Facebook for Kids

I've decided that getting a cast for kids is kind of like joining Facebook for adults. It's like a random collection of people in your life and you've never had so many friend requests in your life. Even people you barely know. Example:

On our way back from Pinetop we stopped at a Wendy's to grab dinner. While we were ordering the girls at the counter were so cute asking Ellie how she broke her arm. . . Finally one of them pipes up, "Can I sign your cast?"

My sister has been dying to see a picture of her cast without the sling, so while we were taking these picture, Ellie noticed the under side of her cast is completely blank. "Look Mom! More room for people to sign."

The results are in. . .

And I got the word that I am officially excused from Jury Duty. Hooray! I was not looking forward to driving into Phoenix tomorrow morning and spending the day in a court room.

Oh wait, you probably don't care. You're here for the ultrasound results.

This morning I woke up and came out to the kitchen to find Nate eating a bowl of cereal. "Mom! Are you having a boy or a girl?" When I explained that I didn't just wake up knowing and I had to actually go to the Doctor he said, "It just HAS to be a boy." When I asked why he told me, "Because I want it to be." I wasn't nervous about dashing his hopes, though, because I was POSITIVE it was going to a boy.

Wow -- I'm really dragging this out, huh? Let's skip to the end where the tech says, "Oh, of course it's a boy, there's a hand between the legs." This of course made me laugh, which was not good since my bladder was ready to explode. Finally the baby moved so we could get a good view and we learned it's a . . .











































BOY! We're so excited. Two girls and two boys. How spoiled am I? Even better -- everything looked great, despite my less than stellar pre-natal vitamin taking track record.

Sad Sunday aka wallowing in self-pity

My sister was bugging me because I hadn't updated in awhile. I think I'm trying to forget the week even happened. Ranging from my crazy mommy moment where I emptied the contents of Ellie's closet into the hall it had something to do with wearing 4 different outfits that day which were mingled among the outfits she didn't chose on the floor to the 8 shots at the Doctor Nate is STILL crying over those to Nate's choking incident He and Ellie had refused to eat dinner, but they smuggled cereal into my closet where he promptly choked on a piece. Lesson learned?? Probably not and oh so many more non-memorable moments.

Yesterday was the icing on the cake: 8 hours to clean Nate's room, Ellie's room and the Playroom. I could have done the job in about 30 minutes, but since I'm trying to produce functioning members of society, I asked the kids to do it. I even started out with the whole, "Hey, you're going to have to clean it no matter how much you cry and no matter how long it takes, so let's skip the whining, hurry up and do something fun today," speech. Instead of doing something fun I managed to clean the kitchen, hand clean the floors, clean all the crumbs out of the drawers, straighten my cabinets, re-organize the pantry, clean out the fridge, empty the junk drawer, sort mail, clean the bathroom, organize the girls' hair stuff, do a load of laundry, read a few chapters in a book, watch a TV show, dink around on the internet. . . So yeah, I need some tips on how to motivate my kids to pick up.

Today is going to be really really sad though. Last week, I was released as Primary President. It had been a long time and Dustin had recently been called to be YM's President, so I knew it was coming, but still bittersweet. There are going to be a lot of things I won't miss, but I'm definitely going to miss the kids. I don't know how I am going to make it through Church today just sitting there for the whole 3 hours. Do adults say funny things in Sunday School? Are there going to be colorful visual aids? Will we get a wiggle song in Relief Society? Will someone want to sit in my lap? Need me to take them on a potty break? Can I sneak out for a snack in Nursery? In case I haven't proven my point -- Primary is the place to be!!

And I don't think they're letting me out of Jury Duty on Tuesday. WAAAHHHH.

But since I don't want to be a Debbie Downer, let's end this thing on a positive note! I did have some awesome girl time this week. Temple night and dinner with my best neighbors/friends, sanity-restoring lunch out with sympathetic friends, and Friday at the park with more tmi-sharing girlfriends -- so no pity necessary. Annnnnnnd, tomorrow is my ultra-sound! Send BOY vibes and yes, I know the sex has already been determined, so it does no good, but if you're a good friend you'll do it anyway.

Chilly

There is still a mess from breakfast and bags to unpack, but since I'm sitting here watching the inauguration, I might as well be somewhat productive.

