Toothpick Lunch

Today we ate a lunch of miniatures. I had some mini saltines and added a little square of cheese. We had baby dill pickles, sliced. We loved the deli ham, rolled up. The cut hot dogs were no big deal and the baby carrots with ranch are always a hit. But the best part was that everything was eaten with toothpicks. We pretended that we were giants and skewered our lunch!!!

Seth also needed to skewer the bubble in his mini glass of chocolate milk:
And Chloe liked lining her 'samples' up and eating them in order.

We had so much fun and then they both cheerfully helped clean up the lunch mess. Something happened last night that I still can't explain. I made dinner, chicken enchiladas, early yesterday and put it in the fridge. When Dan got home I put the food in the oven and sadly it didn't taste very good... But afterwards I started doing the dishes and instead of shooing the kids away to go and play I asked for their help. They swept the floors and vacuumed the crumbs. They helped unload the clean dishes in the dishwasher and finished putting all of their toys away. I already posted about reading to Chloe. Both kids were asleep by 8 PM and I was able to get all of my pictures for April '08 prepared and e-mailed to Costco for printing. By 10:30 I was tired and felt I had enough accomplished for my scrap booking night at Mom's! This morning I woke up when Dan left for work. I had gotten a great nights sleep and snuggled with both kids for a few minutes before getting up and getting breakfast going at 6 AM. We are all dressed, have our hair done, outfits on, with our beds made and our rooms clean. The laundry is done, my scrapbook stuff is ready to go out the door as soon as Dan gets home. Chloe and Seth have played really sweetly today and I still can't figure out what is different,

SO THAT I CAN REPEAT IT!!!!!!!!!!

Here comes the weekend!

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Dear Ms. Cleary,

I just finished reading chapter #1, Trouble in the Park, of Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary to Chloe. We brushed her teeth, changed into pj's and fixed all of her hang nails before we began. Thanks to this dang cough and soar throat, I was almost horse by the time I finished that first chapter. I remember reading all of the Ramona Quimby books and Henry Huggins and Ralph the Mouse. I think my all time favorite book by Beverly Cleary was Dear Mr. Henshaw.

I don't know if it is too soon to be reading chapter books to her but she seemed to enjoy it. I thought we could read a chapter a night when everything goes according to plan and that she can start sounding out those words that are easy enough for her.

Chapter #2, Mrs. Quimby's Secret, will be waiting for us!!!

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Did he wet the bed?

A couple of weeks ago I washed every one's blankets, bed spreads, sheets, etc.

Except for Dan's! I don't like washing it, unless I need to.

It is SO big, but he asked me if I would...

I brought his blanket into the laundry room this morning to wash it.

Seth asked me "Did Daddy pee pee?"

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Seth's Big Day

What a Great Day!!!

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Happy Birthday Seth!

He woke me up this morning snuggling in my bed. He is three! I made him pancakes for breakfast, per his request and started baking his chocolate cake. I measured him on our big tall ruler board and he measures at the exact same spot as Chloe did when she was 3 & 1/2.

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Still Scrappin'

We dropped Erin & Sam off, yesterday but we are still in the mood!

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We have Guests

Not PESTS, Guests!

Erin and Sammy came to scrapbook and play!

Since Monday night we have been scrap booking as much as the pests will allow...

We actually took a break and did a little paraffin wax treatment. We always say that we will do this but there never seems to be enough time. It takes between 4 - 6 hours for the wax to be ready and someone has to remember to plug it in early enough!

We started with a satin hands treatment on our hands and feet

then between 3 ~ 5 dips in the hot wax:

Place wax foot/hand in plastic bag to retain heat and moisture:

If available, place feet in booties for added comfort:

{I think it makes my hands and feet look like mannequins}:
After a few moments start squishing around to loosen the wax,
it peels right off. Add your favorite lotion and rub your soft, smooth feet!

Seth and Sam have played so well for the past two days. I have gotten over 40 pages scrap booked and have officially begun working on pages for 2008. With any luck I wont be behind for very much longer!

