First word

It has always been a fun little competition in our house with each baby as they make their first milestones. Who's name will they say first?

Will it be Mommy?
Will it be Daddy?

Both C and I repeat our names to the baby when in general play hoping that on the day the baby says the first word, it would be our name.

I have even played nice and more often than not, I will say "dada" in hopes that the baby will say it first. C misses many of the firsts since he is not home all day with the kids. I know that he enjoys the little things, so I want to help.

Just this last week C was able to see KD roll over unassisted for the first time. It was a great moment, and something he usually misses.

I am not great at remembering to be humble when the baby makes these milestones when he is not around. I will either instantly call him and let him know, or I will forget to tell him all together. If I have forgotten, he will eventually see this awesome milestone take place and make a big deal about it. Then me, being my usual self, will say something like, "oh, yeah, she's been doing it for a week." He instantly looks at me with a face of disappointment and reminds me to pretend for his benefit. On the other hand, if I call to let him know, I feel as though I am just rubbing it in. I can't win.

Tonight as I was walking Noosh upstairs for bed, I set KD in her little exersaucer toy and walked away. I wasn't even on the stairs before, clear as day -" mama" There is no hesitation, she said it. C instantly called me a name, jokingly of course, but I have to admit, there is a great feeling hearing it for the first time. It was me! oh, how I just wanted to hold her until she said it again, but really she just wanted to eat.

Honestly, I am unsure of which of our other babies said who's name first, but I want to say it is usually "dada" that wins.

Amazing Love

A love like no other.
The most amazing love.
genuine. irreplaceable. everlasting. sweet.

Art Show

Beans finished painting a few pictures and was especially proud of her work.
Who can complain when she paints what she learns at school. I am going to work on framing these along with my other favorites that the kids have done and making our own little art gallery on the empty wall in the dining room. A masterpiece I am sure. :)

Thankful

Thanksgiving was perfect!

Lots of food= stuffed bellies = too many calories = Absolutely Perfect!

Relaxing + grandma visiting + silly kids = Happy Day!

Hope your Thanksgiving was great!

Grandma and a very tired Nooshie

K.D.'s first Thanksgiving dinner - yummy (homemade) mashed potatoes

Nooshie playing with K.D.

I so cute

My cutie KD in a crafty i heart onesie!

I didn't ask

I didn't ask to be the mother of a little boy that struggles to find self confidence, that uses poor judgement, or that doesn't know why others call him a retard. I didn't ask to have a little boy that would need his parents to have a close relationship with his teachers or principal.

I didn't ask to have a little boy that would see the world differently than the rest of us.

I didn't ask to be the mother of a child that struggles each day with the little things, like getting dressed or making friends.

Before I had children I used to look at mothers with their children and judge their parenting styles and watch their out of control children and tantrums.

I had always envisioned the perfect child that would sit in church on Sunday, in his Sunday best, was reverent, whispered and sat still. I envisioned the child that would wear anything I put him in and eat anything I gave him to eat. I always thought my son would be well behaved and calm.

This wasn't my plan as a mother. Heavenly Father thought I must be good enough to have such a child of trial.

What I didn't know at the time, was that he really sent me the little boy, that would make me a better mother. The little boy that would make sure I wasn't selfish, that I understood what a blessing it is to be a mother.

I don't see the little boy with struggles very much, I still have days, but I have learned to see the little boy that has the biggest heart, the greatest smile, the most unbelievable skill of making you feel better, and is almost always thinking of others first.

This little boy is my son. He has been diagnosed with Aspergers slash PDD slash ADHD slash ODD, but I rarely see that little boy.

I only see the little boy that wants to be hugged, praised and loved. I only see the big brother that yearns to play with his sister or brother or hold his baby sister. I only see the son that loves to help vacuum and beat his dad at a game of UNO. The child that is amazing at math and enjoys hearing about history. The little boy that has an amazing ability to tell you anything you want to know about Star Wars. The little boy that secretly loves to be hugged and kissed as long as no one else is looking. The little boy that loves to hear you read a good book.

