What's New

Has it been a month since I've posted anything? Shame on me. I just can't figure out how to get things done AND blog it all. Oh well, so here's an update.

We are expecting again. I'm about 16 weeks. Hopefully I can find a cute counter to put on here soon. And even more hopefully, we'll find out which kind of baby we'll be having in a few weeks. Can't wait! I've been a bit sicker with this one. I felt great with the girls, and a little less great with Jacob, and a lot less great with this one, so maybe a boy I'm guessing. But I'm always wrong. Anyway, we've noticed a pattern in our family and wonder if it will hold true with this wee one: we had a girl that looks like me, then a girl that looks like Jeromy, then a boy that looks like me, so naturally, we'll be having a red-head boy next. Right?!?

My little sister (18) moved in with us last week. She's a great help with the kids, but we hope she can find a full time job soon to save up for school. My parents are moving this week to South Carolina, so Laurel is officially "homeless." So we took her in. Can I tell you how nice it is to have an extra pair of hands when you've got a vat of peach butter splurting on the stove and jars to sanitize, a kindergartner to walk to the bus stop, and a poopy diaper to change? Nuf said.

Jacob is almost 2! Eek, when did that happen? He is so delightful and refreshing. I swear, boys are so much easier. He gets over stuff so quickly! Anyway, he's learning to say things, and the girls just LOVE it when he says a new word for the first time. "Hey Mom, he said 'nurgerwabber' for the first time! It's a new word!" Um, it's not a word, sweetheart. But thanks for being excited for him.

Kierra has been going to preschool for the past couple of months, and half the time she says its boring. I can't blame her when she knows all her letters and sounds, and most of the other kids are still learning their colors and shapes. Oh well, at least they have snacks. She likes that.

Audrey LOVES (how many times can one capitalize this word in one post?) kindergarten. She doesn't so much like the bus because of all the noisy, rude, older kids. That being said, she thinks she is such a big kid now for going to school and commands respect for this. Oh vey. I hear that it's very typical for a child to act out at home the first couple weeks of kindergarten, but the whole first month? She is getting much better as we've tightened our discipline, though. But she's doing great in her schooling and is on a fast track to learning to read. She's doing really well with it and is very excited, reading her homework to her younger siblings.

We are eagerly anticipating General Conference this weekend. I've got lots to do today to make the house clean and cozy, and get all the 72-hour kit food out because that's what we eat/snack on all weekend (and I don't have to spend much time in the kitchen!). We've started a tradition since we've moved here, that during Priesthood session, we drop Daddy off at the Conference Center (and cross our fingers that he can get in), then go over to the Church History Museum, walk around a little, go to the children's corner (the kids love!), then stroll around pretty Temple Square, then wade through the chaos of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and their Deseret Book Ladies' Night Out party. Hey, Mom gets to browse at books, and the kids get free cookies, what's not to love. Then, when the men are done, we meet Daddy at the taco vendor cart on the street for a little snack before heading home. We've all really enjoyed it and can't wait.

So I think that covers all that's new in our lives. Hope you all are doing well!

Audrey's First Day of Kindergarten

Can you believe it? Our first is off to school already!! She has been sooo ready for sooo long. I asked her this morning if she was nervous at all, and she replied, adamantly, "No!"


Hannah (our neighbor), Audrey, and Kierra are so excited to walk to the bus stop.


Can I get on now, Mom?


(I asked her how her first bus ride went, and she said, "Swee-eet!")

Working hard already.


Bye, sweetie! Love you, have a great time!


Waiting for big sister to come home.


Oh ya, I'm a big kid now.


Jacob had a little bit of a hard time saying goodbye in the classroom, waving frantically and waiting for his sister to return the wave (which Audrey didn't notice because she was already working on a project), so I had to go back over to Audrey and ask her to wave and hi-five her brother. So sweet.

Even sweeter, both Kierra and Jacob fell asleep on the way home! Rock on!

