Road Trips and Eating

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody! We started our rituals early this year. How many of you will look like this on Thursday? Believe me he thoroughly enjoyed his treats before he passed out. I hope you all do too!

Lessons from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

My boys have been really into Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs the past few months. Here are some things they have learned:

Everybody is different. Some people are bashful, some grumpy, some happy, etc. They love to imitate the different personalities of the dwarfs.

Soup is good. Sam loves soup now because they eat it on that movie and get really excited when she is making it. Matthew too, but Spencer is not convinced yet. He likes to play Grumpy when it is soup night.

My boys learned how to wash properly from this movie. I know that sounds weird, but they have a whole scene showing them how to use soap and rinse it off. They love to imitate the wash scene in the bath, it is really cute.

Don't talk to strangers, mean people can disguise themselves as nice. That witch is pretty scary!

Also, I don't know if this has sunk in yet, but I like how the dwarfs treat Snow White. They adore her and fight over who can help her. Of course they only let her stay because she promised to clean and cook. Hmmm, well at least they appreciated her cooking!

Sesame Street

This show absolutely blows me away. It is so full of adult humor and story lines, it is great! Has anybody been watching this? I just watched an Indiana Jones Skit totally making fun of the whole movie premise and now Feist is on singing her 1234 song and changing the words to be about how much she loves counting. Brilliant! Last week I saw Law and Order:SLU (Special Letter Unit) with all the characters from the show in puppet form including the classic sound effects. They were investigating a case about a missing letter L. It was awesome! A few months ago they did The Office with Michael, Jim, Pam, and the whole crew as puppets. I practically fell off my chair it was so funny. Also last week they did Meal or no Meal. It was genius. The banker was the baker. The contestant was going crazy and losing it because she didn't know whether to take a snack now or hold out for a whole meal. She was fainting and going nuts. Loved it. Not to mention the famous people they have singing silly songs and being hilarious. You think Alec Baldwin is funny on 30 Rock? Sesame Street. Check it out.

Hey Look at Me!

Halloween

The boys had a great time. Look Dixie, Buzz Lightyear lives on! Matthew is candy crazy. The weather was so nice. I made them wear sweatshirts under their costumes but I think they came home because they were too hot! We ran out of candy here and had to turn out our lights, but overall a great night!

The only one who cared...

Family pumpkin carving didn't go so well this year. I had high hopes because last year Spencer and Sam were pretty into it and each did a little bit of the carving. This year, nothing. Sam was the only one to show any interest. His interest peaked at picking the design and agreeing to stand by the pumpkin for a picture when I finished carving the thing. Oh well. Jeremy and I had fun kinda, and he made his delicious pumpkin seeds which was definitely the highlight. Definitely worth the digging.

In Random Order...

The Top 5 Reasons why you will NOT or may NEVER AGAIN be getting a picture of our family in your Christmas Card:

I'm Soooo Bored!

Jeremy and I had to take a mandatory parenting class through Spencer's new private school the past two weeks. I was kind of dreading it because a parenting class? Come on! That is just a big guilt fest that I don't need right now. But actually it was pretty good, and here is one of my favorite moments from the class.

"When my kids come to me and say, I'm bored. I say Congratulations! and walk away. Being bored is the best thing that can happen to a kid. That is when creativity and imagination come alive."

I thought this was pretty funny because I could definitely see myself saying congratulations sarcastically and walking away (can you see why I was dreading the class?). But the teacher really meant congratulations in this exciting way and kept expressing how important it is for us to let our kids be bored sometimes. I realized I don't let my kids be bored that often because I am always shoving some activity or video in their face to keep them "happy."

Yesterday I was getting dinner ready and my kids were really bored. Rolling on the floor, driving me crazy bored. I decided to let it go, and magically after about 15 tortuous minutes they started playing horses and were riding all over the house pretending to be horses and giving each other rides. It was a very nice moment and something I remember doing as a kid. Really I just can't wait for one of my kids to come up an tell me they are bored so that I can say congratulations and walk away. Maybe I will make a bored reward, a trophy or something. Then they can decorate it and maybe I can find some movie they can watch about ideas for when they get bored... oh wait bored is good. Bored is good!

