Spiders

RaKell found a spider in her room. She ran upstairs and announced,

"I'm gonna invent spider shock collars! That way, if they bite you, they die! "

I asked,  "do the shock collars go on you or the spiders?"

"The spiders (duuuuh)."

Realistic

Landon asked if I had ever seen The Giant Pear movie.

I said, "No, I've never even heard of it."

Landon,  "Well, it's kind of like James and the Giant Peach but a little less realistic."

Can anyone tell me any part of James and the Giant Peach that is realistic?

Gravity

A conversation that took place between me and 5- year old RaKell:


RaKell: What's gravity?
Mom: Well, if you jumped off this chair what would happen?
R: I would land on the floor.
M: Yes. Gravity is what holds things to the earth. If you drop something it falls down instead of flying up.
R: Aaaawwww. I want to fly.
M: You can,  in an airplane.
R: I want to fly by myself.
M: That would be so fun.
R: Why can't I fly by myself?
M: People weren't made to fly.
R: Yeah,  just fairies.
M: And dragons.
R: Mom,  dragons aren't real.
M: Oh, and fairies are?
R: Ummmmm yyyyeah.

Skinny Dipping

We spent some time with the Parker family at a hotel. Upon arrival, all the kids wanted to go swimming.

Then I remembered.....
"Oh! I forgot my swimming suit!"

RaKell, "Um, that's ok mom. You can just take off all your clothes and go make-ed  (her version of naked [and I won't let my kids correct her]).
You just get off all your clothes and jump in the pool and only have your head sticking out. Then no one will care that you are make-ed."

Learning Expressions

RaKell is looking at a book.  I heard her just exclaim,  "What in the Earth!"

Compliment???

I went to put some socks down the laundry shute.  Instead, I started putting them in the garbage!

Landon was in the kitchen too.

"Oops!" I said. "I almost threw these socks away instead of putting them in the laundry shute."

Landon, knowing this mistake has happened before with those that live here, said with a sarcastic tone,  "Why would you do that?"

"Maybe I'm not very smart."

"Yes you are. " (Aaaaww, how sweet)..."when it comes to Disney movies. " 

Gee, thanks.

Prayers

As I was helping RaKell say her prayers tonight she was ending with her usual pleading to have good dreams:

"Please help me to have good dreams tonight and not that creepy Jasmine dream again."

I almost burst out laughing!

Definitions

We were in the car driving and Landon was going through his backpack. He pulled out a bunch of miscellaneous items...

Landon: I got these...these... things at school.

RaKell: You call them 'thingymajigs' if you don't know what they are called.

Dinner Delights

RaKell just asked me to turn on the oven light so she could see dinner cooking.

I turned it on.

She looked in the top oven and said the food looked delicious.

Um, dinner was in the bottom oven. I didn't put anything in the top oven.

Spaghetti squash?!!!! How long has that been there!!!????

Turns out Dalan had cooked some last week and forgot about it.

The Jungle

After returning from her room where she spent some time away from her brother to cool down (he also was cooling down in his room):

RaKell:  Mom, where's Landon?
Mom: You don't need to worry about Landon.
RaKell: But where is he?
Mom: Maybe I sent him to the jungle.
RaKell: But you don't know the jungle people's phone number.
Mom: (smile to myself)
RaKell: It is S-M-P-S-E-M-R-E-S-L. See, I knowed it. Call them.

Sure Thing Dear

RaKell opened the fridge to get an orange. . .

"Ooooo! I'm so cold in this fridge!"
"This fridge is freezing!"
"Mom, can we get a new fridge?"

First Day of School

 First Day!

 Preschool. They grow up way too fast!

No, it isn't the camera or the lighting, it really is the color of her pants.

2nd Grade

3rd Grade

                                                         

9th Grade. He is a Freshman! High School?! I feel like I should still be in High School.

7th grade. Middle School. I had to chase this one down to the bus stop to get a photo. :) Not because she didn't want one, but we had kids going in all directions at different times and we simply forgot.

35th Grade.

Off to teach the bright young minds of the future. Please stay alive. :)

Really? Really?!

Kate brought home a little refresher worksheet from her first day of 3rd grade. It had different topics (math, science, reading) to get their minds refreshed from last year.

This was the vocabulary exercise:

Really?! You really want to start the year by putting this word into their brains??

Side note . . . Katelyn is an awesome stick-figure artist. Who knew they didn't have necks?

Rrrrriiiight

RaKell came to me and matter-of-factly said,

"Mom, the phone accidentally fell into the fish tank, but I got it out. It's ok. It was dead so I hung it up to charge."

Seriously?!

Weight

There has been a scale sitting in our hallway for a few days.
Getting ready for school yesterday morning, Landon stood on the scale.
His fists shot straight up in the air and, with excitement, he exclaimed, "NEW RECORD! I'm not 53 anymore, I'm 55!"

Refreshing!?

The kids ran in from playing outside. They were breathing heavily and all grabbed cups and headed to the sink to fill up for a nice refreshing cup of water.

RaKell had her cup in hand when she spotted the pickles on the table. . .

"Mmmmm pickle juice!"

She set her cup on the table and filled it with the juice from the pickle jar and drank the whole thing!

