I feel a bad moon rising...

something weird happened tonight.  So weird I don't know how to process it.

Dinner.  dinner was so unusually successful tonight.  Well.  It was an hour late.  and Spencer wasn't even home (scouts) so you would expect this to be the beginning of a story of food-tragedy and madhouse-ness.  No.  no.  The kids were smiling, and speaking politely.

 Campbell only spilled her drink once. 

And the weirdest part was that they ATE. 

 Not one word (!) was uttered in complaint against the unfairness of having to eat the worst food on the planet. 

 No veggies were hidden under plates in a most obvious of fashions.  Carrots, peppers, peas, hummus, all happily ingested.

 Are you feeling freaked out yet?  Because this is not just exceptionally rare. 

It has NEVER happened before. 

 The home-made noodles were too wide and conspicuously wheat. 

The sauce was a little burned. 

 But rather than hearing "mom, you make the grossest food of all moms!"  I heard, "You are the best mom.  in the world.  no, the best PERSON!"  and "I'll never forget you, mom!"

Yes, it was an incredible night.  As in, I still can't believe it. 

And now I just have to sit and wait for the Universe to do something unexpectedly bad to return to balance.  It's the only thing that makes sense.

waiting..... waiting.... waiting....

(pictures are unrelated but cute.)

Are you asking for a CHALLENGE!?!

Oh, strongbad...

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So, I've decided this year to do a 30-day challenge every month.  It's fun.  wanna try?

The month of January was the financial Ramadan, and by that I mean that the challenge was to spend NO money (except the absolute necessities: food, limited gas, bills).  It was harder than I thought it was going to be. 

I chose this challenge for a few reasons:
-there are only so many ways I can contribute to the family finances.
-I thought it would be a good reminder to me of how easy it is to slip into a habit of spendiocity (yes, I did.)
-I wanted to get a good idea of my wants vs. needs spending.

I have to say it was harder than I thought.  By a lot!  I did fail a few times, like the week I had all my kids home with Strep throat and didn't have much by way of crafting supplies stocked up.  So I jumped the gun on a craft-closet revamp I'd been planning.

And we might of gone on a few more dates than was neccessary last month, but Spencer paid for those :)

But groceries, that is where I excelled.  I wrote out a detailed menu plan, wrote shopping lists for those, and stood my grounds on my list.  NO IMPULSE BUYS!  And that felt good.

So in the end, did it benefit me?  Well, yes, even though I failed a little here and there and I hated it most of the time, I'm really glad I did it. 

It DID open my eyes to how my spending habits have gotten more lax than they need to be.  It did make me grateful that we are no longer starving students.  It did get me in the habit of menu planning and it did get me out of the habit of impulse buys.

It did NOT get me new boots.  It did NOT get me new red pencil pants (although February is a new month!).  It did NOT get me the new photos and frames I wanted.

But I think it was worth it.  A good reminder of what things are worth waiting for, how spendiocious I'd become, and all that good stuff. 

So yeah, it was worth it. :)

and February's challenge...bum bum bum....get up and at 'em before the kids 6 days a week. 

This is a particulary hard one for me.  I sleep better in the morning so Spencer has been doing the morning shift.  But I know my day will go more smoothly if I start earlier.  So here goes.  I've been doing it since Thursday and so far have been really grateful for this challenge.  But we'll see what happens when the kids keep me up all hours of the night.

because I'm a good mom

 I want to nap.  And/or go eat raw cookie dough.  Or plan a big project that I'm not going to start soon. 

But, it's Sunday afternoon, I'm fasting, my brain is strangely "on" (in spite of my body being slumped over), so I'm going to blog.  It's for fun.

Did you know Campbell got stitches?  Probably, since "you" is probably one of 3 people who are also my facebook friends.  Let's say "you" is posterity instead.

The week before Christmas, a lovely but slow Sunday afternoon, Spencer headed off to do hometeaching.  The girls and I planned on playing together until Daddy came home and then we would go to the Christmas open house at the Chandler's.

Because I'm a cool mom, I let them jump on the beds.  You know, why not?  It's not like anybody ever got seriously maimed from jumping on soft mattresses.  I went downstairs for who-knows-what-reason and was followed by Cadence, leaving Campbell and Layla in the bedroom. 

That cry.  It's the unmistakeable "something is REALLY wrong" cry.  You know it when you hear it.  and I heard it.  I ran to the staircase and there was Campbell at the top, hand on her head.  I saw the blood pouring down her face only seconds later.  At that moment, Layla and Cadence also noticed the blood, and you should have seen their faces.  Shock, horror.  I ran up and put her on the sink to take a look.  The sisters were wigging out so I put Cadence in charge of keeping Layla out of my face--as soon as Cadence had a job to do, she had her wits back.  Campbell was staying pretty calm.  Or I should say, was easily calmed.  After rinsing a little to see what was going on I could see a big gash in her head.  I carried her down stairs to find my phone.  I took a picture of it to send to Spencer's mom to ask if she needed stitches.  As soon as I saw the picture I realized, uh, yeah, no question.  So I called Spencer, he came back, along with the sister he home teaches, Gail, so we could go together.  And we were off to the urgent care clinic.  

