Books, books and more books!

Yes, there is a theme to this post

1. Book club -- we've got our book club coming up next week and at the end we always try to decide on our next book. Usually we sit around for hours and can never really decide, but I know a lot of you out there are avid readers and have your own book clubs, so I'm looking for some suggestions I can bring with me. We read just about anything and everything. We've read classics like Wuthering Heights and Great Expectations all the way to Harry Potter and the Twighlight series. Fiction books like The Alchemist, Kite Runner, The 5 People You'll Meet in Hevaen. . . We've done self help books -- Dr. Laura, Love and Logic, Bonds that make us Free, The Millionaire Woman Next Door, religious books, non-fiction books. . . basically we do anything.

So does anyone out there have some great recommendations for us?

2. My uber-talented friend Michelle's book just hit the shelves. I am so excited for her. The book is named Lifted and it's for all the scrapbookers out there. Basically it's about "scraplifting" a page and making it your own. She's got some really awesome ideas in there and I'm so excited to actually see it in print after all her hard work.

Congratulations Michelle! I'll definitely be making my way to Mesa/ Scrapbooks Etc. to see it on the shelves.



3. And last but not least. . . My Aunt Kristine is extremely generous and always the send the kids lots of packages, which they LOVE. Gifts, cookies, holiday decorations. . .she really is so sweet and so thoughtful and my kids adore her. Recently she sent a bunch of gifts for the kids and I saved the books to stick in their Easter baskets.

One of the books was this little cutie to the left. It has a fuzzy little puppy face on the front and Sadie really loved to touch it. Later on during the day, Sadie was wandering around the house with the book whining, "BOOK" to try and find someone to read it to her. Ellie starts reading it to her and I thought she was making up the words to try to be funny. "Read the right words!" I yelled at her. Turns out she was.

My Puppy by Salina Yoon

I go walking down the street. I have things to do and people to meet.

First things first, what's that I see? A fire hydrant -- time to go pee!

A couple of friends come down my way. They tickle me -- it's fun to play!

Back to business, one-two-three. Look what I made -- a little poopy!

I always want to come back home. I get a big hug and a juicy bone!

Now my Aunt is a phlebotomist, so she very well may have known the book talked about bodily functions because she has always entertained us with us with songs about these things, but I'm guessing she just though the book looked cute and bought it without reading it. Either way, it is a source of great entertainment! And I'm sure to find out since she reads this blog. I expect a call soon Kristine!

I made dinner!

Yes -- you read that right. It's not even an April Fool's joke! I really did. I even threw in cleaning up and the dishes because I'm that nice.

I made meatloaf in cupcake tins and then used mashed cauliflower as the frosting. You should have seen the excitement on my kids' faces when they thought they were having cupcakes for dinner. Nate was shouting, "It's my birthday?" and Ellie said, "I knew we were having cupcakes!! I want pink."

Oh poor kids! Nate went in to get a lick of frosting and shouts in horror, "That's mashed potatoes." Nate warmed up after a minute and ate them, put Ellie pouted almost the entire dinner because she didn't like being tricked. Ha ha! Totally worth it.

I tried to trick Dustin by telling him my sister called me this morning to tell me she was pregnant. His response, "You know it's April Fool's day right? She was tricking you." Well, DUH! I knew it was April Fool's day, but I didn't expect him to remember. Oh well. Maybe next year. Anyone have any great pranks?

According to Ellie's class work:
During the 15oo's, the calendar was changed. The official start of the new year moved from April 1st to January 1st.

Some people still celebrates the new year on April 1st. These people were thought to be "fools" and had jokes played on them. They were given invitations to fake parties and were given gag gifts.

Despite the mean origin, HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S DAY!

Friday Fun

Woo hoo! It's the weekend. We started our weekend off by depriving Sadie of sleep.

I woke her up early so we could get Ellie to school and then she missed half of her morning nap so we could make it to the park to be Visit Taught. Dustin was up in Scottsdale in case anyone is wondering why I couldn't let the poor baby stay home and sleep.

After playing at the park for awhile we ran to a few stores, including Micheal's where Nate found a wooden train kit for $1! It was worth every penny. After we got home and ate lunch, I opened it up for him and he spent the next HOUR painting it. I'm going back and buying every kind they have.

