Random

So I was listening to a song today that made no sense to me at all. It was the pop version of "If I Were a Rich Man" except it's girls singing, so they say girl instead. Anyway, one of the lines is "If I were a rich girl, I'd have all the money in the world." Now, does that make any sense? Don't get me wrong, the song is very very catchy (the real and pop version), but you most definitely wouldn't have all the money in the world if you were rich. Not even close. Maybe if you were the only person on earth, but then what would you need money for? Anyway, after I heard that I pondered on it for awhile (because obviously I have nothing better to ponder about...sigh) and could make no sense of it.

I was also thinking today about people's looks. I noticed that really cute people tend to marry other really cute people. Okay, I only noticed this on two people that I know, I've never even really thought about this with anyone else. Anyway, I was wondering why this was. I don't know if it was on a movie or in a book but someone somewhere made the comment about wouldn't it be nice if what we were like on the inside is how we looked on the outside. Which, hey, I think that would be pretty cool. But then I got thinking...boy, how would I look? I mean, I hope I would be nice looking (okay, I hope I would be drop dead gorgeous), but really there are some days that I'm pretty beastly to Dan. I blame it on all sorts of things, hormones, the kids, being a girl, hormones, being tired, hormones, being hungry, hormones (you get the picture) but it's just me. I try to be nice to others and have good happy thoughts towards my fellow men, but sometimes it just doesn't happen. So maybe, it's a good that God didn't make us to look like our insides. That way people can change and be better and not be stuck looking like a mean person. Some days people could even fake it (which I think is better than showing the beast, but that's my personal opinion. Most times if I'm faking it I eventually get to that point where it isn't fake anymore...not always, but sometimes). Anyway, this thought has inspired me to be a better "cuter" person.

A story about a bug and a home

We were driving home from Moscow and Caden was crying. After Kember yelled, "STOP CRYING CADEN!!!" (like that would help) I told her she needed to be nice and help brother stop crying by maybe singing a song. No, she told me that she was going to tell him a story...and she did. Not entirely sure what it was about, but there was a bug in a home and that's all I understood. It went on for a few minutes though. It was really cute. I love watching her imagination at work.

When we got home I gave the kids a bath and Kember wanted her hair dried so I was rubbing it with a towel when she said, "Where Caden's hair?" I burst out laughing. Guess she doesn't understand about being bald.

Movie Blog

My sister started another blog that is just for movie reviews. It's moviesbyandrea.blogspot.com. Anyway, it's kind of cool. When you watch a show, you write your review about it so everyone who reads the blog knows if it's a good movie or not. Anyway, if you want to do this let me know and I can send you something to make it so you can post on there too. Check it out and let me know.

That's Not My Snowman

I was reading my friend Lacey's blog and she wrote about her daughter "reading" a story to them. Well, being the type of mother that compares my children to other children (I know, it's bad and I should stop) I wanted to see if Kember could do it too! Guess what?! She did. Tonight I was reading to the kids and one of the books was "That's not my Snowman" after I read it I gave it to her and she "read" it to me. It was too cute. She read it twice to me, I read it to her again, and then waited for Dan to finish calling his mock client (he has to get permission to operate on a goat...weird). Then I had her "read" it to him. It was too cute. She didn't get it entirely right. It is supposed to say, "That's not my snowman" and then at the end say "That's my snowman!" but every page she did the not was left out. I'm just amazed at how well children can memorize things. Especially songs. Kember memorizes songs really fast. I guess my kids are "Keeping up with the Jones'" so we are good on that front!

A Couple Crazy Days

I've been so overwhelmed these last couple days that I just haven't felt like blogging. I had tons of stuff I wanted to blog about, but boy, i've just been wiped out at night. Today was an interesting day. When Beth came to pick up Maeli she ended up staying for 4 1/2 hours to clean my house (okay, just one room in my house...the study). I can't even remember what brought it up, but she looked in the study and we started talking about organization and she got really excited and off she went; and I was thinking, hey, if she's willing, it needs to be done, so why not? She said "I'll only stay for an hour"...4 1/2 hours later she decided that it was probably time to go home. I'll say this though, she's good at what she does. The study looks amazing and Dan was so excited when he saw it (the study is his little haven, and he hates it when it's messy). I can't even explain what all Beth did, but it was a miracle and we (Dan and I) are both extremely thankful for her efforts. I'm not entirely sure that this says good things about my house-keeping abilities. I mean, if it takes 4 1/2 hours with two people to clean/organize a room that must be pretty pathetic, but I'm sure if you know me well this isn't a shock to you at all. It was eye opening for me though.

