Fumbles and blunders

Brain Power! What is that exactly? I don't think my brain has functioned properly for several years now. And although it can be annoying as I double book events on the same day, forget to show up for visiting teaching, and misplace my keys 4 times in one day; it can make for some quirky, unintentionally rude and often funny conversation. Here is a sampling of one such conversation


Chet and I were enjoying some alone time while the kids were taking a nap or outside playing ( I'm sure you can figure out which kids were doing what). Chet headed into the kitchen to grab a snack and decided to wash his hands. But he can never just wash his hands, he always also splashes water in his faces and runs his wet hands threw his hair. I, in slight frustration but also curiosity exclaim:

" Why are you always wetting yourself, you make such a mess. You wet yourself all the time."

Chet starts to giggle

" What is so funny. I don't think it's funny to stand there and wet yourself, and now I'm going to have to clean it up."

Chet- "Do you hear yourself"

" Of course, I always hear myself when I have this conversation with you. If you are going to wet yourself, at least do it in the bathroom, not in the kitchen, where I have to clean it up before I can cook. You wet yourself like 5 times a day in here."

Chet-" You know if some one heard us talking right now, it wouldn't sound very good."

I stop to think about what could possibly sound bad. And then it hits me. Wetting yourself could take on a whole new meaning if you weren't actually watching someone spray water on their face. Frustration was soon replaced by roaring laughter, and humble apology

Shout out

It could of been terrible

It could of caused chaos

It could of required entertaining three kids for hours in an enclosed space

It could of brought scary news

It could of brought me to the edge of insanity

It could of brought me to tears

Thankfully, none of these things came to pass, due to a charitable best friend, and two fantastic visiting teachers.

So what is this "it" that causes me to be so dramatic ? ( Like it really takes much of anything to get me that way!)
"It" wan an urgent doctors appointment with my little munchkin. He was lethargic, only awake for a total of 50 min from 7:00 am to 4:00 pm. which is completely out of character for him. I was in panic mode.

In swoop my band of angels. Alyssa is picked up from Activity Days and carried away to play at a friends house. Visiting teachers arrive to teach, and leave not only lifting my spirits but with Peyton in toe so he doesn't have to sit through a potentially long appointment. I was able to calmly make my way to the doctors office knowing my family was safe and I could focus on the one little one.

Thanks ladies! your kind hearts and willingness to serve made a stressful day workable, and two kids happy and well entertained.

It did bring me relief

It did renew my testimony

It did make me grateful for Health care

It will buoy me up for the rest of the week

Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Babyhood

It's time for dinner. The aroma of Pad Thai fills the room as the family sits down for a fulfilling meal. Camden is eyeing the noodles with anticipation. Unfortunately, they contain peanuts and he is not yet at the stage where he can eat peanut related products. I scoop him up and bring him to the cupboard to pick out his less tasteful but healthy meal.

Mom- Camden, what would you like to eat?

Camden- ne ne ne ne uh uh

Mom- would you like some green beans?

Camden- *sigh*

Mom- How about crackers and peaches?

Camden - ( silence )

Mom- Oh, did you want noodles?

Camden- Ya Ya

Mom- But you can't have those noodles

Camden- ( gives me a pouty face )

Mom- You want noodles?

Camden- Ya Ya

Mom- how about I make you these noodles instead ?( showing him plain macaroni noodles)

Camden- ( thinking it over, touching the bag)

Mom- Should we make you these noodles?

Camden- ( practically whispering, less enthused, but positive) Ya Ya

All's well but ends well, I guess

Todays favorites

I have spent far too much time lately grumbling like a troll under a bridge. Sick kids be darned, sleepless nights - bring it on, dirty house- just let it be; it's time to roll out the positive.

My parents were here this past weekend, and I am still kicking myself for not taking pictures. But pictures or not we had a fabulous time. Mom and I laughed and cried ourselves through the production of WICKED. Just as good the second time around, in fact better, because I had mom to enjoy it with. Dad fixed up the house nicely, and Chet Cleaned the Sunday dishes all by himself without being asked. Thanks sweety, you rock!

And Today as I reflect on the week thus far, I have found many things to be grateful for. Here are some of my favorites of the week.

Peyton having a sudden desire to take pictures. I may actually get chronicled as part of the family now, even if my eyes are closed.

