Painting problems

I just visited a friend's blog and discovered that her sunbeam stopped the primary program practice when they thought her red-painted toes were bleeding. Reading it reminded me of our own toenail tales. A few days ago, my aunt Kathy stopped by to see if she could spend the afternoon with Sarah. Among their adventures, Kathy painted Sarah's toenails. Now, whenever Sarah sees her toes, she happily reminds us of the fact that "Kaffy painted my toenails!" This morning, however, she noticed that the paint had started to chip a little bit, so, she insisted that we "fix" it. Ellie assured me that she could do the best job of it, and proceeded to paint Sarah's and her own toes. The result was something similar to the bloody toes mentioned in Katie's blog, so I thought I thought it would be wise to show Ellie's painting prowess. (and since our Primary Practice is not for a couple of weeks, I will be sure to either make sure they are wearing tights or remove the paint before then)
When Katie mentioned her concern that the fingernail polish might have been spilled elsewhere, I was reminded of another incident involving Ellie's antics. Shortly after Sarah was born, a neighbor offered to take Ellie for a couple of hours. I told her that Ellie was a bit of a handful, but she insisted that it would be fine. When I went to pick her up, she apologized to me because Ellie's shoes were covered with fingernail polish, and she was at the time in the bathroom trying to clean up a tube of toothpaste that had been artfully displayed on the mirror. She said that everything had been fine until she got a phone call, and in the two minutes she was away, Ellie had reigned in terror. Fortunately, the fingernail polish didn't get anywhere other than Ellie's clothes/shoes, and the toothpaste wasn't too difficult to remove, but I felt bad. I was glad that I had at least forewarned her, but I suppose that even if you warn someone a tornado is coming, it doesn't mean there won't be damage!

Heber Creeper

Choo Choo the Big Train is coming down the track! One of Greg's co-workers, Bill, volunteers his weekends at the Heber Valley Railroad, so he offered to get us some discount tickets. So...this Saturday we took the kids up to take a ride on the train. Bill was the conductor and gave us all the good intel on where to sit and let us watch as he uncoupled the engine from the train and then rode it back Polar Express style. The weather was quite chilly, so we ordered hot chocolate, and on the way home we hit a blizzard. Yes, a full on snow storm in September. I will admit I wasn't too thrilled with the prospect, but the girls thought that we must have been on the actual Polar Express, knew we were now at the North Pole, and kept a close watch for Santa (sadly we never found him). The next day Sarah asked if we could go back to the train after church, so I think that we can consider the outing a success.

Remember The Alamo!

Well this is the result of a last minute business trip to Lackland Air Force Base. A couple of days in San Antonio, which of course means a trip to the Alamo. Like many people, I was surprised how small it is, though there is quite a lot around it.

Barbie at the Zoo!

Wow, combine a Barbie Princess Island Preview, real live Barbie, and a trip to the zoo and you have little girl heaven; which is where we were this morning. Barbie came to Hogle Zoo to premiere her new movie "Barbie as the Island Princess." We arrived early to meet Barbie and get the girls' picture taken. They couldn't stop staring at her--they were dizzy with anticipation when they heard she arrived and kept peeking around the group in front of us to get a better glimpse. (There was only one group in front of us thanks to Ted arriving right as the zoo opened and saving us a place in line). Mattel did its job very well by displaying all of the new Island Princess paraphernalia at the entrance to the pavilion with promise of a drawing at the end of the movie.
The girls all received a free gift bag which had a Barbie CD, bracelet, necklace, crown and a little Barbie compact that contained candy blush eyeshadow and applicator (essentially a FunDip in a compact with a mirror).
All in all it was a great day for the girls who can't wait for the movie to come out on Tuesday!

PS The reason we haven't had any new pictures lately is that our camera was broken, but we have it back from Canon now, so we should be able to keep everyone in the loop again!

Soccer Time!

We just got back from a rather long evening of "Fall Family Festival" at the elementary school and Becca's soccer game. When we were at the field, we ran into some of the family--namely the Wellings, and discovered that Becca & Josh are both green #3 in the boys/girls leagues and thought we'd better stick some pictures up!

