Out of the mouths of my babies....

P is a serious chatterbox. This is funny to me because neither Chris nor myself are the non-stop chatty type. At all. :) But this little guy always has something to say. To anyone and everyone. I rarely attempt talking on the phone unless he's sleeping (hence I hardly make phone calls!) and forget trying to listen to the news (which I love) while I'm cooking. I'm lucky to hear one out of every 20 words or so over this little guy's high pitched chatter. Come to think of it, I think the only thing that keeps this little blondie quiet for a few consecutive minutes is that darn I-Phone... :)

Here are just a few of the things this 3 1/2 year old has said recently that have made me smile:

• "Mom, I have something to tell you. I am soooo sorry about this. I couldn't get on the potty in your bathroom in time so I sprayed the wall all over. Daddy cleaned it up, but I am so, so sorry." Nice. At least he has remorse...
• "Mom, if you want to play a game with me then you better give me a TREAT!" REALLY?! Who's bribing WHO to do WHAT?!
• "Mom, someday I'll have my own exercise show. And I'll do THIS, and THIS" (as he proceeded to show me some interesting yoga like moves)...Hmmm... I might have to reevaluate my invitations for him to 'workout' with me in the mornings...I didn't know it would give him such - ahem - aspirations... :)
• "But Mom, I don't like the green parts of the broccoli".....
• "But Mom, how do grownups grow DOWN???"
• "Mom, how old is Roxy?" (our dog) -About 8- "Oh did she get baptized then?"
• After staring at my headband for a moment he said, "Thanks for wearing that, Mom! It's beeeeautiful!".
• "Mom, I drew with marker all over my arms because I am SUPER and I am STRONG!!". Ahh, now it makes perfect sense...
• "Emmie is such a princess, Mom. Girls are just princesses".
• Checking out some new elastics he asked, "What are those, Mom?" - Hair bands for Em - "Oh GREEEEAT! They're LOVE-A-LY!"
• I came downstairs and caught him with scissors in his hand and he exclaimed, "But Mom, I didn't cut any fingers off! SEEEE?!" oh phew..
• After I cleaned his ear with a Q-tip and showed it to him, he said matter-a-factly, "Sometimes I EAT that. (Earwax?!!!?) It doesn't taste very great". At least he has that straight...Ughhh!
• Upon asking him what his Daddy does for a job he exclaimed, "He's a Pharmasore!". Close.... Pharmasore, pharmacist...One is just from Jurassic times...?

• (I have more written down but I can't find my notebook... I will add them later...!)
  

THIS little 18 month old (18 months TODAY!) has some words of her own....

A bit of what she is saying these days (that I can think of real quick):

Ma & Mama but this girl prefers 'Ma'

Da

Dog

Eat

More

On

Off

Amen

Hot

Bath

'Wus dat'

'Wus in der?'

Shoes

Socks

Baby

Doll

Ball

Eyes

Ears (ers)

Hands (ands)

Teeth

Hair (air)

Nose

'Oh no!'

Out

Don't!

Down

Thank you (dake ew)

Please (peas)

Hi

Ouch

Ow!

Clean (keen)

Mess

Cheese

Water (wa-er)

And my favorite -- she'll stand at the top of the stairs when she hears Parker saying something downstairs and she'll shout, "Whut!? Whhuuuut?!" (what!?).

It seems like she's been a little slow to talk but she is saying more and more everyday... especially this last week it seems like she's been repeating everything!

I sure love these two & the interesting things that come out of their mouths -- even when it's so constant that I don't hear much else during my day!

Wouldn't have it any other way.... :)

Water baby

Emmie looooves the water.

She loves to play in it.

She loves to slurp it on a Sunday afternoon. Don't forget the extra large cup and straw please. Oh, & any day will do.

When she hears that tap water her tiny toes come a runnin'.

The anticipation is high.

And then the immersion...

Complete elation!

Squeals erupt, laughter ensues, dimples emerge. 100% smiles for everyone and PURE JOY.

This little guy is just thrilled to have such an enthusiastic sis.

He is happy for her happiness.

And at the end of the day, when the H20 play comes to a close, tears are often the sad, sad result.

But this happy face made it all worth it.

As the similar saying goes,

"Tis better to have had fun and have it come to an end, than to never have had fun at all!".

Valentines and doorbell ditching. What could be more fun???

Parker loves to play with other kids. If there are kids around, he is their instant friend. Therefore, he was so excited to put together Valentines for a bunch of his little buddies in our neighborhood on Saturday.

