Happy Leap Day!

So, apparently leap day is officially "misunderstandings with Ellie day." As soon as I finished my last post, Ellie yelled something down the stairs. I couldn't hear her so I went up to see what she was saying. "Mom! You have to try this toilet cereal!"
I repeated her to make sure I heard correctly. "Toilet Cereal?"
"Yep! Flushed down the toilet cereal! It's so good, I can't stop eating it! Come try some!"
I raced up the stairs where she had taken into the bathroom a box of Eggo Waffle Cereal that happened to have the characters from the movie "Flushed Away" on the box. She thought it would be fun to eat it in the bathroom, fortunately straight from the box, not in fact the toilet! But I was very nearly TOTALLY GROSSED OUT!

Poor Darin!

All morning long, Ellie has been asking me questions about her uncle. Our conversation has gone something like this:
Ellie: "Mom, does Darin work?"
Me: "Yes."
Ellie: "Then how come he doesn't have any money?"
Me: "He has money."

15 minutes later:
Ellie: "Mom, how much money does Darin have?"
Me: "I don't know, why?"
Ellie: "Why can't he buy things?"
Me: "He can buy things."


15 minutes later:
Ellie: "Mom, it's sad that Darin doesn't work very much."
Me: "Ellie, Darin does work."
Ellie: "But not enough to have stuff, huh?"

FINALLY I clued in. Last night we had literacy night at the elementary school. I was in charge of the service project where we collected school supplies for a low-income school in Salt Lake. It just so happens, that Haylee teaches at said school, so when the packets were all put together we dropped them off at their apartment. Haylee wasn't home at the time, so Darin helped us carry all of the school packets inside.
When I was organizing and shopping for all of the supplies, I had told Ellie repeatedly that none of it was for us--that it was all for people who didn't have enough money to buy it themselves. When we gave it to Darin, Ellie assumed it was all for him, and has been worried about him ever since.
I explained where everything was actually going, and Ellie seemed very relieved that her uncle was not so poor that he couldn't even buy himself crayons!

Yep, I'm a dork!

For whatever reason, my kids are better behaved when we sit on one of the first few pews in Sacrament Meeting. This week, we happened to be on the very front row. Not my personal favorite... but the kids really were pretty well behaved for the most part. I was a little hesitant to sit up front, because the last time we did, Greg was home with a sick Sarah, and I had to leave Sacrament Meeting twice. That means four trips up and down the aisle, and I really am not narcissistic at all, and have no desire to parade myself around for everyone to see. Well, I figured that today shouldn't be too bad since Greg was there to help, and we did pretty well, until the closing prayer. Rachel decided that she needed to climb under the bench, and as I reached down to pick her up, I scratched her from elbow to shoulder. She let out a shriek of bloody murder just as they were getting ready to pray. We were sitting next to the funeral door, so I thought I would just slip out there during the prayer. Unfortunately, there obviously hasn't been a funeral in our building since all of the snow storms, and as I pushed the crash bar to go outside, I hit a snow bank, and tumbled out into the snow. Yes, it was entirely unladylike, and embarrassing in the extreme. I had several people ask me if I was injured, and I had to respond, "Only my pride." And others told me that if they were in my shoes they would have just walked home and called it a day.--I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment, 'cause I came back for Gospel Doctrine :)

Thanks to whoever invented Girls' Night Out!

The rest of the day yesterday followed suit with my morning. After getting Sarah tucked back in bed, I climbed into the shower, only to have Ellie burst into the bathroom just as I put the shampoo in my hair to tell me "Sarah just threw up all over the carpet!" Not only was she throwing up, but my poor, newly potty-trained daughter had sickness coming out both ends every time she threw up. Yep, all I can say is 'thank heaven for pull-ups' because we used our fair share yesterday! I think we had almost ten trips to the toilet (or bowl) over the course of the day, and we made it just over half the time.
So, when Greg got home at six, with Sarah still feeling under-the-weather, but with nothing left in her system, I headed out with some friends for a night on the town. We went to Rumbi Island Grill for dinner, then watched 27 Dresses. It was a MUCH needed break, and quite likely prevented a break-down!
During the night Sarah developed a fever and was up for almost two hours, which naturally woke up Rachel, and so I was up from about 1:00-4:00 this morning, but I am happy to report that Sarah's fever is way down, Rachel just went down for a nap, and we have gone 12 hours puke free!
So, despite the looming pile of puky laundry that accumulated faster than my washing machine could take it all in, I'd have to say that, thanks to my Girls' Night Out, I am one happy camper today!

Be careful what you wish for!

