Picture Day for Lindsey and Lauren

Today was an early morning for the twins, since they both wanted their hair curled. Lauren was going to wear a different dress adn then for some reason at the last minute decided not to wear it. I was kind of bummed, but it is her picture I suppose. Lindsey couldn't find her dress so she picked out a different one too, until I helped her find her dress. I was glad we found it because the dress she was going to wear wouldn't have been my choice at all.

You can kind of see the size of their school here. The school is 2 floors, and the girls both have classes on the second level which they really like. The lunch is on the main floor, and the library is next to Lauren's class on the second level. The school is still going through some major construction and it wasn't till last night that they had extra chairs. They had a meeting and wanted every one to come to the meeting 10 minutes or so earlier to unbox the chairs so they would have chairs to sit on. Lauren has been going to computers, but the funny thing about it, is that they DON'T have computer yet, they haven't arrived yet or something, I am not sure the whole reasoning. I asked what she does in computers, she said, "We talk about what we would do on our computers and then play a game."

The girls yesterday after school made a picture for their teacher. They were pretty creative with them. I thought I should get a picture of the girls before the day was over and also a picture of their real smiles. It seems like for school pictures they always have this funny weird looking smile. The picture below is their REAL smiles, which looks really cute compared to the ones I end up getting for school pics after paying $18 a piece for them.

I hope the girls smiled good this year!

Amber eating dinner

Amber is one that hardly ever eats... She is always saying she isn't hungry and she's a small portion eater. I think sometimes all she eats in a day is a few crackers, a few slices of cheese or meat and a few cups of chocolate milk (which I normally use like instant breakfast or something to add vitamins in there for her). On occasion she will eat cereal for breakfast, or even yogurt (if I freeze it). Normally she is just too busy to eat. She will sometimes eat lots of fruit, like 2 small (11 oz size) cans of mandarin oranges or a normal sized can of pears or peaches. If we have bananas, she may eat half a banana. Many times I fix her food and think she has eaten it, but only to find Samantha with Amber's food. It is nice of her to share. :>

The other night, we had spaghetti for dinner, and she was crazy with it... eating it up like it was -- well it maybe have been -- the first thing she ate that day. She not only ate hers, then had seconds, and then she crawled up to Lauren's spot and ate Lauren's uneaten portion since Lauren didn't eat it.

I cut up Amber's noodles into little pieces as I did for Samantha to eat them better. Lauren's weren't cut up and the twins told Amber how to slurp up the noodles. She seemed to catch on pretty quick. I was meaning to just get a picture of her, and how messy she was... her hands and face where just a mess! But then she stood there with a noodle hanging out of her mouth so I thought I better video it. (Although my normal video camera was in an unknown location, I used my normal camera so if the video has a bad resolution, that is why.)

Keeping the faith...

It is Sunday's like today that make me realize if it weren't for my testimony or the faith that I have, I would not continue on with the day, or more specifically going to church on Sundays.

Robert had High Council meetings before church, so I was in charge of getting everyone ready by myself. No big deal... I have done that plenty of times before. The alarm was set, Samantha woke up before the alarm went off. I started getting her some breakfast and woke the other kids. Amber refused to eat. I grabbed a few handfuls of cereal for her to eat later at church.

The Bigs (big girls) got themselves ready mostly by themselves with no problems of lost items or dirty items or "I don't have anything to wear" moments. Emily was very helpful when Lindsey was having difficulty finding a jacket, and Em offered Lindsey a dress straight from her own closet. I thought perhaps I was still sleeping... Nice morning... I thought we would be getting to church for sure on time!

Then Lindsey wanted her earrings changed, I was still curling my hair. I changed her earrings when my hair was done. I came downstairs to find Emily with earrings to change too. I started to take her earring out, Emily was saying it was hurting... and ooops, the little pearl front of her earring came off the post. Now she had just the post part stuck in there, which made it SO hard to take out. The back of her earring wouldn't budge, and I didn't want to force the front all the way through the hole. I clamped down on both the front and the back of her earring with my nails and tug really hard. Emily was having a fit with it! Robert called about that time to see if we were ready, and I was so frustrated... thinking WHY ARE YOU CALLING? I didn't talk to him that harsh, but I am sure he knew I was in the moment when he called when he heard my tone and Emily crying in the back ground. We lost the diaper bag last Sunday so he was calling to say he found it.

