A video to make you laugh

Fun with lasers 101

Mommy and Me

It's hard to believe my little squirt used to be this small. This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of the two of us.

Kit used: Sampler Kit 1 by Sprouting Seeds Studio

New Scrapbook Pages

Box Fort

Kit used: Coffee and Cupcakes by Sprouting Seeds Studio



Brave Knights

Kit used: Digging Dirt by Sprouting Seeds Studio

House/Kid Sitting - Day 12

Today was a fairly mild morning - great for cleaning house.

And did you know, if you take three kids to play group then send one to Pre-school, give one a nap, and turn on a movie for the other - the house actually stays clean for a couple of hours.

It's genius!

Today is the last day. Time to head home! Thanks for a fun time guys!

House/Kid Sitting - Day 11

Today is our last full day of house sitting. The kids slept in till almost 7 this morning! Yes that's right - 7 is sleeping in.

This morning by 9 am....

# of kids off to school: 3
# of Squirt meltdowns: 2
# of glares from a 5-year-old: 47
# of times I said "Finish your breakfast": 28

Tonight we get to have another (real) birthday party. I'm really looking forward to it.


Later:
By 9 p.m.
# of birthday candles on a pan of brownies: 13
# of big sisters who came home for the party: 2
# of brothers of mine who showed up: 1
# of large cups that filled up the top of the dishwasher: 17
# of times we had hail storms today: 2
# of times someone wished it wasn't snowing: 16
# of sick kids: 1

House/Kid Sitting - Day 10

This morning I made the coolest lego tower ever.

I was hoping to figure out some type of lock to keep three little boys inside of this room.


But by the time I got done making the room Big Sister was home to watch them for a while. So they were playing in here:


And Squirt was taking a nap - so he didn't need to be locked in a lego tower either.


And here is my finishing touches helper. He had some great ideas - like the monkey swinging from the flag. (He wasn't impressed that I put the LGM on the other flag - ha ha!)

Here's to hoping this afternoon will go more smoothly than this morning did. It's just been one of those mornings - you know?

The Seventeen Second Miracle

Have you ever read this book? My mom sent it to me to read and I finished it this evening. I think my life may have been changed.

You know how there are some good books, and some great books, and some books that leave you feeling like your life will never be the same (in a very good way)? This book had all those elements in it.

The basic premise of the book is about serving others - for 17 seconds. Because 17 seconds isn't that long. And there are always people who could use a listening ear, a friend, a ride somewhere...the list goes on and on.

The man in the book kept a journal. Each day he would write about at least one thing that someone else did for him. Sometimes it was as simple as: So-and-so stopped me in the parking lot at school today. She said she liked my poem. I don't think she's ever talked to me, but she did today.

I loved this book. It was so clean too. I think there was one swear word in the whole book - and I felt it was pretty well placed - do you know what I mean? I wouldn't have said it - but it wasn't put in the book just so there would be a swear word in there. It fit the conversation/mood/etc.

If you haven't read it yet - I think you should. I think everyone should read a book like this, and since this is the most recent one I've read - I'm recommending it. It might change your life forever. And you might always think of 17 second miracles forever.


And here's my 17 second miracle for the day...

This evening was a little crazy - but not terribly. It was a long day though, mostly filled with doing laundry. Sam got home shortly before dinner and got the kids all working on a "clutter buster" (aka - set the timer and see how much can be picked up/cleaned up before the timer goes off) and it really made my day. The little boys scattered quite a few things around today - and I hadn't gotten around to getting it all picked up. And with the microwave dead it's sometimes hard to get everything warm but not burned at the same time - and so right before dinner is kind of crazy. But to get dinner on and find the living room beautifully clean and the garbage emptied - it totally made my day. Thanks Sam - and all the kids. You are my 17 minute miracle today.

Scrapbook Page - Yellowstone 2009

So this one time we went to Yellowstone with one of my first roommates, Rachel, and her husband Jared. And then Obama came....

and....

well - here's the scrapbook page for it. If you click on it you can make it big and read the whole story. It was quite the adventure.




And you can get this kit HERE for anyone who wants.

House/Kid Sitting - Days 8-9

The past two days have been basically normal

If you count water on the stove not boiling for 25 minutes while you are trying to get dinner done.


And making snickerdoodles with two "helpers"



Two ice skaters in the kitchen (while the water is NOT boiling for dinner)


Lots of legos

(and boys playing Princess and her mom -and dressing up in everything they can find for several hours.)

And cold, windy, days. Not just windy - but Rexburg windy. Today it's beautiful outside - but freezing (only 36 degrees at 1pm)

And playing word games

And having FHE

And having two little boys in bed with you shortly after 6:00 this morning.... Can you say nap time???

House/Kid Sitting - Day 7

Today we had another concert - a dual Cello concert.


And it was amazing (Hence the dancing in the corner)

Tonight before dinner we played dress up:


The oldest of these boys told me "We are brave knights."

Who knew that brave knights liked to play dress up?



Also - have you ever seen an Oreo bath?

I thought it was pretty dang cute. And the boys were thrilled that they all got to have a bath together.


Half way done today!

House/Kid Sitting - Day 6

Today the trio of little boys ate breakfast...

and ate breakfast...

and ate more breakfast.

Everyone who came down to eat breakfast made something for them to eat too.

I think they each had 4 breakfasts.

And they were still begging for more.

Looks like Marble Works aren't entertaining enough. We'll have to come up with some other idea.