The sunshine beaming in the patio window of my bedroom. I have found the kids laying out like cats, stretching in the sun. Camden will stand forever watching the trees sway in the back yard.

Comfy slippers. I have several pairs, These are my favorites of the week. I am never without a pair of slipper on my feet in the house.

Scriptures for Latter-day Saint Families. Our morning Scripture Study has been truly enriched by the wisdom found in these books.

Walking into my daughters room and finding a Canadian flag proudly displayed on her night stand. For all the mocking of CAN-A- DUH, there is some heritage pride blooming in her.

The sweet sound of piano music flowing through the house. Since Alyssa has begun piano lessons again, you can find her tinkering throughout the day perfecting the craft.

The fruit storage unit in my fridge. Silly I know, but I love that I can wash the grapes, place them in the unit and they stay fresh and crisp for weeks. Yummy!

The return of Pad Thai at Costco. We love Pad Thai, and making it from scratch is a pain and far too much work . This Brand appears off and on at Costco and is fantastic. It has made a return and we have stocked up.

And finally, the new favorite sleeping arrangement. The blow up mattress has remained filled since mom and dad have left. The kids can't get enough of this fancy pillow top mattress. Alyssa and Peyton have shared the bed for three nights in a row and slept quite peacefully. Eventually it will have to be put away, but for now, it is something they enjoy together and that doesn't happen often.

I'm sure next week will bring all new favorites, but we will enjoy these for now and look forward to what the following days bring.

9 months

I'm starting to slack in my duties. Here it is Feb 25th, 4 days past your actual 9 month mark, and I am now just posting your updates. Hmmm! I wonder if it is because you have been a grumpy little monkey because you are sick, and won't let me do anything around the house. Yep! I bet that's it. Don't worry. I won't hold it against you. I would however like to make it through one day without being slimed by boogers, sneezes, coughs, and anything else that makes its way back up into your mouth. Maybe tomorrow!



Despite feeling miserable this last week, you have become the most fun little man. Laughing ,giggling, jabbering, and bringing an abundance of joy to your family. You even let me snap this picture of you in between cough spasms, and managed to pull out a smile.



Physical strengths:

• You now charge like a bullet when crawling. It is fun to watch you pull that head down and with utter determination take off across the room. You do happen to be very quick, which means, I end up swiping your mouth to pull out whatever item it was that perked your interest for the charge in the first place.


• You will wave hello and goodbye. It takes some prompting, but you're very proud upon accomplishing the task.


• You now enjoy clapping. We will yell random hollers of Hooray! just to see you do it.


• Because of your increasing leg and arm strength, you get yourself into the most precarious situations. You pull yourself up on everything. I have found you stuck under our island stools, screaming for help having made it half way up the staircase, wondering how to get down from the bowflex, trapped in the closet after figuring out how to slide open and shut the doors, and performing an amazing balancing act with one foot on the edge of the laundry basket and two hands holding firmly to the corner of the TV Stand ( your empty bottle was on top, I presume that's what you were headed for).


• But by far your most favorite things to do with this new mobility is help me unload the dishwasher. or at least that's how I look at it. Why else you would want to stand in a dishwasher and pull out bowls. ( Photo evidence below )

Step1: begin to crawl onto the open door of the dishwasher

Step 2: look all innocent and cute so mom doesn't ask you to get off



Step 3: Pull yourself up using the top rack and begin to unload.

The unloading doesn't stop with the dishwasher. An equally favorite adventure is to pull open the dresser draws and unload their contents. No wonder I always feel like I'm folding laundry.

Favorite Foods:

• You have become less dependent upon store bought baby food. In fact you quite prefer having small bits of whatever we are eating as a family. Rice, peas, corn,baked potato and carrots top the list.


• You also enjoy any kind of self dissolving cracker, but the Keebler saltines makes your taste buds dance the most.


• We have introduced some cheese and yogurt to your diet. Cottage cheese was a huge hit.


• Yesterday we discovered you are very fond of pancakes.

Favorite Books:

• Moo Baa La La La- has been the chart topper for 8 weeks now


• My first sight words and ABC's took a close second

Favorite songs:

• lately you have taken a shine to the primary songs. "Families can be together forever", and "I lived in heaven", lull you right to sleep.


• The wheels on the bus - has made a come back, because now you are trying to do the actions.