Breakfast Funnies

For breakfast, RaKell tells me she ate:
Rice Scripties
and
Hunchy Bunchy u Oats

FHE

Aunalee gave the Family Home Evening lesson tonight. It was about gratitude. We had to each write something down we were thankful for and put it in a box.
As she was trying to wrap up the lesson through the noise of all the kids, this is what I heard:
"When we write down what we are thankful for and not worry about all the things we don't have, maybe one day we will get some of the things we didn't have before and we can add that to our list of what we are thankful for."
Makes sense.

Sunday Doodling

During church, RaKell took the program and asked Preston for a pen. He got one out and went to give it to her but she said, "Dad, draw my name."
He wrote her name. She took the pen and said, "I will draw your name." She doodled a bit and then asked me to help her. So I did.
She then face-planted it on the program. I waited to see what she was up to. A moment later she said, "Mom, draw my face."

It made me laugh.

Happy Halloween

Here are some of the photos of pumpkin carvings. You can click on the photos to enlarge them.

Dalan carved something from Legend of Zelda.















Katelyn carved a happy pumpkin.

Landon carved a spider.

Aunalee carved a pattern of shapes.

RaKell carved Anna and Elsa (with a tiny bit of help from mom).

 Mom carved Olaf.

Dad didn't get around to carving this year.

Costumes:
Dalan is Link from Legend of Zelda.
Katelyn is the Monopoly guy. She came up with that on her own.
Landon is Bozo (he was also Larry the Cucumber and a Spider throughout the day. This just happened to be what he picked to wear for Trick-or-Treat night.
Aunalee is NOT Little Red Ridinghood. She never did really explain what she was.
RaKell is a flower. Her hat fell off.

Yes, Bob tried to photo bomb this one.

Happy Halloween!

Definitions

I was helping my nephew with his spelling list. There were things like honorable, struggle, dishonorable, prisoner, rebel etc.
We got to the word tyrant. I said, "Do you know what a tyrant is?"
He said, "Yeah. It is a babysitter that makes you go to bed before 6:30."

Reverence

Today during Sacrament Meeting a young child let out a yell. RaKell said, just as loud, "Don't scream at church! It scares my mom!"

Smart Girl

I told RaKell to go close the front door.
She ran and closed it. She then turned to me and said,
"I will lock it so spiders won't come in."
I laughed and said, "You're a smart girl."
She replied, "Yeah."

Duh, Mom

Katelyn has a very tender head. Now, I mean really tender. She does not like it to be brushed or messed with at all. If her hair gets pulled it causes anger and tears. She's a bit like her mother in that regard. She likes her hair long, so to avoid tangles her hair is often braided or in pony tails or both.
Today, Katelyn's hair was done in two high side pony tails which were then braided.
Tonight before bed I asked her if she wanted me to take them out so she could sleep better. I even suggested that I could put them in two lower braids so they would be more out of the way for sleeping.
Not wanting to have her hair bothered with again she simply and with a tone of logistics said, "uh, Mom, I can just sleep on my face. I do that sometimes."
Oh, well duh!

Melt My Heart

Landon came home from preschool and was in a bit of a somber mood. He was sitting on the floor and I sneaked up behind him and quickly pulled him onto my lap giving him a big hug, saying, "Here's my four-year-old boy! Oh, here he is! Will you please be my sweet, little four-year-old boy forever?" Please, please, please?"
He giggled and said sweetly, "Noooooo."
"No? Why not?"
"Because I want to be a dad."

Oh, melt my heart! I hugged him some more and said, "Well, okay."

Katelyn: Dad, what if the only word we said was "Yes"?
Dad: Can I punch you in the face?
--Long Pause--
Katelyn: What if the only words we said were "Yes......and, no"?

LOL!!!

Kate says to Landon, "Let's go play baby. You be the baby at the orphanage and I will come buy you."

Vocabulary

Landon's vocabulary has really increased lately. He uses words, in correct context, like perhaps, actually, completely, practically, etc. (no, he doesn't use etcetera, I just did for the sake of moving on in this story.).

He and Kate were still at the table finishing their dinner while I was getting RaKell into her pajamas. They kept chasing each other down the hallway, laughing and teasing. I called to them to go finish their dinner.

Kate responded, "He is distracting me!"

Landon shouted, "Well she is extracting me!"

Check Mate

Preston heard Landon crying upstairs and went to investigate.

There, he found Katelyn with her back turned to Landon with folded arms and frowning.  Preston asked Landon what was wrong and through tears he answered, "I HATE losing in chess!"

Preston was a little surprised by this response, noticed a chess board on the floor between Katelyn and Landon with a King knocked over, and asked what happened. Landon explained pointing to his sister, "She moved the horsey up and over and she was supposed to move it over and up.  That's how she won. She did it wrong."

Preston, stifling a laugh at the fact he just walked in on a 5-year-old daughter teaching a 4-year-old son to play chess, just gave them both a hug and said, "Playing chess is fun, isn't it.  Keep playing and let's see what happens."

Prayer

Landon said the prayer at lunch time today. He finished with, "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."
Then he continued. . .
"Christ. Like the Christ on a pizza."

Wow! I hope Jesus is laughing too.

Go Away You Sweet Little Girl

We were at a neighbor's house trick-or-treating and when Kate got a piece of Candy, instead of the usual, "thank you," I hear, "You gave me one that I hate, but that's ok."

Let's just say the line from her brain to her mouth is very short with little to no filter.

Rhyming Fun

Preston: The goat likes to float like a boat in the moat.
Katelyn: With his scrote?
Preston: (holding back a laugh) Uhmmm, I don't know about that.

