50 Degrees-Hopefully

I just checked the weather forecast for the week. We might get up to 51 degrees!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. It is currently raining/snowing and is 37 degrees (with a feels like temperature of 28 degrees) I say raining/snowing because it was raining but now it is snowing a slushy snow.

Emily got all dressed in her rain gear-rain boots, rain coat, umberella and went outside for exactly 3 minutes. She decided it was too cold and the rain/snow was not fun. By the time Sam got all ready to go outside, Emily was already undressed and had moved on to another activity. Poor kid. He didn't want to go outside without his buddy.

Maybe later this week he'll get a chance. It is Spring Break and some sunny, warmer weather would be lovely.

You know he's our third baby when...

It is interesting how things change with the more children you have. With the first baby everything is by the book. You read up on what food to give when, what to expect each month in regards to milestones and abilities and make sure you do it all according to what they say.

With the second you try hard but you're busier. You hope to do everything the same as with the first but you just don't have the time like you did. It is harder to keep a second baby on a schedule because child #1 has play dates, school, or just sometimes needs to get out of the house before everyone goes crazy.

With baby #3 everything goes out the window!

Case in point: When Emily was young she didn't get her first taste of candy until she was almost two. I held back on fruit snacks (choking hazard!) and lollipops (never!-way to sticky) for so long.
When Sam came around, Emily was already "exposed" to all that and so he was introduced to sweets much earlier but still within reason.

But BEN. Now he has 2 older siblings who gets way to much candy from holidays, parties, school, etc. They love their little brother and are so willing to share. See what I mean: "But Mom he likes it!" We (or should I say they) have created a monster!
He's only 10 months in this picture. What have we done!

Best Friends

Emily and Sam can be the best of friends. Brad and I just love it when they play nicely, help each other, and care for each other.

One night Brad and I went to check on them just before going to bed and we found them both asleep in Sam's bed. I'm sure Emily felt scared and wanted to have someone with her.

As we were taking pictures, Sam rolled over and put his arm around Emily.

I hope they can always be there for each other.

Toys, Toys, Toys

My kids have a lot of toys. I mean they really have A LOT. Someone once walked into my basement and asked if I ran a day care. I mean that is a little embarrassing.

I'm to blame about the overabundance of toys because I love toys. I love to see my kids play with toys. I just think toys are fun and since they don't watch TV I feel like they should have toys to play with. Alright alright, I'll come clean...I can't resist toys on sale. Okay, okay I also love to buy everything that belongs to the set. Once I bought a Sweet Street house for $1 at a garage sale. It turned into me buying most all of the Sweet Street line (all at amazing prices!).

Well, I have learned something in the last few months. All kids really need are their imaginations and a few basic toys. Take for instance this picture.This is how Emily and Sam (and tag-a-long Ben) spend many afternoons (side note: notice the toy in Ben's mouth-that is typical Ben). They use their imaginations and create boats, picnics, forts, whatever with whatever is around (mainly my furniture). They spend hours doing this and most of the toys stay in my basement untouched.

So I packed up the majority of their toys in order to declutter my house and they haven't missed any of it. I left out what I feel are the basics:

• A play kitchen with food, basic tea set, shopping cart
• A few dress up items for girls and boys
• Cars and trucks, driving mat
• Train set
• Misc. dolls, ponies, stuffed animals, dinosaurs
• Blocks of various shapes and sizes for building houses for above dolls
• A few play sets i.e. barn, castle, etc.
• Puzzles and games

My life is so much simpler now. There is less to clean up. I have learned a valuable lesson. They don't need much to entertain themselves. I need less stuff to clean up. Put it together and life is better.

I wonder what I'll do with all that STUFF when we unpack...

Happy Birthday Sam-He's 4!

Sam had his first "friend" birthday party this month. He turned 4 and I decided he should have a party since we are moving. So we threw one together and invited his favorite people over for some Jungle Fun.

Welcome to the JUNGLE! (It looked cuter in real life.) We started the party with Hippos in the Mud (oops I forgot the take pictures with all the kids). After some more animal games and opening the presents, we had cake and ice cream.