My son is a child of God and is loved more than anyone may ever know. I know this, because I do. I love my son, and even though I never asked for the little boy that has so many obstacles to overcome, I wouldn't change a thing.

I am a better mother because of him. I learn something new everyday, because of him. I am someone special, because of him.

baby food

As we try new foods with KD, it is fun to see how she will react to the taste. This has to be my favorite reaction, she wanted more but acted as though it was difficult to take another bite, and then she would.

Baby Smileys

It is so true that the smile of a baby can make your day.
I had the opportunity to do some shopping with just KD this weekend and she was a hit.
We were stopped by many passer by's. She was cooed at, gawked at and many made comments about how happy she is.
People have no idea that there are 3 more just as cute at home, there loss. Lucky for you, you already know how great she is, but in case you needed a little reminder, here's a few more.

Cookies

For fun this weekend, we made some Christmas cookies as a "dry run"
The kids enjoyed cutting out the shapes and frosting and decorating them. They did a great job and are really proud of their work. Nooshie began the project with clothes, but it didn't take long before he was just in a diaper again.

Whats with the woobies?

So today, as I was bringing Nooshies load of blankies and power rangers down stairs for the 15th time (not even exaggerating), I asked myself, What's the deal with all the blankies?

Noosh insists that I bring all 5 blankies to each of his locations.

The location changes at least 5 times a day.

"tate my bankies upstayos"
"Bwing my bankies downstayos"

Which one is it? Make up your mind child.
I mean, it is not as if I am doing anything else today, except maybe wait on you hand and foot.

I was glad no one was here to witness how I had succumbed to the 2 year old and his demands.

How was it that I was carrying all 5 blankies, his doggy pillow and like 10 Action figures and he walked with nothing.
He was pointing and sorting out his demands as I barely made it down the stairs without falling.

I set the pile o stuff down next to him and of course it wasn't in the right place.
I used my foot to scoot it the 3 feet to the left that he needed it and it was like an alarm had gone off.
Oh, the scream.

I was doing it wrong.
"not wif yo feet momma!"
and heaven for bid I say anything in any sort of tone in response. I immediately get the "don't say it like dat!"

Geesh! Is there anything I can do?

Why is it that I have to ask my 2 year old permission to use the bathroom?
Mommy needs a shower, is that ok with you?

If it weren't for the sweet little snotty face and the out of the blue I love you's, we might be practicing a little respect in a corner. But instead He his now happy as a clam sitting in his pile o blankies and playing with his ton o toys in the middle of the living room. (That's ok, I didn't want to clean there anyway...)

Finding our Christmas Spirit

As we journey into the Holidays I always wonder how I will feel about it this year? We have had several years of bad luck and downers that it's hard to say how each year will be.
There are two versions of the Christmas Spirit in my opinion. The first is the Spirit of Christ and the true meaning of Christmas. The second is the spirit of Santa and all the holiday goodies, presents and fun.
The retails stores have clearly taken the second spirit and run with it. This spirit graces us each year the day after Halloween. (in fact this year, Wal-mart was putting up their Christmas tree on Halloween.) What ever happened to Thanksgiving? Why do I feel like this gets so little attention and appreciation. Thanksgiving is a wonderful family holiday and yet the retail spirit has died and therefore so has the true meaning spirit lost some spark also.

I remember a few years ago, I was working for the local newspaper slinging papers on peoples doorsteps at 3 in the morning and C was unemployed. We had yet to be approved for any moneys from the state for unemployment and I struggled to find both kinds of Christmas spirits.
The first spirit was difficult to me because as we were in the middle of a hard financial trial I was feeling like Christ was sort of letting us down. So with this, I obviously could not find the spirit of Santa because I knew that Santa would be a dissapointing surprise on Christmas morning. C and I had gotten used to skipping "us" on Christmas morning, but not being able to wrap a few things for the kids, was just straight up the biggest dissapointment for us. As I have become a parent I realize that the spirit of Christ is something we have to build on each year and it is our responsibility to bring it into our homes. It is also our responsibility to make sure that our children feel this spirit so that if the spirit of Santa is a little lite on his load, that they don't notice.

