We've decided to name him Nick

When I suggested we name this doll Nick, Christian, our Harry Potter fan looked confused for a second and then laughed really hard saying "Oh Mom..."

A Wise Woman Told Me

The other day, Emma asked me why I put on make-up.  I was taken back to a conversation I had with my mother as a young teenager.  I asked her a similar question.  I wanted to know why she would go to all the trouble of fixing her hair and make-up when she knew she wouldn't even be leaving the house that day.  Her answer has stuck with me all these years.  She said that in part, she did it for when my dad comes home, but more importantly she did it for herself.  She told me that she always felt more ready to tackle her day, and therefore accomplished more.  She also felt more confident and better about herself.
I have found this to be true for me too.  If I hang out in my pajamas all day I accomplish very little.  Now don't get me wrong, this in no way means that I am bright and shiny by 7 am.  Today for example, I threw on some clothes and a hat over my "Pippi braids" as Paul calls them so I could drive carpool and then come home to till the garden and shovel MORE dirt.  Then later I will be digging up raspberries to transplant for my huge raspberry patch that I have been dreaming of for years.  But, at some point today, I will shower and do my hair (if only a pony tail), and put on some make-up because it makes me feel better!  Some days it is 5pm before I get to this point but I still do it because getting there eventually is better than not getting there at all!
I am not a spa day kind of girl.  I've never had a pedicure or manicure, unless you count that one fake nail I got to match the others when my nail broke 3 days before my wedding.  I buy my make-up at Target or the grocery store,wherever I happen to be when I remember.  I get my hair cut, etc once every 4 or 5 months.  You get the idea.  However, I hope to never stop making myself feel ready to tackle my world!  Besides, it gives Paul an unspoken message about the kind of day I've had.  If he comes home to a make-upless face, he knows he better be on his game because it's been one of those days. :)

Conversations from the car

We decided with sick kiddos, cold nights, and plenty to do around here, that we would forgo our planned camping trip in favor of a stay-cation.  Our itinerary included the following:

Thur.  Paul worked half day, then we went to Boondocks for some miniature golf and to Pepperbelly's in Kaysville for dinner.  We then went home to watch "Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue" from Redbox.

Fri.  We drove into Gateway went to Jason's Deli for lunch and the planetarium for the dome movie "Attack of the Space Pirates".  Then we walked over to Discovery Gateway to play for 3½ hours.  Amazing how tiring sitting all day can be, but we had a blast.  We went home and grilled steaks for dinner. 

Sat.  After fighting over getting jobs done (lest you think our days are all rose colored), we drove to Snowbird enjoying fall in all it's glory (my favorite part of the whole weekend) (and yes, I like to use parenthesis every chance I get).  We then had a picnic on the patio. Snowbird was having a food drive and so for six cans of food we all rode the tram to the top and looked over the surrounding valleys while the kids built walls from rocks.  We then walked along a fun little trail to the playground.  It is a great playground with the most amazing view.  We played, tagged, and the kids added their own improvements to a fort/den someone had built just off the path in the trees.  We ended our day at Joe's Crab Shack (Paul's favorite part of the weekend).  Whoever came up with the idea to put a playground area in a REAL restaurant was a genius!  We ate good food (crab takes a while to eat) while the children played!  It's a bonus that the kids like seafood too.

On the way home today, these were some of the things heard from the back seat.  Keep in mind that these are overlapping conversations.  No one actually takes turns talking.

Jenna: "Watch out Mom, the brave squirrel is coming!"

Mom: "What will the brave squirrel do?  Why do I have to 'watch out'?"

Jenna:  "He will kill us" (I attribute this to having older brothers??!!)

Mom:  "Why would he do that?"

Jenna: "Ummm"

Then Emma pipes up:  "Mom, my top lip is spicy."

Uncontrolled laughter from Paul.

In the meantime, from the back seat, Christian chanting:  Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, antidisestablishmentarianism, qugzuang..... (he is fascinated by long words)

Jenna: "It's okay Mom, the nice squirrel is coming."

Mom: "Oh good, what is the nice squirrel going to do?"

Jenna: "He's going to kill us."

Mom:  "That's not very nice."

This does not include the "Oww", "Ooch", and "Ahh"s coming from the back seat in a never ending game of how many subtle (and not so subtle) ways can I torture my brother, which resulted in our "hands up" consequence which we find very effective!  If they work their way through "keep your hands to yourself" warnings, we then say, "hands up!"  Which means they must hold their hands up above their heads until they are told they can lower them, or we reach our destination.

Paul just informed me of some riddles I missed while dozing (I tend to do that in the car) on the way up the mountain.  Christian was telling riddles to which Jordan would answer something to do with farting.  Every. Single. One. (That's fluffing for some of you, we used to try... some days I still do)  For example,
Christian: "...so, how did he get the handcuffs off?" 
Jordan: "uhh, he farted?"
This was then accompanied by raucous laughter.  I'm glad I wasn't coherent for that part.  But hey, they are 8 and 10 year old boys, and no matter what their mother says, anything to do with bodily functions is hilarious.  I just hope with coaching and some maturity, they will eventually grow out of this genre of humor...  Or maybe not.

Anyway, it has been a wonderful weekend with many quality memories made.  Sometimes it is nice to have low stress days when we can come back to home base and sleep in our own beds.  Although, I think I need a few more trips to the mountains to get my fill of Fall before it's gone!

Jenna's latest milestone

This is how we have been spending the last couple of weeks!

Jenna is doing so well!  We are almost there!  She only has 1 or two accidents a day and is so exited to put flowers on her chart and get potty treats (m&ms or skittles) each time she goes.  I am so proud of her.

It's a bit sad for me.  Not that I will miss all the diapers, but this is a BIG milestone that screams my baby isn't a baby anymore.