Ch-ch-ch-changes

Yesterday started out normally enough....

After school....

After dinner.....

It's a little hard to tell in that picture, but Caleb lost his first top tooth. The other one is loose, too. It takes forever for his teeth to grow in (Mischa lost one after he lost the bottom two and hers has grown all the way in already), so he might be making friends with a blender in the near future.

Click here for a great giveaway! People who can do this are so amazing!

Menu Plan Monday

I have no idea what's gotten into me- almost everything this week is a new recipe.

Saturday- Chicken Caesar Salad- we went and saw Spiderman 3, so I grabbed a package of pre cooked and sliced chicken, a bagged Caesar salad kit and some fresh Parmesan.

Sunday-Ranch Chicken, rice, corn.

Monday- Kielbasa covered with BBQ sauce, sour cream and chive potatoes, rolls

Tuesday-Quick and Cheesy Sausage Rotini, Yummy green beans, bread sticks

Wednesday- Chicken enchilada casserole

Thursday- Saucy Pork Medallions, stuffing, peas

Friday- Girls' Night Out- the boys are going camping, so my daughters and I are looking forward to our traditional meal of Pizza Hut and ice cream.

For more yummy ideas, head on over to I'm an Organizing Junkie.

The New Baby

Here's the latest addition to the John family. The kids are excited, since that means they get a computer again (theirs died a few months ago). This will be a great help on our trip to the Southwest with our new GPS software and downloading digital pictures of the reunion. I've never done the laptop thing before, but I'm excited, especially since I saw that Hearts, Minesweeper, and Freecell are on it, lol.

Cakes

I've started doing a few cakes again. This first cake was one I did for the Blue and Gold banquet for Cub Scouts. I did two cakes, but Perry took the digital to England, so I don't have a picture of the first cake, which was a smoking volcano, yet (haven't developed them). Little Hawaiian dude wasn't eaten, so we brought him home for Perry's birthday.

This next cake was done for the son of one of the women I visit teach for his baptism.

I'm going to do the volcano cake again for Caleb's class party, so I'll have some pictures of that soon. I might modify it, though, and make the volcano out of styrofoam instead of cake. We had about 50 people at the Blue and Gold and still had a little bit of the cake leftover, so I can't see a class of 20 eating all of it.

The Sexist Stomach Bug

I am back in the land of the living. The girls and I were hit the other night by some sort of stomach bug. A few weeks ago, Caleb threw up twice in three days. Never complained about a stomach ache, being tired, anything. Just got sick in the middle of the night in his bed (not a great way to be woken up at 2 a.m., btw). Josh got sick a few days later. Just once. Complained of an earache a few hours later, but the next day he was running around and didn't really even remember the earache. So when I went to pick up the kids at my friend's house the other day and she told me Anneliese threw up, I thought, "there's her one". We get home and she throws up on the driveway (whew, not in the car), and I thought, "well, she's done". Hahahaha. I forgot the sense of humour God has with me. We used all but 2 of our towels that night. She didn't have much in her stomach, but not even a sip of juice would stay down. I went up a few hours later to watch American Idol and just felt weird. Not sick, just weird. By the time AI was over, I was nauseous. I went downstairs to tell Perry, only to find Mischa in the bathroom. She was so cute. She came out and told us that Heavenly Father told her, through the Holy Ghost, that she was going to be sick and she needed to get to the bathroom. Liese was done being sick by 10 p.m., and at 4 a.m. was wanting to eat and kept it down. She was quite the chatterbox then, too. Mischa didn't fare so well. We sent her to bed with a bowl, which she lined with a Wal-Mart bag so my "bowl wouldn't get dirty", but she was up all night. I was sick a few times, but so nauseous I couldn't sleep. I actually took two two hour naps yesterday (I have to be on death's door to sleep during the day). Perry called from work, saying he wasn't feeling sick sick, just like he had hunger pangs without being hungry. He was nauseous for just a few hours at home. I don't know why the girls were hit so hard, so fast, but in the end I'm glad that only half of us had to suffer and at least one parent was functional.

Wax On, Wax Off

We went to the school's walk-a-thon yesterday. We ended up showing up late (but at least Perry got to go with us!) because of some miscommunication the family I babysit for on Monday had with each other, resulting in the mother telling me her son would be home at 4:30, instead of the 5:30 she told me a few weeks ago. We only walked a mile out of the 2 miles and we could've probably done the second mile before the trail closed, but the kids were starting to complain and lag a bit. We had a Mexican dinner catered in (not too popular with the kids, but I thought it was tasty and I'm not too fond of Mexican food). At the end of the dinner, they had a prize giveaway for the person who raised the most, class that raised the most, and grade that raised the most. It was a very successful fundraiser, with all but $200 of their $15000 goal raised by last night. They also had a raffle. They raffled off an 8" TV, some CD players, gift certificates to a sporting goods store and an ice cream place, two lucky people won a pound of chocolate (the little girl I watch in the morning was one of those), and then they announced the last prize of the night. Six months of unlimited karate lessons. I just closed my eyes and chanted "Caleb, Caleb, Caleb" in my head. The assistant principal announced, "Caleb....J". I opened my eyes and looked at Perry. Did I hear right? He's been bugging us to do karate, and our dr. thinks it will be good to get him involved in non-classroom activities so he can experience success in multiple fields, so this is just perfect. Of course, check with me in a month when I sign him up and he shows his siblings his karate moves (he had had the gift certificate in hand for all about 30 seconds when we gave him this talk). And now Mischa is starting to bug us about karate lessons...

Menu Plan Monday

Another busy week- Brownies, planning an end of year party, Walk-a-thon. I'll be glad when school is over and I can stop to breathe. The start of school and the end of school are the craziest times in a mom's life.