Humans

Dinner conversation tonight consisted of playing "Guess the movie character" game.
Dalan gave us a clue that the character he had chosen was a human.

Landon chimed in, "This girl in my class said human. Then my teacher said that 'human' is a bad word."

"Really?" I replied. "Do you know what the word 'human' means?"

"No."

"It means 'people' like you and me. We are humans. It isn't a bad word."

Landon responded, "Oh." Thinking, thinking thinking, "Well, she said 'humans, uh, . . .stupid'. That's bad."

"You're right, we don't say that word."

Nice save there, Landon, . . .I think.

Shopping

The three youngest and I pulled into the grocery store parking lot today. The thought crossed my mind that we came at a good time because there were very few cars.

I pulled into a parking spot and Landon said, "Yes! We got a park spot! I knew we were going to get one!"

I had to laugh because I could have sworn he read my mind and that his voice carried a tone of sarcasm.

Just as we got out of the car the car next to us honked (the person had just gotten out and locked their car).

Landon said, "That car just horned us!"

Ok, Random

Landon: "Mom, did you know fairies are afraid of hawks?!"

"Uhhhhh, no."

"Well, they are."

Squeaky Clean

Preston was in the bathroom helping Landon brush his teeth. He came out laughing and relayed the following:

Landon: Dad, Katelyn and I helped mom today and clean the bathroom.

Preston: Landon, that is good.

Landon: We cleaned the sink.

Preston: Oh, it looks so good.

Landon: With our toothbrushes.

Preston: Uh, . . . That's not good.

Ancestry Look-Alike

My parents have pictures on the wall of their parents.
I was visiting one day and had RaKell (4 months old) with me.
I had been looking at the photos when one struck me as looking so much like RaKell. It is my Mother's father when he was an infant. Remarkable resemblance!

Ignorance is Bliss

Dalan and Aunalee were in the front room reading. I could hear Dalan trying to talk with Aunalee and, based on her non responsiveness, she was ignoring him. He kept prodding and she continued to be silent.
Finally, frustrated Dalan came to me in the other room and said, "Mom, we need to have a family home evening lesson on ignorance!"

Window Wells

As relayed by our friends that watched Landon and Katelyn for a few hours:

Landon was walking along their house in the backyard looking for something. They asked what he was looking for.
He said, "Where are your window wells?"
They explained they don't have a downstairs so they don't have any window wells.
He said, "I gotta see this."
He went in their house and walked all around looking for the stairs. He was unsuccessful.
Confused, he said, "If you don't have any window wells, then where do you keep your rolly-pollies?"

Sibling Look-Alike

Preston was holding RaKell and Aunalee was talking to her.
"Oh, you are just so cute! Dad, I just can't stop looking at her eyes. She is just so cute."

Preston replied, "Well, she has your eyes."

Aunalee, "She does?"

Preston, "Yep. She has your eyes and Katelyn's round face."

Aunalee, "What about her nose? It that like mine too?"

Preston, "Yes. Her nose is like yours because Katelyn's is more rounded."

At this point 3-year-old Landon chimes in, "Where am I? Am I the ears?"

Growing Old Too Quickly

Katelyn was getting into her pajamas. She came to me, frustrated that she couldn't get the shirt off over her head.
Aunalee said, "Well, Katelyn, you are growing."
To which I responded, "Growing? Not my Katelyn. She can't grow. I need her to stay little."
Katelyn said, laughing, "Mom, I have to grow. If I don't grow up, I'll never get to see my grandkids."

Katelyn, Katelyn

I sent the kids out to get in the van. When I came out, Katelyn and Landon were out in the front yard spinning in circles.
"Come on you two. We need to go."
As they ran back, Kate said, "Oh, mom, we were just taking a dip in the sun."

Travel Talk

Driving to Idaho, Landon and Kate were getting restless toward the end of the trip. To help distract them, I tried to find interesting things for them to look at out the window. We were passing by a mountain of lava rock. So, as positive as I could, I directed their attention out the window.

"Look at those rocks out your window."

They responded with a semi-excited "wow"(Katelyn more so than Landon).

A moment later Landon turned to Katelyn and in a sarcastic, imitating sounding voice he said, "Katelyn, look. There's a tree," then he burst out laughing.

His subtle, adult-like sense of humor makes me laugh.

On the same trip. . .

Landon anxiously said, "mom!"

"What?"

"Mom, look at my leg!"

"I am driving, sweetheart, tell me what you need?"

"The hairs on my leg are getting bigger! Katelyn, look! My leg hairs are getting bigger! . . . Wow!"

On the same trip. . .

Landon needed to use the bathroom while we were at a store. I opened the door to a single bathroom and started to usher him in when he backed up, objecting to go in. I asked him what was wrong and he stated that that toilet was too loud. I looked at it and saw that it was an automatic-flush toilet.
There was no other option.
"Landon, this is the only toilet."
"Mom, will you come in with me and plug my ears while I go to the bathroom?"

Oh, this is a good image. A little boy standing at the toilet while his mom is standing behind him covering his ears. Needless to say, it was better than changing wet pants.

Smart Kid

Landon to Dalan, "What is 9 + 10?"

Dalan, "19."

"Nope!"

"Yes it is."

"No. When I was with my grandmother it went
'9 + 10 = 80 34'. See, you chose the wrong."

