Things that make you go huh????

Yesterday Quinn was teasing Quincy about having a fat tummy. I mean he was totally teasing her BUT me, being miss serious, told him to knock it off because I didn't want her to have issues when she was older. Quincy asked, in a very serious tone, "what's an issue". HUH????

This morning Quincy wouldn't wake up so I started playing Christmas music on the piano and Trey came in yelling, "no church, mom. no church".
HUH????

Trey's favorite DVD, at the moment, is Barbie Princess and the Pauper. From this movie he has learned the valuable phrases, "shut-up" and "you idiot". HUH????C'mon Barbie clean up your act!

Reece wrote his Christmas list yesterday and prefaced all his requests with, "If I'm not on the naughty list, I would like.....". So what if he doesn't get every present requested will he think he's on the "naughty list" and have "issues" when he gets older?

Sayornara Toothfairy

Tonight Reece lost a tooth.
Reece: Mom you're the toothfairy aren't you?
Me: No I am not.
Reece: Mom tell me the truth- you are.

What's a mother to do?

Here we come 1970 style

Our neighbor is celebrating his birthday 70's style. We are off to bowling, clothed in our 1970ish polyester digs. Can't wait to see what everyone else looks like.

Show me the minutes

Lately I have been pondering how I spend my discretionary minutes. I decided to take a personal inventory and wasn't impressed with my findings. What I discovered is I need to be investing my discretionary time much more wisely. My husband is number one where I need to start. Quinn gets a few precious, sometimes not so precious, minutes each day while I allow facebook, children,Larry King Live, friends, e-mail, domestic duties, exercise, reading, etc . to consume my day. Quinn is a definite assesst to my life and my children's lives so I guess I better pony up and start investing my minutes in one of my strongest assests. I believe when we know better we do better. I know better therefore i will do better.

p.s. just a side note- Tonight my kids and I had the privelege (spelling)??? of co-habitating with the Walker girls (Alyssa-10, Rachelle-8, Lydia-5, Sarah-2). WOW! They are really fantastic gals. I enjoyed hearing about their school day- Since Reece is a child that reveals very little information and I teach Quincy's preschool (if you can call it that) so I know what her school day is like. I also enjoyed soaking up all the tidbits of useless -BUT very entertaining- pieces of information that only 10 & 8 year old girls can dish out.
my heart melted as I observed these girls mothering Trey, Quincy and Reece BUT by the far the most enduring moment was witnessing Sarah and Trey interact. They are both two, well Sarah will be very soon, so there were some tense moments but for the most part they played cohesively with genuine concern for each other. It was really really sweet.

I know who I am......

Today in Relief society we discussed how knowing we are divine daughters of God can assist us in navigating through this life. As I pondered that question I kept thinking about the 10k race I ran, October 25th. I trained for the race and felt prepared going into the event. Miles 1-3 were easy for me. Mile 4, I hit a wall. My legs started to ache, my breathing began to labor and I really just wanted to stop and walk. I kept telling myself, "you're a runner- you can do this. you are prepared- DON'T STOP!". I slowed my pace but kept running. Mile 5 my legs stared to loosen up again and I fell into a rhythm. Once I hit mile 6 I felt strong and was able to pick up my pace. When I crossed the finish line I was so proud of myself. Not only had I ran the whole distance I had also accomplished my goal of running 10 minute miles. The belief that I was a runner kept me running through mile 4, even though I was desperate to walk. My life has been littered with "mile 4's". I have caved into temptation and spiritually walked, even stopped, when I needed to stay running. Fortunately through the sacrifice of the Savior and His atonement I can repent of my mistakes, continue "training", for the "10k" of life and prepare myself to more successfully endure "mile 4's" -running the whole time even when I want to walk. The knowledge and belief that I am a child of God, with divine nature will keep me strong when I want to be weak. I hope that when I cross the finish line of life and meet my Savior that both He and I will be proud of me.

Falling for Fall

Fall is my second favorite season. Spring is top on the list. Two activities I love in the Fall are carving pumpkins and playing in the leaves. We have several mature, beautiful trees in our yard that provide much needed shade in the hot summer and lots of falling leaves to rake in the pre-winter months. Today the kids and I enjoyed, an unseasonably warm day, of frolicking in the leaves.

Quincy on top of her leaf pile.

Reece on top of his leaf pile.

My three little birds in their nest of leaves.

It's raining leaves.

What a cutie pie.

Quincy and I hanging out on her pile of leaves.

Last Monday we carved our pumkins.

Reece with his finished project.

Quincy with her pumkin- she really loved her pumpkin.

Trey going to town on the gunk.

What came over me?

I am not a crafty person. I also don't like messes. I realize the combination of the two might be the cause of my children missing out on some potentially, memory makin' fun, so I am trying to get over myself. I saw these Halloween shirts in a parenting magazine. The directions seemed simple enough and the mess factor was easy to control. Wouldn't ya know it- we had fun and I daresay made a memory.



All you need is: 3 white shirts, 1 box of orange fabric dye, black permanent marker, rubberbands and your imagination. You can make one big pumpkin on your shirt or several little ones, depending on how much fabric you bunch up and rubberband. After you rubberband the fabric follow the cloth dye instructions on the box. Once that step is completed your ready to make the pumpkin faces on the shirt, using the black felt pen. I outlined the faces for Quincy and she colored them in. Reece was on his own and Trey helped me color his pumpkin face. Of course Trey used a washable marker while I used the permanent one.
p.s. DO use a bucket to dye the fabric. DON'T use your white sink. Bleach will NOT completely remove the fabric dye from the surface.