Saturday- The kids had homemade pizza (we went to a Tri-Stake youth dance festival on Friday and had IHOP). The adults went to Olive Garden to celebrate my Stepmother's birthday. I had the chicken crostina, which I had been wanting to try since it came out. It was so good, I almost asked for the recipe. Yay Olive Garden for reading my mind! Perry had this and really liked it. The smoked mozzerella fontuda was very good, too.
Sunday- Chicken and rice (which we didn't have last week), corn, biscuits
Monday- Walk-a-thon surprise
Tuesday-Spaghetti, French bread
Wednesday-Leftover spaghetti
Thursday- BBQ chicken, corn on the cob
Friday- Homemade pizza

For more yummy ideas, visit I'm an organizing junkie

Menu Plan Monday Debut

I know I've been tagged and, while I have no interest in having my house burn down, I'm still working on that post (okay, mainly finding a few people to tag). This post is a little easier, since I basically wrote it on Friday.

My menus go from Saturday-Friday, since I do my shopping on Saturday. I'm also switching out winter and summer clothes, so things are pretty quick and easy this week. So, without further ado....

Saturday- Hot dogs and brats on the grill (woohoo Spring!), fresh corn on the cob, pasta salad, and deviled eggs (my friend brought the last two things).

Sunday-BBQ chicken sandwiches (done in the slow cooker), corn on the cob.

Monday- Mac and cheese (Perry's out of town).

Tuesday- Baked ziti, French bread, salad

Wednesday- Roast chicken, green beans, stuffing.

Thursday- Chicken and rice (made from yesterday's leftovers), corn, and biscuits.

Friday- Pizza and popcorn night. We have a tradition eating homemade pizza in front of the TV and renting a movie.

For more yummy ideas, visit I'm an organizing junkie.

Tagged

4 jobs I have held you may not know about:

I'm pretty boring on the job front.
Market research interviewer (yes, the people you run from in the mall- but it really helped in getting over my shyness, which is why I took the jobs)-twice
Veterinary assistant/receptionist/kennel worker-3 times

4 movies I have watched over and over:

Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Phantom of the Opera
Sense and Sensibility
Pretty much any of the Disney cartoons starting with Little Mermaid


4 places I've lived before now:

Tennessee (Franklin and Chattanooga)
Texas (Richardson)
Arizona (Glendale and Tucson)
New Mexico (Playas and Silver City)

4 TV shows I love to watch:

Lost
Scrubs
My Name is Earl
Monk
I'll add a 5th- just about any "reality" show- except for Survivor

4 Favorite Foods:
Lasagna
Mushroom Swiss Burgers
Chicken Parmagiana
Fried Artichoke Hearts
I'm also going to add the chicken crostina from Olive Garden that I had Saturday night.

I've had this post sitting in my draft box forever, trying to figure out who to tag. I'm going to tag Emily and Tara.

Music

We sang this song at our Easter program at Church a few weeks ago. I wrote down the lyrics before the program so I could have them to write this post, then the paper was upstairs, the computer downstairs, and I never thought about them while upstairs and couldn't be bothered to go up and get them when I was downstairs. So when my sister-in-law posted this, I saw them upstairs and carried the paper with me to not forget to bring them downstairs. They then got lost on the kitchen counter for a few days, but they've finally made it to the computer. We sang this song last year, and I wanted to copy down the lyrics then, but as I've already illustrated, the road from point A to point B is long and has many side trips, lol. I always tear up at the end, it's a miracle I can finish it at all.

Behold the Wounds in Jesus' Hands
Lyrics- John V. Pearson
Music- David R. Naylor

Behold the wounds in Jesus' hands,
The marks upon His side,
Then ponder whom He meant to save
When on the cross He died.
We cannot see the love of God
Which saves us from the fall,
Yet know that Christ from wood and nails
Built mansions for us all.

Behold the outstretched hands of Christ,
Our God, who came to save,
Whose love and grace redeems our souls
And lifts us from the grave.
Though bruised and battered as we stray
His guiding hands caress,
He washes and anoints with oil
Then in His arms we rest.

Behold the wounds in Jesus' hands,
Look to your Lord and live.
He yearns to bless you with His love
And all your sins forgive.
Oh empty is the heart of man
When it is filled with sin.
Come, open wide your broken heart
And let your Savior in!

Behold His wounded hands and feet!
Come touch and see and feel
The wounds and marks that you many know
His love for you is real.
Then as you fall to worship Him
And wash His feet in tears,
Your Savior takes you in His arms and quiets all your fears.

Your Savior takes you in His arms and quiets all your fears.

Listen to an excerpt here.

Mixed Blessing

Anneliese woke up for the second night in a row. I didn't mind in the old days, since she would fall asleep as she started nursing. Not anymore. I think she clones herself twenty times and they like to play on the bed. Even while she nurses, she's trying to flip herself around. If she's still enough that I fall asleep, just as I'm asleep she'll sit up, wanting to nurse on the other side. Then she'll usually sleep until normal time (provided the kids are quiet as they get ready for school). I don't know what time she woke up this morning. I stumble to her room without glasses, but I do know I saw the green light on our security panel. The next thing I know, I open my eyes and see green flashing on Perry's side of the bed. Yay power outage! Turning the TV on shows it's 5:15. We reset the clocks and snuggle into the covers again. Perry then wakes up- power's gone out again. He took his shower with a gas lamp. I was worrying about having to find a friend not in the neighbourhood, since I needed to make frosting for some giant cookies and I need my mixer for that. Power came back on, and we turned on the news just as they were talking about the power outage in our area. They never said what caused it, though. If it hadn't been for Anneliese, though, we would'nt have noticed the power outage. I'd still like to sleep through the night for the rest of the week, though.

Seven Already?

Today is Mischa's seventh birthday. She got to spend the night with Oompah and Grandma last night and go shopping and out to lunch with Grandma today. Watching her walk toward the car today when I was picking her up, I was struck by how she isn't a little girl anymore. She is growing up fast. Her art and handwriting have improved so much over the course of the year. Watching her with her friends has really been fun. My little girl has girlfriends. She has such a big heart and an even bigger imagination. She has a room-brightening smile and a cute little snort when she really gets to laughing. She is probably a bigger reader than I ever was. She is insightful, caring, and an all around joy.


Dora and Boots by Mischa

She's TWOOOOOOOOO!