I continued on with the prying of Em's broken earring, with her crying, "I wish I never put these earrings in!" I tried to calm her down a bit. I FINALLY got the earring out.. phew! Then the other earring was next. I tried to be really careful not to pull the little pearl off the front. This one was easier but was kind of crusty. Still much better. We changed her earrings.

Meanwhile, Samantha was trying to crawl up my legs while I was trying to fix Emily's earrings, so I asked Lauren to take her away. Lauren put her on the couch, and while I was in the bathroom with Em, I heard a big thump and a very sad Samantha. Then Lauren and Lindsey come running in saying, "Samantha fell off the couch and she bit her tongue and she is bleeding." (with eyes closed, I inhale and exhale slowly) I finished up with Emily and then went to Samantha.

We get to church late of course... there are no seats that will accommodate our family, Robert met us in the parking lot after he tried to call the house and got a busy signal. (Guess Samantha was playing with the phone again.) We sit in the foyer, some on the floor and some on the couch. We wait after the Sacrament and then go to set up some chairs. There were so many extra late ones like us that they set up at least 4 extra rows of chairs. The rest of the meeting went normal for our family, Lindsey and Lauren not able to talk in a whisper and Samantha tired and restless, and Amber eating her cereal until she has had enough and then decides to show me how it can "shoot" out of her finger and thumb when she squeezes it really hard. (She did this several times before she showed me, and before I knew what she was doing. I quickly knew why she was giggling.) It's not always the cereal with Amber, but it is normally something like that that goes flinging or shooting or flying... I just hope it stays on our row when things go a-whizzing. :)

Time for classes. Amber goes nicely as normal to class. I go to my class which is in Primary now, which consisted of 6 boys and 3 girls today. I was missing 3 or 4 kids, but I didn't have time to be sad about it due to the activity level of the children that were present. I always feel bad because our class is normally the loudest in Primary (the largest too) so I put too much blame on myself, like I am failing to keep them sitting quietly.

We break out into our individual class time. We were talking about the 2 promises accompanying baptism and the Sacrament prayers. Mostly the kids talked about loose teeth, new shoes, playing the Wii, and then there were the two boys hitting each other in the groin. Nice! I get their attention to play a game of "if this is good stand up, if this is bad sit down." That was working good until someone discovered a live cricket in our classroom. That took about 5 minutes of class to contain it, catch it again, and put it out the window. I tried to read them the Sacrament prayer, and a few decided to make a fort under the table, and the rest (with the exception of one girl that was SUPER good!) started to lean their chairs back on the wall, sitting in them with only 2 legs of the chair on the ground. It took their whole attention to align their chairs up just perfect and then sit and lean back, or lean their chairs back and then climb into them. The boys with the under table fort, started in on the chairs too, and all attention was on the placement of their chairs and not on the promises we make at baptism or the way we should behave during the sacrament.

Sometimes I try to overlook it and think, okay, if they can do this and still be quite, I don't really care. Most the time they can't do much of anything without talking or being noisy. One of the girls insists on telling everyone that she is really 8 (although if she were, she wouldn't be in our class) and then one boy had his shoe come untied at least 3 times during class. One boy has his best friend in there so they just talk and talk and talk the whole time, playing paper, rock, scissors or some other hand game. Another boy gave a different boy an "Indian burn" which made the second boy pretty upset and teary eyed because it hurt him so bad.

I kept looking at my phone (which I use as a clock) checking to see if class is over yet... nope not yet, I look again... nope almost.... look again.... nope but really close... look again, okay lets have the prayer and then color a picture of something we can do to keep the commandments or remember Jesus. I often think of bribing the kids to be good, but I don't want them to expect food every time, not to mention that I don't like to see kids coming out with cupcakes or treats and eating them in front of other kids that didn't get any.

I am so drained and tired when I return home. I really in many ways am glad I am done for the week. I do love the kids in my class, but I just wish they weren't so talkative or active (as in movement, not attendance in the church). I normally have another lady that teaches with me but the last 2 Sundays she has been a no show. I don't mind a whole lot, but it would be just nice to get a call to say, I am not going to be there. I think she feels pretty overwhelmed at times too. I have had her teach many times when I have been out of town and just feel really SORRY when I am going to be gone. The kids are good kids and they are very smart, most of them knowing the answers to everything we talk about. Many of them have great families that teach them these things at home already in FHE or other activities. It is also hard because they are 5 and 6 so they don't really read or write much so it is hard to do some activities like that.