This morning I tweaked my back, and so I took some Motrin, put Rachel down for a nap, climbed in bed, and waited for the drugs to kick in. While I was sitting there, I decided to catch up on everyone else's blogs, and thought blandly that I had little to write about. Just then, Sarah climbed up on my bed to snuggle, and as we sat side by side she said, "I nees towp." Obviously, I couldn't understand her, so I asked her to repeat what she had said. She got to "I" and I realized that actions definitely speak louder than words, and she had said, "I need to throw up." Well, it's amazing how little I suddenly cared about my sore back. I grabbed her, jumped off the bed, and raced for the bathroom. Sadly, in the attempt, I tripped on the sheets and landed splayed on my stomach on the floor. Fortunately, Sarah remained in my arms, and I was able to cushion her fall, but the process of falling made quite a mess considering what she was doing at the time. YUCK! So, right now I am sitting on the toilet, supervising my less than healthy daughter in the tub, and thinking that perhaps having nothing to blog about isn't such a bad thing. But now that she is cleaned up, I think I will go take a shower, too--because despite my quick efforts to clean myself up, I am not feeling "fresh as a daisy" at the moment.

Some Like it Hot!

Tonight for dinner I made chicken quesadillas and as part of the optional condiments, I provided a bunch of pickled jalapenos. Sarah hates to be left out from any food on the table (for example the other night I made guacamole, and even though Sarah isn't an avocado fan she specifically requested some of the "yucky green stuff" on her plate), so it didn't come as much of a surprise when she said she wanted to try some of the jalapenos. We told her to start by just licking the outside, thinking it would be spicy enough to dissuade her from them, but she just smiled and said, "yum, spicy!" Then she continued taking small bites of the jalapeno through the meal.
You may wonder that a two-year-old would be willing to try, and then enjoy such spicy food, but I fear she inherited that trait from me. When I was just tiny my parents went out for Mexican food with my grandparents and my grandpa spoon fed me salsa from the table, and apparently I was a fan even in my youth. So here's to you, Sarah! Enjoy the spicy side of life!

What a Nightmare!

I don't know if anyone else out there suffers from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), but I know my mood is certainly affected by the weather. I don't get overly depressed, but when the weather is gray I am definitely more irritable than usual (my poor children get the brunt of that) and I have a distinct apathy for cleaning. I do the very least I can get away with--if there is one pair of clean underwear in the drawer I can justify putting laundry off for one more day. But, with the sunshine comes a renewed interest in the affairs of my life. I am much more pleasant to be around, and you would think I was "nesting" from the way I fly around my house in a cleaning frenzy (but trust me, I am NOT nesting). So with the much improved weather, I have been washing walls, cleaning out drawers, and scrubbing toilets like they have never been scrubbed before.
Such was my sheer horror when I had a dream last night that my aunt came over to see my house and it was a total disaster. I couldn't believe how messy it was. I decided to at least open my bedroom door so she could see that my room was spotless, but alas, when I opened the door, not only was it in a state of national disaster, it smelled to high-heaven of morning breath (I am guessing my nose must have been a little too close to Becca's mouth at that point since she had climbed into our bed)
Well, as truly terrifying as that dream was, I have to admit that waking up to find that my house is (for the most part) clean and tidy was quite the relief--even if I am well aware that my children have the potential to turn my nightmare into a reality if I'm not careful!

Even in winter the fish are hungry

I decided that Heather needed a better picture of her man in action up on this page. I guess this further proves that I hold the weather in my pocket as this weekend has seen some of the most beautiful days we have had in months. I only caught three on our little excursion (2 rainbow, 1 brown) but they were all about the same size - 18-20 inches and 2-3 pounds. Not bad for the dead of winter!

Happy, happy birthday, Ellie, dear!

Yesterday was an absolutely WONDERFUL day. Since it was Ellie's birthday, I had my mom watch Sarah and Rachel while Ellie and I went on a birthday excursion. We went downtown to the Gateway and went to Build-a-Bear, went shopping at Gymboree, got a hot chocolate from Starbucks, and then visited my dad at work. We had beautiful weather, albeit a little chilly, and I don't remember the last time Ellie and I had some one on one time. It made me feel like a much more competent mother, too. I couldn't believe how easy parenting was with only one child! And I had Ellie! WOW! She didn't have to yell at me to get my attention away from her other three siblings, I didn't have to change any dirty diapers to leave her unattended, and I didn't have to ask her twice to do anything, which made me think maybe the fact that I have four kids instead of just one or two that accounts for the fact that my house is never quite clean, the laundry never quite done and my body never quite as energized as it used to be. Either way, I am grateful for all four of my girls, and I wouldn't trade them for anything, but let's just say yesterday was a most refreshing day.