Sam chose chocolate cupcakes and ice cream cones. Yummy! Yummy!After we ate, we went on a Lion Hunt. We acted out the poem "Going on a Lion Hunt" and then I had clues all over the house. The last clue led us to the LION. The Lion was a pinata that Sam, Emily and I made (it took a few days but was really easy). Sam chose the colors for the pinata and what candy would go in it (FYI-never use lollipops! After the kids whacked it, the lollipops were crushed to smithereens-not what you want to fall out of a pinata! Imagine my horror when the pinata is finally broken and out comes the candy and small pieces of lollipops along with it.)
Here are the kiddos gathering the candy!
Thanks for coming everyone!
Alyssa M., Emily, Blake C., Abel P., Hayden B., Mason C., Sam-The Birthday Boy!

Grateful Sunday

• I'm so grateful Brad had the weekend off. He has worked through 8 weekends in a row. One day off in the middle of the week just doesn't cut it. I was seriously about to lose my mind. He'll even get next weekend off!!!!!
• I'm grateful Brad was able to go to church with us. Again, I don't think I could have sat through 3 hours of church with the kids and a very tired baby who really fights taking a nap if I'm holding him. It was nice to get up with Ben when he was fussing and not worry about either taking everyone out with me or leaving Emily and Sam alone.
• I'm grateful for the speakers in church today. They each had a nice message.
• I'm grateful I made tonight's dinner last night. We came home from church and put it in the oven. No mess, no fuss but had a home cooked meal that was delicious!
• I'm grateful for Brad. He always seems to make my grateful Sunday list but seriously he is great. He has done a lot for me this weekend. I won't list it...he knows.
• I'm grateful for the best friend in the world. It was Angela's birthday this week. I can't say enough about how wonderful she is. She means so much to me. I just wish we lived near each other again. I guess phone calls and summer visits will have to do. I'm just glad her extended family lives close enough to mine and we can see each other at least once a year.

Stomach Flu - You know post will involve vomit - Consider yourself warned!

I can't believe it has been a week since I last posted. Well, actually I can believe it. It has been a week filled with the stomach flu. Ben, Emily and Sam had it this week. I think I had a slight case or maybe just being around sick kids made me queasy. It wasn't as horrible as it could have been-mostly one good puke with a lost of appetite for a couple of days. But I was stressed out because the carpet has just been cleaned and vomit smelling carpet isn't a good thing when you want to sell your house. Fortunately, we didn't have any problems on the carpet and no one has thrown up since Thursday morning so I think we are in the clear!!

Hopefully we have a better week. It's Spring Break!

Grateful Sunday

Oops. I have missed two Grateful Sundays. I guess I better get on the bandwagon again.

• I'm grateful someone liked our house so much they put an offer on it. It's not quite what we hoped for but gives us encouragement. We'll see what happens.
• I'm grateful my lesson in Relief Society went well. We talked about Elder Dallin H. Oak's talk Good, Better, Best. It went much better than when I had to do a last minute lesson on The Mission of John the Baptist (that lesson went poorly-the worst lesson I have ever done, ever!). This talk is so inspiring to me. It helped me keep things in perspective. Now the hard part is incorporating it into my life consistently.
• I'm grateful Nikole and family invited us over for Easter dinner. Since Brad had to work all weekend, I didn't put too much effort into Easter. It was nice to spend time with others on a holiday. She even let me bring the rolls. I used Rhodes frozen rolls and I didn't even have to mess up my clean kitchen.
• I'm grateful the house is still clean. I love it but it is killing me to keep it this way. It helps to be gone for long amounts of time during the day.
• I'm grateful Brad is a patient, loving husband. I truly have been a bear lately. I'm so stressed.

One Showing, One Offer

So we had our first (and so far our only) showing on Saturday. They loved the house and came back that evening for a second showing. They gave us a low-ball offer, quite pathetic considering they knew they were the first to see the house. We countered with something more reasonable (but still generous in my opinion). We are waiting to see what they say. Brad doesn't think they will take it. I'll let you know as soon as I know (or as soon as I get time to blog).

