The Great Pumpkin...

Meet Linus, aka, Mark. Mark has been carrying around his "wittle" blanket since basically birth, when he chose it for his "familiar." It used to have down feathers in it, but now it has been reduced to two pieces of fabric sewn together. Which begs the question, if the blanket has no holes, how then do all the down feathers escape?

Of course Linus' favorite movie is "Its the great pumpkin Charlie Brown." Linus, I mean Mark, demands to watch is every afternoon, and when I say watch I don't mean only once, I mean it is repeated a minimum of three times. (At least the running time is only about 22 minutes) Mark is now a firm believer in the Great Pumpkin, and is planning his pumpkin patch for our back yard, and wants to write a letter to the Great Pumpkin indicating the sincerity of his pumpkin patch in hopes that the Great Pumpkin will choose Mark's patch to rise up from on Halloween. Halloween night 2009 you will probably not find Mark out for tricks or treats, but happily sitting in his pumpkin patch. Now who is going to be his Sally?

And one more thing doesn't Linus have a bossy older sister name Lauren, err I mean Lucy, who is willing to dispense advice for .5 Cents?

I am feelin spring like...!

Check out my CUTE new shoes!!! Needed something to get me feelin' into spring. Can't wait to break out the sun dresses.

The tent.

Katie's new obsession is a tent. She has this little one, its foldable, portable and just really fun. Mark has his Thomas tent. They like to get their tents out together and go in and out of each others tents, playing together. Its nice to see because generally Mark is threatened by Katie's existence.

Big grin, fun tent.


"Sheman" likes to move her tent.

Crawling in and out is the funnest part.

Stupid Socks.

Mark's standard uniform is a white t-shirt and basket ball shorts if it is warm, and workout pants if its cold, and maybe jeans on a good day. Needless to say, Sunday has been know to be a battle because I will not permit basket ball shorts, workout pants, or jeans at church. Furthermore I make his wear dark socks on Sunday, which completely violates every rule he has. The first thing he does when returning from church is remove his church shoes, and promptly remove his socks.

On Sunday he was laying on the floor in the mud room grabbing at the top of his sock, struggling to get it off, not understanding that removing socks from the ankle as opposed to the toes is generally more efficient. I was not about to tell him, because he would not listen to me anyway. In the middle of his struggle he says "My damn sock is stupid and I hate it!"

My eyes grew big wondering if I had actually heard what I heard, and he promptly repeated it again, leaving no doubt in my mind. I carefully weighed my options...I could get after him for using a naughty word, but I am not sure he understood he was using a naughty word, and by telling him it is a naughty word, it would probably only encourage his behavior, or if he did realize it was a naughty word it again would encourage him because, well, that is how he is. My other option was to ignore it. I chose to ignore it. Again the word was repeated by Mark is several different sentences for the next two minutes, without reaction, finally he quit using it.

I wrote down what he said, because lets face it, it was prime blogging material. Everyone was at my house for Lauren's birthday, and several of my guests saw my note, and questioned it. With all adults in Mark's life present, I said, "He picked this up somewhere." I believe the guilty party knows who HE is.

These are a few of my favorite things...

This is one of my new favorite things. I have been looking for a health/energy/protein bar that actually tasted good. I found it. These are available at Costco. They have 180 calories, so they are great for a snack or meal replacement. Mornings are a struggle for me because of the rush to get the kids up, fed, bathed, dress and either to school or grandma's house by 9:00 a.m. So they have become my new breakfast, because they are easily eaten on the go. Best of all, they are loaded with fiber for those of you like me, who, well, need a little help in the intestinal area.....

This is how I like to travel...

On a recent trip to the thriving metropolis of Salt Lake City, both Katie and Mark could not stand the excitement and fell asleep.



I know it looks terribly uncomfortable....., but she wasn't complaining?

Even in sleep Mark can't keep his mouth shut. Just not physically possible in either a conscious or unconscious state.

For me, a nice, quiet, peaceful drive, what could be better!

It must be a "Y" chromosome thing?

In 30 degree weather every other sane person has enough sense to stay out of the fountains, except Mark. It was just too temping, for his little four year old mind, well that and he is currently obsessed with water. I believe it is his goal to flood my house...., can't wait for the "fire" phase....

Before he could be stopped he was in the middle of the fountain and the water, getting soaked and having the time of his life. He was laughing hysterically. Meanwhile other plaza on lookers were wondering what was wrong with my child.....if they only knew.....

Yes he was soaked head to toe, and did not even care. I don't get it, and was freezing and I was not even wet. I must be a "Y" chromosome thing.....

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Its great to be 8, just ask Lauren! I can't believe my first born is 8, good grief I recall being 8, and it really did not seem that long ago.... Lauren is such a fun girl, and I have no doubt the Lord pick her out just for me. Being her mom is a treat not a chore.

The Birthday haul.

New birthday dress and sweater, and Lauren smiling at the haul. As she mentioned in church to me on her birthday, she is a princess because she is spoiled. That is a point I can't debate.

Yep, enough hot air to blow a candle out.

Finally time to dig in that haul and see what it is!

For her birthday Lauren requested an Ipod. Ok, lets just stop and discuss this here, for me 8 was a special birthday because in my family it meant you got to play with Barbies and own your own Barbie. How did we graduate from Barbies to Ipods?

Is it or isn't that way cute hot pink Ipod Nano?

Yes it is!!!!!