That's Crazy! So crazy...it just might work.

I am not usually one for home remedies. Give me the drugs and put me to bed. But the last couple of nights I have been desperate enough to try anything. All of the kids have been experiencing a yucky night-cough this last week, and I got it in turn on Saturday. Well, since I am still nursing and my kids are still small, I have a hard time taking or giving much medicine. I was telling my woes to a friend of mine, and she asked me if I had tried putting VICK'S vapor rub on my kid's feet at night. I told her that I had put some on their chest and it helped a little, but not that much. She told me to try it on their feet, that it was supposed to work much better, and since I couldn't think of an argument against it, I gave it a very skeptical try.
I was amazed. After putting it on the kiddos, I only heard two coughs in three hours. Then, when I came down with the cough, I put it on my own feet, along with a pair of socks, and I immediately stopped coughing. I couldn't believe it. It doesn't seem to work as well during the day, but it provided my kids and myself with a good-night's sleep every time I used it.
I have NO idea why it works, but I thought I would pass the word along for anyone suffering from the same malady.
If nothing else, it provides a lovely foot rub for your kids!

Does Phil feel lucky? aka Happy Groundhog Day

So I am sitting on the couch at the moment I am watching Groundhog day. I love this movie and could watch it over and over again, and just laughed at the quote "this is one time that television has failed to capture the excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather." But honestly, I do have to question the fact that we have a holiday celebrating a groundhog. Kind of funny.

But, since we do get to celebrate the squirrel, according to 'groundhog.com' :

On Gobbler's Knob on this fabulous Groundhog Day, February 2nd, 2008
Punxsutawney Phil, the Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators,
after casting a weathered eye toward thousands of his faithful followers,
Phil consulted with President Cooper and directed him to the appropriate scroll, which proclaimed:

"As I look around me, a bright sky I see, and a shadow beside me.
Six more weeks of winter it will be!"

In addition to celebrating six more weeks of winter, we did have one cute incident that was too funny to pass up on the blog. As we drove into the Costco parking lot, Sarah exclaimed with glee, "Costco! I love that place!" Then she looked across the parking lot, saw Applebees and said, "Mmm! Applebee's! I like that place, too!"

Greg's response was, "Sarah, they don't come much cuter than you!"

Then Ellie piped up, "Except for me! I come even cuter!"

Yep, they are all pretty fun to be around.

Oh what a beautiful morning!

Sarah was the first one awake this morning. I have not let her have a pacifier at night because she is getting way too big, and she has gone down just fine without it, but every morning at about 6:00 she wakes up in the worst mood, complaining that she NEEDS A BINKY!! Fortunately, (for her mood) it had snowed about six inches through the night, and the plows were coming by just as she entered my room. Well, there isn't a little boy around who gets as excited about trucks as Sarah does. She heard it coming up the street and started jumping on my bed, shouting "The big snow truck is here!" over and over again (a quick aside, at the exact moment I typed "jumping on my bed" Ellie hopped up on my bed [where I am using the laptop] and started bouncing away).
Well, that was my cue to get up, so I climbed out of bed, showed Sarah the snowplow, and got ready for the morning.
Then, I had to get Becca up a little bit early because today was "Dad's and Donuts" at the elementary school, and Ben kindly agreed to take her. Sarah helped me wake up Becca by telling her that if she hurried, maybe she could see the "snow truck" again! (OK, the snow plow is driving in my cul-de-sac even as I type--I think I had better not write anything negative since I am apparently using a magic keyboard and everything I write occurs instantly)

As I was doing Becca's hair, Rachel woke up, so I sent Sarah in to entertain her while I finished up with Becca. Well, Rachel quieted right down, and I was able to finish Becca's hair, but when I went in to pick the baby up a couple minutes later this is what I found:

Underneath all of the blankets I discovered an entire basket-worth of baby toys. I laughed pretty hard at the amount of work Sarah done to entertain her little sister.


When Ben arrived to pick up Becca I asked him if he would be willing to help me open the garage and also see if he could get the snowblower working. Together, with MUCH effort, we were able to get the garage up, so I won't be stranded today :) but there was a loose bolt on the snowblower that couldn't be easily tightened, so I ended up shoveling the driveway by hand. The last time I tried to use the snowblower I was unsuccessful, and for some reason, knowing that Ben had trouble with the exact same things has made me feel much less incompetent and has brightened my day--even if I do have a blister from shoveling snow!


A quick note: This morning I only shoveled about half of the driveway, and I just put Rachel down for a nap and went outside to shovel the other half, and someone had already done it :) I have such great neighbors!!