Free Agency

A while ago, Matt and I read an article in our church magazine on the effects of caffeine on a person and we decided that our family would be a caffeine-free family.  Andur, though, is a lover of Dr. Pepper and Coke.  He had a hard time with this.

Through our Love & Logic classes, we learned that when it comes to our kids' decisions that affect them, only, they should be the only ones to make those decisions.  So, since Andur's consumption of caffeine only affects his body, we told him he was smart enough to make his own decision on the matter.

Today, we treated ourselves to some DQ for lunch (yum!).  Andur was so excited to be able to get him some Dr. Pepper.  He said, "It's like I'm meeting my girlfriend for the first time after not meeting her for years!" haha! I thought that was pretty funny.

He told me, though, that he only filled his cup half-way so he wouldn't be having that much caffeine.  Then, before he even finished it, he dumped it out and got some water, instead.  I'm so proud of my boy!

And Quin, exercising his free agency, figured out how to scoot his wheeled-high chair across the floor.  He was a good five feet away from our table by the time we sat down with our food.  Silly boy. 

It's been a good day! :)

You say it's your birthday...

...it's my birthday, too, yeah!

33 years, baby! A short while ago, I decided I wouldn't see it as getting older... I'm going to start celebrating surviving this long! :) I've conquered 33 years on this earth, oh yeah!

I don't remember what I posted last year, and I'm too lazy to look at the moment, so I'm going to post 33 things I'm grateful for.  :)

1. My sense of humor.
2. Birds chirping in the morning.
3. My body.
4. Books.
5. Sweaters.
6. Pickles.
7. Positive pregnancy tests.  (No, I'm not pregnant.) (Yet.)
8. Mothers.  Mine, my husband's, others who've mothered me.
9. Fathers.  Mine, my husband's...
10. Andur.  Such a smart, good boy.  He's my sunshine.
11. Natalie.  The sweetest, most giving person I've ever met.
12. Quin.  For hugging me when he's been naughty to stave off the mad mommy.
13. Matt.  For helping me be a good me.
14. My Savior.  For fixing not only what I've done wrong, but how it's affected others.
15. My Heavenly Father.  For knowing me and loving me, even when I don't.
16. Clean bed sheets.
17. Shiny sinks.
18. Food storage.
19. My husband's job.
20. This laptop that caused a lot of guilt and buyer's remorse.  lol
21. The smaller number on the scale this morning.
22. Friends.  True friends.
23. Summer vacations.
24. Go-fish with Uno cards.
25. Repentance.
26. New days.
27. The scriptures.
28. The smell of Spring.
29. The smell of Fall.
30. The smell of Quin's blankies.
31. My kids' naptime.
32. My house.
33. Birthdays.  :)

Awesome Crayola Giveaway!

A friend of mine has a great idea blog for toddlers and she's having a fantastic giveaway!

Her button's on the right side of my blog or you can go there by clicking here.  :)

I hope I win, but good luck to those of you who enter, too! If you win, you should pick me as your friend! ;)

The evolution of speech...

...for a two year old. 

Quin is getting more and more articulate, these days.  A while ago, he started very distinctly saying every sound in "Andur", instead of "Ah-doh" in a nasally sort of way.  It's so cute when they start saying their R's!

Funny memory:  My sister, Katie, used to have a hard time with her K's.  My dad would try and try to get her to say "cookie", but she'd say "tookie" every time.  It was funny.

Anyway, the past few days, Quin's progressed from "Tee Tee" for Natalie, to actually saying "Nah a lee".

And instead of calling the littlest I babysit, "Baby", he now calls him "Bordin".  (His name is Corbin.)

Why do they have to grow up so fast? *sniff*

Short but sweet

My kids had last Thursday, Friday and today for their Spring Break.  Not much, but it's been good.  I really do like having my kids home, contrary to how much I love to call school free daycare.  ;)

In this amount of time, we've cleaned two rooms, visited two parks, rode bikes, went for a walk, ate out TWICE (yikes), chalked with new Easter chalk, shot a new Easter foam rocket, flown kites, untangled kite strings THREE times, and introduced our kids to Number Five. 