Fully charged and ready to go. I look at this photo and wonder is she 8 or 18?

In addition to the Ipod, Lauren got some cool stuff to add to her American Girl Doll collection, including a concession stand that had lots of neat play food. While Lauren was busy with her Ipod, Mark decided the concession stand was just too cool and took over ownership.

It did not take long for Mark to decide the concession stand was really a station for trains and gone was the play food but out came Gordan the Express train! Not sure how the American Girl dolls are going to feel about that?

It was finger lickin good.

This was Lauren's birthday cake after I finished it Saturday night/early Sunday morning.

This was Lauren's birthday cake at 10:45 a.m. Sunday morning after Mark came up to me and said "Mommy the frosting tastes good" and I noticed his frosting covered fingers.

This was Lauren's cake after I made the necessary repairs. Now the question is "Is it justifiable homicide to kill your four year old for destroying his 8 year old sister's birthday cake?" Hummm perhaps I should just ground him until he is 25, or make that 30.....

Build a Bear

Starting from about the age of three Lauren "begged" me to let her do Build-a-Bear. I told her she had to be five before she could make a bear. Well her 5th birthday came and she reminded me of my promise. Well that was three years ago, and every year since then she has managed to con me into a Build-a-Bear as part of her birthday gifts. This year was no exception.

Since Lauren's birthday fell on a Sunday we decided to build the bear, the day before, which was February 14, aka Valentines day. We have always built her bears on on birthday, never the day before. Apparently building a bear is a popular choice for Valentines Day, who knew???

Courtney and Linda joined us. Courtney had never built a bear before so she got to join in the fun.

When we arrived the line was out the door literally. By the time I took this photo we were about half way through the line. We waited 45 minutes to even begin the building process. Normally a line like this would have sent me into a panic attack and I would have said "forget it" but in light of the fact that was for my first born, I decided to suffer...., as if I did not suffer enough giving birth to her!

Katie was with us for Build-a-Bear fun, so of course she had to get a bear too. Due to the length of the line there was plenty of time to pick out the bear and change our mind about a dozen times. She finally did settle on this one, it was pink and very soft.

Here are the choices Lauren and Courtney made. Lauren chose the Hannah Montana bear, and Courtney chose a soft brown bear with a cute red heart.

Once the bear has been selected it must be stuffed. Notice Lauren is standing on the pedal which blows stuffing into the bear. You can control putting in as little or a much stuffing as you want.

Katie was not understanding the concept of stepping on the pedal to make the stuffing go in, and apparently she was not the first child this concept was lost on because out came a device where you push a button to make the stuffing go in. Button pushing is a concept Katie understood, and alas her bear was stuffed.

After the bear is stuffed, a heart goes in the bear, before it is sewn shut. Here is Katie putting the heart into her bear.

Next its on to washing and fluffing the bear, which is done with high powered air and a brush.

Being the fashion queen that she is, Lauren believes no bear is complete without an outfit. Purple of course!

Katie decided her bear would be an "in the buff" bear and did not make an outfit selection. Probably better, I am sure bears are like Barbies, who never seem to wear any clothes.

Finally the bear must be born with an official name and birth certificate.

Yippee we finished and everyone was very happy with their new bears.

Katie was not about to give up her box or her bear. She demanded to be holding it, even though it was almost as big as she is.

Building a bear is hard work, Katie and Lauren passed out on the ride home. Bears in hand.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to my three cute Valentines, Lauren, Mark and Katie. You all have these incredible big blue eyes that when any of you look deep into my eyes, it just melts my heart in pile of mommy mush. From the moment each of you came into my life, my heart was forever altered. When each one of you were born I wondered how it would be possible to love you as much as the one before, but alas, my heart grew and there was more love than ever. My heart is very full, and I can't, nor will I ever, love anyone or anything as much as I love each one of you. I am the luckiest mommy in the world to have three great kids, that make me smile every day!

Thank you for letting me be your mommy, and sharing your hearts with me.

Love, with hugs and kisses,

Mommy.

My silly Valentines!!!

Valentines Day =PARTY! Both Lauren and Mark had school Valentine parties, which included decorating valentine boxes/bags, Valentine's for friends and of course CANDY. (FYI, still have a bowl of Halloween candy on my kitchen counter. Wonder what the shelf life on that is....?)

Mark hooked himself up with a purple Valentine bag complete with a white lace doily. You can tell he is secure in his manhood to have that type of a bag. Note Katie checking out the "goods" wondering where her bag is...

Lauren got a box and decorated it with heart stickers and it overflowed with Valentines.

The fun part, opening all those Valentines and eating all that candy. Mark got several suckers and just in case you were unclear on how a sucker is to be eaten follow Mark's simple directions:

1. Open the sucker

2. Lick the sucker three times

3. Throw sucker in the trash

4. Open next sucker.

Yes of course Katie fished the suckers out of the trash, she saw no need to throw away a perfectly good sucker with lots of lick time left.

Lauren was less interested in the candy and more interested in the actual Valentines. She made two piles, the Valentines she thought were really cool and worth saving, and the pile that well, lets just put it this way, they were recycled....

The best part: Valentines Day is on a Saturday so that means Valentines is not a day, but rather a week-end. I guess I better go buy chocolate.....

My funny Valentine.

Yes, its true my friends have been over and we have been crafting....this time valentines. These are 6x6 cards, and those special people in my life are going to find a lovely card waiting for them this Valentine's Day!

With any luck, you are on my list!