Mmmboppin'

Halloween Goodies

2012-01-17T12:50:00.002-07:00

Maggie sure loves making things in the kitchen. Or bossing me around in the kitchen rather. My mom was getting rid of superfluous kitchen gadgetry and gave us a Halloween jell-o mold and a pumpkin cookie pan. In October we tried them out much to the kids' delight.

Sibling Photos to Sum Up 2011

2012-01-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

I found these pictures Dan took at a home show we went to last year. They capture pretty well how these kids interact on a daily basis:

Deep down I know they love each other.

Tucked In

2012-01-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

The other night Maggie complained about feeling cold, so I tucked her in under 5 blankets. As I did so I realized that each blanket had been made by a different person who loved her (Beth, Courtney, my mom, my grandma, and Dan's mom.

Lucky kid.

Stuff that Happened in 2011

2012-01-13T17:18:00.000-07:00

One thing I regret about the last year is that most of the blog posts I wrote were in my head and not actually on the internets. So, here are some cool things that happened that I never was able to blog about.

First, We got chickens. 3 ladies and 1 dude. They're afraid of everything. They smell bad. But their eggs are delicious and they are really fun pets. We like them a lot. They are still unnamed. The only one that I know for sure is that one of the girls is named Fredette. I think the rooster should be named Tony Danza cuz he's the boss. But we're still not sure. Let me know your name recommendations.

Second, I went to another awesome year of girls' camp. The theme this year was "Your Happily Ever After" from the Elder Uchtdorf talk of the same name. Each ward was assigned a Disney Princess and we got Tiana. So we were frog princessing it up the whole week. There was a castle building contest and ours turned out pretty rad. I'm still proud of it 6 months later.

Third, For father's Day, we gave Dan breakfast in bed. I was pretty proud of those pancakes. One of the bowls on the tray looks like it has coleslaw in it. I honestly don't remember what it was. But I'm pretty sure it wasn't coleslaw.

Fourth, My pal Hillary got married. It was so wonderful. She was gorgeous. He was darling. And it was an awesome party. I even danced the electric slide with the bride--it probably helped that I drank about 5 diet cokes with dinner so I had plenty of energy. Hillary has been such a wonderful friend to me for a million years. I actually cried hugging her and her mom goodbye. Sometimes I wish I could be 15 again sitting in Hillary's living room laughing with her family. Love those people.

And last but not least, Maggie learned how to play an egg slicer like a violin. She was endlessly pleased with herself.

Word for 2012

2012-01-10T16:48:00.000-07:00

Its a new year. 2012.

Frankly, 2011 was mostly a blur.

The twins turned 3 and with it came even more wrestling, breaking of electronics, potty training, and all sorts of other twinado-like shenanigans. Maggie turned 5 and continued bossing everybody around, and either coloring, cutting, or writing on any available piece of paper in the entire house--rather messy but also endearing. Dan is still serving as Elder's Quorum President and feeling the stress of wanting more money to be able to do manly things like buy a truck and remodel bathrooms and stuff like that. Money is not something I enjoy worrying about. I realized that I had more on my plate than I had bargained for with being in the young women's presidency, starting a preschool, and raising 3 small, extremely active, incredibly inventive, constantly bickering children. This spiraled me into a pretty good depression which is something that I've dealt with in the past, but not as severely as it was last year. Medication and counseling have helped a lot. I feel bad for being depressed when I have so many great things in my life. I love my calling--12 and 13 year olds are the best! I love my kids--they make be laugh so hard and their slobbery kisses are my favorite! My husband is my best friend. I love spending time with him and smooching his gorgeous face.

But life is hard.

I'm trying to figure out how to deal with the fact that opposition plays a major role in this world. Things (clothes, kitchens, 3 year olds' faces, etc.) don't stay clean. They get dirty. Feeling happy can't last forever. Sad things happen. Things get made. Things break. People are born. People die. What goes up, must come down. Its part of life.

Sometimes, though, I wonder why we are innately given the desire to be perfect. We can't be. We can't have perfect homes or children or blogs or lives. We can't. And yet I constantly feel worried and sad and guilty because I'm not good enough. Well, nobody is good enough. I'm realizing that we have that desire to make things beautiful, clean, true, and obedient because that's what Heaven is. We are striving for Heaven. I know I'll appreciate Heaven because I'm working to have even little tiny bits of it here. However futile my efforts may seem at times.

So, my word for the year is work.

I'm going to quit worrying, feeling guilty, beating myself up about every flaw, and instead I will work. I will do what I can to solve these problems, pray, and go on with life.

Now, its time to get to work!

Do you have a word for 2012?

We Mustache you to Have a Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

We're sure happy to have the holidays to reflect on how blessed we are to have crazy fun kids, a decent job, a rad preschool, a home our kids can destroy, wonderful friends and relatives, and the ability to watch Elf at least once a day.

With all of the holiday pizazz we are most grateful for the true meaning of Christmas: that God gave the world His Son. We believe in Him. We love Him. We honor Him.

We love you!

The Hinckleys

Maggie Turns 5!

2011-12-19T23:20:00.000-07:00

After tossing around birthday party themes for a good 6 months, Maggie decided that a Pinkalicious party sounded like a good idea. I agreed. I found some really adorable party favor and cupcake topper downloads and that made things pretty simple.

The book is one of Maggie's favorites, and since eating a diet of green food cured the acute case of pinkitis, it seemed only right that we send guests home with some green stuff incase anybody overdosed on pink. Luckily no one did. Though many tried.

Being the center of attention and showered with gifts is one of Maggie's favorite past times. So she sure lived it up.

Aunt Megan is keeping up favorite aunt status by using her awesome cake decorating/baking skills for all the nieces and nephews birthdays. So cute, right!? And Maggie picked out the candles on top of the cake in February. So she's been waiting forever!

We didn't serve dinner at the party, but Dan had just returned from his fishing trip and couldn't wait to impress everybody with his fishing/grilling/marinating/awesome entertaining skillz. Oh man that fish was so good.

See? He knows he's awesome.

This book is Maggie's favorite thing ever! She's always pulling it out and asking to try out new recipes. Everything we've made from it is both cute and yummy.

And she finally got a pillow pet. It's a pillow... it's a pet... it's a pillow pet! Just don't tell her its an off-brand pillow pet knock off for 1/2 the price. [I just recently found out that my fake cabbage patch kids I got when I was 4 weren't even made by my mother but were picked up at Ream's Grocery Store. That was a hard pill to swallow. All these years I thought they were at least hand made....]

Maggie put together this awesome birthday outfit. And she put on her own eyeshadow. So it was a really great day. A super great day. We love you Maggie, our little pink princess. You're so good at life!

A Wuggle Pet is Born

2011-12-19T23:02:00.000-07:00

I wrote previously about Maggie's Wuggle Pet story, but here are the pictures of how the little purple bear came to life.

First you add the stuffing. If your mom isn't cheap then you will have the machine thing with a crank handle that will put the stuffing in for you. If your mom is cheap you'll have to do it by dang hand. Poor Maggie has a cheap mom.

Then you add sparkles! I like to think God added sparkles when he put me together.

Then you cram in all of these little pieces of paper that say personality traits. Maggie only picked nice ones to go in her wuggle pet and left out the ones like "sassy" and "wild" even though "sassy" and "wild" are traits that could perfectly describe Maggie herself on most days. But oh I love that girl!

At the end you get to add her name to the birth certificate and keep and cherish it forever. Welcome to the family, Starlee!

Womb-Mates

2011-12-05T13:43:00.001-07:00

My kids have been kind of fascinated with the idea of babies in Mommy's tummies--especially twins. And I loved Coleman's hilarious account of how our family came to be:

"And Me and Will was in your tummy and we comed out and Maggie was in your tummy and she comed out. But Maggie not with me and Will, 'cuz there wasn't no room."

Yeah, I think triplets would have been a bit much.

I am a Horrible Parent

2011-12-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

I'll just say it: I bribed my daughter to pay her tithing.

Here's how it happened: We were getting ready to go to tithing settlement (a meeting where we sit down with our bishop and tell him whether or not we paid a complete 10% tithe of our income during the year--a prerequisite to attending the temple). We we were getting ready to go with our kids they wondered what on earth we were getting dressed up in church clothes on a Saturday for. We reminded them what tithing was and how Heavenly Father has blessed us with everything that we have and all he asks is that we give him 10% back. We told them that we pay tithing on all the money Mommy and Daddy earn (which isn't much... but back to the story.

This is when the problem started.

Maggie put her chest out and defiantly shouted, "You and Daddy can do that but I won't give Heavenly Father any of my money--I'm saving up for a Wuggle Pet!"

[Side note: Wuggle Pets are cute little stuffed animals created by an evil company that puts their commercials on every other second while Maggie is watching the Magic School Bus on tv making her think that without this little animal that she can bring to life by adding stuffing and sparkles her life is lacking in splendor.]

Well, I don't think its imperative that the 5 and under crowd pay tithing on all the pennies in their piggy banks, though I would certainly support it. But I do have a problem with my child being so greedy with the pennies in her piggy bank that she is bragging about not sharing with God.

So we sat down and talked about it. She screamed and stomped and threw a royal fit, which is basically the way she deals with anything not in her personal agenda. But when she finally listened to me explaining that everything in the world belongs to Heavenly Father and that for every 10 pennies we have, he just wants one, her little heart started to soften. We counted up her money and took out the $.24 that would be tithing, and then I told her that if we help Heavenly Father, he promises to help us.

That's when the bribe just popped out of my mouth. I said, "If you pay your tithing, then I will help you buy a Wuggle Pet." And I did. And when we stuffed it full of stuffing and sparkles, I'll admit it did bring some splendor into our lives.

Is that horrible?

Yellowstone Vacation

2011-11-29T16:32:00.000-07:00

In August Dan's parents took us on a trip to Yellowstone. On the way up we stopped by my dear friend Emalee's house. Emalee was one of my mission companions in Hungary and she's one of the best people I know. She gave me a smokin' hot hair cut and entertained us with her adorable baby Cilee and stories about her colorful Rexburg salon clients. Hair stylists have the best stories.

We took a scenic route to our condo and stopped in Virginia City which was an absolutely adorable old mining town with cute little shops. My only complaint about Virginia City was that the ice cream shop closed 5 minutes before we got there. And also, Coleman and Will kept doing stinky Costco hotdog burps. But I guess that's not Virginia City's fault.

We stayed in Big Sky Montana at a beautiful condo. It was about an hour outside of the park, but the drive was beautiful. We had a hot tub in our room that the kids loved (it was more of a luke-warm tub) and the kids were in heaven spending time with their cousins.

We hiked, got bossed around by park rangers, took lots of pictures, and were amazed by the diversity of nature. Yellowstone is definitely a cool place.