I think it would be so much easier to just stay home... to not put forth the effort to get everyone in clean dresses... to not wake sleeping kids to go to church... to not try to contain little ones when they could be home playing or napping... to not be so strict on yet another night with bedtimes before 8. It would be so much easier NOT to teach my class. It would be nice to just have a lazy morning to lounge around, perhaps even watching church movies.

It is because of the faith that I have in knowing that what I believe in is true that I go through some unfavorable times on Sundays to teach my kids to go to church, to take them to church and have them sit and listen or at least be present. To take tired little ones ready for naps to church knowing they won't settle down enough to go to sleep. I do it in hopes that one day when my children are old enough to make their own choices they will remember the things that they learned, make good choices and follow the paths that will lead them to happiness. I hope someday they will know the things that I know to be true. I know that Heavenly Father loves us and will bless us and help us out if we do what we are suppose to and follow the commandments. Many times in my life I have been blessed when I didn't even think I deserved it or should be blessed, but I was. (Mostly likely because of the prayers of others.) I know Jesus died for us so we can live again, so we can be resurrected just like Jesus was. I know that even though I struggle on Sundays to go through all the work that it involves, I know it is where my family and I should be. I think of all the things that Jesus has done for us, for ME, then I can definitely give up a few hours in my weeks to show my obedience to him. I think of all the trials other members of the church have gone through to have the church the way it is today... losing family members, losing homes, traveling away from family, losing their life.... I can endure my little trials here. I also accepted to teach a class so I should be there, like I said I would. It shows the kids that it is important to me to be at church, just like it is important to their families. I hope that the kids will remember something from our class or that they will perhaps feel that warm peaceful feeling sometime during the class time. It is hard for me and I continue to struggle with it. I do know it is very important and I really appreciate all the teachers that have made an effort to teach my girls, and that will someday teach them.

Sundays are not easy for me or my family... but I know that if I want to keep my faith and stay close to Heavenly Father, I need to ALWAYS go to church or I would quickly forget those things that are so precious and important to me. There are Sundays where I am very weak and want to skip due to tired kids or a late night. I know that I need to be strong and be an example to my children. I go to church on Sundays to keep my faith... to always remember Him and keep His commandments.

I pray that someday my kids will desire these things for themselves, this same life of going to church on Sundays, going to the temple someday, to teach their families in faith and that they will want to always remember Him and keep His commandments. I am glad my parents taught me these things and that they were strong in the gospel, teaching me how to have a happy life for myself and a happy family. Thanks so much Mom and Dad for all those many "not so easy" Sundays I know you had as well. Thanks for keeping the faith!!

Monsters again...

For the last week, it never fails... at about 4 to 4:30 am Amber starts yelling for me. She no longer is calling for Lindsey who rooms with her, maybe because Lindsey has been too tired to wake up, or maybe because Amber just wants her mama.

It is quite a startling thing to wake up to hear your little one screaming out in a horrible cry. Once I realize that is probably just a monster issue again, I am relieved a bit that it isn't something more serious. "They're coming.... do you see the light, (the night light is flickering a bit) it is freaking me out, the monsters are coming. I want to go to your bed, get me out of here!"

A part of me wants to laugh, but then the other part is too tired to laugh. Yet it is very real to Amber so probably laughing wouldn't be good. Again, last night she climbed into my bed, and talked for quite awhile... asking for water, asking for snacks, asking for TV, or to go downstairs. Part of me would like to send her downstairs, turn the TV on and leave her so I could go back to bed. But that doesn't feel right to do to my little girl.

She was having problems and then they all ended for about 3 or 4 days and now we are going through them again.... It makes it worse on those nights that Samantha decides to wake up too. Luckily she doesn't normally wake up more than maybe twice a week at the most.

Unfortunately, these said monsters are effecting her nap during the day too. She will wake prematurely, crying, and trying to open the door. Poor baby! I wish I had a better solution. I tried cleaning the girls' room so she could see clearly what was and wasn't in her room, and that is when they started to go away. They are back again, and the room is still clean. Amber will even say there is a monster in her room when she is awake too. I am thinking it might be part of Emily telling her about monsters in the day.... I may have to talk to Emily AGAIN!