We heard "the kids are little and won't remember these times" a lot. I want to say that this was comforting, but really there was no comfort. We pulled through that year solely on Grandparents and the church. Without them, Santa would not have stopped at our house. We tried to prepare both of our little kids with this by letting them know, that Santa may not have our new address.
I struggled deeply with this year and yet the one thing I remember was the gift I received from a great friend at work. (it seemed there were a lot of us mormons slinging papers for money)
She brought me a book about the christmas story, but inside was a paper with a quote. The words from that quote had more meaning for me than anything. I continue to read the book to the kids every year and I read the paper often. I know it may sound cheesy, but Heavenly Father knew that I needed this.

C and I have faced our share of trials. yet through each of them we don't feel as though we'll make it through them. We cling to our savior through prayer and slide through each trial with what seems to be very little will left. As I think back through all of them, through all of the feelings of utter despair, we were not alone and I realize that these were just little trials and that we were never destined to not make it through them. They seem to pale in comparision to the next one every time and I will forever cling to the "we made it through the last one just fine, we'll find a way to make it through this one too."
I think as a parent our biggest failure has been taking our children through these trials with us. We feel as though we have let our kids down. Not always being able to provide them with everything they need.

Many of you are aware that I have an obsession with my girls dresses. I let them wear them once to church and then I sell them when my inventory is low and buy new ones. Never to wear the same dress twice. This is really my addiction and not necessarily in a good way. Several years ago, we were so broke that I could not afford to buy the kids new clothes. Any money we had went to pay for the roof over our head. I remember talking with my mom and letting her know that Beans had grown out of her Sunday dress and that I had nothing for her to wear. Grandma of course saw my despair and bought a couple of dresses for her to wear. I am so grateful for her love and support. So in an effort to never have to repeat this I came up with a way to always have clothes that fit and keep the girls dresses stocked. I never want to be in that situation again. I am overly obsessed with this and in fact have been stressing over Beans dress situation for the past few weeks. I don't have any dresses lined up for her for December. Next week we will run out of new dresses and will only have the ones she has previously worn. I know that this sounds silly, but to me its like re-living the time when we had no dresses at all.

The "retail" spirit bothers me, the rude people, the bell ringers, the people in the parking lot slipping papers under your windshield wiper, the long lines and the never ending traffic. My focus this year is going to be on the spirit of Christ and teaching the children what we should really be thankful for. They of course will have a great Christmas, but because they will know Christ better. Santa will make his appearance and share his spirit for one day, but Christ will be the lingering spirit in our hearts and minds.

As we go into this busy season, please don't loose sight on the REAL meaning. Trials or not, downers or uppers - Christ is the reason for this Season.

Finding a Safe Harbor

Be assured that there is a safe harbor. You can find peace amidst the storms that threaten you. Your Heavenly Father - who knows even when a sparrow falls -knows of your heartache and suffering. He loves you and wants the best for you. Never doubt this. While he allows all of us to make choices that may not always be for our own good or even others' well-being, and while he does not always intervene in the course of events, he has promised the faithful peace even in their trials and tribulations. Joseph B. Wirthlin

Special Thanks to my friend Hulie

Sunday Reflections

A couple of weeks ago we were given an assignment for Beans to memorize a line for the Primary Program. We rehearsed and rehearsed and even made it into a song so that she would remember. I was a little afraid that she might get to the microphone and start singing her line in a tune that I made up and CLEARLY was something that should not be displayed to our entire ward.

She woke up today and the first thing out of her mouth was her line. She said it a half a dozen times in the car on the way to church. She was going to Rock the pulpit. She had even practiced it at home as if she was sitting down and had to walk up to the pulpit. She set her piece of paper ( a picture of the scriptures and two beings resembling stick figures of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ) on the foot stool like it was the pulpit. She was ready!

We got the sacrament program and she was named to do her part just after the first song. She was excited and couldn't wait. It came time for the primary children to go sit up in the front and she hesitated. Oh no, she was starting to get the jitters. I urged her a little with a confident "you can do this" and up she went. We of course smiled and waived to her to let her know we were watching.
It was her turn to go say her line and you could tell she was nervous. she wouldn't look at the congregation. She focused on the sister that was standing by to help each child that needed assistance. Beans froze and let her lines be fed to her. She did say them herself in segments with the assistance! She did a great job and the program, in my opinion went well. It was orchestrated well and finished in a timely manner. It was cute to see every child have a part.

