We Are Such Good Friends

Okay, ever since we moved into this neighborhood, my girls have been inseparable from their buddies Amelia and Tess down the street. So they have kind of been raised like sisters. They know our rules, my kids know theirs (not that there is even much difference between the two), I am comfortable talking to those sweet girls and Stephanie is just as comfortable with my girls. We have done so much together. We carpool, the big girls walk to school together, we buy matching outfits for them once in a while, we have late nights for them...You get the picture. They are always together. So let me illustrate how you can tell when you are really good friends with a neighbor:

Last week I was making tear bread for dinner. Amelia, Rylee, Hayden, and Lana were all hovering while I was making the bread. There is something so fascinating about rolling out bread dough and cutting it into little circles, dipping those circles in butter and then dipping that into cinnamon sugar. It was so funny to watch their faces. They all kept trying to get a little taste of bread dough or cinnamon sugar. So when I was finished and my fingers were covered in cinnamon sugar and butter I asked the kids if they wanted to lick my fingers. Rylee licked one and then I asked Amelia if she wanted to. Without even batting an eye, she came over and licked my finger. I busted up! I couldn't believe that she didn't even think twice about licking my finger. It is flattering that she is that comfortable over here though.

Okay, now for the really embarrassing story:

Yesterday, Tess was over here playing with Lana (I know, what a shock!) It was cleaning day, so I hadn't showered yet. I fed them lunch, got them entertained and told them I needed to take a quick shower. Oh yeah, you know what's coming. I am washing my face, so I have my eyes closed when I hear Lana come in the bathroom saying, "Mom." I finish washing my face and open my eyes to see that Tess is halfway in the bathroom as well. I am laughing and saying, "Hey, you girls go out, quick!" They both just stood completely still and Lana looked at me like, "What is the problem, Mom?" Finally I got them both to go out and I hopped out as fast as I could and thought, "Great, I get to make THIS phone call." Aw man.

So I called Stephanie and apologized for ruining her daughter for life. Luckily she just laughed and was okay with it. I feel horrible though. But honestly, I am surprised it hasn't happened already because the girls practically live together. (I am just glad I was taking a hot shower, so the steam helped mute things - I know, I am just trying to make myself feel better about the whole thing.)

I guess you can say that you are really good friends when your neighbor's daughter licks cinnamon sugar off your finger and the other one has seen you in the shower.

Fair Trade?

Yesterday at church we tried, yet again, to get Hayden to go to nursery. All of our kids have had issues going to nursery. (For a while, Lana hated it so bad that she would get physically sick if we took her to nursery.) But when they are just about three, they kind of just snap out of it and decide nursery isn't so bad.

So, we tried with Hayden to no avail. He would play and have fun as long as me or Bill was in there with him, but as soon as we left, the screaming started. It didn't help that there were like 18 kids in there and only two adults. Not great odds there. So we both went in there for a while and had Kate in there too.

Kate LOVED it in there. She got right down and played and didn't care where we were. I really think they need to let kids go to nursery at 15 months. All of my kids would have done great in there at 15 months, but by 18 months the good old separation anxiety has set in and there is no shot at leaving them.

We finally decided that there were just way too many kids in there and not enough adults and that they whole thing was just chaos, so we picked up the two kids to leave. Funny thing happened. Hayden got all excited to leave and Kate threw a major fit. She really wanted to stay in there.

So, I'm thinking....Is it a fair trade to leave Kate in there even though she isn't 18 months yet and keep Hayden out for a few months? Okay, I know that won't work, but I wish they would consider a happy 15 month old in exchange for a fit-throwing-two-year-old a fair trade.

*Sigh* I just really hate nursery. Maybe Bill and I just need to be called to nursery. We're having our own nursery in the hall at church every week anyway.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENN!!!

One of my awesome friends is having a birthday today! Jenn, I hope you have a fantastic day!

I love Jenn because she is one of the most thoughtful, kind, and genuine people I know. She just is who she is and she is so sweet and positive all the time. Even when she is having a bad day, she tries so hard to think of others and make you feel happy and good about yourself and life.

She has so much energy. I have no idea how she does all that she does. She is always working on a project (or ten) and still finds time to be an amazing wife, mom, and friend. She is such an amazing mother. I love hearing her talk to her kids and hearing about the fun things she does with them. She truly enjoys every stage and every little moment with her kids. And her husband absolutely adores her (with good reason.) Her family is very blessed to have her.

I don't know any one else who shares my absolute LOVE for all things CHOCOLATE like Jenn does. I remember sitting in the mother's room at church when Alyssa and Lana were newborns (they were born two days apart.) We would talk about all things chocolate (and then about how we would both love to be nutritionists ~ go figure) and Jenn would have a stash of Hershey bars in her diaper bags and would eat them all through church. I LOVE THAT! And, hey, a nursing mom needs all the calories she can get, right?!?!?!

Jenn has been such a blessing in my life and teaches me so many things. I look up to her and admire her ambition and desire to just be a good person. They say that you usually have a limited few people in your life who will be a lifetime friend, and she is definitely one of my few. I love Jenn to death and I know she will be a friend for life.

Love you, girl! Have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Eat lots and lots of chocolate!:)

Flarp

Lana is definitely my kid that is going to be the class clown. Check out what she took for show- and-tell today at preschool.



She and her buddy had a good time playing with it before school. And, yes, I did warn her teacher to not let Lana open it. Who knows what Lana will "tell" about this little doozie in school today. I can only imagine. Where can I hide? I am the worst mother in the world to let my kid take this for show-and-tell, but there was no talking her out of it. Seriously though, you gotta admit it was funny!