Landon Funnies

We drove past a field full of white dandelions. Landon turned to Katelyn and said, "We can make all the wishes we want!"


We were at a restaurant and Dalan ordered chicken fingers. A few moments later Landon, with a confused look on his face, said, "But chickens don't have fingers."

Little Miss Muffet

Katelyn was sitting by the ditch at the produce field today. All of the sudden she stood up, crying and could not even breathe to tell me what happened. As I got to her I asked if she was hurt. Still sobbing profusely, she managed a "Nnnoooooooo!"
"What is the matter?"
"There was a spider crawling on my pants!"
I brushed her pants all over with no sign of a spider. I asked, "Was it a daddy long-leg?"
"Nooooooo! It was a sister!"

Toilet Training

Landon will use the bathroom everytime his diaper gets changed. He does pretty well with it but does not like to go when we randomly, throughout the day, ask him to.

Today I caught him with that red, frog-face look that kids get when they are pushing (yes, surely adults get it too, but they tend to not have an audience). I hurried him into the bathroom to, as far as he knew, "change his diaper." He had already gone a bit in his diaper so I coaxed him onto the toilet to finish. I also knew I had to leave him alone or he wouldn't go.

"Landon, I am going to get you some clean clothes. Wait here and try to finish pooping in the toilet."

I was gone for about 2 minutes, returned and asked, "Did you go?"

"Yeah," was his little response.

"Hurray! You did it!"

With a firm feeling on the matter he declared, "Yeah, it really freaked me out!"

Profound

Dalan came into the kitchen and said to me, "Mom, I'm not always a good boy, but I try to be."
Overhearing our conversation, Landon piped in and exclaimed, "Well, I am!"

Pancake Shapes

Landon was helping me make pancakes for dinner. As I put the first batch on the griddle, he looked at them and said, "Mom, you maked-ed a lot of Bobs. Can you make a Larry?"
Sure enough, all the pancakes were Bobs (circles). The next batch, I made some pancakes oval shaped.
Landon laughed, "Oh there are some Larrys!"

What A Good Little . . . Helper?

Landon, 2, loves to be outside and explore. He loves feeding dandelions to our pet rabbits and I often see him by their cage talking to them or laughing as they hop around.
As I was preparing dinner this evening, I looked outside to see him bringing in one of the bunnie's water bottles.
He came into the house and I pleasingly said, "What a helper! Does Twitch need more water?"
Landon responded," Yeah, I dranked it all."

Discombobulated

Driving up to Idaho with the kids, I had to stop along the way to pick up Dalan. He had spent a few days with his Nana and we were meeting along the freeway so he could come with us.
On the way to the designated meeting spot, Landon fell asleep and did not wake up until after we had Dalan and were almost to Idaho.
I kept hearing Landon say, "Mom!" I would reply, "What?" and receive no response. After a few times of this, I said, "Landon, what do you want?"
With a bit of confusion in his voice he asked,
"How did my brudder get here?"

Morning Smiles

Katelyn woke up crying, which is unusual for her in the morning. She came into the kitchen and I asked her if she wanted breakfast to which she shook her head.
I then asked her if she wanted me to hold her. She shook her head and cried, "I want someone to read me a story."
Landon, standing by my side, shot his hand up in the air saying, "Me! Me! Me! I will read you a story."
He ran into the other room, "Let me go get a book."
I just shook my head laughing, wondering how little, upset Katelyn was going to react.
I sat on the floor by the heater vent and put her on my lap. She calmed down. We waited a moment before Landon came in with a book.
He, too, sat on my lap and opened the book.
He stared at the page for a moment, . . processing. . . processing. . . processing, handed me the book and said, "Here mom, you read it."

20,000 Bouncy Balls

This was so fun!

This week was Utah State University's science week (aka. Geek Week). A helicopter flew over a parking lot full of people and dropped over 20,000 bouncy balls into a roped off section. We were at the bottom of the downward slopped parking lot. As soon as the bouncy balls landed they came flying our way. The kids had a blast getting pelted with bouncy balls and shoving as much as they could into their pockets!

Here is an article if you want to know more about this story and the science experiment that was conducted:

http://hardnewscafe.usu.edu/?p=4366

Elevator

Kate, Landon and I left the second floor dentist office today. Reminding me, Kate said, "Mom! You said we could take the elevator down."
"Ok," I replied. "Go push the button. Landon come on, let's go down the elevator."
Backing up in terror, Landon yelled, "No! No! No! No!"
"What's the matter? Let's get in the elevator."

(Elevator door opens)

Continuing to back up, poor little scared Landon firmly stated, "No! I not want to get in a alligator!"

It took some coaxing to get him to come close enough for me to show him that it wasn't an alligator. I don't think my laughter helped comfort the child that thought his mother was feeding him to an animal.

Dinner Woes and Wows

As I was cooking dinner, Aunalee asked what I was making.
Sounding excited, knowing it isn't her choice meal, I said, "Spaghetti."
She dropped her head and whined, "Nooooho."
Kate came over and stomped her foot, "I don't like spaghetti!"
Landon joined in with a foot stomp, "I don't like it either."
I replied, "Super! You three go to bed and the rest of us will eat it all."
Knowing I was serious, they went on their way until dinner time.

Needless to say, when we did sit down for dinner they ate it up! The girls even had seconds. Hurray for yummy spaghetti!

