Children

One of THE best sounds on a quiet afternoon: Tyler and Hailey playing volleyball nicely together in the backyard during the Children's Hour. Lovely to my ears. (I even cracked open the window to listen to them laughing.)

I enjoy dressing the girls in the same outfits. Sometimes it is difficult because they are 4 sizes apart, but occasionally it happens. (I am sure one of them will soon assert their independence and not want to-my guess is Emma- but my luck is holding out.)

Not only are they adorable, but they were crazy-sweet to me on Sunday. They wanted to "clean the whole house" for me, make my bed, clean my bathroom and hug me over and over. I said we have to document this sweetness for those "not-so-sweet" days. (You know what I am talking about!)

 I love our daughters. :)

Sons. Woooooah sons. Mason has turned from a docile gentle baby into a terror toddler. Overnight he has realized that crawling equals freedom. Freedom to throw toilet paper rolls into the toilet. Freedom to trash a room in 3.7 seconds. Freedom to terrorize Mom. Here he is in Primary with me. I put him into a bucket to control his energy for a FEW seconds.

Here's my proof:

As far as Tyler. I didn't have a camera in the middle of the night when he slept-walked into our room, mumbling about getting to the 6th level, and bawling when I said, "Your sleep-walking honey". That boy is more active at night than he is in the day. It provides tons of laughter for me and Nathan . Although I am sure it is wearing Nathan out. I sleep-talk at least once a week. Thursday I said "She is in the corner. Hurry, she is in the corner!" And then I get so mad at Nathan when he doesn't "get" what I am saying. It's hilarious....at least for me :)

Things I am digging.

a) Nonni's Biscotti. I had to find a replacement for my dang Girl Scout Frozen Samoa Cookie Addiction, and these are approved as a "bestlife treat". I have had TWO come-home-from-the-gym-starving Samoa binges this week. grrr (what a waste of the gym.) These are light and tasty, and more importantly, low in fat calories.

b) American Idol's Adam Lambert. This is the first season Nathan and I have watched it, and we are loving Adam's falsetto.

c) Our clean bedroom. I am gearing up to paint the walls a nice taupe so I completely cleaned from top to bottom. It is so nice to escape the constant house mess. Especially Sunday nights when it looks like a tornando hit. Please, never visit us on a Sunday night.

Agriculture and Culture

In an effort to eat more healthy and be more self-reliant, Nathan and I, (and numerous children: ours and neighbors) planted a garden on Saturday. It was the happiest feeling to dig in the dirt. I remember Nathan saying that his brother told him planting a garden has a very unique, exceptional feeling and that growing your own food and eating it right out of the garden makes it extra sweet.  (Regardless of whether you need it financially or not). We will see! All I know is after the kids ran off in all directions and it was only Nathan and I in our quiet backyard finishing up, we looked at each other and said how good it felt to be "playing" in the dirt and creating yummy stuff. We have apple trees, plums, cherries (this is "Emma's tree"!), raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, onions, carrots, peas, (hopefully we can get them half as good as Grandpa and Grandma Stucki's), rhubarb (Tyler's surprising choice), squash, cucumbers, peppers, cantaloupe and radishes. I also think this will create a good bonding time for the family. We loved planning it out all winter long.

Later that night we took the kids to see Brigadoon at the High School. We THOUGHT they were old enough to finally do things with us like this. Wrong-o. After the 2nd person moved away from us, (because of arguing, wriggling, and an unidentifiable odor,) we took them out of the car and gave them a good talking-to. It was a very serious talk, and we asked them what they did wrong:

Tyler: "I was rough on Hailey and talked too loud."

Hailey: "I was whining."

Emma: "I wriggled and passed gas."

Well, THAT serious talk turned into tears running down our faces and dying with laughter. That girl....

Lastly, we got free tickets to go see the USU Ballroom Dance Company. I took Hailey on a one-on-one date and just listened. That. girl. loves. to. talk! We had a great time at Burger King where she decided on a Hershey Pie AND an Oreo shake. (What's wrong with that?!)

We ran into a good friend and her daughter which made the performance all the more fun. Hailey got to stay up late with Mom and danced in the back of the auditorium. Very very nice evening.

What I Know To Be True...

Heavenly Father creates the simplest, best and most exciting kid "toys". Saturday I took my four children and a niece and nephew to 2 places: 1) the Saint Patrick's Day Party at the Recreation Center, and 2) the park.  The St. Patrick Day party was well thought-out, cute and enjoyable. We stood in line for a cake walk, played a guessing game, ate candy, climbed a rock wall and had a race. The kids liked it. 

   Then I told them we could go to the park. This they LOVED. They all jumped out of the van and Mason and I just sat on the grass and just watched them. They were having SO much fun. They played in the sand, found an elder-bug nest, climbed trees and just loved being outdoors. Why do we spend all this money on toys when the best toys are naturally made and found outside? Mind you, I think there is a place for Wii, Barbies, Littlest Pet Shop, Legos etc,  but there is no doubt in my mind that kids prefer grass, mud, sticks and water. I need to keep this in mind next Christmas. :)

(And yes, I copied this title from my dear friend Oprah.)

And: As a side note, in order to protect these little babies of ours (and everyone in our families) I want to share this tip I got from a friend. It's: k9webprotection, a free and easy-to-use filtering service for the internet. Works great!

