A few favourites from the last week

She loves to put her foam chair on the couch so that she is the same height as us.

He loves his Bumbo!

I love the hat but the look is priceless!

Scrip-ta-churs and Goldfish

Emily makes me laugh at times. Here are two of her latest antics.

Scrip-ta-churs

Last night I told Emily that when I was finished feeding Collin it was time for scriptures. Immediately, she ran into her bedroom, pulled down each book in her bookshelf until she found her "scriptures." (A picture book of basic Book of Mormon stories.) Then she climbed up on her bed next to me and calls out, "Dad, scrip-ta-churs." He was on the computer and so she ran into the tv room grabbed his hand and said, "Dad, come, its scrip-ta-churs." Landon laughed and said, "Do I have to?" She yanked on his hand and said, "Dad, its scrip-ta-churs." And then she pulled him all the way onto her bed and had him read them to her. It was so cute!

Goldfish

I don't know about anyone else's kids but Emily is obsessed with Goldfish crackers. (Her mom loves them too...) At church today I looked over and almost laughed outload. Emily had placed a goldfish cracker between every other toe. It was hilarious.

Bears
Yesterday, Emily was eating a candy shaped like a bear. She picks it up and says, "Hi Bear! How you? What ya doin?" Then she gave it a kiss and ate it. I couldn't stop laughing!

As always, she keeps me on my toes.

Six Years

Yesterday Landon and I celebrated our six year anniversary. It is hard to believe that much time has past. I am so thankful that I made the decision to marry my husband. Neither of us is perfect but we both work hard to make this marriage work and the benefits are shown more everyday. We have both made positive changes in our lives due to the love and support we give each other. I am grateful for the love and forgiveness that is shown to me. I need both! :) Our beautiful kids are the joy of our lives. Thank-you Landon for all the memories and I look forward to all the years ahead.

Pie in the face Dad?

One of the local grocery stores had a fundraiser for the Children's Wish Foundation. They had local "big names" (ie mayor, well known businessmen) come and for $5 you could throw a pie in their face. My dad was one of the people asked to come. Much to his dismay I decided that Emily just had to be there. (Just kidding, he thought it was great) Some of his staff put money in but were unable to come so we had four pies to throw. Emily was a little distraught that Papa had stuff thrown at him. She was worried about his eyes. Dad on the other hand loved it. The pie plates had either lemon pie filling or banana cream pie filling with whip cream on top. He thought it was fantastic! Enjoy our little slide show. (I asked one of my dad's workers to take a picture of Emily and I throwing the pie but he got it of my dad's face. One of the grocery store workers took one though and she is going to send it to my dad. I'll post it when I get it.)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Isn't she beautiful?

Our friend Jordan brought Emily a dress back from Cuba. I was trying to get a picture of it but Emily did not agree. I did get this cute shot though. I love the elastic in her hair. Our friend Darlene made them for Emily they are a crocheted flower that is attached to an elastic.

Bubbles

Is there anything better in life than blowing bubbles?

Emily doesn't think so. To save myself hours of blowing I bought her a Nemo motorized blower. She spends hours a day in bliss.

My Monkeys

I have renamed my children.

Emily is now Monkey Girl. Her super power is to get into all imaginable mischief no matter the obstacle with stealth.

Collin is The Chunky Monkey. He gets chunkier every day. He still insists on eating every 2 and half hours and his thighs show the result. He must take after his mom! :)

Emily calls Collin Monkey Boy so I'm sure as he grows up she will nurture his super mischief power until they become an unstoppable duo and I will be counting my blessings that Landon is the one who stays at home. :)

(Actually I will be sad because Emily and I have had some pretty awesome adventures lately. What can I say, her naughtiness is funny and very contagious!)

After Church Bliss

I stole the title for this blog from my friend Rachel. It just fit our afternoon so well that I had to.... sorry Rachel. :)

Sunday mornings are crazy around here since Landon has meetings before church. He is usually gone by 7:30. It is hit and miss on how well the morning will go, no matter how much prep I do the night before. The joy of children. But after church, oh the bliss. Emily usually falls asleep on the ride home and will nap for up to 2 hours. Collin will usually fall asleep and if he doesn't I feed him and voila sleeping baby. It is the only time that my kids nap at the same time. Landon and I were able to enjoy peace and quiet. We even got to eat lunch together and talk! :) When Emmy woke up we took a walk up to Sunset Park. It was a perfect day. Sun was out and it was the perfect temperature outside. We had a great time on the swings and climbing on the play equipment. The walk home was relaxing and Emily even got out of the stroller and walked with us for part of the way. The rest of our day has just been hanging out as a family. What could be better?!

Emily and her Cuteness

I love that Emily sees herself as older than she is but still has those little kid moments. Everyday brings more fun memories. Here are a few to share with you:

Emily asked her dad to move the ottoman closer so that she could put her feet up like him. I gave her the pillow so that she could sit up and touch the it. It was so adorable!

