Cake Pop Surprise

We got a cool surprise in the mail this week...fancy cake pops. Auntie Heather surprised us,as a belated birthday present for Raef, Zach, and Eli.  The kids loved them. They came in all these fun zoo animal shapes.

Open it Mommy!

Hmmm...yummy!

I heart cake pops.

Anatomy of a Haircut

Yep, it was about time to get a cut.  Rinar was so kind to get it done...and take some pictures. Zach reluctantly allowed me to put these on the blog.

It is miserable to have hair like this.

So silly... 

It is like hitting the reset button and starting over.  No brushing required for about the next 4 weeks.

Raef was not so daring.

Dear Mr. Henshaw...I Confess!

Every time I go to the library or a bookstore and see this book...





I always feel a bit guilty. 


You see, Dear Mr. Henshaw and me have a sordid past. I checked it out from the Durham Public Library sometime around the 8th grade.  And then it made its way to my house and then got lost for, like, ever.





I think I checked it out because I had to do a book report and this is the book I chose. Of course, I never read the book.  I probably just made up something for my book report. More than likely, the teacher gave me an A+ for my mendacious effort. 


Then the fines started to rack up.  I wonder if they had a cap on late fees?  They probably did, but I was always to afraid to ask.  


Eventually the book did get returned by some miracle.


I am not sure if I ever paid the fine. More than likely, I did. But maybe not. I am quite certain that there is still an outstanding bill in my name to this day for some book I didn't return in time.  


Luckily though, the account is in my maiden name!


But do I feel guilty enough to actually read that darn book?


Hmmm... no, not really.

The Poser

I have a little poser here. She is something else. Raef took the first two pictures.  He told her to be happy.  Done.

Then he told her to be sad. No problem. The girl really looks sad.  I am impressed.

Today I wanted to just capture her cuteness and so I took her out on the front porch.  I told her to look forward, backward, at me, etc.  She was a pro. This was my favorite one.

Winter is a Bummer

This winter has been a real bummer. I know we have a harrowing driveway and we should be grateful that the winter has been very mild, but I am not.


It is now the end of February and we have only had to use the snow blower one time. That is it.  It has only snowed a handful of times. The kids have so much fun playing in the snow. They all get bundled up and spend hours outside.  


Raef spent about two days working on these snowmen. They are replicas of everyone in the family, pretty much.  The signs in front say "Welcome Home".  He had a blast doing this and the little ones were right there helping him.

Last year was record snowfall and this year...no snow. I should probably be grateful that we have gotten off so easy, but I am not.  After living in Las Vegas for the past 7 years, it has been a big letdown. Of course, you never know. There is always March and stranger things have happened, but I am not counting on it.

Happy 4, Eli!

Eli turned 4 last week.  He is the sweetest little boy. I am very blessed that he is my son. Eli is kind and caring, smart, thoughtful, fun, silly.  If I could bottle up all of his cuteness and sweetness and sell it, I could buy a tropical island in the Caribbean and retire.

He was very excited to get a couple Skylander's guys. 

On his birthday we gave him a little present, but waited to celebrate until tonight. 

We had a mini-birthday party for him after Family Home Evening. We invited our friends from church to celebrate with us. It is great because Danny and Haley's family consists of 3 boys and one girl and they are all about the same age range. Their son Ira is in the same class with Eli.  We ate dinner, did a little lesson, and then sang to Eli and opened a few presents.  

Julia and Raef

My boyfriend Harry

Gus and Oscar

Ira

Aggie

We gave Eli a Leapster for his birthday. He was very happy about it.  Our friends gave him some cars and a few little boy things as well and he loved it.

Happy birthday to my little man.

How The Saxons Must Have Felt

Rinar went to St. George this weekend to spend time with his family. Alone.  Hence, I have been alone with the kids for the past four days.  Yay for me!


Especially today. It has been a whole lot of fun.  I was able to get them all to church. They were dressed mostly nicely and almost everyone combed their hair. I brought snacks for the little ones and had several books for toddler entertainment.  


Unfortunately, Harry seems to think that ALL of the books belong to him. He has very strong feelings about this. Very. Strong.  This manifested itself on my lap right when sacrament meeting started and Harry raised his voice in fulminating echoes that reverberated throughout all of Christendom.  Julia responded in kind and I felt like an callow Saxon being mutilated by Normans at the Battle of Hastings.  All that was missing was the blood-letting.


