Celebration part 1

I got to start celebrating my birthday on Friday! We met Scott's parents for dinner, and to our surprise, his brother Michael and his wife Tessa came too! We spent a very enjoyable time talking and eating at a local buffet, and they even had my birthday announced over the intercom so the whole restaurant heard about it. It was quite fun!
But the real party will be tomorrow. We've invited a whole bunch of people to meet us for dinner and I finally get to go to Hooters! I've heard they have the best buffalo wings around, and I love wings, so we're going! We'll do a little party with my kids before dinner, then they'll stay home with a babysitter so we can have some adult time. This surprises me, but I'm actually looking forward to turning 30 tomorrow!

A little bit jealous

Okay, so today I'm feeling a little bit jealous of my siblings who tan so easily and so well. Mostly I burn, peel, then go back to white again. And after only half an hour outside yesterday, I'm sunburned! It takes so little for me! I want that nice olive skin that loves the sun! I don't want to have to go inside on a beautiful day after only half an hour, then not be able to go out the next day because my skin is already damaged! Why didn't I get even a little of the ability to tan??

Fizzy joys: a sunny day to be able to go out in to begin with and my freckles!

Tagged

tagged (round 3)


5 things in my fridge
1. strawberries
2. cottage cheese
3. bleu cheese
4. limes
5. deli turkey

5 things in my closet
1. shoes
2. ironing board
3. shoe rack
4. a roll of fabric left from the previous owners
5. clothes

5 things in my purse
1. class schedule from The Little Gym
2. black raspberry vanilla lotion from Bath and Body Works
3. lip gloss from Victoria's Secret
4. Shut up and kiss me mints
5. a thank you card from the mother of a missionary who served in my ward

5 things in my car
1. my lime green rain coat
2. red umbrella
3. care bear blanket
4. water bottle
5. extra clothes for potty training Becca

5 things on my Tivo (X-Box Media Center) [I don't have one, so I'll put in what I download on my computer]
1. LOST
2. Alias
3. West Wing
4. CSI
5. Thief

Tagging...
I don't have anyone else to tag that blogs on this site (Jenn did them all!), but I will post this on another site I use to see if I can get people there to do it too!

Catching up

I was away from the blog for a while, so I thought I'd sort of catch up on things I would have liked to blog on.

First I have to talk about something Becca did on Sunday. She had spilled juice on her dress, and since it was within an hour of bedtime, we told her to go put on her pajamas instead of new clothes. She didn't like that idea at all! She went storming upstairs, sobbing the entire way. Then at the top of the stairs, she yells out at the top of her voice, "You're ruining my life!" then slams her bedroom door HARD! Every adult in the room started laughing so hard it hurt! I'm sorry, are you 3 or are you 13? I think I'm in trouble with this one. :)

I wanted to thank Jenn again for sending me the beautiful purple dress. Becca wore it on Easter and felt and acted like a princess! It was adorable the way she flounced about. We had a wonderful Easter Sunday and wish that our family were closer so we could have shared the day with you!

Potty training isn't going quite as well as it was the last time I blogged on it. Becca has reverted a bit and we've dealt with a few accidents lately, but overall it's been okay. She still hasn't pooped in the potty, but we are working on it.

I don't write much on Tyler, but in case I neglected to mention it, he did go to a Kindergarten round up at the elementary school not too long ago. He's been pretty hesitant about going to school, but after that day, he was really excited! He got a snack, got to read a story with the teacher (and they sent all the kids home with a copy of the book they read), got to ride a school bus (and our levy passed, so there WILL be buses next year), and got to play on the Kindergarten playground. He's not nearly as worried as he was, and I think I'll be able to send him off without too much trauma.

Just a quick catch up on me; I'm still taking care of kids three days a week. This week I had to be up at 4:10 instead of the usual 4:40, but we're all hoping that will not be the case next week. I'm working on a garden this year for the first time. I'm planting zucchini, cherry tomatoes, peppers, onions and sugar snap peas. I hope it all goes well! I haven't gone to the gym nearly as much as I used to, but I do still try to make it as much as I can. Scott's job has become incredibly busy so his days have become long and we don't see him as much as we want. And in just 5 days, I will be turning 30!!

So that's the update on us. I hope everyone is well! I know we're all very busy, but I miss hearing what's going on in everyone's lives. I hope we can all find the time to blog a little more often!