Timpanogos

I just thought I would throw a picture of our hike up Timpanogos. Not much scenery in this shot but the girls were all good hikers. Becca and Ellie hiked all the way up, through the cave and back down. Sarah was able to hike up a little more than half-way, made it through the cave with a little extra hand holding, but then decided she needed to be carried back down the mountain - she was so tired that she fell asleep in the backpack.

Back to School

Yesterday was Becca's first day of school. We got up early and drove down to the school, and I walked her to her class. When she arrived, she hastily shooed me out the door. On my way out, I told her I would pick her up after school and watched from the sidelines as she found her seat. After school, I met her by the door and we started walking to the car. As we passed the school bus Becca asked if she could ride the bus home instead. I told her that all of her friends would be driving home with their moms, but she said that didn't matter, so I told her I would meet her by the bus stop. When I arrived at the bus stop, Becca had already made her way off the bus and started down the hill. I asked if she wanted a ride, and she told me to go ahead--she could walk just fine. She was just walking in the middle of a big group of kids she didn't know and was as happy as could be.
When we got home, she told me all about her day, and (sadly) she loves her teacher. (The sadness is because she is getting a new teacher next week & all her friends are in her current class) but I am sure that her new teacher will be great, too!
We are now off to Becca's first soccer game, so thus begins our new school year!

Red is Dead

For anyone who has read my description page, you will notice that I mentioned having four little girls and a very old betta. Well, we just said goodbye to one member of the family, much to Rebecca's sadness. Becca decided that instead of flushing Red down the toilet, it would be more appropriate to bury him. So, she found a nice shady spot under her favorite apple tree and we put him to rest. Then, when the grass was replanted, Sarah dumped a bunch of his brightly colored gravel on top of the grave, which Becca thought was most appropriate, so we just left it all there.
Becca was pretty emotional all afternoon until we went up to her Aunt Deanne's house and saw a full blown fish tank. She now has an idea for what she will ask Santa for, but I'm fairly certain it just won't fit in Santa's pack. :)

Haylee's Wedding Cake

Publish Post
Here is the first and only picture I have of the cake I made for Haylee's wedding. It is a little blurry, but at least it is something! --thank you Haylee for the pic!

Harry Potter Party

There will be details coming (I think the party could stand to have several blog entries!), but the short-and-skinny details are we decided to throw a party to coincide with two important events on Friday, July 20th 2007: The release of the new and final Harry Potter book and Bountiful City Fireworks for the 24th of July celebration. We invited Greg's family over for dinner and a magical night at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am pleased to report that the kids almost had as much fun as the adults. Everything from potions class to the treat trolley on the Hogwart's Express.

Loads of pictures (and a slide show) are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/goyuix/HarryPotterParty
(tip: you can press F11 on your keyboard to toggle the slide show "full screen" once it has begun, F11 again to toggle back to normal)

My true identity revealed!

In one week, I made my first wedding cake and changed my first flat tire. Accordingly, I must say that in addition to taking care of my four little girls, I think I can now reveal that I am in fact super-girl! Last night Greg needed to change the tire on the car, and although I have watched people change a tire I have never actually done the whole thing myself. So, from beginning to end (with the exception of loosening the first lug nut) I changed the tire by myself! Greg stood close by trying to comfort a fussy Rachel making funny comments about the role reversal in the family. After the fact, Greg remembered that he had given blood earlier in the day, so it was a good thing he didn't over exert himself.Here is a picture of the cake I modeled Haylee's wedding cake after, but instead of the flowers in the middle, she wanted a 4 tier cake. Sadly, in my nervousness to get the cake and my girls all ready for the reception, I forgot my camera, so I will have to wait for the wedding pictures to post a picture of the actual cake, but I think it turned out pretty well.

Here's Rachel

I couldn't let Greg post a family picture without Rachel, so I had to get our picture "retaken" with her included! So here it is!

Happy Fourth!

Well, as I don't really have anything interesting to post, I thought I would include a family photo taken not too long before Rachel was born....
As you can probably tell - we all look a bit different. The Simpsons Movie website now has a section on it where you can go and create your own character so I whipped up a few family members and churned out a family photo. No baby option so poor Rachel got neglected. It amazing to see what husbands end up doing with a day off!

Sunday afternoons

What speaks of a better Sunday afternoon than a nice relaxing nap, and now I know what it means to "sleep like a baby." Sarah decided to try to join Rachel in her crib, got stuck, and started to cry for help. When I went in Rachel's room, I discovered Sarah perched on the top of the crib with one leg in and one leg out, and Rachel sleeping with both arms resting behind her head. Who but a baby could stay zonked out under such circumstances?