Be afraid, be very afraid. More afraid than Caleb being a dentist (we're at INK- a place in Gainesville that is bunch of stores and offices that let kids play pretend. I have some more pictures, I'll do a post on it sometime).
Anneliese is the stereotypical two-year old. Ugh. If she wasn't so cute.....She's starting to assert herself more, which is good, except that screeching usually accompanies that. She has the sweetest smiles, though, so it's hard to stay mad for long.

So, to recap terror levels:


Caleb as a dentist- Low

Anneliese- Medium

And Josh- High

Cool Site

Thanks to Code Yellow Mom for this heads up. This is a really neat site where letters were found on butterfly wings. They are absolutely gorgeous and it's a great reminder that the unexpected can be found in anything.

Terrible Twos, Terrific Twos

Two is right around the corner at our house. With a vengeance. Our sweet, quiet baby is turning into quite the screech monster. And don't get me started on the hitting. I try to remind myself that this is as frustrating for her as it is for me, but after prying her off my legs 30 times in as many minutes while cooking dinner, I tend to lose sight of that.

One of the upsides of two is being able to let her go out to play with her brothers and sister. One of their favourite things right now is going down our small hill in the backyard in one of their cars. Sometimes they go down on a tricycle-type one. Josh's main problem with this one is getting off. He always catches his leg on the the handlebars. And falls down. Onto the horrible ground that meanly sticks to his hands and pants. And he cries. Because to my kids, this is the end of the world. I was watching him out the kitchen window the other day and watched this scenario play out. For the umpteenth time. This time, however, Liesie was at the bottom of the hill. She walked over and started brushing off his pants. Then she grabbed his hands and brushed them off. She followed this up with a big hug. I forgot that two has some sweet moments, too.



She isn't much of a talker. She still won't say Caleb or Mischa. To fill in some important gaps (milk, cookies, ketchup, french fries), I've been teaching her sign language. So imagine my surprise this morning as the bus pulls up.
"Bus!"
"You're right, sweetie, bus!"
We start trudging up the hill home.
"The bus is yellow."
"Elow"
Woo hoo, on a roll now! I point to her coat- "Pink".
She looks at me.
"Say 'pink'".
She points to the coat.
Falling back on a now known, I ask her to say yellow again.
She points to the now leaving bus.
Snot face.

Can Anyone Help Me Post Video?

Pretty please?

Just One More for Today

I really am going to spread these out over the next few days, but since this turned out so cute and it is green, I couldn't resist.

My stepmother has been teaching me how to sew, so to thank her, I made her this frog pincushion. I had seen this square pincushion over at Rocks in my Dryer , and then I went to the site she had gotten her inspiration from. I was all set to do the square pincushion, but when I went upstairs before I left for Wal-Mart, I saw some green fabric I had leftover. She and my dad love frogs, so the idea was born. I bought some green embroidery thread, some googly eyes, and a dragonfly button.

Losing Teeth

Mischa lost her first tooth on February the 17th. She's been waiting for such a long time for this day to come!

Emptying the Camera

To make room for the pictures he'll be taking in England, we downloaded the pictures from the digital onto the computer. So now I'll have lots of pictures to inspire my blogging. Guess it's just a little luck o' the Irish for ya!

Happy St. Perry's Day! 2007

Tis that time again- Perry's birthday. The big 3-5. And he's off to merry old England. So if you want to send some birthday love to Perry or his twin, Pat, click on over!

We love ya, Hon!!! Even if you are old!

Stopping to Say Hi

I apologize for the big lull there. Things have just gotten crazy around here. Caleb was suspended for two days for hitting two fifth graders in the stomach, so I've been doing a lot of research on ADHD and homeschooling, just to keep my options open. Then I get a soon to be VERY two year old girl all of a sudden. Ugh. It could be worse, I guess. My friend has a three year old girl with Joshua syndrome (I really shouldn't laugh).
Girl Scout cookies have come in (thank you again, Perry, for braving the warehouse to load our minivan full of our troop cookies!), so between sorting and delivering, and preparing our girls for our first ever booth sale, it's been chaos on the Brownie front. We had our first booth sale on Saturday. It started out sprinkling on us on the way there, but quickly turned into the perfect day. Our cookie mom, B, only gave us about a third of our cookies, since she was concerned that they wouldn't sell, since this area had booth sales for three straight weeks. We were at Walmart, land of impulse buys, so I don't know what she was thinking. Luckily, my co-leader is cookie mom for her older daughter's troop and had brought all of their cookies. We sold out of what we brought and used enough of theirs, that when we paid them back with our boxes in B's garage, we didn't have enough boxes and had to pay them for six boxes! We sold 250 boxes! Woo hoo! B was initially concerned about how many we ordered extra for the booth sales, but I think we have the most awesome little sellers in the world! Only four of our girls signed up to help on this sale, so to give all the girls a chance to do this we're helping out the troop we borrowed cookies from at their booth sale this coming weekend (no parents have been signing up to help man the booths for them, how sad). They might not have booth sales at all next year because it's too frustrating for the cookie mom and leaders. I signed up to stay on after our sale to help my co-leader out.
I'm also in a weight loss quest, and decided that I really need to step up the exercise. I haven't been too good sticking with that, but the past few days I've really tried to get at least one walk in. I did two yesterday and the shin splints have caught up to me. I'm going to rest my legs for a few days and start a little less ambitiously, lol. I've never been a runner, so it must be seeing how awesome Perry is doing with his weight loss by running that caused the temporary insanity. The sad part was that you could only call it a slow jog, and I could only keep it up for two minutes at a time, two or three times in my 30 minute workout. I guess I'll need to focus on diet (at least the evil cookies are out of the house) and pilates for the next few days. So if I go AWOL again, you'll know that I feel better.

Funny Kids

Just a couple of quickies-

We had Joshua say prayers at dinner the other night. He's been saying them for awhile, but he always stops and waits for us to say something, then repeats it. This night, Perry was helping him, but kind of using charades to do it. Joshua asked for the food to be blessed, then he paused. Perry made a muscle and pointed at his arm, for "to make us strong", and Joshua then asked to "please bless our elbows".