Fizzy joys: fresh pineapple, sunny afternoons, tulips popping up through my grass, having the cash on hand to splurge a little, a school bus to take my kids to school, and being healthy again after an illness.

Just do it!

I know it's been a while since I blogged. I do hope to be back in the swing of things now! But I had to write about my girls today.

I've written before about our struggle to get Rachel to ride her bike without training wheels. We finally convinced her that they would definitely not be going back on her bike, and she pouted for a few days. Then she decided it was okay and decided she could ride her bike that way. And so she did. She just did it. Once she knew it was the only option, she just did it. She hasn't fallen down once since then.

I've also been potty training Becca the past couple of weeks. Our first week was terrible. After the first day when it was new and I was bugging her every half an hour to go potty, she didn't make it to the potty even once. She could go sit down on the potty, do nothing, then have an accident three minutes later. I was incredibly frustrated. She didn't seem to want to use the potty. She was happy to just go change her panties. Then I remembered that she is my candy girl. So I decided to bribe her. I told her if she goes pee pee on the potty, she gets jelly beans, and if she poops, she gets a lollipop. That day, she didn't have a single accident! Not one. She just did it. She was capable all along, we just had to figure out her trigger. We still have issues with pooping in the potty, but as far as pee goes, we are on our 6th day with no accidents! Not at church, not during our hours of gymnastics and running around yesterday, and not even during naptime! We haven't done bedtime yet, but I am thrilled to NOT be changing diapers anymore!

Fizzy joy for today: I've started planting my garden!!!

Letter

Here is the letter Rachel wrote Scott last night.

In case you're having trouble reading it, here is what it says:

Dear Daddy,

I love you but I want my training wheels back on please. I really want them. Love Rachel.

Then there is a picture that is very obviously her standing next to her bike with training wheels on it, and underneath that she wrote:

I like it.

I fixed the spelling to make it easier. ;)

Milestones

This is a week that will probably go down as a week of milestones in our house, so I thought I should attempt to find a minute to chronicle some of it.
As I've already posted, Rachel lost her two front teeth this week. This hasn't been the only thing she's done. She is also learning to ride her bike without training wheels. Yesterday was only her third time trying, and the first time trying all on her own, but she almost has it down. She did fall a couple of times, and I will definitely have to scan the letter she wrote to Scott about it when I get a minute. It was so funny!
Tyler went to Kindergarten Round Up at the school yesterday morning. This was a time for incoming Kindergarteners to meet the teachers, see the classroom, take a tour of the school, ride a bus, and play on the playground. He was very hesitant about Kindergarten in the fall, but now he's really excited. Now if only I could track down his immunization records so I can finish registering him, that would be great!
The real reason I won't have much time to post this week is because of Becca. We are finally potty training her. My next few days will be spent giving her as much attention as possible so I can really get her trained. She is ready, and I'm ready to be done with diapers! Wish me luck. I hate this part of parenting!

Fizzy joy: getting a full 8 hours of sleep!

And there it goes

I said Rachel's other front tooth wouldn't be far behind, but even I didn't think it would come out this soon! Here is Rachel's new, even gappier smile!

I love the way she talks with those two front teeth missing. It's just so darn cute!

Hope y'all are having a great day!

My bad

It has been brought to my attention that I have been neglecting to mention fizzy joys in my blogs. I apologize for that! It had just slipped my mind. Most days I feel lucky if I get a chance to blog at all. Let me rectify that right now with a few fizzy joys for today:

The quilt made for me by my extended family at my bridal shower (it's still the main blanket on my bed)
a really good pen
Scattergories
sugar snap peas
root beer floats
rediscovering an old favorite book that had been forgotten
new mascara
my pink toe nails!

I think that'll do it for now. I'll try to be better about remembering my fizzy joys in my posts. :)

Rachel

First off, I want to send out a big CONGRATULATIONS to Jon and Val!! Kyra is absolutely beautiful and I am thrilled for the both of you!

Rachel had a little bit of her own news that she wanted to share. She lost her third tooth yesterday, this one being one of her front teeth! She had to show everyone at church, and she is very excited for the tooth fairy to come tonight. (She wanted to keep her tooth for one day, so she asked that the toothfairy wait a day before she came.) She even let me take a picture so y'all could see just how cute she looks without that front tooth. And that second front tooth shouldn't be too far behind! :)

Neglectful

I realized, in looking over my blog, that I had neglected to blog about a very important topic. Let's go ahead and remedy that right now.