What have you done when your child has had nightmares or night frights to help them go away? Or settle them down?

Dinner

I was making dinner tonight, hamburgers and hot dogs for the little ones. I had to wash my good skillet and lid since we used it last night and dishes were all caught up (for once) before dinner.

As I was finishing washing the lid, I quickly seasoned my patties in the skillet. To my horror, I put sprinkled on Italian Seasoning instead of Montreal Steak seasoning. I quickly pulled the patties out and washed them off. Some how I had grabbed the wrong container, although they were the same shape and size and even brand. Definitely not the same though. I remembered thinking it seemed really light for being half full... I know why now.

As I was laughing at myself for doing this... I was remembering a time several years ago when we had gone to have dinner with Rob's grandma and grandpa. She normally cooks wonderful things, it all looks good, smells good, and tastes wonderful! Many times their youngest son (Uncle Glen) would come over for dinner too. This particular night she was making Taco Soup. It was like most other meals, smelled good, looked good, and was going to taste good. She then told us that she accidental had mistaken cinnamon for the cumin that the recipe called for. (Her eyes aren't what they use to be I guess.) That made a HUGE difference in the soup. I can still hear Uncle Glen (who has passed on now) laughing and saying, "it's like dinner and dessert in the same meal." We still all ate the soup and I think many had seconds on it too. That is one of those memories I hope not to fade away.

Something new

I have seen this before so I thought, I would try it. Shortly after we moved, I went to an enrichment activity for RS Birthday dinner, and some of us brought cakes. I had nothing pretty or special to bring my cake on, so I covered a cardboard piece (like I normally do) with aluminum foil and took that. I saw so many pretty cake stands and told myself I was going to get one. A few months passed and I saw an add for Target I think having a cake stand on sale. I bought it! Then I saw someone that made their own.

You take a glass plate and a glass dish... candle stick holder, vase, sundae cup, milk shake glass, or thick stemmed wine type glass. (The one on the left is a candle stick holder and then a vase on the right. I got them at the dollar store along with the glass plates. I had looked at DI and Savers but didn't see much there.)

Then I got some apoxy type glue for glass... (which I got really for my side mirror on my car that I broke this morning... oops, hope Robert doesn't notice the shattered mirror, although the girls did when I took them to school.) There is a glue called E6000 or something like that at home improvement stores you could use. I picked up mine at Smiths. It was like $3 something. After you wash and dry the glass pieces you turn the plates upside down, and put the "stands" on the bottom of the plate. Use a wet q-tip to clean up any extra glue. My glue said it would set in 5 minutes, but then to not use it for 20 minutes.

Then you have some new cake stands.... I am excited to use them, I almost made some cupcakes just to use them. So it costs about $2 without glue and about $6 if you count the glue.

I kind of ruined my glue and couldn't save it so I was thinking of what else I could use it for. Then I remembered another project I had seen and wanted to do and hadn't done yet. I had bought a stairs banister rod (I am not really sure what to call it) from Home Depot for like $2.40 I think. I then bought a cup and saucer at Savers for $1.49 for the pair. I made the bottom of the banister become the top of my stand and then sawed it to make it level. I then glued my cup to the saucer and the saucer to the stand/banister. I put the banister in the ground first so it would hold the cup up.

Now all I need to do is put bird seed in the cup and I have a cute little bird feeder in my front flower bed. I hope my cat doesn't catch on to the idea or his own bird feeder... one that he gets to feed off the birds. (cost about $4 without glue) I have also seen where they cup and saucer is screwed into the pole... or using a copper rod or tubing I think is what it was called. I still have another banister, thought I would maybe do this as a gift perhaps too. Yeah, Robert has a birthday coming up... he would LOVE it! I have also seen this with the fancier china dishes, but I wanted something more casual. I don't really like the white banister, I will have to do something with that still... still thinking. Maybe just paint or maybe just sanding will make it look more rustic.