Friday morning was the play group Valentine party.

Why is it that you can always find my children with the food? This was the only thing that calmed Caden down. He was having a rough day (it was way past nap time) and if I left the room for a second he would scream and scream and scream. Loads of people tried to help and entertain him/pick him up/distract him, but nothing worked (except the food). I was in charge of the bean bag toss. It was fun, but only a few kids did it. I should have been more proactive about getting kids to do it, but I admit I was a little pre-occupied with other things (aka the three children that were in my care).

Trying to keep track of all three kids was a logisitical nightmare for me. I eventually gave up and let other people keep track of them all. Lots of people held Maeli, lots of people watched Kember (one mom even took her to the bathroom), and like I said earlier, lots of people tried to watch Caden. I randomly asked around to find out where my charges were, and they were all happy (mostly) so we let it be. I was a little sad that I missed out of the fun stuff that Kember was able to do. They had the kids find candy around one room, they decorated cupcakes, and other stuff, but other people had to take Kember to these activities. I was so tired by the end of play group that I've decided that next year I need back up if I'm going to attempt three children again. I must send out a huge thank you to everyone who helped me though. You are all awesome women! Thank you!

Saturday Dan and I went on a date. I know, I know, it's shocking! It was for me too. We dropped the kids off at Chad and Jessica Christensen's and we had no idea what to do with ourselves. We grabbed some lunch, walked around downtown Pullman, went to the Dollar Store and Shopko. It wasn't very exciting, but it was nice to have some time just to ourselves. Later that night we went to "How to make good marriages great" by Brother and Sister Lund. This was an amazing fireside and as sad as it sounds it made me miss school sooooo much. I love the stuff they talk about, and I get really passionate about it (it was a lot about communication) so you all get to hear the things that I thought were cool. He said that the definition of communication was an exchange of understanding, and that talking and listening are only tools of communication, not communication themselves. I found this definition interesting. I don't believe that it has to be "of understanding"...most communication isn't understood. He later said that one out of every five communications are misunderstood. One out of five! It's a miracle anything gets done in this world and that so many relationships are good relationships. Anyway, he talked a lot about saying what you mean, and mean what you say. This is content communication, so regardless of how you say things, with a sigh, being sarcastic, whatever, if you say it, you need to mean it. He said that men (stereotypically) want to know three things. one: Is what you are going to say going to be painful? two: How long is it going to take? and three: What exactly do you want him to do about it? I thought this was hilarious, but Dan says it's true. Brother Lund said that if you don't really want to know his opinion, don't ask for it. Don't hope that he is thinking what you are thinking and then get disappointed if he says something else. I really liked when he said that if you can't come to an agreement on something then you need to take turns and support the person whos turn it is....and be happy and excited about it. Dan and I are excited to try this one. You have probably all heard about love languages. Brother Lund came up with them first...the popular one out there is the 5 love languages, but he orignially came up with three of them: Touch Oriented, Verbally Oriented, and Visually Oriented. This was really eye opening to me. He had us take a quiz to find out which one we were, and after doing so I could think of all the different times that I've just got Dan's love language wrong. He's a Touch Oriented person and I'm a Verbally Oriented person. I really liked how Brother Lund said that we needed to not assume that the other person should automatically know what we want, even if we've told them before. If we want a hug when we come home, we need to ask for it, and not be offended that we had to ask for it. Anyway, I'm sure you are all bored out of your mind, but like I said, I love this stuff. It was great and I'm really glad we got to go.

Sunday we had a Bang Extravaganza party for our friends Heidi and Justin who are moving next weekend. It turned into a Bongo party, but it was a lot of fun to get together with everyone and wish Heidi and Justin luck in the future. We're going to miss them, but at least they are close enough that we can still get together with them.

I was the lone member of the presidency on Sunday. All my counselors and my secretary were gone visiting family (or taking care of new baby). I think it went alright. Not many kids were there because of the long weekend, but this sharing time seemed to go alright...better than my last one anyway.