And for anyone who didn't hear about Ellie's adventures in church a week ago, here is a quick recap. During Sacrament Meeting, Ellie was being more restless than usual, and Greg had to take her out after the Sacrament. He took her home (one of the advantages to living next door) and sat her on the fireplace to practice being reverent. Ellie was a little distraught at not being able to stay at church, so Greg asked if Ellie would like to say a prayer to help her be more reverent. As she said her prayer, she stated, "I'm sorry for all those bad things at church. Please help me to do better because this is a serious problem."
I am happy to report that this week she was much better behaved!

Two weddings and a Birthday

Wow! I can't believe it is already July! We ended June with a bang--the 29th being Becca's birthday, Ben's half-birthday and Grandpa Welling's wedding day! On the 30th we had a shower for Haylee & now as we enter July we will get ready for Greg's birthday and Haylee's wedding. For Becca's birthday, she requested a "Strawberry Shortcake" party, so we invited her friends over and played pin the crown on Strawberry Shortcake, Strawberry Shortcake Bingo, went "berry" picking, made strawberry scented play dough, ate peanut butter and "strawberry" sandwiches, and ate strawberry cake and ice cream.
I admit that I love decorating my kids' birthday cakes, but I don't usually do anything as formal as I did for Becca's party. Since Haylee has requested that I make her wedding cake --yikes!-- I decided that I had better get some practice in making a tiered cake. So here is Becca's multi-tiered birthday cake, complete with a few finger jabs from her siblings. I am thinking it would be smart to work on the wedding cake after all my kids have gone to bed to prevent the same thing from happening there! :)

Allergy Season

When summer vacation started, I determined that we would not waste away the summer in front of the TV, so in order to earn 30 minutes of TV time, my kids had to do about 20 minutes of work to earn a "TV BUCK." Well, the first couple of days, everything went smoothly, but the other day, Ellie asked if she could watch a show, and I told her she needed to get her work done first. She picked up a Q-Tip, and started to slowly "dust" her bed. When she saw me turn to look at her, she said "Atchoo! Mom, I simply can't clean my room because I'm allergic to dust, I think."

Who other than Ellie would claim to be allergic to work, I would like to know!

Frere Jaques

This morning, Sarah was serenading Rachel with her glow worm that plays songs. She sang "Twinkle Twinkle," and "Hush Little Baby" to her little sister when "Frere Jaques" came on and she started singing the Spanish version. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, here are her lyrics:
"Where is Paco? Where is Paco? He is missing! He is missing! Ring Ring Ring Ring--Ring, Ring Ring Ring--It's a bell! It's a bell!"

I think it is destined to become a classic!

Pop-Pop Fizz-Fizz

As I was driving home yesterday (Greg, not Heather fortunately) I heard the car start making a clicking noise and then suddenly a loud pop and nice cloud of burning oil smoke. Luckily I was in the right hand lane and just coasted off the side of the freeway. When I opened the hood to see if I could possibly put my technological prowess to mechanical uses it became clear that this way beyond the help of mere mortals. You could quite easily fit a golf ball through the hole in the top of the engine.

As horrible as I feel about losing the engine, I do very very blessed that everything happened the way it did. I heard the clicking noise and had time to slow down and get ready to get off the freeway as well as my brother (who conveniently moved to Bountiful over the weekend) hadn't left work yet so I just called his desk and he picked me up on his way home. The cell phone was blessing as I was able to arrange for a mechanic to look at it and have a tow truck come pick it up before arriving at home. All things considered it couldn't have been better.

Note: I uploaded the full size photo so if click it you can really get a clear picture of the damage.

Serenity Now

On Saturday, we took all the kids, including Rachel, up past Strawberry Reservoir to go fishing with Greg's family. When we got to the lake, there was an inlet that had to be crossed to get to the good fishing ground, and the "bridge" consisted of two fallen logs. Greg helped Becca, Ellie and Sarah across the bridge, but I didn't feel comfortable taking little Rachel across the water, so I set up a camp chair and opened a book while Greg and the family went on without me.
I had a marvelous time reading on the banks of the stream. I don't remember the last time I felt so relaxed.
Apparently Ellie felt the same way in her neck of the woods, too. She sat quietly on a rock next to Greg's dad and after a few seconds said, "Grandpa, isn't it nice to finally have some peace and quiet?"
When I heard the story I couldn't help but laugh, seeing how she is single-handedly responsible for more chaos than the rest of the family combined. But who knows, maybe now that she has realized the joys of quiet time she will be willing to try it out more often (yeah, right).