Samantha 15 month check up

I already filed Samantha's papers from her 15 month old appointment, so I can't remember the exact %tile that she is. At her appointment she measured 30 inches tall, which is like in the 35% or something low like that for girls. She is now 23lbs, which is only 3 lbs less than Amber. I think she is like in the 50% for weight and I can't remember what her head measurement was but it was in the 80% somewhere. If she were a horse...one would say she doesn't have a good composition - too short, too big of a head, and her weight not being balanced to it all. I guess it is a good thing she isn't a horse.

She is talking more and more. She loves to say, "uh-oh" when something falls. She has mastered "hi" for months now. Lots of times now when she says, "hi" she will have her hand up to her ear like she is on the phone. She says our cats name (GATO) and will say "kitty" and sometimes she says the girls' names, I guess. It is hard to understand her but she will say some babbling when they come down the stairs and say HI with it. She loves bananas and will even say, "banana" and use a sign language for it. She will sign a few other things like milk, more, thank you, and cracker (she says cracker also). She of course says the "mama" and "daddy" and has started saying, "grandma" but can't think of how she says it.

She still isn't walking, but I am not overly concerned. Dr. said if she isn't walking by 16 months, then call Kids on the Move and have her evaluated. I am thinking she will walk by then, but I have been thinking for the last 4 months that she will be walking anytime.

Samantha also had her appointment with her cardio specialists at Primary Children's. They couldn't really get a good listen because she wouldn't sit still for them to listen. She kept taking the stethoscope off her chest and giving it back to the Dr. The Dr. suggested to wait another year and check her then. Her EKG was fine, so he didn't think there was a reason to worry right now. He does want to do a echo cardiogram when she is older and will sit still for it. As of now, she won't sit for it so if they did it they would have to sedate her and there are risks in that because she is still young, so they have decided to wait and give it another year or so. When we went to the normal doctor he couldn't get a really good listen either of her heart.

Meanwhile.... Samantha has learned to open the gate, and will crawl upstairs and then crawl back down too. I am ready to take the gate away since it is just in the way for the rest of us and it isn't keeping Samantha downstairs anyway. She cracks me up... she will go through the gate, stand on the other side of it, close it and just laugh and laugh and laugh, like she is so funny and tricky getting through the gate. I need to get it on video one of these times she does it. She sure is fun, between her and Amber we are smiling and normally laughing all day long.

Like when Samantha plays in the toilet... not that it happens alot, only a few times so far! :) Lindsey wasn't too happy that her dog was in the toilet. It did wash up pretty good.

Clean Rooms vs. Oreos & Chapstick

I am trying to be productive this morning... I am in a cleaning mood and so I decide I will tackle all the girls rooms and if I have time left, I know there are still some boxes downstairs to be emptied.

I am upstairs with Samantha, in her and Lauren's room cleaning ...putting clothes in the hamper, putting things away, hanging up dresses, changing bedding, making beds, hanging up wall art.... those sorts of things. Samantha is talking to me sitting on the bed and playing with some toys. I am also going through the closet getting rid of things the girls don't wear or that are too small. All done, and I put Samantha down for a nap.

I go into Lindsey and Amber's room.... what a MESS! I am not sure where to start. I start by picking up a pile of like 7 blankets off the floor and put them away. I make Lindsey's bed, put some of Amber's clothes away, put away some stuffed animals on the now cleaned off dresser. I look into Amber's crib and I see a yellow unicorn. Not sure, but this may be the "yellow monster" that has been trying to bite her at night. I hide it away in the closet and see if that will work for tonight. (Having a 2-1/2 year old in your bed, or even in your room isn't real great on the marriage relations, when we are winding down talking about the days events and what tomorrow will bring, and Amber pipes in about seeing a praying mantis eat another praying mantis what she did today and this or that or wanting to go to the zoo tomorrow.)

By this time Amber is back upstairs asking me to turn on Little Einsteins for her downstairs. I am kind of surprised she made it that long without asking for them. (That should have been my first clue...) I finish up the room, and take some dishes downstairs. I notice Amber is stinking, so I begin to change her diaper. I also notice she smells like my Burt's Bees chap stick... not again! She has an abundance of it all over her face and her hands are pretty greasy feeling too. I finish up the diaper process and throw her diaper away and see my chap stick empty and in the garbage. I wash my hands and see the site.... 17 Oreo cookies on the counter, with the creme inside scraped and licked off. Then I see 2 more on the floor. Bummer, I should have put those cookies away after making lunches this morning. I thought about saving the cookie part of it and then had a picture in my mind of how Amber eats the inside out.... and decided they all must go in the garbage.

