Silly videos

So in my last post I wrote about how Logan's been a little STINKER recently... but I failed to mention that most of the time all it does is make me laugh. He is my little sweetie pie too, so here are a couple of videos to redeem him.

Nate's dad was making Logan laugh so hard he was clenching his fists and shaking, it was so cute.


Logan has just started to "dance." Love it!! And to the "Phineas and Ferb" theme song, no less.


Logan dancing reminded me of when Carter first started to dance, right around Logan's age, I laugh every time, so I'm reposting it.


Ookkkaaayy that's alllll folks!

Ventings and such

Stuff on my mind!

This is eczema.

Poor little Carter deals with this every summer. I don’t know why he doesn’t get it in the winter. But as soon as the weather gets warm his little legs break out in rashes. The doctor prescribed triamcinolone for harsh outbreaks and hydrocortisone for mild ones. It takes a few days for it to heal, and then if I don’t stay on top of it BOOM it comes right back. He gets a little on his arms and cheeks too. Will he have this for the rest of his life???

Another issue. I am SURE this is something most kids go through, but it’s driving me crazy. WHY OH WHY do kids wait and wait and WAIT AND WAIT until the last possible second to go potty????????? Is it SO MUCH FUN to dance around and hold it?? Is it the adrenaline rush of WILL I MAKE IT!! Jenna at least makes it, but lately Carter has been missing, JUST BARELY! I tell Carter to go potty and he says he doesn’t have to go. I say, “YES YOU DO!” He says, “No, pee pee is not coming out!” 2 minutes later he races to the bathroom and wets his pants standing 6 inches away from the toilet. COME ON!!!!!!!! At least he makes #2 in the toilet every time.

Annnnnnd Logan. So. He was an early crawler, at 6 months. He walked at 10 months. Well now, at 15 months, he is early at something else. He's jumped ahead to the TERRIBLE TWO’S!!!!!!! He throws awesome tantrums, flinging himself to the floor kicking and crying. When I tell him NO he flips out and does it anyway. Trying to get him off the bottle has been a nightmare, he cries and cries and CRIES. He is extremely stubborn. I think he cried for an hour one night. (BUT the last 3 nights have been bottle free and he’s slept perfectly all through the night so I’m crossing my fingers.) Between those ultra sweet moments, this kid is manipulative and has quite an attitude problem.

I think I jumped the gun when I labeled him the “Easy-Going” child awhile ago.

He thinks he's the king of the world. This last week, I found Logan on the kitchen table playing with the glass flower vase. He has climbed onto the computer desk multiple times and opens like 25 computer windows. He may have sent out a few emails. Maybe even downloaded a few programs. He is a champion playground climber. The other day at the park he climbed the ladder to the top of this huge slide, teetering dangerously at the top. Being the good mom I am, I began sprinting to him-- DUMB DUMB! Yeah I immediately pulled something (OUCH!!!!) It was not good for this pregnant body. I couldn't walk that whole day. Anyway, he ended up just going right down the slide all by himself. No fear. He thinks he is such a big boy, and no wonder, he has his siblings to look up to every day.

ANYWHO, moving on. So like 3 weeks ago we cut out sod in the backyard and tilled out a GARDEN!!!!! It took allllll day. I have said every year since we got a house that I wanted a garden. WE FINALLY GOT ONE!!! And it’s HUGE!!!! Why we got one the one summer I am hugely pregnant about to have a baby I don’t know, but I’m still EXCITED!!! That is until everything started dying. I guess I just thought everything would magically grow. Dangit. We’re watering it more, so hopefully that helps. We already lost the watermelon, cucumbers, and jalapeño peppers. Now if only the other plants can hang on for dear life. And now I see a whole bunch of baby weeds and grass starting to come in. Gulp. Oh welllllll we’ll see what happens

And last of all, the thing on my mind CONSTANTLY since I graduated !!!! Finding a JOB! I keep waiting to blog about medical transcription jobs until it’s FOR SURE cause I’m paranoid about employers searching out my name and I don’t want to write about stuff till it’s set, yaknow? But just know-- MT jobs are definitely out there. I got 4 job offers within a couple days of beginning the job search. I’m just going crazy about making a decision that will be the right fit for our family. A lot of companies want full time, and I just can’t do that, I mean the point of working from home is being there for my kids, so I need flexibility. Things are pending with a couple places, not to mention I keep applying to more and more, SOOOOOO here’s hoping things work out for the best. I’ll let ya know. A lot of people have asked me about this MT thing when they found out I was doing the schooling, so as soon as I have a job I’ll explain just what I think about everything.