Compliments to Aunalee

I was volunteering at the school today and saw a mom of some twin boys that are in Aunalee's class. We were visiting for a few minutes and this mom said, "My boy, Logan, sure talks about Aunalee a lot. They sit by each other and I help in the classroom quite a bit and she is such a sweet girl. The other day Logan said to me, 'Mom, one day I want to marry a girl just like Aunalee.' I told him that would be great. If he can keep this great taste in girls I will be just fine with that."

Later I was in the computer room getting something. The computer teacher said to me, "Oh your Aunalee (she put her hand to her heart) is such a sweetheart. She is just a sweet little girl." She proceeded to show me some of Aunalee's work and told me how much she loves to work with her on the computer.

Those compliments made me feel pleased to know that my child behaves so well at school and is kind to others.
She is a sweetheart and I love her.

Landonisms

I love the language and interpretations of two-year-olds.
Before the kids come to dinner we have them wash their hands. Last night Landon had it in his mind that he was not going to wash. Speaking of dinner I said, "Landon, go wash your hands or you are not getting any."
He stomped his foot and said, "But I want some any."

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 

Last night the kids got some jelly beans. Landon ate all of his in one mouthful. When he finally swallowed he saw that the other kids still had some and he wanted them to share. No one was sharing.
Sweet Kate said, "I will share with you, Landon."
With a smile on his face he ran up to me and said, "Mom, look! Kate shared her belly jeans with me!"

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 

Landon ran in the room and said, "Mom, that freaked me out."
"What did you say?" was my response, unsure if I heard him correctly.
Katelyn chimed in, "He said it freaked him out."

Wow, I did not realize my little ones had such language in their vocabulary.

FYI: Landon gets really hyper at night.

Tonight he stood up on the arm of the couch and raised his arms high and shouted, "I am bigger than Jesus!"

Humorous Honesty

I was driving kids home after school today. The topic of discussion between all the children was buying things and how much stuff costs.
One 3rd grade girl said, "I have saved $100 already."
A bit astonished I asked, "Where did you get all that money?"
"My grandmas both gave me $30 for my birthday. Plus other money I have saved up."
Dalan said, "On our birthdays, our Nana and Grandpa give us as much money as how old we are."
I responded with, "Yeah, just wait until you are my age! Think of all the money you will get."
Aunalee quickly said, "I think Nana and Grandpa will be dead by then."

Cousins and Canoes 

 

Never a dull moment! When cousins get together they combine their creative minds to come up with unique ways of having fun. 

Did you count how many kids are crammed in there?!

At the dinner table one evening Dalan told us that he wanted to go to the moon some day.

Preston said he could go anytime, it would just cost about $300 million.
"Whoa, that's a lot of money," Dalan responded.
Aunalee then chimed in with a big smile, "Dalan!" She pointed to the top of the cupboard at Dalan's piggy bank and looked at him with an excited, pleased that she reminded him of all his money sitting up there, look.
"Yeah, like that would be enough," he so sadly clued her in.
Not to be shot down too quickly, she optimistically came back with, "Plus that other $10 you have downstairs."

Katelyn's Christmas Wish

Our almost four year old has been begging to have her bottom-length hair cut. Her dad is very much loving it.

Mom, on the other hand, dislike the screams and tears every time a brush comes near her head. We both have an extremely tender head so I know her pain.

For Christmas we gave Katelyn her very first haircut, 15 inches in all.

 She loves it and is so cute with short hair.

Aunalee's Vegetable Soup

This recipe makes enough for our family of 6 to all have second helpings. Aunalee decided what she wanted in the soup and so we added whatever sounded good to her. It is delicious!

In a large pot add:

About 6 cups water

5 sliced carrots

1 stalk celery

2 bunches broccoli

1 small head cauliflower

1 small red onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can cream of chicken

1 can cream of mushroom

3 Tbls. parsley

2 cubes chicken bullion

1 1/2 tsp. salt

ground pepper

Add the carrots to the water so they can cook a bit while you chop up the other veggies. Chop the vegetables to bite size chunks. Add all the other ingredients. Cook soup until the vegetables are tender.

Just before serving, stir in 1 cup sour cream.

We have made it once before and added diced chicken. That was good too.

We all love it!

Katelyn and her cousin, Casey (one month older), were having a breakfast conversation about Halloween costumes.

To preface the rest of this story, these two continually tease each other. They get along great and most of the teasing is fun. When one is in a bad mood, the other takes advantage and sees how much they can get the other to scream and yell. Typical almost four-year old play.

Back to the breakfast conversation:

Casey says all the things he can dress up as and when Katelyn says, "me too!"
Casey replies "nu-uh because you don't have that costume."

After a few back and forth stabs Casey states, "When I grow up I'm gonna need a BIG Batman costume!"

Kate responded, "But you wiln't, so you will only need a little one."

Pumpkin Carving Fun!

We had a blast carving pumpkins this year. 

Dalan and Aunalee did their pumpkins almost entirely on their own!

Dalan and his spider

 

Aunalee's Cat

Katelyn and Tinkerbell (She did help)

Landon and PacMan (He scooped out the guts)

Mom's Goofy

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Dialogue between Mother and Daughter

I had returned home from a three day trip without children (first time in my life).

Aunalee came to me that afternoon, after church, with a very solemn look.

"Mom. I have something to tell you and I know you are going to be mad."

"I'm listening."

"At Farmers' Market yesterday with dad I wore my favorite church shoes and lost one down the river."