Motto of the Moment

I am thirty-one with three kids and I am very grateful. My boys decorated this cake for me. Some friends had me over for dinner on my birthday because Jeremy was teaching that night. I got to have lunch with my sister who shares my same birthday! Jeremy surprised me with a dinner at my favorite restaurant with some friends. Thanks to everyone for the birthday love!

Happy Birthday to Molly!!!

It's Molly's birthday today, so if you see her, wish her the best!

- A friendly hacker.

Why wait for Halloween?

Super Heroes appear at my house almost on a daily basis. It is nice to know they are around when you need them. Whenever you ask Spencer what he wants to be when he grows up he always says Spiderman. Then we ask, do you want to be bitten by a radioactive spider? That always gives him some food for thought.

Running

Every neighborhood has some crazy walking lady. I think I am definitely in the running in my neighborhood. I am out there a lot, and I like to see how high I can get my ponytail to bop. I don't have any moisture wicking clothing, and sometimes I don't wear the appropriate ankle socks with shorts. Sometimes I even do some boxing punches to kick it up a notch or little dance moves when a good song comes on. Anything to burn some extra calories. Oh well, I am out there and I really don't care.

But lately walking has started to feel kind of boring. My neighborhood is completely flat, and just kind of boring. So, I have been having to walk longer and longer to start to feel anything. And my kids were starting to get bored in the stroller. And then I started to have this urge to run. And I just really wanted to take off running. But I resisted the urge because I HATE running. I think it is very silly, and painful, and jiggly and really painful!

A couple of weeks ago I couldn't resist the urge anymore. Despite my head screaming no, my legs said yes and started off in a slow jog. It was really painful, and I realized I was moving slower than when I was walking. I did that for a couple of days and then I just said forget it. I look ridiculous, and this is really painful.

Then last week I had a new idea. Forget this slow jogging junk, I am just going to run. I am going to run fast. And I love it! I just run my heart out until it hurts and then I take a break, then run again when my lungs are ready. It is not as painful or jiggly and even though I might look silly, I feel strong and powerful. So, now I might be a runner, but I still think I win the crazy walking lady award in my neighborhood who now starts sprinting at random times inbetween her walking. Whatever!

Some Shout Outs

This weekend I headed to Portland to visit with some of my family by myself! I play so many roles in my life everyday, and I needed a weekend to just be a daughter and a sister. Here are some thoughts from my weekend.

Huge shout out to Jeremy for giving me this opportunity. I know the boys had a great time hanging with their Dad. Sometimes I can be a real downer with all my rules and regulations(you know, don't kill each other today, don't throw that glass across the room), so I think they all enjoyed the break. And, I just don't ask too many questions about what occurred. I do know the house was clean and the kids were happy when I came back, so thank you Jeremy!

It was so great to see my parents and have conversations with them without the interruption of my kids. I was able to have meaningful conversations with both of them and really enjoyed that. Also, I was amazed to see all that they are dealing with right now, especially the way they take care of my Grandma. I was able to have a nice moment with her which has been pretty rare over the past few years.

The highlight of my weekend was being able to hear my brother Steven play a piano solo in church on Sunday. He is an absolutely amazing musician, and it was such a treat. I am totally blown away by his talent!

It was so fun to be with Stacey at her ward activity. I was so impressed to watch her befriend everybody that was there. I know she is an amazing Relief Society President, and I really got to see her in action. Also, to watch every single guy stop what they were doing to watch her jump into the pool from the top of the rocks. Hilarious.

I had a blast staying with Karen in her home. It was such a cute, peaceful, fun, happy place. Thanks for putting me up!

No Pretty Picture Here

Here is my new motto: I am 30 with 3 kids and I have NO IDEA what I am doing!!! Life is hard sometimes, really hard. I cannot be a warrior every day, you got that Oprah and Jenny?

The MOST lovely evening

On Tuesday night at about 6:30 p.m. (on a school night!!) we decided to head on over to the local river and swimming area. It is about 2-5 minutes from our house depending on if you hit the light or not. There are not enough words to describe how nice it was, how I could sit on the sandy beach and watch my boys swim and kayak. My favorite moment of the evening was when Jeremy had Sam and Spencer on the kayak with him and the boys realized they could tip the kayak. What boy can resist dumping dear old Dad into the river? They all went overboard and one by one as each head popped up all three came up laughing. It was so adorable, the laughter, the moment. I just wanted to bottle it up.

