This Post Is For My Dear Sister

This is actually just before Thanksgiving.  But it's the most current picture we have with everyone.

(January)It has rained a lot.  So these boys thought running around out there with umbrellas would be lots of fun.  What were the other two doing?

Well, Demetri was doing this...which is what he spends a lot of his day doing now.  (He's getting so big and handsome!)

And Xander was probably sleeping.  But here is another picture of him playing outside with Daddy (football to be specific) just because he's so cute!

There.  You can't say I never post pictures :).  That was instead of a nap this afternoon, which I probably wouldn't have gotten anyway, due to children who need me every minute of the day!  And now, we must go get ready for gymnastics.

Coming out from my cave for a minute...

Been laying low for a little while.  I guess the stress has been getting to me.

Last week: Spent Friday and Saturday in the hospital after the baby got a hold of a glass peanut butter jar and possibly swallowed some glass.  He seems to be just fine now!  Sunday- sang for Ward Conference, and had a short talk in Relief Society.

2 weeks ago: Sunday night.  Shawn was in Stake Priesthood meeting.  I eventually found that the faucet that had been running in my bathroom (for at least 45 minutes), when I saw water running down the hall.  Subsequently ripped out laminate flooring in my bedroom and the entire hall (only 6 feet or so).  I have been stressed every day ever since because Shawn doesn’t want to put the black laminate back down, and now I’m pressed to make a decision right now about what kind of floor to eventually put down through the entire house.

3 weeks ago:  Shawn and I both had talks in Sacrament meeting, and our family sang a musical number.  We sang “I Am A Child Of God” and the children did great!

So yeah.  Those are the “highlights” of the last month, at least, the things that have been on my mind.  I know there have been tons of other things happening in the day to day of life…but I don’t really remember them right now.

On a lighter and seemingly insignificant note- I have found some websites, some recently some I’ve known about for a while.  And it’s amazing how much of a difference a few websites can make!

1.      Pandora.  I didn’t know it could be personalized!  I thought it was only certain types of music, that I didn’t like, because that’s all I’d heard from Pandora.  We have to take turns now with whose channel we listen too.  Of course, the kids still just like the Piano Guys youtube channel playing and we listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s youtube channel.

2.      Pinterest.  I’ve had an account for a year or two, but I’d use it in spurts, and I’d spend hours just perusing, when I had a lot of other things I should have been doing.  I’m learning how to use it wisely.  I’m figuring out I can just go there when I want to do a particular kind of project, and when I see something on a blog or around the net that I love I can use pinterest to capture it :).

3.      Apartment Therapy.  I love their website.  If I want to go somewhere to relax I often end up on this site for a few minutes.

4.      Houzz.com  is my go-to site for all things house related.  This is our mediator and inspiration while trying to make flooring decisions right now!

5.      Mormonchannel.org is awesome for radio shows I actually like and want to listen to.  I haven’t really gotten into any tv or radio shows that I thought I needed to watch or listen to, but THIS I like :).

Books and Children. Two of my favorite things.

This evening I attempted to go through my Amazon wish list and figure out what book I want to buy next month.  Ha!  I’m approaching 300 items on my list.  It appears that I am getting behind in my reading.  They aren’t all books.  There are probably about 10 games, 5 or 6 pieces of sheet music, and several soundtracks from classic films and Broadway plays.  But still.  My husband wants to know where I’m going to put all of them.  We have a whole wall of books in the living room, and some upstairs for kids, and in my room.  The guest room?  :).  Picking one book…I may as well point a finger at a random spot on the computer screen and get that one.  (I figure I could spend $1000 on books without wincing.  Don’t worry Shawn, I won’t do it…right now.)

Teddy is out of a cast and into a boot.  He doesn’t mind, and it sure doesn’t seem to hamper his walking.  Olie got all of his chores done this morning, and his school so he could go play.  He’s in a “super-excited about learning everything” stage.  Xander is really into pushing everyone else off Mom’s lap; he OWNS me right now.  The other kids come sit on my lap just to watch him squeal and come get them off.  It’s become a great game to see how long someone can be there before he notices.  Demetri is getting much better at writing without whining.  I hope someday he learns to love it.  I love them.  I enjoyed being a mom today.  I need to take more pictures.

Yay, I think?

Ignore the messy house and bad quality video :).  He's so cute.  We're loving it...although he can reach a lot of things he couldn't before of course.  And I have to keep the screen door locked because he always tries to follow the boys outside.  Well, he really tries to go outside whether the boys are out or not, if the door is open.  And here, the door is always open.

