just a little on the trashy side

If you are like me and have a 4-year-old who wears glasses, you probably are like me and visit the eye doctor's office for repairs, adjustments, etc more than you would like. The office is great---very nice, very helpful, and they have a little children's play area to keep my kids entertained while we wait. The only problem with said play area is that it's open to those working there trying to help people choose glasses, work out their payments, etc. My kids aren't known for being especially quiet, so the faster we can get in and out of there, the better. I was just there two weeks ago for Sidney's annual eye exam where she spent 20 minutes trying on every pair of children's frames in the place before ultimately choosing the first pair she tried on. I had hoped it was the last time I'd be in there for awhile, but not so...

Taylor had his annual eye exam yesterday and I scheduled it immediately after school thinking "hey, we'll already be out and in the car, it will kill some time after school, Stella will be occupied playing in the play area. Plus, Sidney needs to pick up her new glasses. Kill two birds with one stone! Great!"

I had about 20 minutes until I needed to leave to pick up the older kids from school and I'm hanging out with Stella and hear the (locked) front door open. This is not the first time in the last couple of weeks this has happened---a few Realtors forgot to call us to show our home and assumed it was vacant. I greeted the realtor at the door and if I didn't want to sell my house so badly, I would have told her to come back the next day, but alas, I do want to sell my house, so I told her to give me 15-20 minutes and then come back. I thought I was home free from any showings by this time of the day, so the house wasn't exactly ready. I raced frantically around the house cleaning up toys, lunch dishes, wiping up crumbs, and making a bed or two. By the time I make it out of the house and into the van I smell something funky and feel something damp. I look down and realize I've got some wicked pit stains on my orange shirt. Oh well, too late to change shirts or put on some more deodorant. I'll just try and keep my arms down.

I picked up Taylor and Sidney from school and instead of my usual a-little-disheveled-but-mostly-presentable kids picked up a couple of I-rolled-in-my-lunch-instead-of-eating-it-and-I'm-not-sure-any-of-the-marker-made-it-on-the-paper kids. No time to go home and change, so I think, "It's okay--they are clearly wearing their school uniforms so people will know they just got messy at school and we don't really live like pigs." I dole out snacks to eat on the way there and off we go.

We arrive and I unbuckle and lift Stella out of her car seat and smell something funky and feel something damp. Unfortunately, it was not just my armpits this time. No time to change her diaper b/c we are barely on time as it is, so we rush inside. After a few minutes I realize a diaper change can't wait a moment longer and I go out to the car with Stella. Her shorts are beyond wearable and she refuses to wear her shoes. I head back in with a red face and armpit stains, and a tank-top- and-a-diaper only toddler who won't wear shoes.. To add to the general trashy look she had going, she pulled the elastic out of her hair and now looks like a cockatoo or rooster (take your pick.)

Luckily Taylor was sent back to the eye doctor pretty quickly (but only after he crawled all over the floor chasing a train and making a racket) and I was left with the girls. Here I am with a cute 4-year-old with blue marker on her face, some big unidentifiable stains all over her powder blue polo and a toddler who looks a little bit like an orphan. Of course, this seems to be their busiest time of day and a parade of people are in and out of the place. Lots of moms come in with kids for eye exams. One little girl who looks about 5 comes in with her blond hair perfectly combed and with a headband with a big red bow on top and pretty much looks like she stepped out of a gymboree ad. She sits happily with her mother. Another little girl (maybe 5) and her brother (about 8) who are also school uniform clad, but clean and well groomed also arrive and play quietly and sweetly with the toys. I, pit stains and baby belly and all, chase the barefoot-diaper-clad toddler around the place while she tries to swipe every pair of frames conveniently displayed at her eye level while my disheveled Kindergartner tries to be the mom and chases her too.