And how will starting a new job fit in with me having a baby in 6 weeks???? We'll find out!

I'm done with the jumbled thoughts in my head now.

Iron Chef AmERIKA!

Last weekend we got together with some friends for the ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN!

We all met at Walmart and revealed the SECRET INGREDIENTS.

The guys were in charge of the main dish, and us girls gave them these ingredients to work with:

Leeks
Jicama
Lime jello

The girls were in charge of dessert. We were handed these ingredients:

Raisins
Root beer
Apple cinnamon

So Team WOMEN came up with a game plan and went off to do our shopping while Team MEN did the same, trying to stay within our budget of $5 per person.

We came back to our house and the girls headed to the basement while we waited for our dinner.

An hour and a half later we came upstairs to THIS! What we have here is mashed potatoes seasoned with leeks and garlic, served in a baked jicama shell, fried jicama chips, and steak marinated in lime jello, 7-Up, freshly squeezed lime juice, and Mesquite.


A scrumptious, not to mention aesthetically pleasing, fruit salad.


And sparkling 7-up. With, what is that? Oh yes, LIME JELLO. (And take notice of the super happy ketchup plate.)


Here is a better view. My how that jello glistens.


You know what, I was SO IMPRESSED!!!! They were creative and the most important part? It all tasted delicious.


SOOOOO us girls really had to bring it.

We decided to make apple pie... with raisins... with a root beer drizzle for the ice cream.

Lindsey is workin her magic on the root beer syrup.


Aerielle is mixing the yummy filling.


I'm beating the pie crust into submission. (pretty freaky.)






I think the guys liked it.



It was way fun! Next time we'll start earlier... we got done around midnight. Worth it though.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to one heck of a daddy.



We are very different in a lot of ways, but concerning the important things in life we are exactly the same. My kids are so, so lucky to have Nate as a daddy.

I'm lucky to have my daddy, too.



My dad was reading to me out of his journal yesterday. Stuff he wrote about me when I was 16. It makes me smile. WOW we fought a lot. We could not see eye to eye on anything. Sometimes I'd fight with him just BECAUSE. I was a brat for sure sometimes. Hearing what he had to say about it in his journal was sad cause he was trying so hard to be a good dad and felt like he was completely failing... (yeah we had a horrible relationship during that stretch...) BUT yesterday we both just laughed about it because we have a GREAT relationship now. If only I knew his side of the story back then... and if only he knew mine...

But the brilliant thing is, my dad wrote in his journal EVERY DAY.

And SO DID I.

So... don't you think we should write his version of my teenage years versus my version and publish it??? A struggling father's perspective versus his teenage-angst-ridden daughter's perspective?

Yeah we're totally doing it and gonna make millions.

Fortunately, things became totally different after I left for college. I remember my dad and I would email each other and we'd talk on the phone forever and suddenly things clicked and I didn't think he was just out to ruin my life anymore. YAY for growing up!!!!

I love you Dad! ! ! ! ! !

Life is crazy. But fun? Right?

Oh my heck, at church today I had Carter clinging to one side and Jenna clinging to the other and Logan crawling all over my lap. Or what is left of my lap.

Nate is sitting a foot away doing what, oh, listening to the talks? What is that?

I am like GO SIT BY DADDY!

That works for like a minute. Then they all gravitate back to mommy.

I felt like a jungle gym. Where everybody wants to play on the monkey bars at the same time. I couldn’t even breathe. I was like, what the heck, let’s add another one to the mix in a few weeks, WHY NOT.

What's 1 more little ball of fun, right????

From 2010-06-02

Thank goodness Nate is in this with me 100%.

It's a fun little life we lead. But when all 3 kids are whining at me all day I GET NERVOUS!

Putting on my Brave Face.

My little grad, and my big one.

So I used to roll my eyes at little kids "graduating" from pre-school and the like, I mean, come on, a little much?

Then a couple weeks ago Jenna "graduated" from her first year of "Joy School." I mean, her FIRST year. And it's not even real pre-school, it's a bunch of us moms taking turns. But seeing all the kids in paper caps and getting "diplomas"? Okay, it was cute.