Dan bought the book Death in Yellowstone--about all of the crazy ways people have died in the park. I read it in the weeks after the vacation and it gave me nightmares of all of the things that could have gone wrong. It was kind of a cool read but mostly horrible and not recommended if you're already semi-neurotic. I don't know if I'll ever be able to return to the park without putting all my children on leashes and bringing a huge can of bear spray.

Old Faithful was pretty great. We waited an hour to see it and right before it blasted off a bunch of tourists came and sat right in front of us. We had previously been on the front row. I don't know who those people thought they were. Maybe they were super special professional line cutters. Yeah, probably.

Grandma bought Maggie this little wolf toy. It is Maggie's favorite toy. It catapulted right past all other toys that have ever been on Maggie's favorite toy radar. Wolfie sleeps on Maggie's bed and wears all sorts of fancy doll dresses. Our kids cried and screamed when we had to leave and head home. But luckily we got to stop and play with Emalee and her husband Dan again. They supplied us with enough giggles to last us the entire drive home.

Yep, that was an awesome vacation.

Post Church Refresher

2011-11-29T06:59:00.000-07:00

This summer we arrived home from church and were busy preparing dinner and making calls about church assignments when Coleman took the opportunity to slip away for a relaxing dip in the backyard pool. Two barbies joined him. He was so darn cute that I really couldn't be mad at him.

Now that's a day of rest...

Eating Efficiency

2011-11-28T06:56:00.000-07:00

The other day at dinner Will discovered a quicker way to get the food to his mouth.

Shoveling the food into his mouth with his hand speeds things along quite nicely Will thinks.

Dan Goes Fishing

2011-11-27T20:15:00.001-07:00

In September Dan was invited on an ocean fishing trip in San Diego.

He came home with a cooler full of the most delicious fish we'd ever had. He also won the contest to see who could catch the biggest fish.

Coincidentally, he also caught the smallest fish.

We sure missed him while he was gone, but as soon as we had a bite of fresh grilled tuna we forgave him for leaving us. Well done, Dan.

We're Goin' to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

2011-11-03T16:27:00.000-06:00

We spent many summer days this year at the Hogle Zoo. Our awesome Grandma Hinckley got us a zoo pass, so we've been frequent visitors.

We love the zoo!

Halloween Zombie Bride

2011-11-03T15:21:00.000-06:00

While on a thrift shopping excursion looking for Halloween-y things, I found this little lady. The clerk at check-out asked me if it was for a wedding, but I told him I had something else in mind for her.

Namely, this:

A light dusting of black spray paint, followed by some yellow zombie eyes and a trickle of blood from her ruby red lips made her the belle of the zombie ball.

I normally don't get into the blood and gore side of Halloween, but I've really got a thing for this zombie. Cutest un-dead chick ever.

Will-Man

2011-10-06T00:09:00.001-06:00

Will said to me on Monday, "Mom, I wike He-Man, 'cause him got big muscles wike me."

I can totally see the resemblance. Also, I love my egocentric babe that says He-Man the master of the universe looks like him and not that he looks like He-Man.

In other news, the twins have taken to calling each other Battle Cat. Its awesome. I love hearing them say "Battle Cat, let's go!" as they run around the house saving us all "by the power of grey skull".

Cure-all for a Bad Mood

2011-10-05T22:55:00.000-06:00

Today Maggie came up to me after watching her favorite animal t.v. show and said, "Mom, I'm really frust-er-rated."

"Oh dear," I said, "What should we do about it?"

"I think I would feel better if I could just see some fruit bats," she said.

"I think I'd feel better, too," I responded.

"Yeah," she said patting my leg sympathetically.

Image via wonders of the animal kingdom

Sundays with Aunt Linda Lou

2011-09-18T23:29:00.000-06:00

Don't be jealous, but we have the best aunt in the universe. Her name is Aunt Linda. She sends us cards on our birthdays and calls us on the phone to ask us how much we miss her each week. ("Coleman buddy, you miss your Aunt Linda?") We love to visit her at her care center.

She has a thing for Diet Pepsi (sometimes we bring her one as a treat).

On Sunday nights she always shares her popcorn with us (and the ducks).

She gives us lots of big hugs and smooches.

We figure she's probably the fastest human on wheels.

We know that because we've tried to race her. And she wins every time.

Wish everybody had a special aunt like our Lou!

Dinner with the Hinckley's

2011-09-18T22:54:00.000-06:00

On Thursday Dan called me up from work, and asked if I wanted to go out to dinner that evening. We decided to take the kids with us as a sort of celebration that Coleman had gone 2 days without a potty accident (yay!!) and Will and Maggie had both made it a whole day of preschool without being put into time-out or throwing enormous tantrums (double yay!!).

We never take the kids to actual restaurants with waiters, menus, more than one fork, or any type of ambiance whatsoever. We have been known to go places where our children can drop pizza on the floor or drink fry sauce while they roll around on the table holding 49 cent ice cream cones. We feel at home there. Probably because every time our children eat anything they end up looking like this:

But in the name of celebration we took our children to a certain Italian restaurant that happens to be a favorite of mine. Rhymes with Bolive Marden. The kids were surprisingly amazing. They ate their food. They sat in their chairs. They made hilarious conversation and when they got the wiggles they amused themselves by climbing around the booth (as opposed to running around the restaurant tripping waiters as I observed one child to do). Dan made it his personal mission to eat enough of the never ending pasta bowl so that he could brag about it to the guys at work. 7 bowls. Extremely respectable. And when our waiter realized that he'd brought me salad and forgotten my zuppa toscana, he gave me a bowl of it to take home. It was a perfect night. He even gave us 15 mints. 15. I know. When you haven't been to a restaurant for 3 years I guess you're easily pleased by things like mints and take home bowls of soup.

We headed home after our enjoyable dinner and not 15 steps out the door, Will puked. We're talking a puddle of pasta that covered the sidewalk. It was horrific. But Dan and I laughed really hard (what else can you do?) and picked up the puker and took off for the car. We stripped Will down, got the kids strapped in the car, and Coleman takes the opportunity to join his brother by spraying down the car's interior with vomit. What the? Maggie started crying about how bad it smelled. I heartily agreed. So we rolled down the windows and took the stench wagon home for a good shampooing and a good soak in the tub for the pukers.

We will most likely never dine at Bolive Marden again. Sad...

The Simple Life

2011-08-16T16:04:00.000-06:00

We haven't taken the kids on any fancy vacations (can you imagine us bringing our Hinckley circus on a plane?) I didn't realize, however, that maybe the deprivation of the luxe life could work in my favor.

This morning when we were in the cheesy Disney section at Pay-less, Will's eyes got all big as he looked at the plethora of Lightning McQueen memorabilia. Then he asked hopefully, "Mom, is this Disneyland?"

I should have let his hopeful dream live on in his heart, but I felt that I needed to tell him the truth. "No son, this is just a shoe store."

Maybe though, I should take him to the Disney Store--that could maybe pass for Disneyland.

Love is in the Air

2011-07-27T15:29:00.000-06:00

This morning Dan heard the boys talking to each other and giggling in their room. He went in and said, "Hey! What are you guys talking about."

He was taken aback when they answered, "Girls!"

"Oh really?" He asked, "Who's your girlfriend?"

"Maggie," said Coleman.

"Clara," said Will.

I wouldn't expect my babies to be talking about chicks already, but the fact that they have crushes on their sister and cousin gives me hope that I have a few years before I really need to worry about them being interested in non-family girls.

Phew.

Roles

2011-07-26T12:12:00.000-06:00

Our children's behaviors of late have been really entertaining:

1) Maggie is the eloquent one. She has begun to tell me things like, "That horse looks interesting. I think that horses are very interesting to me." She has started using big words. She told me yesterday, "Bugs are just so irritating." And last week when we were on the freeway she said, "Mom, be careful. Dad always drives on the rumble strip."

2) Coleman is the reminder. If I tell the kids something like, "When we go into the store there will be no tantrums, no fits, no crying" then Coleman will wag his finger at his siblings and say "NO FITS, MAGGIE AND WILL. NO CRYING." He also takes it upon himself to be the enforcer by pinching his siblings for violating protocol. This is a problem but its also kind of funny.

3) Willy is the emotional one. He gives me kisses all day and tells me he loves me. He uses the phrase, "That's very scary to me" at least 12 times a day. He laughs a lot and always follows with "That's so funny!" The other night he started laughing and the laugh just got louder and crazier and at the end he said "That. was. a. BIG. laugh!"

Backyard Camping

2011-07-18T10:58:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago we planned to go on an overnight camping trip to a local canyon. However, Dan had to stay late to finish a project at work, and I became overwhelmed at the thought of packing up everything myself so that we could make it to a decent camp spot before dark.

Then I had a brilliant idea: Camp at home!

We took some retaining wall blocks that were waiting to be used in our backyard landscaping, and made ourselves a fire pit.

We roasted hot dogs, drank shasta, and gorged ourselves on S'mores.

It was totally enjoyable and low-key. And completely relaxing--there was no rush.

No panic if we forgot something.

And when it got dark we bedded down on the grass and projected a movie on the side of the shed. Best camping trip ever.

Lehi's Newest Preschool

2011-07-15T23:13:00.001-06:00

My preschool is now legit (I got me a business license).

Let the fun times begin! Check out my Happy Day Preschool blog.

Telluride, CO

2011-07-15T11:25:00.000-06:00

Just 25 miles from Rico is the gorgeous town of Telluride. If you're looking to move there, Jerry Seinfield is selling his place for a mere $18.3 million. But on to the matters at hand.

Telluride is beautiful, its really a lot like Park City (historically and presently) but its a bit more expensive. We pulled into town, parked our car, and were greeted by this graffiti:

Awesome. We realized just how liberal Telluride was, when we were invited to tour a Medical Marijuana operation. The owner who had a college degree in Cannabis, and seemed pretty baked, proudly showed us his 3-4 growing rooms, the medical smoking room with rock posters all over the walls, and told us how because he has developed special LED lights to grow Marijuana, he has the most economical system in the world. So his weed plant is totally good for the environment.

"These are my mother plants" he said. He keeps these kind of in a stagnant state
and gets starts off of them to make into weed. Or something like that. I don't really remember--I don't have a Cannabis degree.

These are just some of the pipes on display for purchase. I just like the pretty colors.

I was laughing during the whole tour, but I don't think he noticed how ridiculous I thought the whole thing was. Later we found out Telluride has 6 such "medical marijuana" dispensaries. That seems like a lot for a population of 2,200. Just saying...

Next, we rode the gondola ski lift over the mountain.

Our geologist, Scott, isn't so comfortable with heights. We tried to tune out his whimpering.

The twins were showing me how old they are. Nice try fellas.

The views were beautiful--the gondola takes you from the town of Telluride to the ski resort side called Mountain Village and then back. When we returned I was excited to see this:

A lady with a doughnut making cart. It was like a portable Krispy Kreme set-up. And oh man they were delicious. She said that her umbrella that she'd just bought for the cart got busted in the wind. We gave her a dollar tip and told her it could go in the new umbrella fund and then she dissed us saying, "Yeah, like I can buy an umbrella for a dollar." Duh that's why I said it could go in the fund. I don't have an extra $18.3 million, lady. But at least her sour attitude didn't affect the sweetness of the doughnuts in any way.