My kids just came in from playing outside for FOUR hours! It was actually quite boring and quiet in my house... *sigh*

And, tomorrow starts the rest of the school year, which we only have to endure till June 2nd! Woohoo! Bring on the summer vacation, baby!

The Scapegoat

So, for a while, now, Matt and I have been attempting to read the Old Testament together... I say "attempting" because this stuff's rather... um... boring.  ;)

Although, for the last few nights, we've been reading in Leviticus 16 about the "scapegoat".  The Israelites would pronounce upon the head of the goat their sins and iniquitities and the goat would be sent away, bearing the sins of all.

Matt said, "We should go to the bishop and ask, 'Can we still do this? I'm sure I can find a goat somewhere!'"

I thought this was pretty funny, and tempting, even.  But then I got to thinking... Christ took upon Himself OUR sins and iniquities.  Then He was was "sent away", or lead away like a lamb to the slaughter.  Through Him, our scapegoat, so to speak, we can become sin-free and perfect, lending us His perfection in order to enter into our Heavenly Father's presence.  What a wonderful time of year to remember this! What a blessing this is to us!

The Easter Bunny always visits my kids the Friday night before Easter, so on Sunday they can remember the true meaning of the holiday and why we really celebrate.  Sure enough, he came last (Friday) night  (pictures to come).  He hides the eggs and such, never hard-boiled because P-U! Plastic is best! ;)

This time, though, we, as parents, got in on the fun.  We put a clue on the table next to their baskets that lead them through the house looking for more clues that would lead them to the Savior.  Of course, the last egg was empty, just like the tomb.  He wasn't there.  He is risen! I'm thinking we should've saved this for Sunday because they were too taken with their Easter treats to really get the profound meaning of their search.  Oh, well.

Easter was always candy and grandma-made bunnies and egg hunts with cousins growing up... and always on Sunday.  I hope by having the commercial fun of Easter on the Saturday before that they'll be able to have a hint of memory celebrating the true meaning of Easter as well as all the fun.

Maybe I'll have to tell them the story of the scapegoat tomorrow.  :)

Merci! Gracias! Mahalo!

Grazie!

Danke!

Arigato!

THANK YOU!

Quin is finally saying "thank you" instead of just signing it.  He still signs it, too, but that's ok.


He could say it before, he just wouldn't.  (I have to wonder if before he'd only sign it because his mouth might have been full of what we just gave him and asked him to thank us for... lol)

Spring @!*%&# Cleaning

It's so interesting what one finds in her kids' rooms when spring cleaning is attempted.

For example:

Andur's room: 

• Four previously licked suckers, all stuck to the dresser. 
• TWO grocery bags of trash, including Christmas candy trash.
• Natalie's toys and books.

Natalie's room: 

• Two very full kitchen-size trash bags full of clothes (did I mention they were full?) and her dresser is still FULL, not to mention the big box of clothes in her closet... I'm afraid to even see what's in there!
• Two San Diego Zoo's full of stuffed animals - not including the FULL TRASH BAG we're giving away!
• Andur's toys!

I had to tackle one room a day, both taking TWO HOURS to gut - I mean, clean. 

Needless to say, they both got a trash can for their room, today.  ($.63 @ Kmart, baby!)
I think I'm going to save the rest of the house for next spring.

Educating the Innocent

When I was in 4th grade, I had a friend (still remember her name) who taught me - very graphically - about the "birds and the bees".

My son's in 3rd grade now, and I figure the way the world's going, he needs "the talk" before his friends can "educate" him.

I've been fretting over when I should do this, how I should do this, or if I should just lock him in our basement till he's ready for his mission.

Apparently, when the time is right for this little conversation, it'll just pop out of your mouth.

Yesterday, we were spring cleaning his room when a naughty song came on... so we skipped it (internet radio) and the next one was one of the typical ones these days that pretty much makes sex before marriage sound ok, so I told him what it was about and asked him what he knows about the subject already.

Well, a friend had already tried to educate him.  *sigh* A very ignorant friend, I might add.

So we had a little talk about things... not everything, but what he needs to know at the ripe old age of nine.