Take that, Toothpaste!

I had a moment last week, one of those glorious moments where for one second you know you have discovered some great truth. Here is my moment I would like to share.

Whitening toothpaste and whitening gum do not work. I just know it is a scam. I have been using both of these daily for at least 3 years, and there really is no difference. And it just hit me, these are not working, why are you buying them? I will not be taken advantage of anymore. That's it. The end.

And then... we ran out of toothpaste so when I was at Target I went to get some. And there it was, a whole aisle full of whitening toothpaste in every brand and flavor. And I knew I shouldn't get it, but then I thought, what if by some miracle it is preventing my teeth from getting more yellow even if it is not making them whiter? I got confused.

I had to be strong. And then I saw it, the toothpaste that always makes me so happy. The toothpaste I would beg my Mom to buy when I was a kid, but apparently it was more expensive. Aquafresh. I love it. I bought the regular, old Aquafresh which now appears to be the cheapest paste around. But, I did get Jeremy the expensive whitening stuff. If he hasn't had his moment yet, I didn't want to deprive him.

Boy Updates

Here is what has been going on with the boys at our house.

Spencer has been going to his new school now for two weeks and doing amazing! Parent night was last night and I am so impressed with this new school and how they are helping Spencer. He is soaring academically and socially. We have a very happy kid coming home each day and that has been wonderful! Jeremy and I are so grateful for prayer and all the support we have gotten with this big decision to try private school.

All three boys each have their own room now. This seems to be going very well, but makes the night time check-in routine a little bit longer. Sam really needed his own space. Being the middle child I wanted to give him a place that was just his. We also decided to say good-bye to the official toy room in our house. The boys just didn't really seem to use it that much anymore. The backyard is our new toy room/basement in this house. And with the change it now seems like our whole house is a toy room. But this goes along with my theory of having toys spread throughout the house. It seems to be working well so far.

And lastly, here is what the oldest boy in our house has been doing. In case anyone was wondering what he did with his birthday money, now you know.

Happy Birthday Jeremy!

I love you more each year. If only I could have been there for the Liederhosen days!

Quote of the Moment

If you think you are at the end of your rope, then tie a knot and hold on tight.

Can't resist

Why do I fall for the same trick every year? When I see the Halloween candy out and on sale I just have to grab some. Why? I know that it will not last until Halloween. The whole idea that I am buying this to beat the candy rush is ridiculous. There is always too much candy in the stores at Halloween. And lets face it, we all know this first batch of candy is the leftover stuff from last year. I mean think about it. Target has 5 aisles of candy the day after Halloween, and then it mysteriously disappears to make room for the Christmas stuff. I know what is going on here, but still... its fun size!!

And they're off!

Another year of school. Spencer heads off to 2nd grade and Sam is going to another year of preschool. It was absolute torture for their Mom to take a picture. You can see the pained expressions. Sam picked his outfit himself, I applauded him for his Fall color selection.

Camping

We promised the boys one more camping trip before school started. We just barely made it. This was Matthew's first time camping, and he was in heaven. Thanks to our friends the Carlsons who brought us to this lovely place. We had a blast with you! Happy Labor Day!

Molly the Mom

Today I tried to be a fun Mom and do back to school shopping at the same time. I have never been a great multi-tasker, so I should have known this would not go very well. The day started out as most do, with bribery. If the boys were good while we did some of the boring back to school shopping I would take them to Toys R Us, one of their favorite places to spend time.

So, we headed off to one of my least favorite places Wal-mart. This went ok, but they were out of everything, and Spencer was being picky about his new shoes so I knew this was not going to be one stop shopping. I could not find one box of crayons or markers in the entire store. They did have about 10,000 glue sticks on hand, an entire aisle. Whatever, I didn't need those because I had leftovers from last year.

We then headed to the toy store because that is what I promised, but I had to let them know first that our day of shopping was not over. Off we go, and I was really applauding myself for being such a fun, cool, relaxed Mom. We wandered the store for over an hour, not kidding, and they just loved it. But, then they started to get all whiny and running away, and begging to buy things.