I know if I was 'the other mom' watching this display I'd be chuckling and thinking 'ug, I hate days like that!' Maybe it was my own insecurity, but the looks on these mom's faces seemed to say "woman, get control of your life, get some clothes on your children, wash their clothes, and for heaven's sake, get some new anti-perspirant! And what on earth are you doing having another baby anyway?"

I guess it could have been much worse....I could have been the barefoot one...

silly stella

I call this photo "Leave me alone, I'm trying to sleep on this oh-so-comfy lego table."

Stella has been my first real climber and get-into-everything kid. She has her own ideas of where to do, what to do, and how to get to it. As I snapped this picture of her last night while she was pretending to sleep on the lego table (maybe she has a future with the circus laying on a bed of nails?) I thought about all the silly photos I have captured of her being her silly self. So this entire photo blog post is dedicated to my Silly Stella Sue. She couldn't make me laugh and smile more!

bubble gum anyone?

When we moved into this house, I devoted the largest bedroom to my 'craft room.' Soon baby Stella came along and the Big Plan was to put Stella in Sidney's room. When we discovered that our Big Girl didn't appreciate a crying baby, Stella moved into my craft room. Of course, that put quite a damper any crafting that I hoped might occur since naptime is craft time. I moved most of my equipment downstairs and did sewing/scrapbooking/random crafting at the dining room table, much to Steve's dismay. Being the third child, Stella never had a nursery. She had the only unpainted room in the house that housed everything we didn't have a place for. Life is so unfair, baby. So here we are today with another baby on the way and we've run out of bedrooms, so the girls are going to bunk together as originally planned.

Since darlin' Sidney was born, she has lived in an Americana theme room. I have always loved it---but she had dreams of Pink. Since I'm the one who loves the Americana, Sidney's room has now become my craft room the nursery and the old craftroom/junk spot/nursery is now a delightful shade of pink and housing matching beds for my two little girlies. Stella, however, is staying in the crib as long as I can manage it, so she doesn't live in the room yet. Sidney is perfectly fine with that arrangement.

Here is the room as Steve was taking down the crib and moving it across the hall:

See what I mean about it being a catch-all room?

See the dresser up there in the 2nd picture? I wanted that in the girl's new room, but it didn't fit with the beds. There is a matching chest and two nightstands, though, that we painted a cream color (they look white, but they are cream, dang it!). Here's the room & the furniture after much painting:

There is nothing up on the walls yet because I'm not sure where I want to go from here. I'm sure in a few months I'll get to nesting and really finish it up.

I do need to warn anyone out there who is planning on painting a room using the colors of pink, brown, and cream that you might develop an uncontrollable craving for Brach's Neapolitan Coconut Sundaes and feel the need to buy a bag and eat them all. There. You've been warned!

party of six

I've always said I wanted 4-5 children. Steve has always said 3-4 would be great (although there was a time when we had 2 when we thought that would be a perfect number for us). Here we are with 3, and a 4th on the way. When I was pregnant with Stella, I knew there was another baby for us. I knew it so much that I was convinced I was carrying twins and was shocked (though relieved!) when I learned at the ultrasoundsthat I was not. When we decided to have a 4th, Steve said "and that is it, right? We'll be done." Well, I thought so! But how could I know if I'd have that 'feeling' again and think we needed 'just one more' (famous last words from Jon now w/o Kate). Now that #4 is in the oven, guess what? I'm so done. Maybe it's the morning all day sickness talking, but the idea of doing this again sounds horrible crazy scary like not a good idea.

A family of 6---that has it's benefits. It's much easier to sit a family of 6 in a restaurant than a family of 7, right? A family of six can squeeze into a booth with three on each side (with one parent manning two children, because that would only be fair), but where is family member #7 going to sit? Actually that works out kind of well if family member #7 is in a high chair because you can stick him/her at the end of the booth. But let's be real---if I have 5 kids and the youngest is in a high chair, am I really giong to ever go out to eat?

