Let the sugar high begin!

We talked about posting pictures of our kids in their costumes on Halloween and here are mine and me too. Avery, Jess and I were pirates and Adyson was our parrot. Happy Halloween!!

Something worth reading

I found two great articles this morning from Meredian Magazine and I wanted to share them. The first one is about Mother's and praying-It's a great article, and she's just written book for Mother's that I can't wait to get and read. I love this article! It sheds new light on one of Alma's prayers. AND it also makes me feel better knowing I'm not the only Mom who often times says prayers standing on my feet or while I'm tending to a sick child or whatever it is I'm doing to take care of the kids.
http://www.meridianmagazine.com/familyconnections/071026heart.html

The second one I liked, because it's talking about food... read the whole thing and you'll see why. Plus it has a great idea on what to do w/ all the Halloween candy. One family allows the children to select 10 favorite pieces of candy and the rest go outside by the front door on Nov 1st for the Nov Witch who the takes the candy and leaves a gift in it's place-love that idea! The article talks about choosen healthy food and how "comfort food" doesn't really give us much comfort.
http://www.meridianmagazine.com/weightloss/071029keepers.html

Fall Weather

It may just be me, but I am finding that I have a lot more energy in this cool weather. Tye and I have been outside the last couple of days and it has been great! Yesterday, I hosted a mommy and me, and we had a hay ride and it was so much fun. I knew I never really liked the heat, but I am beginning to think that was some of my problem...it just drained me of all sorts of energy! I hope that my energy level continues and I am able to do lots of fun stuff with Tye and Kenadie this holiday season...then I will think about moving to the North Pole during the summers!

Ozie boo

Thanks to Grandma I have been driven into insanity by Ozie boo It's a cartoon that my mom bought for Avery when we took our road trip to Utah. Lucky for me it's been sitting on a shelf since we got home, but this last week Avery has decided it's her favorite show. Listen to the theme song over and over again a hundred times and you'll join me in the crazy house I will be admitted to very soon.

Here is a little taste. WARNING:your kids will want to watch it over and over again.

Why is it...

Why is it that toddlers love to try to climb into all baby toys. Every swing, chair, and bouncer.

Ever have One of Those DAYS!?!

I don't know what the deal is, but I swear my kids are always sick. Bryce has had every kind of virus in his 3 short years. Poor kid! Virus's with the name: Herpangina (herp an gina) that's right! Hard not to laugh at the one. This time, poor little Bryleigh has it. It's horrible. It's part of the hand, mouth and foot virus. Herpangina is a mouth virus-think of ulcers on the back of your throat and a 103 temperature. That's what my poor little angel has. There's nothing they can do, but let it run it's course. Yes, I'm feeling very helpless. On top of that, Bryce was trying to get me his cup and some how feel flat on his face on our tile. Both of my kids are scream crying-Bryleigh's not feeling well and hurting. Bryce has a huge fat lip with blood everywhere and his nose is a little puffy. I don't know how he didn't bit all the way through his lip. THank goodness for Mr Freeze Pops-I gave him a couple of those and it helped slow the bleeding. Yeah, so I'm having one of those days. I'm in no way complaining, I'm just saying, it's one of those days. I've got blood on my white shirt, my house is a mess, my little girl is sick and Bryce is hurting. Oh, and now I just got barfed on. I need a clone to help me! Seriously, all I can do is laugh... it's better than sitting here and crying. Although throwing a tempertatrum sounds kinda fun right now. lol

Picky eaters...helpful website

I came across a website today that talks about how to help children who are picky eaters. It was written by a mom whose son has high-functioning autism, however, I think that it would be helpful for any child who is a picky eater. The address is:
http://asdrendrewolf.org/apovonautism/id4.html

Halloween costumes?

Hey! I thought it might be fun if we shared what our kids were going to be for Halloween. Or maybe if any of us haven't decided yet, then maybe one of us might have some cute ideas to share. As far as my kids go, Natalie is going to be an Egyptian princess. She and her best friend are on a kick about Egyptian stuff lately. Lily is either going to be a cheerleader or a fairy, but we haven't really decided yet for sure. She really wanted to be a ghost, but I couldn't think of a way to do that without covering her face, which isn't allowed at the trunk or treat at church. We already have the cheerleader costume from when Natalie wore it a few years back, so I guess that can be our fall back if she doesn't find something else she likes. How about your kids???