So, I lost it. There was counting and dragging naughty boys out of the store. So, then I felt horrible and guilty and mean. Next we head off to Target to try and finish the school shopping. I thought maybe a refreshment would help (at least with my guilt), so they each got to pick their very own drink. Of course they each wanted a blue icee and cheetos. Ok, great, whatever you want boys. I am so fun and casual, I would never think twice about the fact that those are the two messiest choices on the planet.

After Spencer spilled his bright blue icee TWICE and the boys were all covered in cheetos and fighting over the bag, that was it. Good-bye fun, casual Mom, it was time to lay down some rules. No, you cannot take your lids off your icees and give me those cheetos because if you can't share, then I will have to eat them all myself. We did manage to find Spencer some shoes that he wanted and magically found the white erasers on the floor of some random aisle, the last pack in the store.

Mission accomplished.

Start Saving for Juliard

Here is another awesome conversation with Sam

Sam: What is that building over there?

Me: That is the new high school. First you go to pre-school. Then you got to elementary school, then middle school, then high school. When you are 14 you will go to high school.

Sam: Or Dance school. I can go to Dance school and learn how to dance.

Sam: And I can play the guitar too.

Me: (Silence)

My Olympic Moment

I practiced for months, every day, sometimes for hours. I put my heart into getting my "routine" just right. I added difficulty to improve on the piece. In the end my nerves kicked in and I messed up on the easiest part. Not a gold medal performance. It may have qualified for a silver, at least a bronze. I was happy. There is always the next performance. I am talking of course about my first Sunday playing accompaniment for our Ward Choir. It was the most nerve wracking thing I have done in a very long time. No matter how many times you practice, when it comes to performance time those nerves kick in. Frustration!!!

End of Summer

Ok, it is too hot to go to the swimming pool. You know what I mean? Do you ever feel like that? The heat has fried my brain and I cannot figure out how to get three boys to the pool. The blow-up pool got ruined pretty much the minute I blew it up. There are not enough patches for all the holes. So, we are left with the hose. They love it.

Important Educational Tool

If you want to teach your two year old his colors, eat otter-pops all summer. By the end of the summer he will be able to identify each otter-pop by its color. So happy to check that off my list. Teach Matthew his colors, done! His favorite otter-pop color? Orange.

Olympics

I love the Olympics!! My favorite is the commentary. Those people say some of the most ridiculous things ever. I am absolutely riveted to hear what is going to come out of their mouths next. Another favorite, focusing solely on U.S. athletes even when they are doing completely terrible. For some reason NBC thinks we don't care about the winners if they are not from the U.S. This drives me nuts. I remember one year the men's gymnastic team was doing absolutely awful. Everybody was falling and making a mess of things. I think they were in last place. NBC just could not move away from it. They never even showed the medalists routines. Oh, and rhythmic gymnastics. Hilarious. The trampoline and the ribbon twirling. Love it because watching that makes you feel like you too can be an Olympian, which you can if you put in a good two weeks training on the neighbors trampoline. I love these two weeks every two years because Jeremy and I have an absolute blast together watching them. Besides the amazing athleticism, there is lots of good humor and fun. Enjoy everybody!

What have you been doing?

Yes, I am one of those people. I love this series. It is just plain fun and a really easy read. I didn't like this one as much as the first and third books, but it was still good. Also, it gives me something to talk to the babysitters about! We are going green here. I am so excited to finally be painting in our house. This time I am not going to wait until the month before we move to fix it up for the people who live here after me. No, I am painting this for us to enjoy. I have been wanting to do this for awhile, and I am in love with this color. You will just have to come over to see the finished product. The official name is Moss. Love it.

Spencer's favorite job

Vacuuming with the hose. Why? Because he tries to vacuum up anything and everything that should not be vacuumed. Apparently this is a real treat getting to use the hose, and I only let him on special occasions. I think "special occasion" usually means I am so fed up with the garbage all over my house I don't care what disappears. This time I actually caught him shoving the vacuum hose into his toy hoping to suction out something exciting. The best are the giggles I hear when he gets something big like a sock or something. I can't help it, the laughter is worth digging through the bag when he is done. So, if he vacuums his room properly, he gets to use the hose as a special treat. Pretty good rewards around here, huh? Come on over!