I had a lot of time to take pictures in that hour. Can you tell?

As soon as Nate was finished, we cleaned up and headed up to pick Ellie up from school. On the way home we had to run by Meredith's, and Molly was there sewing stuff and I needed a shirt mended. . . anyway, one thing lead to another and 3 hours later we had had a very productive afternoon. We had done some de-junking and rearranging at Meredith's and my kids had found the giant water cooler of candy for an afternoon snack. Of course this meant no afternoon nap. But we had fun and isn't that all that matters?

By the time we got home, we had about 15 minutes to throw on our old clothes and get ready to go quading.
Our friends were sweet enough to invite us out to the base of Four Peaks for the evening. We cooked dinner over a fire, made smores and rode the quads. We had so much fun. Nate loves that sort of thing so he was on a high all night. I only went out once because I am a wuss and I had much more fun staying with the babies around the camp fire, but when I did the kids were so stinking cute. At the top of the peak Dustin would stop and turn the lights off and you could see the stars forever.





Around 9:3o we decided it was time to start packing up. I couldn't believe Sadie was still awake and not crying. She's like the energizer bunny. As we headed home Nate kept complaining that his hand hurt. Every five seconds there would be a whimper. I think while he and Jackson were running around "adventuring" he must have touched a cactus? So finally at one point I told him to just suck his thumb. Of course there was more whining about his thumb hurting and about 15 minutes later he calls out, "My thumb tastes good now." So I guess he finally got all the dirt sucked off.

Ellie was super tired. As we got in the car she announced, "I'm tired. I'm as tired as a Grandma. I'm retired." When I asked her if she knew what retired meant she explained, "Yes. It means you are very very tired. Like a Grandma who is old and has chased after her grandchildren all day."

I thought all the kids would sleep in since we didn't get home until close to 11, but of course only Ellie slept in past 7:3o. And now they need baths because they are FILTHY and I didn't want to even attempt it last night.

Dog food

So school is back in session and we had the BEST break. It's nice to have order and routine back in our life, but sometimes I miss sleeping in and lounging around with friends all day. So much so that I lounged around at Susan's house instead of picking Nate up and going home today.

Ellie got her report card -- all E's, except for an S in handwriting. I cannot get the girl to slow down and write nicely. I know it's possible.

Nate is happy to be back with his buddies at Boy School and the gym. He built me a castle.


Sadie is very independent and likes to run around and we never really know where she is because she is so stealthy! Easter Sunday the kids were all running around and being wild and Sadie would wander in and out -- freaking out every once in awhile because she's scared of the dog -- and at one point no one knew where she was. I went on a hunt and found her. . . sitting by the dog food bowl and her mouth was packed full of DOG FOOD!

I flipped out which of course made her burst into tears, but whatever, I wanted to get all of that nastiness out of her mouth. Then everyone else started telling me it was no big deal and that every kid has eaten dog food in their life. First off, I don't think I've ever eaten dog food and I can't remember Nate or Ellie eating dog food. So are we just freakish? Maybe just because we don't have a dog?

So I want to know -- have your kids ever eaten dog food?

Hoppy Easter

This picture is about as good as it's going to get. In the middle of taking pictures Ellie ripped her toe open and now Sadie is taking a nap before Church. Maybe we'll try again afterwards.

What would Easter be without a few Easter Egg hunts? Friday we had our usual playgroup hunt. It was fun to go around and watch Nate run from egg to egg. Sometimes he wouldn't an egg up because he'd see another egg and have to run to it.Just a few of the kids.

Nate and his best friend Daven.

Saturday morning we had a fun Easter Egg Hunt with some of the kids on our street. One of the things I love the most about our house is our awesome neighborhood and all the kids.
This Egg Hunt was fun because Sadie got to participate! She was so cute carrying her basket like a purse and sticking eggs in. I actually just kept emptying the same 5 eggs onto the grass for her to pick up.