One of the kids was watching a movie yesterday and paused it during a preview of Charlotte's Web. In it, Dakota Fanning was kneeling down to talk to Wilber. Anneliese kept hitting her on the bottom, saying, "Go, go".

A Little Bit of Sass

On Monday night, we went to Dairy Queen (nyah, nyah Toni) for a treat to go along with our nonexistent Family Home Evening. On the way there, we passed by Chick-Fil-A. Joshua always calls this Cow Foot, even when I tell him the name. On this night, he informed me that this was no longer called Cow Foot, it was Chicken Cow Foot. I chuckled at this, and was rebuked with a "Don't laugh at me".
The next situation needs a little bit of background. Monday was a noisy day. A really noisy day. Apparently Joshua thought I was a mile away every time he talked to me. Noise really wears on me. A lot. So here we are at Dairy Queen (hot fudge sundae, mmmm) and Joshua has been told several times to whisper, since I'm sitting right next to him. I was reading the nutritional pamphlet (only 240 calories for my small sundae, not too bad), so I popped him playfully on the head. And I was met with him standing on his chair and saying, "What do you say now, Mom?". Ouch. I guess they do listen, lol.

A Little Math for Ya

Mischa had to make up a subtraction problem for her homework tonight. Poor wormies.

Baby Lessons

I was watching one of the newest babies in our ward yesterday as he was sitting next to my chair in Relief Society. He's about 2 months old and is so cute (his sister, Daphne, looks just like your old Cabbage Patch Kid, Karina, Toni. It's really freaky).

Okay, returning from my trip down memory lane... I was watching this little cutie waving his arms and legs around, and every so often managing to get his little fist into his mouth. He was so happy when this happened. As I was watching him get more and more excited every time this happened, I had to chuckle to myself. I was amazed at how something so simple caused him so much joy. I then had a thought about this. I thought about how excited we must have been in the Preexistence in learning that we would be getting bodies. I thought about how this little spirit I was looking on was getting to experience the joys of a body and what it could do. I thought about what lay ahead for him- crawling, walking, running, jumping, climbing. I thought about how proud and joyful my kids were (and are) when they mastered these things. Caleb is learning to ride a bike right now. He's very good at falling, but that was another post. We get to experience all sorts of new things thanks to this body. I think about Mischa drawing, or Joshua swinging. The possibilities of this body are almost endless. I thought about my roommate from college. She wrote about taking up ballet again, and how her body remembered a lot of what she had learned many years ago. I think about me, riding a bike again after 15 years (and not falling off!). This body really is one of the neatest creations of our Heavenly Father, and I'm ashamed that I've lost a lot of the joy and wonderment over all I can do. I'm going to have to pay more attention to those things that I've taken for granted.

What have you recently done that amazes you?

Go Ahead, Make My Day

Almost every morning it's the same thing, only the time is different. Joshua comes sliding down the stairs, one at a time, on his bum. He then runs over to me, sitting at the computer, climbs up on my lap, throws his arms around my neck, then as he pulls away, asks for "Disney channel and a poptart". He is so nice and warm, so cuddly. I just can't imagine my day starting any better.

I Need to Find Me Some Spare Time

I guess Techno isn't this guy's happy music

It's the Little Things

I don't ask for much, I really don't. Throw me a Snickers and a Dr. Pepper every so often and I'm a happy momma. The icing on the cake for me is finding typos in books, magazines, newspapers, that kind of thing. I came across this today: scary hyenas/parties, same difference.

Another little thing that makes my day a little better is Joshua and his love of Blockbusters, or "Bustards".

I figure I can do a little blatant comment whoring, now that Perry has used the term and I won't be accused of corrupting her baby if his mom ever sees this: What little things make your day?

Pathetic, Thy Name Is Jamie

Hmm, maybe if I busy myself with writing the Great American Novel I'll have an excuse to why I missed my one year anniversary of this blog, even though I was going to check that date early in January when another blog I read had their one year anniversary...

It was a long and dreary month. The cold wind whipped through the barren trees, which howled back their protests.

Whew, Great American Novels aren't all they're cracked up to be. Guess I'd better busy myself searching for a Procrastinator's Anonymous online...

The internet is too quick

Hmm, should I pull out the four kids card? Kristine would probably just laugh at me. But then she'd be distracted! Jamie, you're a genius!! But that's only one person.What about the other 2 or 3 out there? I'm a goner. Yep. Bye-bye. I can't procrastinate any more. I'm lame, I admit it. The even sadder thing is that it probably took just as long to get this post written than it would be to reread all of my posts in the past year. Oh well, Happy Anniversary to Me anyway!

My Vacation

Apparently I went on vacation not too long ago. I wish I would've remembered to send post cards to myself to jog my memory of this event, because I have no memory of this vacation. Here's how I found out about this: I was asking Joshua what he wanted for lunch yesterday. I gave him a few choices and he picked something we didn't have, and hadn't had for awhile. I told him we didn't have it, when did he have it? "My robot mommy gave it to me", he replied. "Your robot mommy?" I had to make sure I had this right. "Yes, my robot mommy came and made it for me". I wonder how long I was replaced by the robot mommy. Maybe I went to the beach. That would be nice.

Lovin' on My Kids

It seems that every age is my "favourite". From the sweet little slugs they start out as, to the smiley and personality-emerging cherubs around 6 months, to the talking, walking beings they grow into. I realize these years are probably coming to an end for Caleb in the next 4-5 years, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised and love the teenage years, too.

Caleb decided the other day that he wanted his training wheels taken off. Unfortunately, he assumed that he would be able to hop on his bike and pedal off into the sunset. Gravity is such a hard teacher. After about 30 seconds, he fell. Which prompted cries of, "I'll never be able to do this!". After an hour, and a jillion falls later, we've decided to go back to the training wheels, but to raise them up a little so he has a little safety net. He was leaning so far to the left I was surprised he was still on his bike at all. I'm so proud of him, though, for trying and sticking to it for about an hour.