Happy Birthday Grandpa J

Just thought we would let you know that we love you and are thinking about you on your big day! We hope your birthday is full of happiness.

kemberisms

I went to institute today and took the kids with me. Kember kept asking where we were going and I kept telling her that we were going to institute. Kember responded by saying, "I toot too!" (aka, I'm going to institute too!) and here was her prayer over the food today for lunch. This is verbaitim
"Heavly Fader, bless Jesus, Amen" Covers the main points I suppose.

Valentine's Day

Yesterday my friend Heidi and her daughter Colbie came over to make valentines for their little v-day party tomorrow during play group. It was loads of fun, even if the girls ran out of steam long before the valentines got finished. Anyway, this is Kember stamping. She loves to stamp and just thinks it's the neatest thing.

Kember is holding up a valentine that Colbie gave to her, isn't she cheesy? And the next one is of the girls together.

So Dan did a good job with the holiday. He woke up early and made us all breakfast: French toast and bacon with milk dyed pink (too cute). Not only that, but he decorated the table all cutesy too. He did a great job. He should have been studying for his test that he had today instead, but I'll take breakfast, or any meal for that matter, any time someone wants to cook it for me.
He got me chocolate (yum), a bubble gun, and lotion. He got Kember a little stuffed pony, and Caden some cars. They had tons of fun with these.

This is what I tried to do for Dan. Yeah, it didn't work, but it looked great on the website where I got the idea. They tasted really good though, even if they looked sad and pathetic.And this is just a picture of Caden being a goober. Isn't he cute?

We also went to dinner at Wingers (yeah, my favorite place to go...) with the Bott's. When we got home we played "Deal or No Deal" for our v-day gifts to each other. We each made a list of 25 things of possible gifts for the other person, then you play the game online to see which one you get! It was way fun, and I think very creative of Dan to think of it. I think I came off way better, but he seemed happy with his "gift" too.

I also got some "sexy valentines pj's" to surprise Dan with (they were red flannel pj bottoms). Dan just laughed at me, but what can you do? They are warm and comfortable.

My sister Rorie just had her baby, congrats to her. As a future reference to my family (my side, not dan's side), I have decided that when I get pregnant and have another baby, I'm not telling you until after-the-fact...like three days later. Maybe that will teach you to not tell me! Ya, I'm just a little bitter. It is not Rorie's responsibility (she's the one that called me today) because she just had the baby. It could arguablely be her husband's though. However, if it isn't his responsibility, it is definitely my mothers...who incidentally decided to blog about it instead of calling people (or just me). But the blog had little to no details. I had to find out from my brother-in-law who just randomly mentioned it because I was asking for my other sister and he said she went to Nevada to watch Rorie's little boy. Grrrr...come on people, this is big news, you tell family this stuff. Friends can wait a day or so, but family needs to be notified soon after the event takes place. Okay, consider yourselves all lectured and I will try to let this go :)

Happy Tree

Kember came to get me tonight and said something about Daddy, Mommy and Happy Tree. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I came with her and I figured out what the "happy tree" was. Say FHE fast....yep, it's "happy tree". Too cute. So on Monday nights we don't have FHE anymore, we have "Happy Tree."

A Child's Prayer

So as is custom for our bedtime ritual we read a verse of scripture and have Kember repeat it. Then we say prayers, brush teeth, and go to bed. Well today for the prayers Kember said she wanted to say it. She normally picks who says it (and it's normally "Mommy say it"). Her prayer today was the cutest thing I have ever heard. It went something like this.

"Heavly Fader, thank for day...Heavly Fader bless food...Heavly Fader thank day. Bless food. Bless Jesus. Heavly Fader bless food. Bless daddy and mommy and caden and kember. Bless Kase....bless food....bless Jesus. Amen."

So obviously that isn't exact, but there were a lot of Heavenly Fathers, bless food and bless Jesus. It melts my heart to hear her pray. I can just picture Heavenly Father smiling a loving smile when he hears his little children pray. It is so precious.

