My Man

It is hard to pick just one thing this week that Matt did for me to brag about because he is so amazing and does so much for me.  But I am going to say that the thing that was most appreciated was when Ethan was sick saturday night (and puking every 20-30 minutes for several hours) Matt stayed up and took care of everything so that I could sleep.  This meant that I didn't have to help with any of the clean-up, laundry, or sad crying child.  Matt did it all.  And good thing too because I have felt like a zombie from lack of sleep due to my scheduling overload last week.  How many of you have a man that would do that? ???

Ethan

Ethan is a darn stubborn individual.  Matt says, "of course he is, he is just like you!"  This may be true.  He refuses to submit if he believes he is being controlled.  I have found two things useful in dealing with him.  First, reverse psychology. 
"Ethan, please do not eat your dinner." 
"But Mom, I am a little bit hungry"
"Ok, fine but only have a little bit"

or

"Ethan, I want you to stand here and scream as loud as you can for as long as you can."

Second, I always try to give him some kind of choice.
Instead of, "Ethan, it is quiet time you need to be in your room for one hour."  I say, "Would you rather read books or play cars for quiet time."

Yesterday when he was being particularly stubborn it occured to me how just how much he values agency.  I imagined to myself what kind of great warrior he was in the pre-existance for the cause of Christ.  There was NO WAY he was even close to siding with Satan and his plan to take away our agency.  This idea made me happy and proud of my son.  I imagined that perhaps he and I (and our stubborn natures) fought alongside each other to persuade our brothers and sisters how important it is to have our agency and to be able to choose for ourselves.
What a good boy I have!!!

 

My favorite part of having a baby

I love when Juliet falls asleep in the afternoon so I take her into my room to lie down.  After softly resting her in my bed she turns her head from side to side to find a position that is most comfortable and it is so cute that I can't resist the temptation to kiss her, even though it risks waking her up.  So I bend over and as softly as humanly possible I plant a kiss on the chubbiest part of her round pink cheeks.  Then I get into bed with her and slide next to her and she turns her head towards me and I smile as I close my eyes and doze off.  I call this our "snooze and snuggle".

My Man Mondays

I have such an extraordinary husband and he hardly ever gets the credit he deserves for it.  So I decided that I will do a post every monday to brag about something awesome or thoughtful or fun or cool or something that he did that week.
Lately I have been feeling a great NEED to exercize and try to work off this baby weight.  I think it has something to do with me only being able to wear sweats and maternity pants still. I can't even fit into my FAT pants yet.  I almost fit in them.  I tried some on and they fit really well and I was so excited and jumped around singing and so happy that they actually buttoned up.  But something bad happened.  Something bad called Chocolate No Bake Cookies and they are too tight again.
So Matt has been so good to watch the kids every night after he gets off of work so that I can go running.  This is a big sacrifice for him because I know he is tired when he comes home and wants to relax.  But he does this for me because he knows how much better I feel when I am in shape. 
So, Thanks Honey.  You're the best!

Kelsey's turn to be funny

Ethan is usually the one saying hilarious stuff and I occasionally blog about something he has said. Well, the other day Kelsey said something funny that I just had to share.

We were reading scriptures and after we were talking about who Jesus' parents were. Of course his father is Heavenly Father and we asked Kelsey if she remembered who his mother was. She couldn't remember her name so we reminded her that his mother's name was Mary. Then Kelsey thought for a minute and said in all seriousness, "Mary? Mary had a little lamb."

Aftter laughing for a minute I thought, this is true. She did have a little lamb. A little "Lamb of God".

And now for a test question:  Which one is Kelsey and which one is Juliet?

Pic 1                                                                                                  Pic 2

Birthday Princess

September 24, 2010

My baby girl turned five!  WOW!!!

I'm not sure how I feel about that, but we tried to make her day very special.

Here is what we did.

She had school so we took cupcakes to share with her class and she wore her very favorite outfit and a brand new tiara.

For dinner she wanted hamburgers so we tried this new place.  It was SO GOOD.  Best burger I think I have ever had, ever.

 Kelsey thought one of the bus boys that worked there was cute.  She said, "I like his face.  It is cute."  I wanted to take a picture of the boy but I didn't dare.  I am such a coward, he probably wouldn't have cared.  I just thought it was funny that my little girl is already noticing boys.  This may mean trouble.

 Opening presents was her favorite part of the day, of course.

September 25, 2010

The Party

Kelsey loves Sleeping Beauty and thinks that she IS Princess Aurora.

The invitation, so cute, said, "Once Upon A Dream the three fairies bestowed upon Princess Kelsey a magical birthday celebration with all of her best friends.  Please make this dream come true and join the fun."

So I made this cake:

Not easy to decorate.  The towers were leaning and I felt like the green fairy in sleeping beauty who tried to make a cake and was struggling to keep it from falling over.  I wished that I had a magic wand to magically make it all better.  But it turned out ok, after two hours of stressful work.

Oh, and I love how the princess is as big as the towers.

 I also stayed up into the wee hours of the morning making this cardboard castle (which was a huge hit).

That's right: Spit, Grit, and a whole lotta duct tape.

I would have loved to have painted it white with purple trim and lots of sparkley glitter.

But that would have taken an entire extra day of work.

 After playing for a little while we went into the kitchen to make princess hats.

The two boys (Ethan and his friend Matthew) made shields.

 I think they turned out quite darling.  Or maybe just the girls are darling and anything looks good on them.

 Next, the kids were required to go treasure hunting.  I told them that the three fairies had hidden some treasures for them.  They each had to find 3 bags, one pink bag(from the pink fairy), one green bag (from the green fairy), and one blue bag (from the blue fairy).  The two boys had to find one blue bag, and a sword.

The pink bag was the "gift of beauty" and inside was a princess crown and some lip gloss.  The green bag was the "gift of song" and inside was a little horn.  The blue bag was the "gift of true love's first kiss" and inside was hershey kisses.

Then we all had some lunch

And played a little more.

 Opened presents

 And sang "Happy Birthday"

 I think everyone had a lot of fun.  It was one of my most succesfull parties, which may be due to the fact that the kids were a little older than in times past.

Happy Birthday Kelsey

We sure love you.

Preschool and other fun

Kelsey started her first day of Pre-School today.  She is a september baby and missed the deadline, which is why she will always be the oldest one in her class.  She was SUPER excited.  She had so much fun, I am so glad that she gets to go (even if I have to drive through Tropical Storm Hermione to get her there).

This is her favorite outfit that she picked out, and she looks just darling.  I am so proud of her.

Here is a funny story about Ethan today:

We were reading scriptures in Jacob 2 where it was talking about how the rich people began to oppress the poor and Jacob was calling them to repentance.  So I explained to the kids that if you have a lot of money you are supposed to share it with those who don't have as much.  To see if Ethan was listening I said, "So Ethan, what are you supposed to do if you have a lot of money?"

Ethan looked up from his book and shouted, "Go to CHUCK E. CHEESE!"

Yup, that's my Ethan for you.

Ethan also got a new "big boy bed" this week.  Matt was so patient and let Ethan "help" him set it up.  I don't have a picture of the final product.  I should try to get one for y'all.

And Lastly, here is sweet Juliet.  A dear lady from Church gave her this GIGANTIC pink bow.  It is to die for, it is so darling.  It is cuter in real life than in this picture because the picture doesn't show how sparkly it is.

It is hard to find a spot on her head to put it where it isn't in her eyes so we have to turn it way to the side of her head.

Here is a pic of Juliet with her "best friend" JJ.

And here is a pic of Kelsey and Ethan with JJ.  We must copy everything Juliet does.