Rachel's New Trick

Rachel learned a new trick the other day that had us rolling on the floor with laughter because it was so spontaneous.

I wonder where she could have learned it from...

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree does it.

John Schmidt

This weekend we were fortunate enough to get away for the evening on a DATE NIGHT! I love those. We were also fortunate enough to have John Schmidt come to town on the same night as said DATE NIGHT.

So we went!

It was FABULOUS!! For any of you who have to opportunity to see him in concert I would highly recommend it. He is not only a very funny entertainer, but he can play Billy Joel's "Rootbeer Rag" in 2 minutes and 38 seconds. His hands are literally a BLUR across the piano. You have to see it to appreciate it.

For those of you who HAVEN'T seen John Schmidt, here is a video of one of my favorite new songs, Taylor Swift meets Viva la Vida. Enjoy.

Benja's Prayer

The other night at the dinner table Ben asked to say the prayer. We began helping him and he yelled out, "BY SELF!!" So we let him say it by himself.

"Heanly Fado, thake dee...day, thake dee...food, peese bess it, name Jees Kiest, THE END."

The End kiddo, the end.

Hair Cut

The other day I was laying on the couch engrossed in my current literary obsession, UNDAUNTED, with the kids happily playing on the floor at my feet. Rachel had been combing her baby's hair and decided to move to a bigger subject - me. She began stroking my head and said, "Mom can I fix your hair?" "Sure Honey" I replied like a good mother. Besides, it wasn't preventing me from finding out if the Indians captured the pioneer company so I didn't really care. She proceeded to finger and comb and "fix" my hair. Then she disappeared. I didn't really notice she was gone, so good was the book. She reappeared though and continued to fix my hair in completely silent concentration.

Then my son appeared at my side.

He held out his little hand to show me his prize - a large lock of hair. But not just ANYONE'S hair...MY HAIR.

I gasped and spun around to see my daughter with her eyes as big as golf balls holding the haircutting scissors in her hand. She quickly hid them behind her back as I shrieked, "WHAT DID YOU DO?!?" She erupted in sobs with crocodile tears pouring down her cheeks. I jumped to the mirror to assess the damage. Fortunately my hair is long but layered so the shorter piece disappeared nicely into the rest of the mop. I held her on my lap, let her cry, assured her I wasn't mad, but that what she did was WRONG and she should never cut hair EVER AGAIN, and then proceeded to hide the scissors high out of reach...

which is where they should have been in the first place.

Ward Christmas Party

This December we kicked off Christmas early in our ward - our ward Christmas party was Dec. 2nd - now THAT's what I'm talking about! It was a fun filled evening with dinner, entertainment, and a special visitor dressed in red.

The day before the party Rachel got a phone call from the activities committee asking if she would be the "Star" that appeared on the night of Christ's birth in the nativity pageant. For any of you who know our daughter you know she didn't even hesitate to say yes and she spent the day"practicing shining" for her moment in the spotlight.

Thankful

My friend Janet gave me this fantastic F.H.E. idea - making a "Thankful Wall" or in my case door. She even made the sign capable of being copied in jpg form on her blog. THANKS JANET!!


We had a good time last night writing down things we are thankful for. The kids especially loved decorating the Thankful door. I should have taken a picture of the door the way Rachel decorated it. She put the leaves in a neat straight line across the bottom. That's my girl!

I wish leaves could represent the gratitude we have in our hearts for the blessings we have. As you can see, OUR CUP RUNNETH OVER!

We have had so many people in our lives the last couple of months who have helped us through hard times. From treats and cards to trucks and yardwork, family and friends have come into our lives as a reminder that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and knows our needs. We are so HAPPY and so filled with the love of Christ in our hearts and home.

THANK YOU!!




I bet if we all truly sat and contemplated our blessings we would find ourselves lost in them just like Rachel in the pile of leaves!

Picaso, Renoir, Van Gough, and...

RACHEL!!
Check out this picture that she drew for me...

nevermind the fact that it was drawn on the kitchen countertop!

Good thing crayola makes washable markers!

Pardon Our Dust

This site is under construction. Not only do I have an entire summer and almost a whole fall to document, but I'm giving the boring blue background a face lift - and it's not as easy as I thought it would be. I'll send out a mass email when all is complete and we're back on track, but for now PARDON OUR DUST!!

Parenting Moments: Mealtime Edition

Yesterday we all sat together at the table eating lunch before church. Rachel was her usual self - jumping on and off her chair, chattering non-stop, and participating in other totally distracted activities (she get is from her mother I'm afraid to say). What she WASN'T doing was eating her lunch. After telling her time and again to sit down and eat I was finally fed up. I brought her to my side, took her sweet little face in my hands to ensure constant eye contact, and gave her the lecture:

Me: Rachel, sweetie, THIS IS LUNCH. If you DON'T eat your lunch you are GOING TO BE HUNGRY and YOU WILL NOT HAVE ANY SNACKS BEFORE DINNER!! I don't care if you come to me crying because you're hungry! I will just say, 'sorry I told you to eat your lunch and you didn't!' And then you will be very sad! Can you understand how important it is to eat your lunch!?!

Rachel: Mom?

Me: What Honey?

Rachel: You have something orange in your teeth.

Paul erupted in laughter as I did a quick teeth sweep with my tongue and sure enough...pepperoni right between my two front teeth.

A perfectly good parenting moment GONE. FLUSHED DOWN THE TOILET. NO RETENTION OF THAT LECTURE WHATSOEVER. She hopped off her chair and ran around the living room a few times not touching her lunch again.

So next time you engage in a "parenting moment" make sure you are calm, collected, and know what to say...

and make sure you don't have anything stuck in your teeth.

HALLOWEEN!!

This year for Halloween Rachel chose to be Snow White and Ben was Super Why. For those of you unfamiliar with Super Why he is a character on PBS Kids who reads stories to solve problems and save the day - it's one of Benja's favorite shows.

So we went to the ward party to practice FLYING...


and to practice sharing...swine flu anyone?


When we got home Benja immediately dumped his bucket to take inventory of all his LOOT.


He also figured out that he could eat TWO suckers at the same time! Cool Dude!

And Rachel got something even better than candy in her bucket - a Halloween Activity workbook! Thanks whoever passed those ones out!

Ward Parties, Trunk-or Treats, and CANDY CANDY CANDY!!!

Good times had by all!

We passed out two big bags of candy at the ward Trunk-or-Treat and ran out so we went to Walmart to buy some more and it was GONE!! It was SO GONE that they had actually started taking down the Halloween display and putting up the Christmas one! INSANE. So we bought 3 more big bags of candy at Walgreen's to pass out at home and it was gone by the end of the night. Our last set of trick-or-treaters came by at 10:00! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!! Good thing I hadn't gone to bed yet! SHEESH!!