Let's not forget the all important even numbers that make it easier on Disneyland rides. How many in your party? 7? Oh, who's going to ride alone? I guess we can pick the kid that's being most obnoxious at that moment, but when at Disneyland it's pretty much required to pretend your kids are never obnoxious and that you are one (big) magical family.

Then there is the issue of the dining room table. We have two tables---each has 6 chairs. And we can't just pull in a chair from the dining room table to the kitchen table to make 7 because the dining room table is a counter height and the kitchen table is a normal height. Buying dining tables is never fun for me, so you see, 4 children is a good number for us.

Actually, 3 has been a good number for us as well (you hear that morning all day sickness talking again?), but in the words of Rollo "That ain't no etch-a-sketch. This is one doodle that can't be un-did, homeskillet." So, #4, I know your little ear buds can't hear yet, but listen up---you are IT! Don't come begging mommy & daddy for a little brother or sister because it's not going to happen. I will sympathize with you (I'm the baby of six children), but I will not under any circumstances cave and give you a younger sibling. I will do what my mom did and buy you a Kid Sister Doll (and you will be lucky enough that you won't have any neices to rube desitin all over it and throw it into the pool. I'm just sayin'). Welcome to the family, kiddo!

not great clips

Taylor and Sidney needed haircuts. Taylor is choosing to let his hair grow long this summer, but needed a bang trim so he could see. Sidney just needed an inch off the length. I used to always cut Taylor's hair, but longer hair is not my forté, so I loaded up the troops and headed to Great Clips. The 'stylists' were not busy and there were a few available, so they got their hair cut at the same time (really good since I had to keep Stella out of the hair on the floor during the cuts). Taylor's was finished and the lady said "it looks uneven, but it's really not---besides you don't want it to look perfect." I thought it looked funny, but since he wears his hair messy, I thought it would be okay once it dried. Sidney was finished too, so we paid and we were outta there. Quick and painless, I thought.

Not so. Next day, I start brushing Sidney's hair and this is what I find in the back:


Taylor looked like a member of the beetles, but worse. Not only was it uneven across, but one side looked completely different than the other:


I knew it was bad when Steve got home and thought I had cut their hair. I took them back and had them re-cut. The same lady got Taylor and she said "well, you only wanted his bangs cut...so that's all I cut." Well yes, lady, but I did want it even and well blended.

This is probably my 4th bad experience with Great Clips haircuts. The first three were my own, but I thought that surely they couldn't mess up kid's hair. I'm done trying to save money on hair!

top three questions

What's for dinner?
Have we had it before?
Did I like it?

These are the three questions that I hear daily. It takes every ounce of restraint I have not to answer question #3 with "No, you hated it and that's why I made it for you again. Because I'm THAT mean."

our poetic family

Sunday evening, the kids wanted to give the lesson for Family Home Evening. They decided on teaching us about Missionaries and for our activity, Taylor asked us all to write poems about missionaries. Here you go for your giggling pleasure:

First we start with what could only be written by a 4-year-old girl:

Mariposa Missionary
She always helps people
She teaches people
She is really nice
She is a pretty girl butterly

Then mine, which is completely lame:

Missionaries come from far and near
They teach the people and never fear
Righteous and strong young women and men
Preach the gospel and save people from sin

Taylor's was completely cute (with his spelling):

Mishinaries travel near and far. All in one place. They teach the gospel.
They eat dinner at peaples house!
I hope on my missin I will go to Guam!

And then Steve. Leave it to him to produce this little beauty:

Missionaries wear a black name tag
They never let their dress pants sag
What they teach is not a gag
Accept the gospel and eternal life's in the bag
Now listen hard or the missionaries will nag
Don't get baptized and fingers will wag
Good missionaries are famous on the cover of a mag
If you don't work hard your wife'll be a hag

playing catch up

What happened to the month of March? Or the first half of April for that matter? We were busy living the good life as usual...here's a little bit of what we did:

Go Green

We went Green for St. Patty's day complete with a Green dinner. The kids planted a faux pot-o-gold to attract a leprechaun, but athe leprechauns around here were too smart to be fooled by ripped up peices of yellow construction paper.