I found her in her room with Blue's Clue's Valentines arranged in a circle on the floor. She was dancing and singing around the ring. As soon as I got the camera though she switched to spinning in the middle. (I had just finished getting her diaper changed when Collin had started crying so there is a diaper on the floor that she put her circle around to include...) Here is the video:

And as we know all that spinning and dancing is tiring (plus we went on a 5 km walk and she went horseback riding after that) and so when she got home this is how she slept. I have a wonderful daughter!

Emily loves Collin

That is one thing I am sure of.... Emily loves Collin. Too much at times but she does love him and he loves her. He loves to watch her and they sit and giggle together.

Do you notice how he is strapped in? Emily was so proud of herself! She did it while I went looking for his blanket so we could go to town.

Fun with Ethan

Last Friday, Ethan came and spent the day with us. It was so much fun! We went for a walk to Strongstart, took the bus to town to see Grandma and Papa at work and then home for quiet time before Matt came. Emily and Ethan are best of friends and it is great to see them together.

My front yard

I finally got my front yard together. Not completely finished but close enough. My mom came over and helped weed around the rose bushes. My landlord mowed our lawn now that the swamp has mostly drained away.... :) And yesterday I put down landscaping fabric around the bushes and put down mulch. I borrowed my parents weed eater and cleaned up the rest. We are loving the ramp that my dad and Landon built as well. I have edged almost all of the area and put a couple of planters out front. Here are some pictures:

(Now onto finishing the backyard...)

Mother's Day and all that.......

I struggle with Mother's Day. I'll admit it, I do.

I loved it growing up, I loved giving my mom breakfast in bed and finding things all day to do. It was great. And I'd dream about the days that my kids would show their appreciation at least one day a year. I think that is my problem. I equate the quality of my mothering skills to the reception on one day a year. Not too smart, I know, but its the truth. I'm trying to change it but well.....

So needless to say, I wasn't looking forward to this year. I did smarten up and at least tell my husband what I would like so that there was something Sunday morning. :) Sundays are crazy around our house so the day looked like this. Landon's branch presidency meeting was at 7:30 am and Welfare meeting at 8:30 am. I got up at 6:30 am so I could shower, kissed my husband goodbye and spent the morning getting kids bathed and ready. The kids were really good and we shared some smiles and laughs. Emily kept putting on her sunglasses which was cute. My mom held Collin for sacrament meeting so I was able to devote my time to Emily. She loved it and behaved pretty good. At the end of the meeting the primary and nursery handed out potted flowers to all the moms. Emily was so cute and excited to give me my flower. It truly made my day! (She was even more excited to plant it with me yesterday!) We all took an hour nap after church. Landon had been feeling a little sic on Saturday night and was now feeling really sick. Sore throat, and his back hurt so bad he could hold either child. After we woke up from our nap (except Landon as he was dead to the world), well lets just say, my two beautiful, nice children had been replaced. Collin decided that screaming was on the agenda and Emily decided to break every rule multiple times until I was ready to go nuts. I made dinner in which I was the only one excited for it. (Chicken and my favourite spinach salad.) Landon only woke up with enough time to get dressed to his meeting at 7:30pm. So I took the kids to my mom's house for some sanity time. She was in awe at Emily's attitude and Collin's screaming. Both kids also decided to keep it up until 10 pm. Not my best day but there were a few sweet moments and here are pictures of a few of them.......

Can you beat this story?????

I want to know if you can beat this story. As gross as it is it makes me laugh now, definately not then. Here it goes.....

I was reading my email with Collin sitting on my lap. Emily came to stand beside us. I started thinking wow Emily's diaper is stinky, I had better go change her. And then I saw her push her brother's head. I look down to tell her to stop and realize no she is wiping his forehead..... with her POO! She had put her hand in her dirty diaper, wiped a little on my chair and then the rest on her brother's head! Luckily his forehead so it was not near his mouth. Her dad was not amused! I cleaned up Collin and then Emily and put her in the bath. Definately payback will be for Collin to tell this story to her boyfriends. :)

So can you beat it????

Powerful Video

My sister sent me a link to this video and I just want to share it with all of you. It was so powerful! We must all remember that we can change the future!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

Immunizations, oh what fun!

Collin received his two month immunizations yesterday. He weighed in at 11 lbs 5 oz. I totally forgot to give him his tylenol before we went. I was a little worried about it because I had a doctors appointment afterwards and I could just see him being really cranky. Nope he was a perfect content baby. He cried during the shots but as soon as I fed him he went back to normal. Emily on the other hand must have decided he should be cranky so she did it for the both of them. :) Later in the afternoon Collin started to get really cranky and the tylenol is what got us through the night. I guess it was just the Lord blessing me with a happy baby until I could get home and deal with it.