Mischa is turning out to be a mini-me when it comes to reading. I'm so jealous of the time that she has to just pick up book after book. She probably likes the nonfiction books more than fiction.

Joshua has been really whiny lately. I realize this just goes along with the territory for being 4, but he has turned into such a good big brother. Almost too good of a brother. Anneliese was chewing on a strap of her car seat (the part where you pull to tighten it). He was so insistent that it was dangerous and it had to stop. We had to endure 5 minutes of it, but it was nice to see him caring so much about his little sister.

Anneliese has been slow with her talking. Her understanding of words, however, is right up there. If you mention the word "go" in a sentence, she's off to the closet to get her shoes. And if mentioned going, isn't occuring, she'll tell you "go". She gets so excited over things. Bringing Ranch dressing to the table gets me a "Yay Mama!". If she sees food she likes, she points and says, "There it is!". She has a funny little "ooh" face that she pulls out several times a day.

Everyone is in different stages, and I'm loving them all. I miss the little baby stages, but seeing them all grow up is so exciting and fun.

Growing Up

The first Sunday of the new year is always a shock to me, it seems, when it comes to my kids. Last year it was Caleb moving up to CTR 8 and his impending baptism, and Joshua being a Sunbeam. This year, Caleb is now officially in senior Primary; Mischa, a CTR 7, is the highest in junior Primary in our ward (they had to move CTR 8 to senior Primary last year because of the size of junior Primary); and Joshua came home with his first CTR ring- he is now a CTR 5. Anneliese is having a blast in nursery and no longer cries when we leave (I guess she would have to look back to watch us leave to know that we were leaving, lol).

I am sad to leave the study of the Old Testament in Sunday School. We have an awesome teacher that made everything make sense, even some of Isaiah! He did a really neat slideshow on the life of Christ today before the start of the lesson, with him playing appropriate hymns on the piano in the background. Our ward is really blessed by him.

This is a really neat thing that was posted on a board I go to:
www.sugardoodle.net/Prophet/Prophets%20and%20Apostles%20share%20testimonies%20of%20Christ.shtml


I tried prettying it up, but lately inanimate objects have it out for me. Sorry to bring you into my battles, lol.

Joy to the World

One of my callings in Church is Relief Society chorister. I get to pick the music for the lessons. Two of the lessons of the month I know in advance, the other two I usually find out on Saturday, or on Sunday when I see the teacher for that lesson. The 17th of December was one of those Sundays that I knew in advance. I decided at the last minute to check with the teacher to see if the songs I had picked out would be okay. She told me that she had changed the lesson, so it would be okay if I picked out some Christmas songs instead. I asked her if she had a favourite, and she picked Joy to the World. I decided to do it after her lesson. All of my life, this song has been just a Christmas song. After her lesson, though, I've seen it in a new light. Her lesson was on the Second Coming of Christ, and this song fits so well, almost even better than as a Christmas song.

Joy to the world, the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King!
Let ev'ry heart prepare him room,
And Saints and angels (heaven and nature) sing, and Saints and angels sing,
And Saints, and Saints and angels sing.

Rejoice! Rejoice when Jesus reigns,
And Saints, their songs employ,
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more will sin and sorrow grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He'll come and make the blessings flow
Far as the curse was found, far as the curse was found,
Far as, far as, the curse was found.

Rejoice! Rejoice in the Most High,
While Israel spreads abroad
Like stars that glitter in the sky,
And ever worship God, and ever worship God,
And ever, and ever, worship God.

Yearly Update

I decided I had better do something with my hands, or I was going to be snacking on chicken wontons all night long. I am still behind a couple of ideas for posts, but I can't guarantee full attention on my writing, since I'm home with the baby while Perry is out getting my present (hopefully he can find it, lol), so I'll have to do something that won't suffer from getting up every 2 minutes.


***For some odd reason, I can't upload our family picture, even though Perry was able to. I have tried every way imaginable to get it and am left with this as the only option: this

2006 for the Perry John Family

Caleb- Caleb turned 8 this year and was baptized. He also started Cub Scouts, which he really likes. He's excited for his first pine wood derby next month (Perry's bugging me for some power tools for that one). School is going pretty good. He's in the gifted class once a week. He hates finishing the worksheets in class, though. I can tell he's going to be one of those "aces the tests but are still failing the class because he won't do the homework" types. He loves video games and all things Star Wars. He tries to be a big helper most of the time, even if he isn't very appreciated all of the time by his youngest sibiling.

Mischa- Mischa turned 6 and is the biggest reader. If it's a book, she's reading it (we caught her reading about diaper rash in my What to Expect the First Year book). She is in the gifted class, too, and is a "perfect" student, according to her teacher. She loves being cute and tries to be her best always.

Joshua- Our 4-year-old clown. He is just so fun to be around. He loves to count things. He's also really into video games and Star Wars, too (I think his brother is responsible for that). He's a real love bug, and I always get a quick cuddle first thing in the morning before his "pop-tarts and Disney channel please".

Anneliese- Well on her way to turning 2 in March, she's had quite the year. She loves being a helper. And she is a HUGE cuddle bug. Not as much as last year, since she has things to do now, but I think she'd rather be held most of the time. She isnt' talking too much, so we're teaching her a little sign language here and there. She's up to 9 teeth and 20 lbs. She's eating a lot better now (she wouldn't do textures until 18 months old). She loves chocolate and strawberry milk. She likes to imitate her brothers and sister. Josh Josh is her favourite right now. She loves it when she wakes up before him and gets to climb into bed with him to wake him up.

Me- Busy as ever. Both Cub Scouts and Brownies are going well. Room parent and PTA stuff is going well. I'm babysitting after school for the neighbours on both sides of us. It's been kind of crazy for me, and I'm really missing "me" time to unwind. I think when Anneliese starts playing more by herself and doesn't want up on my lap everytime I sit down, it'll get better. I'm enjoying living close to my dad and the opportunity we have for the kids to know their "Oompah" better. I'm enjoying my sewing lessons, too.