In Telluride it must be a requirement to have a really cool bike parked outside the door of your business:

Another quirky thing about Telluride is that they have a thing called the Free Box. People can put stuff they don't want anymore on the shelves of the free box and other people can come and look it over and take whatever they want. Maggie took a Snow White book and Will found a digger toy. 2 free souvenirs. Can't beat that.

Then I ate this absolutely dreamy chocolate cupcake:

I think I said "Oh my heck!" between each bite. The texture of it was so moist and dense and the icing was divine. It was a perfect cupcake.

Oh and also Butch Cassidy robbed some banks in town back in the day. So that's cool.

Telluride, I love you. I'll be back--have the doughnuts and cupcakes ready.

Lettuce

2011-07-13T20:23:00.000-06:00

We ate salad for dinner tonight, and since Maggie is opposed to eating anything green, or as she terms it "yucky," I knew this would be a problem. I was preparing for her to throw a fit which would then result in time out, an apology and then suggesting a bowl of cereal, when she blew me away.

"What is that stuff?" she asked.

"It's lettuce, Mags," I said.

"Is it spicy?" she asked.

"Spicy? No. It's yummy." I said, "It tastes like broccoli." Since broccoli is the only veggie she likes at the moment.

Maggie then tasted a leaf, nodded to herself, and proceeded to make the-largest-salad-ever-consumed-by-a-4-year-old on her plate.

Then she ate it all. True story. And I am a proud mother.

Que Rico

2011-07-13T17:34:00.000-06:00

We went back to Rico, Colorado for vacation this year. We did something we've never done before on our Rico adventures, however: we took a geologist with us.

Scott is a friend of Dan's from work and he is hilarious. Dude is obsessed with rocks. And minerals. And mines. And Dr. Pepper. He blogs about it all here. He had us all laughing so hard we figure we might take him on all our vacations from now on just for entertainment.

While in Rico we did a lot of walking around with our eyes focused on the ground, looking for cool rocks. I found an old assay cup (a crucible used to melt ore or something like that), some quartz crystals, and a whole lot of pyrite. The geologist was impressed with my findings. I also did a lot of deep breathing since the air there smells like Christmas trees on steroids. The trees aren't on steriods, they just smell like it. Best smelling air I've ever smelled.

The kids had fun climbing on stuff, playing trucks and other toys with their cousins, and eating their fill of treats. 2 of our 3 kids rode in my in-law's car, so that made travel tantrums a limited occurrence for me (probably not so much for my mother in law, sorry Vicki).

I absolutely adore this quirky little town with its interesting history and funky people. It's like heaven for hippies. Dan got cussed out by a neighbor for using bug spray around the perimeter of our house. Hippies don't like that kind of behavior. Dan doesn't like cussing hippies, but luckily he was able to flash the lady a peace sign and walk away, trailing bug poison behind him.

While we were in town, another local made his own fireworks and was driving up to the ridge to shoot them off when he happened to blow up his own hand. He drove his truck full of explosives back down the mountain and pulled into the gas station to ask for help. Well, when they learned what they were dealing with they ended up sending in the firemen, the police departments from several towns, and eventually the Farmington New Mexico Bomb Squad arrived to empty the truck. They closed down the highway running through town for about 8 hours.

I love traveling and one of the things that I love to do when I travel is imagine myself living there and choosing a career and a house for myself. Well, I think I'd have to choose being the Rico Elementary School teacher and then I'd tackle this weed bed behind the school and turn it into a flower bed as I think it was intended.

I love hearing stories from my father in law who grew up spending summers in Rico. He said that he and his brothers used to play in these old mining mills and throw firecrackers at each other. Firecrackers. Wha? Luckily they all survived and nobody lost a hand like that dude at the gas station.

It was the twins' birthday while we were there so we made a cake. Maggie was pretty miffed that I didn't think to bring sprinkles, so Grandma let her decorate with fruit snacks. It tasted really good, though--high fructose corn syrup usually does.

The boys were so excited to blow out the candles they couldn't wait for us to finish singing.

Happy Rico Birthday to you, Willy and Coleman.

Further Evidence That My Babies Are Not Babies

2011-07-11T12:56:00.000-06:00

The twins turned 3 last week! They are the most adorable guys--Coleman talks and talks and talks and Will giggles and giggles. They love Maggie and each other, infact they were a little let down when I told them it was just their birthday and not Maggie's, too.

Yesterday we invited the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins to a carnival party:

We bought the boys this train table--they've been driving their June June Junes (choo choo trains) all over it.

Aunt Megan made this amazing circus tent birthday cake for the twins. It was so beautiful I was so sad to eat it. But it was delicious! It had 8 layers!

Games included classics such as Pin the Tail on the Donkey and a Fish Pond with awesome Made-in-China prizes, half of which didn't last 20 minutes. Yay for cheap party favors!

The concessions were delicious--Dan's pimped out nachos! candy! soda! cupcakes! ice cream!

And the little birthday boys were adorable in the party shirts I stenciled.

Happy Birthday Willy and Coleman! We love you!

Evidence That My Babies Are Not Babies

2011-07-11T12:08:00.000-06:00

Exhibit A:

We lost the cribs and moved on to a full size real person bed. Will still sucks his thumb and Coleman's got his middle fingers so the adorableness factor is still there.

Discipline

2011-06-22T23:27:00.000-06:00

In my years of teaching, managing computer labs, babysitting, and working with jr. high delinquints, I've picked up really useful discipline strategies. I'd even go so far as to say that you could put me in front of a class of chimpanzees and I could teach them a trick or two. BUT. I can't handle my own 3 kids.

I don't know what it is, but sometimes I am actually afraid of them. Afraid of setting them off into tantrums and whining that seem to last for days. Afraid that they will hate me forever. Afraid that I will really mess up in raising them and they will end up in years of therapy (and send me the bills). I guess I must be afraid because I actually don't have any clue what I'm doing.

There are women who have their entire days, weeks, months, summers, years, etc. planned out. They know what they are going to be doing at 9:15 and where they will be going at 3:45. They know when Johnny naps and when Johnny wakes up. They know that Suzy will go to bed at 7 and sleep a full 12 hours.

Then there are women like me who know that Maggie will wake up grumpy after 7 hours of sleep. Coleman will refuse to get dressed, and run away down the street naked. Will will try to fix his own breakfast, spilling a gallon of milk on the carpeted dining room floor. Then while you're busy cleaning up that mess Maggie will cry and beg and plead to go to the park and when you say "Not now honey, maybe after lunch." she will scream at you, "You always say that! I want to go now! I'm going in 1 minute." And when you say "No honey we have to clean up this mess," she will scream, "FINE! then I'm not going to be Maggie anymore." You will scratch your head because that didn't even make sense. And then the neighbor will call to tell you that they were driving down the road and saw a naked Coleman sitting on top of your SUV.

I would love to be a planned person rather than the frazzled mom who is just trying to keep it together (which is one of the reasons I'm so excited about my preschool--it will give the planner and teacher in me the organization I crave). But how do I get there in my day to day life? How do I get Maggie to fall asleep at a decent hour and stay asleep for 11 hours? How do you plan activities for your kids that don't leave you exhausted?

How do you keep it together during these summer kid-filled days?

No Crusts

2011-06-21T17:40:00.000-06:00

Today Maggie asked for a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast. Then she asked for another at lunch. But both times she handed me her crusts. I asked her why she wouldn't eat them and she said "I just afraid, 'cause them look like sticks."

Okay...

Maggie's Fondest Wish

2011-06-13T14:40:00.000-06:00

Today while doing Maggie's hair as per her instructions (she is very picky about her hair and fashion, though her opinions can often be out-there), I placed a flower clip on the back of her head.

Then she acted totally put-out and said "But I can't see it."

I reasoned, "You can't see it because its on the back of your head."

And she said, "But I really wish I have a Barbie head so I turn it around and I can see everyfing."

Oh yes, a Barbie head would be fantastic. Or not. Mostly not.

P.S. Or she could have one of these Barbie heads that I saw at Target. The heads and shoulders actually snap off so you can trade them. The whole concept of these really creeps me out. Replaceable heads? No thanks.

Natural

2011-06-04T14:31:00.000-06:00

Today while shopping with Maggie for a birthday present for one of her friends, she did a twirl in the aisle. She then exclaimed, "That was just natural!"

"What was that?" I asked, not sure if I'd heard her right.

"That felt really natural," she remarked.

This girl is the best thing ever.

Bad Dream, Indeed!

2011-06-03T00:27:00.000-06:00

Last night Maggie crawled into my bed and said "Mommy, I had a bad dream. I dreamed I had a rainbow and the bad guys came and chased it away. I couldn't get it back."

If that's not the most heartbreakingly sweet bad dream I've ever heard. I wrapped my arms around that girl and planted a kiss on her cheek. Nobody better chase away my baby's rainbows...

Smart Guy

2011-05-26T16:35:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I left Will in my room watching "Woody-Buzzy-Show" (Toy Story 3) while I went down to the basement to do some laundry. Coleman and Maggie followed me down hoping they could whine their way into getting some of the Mt. Dew out of the pantry that Dan had stashed in there. No way, guys. 10 minutes later I emerged to find that my little movie watcher Will had taken it upon himself to cover my room with the 200+ coupon ads Dan's mom had given us. They completely covered the floor and bed, and had been stuffed into the windows so that they entirely filled the space between the screen and the glass.

This is another reason why I just can't coupon.

Anyway, I took in the scene and screamed, "William! Get in here!" He didn't come. "Willy. Come here right now and clean up your mess!" Still nothing.

I stormed down the hall to find the boy and met him cowering around the corner. Then the little stinker made me laugh with this clever response, "Oh. Hi Mom. I Coleman."

"I know you're not Coleman, Will." I said.

"Oh. Sorry," was his response.

What a smart kid! He tried to get out of trouble by pretending to be his brother. He's 2.

And so the twin games begin...

Preschool Help

2011-05-18T15:13:00.000-06:00

I've decided to start my own preschool. I am at once excited and terrified by the idea. But I've prayed about it and I feel like it would be great for our family, for our stage of life, and to make some extra money since the cost of living keeps going up and Dan's paycheck keeps not going up. And Maggie's begging for "ballerina" lessons.

I'm gathering curriculum, supplies, and ideas. I have the degree and the know-how. Now I'm just looking for the right name so I can get my business license and get going.

If you wouldn't mind, please help me out by voting for your favorite name in my poll on the sidebar, and/or leaving an idea in the comments below (when I asked my facebook friends for ideas I got recommendations such as "Lord Cuddlebottom's Child Emporium" and "Shut Yo Mouf Preskoo"I'm hoping your ideas will be less hilarious and more helpful, although the hilarity was definitely helpful in its own way).

