Stickers.

"MOOOOOMMMMM" Yelled Alli. "Maggie got into the Band-Aids!".

Usually Alli loves to tattle on her sister, so I decided to investigate. Alli was indeed right! Maggie got into the new box of Band-Aids, and thought the best place to put them was her bed.

"I put stickers on bed!" Maggie beamed. "Look!" She squealed with delight, as she pointed her chubby little finger to her bed rail.

"Maggie, I see you got into all of the Band-Aids. was that a good choice?" I asked.

"Uh-ha" replied Mags.

"No, Maggie. that was a bad choice to put all the Band-Aids on your bed. We don't waste things, and we don't ruin our beds." I scolded.

This was Maggie's reaction to the news that she was going to have to throw away her 'stickers'.

mmmmmm......

Check out what I just made!
Yumm-o!!

(Visit THIS BLOG for recipe)

It's a new day

After posting last night, I felt, well... defeated. It was one of those days where I just wanted to sit and cry, and ponder about all of my short comings, and cry some more. I know that we all have those days, and luckily it isn't just me who's not a 'perfect parent'. (Aside from our Heavenly Father, is there truly a perfect parent?? If so, I am dying to meet them!)
Chip and I had some good snuggle time, in which more than a few tears were shed. Thank goodness for a tender and loving husband to let you know that you're doing a good job. (Besides, if I don't have some sort of failings as a mother, what dirt will my children tell their future therapists?)

Sometime during the night, my body decided it had enough stress.... and began purging out all of the bad. That was a FUN night, let me tell you. I think I only slept about 2 hours in between the emergency bathroom runs.

I was bound and determined that today would be a better day.

Child wise... today was awesome! Maggie was my sweet little girl again, full of snuggles, smiles, and good cheer. I really needed her to be like that today. Alli of course, was just spectacular too. She is such a good helper.... which we needed, in between the dryer breaking, me still a little sick from the night before, and Chip a little stressed out, she was a champ. She played with Maggie non stop. There was no fighting or arguing. Just nice, sweet little girls being charming and wonderful to each other.

We even got in a family movie night tonight, in which everyone was happy. We got to watch The Tale of Despereaux. It was the first time we saw it... we thought it was super cute. I don't know what the critics were thinking when they didn't like it.

So there it is. Prayers were answered. Today was a better day. I hope that more days like this one (at least child behavior wise), happen more often.