Oh, and in response to all the curious inquiries, here is what happened with the camera. My dear sister Rorie told me that they had numerous cameras and would mail one to us if we would like. Well, yes, we would like, so she did. Thank you very much, it's great. However, it doesn't have a cord that connects to the computer and I have no idea where to find such a cord (Dan would know, but he's been a little busy lately) and I know if I were to buy one it would be the wrong one...just like the windshield wipers I bought for the van. So there are lovely pictures on that camera that I can't get off right now because apparently we don't have a card reader (I think that's what it's called) on our computer either. We bought a camera, and those are the pictures that you see.

Too much fun

I was going to write about a few things that didn't make me extremely happy, but then I read my sisters blog about her blessings. That was a much better idea, so I'm just going to post some cute pictures instead of complaining. These next two pictures were of the shaving cream painting we tried out with Kaycee Bott, and Jenna McHargue. Kember had just woken up from a nap so she wasn't really into it, and did not want to get her hands dirty. She was much happier when she figured out to use the spoon to paint instead.
I love this picture. I stuck Caden on Dan's study chair and we played the "Whee!" game...which is just spinning him around and around. This is one of Kember's favorite games, and apparently Caden's too.This is one of my kids favorite activities. They follow me around all day with books. They don't do so well in the same chair together so we have to take turns, which the other kid, the one of the floor, doesn't like much. Cadens favorite book is "10 Minutes till Bedtime" by Peggy Rathmann. No matter where I put it, he finds it and brings it to me. Kember is getting loads better at actually listening to the story, so it's fun to read to her now. Caden loves to turn the pages, which makes reading the story challenging if Kember is around. I love my kids, they re too cute.

Bowling

So today we went bowling. Some drug company sponsored the vet school for the bowling. It was way fun and free....and they had free food, which was completely awesome. The kids loved it, and we took too many pictures, which you get to see now. Take a look at the score board at the end, you'll get a kick out of it. We didn't finish a game (it's amazing how long a game of bowling takes with two kids), but inbetween eating and bowling a good time was had by all.

So, you can't see it in this picture, but Kember basically beat us all...What that says about our bowling abilities I don't even want to think about (and yes, I did take a bowling class in college...sigh). Dan actually won, he had a spare right at the end, but Kember was really close.

Brilliance

I really had a plan for what I was going to ramble about tonight...and it's gone. In fact, it's so totally gone that I can't even think about anything to write about.

I had a great day today. Yep...I had a good day. Dan, not so much. He has had a lot of tests this week; two on Tuesday, one on Thursday, and one tomorrow. He was gone until about 6:30 tonight at which time I left for a Primary training. I got back around nine and he just looked wiped out. But, I had made him dinner.

Caden is doing the cutest thing. He has starting dancing. He put both arms up in the air (kind of like what you do when you say, "Touch-down!") and then spins in circles. He gets really proud of himself, and then gets really dizzy. He really likes it when Kember dances with him.

I thought about trying to potty train (yes, I know...you are all shocked since that's all I talk about) and today I figured out my plan. Yep...this is my brilliant plan. Kember gets 5 pairs of underware a day. Once she wets in the 5th pair she is done and goes back to diapers. She really doesn't care one way or the other, but this is for my sanity...and maybe all of yours because I keep talking/complaining/asking about it. Yep, brilliance.

Jermy came to pick up Maeli early, I was supposed to watch Jenna today from 2:30-5:30 but her mom came early...and I didn't really watch her anyway. Melanie brought her by (she watches her in the morning) and she stayed with her daughter Kaycee. Beth came by with Maeli and we all played Donkey Kong. We had a full house, and it was tons of fun for me. I love it when people come by.

Well, enough brillance for one night.

Tis the Season

So, it's snowing...again. I realize that I have nothing to complain about. The snow in my mom's blog is way worse than here. But I get my hopes up so high that we are all done with winter, and then another snow storm hits. Maybe I should just realize that winter is here to stay, and it will be like this until April. Then, if it warms up by March I will be pleasantly surprised! Great idea, I'll do it.

Thank you to everyone who gave me suggestions on how to harden Caden's poop. Probably not the best thing you all want to read about, but I still appreciate it. We went and got him more medicine today, and this morning his diaper rash was looking better, so maybe this time it will work. However, since the medicine has two refills, I'm assuming the doctors are assuming it will take some time to nip this in the bud. I'd pray for patience, but then God would give me things that I actually have to be patient for, and I'm not ready for that. So, we'll just pray that Caden will get better.

