With a Moo, moo here...

Cooper, Allie, and I went on a fieldtrip to Wadeland Dairy to see all of the milk cows. Before we even got there, we had an adventure of a dead van. It took over a 1/2 hour to charge it, so we were late to the dairy. Cooper had no problems in going right up to a calf and letting it suck his fingers. We then went in to see the cows being milked. The cows are up on platforms, so you get the undercarriage view of a cow. Allie then exclaimed, "Are those the cow's penises?" "No, no, no! These are girl cows! These are like a cows boobies called an udder." It sure is hard explaining things to a 3 year old. It was quite the fieldtrip.

A little bit of this and that...

Well, there have been a few happenings that I wanted to write about. Here are the few that my aging brain remembers:

• This morning Allie came in to wake me up and asked, "What color day is it?" It took me a second to figure out she wanted to know what color she was learning about in preschool. I told her there wasn't preschool today, so she could pick. She responded with, "Well...I think it is PINK day!!" Grand idea. She came running back wearing her favorite pink skirt and shirt. She then said, "Pink's a GREAT color!"
  
• Yesterday, Cooper had turned on our T.V. and was watching a show. I walked in and he asked, "Mom, is this a good show for me to watch?" I looked at the T.V. and saw Seinfeld on. "Maybe not." I turned it to a kid cartoon.


• Do any of you read the comics? I love "Baby Blues." This little comic strip family has the same dynamics as our little family;mom, dad, girl, boy, girl. I can relate with the mom all the time. Today's strip was about the little boy finding his shoes in the freezer. I find all sorts of stuff in ours! Another one that made me laugh was her sitting among the piles of laundry. Does laundry ever end?!


• I am not buying Christmas presents this year. I am buying cases of canned food. My kids have been building towers with the green beans that I bought--so why spend extra money on toys. Right?!


• Maggie had a friend over that she loves to play with. She is such a polite, sweet girl. I love having her over. Yesterday, they were playing and Alayna ran to the bathroom and barfed all over. Her mom came at that moment to pick her up and then had to clean our bathroom. It is nice and clean...even the bathmats and shower curtains.


• We have a new discipline tool--MUSH! It is actually oatmeal made with just water. Nothing else. So far it is working wonders! Our kids are going to bed better and listening better too. They hate it when they get it. So far Maggie has had it once, Cooper once, and Allie twice. (I can't give it to the kids any more around Chris because he kind of giggles when they spit it out and I make them eat more. I need to have Chris eat it too--his Scouts think he needs it.)
  
• All three kids were in our Primary talent show. Cooper did a cartwheel. Allie turned a somersault, and Maggie played the piano. It was a fun little event.

Well, if my feeble brain works better and remembers more, I'll post it.

Boy Oh Boys!

Yesterday, I had 3 extra boys: all nephews. They were the ages 4, 2, and 3 months. Teresa flew to California and Lucy had surgery so I was more than willing and happy to help out. They were playing and doing very well together and then nap time came. Tate and Allie went down really well, but Cole, the 3 month old, was another story. He didn't want to fall asleep and he was more than ready. I had him sleeping at two different times and then he would immediately wake up when I would lay him down. I finally got him to sleep again, but I couldn't move. I just let him lay on my tummy and sleep. Maggie got home from school and said, "Tate's awake and he is poopy." Oh what to do. I didn't want a crying baby, so I just told Maggie he will have to wait a few minutes. Well, my Maggie went and changed Tate. She came down and told me that she did it. She said she almost threw up, but she did it. I was so proud of my Maggie. Later upon inspection of the diaper, she had put it on backwards. All turned out well in the end. Mom and Dad came to help with the sleeping baby, Cole, and I was able to make dinner for the rest of the crew. It was an eventful day.

Mommy, I'm getting Married

Sunday morning, I was getting the kids ready for church and Allie wanted to wear her pretty cream colored dress. She then stated, "I'm getting married today." You are, are you?! Who are you marrying? "I'm marrying Aiden." (Another 3 year old in her nursery class.) Later at church, I took Allie to the potty and she said she was marrying Aiden in class. I said, "let's wait about 20 years so you're 23 instead of 3." "Okay, but will you drive me to the temple?" "It's a deal. I will drive you to the temple in 20 years to get married." I love being a mommy!

(By the way, Chris was gone over the weekend on his annual baseball trip with his brother, Lance, to Colorado. They invited an extra this time: their dad. They had a "ball.")

To Disneyland we go...

Well, I have everything booked for our trip to Disneyland. We have planned for over a year to go. We saved up for it and now the hotel is paid for and our week of theme parks are all paid for. Some people from our ward are also going the same week (Oct. 11-19) and they booked it through Getawaytoday.com and I did ours through expedia and Costco. I typed in the same info on getawaytoday and I saved $650 doing it my way. If someone did it even cheaper, don't tell me! The kids are way excited to go, as am I. I love Disneyland. We are also going to Universal Studios, Sea World, and San Diego Zoo or Animal Park. It will be so much fun...just to see their faces!

