Goal #1: accomplish goal #2

Do you set goals? I always have this huge urge to do just that this time of year.  This is going to be the year I actually accomplish them, I always say.  Aaaand if you've been following my blog for a while, you're probably laughing right along with me right about now.  ;)

So, again, I still want to set goals.  I'm trying to simplify.  I'm trying to visualize.  I'm certainly going to write them down.  I know what to do to actually accomplish these goals.  It's the doing them that gets me

EVERY TIME.

Any tips on how to overcome this? Seriously... any??

Come and gone...

Every year I feel so depressed Christmas night, wondering what I could've done to make the season more special or meaningful or whatever.  This year, I was determined not to do that. 

I watched every Christmas movie we had at least three times (and that's a lot of movies, seeing as we generally add one to our collection every year).

I listened to as much Christmas music as I could stand.

I lit smelly pine tree candles.

I made our avent train (thanks again, Dan and Cherstin) center around Christ and we did service for our family and others and read scriptures and quotes about Christ.  We even had a "gift" hunt Christmas eve, with our last day (the 25th) holding the last clue to help us find it.  It was the baby Jesus, of course, which we had to open before all the other presents.

Anyway, still Christmas night as I was trying to sleep to end the day, I couldn't help but feel that sad feeling again, that something else could've been done or something.

All I could think of that would quench the feeling I was having was hugging my kids. 

Since that night, I've been hugging them whenever possible.  I'm not much of a hugger, but I just have this huge craving to hold them close and can't get enough of them.

The weather's finally warmed up a little, making it sunny and clear and almost spring-like, which helps the moving onward and upward from the Christmas high let-down go a little easier.  We've been listening to regular music, even took down all of our Christmas stuff yesterday. 

I'm ready to keep moving forward... I love the new year! I love new beginnings and love that I can hug my kids whenever they're near!

Oh, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new CAMERA! It has some different lenses and settings and a textbook-like manual I've only just tapped into... I'm so excited to see what I can do with it!

Full set!

Quin now has 16 teeth! Bring on the steak!

Really, though, blogging about teeth? LOL

What's a blog for, anyway? Bragging? Venting? Dumping? Exposing? Lying - er - Embellishing? Journaling? Record keeping?

For me? I don't know anymore.  I like sharing funny things.  I have to stop myself from saying things that would offend others or expose too much about myself. 

So, I blog about teeth.  That's all I got right now. 

Priorities...

I've noticed that lately, I'll take pictures that'll either sit in the camera forever or be downloaded to never be blogged about.

It's because I'm blogging LESS and living MORE.  I'm using my usual computer time to not always be on the computer and do other things that either need to be done or I just want to do... it's been nice.  ;)

Someday I'll blog about:

The Wall.
Andur's 9th Birthday.
Stocking Quin.
Finger Painting.
And... some other things I've wanted to blog about but never have. 

It just might take me a while.  :)

I hope I remember this when I need to...

A father passing by his son's bedroom was astonished to see that his bed was nicely made and everything was picked up.

Then he saw an envelope, propped up prominently on the pillow that was addressed to 'Dad.'

With the worst of premonitions, he opened the envelope with trembling hands and read the letter.

Dear Dad:

It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you.

I have been finding real passion with Stacy and she is so nice.

But I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercing, tattoos, tight motorcycle clothes and the fact that she is much older than I am. But it's not only the passion...Dad she's pregnant.

Stacy said that we will be very happy.

She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. We share a dream of having many more children.

Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone. We'll be growing it for
ourselves and trading it with the other people that live nearby for cocaine and ecstasy.

In the meantime we will pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Stacy can get better. She deserves it.

Don't worry Dad. I'm 15 and I know how to take care of myself.

Someday I'm sure that we will be back to visit so that you can get to know your grandchildren.

Love,

Your Son John


PS:
Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at Tommy's house.

I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than the report card that's in my center desk drawer.

I love you.

Call me when it's safe to come home.

Fun Noodles

For Thanksgiving we:

Had lot's of snow for sledding:

Played video games on the big screen in a big mess:

Made turkeys (for the previous FHE) with things we're thankful for on the feathers:

Natalie's:

Andur's:

Mine:

Matt's:

Went to Rapid for the Festival of Lights: 

And bought fun noodles!!

We went shopping, ate lots, did more shopping, and ate even more! Good times!

Let the punishment fit the crime

What do you get when you play with an over-sized ball in the living room and don't stop when your dad tells you to?

Well, this is what WE got:

THEY get to clean the living room thoroughly for a week and sing a song about obedience each night before bedtime.  Punks.

I got it off perfectly, lucky for them, thanks to my iron and some paper towels.

