Bumper Cars

When we lived in Twin, Ellie would stare out the window of our apartment and beg me to let her go outside whenever Charity and Caleb(her son) were outside playing. They would ride their little toy cars up and down the even littler hill between our apartments, and Charity and I would do laundry and talk.



Almost two-years have passed, Ellie and Caleb have both grown like weeds, and both families have long since moved from our little apartments.
Yet, when Charity stopped by for a visit, James and Annika were there and ready to take their places as the new race car drivers, or more like bumper car drivers since we couldn't play outside.



Watching them with a little tug on my heart brought a poignant reminder of how quickly years do pass and of how short the time is that we are given to enjoy with our little ones. I can't keep my kids small, but I can keep the memories I make with them when they're young. My goal for 2010. Make the Moments Count. Be there for my children, not a distracted 25% or 50% of me, but 100% of my attention as often as possible.

**More on this subject in my Less is More Blog coming shortly.





Guess we should have taken pictures before lunch.

My First Blog Survey

Now this is my first Blog Survey, so I want it to be a success. So everyone participate now. ( I made it easier to leave comments)

In hopes that I can gain some justification (don't let this sway you ;) ) for something I've been neglecting, I've decided to reach out to my fellow woman out there and see what they think.



Ironing Husbands' Shirts.

Must I?

IN my Defense:
1. Ironing (A good job) takes me about 15 minutes per shirt. Yes, I know I'm slow. 4 Shirts Ladies that an hour. 8 Shirts that's two hours. I COULD get loads of OTHER stuff done.
2. No matter how many times I iron them, they just get wrinkled again.(These are pretty weak excuses aren't they?)
3. He looks really good in an ironed shirt. Too good, for all those college girls staring at him all day. (I guess I just assumed they stare, because I would)
4. HE DOESN'T CARE ANYWAY, AND SOMETIMES HE DOESN'T EVEN NOTICE.

On the Other Hand:

1. I really could make the time if I wanted to.
2. He looks like a Rag-a-Muffin, wearing wrinkled shirts to work
3. They make him look unprofessional at work
4. I want people to know he is in fact NOT homeless and someone does care about him.


Okay there it is.

Now Vote in your comments please. IN favor of ironing or NOT in favor.

*Yes I am aware of wrinkle free fabrics, which a lot of Barry's shirts are, but after so many washing, even those look like they need a good ironing.

*Yes I am also aware that I could've ironed one of his shirts during this time. Bleh

Motherhood has given these lyrics a whole new meaning to me.

Sometimes I wonder
How I'd ever make it through
Through this world
without having you
I just wouldn't have a clue
Cause sometimes it seems
Like this world's closing in on me
And there's no way of breaking free
And then I see you reach out for me
Sometimes I wanna give up
Wanna give in
I wanna quit the fight
AND ONE LOOK AT YOU BABY
can make everything all right
can make everything alright


When I see you smile
I can face the world
Oh you know I can do anything
When I see you smile
I see a ray of light
Oh I see it shining
right through the rain
When I see you smile
Baby when I see you smile at me

James and the Giant Pine

Because our land has been vacant since the beginnings of forever, we have found many unclaimed treasures buried beneath it's sand. Mostly thousands and thousands of pieces of brightly colored pieces of broken glass and porcelain, (all thanks to the juvenile delinquent who lived next door) some animal bones -mostly cow, old farm machinery, but today ..........today was the big find.





A pine cone. Not an ordinary pine cone, mind you. But a very very special cone, in fact, it rather had a strange look, the look of the magic peach seeds that James and the Giant Peach planted that grew that fabulous peach.




Taking no regard for the neigh sayers (pictured on the left) and happening to have a James on hand(critical to success).





James and I picked out a spot, not to far from the house. We marked our spot with a big X. (X marks the spot you know) Then we carefully positioned and planted our cone/seed and left for Walmart. (Now going to Walmart is not critical to the success of planting magic seeds, but that's where we went all the same.)










And Lo and behold on our return, what should we find, but our very own tree. James' eyes widened in wonder and amazement at the sight of it. (They really did)



We bequeathed it the name James' Tree in his honor.



*** Disclaimer: Yes, I know the cone looks more like a corn cob, (I said it was strange looking) besides it was magic, and who knows (besides me and James) what a MAGIC pine cone looks like anyway.

Temple Square

Over Spring Break we went to Temple Square. We saw the sites and went to the Joseph Smith movie in the Legacy Theater. Ellie was quite displeased with how the movie ended. James WAS pleased since for the last hour of the movie He and I were roaming the different floors of the Joseph Smith Memorial building letting him explore as he pleased.
We ended our outing with visiting Barry's Brother and Sister-in-law who live in Salt Lake. We had a jolly time until I got a migraine and had to take an emergency trip to the Olive Garden to get sustenance. YUM! They had my favorite, the tender steak with the delicious pasta and the three cheese sauce, it's a special menu item. Ohhh now my mouth is salivating, must get more soon.

More posts to come......

Well I didn't lose the camera cord, but I don't have any batteries for it. The rechargeable ones died, the regular ones are always sucked dry by our battery hungry camera.

So you get this picture via Youcam. Not the best quality.

Barry sometimes writes and leaves us sweet notes on the table before he goes to work in the morning.

Ellie likes to return the favor. Her vocabulary and spelling is more limited, but very sweet. (She did this herself, it's definitely a keeper) She left this note for Barry with some pretty heart stickers.