Cooper the Biker

Cooper has been learning how to ride his bike without training wheels. Chris is a great teacher with a lot of patience. I am the picture taker, because my patience isn't as great.

3 Kids in a Tub

Allie, Miles, and Cooper decided to have a bath today. I heard constant giggling, splashing, and just "clean" fun coming from the tubby. I did check on them quite frequently to see what flooding they created on the bathroom floor with all of the splashing...hense, the towel at the base of the tub. They have so much fun together. (Their private parts are all covered.)

Preschool Days

This week was both Cooper and Allie's 1st week at preschool. I am doing a mom co-op for Allie on Monday and Tuesday mornings and then Cooper has preschool at Treasure House preschool on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Well, Cooper gets to go to Allie's also, because it didn't conflict with his schedule. They both loved their preshools. I had it this week at our house. We did a park planning day on Monday and then we did real preschool on Tuesday. We made pretzel squares and pretzel letter A's on red paper and had apples. We danced and sang and had lots of fun.

Maggie got Baptized

Maggie was so excited to get baptized today. She just beamed!! I was so busy all day that it just snuck up and was here. After the baptism while in the dressing room, she just kept saying, "I am so excited! I can't believe I am baptized now!" It was so cute. We had great support from both sides of the family and many friends. I know I forgot to invite a few people and I feel so bad, I just need to call and apologize, but what can I do now. It was a great day!!

And the Soccer Season begins...

Cooper and Maggie had their first soccer games today. This is Cooper's 1st year and Maggie's 4th. There is a bit of difference between the two games. Cooper kind of jumped around following the ball not knowing when to kick it and grabbed it once also. Whoops. He did stop a goal and noticed when the other team made a goal for their team. So maybe he gets it a little.

Maggie tore it up today. She made 2 goals and had an assist. Her heel was hurting her again and so she limped at the end of the game. She was quite excited about playing again. Cooper's team color is Lavender...not a real manly color. They are called the Fighter Pilots. Maggie's team is lime green. They are the green apples. They both had a great time today. Allie was a good sport in watching both games and not complaining. (Maggie created their own team at home called "The Siblings" that Allie can participate in.)

50th Anniversary Party

Chick and Dianne hit 50 years on September 4th but we celebrated on September 5th. It was a great party with just the family. They didn't want a great big reception or anything like that, so we had it at the Prairie Schooner Restaurant. They thought that we were just going to have dinner, but we tricked them. We had a mini replica of their wedding cake (it was the first wedding cake that I have made), corsage and boutinniere (sp) made of the same type of flowers from her wedding bouquet, table cloths from their wedding reception 50 years ago, a DVD made from all of their childhood to now pictures (thanks to Jennilyn), a fun book made from the anniversary cruise (thanks to Kim), and a fun program (with Chris and Lance as the MCs). It was fun to see their faces as they took it all in. Maybe Chris and I will go for 50 too--actually yesterday was our 10th anniversary of our 1st date! We are already a fifth of the way there.

Maggie's day continued...

Well, after 24 cupcakes, 4 pizzas, 1 cake, 3 bottles of Sunny D, 3 bags of breadsticks, a bag of carrots, 1/2 gallon of sherbet, 12 kids, and 3 adults, Maggie's party is officially over. (We have lots of leftovers!) She had a great day. Cooper, Allie, and I took her birthday treats to school and then Daddy came home early from work to be the drink-meister and took the role as the goofy dad: dancing to Hannah Montana. Kim, Chris's sister, helped out as the D.J. We had a ball playing pin the star on Hannah, reverse musical chairs using a microphone, and "Sleeping Hannah." It was "The best of both worlds..." (From Hannah Montana song)

Maggie's 8! Great, Great, Great!

I can't believe Maggie is 8 already. She has been counting down for a few months now. She woke up at 6:00 A.M. Ugh!! I am not a morning person. It was like Christmas for her. Chris's tradition growing up was to have the family birthday party in the morning and we have incorporated that into our family. So, we open presents and have birthday cake for breakfast. She was soooo excited. I made her wait until 7:30 so Allie and Cooper could sleep a while longer. Cuddling with Mommy held her at bay until then. I stayed up last night making cupcakes for breakfast and a Hannah Montana cake for her party at 5:00 with her girl cousins and friends. Maggie had a great morning...and now Cooper, Allie, and I are off to get the ice cream, treats for school, balloons and then off to book club for a book called "Sweetness in the Belly" that I didn't finish. Oh, well. I have sweetness in my belly from cupcakes for breakfast!

Life Zooming By

My life has been so crazy busy that I want to post it for me so I can remember and keep it as a journal.