Perry- Working hard, traveling a lot. Losing weight like crazy (totally jealous about that one). He's teaching the 17-18 year-old Sunday School class at church. I won't say much more and make him blog about it.

Overall, it's been a good year. Some things I wouldn't want to go through again, some things I'm sad won't happen again, some things to look forward to. Now bring on those wontons!

The Most Awesome Husband in the World

To say things have been crazy around here lately would be an understatement. A lot has fallen by the wayside as I get things done by their deadlines. Housework would be one of those things. On his day off yesterday, while I was getting things finalized for the class party that afternoon, Perry worked his butt off cleaning. I had more than a twinge of guilt when Michaela walked into the house after school and said, "Wow, it's clean in here!". Thank you so much for your hard work, honey.

An Eye for Detail

Michaela coloured this Christmas tree last night. The very top of the tree is light green because the star was glowing onto the tree.

Life Is Too Busy

I've been wanting to blog since Sunday, but everything has been coming at me fast and furious. I was hoping for a slow down, but there are cookies that need to be baked on Thursday, which hopefully will all be delivered by Friday or Saturday. I had a class party today and a Cub Scout party tomorrow, so I'm dead. I just thought I'd share the little funny that Joshua told us at dinner.

"Remember, mommy, don't eat the spicy round hot dogs."
"Okay, Josh. Why not?"
"Because the wind comes."
I don't think I want to know where this wind comes from, do you?
Ah, the mind of a four year-old.

For My Sister

I would probably post more if you commented more, lol! And you need to start a blog or you suck. Plus, you get to share cute pictures of your kids.

Or..........

You get to embarass your sister with her 7th grade picture. Love ya!!

Rudolph's Nose Isn't the Only Red Thing This Time of Year

Silent night,
Holy night.
All is calm,
All is bright.
Round yon virgin,
Mother and child...

"Mom," a little voice in the back of the car pipes up, "what's a virgin?".
"This one's yours, " my ever so helpful husband tells me. Thanks. Thanks a lot. As I mull over how to explain to my 6 year old daughter this little Christmas lesson that wasn't exactly in my holiday to do list for this year, we see something out the window and mama gets a pass. Until last night.
I had seen pictures of a show on the National Geographic Channel called In the Womb, about animal development. Once we sat down and watched it, even I, a pre-vet student, learned some really cool things. But the fun of how we discovered it was on. I was flipping through the channels, trying to find a Christmas special for the kids. Michaela was the main driving force on this, so she was watching the screen intently. We pass a shot of white squiggly things swimming. I instantly recognize the little guys and keep flipping, making a mental note to come back after the Amazing Race and watch the show. "No, no, mommy, go back to the white things. I want to watch that!". I flip back, and have to do a little sperm and egg talk real quick. I am spared the embarrassment of explaining how the sperm gets there, however, as the show does a little "flashback" of that very thing with Golden Retrievers. The act itself was very brief, but in dogs, the male is "tied" to the female from 5 to 20 minutes. Fortunately, seeing two dogs standing end to end was too funny for Mischa to ask further questions. My nightmare was that she was going to go to school and share her new found knowledge with everyone. I'm sure that would be a phone call that was just as awkward to make as to receive, lol.

Really Neat Website

For the most beautiful pictures of snowflakes, check out Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht's website. Better Homes and Gardens has a bunch of ideas for using his pictures- either printed out onto cards, or onto sticker paper to stick onto your presents. Chances are you'll see his photography this Christmas in your mail- four of his designs were chosen by the Post Office for their holiday stamps.

Third Times a Charm

I went to bed Saturday night with the thoughts of hot dogs going through my head. Thought I would share my yummiest hot dog recipe ( broiled Ball Park franks on a toasted buttered bun, topped with melted sharp cheddar cheese and sour cream), how I absolutely can't stand boiled hot dogs but how, when I was younger, would eat uncooked Oscar Meyer hot dogs (the texture finally did me in), and how I can practically eat a whole package of hot dogs (including buns) in one sitting if they're done on a campfire.
I never had a chance to post on Sunday, and went to bed Sunday night with a whole different post in my head. It's too much to get into right now, since I don't have time to do it justice.
Leave it to Caleb (who lost his 3rd tooth last night) and Mischa, though, to give me something. We were finally (their impatience, not mine) getting around to putting ornaments on the tree. Anneliese was starting to get into it, too. She would get mad when the other kids would take her ornaments away from her to hang on the tree. Anyway, Caleb and Mischa were having a great planning session how they were going to be missionaries and go up to the North Pole and teach Santa the Gospel. I hope they remember their parkas, lol!

Opposite Day (Cuz I Got Nuthin')

Today and yesterday were all grey and yucky. I went out to the bus stop yesterday afternoon and got rained on. It was raining this morning, too. I'm glad I took this picture to remind me how pretty the day can be. I don't know if it's the weather, or what, but I've been a little down lately. Even the nonstop Christmas carols on the radio have been able to get me in the spirit of the season. We're putting our tree up tonight (we'll probably do the ornaments tomorrow, but a bare tree with lights is one of the prettiest things). This ought to be a fun Christmas this year, though, since this is really the first Christmas that Anneliese will be able to get some of the things going on. Caleb has now declared it the best Christmas ever. All based on a half put together tree. Glad to see there aren't any high expectations for decorations around here, lol!

Bad Mama Moments

Poor little Liese. She has been such a pill lately. Wanting up, wanting down, all that fun stuff. She wants to nurse, I let her, she then decides to switch sides, kick her legs while I'm trying to type, or falls asleep and starts biting down (which causes me to pry her mouth open really quick, thereby waking her up and starting the whole thing over again). Perry discovered the answer to the mystery of why she was such a grump- in addition to the eye tooth that was starting to peek through, and the other eye tooth that might be breaking through in the next few weeks, she was getting two molars coming in. I feel like such a bad mama for being short with her. Poor little baby!