A Pirate Says Arrrg!

With her flair for the dramatic (nobody says 'ARRRG' better than Sidney), pirate day at preschool was right up Sid's alley. Who would have thought that Sidney's white shirt that went with her Christmas outfit would also double as a perfect pirate's shirt? The pink flip-flops probably weren't exactly authentic pirate wear, but what is a pirate without a little pink glitter?

Movin' On Up

Although she still can't walk, Stella has learned to climb. She can scale the toilet and make it onto the bathrom counter in seconds flat and hanging out behind the TV has become a favorite past time. If you come over for dinner, please remember to push in your chair at the dinner table lest we find Stella on top of the table swinging from the chandelier.


Techno Baby

Every baby loves the remote control (remind me again---why do we buy them toys??), but Stella has taken it a step further and swipes any portable electronic she can get her hands on. The house phone, the cell phone, the IPod, you name it. The funny thing is, I think she really thinks that I am the one taking her stuff and she is just taking it back. Like this look----she seems to be saying "Step off, Mom, I'm trying to listen to some tunes. Hey, where'd you hide the ear buds?"

Just the Boys

Steve and Taylor made a trip to Colorado for cousin Andrew's 8th Birthday and Baptism. This was quite possibly the highlight of Taylor's short little life. Every paper he brought home from school that had any sort of creative writing assignment had the same theme: The trip to Colorado. When asked to write a story about a happy time, he wrote, "On March 24 I'm going to my cosins Birthday! On Birthdays I get Exsited! I'm going to Chokey Cheese at there. the End." For another assignment he was asked to write a newspaper article about Spring Break. Spring Break was the week before his Colorado trip, so he wrote "We will pack up, buy present for my cousin and play. It won't be fun, but playing is fun. I can't wait to go to Calorado! I'm Exsited." And one of the hottie husband and his sister, Kristina (Andrew's mom.)
And then there's Me

A lot of reading, a little sewing, and a bit of everything else thrown in. Check out this cute little purse I made:

And then came Easter...I'm not that far caught up. Maybe I'll blog about that in, oh, June or so.

babies 'n bows

We've reached a milestone moment! Stella now has enough hair (if only just barely) to create an up-do. I love babies with one little sprig of hair sticking up on top. This is Stella's very first ponytail and she wears it so well!

This next baby doesn't belong to me, but his mom trusted me with his care for a little while. It's been awhile since we've had a baby boy in this house and I thought he looked a little off without any fun accessories. We fixed that problem. Jeanne, meet your new daughter, Erica!

I'm told that if Eric chooses a life of cross dressing in the future I'm to blame. I think I can live with that.

i hope they call me on a mission

My mom and dad are serving a mission for our church. They have left their home in Orlando and are living in Salt Lake City for 18 months. I am so proud of my mom and dad and thankful for their example to our family. I love this picture. Maybe it's because I've never seen my dad wear a scarf before, or maybe it's because I'm still not used to seeing him minus his 'stache, but I just want to hug my dad when I see this. Thanks mom and dad! We Love You!

oh happy day!

I have a major, major announcement! We are very pleased to announce that Sidney can now wipe her own rear end. This is cause for serious celebration! Please join us in celebrating this wonderful event in our lives.

happy birthday baby!

One year ago today, our little Stella made her big arrival into the world! She caught us totally off guard by coming 6 weeks early and being a little tiny bug (5lbs 8oz) but she took a huge hold of our hearts in moments.
Stella's first year has flown by and I can't believe my little baby is already a year old. Stella is just as sweet as they come. Her bright eyes, silly crooked smile, and sweet personality are more than we could have ever dreamed. She loves people and loves to give hugs and kisses.
We Love You, Stell Bell!

Click below for pictures from our Little Star's party!