Pickles

When I was a nanny, I had a wonderful nanny-friend named Rachel. She was/is the most awesome person to hang out with. Whenever I was having a bad day she would ask me if I was having a "Pickle Day". Apparently, in her world... pickles are bad. To this day, whenever we chat with each other, there is a pickle mentioned somewhere in the conversation. "Hope you have a pickle-free day!", etc...
Today, my day was full of pickles. My pickle was in the form of my sweet Maggie. Let's just say she was a bit of a dill pickle. Sour. No fun.
For those of you who happen to know my Maggie, know that she is stubborn, hard headed, and strong willed. I am not used to this kind of child, as Alli was the complete opposite. She was a sweet, non-confrontational, easy going little toddler. Maggie is a 'just desserts' of sorts, for me judging other people's bad parenting skills with their two year old. (Whenever you start to criticize any one's parenting.... BEWARE.... you might get a Maggie... just FYI.)
It started off that Maggie didn't want to wear diapers. She didn't want to wear a pull-up. She only wanted to wear panties. That may sound good, as we are really trying to potty train that child, BUT.... she didn't want to sit on the potty. No matter what I did to get her to sit on the potty, she would scream and yell "NO, NO, NO!" the entire time she was on the pot. No reward was enticing enough for this kid to just sit on the pot with a happy little smile. As soon as I got her off of the toilet she would pee in her panties, and throw a huge fit that she was wet. This happened 4 times within a 3 hour period. Sounds fun huh?
Finally I was done with the whole shenanigans, and tried putting her in a diaper or a pull-up. The fit that ensued lasted over an hour and a half. Screaming, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. That girl didn't want to wear anything put panties. I won the round. She wore a diaper, very reluctantly
For the rest of the day, I kept asking her if she wanted to sit on the potty, because she could wear panties again if she did. "NO" was her final answer.
Then came the struggle with getting dressed. She wanted to wear clothes..... and was throwing a fit because she didn't have any on, however, she didn't want to wear anything in her drawers. Try to solve that one.
Nap time too was another horrible adventure with that child. "It's Morning Time!!" is her valid excuse for not wanting to sleep.
She desperately needed a nap today too. It didn't happen.
She hasn't wanted to eat any food because "My tummy is hurting, and needs a band-aid" (her tummy really isn't hurting.... she is just obsessed with band-aids).
Seriously... this child went on handing me pickles, all day long.
Nothing you can say will phase this child either. No threat is a real concern of hers. All punishments handed down such as timeouts, no treats, etc... doesn't bother her one bit. She just gets out of time out (over and over and over, no matter how many times you put her in it), or if it's no treats, then she will (when you are in the bathroom... or somewhere that you can't get to her quickly) move a kitchen chair over to the counters, climb up on the counters and get whatever she wants.... and then hides until the treat is devoured. She will then bring you the wrapper and gloat. And if you try to force that child to do anything, she wiggles, squirms, screams, and basically pops a blood vessel just to get out of doing whatever it is you are trying to make her do. I just don't know what to do with that child. We are trying not to spank, but holy cow does that kid want to become the poster child for someone who NEEDS a good swat... and even when we do give in to our weaknesses and spank her... she hits you right back.

When she is having a good day, she is the best kid ever. She is a delight! She is cuddly, charming, and full of cheese-ball smiles. On her bad days... she is Dennis the Menace - X 300.

Basically, my child was a little Gherkin today... well the whole week... if we really want to get into specifics.

Hopefully tomorrow won't be handing out more pickles.

I don't know if I can handle anymore.

Lookin' For Something Sweet

The Mission 24 Photography Blog challenge today was 'Sweet'. I was a little stuck on what to do, so I decided to go to the park and take some pictures of the sweet smelling flowers.

I took some pictures of Sweet Alli, some sweet smelling flowers, and this NON-SWEET little Maggie. I don't know what her beef was, but she certainly had one! Every minute I turned around she was thrown some sort of tantrum!

(The tantrums made for some funny pictures!)

Aren't these flowers just beautiful!! We had an overcast sky today, so it made the colors so vibrant! I didn't enhance anything on these flower photos.

Does anyone know what the heck this stuff is?? It was in a flower pot at the park, no flower attached, just the green bumpy leaves. It was bizarre.

Anyway, as soon as we got home from the park, Alli went straight up to her room to do homework and I made dinner for all of us. As soon as dinner was completed, I yelled up to her to get down stairs as it was time to eat. I called up to her three times. No reply. I finally stomped up the stairs, thinking that she was ignoring me for some reason or another... and there she was, fast asleep on her bed. I even tapped her little legs to see if she wanted to wake up and eat dinner. No response. This little girl had fallen asleep last night around 10 and woke up before 5am, ready for the day. I figured that her body decided it was done, and it needed some sleep.
WRONG!
About an hour and a half later..... she was puking her guts out. Nice.

It's official. This sickness has gone through our entire family. Chip has been sick since Tuesday, and today was his first day back at work. He still isn't 100% yet.

I am really hoping that this illness doesn't circulate through the whole family again. :)

Tantrums

My day consists of hearing the word "NO!" being yelled constantly.

"Maggie, could you please come here?"
"NO!!"

"Maggie, can you please eat your dinner?"
"NO!!"

"Maggie, could you please put on your shoes?"
"NO!!"