We have learned in years past that Chan can not handle the commotion of the program and we were supported when we made the decision to not let him sit up on the stand. The first song that was sung by the children was "I am a Child of God" and C nudged me during the song to look over at Chan who was now standing up at the end of our row. He was singing the song. It melted our hearts. We knew he loved to sing and were so grateful to see that even he could feel the spirit.

We ended up leaving right after sacrament as I sit here and nurse a medicinal (yucky) tea that my wonderful husband made me. It was all I could do to go to church today and honestly if it wasn't for the program today, we sickerson's would have stayed home and kept our coughs and hacking to ourselves.
Thanks, Sis. Ford and the primary presidency and the teachers for all of your hard work!

What have I created?

To my family:

Yesterday, our brother hi-jacked mom's email and was not asking, but TELLING us that he was imposing a new family get together once a month. It sounds fun and seriously was a lot like dad with his assignments. I laughed and thought that it was great.
I thought I would be even funnier and let you all know that we would be happy to take our turn and have you all come over to our house in February. Knowing that the likely chance of all 6 families coming to our house in the coldest region of cold would also be taken as a joke and we would move on.
Aside from J & L who for obvious baby reasons cannot fly - you are actually making this work. L with her flight benefits and discounts on Maxi vans and your willingness - I'm touched.
So seriously, I thought you would sense my sarcasm, since that is how I always talk and I was just kidding, but honestly if you want to come - you are welcome. It could be a fun PACKED house.

Game on.

K.D.'s L.T.

We had our one month check up on K.D.'s Left Torticollis yesterday. Our physical therapist was VERY pleased with the results and has us continuing the exercises, but only a phone call check in next month is required.
K.D. has no signs of having LT at all and is right on track developmentally.

While we were there for the re-eval on the condition, she mentioned to me that there was another little girl at the same age that she saw the day prior to our last visit. She would rate her condition to be equal with K.D.'s and thought that it should be easily fixed with the exercises also.

Upon the re-eval with this other baby earlier yesterday, she reported that the babies condition had worsened and that they now had to take more measures to correct it. She told me that she knew I stayed home with the kids because K.D. had improved and noted that this other child was in child care all day. I understand that this is no fault of the parents. you do what you have to do and with something like this just doing exercises once in the evening (if remembered) may not do the trick.
I am so blessed to be able to stay home with our children all day and it's the little things like this reminder that K.D. is better because of it.

I did find out that if I discontinued the exercises because she is improved, that there is a chance that K.D. could have this relapse and or start up on the other side.
I have made the exercises a game with her, which she loves! She only dislikes one of the stretches so this should all still be great - but so glad, for good news.

K.D. Loves to play with my water bottles and is always reaching for whatever I am drinking. Last night as I was making cookies with Chan and Beans, she wanted my water bottle, so I put her in her little chair and let her play with it. I had noticed she had stopped making noises so I went to check on her and found her like this. Asleep with the water bottle.

Name Changes

Last month after the blog shake down I started to refer to everyone in our family by their first initial, BUT there are two C's and I can't always say one of them as Dad without sounding like I don't know how to speak properly and then there's wondering who I am referring to until you get to the part that is about something a typical (or not typical) 7 year old would do. Then you might figure it out.
We also have two S names. Technically. While one of the S names does not live with us full time and we miss out on being able to share more stories of her, she is still very much a part of our family and deserves separate recognition.

So, going forward I will refer to each person as a nickname and I will post their picture with their nickname on the sidewall if you ever need to reference it.