This morning Nate ran out of his room with an Easter Egg at about 7:15. Then we had to wait in our bed until we decided to wake up Ellie at 8.
Last year we had to keep Ellie from getting all the eggs before Nate could find any. This year, Nate was a man on a mission!
Sadie was more interested in the contents of everyone's baskets, especially her own dress up shoes. After all that we decided to try some quick pictures which all ended with the toe tragedy. Here's a few I got of the kids.Nate has that fabulous tie thanks to my friend Susan and my awesome parents. I looked for a tie for Nate but couldn't find one. Finally on Monday Susan called me and asked me to help her look at Easter outfits for her boys where she stumbled on a tie perfect for Nate. Then my parents called and took pity on him and ordered him a few from the site. So he should be handsome at Church for awhile. Plus we got his hair all cut and handsome thanks to Janel squeezing us in. And of course Sadie couldn't sit still.

Happy Easter! HE LIVES!

Boring

No -- we're not boring, this is just a boring entry. We've actually been having a lot of fun hanging out with all of our friends. I usually whine to Dustin that we never go anywhere, everyone else does so many more fun things than we do. . . boo hoo hoo. So last week he pops out of the office and tells me he thinks we should go to San Diego for our last week of break -- Sea World, Legoland, the zoo, the beach . . . Now usually I would be so excited but I have to admit I wasn't ready to commit. After all I spent a week making plans for staying home! I had Easter dresses for the girls to wear, baptisms, Easter egg hunts, play dates, the totally AWESOME EQ FHE on Monday night. . . So we stayed home and Dustin had to work :( Dustin just wanted it noted that it was me who bailed on Sea World etc.

Plus, honestly, I am a planner and last minute stuff usually stresses me out. Right before we leave for any trip I start freaking out about cleaning the house and getting everyone packed, airport/car bags ready, worrying if the kids will sleep and wondering why we just don't stay home. Basically, last minute trips just mean I don't get any of the fun anticipation.

So would you have gone or stayed? Tell the truth!

And also I did change the order of my links -- but there is still an alphabetical order to them. Didn't want anyone to be offended, like Molly ;p. A couple of people had asked me how I knew everyone on my links, so I thought it would be fun to link them according to how I first met them. Just because you're in one group, doesn't mean you don't fall into various others!

Happy St. Patty's

We're wearing green! Are you? Dustin and I were out to lunch and I commented that not a lot of people were wearing green and Dustin said, "I don't think adults are scared of being pinched. Would you pinch Janel if she wasn't wearing green?" And then I had to confess that I did in fact pinch Janel this morning! Is it bad to pinch adults?

Look closely because this is the only picture you'll see of Nate for the rest of this post. Little stinker is not in a cooperating mood these days. And he needs a haircut and won't let me put any gel in in -- expect a call J.

Today the kids went to a birthday party for Wyatt and Dayton and they are certainly on a sugar rush right now. All the better because they'll crash in an hour, but it's not helping my recently cleaned house.

We have been having a great Spring break. Lots of sleeping in, undone hair -- I know Lynette will approve, self chosen outfits, trips to the gym, play dates, saying good bye to great friends, trips to the park, and even an "almost sleep over" for Ellie. This week we have lots more fun planned and Dustin even has some down time, so hopefully we'll squeeze Hortin Hears a Who in there. Anyone seen it yet?




Ellie and I also have gone on a few shopping trips and one of Ellie's favorite finds were these shoes. I have some peep toes just like them, so Ellie begs me to wear mine anytime she wears hers. It doesn't always happen, though, because Ellie wears them everywhere, everyday.

Sadie has proven once again this week that she is all girl. She is always carrying something around -- a baby, a phone, a purse, jewelery, books. . . the more the better in fact.




Hey look -- she's dressed in some of there. HA HA! See how much I can do when we don't have school to worry about?

And one last picture for June who believes no child can have too many thumbs to suck

Tag-O-Rama

So I've been tagged a *few* times and I'm really far behind, so I'm going to do all the tags in one post and then instead of tagging people at the end, you can just pick one and do it to your hearts content.

Except for my sister. She has insisted that she be tagged for the picture tag. So I tag you.