Rachel's First Smile

Rachel has been a very mellow, sweet girl, and has started smiling! It is a little difficult to get the camera there in time, but I managed to capture a half smile from our little sweet heart. We went to the doctor for her 2 week appointment, and she has put on almost a pound already. She was up to 7 lbs. 9 oz. when we went in. She is also doing fairly well sleeping (although the last two nights wouldn't agree with that statement) :)

Yummy.....PICKLES!

Ellie answered a series of questions for preschool about me and some of the answers were too good to pass up posting, so Happy Mother's Day to me!

My mom is as pretty as... A GIRL

My mom is good at...CLEANING AND DRIVING (WHEN DADDY ISN'T HOME)

My mom smells like...PICKLES! (Apparently she answered that one quite matter-of-factly)

I like it when my mom...CARRIES ME A LOT OF PLACES

My mom is happy ... WHEN SHE GETS TO TALK TO DADDY. ACTUALLY SHE'S JUST HAPPY WITH ANYTHING.

My mom likes it when ...I DON'T SUCK MY THUMB. I THINK NOW I WILL NEVER STOP SUCKING MY THUMB.

My mom is always...DOING ALL HER WORK. CLEANING THE KITCHEN AND CLEANING THE UPSTAIRS ARE HER WORK.

My mom is...THE BEST MOM FOR ME. I LOVE HER.

Bob the Builder

The other night Greg was reading a "Bob the Builder" book with Sarah, and asked her the names of all of the characters, only to discover that we are related to one of the machines. According to Sarah, the full name of the machine pictured above, is not just Muck, it is actually "Muck-Murray."
Everything else is going well. Rachel is growing fast, and filling out in the cheeks, and the girls are loving her to pieces. And so far I am surviving life with four little girls. (Whew!)

For Your Comparison

And a fun trip down memory lane! Greg and I pulled up the now ancient web site he did for Becca when she was born and looked at a few pictures to compare how Rachel looks.
Just to clarify, that is Becca sleeping on Grandpa when she was about 1 week old. Rachel certainly has a lot of growing to do.

In more recent news, everyone is doing great. Greg was able to take the whole week off work and has been a great help getting the kids where they needed to be and performing basic bouncer duties in breaking up fights and redistributing toys. Rachel has been very mellow so far and a reasonably good sleeper / eater (what else do babies do)? When she was first born her cries all came along with a curled pouty lip that I am sad to say has not been seen since the hospital.

Rachel Charlotte McMurray

Everyone came home today and life keeps marching on. As you can see she has quite a bit of blond hair like two of her sisters.

More Bubbles

Three more photos for your enjoyment.

Bubbles!

Well, someone decided to arrive last night - shortly after eating some chocolate cake. Mother and child are doing wonderfully - this kid came out hungry and has also quickly found her thumb to suck on. She still has no name, but the vital stats are 6 pounds 12 ounces, 19.5 inches long/tall and lots of blond hair. Heather's water broke at just after 7PM Sunday night, and she was delivered at 9:48 PM. Oh, and she was gurgling a bit after birth so the nurses started calling her bubbles - and well, it has kind of stuck for the time being.

Happy Easter

We just finished Spring Break and had a wonderful time. Rather than traveling anywhere, we spent our days close to home, but tried to do something fun. We have been to the zoo, the aviary, parks, and just spent time in the sun drawing with sidewalk chalk and riding bikes. We decorated Easter Eggs, went to a family Easter party, and found more Easter Eggs than we know what to do with--and the Easter Bunny left more than enough candy for the next few months. Over all, we had a great time, the girls were very well behaved, and I have nothing naughty to report.
However, over the last few days, the weather has cooled off a little more than I would like. We have had rain, hail, and cold blustery wind keeping us inside and causing more than a little mischief. Sarah has ventured into the world of cosmetology getting into my makeup every chance she gets, and Ellie is experimenting with fine art-- specifically soap sculptures and toilet paper treasures.