Dad or C - will stay the same
Mom or M - will stay the same, but since I am usually posting I will also be known as I, and Me
C - will be known as Chan
A - will be known as Beans
S - will be known as Noosh, Nooshie, or Noosh Ball
K - will be known as KD
and our part time S will be known as Berry

I love sarcasm

I have to admit, I love it when my hubby is high.
Yes from drugs. But under the strict supervision of a pain management doctor.
Ok, seriously - he is like the king of one liners and the other day as we were stressing about the school stuff, he was just rolling the best one liners off like they were on cue cards in front of him.
I love to laugh and I think humor is evidence of someone that is genuinely happy (or very High) and wouldn't it just be a funner place if we had nothing but one liners in response to the crap that gets thrown at us?

My favorite thing is sarcasm. Its hard to not use it, so I've compiled a couple of my favorite sarcastic one liners, please don't be offended. They are not directed towards you (this time)

You are not as bad as people say, you are much, much worse

Please, keep talking. I always yawn when I am interested.

This is an excellent time for you to become a missing person.

I'm busy now. Can I ignore you some other time?

Anyone who told you to be yourself couldn't have given you any worse advice.

Are you always this stupid or are you making a special effort today?

Don't let your mind wander, it's far too small to be let out on its own.

I bet you get bullied a lot.

I don't mind you talking so much, as long as you don't mind me not listening.

I like you. People say I've got no taste, but I like you

You are not obnoxious like so many other people, you are obnoxious in a completely different way

Here's hoping that you'll be able to smile the next time life gets cruddy.

How do you like them apples?

Resolution so far.
It is amazing how a conversation with the 5 o'clock News anchor and threatning to share our story with all of the QC gets immediate reaction.
My morning began with a phone call to the Principal where I was not put on hold nor was I offered to leave a message. Apparently I was important enough to warrant "first in line" status.
I shared with her the events of the previous day according to C. She was not aware of all of it. To be fair she was out at an afternoon meeting and was not in the building while yesterdays events were occurring.
I let her know that the media had an appointment with us and that we had contacted an attorney. She let me know that she desired to finish our conversation, but that she now needed to contact her supervisor. Oh and they would be conducting their own internal investigation to figure out went wrong.
A little over an hour later I received a phone call from the School Districts Executive Director. She desired to hear our side of the story and then pleaded with me NOT to take this to the media. She knew that the media would not portray them in a fair light. Uh, Duh - that is the point. Anyway, moving on. I made no promises. So she asked if she could call C at work and talk with him. I gave her his number and before I could warn C, they were on the phone. The funny part is, that she did NOT ask him to not share our story with the media. Wasn't that the purpose of the call?

A couple of hours later I received another call from the Principal. They would like to meet with us today. We agreed.
Before we met, C still kept his appointment with the media and shared our story. They totally sympathized with us and REALLY wanted to air this, but we did ask them to hold off until we got through the meeting with the school. This would be our clincher to seal the deal. They agreed and then gave C their cell numbers so that in the event of a not going well meeting, we could just call them. They then in return would call the school and ask for a comment on a story they were going to be running regarding a special needs boy that was able to wander the streets unsupervised. Oh yeah, we had this in our back pockets.

Surprisingly and yet a little disappointing the meeting went well and we got everything we wanted. Pout. There would be no media circus, but oh how the threat was great. It worked well for us, I highly recommend it!

So little C will be attending School tomorrow with an Emergency safety plan in place and extra support. His IEP is being revised to stipulate 100% adult supervision/assistance at all times! and more of the nitty gritty details that I'll spare you.

Bottom Line - WE WIN, You Lose!! Na na na na na na!!
oh and don't mess with me!! It will never end well for you.

Fine Print: while we are getting the immediate things we have asked for, this is still going to be a trial period and we will be taking notes. dun dun dun....

Mess with the Bull - You get the Horns!

Today was a bad day for our family.

Long story short. C left school grounds with another child (3 grades above him) after the other child convinced him it would be fun. (C is in a contained classroom, so how did this happen again?)

Their journey took them on a walk around the neighborhood, playing "Chicken" with the cars on Locust ( a main busy road),
a B & E at an unknown white house and 3 cars that provided some keys a sucker and a flashlight.
We are FURIOUS to say the least but mostly so very upset that the school that we entrusted our children's care to - let us down. We were told that they did not want to chase them because they didn't want them to keep running. B.S.!
so Mister School District in charge of providing my child the right to learn in a safe environment - Where the HECK were you?!
My child could have been killed, kidnapped or worse!! You have no idea what kind of can of worms you just opened. You should NEVER mess with the Howerton's We are tired of Being Jerked around and that's keeping this G Rated.

