasn't the Quick, he thought I was getting it wrong and starts throwing a semi-fit) No! Mommy! Want chocolate milk! Mommy! (fit growing larger)

Then as he sees that the milk has turned to chocolate milk using the syrup, he stops mid-fit and says in an astonished voice, "What da heck!?"

I laughed.

I guess I should also add that because the syrup makes that lovely sound as it squishes out, Jack said.."The chocolate did a poop Mommy!"

Like father, like son

Jack is constantly finding "crutches" around the house. Today it was the vacuum hose.

JUSTICE vs MERCY

ATTENTION:

Those family members who get their Saturday jobs done in a timely manner, will be rewarded with a delicious milkshake from Iceberg.

Those who listened........

Those who did not..........(WARNING: heartbreaking pictures ahead)

JUSTICE eating his treat in front of those he bestowed JUSTICE upon....and enjoying every second of it.

Now, before I get angry calls from Grandma, let me demonstrate how MERCY saved the day....

Because the thought of leaving the slow cleaners behind brought MERCY to tears, she spoke to JUSTICE and together they decided that everyone could come to the canyon and enjoy the great outdoors.

The girls spent the majority of their time finding cool rocks in the creek.

Jack spent ALL of his time throwing the rocks into the water.

When we got home, JUSTICE made sure the slow cleaners finished their jobs.

MERCY went to the store to buy treats for everyone for the next day.

Cornbelly's

We had a great time on this beautiful fall evening! We left Jack at home with Dad, and soaked up all the fall fun with the girls and some of Casie's friends. I LOVE fall so much!

Riding on the cow train.

Annie and Ellie talked me into letting them get their faces painted. They were SO excited and LOVED watching the artist create faces on the other children.

They both decided to sleep flat on their backs so the face paint wouldn't smear off during the night. You will see in my next post how well this plan worked....

It was great to have a night out with the girls. They are such awesome kids and were so fun to be with.

The BIG 2 0...without the 0

My awesome little boy turned two yesterday! He has brought so much joy to our family and we feel SO blessed to have him.

Some of my favorite things about Jack:

His politeness. He always give a sincere, "Thank you Mommy!" when I do things for him.

His silliness. He makes us laugh with his faces and teasing. I ask him what his name is and he always answers, "Name is.....(thinking) Grandma!" Name is.....Annie!" "Name is....Christian!" He names all the names he can think of and NEVER says his name is Jack. I always tickle him and tell him those aren't his names. He laughs and laughs.

His intelligence. From a very young age Jack has been easy to communicate with. He can be reasoned with and seems to understand so much. I love watching his eyes as his brain processes information. He also knows a lot of colors. " No, not pink binky...want lellow one" " Look Mommy, it's Ba-loo!" "Fruit nack is dreen". So cute. :-)

His cuteness. What is cuter than a two year olds voice? He is so much fun to listen to. I particularly like listening to him sing (at the top of his lungs) in the shower. I love hearing him make sound effects for his toys too. "See ya Truck...I love you!"

Because I am me, I didn't document EVERY event of Jacks birthday, but some of the high lights were:

Birthday party at Grandmas earlier in the week.

Going to the pumpkin patch and sitting on the tractors.

A cute gum card from Casie. She leaves early for school and got it all ready for Jack before she left.

Blowing out the candles...again, and again, and again. He loved it!

Wandering through a corn maze.

Riding with his head out the sunroof.

A fun surprise from a neighbor. They told Jack he had to pull the rope that would bring him a special box full of little presents. It was really sweet of them to go to all that work for him!

Going to the car wash with Mom. I thought he would enjoy this activity with me. He didn't. Every time the water would crash over the car..(it's loud!) he would scream. Then when the water would stop he would ask me in a forced calm, yet hopeful voice, "All nice and clean now?" Then the water would come again and he would scream again. As soon as the water stopped the screaming stopped and he would say the same thing, "All nice and clean now?" It was so sad, but funny at the same time. After all, what's a birthday if it doesn't involve some terrorizing of the birthday child?

We also had some family over for dinner and dessert. Jack had a fun day.

Oh, and we also had cake for breakfast this morning, but Jack and I promised we wouldn't tell anyone that. :-)

Good eater

Even after 5 pieces of Watermelon yesterday, Jack sweetly handed me his rhine and said, "Mo Melon pees"

The next day he ate 4 helpings of green salad.

A peaceful ending

Held Hostage

Today Ellie asked....

Did you have any other boyfriends before Dad?

Is it ok to kiss on the lips before you are married?

Will you help me set up a job chart for my kids when I am a Mom?

And she also said,....

If I had three wishes, I would wish to be really popular at school.

Oh and BTW, after that boy in line told her he wanted to stand by her because she was missing a tooth, she lost THREE more teeth the next week. I think she willed them out. That girl scares me.

Cloud formations...in Jack's bowl of ice cream

This evening for FHE treat, we had ice cream with Magic chocolate Shell topping. Because the chocolate hardens once it gets cold (that's the magical part), Jack was able to spot some chocolate and creamy shapes in his bowl of ice cream.

Jack: Mom! A hosie...a hosie!!!

I look, and sure enough there is an abstract shape of an ice cream horse (mostly just the head) in his bowl.

Jack continues to eat.

Jack: Mom! Happy bud-day!! Happy bud-day!

As I look into his bowl a second time, I see the magic shell has made a shape that resembles a birthday candle.

Jack eats some more.

Jack: A slide Mom! A slide!

I admit I didn't really see the slide very clearly, but Jack took a big bite and said, "Mmmm..slide good."

Is this normal behavior for a 23 month old? I dare say we are entering genius territory. :-)

Filling my lamp

I CAN keep my lamp filled. Even if after Enrichment night I came home find: honey spilling on the floor, a screaming baby, green beans on the carpet, homework strewn about, and after dinner jobs half (or not) done.