Keep 'em comin'!!

We have heard from a few of us...what are the rest of you looking forward to for the holidays???

more Holidays

To go off of Alisa's holiday post suggestion-I LOVE the holidays!! I love the sights, smells, the whole feeling that comes w/ this time of year. I love the colder weather, the apple cider and hot cocoa. Make fun of me all you want, but I LOVE Christmas music and will play it nonstop from the day after Thanksgiving till Christmas day. Bryan loves to give me a hard time about it too. It's so much fun watching the old school holiday specials w/ Bryce and making cookies or doing crafts. We love giving-whether it be via ding dong ditching or going out and taking goodies to friends and family. I love driving around and looking at the christmas lights. Bryce LOVES it too. I love decorating for the holidays. I love seeing the holidays and especially Christmas through the eyes of my children. This time of year is my favorite. It's a time to following family traditions and making new ones. What a great idea to post Alisa! I can't wait to read what other people write.

The worst invention ever for kids

Avery has recently been terrified of public restrooms. I have spent ten minutes trying to get her to use one just to resort to forcing her to sit while crying to prevent an accident. All of this is due to self flushing toilets. One time a sensor was triggered and flushed while Avery was sitting on the potty. She jump three feet in the air and off the toilet as fast as she could. Since then all public restrooms are scary. What a horrible idea it was to start installing self flushing toilets in public restrooms where poor little ones are using them.

Call me Ebenezer scrooge...

In response to Alisa's post about being excited for the holidays, you can all call me Ebenezer Scrooge. I am just not excited this year. Maybe it's the tighter budget, or my anti-social rut I am in. I usually have Halloween/fall decorations out by now and I just don't feel like pulling them out. I have even been thinking about forgoing putting up the Christmas tree, which I totally should do for my kids no matter what I am feeling.

Some of the things Alisa said are about the only things that spark my interest this year and that's going and doing all the fun family holiday celebrations. The Zilker Christmas trail of lights, the Austin symphony's sing a long, drinking hot cocoa as much as possible for the two cold months here in Texas, and I can't wait to make a gingerbread house with Avery.

So, I guess I am excited about a few things this Holiday season.

Alisa's Holidays...

I am looking forward to this holiday because this will be the first one that I am not working (besides the one when Tye was 2 weeks old and I was recovering from a c-section). I cannot wait to take Tye and Kenadie to look at Christmas lights as many times as we want. I cannot wait to go shopping for presents. Michael has always loved the holidays, so we will probably decorate, and that will be tons of fun! I want to try to bake some cookies to deliver. I am super excited about being Santa! I cannot wait for cooler weather...the nights have been so nice the last couple of days. I cannot wait to (hopefully) have a holiday party! I am getting so excited just thinking about the holidays! They have such a different meaning since I am not in retail this year! My goal is to have all of my shopping done before Thanksgiving...think I can do it??

What's everyone up to?

I am not sure if everyone is scared, or maybe everyone quit looking at the blog for a while, but, let's get it going again. How about everyone post what they are looking forward to the most about the holidays...

((((SIGH))))

A couple days ago, Payson got a note home from school saying he got into trouble at music class and to contact the teacher for further discussion. I always talk to my kids first to see if I can find out from their perspective what happened. My kids (so far) have been pretty straightforward in admitting to what they had done. However this time when I questioned Payson he responded angrily, "I DON'T KNOW WHY THAT TEACHER GOT ME IN TROUBLE! SHE'S A LIAR!" I was a little taken aback and thinking the teacher was probably more than justified in whatever consequence she inflicted on him. Good thing I decided to try to expand the details!

MOM: Payson! Do we talk about our school teachers like that?

PAYSON: Well she doesn't tell the truth!

MOM: What do you mean?

PAYSON: She says her name is Mrs. King!

BAYLEY: (the ever-helpful eavesdropper from the sideline) The school's music teacher IS Mrs. King!!!