I gracefully and quite reverently, I might add, yanked Harry out of sacrament by his ankles, threw him abruptly on the couch and then returned to extract Rapunzel from her sacred pew.  She went on the other end of the couch. 


Then I sat there to try to bring my blood pressure down. I should have remembered my tapping exercises. Darn!  


However, I was rescued by Amber, who luckily was sitting close enough to see that I might need to be rescued myself.  She was only about 20 rows away from me.


She took the kids and I partook of the sacrament, sang three hymns and listened to 3 lovely talks.


I just relish it when my husband is gone.  Good times.

Weaknesses

This picture has been floating around facebook the last few days and I really like it.  It speaks to me, which is probably an indictment of my personality.


Yes, if things don't go my way, I do tend to get a bit flustered and frantic. I know this can drive my husband crazy, but somehow, he seems to take it with an incredible amount of grace.


I also don't do well when I can't find things. Ask my kids. They know.  


And I strongly prefer not to make u-turns when driving.  This probably goes back to the whole "Plan A" scenario.  I would rather chance it on finding another way than actually backtrack one foot.


These are some of my weaknesses I really need to work on daily.  But now, with this helpful reminder, I think I know what I will do...


Sing the alphabet song!  If you hear me singing the alphabet song, I am trying to get to my happy place. Beware.

A Valentine's Day Surprise

When I woke up this morning, I found a big pan of toffee and two handmade cards on the counter in the kitchen.  Isn't that sweet? 


Rinar, Raef, and Zach woke up in the middle of the night to make the toffee for me. It is really yummy.


Also, Raef made me the sweetest little card and I just love it. On the front there is the word "Mom" with a heart and arrow going through it.

Then when I opened up the card, this is what I saw...





"Your the best mom ever", "I love you mom", "I love your cooking", and "thank you for making school boxes".

He is the sweetest little boy a Mom could ever hope to have.

The Reason They Come Cute

This was my darling daughter a few days ago, with an outfit she kind of put together herself.

Cute, huh?

I have to keep reminding myself of that over and over and over again. 

We are in the throes of potty-training and for some reason she only seems to go number 2 when I put her down for a nap.  So then I don't put her down for a nap and she ends up holding it for more that 24 hours.  She did number 2 this morning.  I thought I was in the clear, because she didn't take a nap yesterday, and hence, didn't go number 2.

Logically, I concluded I was in the clear.  

Au contraire.

Big huge, poopy mess.

I totally lost it, I admit it.

But how can I murder a face like this?

They come cute for a reason.

When You Fail To Check

As a general rule, it is always good to check and see what your kids are wearing to church...

Or you walk into the lobby and finally look and discover this.

This is just a good parenting tip I thought I would pass on to everyone.  You're welcome!

When Panic Sets In

It occasionally happens to me. I get this panicky, I can't breathe feeling. It usually comes on in the afternoon.  It doesn't happen too much, maybe 3 or 4 times a month, but it is a hard feeling to overcome. Today was one of those days.


I had decided this morning that I wanted to get my house cleaned.  No matter what.  But there was a failure to launch.  It might have been the incessant whining, the never-ending demands for my attention, the recalcitrant 2 year-old bladder, the "art project" in the bathroom, or the put-away toys that kept coming back for an encore.


I just became absolutely overwhelmed and the panic started to rise from deep within me.  I couldn't handle it, and I couldn't find my Norwex rag anywhere to get the urine off the carpet. I just couldn't get it going. No matter how much I walked around putting things away or wiping something down, it just didn't seem to be getting any better.


Oh, the agony!


Somehow or another, I was able to turn things around and the house looked tolerably well when Rinar walked through the door.  But sheesh...it was an angst-filled afternoon.


All I can say is, I was able to go on a date with my husband, my kids are asleep, and I can hear my own thoughts.  In other words...


I'M ALIVE!!!

Our Favorite Book

We love to read books. These three are big fans.  Can you guess what one of their favorites books is these days?

Of course, he just couldn't resist a few bites, even for a photo shoot.

Warrior

Just thought I would share this picture.  Raef and Zach dressed Eli up as a warrior.  Ooh...scary!  He has a Lego box on his head, a homemade cardboard shield, and a fun styrofoam jousting weapon.