I got my own surprise good mail a few days ago. Rachel had the very day before this happened complained that we never got packages from the UPS man who is in our neighborhood just about every day. Then, to our great surprise and pleasure, he stopped at our door! And who was this surprise package from? My wonderful sister Jennifer, of course! She sent me some super cute dresses for Becca, as well as some fun things too! Personally, I'm most excited about the thick cut blade for the apple peeler/corer/slicer she gave me several months ago and the beautiful dress I get to use for Becca for Easter, but my kids LOVED the cute box with the pink and white M&M's and Rachel has stolen the darling little canister that originally held more Easter candy. I would love to take pictures of all the great stuff that was in this box, but unfortunately it got scattered long before a picture could be taken! But I am very grateful for my thoughtful sister who sent me my own wonderful surprise box of very, very good mail!

My treat!

Today was a very busy day, with all the shopping, lunch, afternoon at the park, gymnastics, and general running around my neighbor and I did. She decided, near the end of our day, that we deserved a treat. So we went and had pedicures! I have never done this before, and I have to say, I could get really hooked on this! It was so much fun, and very relaxing, even with four kids we had to corral while we did it. If you've never done this, I highly recommend it! I did let Rachel pick out the color of nail polish used, and I just had to take a picture of my pretty feet to share! :)

The Park part 2

We went back to the park today and this time I took my camera with me! Unfortunately, today's experience wasn't quite as nice as yesterday's. It was nice and sunny when we set out this morning (along with my neighbor and her two kids), but by the time we'd run our errands and gotten to the park, it was cloudy and cold. The temperature had dropped about 7 degrees. My neighbor ended up going to Walmart to buy us all sweatshirts because it was so cold. And the attitudes of the kids were affected by the cold. They weren't nearly as happy or cooperative as they were yesterday. It was still a pretty nice day though, and I do have several pictures to share!

The Park

I really need to start carrying my camera with me. I would love to be able to show you pictures of the great afternoon we spent at the park yesterday. We were there for about three hours! That's unheard of for my kids. Usually after about an hour they get cranky and want to go home. It was such fun to be able to spend the entire afternoon there yesterday. They have a great play area that has some really fun things for kids of all ages. There are the usual slides, teeter totter, and little animals that rock back and forth. They also have poles to slide down, monkey bars, and some other unusual things. Perhaps if we go back today I'll take some pictures so you can see how great it is.
In addition to the great play area, there is lots and lots of open grass, a large covered area with tables, and a great little lake where people go to watch the ducks and geese and do a bit of fishing. It's a very dog friendly park, and a lot of people go to walk their dogs. My kids love dogs and had so much fun pointing out all the dogs, and Rachel even made up a little story about a couple of them.
The highlight of my afternoon came when we were taking a walk around the lake. It has a great path that goes all the way around; sometimes right up against the lake and sometimes through the trees around it. This is where most people go to walk their dogs. One trip around is 0.8 miles. There are even rabbits in the woods that one can see from time to time. At one point, Becca was lagging behind a little from the other kids and started to run to catch up. As she was running, she started chanting. "Go, Becca, go go! Go, Becca, go go!" over and over! It was so funny I couldn't stop laughing! She was totally cheering herself on! Then, a little later, as Tyler started running to try to catch long legged Rachel, he started cheering himself on too! "Go Tyler! Go Tyler! Go Tyler!"
I know I've said it before, but I have the cutest, funniest, best kids ever!

Afternoon session

I just wanted a place to post some of my thoughts on this afternoon's session of conference. For anyone who also listened to or watched it, I would love to hear your thoughts on it! None of my quotes will be exact as I don't write very fast, but you'll get the idea.

Boyd K. Packer talked a lot about repentance, and he gave one of my favorite thoughts of the entire session. He said that Christ is the Creator, and what he made, he can fix.
None of us are beyond redemption!!

I loved Elder Bednar's entire talk, but there are a couple of things I wanted to mention specifically.
He reminded us that God determines the conditions of all gospel covenants, not us.
He suggested we need to learn to recognize when we withdraw ourselves from the influences of the Holy Ghost, and that with effort on our parts, the Holy Ghost can tarry with us much, if not most, of the time.
I also loved how he talked about just how much the Liahona was a type and a shadow of the Holy Ghost, put into the record to teach us about the Holy Ghost.

At first I didn't think much of what Elder Evans had to say about missionary work applied to me, not being in a position to be able to serve a full time mission right now. But it was a great talk. Then near the end, I realized that it could apply to me. He said to come and be part of the greatest generation of missionaries that has ever lived. I may not be able to serve a full time mission right now, but I CAN be a part of the missionary effort.

