Teeth

At the risk of you over-analyzing our front teeth next time you visit, I'll tell you. Our family seems to have a bit of an issue with teeth.
King and I have the SAME messed up front tooth. His was a wrestling accident from high school (it turned black and had to be crowned) and mine is a trophy from falling out of a tree (it didn't turn black, just discolored and died). Our children seem to want to follow the trend- as unfashionable as it may seem.
Last week Little Lady was racing around my parent's home when she slipped and fell on the tile. Now she's just like us. Times two. She's now chipped BOTH her front teeth. One is just a corner chipped off, the other is a slightly bigger corner. Good thing they're baby teeth. I'll see if I can take a picture after she wakes up. If not, you're bound to see it in pictures over the next five years.

The kids

Little Lady deems us the meanest people ever. We put the crib tent on. She forgives us in the off-hours between bedtimes and naps. But every time we put her back in her crib... death by looks!
Brother and I had a conversation that went like this:
(Background- he thinks his toy screwdrivers are swords. And sticks are swords... and pencils are swords... you get the idea.)

Brother: Mom! I'm fighting bad guys with my swords.
Me: How do you know who's the bad guy and who's the good guy?
Brother: I'm the good guy, and you're Lemuel. (We play Nephi, Sam, Laman and Lemuel a lot around here...)
Me: No, really. How do you know? How can you tell if they're a bad guy?
Brother: They fight the good guys.
Me: Ok. Then how do you know who the good guys are?
Brother: They fight the bad guys!

Glad we've got that all figured out.

Update on howling child...

She was howling because:
1) She climbed out of the crib for the first time. (NOOO!!!!!!)
2) She was poopy- can't blame her there.
3) She was tangled in my mom's surger thread.....
It's probably a good thing I checked on her.

Things I should have posted about by now...

I've been busy- AND I've been taking pictures.
I just haven't downloaded them, or looked at them, or edited any, or written about our fun times, or, or, or...
So in a VERY small nutshell, here's the last month or so of our lives:
Numero Uno:
Our trip.
Leif and I dropped the kids at my mom's and took a long-awaited trip by ourselves! I believe its a first for us since we've had kids!
First we drove up to Logan, ate great food and went to the temple. Next we headed to Jackson Hole, went white-water rafting, went to see the Bar J Wranglers, window-shopped, and ate more great food. Then we drove to Cokeville, went horsebackriding, ate good food, and finally came home after 3 days away. Ahh. It was so much fun! I think I gained 10 pounds that trip alone.. Pictures to come...maybe.
Dos:
The busy weekend.
The weekend after we got home was extremely busy. Family was moving out of our house while we skipped on the work and went to a sealing of a Rowley brother. He and his wife finally got to adopt a precious little boy! We had a family day at the zoo, went to the sealing the next morning, had great meals and good times, and some family pictures. Again... hopefully you'll see some proof soon.
Thres:
The 4th of July and the balloon launch.
The following Monday was the 4th of July. We took Brother and Sister to the annual balloon launch in Provo. Seeing that brother LOVES hot-air balloons, this was a BLAST. We got to stand in the middle of the field and watch them blow up the balloons all around us and then watch them all take off! The rest of the holiday was spend doing...
Quatro:
Projects around the house.
What did we do? King and my dad installed a water filter- since nobody likes the taste of our water! Six dollars later I wondered why we didn't think of that idea 3 years ago! Brother moved to his own room, complete with a big bed! And we organized and cleaned throughout the house!
Finally:
5 years and counting!
King and I have officially been married five wonderful, wonderful years! I can hardly believe its BEEN five years! Considering that some people on our trip thought we were young enough to BE newly weds, we must have looked like infants then! We sure have learned a lot about ourselves, each other, and life since we've been married. I'm grateful for King EVERY DAY of my life. He. Is. Wonderful. Not only is he the given: wonderful husband, wonderful dad, but he is a kind soul. He is a hard worker. He is a faithful, true, holder of the Priesthood. He loves God. He puts others first. He is teaching me to be patient with others! He is serving others CONSTANTLY. He is incredibly patient with me! He is so helpful around the house and with the kids- even when he's pulling long hours at work (like he has been!). I love him so very, very much. Last night to celebrate we took the kids to their (and my) first drive-in movie. Double feature: Cars 2 and the green lantern. The first was good, but green-lantern is nothing great. Oh well. That's completely irrelevant to the topic. We had fun piling the pillows in the back of the van, eating popcorn and licorice, and hanging out together. A distant friend of ours passed away earlier this week leaving a wife and two young children. It has really made me think about how wonderful my life is. How much I take for granted. Our health, each day and activity together, the fun times we get as a family, etc. I am so thankful for my wonderful little family. None of this would be possible without my wonderful husband.
Cutting the sappy short- my youngest is howling because she doesn't want to nap... I should go check on her.
See ya!

