Friday, August 29, 2008

IDK, my BFF Jill? And a few more ramblings




I picked up Emma from school on Tuesday and she started telling me a story about a boy at her school. These are the words that came out of her mouth:

"And then, my BFF said..."

?!?!?!? She said BFF!!! My six year old is speaking in text language! When I asked her if she knew what BFF meant, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "Best friend?" So when I explained that it had two F's and the last one meant forever, she said, "OK, then Porter(the boy at school) is my BFF, and his friend is just my BF.

Then, yesterday when I picked her up she said she wasn't in her BBF Porter's "club" anymore for some reason I can't remember. Apparently there are clubs in first grade. I can't wait 'till she's in high school. Somebody shoot me.

For anyone in the Phoenix area...Holy lightning Batman! Last night was awesome. I guess there were 100mph winds closer to Phoenix. We didn't have the insane wind, but the sky lit up like a Christmas tree last night! To the North, East, South, and West - anywhere you looked in the sky it was beautiful. And nonstop. Our house shook pretty hard a few times while I was trying to fall asleep. Thankfully all of my kids slept right through it, but our dog went a little crazy.

I have decided that I am going to be sore for the rest of my life. Since I started going to the gym I have had to struggle to walk down my stairs every night. I love it...well I hate it, but I love it. And I've loved going to the gym. It sounds so weird to hear myself say that - since I've loathed any form of physical exertion ever since I can remember. I remember deciding some time in high school that I was going to be a very large woman when I grew up because I loved food and hated exercising, but very much wanted to have babies. Well - after having babies - I still love food but somehow have developed a love of exercising. For the first couple of weeks, each time I went I would add a little more time to my cardio, a little more pounds to my weight, and a little more reps to my lifts. Now I'm at the point where I have to almost tear myself away. I haven't lost any weight and I'm obviously more hungry every day, but I just love the way it feels to be able to push myself. And just the fact that I'm spending time on me, all by myself, with no time restrictions, no screaming kids, and nothing to stop me but myself has felt great. The only downside to this is that I am sore all...the...time. ALL the time! Do you ever reach a point that you can exercise and not die when you crawl out of bed the next morning? I'll let you know.

I have a check up with my foot doctor today. They've been much better since I got the orthotic inserts. I'm still supposed to be going to physical therapy, but I feel like I'm just too busy right now. Especially since Mckenna will start preschool next week(which she is so excited for!).

Right now Mckenna is downstairs by herself yelling at something or someone in her "man" voice. For any of you who have had the pleasure of hearing this you will see the humor in it. I'm going to miss her when she's at preschool. But we'll be trading with the preschool teacher's son...so David will have a play buddy and they're the exact same age so I'm sure I'll be doubly(is that a word?) entertained.

I'm off to get my stinky stank in the shower. Hope you all had a great week and happy Friday!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

OW


Yeah.....Tina kicked my butt tonight in Body Pump. It's only 8:56 and I'm lying in bed. Thanks girl! Can't wait for you to see me limping into the gym tomorrow morning!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Sunday Ramblings

So most of you already know, but (regarding my post below) the new Harry Potter movie that was scheduled to open in theaters in November has been bumped to July. Sad news for some, but since I haven't read any of the books(I know they're good, I just have no desire to get sucked into another amazing series. I think I'll start when ALL of my kids are in school. So not for a while as we're still not done adding them!) so I don't really care that HP got bumped back...because it means that Twilight got bumped forward a month! Yay!

I did finally read the 4th book, Breaking Dawn. I borrowed it from my sis-in-law last week and finished it on Saturday. I pretty much have the same things to say as everyone else. LOVED it, loved the ending, it was true to Stephenie Meyer's page-turning style. I loved that this one had more story and less mushy gushy romance and less of Bella's "I'm not good enough" attitude. I have found all four books to have some very predictable or obvious(to me, not to Bella) things going on, and this one was no different. I didn't really feel like the book was to bold as far as "marital relationships" as I've read from some other people, but because the series is geared towards younger readers I can see how many would feel it is inappropriate. I didn't feel uncomfortable, but I also didn't really see the need for all of that. I kind of skimmed over it because for the most part, it didn't really have much to do with the story. Overall, I loved it and can't wait for the Twilight movie!!

David and Mckenna had check ups last week. Mckenna is healthy as can be and surprisingly in the 80th percentile for height. She's always been about average, so I was shocked that she went up a bit. She's 41 inches and 41 pounds, exactly where Emma was at some point in her life(can't remember when, but she was 40lbs and 4o"...probably 4 years old like Kenna).