"Campbell, what happened?"
"I was jumping to the bed and Way-yah (Layla) got in my way."  She fell between the two beds and smacked her head on the wooden bedframe.  Hard.

She was very brave for her stitches.  The doctor was good with her and I held her while Spencer distracted her/took pictures/looked on curiously.

Then we went to the party. 

Sigh.  Campbell, you are going to cost us much in medical bills, aren't you?
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Campbell.... that kid.  She is too much sometimes!  Like how every time she goes "#2" she runs out of the bathroom and yells, "Mom, come see my poop!"  And then she drags me in there, with instructions to "cwose wew eyes---SEE!?!"  Only then will she flush.

the other day this happened and as she grabbed my hand to lead me to her poop, I noticed they were moist.  "Campbell!  You washed, I'm so proud of you!"  This was greeted with a guilty look and so I watched her for a few minutes.  I left the bathroom as she flushed and then watched her walk out licking her hands--big, comprehensive licks.  "Campbell, what are you doing!?!" 

"Washing my hands."

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

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So my other kids are hilarious, too.  But she's just at that age.  Let's see...

Cadence gave a talk in primary today about Noah's ark.  What she had rehearsed was almost exactly what the first speaker said!  She got up and without help from us, she gave her talk.  She was timid and slow, but didn't stop to ask for help.  She forgot the end but instead of stammering she just gave her own little ending and sat down.  I was really proud of her!

Layla is crazy.  She loves to do whatever her sisters are doing.  She is exactly like spencer in every way.  So excitable! 

Okay, I'm tired.  that's all I've got at the moment.  Really good post, I know.

New Year's Eve--wha!?!

*because blogger is taking ffffffffffffffffffffffforever to upload pictures, I'm posting as is and not spending any more time on making ths one make sense.  I need to move on....

We had the distinguished honor this New Year's Eve to attend the wedding of our friend Adam, and his beautiful bride Stephanie.  They decided to just go all the way out and throw the party of the year, since they were getting married on such a party-day.  And they did.

I myself have never been to a wedding so schmancy.  it was two full days of events.  And they treated all their guests like royalty.  Wow!

Oh, and Spencer was asked to prepare a toast for the groom, which he did, which shocked the socks off the poor bride's family, and might have all but ruined it for some of them.... but I don't like to talk about that much.  I will add that at least 40% of the attendees were laughing their heads off and came up to him afterwards to tell him it was awesome.   Oh, Spencer...

After the wedding we were only about 5 hours from Chicago so we decided to go crash Cliff and Gina's place, which was a really really good idea, if I do say so myself :)

We had so much fun and the kids just loove eachother.  Thank you to them for being such wonderful hosts.

Can Christmas Please Post Itself?

Wow, it's like my body instictually knows it is now the year in which it turns 30 (and therefore: old) because all the sudden 9 o'clock hits and I'm in a dream world, just dying to climb into bed!  and this is my new excuse for becoming a negligent blogger.

But seriously, folks... Christmas was wonderful!  I tried really hard this year to have a good balance of checking off the "things that make it Christmas" list as well as the ever elusive "slow down and enjoy the reason for the season" thing.  I have to say it made for quite a wonderful time!

Here are the pictures, with captions and probably more of my ramblings interspersed:

made gingerbread houses (graham cracker houses) and used all the candy we had on hand instead of the traditional stuff.  nobody complained.

Layla looked like this the whole time.  "CANDY!!! TWEATS!!  AAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"

Spencer's (above), Campbell's (below)



Cadence's, above.  I love how it looks like a stable. 



The Angel and Mary with Baby Jesus, waiting to begin our traditional "Shepherd's Dinner" on Christmas Eve.

One present before bed, Pajamas from Mamaw and Gramps.

You know you did something right when the presents they are hooked on enough to ignore all the pretty wrappings cost you 4 dollars.  (our oooold laptop and a "grocery store" we got a a garage sale).

traditional Christmas morning breakfast: pannettone, hot chocolate, and eggs.

SANTA CAME!!

How did Santa know that watch is just what I wanted?!?  I guess he got the link I sent him.

Santa spent a good amount of time in the dark, cold middle of the night setting up this huge tent from Mamaw and Gramps. 

just thought this was adorable.  Enjoying the beautiful, spring-y Christmas day together.

Had lunch with the Flemings and the Hanbergs and the missionaries, followed by the cutest little nativity reenactment you've ever seen.  during rehearsals, Mary and Joseph (Cadence and Gavin) were seen travelling by donkey (Gavin's new bike) to Bethlehem.