Sam Is My Uncle?

While I was posting pictures of Sam and thought of this picture of my mom, aunt, and uncle. The first time I saw this picture (just a few months ago), my first thought was my uncle looks just like Sam. Well, I guess I should say Sam looks like my uncle. Here's the proof:My cousin (my uncle's daughter) has even said Sam looks just like her kids. That is because her kids look just like her dad and our grandpa. Sam even has a sweet tooth just like my mom and grandpa.

I find genetics amazing. Who does your kids look like?

Sam is Four!!!

Sam turned four this month. (I'll post birthday party pictures soon.) Here are a few shots of my buddy Sam.
Sam has the cutest giggle in the world! If you listen hard you can hear it (well, just pretend you can). I can't believe he is four!!! What happened to the time.
This little boy grew up too fast.

Scary, Exciting, Frustrating, and Worrisome

My realtor just left. The house goes up tomorrow. It's scary, exciting, frustrating, and worrisome. But at least the process has started.

Wish us luck!

PS This photo was taken in September. The house currently looks dull, brown, dirty (due to all the sand this city dumps on it's roads) and dreary.

100 DAYS!

Brad informed me today that he has 100 DAYS left in his residency. I never thought this day would come. I haven't been keeping track but now that we are this close....I think I might.

Does anyone know how to post a countdown counter?

Slowly Going Crazy

Reasons Why I Am Slowly Going Crazy (in no particular order):

1. Brad has been working 6 days a week/12+ hours a day for 4 weeks now. 3 more to go.
2. Our house goes on the market next week. Need I say more.
3. It has been FREEZING for months now (although today was in the 40's-maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel).
4. It is too difficult to take 3 kids anywhere in the cold and I have too much to do at home.
5. Did I mention Brad is never home.
6. Did I mention I am trying to get our house ready to sell with 3 kids home bound and a husband that is never home.

Let's hope I'm still sane in June.

161 Messages

I have been slacking on my email. I currently have 161 messages that I have yet to respond to, delete, or read. If I'm going to be on the computer, I would rather read blogs.

Handprints on the Mirror

Brad emailed this article to me today. It struck a chord with me. I need to keep this in mind as I go about my daily life with three little children.

Cleaning of 'wonderful handprints' can wait
By Orson Scott Card

Published: Wednesday, Mar. 5, 2008

I heard a wonderful story last Sunday from a good friend of ours -- let's call her "Kari Hilton" (because that's her name).

She and her husband and their seven children had gone to Idaho from North Carolina for a visit with her parents. Lots of other family members also came, and Kari's parents' home was full of children of all ages.

As you can imagine, the house was in a nearly continuous uproar. As she left, Kari imagined how relieved her mother must be that she could finally get the house back to rights.

A few weeks after the visit, though, they were talking on the phone and her mother said: "You know the full-length mirror at the end of the hall? I haven't been able to bring myself to clean it yet. I can't bear to lose all those wonderful handprints."

I thought back to our own earliest years as parents: toys spread all over the living room, guests coming over.

We had only two children then, ages 4 and 2, but as any parent knows, even one is enough to achieve nearly complete concealment of the carpet. Our youngest was old enough to learn to put toys away after playing, but she had mastered the art of being "too tired" so that her older brother would do the whole job for her.

Because my wife was quite pregnant at the time, it fell to me to help our little girl learn that "tired" or not, when you get out the toys and make a mess, it's your job to pick it up. "I'll help you," I said.

That was fine with her. As long as "helping" meant doing the entire job while she observed. Or, better yet, left the room and did something much more entertaining than watching Daddy clean up.

This would not do, of course. There were lessons to be learned. So I tried to make a game out of it. I picked her up and held her over the floor like a high-powered vacuum cleaner, her arms dangling, and told her, "Pick up all the toys, little vacuum!"

Her arms continued to dangle, about as useful as old kite strings hanging from winter trees. Apparently my attempt at making a game of it wasn't going to work. She was little, but she wasn't stupid. She recognized work when she saw it.