Thanks!

Accidental Mom-cation

2011-05-18T14:36:00.000-06:00

I signed up for a 1 day Mac Computer class to earn points to renew my teaching license. I was pretty excited about it. I reserved my mom to babysit for the day. I went over the U of U campus map with my husband so I would be able to find the classroom. I got dressed in corduroy pants and even wore socks (what a departure from my normal mom capris and flip-flops). I gave myself an hour to navigate traffic and I pulled up just in time. But when I entered the building to get my parking pass they informed me that they didn't have any more classes until June.

"June?" I asked. "I'm supposed to have a class today."

"Let's see," the secretary said. "Oh yes, that says May 11th."

"Yeah?" I asked with a "duh" tone in my voice.

And she kindly said, "That was last week."

"Oh, sure was." I said sheepishly as I backed out the door.

What an idiot I was. So I called my mom to confess to her that I totally messed up and my class had been last week. Being the sweetheart that she is, she said, "Well, I'm here! Go do something fun!" So I went to Les Madeleines in downtown Salt Lake and bought one of their amazing Kouing Aman. I can't even begin to describe how delicious they are. If you could take all the joy and happiness in the world and bake it into a pastry, that would be Kouing Aman. The cute stores downtown didn't open until 11, so I went to D.I. and it was my lucky day! I walked out with 2 dresses, 6 canning jars, a salad bowl, an enormous bulletin board and a Barbie bike.

It was so refreshing to not have anybody climbing on me or whining or begging or otherwise creating a scene while I shopped. I have the best mom. I had the best mom-cation. It was so relaxing I'm thinking maybe I'll sign up for a class I can miss again.

Good Day, Bad Day

2011-05-11T16:53:00.000-06:00

The Good:

Maggie learned to pump herself on the swings. I heard her yelling to me from the backyard, "Mom! Mom!" and I was afraid she wanted me to push her for the umpteenth time. But no. She was cruising all by herself. A joyful moment for both of us.
Will took a bath after dinner and I dare say no child ever enjoy bath time more. He "swam" around and around the tub giggling and yelling "Wee! Oh look at me! This So fun! Look at ME!"
Maggie got her preschool pictures back today. She had a smirky little half smile on her face in the pics that cracks me up.
Coleman didn't spit out his medicine today like he has done the past 2 days.
I organized my books in the front room by color as a birthday gift to myself in March, and I still can't get over how much I love it.
Will has turned into quite the romantic. He gives me kisses all day long.
I made the most delicious cabbage dish for dinner. I've decided you could cook anything in butter and soy sauce and it would taste like heaven.
I actually got some exercise worked into my day.

The Bad:

I walked into the bathroom today just in time to see Coleman fill up his sippy cup in the toilet.
The car smells like puke from one of Will's vomit episodes last week, despite my having cleaned it thrice.
Will learned how to outsmart the lock I put on the fridge, leaving 8 half eaten yogurt cups and 2 mashed hard boiled eggs in his wake. Expensive really good greek yogurt. With nasty egg yolks mixed in. So sad. No smoothies for me this week.
Maggie's reaction to every occurrence of the day was a shrill, glass-breaking, mind-numbing scream.
The house looks like a Mattel factory blew up in it.
The house smells like cabbage.
It's 10:44 and I'm still waiting for Maggie to fall asleep.
I'm exhausted.

All in all, though, I'd say the good outweighs the bad. My kids are so dang cute. Its a good thing they're cute... cause they sure are naughty.

Don't Show Up to an Easter Egg Hunt Late

2011-05-09T23:10:00.000-06:00

We would have arrived on time to Aunt Linda's Easter egg hunt extravaganza, but we had temporary brain lapses and passed her house 3 times before we recognized where she lives. And by the time we pulled in, well, every last egg had been collected.

Maggie was crushed. Or else she thought she saw a kitty. She hates kitties which makes the irony of her favorite shirt so hysterical.

Luckily, though, our kids have awesome cousins who sprung into action and tossed handfuls of eggs onto the lawn for our kids to scurry about and gather! Hurray for cousins saving the day!

Hungarian Easter Tradition

2011-04-30T20:21:00.000-06:00

Locsolkodas, the Hungarian "Easter Monday" tradition where boys go out and sprinkle the girls they like with perfume or water to make them pretty, is one of my favorite holiday traditions. I blogged about past Húsvét Hétfö celebrations {here} and {here}.

This year, after my mom's annual egg hunt I coaxed everyone into writing poems as it is customary to share a verse with the ladies asking for permission to sprinkle them.

Here are our best efforts:

Even lillies--

And their daughters--

Get their good looks

From sprinkled waters.

And so, I'd like

To do my duty

And give you a spritz

For continued beauty.

--by Me

Roses are red.

Violets are blue.

Susan is cute.

Her nickname is Sue.

--by Lincoln, age 9

Cuter than you, no one can get,

But that won't keep you from getting wet.

You're just as cute as a babe with a binky.

But that won't keep you from getting stinky.

-- by Dad (who thinks that the abundance of perfume sprays required in the celebration don't add up to a good scent)

Susan is cute.

She has her own boot.

She likes kitty.

She is pretty.

--by Asher, age 7

How do I love you?

I'll just let you know

by sprinkling you lightly form your head to your toe

And if by some chance it should get in your eye and cause you to have a boil or a sty--

I'm sorry!

And if by some chance it should go up your nose

Just throw back your head and give out some crows. Caw! Caw!

I'm sorry.

I'm really sorry!

Honest and true,

I love you!

--by Mom

An Easter Tribute:

Meridee hosted

The women's beauty boasted.

The hotdogs were roasted

The peeps were toasted

And the festivities to be blog posted.

-- by Beth (who knows me so well)

And for those keeping score, 1 year old Susan is the fairest of us all. She got the most sprays.

Moonlight Serenade

2011-04-28T08:56:00.000-06:00

As far as snazzy pianists go, Will is one of the best. Although he could use a new stylist.

Peeps Wreath

2011-04-27T18:50:00.000-06:00

I finally got around to making myself a peeps wreath after obsessing about it in my head for 3 weeks. That's 9 bucks worth of peeps, folks. 8 packages on the wreath and 1 package that I chucked off the deck onto the trampoline to keep my kids occupied.

And then I found this adorable free peeps printable:

Darn it. I love them.

Aunt Megan

2011-04-27T11:18:00.000-06:00

My sister-in-law Megan is creative and giving and motivated and sweet. And she uses those talents to make little lovelies for her nieces and nephews for holidays. She made little felt heart matching games for Valentine's day. And little car mats for Christmas. And on Sunday she gave the kids these bunnies:

Can you even stand it?

Wish every kid had an aunt like that.

Cheer Up, Mags!

2011-04-22T22:26:00.001-06:00

After almost 3 years in this house, Maggie finally got up the courage to open the gate in our backyard and ask the neighbor kids to play. But the wee lass was greeted by a happy jumping puppy that scared the daylights out of her and then received the sad news that the neighbor kids couldn't even play.

It was more sadness than she could take. And as I carried the weeping girl inside I wondered what I could do to help her get over it.

And then I was really thankful for my childhood stuff hoarding--because I remembered that I'd been hiding away my favorite toys--Herself the Elf and friends--to present to Maggie at just the right opportunity. She was enchanted with them. She was fascinated by the adorable little fairy house, and dinner table, and slide and swing. She just kept saying "How cute!" over and over.

Keeping these toys and seeing Maggie play with them and love them just like I did when I was 4 was awesome. Totally worth it. I kind of wish that Toy Story 3 had ended like that-- with Andy's kids playing with Woody and Buzz. But I guess everybody can't be a childhood toy hoarder like I can. We're still a few years off from my bringing out my American Girl Dolls... that's gonna be fun.

P.S. I'll be honest, some of my childhood hoarding hasn't panned out so well. William just chucked my awesome {cabbage patch hide and seek board game} down the stairs damaging it beyond repair. So, yeah. Guess I didn't need to painstakingly care for that one all these years.

Farewell, Gastrointestinal Virus!

2011-04-18T07:22:00.000-06:00

To celebrate Coleman's recovery--from what we guess was a nasty intestinal virus--we bought him a doughnut bigger than his head. A 2-year-old's fantasy.

Way to go, buddy!

Thank You

2011-04-17T23:22:00.000-06:00

Friends,
Thank you for the comments, love, support, phone calls, and gracious offers in response to my last post. I even had a dear soul call me about my constipation issues. Now it's a real friend who can call you to discuss your bowels! It helps so much to be reminded that I'm not alone in the struggle of parenthood. It helps a lot to know that I can write about how I feel and get so much love in return.
Thank you. Truly.
Love,
Megs

The Truth

2011-04-13T22:52:00.000-06:00

[Warning. This is another one of those posts where I whine. But I needed to write this and get it out of my brain. Sorry.]

Sometimes I wonder if I will ever feel good again. That sounded horrible. Let me explain. I feel as though my life is such that I am constantly at maximum stress level. I am at the beck and call of 3 very busy, very whiney, very silly children. I have to clothe, feed, wash, and keep said children alive. They have a real tendency to get sick, stay up all night crying about it, and throw up on me. I am to teach my children to be kind, responsible, Christian, and happy. I am also somehow supposed to keep it from looking like a bomb full of Macaroni and Cheese, vomit, barbies, crayons, peanut butter, and dirt went off and coated every surface of my home.

I can't keep up. I try to clean, but then Maggie needs something, then Will needs me to hold him, then Coleman needs a new diaper. I can't get anything done. I can't make anything. Or blog. Or be creative because I can't think in all the mess. Then I feel like a failure. Then I get depressed. I have panic attacks. Then I get help. Then I feel like I should do better because I feel better, so I try. But I still can't keep up.

I have headaches and leg aches nearly every day. I think my digestive system is jacked up. Unless alternating between constipation and the runs is normal (you do care about my bowels don't you?). I know that if I quit eating junk and started eating truly healthy real food (instead of the cookies I crave because of the stress I feel trying to do good for my kids) I would feel better. But I keep failing. When I exercise I love how I feel but then my legs ache and I'm super hungry. When I don't exercise I feel sluggish and tired. But my weight stays pretty much the same no matter what I do.

Now I'm sitting in my closet, hiding from my children because it's after 10 and I still can't get them to FALL asleep. I am spent. I don't feel well physically. I think my kids deserve so much more than I'm giving them. But I don't have more. Or do I?

I think in some ways the stress is good. It means that I recognize the important role I have as a wife and mother. It means that it matters to me. But I also think its rough. Really rough.

Everybody Loves William

2011-04-13T15:05:00.000-06:00

William is a golden child. Maggie dotes on him and lets him sleep in her bed every night. Coleman is constantly at his side and when he's not he's asking me, "Mom, where Willy go?" Will is hilarious, has an infectious laugh, and most of the time is a pretty easy going guy (just don't ever touch the food on his plate when he's eating).