Spring has Sprung

Or at least that is what the weeds that are already poking their little green heads out would have you believe. On Saturday we took the kids to the local dollar shop in hopes of finding a cheap kite. Boy did they luck out - a two pack for $1.00!!! Off to the park where there was just enough wind to get them up in the air and then the kids ran all around to keep them flying high. Unfortunately we didn't have the camera with us, so I dug up a rather old picture of Becca in Central Park - it somehow feels just like Saturday did.

Happy Birthday Ellie

Well, it is only a month late - but I finally wrestled the three girls into the car and met Greg for lunch in Layton and took the kids in for their free birthday photos. Ellie has certainly started to grow out of her daily destruction phase in time for Sarah to grab the reins firmly, so with a sigh of relief and reservation I look forward to what the next year holds. Happy Birthday girls!

Hug a Teacher

I was reading a little blurb about the influence teachers can have on their students, and the importance of acknowledging their efforts, so in an effort to follow that advice, I have to say that I couldn't imagine a better teacher than Lou Bean. She introduced me to To Kill a Mockingbird, Romeo and Juliet, and opened my eyes to creative writing. I will never forget the day that one of her students was sleeping during class. She had been discussing the definition of the word "tangible" and when she asked him what it meant, he obviously couldn't tell her. Rather than getting mad, she picked up a tangerine from her desk, threw it at him, and said, "It's like a tangerine! It means 'touchable.' Get it? 'tangible, tangerine, touchable." She reached out to individual students like no other teacher I have ever known, and I just have to say, "THANK YOU!"

Here is a little blurb from the Deseret News from 2004:

English teacher Mary Louise "Lou" Bean shapes students into readers, writers and creators.
Bean once encouraged a student who loved sketching cars to write Ford Motor Co. about becoming a designer. That student since had his $550,000 concept motorcycle appear in the Nieman-Marcus Christmas book, Viewmont High colleague Debbie Jones wrote in a nomination letter.
Bean, who regularly attends writing workshops, has writing circles in class to help students discover their talents. One student even won a national PTA Reflection contest for her essay about her deceased father.
Bean picks out novels for individual students, hooking struggling readers on books. One now reads 700-page books for pleasure; another went on to become a physician.
"The sparkling enthusiasm of Lou Bean boosted the self-esteem of my children," wrote parent Debra E. Randall. "She let them know she believed in them and that they could succeed."

Snips and Snails and Puppy-Dog Tails

I just emptied Becca's coat pockets and discovered a small cache of treasure. Aside from a used Kleenex (which has already been thrown in the trash) this is the list of items discovered:
-a cherry Jolly Rancher wrapper
-a spider ring
-a top
-a rock
-a penny
-a quarter

I don't think I could have come up with a more classic list of child's prized possessions and thought it was worth noting.
As for today's adventures, my house currently smells like "Tangerine Tickle" since I discovered Ellie and Sarah making a bottle of conditioner "gas" all over Sarah's carpet. So far, however, I think that conditioner is much easier to clean up than shampoo!

Let them Eat Cake

There are several things I get to report on today, so I suppose I should begin chronologically. On Saturday we had a Valentine's party with all of the little cousins on Greg's side of the family. I made individual sized heart-shaped pizzas with a create your own topping bar. We had a few very creative pizzas including one without cheese, one with two layers of sauce, and one shaped like a pizza-face! Then, after lunch, we decorated over 100 sugar cookies. It was really fun to watch the creativity come out full force during the event and most of the mess even stayed in the kitchen!

On Sunday, I decided to focus Singing Time around Valentine's Day. We have been working on some really difficult songs lately, and so I thought the kids deserved a little break. We played name that tune with songs that included the word "love" somewhere in the lyrics. In order to emphasize the point in Junior Primary, I told the kids to raise their hands as soon as they heard the word "Love." About two words into the song, Ellie raised her hand and shouted "I feel the love!" Apparently she enjoyed the response, because within moments she added. "Don't you feel it? Can't you just feel the love?!" The newly called Stake Primary Presidency was there for the first time and I think they got their money's worth this week!