"Maggie, stop saying no and listen!"
"NO!!" (followed by her trying to hit me)

This afternoon after getting Alli from school, we made a quick stop at Wally World. While I was busy trying to load up the car with all our goods, I asked Alli if she could help me out by buckling Maggie in her car seat. Alli desperately wants to prove how much of a "big kid" she can be, and loves to try and help wherever her sister is concerned. Maggie was having none of that. You see, Maggie is a board certified Mama's girl. She hardly lets anyone help her... but me. I have to do everything. Some days it is nice that she loves to cuddle with me and the sheer fact that I am her favorite is a bonus, other days, like today, it's very draining that she won't let anyone but me do anything for her (As long as I'm around her, anyway).
So let me paint a picture for you. Maggie sitting in her car seat, Alli leaning over her to pull the seat belt over Maggie's lap, Maggie slapping Alli in the head over and over, all the while yelling "NO, Alweeee!!! Mommy do it!!". Alli turns and looks at me like a wounded animal, tears welling up in her eyes "Mom! She never lets me do anything to help her!" (Which isn't exactly an understatement.)
After I get Alli to sit down and buckle herself up, and reassure her of the great job she is doing to try and help me out, make Maggie apologize to Alli for hitting her, and I go to the other side of the car to buckle Mags. I get Maggie strapped in the seat as she simultaneously turns her head and looks at the grocery sacks. She spies the Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream cookies and her eyes light up.
"I want a tookie!!" She yells at me.
"No, Maggie. You weren't very nice. You hit Alli."
"NO!!!" she yells back.
"Yes, Maggie, you did hit Alli, and I know you want a cookie, but you can't have one."
Again I hear "NO!!", as I am shutting the car door and walking around to the driver side.
I get into the driver seat, start backing up, when I hear Maggie start yelling again. (Apparently this time she rethought her strategy.) She started in a loud and firm voice. " I WANT A TOOKIE (and her tone started softening at this part and then slowly ended at an octave that I don't think anyone but dogs can hear) Pweeezeeeeeeeeee?????" (as I'm looking at her in the rear view mirror, I see her eyes squinting, and her head tilting all cute, a smile starting to creep on her face)
"Thank you Maggie for saying please, but you still can't have a cookie."
"I said pweezee!!!" she yelled back.

Only a child would think that just because the word "please" is added, it means that magically what you want will happen instantly... like I'd be hypnotized into giving her that cookie with one word. Please. At that realization, I started giggling.

Apparently Maggie didn't like that, to which she immediately answered, "NO!!"

Memorial Day

Today was our ward's (Church) Annual Memorial Day BBQ. We had so much fun! I couldn't believe that when I asked the girls to squish together and say cheese, that they actually did it! Bonus: They were looking at the camera!
The ladies in the picture below are some girls from church. The one in the purple shirt, Susan, adopted us when we moved here. She is our surrogate mom/grandma here in Ohio. We love this sweet lady! The woman in the middle is Susan's mom, visiting from NY. The lovely lady on the right hand side is Debbie, she is so awesome too! Seriously... our church family ROCKS my SOCKS.

So Tonight after dinner was over and things were winding down, I told Chip that I needed some "ME" time..... I thought a little retail therapy was in order.
On Saturday we went to the mall as a family (a RARE occasion). While browsing through Sears, I found these super cool flip flops... that don't have a creepy strap that goes in between your toes.
Those of you who know me, know that things between my toes is my Kryptonite. I can't handle it. I think Michelle can attest to the fact that during every single pedicure that we have done, I squirm when they put those yucky flip flops and toe separators on. (I'm shuddering right now as I'm thinking of it.... the HORROR!) Anyway, I've been having day dreams of those anti-flip-flops ever since. I don't know why I just didn't pick them up on Saturday, but for whatever reason, I didn't. So today I had to go and get me some.