Shoo Fly

Apparently you can catch more flies with vinegar than honey.  (If it's cider vinegar and/or balsamic with a piece of fruit in it...)

We had an out of nowhere fruit fly invasion (Matt blames cheap Walmart bananas) and tried everything from fly paper to honey to jelly to my son's lunch box (yeah, gross) and nothing seemed to get rid of them. 

So, I consulted this website, and found a solution:

A jar with the above combination, adding a little soap to the mix for guaranteed death.

And it worked!

This was the second batch.  I bet we caught more than sixty flies.  Yuck.

Never, ever alone

I love it when you pray for help in a certain area, feeling unworthy of such help, thinking H.F. doesn't really hear what you're saying, wishing He was actually here to answer back in person so you know the answer's coming from Him, then out of nowhere things pop up that are exactly what you needed to hear and you know it's from Him and you know you're not alone all over again. 

Capital Tree Tracking

Last night, my family got a sneak peak at the Christmas tree that will be on display at the Capital.  It was weird, actually.  They had it still tied up on/in the truck and we had to peak through a window to see only part of it.  Rather funny, really.  You should've seen the people lined up to look at a tree.  (We didn't stand in line, just looked from where we were.) 

They had live music, cookies, cider, and SANTA! My kids all sat on Santa's lap and were given a candy cane and a teddy bear, then we ate a cookie, drank some cider, signed our names on something as proof we were there, then called it a night.

Of course, I forgot the stinkin' camera, so here's a link to see where the tree's been.

And people say nothing exciting ever happens in Wyoming! ;)

Promotion

I've officially been bumped from the status of "dada" to "MOMMY"!!!

Geeze, took him long enough.  :)

Take his word for it...

Two Mondays ago, we were having FHE when Matt asked the kids when we were first given the right to choose.

Andur pipes up with "The Civil War! The Civil War!"

Natalie said Heaven. 

I'm so glad one of them is soaking it in. 

___________________________________________

The other night we were discussing who had the best broccoli cheese soup after it was decided that the soup I just made (from a mix, mind you) was not the best.  We all concurred that Quizno's has the best.

Andur said,"It doesn't even look like broccoli cheese soup.  It looks like, 'Eat me & I'll change your life' soup."

Just sayin'

Bob Dylan should NOT sing Christmas songs.

Gone with the wind

Matt was trying to blow our second yard-full of leaves into piles the other day (and the very next day - we had yet ANOTHER yard-full of leaves with snow covering them oh-so-quickly today!) and Quin thought it was fun to have his face blown off.

FACEBOOK WOES

My Facebook is NOT LOADING!!! It just brings up words on the side, like the program is malfunctioning! Is anyone else having this problem or does anyone have any suggestions??

Thievery

Quin found my open can of freeze-dried mangoes and decided to share with his friend... this is how I found them:

That's what I get for leaving them within his reach!

Extracting the good

This morning, while I was eating my toast, my tooth broke.  Yes, this tooth.  Karen, I can imagine you saying as you read this, "Oh, Jami!" Yep.  I was going to schedule my root canal for THIS WEEK.  But, thought I'd have the money for it better by December 6th.

So, as I'm driving to the dentist, praying my heart out for some way for them to save the tooth, I also prayed for help in getting through this and finding the good.

1. Matt pointed one thing out to me before I left.  He's home this week on a rolling lay-off.  To keep from having to lay people off due to lack of work earlier this year, his company decided to give everyone a week off, unpaid.  People got to keep their jobs, and all is well.  This was a blessing in more ways than one:  he still has his job, and he's home this week for me to break my tooth.

2. The baby I just took on babysitting was sick today.  Not a blessing for his mom or him, but if he was at my house today, me breaking my tooth would have been a bit more of a burden.

3. We had money saved up for Matt's week off, so that was going to have to pay for whatever tooth work I had to have done.

All these things were going through my head as I was trying to be brave about losing my tooth.  (My dentist told me before if it's cracked, he has to pull it - leaving me to believe the worst.)  I have a small jaw, therefore not as many teeth as most.  I had a lot pulled when I was younger, so pulling this one would leave me with not much to chew with on one side.

As he's looking at my tooth and waiting for the numb to kick in, he's telling me an implant isn't too expensive.  Like $3,200 not too expensive.  Ha! Maybe for you, DENTIST.  For me, yeah right.

Then, the really good news:  my tooth didn't have to be pulled! I still get to have a root canal! (Yes, I'm sublimely happy about a root canal - who can say that?!)

And the even better news:  he didn't charge me for the visit!!

I love prayer.  And faith.  And the good things in life.  And my dentist. 

