Wise guy

Our family home evenings usually consist of a lot of singing, a brief message, and a fun activity. On Monday we had a dance party for our activity. It was a hit. We rocked out to the RM soundtrack. Nothing like head banging to In the Hollow of Thy Hand. Well it had been such a successful party that Caden wanted another dance party the following night. I opted out of this one and stayed in the kitchen to clean up after dinner while dad took the kiddies to the family room to once again rock the night away. Caden after dancing for a little bit ran back into the kitchen, "mommy, dance party" he exclaimed excitedly trying to direct me to join them. I explained that mommy was tired and busy and that maybe I could just dance from the kitchen. He smiled as I danced for him and seemed satisfied enough to rejoin his dad and sister. About five minutes later he returned this time his sweet eyes pleading with me to please come and join the dance party. "Dance party mommy, come!" I could not resist a second time. I left the sink full of dishes to join the family dance party, as I watched my kids groove and got a groove on of my own I could not help but think what a wise little guy I have.

Stealing time away

Completely taking advantage of the fact that my mom and sister are here playing with the kids, I took the color test...

Your true color is Red!
Your color is red, the color of racy sports cars, blushing cheeks, and luscious roses. Red symbolizes passion, romance, and love. So, since you're ruled by red, you probably trust your feelings more than your brain and tend to act spontaneously. If you see something you want, you go for it without thinking twice — impulsive is your middle name. You don't wait around for people to make decisions, either; you dive right in. Quite the romantic, you pay close attention to your emotions. In fact, if your heart isn't in what you're doing, you won't be satisfied. Of course, even when you do pour all your energy into the projects you tackle, your impetuous nature means your passions can shift as frequently as the wind. That's why some reds have trouble with commitment. Our advice? Next time you're feeling fickle, think before you act, if possible. You might be surprised at the results. Overall, though, it's great to be red. No one lives life more completely than you do.

So not all completely true but...I have to say I do manage to change my mind A LOT! Much the reason I have no decorations up in my house yet. I make up my mind and then when I go to do it, I don't like it anymore. I also blame this on the fact I have a closet FULL of undone projects that at the time seemed like such good ideas! Okay so the kids are reeking havoc or so it sounds, and I think they are looking for me, gotta go!

Little white lies

I recently admitted that while a collage freshmen I learned for the first time that those pains I always got in my shins were not growing pains, but in fact shin splits. All those years of pain were in vain I was not getting any taller. When I realized the truth I was appalled that my mom could have lied to me. I was so innocent, so naive, so easily persuaded. I vowed I would never put my children through such horror. My kids were not going to wake up one day and find that I had lied to them, and then I had kids. I do not tell them watermelon seeds are going to grow in their bellies or that the boggie man is going to come if they are naughty, but I must admit I have used the white lie tactic once or twice. Santa worked wonders at stopping any bad behavior from a two year old. My most recent offense involves growing pains of a different kind. Sophia is well under average for weight and she is dropping lower at every appointment. We have been trying for months to help this little girl grow. The doctor has suggested we give her pediasure in hopes of putting some weight on her. She does not particularly like the stuff, (can't say I blame her it is rather chalky stuff), so I will pretend to drink it and love it. She, being the child that she is, will then beg for the straw and drink half the bottle. What can I say sometimes deception works. So while I do not condone lying in anyway, was it really that awful that I never complained of growing pains because I thought my bones were stretching and a few extra inches were worth the pain.

Adventures of the motherhood

I am trying to ween my thirteen month old from nursing. I successfully made my goal of nursing for the first year. I think I am done. My little one has other ideas. She is stubborn. She does not want anything to do with the bottle. In her tiny little body there is a very strong willed spirit. However she is not entirely to blame, I can not bring myself to cutting her off cold turkey. There is something to be said for snuggling that precious little girl in my arms, holding her tight, and watching her completely relax and feel safe, wanting her to stay my little girl forever.
My two year old is fighting nap time. More and more with age. I am clinging to nap time hoping it will last well into his third year of life. These days it seems a battle of wills. He finally surrendered after being a cranky pill all morning. I tried to move him into a more comfortable position, he apparently had a little fight left in him, even in his sleep. I decided that was a battle he could win.

These bare walls are filled with love

We had one of those I wish it would never end weekends filled with late night games and plenty of junk food. Followed by tons of laughing, kissing babies, and remember when...
I love having a home if only for the fact that I can fill it with family. We still have not chosen curtains and are yet to hang anything on our walls, but we continue to create memories, making our house truly feel like a home.

the cousin wagon

the mini family reunion (missing from picture: Dad, Emma, and baby Ez who was asleep)

Names

As soon as we found out we were having a girl we started tossing around girls names. My husband really liked the name Olivia. I liked it but, Olivia, it just sounded way to popular. We already gave our son a popular name I argued, lets try to get original. Unfortunately a lot of people are just as original as we are. When we decided on her name we knew it was top ten, but it was bottom top ten, not a big deal. Or was it? This morning I got an email from Baby Center and they have the new top one hundred baby names of 2007. Right there in all her number one glory was the beautiful name Sophia.

Catch up

The business of the holidays got to me and I have not posted for awhile! We had a great Holiday complete with dance parties, a family Christmas Eve pageant, birthday cake, and of course grandparents, oh and a visit from Santa. Our ward had a dance contest Christmas party. My kids are dancing machines! It was Caden's type of party we actually let him lose to run around with a ton of other kids and dance. He also somehow figured out that he was supposed to dance with girls and he would chase several of them and even got in a bit of a two year old scuffle over a little three year old. Hopefully this is not a peek into our future! Our family Christmas Eve Pageant was, well a family pageant. When you add 3 one year olds, a two year old, and two dogs things get interesting. Caden was a shepard who willingly put on a costume only to rip it off and run away when it was his turn to be on stage. We ended the night all sitting around singing Christmas carols. We enjoyed Christmas morning, Sophia got in to opening gifts, Caden of course by now is a pro at it. In fact so much that he decided he wanted more toys so he started ripping open anything he could get his hands on. We had a Strawberry Shortcake berry princess party for our one year old. She of course enjoyed the attention. She did not dig into the cake like we wanted he to. She was very dainty and princess like. After we gave her taste in her bowl though things got messy!
That pretty much sums up the Holidays for us. Lots of time with family, good food, and fun. Now that is a holiday if you ask me. I hope everyone had a great holiday and is enjoying this new year!