Bonus: They were HALF OFF today, so I bought two pairs. :)
(I'm going to be in happy feet heaven)

My next stop in my retail therapy journey was to a fun store that is right up my decorating alley. I could wander through this store for hours and hours. I had a mission tonight: I needed to find the perfect something to put on a shelf above my bed. I found it! (The block K). The other sign just cracked me up. I knew it had to come home with me.

And my most favorite find of the evening was for Chip:

I love little random things that crack me up.


So aside from all those adventures, I am thankful for the reason that we celebrate Memorial Day.

I am thankful for the brave men and women who fought and continue to fight to keep our country free. I am thankful for their selfless service. I am truly touched that these men and women love their country and the people who reside in it so much that they would lay down their lives for it and us.
To those who serve and have served, you have my heart felt thanks.

(Shout out to my Brother, Grandfather, and Chip's Grandpa who are/were great servicemen)

Happy

I saw this while driving on the freeway today.

Does it make you as happy as it made me?

A little piece of home, right here in Ohio.
I can't stop grinning.

What We've Been Up To.....

After Maggie's wonderful puking episodes on Thursday night (YAY....) in which she threw up all over me. (Double YAY)... I was sick all day on Friday. I think I slept over 18 hours. There was just no way around it. I am really hoping that Alli and Chip don't have the good fortune to become sick as well.
I think this afternoon, I'll be attacking my whole house with PineSol and hopefully these sick germs will DIE.

Before I got sick, we were having lots of fun around here.

I just finished up all our Christmas Thank you cards, Birthday Thank you cards, Happy Birthday cards, and every other type of card that can be thought of. I've been such a slacker lately... if you haven't gotten a card since Christmas time, well.... It's probably in the mail. ;) All-in-all, There were over 50 cards that I had to send out. SHEESH... I hate getting backed up!

On Thursday afternoon (before the illness) we were able to go with our friends the Becks to the water fountains again. I just love that place. I was also trying to get some good pictures for our challenge for our photography blog. The two choices of themes that I was going for were HOT and SHADOW. So these are some pictures that I took of the kids. Maggie was being such a ham and such a poser, that is why the majority of the photos were of her. Alli was just skittering to and fro, so it was hard to get a good one of her.

(see... .she's totally skittering.....)

Maggie eating fruit snacks with her friend Geneva.

Alli thought she was pretty darn cool with her fruit snacks hanging out of her mouth. I think I took about 10 pictures of her, and this was how she was posing. What a goof.

I just loved these two pictures of my little Maggie.

Little wet foot prints on a hot brick sidewalk.

This is the photo that I ended up submitting for the challenge. I thought it looked interesting.

Thursday night I went to a Premier Designs Jewelry show at a co-workers house. It was so fun. I did a show in February with the same lady. I just love their jewelry. I have even contemplated becoming one of the jewelers, but I don't want people to dread getting a call from me.

Just some of the fun stuff. I ended up buying a pair of silver hoop earrings. I have the Gold and bronze colors in the same style, and I find I wear them so often..... I might as well get silver too ;)

So that was our fun Thursday. Hopefully today will be much better than Friday was.

Maggie has started eating again, which is a plus.(It's hard having a hungry/sick toddler.) I have yet to find anything that I want to eat. Hey... maybe this could be my new diet plan!?!

sigh.....

I was going to post some wonderful things about our day...... and then Maggie started throwing up...
Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get a better post going.
Until Then.... I'll be doing a lot of laundry/comforting......
Poor little girl.
Sigh....

But Mom..... We Love Each Other!

Yep. I heard that excuse this afternoon.

Alli told Chip after school that her and Gabe were kissing.
(If you need a reminder of who Gabe is, click HERE.)

Apparently at school, Gabe and Alli have been quite the item. They play almost exclusively together. Batman and Batgirl & Superman and Supergirl are all the rage right now.
The kids at school started asking Alli if she had a boyfriend, and she said Yes! Then of course giggles arose and now they are teasing Gabe and Alli that they are boyfriend/girlfriend. We all know that Cooties are abundant in any relationship in grade school, so the teasing is getting pretty dramatic. Today after school Gabe and Alli wanted to prove their love to each other and the world at large, so they sealed the deal with a kiss.... plenty of them. (Alli has since told us that she was the first one to kiss.... and Gabe followed....)