Picture tag

favorite color:


favorite animal:


a bad habit:
I don't mean I'm smarter than everyone, just that I over-think everything. I stay awake at night just thinking about everything way too much and make it about a hundred times more complicated than it needs to be.

favorite food:


favorite objects:


town you live in:


your name:


your favorite singer:


your job:


favorite author:
Not my favorite author ever, but I am eagerly awaiting book #4 in the series, so she wins for right now.

a place you would like to travel to:


favorite dessert:

Lucky Tag
Lucky in Love? YES! It will be 9 years this year and I am so lucky!
Ever won a prize? I don't think so. I don't think I've ever entered a contest either, though.
Do I have a good luck charm? Nope, I don't believe in that stuff.
Do you like Lucky Charms? Yes -- I only eat them like once a year, though. If that. I can't even think of the last time I had them.
Do you own a pair of "Lucky" jeans (the brand name)? No.
Anything else that makes you feel lucky...
my kids, our health, our house and wonderful neighbors, my AMAZING friends, my family, the gospel. . . need I go on?

Bag Tag
1. My planner/wallet
2. Notebook and pen
3. 2 things of lip gloss and a tube of lipstick
4. Cell phone
5. Primary keys
6. Mints from Cafe Rio
7. diaper
8. An odd compilation of kids toys --some crayons, a littlest pet shop bottle, Mc D's Happy Meal Toy
and a lot of empty gum wrappers. I just threw those away :D


Book Tag

1) pick up the nearest book ( one of at least 123 pages)
The closest books around are all children's books and after that it's Ellie's Book of Mormon. . .

2)Open the page to 123
Oooh, Jacob 3

3)Find the 5th sentence
verse 12

4)Post the next three sentences
And now I Jacob, spake many more things unto the people of Nephi, warning them against lasciviousness, and every kind of sin, telling them the awful consequences of them.
And a hundreth part of the proceedings of this people, which now began to be numerous, cannot be written upon these plates; but many of their proceedings are written upon the larger plates, and their wars, and their contentions, and the reigns of their kings.
These plates are called the plates of Jacob, and they were made by the hand of Nephi. And I make an end of speaking these words.

5) Tag 5 people!

Lazy days

So no pictures because I am in low-key mode. It's Spring Break so I let Ellie and Nate have sleep overs every night. The only place for Nate to sleep in Ellie's room is Sadie's crib, which she still doesn't sleep in. It has been working out really well though, because Nate STILL cannot figure out how to get out of a crib. He is also the early riser in the house, but since he's stuck in the crib, he doesn't get up until Ellie wakes up. I have slept in until 7:3o for 3 days in a row!

And since Dustin had been back in Iowa with his parents, he took Monday off to spend time with the kids. I took a two hour nap yesterday! OK, I'll stop rubbing it in. But I should mention that Nate got strep throat last week, which meant he didn't sleep at all for a few nights, so I needed some catching up.

So one night last week I was chatting on the phone and Ellie was on the couch writing notes. I got up to get Sadie a sippy cup of milk and when I went back to sit down, Ellie moved right under me so that I sat on her. The next thing I know she is SCREAMING. I look down and the lead from the pencil has broken off and is stuck in her hand. Hang up the phone and pull the lead out, followed by gushing blood and more crying. . . Anyway, it wasn't pretty. When everyone was settled down, I looked at the note she had written:

Dear Mom,
I love you everie day becaus you are a grate mom.

There she had been, writing me such a sweet note, and then I sat on her. Great mom that I am. She has forgiven me luckily.

Good Bye to Yooooou

Luckily for my friends, last night did not include karaoke! We met up for our one last good bye to Tasha in the jean jacket who is ditching us for utah. It was such a fun night, but so sad underneath it all. Seriously -- two good bye parties in one week? Why is everyone leaving me? boo hoo poor me, who cares that they have to sell a house, find a house, move an entire house, make new friends and all that jazz ;p

Tasha and I have known each other since I was a baby! She was the first person I knew when I moved into this house. I showed up to church and there was Tasha -- in my Ward. Our girls started pre-school together, their second pre-school together, and then Kindergarten together. We've car pooled for 2 years, done 2 years of girl school together and now boy school, 3 Christmas Eve's together, summer-time kid swaps, all 3 of our kids are the exact same age and gender. . . and now she's moving. As Rickie once put it, "I don't think you moving is such a good idea." I don't think so either.

Tasha is one of my closest friends. I can call on her in any moment and she will do whatever she can to help out. She will sit on the phone and chat with me. I can rant and rave and she'll still love me. It's so sad how when people leave you realize you wish you had let them know sooner how much you appreciate them. We were just on the phone talking about finding friends when she moves to utah and she mentioned that she wasn't sure she'd ever find friends as awesome as the ones we have here. I don't know if she will probably not because we're all pretty awesome but I know we won't be able to replace her.

