It's a . . . . .

Your guess is as good as mine.

Okay, this picture isn't really even revealing anything - except the fact that our baby does indeed have a head & arms! (I think that's the top of the head looking down but who really even knows. It looks like an alien to me.)

{We're not finding out!!!}

1st Grade Scrapbooks

I enjoy reading Becky Higgins' blog & last year I saw this scrapbook project that she did with her sons's class. It was too late in the year then to do it with Callie's kindergarten class, so at the beginning of this school year I approached her teacher with the idea. Her teacher loved the idea! I'm totally excited to be doing this project with Callie's first grade class!

Following Becky's lead, each month we'll focus on a certain theme. I'll go in one day & take pictures of the kids. Then another day during the month I'll go back in & help the kids do a scrapbook page with their picture/s.

Because I didn't get the ball rolling before school started, and because August was a shorter school month I'm trying to play catch up. I haven't gone in yet to put pages together, but I've gone in a few times to take pictures (once for each theme + twice for retakes of some kids that were missing on the original picture days).

We couldn't do a first day of school picture since I didn't set this up in time, so we're doing a beginning of the school year theme for August.

And for September we're doing a lunchtime/cafeteria theme.

It's fun going into Callie's classroom where I have practically celebrity status! LOL The kids are very excited about the project & they're all ready to get to the scrapbooking part. And btw, when I say scrapbooking I'm not talking your traditional tons of paper & embellies scrapbooking. It's a very simple format where most months they'll glue a couple strips of precut paper to a designated spot on their page & they get to complete the pages with writing prompts. Some months they'll even draw a picture of something in particular. Check it out! Becky Higgins is brilliant! :)

Potty-training Success!

Ellie is totally potty trained now (day & night) and it's awesome! I'm so proud of her! It was like we flipped a switch & one day she just decided she could be potty trained. I'm a big believer that kids will potty train when they're ready (Ellie's 2 1/2).

I tried with Callie when she was 18 mos because she showed a couple signs & I was really excited about the cute Princess Pull-ups :) It didn't work out & after a month or 2 of spending lots of money on Pull-ups (which IMO are the same as a diaper to a kid - just more convenient for the parent) I went back to diapers. I tried again when she was just a little over 2 & she got it right away. That sort of made me feel like parents can only push it so much, but the child has to be ready or it won't happen. Besides, everything I've read (from professional opinions, not overzealous mothers) says that their bodies are not physically ready to be potty trained that early (18 mos). My SIL's little girl has recently seen a urologist & the urologist said that a good age now is closer to 3 (and of course boys are normally a little later). Anyway, there are a ton of potty training philosophies - that's just mine.

To celebrate Ellie's success we had a big girl party for her for Family Night last week. We've had a party for the other 2 also with cake & party plates. I also give them a little toy as a reward. I think I chose for Callie & Jack, but I let Ellie pick one out on her own. Polly Pocket. :) She requested chocolate cupcakes & we ate on Tinkerbelle plates. :) My mom & dad also came for the party & brought her a little present too - a set of little Tinkerbelle figurines.

Good work Ellie!

wash your microfiber couch

After tearing apart the couch Tuesday so that it was light enough for preggo to lift it up for Jack to look under (for the lizard) & clear out the toy store that had collected under there, I was inspired to finally clean my cushions. They were long overdue.

I just wanted to share with any of you who have microfiber couches & may not know this that you can unzip your cushion covers & wash them in the washing machine! A few years ago after getting tired of scrubbing my couch only to end up with water spots after all was said & dried, I was frustrated and wondered if I could just wash the cushion covers. I started with the throw pillows that came with the couch as a test since I didn't really care if something happened to them (like shrinkage). After a successful test I just went for it with the other ones. The results were amazing. It was a total pain in the A to get the chaise cover back on, but it was worth it! It was like I had a new couch!

That being said, definitely test a throw pillow before you ruin your whole couch! I don't want you blaming me if you wash your cushions & it doesn't work out & you have to replace your couch.

Like the time I told Wendy she could adjust the depth of her Kitchenaid paddle. I never told her to turn her Kitchenaid upside down to do it but she did & oil started leaking out all over and she had to pay to get it repaired. I think she blamed me for the bright idea. :)

Lizard is lost in house & Ellie burned the couch

That's the text I sent Jeremiah this morning when he didn't answer my call.