Today, I made dinner for one of the sisters I go Visiting Teaching to, and for dessert, decided to make an ice cream cake. When I was finished, I had an extra layer of chocolate cake, and set it on the counter to eat with our dinner. At about 5:00, the phone rang, and somehow, in the time it took to take the phone call, Ellie and Sarah stole the cake from the counter and dumped about half of it on the stairs and the other half on Ellie's bed. I don't know if they actually ate any of it, judging by the amount of chocolate I had to clean. Sadly, I think it might have been the undoing of our vacuum. I thought that I had picked up enough before vacuuming, but when I was finished, our vacuum was making some pretty sad sounds and it smelled a bit like burnt popcorn.

On a happier note, Ellie wanted to take Valentines to all of her cousins, so I told her she could if she could learn how to write her name. It only took her about two seconds to learn, and she happily signed all 15 Valentines. Way to go Ellie!

Happy Birthday, Ellie!

Yes, I am still alive, though not necessarily kicking. I have been a little bit overwhelmed lately as Sarah has taken over her sister's role as most mischievous, but I suppose that since she is only a couple weeks away from turning "terrible two" it should be expected. Sarah has moved to a big girl bed in preparation for the little one who is on the way, and has a new favorite game of emptying the dresser and closet of all clothing. I haven't figured out how to prevent it yet, and so I am constantly picking up armfuls of clothes to resort and refold. However, on a more fun note, Ellie has been pretty good overall, and just celebrated her fourth birthday yesterday. Grandpa Welling brought a check and birthday card in the morning, and when we stopped in at Dollar Tree, she went on a mini shopping spree with the money he gave her. She got a "magic" mirror like the one on Beauty and the Beast that shows a picture and makes noise when you press a button, dress up shoes, makeup, and all sorts of goodies. She was in heaven! Ellie's one request for this birthday was to have a "Belle" party, so she got a princess makeover, watched "Beauty and the Beast" and had her grandparents over for Belle cake and ice cream. We had a great day. (She also got to go to McDonalds with all of her cousins which was spontaneous, but So much fun)

Christmas Morning 2006 - Redux

Christmas Morning 2006

Here is our first foray into the exciting world of video blogging! I think the video says it all, so enjoy!

I wonder what she is thinking . . .

Just a quick note and a great picture. Christmas was wonderful and this whole week has been great. Greg has the whole week off from work so we have mostly just relaxed and enjoyed family life. Greg ran over to the neighbor's house last night for a few minutes and Ellie asked "Mom, why are you watching us?" - I think the kids have enjoyed seeing quite a lot of their Dad lately.

Little girls are so cute!

Greg here, filling in for Heather who has her hands plenty full. Today we had an ultrasound and found out two things we already knew: We are roughly 21 weeks along in the pregnancy and we are probably going to have another girl. As much as I may like to have a boy someday, I certainly love the three little princesses I have been blessed with this far, and look forward to one more joining the ranks. Attached is a picture of why I love my little girls, and quite frankly I don't think a little boy could stand a chance of ever being so cute and sweet.

Picture Day

This morning I dressed the girls in their new Christmas outfits with the hope of getting a couple cute pictures taken. Of course, little did I realize that the reason Sarah was so uncooperative was because she was getting sick. We got a couple of pictures taken before we went to church, then I thought we could take a some more when we got home, but Sarah's dress may never be the same--she had a monster case of the runs which "ran" all over my lap during the closing prayer. I quickly ran out of the church and changed her clothes and mine, but it would appear that we will have to wait for another day to try the matching outfits again.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

You may wonder what happened to Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Holidays or Happy New Year, but this spring we will be expanding our home by two feet. It is yet to be determined if those two feet will be boy feet or girl feet, but judging from our past record, I think chances have us at another girl (Due May 5, hence the title of this entry).
As for the last few blog entries, sorry there haven't been any pictures with the fun-filled adventures, the camera was missing, but yesterday Sarah wandered into our room holding it asking me to take her picture, so we are back in business as soon as I have more exciting pictures to take! (My expanding stomach definitely does not count). All else is well (except for Greg who is at present sick in bed) and aside from an oil slick that Ellie caused in the kitchen yesterday we have no turbulence to report.

greased lightning part 2

Ellie has moved on in her hairstyling prowess. Today, rather than putting things in her own hair, she opted to put them in Sarah's. You know, I thought that Vaseline was the worst possible thing that she could put in hair, and for a while I thought that is what was in Sarah's hair, until I discovered her tube of eczema cream. Yeah, it's worse. It's like vaseline mixed with special moisturizers for extra dry skin. Umm, not the easiest thing to get out--on the plus side, though, her pigtails stayed in really well today!