Alli had a nice long conversation with Chip about it, and then Alli and I had a conversation about it. I think the two conclusions from the conversations were:

1) The only boy we are ever allowed to kiss is Daddy (Chip's rule)
2) We only kiss boys when it is really special, and after you are 16 (My rule).

Alli's objections to the rules were:

1) But Mom, We love each other.
2) I like Kissing Gabe.
3) We're going to get married one day.


(We're going to be in for some serious trouble with this kid.... sheesh!.....)

A case of the Wiggles

Alli's tooth has been wiggly for a month or so now. She has LOVED grossing us out with showing us just how far it can bend. Chip and I have been dreading this day for a long time. We are both pretty squeamish about pulling teeth. It's just gross.
Last night as Alli was eating some corn on the cob, she heard something snap. One of the roots. Instantly her gums and tooth started turning a purplish color. I knew it was time to get that tooth out...... after dad got home.

The examination.

This was her reaction after Chip described how the tooth was going to be extracted.

Using a piece of dental floss to get up and under the tooth . (Little teeth can be very slippery!)

Maggie thought it was funny that Alli was making so many faces, so she joined in on the fun too!

The Pull that took it out.

Poor Alli cried for a good 10 minutes after the tooth came out. (She's holding it in her right hand)

After the shock of getting a tooth yanked out of her mouth wore off, she began to be very happy about the whole experience. She called her grandparents just to let them know what a big kid she was now!

She was rewarded for her pain with a big ol' $2 from the tooth fairy.


(So.... what do you as parents do with your children's teeth? Save them? Toss them? What??..... I'd like to know!)

Dad's home

The girls and I were so extremely excited that dad was able to come home on Saturday! Yippie!
We love that the airport is only 10 minutes away. It makes the waiting time a lot better.

As soon as the girls saw Chip coming out of the terminal, the race was ON. (Chip's co-worker, Ashish, that he went with is in the brown shirt beside him)

Ahh.... It's good to have Chip back.
Welcome home, honey!

Day 3. Hanging by a thread

Tonight completes day 3 since Chip has been gone. Here is our play by play:

- Went to a friends this morning to hang out. She is newly prego and having a rough go at the whole morning sickness. We went over to play with her sweet little girl and visit. Good Times.

-Maggie and I detailed out Chip's car. It was lookin' pretty gross. I told Chip that we detailed it. His response : "So Maggie helped you detail the car?" "Yes," I said, "There are little fingerprints all over the windows" Chip responded by saying "ahh.... She left little details all over the car huh?".
Hey.... even though the windows aren't so perfect anymore, at least the car is vacuumed.

-Went to the park after we got Alli from school so that we could play with some more friends of ours. (It was a beautiful day.... why waste it inside?) After a tick went down Michelle's shirt, we decided it was time to leave the park. (I still am feeling creepy all over.... those stupid little ticks.) We then spent 3 minutes gathering kids to put them in the car and 30 minutes to then try and find Michelle's lost keys. Good times :)

-Came home and put the kids to bed early. I had a ton of stuff that I needed to get done, namely folding laundry, ironing 2 weeks worth of clothes, and writing my talk. I didn't have time to be 'Mom' too. Kids were in bed by 7:30 (Yay!) Maggie was asleep by 7:35. Alli stayed up until past 9:30. She kept dreaming about sharks looking at her. I told her that she needed to be asleep in order to dream. She didn't believe me. I then read a book to her and we talked about all the things going on in her life. It was a good chat.

-Come downstairs feeling like Super Mom only to find that somehow the clothes in the washing machine got off balanced and LEAKED WATER EVERYWHERE AGAIN! Kitchen, bathroom, dining room, and half of the living room was under 1 inch of standing water. Nice. Just the thing that wasn't on my 'to-do' list.