I am keeping C home from school until we can meet with every person involved in providing a safe atmosphere for him.
We are demanding a WRITTEN Safety plan and new procedure's for student safety to be put in place.
How is it that a 7 year old can be left to wander for at least 30 minutes before an ADULT decides to go looking for him ? UNBELIEVABLE!!

If you thought you've ever seen us mad - you ain't seen nothing yet!! We don't like to get screwed and we most certainly do not take the safety of our child lightly!!
Welcome to your new found week in HELL!
(by the way, you caused it.)

Boots for Mommy?

So, I want these boots for the winter. They are $119.99 and you would have thought I told my great and wonderful hubby that they cost a $1000 and our first born. I told him to look on the bright side, we are going to be living here in the Midwest for the next five years and they should last 5 winters so really that's only $20 a year - Unbeatable price right?

Of course then C responds with "Can we pay $20 a year for the next 5 years?"

Come on. I never ask for anything, give me this one- once. Please.

Living here in Iowa, Winter is 2/3 of the year. Its cold as heck from usually October till March. You can't tell me that some nice warm fuzzy waterproof boots from Timberland would not be the perfect accessory to all of my other wanna be stylish winter wear.

Look, reality is, I'm cheap when it comes to me. Heck, I'm cheap when it comes to clothing. I always look for the lowest sale price on everything - but there are some things that just need to be bought.
Maybe Santa will read this blog and bring me something I really want. I still believe.

(Santa, you can find them at www.timberland.com they are Women's Fauna Boots - size 8 1/2 - here's hoping)

I'm a Super Mom

Not many people can say that they are a Super Mom.
Well actually there are many people that I personally know that can say that, but this isn't about them. Its about me.

So In the previous post I let you all know that A picked her date with Dad to the Painted Penguin.

After sorting through king tut, jewelry boxes and a basketball lamp, A had arrived on this. She did not know what it said, but immediately knew that it was something she wanted to buy and then give to me!

Therefore in the words of my Daughter - I AM The one and only SUPER MOM!!
I knew I loved her for something. What a sweetheart.

Directions: To be displayed Proudly for all to see.
(May also be used as intimidation, but only in emergencies)

Sunny & Seventy went bye bye

So the nice weather that adorned our wonderful heads here in Iowa has quickly disappeared.

We are preparing to hunker down for the winter, we have our Netflix full and ready to go, we stocked the cupboards with hot chocolate, apple cider and soups. We prepare for another cold one.

It snowed briefly on Saturday and C couldn't wait to go outside and stand in it. So I took his picture. The snow wasn't noticeable but the incident was note worthy in his book.
The rest of our weekend was relaxing. Daddy had a date with each of the kids. C and Dad went to a Hockey game. Daddy and A went to Painted Penguin.
Mommy and S played star wars guys and colored some pictures and Daddy had some great one on one with baby K.
C also has been making and re-making his newest lego star ship. He is very pleased with the outcome.
So as we get colder here, please remember you are more than welcome to come visit but I do recommend indoor activities and you will need all the usual heavy duty winter wear. Hope to see you soon!

birthday part 2

I can think of no greater compliment than my sisters post on her blog to follow up mine.

a sister is something not to be returned

So today is a special day.

My sister turns 31!
But that is not what makes it special. The special part is remembering 31 years of all the fun we've had.

For starters, she has always been kind of pushy. Like the time when my mom was in labor -she pushed me out of the way just so she could say she was born first.
See what I mean? Pushy.

She also always had to show me up.
Like when we were babies she showed up with more hair - so I pulled it.
as we got older she would buy a new shirt, so I borrowed it.
We also shared a room and she slept on the top bunk - so I kicked it.