So Tasha who I know reads secretly reads this : Thanks for letting us keep you out late last night despite your "curfew" ;p and Susan and Karen trying to kill us on our way home. I'll miss you. And I'll see you in a few hours. :D

Wednesday ramblings

1. Is anything in this world mine and mine alone? I grab a snack and Nate sees, "Yummmm, mangoes! Nummy!" and then eats all of mine, I go to put on my shoes and I can't find any because Sadie has worn them somewhere in the house, Ellie comes out of the bathroom and her lips are caked with my lip gloss. . . . Is nothing sacred?

2. Babysitting question. Chelsea was asking everyone on her blog how much they pay, which I find interesting, and I also want to know who picks up the babysitter? Growing up, the husbands always picked me up, so I sent Dustin for a long time. Then someone told me that in the LDS culture, the wife is suppose to pick up the sitter since parents might not feel comfortable with the husband. After that I took over getting the babysitter. But then a friend told me that was crazy and her husband always does it. So tell me what you do!

3. My sister met Mitt Romney and didn't even bother to tell me. I had to read it on her blog!! As punishment I called and woke her up at 8 am this morning just to yell at her. Does that seem fair or should I demand her first born as well?

4. If you know my father-in-law, say an extra prayer for him if you get a chance. He has Parkinson's and yesterday he had the first of two brain surgeries. The surgery went well, but afterwards, he was in a little pain and they gave him some morphine. After that he couldn't keep anything down and his heart stopped a few times. This morning he is a little more responsive, but they have to keep him in the hospital longer for observation. Just a good thought or two! While I was harassing my sister this morning, she mentioned you could call the Temple and put someone on the prayer roll. Is that true? Thanks everyone -- got it called in.

5. Ellie is usually bugging me about having another baby. "When are you having another baby?" "We can still have 3 more kids and have enough chairs at this table." "If we buy that car how many more kids can we have?" "Mom, you need to tell me right now if you're going to have another baby." "I think we should have six kids in this family." So it came as a complete shock to me when she told me last night, "I'm never ever going to have children." When I asked her why, she told me, "Because when you're the mom you have to do all the hard work and nobody even notices." Ahh, how true. So I started telling her all the fun things she would miss out on if she didn't have kids -- who would make her laugh and draw her pictures? She tells me, "My husband will do all that. And I will sit around and watch TV all day."

27 Dresses

So I know this movie came out forever ago, but I just saw it today. I knew Dustin wouldn't want to see it, so I planned to go see it with Kerry. Of course the planets never aligned and week after week one of us was too busy/sick to make it. But today was the day!

I kept Sadie up so she would nap the entire time I was gone and Nate was at the neighborhood Monday-swap until 1, so I had just enough time to make the 11:1o movie. Kerry and I met in the incredibly empty parking lot and could barely stand the excitement of being to a movie in the middle of the day with no kids. We'd pay for things and then just stand there because we couldn't believe how easy it was without 5 bags of popcorn and treats to carry.

It was so weird to sit in the theater without kids and know it was the middle of the day! There were 5 of us total in the theater and we settled in for a good girly movie. It is just what I expected -- totally cheesy and predictable and I want to make out with whoever that guy is if Katherine Heigel doesn't soon. . .

And then the screen goes black. We're sitting in the dark for a few minutes when suddenly the back-up generator kicks in and the lights come in. Kerry and I can hardly believe our luck. The ONE time we ditch out responsibilities to see a movie and the power goes out!

We decided to stick it out and see if the movie would start back up. . . after what seemed like 15-2o minutes the lights go dim and the movie comes back on. YEAY! I love happy endings. Super cute movie and totally worth the wait -- but DANG! That wait must have been longer than I thought, because I go out to the car and it was 1:4o!!! Nate's been home for 4o minutes and Sadie has been up for an HOUR.

I now owe Dustin BIG time for taking care of them and working all at the same time and not even saying a mean word when I walked in an hour later than I thought. And the upside -- we got free movie vouchers, so we can go see our next girls-day-out movie for free.