Announcing...

So long as we're not mistaken, the newest family member will be a....
GIRL!
Sorry brother. He was a bit disappointed it wasn't going to be another brother.


Now... if we could agree on a name... I guess we have a few more months.

Inner Conflict

Which is worse:
Watching the finale of Biggest Loser while your little one naps instead of doing yard work? Um... don't read that Honey.
OR
Watching the finale of Biggest Loser while you eat a handful of chocolate chips?
Hmm...
Can I blame both those on the baby... or at least the second?
On the baby note. The little shy one wouldn't uncross its legs so we have no clue what its going to be... yet. Next appointment I'm drinking a liter of juice beforehand to liven it up.

Rather than title this, "Things I don't want to forget part 2 kabillion..." We'll leave that part blank for now.
But here I go again.... with things I hope I remember someday.

First Lady.
THAT GIRL IS AN EATER! This morning she ate 2 1/2 pieces of chip-beef-on-toast which was more than brother OR king ate (I ate more....). Immediately after she reached up to pull the diaper bag off its high perch. Yes, she's strong enough. She just leans back and pulls that monster down. She instantly started rummaging through it until she found the raisins. Not just the little box of raisins, the huge, 100 0z (?) bag from Costco. Alas, there were only 4 left. That's right folks. She's almost single handedly eaten them ALL. At this point she was in tears. She can't possibly still be hungry right? She's only what? 16 months? She'll be eating us out of house in home by two.
On a slightly different note. We're trying to break her finger-sucking habit. It went from only sucking on them when she was tired or upset, to a 24-7 ordeal. So we started putting long socks on her arms. At first we only needed one, now she switches hands and sucks on the other fingers. So now she's a two socked girl. People keep asking what happened to her, and I guess it does look a bit like gauze or a wrap over a cast. All in all, I don't think its working. At times she sucks on the socks, and the SECOND those babies come off (like at meal-times) the fingers go IN! Argh. Ideas anyone?

As for brother- we've got a classic we might retell to his children some day.
I was sitting up on the stand, playing the organ in church on Sunday and King was sitting down with the kids. As this happens every other week, brother often scoots to the bench in front of us to sit with an elderly couple he calls grandma and grandpa. It's pretty cute. They love him, he loves them, he minds them very well, and King only has to wrestle one child while I'm playing the organ. Win-win.
Anyhow, last Sunday a single mother with a young baby came and sat on the same row as the elderly couple. Not long after she'd taken a seat with her baby, Brother pointed to her chest and said, "Those are for babies." I guess the young mother stammered a reply like, "Um... yes." Obviously shocked and confused. But brother persevered to make it all the more awkward. "They drink milk! Slurp Slurp Slurp!" Mind you, this is in the middle of quiet sacrament meeting. King looked away with a straight face and pretended he hadn't heard- apparently absorbed in the speaker. The elderly couple were CRACKING UP, and the young mother was staring at him in disbelief. I hope she comes back to church.
King asked me that night if we talk about that subject often.... um, no. I don't know where he gets these things...