There have been a lot of ups and downs. Most say that twins are really close and have a special relationship and for the most part that is true.
When we were like 7 years old she fell off the kitchen table and as a result she went blind for several hours.
I being a great and supportive twin could not let her go through something like this on her own, so I copied this behavior and fell off my bike a week later and went blind for a couple of hours too.
We are sometimes very much in tune with each other. When she was in labor with her first child I went to the hospital to see her, but because I was uncomfortable with seeing her uncomfortable. I rambled nervously about how skinny and tan I was which I am sure she TOTALLY appreciated.

We are also like fire and ice at times.
In High School she liked gangsta, sagging pants style and I was wearing cardigans and penny loafers.
She liked to skip school and I... well, I did that too.
She learned how to tag and I wrote poetry.
She went into the army and I went to work at Sears.

As we got older, we have slowly grown apart, probably because we were expected to always be so close growing up.
We attended twin look alike contests, switched places with each other on April Fools and shared nicknames like Malamber and Twinnies - neither of which we never really enjoyed.

But with all of these things, through thick and thin, good times and bad. whether we are on speaking terms or not. She still thinks of me and I of her. We remember each other often and usually get a long better when I don't live in the same state. :D
She really gets me. She knows me for who I am.
This is the person I could play paper dolls with for hours (even when we were probably too old to still be playing with them)
This is the person that knew that when she was sneaking out of my parents house in the middle of the night that I would place a picture of Christ on the wall and make sure she was aware that he was watching her. I can still hear her telling me to shut up.
Man those were the days.

This is my twin sister and although they say identical, we are really nothing alike and yet are alike in almost every way.

So today as I celebrate her and she probably me. (I hope)
I say, Thanks.
Thanks for not letting me grow up to be naive, or selfish, or sheltered. Thanks for standing up for me even when it wasn't cool. Thanks for claiming to be my sister when others would have walked away from the weird girl and her even weirder friends.
Thanks for giving me confidence and for being my confidant.
Thanks for loving me. Unconditionally. Even when unconditional wanted to come with terms.

Here's hoping you have a wonderful day. That Angels will fly with you. Just know that I am thinking of you today.

And you know what they say? 31 is the new 24 - So have one for me!

Your Awesome!! (but you already knew that!)
Love ya!

Growing up with my sister is my most treasured childhood memory.

Another nice day...in November!

I took K outside with the kids today and for the first time she got to feel the tummy tickles that jumping on the trampoline gives you. I stood holding her, while the kids jumped around me.
She LOVED it! Did I mention it was another 70 degree day? In November...

C wanted to take a turn holding her while the other kids bounced around - I just love the hair!

Then there is the spit up. To be expected - but poor C. He is always holding her when she lets it out. I think he thinks she saves it for him.

The Morning After

So, this morning as I was getting the kids their breakfast before school, they began to argue about who called who what name and who said what first.
It was in that instant I realized that the words coming out of my mouth was something that I was probably told by my parents growing up.

Conversation went like this:

A: "Mom, C called me stupid"

C: "No I didn't, I said shupid"

ME: "Just stop for a second you guys, if you actually turn around and look at the TV you will see history. (The Today Show speaking about the results of the election) This is an awesome thing to be a part of and your kids will be reading this in their history books, so just stop for a second, eat your breakfast and listen."

They both then walked away and I heard

A: " You know, you did call me the real thing."

C: " Yeah, I know, but do you wanna play a game?"

Apparently no matter what changes are made overnight, some things will never change....

Wii Bowl & Vote

C has a very special way he bowls and I love it!
He also voted at school and was very happy about it.

Nooshie and Kadalee Kuddeling

I laid K down on the living room floor and S decided she needed to lay next to him, so he moved his camp of pillows and blankets to her location and shared with her.
I love spending the day with these two, I feel so lucky when I can capture moments like this for everyone else to see.

Strawberry Sucklings

Baby K's first Strawberry. Her face was the best part to watch and she wouldn't let me let go without pulling it back to her mouth. You'll notice in the pictures that she has her hand "spotting" mine to make sure it doesn't leave the mouth position. She loved it!

Candy named what?

The Halloween candy has made the breakfast list for a few days now and I'm ready to purge the left overs. C has agreed to take the rest and have a candy bowl at work.