And here's my big grad. Nate graduated with his Master's Degree in Procurement and Acquisitions Management-- I know, what? He works on Base as a Contracting Officer for the DoD, apparently it goes right along with that. I don't pretend to fully understand. He worked hard though and I'm so happy for him!! Good job Nate, you did it!!!

Memorial Day . . . late. . .

I am getting behind, so I thought I'd throw these pictures from Memorial Day out there, finally.

We visited Nate's grandparents on his mom's side. I'm sad I never knew them.


We visited Nate's grandparents on his dad's side.

I miss his grandma always worrying about how her hair looked, and how she just knew since she first met me that Nate and I would get married. I miss his sweet, sweet, grandpa, and how he took such good care of his wife, and how he loved to tickle Carter's little baby toes.

We visited my oma and opa.

I love, love, love that I come from German heritage. That's why I took 5 years of German in school. That's why I did my country report on Germany. I miss their thick accents. I miss playing the piano for oma. I miss opa acting like a monkey. Man, he was so funny.

We visited my oma-oma, my great grandma. She died when I was very young.


Logan looked so cute just clinging to my mom like this.


Ooookay that's all.

Nate just handed me 1 angry baby. He was down for bed, and Jenna and Carter were being rowdy and woke him up. Don't you hate that!!! So the question is: Do I take the easy way out and just lay him back down with a bottle? (YES I'm HORRIBLE, knock off some "good mother" points why don't you.) or try to stick with my new resolve of NO BOTTLE and hear him cry some more?

Weaning stinks.

Montreal Part 2

More Canada, WAHOO! Here's a zillion pictures!

We went to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. We've never been to a "REAL" art museum before, and it was pretty awesome. The museum employees hovering around every room made me glad I wasn't trying to steal anything. Whew. Oh yeah, and we entered the museum HERE:


And when we exited, we were across the street HERE... I was so confused. We must have gone underground. Or teleported.


Here is the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal--inside was breathtaking.








Just some pictures from around the city.





Here is the temple.



We drove the 3 hours to Quebec City and stayed there one night. WOW I LOVED it. They have the "old" part of town, very European. I mean, I've never been to Europe, but that's what Google said. :) It was so fun walking through and seeing everything.















Then we drove to Sainte-Anne a few minutes away. Check out the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré! So dang gorgeous.






So there was a LOT of walking we did on this trip, so for a 30-week pregnant woman:

Me at 30 weeks! Well, now 31, i have 9 weeks to go I'm gonna be humungous.


Anyway yeah I did whine a bit to Nate. Like "SLOW DOWN!" And he'd be like "I'm not walking fast, you're walking slow" and I'd be like "HELLO I'M PREGNANT!" Yeah there was one stretch where the baby was like kicking the crap out of me plus I had to go to the bathroom plus my lower back was aching, excuse me for not skipping across town. But I did great and was happy most of the time. Really.

Ummm, just Logan.










Yeah Logan just ate that pizza off the ground.

SO if you're STILL with me, Nate's FAVORITE part of the whole trip was, of course, seeing people from his mission.

We visited the Josephs, who spoke mostly French, so I had fun sitting there wishing I spoke French. (yeah this whole trip I loved hearing everybody speak French. I was so glad Nate spoke it. Cause I couldn't even say "Merci" correctly.) They were the NICEST family ever!!



There were 2 guys in particular Nate was looking for, desperately. It was NOT easy. They had lost contact over the years so the numbers he'd had for Marc and Peter didn't work anymore. We looked in the phone book for Marc Lemire and there were like 40! Nate called like 15 wrong numbers until he found him! Nate was THRILLED! I was so happy to meet him! He spoke English too, that was nice.



The last guy, Peter, we just could not find. Nate even visited the mission office, where he served for part of his mission, and talked to the missionaries there about the mission and got the # of the missionaries who would maybe know Peter, and they didn't. So, so sad. :( We don't know what happened to him.

It was neat to drive around some of Nate's old areas though, and picture him back as a missionary. It made him so happy, yet sad, too, because it made him miss his mission so much.

SOOOO yeah this extremely long post is ALMOST DONE!!!!! I have one last picture for you:


This is Logan. On the plane.
Flight attendants are angels sent from heaven. Friendly. Helpful. And they quietly ignore airplane policy after the screaming toddler FINALLY falls asleep in the "no children" aisle. Halle-freakin-lujah.

Glad we made it back in one piece!