Whenever he cracks me up, I'll call Dan and tell him, "Oh my gosh! Will is so cute!" And Maggie often remarks to me, "Mom, Will is so cute." Just today Will was being a clown in the back seat of the car and Coleman was cracking up. He said to me "Mom! Look at that guy! He so cute." So I guess it shouldn't surprise me that the fame has gone to his head. I realized that we might all dote on him a little much when he did something funny last night while I was putting his pajamas on and before I could say anything, he said "I SO CUTE!"

He is, though. so. darn. cute.

Coleman's First [Actually Funny] Knock Knock Joke

2011-04-11T09:28:00.000-06:00

Last night we took Coleman to the E.R. He'd been throwing up randomly for about 4 days (which actually is kind of normal for our boys who have overactive gag reflexes) but his constant whining about his "tummy hurt-ing" and lack of appetite and sleep was really concerning me. Last night it got so bad that he was just writhing in my arms. So we took advantage of Aunt Jill staying over and left sleeping Will and Mags with her while we went to the E.R. to see if he had appendicitis or a bowel blockage or any of the other maladies I read about on the internet symptom checker.

He was a champ. They gave him an I.V. and drew blood samples and he just winced and looked at me like "what are these guys doing to me?" but didn't cry! They did an x-ray of his tummy and everything looked okay. So they ended up giving us a few tablets of nausea medication and a gentle laxative to use in the morning (guess I'm on diaper duty!).

But my favorite part was on the way home, he started telling himself knock knock jokes in the back seat. So, I thought I'd join it.

"Knock knock, Coleman," I said.
"No knock knock Coleman! I not a door," was his witty reply.

I'm still laughing about it.

Peeps Wreath

2011-04-09T06:00:00.001-06:00

I can't stop thinking about how badly I want to make this peeps wreath:

And also the bunny garland by Dana Made:

Anybody want to do some peeps crafts with me? Mom, you do have an awesome supply of felt....

Grateful for Grandpa

2011-04-07T21:04:00.000-06:00

I am so grateful now for the amazing family that I am a part of. My grandparents raised a family of hilarious, warm, caring, faithful people. I truly love being with my family. Grandpa Rasmussen's funeral was a celebration of what a wonderful man he was and what a wonderful family he created. Before the viewing last week we met at Chuck-a-rama (Grandpa's favorite restaurant) in Gramp's honor. Any time family came to town that was the place he took them, so it was only fitting.

The 3 Susans

Cole, Courtney, Me, Will, Cam, Dad's back

All the cousins except our missionary Shad were there

After the funeral on Friday we got together at Grandma's house to play. laugh and enjoy each other. We ate pizza, licorice, and pop because that's what Gramps would have fed us.

3 cute cousins

The whole weekend ended up just how Grandpa would have wanted it.

Grandpa Ras 1923-2011

2011-04-07T19:59:00.000-06:00

My dearest Grandpa passed away 2 weeks ago. It was not unexpected, but it is still hard. I've been putting off writing about it because I miss him so much. He was a fantastic father and grandfather, and a wonderfully caring and gentle person. He truly is one of the greatest people I have ever known. He made everybody from the clerk at the grocery store to the lady playing the organ at church feel like a million bucks. I miss him and his kind ways very much.

I had the opportunity of representing all of his grandkids by giving a talk at his funeral. It was a big responsibility and I worried so much about doing him justice. Its really hard to sum up all the things that made him such a fun grandfather, but I did my best. Now I just need to do my best during the rest of my life so I can end up where he is.

Here is my talk:

You might wonder who the luckiest kids in all the world are. Well I can tell you. They’re not kids sponsored by Oprah, or kids whose parents own candy stores. The luckiest kids in the world are the grandkids of Lloyd Rasmussen.

When the 18 of us saw that Grandpa Ras, our favorite person in the world, was dying and would soon be leaving us, we knew we had to do something to thank him for the many things we have learned from him. Each of us wrote him a short letter thanking him and with our parents’ help we found pictures of grandpa and each one of his grandkids. We made them into a book that we will forever treasure.

Today I’ll be sharing thoughts from all of my cousins’ letters. Though he didn’t often give us formal lessons—the things we learned from watching this sweet man have shaped our lives.

He taught us what it means to be a husband. We loved hearing him call Grandma “Miss America.” We loved seeing our grandpa escort Grandma, Aunt Winnie, and their neighbor Helen to plays and sporting events at BYU. He’d drop off the girls at the door, go park the car a mile away, jog back to the event, and do it all over again at the end. He took such great care of “the girls.” And if we had the chance to go with Gramps, he gave us the same treatment. Grandpa’s love for Grandma was evident in everything he did. Miss America is a fitting title for Grandma because Grandpa truly treated her like a queen. From grandpa the boys learned how to be husbands and the girls learned what to look for in one.

Grandpa taught us to have fun. Nobody played cards better than Grandpa Ras—and when you got to learn a new game by being on his team, you knew you were gonna win. Almost as fun as watching Grandpa’s card skills, was hearing him shout phrases like “Let’s bid ‘em to the moon!” Or “who dealt this mess?” He always had his card ready to play before the hand was led—like he knew what you’d play before you did. We loved seeing Grandma steal peeks at his hand (though she’d never admit it). In addition to card games—Grandpa filled our summers with magic. Grandpa often took the boys on backpacking trips in the mountains. He’d give us rides on his old Honda motorcycle and take us camping in his trailer. Grandpa would spend the night out on the parade route for the 4^th of July to secure a prime location every year!

One of the things we loved best, though, was boating. Gramps taught us to waterski and if we were a little too timid, he’d talk us into taking a “nice, slow, sensible ride” on the tube. It didn’t take long for us to realize there was nothing nice, slow, or sensible about his tube rides—once I truly wondered if he was trying to kill me—but as we hung on to the straps and each other for dear life, hitting wave after wave, we fell in love with the boat, with muddy, stinky Utah Lake, and with the knowledge we had that our grandpa was the funnest grandpa on the block. Those summers on the lake transformed us from cousins to best friends.

We all remember Grandpa tickling us. He didn’t ever tickle us until we wet our pants—we left those shenanigans up to Shaun and Sue—but we could always count on Grandpa chasing us around the yard if we taunted him by dissing his favorite singer. Saying “Frank Sinatra’s Not So Hot-ra” was always a request for tickles. We also remember Gramps tickling us with the question “Who’s girl are you?” “Or who’s boy are you?” He wouldn’t stop until we’d shout with tears streaming down our faces “Your girl, Grandpa!” or “I’m your boy!” We’ll always be your boys and girls, Grandpa, always.

We also remember the way Grandpa made us feel about ourselves. Each of us felt like the favorite grandchild and we each have solid evidence to prove it. He would dote on us, call our parents to brag about us, and make us feel like we were amazing even for accomplishing dumb things like checking the flavor to water ratio of his crystal light concoctions. He always called on our birthdays—often before 7 am.

He made us feel important by spending time with us. We loved BYU games. He’d hand the usher a handful of tickets and then shoo in all us grandkids before the usher had a chance to see if the number of tickets actually equaled the number of kids. We’d watch grandpa diligently keep basketball statistics during the game. When we’d watch games on tv at Grandpa’s house, he’d pace around the room, jump on his mini trampoline, and do push ups to calm his nerves. We loved watching him worry—even if the game wasn’t close.

Grandpa taught us to be generous. You knew when you went to Grandma and Grandpa’s that Grandpa would feed you. Often we’d cry out “No! No more Grandpa! Really I’m full!” before he threw another scoop of potatoes onto our plates. Grandpa always had a basement full of pop and a freezer full of ice cream. He kept a candy machine on the counter, a bag of popcorn in the hall, and licorice in the cupboard. And he liked nothing more than to feed you and watch you enjoy it. He always had a favorite restaurant. We remember trips to BYU cafeteria and Chucka-rama (which we lovingly called Chuck-a-rampa) He loved places where “you can see all the food” and pick what you want. He also sent us on runs for subway sandwiches, Little Cesar’s Pizza, and McDonalds for Big Mac Monday. We will always remember how kindly and patiently he treated us when we broke mirrors, lamps, and even once or twice the pool table. And we’ll never forget the time we found and devoured a bag of licorice in the basement without asking. We felt such remorse at having “stolen” from our grandpa that we sadly headed upstairs to make our apologies. Grandpa exclaimed, “Holy Toledo! I forgot! I bought a bag for each of you!” and he handed each of us our own 2 lb bag of licorice.

Our grandpa wasn’t only a true gentleman, but also a truly gentle man. He cried with joy over everything: mission calls, engagements, weddings, BYU acceptance letters, birth announcements. We cry with joy over the life our Grandpa lived and the wonderful man he was. We knew of the tender concern and love that he felt for each of us and we knew we were prized in his heart. Grandpa, you will always be prized in our hearts, and we can’t wait to see you again.

With love,

Your grand children

Princesses According to Maggie

2011-03-20T23:00:00.001-06:00

The other night as we drove in the car, Maggie asked if she should entertain us with a story. "Oh sure," I responded not sure what she had in mind.

"Well, Seeping Booty starts when she got born. And the prince was just a kid and him daddy was SO big and him had huge arms and a RARY big tummy. Then, on her sixteen bir-day her prick her finger on a spindle AND DIE. Then the prince get her and the spell was broken and they live happy ever after," she recited.

"Wow," I said.

"And snow white"--she continued--"Starts when her rary mean mother wants her die. And her runs. And her find a house that SO dirty. And there are 7 elves. I say elves 'cause it hard to say other word."

"You mean dwarves?" I said.

"Yeah. Darves," she said. "And them love her take care of them. And the mean mom, stepmother, poison her. Her die. And then her live happy ever after."

"Who saved her?" I asked.

"The prince," she answered.

Then she paused and said, "Lot of them princesses die. But not Cinder-eya. Her spell just got broken."

She tells a better story than Walt Disney himself.

P.S. I'm really going to miss her grammar when she learns to speak properly.

Leapin' Leprechauns!

2011-03-17T23:29:00.000-06:00

One thing I know about me is, I like having a reason to celebrate. And St. Patrick's day is a great reason. Why?

Green is my favorite color.
Pretend creatures are involved (leprechauns).
These leprechauns are sneaky and grumpy and have lots of treasure.
I like treasure.

So, imagine my kids' excitement this morning when I told them that a real live leprechaun had come by and left them a little something. Maggie just stared at me and kept saying "Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh." It was like she'd won the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. And that was before she'd started the scavenger hunt and found the treasure.

We followed the clues:

And at the end we found enormous green suckers and green parachute toys!

And we were happy.

What's Cookin' Good Lookin'?

2011-03-16T08:54:00.000-06:00

For Christmas, we pooled our gift money, cashed in our big change jar, and bought ourselves a new stove and microwave. With the microwave above the stove I feel like I gained a whole new countertop as well.

Only problem is that now I can't blame "that crappy old oven" when I burn dinner.