Thursday we left to go up with the Wright's to their family cabin in Pinetop. It was a hard vacation let me tell you. I'm not a big fan of the cold, so I volunteered to stay inside with the babies a lot. I managed to finish a book and 4 magazines and take a few naps. Plus they are such great friends that I couldn't beat the company.

The weather was actually pretty warm for this time of year, but there was plenty of snow, so the kids had a great time. Even Gimpy got out to have some fun! I will say -- snow clothes are a PAIN! I do not envy those of you in cooler climates. No sooner would the kids come in and sit by the fire before they wanted to be bundled up again. Also, I hate socks.

Dustin was sweet and took the kids sledding every day. That's got to be a workout in itself, which is probably why Dustin could eat all the fattening food we ate when we were up there. I gained 5 pounds. And I can't blame it all on the baby.

While we were up there, Sadie turned two. She was the cutest birthday girl ever. Really. You might think I'm exaggerating, but Sadie really can be the most charming child ever and she was especially angelic on her birthday. I think she might have been in shock that she was getting so much attention.

As a birthday present, the Cardinals won their game. WHATTTTT? Seriously, it was a shock. My brother lives in Philadelphia and his boys LOVE the Eagles, so before the game I wasn't sure who I was going to root for. After that first touchdown, I was a true AZ fan and I felt like they were playing a grudge match similar to the way I feel when the Y plays the U. Happily, this had a better outcome. When they won I was screaming and jumping up and down like I had been born and raised a Cardinals fan. Although now I feel like I have to watch the Superbowl. That means more nachos and 5 more pounds.

I'm outside -- random thoughts

Just hanging out while the kids ride bikes. So fun to have the neighbor kids over for a playdate because it means less work for me :D It is actually kind of hot out here, but I'm not complaining.

Ellie did break her arm :( She now has a lovely hot pink cast with sparkles. She let us all sign it, but no one can see it because it has to be in that navy blue sling. At least it matches her uniform.

I am so out of shape! I think I've run 3, maybe 4, times since Iron Girl and this week I decided to get back to the gym. My body is so sore. Why is it so easy to turn into a big ball of flab?

Cutest sight of the day: Nate and Sadie our neighbor dancing. She was Snow White and really wanted a Prince to dance with, but I guess Spiderman would do. They were kind of holding hands and she says, "No Nate -- like this" and puts his arm around her waist and her hand on his shoulder. Then she said, "And then we kiss." It was sooo cute. Why are the Tyler's moving?? They have to stay so Nate and Sadie can get married.

Sadie turns 2 on Sunday -- it's sort of weird to think she's only 2 because she already seems like a 5 year old, but she is so so tiny. She is not going to be happy about the baby because her newest obsession is pretending to be my baby. She lays in my lap and makes me rock her and sing to her. "I'm the baby!"

And today I found a stack of Christmas cards that never got out. I am a JERK! So if you didn't get a card from us -- this is what we look like.

One Sad Morning

Not today. Yesterday. In fact it was so sad, I slept right through it.

Yesterday my sister flew home after a fun filled week. So fun I didn't take any pictures so if you really want to see some, you'll have to stalk my sister's blog. Her account will be funnier anyway. I think I did a pretty good job of showing her the oh-so-glamorous life of a suburban stay at home mom. Carpool, speech, shopping and lunch, the movies, pedicures, grocery shopping, surprise party, toilet papering, lunch with Ellie, cooking, subbing for Bunco and lots of napping.

Since I've been pregnant, I have had a horrible time getting up at 7 to get Ellie ready for school. Luckily for me, Dustin usually gets home from the gym around then and either wakes me up, or lets me sleep in a little and gets Ellie up and going. My sister's flight left at 6 and Dustin was going to run to the gym after, which would put him home way too late to be our alarm clock. I put a phone next to my bed and asked him to call me to make sure I woke up.

Long story short -- I put the phone with the ringer off next to my bed and didn't wake up until the door bell rang for her carpool. Best husband EVER: mine. Because after calling me three times with no answer he ran home and STILL got Ellie ready for school.

I had grand ambitions of getting picture of all the kids with their sad little faces, but it didn't happen and you can never recreate it. So here is my pathetic attempt to make Ellie be sad one morning later.