• planning a 50th anniversary party for my in-laws
  
• turning 40-big surprise party, going to St. George for the weekend


• setting up a booth at back-to-school night for the PTA Reflections contest


• faculty meeting to discuss Reflections


• piano practice battles


• rescheduling piano lesson because of the battles


• cleaning up diarrhea in Allie's bed at 1:30 in the morning


• cleaning up vomit in Cooper's bed the next night at 2:30 in the morning


• multiple loads of laundry that I wasn't planning on


• making invitations for Maggie's 8th birthday


• making invitations for Maggie's Baptism


• making arrangements for Maggie's Baptism
  
• planning a Hannah Montana Birthday Party for 12 girls
• Making 2 fancy cakes


• setting up a preschool and preparing the years lessons


• writing the Primary Program and assigning appropriate parts to all children in the Primary


• making the seating chart for the Program making sure that all children can be seen


• scanning over 400 pictures so my cousin can make me a dvd
  

...and this and more has all been done in a 2 week time period. My house has been neglected, my children have watched too much T.V., and I need to dote on my husband more. But I love my life, I love my husband, and I love my children. I have to enjoy this moment and giggle while Cooper, Allie, and Miles are playing and racing around the house.

1st Day of School

Today was Maggie's 1st day of 2nd grade! Cooper, Allie, and I walked Maggie to school. She was so excited and as we rounded the corner, she said, "Mom, I am a little nervous." I reassured her it would be great. Coop and Al had fun delivering Maggie and riding in the green wagon. Note to self: wear running shoes and not flip flops when walking to school. My feet hurt a bit when I got home.

My Nature Hunters

We had a fun family day going to the Nature Center. The kids had fun hiking around and seeing the aviary, looking for frogs, bug hunting, etc. We were like the only people there. They had the bald eagle out, so it was fun to learn about her.

My New Chef

I have a new Chef! Maggie has been loving the idea of cooking. She has made pancakes, french toast, tacos, taquitos, scrambled eggs and a few other things without the help of mom. She loves doing it and I love having her do it...it is the mess that I need to teach her how to clean up after she is done.

"39 and Holding" and other things

I have dreaded turning the big "4-0", but when it finally came, it felt just like another day. I didn't get any new wrinkles, I looked the same, and I still felt 25. So, all in all, it wasn't half bad. My family spoiled me rotten. Chris took me out to dinner the night before my birthday. Tony Roma's used to be my birthday place, but they don't have them in Utah any more, so we went to Goodwood BBQ. It was good. I love going on dates with my husband. After our dinner date, Chris took Maggie, Cooper, and Allie shopping for Mommy. Allie does not keep secrets very well and blurted out, "Mommy, I got you a shirt and licorice!" Thank you Allie. Cooper and Maggie kept their surprises a surprise.

On my birthday, I received many phone calls (starting at 7:15 in the morning), emails, cards, flowers, and well-wishers showing up at 6:00 for a birthday bash sponsored by my Chrissy. I was overwhelmed by everyone that participated. Chris did great on getting everything together. A guy from his IT department put a birthday song on their dialer and it called me every minute for 40 minutes singing to me. It was cute the first 5 minutes...but it got to me after 40. It filled up all of my messages in my cell phone and home phone.

Chris gave me a pencil drawing of our kids that is outstanding. It captures all of their personalities and is a treasure. The kids gave me movies, a candle, handwritten card a la Maggie, chocolates, comforter set, licorice and shirts. I made a haul!

Another wonderful gift he gave me was a trip to St. George with 3 of my old roommates, Nikkie, Melinda, and Kristine. They had all secretly planned it with Chris and had it all set up. All I had to do was show up in Salt Lake and the rest was taken care of. It is so fun to get together with friends and pick up where you last left off as if no time has passed in between. We watched movies, went to dinners, slept in late, went to massages, shopped, and just reminisced and caught up on our lives. Fantastic weekend.

The weekend ended up on a sad note. Chris called me as we were getting on the freeway to come home and told me that 5 Focus employees that were going to Guatemala for a humanitarian project that we had done 2 years ago had been in a fatal airplane crash. There was only 1 out of the 5 that survived. I cried a lot on the way home. I knew a few of them. Chris knew them all well. I cried for my husband, I cried for their families, I cried for our family, thanking Heavenly Father that it was not Chris and me. Heavenly Father knows what is to become of our lives here on earth, but it sure makes it hard on us at times.

Hope all is well. Have a great day!

Monet to Strip Tease

Last night I went to the Monet to Picasso exhibit at the U of U Fine Arts Museum. I enjoyed it very much (Thanks Chris for suggesting I go!) I went with 10 women from our ward. There were many pieces there that I really enjoyed (I finally saw the Thinker by Rodin and a few Monet's that I hadn't seen along with many more) and some that I really didn't care for (Picasso was a strange fella.)

While I was gone, Chris stayed home with the kids plus Miles, our nephew. Chris was in the kitchen and Allie said, "Daddy put some music on your ipod and do your dance for Miles." Chris had done a funny dance for the kids while he changed his work clothes into casual clothes on Monday that might be construed as a partial strip-tease. Allie then demonstrated for Miles what Chris had done. I hope it doesn't become her future profession!

Bugs in the Blog

Well, I am working out some of the bugs of my blog...so it is a little different today. Change is good. Right?!