"You wore your new church shoes to market?"

"Yeah."

(deep breath) "How did you loose one down the river?"

"I was washing the mud off and it slipped out of my hand."

"Uh-hu. And how did it get mud on it?"

"I was playing on the side of the river."

"And why were you wearing your church shoes to market and playing in the mud with them on?"

"Dad said to hurry and get shoes on and those were the only ones I could find."

"You are right, I am mad."

Needless to say, the two of us went to the river (Logan canal), me in wader boots and Aunalee showing me where she lost the shoe and where "Dalan was watching for it to float by and it never did" (this sounds more intentional than accidental). After a few minutes of searching in the canal the shoe was found, very lucky!

Seven-year old rejoicing and groveling took place as well as lessons learned. 

Together Again

Someday I will be just like mommy!


Katelyn was getting into her jammies and had her shirt off. She said to me, "Mommy, when I have a lot and a lot and a lot of birthdays I will get to be a mommy like you."

I smiled, "Yes you will."

Stroking her bare chest she said, "And I will have big armpits like you."

"What?" I laughed. I poked her in her armpit and said, "that is your armpit."

With a confused look on her face she pointed at her nipples and said, "Well, what are these called?"

"Nipples. When you are a mommy and they are bigger they are called breasts."

"Oh yeah, I will have breast-es."

Reality Hits

The kids have been informed that I will be gone for a couple of days to spend time with the moms in my family. They keep begging to come and get little reaction from me other than a simple, "no."
"Please! I will be good."
"Are you going swimming? I want to come."
"No fair."
"But who will watch us?"
And on and on and on. This lasted for about a day when they realized I was enjoying the attention and my mind was not going to be changed.

Yesterday at breakfast Aunalee asked, "When are you leaving for your trip?"
"Friday."
"This Friday?"
"Yep!"
She turns to Dalan with excitement and concern in her voice, "Dalan, Dad's going to be in charge of us on Friday. Mom won't be here to tell him what to do!"

Follow-up:

Friday morning. . .Aunalee ran up to Preston when he walked into the kitchen, "Dad, today is the day that mom is leaving and you are in charge."

Preston responded, "Yep, mom won't be here to tell me what to do."

Aunalee said, "Yeah,  I guess you will just have to be the dad."

Speeding? Was I Speeding?

The drive home from Shelley, Idaho, on Saturday evening was extremely pleasant. The kids were watching Peter Pan and Preston, driving, and I were able to have a conversation.
Deep in our conversation, I glanced up and noticed a police officer parked off the road, monitoring traffic.
Speedometer read . . . 77mph. . .busted!
Sure enough, he turned his lights on and pulled us over. Waiting for him to return with license and registration was quite a teaching moment about the laws of the land. The kids were perked right up, quizzing us on the details and wondering what was going to happen.
The officer came back with a ticket and said, "slow down and have a nice day."
The ticket was on the dash and Aunalee said, "Can I hold the ticket?"
"No," said mom.
"Why not?"
"Because it isn't yours."
To which Dalan responded in an exaggerating tone (remembering earlier conversations in his life), "That's right. Until we are 18 everything that is ours is actually Dad's, . . . even the bad stuff."
Dad responded, "That's right!"
'Twas a great comic relief moment.

Delicious Dinner

With Katelyn by my side, we were making a new chicken recipe for dinner tonight. As we added the parsley Katelyn said, "Yuck! I don't like eating grass!"
I said, "Kate, this is parsley."
She responded, " I don't like it."

The chicken was the favorite item of the night. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com: Easy-Garlic-Broiled-Chicken
I used thighs w/o skin and cut the butter amount in half.

Super Yummy (and fast)!!!

Kate the Great!

I don't know where she gets it, honestly.
We had some friends over to play the other day and the little girl was bending down getting some colors.
Katelyn came up behind her and said, "Aubrey, your bum is peeking."
A little louder, "Your bum is peeking. You have to stand up so it doesn't peek anymore."

Our New Pet

Meet Slick, or Speedy, or Sticky (depending on who you ask).

 As I was unpacking the van, I saw this snail crawling (slithering? sliming? whatever they do) along the door. I asked Dalan and Aunalee to come and look what was in our van. Aunalee said, "Oh, that is Sticky. We found it on an avocado box at the place where we store produce."
To which I responded, "And you put it in the van?!"
"Yeah, it is our new pet. . . but how did it get out of the cup-holder?"

So here it sits in our window box of peas. As far as we can tell it is pretty content, very low maintenance, and extremely entertaining when it is awake. For now we know that it loves tulips and celery.

Apologies about calling it an it. We do not know if we acquired a male or female snail (I am not about to try and find out) and the kids don't agree on one or the other so, it is an it.

Retched Morning

As I was pulling out of the garage, the 60 year-old garage door fell and landed on the back window of our van, shattering it. The garage door was pulled off it's track and the frame is all broken.

At least it isn't a story of me pulling out of the garage, forgetting to open the garage door. That would be embarrassing. Sorry to those that have done that.

Bread-blah!

When you forget to add salt to the dough it makes the bread taste horrible!!! There goes 4 loaves and 2 hours of time. Grrr!
Smother it with enough butter and jam and the kids don't even notice.