See her little sling? Another reason I was sad yesterday. During all the fun while my sister was here, Ellie fell off her bike and broke her arm Friday afternoon :( I was so worried about sending her to school for the first time, but she did great. I think a big help was taking her off the Tylenol with Codeine they gave us. HOLY COW -- if the weepiness and general lack of personality are just a taste of teen ager-hood, I think I'd rather skip it. Lesson learned: MOTRIN! Today's her appointment with the Orthopedist so cross your fingers it's not as bad as we thought.

One liner summary: We had a great time with my sister and we've got the battle wound to prove it.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

School starts back up tomorrow and can you guess what we spent our day doing? Getting haircuts! OK, just Nate, but after I tried to style his hair and he looked a little too much like Robert Pattinson, I did make sure he got a haircut this morning. The highlight of the day was riding horses! Karen's parents own two of the sweetest ponies ever and invited my kids over to spend some time on their little mini-farm.

Ellie may have been the first to actually get on a horse, but she definitely wasn't the bravest of the day. Please note her "I'm Going to Die" smile. She got really good on the ponies and even was able to get on herself by the end. That's my cowgirl! Not so brave when I put her sister up there with her. Sadie's problem was being TOO brave. We put her on a pony and off she went without even holding onto the saddle, so she ended up having to always ride with another person.

Nate had no desire to ride the horses until I put him up there and then he was HOOKED! Nate is pretty well known for despising animals and nature in general, but he LOVED their house. He was climbing treesfeeding chickens out of his hand even HOLDING the chickens

Sadie, on the other hand, is well known for her adventurous spirit, so she had no problem getting down and dirty with the animals from the minute we got there. She spent a lot of time mooching rides with the other kids And when she couldn't ride the horses, she rode the dog. I was worried about the chickens' safety, though, since the first thing she did was grab their little faces.

My kids favorite part was doing "The Trick." Basically while on the pony, you ride under a bar and grab onto it. While the pony keeps going, you slide ride off her back and fly through the air with the greatest of ease.
The first few times required a little assistance, but by the end the kids were doing it all by themselves! One time Nate was just hanging there because we forgot he needed help getting down.
At the end even Karen and I went for a little ride. Except the ponies were a little tired and spent most of the ride trotting us back to the barn. Also, I am allergic to horses. REALLY REALLY allergic and I looked like a swollen strawberry by the time I got home. Time to shower.

Thanks for the fun day guys!!!

Baby It's Cold Outside

Actually, that is a complete lie. The weather has been gorgeous here this week. It's my clever way of being smug because I have been here enjoying an Arizona winter and my husband has been freezing his tush off "snow camping" with the YM. I've only heard bits and pieces from moms/wives but I do know a couple of boys came home early, one was up all night throwing up and one broke his wrist -- poor Janda boys. Welcome to YMs Dustin -- I think he'd like to be released now ;p Although, I did hear from someone that those who stayed were having a blast. We'll get the scoop this afternoon.

I should also mention that my kids told me TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW that my food was, "as good as Daddy's." No lie people. And so here is my secret.
1. Call sister whinning that Dustin has left absolutely no food in the house and I don't want to go to the store.
2. Rattle off entire contents of fridge, freezer and pantry and have her laugh at me because there really is no food in the house.
3. Make pancakes per my sister's suggestion with whole wheat flour because that's all we have.
4. Pancakes do not taste yummy -- lather with buttermilk syrup we were given as a gift
5. Kids eat 12 pancakes between the 3 of them and RAVE!
6. Throw in turkey bacon for protein.
7. Repeat whinning the next night.
8. Borrow tortilla chips from neighbor and cover in salsa, sour cream and velveeta cheese -- none for Nate because as we all remember: he hates cheese. My sister hates tomatoes. Then watch kids ask for THIRDS!
9. Add in black beans and ground beef for protein.

So basically my secret to getting my kids to eat: buttermilk syrup and sour cream.

Anyway, back to my "cold" theme going on here. You know when it was cold? Last week. BRRR! The few days before Christmas were rainy so the Haymond's Christmas party was rescheduled for clearer skies. My kids were devastated, but finally the day after Christmas was beautiful and we bundled up for the party.