He called back 30 seconds later.

I was exercising (how irresponsible of me to assume that I could do something like that & let the kids play around the house). Jack came in saying something about a cup & the lizard (oh yeah, we got a "pet" lizard a few weeks ago) & Daddy's big chair. I hopped off the eliptical to investigate.

The lid & the light were both on top of the lizard tank as they should be, but Jack said that Ellie had put the lizard in the cup. But then again the reason he was in the bathroom when the lizard went rogue was because he was washing his hands since he didn't want to get sick from touching the lizard. I also heard something about it tickling Ellie's shoulder & wriggling down her neck & running under Jeremiah's chair.

We started a futile search for the lizard. I noticed a burning smell but nothing was smoking, nothing had flames, and I couldn't see what could be burning. As I went to the couch to remove the chaise so we could search under the couch for our friend Jack (Jack named the lizard), I saw the source of the burn smell.

Ellie (says Jack) put the light that goes over the lizard cage on the chaise & it burned the couch! I almost wish it had burned a hole - I would of course have to run to Costco right away & buy the sectional that would fit just perfectly in our living room! But no, instead my cushion has a big orange burn spot! Use it up, make do, all that stuff. Right?

It's 6:30pm. The lizard was never found. Goodbye Jack (the lizard).

stuff I've been meaning to add:

Callie:

(2/22/10)
She wanted to know what the title of a song was & asked if it was "Once In the Middle of a Table." Actual title: "Once Within a Lowly Stable."

(5/12/10)
At Subway after lunch I offered Callie a cookie:
"I decided I don't want a cookie cause I've had enough sugar & stuff like that & I don't want to get fat."

(5/14/10)
Callie was watching Enchanted in the car & at the end the bad lady is a dragon & falls off the building. Callie all of a sudden took off her headphones & said, "Well that's lame! Can't dragons fly?! That lady shouldn't have died. The movie makers did a bad job since dragons can fly so the lady should have lived!"

(5/17/10)
"Papa seems like an old man cause he's just quiet & likes to be bored."

(5/24/10)
After stopping by Jeremiah's office (it's a recycling center so the current price of cans is always up on a sign outside the yard):
"Mom, I forgot to ask Dad if he's really selling work, because see? It says cent 5-5"
She'd also talked about it a couple days before when she'd first noticed it & said, "He's trying to sell the business. It's for sale cause there's a price outside of it."

(6/17/10)
Callie: When you get more babies, Mom, after you get all your babies & you think you have enough you can be like, "I need to sell these ones."
Me: You think I should sell babies if I get tired of the babies?
Callie: Yeah.
Me: How much money do you think I could get for selling a baby?
Callie: I think you need to pay.
Me: You think I need to pay somebody?!
Callie: No, I think they need to pay 100 bucks. That's a lot of money.

(6/29/10)
We were getting a "party-in-a-box" package ready to send to Uncle Stuart on his mission for his birthday:
"Are you sure we can send him a party without people?"

(8/19/10)
"Mom, did you know about the tricks Kaelene (her fish) can do? Well one trick she never does and the other trick she can sometimes balance the food on her nose. I'm going to teach her another trick someday - a swimming trick. I'm going to teach her how to backstroke."

Jack:

(4/7/10)
To appreciate what he says next you have to check out Jack in this Splash Mountain pic while we were at Disneyland in mid-March (he cried at the bottom).

Jack: Next time we go to Disneyland & go on Splash Mountain I'm gonna try & not be scared."

Me: Really? You want to go on that?
Jack: Yeah.
Me: Why?
Jack: Cause I wanna be brave & I'll say woohoo!

(4/7/10)
"I can't drive to Utah to visit Spencer & Preston whenever I want because I don't know how to drive because I might bonk into a human or another Jeep or maybe a bicycle with a child on it."

(4/9/10)
It was a warm day & Callie had told Jack that he should have worn shorts:
"That's okay cause I have a hole in my pants so if I get warm I can just feel the air from the hole. It's better if you have a rip in your pants because if it's hot & you have a rip in your pants your knee can feel the warm."

(4/9/10)
"Heavenly Father made me a handsome boy, huh? He's great at making people, huh?"

(5/12/10)
On the way home from school Jack was practically giving me the silent treatment:

Me: Why don't you want to talk
Jack: Because I want to go to sleep. Cause I'm tired. Cause I worked my butt off at school today. And I played hard outside.