Locks of Love

I have donated my hair twice to Locks of Love. The first time, I came home and Caleb burst into tears. I showed him the website and where mommy's hair was going to go and he thought it was pretty cool. Today my daughter, Michaela, joined me in my donations. She has had the longest, prettiest, blonde hair forever. She got it trimmed once, but that's been it in all of her 6 years. I was going in for to get a few inches off and asked if she wanted to go. She went and thought it was the neatest thing. She got just over 10 inches cut off.

Before


After

No Words

Face Fun

My sister sent me a fun link- myheritage where you can upload your picture and it tells you what celebrities you look like. Using this picture:

I got the following results:
Annette Bening (74%)
Claudia Schiffer (72%)
Norkys Batista? (70%)
Toni Morrison (68%)
Christie Brinkley (66%)
Cat Deeley (66%)
Jang Nara? (66%)

This site is my new best friend.

Frustrated

I am so ticked I could spit. Yay imagery! This whole girl scouts thing is driving me crazy. We have a troop treasurer, and so far her only job has been to open an account. She got the position in May. We still have no account. I have asked her several times, and have even said that if she was too busy (since she's the PTA treasurer for our local school), I could open the account, no problem. Now we have a problem. We had 3 girls join the troop and they aren't registered because we had all the parents make out checks to the troop. And so the checks sit in my house. With all the paperwork, ready to go. I have already written a check to cover one of our activities that the troop was going to pay for, and now it looks like I'm going to have to do the same for this. My service unit director is going crazy, and rightly so, because the new girls aren't covered by girl scout insurance. I'm going crazy because I delegated and what's the point of delegating if I have to basically do it myself through nagging? I've emailed her several times, asking what she needs. I emailed her one form, then she finds out that she needs the checks to open the account. I've offered to drop them off at her house or at the school, whatever works for her. Then my co-leader forwards me an email the treasurer sent her, basically saying that she (the treasurer) is confused at what we need to do. I'm done. I called the service unit registrar to see if she has a membership form that I need, but no one has called me back. Now it looks like I have to call the service unit director who isn't too happy with me to get the form from her. I'm just not in the mood to be in trouble, especially since it isn't my fault.

Pretty close

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations. A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you. You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have high conscientiousness. Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life. Most things in your life are organized and planned well. But you borderline on being a total perfectionist. Agreeableness: You have medium agreeableness. You're generally a friendly and trusting person. But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism. You get along well with others, as long as they play fair. Neuroticism: You have medium neuroticism. You're generally cool and collected, but sometimes you do panic. Little worries or problems can consume you, draining your energy. Your life is pretty smooth, but there's a few emotional bumps you'd like to get rid of. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is low. You're a pretty conservative person, and you favor what's socially acceptable. You think that change for novelty's sake is a very bad idea. While some may see this as boring, many see you as dependable and wise.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Four years

Four years ago I went into the hospital to give birth to baby #3, our second son. Joshua has been such a joy in our lives. My mother told me I could stop after Michaela, since I had a boy and a girl. I'm so glad I didn't. Josh Josh has been more of a joy than I could ever imagine. He is so happy, and that happiness is contagious. He's probably gotten away with more than he should have over the years. He loves his video games and can sing everyone's theme song in Star Wars. He loves to look at animals, but doesn't want them within a 10 foot radius of himself.

A thank you, 8 Brownies, and a belated birthday and anniversary

I just wanted to say thank you to all those who have served in our military. Some of you have been to hell and back, just so I can have peace of mind when I tuck my kids into bed on the other side of the world. Thank you.

Last night my Brownie co-leader and I took our girls out to Target for our service project. We adopted 2 little girls from the Appalachians. Six of the girls were ours, 2 were older sisters of two of the girls. Near the end, it became more of a "ooh, I want that" trip, but we ended up not being kicked out of Target and our two little girls are going to have a really great Christmas.

Yesterday was a complete beast. I helped Caleb's teacher do some copying in the morning. Came home, ate, and went to a neighbourhood playgroup. We ended up staying til it was almost time for the kids to get off the bus, then it was time to clean up a little, make dinner, then head out to Target. Needless to say, having a few minutes on the computer were hard to come by. I wanted to wish a belated birthday to the Marine Corps. Semper fi!

Yesterday was another big day. 16 years have passed since I became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I can't believe it's been that long. I can't even imagine what my life would be like if I hadn't been baptized. Well, the baby's crying on me and grabbing at my arm, so typing is next to impossible. I'll have to write my conversion story another time.

Stone Mountain

The kids love going to Stone Mountain. We had a family pass last year and it was well used. We didn't do it again this year, and so when Perry's office picnic was being held there, the kids were all excited. We had a really great time. Michaela participated in the dance contest and there was tons of great food, and Joshua won a round of BINGO.

A Miracle? For Me?

I was reading my sister-in-law's blog the other day. She had experienced a miracle of her own. Perry and I were thrilled for them, as they deserve all the good things that come to them. Da Momma at Motherhood Is Not For Wimps had been experiencing some pretty awesome things in her life, too. Little did I know that I was next in line to have that touch of divinity in my life. Now before I tell you about my miracle, I need to set the stage. Being Election Day, there is no school. Four kids home. It's pretty much going to be a rainy day all day. Perry is going out of town this afternoon, so he has to vote in the morning. I went with him, and we took turns going in and sitting in the van with the kids. Since he went in late, and is leaving early, coming home to help me really isn't an option (I know, you'd come if I really needed you, but I'd feel so overwhelming guilty, Honey). I had had some flu-like thing over the weekend and had spent yesterday lying on the living room floor, so queasy I almost thought I was pregnant again. Today, however, all I had was a sore throat. So, the scene is now set. Three bored kids (Michaela insists she wasn't bored), stuck in the house, and a mom that, although feeling better, is having that getting better energy drain thing going on. It was at this moment in my life that God blessed me. And He blessed me-













with poo.