They have hot cocoa and cookies and her dad takes everyone caroling around their neighborhood on a hay ride. It was so much fun and my kids loved it. In preparation for being out in the 50 degree weather I dressed my kids in 2 layers of pants, long sleeve shirts, sweaters, coats from my sister's wedding, hats, scarves, gloves, knee socks and boots. Then I realized they were going to melt in the car ride over. I am glad we don't live in the cold weather. Especially because 50 degrees is probably pretty warm for an evening elsewhere like Virginia, where my sister lives.

I think Ellie went on every single hay ride, so she had to do drive through to get to her cookies. I wonder what kind of cookie my sister would have eaten?
Nate got to hang out with his best friend, Daven, so he was happy as could be. Looks like Daven is a BLANKET HOG!! My sister is also a blanket hog. Sadie would yell, "HAY RIDE" and run over and try and get on herself. Then she would bounce and sing the entire ride.

And so that is what we do when it's cold outside in sunny AZ.
* parts of this post were edited to appease my sister who is coming to visit in two days.

Christmas Day

It's only appropriate to blog about Christmas now that all my Christmas stuff is put away.

First thing Nate did when Dustin woke him up was come running back into the bedroom where the rest of us were all nestled all snug in our beds yelling, "MOM!!!!! Santa brought two bikes!!! A red one and a pink one." ARGH! Thanks for spoiling the surprise for your sister. Oh well, at least he was excited.

I was super proud of myself this year because for the first time EVER, I feel like I didn't go completely over board on presents. We decided each of the kids would get one gift from Santa, plus some books from Mrs. Claus, one gift from us, and then one gift from each sibling. Once you added in stockings,gifts from Grandparents, cousins, Aunts and Uncles -- they still got plenty of stuff.

You wouldn't even know Sadie got presents because she wouldn't even open them. Once she found the chocolate in her stockings, she was done. My parents got her Rose Petal Cottage and the first thing she did was open the oven, "Where are the cookies?" When none could be found, she put all her half eaten chocolates in there.

If you asked Nate what his favorite toy was, he would say, "All of them." He was especially excited for his Transformers. After a week of practice, I'm actually really good at transforming them back and forth, but Nate says my Transformer voices stink. Sadie bought him some boy dress-up after Halloween. When he opened them he was so excited, "You bought me these so I don't have to wear girl dress up anymore???" Oh yeah honey, because we forced you to wear that pink tutu for 2 years.

Ellie got a lot of clothes/jewelry/shoes/purses. . . all that big girl stuff. She was super super excited to open up my sister's gift -- the one thing she had been begging for and I SWORE I was not buying her -- Puppy Grows and Knows Your Name. The dog has springs in it so it grows a little big everyday and you hook it up to your computer so it learned Ellie's name. It will say things like, "Thanks for naming me Candy, Ellie."

After breakfast burritos -- per Rogers family tradition, you can tell he grew up with all boys, no sweets to be found -- we took the kids out to ride their new bikes and scooters and scooters. I love Arizona weather on Christmas day!!! My kids have been out with the neighbors on their bikes every.single.day.
Nate STILL hasn't gotten that haircut.
before he rode his bike he INSISTED on getting all his gear on.

Sadie brought out her doll stroller from Grandma and Papa Rogers. Our kids were so sweet and so grateful for every gift. I love how excited little kids get over everything. As always -- a perfect Christmas Day.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

We started off with our traditional Christmas Eve dinner with friends. We missed the Hortins and Kimballs who both moved this year :(, but luckily for us the Critchfields are still here and we invited a new family from the Ward who have a girl Ellie's age, a boy Nate's age and two twins a little younger than Sadie and Taten. Dinner was soup in bread bowls and mini pizzas for the kids -- I learned my lesson after years of the kids not eating a bite of soup and filling up on sugar cookies. I think they actually ate something this year!

After dinner, we did the nativity. Ellie lost the intense Rock-Paper-Scissor battle to be Mary, so I suggested she be the Angel. Apparently if she couldn't be Mary, she was going to be some sort of farm animal. So yeah, she's whatever animal has large white ears and makes this face.See the face again in this picture?? And I can mock the HUGE animal ears because I made the set myself. Nate chose to be a Wiseman. So you'll never guess who was our twirling angel!