(And my tooth.)

Happy Hallo - wait - It's over?

I totally had the best theme for my kids' costumes this year:  FRUGAL!

Natalie wanted to be a geisha, even though she didn't know what it was called until I told her:

Andur wanted to be a robber: 

I wanted Quin to keep his costume on.  So we picked doctor for him:  (Get it? Dr. Quin?? AHhahahaha!)

Our excellently carved pumpkins:

 All I had to buy was a wig, make-up and a ski mask.  My kids picked them out themselves from things we already had and I didn't even have to prompt them to do so! I'm all for that! ;) And I totally wasn't even going for a theme, so there's two for two, man! LOL

Quin just chillin' while my kids did the carnival before the Trunk-or-Treating:



Halloween came and went by way too fast this year, but it was fun.  We didn't do trick-or-treating last night, it being the Sabbath, but we had some new friends over for yummy food and fun games while my kids watched Halloween movies.

Organizational Bliss!

I have a very small linen closet.  Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for this closet, as in my last house I had none.  (I had to put shelving in the under-the-stairs closet next to my one and only bathroom - *shudder* - I always had to shake out my sheets and towels to check for spiders before use!)

Anyway, I've almost recently inherited many more sheets and towels - which I really love, K, thanks! But this proved a problem for storage.  Also, the shelf I was using for medicinal propaganda was a tad cluttered  - and high, so my short self could hardly reach the stuff in the back.

While doing some visiting teaching the other day, my companion mentioned what she did for storage in her linen closet and I thought it was just genius, so I did the same. 

And look - it's just awesome!

No Regrets

So, I'm sitting here reading past blog posts, having a good laugh or two (my kids say some crazy things), when I come across a couple from the beginning of the year.  You know, when I had goals and was actually doing something about them...

Ugh.

Don't you hate that? Please tell me I'm not the only one who sets these great goals, does great on them, then bleh.  They sort of get put on the back burner... then pretty much disappear from the stove altogether.  Lame!

You know, if anything, it shows me that I have it in me to do this.  For some reason, the beginning of a new year is my peak for goal setting and accomplishing, and by the time the end of the year comes, I'm too excited for the holidays to care anymore.  But then I look in the mirror, or see a pile of unfinished work, or walk past the magazine I didn't finish months ago and get all depressed. 

Why get depressed??? Why not turn around and give myself a pep talk in the mirror, or see the good things, or pick a small pile to start with and just finish that dumb magazine?

Or, here's a thought... WHY NOT GET OFF MY BEHIND AND STOP WASTING MY TIME ON THIS STUPID COMPUTER?!

*ahem*  That's just what I'll do. 

I don't want to turn 90 someday and think, "Dude (yes, I'll still be saying 'dude' when I'm 90), why didn't I do this? Or finish that? Or be better at doing that other thing??"

No regrets, people.  That's how you should live your life.  You can't go back and do it over, so do it now. 

Now get your behind off the computer, too, and go live.  ;)

White and Nerdy

This week was Red Ribbon Week where our kids' school celebrated being Drug Free.  Every day had a theme (Wear Red Day, Sunglasses Day, Pajama Day, Hat Day) and today is Nerd Day.  My kids looked the part, too:

It's also their Halloween parties today, but alas, I'll have two kids a-nappin' so I won't be able to go and take hordes of pictures.  Oh, wait...  I don't do that anyway! ;)

Won't you take me to Crankytown

Why is it I forget so easily and quickly Quin's teething symptoms? Do I block them ever so willingly from my memory?

Actually, they're not TOO bad.  Unless they go for days in a row.  He doesn't eat well, which adds to the crankiness, sticks his fingers in his mouth (though not enough for me to think, huh, maybe he's teething...), and he's a super crankity crank-pot!

I checked his mouth yesterday, he's still working on molar number four (which broke through about two weeks ago), and today he's got his bottom right incisor poking out.  His left one is just about there... but making him so so miserable and therefore, me as well.

Three teething tablets, 1 tsp. of ibuprofen, 45 minutes outside, a puddle of muddy water, and a sippy cup with chocky milk later... he's napping and life is good for a bit. 

He's a teething fool.  ;)  (13!!!)

Isshoes

Remember a couple days ago, I posted this?

Well, we were at the shoe store looking for new ones when my husband noticed that the shoes my son has been wearing for quite some time now (his everyday shoes) were TWO different sizes.  One was a 5, the other was 5 1/2. 

How did we not catch this when we bought them??


I'm still waiting for my Mother of the Year award.

Finding new ways to enjoy the simple things in life...