He's still so very nine, thank goodness. 

One of his responses was (while cocking an eyebrow), "So, if I want kids when I grow up, I have to do that? Is that why Dad's not too crazy about having another baby?"

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sweet, innocent child.  I'm so glad he still crinkles his nose in disgust when I mention "girls".  And for the record, his dad's very excited about having a baby, it just took some time for him to get there.  ;)

One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you...

Quin loves shoes these days, boots especially.  If he's not wearing his own, he's wearing someone else's. 

Today, he was wearing one of Natalie's and one of Andur's... and running people over with this sad looking stroller.  *sigh* Stinky boy.

It's hard to get a good shot of a moving toddler.

Not THAT spoiled

He is so his father's son.

Speaking of records...

I forgot to write down somewhere that at Quin's 2 yr. check-up, he weighed in at a whopping 28 lbs. (about the 50th percentile) and is 35 inches tall (about the 70th percentile).  This makes him my middle-sized child.  Andur was always in the 95th+ range (my biggest) and Natalie, being premature, was almost always below the 10th (my smallest), but she's definitely caught up... she's one of the tallest in her class!

Have you ever heard that if you were to take a child's height when they're two and multiply it by two, that's how tall they're going to be when they're full grown? I've never taken the time to find out if that's true or not, but if that is the case, then all of my kids are going to be taller than me. 

Go figure.  ;)

For The Record

Quin knows all of his alphabet by sight, with the exception of J (calls it L), S (calls it C), E (calls it F), and V (says mmm... like he's thinking but doesn't quite know - I'm guessing he's attempting the vvvvv sound).

As far as phonetically, he can tell me what most of them "say", but I haven't kept track of which ones he knows there. 

I love having a blog to keep a record of these things.  I don't do baby books.  Andur has one with maybe the first six months in it... maybe.  Natalie has one... and that's about it.  Quin? Well, he has more pics of him than the two older ones put together, so maybe that makes up for not having one at all.  We had so many pics of our kids on film that never got developed (and expired!) - then we bought a digital camera, so we have ages 18 mo/2 on up and very few before that. 

Yeah, we stink at this.  But, we're getting there.  :)

My Cup Runneth Over

Lately, my kids have been saying some pretty funny things that I've been meaning to write down in order to post them.  But, alas, I keep forgetting to do so. 

Yesterday, though, Andur said a couple things that I really wanted to remember, so I made sure to write them down.

We were talking about keeping the Sabbath Day holy and why and how, when he said, "So, it's like you have a cup, and during the week it gets emptier and emptier but on Sunday, you can turn the faucet on and fill it back up, again."

Someone's teachin' that boy something.  And he's been listening.  :)

Then, later, we were watching Animusic (this "episode" - you have to watch it to get what I'm saying next), and he said, "Could someone really program those to hit the strings every single time in real life?"

Matt replied with, "If it was in a complete vacuum.  If there's absolutely no air resistance, someone could program those to hit the same place every time and they would."

Andur says, "But then there would be no sound."

It always amazes me when more than gas comes out of that boy's mouth.  :)

My 2nd turned 8, part 2

Note to Matt:  Taking the oldest of the children with you to "ease my stress" doesn't really do the trick.  I love you, but next time, take QUIN.

The morning of Natalie's baptism, I had to get Quin dressed, who kept undressing himself, get Natalie dressed and hair done, not to mention myself dressed and hair done AND finish Andur's talk, AND make copies when I got to the church, remember my camera and the programs, get the diaper bag, camera bag, purse, bag with towel, Quin and Natalie all loaded in the car... and it was raining. 

On the way out of my neighborhood, some guy takes his time crossing the street, even though I'm coming right at him.  Then glares at ME when I have to swerve to miss him.  Dude, seriously? Anywho, I get about five minutes out of my 'hood when I realize I forgot my CAMERA.  The memory card is still in the computer, which, thanks to Divine intervention, I remembered.  I would've cried had I forgotten that, too.