For being so short, Wolfgang H. Paul's discourse on agency had a lot of information in it! I didn't get to hear the talk this morning from Robert D. Hales, but I'm glad I got to hear this one. He said that agency is a God given gift and priveledge and an eternal law. Every human being must have the power of choice. It is by this agency that we are made responsible beings. And after we have exercised our agency, there must be consequences that follow.

The talk I'm most looking forward to reading when it comes out is the one from Russell M. Nelson on marriage. I couldn't even finish writing a thought down before he'd said something else I wanted to get written down, so my notes are terrible! But I do want to mention a couple things. He said that marriage is the foundry for social order and the foundation for eternal salvation (there was a third thing listed, but I didn't get it written down). Priesthood offices, keys and quorums are to exalt families. And we have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other.

L. Tom Perry's talk on the sacrament gave me my own question to ponder. Do I partake of the sacrament as a matter of routine or with great reverence? I'm afraid it's more often a matter of routine. But I will strive to make it much more a moment of great reverence.

I thought it was a wonderful conference, with many great truths spoken. I am grateful for the opportunity to be there and to hear the words of our leaders. I would love to hear what everyone else thought, and what struck you in what you heard.

For the record

Mom is always telling me I need to write down the funny things my kids say and do because I'm not going to remember them later, but I never do it. Well, tonight I'm going to do it here on my blog.
The kids have been fighting for the past couple of hours. A few minutes ago Tyler asked Scott if they could play a game. He said, "Tyler, you have to behave if you want me to play a game with you." To which Tyler replied, "But we ARE have."
It made me laugh! What a cute kid I have. :)

You're who again?

Over the past couple of years, we've had sort of an open door policy with whatever missionaries have served in our area. We like them to have a place they feel like they can come whenever they like, sort of a home away from home. We've made very good friends with many of these young men. We've even sort of adopted a few who don't actually serve in our ward but were friends with the ones who did, so they end up at our house as well. My kids have loved this constant stream of missionaries, and overall it's been a great thing for everyone involved.
Lots of these guys talk about how much they love the Carnegies, and how when they get off their missions they're going to come back and visit, maybe stay a few days, and how we'll always be friends. Want to know how many have actually come back? Not one. It's become a running joke with us. Every time someone gets transferred out, we tell them flat out we'll never see them again and it was nice knowing them. You say you're coming back to visit us sometime? Nope, not buying it. You'll forget about us before your next Sunday dinner in someone else's home or by the time you're at cruising altitude on your plane ride home.
There was an elder that my kids called by his first name (his choice). He was in our ward for 6 months, was over on average three times a week, and went home from our ward. He got married less than 6 months after getting home, and even though he talked a big game, didn't even send us a wedding invitation!
There was another guy who talked about us all the time to his mother and his girlfriend back home. We were even in contact with his girlfriend (we played a great prank on him right before he got transferred with her help). Have we heard from him since then? Of course not.
Now there are two guys who were here a while back who are still out serving that we do actually hear from every now and then. We get occasional phone calls and e-mails from them. Boyce even called to wish Becca a happy birthday. But they are certainly the exception. Mostly, no matter how much they treat our house as home, once they're gone, they're dead to us. I don't want anyone to think I'm complaining about this. I find it rather humorous. It really is a running joke.
If we ever did actually have one come to visit us after their mission, I'm afraid I'd say something like, "I'm sorry, you're who again?"

Fizzy joys for today: fleece pajama bottoms, lots of clean laundry, children who can and do take care of themselves.