I took Kember to her dance class again today only to find out that it was cancelled. Her instructor got in a car accident. Everyone was okay (so the random lady told us), so that was good. Apparently we missed a make-up class from the last time dance was cancelled. How frustrating. Maybe I should put Kember in gymnastics. Actually, we probably shouldn't be spending the money at all, but she really likes it, and it's just too cute. I know she really likes it because when we were going back out to the car after no class she was crying, "I want to go to dance. DANCE CLASS!" She didn't understand why we weren't going. Ah well. There is always next week...hopefully.

Poor Caden

I want my little man back. My happy little guy who just smiled and giggled and laughed and thought everything was funny. My little guy who ate everything, and then asked for more. Where did he go, and who replaced him with this little man who is now a picky eater and will only eat fruit so he still has really bad diaper rash because of this stupid yeast infection? Why won't this infection go away? Poor guy...he has diaper rash because he has diarrhea, and the diarrhea doesn't help his diaper rash. I can't get rid of the yeast infection because every time (and I'm not exaggerating...every time) I put the nystatin (medicine) on, he poops, and I have to wipe it off to clean him. I'm trying to think of food that will harden his poop and all I've come up with is apples and bran muffins. We are going to go another round on the medicine, and then if that doesn't work we are taking him back to the doctor. I should probably take him in now, but when Kember has this (which time? oh, all of them) I kept taking her in telling them that it wasn't working and they kept having me do the same stuff. So, I guess I'll keep cleaning the poop off the floor (I let him run around naked to help dry him out for the yeast infection), holding him down forcefully to change his diaper, and take three baths a day to make him feel better. At least Kember likes the baths.

Sleep Over

So tonight marks a momentous occasion in the life of Kember. It was her first shot at a sleepover. We went over to Ira and Jeniel's house to visit with Jeniel since Ira is gone for two weeks. Kember wanted to play with her cousins, I wanted to get out of the house, and Jeniel needed Dan to help with with snow removal from her roof. So, off we went. We chatted, fixed the roof thing, ate dinner, played a game and when it was time to leave Kember didn't want to. Well, this is expected. She really likes her cousins, and despite the fact we live so close, she really doesn't see them all that much. Anyway, Jeniel said that Kember should stay and have a sleepover with her girls. I thought she was crazy. Four kids by herself? Nuts, I thought to myself...there is no way I would offer to do that. But Jeniel is super mom, and Kember really liked the idea, so...great, why not. A sleepover with cousins sounds like fun, and a great first. I wasn't completely convinced that Kember would go to bed or would even have fun after she realized we weren't there anymore, but I figured I was just flattering myself. I tried to explain it all to Kember, how we were going home, how she needed to go to sleep when she was told to, how she should listen to Jeniel...Then I said goodbye, got my hugs and kisses, told her I loved her, and left. Anyway, to make a long story short, Jeniel called about 9 and said that Kember really wasn't happy...at all. She put her on the phone and Kember couldn't say anything she was crying so hard. Mind you, when she cries at all, this is typical. Anyway, I told her that it was okay and that daddy was coming to get her. Poor Jeniel. I know, I should be thinking poor Kember, but I'm more worried about the effect it had on Jeniel. Hope she's okay. Well, I think I hear Dan coming back so well see how it went.

Addendum: When Kember got back I said, "You didn't want to sleep over?" and she said, "No, I sleep here. My bed." Too cute, and way good for my self-esteem.

Have you ever wasted a day?

So, do you ever think, "boy, what a waste of a day...I'm never going to get this day back." Ya, that about sums up today. What a disappointment. I had big plans, I had a list, I had high hopes, I had...no motivation. Ya, that about sums it up. No motivation, and I'm not even pregnant to blame it on not feeling well, or being tired. I just look around at everything and think, "that can wait till tomorrow". Dan at least got some stuff done. He dug out our cars and put in a new battery in our Nissan. It still doesn't work, but eventually we'll get to that taken care of too.
So, if you are thinking that this blog was a waste of time to read...well, ya, but that's how my day was...but I did make dinner! Although, dan wouldn't consider it a dinner (he doesn't like pasta...and this was just pasta, butter, and cheese...don't worry mom I had peas too).