Aunalee's lesson on Drugs

We were at Aunalee's soccer game one evening. The games are held next to an outdoor skate park. After the game the kids went over to watch the skaters. They were older teenage guys wearing low-cut jeans, boxers showing, and no shirt, skateboarding.
As the kids were watching, one of the guys started making "cool" facial expressions and saying phrases like "oh yeah!" or "I'm gonna do this!" every time he passed the kids.
As the kids and Preston were leaving the skate park Preston noticed that Aunalee had run back, across the ramp and over to that one guy. He saw a small conversations and then a wave goodbye. Aunalee came back over, laughing.
Preston inquired as to what that was all about.
Aunalee said the following:
"I went to say goodbye and so I said 'goodbye!' He said, 'Goodbye, be safe, don't drink drugs.' (as she is laughing) . . .That was so funny because I bet he does."

Katelyn's Daddy Off to Work

As Preston was leaving for work today he said, "Bye, I love you."
"I love you too," came the response from mom and Kate.
After he was gone Katelyn said, "I love daddy when he leaves. . .and I love daddy when he comes back!"

Aunalee, the Collector

Aunalee, our six-year old, loves to collect things. Everything! She collects marbles, containers of all shapes and sizes, sea shells, chestnuts, stuffed animals etc. Last summer Preston had a bad sunburn on his back. As Aunalee was peeling off the skin she asked, "Mom, can I keep this, please?" (puppy face, begging).
Sorry to gross anyone out, but that is how extreme it can get. She has learned to ask me because I will have her throw stuff out that is just too gross or not allowed in my house (ie. dead skin, frosty cups and boxelder bugs). No, she was not allowed to keep the skin.
So, she lost a tooth the other day. She asked me if she could keep it but still get money from the tooth fairy. Nope. I really did not want a tooth collection in her room too. That lies on the gross side. Aren't I such a mean mom?
Aunalee put her tooth in one of her special containers and put it under her pillow. Not wanting the tooth fairy to take the container she wrote a note for her.
When the tooth fairy came to make the exchange she read this:
Please leave container and lev my towth and mone there to.

To which the tooth fairy replied:
You are a special girl. I will leave a drawing of your tooth. Thank you for leaving it under your pillow for me. Baby teeth sure are special to me. I left you a special coin.

The tooth fairy left a drawing as well as a Susan B. Anthony coin. Lucky girl!

Here is the note (before Aunalee showed us the note the tooth fairy left, she erased the part about keeping the tooth because she was embarrassed and didn't want mom to know that she went behind her back and asked the tooth fairy if she could keep the tooth):

April Fools on us! Thanks mother nature.

This is what we awoke to on April 1st. Not only that, today we woke up to 8 inches of new snow. Will it never end?!!

Slime in the Ceiling

So, Dalan's birthday was this month. He got the coolest present ever! It was red slime that came in a blood donation bag. How awesomely gross!  9 year-old boys are easy to please; just give them something that grosses everyone else out and they love it.
All is well until he and his sister (who loves gross things too) are dissecting it at the kitchen table and mom steps out of the room for 1 minute. ONE minute!

I hear banging around in the kitchen and run back in. Low and behold, Dalan is attempting to mop the ceiling?! What?

"Aunalee threw her slime on the ceiling and I was trying to get it off." comes the half-story from Dalan.
"You did it too, Dalan!" comes the rebuttal from Aunalee, ensuring the blame is shared. She walks over to the stairway and points to the ceiling. "That is what Dalan did."
"Yeah, but mine came off, mostly."

I look and sure enough, there are some nice red rings on the ceiling where his slime had been splattered.
Aunalee's mess was much worse as Dalan's frightful attempt to clean it was actually smearing it everywhere.
In my jaw clenched, kind voice, "I don't know why when mom leaves the room you think all of the rules are void and that you can trash my house. . .lecture . . . lecture . . .lecture . . . "                     
Summary of the discipline, they are too short to clean up the mess and I am not patient enough to wait until they are tall enough. Slime goes in the garbage and they clean up what is on the floor and table. I have to attempt what is on the ceiling.

Sweet, creative Aunalee replies, "We could just paint the ceiling red. That would be cool."
This is a comment where my heart is laughing and my demeanor stays firm. This is extremely difficult to master, so I am told. I'm still working on it.

As for the ceiling, magic eraser only spreads the mess and turns everything pink. It would have worked if I had bought 4 more boxes. The scrub brush only made my arm hurt. Simple Green along with whatever other cleaners I had in the cupboard didn't do a thing either except make the area smell nice and chemically.

My super-heroin friend, Jen came to the rescue. She brought over a gallon of blue windshield washer fluid. This combined with the magic eraser worked, um, magic! It got the slime off without spreading the mess! Yea for super-heroes!

Katelyn's Dream (as told by Katelyn)

Mom, I had a scary dream last Tuesday and a snake came up to me and you smacked him!

I was on my way out the door to go to the grocery store tonight.
Kate called out a reminder, "Get me some juice."
"And look at the fishies."

If you have ever taken kids to Walmart, you will know why I was laughing out loud on my way out the door.

Quick! Mom's not looking!

This morning was going so well too. . .We had breakfast, reading time, got dressed, the kids were actually motivated to get their schooling done, it was great.
Since Aunalee was ready to start her Phonics course (shocker!) I did not clear the table after breakfast.
Big mistake!
Let me say that again. . .BIG mistake!
We had waffles with all the fixings (peanut butter and syrup, yum!) and yogurt. Apparently we had toast because the toaster was on the table. I didn't fix toast, did I? Lack of sleep getting to me here.