(6/29/10)
After I took a picture & was reviewing it on the camera:
"Are you gonna put that in your camera trash?"

Ellie:

(5/19/10)
Me: Are you a sweetie?
Ellie: No I'm not a sweetie! I'm just Ellie!

(9/10/10)
Ellie: I hate going to bed! Do you hate going to bed mom?
Me: No, but I don't like going to bed.
Ellie: Well I hate it!

Labor Day Camping

After Jack's soccer game on Saturday morning, we headed to Williams, AZ to spend the rest of our Labor Day weekend breathing in pine-scented air. It was SO nice to get away even if just for a couple nights. As we were leaving town my parents decided to go with us so they loaded up their trailer & were a couple of hours behind us. Labor Day activities included:

Fishing = Jeremiah, Me, Callie, Jack, Ellie, Grandpa. Jeremiah's not a super patient guy so I was amazed at his patience with the kids. Over & over: "Jack, stop throwing rocks into the water. Ellie, get back from the water. Callie, be careful with your pole." All said in mostly patient tones. :) Two big thumbs-up hon! Especially since he's taken them by himself a few times other times too.

Rhino Rides = Jeremiah, Me, Callie, Jack, Ellie, Grandpa. Not all at the same time though. To & from the lake & around the woods just for fun.

Nature Hike = Jeremiah, Callie, Jack, Ellie. While I took a glorious nap! Jeremiah's great about pointing out stuff to the kids & they love to get hands-on with nature.

Eating = All. Even though this time we totally kept it simple, we had really good steak & baked microwaved potatoes for dinner one night, and grilled chicken, cheese bread & salads the next night. My mom made a big batch of chocolate/butterscotch rice krispie treats & we ate them all. I think I ate 3 s'mores the first night & Jack had a hundred marshmallows + a s'more.

Ellie

This girl cracks me up.

My sister Tara said it perfectly on a recent blog post: "This girl has the cuteness of Callie and the antics of Jackson. It'll be amazing if Hillary and Jeremiah can keep their sanity with a 4th!"

Callie & Jack have been copying each other a lot lately. Without the older two starting it first, Ellie started copying Callie at dinner the other night. It amazes me that my 2 1/2 year old has the wits to do that. But then Callie said, "Mom! Ellie's copying me!" And Ellie copied back, "Mom, Callie's copying me!" Can you believe it?! Her sense of humor, or the fact that she has such a sense of humor & is capable of teasing her older siblings at such a young age is crazy to me. Does everybody else's kids do that too?

Ellie is potty-training & is doing fantastically well! I casually started a couple weeks ago, even though she's shown hit-or-miss interest for a while. Last Wednesday we were going to be out of the house all day so I had her in a pull-up (aka diaper) and I wasn't a good mom & didn't ask her a million times if she needed to go potty & she never told me she needed to. So obviously she was soaked when we got home. I changed her & we went to a friend's for a get together & Ellie did end up coming to me about 45 mins before we went home & saying she needed to go potty. Way to go Ellie! We got the kids home 2 hours past bedtime (on a school night!) & put them right in their beds. Ellie even slept in her clothes. So total 180 the next day. She woke up around 6:30 & came in saying she needed to go potty. That was a first, and guess what? She was dry! Amazing! She also stayed dry all day long (wearing panties) and has been dry since then - morning & night! I can't believe our luck! I think we'll be having a big girl party this weekend!

Yesterday at church I was taking her potty & when she leaned forward for me to wipe her she didn't reach out to hold on to me and I hadn't assumed wiping position quite yet so she did a total face-dive right on the tile floor! So funny sad! Luckily she had hardly peed since I had to pick her up unwiped & comfort her. The whole right side of her face was all red. It wasn't until a couple hours later that I saw the actual damage:



This morning as I was emailing my missionary brothers Ellie came up to me like this and said, "My brain is this big":



She's learned that from Callie. So then I asked her if she knew where in her body her brain was & she did this:

Yep, her brain is in her butt. She also sometimes asks if the baby is in my boobs. For as smart as she is about many things, she's a little confused about her brain & babies. She insists she has a baby in her tummy too (oh, she does recognize most of the time that the baby's in my tummy), and she'll say her baby's hungry as she has a snack. That is not immitative behavior. That is just my 2 1/2 year old being stinkin' cute!