I pass the glaring guy again, get home, get the camera, then head back out, only to have to swerve AGAIN because the same guy's in the middle of the street, AGAIN, and he's still glaring at me! He's lucky I'm a Christian.  Not a saint, by any means, I coulda hit him and kept driving, given the mood I was in.

I get to the church with literally minutes to spare.  Like three minutes.  I still have to make copies and lug everything and everyone in.  And it's raining harder.  Thankfully, my cousin helped me get Quin in.  I couldn't find the music I needed to copy, though, and just had to laugh at that point.  I found what I needed in a song book and my wonderful friend made the copies for me.  As soon as she finished, I found the stupid music.  Figures.

The meeting started late, but I had family and friends there and it was wonderful and the Spirit was wonderful and Natalie was happy.  When she came out of the water and we were drying her off, she said she felt "Great.  Cold.  Proud."  I'm so proud, too!

Without further ado, here are the pictures (that almost weren't) of the girl who can light up any room with her beautiful smile and spirit:

The dress!

Our friend and neighbor gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and gave her a sea shell to remember that sometimes we have to be very quiet to hear him:

She got a scrapbook from her primary teacher to help her remember this day:

I loved this picture.  This is Lorna, our stand-in grandma.  Even Quin calls her that:

The real grandma (and grandpa):

My main squeeze and his little girl.  No really, see how he dwarfs her:

Flashing the gang signs, again:

Pretending the chapel is a jail.  Where are those kids' parents??:

The flowers, for Karen (the other real grandma).  :) (The wrist thing didn't work out too well.):

Love this picture.  The cute little neighbor boy:

And the girl that made me cry for the first time when the doctor said she was 95% sure she saw a "hamburger" and not a "hot dog" (hee hee):

It was such an awesome day to have family and friends around to share this wonderful moment with us!

(I'm so glad it's over! ;) )

In the wee small hours of the morning...

I made Andur a scripture bag, so I thought I'd make Natalie one, too.  I waited to the last minute, just like I did with her dress, so go me.  BUT, after staying up till 12:45am last night and working to finish this morning, I got it done in a total of 5-6 hours.  Phew! 

The first one's a little blurry, still had my lens on from last night:

Side view:

Back view:

It's a pocket:

And the program (which I also waited to the last minute to make):

Now, all I need to do is sweep, mop, do dishes, make bday brownies, vacuum, finish inside of program, buy N white shoes to match white dress, and make a trip to the grocery store.  And babysit.  Oh, and my parents are coming into town today.  All on six hours of sleep.  (Which, for me, is better than eight sometimes... let's hope today is one of those times!)

Singing and dancing the night away

My kids were in a program last night about music... I took around 30 pics, most blurry due to excellent lighting and child movement, so I picked a few I liked that turned out ok.  :)  Andur told me when they first learned about this that he wanted one of the "rapper" parts.  He got one! He wanted me to show him some hip-hop moves because I mentioned I took a hip-hop dance class once upon a time.  I showed him the only one I could think of from my day - the running man.  I asked him if he was going to do it and he said, "No.  That's stupid."  AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Agreed, my friend.  Agreed.

Natalie's searching for us.  We brought her there, yet she looks like she's concerned we didn't show up:

I'm not sure what look they're going for here:

Andur after his mad hip-hop spin on the floor:

Oh, yeah.

Flashin' gang signs while exiting the stage:

Our neighbor sat behind us and leaned up to say:  Sleepy Hollow.  East Side.

LOL!!

It was fun to see our kids dance and sing.  Quin did well sitting and clapping.  It was a good night.  :)

My 2nd turned 8, part 1

Yesterday was my daughter's birthday.  She turned eight.  I'm gonna have to buy stock in Oil of Olay soon, I just know it.  ;)

Natalie had a hard time on Quin's birthday because he was getting special attention.  And balloons.  My kids love balloons.  So, after Natalie was in bed, I blew up 21 balloons (no reason for that number, that's just how many I could stand to do) and placed them in a big piece of material that hung from the ceiling to her bedroom door.  When she opened her door in the morning, she'd be pummeled with balloons. 