Good Neighbors

I have a neighbor that I love. She has been a great friend to me over the last few years. And last night I got quite a treat out of her.
She called me to ask me how to make my twice baked potatoes. She then asked what I was making for dinner. At that point, I had no idea what I was making, so she asked if I wanted to bring my family over to her house to eat. Not have to cook dinner? Sure! After a couple of conversations that afternoon, it was determined I would bring over some kind of fruit, something for all the kids to drink (another family was coming as well) and a pan of brownies. No big deal, and certainly easier than having to cook a whole meal for my family. Besides, the thought of twice baked potatoes was very appealing.
I walked into her kitchen and found a whole lot more than twice baked potatoes. There was a platter of steaks, fresh off the grill, a pan of sauteed mushrooms, and a nice bowl of fresh shrimp. Plus the yummy twice baked potatoes, broccoli in cheese sauce, green beans, and chips and hot dogs for the kids who didn't want steak and potatoes. She went all out! My contribution of pears that hardly got eaten, a pan of brownies that only the kids ate, and juice that ended up coming home with me seemed paltry indeed. But she didn't care. She was more than happy to just have us over to enjoy a really good meal with her.
To top it off, she took Rachel out after dinner to start teaching her how to ride her bike without training wheels! She taught her daughter last week, and Rachel gets very stubborn with me, so she got her started. She didn't give in to Rachel's crying when she wanted to stop. She made her continue. I would probably gotten too frustrated and let her quit for the day, but Scott would have caved totally and put her training wheels back on. We love that Angela made her keep going.
Neighbors like her are so nice to have! :)

LOST

I'll say this right now; if you watch LOST, but have not seen last night's episode, you may not want to read this post quite yet.

Scott and I had the rare opportunity of actually watching LOST on tv, without having to download it to watch later. Even with those pesky commercials, it was so much better that way! We could actually talk about things, and we notice different things when we do. One thing we've started keeping our eyes out for is crossovers between the lives of the castaways. The big one last night; the woman Locke was inspecting the house for in the flashback was Sayid's girlfriend! We were really hoping to find out how Locke was paralyzed in last nights episode, but they STILL haven't told us! And what's up with his trusting Henry Gale? Did you know Henry Gale is the name of the wizard in The Wizard of Oz? I LOVE how these writers work!
What was really funny to me was that as soon as it was over, Scott was online going to his favorite sites about the show, and the credits weren't even over before he was looking at a screen shot of the map Locke saw on the wall with the black light. So apparently there are 7 bunkers on the island. And was that food drop meant for the people in the bunkers or for the "others?" Or are they one and the same? And can the castaways expect more food drops in the future? Wouldn't it be nice if they could count on regular food deliveries?
Now don't expect me to blog on LOST every week. I just had fun with last night's episode. It was really nice to watch it with Scott instead of days later.

Fizzy joy for today: kids freshly clean from a bathtub!

Better than expected

I went to bed last night dreading the morning. I knew today was going to be one of those days I was going to be pulling my hair out. Turns out I was wrong. :)
It's Monday, which means it's one of my up at 4:40 days. Even knowing I had to get up early, I just could not get myself to bed last night. It was almost 1:00 before I finally turned out my light last night. So I knew I wasn't going to be getting very much sleep. Also, all the elementary schools in the district have parent teacher conferences this week, which means there is no kindergarten at all, and all the other kids have early dismissal all week. That means that the two older kids I don't normally have to do much with will be coming home several hours before their mother gets off work. And Rebecca and Tyler both had gymnastics classes today. I knew I was going to have to pack lunch for everyone because there wouldn't be time to feed them all before we had to go. In fact, I was worried that Alex and Keirsten would get home in time to get Becca to her class on time. I was praying that bus was early, and that traffic would be light. Turns out prayers are answered. They got home a full 15 minutes before we had to leave, and traffic was so light I was able to stop at the bank and still get Becca there on time.
My next blessing came in the form of good weather. It was in the low 60's and mostly sunny today, so instead of having to figure out how to entertain 5 kids in a very small place for more than two hours, we were able to go to a very nice park just a few minutes away! It's a nice sized park, but it was also very busy. I was impressed at it's layout. Even with as many kids as were there, they never seemed to run into each other too much. There was always something for them to do, something on the equipment to play on. And they played so well together!! From the oldest to the youngest, they all played together, helped each other, and just had a grand time all around. They loved being able to have a picnic and play outside. We also had friends from the Little Gym there with us the second hour we were there, which just added to the fun. And the timing worked out so perfectly. They were all starting to get tired by the time we had to head home, so they were ready to go, but it hadn't been too much time and they were still having fun. It was a fantastic way to spend the afternoon.
Oh! I forgot one other very important part of my day! These three kids have gotten pretty comfortable in the house, so last week I started going back to bed instead of trying to sleep on the couch (which wasn't working). I didn't really sleep much even in bed last week, but today I was able to go right back to sleep without any trouble! I got another 2 1/2 hours of sleep! That alone was huge in making my day better.
So all around it was just a great day. I went to bed dreading the day, but it has turned out to be just wonderful!

Fizzy joys for today: public parks, warmer weather, sunshine, pink leotards, and a friend to talk to.