HAIRCUT :)

Today I cut off most of the remains of Ellie's last disastrous haircut. YEAH!! After months of trying to cover up the bald/thin spots, she now has a short, but even haircut--Oh what joy fills my heart! Overall, Ellie's behavior has been improving, but her emotions have been raging out of control. She is so funny. The smallest things can set her off one way or the other. For example, not getting to say the prayer on breakfast, someone opening the garage door before she can push the button, not getting to wear sandals when it has snowed outside, or having to go to bed at a decent hour can send her to tears faster than you can say "cry." On the other hand, finding a penny, getting a piece of candy, going to preschool, or talking to her dad on the phone can keep her in high spirits for hours. I am loving the highs, but am wondering what this emotional rollercoaster is going to be like when she becomes a teenager and has hormones! YIKES!

It's an Ellie Day!

Well, it has been a while since I have had two posts in one day, but today has been an especially busy day for Ellie. Usually, Ellie spends Tuesday mornings at a neighborhood preschool, but it has been postponed because my neighbor's daughter was sick. So instead, Ellie expressed her creative self in other ways. First, when I thought she was eating breakfast, Ellie climbed up into the spice cupboard and emptied a couple bottles--especially potent was the Salad Supreme. Then, when I was on a phone call, she went into the family room, emptied two shelves of our bookcase of their contents and ripped out pages from a couple of books that she apparently found inappropriate to have in our home. This afternoon, we went outside, and she came out without shoes on, so I sent her back in to get some. When she hadn't reappeared after a minute, I went inside to find her making butter sculptures in the kitchen. When I was changing Sarah's diaper, I came downstairs to find the kitchen smelling lemony fresh, and the floor a veritable ice skating rink since Ellie dumped a good portion of my Costco-sized bottle of dish soap on the floor. At least I thought it was just on the floor until I just ran a load of dishes in the dishwasher. Apparently she decided to "help" with the dishes because we had quite the pile of suds built up around the floor when it got going. I think this the first time I have actually seen a dishwasher overflow from using dishsoap. Thank you Ellie for the memorable day.

NOVEMBER?!

I can hardly believe that it is really November--Wow! Becca has finished her first term of school and came out with straight 4s with the exception of a 3 in penmanship, which she inherited from her mother. We also had a great Halloween. The girls dressed up as Cinderella, Belle (Beauty & the Beast) and Sleeping Beauty and enjoyed being princesses for the day. They looked more like eskimoes when they came back from their trick-or-treating, though. It was really cold and they had rather pink noses when they came inside. But, they have thoroughly enjoyed their candy (as has Greg) and the sugar high that comes with it.

Happy Halloween!

Tonight was a great night! The kick-off event was carving our pumpkins and the girls loved cleaning them out - which was a tough decision because they really wanted to both carve and paint them. Well, as push-over-parents we decided it would be OK to carve them first, and then let the pumpkins get covered in paint.


Ellie was quick to decide on a fairy princess. Unfortunately and due to a complete lack of artistic talent her vision became just a fairy wand. She was stilled thrilled and we were somehow able to keep her clean - right up until we were taking pictures when she leaned into the purple paint. Bless her heart!

Becca set off through the cookie cutters and after rummaging through them for a few minutes decided that heart would be great - particularly when covered in red paint. It certainly must have something to do with the red shirt. I had told Becca she could paint her pumpkin as soon as her bed was made, so of course she waited until Greg came home and coerced him into helping.

