Monday, September 29, 2008

So, How big do diapers come, anyway??!

So, today was P-Day.  Our Grand Finale launch into the diapers BE GONE phase. (if you've read earlier posts, you will know that the potty training has been an ever on-going more misses than hits saga around here...)   We did the pep talk.  We did the fun spiderman undies.  We did the potty practice.  All of the pieces were in place.  The only thing missing was  an actual 'deposit' into the great white potty.  We can do this!!

.... I don't know how he did it.  He managed to pee, in the undies, in between my 30 second intervals of "do you need to go potty?"  "Do you want to do a potty try?"  "Are you still dry?"  

     So, we regrouped, take two.  We can do this.  Just a minor set back. (After all, we've made it through days of 7+ misses, this is nothing!)  We have lots of undies, in multiple super-hero/animal layouts.  For try #2 we opt for the sharks.  So far so good.  We make it through showing number one of the "letter movie."  We even make it through lunch.              We're still pumped, this is going to work!  I come down stairs to change the laundry and check email.  Down walks Ben, big smile... and big wet spot. 

        Minor set back.  We can still do this...! (?)  We will still do this!!  Remember, positive talk - potty training WILL happen today!  Diapers are Done!  Big boy undies are here to stay!  We change, we regroup.  We... only put on the undies this time and skip the pants (he LOVES his clothes, so I pull out this last resort of, "You can put your pants on as soon as you go potty in the toilet" - cruel? Maybe a little, but I am starting to grasp at anything by now).
      We settle down for showing #2 of the "letters movie" (Hey, he's learning his ABC's and even the sounds - I get some points for that, at least!).  I hit the tired wall (you know, that one that kicks in somewhere around mid-afternoon after a series of child-rearing days followed by child-nightmare-consoling nights...).  I doze off for a wee bit, only to be shocked awake by the pungent smell of...
      No, no, no it CAN'T be that.  Please, anything but THAT...  
      "Ben, do you have poops?"  I ask in my trying to be nice and control my last shred of sanity voice.
     "Yep, and pee, too!"  is his ever-jovial answer as he is sitting, playing pirates on the white (newly professionally cleaned) carpet with evidence of said poop EVERYWHERE.

... How big did you say diapers come?!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

What do you want to be when you grow up?

    This one was came via our sweet neighbor, who was having a conversation with Seth,
"So, Seth, are you going to go on a Mission when you grow up?"
"Yep!  And then, I'm going to be a Power Ranger!!"

That's my boy... Super Hero-Missionary :). 

Friday, September 19, 2008

Recipe Ideas, anyone??

    ... Did you know that next week is "America on the Move" week (which, interestingly the networks have counteracted with their self declared "stay-at-home" week for the season premiers of their shows... trying.... to.... stay.... off....the....soap....box...over...that....paradox...)

    But I digress...  So I am doing some nutrition seminars in the community for the America On the Move, and I feel like I am out of fresh, fun ideas to have as samples for the people to eat.  Do any of you have any fun (somewhat healthy...), and relatively simple recipes that you like?  The topics of the seminars are:  
1.  Hurry up and Healthify - this is how to make quick, easy changes that increase the health of the family.  Any quick snack ideas or recipes that you have?
2.  Basic Body Ingredients - talking about the 6 ingredients your body has to have each day - just a basic healthy eating guide.  I am completely out of ideas for snacks for this one
3.  Feeding your family, from tots to teens - how to help kids of all ages learn healthy eating habits.  Any 'age-category' recipes that you can think of?

  We have done a bunch of things in the past, including:  pita pizzas, pumpkin muffins, fruit platters with fruit dip, bean bread (you can't taste the beans, I promise!!  I usually don't give this recipe out until AFTER they have tried it!!), stromboli (a heidi special - thanks Heidi - I bet you didn't know your special 'meat and french bread roll' was getting passed around the midwest, did you??!), etc. 
   As I have been looking through all of the different recipes that I have on file for this next week, I am....mmm.... bored with all of the prospects.  Any ideas out there??

Thursday, September 18, 2008

You know you're ready for the weekend when...

... you pull up at the gym, just in time to get the kids into kids care and be able to start the class that you are teaching, to hear your 6 year old in the back say, "Hey mom, I thought we were going to school today..."  and you realize that you drove right past the older kids school on the way.  
.... yep, I'm ready for the weekend!

Monday, September 15, 2008

When is 10 minutes just TOO many minutes??...

... and you can't wait for that 10 minutes because the day has been... well... very long to say the least, and you just want to plop down on the couch and veg for a minute, but you turn the corner of the stairwell to see this...



... and walk downstairs to realize that this closet now looks...

... like this 
... and every blanket and pillow in the house has been turned into the above pictured "launch pad landing," which the kids had used to cushion their landing from launching themselves off of various heights of the stairs...

... and just when you think, "well, it could be worse, this is actually kind of creative of the kids"  the dog (who has been playing outside in the rainy mud puddles)  bounds down the stairs and across the makeshift launch pad...



... about then is when you realize that yes, sometimes 10 minutes is just TOO many minutes...