I was up, had my camera ready to catch her expression, but my bladder got the best of me, so I made a quick trip to the bathroom.  Not quick enough, though.  The pummeling commenced without me and my camera.  I was so bummed.  BUT, she was happy, and that's what matters. :)

This is her telling me this balloon is pear-shaped:

I also bought her flowers last night, because, who doesn't like to get flowers? And what better way to make someone feel special? ;)

She had to go to school, so that ended the celebrating for the moment.  But when she got home, she was (to say the least) excited to open her presents from us:

We've been giving this gift-giving thing a lot of thought, lately.  Our kids love new toys... for about a week.  So, we've been trying to come up with things that they'll use for slightly longer:

It's a flower pot that came with some very violet Alyssum seeds.  She loved it!

A little story:  Once upon a time, I turned eight.  My grandma took me baptism dress shopping.  I found a beautiful white floofy one that would've been perfect, but, for some reason I can't remember, she didn't buy it for me.  Instead, she bought me a yellow, still pretty, but not floofy, dress.  I wore it to my baptism.  Then, my grandma showed up with the white floofy one!  I was in heaven!  I wanted Natalie to have a white dress, too, but  I didn't think of this until last WEDNESDAY NIGHT. (Or was it Tuesday? huh...) Anywho, I, of course, looked in town before now to see if I could find one but found this one instead, because apparently my town's against white dresses that are modest:

Which she loved and even said it could be her "baptismas dress", but it's not really "baptismas" enough for me.  lol

SO, I called my loving mother-in-law, who's come through for me dozens of times, to see if she wanted to do some shopping for me.  She agreed to without even hesitating.  I love that woman! She called me the next day to say she found one... and it was on sale! I was actually hoping to only spend what the price of the dress was, so I thought PERFECT, I'll take it! I haven't seen it, yet, but I think both of these Hamblin girls will be very pleased.  Thank you so very much, again, Karen!! :)

Back to the bday gifts.  We're a three-gift family.  Unless you're Quin, then it's one giant one.  This was the gift to top all gifts, though.  The look on her face proves it:

A Barbie.  She doesn't have one.  Every girl has to have a Barbie at least once, right? Finding a modestly clothed one was tricky, but we found not one, but TWO that didn't look like they'd charge fifty bucks an hour.  ;) And they came in the same box - with real working roller skates, I might add.  She loved it!

My folks are coming out this weekend for her baptism on Saturday... when we'll conclude the festivities.  Her birthday cake will be eaten then, too, as we had our Love & Logic class last night.  More dress pics to follow! :)

Now that's cool

Cupcakes and Sushi

April Fool's Day used to be one of my favorite "non-holidays".  I haven't done anything good for my family to help them "celebrate" in years of late, so I decided to have some fun this year.

I plan my meals every two weeks and have started to include my family in on the fun.  We all get to pick two meals (one for each week), with Saturday's being a new recipe and Sundays being a crockpot meal.  For MY meal this week, I decided to make cupcakes and sushi.  (Click on the links!) My kids were horrified at the thought of having sushi, so I told them they could have the cupcakes first.  (hee hee)

My sushi looked pretty good, but I figured out why the recipe for the "cupcakes" said to use foil liners.

Here's how all reacted (Matt was in on it):

Andur was convinced I had put the sushi IN the cupcakes... Upon closer inspection, Natalie turns to me and says:

"There's meat in them!!"

The first taste:

A close up (so didn't look like the picture from the recipe, but it still slightly fooled them):

Like my left-over pumpkin liners?

And here's a close-up of some of the "sushi":

It looked a little better. 

My kids have been attempting to master the art of using chopsticks (their mom's a pro)...:

...but resorted to using their hands:

Or forks:

Then back to chopsticks, only a bit more creatively:

This was, by far, my most favorite picture:

He did NOT like the cupcakes.  Or the sushi, for that matter.  Silly boy.

My kids claimed it was the best dinner ever.  I sure had fun! :) And Matt was awesome to help me.  :)

How much is that baby in the window?

This is one reason we've decided to have another baby:

Normally, standing in the window is a big fat NO-NO, but I had to grab the camera, so we let him stay for a minute and yearn to be bigger.