PAYSON: Well I laughed and told her she was LYYYY-ING when she said her name is Mrs. King!

MOM: Why would you do that?!?!

PAYSON: (big deep breath) BECAUSE!!!! She is a GIRL, Mom! Her name is MRS. QUEEN!

The NEW Survivor Series!

THE NEXT "SURVIVOR" SERIES

Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks.

Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes.

There is no fast food.

Each man must take care of his 3 kids; keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework, complete science projects, cook, do laundry, and pay a list of 'pretend' bills with not enough money.

In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.

Each man must remember the
birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on time.

Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment, a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment . He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care (weekend, evening, on a holiday or right when they're about to leave for vacation).
He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.

Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside and keeping it presentable at all times.

The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.

Each father will be
required to know all of the words to every stupid song that comes on TV and the name of each and every character on cartoons.

Each man will have to make an Indian hut model with six toothpicks, a tortilla and one marker; and get a 4 year old to eat a serving of peas.

Each man must adorn himself with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep their nails polished and eyebrows groomed. The men must try to get through each day without snot, spit-up or barf on their clothing.

During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, and have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once c omplain or slow down from other duties. They must try to explain what a tampon is for when the 6-yr old boy finds it in the purse.

They must attend weekly school meetings, church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.

He will need to read a book to the children each night without falling asleep, and then feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair each morning by 7:00 . They must leave the home with no food on their face or clothes.

A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: each child's birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size and doctor's name. Also the child's weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.

They must clean up after their sick children at 2:00 a.m. and then spend the remainder of the day tending to that child and waiting on them hand and foot until they are
better.

They must have a loving, age appropriate reply to, 'You're not the boss of me'.

The kids vote them off the island based on performance. The last man wins only if...he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice.

Wireless Amber Alert.

I saw a segment on one of the morning shows the other day about the new wireless amber alert. Which I think is great. They only send you amber alerts from your area...What a benefit this will be to all of us and our children. Unless you are always watching the news or driving along the freeway, this could be the only way you are informed. I am signing up, are you going to do your part too? And please spread the word about it

If you don't want to sign up online, just call you cell phone provider. They can fix it all up for you.

picky eaters

I'm in need of some help in dealing with a "picky eater". I don't know where this pickiness came from, and I don't know how to help Bryce over come it. I know all little kids go through stages of being picky eaters, not wanting to eat and then they want to eat everything. We're in the stage of being a picky eater. Is this something he'll out grow? He doesn't want to eat anything and I'll make things I know he likes. Too, he all the sudden doesn't want to eat when we eat. We explain to him it's meal time and time to eat and that he won't be able to eat until the next meal time. (of course he'll come to crying that he's hungry and I'll get him something little so that he will eat the next and I"ll explain that whole meal time again). We've even tried bribing him with desert if he'll eat. If he doesn't eat at meal time, he'll also come crying to me that his tummy hurts-which means he's hungry. I don't know how all the sudden we got out of the "eating normal" phase and into this. I don't know what to do and I'm hoping that some of you moms have dwelt with this and can help me.