I was not going to let her best me in what was now a contest of wills. So I got a different hold on her so my hands could grip her wrists, and began to move her arms to pick up the toys.

She still held her hands limp, refusing to grip anything.

"Don't you know that I'm not going to let you win this?" I asked her. "Just give up and do it."

But whom did I think I was talking to? This was the little girl who had spent a solid year in sacrament-meeting-reverence training, sitting out in the foyer on my lap, gently but firmly pinned down so she could not move or play or see interesting things.

Her brother had learned the reverence lesson very quickly: It isn't fun in the foyer; better to be quiet and stay in church where I'm allowed to sit on the bench and read or draw silently.

But my daughter did not know she was learning a lesson. She thought she was teaching one. The lesson was: I will never, never, never give up. So for a year she wiggled and wriggled out in the foyer, refusing to be still, refusing to cooperate, insisting that things would go her way. Who did I think I was, anyway? The boss of her?

Oh, well, yes, that had been my delusion.

After a year she finally decided she had taught me enough, and then happily drew and read silently beside her brother on the bench -- and I got to attend sacrament meeting again.

That was the little girl I was dealing with there -- the most stubborn child ever born.

I ended up using her limp hands like tongs to pick up every single toy, one by one, and drop it in its box. Not for an instant did she cooperate.

I was doing three things at once:

1. I was cleaning up the living room so that it would be ready for guests to come over without my wife having to do it. This job, though, I could have accomplished myself in about one-tenth the time.

2. I was teaching elementary responsibility to an extremely bright 2-year-old who was perfectly capable of learning the lesson.

3. I was having a contest of wills with a child who had an infinite supply of silent noncooperation in her soul.

It was that third task that was the most dangerous one. The contest of wills did need to take place, because for me and my wife to do our job as parents, we needed it to be completely clear to her who held the power and authority in the home.

If, once having entered into the contest, we ever gave in, she would learned the lesson that if she resisted long enough, we'd give up and she'd get her way. This is just about the worst lesson you can ever teach a child -- parents who teach it early in their child's life make themselves useless to the child when, later on, the kid desperately needs boundaries for safety's sake.

Even stubborn children need boundaries -- just because they refuse the gift doesn't mean they don't need to learn to receive it.

The danger was that in this contest of wills I might take it personally. As an affront, as disrespect, as "bad behavior" or, even more mistakenly, as a "bad child."

In short, I might get mad.

It's moments like that when parents need to think about those handprints on the mirror.

Yes, we were having a struggle. Yes, I had to win it. It was my job and I was determined not to fail in it -- because I loved that little girl and wanted her to learn the obedience and self-control that she would need to function in society when she got older.

But, because I loved her, I could not let myself think of her as my foe -- I could not let anger enter into my heart. I could not think of what I was doing as punishing her for "being bad."

Instead, I continued to treat it as a game. "We are a crane, picking up the wrecked cars and taking them to the car crusher!" I laughed at her stubbornness.

I even laughed when I said, "You're killing me! My back can't handle this!"

And by the end, she was laughing, too.

She was 2 years old. I doubt she remembers the incident.

And don't for a moment think I was a perfect parent who never got angry.

But that time I did not. And so it became, in my memory, a treasure. Handprints on the mirror. A time when, even though I was the relentless father who would not give in, I was close to this beloved child and filled the lesson with play and laughter -- as best I could.

Our goal in life is not to keep our houses clean. Our goal is to raise civilized children with the skills they need to master their own worst impulses. So when the kids make a mess, when they disobey, when they're careless, our response is not to judge and punish them, but rather to judge and teach them.

When they grow up and leave -- as that little girl and her older brother have long since done -- we'll wish for the Legos spread all over the floor, the spills, the fingerprints, the decorations taped to the windows and walls, the paper cuttings like confetti that keep turning up in odd places for several years after the project.

When the temptation to be angry and scold comes into our hearts, we need to think ahead to the time when we'll miss this "naughty" child who is, after all, only doing the job of growing up, playing, exploring and trying to avoid unpleasant consequences.