Night Games

Two times in a week our alarm clock, which hasn't been set for years, has mysteriously gone off in the middle of the night

The first time I suspected the power had gone off during the day and somehow it got accidentally set, when it was reset,(or something like that), but the second time at 2 am I was a little more suspicious of a certain dark-eyed roving gang member.

Perhaps you aren't aware that my James is a night Owl.

Not to say he stays up late, he goes to bed by the usually 8:30, but unlike others this is really just a refresher nap for his night games.

Around 2 or 3 the games begin, he begins by sitting up and giving me a juicy kiss on the cheek then crawling over to Dad, standing up to gain access over the human wall Barry tries to create with his back and planting a juicy kiss on his forehead. Or perhaps wedging his head under the pillow Barry has clamped over head to bestow his nightly kiss.

There are many games, hanging off the bed, inspecting the nightlights, dropping various objects left on the bed down the gap between the wall and the headboard,(almost impossible retrieve) climbing UP the headboard, handing me my glasses, re-handing me my glasses, trying to put my glasses on me and giggling, handing Barry his headlamp, singing me a lively wake up song, etc. etc.

So I admit that in the past I might have helped perpetuate this behavior.

I know, I know I should put him in his crib and let him cry himself to sleep and maybe after 14 days of heartlessly listening to him scream for 3 hours straight and then throwing up all over the crib the blankets and the floor, ending with sobbing himself to sleep, he would would learn. (of course then I would be crazy and living in an asylum so there would really would be no point whether he slept through the night or not)

Because this option isn't very desirable, and when in middle of the night I see my Sweet Baby James grinning at me, his dark eyes so alert, so alive, so happy, and mischievous I almost always make the same choice, tolerance for my Night Owl and his habits.
Yet, Unable to take a nap like my nightly playmate has taken it's toll on me, and my temperament. So I've started to ignore his nightly rituals and pretend to be asleep. To say the lest James does not approve.

Yet who could be pretend to be asleep when startled awake by a creepy chirping of birds at 2am, (Yes, that's the noise my alarm clock makes, the sound is straight from the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds".) it's disturbing enough that it can keep me wide awake for a solid hour of night games.

But how you might ask, did James figure that out???



................Doesn't he look smug.

The smorning(it's what I say, I also say "I says" sometimes too, so spank me and send me back to grade school, at least then I wouldn't have to always be........well anyway)

This morning I woke up to a smell, a smell soo strong it almost burned the little hairs in my nose. The smell was permeating the whole of our house, no room had escaped, even my clothes shut tightly in my closet I'm sure will smell of this smell. Now this smell is not offensive in itself, but in it's intensity.

Something had to done, so I began a search of the area for possible smell offenders



Nope.(More of a dirty sock smell)





Nope.





Not here either.





Nope.





NOPE not in here, but YES I do know what you're thinking, we'll get to that later...





Hmm the smell seems to be really strong over here.........it's becoming hard to tell





Mmmmm Nope. (Psss... the emptiness of the fridge is for dramatization purposes only)





Hmmm Nope. .......Wait!! Go back, I think I saw something....








Got ya!!!!! YES I was almost fooled by a clever disguise, but I still see you for what you are. The fattest, the most gigantic hickory smoked summer sausage in the world. Just sitting in my fridge open, open to the air, open to the house.....open to the neighborhood. .......ahh and there is more than one. AHHHhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!











Okay, ... so now back to what you were thinking. Actually, the point of my blog WAS to show you the pictures of my clean house. These are the parts I recently reclaimed from the roving gang that literally destroys my house and my sanity each weekend.(Un-reclaimed parts not pictured)

I have asked them to stop picking on me, and to go elsewhere for their destruction, but they always have ridiculous excuses like "This is OUR house too, and WE live here, and blah blah blah blah blah.
So for my sake I have taken some photos to soothe my soul, and so later I can relive the memories






I've titled this picture "Ferociously Happy".

Miss Eleanor is Ferociously happy after fun but belligerent play with friends.

p.s. Miss Eleanor is a highly active member of the roving gang.

So about a week ago.......

SO about a week ago I lost my appetite in a big way. Just GONE. Nowhere to be found. Not to be found in any kind of cheese(a personal favorite), not to be found in homemade pizza or toasted homemade bread with melted peanut butter.

After losing about 4 pounds I realized drastic measures must be taken, so I went to the store for the cure-all for loss of appetite. Returning home with 2 cartons of ice cream, 2 bags of chocolate chips, sweet and condensed milk and a plan.

First I whipped up some amazingly delicious Chocolate Chip cookies. Then I whipped up the cure. Hot Fudge Topping. Yummy, Yummy, Yummy. This is something I cannot resist.

Here you go
1 cup milk chocolate chips
2 tablespoons margarine
1 can sweet and condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla.

:Mix the top three ingredients together in a microwave safe bowl, microwave until chips mostly melt, stir until lumps disappear. (Watch carefully, don't scorch)

:Remove from microwave, mix in vanilla.

:Serve warm over your favorite ice cream and warm cookie.

Sadly now the hot fudge is gone, having eaten it for breakfast and dinner for the last several days. With my regular appeptite nowhere in site, out of chocolate chips, and short on money I shall have to devise a new plan. I think it shall involve BACON.

Lambs

Barry took an extra half-hour doing the chores yesterday, when he finally came in, I asked him what in the world had he been doing that whole time. He responded rather matter-of-factly "We'll I had to play with the baby sheep (raise of my eyebrow) ..so they'll like me."

Who knew? ;)

I'm learning new things about the farm world every day.