I always get really homesick on Christmas, so to battle that, I typically invite as many people over as I can.  This was our spread.  I have to say it was pretty awesome food.  So fun to spend Christmas evening with my adorable family and some really beloved friends.

I decided to do New Year's Eve separately because I have too many pictures, and blogger takes about a year to download them.  So that will be next.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Layla!

Well, it's almost Christmas, which means I have about 24 hours before it's too late forever to blog about my adorable 2-year-old Layla. 

Layla is an awesome 2 year old.  She is awesomely passionate about throwing tantrums, sure, but she is also awesomely passionate about life in general.  About everything.  she walks into a room and her eyes get HUGE and the muscles in her neck get tense and she says, "WOW!'   Regardless of what's in the room, it's exciting to her.  When she sees somebody she loves, she shreiks their name with excitement.  I think it's obvious which parent she's more like--the one who is always excited about everything.

However, like her mother, food is a vehicle for sauce, and in this way we relate very well.  She has never met a sauce she doesn't like. 

Layla has an astounding vocabulary and  a super sweet little voice.  She is often heard pronouncing loudly that she is a "MU-KUH-TEEEEEEW!"  (muskateer).  She knows her colors, can count to "poopteen"  (actually, she usually gets to 8 without fail and then it's hit-or-miss after that, but when she gets past 12 it's all poopteen).  She can sing along to the alphabet song and recognizes a couple of the letters.

Layla loves dogs and has no fear of them at all.  To a fault.  She will get in the face of the biggest, snarliest, jumpiest, lickiest, or anyother kind of dog she sees.  She gives Abby a lot of attention and is currently working on training her to give horsey rides.

Layla also loves yogurt.  a lot.  I mean, loooooves it!  And cheese.  And milk.  She's a dairy kind of girl.  There's really nothing (within the realm of food and not treats) that she loves like yogurt and cheese and milk.  Except apples and oranges, which she is not able to digest and technically not allowed to eat.  So that explains that.

Layla is a lot of fun.  She is always up for having a good time.  She is NOT always up for missing out on a good time or being told "no" when she has decided what the next "good time" is.  She loves to play and dance and climb and jump and sing and color and build and all those things.  There's just not anything I can think of that Layla isn't into.

Layla is great at loving.  She is always giving hugs, especially when somebody is crying.  sometime recently I may or may not have started crying and throwing my own sort of fit and she smothered me with a hug and told me it was going to be okay.  She does hit but it's almost always immediately followed by a big hug and a "I'm sorry--ah you ok?" 

Layla is a joy.  She just is.

------------  Here are some pics from her birthday:



Birthday Party #1, the day before her birthday we left Utah, so before we left we had a quick little party with cousins and Aunts and Grandma's and Grandpa!  So fun!  The cake is a pile of leftover little cakes from Mignon and Joel's wedding. yum.




The morning of her real birthday we rolled into town and spent the whole day wasted.  So that evening we had cupcakes (muffins disguised with frosting, actually), and presents with the family.





So that weekend we had a little get-together with a few of her friends from nursery and their families and I made another barbie cake.  This one took waaay less time (and looks like it), but it was the best I could do that week.  Do you like how I'm in the background about to swat her hand away?





And this was a few weeks earlier.  It just shows how excited she is. sooooo happy!



just have to record some things...

some hilarity that has come from the kids' mouths recently:

Campbell, upon finding her digestive system a little "stopped up" after our drive to Utah proclaims with no uncertainty that she has a "grumpy tomato in her bottom."  She explained to cousin Zavian that it will probably come out in her sleep.  The two of them walked around talking about it the rest of the night!  It did come out in her sleep, but then the next day in the bathroom she went #2 again and "had to check if it was red."

When Aunt Mignon came out of the temple with her new groom, Uncle Joel, Campbell spun around and around and shouted gleefully "I'm MARRIED!!! I'm MARRIED!!!"  She explained that she married "all the boys and all the girls".  She's got a big heart, it seems.

Campbell loves to stand on my scale in the bathroom.  It made me smile when the other day she stood and said, "Oh, Mommy, my foots have a feveh!!"


Cadence watched Lilo and Stitch while away.  She just explained to me, "Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind.  And the parents get left behind though.  Cause they're dead."  I laughed out loud.  it was a great description of the movie.  They will not get to watch it again, by the way.  Do you find it inappropriate for kids?

Cadence still sees herself as an adult and lectures me frequently.  think that will stop when she's a teenager?  She got after me the other day because I told her she IS smaller than many of the kids in her class.  Apparently she wanted me to side with her.  She got mad and told me it was mean of me to call her "small".   She also thinks it's very rude  of me to deny her access to my headbands and accessories.


Layla is hilarious but I can't quite put it into words.  She says things like, "Oh, aaaaaaaaaaaawwwwe you da mommy?"  and, "let's do this!"  and, "doe blehblehbleh dress!" (don't mess with the dress!)

okay, pictures and more utah details to come!