reality

Okay so i have a busy life, as do most of us moms. What you are about to hear is not by any means bragging about what i do, but instead intended to prove a point about insecurities. I am a mom of two beautiful but very "spirited" children. I am going to school to be a nurse and i work graveyard shifts at the hospital. graveyards meaning 11pm to 7am. it takes me almost an hour to get home so my kiddies are awake when i get there. i work graves so that i can be with my kids during the day. this also means i get 3-4 hours of sleep a day, and not even in one segment, usually 2 two hour segments. well the craziness in my head volunteered me to also watch two little boys during the day. i have been referred to as super woman, but feel more like "superly exhausted woman who just wants a manicure and pedicure." okay so me, "super woman" walks into my physiology lab class. and let me just say that my size 3 jeans have been long put away for what i would consider "mom jeans" (although sara would get mad at me if she heard me say that)after 2 children and seven years of marriage. that "hot, sexy momma" is now "one chubby mother", although my lovely husband begs to differ (that is why i love him so!). okay, so i walk into class thinking i have things under control. and then it happens. this sexy, size 0 readhead (with perfectly manicured hair) walks in, in a super stylish long gray sweater, and red belt around it, sinched to the last whole of course, super cute jeans and i am sure expensive stiletos. that is when super woman flies out the door and i am left with the chubby, scrub wearing, hair in a ponytail mess of a person. i shrink down so that i am not noticed, but no worries everyone is focused on barbie's best friend. why after years of hard work does it only take seconds to destroy your sense of being? and then i remember what my sweet little five year old son told me as i walked out of the door that evening "mommy you are the most beautiful girl in the world" and i try to remember what and who is important in my life and who i am doing all of this for and that the extra 50 lbs (yes 50 sara!) that i have gained means that i have two beautiful children and a hot husband who loves me. Sara and i were out and about with our kids last week and two totally trendy superficial girls get on the elevator with us. our kids are covered in food and belle didn't even have pants on because she peed in them at lunch! they get off of the elevator and sara and i just look at eachother and laugh. we decided that there are definitely days that we wish we looked like that but we would never trade our families in for it, and plus it seemed like too much work! anyway point is, don't let any super cute trendy skinny girl ruin your day and remember how much we are loved by our kids and husbands!

Making a difference in a teenagers life.

Recently, well this weekend, my niece Samantha has come to live with us five days a week. Spending the weekends with my brother, her dad. Her life has been full of hardship and trying to explain her circumstances would be a lengthy and exhausting task. But I can give you some background to give you an idea. She will be 16 in January, divorced parents-fighting all the time, father remarried, not a lot of money(my brother is moving in with my parents), oldest girl who's been in charge of younger siblings, and has little to no supervision-she does what she wants.

I am telling all of you about her because I really want this time she spends with us to be an opportunity. An opportunity for us to be good examples, to show her love and how families should be, give her hope, stability, and hopefully to let her turn a corner into some new perspective, to be happier. I can't help but get a little emotional talking about her. I love her so much and have worried about her often the past few years, almost as if she were my daughter. I know what it's like to be a wayward child, making some stupid choices that have the capability of changing the whole outcome of your adult life.

I want her to enjoy life but not in the wrong way. I almost want her to be able to look back and think that the time she spent in our home was life changing for the better. That we maybe helped her get back on track.

Making a difference seems so difficult and like it can't be accomplished. It almost makes you feel you can't make a difference. I have felt this way for years because I always felt I never had enough time I spent with her to make the difference. But I have more hope than is probably realistic.

I have already thought of a few ways to accomplish my task at hand, family home evenings, much more devoted prayer, and simply love. Tell me, do any of you have ideas or advice when it comes to teenagers that need a little course correction? I could really use hearing your advice and thoughts.

Mommitis

I found this cute post off the homemaking journey blog. It was too cute not to post there:

Mommitis:
The symptoms are numberless and include the following. In rare and sometimes extreme cases it can include even more symptoms than these. Your child does not have to have all of these symptoms to have it- one symptom is enough for a diagnosis of Mommitis:

Hugging on leg
Clinging to various parts of your body
Screaming your name loudly
Pitching fits
A terrified look in the eye
Fear of strangers, friends, family--anyone but you
Constant calling of your name (or "mum-mum-mum" as baby's say it)
Tackling, pinching, or pulling off another child who comes near you
Looks of longing to be held
Following you around the house like a puppy dog (many times crying while doing it)
Banging on, hitting, or attempting to open the bathroom door when you are occupying it.
Creeping into your bedroom late at night (many times shoving Daddy out of the way)
Crying your name when putting your child to bed
Sniffles
Whimpers
Owies - screaming your name loudly the moment they get them


Some extreme symptoms include:

The Koala bear hold to a limb of your body. Everytime the child is pried off its like sticky tape- they are right back where they began. This symptom can be dangerous as it can cause loss of blood circulation in your limb causing numbness and tingling to occur.

The Chronic Nurser- this is a nursing baby that must nurse all day. She may as well be an appendage- this is a severe case of mommitis.


"Mum-mum-mum! I want you MOMMY!!!!!