In other news...I'm not sure there is any.  Life is good.  The kids are doing a fun science class with their dad on Saturdays, gymnastics, drama, cub scouts (just Demetri), and I'm about to start a music class with them :).  Fun, busy, and I'm told it only gets more fun and busy as they get older! 

Hawaiian New Year

Oh my goodness!  I don’t even have words.  But I will try.  New Year’s Eve we went to the ER for a cut on Shawn’s knee (obtained while trying to move a new fridge into the house).  It took forever, but they did a good job.  When we got home it was about 11:30.  After getting some tired kids in bed (the two middle ones) I realized it was a little loud outside due to fireworks and that there was no way Xander was going to sleep.  I figured we’d better just stay up till the fireworks were done and then put him to sleep so I wouldn’t be mad when they woke him up :).  We went over to the Bishop’s house, about 50 yards from ours, and let Demetri pop those little “poppers” (not sure what they are called).

At midnight…the sky exploded, along with my eardrums.  Fireworks lit up the sky in every direction, car horns, car alarms, people cheering.  It was mayhem.  I was glad I wasn’t trying to sleep.  “I thought fireworks were illegal here,” I said to my neighbor.  “Oh they are,” she replied. “This is nothing compared to what it was like before they were made illegal 2 years ago.”  She proceeded to tell me about how usually, people were literally dancing in the streets, and celebrations started early in the day and went for a couple more.  She said illegal fireworks were a huge black market business.  The smoke from the fireworks has been so thick for several days that you couldn’t see where you were driving, and it was so loud all night there wasn’t really any sleeping.  Amazing.  I see why they banned fireworks here.  It didn’t make a dent.  Police helicopters flew over our heads like they were really going to catch one of the thousands of people lighting off fireworks; that was pretty laughable actually.  Definitely an unforgettable experience. Next year, I will just plan to stay up in the first place!

The Best Potty Training Experience EVER! (So far)

Teddy started potty training Christmas day.  Why?  I needed a goal for him, something that actually happens, in order to start off with a bang.  It was supposed to be when we got to Hawaii, but 1.) I didn’t really feel like starting the process in a carpeted hotel room and 2.) He threw a temper tantrum whenever the subject came up because he didn’t know we were in Hawaii already, so in his mind, we were jumping the gun.  So we started fresh, with a new impetus.  When Christmas came (ta-da!) the diapers would run out and he would be a big boy :):).  To my relief, it worked!  He was so excited.  However, it quickly became frustrating.  For the next two days, regardless of having him “try” to go potty every half hour when the timer beeped, he never once went in the toilet.  I repented of my decision and was ready to quit, when he suddenly “got it” and hasn’t wet his pants since.  Seriously, easiest potty training ever.  He did it himself once he figured out what he was supposed to do.  Even at night!  One happy mama here :)

Holiday Madness

This is going to be relatively short.  Because I have lots to do, and also because I'm freezing...which doesn't have much to do with anything except the fact that I want to curl up with a blanket, hot chocolate, and my favorite New Year's movie. 

Christmas: Christmas Eve the fridge went out.  Made for interesting times and a forced cleaning out of the fridge (one less thing on my list!).  We had a pretty good Christmas.  I rebelled against the commercialization and hype surrounding Christmas and each of our children received one present, along with several "community presents" that were for everyone to use.  There was little to no candy in the stockings, but several snacks they love and don't get often.  We started a new tradition with these cute nesting boxes that stood about as high as the tree, which, delightfully enough, caused us to wrap exactly one present (the one that was too large for any of the boxes).  Pictures to come...whenever I can get them off the camera.  We were a tad unsure how the children would react, but it went wonderfully.  I don't mind presents, but I don't like being forced to buy a large number of them at a certain time of year because Walmart and Co said so...or whoever said so.  We will continue to give our children gifts (although we've decided we would wrap them so the kids would KNOW they were gifts) throughout the year and have encouraged the kids to do the same for each other and others.  We tried to emphasize the birth of Christ and what our gifts to Him would be.  Yay for new traditions!

Oh, also on Christmas, Teddy started potty training.  Why that day exactly?  It just worked out that way.  I was so frustrated and ready to give up!  But it's better now.  I might share that story later :)

New Year's: On New Year's Eve we went to the ER for a "scratch" (j/k husband!), okay, a cut on Shawn's leg.  5 hours and 4 stitches later we went home tired, but just in time for the traditional Hawaiian New Year's Celebration.  Boy did that keep me awake!  More on that one later too :). 

And now, I will settle for watching that movie while cleaning, because it's as close as I'm going to get to my ideal.  New Year's goals may have to come tomorrow, except the couple I've already made and started on.  See, I'm not too far behind!