Nephi

Last night we re-enacted the story of Nephi for Family Home Evening. (Its from the scriptures folks). Brother got to be Nephi (the good minder, the obedient son... we were going for a theme). King was Lehi. Sister and I were Laman and Lemuel. (The grumpy guys. The murmurers /whiners). Lucky us. We left Jerusalem, went back to get the plates (scriptures), got Ishmaels family, broke our bow, got the Liahona, and started building a boat.
Anyhow- the point is- Brother loved it. It's even paying of SLIGHTLY to remind him he's like Nephi and he needs to be a great minder.
This morning he was begging to don the bathrobes again and pretend we were Nephi, Laman, and Lemuel again. He refused to let sister be Sam. He even called her Lemuel all morning. Oh well. The funny part is all the twists that showed up in the story this morning. I was called Laman or Grumpy Guy all morning. I was chastised for not being grumpy enough and for saying, "please." He asked if I was grumpy because I didn't take a nap. (Yes!) All of a sudden the Liahona helped you fly with a hot air balloon. Nephi finally got to make a campfire- but he had to cook marshmallows. And every night he cooked hamburgers and ate cold cheese. I wonder if Nephi knew he got such a good menu. I had to try and not smile.
So here's my hat off to Nephi for being such a good son. A good minder. A good role-model for MY son. The Lord knew what he was doing when he put the story of an imperfect family in the Book of Mormon first. A great father, a lot of hardships, some good and some awful brothers, new challenges, brave women having children in the wilderness etc. etc. etc. He knew that story would get read the most frequently. And I'm so glad.

Three

Three things I've been waiting three months to tell you.
1) We will have three kids three years old and younger come Nov. 8. Ish. They've already changed the date once... and I'm sure its likely to happen again.

2) Three meals a day is NEVER enough.
3) Three-year-olds make good big brothers, but have three times the energy I do...

Oh, I finally am posting the picture of the beloved Ergo.

This bump makes it a tad uncomfortable though.

Things I want to remember part 2.. million...

I like blogging. Some days. But its useful even when I don't. I consider it to be my informal journal- since my actual journal writing has gone WAY downhill.
Anyhow.
Funny/memorable things my kids have said that I won't remember in a week if I don't write down even though I should really be in bed sleeping...

1. Background: Brother loves the game hide and seek. I'd taught him before, but when King re-taught him the other day, it was all of a sudden WAY more fun. He's played it AT LEAST three times today. The second game we played for about ten minutes (with me trying not to smile when he'd say, "Mommy! Find me first!" ... There's no one else playing!) I was a bit tired and laid down on the couch. He wanted to play more, so I tried the lame line, "I'm going to hide right here. You go count."
"You have to have the blanket to hide. Don't you know that?"
Oh yeah.
2. Sister can say "hot, uh-oh," and has added to her repituare of ONE sign. She now has two. (Brother has decided signing is the coolest thing ever and always asks "How to say that with your hands." That is another story for another time...) Back to Sister's two signs. More, and please. She's also decided to consent that she has other body parts besides her fingers, nose, and belly-button. She'll now point to her hair, her eyes, and her ears. Progress.
She's also picked up the adorable habit of twirling her hair with her left hand while she sucks on her right. At this rate, by the time she's three she might sport bald patches and only eight fingers. The others will have been sucked off.
(PS: Yes, her hair not always this crazy... just half the time...I do try...)
2 1/2: Sister has a very delicate palate. Brother's is improving all the time... slowly. Sister turns her nose up at a meal one day, then GOBBLES the same meal down the next. One never knows what to feed her. Case in point? Tonight we made home-made pressure cooked beans. DELISH. So good. I thought she'd love them. She loves beans... No go. So we pulled out the corn so she'd eat SOMETHING. This is also a tried-and-true favorite. Nothing. So I mixed them. Vwala. Sucess. She at the whole thing... She might be a tad stubborn.
3. Random tangent. Why does it ALWAYS seem to snow on Conference Weekend. Uncanny.
Saturday we enjoyed the day listening to Conference and working outside with my parents. We even got a tad pink. Sunday we woke up to 4-6 inches of snow. Go figure.
Good night.