Yes, poo. And I was happy with the poo. Now that I've lost any reader that doesn't know me, or isn't a mommy, let me explain. This wasn't my poo. Oh no, I'm not into spilling every secret that happens to me. This blog exists more for the future. Like when my kids' friends are googling their names, Anneliese will forever be linked to poo. Anneliese is weaning herself from nursing and eating more and more solids. However, she really hasn't started to up her liquid intake all that much. Lately, you can tell when she's filling a diaper. 99% of the time, we giggle at her little face, all focused on the task at hand. This time, however, was that dreaded 1% of the time. Poor little Anneliese was having a hard time at this one. She was crying and moving all over the place. She didn't want to be held, couldn't be distracted, anything. It was heartbreaking to me. When I went to her, I could smell what was bothering her. By this time, 15 minutes had passed and she was exhausted, so her crying had stopped. I went to change her diaper, and it looked like she was giving birth. The poo was crowning, but it wasn't going anywhere. I put her diaper back on and nursed her, feeling like that might be enough pain relief and relaxation that she could finish the job. Nope. I called a friend of mine who has 4 kids, thinking the more kids, the greater the likelihood of a mutual experience. She hadn't, but luckily her friend with 5 kids was over and she said that she had used a Q-tip dipped in Vaseline to lube up the area a few times and that had always worked. I had both of those things in the house (yay! no going to Wal-Mart in the rain!). Nada. About 15 minutes later, I gave her a triple dose. Nada. Michaela came over and suggested we pray. She prayed for us. I tried to gently scoop some out with the Q-tip, hoping to get rid of the stuck point. I succeeded in letting it slide back in. Relieved of the obvious pain, Anneliese quieted down and I nursed her again. She slept for about 30 minutes. I'm trying to look up on the internet anything else I can do, short of taking her to the doctor (that phone call would grant us instant name recogition for the next 16 and a half years of Anneliese's pediatrician-going life). After her nap, she went right back into the crying and crouching again. I started looking up things in my parenting books, and they give the Vaseline thing and to call the doctor before giving an enema. Before I call the doctor, I picked her up around her middle, hoping to give some help through pressure. It worked. I am now the proud grandma to a Snickers bar. That poor kid! She was up and dancing and singing minutes after I changed her diaper, so her little tushy doesn't seem to have any long-lasting soreness going on. I proudly announced to her siblings that we had a successful poo, and Michaela started telling me that this was a miracle. And although most miracles are small, and not very easy to notice when they're happening, God knows how to give us exactly what we need. I would start thinking of a way to need a new car, but I would probably end up with a couple of miracles bringing me to my living room floor again with a new 15 passenger van sitting in the driveway. No thanks, I like my poo. And I am very thankful for it.

Quick quiz

***Your Career Personality: Detail-Oriented, Observant, and Hard-Working***
Your Ideal Careers:
Designer
Family counselor
Independent store owner
Interior decorator
Museum curator
Nurse
Preschool teachers
Social worker
Stay at home parent
Teacher
The Quick and Dirty Career Testhttp://www.blogthings.com/quickanddirtycareertest/

Baby Kisses

Is there anything better than a baby kiss? Especially since she's learned the closed mouth technique, lol!

Lookie What I Did!

I made a dress! And it lasted the whole day without coming apart (which is more than I can say about anything I made for my poor Barbie dolls!). My stepmom is teaching me how to sew, and even with Perry being gone over a month (I went to her house on Wednesdays), I got this done in time for Mischa to wear it! Yay me!

Happy Halloween!

Anneliese was a butterfly, Mischa was Princess Genevieve, one of the 12 Dancing Princesses (Barbie edition), Caleb was Darth Vader, and Joshua was a gingerbread man. We had fun at my dad's church's family fall festival.

1000 Words

I'm slowly adding pictures to my previous blog entries. My goal is at least one entry a day, if I have something to go with it, and probably some new entries to go with the pictures I do have. Poor Poor Anneliese, Run to Grandma, and The Weatherman Must Die are done. Let's see what Joshua has to say about the new upgrades...

Ugh

Welcome to the sick house. The baby and I are suffering from some sort of cold/sinus thing. The whole head of cotton and runny nose thing. Then, today, Caleb got sent home with possible pinkeye. Quick trip to the doctor, followed by a trip to the pharmacy. He gets to stay home with me tomorrow. Maybe I'll have him be my babysitter while I spend an hour or so in a hot shower to clear up my head. My friend has the flu, so I guess it could be worse. Except I was talking to her yesterday, so I'm hoping I stayed far enough away. Perry isn't feeling so hot, so I guess the odds aren't so good for Mischa and Joshua. Of course, everyone sick and sleeping it off sounds pretty good...Who am I kidding, it would last a whole 30 minutes, then they'd be fighting and cranky.

Baptism

What a wild weekend this was! Four adults and nine kids- all together for Caleb's baptism. It was a whirlwind getting it all put together- most of the planning happened a few days before, but it all came together in the end. We have such a wonderful ward that supported Caleb (or Calem as was printed in the program, lol). Seeing Caleb in that little white jumpsuit with rolled up pantlegs overwhelmed me with such wonderful feelings and memories, both of my own baptism almost 16 years ago and the previous eight years. Caleb hasn't always been the easiest to raise- he has a massive stubborn streak and quite the temper (I think it's to show that my sister Toni wasn't adopted- those genes have to be linked somehow!), but he can be the sweetest and most caring kid out there. I love how his mind works and the connections he makes. I loved the face he made when his Uncle Dave offered him some frosting in his talk on baptism, and right before Caleb got to it, dipped it in dirt and asked him if he still wanted it. Remember, frosting with dirt isn't good. His excitement in making this covenant with Heavenly Father just showed in his face. As a mom, you wonder sometimes if your kids will ever "get" certain things. You can explain something until you are blue in the face and get that blank look on the face staring back at you. I have no doubt that Caleb felt the Holy Ghost that day, testifying about the joy Heavenly Father felt about Caleb making this step, and that this was the right thing to do.
I was also in awe of the Priesthood power used for this baptism, and to know that my husband is a worthy holder of it. I have been blessed by the priesthood many, many times, and know it has been restored on the earth today, but to see it in use to bless the eternal life of my child was just amazing. Wow.