-flood cleaned up, aside from all the wet carpet.

-drink 2, yes 2 cans of Cherry Coke. I needed it.

-download some materials for my talk. I'm still drawing a blank.

-Ironed about 1 weeks worth of clothing. Half of it is still looking at me, giving me the stink eye.

- I need to sleep. Tomorrow is a big day. I have to finish doing the ironing, take out all the trash, Go to work and get the kids ready to take to my friend Michelle's house (THANKS MICHELLE FOR WATCHING MY MONKEY'S), and then pick up Chip. Somewhere in there I have to finish my talk. Sheesh. That talk is going to be the end of me.

Until next time: Night, Night.

Day 2. We're still alive.

Today I am feeling emotionally blah. I guess I need Chip here to bother me :) He always knows how to make me laugh.
The girls were about 85% good today.
I had a fun time hanging with my friend Lora and her kids, who are town for a week.
The girls stayed up until 10pm....urgg.... (their bedtime is between 7:30-8pm)
I still need to prepare my talk for Sunday. I still don't know what I'm going to say. If I can't figure it out, we're going to play 'Pin Angel Moroni on the Temple'. (it might just get me excused from ever giving another talk again).


I've been thinking about a conversation that I had with one of my Ghetto Fabulous co-workers yesterday. It is still REALLY bothering me. A LOT.
A little background on her:
She comes from a single mom. She does know who her dad is, and her dad is semi- in her life. She herself got good and (excuse the french) knocked up when she was 18. Her baby daddy "lives" with her and the kid (The little one is Maggie's age.) I say "lives" with, because he does live there, but because of getting day care greatly reduced because he doesn't live there, they can't say he does. Yeah... they are using the system. She is always on the sunny side of gray. Everything in her life is shady. She was telling us that her baby daddy buys food stamps from his cousin, at half price! He pays her $150 cash for $300 worth of food stamps. MY CO-WORKER THINKS THIS IS OKAY! She just says that if she isn't buying them, than someone else will.
The baby daddy's cousin has 5 children, she gets food stamps, utility assistance, free public housing, cash assistance, etc....... and she sits at home and smokes weed all day long. They (co-worker and baby daddy) condone her behavior, and yet they still buy the food stamps from her so she can buy the weed! What the heck!! I told my co-worker that I'd like to have the cousin's name so I can turn her lazy bum in. I also thanked my co-worker for stealing my tax dollars, and to thank her cousin for that as well.
I was just furious! Why do people scam the system? Why is it that people living in the Ghetto have no ambition to better themselves? Why is living in poverty an OKAY standard of living.... and yet most of them STEAL to get what they want? Some people make me down right get ticked off to my core.
The government is making it so easy for people to sit on their bums and do nothing to contribute to society. Welfare is there for WHEN YOU NEED IT, not all the flippin' time. It's not a standard of living.... it's to help for a small amount of time only. It doesn't help that most of the case workers (.... at least in our state) are ghetto fabulous, and let everything slide for people like them. Plus the case workers are so over booked, they don't care about following the rules. What they don't realize is if the rules are followed, their case loads would probably be cut in half!
hum... sounds like a catch 22.
Okay, sorry about the rant. It just really bothers me what the stupid people in our country are really capable of. Doesn't anyone have a conscience anymore?

While Dad's away......

My sweet hubby left me yesterday..... for Phoenix. Yep. Phoenix will have that man until Saturday. I wanted to take our pouting little children and have some fun with them. I remembered that Opa and Oma sent us a coupon for Chuck-E-Cheese and some money to buy dinner for us too.

Coupon + $ - dad = Adventure time!

Maggie thought that cheese pizza needed some extra cheese sprinkles on it.