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Some Saturday Projects

I was looking at some of my favorite blogs and found this little GEM at Jenn's last night. I made a note pad for Chloe with some of the light weight paper that comes in my scrapbooks. This will be a new Sunday Sacrament Bag addition. She usually takes a spiral bound note book and I swear the entire chapel can hear her rip out her pages!!!

I also want to thank Linn and Sue for their tips on putting white icing on a chocolate cake. I agree it doesn't taste good ~ to me, but I make it for Dan and I don't even have to sample a single slice. There were still a few crumbs but no where near as many!!!

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The Morning After

I can't believe how much cleaning I do to host a get together. I have to clean and organize my pantry in case anyone sees into it. I clean under my sink in case someone put some garbage in the trash can. My mom planned to spend the night so I washed all of the bedding including the bedspreads and pillow shams ~ even my own! I am sick and I am tired but my house is super clean!!! I found one of Seth's boots I was missing and hopefully I found all of the missing Christmas nativity pieces. The Grocery Smarts class was great. There were 15 people there and I hope that everyone learned enough to make it worth their time! This morning we woke up before Grandma. She swears that she can't even sleep past 5 AM. I had to call Laura to see what she recommended. At 8 AM she suggested going in and poking her to see if she was still alive... Chloe offered a hair brushing and I think that worked even better!

Grandma left to run some errands and we were at a loss as to what to do. The house is clean. The beds are made. We were all dressed...

After taking some silly pictures of Seth in his new boxer briefs {Thanks Kyle & Krista!!!} we went into the basement and organized, sorted and cleaned the toys. I just finished vacuuming all of the carpet remnants. It is so clean! We moved the tiny little TV upstairs since our big family room TV is now broken ~ sad. Chloe set up the table and chairs in the basement for a lesson of some sort. She said she is planning it all out!

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Holding Desirae

Tonight is my grocery smarts class, but Jenn came early enough for us to be able to hold Desi for a minute. Seth just loves her so much. I think he would make a great big brother...

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Thanks Granny Sue

Every so often Dan comes home from work with surprises. He takes all of the credit. The kids think he is a super gift giving dad/hero! Dan's mom is his supplier who randomly finds things in her day to day outings that she thinks her grandchildren would love. This day was no different! Years ago, Sue brought some donuts into work and Dan brought some extras home. Chloe had only ever had krispie kreme original glazed donuts. She called and thanked Grandma for her wonderful maple bar that she just couldn't believe was a donut! Today Grandma sent Dan home with a Texas donut {pictured above} for Chloe and a penguin cup for Seth. He loved watching happy feet in Grandpa's car on the way to Arizona...

I don't know if it is actually a phrase that is used but have you ever heard

"It's always bigger in Texas"

This donut is huge!!! Chloe loved it so much!!!

This is what I enjoyed:

Thanks again Grandma!

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Hide & Seek

Dan and Chloe love to play hide and seek. They used to play it every day when Dan gets home from work. Tonight Chloe, Seth and Dan were playing and taking turns being the seeker. As soon as Seth would find Dan he would immediately take his hiding spot and tell him to go count. Chloe on the other hand is getting to be an expert. Dan was seeking and had looked in Chloe's bedroom. This picture is an after shot, but he could not see her at all!!!
Can you see her? She had stuffed herself into the pillow sham!!! She was so tickled that Dan was so baffled. He was so surprised that she could be quiet enough for him to be standing right next to her and not give away her hiding spot!

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The Best of Intentions...

Today started out with the best of intentions. I got up around 5:30 AM and fixed Dan some fixin's and a sandwich for his lunch. After that I crawled back into bed while inviting Chloe to join me, for some reason she was on the floor. We snuggled and watched cartoons for a little while and the next thing I new, Seth was in bed with us and a couple of hours had passed.


Dan is a dessert junkie. He isn't extremely picky about it, as long as he gets it! I have been meaning to make him his favorite, a chocolate cake with white frosting. I really like to make round cakes with two or three layers. The white frosting is a sore spot for me because, I cannot make it without black crumbs throughout the frosting... So I gave in and made Dan a boring old cake in a 9x13 pan. He is so excited and I will be able to leave it alone!!!