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Wow - I've never been 'tagged' so here goes my list...
Tagged by:  Chelle

The Five

10 years ago I:
1.  Was neck deep into my dietetics core at BYU.  Pretty much had my head buried in a book 24/7
2.  Had just emerged from my post-mission traumatic stress syndrome and got back into the social scene
3.  Had just welcomed my parents home from their first mission
4.  Was able to hang out at the pool with my roomie to study and soak up the last of the Indian Summer sun rays (wow - no kids to chase after - was I really able to just relax by a pool??!)
5.  Had just gotten put in RS and felt like a deer in the headlights!

5 things on today's "to-do" list:
1.  Write all the things down that I did and put a check by them
2.  Arrange babysitting (for the third night in a row - AUGG!!) for yet another meeting (Double AUGG!!).
3.  Learn a fresh new song to teach at Zumba... okay no time for that - review one of my new'er' songs to teach at Zumba... okay no time for that - at least make it in time to teach Zumba!
4.  Make sure Seth is matching before I send him out the door (no Seth, a Yellow and Green shirt does not match light blue-with-a-navy-blue stripe pants).
5.  Make sure all diapers are clean as we walk out the door (I can't say the same for when we pull up to the gym, however).

5 snacks I enjoy
1. Chocolate chips (yep, straight from the bag.  Even better if you mix them with either butterscotch chips or peanut butter chips.  Yummy!)
2.  Really fresh, crisp grapes
3.  Sugar snap peas
4.  Anything sugar-y (sweedish fish, licorice, mike-n-ikes, you get the picture)
5.  "Cheesy Chips" (homemade nachos)

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:

1.  Make sure parents and in-laws are set for life
2.  Pay off all debt (student loans, house, car)
3.  Invest for future
4.  Make the MyCook invention a reality!
5.  Bribe people to come and visit us (yes, I really am that desperate for visitors!!)

5 Places I have lived
1.  Burley ID (aka Zion!)
2.  Provo, UT
3.  Guatemala
4.  Detroit
5.  Connecticut

5 Jobs I have had
1.  Janitor (or sanitation engineer to be politically correct) for dad's office
2.  Life Guard
3.  Dietitian (at various locations)
4.  Aerobics instructor
5.  MOMMY!!

I tag...
Gina
Jolene
Marissa
Angela
Mom

Rules:  Each player answers the question themselves.  At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.  Let the person that tagged you know when you've answered the questions on your blog.

The quote of the week...

Here is how the conversation went down:
Jerry:  "Seth, how was your first week of school?"
Seth:  "It was fun.  I have a girlfriend in my class!!"
Jerry (after he and I exchanged completely shocked looks):  "Oh, really?  What's her name?"
Seth:  "I don't know"
Jerry:  "Well, have you talked to her?"
Seth:  "Nope, she sits clear across the room from me.  But she is SO cool.  Like a Rock Star!!"

Yep, that's our little charmer.  Loving adoration from afar.  I tell you what, if this is the type of girlfriends we deal with (the kind that you don't know their name and with whom you never actually speak...), I'm okay with that!!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

WARNING: (especially for Michelle!)... HIT MUTE NOW!

... If you are part of the 'must not play Christmas Music until Christmas Eve' club, then you may want to just hit auto mute from now on for this blog.  I'm sorry, but I can't hold off any longer, the christmas music HAS to come out!!  
... In my defense, this is the longest I have waited to start with the Christmas music for many years - I consider it somewhat of an achievement in Christmas-music self mastery :).
... Also in my defense, here is my argument for the early-playing of Christmas music:  There are SO MANY incredibly Christmas songs out there, and we only relegate them to ONE month per year?!  Those poor cd's get very lonely sitting in the cold, hard, dark place that is the cd storage unit so I think it's only fair that they get their fair share of play time.
    So there, enough said.  Let the seasonal music begin!!!

The Real Reason we had kids :)


Monday, September 8, 2008

Picture Palooza


Once again, Ann, you did an AMAZING job - you are truly one of the 
greatest photographers known to man :).

Seth in his GQ pose (6 years old)


Sarah striking a pose by the flowers (6 years old)

Ben was WAY done by this time :)  (3 1/2 years)

Joshy, true to form, climbing on anything he possibly could (12 1/2 months)


Seth and Sarah (who were recently alarmed to find out that they 
couldn't grow up and marry each other...)


Jerry and Jen, reinacting the 'wedding dip'

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Priceless

One Rope:   $15

One Old Tire:   Free



Receiving a phone call stating, "umm, honey.... I was just wondering how much longer your meeting would go because, ummm,  I'm kind of stuck in the tree..." :    Priceless*

*He did make it down (within 10 seconds of his first call - with all bones and limbs in tact!) and the tire swing is in the perfect position!  Thanks, honey - you are awesome!