Feel-Good Moments this week:

Exactly. How can you not feel good when you see this mug?

And on top of that, Mason has LEARNED TO CRAWL. I was getting a little worried because the boy has taken quite a bit longer than our other dumplings.

Plus he plays with trucks and gets all dirty outside. Nice.

Yesterday I was on a step-stool hanging some pictures on the wall and I looked down and saw my little row of ducks that follow me everywhere. I jumped down to grab my camera and stuck them back right where they were so I could snap a picture of the moment. (Me on the 3rd step, Emma on the 2nd and Mason on the 1st). Stinking cute. Except for that mighty large thigh angle.

I am ready and prepared. I have learned the hard way that this is how a mother must get ready for summer to start.

And this is how summer ends. (If I am lucky).

This was Monday morning as in Day Light Savings/Wake Up The Kids An Hour Earlier Monday morning. Tyler just kept walking around with a dazed and confused look on his face. Long enough for me to grab my camera and document it so I can laugh later. It's a doozy for youngsters.

My conscience can now rest in peace.

MY YEAR SUPPLY OF CANS x 6 IS DONE! Time to celebrate. I am going to open a can of kidney beans to eat. YEA!!!!!

Going shopping.

I love these back-of-heads. It used to be a blond girl (Hailey) and brown boy head (Tyler) and now it is opposite in the grocery cart. I just love them.

Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday? Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your job or the work you do? Did you eat healthy all day yesterday?

These are some of the questions asked in "A survey of Americans' well being, conducted by Gallup in partnership with Healthways....blah blah blah". Highest marks given to UTAH, which "boasts lots of outdoor recreation for it's youthful population."

Basically I have fallen in love with Utah. I hope everyone loves wherever they live, because it makes a difference in how you care for your community/home/neighbors. That being said, if anyone outside of Utah wants to enjoy some "outdoor recreation" and you are of youthful population, please come visit me and we can go to the Dinosaur Museum or something.

Check out the article HERE.

Love letters to me:

From Hailey:

"Dear Mom. I love you Mom. Your my best friend. I hope you have a good Sunday! Your the best Mom! "

from Hailey

From Tyler:

"Dear Mom: I appreciate you so much because you nurter us, you feed us, you love us, um I might have to keep writing for a year to name all the things about you."

from: Tyler

wow

That's right. Wow. My word for the weekend. Saturday = 4 hour nap for the Momma. And I surely did need it for the rest of the weekend. I played in my Roosevelt Pops Symphony Saturday night and during Pavane I see out of the corner of my eye Emma and Hailey running up to the front of the stage and taking pictures of the symphony. THEN, Emma starts twirling around and doing "ballet". I see a man from my ward in the front row snapping pictures of her (will post asap), but THEN she climbs up the stairs right behind the conductor with a big grin on her face to wave "Hi!" to me.

hi.

After the audience laughs and I go back from beet-red to normal Utah-tan, we drive home. (Mind you at this point Nathan is wiped out from wrestling with the 4 kids by himself, and apparently Mason does not enjoy being quiet for 80 minutes of live music). We get pulled over twice (2 different cops) to let us know about the burned out bulb in the back. Gotta get that fixed.

THEN, in church today I accompanied 8 kids doing a little music medley in sacrament. And wouldn't you know, Emma decides to join the group and sing, (which means standing in the front and waving to the congregation the whole time with a big grin on her face). We walk back down to our seats and I find her Sunday shoes/socks under the bench. That's right, barefoot. And since I didn't realize it was daylight savings time this morning and I got all 4 kids and I ready in 25 minutes, she ended up wearing Hailey's dress which hangs down the front neck area, oh, say a nice 5 inches. Plus she had unbrushed nappy hair and red lipstick on. Not a pretty day.

THEN, we get home and Emma tells me she doesn't want to blow her nose because the boogers are her friends, but she doesn't know their names because they are at the rec center.

Oh, I mean Emma Lemon. She told us to call her that. Or Emma Lemonade. Or Sparkles. And she named me Mo, Bone or Milk.

Can we say imagination?

awwww, park days in Vegas during Vernal winters....yum

A heart of gold

Last night at Cub Scouts I had to introduce the Pinewood Derby for April and I was going to do it at the end of the program. Throughout the program Tyler kept asking how I was doing and if I was okay. (5-6 times) When it was my turn to talk about the derby Tyler made sure all of the boys were paying attention and listening. I asked him about it when we got home, and he said he felt bad because the Cubmaster "forgot" about me until the very end. He was so concerned about my feelings. (He just didn't realize that was the plan). What. A. Doll.   Such a sensitive 9 year old boy.

Notice:

Please disregard any random "announcements" from Emma. I was talking to Jamie, my sister this morning and Emma wanted to talk after me. She gets on the phone and tells Jamie, "We are going to have a new baby boy!" FALSE FALSE FALSE Who knows where she got that from?? Not me or Nathan!

Happy 1st Birthday Masey Baby

Check out this face. He was sooooo happy.

More Mase

Just had the usual loud "I don't want to pick up the piano room/kitchen!" after-school chaos. Have to write this one down:

Tyler was getting mad at Hailey and was being somewhat rude, so I told him he needs to be nice. He said, "She doesn't have to be obnoxious and what not."

What???

 I gave him a look and we cracked up.