At Least

Thanks, Michelle for the great idea of the "At Least" game. Here is the list I made after Ellie's little mess yesterday:

At least nobody drank the Windex

At least it didn’t get in Sarah’s eyes

At least we don’t have to go to the emergency room

At least I have already called Poison Control about Window cleaner, so I don’t have to today

At least my kitchen floor is now streak free

At least I have chocolate in my house for moments like this (Thanks Michelle for this reminder)

At least I have a kitchen to clean

At least I have my family

At least Ellie’s love of cleaning products has the potential to turn into a love of cleaning

At least we have the gospel

"something good"

Yesterday morning was the first time in a while that I have been able to see the humor in Ellie's antics. Not that she hasn't been her normal, havoc causing self, I just haven't really been up to putting a humorous spin on it as of late. But yesterday she made me laugh. I was cleaning the upstairs and Sarah was in the playroom, but when I went in to check, Ellie was not with her sister. Here is the conversation that followed:
Me: "Ellie, where are you?"
Ellie: "Downstairs."
Me: "What are you doing?"
Ellie: "Umm . . . something good!"
Me (while walking quickly downstairs): "What good thing are you doing?
Ellie: "I'm, um, getting a drink."
Me: "No you're not, I'm in the kitchen, and you're not here."
Ellie: "Oh....oops."
Me: "What are you really doing?"
Ellie: "Umm...something not very good."
By this time I had found her in the laundry room with a bottle of eyeglass cleaner dumped on the floor. While I was cleaning that up, she climbed up into my cleaning cupboard and sprayed Windex all over the floor in the kitchen. Sadly, Sarah decided to come downstairs just then, and slipped on the wet tile. When I went to clean up that mess, she slipped on the other puddle in the laundry room--not her lucky day.

How now brown cow?

On our way up to Jackson Hole we took several pit-stops to help ensure a more peaceful, pleasant ride. One such stop occured next to a cow pasture. Greg rolled down the window, mooed at the cows and received a whole hearted moo in response. Becca, who sat in the back seat dumbfounded exclaimed, "Daddy, I didn't know you could speak cow!"
The entire trip was wonderful. We had a great time looking at wildlife, hiking, driving through Yellowstone, (although we gave up on Old Faithful just moments too soon), and just relaxing by the fire. All in all it was a great trip.

Two weeks later...

I can't believe it has been two weeks since I posted. With funeral preparations and thank-you notes, General Conference and birthdays, life around here has not been without event, but I haven't been able to put into words the feelings and emotions that have abounded over the last few days.
The girls have been their typical energetic selves, with comments and actions to warrant blogging, but we have been so busy that I'm afraid some of the adventures will be lost forever, but here are a few of my favorite stories that have been missed.

GRANDMA'S FUNERAL
Grandma was certainly loved. Her viewing was supposed to go from 6-8p.m. on Sunday night, but people arrived an hour early, and the line continued until 10:00 making for a nearly five hour viewing. The next morning at the Stake Center, every chair was set up for the funeral, and people were sitting on the stage, standing against the wall, and waiting out in the hall--it was packed. All of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren sang for the funeral, and the day after we sang, I asked Becca what she thought of performing in front of so many people. She told me that there were a lot of people at the funeral, but she was only singing for one--Grandma Welling.

GENERAL CONFERENCE--(or should I say Merry Christmas)
On Conference Sunday, we went to Greg's parent's house. We ate a delicious turkey dinner and sat down to watch the last session of Conference. I suppose the tryptophan in the turkey was a little too effective to keep me alert enough to pay attention to the speakers and to my daughter. While we were happily lounging in front of the television, Ellie, who obviously didn't get enough of the sedative, was busily pulling out all of Lorna's Christmas decorations. She pulled all of the mini-lights out of their strings, dumped a bag of confetti equivalent, pulled all of the keepsake ornaments out of their wrappings, and to add that final touch--as if she hadn't done enough--she found the glass ornaments and smashed them into tiny pieces with her fingers. Somehow she managed to come out of the ordeal without a scrape, which is amazing considering the fact that she was playing in shattered glass, and even more amazing because I didn't inflict any bodily harm to my little stinker :) Somehow, we got it all cleaned up with only a few minor cuts ourselves, and Ellie offered her grandma several heartfelt apologies at my bidding.

OTHER NEWS
Aside from the usual day to day issues, I also turned 30 on Saturday. I think one of my most clever gifts was from the Kearls. I received a giant bowl filled with Halloween treats with a card at the bottom that said: "Now it's time for your Halloween SCARE" and when I opened it up it said, "Happy 30th Birthday"

All in all we are doing pretty well. We are getting ready to leave for Jackson Hole tomorrow morning and we can't wait! I am sorry I didn't have my camera for the Christmas wonderland that Ellie created, but I promise to take pictures while on our trip!