America's Biggest Rocking Chair

2011-03-10T14:02:00.000-07:00

Or at least Utah's biggest. Or maybe just Beaver Valley's biggest rocking chair.

Fairy Tea Party

2011-03-09T18:12:00.000-07:00

Because of our dearest friend, Laura Wadley ("Auntie Wad" as my family calls her), my mom was lucky enough to be the recipient of some coveted Provo Library Fairy Tea Party tickets. She gave them to me and Beth so we could take our little fairies Clara and Maggie.

Maggie was in love with the idea the first time I mentioned it. "And I have wings?" she asked. "And I wear sparkle shoes?" Yes, Maggie. And a crown.

She wasn't sure about getting her hair curled. Actually she was sure set against it. Nevertheless, she succumbed to the fabulous hair talents of Beth's sister Laura with darling results. Even as she sat there pouting I just couldn't get over her adorable fairy princess transformation.

Clara, on the other hand, was all for her makeover. She even begged for lipstick. Love that girl.

At the library they had a little book shop set up with every fairy book or treasure you could imagine. These girls plotted what they would later be asking Santa for (knowing their moms was broke).

I donned an enormous blue Mother of the Bride dress that I bought for Dan's Halloween costume 5 years ago. I know you're jealous. But Beth said my hot lipstick almost made up for the hideousness of the dress. The wings helped too I'm sure. And the large diamond centered bow on the hip.

Beth dazzled wearing her sister Trina's 80's prom dress. I still can't get over it. We were complimented many times by the poor mothers that chose not to Fairy-it-up. Next year if everybody's wearing 80's fashions along with their fairy garb, you'll know who inspired them.

Being a fairy is great fun.

Sleepover Party

2011-03-08T18:17:00.000-07:00

While in Vegas for my much needed visit with the Grandfolks, I had the chance to catch up with my darling cousins Whitney and Shaylin.

Back in the day, when I was in high school, they looked like this:

Now they're grown up. And I haven't gotten any older. So, we're all the same age! Oh wait, I'm 29. And they're 16 and 17. Dang.

Anyway, we hung out and giggled and made fun of our parents--like teenagers--the whole weekend. We hacked into my mom's facebook and left all sorts of awesome messages on our own walls ("You're my favorite niece. Seriously.") We even made what may be our finest comedic video production (making movies has been a Rasmussen cousin norm since VHS was invented). But the candle on the cousin cake was when Shay and Whiggy dragged me into Whitney's bedroom on the last night and informed me that I would be joining them in a cousin sleepover.

All 3 of us piled into Whitney's full bed and giggled and told embarrassing stories about ourselves until I was sure that my mom would come and get after me for staying up too late just like old times. For one night it felt really great to be 17 again.

Shay-bay and Whiggy Whit, I love you. Seriously.

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa

2011-03-07T16:05:00.000-07:00

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa used to mean a drive across town. Now it means a 6 hour road trip to Vegas. My wonderful Aunt Kathy and Uncle Garth have taken Grandma and Grandpa to their home to give them the care and attention that they need. Grandpa's health has been fading fast, and Grandma's memory is going just as quickly (Alzheimer's). So I was really feeling the need to go visit my sweet grandparents and let them know how much they mean to me.

My mom was making the trip to Las Vegas, so Maggie and I tagged along with her. It ended up being the most wonderful weekend. My uncle Shaun and aunt Susan were able to come as well with two of my cousins, Shaylin and Devin. We had such sweet, hilarious, and fun conversations and really enjoyed the time we got to spend together as a family.

I love my family.

X Box

2011-03-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

I've been participating in a produce co-op called {Bountiful Baskets}. I love it. I pay $15 each week and pick up $40 worth of fruits and vegies. Its fun because its different each week, so we've tried a lot of different things from persimmons to pineapple, and sweet potatoes to collared greens.

One Saturday morning I returned home with my produce in a cardboard box that had an X on it. Maggie was thrilled. "You got an X Box, Mom!" she said.

I don't think she knows what a real X Box is, so cardboard sure made her day.

I Love my Brothers...

2011-03-03T14:33:00.001-07:00

But I swear to you I can't take a picture of them without them pulling this face:

At least my dad obliges me with a good pose every now and then:

Also, the Rothschild brothers put on an excellent {Round Mountain concert} where the above pictures were taken. Being a Mormon I don't often hang out in coffee shops, but dang! I had me a good hot cocoa and the yummiest cinnamon roll served up by the sweetest husband a wife duo, while I watched Char and Robbie sing, play bagpipes, rock out on the accordian, and wail on a million different kinds of ethnic drums. I had no idea coffee shops offered stuff like that.

The next time {Round Mountain} comes to town you really gotta see them.

I've Been Hit by a Twinado!

2011-03-03T14:06:00.000-07:00

Don't know if you've noticed (please say you care enough to have noticed) but my posting has been sparse for a good while now. I have two reasons for that:

1. Coleman--who in the above picture is wearing my new Retro Red lipstick. No he didn't ask if he could borrow it.

2. William--who is pictured in the aftermath of what happens when you leave a child alone in a kitchen containing nestle quick and a large tub of cheeseballs, if only for a few minutes.

Oh man, I love these boys. Truly. But they are putting me through the wringer. They've managed to break a DVD player, 2 Stereos, 2 cameras, my laptop, and my willpower (I just ate a box of ginger cookies in one sitting from all the stress!) in the last 6 months. No shelf is too high. No lock too secure. And no child safety restraint too restrictive to limit their destructive powers.

Two and a half year old twins are not to be trifled with.

Stay tuned in the upcoming days as I try to restore my blog and my sanity to order and update you on the other goings on.

Swagbucks is True

2011-02-02T23:39:00.000-07:00

I've heard about swagbucks before here and there on various blogs-- people saying you could earn free stuff just for doing things online you were doing anyway. And guess what? It's true. They're right. You can.

I signed up a few weeks ago and they gave me 30 swag bucks just for registering. And when I do internet searches at swagbucks.com I can earn more swagbucks. Just for searching. When I play games on the interweb (they have this crazy fun game called drop 3 that I'm in love with), or do online shopping (like buying princess dolls from disney.com to bribe my 4 year old with), I can earn more swagbucks. Even buying groupons through swagbucks earns you swagbucks.

And when you refer your friends to register, you earn swagbucks when they earn swagbucks--so you both win. When you get enough swagbucks you can buy gift cards with them or anything else that strikes your fancy in the swag store. I've got my eye on a target card. It might seem like it would take you forever to earn enough swagbucks to get something with, but it adds up. And once you have your friends sign up, your swagbucks pour in because when they earn you earn, too. Also, if you're into using grocery store coupons--you can earn for printing and using coupons from their site. There are a ton of ways to earn. And almost all of them are for things you would do anyway.

I bought a groupon the other day for a $30 dollar gift card to Bath and Body Works for $15--and I also got 280 swagbucks. A good deal, and a lot of swag. Score!

So, if you spend any time on the Internet these days, I'd recommend you see about earning some swag while you're at it. I wasn't paid to say this. I just wanted you to know. Don't say I didn't tell you.

Maggie the Tattooed Lady

2011-02-02T23:10:00.000-07:00

Maggie was delighted to find a small package of tattoos in her cereal box one morning, and before I knew it my sweet four year old girl had been transformed into this hard-core chick:

A bath and a quick scrub with a cotton ball and some rubbing alcohol did away with the "ink" and luckily I got my sweet 4 year old back.

She sure loved the tats, though.

Love Letters

2011-01-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

A day or two before Christmas, Dan told me he needed to go to the thrift store to buy a dictionary. "We have dictionaries," I told him. But he went and bought one anyway. I had no idea he had this project in mind. It was the most thoughtful and sweet gift I'd received in a long time.

I love how "a" stands for "artful" since one of Maggie's favorite words has always been "tricky." And "intelligent" for "i" is also great because she's constantly telling me she's smart.

Cole is definitely energetic. It would be nice if he were obedient. ha ha.

I especially love that "l" is for "laugh" because that is one of the things I love most about Will. When he laughs I can't help but laugh, too. It's the most intense little giggle.

I love that for mine, Dan made the "m" stand for "madrigal." The best choir at Dan's high school was called the "Madrigals" and I've heard a lot about how great they were. I never sang in choirs in my high school or jr. high, but I always told Dan "I could have been a Madrigal." I guess he agrees. The definition of "elite" is beautiful. I aspire to be the "choicest part." And as far as me being called "genteel", well, that would be nice if I were graceful and polite.

Thank you Dan, for these sweet name poems. We really love them.

Letter to Santa

2011-01-19T12:51:00.000-07:00

For the first time in our family's history, we had 3 children very interested in the Santa business this year. They were still terrified of meeting him in person, of course, but the notion of getting toys from the jolly old elf in exchange for their good behavior fascinated them.

So, one day we wrote him a letter. Well, I wrote, Will colored, Maggie decorated the envelope, and Coleman watched.

Here's what Maggie dictated:

Dear Santa,

Thank you for getting us nice presents.

QRS, QRB, WXFS.

[I asked her what she was spelling and

she said--it means, Santa get me a dolly.]

Love,

Maggie

Will said:

Dear Santa,

For Christmas I want a doll. And a train.

Love,

Will

Coleman was very direct:

Dear Santa,

Get me a trampoline and a dolly.

Love,

Coleman

The big guy brought everything we asked for.

Lucky kids.

Oh My Word

2011-01-18T23:18:00.000-07:00

The other day as I was scrubbing down the walls in our hallway, Maggie came up behind me. I didn't know she was there until I heard her exclaim, "Oh my word, you are workin' so hard."

It made my day. Somebody does recognize what I do around here. Well, somebody besides Dan.

Round Mountain

2011-01-14T14:02:00.000-07:00

My amazingly talented New Mexican cousin Robby is coming to town again with his band (well, his brother, that's his band) for a concert. Robby and Char can each play several instruments and sing like angels. Their music is unlike anything you've ever heard because it's like everything you've ever heard all at once. They have studied many kinds of music and instruments and traveled around the world--then they put it together into music so beautiful and fun it brings tears to my eyes. I'm not exaggerating.

You're going to love Round Mountain.

Good.

It's settled.

You're coming.

January 24th, 2011

6:30 pm

Red Eye Express, Midvale, Utah

Santa Claus Came!

2011-01-14T13:31:00.000-07:00

Incase you wondered, yes, Santa came to our house. We had the kids pose for the traditional Christmas-morning-excited-on-the-stairs picture. When we let them loose at the presents they were in heaven.

A very contented Maggie exclaimed, "I got every-fing just what I wanted!"

The best gift of the day was definitely the trampoline. Maggie's still trying to figure out how Santa fit it in his sleigh. (Santa's helper Dan spent a good two hours in the cold on Christmas Eve setting it up).

This was the aftermath:

Ornament Party 2010

2011-01-10T22:44:00.000-07:00

We had another successful Williams Family Christmas Ornament Party a few weeks ago. Each year the members of my family make original ornaments and exchange them around the holidays. Its a tradition I love and look forward to all year! For past years see {here} and {here}.