That is Mommitis....


The cure:

There is only one known cure for Mommitis and that is LOVE. Lots and lots of Love from MOM.

Cedar Park Quintuplets

I heard about the family in the Cedar Park ward that had quintuplets recently. I found their blog, so if any of you want to see them, it is...Wilkinsonquints.org. She is only 5'2"...and her largest baby was over 5lbs!!! She holds the record for having the largest total weight for all surviving quints. They are precious, but I cannot even imagine!

Phone calls...

Is it bad that I would rather post on here than pick up the phone??? I just made a long comment to Amy's sensitive situation, instead of calling. I received 2 phone calls yesterday and have yet to return them. I hope no one takes offense to it, ever. Sometimes I just can't talk on the phone!! Does anyone else ever get like that?

Feeling sad...

Maybe this is too personal to share here, but I just had to get it out. Coult and I have been trying to get pregnant for over a year now. It's not that I didn't expect it to take awhile because I had trouble getting pregnant with my first child. But, I guess I thought this time might be different because of the circumstances. After Lily was born and had so many health issues, we just weren't ready to have another baby. Well, a year and a half ago we just kept getting this nagging feeling that our family wasn't finished. We were terrified to get pregnant though because of what has happened with Lily. There is a 25% chance that our next baby would inherit the same genetic condition as Lily. We have been fortunate that Lily has a milder case of her syndrome, but we have been advised by her genetics counselor and doctor that if we have another baby and IF that baby has the same thing, there is no guarantee what it won't have a more severe case. There is a chance of respiratory and renal problems at birth. So far, all of Lily's renal function tests have been normal and her breathing problems at birth weren't severe and they cleared up after a few days. To make things scarier, Lily also has an autism spectrum disorder and having one child on the spectrum increases the odds of having another one with autism. Now it's not that I think Lily's life is bad or anything. Looking back, she has made tremendous progress, but it was very hard mentally for Coult and I to think about going through all that again. So, after trying to ignore these promptings for a few months, we decided to fast and pray about whether we should have another baby. During this time, we also decided to think about adopting. Well, our answer was to pursue both avenues. So, when I stopped b/c, we felt like we were jumping off a cliff and were praying that our parachutes would open. For some reason, I thought that since we were able to let go and leave this in the Lord's hands, that he would send us a baby pretty quickly. But, that hasn't happened. I'm afraid to pray for a baby because I know the Lord knows what I can handle. I don't want to pray for something that isn't in our family's best interests. I keep adding "Thy will be done" to my prayers about it. I took my first round of clomid this past month and this morning I found out that I'm not pregnant--again. It's really starting to get to me. It seems like every woman in our ward is pregnant, but whatever's in the water isn't working for me. I get so jealous of the women who have babies every two years like clock-work. I know I've been down this road in the past and that should make it easier, but it just doesn't. I know that someone else in our group (Allison I think?) has dealt with infertility. It's just one of those things that makes you feel like a failure as a woman. I know I should be grateful for the two beautiful girls that I already have, but I keep wondering why, if we had the promptings about having another baby, why hasn't it happened? Is it like Abraham and Isaac? Is the fact that we were willing to have another one despite our fears supposed to be the test but maybe we aren't supposed to have another baby at all? I don't mind adopting, and we haven't given up on that yet, but I'm really sad too about not being able to get pregnant. If you got this far, thanks for reading. I didn't mean to blabber on, but as Alisa can attest, I can get kinda wordy sometimes. Thanks for listening.

I did it! I did it! I did it!!!!

Ok, so I feel a little guilty about posting this after reading Allison's link, but I am sure I have many of those times coming my way!

I went to Chic-fil-A all by myself!! Tye wanted to run into the parking lot as soon as we got out of the car, (12:30...not exactly a slow time!), but I was able to get down at his level and tell him how important it was that I needed him to stay close to me and hold my hand. I also said I needed him to help with Kenadie. He ACTUALLY stayed next to me all the way up there (and we were parked a ways away). He ate, played, and then was ready to go home. I know that all my outings will be like that, but like I told another mother there, that if it had gone bad, I would not have tried again for a long, long time!