David on the other hand is not healthy as can be. At his previous appointments, he's been in the higher percentile range for everything. At this appointment, he was in the 90th % for his head, 80th % for his height, but only in the 10th % for his weight. My poor skinny little boy is getting taller, but not gaining any weight! He just doesn't really like to eat! I make sure I only give him bottles after a meal, so he's not full from that. And it's not so much that he's picky, because he'll eat all different kinds of food when he's in the mood to. Like the other night he downed a couple pieces of french bread with strawberry jam on them. So the next day I tried to give him the same and he wouldn't even take 1 bite. I'd been worried about this for quite a while, so I've been giving him a PediaSure drink once a day. His waist has begun to not look so sickly anymore, but he still is a tiny thing.

The doctor said to fill his diet with as much sugar and fat as we possibly can just to get that weight back on. She used the examples of extra butter on toast, sprinkling sugar on cereal, adding heavy cream when we can, and she also suggested we add Carnation Instant Breakfast to his milk and continue with the PediaSure. My poor baby! That totally goes against everything I've ever done in regards to feeding my children! It's been so hard to think like that!But the worst thing is...I thought that more sugar and fat would make him enjoy his food more and make him want to eat more...no way Jose. No such thing is happening. He's still the same non-eating child.

The day of his doctor's appointment was also the same day he woke up with a nasty runny nose and scratchy throat. Add that discomfort to the fact that he got shots and he was absolutely miserable the whole day. He didn't eat lunch, he didn't eat dinner, and he went to bed just after 6 that night. He's still plenty sick and I had one night where I was up with him for quite a while in the middle of the night. Ian stayed home from church with him today and he took two naps. For the second, I took him upstairs and rocked and sang to him and he fell asleep almost instantly. He's such a pitiful baby when he's sick. He seems a bit better this afternoon and I'm hoping that he's through the worst of the cold.

The weather has been slightly cooler lately. The kids actually ran around the backyard and played on the playground this evening. I'm excited that we're over halfway through the worst of the heat and can't wait for it to cool off again. The heat really hasn't been that unbearable. It reminds me of when we lived in UT and the winters weren't ridiculously snowy, but snowy and cold enough that you didn't want to stay outside for very long. And about mid January I was always sick of the snow and ready for Spring. Now I'm sick of the heat and ready for Fall.

In a completely unrelated note, I'm typing this as I'm watching Ian wax his chest for the second time...I'll give you all a moment to gasp... He started because with his marathon training(he's training to run in the St. George Marathon in October) his chest has been getting really irritated and he read somewhere that waxing his chest would help. So he did...all by himself. And now that it's grown back a bit, he's doing it again! I thought for sure that after the first time, he wouldn't bother to do it a second, but I'm watching him right now. After the first time, he'd pulled the paper off in the wrong direction and had majorly purple skin for a week! Let's hope this time he's better. And after I told him that I was blogging about his waxing, he wanted to make sure I said something more positive about him, so I'll tell you about his profound statement he had about 10 minutes ago. He said, "I work so I can live my dreams, I don't dream about work." There you go, Honey, I've returned your honor.

Hope you all have a great week!! I'll be adding some yummy new recipes to my recipe blog this week, so be sure to check them out!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Notice Something Different?


Sunday, August 10, 2008

1st Grade and More

Emma's a big 1st grader now!! She loves her teacher, Miss Slota, and already knew two of the girls in their class as I am their Primary teacher at church! For her first day of school Ian made yummy wheat waffles with strawberries and yogurt, yum!

Here's your standard first-day-of-school-by-the-front-door pic:


And her super cool new backpack from Auntie "Kiss"...she LOVES it!
Going into her classroom - flanked on each side by the girls that go to our church:
I brought the camera when I went to pick her up from school...but she was not in a mood for pictures. When she came out I was all excited and happy and asking her all sorts of things about her first day. She hardly even answered my questions and when she did, they were in a glum voice with one-word answers. I think she was just tired because as soon as we got in the car, she and Mckenna broke out in an argument about something lame. So when we came home, fresh chocolate chip cookies came to the rescue, and she was able to tell me all about her wonderful first day of school, in her happy, normal self.