After explaining to him the "old school" way of how we were going to deliver them (leaving them on the step, ringing the doorbell and running), he joyously shot his fists up into the air with a drawn out, "YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!".

I love that kid. He makes me laugh. :)

When I was little it was tradition at our house on Valentines Day for my Dad to leave wrapped gifts on the doorstep and of course ring the doorbell and run. Me and my older brother loved this ritual and we would get all giddy running to the door to find fun surprises. We would then hear a knock at the back door and went running to find more fun things and so on. My Dad was so fast to get back in the house through the garage that he had us fooled for a few years as to how the presents were making it to our doorstep.

In my desire to carry out this tradition with my own kids, Sunday morning the doorbell rang and magically there were presents awaiting for Parker and Emmie which of course brought on shrieks of delight and excitement.

The second time it happened, Parker looked out the window onto the step and said,

"More presents, Mom! How do those presents know how to ring our doorbell?!".

Chris was pretty fast getting himself back into the house. (As P would say, "YEEEESSSS!")

I truly think Valentines Day is a great excuse for a date night, but really I think the holiday is for kids!!! I love it! :)

HaPpY VaLeNtInEs DaY

from our favorite little Valentines!

(Aren't they cute? They're even homemade...! :))

The Getaway

When was the last time myself and this guy had a night away with no kids???

That would be July 21, 2006 - the night before Parker was BORN!

Yep, 3 1/2 years and we've never spent the night away from our kids!

(besides leaving P the night Emmie was born and the night my brother passed away but those don't exactly count...)

Well that all changed this last Sunday night!

Chris surprised me with a 2-night 'staycation' in Salt Lake with NO KIDS! You heard right -NO KIDS for 2 nights!

Yep, I'll admit it - I have a hard time leaving my kiddos, & it was a little odd (in a good way!) having so much freedom and time to waste but we had a great time!

No hurry to get back for impending nap times, no rush to avoid inevitable tantrums, no stupid double stroller to navigate that I'm pretty sure weighs more than myself, no 5 lb diaper bag that took 25 minutes to pack, no 3 year old visitors in our room at 5 a.m. rearing to go for the day, no goldfish cracker trail left behind us as we walked, no taking 10 minutes to get in and out of the car, no WHINING (!), staying out past 6:00 with no consequence of messing up bedtime schedules.... the list goes on...& on...

YEP it was all pretty foreign to us! But pretty nice! I had forgotten that there ever was such a life!

Having said that, I LOVE my babies and I was thrilled to get back to them -- REFRESHED!!!

Thanks Chris for making it all happen! Loved it!

Oh, and BLINDSIDE -- LOVED that, too!

& thanks Lance & Becky for taking on the kiddos. LOVED that you had that 5 a.m. wake up call by the blonde hair, blue-eyed night visitor while we snoozed away! :)

Spread the word to pray for them!

My friend who underwent the unimaginable and heartbreaking loss of her precious baby boy a few years back, had a new blog post come up tonight.... 'Trials, why?" under my blog list there on the right. I clicked there to read her sweet post which was spurred on by a friend who is verging on that same horiffic grief of losing a child...she offered a link to their story. I just bawled my eyes out over it for the last hour...I don't know these people but I can promise you that they will be in my prayers! Click here: http://www.stakerzxposed.blogspot.com/ for a reminder of what's truly important in life. I promise you will be touched as I have as you read the heart wrenching nightmare that they are in the midst of with their youngest little boy (who is just a month younger than Emmie) and the tragedy that took place just one week ago that could happen to any of us.
Ironically, just this last week I've felt more confident in leaving Emmie and Parker in the bathtub for a few minutes while going to get pajamas and diapers, etc. and even straightening this or that along the way. I won't be doing that again after reading this. You should read it too!

Please pray for this family!!!

P.S. Once you get to their blog, read the post 'A week ago right now' near the top', then scroll down to February 1st to read from the start....

Favorite Things 2009 Party

*This is long -- I know -- but read on and you might just be inspired to check out some great things!... or scroll to the bottom to read a few of the things I was inspired to check out...

Last week I went to a Favorite Things of 2009 Party. Ever heard of one? Neither had I, but I thought it was such a good idea so I thought I'd share! It was put on by a cute girl (lady, whatev) in my neighborhood that I used to visit teach. I guess she puts on 2 of these per January per year, and making the 'guest list' as they called it is a coveted thing ( so I was told by the non-first timers). LOL

WHO KNEW???