There's plenty of time to clean the mirror after they're gone.

Keep Ian in your prayers

My sister, Tiffany, had a baby boy last night. She has been very sick for the past three weeks. Ian was born two weeks early but he weighed only 5 lbs 13 oz. He has had difficulty breathing and is in the NICU. Please keep Tiffany, baby Ian and her family in your prayers as we hope he grows stronger and gets well soon.

Weird thoughts

Have you ever moved something that has been in one location awhile? Then you go to that spot looking for that thing that used to be there.

I have.

It has happened to me a lot lately.

In Ben's room I have a fabric pouch connected to his changing table where I keep binkies, Desitin, baby lotion, etc. I changed it's location to the other side because it is more discreet (staging for the house and all). Every time I need the Desitin, I reach for it in it's original location. But when I do, I end up staring blankly at the end of the changing table. For a brief moment I wonder why I'm looking there and then I remember, "Oh, the Desitin (or binky or baby lotion). It's not there anymore. I moved it." And then I look in it's new spot and wonder why it is so hard to remember.

Also, I took down a couple of clocks when the house was painted and I have not put them back up. Many times during the day I look up to see the time and No Clock. I'm staring at a blank wall (oh, what nice new paint). But no clock.

It is all so annoying.

Grateful Sunday

I'll get right to the bullets:

• I'm grateful for happy children. Enough said.
• I'm grateful for good pizza. I finally had some Saturday night. I have wanted it for a week.
• I'm grateful for good friends. They really bless my life.
• I'm grateful that Ben giggles when he eats something he likes. He is a joy!
• I'm grateful that Ben has been sleeping better at night. Sleep is so wonderful!
• I'm grateful that Brad has been getting up with Ben when he fusses. Ben might be our first child to sleep through the night before he is weened.
• I'm grateful that Brad is on call tonight. Why you ask? He'll be home tomorrow afternoon!!!! I might actually make a real dinner and we can have FHE as a whole family.
• I'm grateful for the library. I would go broke buying all the books we read.
• I'm grateful that we booked our plane tickets for our trip in May to buy a house. I'm even more grateful that we didn't have to pay for them!!!!!!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Ice Skating

We attended an ice skating activity last night. At first I wasn't thrilled about it because I figured I would be sitting on the sidelines with Ben while Brad tried to help two kids ice skate. As a true "Prophetess of Doom,"I foresaw chaos, crying, and frustration. But I was wrong. It was a blast!

Many of our friends were there (you would have thought it was a ward party rather than a resident's party). We were able to watch each other's kids and everyone was able to get as much time on the ice as possible. I even got out there and didn't fall (although I had a few close calls).

First, Brad took Emily while I got Sam ready. She was amazing! She picked it up like she has been skating since she was a baby!There she goes on her own!Next, Brad took both of the kids out for a turn. Here they go! Look at Emily. She has only been out on the ice for about five minutes.Sam was having a really hard time and so was Brad. Brad's skates didn't fit well and trying to keep Sam vertical was a struggle.But, the rink has these really cool "skaters" as Sam called them. There were made out of PVC pipe and they came in all different sizes. At first someone gave us a tall one and I was able to take Sam around the ice with him holding onto it while I skated us around (sorry, no pictures). Then eventually we got a small one for Sam. He was able to skate on his own and he LOVED it!

We also loved it because the kids could skate on their own. Sam just took off and skated around the rink. If he happened to slip, he got right back up and kept going. Eventually his buddy Mason joined him with a "skater" and they went round and round.

By this time, Emily was a pro! She skated and skated. There was a figure skating class going on in another rink and Emily tried to imitate what they were doing. She would try to skate and lift her leg and spread her arms. Unfortunately, I never got any pictures of that.
Eventually, we had to drag the kids off the ice. Emily probably would have skated all night if she could. Emily talked about how much she loved it all the way home. This morning, Emily said she dreamed about ice skating and wonders when we can go again. Hopefully soon!