I went with Aunalee to my room (the place she chose to do her work today) and started on Phonics.
Dalan started reading, Kate (3) and Landon (16 mon.) were in the kitchen playing with the Fridge Phonics.

The sounds of the morning were pleasant. The kids were laughing and playing nicely while I was left with Aunalee to do work.
Moments later I hear the sounds of spoons and fingers scooping out yogurt and eating it (moms have this sense of knowing exactly who, what and how noises are created, oh, and no noise means mischief).
I called down the hall, "Kate, what are you and Landon doing?"
"Eating yogurt." comes the reply.
"Are you both ok?"
"Yes."

I trusted that, that cute little three-year-old! That was BIG mistake #2!
Five minutes later Kate comes waltzing into my room and asks me to open her bathroom door (child proofed).
From her finger tips, up her arms, to her mouth. . .peanut butter, yogurt, and something else sticky (syrup maybe)!
AHH! Kate!
"I need to wash my hands."
No kidding! Do I laugh? cry? yell?
None of the above is what I actually did.
I opened the bathroom door and had her wash herself up whilst I checked on the other goober.

Covered from head to toe, literally, in yougurt, peanut butter, and syrup, standing on the table, was Landon, smiling and hands straight up in the air as if to say, "I did it! Where is my praise?"
After stripping and hosing him down I decided to clear the table. Which I should have done in the first place!
The peanut butter. . . chucked it.
Yogurt. . .chucked it.  They were so mixed together I was not sure which was which.
As for the toaster. . .I put it in the sink and sprayed it down, inside and out. It may be broken after doing that, but how was I supposed to clean the yogurt/peanut butter concoction out?

This is not the end. . .(sorry, no "making a long story short")

As I was cleaning the toaster I heard noise (not the good kind) coming from the bathroom.

I ran into the bathroom and Kate and Landon had combs, a mirror, and the bottle of gel, doing  each others' hair.
Out you two!
I cleaned up that mess, now back to the toaster.
Oh, no! Where were those two now?!!!
I found them in my bathroom with the door closed getting into hair stuff again!
What a morning!
Too bad I'm out of duct tape! Nap time for the little ones. So what that it's only 9:30am.

Got to love em!

Aunalee and Preston got back from the USU girls basketball game yesterday. It was their daddy-daughter time. Aunalee came in, all excited to tell me about it.
"We got to sit in the very tippy front!"

Katelyn - A day of moods


Setting: Evening time. Grouchy 3-year-old, Kate, that refuses to take naps anymore, was playing at the fridge with her Word Whammer. No one dared go near because they knew of her current mood situation. Mom was making dinner at the stove.

Katelyn had the setting to "build your own word." She kept flicking the letters off the fridge, pushing the song button, and trying to get a reaction from mom or anyone that passed by.
Push red song button and a character sings alphabet song, "A, B, C," push again and it starts over, "A," push, "A," push, "A," "A,""A,""A,""A,"
"KATE. That's enough."
The noise ceases a moment. Big scowl on Kate's face.
Toy defaults to directing a child to build a word, "Put a letter in the spot with the blinking light."
Another moment of silence.
"Put a letter in the spot with the blinking light."
Response from the 3-year-old, "NO! I DON'T WANT TO!" 

Dalan- Oh, the great minds of children!

Last night Preston was doing fun quizzing games with the kids. He would start giving clues or telling about events and the kids had to guess which President of the U.S. he was talking about.

Clue #1: This was the first President to die in office.

Dalan: "He died in his office?!"

Favorite non-words we hear from our children:

Dalan: "Tadpoles envolve into frogs."

Auanlee: "Look at the patteren I made!"

Katelyn: "Look at my bellybutt. Let me see yours bellybutt." and "How did you do dat?"

Landon: Not really speaking in a comprehendible language. He shakes and nods his head at any question. Sometimes the jibberish he comes out with as a response to a question or comment actually fits perfectly!
"Here you go Landon."
"DaDoo"
"Oh! You're welcome!"

Five months later and much has happened. Our three children are growing fast!


Dalan finished kindergarten and lost two bottom teeth. His class had some chicken eggs that they watched hatch. We inherited two of the little orphans. Dalan has taken full responsibility of Fluffy and Yellow. He is a good "Daddy."
He also finished the semester of tumbling and his skills are improving.

Aunalee (aka. Rachel, Superwoman, and/or Princess Leah [depending on the day]) is growing into a young lady. She finished ballet and loved it and continues to practice at home. Her energy and excitement starts when she wakes up and does not stop until her head is on her pillow at night. Needless to say, she keeps us on our toes.

Katelyn is five months old! WOW! She started eating rice cereal and, from the first bite, loved it and opened for more. She loves to talk, twist her tongue, and play with her toes. She is getting pretty good at rolling around so we have to keep a close eye on her or she ends up stuck under the couch. She loves people, especially Dalan and Aunalee.

So far this summer we have gone on one road trip. The first week of June we met Preston's cousins in South Dakota on thier move from the east coast to the west coast. We toured Jewel Cave, Crazy Horse, and Mt. Rushmore. We then headed west and went through the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, WY and then spent two days in Yellowstone. It was a great trip! Our favorite parts were touring the cave and seeing all the animals with their new babies at Yellowstone (bears, elk, buffalo, coyotes). We highly recommend Yellowstone in the spring.