I guess it is kind of a trade off, I got some work done this morning and some more cleaning to do, or more shopping perhaps. For the most part, my morning has been pretty good. I suppose there always is opposition in all things.

Home with the little girls

It is yet that time again when the big girls go back to school and I am home with the two little girls. It seems weird to think this time last year we were still in our old house... in ways it seems like we have been in our new house FOREVER. Funny how some things just feel that way.

School schedules are crazy, I find myself at 8:15 ready to get on with my day but can't because Emily isn't at school yet. She normally is up and ready by then, which frustrates me because that is the whole reason I want her in the 8AM schedule. But oh well... so like this morning, it wasn't even 8:30 yet and Emily is ready, the girls are ready for the day, I am ready for the day... I have groceries to get and I want to go do it... but can't because school doesn't start for Emily until 9:15. Finally at 15 minutes to 9, we got everyone gathered and ready to get in the car. Amber forgot her shirt (her security blanket really) so I went back to fetch it. Emily was upset that she was going to be late. I told her she had plenty of time, it was only 8:54. We got Em to school and then we went shopping.

Samantha is normally ready for her nap around 9-10am so it makes for a hard morning for her because she is wanting to go to bed yet I can't put her down until we get back from taking Emily to school. Lots of times there are other errands I have and figure I might as well do them at that time too. One morning after taking Emily to school we came back to the house and I was sorting through coupons... Samantha has mastered getting the gate at the bottom of the stairs open (so much for child proof gate), and she had gone upstairs. She has also mastered coming down the stairs by herself too (although she doesn't walk yet). There are more toys up in the loft up there so I sometimes just let her go and chase her down in a minute or two. When I went up there, she was laying on the floor by her crib and had pulled the side of her blanket with the tag on it (she loves those tags) through the crib slats and was cuddling it on the floor with her while she was sucking her thumb. She was nearly asleep. I guess she was just putting herself to bed. I wish the rest of the kids would do that. I felt really bad for her that she was snuggled up on the floor instead of her bed.

Amber has been going out with me when Samantha is sleeping to work in the yard. We have planted some flowers in the front. She loves to find all the praying mantises. We have a TON of them. I have never really seen them before... I did see one ONCE on our corn stalks at the old house. They are all over here. I see them on the side of the house, in the rocks, in the flowers, in the grass... Nearly every time I go out I see at least 2 of them without searching for them.

Amber also has been having some bad dreams lately. She woke up in the middle of the night saying there was a monster in her bed. There was a red one and an orange one but the orange one was trying to bite her. She later told me that the red one was nice but when the orange one was angry it would try to bite her elbow. She also was saying, "When I close my eyes they go away, but when I open my eyes they come back" as she was demonstrating closing her eyes really tight and then opening them. She ended up back in our bed early this morning because of the monsters again. She wouldn't go to bed in her own bed last night, she fell asleep in our bed and later Robert put her in her own bed. Early this AM Lindsey brought her in our room because Amber was saying, "Lindsey the monsters are back, I want out!" (She is still in a crib and hasn't ever tried to climb out. I tried to take the side off so she could get in and out by herself but she was upset that I changed her crib. Oh well, less stress for me.) Luckily this morning as she came in she went back to sleep... the other night she was up for about 2 hours wanting a drink and another and another, then she wanted to watch TV, then she argued that the sun WAS coming up and we should get out of bed... by this time it was 3:30... I kept telling her she needed to go to bed and be quiet. Finally about 4 she fell asleep. Then I couldn't sleep because she is a little oven when she sleeps, all sweaty... I went down stairs to get a drink myself and open some windows. When we got up the next morning, Robert asked while smiling, "how did you sleep last night?" It is strange how he can just go right back to sleep or sleep through it all. I am a little jealous he can do that so easily.

That is pretty much what has been going on here... oh yeah, and Emily got her hair cut. It is still long, but we cut about 4 inches off. When she sits on a stool it no longer touches the stool seat, but it to the lower middle of her back. It looks really healthy and still looks long. I think she was bummed that no one at school even noticed. I told her to cut another 4 inches off and people would notice. She wasn't for doing that.