A Welcome Change

Our church has been at 1:00 in the afternoon for the longest time now. For the past three years, every time it is our turn to have an earlier church time, the ward boundaries get changed and we get stuck with 1:00 again.

WELL NOT ANY MORE!!!! Our stake decided to change the church schedules with the school year rather than the calendar year and guess when we go to church as of yesterday? 9:00 am!!! Woo Hoo! I am so excited! Do you know how nice it is to be done with church by noon? I would go to church at 7:00 in the morning just to get it over with by 10:00 if I could. I know, I shouldn't talk about church like that (getting it "over with" and all), but the joy I find in church while wrestling four kids is very limited.

But now - oh how I love this schedule! We are up and off to church and home by noon. This means all afternoon to do whatever the heck we want!!! Our kids came home and took naps, I made home-made French bread to go with dinner, and tried a new recipe of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (and ate half the dough by myself.) After we ate, we played with the kids on the floor (horsie rides on daddy, "knuck" wars with Hayden, jump rope practice with Rylee, etc.) Then grandma came for a visit and helped entertain the kids. Then when she left we went on a walk as a family and still had two hours until bed time. WOW! I love this!

Now I just may have to get used to having so much time to kill on Sunday afternoon. I guess we can always eat more!:) I'm always up for trying new dessert recipes. Or Bill could actually attempt getting his home teaching done, but where's the fun in that? Watch more football? (Bill had the games on all afternoon while he was helping with the kids - hey, it's okay with me if he is helping too!) I actually miss the Sundays when Rylee was a baby when Bill and I would watch the 49ers play (they stink now, so that might not be as much fun.)

What do you all do with a Sunday afternoon? We haven't had this for so long that I almost don't know what to do with myself (this is a good thing though!) What a nice change. For once, we didn't get the short end of the stick when it comes to church schedules!!!

Lana in Preschool

Lana's first day of preschool was last Thursday, and she was so excited to start school again. She adores her teacher and loves the interaction with all of the other kids. She has really missed preschool over the summer. It was all I could do to get her to stop and let me take a picture of her before she left for school. Hayden had to be in the picture with his big sister. He always loves taking Lana to school and picking her up with me.


So off to school we went. She knew the whole routine. She got there, hung up her backpack and sat next to her buddy to begin the day coloring at the table. Getting her to look at me for a picture was a trick!

After school was out, my mom came over to visit. She brought all of the kids new PJ's just because she is nice and they were all so excited. So that night, I put all of them in their new jammies and made them get their picture taken.

This was just the topper for Lana's great day. First day of preschool, a visit from grandma, and new jammies to snuggle into at the end of her big day - it doesn't get better than that.:)

Fast forward to yesterday. She is still loving school, and now they are beginning their color unit. Each day is a different color and the kids are encouraged to wear that color. Lana was so excited for school yesterday. She got to be all decked out in red (she even wanted her fingernails and toenails painted red - THAT'S MY GIRL!)

It is always so fun to walk in and see all of the kids dressed in the same color. So adorable!

And a little funny side note: Yesterday was also the first time Lana got to take show and tell this year. Guess what my kid took? She took the squirt bottle that I use to do her and Rylee's hair. What a goofball! When I asked her what she was going to say about the squirt bottle she said that she was going to show the class how she likes to take drinks from it (yuck) and how she likes to spray herself in the face. Whatever. My kid is the class clown. Great. She gets it from her dad. :)

I am so happy that she has a fun preschool and wonderful teacher to enjoy the year with and I can't wait to see what other adventures we have this year.

A Funny That I Came Across..

So today, I was browsing through some websites looking for shelves and things for the girls' room when I looked at this mirror from IKEA. Cute mirror, but then I really got a chuckle when I looked at the product information. Check out the "Key Features" part.

Is that not hilarious! My first thought was: Well, crap if that's all it takes to write product descriptions for IKEA, sign me up! I could think of something like that! Can you just imagine writing something for, oh say, a comforter:

Key Features: You won't shiver if you use a comforter from us! And you will wake up more beautiful after you had a good night of beauty sleep.

Seriously, pay me the big bucks and I could come up with something for every item they sell!

My second thought was: Does looking in a mirror really always strengthen the body image? If I buy that mirror, look in it, and it makes me feel like crap about myself because I don't like what I see in the reflection, can I sue for false advertising? (How's that for a run-on sentence?) Hey, maybe this is a MAGIC mirror! Do you think I should buy it and see?

If I do buy it, I think I should re-do the kids' room so it looks like a Cat-In-The-Hat room. It totally reminds me of something that would be in the Cat-In-The-Hat movie. Aaahhh, now I am just getting carried away.

Maybe it isn't really that funny and I just have the most warped sense of humor ever. I just thought it was funnier than a one-legged man in a butt-kickin' contest (that's a dad phrase) - I didn't mean to offend any one-legged people out there. I'm sorry if I did. Again, me and my warped sense of humor.

The World Is Right Again...

I have the internet again!!!

Friday night, all of a sudden our stinkin' receiver died. AAAHHHGGGG!!!

But today, the lovely UPS man (who didn't even knock to tell me my important connection to the outside world had arrived) delivered our new receiver. I installed the thing as quickly as I could and now I can be "connected" again! WOO HOO!!!

Now, I am off to catch up on all of your wonderful blog posts that I have missed out on. It's so nice to see you all again!:)