Wendy and Laura needed my help cutting some vinyl last week and I finally was able to place my new rooster on my kitchen window. We washed all of the dishes and the windows so that this new weather main would fit, just so. What do you think, Wendy?

Even thought they did help, a lot. This is what I was trying to get the kids to do while I mopped the kitchen floors today. By building a fort Chloe and Seth were entertained for longer than normal periods of time. Chloe loves to help and uses the dust buster to vacuum up all of the crumbs. She helps by washing all of the stickiness off of the bar stools, too!
We got the coat room organized and all of the kids shoes matched up into pairs ~ with only a few missing. The table and chairs were wiped down along with the bar stools. Beaker's cage was washed and his food and water refilled. The pantry was organized and I eliminated excess boxes. I cleaned underneath the sink. When I started typing this post I also had just sat down to eat some lunch...

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What a week!

*** After getting home from the hospital on Sunday night, the doctor told me that I needed to make sure that Chloe was able to go to the bathroom with in twelve hours or to bring her back in ~ that there might be internal bleeding or something else. To my relief she wet the bed. I knew that everything was all right after she hurt herself straddling the bar stool. Sadly this is not were the drama ends. She still felt very nervous to go to the bathroom. After more tears, long soaks in the tub, and me finally leading her to the bathroom and telling her not to come out until she pees, she in fact learned that it does not hurt.

*** Tuesday morning she was still nervous but I told her that she couldn't go to preschool until she peed. She got to go to preschool. By Wednesday she was doing great, informing me each and every time she peed. But I was in the kitchen when I went to swallow my daily pills. I started to choke and gag. I have really bad gag reflexes but have been able to swallow multiple pills for many, many years. A little white pill got stuck in my throat. I could feel it, burning, through what seemed like my esophagus. I drank more water, I tried throwing up. I tried to stay calm but I just kept thinking that what if I pass out or stop breathing. My kids are secure in the house they can't get out, they don't know how to use the phone. {I don't know where Chloe gets her over dramatization!!!} Laura calls and wants me to meet her at Wendy's to help with vinyl stuff. I inform her to hurry to my house, that I might be dying! She suggest drinking milk or chugging some Maalox or Pepto to help with the burning, which helps. After the burning became more bearable, I tried to look at my throat in my super magnified mirror. I swear that I saw the pill stuck in the back of my throat! We are all still in our jammies, rushing to get dressed and looking in the basement for coats and shoes when Laura rings the door bell, which we don't hear... We came upstairs to her {I can only hope} frantically ringing the bell and pounding on the door! What seemed like forever but was more than likely only three hours the burning pain went away and when I looked in the mirror at Wendy's house, I couldn't see it anymore.

*** Thursday was the day I tried to get every toy back into the basement. We told the kids they could have their Christmas toys up in their rooms, but not any more. After yesterday ~ everything was in the basement. I was really nervous taking my medication today but everything went down without a hitch and I was busy planning my strategy for grocery shopping without the kids after dinner. Wendy suggested going to the Albertson's near Kmart in Layton. I had told her that I couldn't find it and she thinks I am crazy. But when I pulled into the parking lot I had to call her and inform her that it had in fact been left abandoned! I went to a different Albertson's and got some super deals.

*** Today the kids reveled in their super bright Trix pink and yellow yogurt. Chloe was building a mini fort in her bedroom and kept asking for more basket type items to be donated to the cause.

While Seth slept on, in his own room for an afternoon nap. He makes this little pile of clothes and shoes on his bed, like he is packing to go somewhere. Today is the third day in a row that he has worn underpants ~ even to Wendy's, even out shopping, even during naps! I don't want to jinks it but I believe this boy is potty trained!!!
I can't remember if I mentioned what Dan got me for Christmas, but tomorrow I am taking my new camera to have the lessons that came with it! I want to learn everything I can to take better photographs of my family and of me! Happy Weekend!!!

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