The rules went like this:

Each guest was to bring a list of 3 of their favorite things from 2009... these could be favorite new hobbies, products, websites, books....you get the idea - printed out on 13 sheets of 8x10 paper. THEN everyone was to bring 13 'gifts' that corresponded to one of her listed favorite things. Also, everyone was instructed to bring one favorite new recipe made to share with everyone, and the recipe printed out (for 13 people).

GOT IT? Sounds fun, right? Well, it was! Great food and great shared ideas - what's not to love? I came home with a mini binder full of tested and tried products, activities, vacation spots, food - you name it, not to mention 13 fun things from everyone!

So here are a few of my favorite things from 2009 that I divulged at the party:

1) FABRIC STEAMER

Before you call me LAME --this has been a life saver! I refuse to put away un-ironed clothes but I hate ironing! It's so time consuming and some weeks I was spending a good five hours with the good old iron. (Am I crazy?! Maybe a little OCD -- I don't know.) UNTIL my mom bought me a fabric steamer! I. LOVE. IT!!! It seriously has cut my ironing time by at least 2/3rds. It is super fast and super easy and takes up less room than an ironing board (I keep it in my walk in closet). Mine is a Conair brand from Wal-Mart and I'm not kidding when I say that it is one of my FAVORITE THINGS from 2009!!! It is saving me TONS of time!

2) FAVORITE BLOGS...I cheated and did THREE favorite websites instead of one. Here they are:

*For the kitchen: http://www.ourbestbites.com/ I LOVE this food blog! There are lots of great food blogs out there and they all have made cooking more exciting for me, but this one is definitely one of my top faves!!! I highly recommend checking it out. I get really excited about cooking when I visit this site!

*For the kids: http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/ This is such a fun site to find great craft ideas for kids, holiday crafts, fun children's book reviews... I ran into this while researching some things for Joy School and I LOVE it!

*For YOU: http://www.tipjunkie.com/ This site has so much info that it can be a bit confusing. But go there seeking any question or idea for ANYTHING -- birthday party themes and decorations, shower ideas, crafting whatever, gift ideas, creative holiday decor or crafts, how to organize, how to clean, decorating ideas...YOU NAME IT and you'll find a plethora of ideas! Such a great resource! And you can share YOUR great ideas there, too!

So what did I bring to the party?

3) LITTLE GIRL HAIRBOWS!

Something fun that I learned to make this past year were little girl hair items.

I don't do as cute of a job as my friend Lichelle who has made lots of Emmie's hair accessories - let's clear that up! But I made some of Emmie's hair flowers to match her birthday tutu this last year, a bunch to coordinate with outfits for our Disneyland trip in September and her Halloween Tinkerbell bows (which weren't so hot) and more for just everyday...it's been fun just knowing how!

So, there you have it-- I brought little girl hair bows

to the party as my 'gift' for everyone. Exciting, I know, especially I am sure for those who don't have a little girl. But I figured we all have nieces or go to showers, right?? :)

Here they are:

I know I know, some aren't so cute but the craft store didn't have great materials when I went and hey I was on a budget so this was what I whipped up.

And here is the stash that I came home with:

A few of my faves: a homemade headband, a cute sewn kleenex holder there in the front, a CD FULL of free digital scrapbook stuff (so excited for that!), cute Forever 21 hair accessories, strawberry Whoppers (surprisingly these are way good!), one lady LOVED Weight Watchers so she brough some of those food items you can see. Apparently those chocolate Mini Wheats are super good and you can eat 52 and it's only 3 Weight Watcher points. Whatever that means but I guess it's really exciting! :) Anyways, you can see for yourselves what some of the other fun products were.

A few others that were listed but not given that I am convinced I want to get are:
*The Biggest Loser Cardio Max DVD (I just picked this up at Costco for only $7.99 - I will let you know how it is!) The girl raved about this so I am excited to give it a try.

*The book: Christlike Parenting...recommended by the host who says she tries to read it once a year.

*Shark Steamer mop. The girl brought this to demo and it's amazing! I would love this for Mother's Day (wink wink). Am I crazy that I love good cleaning, household products? Hey, what can I say? Anything that makes my job more efficient makes me happy....!

*Pureology Essential Repair Restorative Hair Mask

*And for all you readers, the book Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins came highly recommended by several ladies, as well as (clean) romance books by Marcia Lynn McClure.

So there you have it. A FAVORITE THINGS PARTY! Maybe ya'll should throw one next year and invite me! :)

Does anyone have another fave from 2009 to add to the list???

Post-dinner ritual

Twice her size a problem?

Nah.

This girl's love for a challenge mixed with her toddler determination enables her to accomplish great things.

I wonder how she'd do with a mop....

LOVE my little helper!!!