Now on to David...He's almost 18 months! He has changed so dramatically in the past month. His language and comprehension is so much better than it was a month ago. Last night I told him to go "get some jammies," and he marched right into his room, opened the drawer, pulled out some jammies and brought them to me! I was shocked...so I thought I'd test him and asked him to bring me a diaper too. It took a few times of saying it(he got a little distracted by his sisters) but he marched right in and did it again. He just understands so much of what we say. He's also been talking a ton. A lot of it sounds like baby jabber, but most of it has meaning. A few favorites are "ah-pane!"(airplane - and his favorite word. any time he sees something in the sky or hears a large noise, he'll shout it and point to the sky), "ahn-dink"(I want a drink), "ahside"(outside), "ahn-go"(I want to go), and "mo-peese"(more please). He pretty much puts "ahn" in front of anything he wants. Every time Ian comes home or is on the phone David yells, "Hi Dad!!" He says everything with such enthusiasm. And every time I say, "Hold on," he says "Okay." He LOVES books and will sit completely still if someone reads to him(except today at church when he was sooooo tired and LOUD). He also loves it when we sing to him. Within a few seconds from the beginning of the song, he'll turn and snuggle into my shoulder and I've sung to him many many nights since learning this nice little trick. He's discovered pretend play. Last week he climbed up on a chair next to me with a little bowl and spoon and said, "Nummy!" I was very confused as to where he'd found food. So I walked over and discovered a bowl full of rubbery snakes and a little flying disk. So silly:

Also, while Mckenna was taking a bath on Thursday morning and David fell in!

So, I can't do a family update without talking about sweet Mckenna. Last Sunday at dinner I was trying to get her attention and said, "heLLOOOO!" She said back, "heLLOOOO!" - complete with a perfect "L" sound! No more, "Hewo!" After a little more coaching we were able to get her to say lemons, like, love, lah-yee-pop(lollipop - we got one L sound in there), and licorice(which previously was yickafish). She still says "y's" for "l's" most often, but it was great(and a little sad) to get her to speak a little more clearly. She has been loving her dance class and I've just recently joined the YMCA to exercise - so she and David get to play in their childcare center. When I go to pick them up she heads straight to a little trampoline with a handle in the circuit training spot(I think that's what it's called...?) and giggles hysterically while I let her jump a few minutes. She starts preschool the first week in September and I am going to be so sad not to have her with me all day.

Sorry for the lack of posting, and the sudden onslaught of posting. We've just been SO insanely busy!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Camping and a Birthday

Sorry for the absence lately...life's been busy. This post took me a while to make because of the upload times for all of the videos and pictures. There are still plenty more from our camping trip, but I had to cut it off at some point!!

For Emma's 6th birthday we went camping at Big Bear in California with my sister, Shannon and her husband, Jed.. We went last year and the girls just loved it. This year they loved it so much that they were both really sad as we drove away from the campsite. We were there for 5 days...with no showers! It was very fun, but I was very happy when it was time to come home.

David was sick for most of the trip so he took lots of naps and wanted to snuggle a lot. Most of the time he was just unhappy and didn't want to have anything to do with eating.

We left Emma's birthday presents at home, and many came in the mail from family and friends while we were gone, so on her birthday she only opened a present from Shannon and Jed(an ipod filled with Hannah Montana songs...which the battery was dead so she couldn't really enjoy it until we got home). She didn't seem at all bothered by it and was so excited to open everything on Monday night - 2 days after her actual birthday. Enjoy the pictures...there are many more to come(Emma started school!).


The girls went with Ian on a hike while I sat in the car with a sadly sleeping baby. It was the same hike we went on last year and the girls whined for most of the way last year. This year they did awesome! It's just over a mile and goes up and down the side of a mountain. Great job!!
Beauty shop with Aunt Shannie:
Mckenna SO wanted to go out in the water with Dad...till she realized how cold it is.



Ian took the girls up the ski lift(while I was again with a sleeping baby). They were terrified(overly dramatically terrified...) but loved it. Emma lost a flip flop half-way up...oh well!







David ate food, finally...birthday cake!

Sorry about the sideways camera thing...I don't know why I do that!


Camping is tough stuff!! Especially when you're still figuring out this walking thing...
A tiny frog!
We went on a short hike that ends at a beautiful meadow and what's called a Champion Lodgepole Pine. It used to be the largest in California, but since they discovered this one, they have discovered more. It's still pretty massive.
Could I just live here forever?

The picture above was from this camping trip with Emma and me. The one below is Emma and me a year ago. Look at how much the meadow has grown!

David loved this bridge:
This tree reminds me of the one in the Secret Garden that Colin's mother falls off...anyone remember that?
This tree is called a vanilla pine...because the bark smells exactly like vanilla! We thought it smelled like ice cream, yum!

David being silly on the ride home:

Friday, August 1, 2008

I love Cat Deeley


No Dessert For You!

I've put up an announcement on my recipe blog, along with a call for new recipes. Go check it out!