Landon has been suffering from a lot of lower back pain and has been talking about wanting to have Dr. Jubb (my old family doctor who "retired" 6 years ago) to do some acupuncture on him. It always did wonders for my parents and so he wanted to see if it would help. We just didn't know how to contact him. Or how much we would have to pay because we were sure it wasn't covered by BC medical. During my doctor's appointment I asked our family doctor, Dr. Hocking, about it. She told me that he works out of their office twice a week helping call ins with pain management, etc. I just had to call on the day he was there because appointments were first come, first served. He happened to be there yesterday and as I was leaving the room I ran into him. He was teasing me about attending an 80's dance this weekend (and wishing that Naomi was here because she is so nice and an awesome dancer....) telling me he even got himself a wig. He is hilarious! Anyways I mentioned Landon and he said that he would sneak him in as soon as he finished with the patient he was working with. The great thing is because he is not just an acupuncturist but also a family physician it just goes in the computer as a doctors appointment so it was fully covered. He told Landon that if it was a bulging disc that acupuncture wouldn't touch the pain but that he thought Landon had pulled a ligament in his lower back. So he did some points around the spine and then his syatic nerve. Landon was so excited, he can now pick up Emily without pain! YEAH! Then Dr. Jubb "tattoed" (drew in permanent marker) the spot for the syatic nerve. I'm to do it once a day. He showed me how. I'd done it in high school on my dad as well. I'm excited.

Sharing and the Lessons We Learn

Last Sunday at church Emily had a lesson in nursery on sharing. Everyday she was to roll her sharing dice and then share something. So Monday Emily and I made cookies. She loves to cook and cookies are her favourite to eat so it worked out great. Then I packed three plates of cookies and our little family went out to visit the neighbors. I thought that it would be good for Emily to share cookies with her friends. She was so proud of herself to hand over the plate of cookies. It was really cute. Then we went next door to the neighbors who we haven't had really any contact with. They have a bit of a feud going on with our landlords and so things started off really rocky with us being caught inbetween. I decided that if I was going to teach Emily about sharing I might as well teach myself to share with those who may have offended me. It was a great lesson! They were a little surprised to see us on their doorstep but we introduced ourselves and offered the cookies. They thanked us a lot and introduced themselves. Rather tentatively they let us know that the bear who had taken off with our garbage (my mom helped me clean up all that we could find but it took off into the woods on their property) had left it in a pile on the elderly lady's property next to them. They then offered to show us the box they built last summer to protect their garbage cans. We ended up having a very nice visit. They even said Emily could try out their tire swing but we knew if she did she would be running away to their house as well. :) Sometimes we think that we know someone by looking on the outside and judging their actions. But as we take the time to get to know them we are taken by surprise by the great people that are there. I am very grateful that the Lord blessed us with not only the perfect little house for us but it is surrounded by wonderful people.

Confessions of an Imperfect Mom

Have you ever had a day where you know it is only by the grace of God that your children are still alive?

Maybe I'm the only one but yesterday was that day for me. By the end of the day I felt so sorry for my kids. I see so many great moms out there who do great things and then my kids have me. I lost my temper too many times to count yesterday. I hate doing that! And yet Emily would still smile at me which made me feel more guilty and horrible. It didn't help that yesterday was the first yucky day in a week. So lots of inside time! I was telling Landon how horrible I am last night and he told me that it wasn't that I was a bad wife and mom it's just that I acknowledge that I am not a perfect wife and mother and instead of seeing the good that I do I beat myself up over the stuff I do imperfectly. I know where I need to improve but it just doesn't seem to be motivating enough to change.

Here is an example: Emily has taken to running away. Just started this week. First it was just to our neighbors yard to play with her kids (who we hadn't introduced ourselves to.) The next day it was to walk into my mother's neighbors house to see if she had toys (in which Eva gave her a cookie so I have a feeling that will happen again.) After listening to my husband's strong concerns about this I resolved to better watch her. Then there was today...... Collin needed a new diaper before we headed home from church so I brought Emily into the church and shut the door behind me. (Landon has meetings after church so its just me.) The other girl in nursery with Emily, Elly, was still there so they were running around playing together. Elly's mom, Theresa, and I were chatting as I changed Collin's diaper. Next thing we know we realize that the front door is open and the one of the nice firemen (Rita-the one with the eyelashes) from the firehall across the street is holding both our girls in his arms. Yeah, I guess one of the members of our branch thought that the doors being closed on a nice spring day was not good. (His words when my mom asked him about why the doors were open.) He watched our daughters leave and then promptly started talking to someone else. They crossed the street and climbed up two stories of stairs on the outside of the firehall. The firemen thought that they could hear children outside and opened the door to find our daughter sitting there. AHHHHH! I didn't even last one day with my resolve to watch my daughter more carefully.

I guess my prayer is going to have to be for the Lord to keep my children safe. I promise I'm doing my best but it just doesn't seem to be enough with my toddler.