Snack time`

Today at church during the sacrament Rebecca turned to me after taking the bread and asked, "When is the water coming for "Snack-erment?"

My Baby Sydney is One!!

Happy Birthday to my sweet little baby! How is it that a whole year has passed. Sydney turned one a couple weeks ago, on Feb. 9th. We had a fun little get together party with Jerry's family. I made a ladybug cake, but it ended up being a "lovebug" because I couldn't make red frosting, or black, so it was pink and brown.


Here is Sydney's own personal lovebug for her to dive into.








Some things about Sydney at one!
She is so fun! She is a tease. If she does something that makes you laugh, guarantee she'll keep doing it over and over. She LOVES to blow raspberries! She thinks it is hilarious!
She understands amazingly well. I think she understands everything we say. She is getting very good at throwing her own diaper away, finding her own shoes, and even looking for her bottle. She thinks she is such a big girl and when she sees "babies" (in her mind) that are even one month younger than her she bends over and looks at them & pats them like they are a baby. Well, ok, maybe it's not so much a pat as it is a hit. So, even though she understands so well, she still has yet to say her first word. She gets everything she wants by pointing her finger and screaming. She's said mum, and dada, but not regularly enough to qualify as a first word.
She started walking right before 9 months, and hasn't stopped! She has 4 teeth, and right now she's on a hunger strike. All she wants is macaroni and cheese or milk.
One of my favorite things is when I'm putting her to bed. I'll put her up on my shoulder and lightly pat her back, and she'll reach her arm around me and pat me on my back. I love this little girl. She is such a joy in our lives.

So much for Charity!

You know those stories of children that give all the money they've saved up to other children in need. Those stories always touch me, and make me envy the Christlike, selfless love that children have.
Well, the other day I was cleaning out the kids room trying to dejunk as much as possible. (Thanks Kim for the motivation) When I found a large "Thomas The Tank" carrying case. Hayden has never really played with this, other than a day here or there. So I pointed out to him that he never really plays with the toy, and wouldn't it be nice if we were to give it to another little boy that doesn't have as many toys as him?
He paused for a minute, cocked his head to the side and said, "Umm, how about we just keep it."
I tried to convince him again, playing on that whole do-good-to-others feeling. It was to no avail. I guess we have some work to do.

Can anything be more attractive...

Than getting back from a quick escape to the grocery store after a hard "mom" day of attitude from child #1 because he's spent WAY too much time playing video games lately and HOW DARE I try to limit the time he plays. Child #2 is into pushing all the limits this week, and just looking for any excuse to get into a power struggle, and child #3 is getting two top teeth so she isn't sleeping much at night at all, which means I'm not either, and she's figured out the art of screaming a bloodcurdling scream till she gets what she wants! (And no, I'm not innocent - I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and I didn't do much to change that attitude all day.)

So... back to my story... I walked in the door to see my wonderful husband playing fun games with my kids and singing and dancing to music with them. I heard their sweet giggles that had been absent most of the day (Other than when they were teasing each other, and one was crying) and there was fun in the home again. It is great to laugh and have fun with them. I love those kiddos!

I love that man!!

One Whole Day

First of all, let me preface this post by saying that I LOVE being a mom, and I adore my children SO much!!
Every morning as I go in our master bathroom I think to myself, "I've got to clean that shower TODAY!!" And every night I look at that shower and think, "Dang, where did my day go? I didn't clean it today.... Tomorrow for sure!" I also have the same thought every time I go into my garage. "I'm going to clean and organize this garage TODAY!" My closet, "I'm going to go through all my clothes and organize and clean this closet TODAY!" When I see the stacks of paper piled up on my nightstand, "going to file them "TODAY!" But does it get done. Umm, eventually. But since baby #3 it has never been ALL done at the same time. I do clean my bathrooms, (believe it or not) but it has to be when Sydney is asleep or she'll be the best little toilet cleaner ever, and I don't think I want her cleaning my bathrooms yet. And by the time the bathrooms are done I go to move on to the next thing on the list to do, and see the mess created by the other two, and then I have to take a detour from my list to take care of other things that are not on the list. Or I feel bad that I'm totally ignoring my children at a time when I could actually be playing a game with them without trying to keep Syd away. (It's always more fun to play than clean) I fantasize about having a whole day to myself, and imagine all the things I could do with just one day!

I like to think that I would be able to totally clean and organize my whole house. (Including dusting!! - when was the last time I dusted?) Spend time working on Relief Society, and visiting sisters in the ward. Maybe even squeeze in a session at the temple. Get a great workout in, without having to look around every two seconds to make sure the kids are ok. Read a good book. Actually read my scriptures before I'm so tired at bedtime. De-junk my house and make a great trip to the DI.

But in reality I'd probably sleep in, and when I woke up I'd stay in bed and watch the Today Show for too long. I'd talk on the phone, play on facebook & the internet. Yip, I'd be a TOTAL lazy bum!!

So here's my question to you???? What would you do if you had one whole day to yourself? No children, no work, no responsibilities???

January Catch Up!

Wow! Am I really this behind. I'll try not to bore you to death with a big ol' novel about my month, so I'll try to condense it to the highlights.

New Years!!
We had a blast ringing in the New Year out at Jerry's brother, Barry's house. They invited us to stay over night which was nice because then we didn't have to brave the streets late at night along with all the drunks. But then we TOTALLY pulled a "cousin Eddie" and stayed for breakfast, then we wanted to stay and watch the football game, and how can you leave when they offer prime rib for dinner. We didn't get home till late that night. Hopefully we didn't wear out our welcome.:) The kids had so much fun playing with cousins. We barely saw them at all.

Sydney playing "Peek-a-boo"

These three were joined at the hip.

Anniversary!!
We celebrated our 7th anniversary last weekend. We have great friends that were willing to watch our kids overnight (Thanks Korina) so we could go stay overnight at a hotel. We saw Avatar - great movie - and enjoyed a night sleep without being interrupted by any crying children. I'm lucky to be married to such a great man, and father, that still makes me laugh every day!

(Just a couple photo's to enjoy of our special day)

Jerry's Birthday!
Yip, it came again. But still he'll never catch up to me -his cougar. We had a good celebration for him on his birthday. His family came over for cake and ice cream. A little better of a birthday than last year when he was stressed beyond belief getting ready for his certification test. I made a golf cake. Any cake that has crushed Butterfinger and crushed Oreo's is always good. It is my favorite creation so far. Don't judge too harshly- I know it's not perfect, but considering I've never had a class or anything I'm pretty darn proud of myself. At least I have fun doing it.

I've also been working on my New Year's Resolutions as well. So far, so good. I know I'm crazy, but I've made a goal to run a half marathon in May. YIKES!! No, I am not a runner - but I'm turning into one. Believe it or not, the more I do it, the more I like it... Well, kind of. I'm working on losing this excess baby weight (since my baby is almost 1) along with a couple of friends. In fact we've even created a blog documenting our training for the run/ weight loss journey. Feel free to check it out if you want and leave us comments of encouragement to help us when we're weak. (Just be nice, please :)) The address is www.biggestwinnergirls.blogspot.com But beware, you will see some pretty ugly pictures of me - why do you think I've not put many pics of myself on my blog lately?? But that is changing!!

I Can't Help It

I just love this little dancing girl!