7 year old Asher's ornament is adorable. The story is that when his family moved into their house (when Asher was 2) he had a hard time adjusting to his new nursery teachers at church. He didn't get nearly the same amount of treats and handouts he'd gotten at his old church. After one especially stingy Sunday, Asher ran out to meet his dad and exclaimed, "They didn't give me NUSSING! (nothing)" It's become a favorite family expression.

4 year old Clara made this adorable horsey ornament. The tail was awesome. No, the whole thing was awesome. And when Maggie chickened out in the exchange and decided to keep her own ornament Clara said, "Well, you should've didn't bring it." That had me laughing for ten minutes.

My dad carved this fantastic star Santa. I wanted it in the worst way, but the ornament Gods weren't on my side apparently.

Dan put together this patriotic ensemble. He made the cube out of a flag, then he beaded the fancy garland, and fastened a percussionist on the top that he purchased at D.I. The empty eye holes are my favorite part.

I made this pink bird perch ornament. And I'm quite happy with it. I used some fabulous fabrics from Great Aunt Winnie's fabric stash.

Mom made this wonderful wool stocking. It's very sweet. Mom can blanket stitch like nobody's business.

The story behind Beth's fantastic ornament is that my parents rented a car once in Denver to drive to my sister's house. It was late at night so their visibility was pretty bad inside the car but it smelled terrible. They couldn't figure out what the smell was. Finally, my Dad offered his insight to my mother(that will forever haunt him), "I figured out what that dog poo smell is. It's your breath, Honey!" The best part of the story is that the next morning they found a pile of vomit in the back seat. Beth brought that wonderful moment to life for the holidays. And luckily my mom won this ornament so she can torture my dad with his insensitivity.

Joel made this gorgeous flower out of copper wire. I won it. And I love it!

9 year old Lincoln made this fantastic "Toilet Paper Sandwich." The story behind this one is that when my siblings and I were young we used to fake like we were asleep to get out of things. We'd goof off after bedtime but when we'd hear Mom coming we'd all fake sleep. Mom would catch us by saying, "toilet paper sandwiches" because it made us laugh without fail. And who can fake sleep when they're laughing? Not me. Really, what's funnier than a toilet paper sandwich?

I love being part of this family.

Christmas Eve

2011-01-03T14:52:00.000-07:00

On Christmas Eve we went to my parents house for a fantastic feast. The twins' jello was a hit, as were Dan's carrots harvested from our garden. Beth's stuffing and yams were to die for. My brother Joel and cousin Becca were there with their families and we had a right jolly time of it.

There was hugging.

And more hugging.

Then we ended with the traditional marionette nativity performance.

Maggie was honored to be in charge of lighting.

Merry Christmas indeed. I'm already excited for next year.

Christmas Eve Jello

2011-01-02T22:48:00.001-07:00

As per family tradition, now being carried on in the 3rd generation, William and Coleman, being among the youngest family members, were given the honor of making the red and green jello for Christmas Eve dinner.

It was an honor they took very seriously. Though they refused to dress for the occasion.

Maybe they were going for the Jamie Oliver "Naked Chef" style.

Come to think of it, {Maggie made the jello} the same way when it was her turn 2 years ago.

I am a proud mother.

Hand-Me-Down Snow-pants

2011-01-02T22:14:00.000-07:00

Will got his handsome black snow-pants from his cousin Asher.

Coleman got his classy pink ones from big sister Maggie.

But I think the steel-toed cowboy boots bring up the manliness quotient.

Don't you?

Resolved.

2011-01-01T16:05:00.000-07:00

This year I am resolved to get my health in order. I've fallen back into a lifestyle of day-long diet coke sipping and candy gobbling. And to be honest, I feel like crap. I know the fake sugar in the soda is messing with me. Not to mention the caffeine. But, stopping for a coke at the Hart's drive through has been a perk for me. I think, "No calories--just bubbly enjoyment!" but the truth is, its not healthy. My kids beg for sips and heaven knows they don't need it either.

So, 2011, this is the year for change. Since I have no self control and can't stop eating fun-size butterfingers until I hit the bottom of the bag, I won't even go down that road. No candy. No soda.

Just water for thirst and maybe an {occassional black bean brownie} when a sweet tooth hits. (I'm serious about the black bean brownies. They are really good.)

I have other goals in mind for the year, but I'll just focus on the two biggies: No soda. No candy. Until 2012. Wish me luck!

Word for 2011

2011-01-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

Last year I started a new tradition of choosing a word for the year. I look at it as kind of a motto and resolution all in one. This year, the theme for the youth of our church is the 13th Article of Faith. The Articles of Faith were written by Joseph Smith as a summary of the basic principles we Mormons believe.

The 13th article is amazing. It talks about what we believe in being like. Or more specifically, what I want to be like:

I pulled my "word for 2011" from the last phrase.

My word is "Seek."

I'm going to seek things that are of good report.
I'm going to seek ways to better myself and my family.
I'm going to seek to be more benevolent.

What is your word for 2011?
I'd love to compile a list of them.

Sibling Gifts

2010-12-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

Maggie loves {freezer paper stenciling} almost as much as I do. So, we decided to make some t-shirts for her to give to her brothers for Christmas this year.

We used a cricut cartridge I snagged on black friday (my first successful solo black friday endeavor ever.) After the boys' shirts were completed, she insisted on making a shirt for the boys to give to her.

Well done, Maggie. Well done.

Ginger-Man Cookie

2010-12-29T23:40:00.000-07:00

During the month of December we thoroughly enjoyed our activity advent calendar. Last year I made up little slips of paper with winter activities written on them. The kids never got into it. But this year was different. The kids were so excited to choose a paper every day that would tell them the fun and exciting thing we would do that day.

The best part was: the kids can't read. So, on some days when it said "Build a snowman"--and we had no snow--I could say, "Oh wow! We get to go to the library to check out a Christmas movie!" I loved the flexibility of being able to make it all up on the spot. I'm kind of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants person.

One of the kids' favorite days was the day when I pulled a huge roll of Gingerbread dough out of the fridge. Maggie was thrilled to make "ginger-man" cookies like I'd read her stories about. At first, I was having a panic attack trying to cut out cute little gingerbread shapes and keep the kids from ruining everything.

Then I had a moment of clarity and realized, "Oh heck! Let 'em at it!" And I stood back and watched Maggie and Coleman have a ball. (Will was much more interested in the toys downstairs).

The cookies were delicious. And skee-wompus. And wonderful.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

2010-12-22T23:31:00.000-07:00

And the boys are not too happy about it.

After Santa made his appearance at the family Christmas party, Will told me at least 10 times, "Santa scary."

Another Christmas Light Outing

2010-12-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

After our last outing to see Christmas lights, we heard about another house in town that has a similar music and light extravaganza going on.

We paid it a visit and had such a good time we stayed there for at least a half hour. We got the kids out of their car seats so they could enjoy the show. Watching it through the moon roof was their favorite.

The drawback was that with 3 kids crawling around the car, they kept honking the horn on accident. After the 3rd or 4th time that happened, the owner of the home came out, crossed the street, and walked up to our car. We thought we were going to get chewed out for disturbing the peace. But actually he came to give candy canes to our kids. For nice! We asked him about his lights and were amazed to hear about the time consuming process of syncing lights to music.

Another fantastic family night!

Shootin' Stuff

2010-12-19T16:26:00.003-07:00

We had another bumper crop of pumpkins from our garden this year. They graced our porch until Thanksgiving, but then Dan knew just what to do with them.

He piled the pumpkins in the car and drove us out to the middle of nowhere.

Then he scattered the pumpkins about in artful little configurations.

And shot the heck out of them.

The kids looked on, rather impressed. And helped with the reloading of bullets. I figure its good for small motor coordination. Or something. The really ridiculous thing was that Dan thought it would be warm out there in the middle of nowhere so he insisted the kids only needed light jackets.

Wrong.

Then I really wowed Dan with my skills. Knocked his socks off.

As usual.

I was so mad at Dan when he bought that gun. But now I pretty much like it.

Just don't tell him.

Christmas Sight Seeing

2010-12-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

Last week we decided to take the kids on a drive to enjoy the Christmas lights in our city. Even though the night ended with Maggie crying "Please can we go home? I fink we are all done with Christmas lights," we had a good time.

We went to Thanksgiving Point where you can drive around and, from the comfort of your car, see some pretty spectacular lights. I think it was definitely worth the $8 entrance fee.

After the Thanksgiving Point lights, we headed to a house near our neighborhood that I stumbled upon that has Christmas lights that flash to music. Its absolutely amazing. I'd seen stuff like that on youtube before, but never in Lehi, UT.

Lehi, we're hitting the big time now.

Tiff's Twin Shower

2010-12-15T14:40:00.000-07:00

One of my dearest friends, {Tiffany}, gave birth to her adorable twins yesterday! It reminded me of the fact that I never posted pictures of the baby shower we threw for her in November.

I made these cute twin cupcakes using baby shower party favor babies and the cutest polka dot cupcake wrappers I found at JoAnn's. Since Tiff's twins are a boy and girl, I thought the pink wrappers and the blue frosting were fun.

The color scheme for the party was pink, blue, and orange (with a lot of emphasis on the pink, since this is Tiff's first girl!)

I was too busy laughing and enjoying myself when the guests arrived, so I don't have any pictures of the actual party. Dang it. But it was really fun. We had salads, soups, and lots of sweets!

I made 3 sets of twin onesies for the babies. I thought they turned out fun.

Now I can't wait to see those little ones and I'm so happy they are safely here!

Snow Babies

2010-12-15T14:02:00.000-07:00

Maggie is a big fan of the snow. The twins--not so much. Maggie couldn't wait to make her first snow angel.

And she couldn't wait to force her mother to make her a snowman. But she happily ran inside to fetch the carrot. She insisted that every snowman needs a carrot nose. She's right you know.

The boys stood on the sidelines whining. They didn't want to touch the snow. Or even walk in it.

We knew it was time to go in and call it a cold day, when after this picture the twins pushed the snowmen over.

Luckily for Maggie, I'm sure we'll build plenty more this winter.

Christmas Cards: Here We Go Again!

2010-12-06T22:27:00.001-07:00

I love Christmas cards. I love reading them. I love looking at their colors and pictures. At my parent's house I rifle through whole piles of them, reading about people I don't even know. I'm a big fan of the Christmas card. So, I feel its important that I send them (since I love it when people to send them to me). But every year I seem to make a way bigger deal out of them than I need to. I make them by hand. Sewing paper. Stamping paper. Cutting pictures. Tying ribbons. And every year when I finish the 17 hour ordeal I say, "Never again! That was ridiculous" Then somehow I do it again.

Why do I do this? Basically because I wish I was a graphic designer, but I'm not. So, I'm not smart enough to come up a cute card that can be printed instead of crafted to death.