Shoe size matters

Andur's been complaining for probably months that his church shoes are too tight.  I always just brushed it off.  This last Sunday, though, he complained again, so I asked him what socks he was wearing with them.  He said he was wearing his everyday socks.  I told him he needs to wear his church socks because they're thinner.

Out of curiosity, though, I checked his shoes to see what size they were - it seems like we just bought the stupid things!

He wears 5 1/2.

His church shoes are 3 1/2.


I'll take my Mom of the Year award, now. 

Leafy goodness

I love our backyard.  Love it.  75% of it is canopied by trees, 10% is garden, the rest is open for a trampoline or what-have-you.  And it's flat.  Our last backyard was HUGE but half was hilly.  This one provides more than one spot for our cabin-size tent, whether it be in the shade of the trees or on the side of the house to look up at the stars.  Our patio is huge and perfect and charming and begs for flowers to be decorating it (all in good time).  Love it.

In the fall, leaves abound.

The fun result of this:  a stinky, leafy diaper.  Yep.  Fun.

Make that 11!!

Quin has a molar on his top left side now! This kid is popping out teeth left and right! (Actually, left then right! lol)

They're only this small once...

So try to take as many pictures as possible of all the cute stuff!

Garbage Pail Kid

Quin has an obsession with the trash can in our kitchen.  He likes to take stuff out and put stuff in... His empty sippy cup has been found in there a few times as well as some toys.  Usually, I can catch him in the act.

The other day, I was looking for a missing toy because I knew it had to be somewhere.  Things don't just disappear, right? I looked everywhere possible.  (I hate it when toys are not where they should be!)  Then I decided I needed to look in the trash..... that I just took out.  Ew.

I dug through it once briefly and found nothing.

I still felt the need to be thorough, so I put a baggy on my hand and really dug through it.  (Did I mention I was doing this in my driveway in 90 degree weather?? Yeah, ew.)

I didn't find my missing toy, but I did find these:

My missing toy ended up being downstairs in a My Little Pony bucket, but still.  Good thing I looked. 

Makes me wonder how many other things we've thrown away without knowing...

2010 Nominee for Most Accident-Prone Child

Definition for Calcaneal Apophysitis:  Inflamed growth plate due to smacking heal on upper bunk while flip-diving into lower bunk.

It's because of this child, I'm thinking, that we may quite possibly have hit our deductible for the year.

Been going for months, but now he's official!

For nursery, that is!

Quin's stats:
Age:  18 months
Height:  33.5 inches (90th percentile)
Weight:  24.14 lbs.  (25th percentile - he's a mover and a shaker)
Teeth:  10!! Four up top, four on bottom, two bottom molars
Favorite song:  Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Favorite food:  Cookies and chocolate milk
Favorite movies:  Thomas and Baby Einsteins
Favorite toys:  trucks, choo choos, balls and anything Andur's playing with
Favorite book:  Goodnight Moon (side note:  he likes to lick the page we say "Goodnight mouse" on - strange boy)
Favorite friend:  Eli (the boy I babysit)
Dislikes:  peaches, mandarin oranges and footy jammies
Temperament:  ornery, sweet, happy

Loves:  water, using silverware (he can eat cereal and ice cream like a pro!), smelling candles or oils, swinging, sliding, jumping on the tramp, throwing dirt, waving to people out our front window, going "bye bye", reading books, being outside, wearing his shoes, taking baths, playing with hangers, climbing on the table, laughing, giving hugs, trains, trucks, puppies, and his family!

Words he knows and can say:
up
Eli
baby
ball
car
truck
Dada
bye bye - if he wants to go somewhere
bye - if he's just waving to someone
choo choo
cookie
water
teeth
eye or eyeball
bumblebee
tree
licorice
go
stick
cheese
swing
twinkle twinkle
boo
book
that
bath
ABC's (sounds like deece)
uh oh
hot
papa
hi
cracker
trash
bubble
plop plop
bum
apple
please (usually when coupled with another word)
cozy
Jesus
crash
treat
pancake
eat
toys

He can mimick more, but I don't know that he "gets" them, yet.  And, no, "mama" was not on that list.  *sigh* He still calls me "dada".  Someday, right?
He's my most energetic, my naughtiest, and squishiest baby.  I was surprised to see how much he didn't weigh! In the above picture, he's wearing 3T clothes, but mostly wears 18 months or 24 months.

We love him to pieces and do try hard not to spoil him.  He's got Andur's desire to sit and figure out how things work, but Natalie's inability to sit still for very long.  He's our little stink! :)

Just chillin' at the top of a slide:

I love this picture:

I love how he sometimes eats his cheerios:

Totally stole this from Dr. Laura...

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

- Albert Camus