Tuesday, September 2, 2008

The Travel Tri-athalon

...Betcha didn't even know there was such a thing, did you?!  It's called, Drive, fly, drive... each of those in different states.  It's even better if you start out at the crack of dawn :).
   We had a BLAST being with family this past weekend.  Our decision is not going to be an easy one, to say the least!!  I'll write about the weekend a little later however, as this post is dedicated to our travel-athelon.
    We were just traveling with just one child (and an infant child at that - how hard can that be?!).  It's the first time we have ever just had ONE, so we were pretty stoked.  We have never done the benedryl thing before, but because Joshy is just getting into the very-mobile-and-wiggly-mode, we thought we would cover all of the bases and give it a try.  On the way over, it worked like a charm - he slept a lot of the way on the plane, with only a couple of cry times, which were stopped very quickly.
     The return travel-tri-athelon, however, was a whole different story.  It started bright and early as we did the 3 hour sprint to be to the airport by 8:00 am, which means we left at 5:00 am, which wasn't too bad until you factor in that we stayed up until 1:00 am talking (and laughing so much I thought my cheeks were going to break!!).  We only scared a couple of cars on the drive with our weaving across the center line and made it safely to the airport in beautiful time to make our flight - even extra time to let Joshy play in the 'kids area'.  "Perfect," I think - "he will get all of his wiggles out here and be the perfectly still-sitting child we dream of him being :).  About 1/2 hour before the flight, we administer the benedryl, and then head down to the gate, where Joshy gets more and more drowsy, and the time ticks closer to departure.  The only problem is... no one is boarding the plane.  At 10 minutes to departure, I'm thinking "Wow, either there are only 5 people on this flight, or they are going for a world record in loading-passengers time".  Neither was true - Finally an announcement comes on that the plane will not be leaving on time (big surprise there...).  Not only that, but it's wasn't even at the airport, and they didn't know when it would arrive.  Great.
      After calling the Kendricks (BIG THANK YOU for taking the 2nd wave of the triple child watch!!) to let them know that they had to add some more time to their 'countdown to freedom from Brewer Babes', we settled in to wait, and Joshy... slept like a baby.
      Fast forward 1 1/2 hours and we are finally called to a new gate and getting ready to board the plane (which, we later learned had to re-route and land at a different airport because it was 'getting low on fuel'  c'mon if maverick can fly on fumes and save the day, can't you just make it into the right airport??!).  Just as we are all around waiting to be called, Joshy wakes up, VERY groggy, and VERY unhappy.  So the scene is people (who are grumpy to begin with) crowded around, waiting to finally board the plane, watching a couple trying to get all of our bags together, get our boarding passes, fold up the stroller, and handle a squaking human slinky.  
       My first real sign of, 'this is going to be a LONG flight' came when we were making our way to the seat, and heard the guy in the row right in front of us having an argument with the flight attendant about how the seats were 'too close' and he didn't have enough leg room.  I'm thinking to myself, "Dear, kind sir, that is going to be the LEAST of your complaints in just a few minutes."   Right on cue, Joshy gave a big squak as we sat down, and I think I could visibly see him shudder.
      Here's a quick rundown of the next 3 hours of horror:  Joshy, flailing and screaming to get down and go explore.  Jerry, having just come off a weekend of starting the 'alpha dog' discipline tactic (you know, the church discipline where you take the screaming child out and just bear hug him to show that he won't get anywhere by screaming and he will actually have more freedom being inside the chapel than outside the chapel), takes and bear-hug-clamps Joshy, who then completely revolts with the only thing he can, his SCREAMS.  The mortified mother (me) tries to take Joshy and nurse him.  Joshy, beyond any type of consolation, proceeds to clamp down with his dagger-teeth to show that he's not so much into snacking about now, and starts screeching (he made sounds I've never heard made before from an infant!).  
     I bobble him around with every distraction I have in our bag - to no avail.  He pops up to look at the person in back of us - which has often worked with him on planes.  He is such a people person that he loves to entertain the people around him by getting their attention, then flashing his big dimple filled smile.  This time however, he can't quite get the attention of the man behind us, because (are you ready for this complete TRUE yet bizarre arrangement??)  the man behind us is blind.  I'm so not kidding - the dark glasses, walking stick, being led to his seat by the flight attendant type of blind.  No distractions coming from behind. 
      Meanwhile the 'not-enough-leg-room' man in front is noisily pushing his seat back and re-arranging to show his discomfort, only to be met with the double-stronger-than-human-feet kick from Joshy right against the back of the chair.  I'm expecting the whip-lash court papers to be served at any time now...
      This cycle pretty much continued the entire flight.  At one point during one of the alpha-dog-bear-hug clamps, complete with screaming child, I just put my head in my hands and slunk down, trying desperately to melt into my seat, I saw on the floor of the aisle two feet pointed right at me.  I looked up to see a woman (not the flight attendant, mind you) standing with her arms folded just staring at us.  I quickly put my head back down as I reverted back to my best 3 year old if-I-can't-see-you-then-you-can't-see-me defense, which apparently worked because she didn't say anything and went back to her seat.
     In all my years of flying, I swear I have never seen a plane deboard so fast.  We got our bags, got to the car, as we were pulling on to the freeway for leg #3 of our tavel-athelon, we looked and saw Joshy... sleeping soundly in the back.
     Ahhh.... the joys of travel....