Then there was cookie decorating which was interrupted by a knock at the door. Sadie thought she'd be helpful and carry Taten's PJs in for him. HOORAY! They're not hyper at all. Seems like they still got plenty of sugar.

Sadie decide she still wanted to decorate cookies. After everyone went home and we got the kids in bed, the real fun began. Dustin had to put together a doll stroller, a scooter and Rose Petal Cottage while I put the presents out. Plus he hadn't wrapped a single one of my gifts. At close to midnight I decided I was no longer useful and headed to bed.

Dustin finished up around 1:30 and then Nate woke us up at about 4 with a coughing fit. Even a breathing treatment couldn't get him to calm down, so sweet Dustin took him out to the family room to watch TV. I guess it took him 2 hours to get him to go back to sleep after seeing the presents.

The girls woke up about 8 and came into bed with me while we waited a few minutes before waking Nate up. And the rest. . . is Christmas Day. Another day, another blog.

It's Beggining to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I think we're officially ready for Christmas. Poor Dustin is going to be up all night putting toys together -- but it's his choice. I'm done with my duties except for one last present that came yesterday.

Friday I had the kids sit down and make a list of everything they wanted to do this week. It is a really long list filled with low expectations, so it's been easy to fulfill:

1. Watch Christmas movie -- CHECK
2. Elise's Christmas Party -- rescheduled due to rain
3. Cut snowflakes -- CHECK
4. Go to the gym -- CHECK
5. Open Christmas Presents
6. Eat lunch -- CHECK
all of these day to day suggestions are Nate's
7. Play games -- CHECK
8. Eat dinner -- CHECK
9. Cuddle Mommy -- CHECK!
10. Sing Christmas Carols -- tonight, but we did have a lovely rendition of Santa Claus is Coming to Town
11. Change Sadie's diaper -- CHECK lucky girl
12. Keep the house clean -- Uhhhhhh. I did run SIX loads of laundry on Monday and Dustin folded and put them away for me
13. Destroy Lola's Blog -- CHECK
Enjoy it for yourself
14. Make cookies
15. Take a nap -- CHECK PLUS
16. See Bolt -- CHECK
17. Nate buy Mom a Christmas present -- nate may be the worst secret keeper because I'm pretty sure it's a pink water bottle.
18. Get Nate a haircut
19. Go to Pre-school -- CHECK! Santa even came
20. Read books -- CHECK
21. Watch Mamma Mia -- CHECK apparently Dustin does not love this movie as much as me
22. Go to the Nutcracker -- CHECK
23. Go to Church -- CHECK
24. Kiss Mommy -- check
25. Christmas Eve party at our house -- 9 more hours
26. Eat cereal -- CHECK
27. Play Barbies -- CHECK

Like I said, simple list. I must have disappointed my kids so many times that they realized to set the bar low and ask for things like naps.

Yesterday we got our BEST Christmas present for the year. We opened a package from Dustin's brother, Chris and his wife Shauna to find this
At first I thought they had sent us an ornament and I was thinking, "Uh helllllo, our baby is due in June" and then I saw the two little penguins! After 8 years we are so excited for them to finally have some babies in their home!!! And selfishly I'm so excited for our baby to have two little cousin buddies.

I could hardly sleep last night after the news! I honestly think this made my Christmas. It will be fun to see Shauna pregnant -- with TWINS! They will be such wonderful parents and I know they have wanted this for so long. I guess if you're going to have twins, first off is the time to have them.

So MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Ugly Sweater Party

Honorable Mention.

You know you're a good husband when you'll wear a sweater from Wal-Mart's Ladies section

3rd place with their smokin' hot White Elephant gift.
Mike is Cousin Eddie from Christmas Vacation. Homemade dickie and all!

2nd place
I just love the whole ensemble. She looks just like a teacher in her jumper.

Grand Prize Winners
Jay's sweater is not only meant for a lady, but it has shoulder pads and everything.

Some of the losers

Some of the cheaters, I mean winners

The hot white elephant gift. Scott won a no-name camera at a golf tournament and had no idea it would be such a coveted item. REALLY? A no-name digital camera or a ceramic clock. . .hmmmm.

Scott and Katherine also have excellent taste obviously if these are the ugliest sweaters they could find. I have one of Jeff and Becky too somewhere on here. Also NOT ugly sweaters.