My children have only been to Chuck-E-Cheeses only once before. Everything was new and fun to them. They had a blast on this roller coaster ride. It seemed so goofy to me that they instinctively knew that when on a roller coaster, your arms should go above your head and you should start screaming for joy.
(I bumped my camera setting on the picture below, and it turned out grainy. I just wanted to illustrate the arm above the head thing.)

By far, Maggie's favorite game was the whack-a-duck. I think she played that game a total of 11 times. I guess it's true.... you never get tired of hitting ducks.

Alli just loved it all. She is wondering when we can go back again.
I think as soon as my cholesterol returns to a normal level again after eating that greasy/salty pizza, we might think about it.

Thanks Opa and Oma for a fun night out!

So this is love.........

Alli came home from school today and told me very proudly to check out what was in her bag. As I grabbed the massive mound of crinkled up 'treasures' that Alli had made today and started to look through them. This prize was in the middle of the bunch.

"So Alli, tell me about this?" I asked in a sing song voice. She got a real serious look on her face, and then with a shrug she said "It's a love note from Gabe.". "Wow. I see. How do you feel about Gabe, Alli?" She started giggling, as most girls in love do, and said "I just like that chubby little guy!".

I started asking her for more information about Gabe. I know he's actually an adorable little guy that sits by Alli in school. I know his Dad is over 6 feet tall, and his mom is under 5 foot. I know he has a sister a little older than Maggie. But other than those family relations, I didn't know much about him. Alli started telling me that he has been sitting by her at lunch more and more. They now play together every recess.

"Alli," I said, "how long do you think this relationship might last for?" (I'm trying to see if wedding bells are in the near future.... playground weddings were all the rage when I was a kid). Alli said very matter of fact , "Well, we are good friends now, and we already said we'd like each other when we get to be teenagers."

That is some long term commitment from a couple of 6 year old kids.

I guess that the whole 'who's going to be my first date' dilemma is already solved.

Personal Service

With all of the car issues that we've had this year, we have gotten to know the guys at Midas pretty dang well.
On Saturday I got my oil changed in the van. When I got in my car and saw my sticker, I just had to laugh.
Apparently, my basically living there hasn't gone unnoticed.

A Holiday for being Me

I have always wondered why there is only one day set aside per year to honor Mothers.
Nothing would ever be done without mothers. Dishes wouldn't ever be cleaned, laundry would pile up, the dust bunnies would take up permanent residence wherever a surface would allow. Without a mom around boo-boo's would go un-kissed, brownies wouldn't ever be made, and of course there would be no socializing attempts made.

I love Moms. Chip and I happen to have the best two moms that Heavenly Father ever created. They are kind, loyal, sweet, beautiful, faithful, and they still have their shoulders (over the phone) available for us to cry on. Both of our mothers together could probably save the world with their mad skills. Seriously...... they rock.

I am blessed to have two beautiful daughters of my own, who one day, I pray will have the desire to want to become mothers too. I pray that they marry wonderful, righteous, and stalwart Prince Charming's who will do anything to give them families.

I decided this Mothers Day I would let the girls in on the fun and we would all celebrate being mothers (and for them... future mothers). We had a lot of fun! We started off Saturday night by painting fingernails, decorating crowns, turning up the music. We had a glow-stick dance party! The girls always have a blast dancing and twirling those glow sticks around. We even had glow stick whistle necklaces. Wowza!! We let Chip participate in the festivities on two grounds: 1) he had to be the disk jockey. 2) He had to wear a crown too.

Sunday morning I was woken up by little sweet voices eager to give me their treasured cards.

Chip had made pancakes from SCRATCH (this is a first in our marriage!). They were delicious!

We got on with our day, getting ready for church. I find it a major accomplishment that all 4 of us were able to shower and completely get ready in an hour and a half! It was great!!