Basic measurements:

• length: not sure, we haven't measured
• Weight: 19 lbs 2 oz, you have actually lost weight, it must be all that crawling around
  
  
  

Nancy needs...

A lot of my friends have been tagging me this past week, with all sorts of fun games and info lists. many have been kept logged into the facebook world, but Annetta tagged me with one that ended up being so true that I had to share it here.

The trick is to type "Nancy needs" into google search ( of course use your own name) and then write down the first ten responses that appear. I have to admit that I had no idea I needed so many things. And apparently I am a Diva. This is what my google search came up with.

Nancy needs... to learn what the moon is ( I better register for school right away)

Nancy needs... Jail Time ( let's hope this never comes to pass )

Nancy needs... her own personal Boeing 757 kept on standby with 16 dedicated Air Force personnel to cater to her every whim. ( wow! let's do it baby )

Nancy needs... Prayer ( so true, so true)

Nancy needs... A vacation ( don't we all )

Nancy needs... to ask Palin's advise on cleaning ( Now obviously they are referring to Sarah Palin, but the funny thing is, Palin is actually my maiden name, so I guess I'll just ask my mom)

Nancy needs...help! ( how did they know, mental, physical, emotional, I need it all )

Nancy needs... a new job ( actually I could do without this one, staying at home with the kids is just fine by me.)

Nancy needs... professional profile on LinkedIn ( sure why not)

Nancy needs... to be punished on Yahoo ( wait a minute, that's not necessary, I don't even know who you are ).

We are the Champion, my friends!

Creativity + Ingenuity + Hard Work = A Champion.

Let me set the scene for you:

Wednesday, January 28th- I receive a call from the school. Alyssa's eczema on the back of her legs is acting up. It is making it difficult for her to walk. She is in a lot of pain and would like to come home. I out of concern for my daughter of course agree. I pack up the other two kidaroos, zip off to school, and Alyssa is safely at home by 12:00.

* Afternoon classes missed- Content, music, and reading stations

Wednesday, February 4th- Alyssa is in a panic. She had her Content class again today and was told that there was an assignment given the week before. She shows me the assignment. Alyssa must build a gravity pulled simple machine. No pre-made or box sets are allowed to be used. The machine must be built out of materials from around the house. Additional, she must write a One page report on the project. Included in the report: Summary of how she built her machine, what worked, what didn't work, what would she change if she could do it again, what are some things she did that could give her an advantage when racing the machine, and What she learned from creating her own machine. All these things not only need to be written in report form, but memorized, because she has to give a speech on the subject when showing her machine to the class. Due Date: Thursday, February 5th. hello!

We set right to work, pulling out anything we can find that could be used to build a derby car like, simple machine. The final materials used include an empty baby snack container, tinker toy sticks and wood discs, yellow spray paint, hot glue, feathers, googly eyes, paper nose, yellow masking tape, magnetic tape, screws and washers, and of course an electric drill.

We drilled holes in the bottom of the food container, spray painted the container and lid, slid the tinker toy sticks through the holes and attached the wood discs as wheels. Next the feathers were glued to the back of the machine. Alyssa took the lid off and stuck magnetic tap to the inside of the lid. She then magnetized the metal washers and screw to the tape and snapped the lid back on. yellow masking tape firmly attached the lid to the container. The machine was now front heavy which would assist in the gravity pull. Just for fun, her machine was given a face. Alyssa proudly called her machine Turbo Tweety, and it really looked like tweety bird zooming down our pre-test ramp.

Thursday, February 5th- With report and Turbo Tweety in hand, Alyssa arrives at school. Her presentation goes well, and the machines are set aside until they can be raced the following Monday.

Monday, February 10th- The day of the Simple Machine Derby. The races are done in Heats. Turbo Tweety Wins all her heats. The Quarter Finals, and Semi-Finals are a breeze. Now it is the Final. Turbo Tweety and her apponent are placed at the top of the ramp. The marker is pulled and the race is on. Turbo Tweety's feathers flutter proudly in the wind. After 3 intense seconds, Tweety rolls across the finish line in Second Place. Okay so she didn't win, but for Alyssa this was a huge victory. She is thrilled that she beat out all but one of her classmates, when she only had one day to build her machine, and they had an entire week. Her Machine, along with the winners, will be on display in the school library for the next month. We knew you could do it Tweety!