And a few more things from yesterday -

Squirt had his first playing in the toilet experience. And I wasn't impressed.

We made a cake and sang a horribly off key version of Happy Birthday for one of the older sisters.

Sam and I got to go on a date last night. And it was wonderful to be away from everyone else for a while. And we got to get caught up on Castle and Bones. Weird how I miss seeing those shows when we don't have access to our computer.

House/Kid Sitting - Day 5

This morning over breakfast I heard this conversation:

"I am the white Mario brother and you are the purple Mario brother. Ok?"
"Ok"
"And we have to go save Princess Toad."
"Ok"

I love the conversations of a 3 and 5 year old!

Today is a day full of errands and trips to town. And a birthday party this evening - a real one.

House/Kid Sitting - Day 4

Today I got to be Lucia rather than Wendy - it's a nice break. But mostly I've been Stacy.

And we may have 3 extra people for dinner. But those extra people are entertaining two of the three littlest boys - and Cyam has Squirt. Perhaps extra people isn't a bad thing.

Oh, and the microwave is not working - it smells like burning rubber after about 5 seconds. Don't know what's wrong. A call to Mom is in order tonight. Wonder what adventures are in order for this evening.

House/Kid Sitting - Day 3

Today I am starting to feel a little disconnected. Thankfully I have been getting a break about noon for a while the past few days. It really does help.

Today we played birthday party.

1,297 times.

With 12 different choices of cake.

And a horse named Ivan.

And we were still Wendy, Bob, and Mr. Sabatini, but Bobby changed his name to Muck today.

To tell the truth, I'm really not crazy about being called Wendy. I like the name - but it just isn't me, you know?

Mr. Sabatini goes to school a half day so I brought him in to town. Now it's time for my break. And boy is it a quiet break!

House/Kid Sitting - Day 2

Today I spent most of the afternoon being called "Wendy." I 'played' with

Bob the builder (also known as Mr. Bob)
and
Bobby

and we waited for Mr. Sabatini (the older brother) to come home from school for more than an hour and a half. Boy were Bob and Bobby so excited when he came home!

In the evening after the little ones were in bed we went outside in the nice-ish weather (I still wanted my coat but most of the others were just in shirt sleeves) to play a game called "Spud."

That's how you know we're in Idaho - we play games about potatoes (only there weren't any potatoes involved - just a ball and some running)

House/Kid Sitting - Day 1

For the next two weeks we are house sitting some friends of ours. Don't know how much time I'll have for blogging - but perhaps on occasion.

This morning we had a concert:


And it was fun - and pretty loud.

7.1 Earthquake in Japan

April 7, 2011

Look at THIS link. See the big red box? It will only be red for a little while but that red box near Japan is another 7.1 earthquake that hit in the last hour. THIS link shows all the info. It was near Sendai - again. HERE is a link for the tsunami warning they have now.
More prayers for Japan.

Still Missing

Grant Moedl is still missing. A Private Investigator was hired but wasn't able to come up with anything new that hadn't already been checked out. I know there have been some legal things they've been working on - but nothing new has come up yet.

Also, about 2 weeks ago a Canadian couple went missing as well. HERE's the link to their story. It scares me though - they went missing almost the same way Grant did. No cell phone trace, no credit card used - nothing. And nothing found. They may have been driving through Idaho. Even if not - it's still in the same area of the U.S. that Grant went missing.

I don't think I'll plan on any trips by myself for a while - and I won't let Sam go off alone either. If something were to happen I would prefer that we were together. Even though I know we'll be together forever, I would rather not have to live the rest of my life without my sweetie.

Please pray for these missing people. Even if the cases aren't related, I'm sure they could use your prayers - and so could their families.

Stuffed Animal Names

About the time he turned 1, Squirt became incredibly attached to his teddy bear. He got the bear for his first Christmas when he was about 2 months old - but hadn't shown much interest. Suddenly over night the bear went almost everywhere with him. This is the scrapbook page I made that first week.

Within a few days he was calling his teddy bear "Tey" like Teddy but without either d.

Then for Valentine's Day I got Cyam a stuffed dog - and Squirt decided it should be his.

He carries both around almost everywhere. I just call the puppy "Puppy" and often talk about what a puppy says, "woof."

Yesterday morning we heard for the first time Squirt's name for the puppy.

"Woof-Tey"

I think it's fitting don't you?

p.s. I also find it hilarious - and keep laughing every time I think about it.
p.p.s Say it out loud - it will probably make you laugh
p.p.p.s Now I need to make a new scrapbook page ;)

Favorite Scrapbook Page

I am SO excited that this kit has been released finally! I made this page a few weeks back and it's still one of my favorite pages ever. Love this sweetie boy of mine!

Download this kit (Butterflies) HERE

Scrapbook Page

Can I just tell you a secret? I love using red, yellow, and blue together. When I use them in a scrapbook page or in a room or....just about anything...it makes me feel like all is right with the world. And guess what? I have a new scrapbook layout with those colors! So yeah, all is right with the world, or at least, mostly.

You can find the link for this cute free kit HERE from Sprouting Seeds Studio. They also have a new kit called Pirates Not Allowed that just came out. It is so darling! I don't have any pictures to use for that theme - but I still got the kit so someday when I have some pirate stuff....

Anyway - here's my red, yellow, and blue layout. I can't tell you how much I love red, yellow, and blue together. Perhaps I'm just weird...anyone else like that combination as much as I do?