Enter: Shutterfly. They have the card designs that I would come up with if I was smarter. My favorites:

I don't even care that my great aunt Penelope doesn't know what {Feliz Navidad} means. This card is adorable.

And I love the yellow and gray in {this card}, because its kind of unexpected for Christmas.

And how could you not be {merry} upon finding this in your mailbox? I'm smitten with it!

I just can't get over how much simpler, colorful-er, and easier this year's Christmas cards will be.

P.S. Shutterfly is out to be your best friend this year, because not only do they have amazing designs, but they're offering 50 free Christmas cards to interested bloggers!

{Go check it out!}

Cool Dudes

2010-12-04T22:05:00.001-07:00

Every time one of my kids puts on sunglasses, their self-perceived coolness quotient goes up. They address one another as "cool dude," they strut around with a proud swagger, and pose for more pictures than usual (and since they never pose for any pictures, this is an event).

But I guess if I looked that cool, I'd become a poser, too.

Letter Wall

2010-12-03T18:04:00.000-07:00

When I wrote last year about my {letter H} collection, I never imagined the adorable parcel that would come my way. My cousin Emily, who along with her talented husband Stewart just started {an adorable etsy shop}, made me a bunch of ceramic letter h's. She has a kiln and mad skills. And I'm the lucky recipient.

You want your own ceramic letters now, right? I knew it.

{Go get some}. And a wooden word, too, while you're at it.

I'm just trying to decide between {"hello"} and {"yum"}.

Decisions...

Pie Party

2010-11-29T23:26:00.000-07:00

Since Thanksgiving is all about filling yourself full of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and other dinner delights, dessert doesn't bring nearly the enjoyment that it should. Pie kind of gets the shaft.

So, when my mom heard about a friend's Thanksgiving tradition that combated the pie problem, we just had to adopt the tradition for ourselves. From now on, the Sunday before Thanksgiving will be a Pie Party! We'll make, eat, and enjoy pie for dinner. Just pie. Delicious pie!

Thus, pie will have its day to shine and won't be lost amid the pools of gravy. Here's how our first pie party went down:

Paula Deen's sweet potato pie. I made it my dang self. Look! Meringue!

Paula Deen's Kentucky pie. The top burned and the inside didn't cook. I failed.

Pies. Family. Good things.

Sweet potato pie fans.

Sometimes I think Dan and Will look more alike than Coleman and Will do.

Two of my favorite people that I am oh so thankful for: Aunt Sue and Cousin Becca

Does it get cuter than this 87 year old Thanksgiving queen on her birthday? Nope.

Welcome to the family, pie festival. I think we're going to have a great future together.

A Small Harvest

2010-11-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

Last weekend while Dan and I were raking leaves, tucking big wheels, swimming pools, and other yard toys into the shed, and performing other winterizing tasks we found this little gem:

A perfectly formed tiny pumpkin, just a little bit bigger around than a nickel.

The little pumpkin model is adorable too.

"I Ate Too Much" by Jack Prelutsky

2010-11-24T16:18:00.000-07:00

When I was in first grade, my teacher Miss Meservy had us memorize a poem for Thanksgiving. We even recited it as a class over the P.A. System for the entire school, which was a really thrilling event in my 6 year old world.

When I got home, I was excited to tell my family all about it. I proudly proclaimed the title, "I Ate Too Much by Jack Prelutsky." Then I stopped. I couldn't remember anything else. Nothing. It haunted me for many years. I always expected it to somehow come back to me. I mean, I had crowded in the principal's office around a microphone with 25 other kids reciting it for the whole school. But no. Nothing.

It kind of became a family joke. Any time after a delicious meal when someone would say "I ate too much." The rest of the family would chime in, "By Jack Prelutsky."

Well, this year I decided to do something that I'm surprised I never thought of doing before: actually memorizing and reciting that poem for the family at Thanksgiving dinner.

I've been practicing for weeks (just to make sure the performance is perfect). This is going to be the best Thanksgiving ever.

Things to Do with a 4 Year Old: Sesame Street E-books

2010-11-23T14:37:00.001-07:00

A representative from {Sesame Street e-books} contacted me a month ago and asked if I'd like a free month trial of their program to test out with my kids. Why yes I would, I told them.So they gave us one.

And we tried it. Lots of times.

Maggie loved it.

The e-books website has over 125 e-books to enjoy. They have various kinds: there are books that play audio, books that are animated, interactive books that you play kind of like a game (an I spy type game, and one about food that you move the parts around the page), and books that you have a grown-up read to you like a real book.

Maggie's favorites were the interactive books. The drawback is that there were only 2 of them and Maggie begged for more! Another drawback is that the site wasn't especially kid friendly. Maggie couldn't select and start the e-books by herself like she can with the games on the sesamestreet.org website. Its not that I leave her to do these things by herself while I sit back eating bon bons, she doesn't let me help her.

In all, we had a great experience with Sesame Street e-books. If you're looking for a fun activity to do with your preschooler, signing up for a year subscription to e-books might be just the thing. We recommend it.

Here's a free preview of one of my favorites, {Monster at the End of This Book}.

Full disclosure: Sesame Street e-books gave us a free one month subscription to their website in exchange for this review.

An Artist Emerges

2010-11-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

Maggie has become quite the artist. At any time of day she can be found happily scribbling in one of her many notebooks. Sometimes she "writes" a series of pretty impresses zigzags that can fill a whole page. Sometimes she will scribble and fill in the entire page with her black pen. But lately she's been actually drawing. As in, you can look at it and tell what it is.

Like this little number:

It's Maggie and her brothers on the swing set. See? Adorable! I can't get enough of this girl's work. And apparently neither can she. She's usurped the mother and sons story time I have with the boys at bedtime. The other night she was furiously working in her notebook telling us that she was writing a pirate story to read to her brothers. She finally finished and shared her adventurous tale with Will and Coleman. They didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I did. But then again, the only book they like is "The Napping House." If I try to read them something else they yell "No! Napping House!" until I relent and read it again.

As a girl that's always loved to read and write, it makes me so happy to see my kids enjoy it, too!

Another Reason Why Dads are Way Cooler than Moms

2010-11-16T22:40:00.000-07:00

I came home tonight from my church meeting and found Dan and Maggie both asleep in Maggie's room while old He-Man episodes were being projected on the wall.

I never would have thought of that as a bedtime bribe. Never.

Stuff I'd Hate to Forget, part 3

2010-11-16T12:36:00.000-07:00

The argument I just overheard between Maggie and Coleman. He was screaming, "Gimme!" And she was screaming, "Never!!!!!" They were both tugging on a piece of pvc pipe like it was really something worth having.

Something about a 4 year old screaming "Never!" really makes me laugh. I didn't intervene in the fight so I could enjoy laughing about it.

Stuff I'd Hate to Forget, part 2

2010-11-16T12:32:00.000-07:00

The way that Maggie phrases her constant questions. My favorite would have to be "Why how you do that?" or "Why how we go to Grandma's house."

I never know if she wants to know why or how. So I usually answer both. I'll be sad when she grows out of it.

Stuff I'd Hate to Forget, part 1

2010-11-16T12:29:00.000-07:00

The time that Will had a complete meltdown because he was jealous Coleman got to go to time-out. Then he threw another tantrum when it was Maggie's turn.

p.s. No, our time-out is not an exciting thing. It's a chair in the corner.

A Lesson in Pie Making

2010-11-15T21:58:00.000-07:00

My Aunt Pam is a fine cook. And by fine I mean, fiiine. As in, dang good. But the thing that I like the best about Pam's cooking is how much she likes doing it and sharing it with others. When Aunt Pam saw "learn to make pie" on my {30 before 30} list, she offered to help. She's a good person like that.

She invited me to come to the cooking demonstration she did for all the ladies in her ward at church. And she was adorable with her rubber gloves, plethora of pie making suplies, and wit. I thoroughly enjoyed sitting next to my cousin Elin during the class. Its funny, but growing up I didn't know my cousins very well. I was among the youngest cousins and the older ones were so cool I mostly sat in a shy stupor and watched them watch t.v. in Grandma's basement. Lame. But now that we're all grown up we have so much in common. Its wonderful. My cousins are even funnier than I am, I think. Which is remarkable because sometimes I think I'm really funny.

Anyway, after Pam's demonstration, Elin smuggled me a jar of homemade apple pie filling and some of Pam's pie dough. So, I was able to whip up this adorable Halloween bat pie. I'm quite smitten with how it turned out. It was delicious.

Thanks Pam and Elin!

Boo at the Zoo

2010-11-02T23:17:00.000-06:00

This year Dan's mama invited us to join her on her wonderful {Grandparent Pass} to Hogle Zoo's "Boo at the Zoo". If you have a grandma, ask her to get a grandparent's pass to the zoo (then she can take you for free like ours can. Love that).

The Boo at the Zoo event was so much fun! Local businesses set up booths around the park and were there handing out candy and treats to all the trick or treating kids. Cream O' Weber was handing out chocolate milk and eggnog. Some cow from somewhere was giving everybody string cheese (each of the twins ate three). And Village Inn was serving pie! There were kids and parents in the most hilarious and adorable costumes. My favorite was a man dressed like The Man in the Yellow Hat, and his son was Curious George. So cute, right?

The kids had a blast. Especially Maggie because I finally took her into the reptile house even though it creeps me out a little and smells like my 7th grade PE clothes (that I never took home to wash because I was sure that I would forget to bring them back, thus getting marked down for not dressing for the day which I was sure would earn me an F on my report card or maybe an A- which to me would have been just as bad as an F. A majorly stressful situation to be sure).

I'm hoping to make Boo at the Zoo a yearly Halloween tradition.

Fall Wreath

2010-10-31T22:51:00.000-06:00

I've been needing something to hang on my front door. The $8 bunch of fake forsythia branches I bought at Michael's last year just wasn't cutting it. So, I got some fabric scraps, a straw wreath, a glue gun, and some pins, and I ended up with this:

I just wrapped burlap strips around the wreath. Then I made some fabric flowers {here's a tutorial for making them} and secured them on the wreath with pins. I added 3 little orange felt scrapbook flowers, and tied a bow with a scrap of velour fabric. Its definitely not professional, but its quirky and I like it. It's just what the front door needed until my Christmas decor can take over.

Acts of Service: 14

2010-10-30T22:27:00.000-06:00

Thank You Everybody that Acted Happy to Greet my Trick-or-Treating Children,

I love Halloween. I always have. I don't love the really creepy, wacked-out, blood and gore, wicked side of it. But I do love the decorating, dressing up, carving pumpkins, old-timey classic halloweeny stuff. And this year was a great one. I had such a good time taking my kids around the neighborhood where I grew up and seeing all the people I know and love. I just think trick or treating is a fabulous tradition. If I can open the door and find 2 twin pirates and an adorable cowgirl--I'd give 'em candy any day of the year. So, thanks all the kind people who share that same philosophy. You sure make life fun.

Love,
A Happy Halloween Fan