At church it was an adventure. I got asked if I could go into the nursery to help out. They have some really sweet, really excitable, and some really sad and crying kids. It's a room full of fun. :)
One of the kids that I was holding was crying so badly, that she ended up peeing all over me. Seriously... all over. Just after that happened I was tapped on the shoulder, it was Alli's teacher with Alli behind her. Apparently Alli wasn't feeling too good. I decided that I wasn't going to be able to finish church with Alli moping around and my clothes covered in pee. I went to Chip's class, and found out that he was co-teaching a lesson..... so I'd have to buck up and deal with it for another 20 minutes. Finally we were able to come home.

Chip made lunch, I took a shower, and we all took naps. ahh..... that was nice. What was nicer... they were 3 hour naps!!!

Chip cooked an amazing dinner, got the girls ready for bed , and as he was putting them down the phone started ringing. It was a member of our Bishopric. I had finally been summoned to give a talk. I seriously have been dreading this day for a while. I haven't given a talk since I've been married. I never gave one talk when I was in the singles ward. I think the last time I honestly gave a talk was when I was in High School. Yeah.... it's been a while. I don't have a problem with actually giving the talk. That I can do just fine. I have a problem with writing a talk. I don't have much worth while to say, let alone say it for 10-15 minutes. If you give me a lesson outline, I'm good to go. Give me a blank slate, and I freeze. Let alone, this is a topic of which I DON'T DO! (Genelolgy work) AHHHHH...... ohh.. and this is for next Sunday.

As you can see, my weekend was full of ups and full of downs. Overall, rather pleasant.
Hope all you moms out there had a Happy Mother's Day too!

These are the Faces

These are the faces that torment me daily.
These are the faces that crack me up.
These are the faces that I love to cover with kisses.
These are the faces that make me want to be a better person.
These are the faces that back-talk daily.
These are the faces that I am entrusted with to raise righteously.
These are the faces that I adore and love with all my heart.
These are the faces that call me mom.

(This is Maggie's "I didn't do anything" face, and Alli's "Yeah Right" face. I just thought they were the cutest pictures.)

Scooter

I know I have posted (twice) about our dear friend Scooter the Goat. He is such a freekin' stud of a goat. The goatee is awesome, his little 'smile' that he has is heart warming, and his attitude is just so funny.
My friend Tracie and I have dubbed this goat as our favorite goat in the petting zoo.

When I was at the zoo a month or so ago, We went to the petting zoo and found out that sadly Scooter didn't make it through the winter. He got cancer and they had to put him down.
Sad day!


Rest in Peace dear friend. You were a good goat.

The petting zoo just won't be the same without you.

Family Visit day 1, Part 1

We started out our fun adventures going to Inniswood Metro Park. After our walk on Sunday, I knew that our family would love to see all the sights too!

Apparently I am addicted to taking pictures of frogs. Right now at the park, the frogs are everywhere. The tadpoles are abundant. It is just so fun to 'find' a frog in the pond!

I am also addicted to taking pictures of flowers lately too. I loved watching this little bumble bee. For the life of him, he just wouldn't hold still for a picture. Sheesh.

Aunt Ruthie and Maggie. Sweet girls.

I pulled Alli out of school on Tuesday. I thought that Nomi and the kids were just staying for one day. We were so happy that they decided to stay for 3! The girls were in 7th heaven. I love when family comes.
Alli was just so sweet on Tuesday. I just needed to take her picture. I also wanted to document that Alli takes a backpack with her.... always. If it isn't a backpack, it is something to put treasures in. She just cracks me up.

Notice the little muddy bare feet? Maggie stepped in a mud puddle and then refused to wear dirty shoes. I guess it doesn't hurt to go barefoot (unless you step on something).

Aren't these tadpoles so weird looking? There were SWARMS of them. This was the only picture that I could get of them. The sun was reflecting on the pond.

Poor Maggie has inherited my... um.... grace. Or lack there of. That poor girl can trip over air. We have a lot of Band-Aids for her little knees in our car. They are well used!
Hopefully she'll outgrow this stage.

The park was fun, magical, and wonderful!