While the kids have been picking through deciding what they would like eat to wrap up their binge, C discovered a candy named Mary Jane. He made a point to set this one aside and show me. What kind of candy do you suppose this is? I could only laugh. I opened the wrapper and read the fine print. It says its registered with the U.S. Patent office. OK? but the best part is "for Nutritional Information please call 1.800.225.5508"
I just might!
The other side of small print is the Ingredients. It appears to have the usual partially hydrogenated glycerine lecithin crap but then ends with " Natural Flavor"
Hmmm... what does that mean????

The candy appears to be something that was popular along time ago and the picture on the front of the candy is a 1950's style little girl with what I can only assume is HER name, Mary Jane.

We decided not to let the children eat it, but seriously they should probably rename it.

for fun, here is the story behind this candy. (of course I had to look it up on google.)

On my Soap Box

So for the first time in a couple of years I stood before the sisters in RS and bore my testimony. This is a hard thing for me to do because I am easily moved and usually become blubbery and emotional so I limit these occasions to rarely. If you are so lucky to sit in on one of my emotional bursts of ramblings, consider yourself lucky.
Today's lesson in RS was about visiting teaching and the story of Esther. first of all, I am probably the last person you should bring up the subject of visiting teaching to since it is my calling as coordinator but also because I have a strong testimony in it. (probably the reason it is my calling)
However, I had toyed with the idea of not coming to church today. Last night at 8:16pm my phone rang. It was the RS President and she was asking me to review an entire chapter in Esther and then summarize it in one minute during RS. I of course agreed, and then my kids went buzzerk right before bed and I began stressing over this one minute.
Finally at about 10 when all the kids were finally asleep and not pulling at me, I pulled out my scriptures and began to read.
This wasn't going to work. Not in tune to understand what I was reading.
The last time I probably read Esther chapter 4 was twelve years ago in seminary, and at 5 in the morning, I was honestly probably sleeping.

So, in order to understand the chapter it became necessary for me to read the first 3. I of course was then intrigued and could not stop at the end of chapter 4, I had to find out what was going to happen.
I then double checked my interpretation with a summary of this chapter online. Finally at 1 am I laid down to go to bed. K was up promptly at 7 this morning when C reminded me that it was really only 6 because we forgot to turn back the clocks.

RS went great. The lesson was done well in my opinion. The story of Esther is great. If it has been a while since you have read it, I recommend it.

Overall today has been a good day. C and I spent some time on the couch watching Iron Man (good movie). Then as S asked me to change his diaper we became very aware that there was just one left. This was not going to take us through until Monday so now it became necessary to go to the store on a Sunday. I would like to say that I felt guilty but honestly the break from the kids was nice. The weather is enjoyable and I opened the sunroof and enjoyed some music a little louder than normal. Sucking in all of the fall smells this was a great 15 minute break. On my way out of the store with my package of diapers I notice a car on the other side of the cart return. Their hood was open and some jumper cables lying on the concrete. Inside of the car was a fussy toddler and what appeared to be a tired and frustrated mommy. Standing outside was a gentlemen just looking around. I was unsure if they were waiting for someone specifically or if they were looking for anyone to help them. I pondered this while putting my bag in the back seat. I looked over one more time and decided to ask if they needed a jump. The young guy looked shocked at first and then asked if I would be willing to pull around. The jump started their car right up and they were very appreciative.
I know that this seems so unimportant, but after enjoying myself on the way to the store I realized that in order to enjoy days like this more we also need to be more Christ like. Now of course Christ would not have been at the grocery store on a Sunday, but Christ also did not have a need for disposable diapers for a 2 year old. However, Christ would have stopped to help the young family that was waiting for anyone to notice. I feel as though my sin of buying something on a Sunday was given a chance for immediate redemption because of a simple act. I of course did not offer help looking for the redemption, this was an after thought. But it did make me feel good inside having done something nice for someone else. Someone I didn't even know.

"it's a great day to be alive
I know the sun's still shinin when I close my eyes
There's some hard times in the neighborhood
But why can't every day be just this good?"
Travis Tritt