Diaper Question

While changing Jacob's diaper this morning, Audrey thoughtfully asked, "Mom, why do boys have things poking out of their bums? And how come girls don't have them?"

Well that's just the way things are, sweety. But I'm surprised that it's taken you almost 2 years to notice.

Swimming Lesson Drama

If I survive today, I might be able to survive these kids. It started with a very bad morning, where we couldn't find Audrey's swimsuit ANYWHERE, so she was forced to wear her towel dress to the pool. Then we couldn't find the summer reading program cards for the library so we could go redeem our prizes after swimming lessons. Fabulous. That all meant that we left later than planned, got stuck in a little traffic, and were 7 minutes late for Kierra's swimming lesson. Bring it on, Monday morning.

Last week ended our girls' first swimming lesson session of the summer, so we started a new rotation today. Our girls loved swimming lessons, but something changed with Audrey today. She discovered that not only would she not have the same beloved teacher, but she would have a boy teacher. Ilch! On top of that, she was the only person to sign up for said class, so it would be like a private lesson (I thought that would be a bonus, but alas, she does not agree).

Audrey would not get in the water. At all.

I thought, okay, I can be a nice mommy by listening to her feelings....Nah, here comes mean mommy. You brought it on yourself, kid. So for a half hour, I tried to reach into my bag of tricks that I have learned from almost 6 years of parental training (all the while fearing the judgments of the onlooking moms, and trying to keep my cool in front of them). Hmmm, choices. She works well with choices. "Okay, Audrey, you can either get in the water with your teacher, or have no lesson at all." Well that didn't work. All right, what shall I withhold from her as a punishment? After several attempts of this, I finally brought out the big guns. "Okay, Audrey, if you don't get in the water and go to your lesson, we will not go to the library and get our summer prize today, and you will have no TV, no playing with friends, no coloring, and no Polly Pockets for 3 days. You will sit on your bed and be bored out of your mind." You know what she said to that? "Okay." She was totally willing to withstand that punishment! Aiy-aiy-aiy! I even tried calling Jeromy to have him talk her into going, but that didn't work. So we just sat on the bench (me fuming) for a half hour till her lesson was up.

When we got back to the car, the kids got in and got buckled, while I sat on the tailgate trying to calm down. After a few minutes, Audrey begged me to come back in the car. She then said, while crying, "Mommy, are you grateful for your children? Then act like it!" Oy vey.

So we drove home. All the while trying to figure out how to make her go to her lesson. Or should I respect her feelings that she really doesn't want a boy teacher, and try to put her into another class? Maybe it's a good thing that she's automatically wary of older boys. Then I noticed one of those Rock Chip Repair places and pulled over. I've been meaning to get our little chip fixed for a week now, and I thought that would be a perfect distraction for us all, nice and boring. Halfway through the repair, Audrey said, "Mom, please forgive me." Wow. What do I say to that, mean mommy? We had a nice little talk when we got home, and she assures me that she'll give this boy a try for me on Wednesday. And I promised to be nice Mom again. So who's the teacher here?

Art Fair

The day after the funeral, we wanted to do something fun for the kids, and they happened to have a kids arts and crafts fair downtown that day. The kids had a blast making all sorts of things while the parents exercised patience and stood around and talked.


My cute niece, Abby.

Kierra's first watercolor painting.


Playing peekaboo with Abby and John.


Wow, I don't think you have quite enough paint there, kiddo.

My studious artist at work.

Hannah, Abby, and Jacob.

Granddad treated the grandkids to ice cream. Mmm.

Kierra's mask.

My adorable boy, with his prized balloon.

Rest Stop

I soooo cannot drive long distances by myself anymore!! On the way home from Idaho last week, we had both cars, so we both had to drive. We came prepared with fun books on tape, but that still wasn't enough for me. So we stopped at a rest stop and Jeromy took the kids for a walk and other stuff for awhile so I could take a nap. Come on! A 3 1/2 hour trip and you have to nap, Hilary?!?! Sissy. Jeromy was really into his book, though, and totally missed the street we live on!

Happy 4th Birthday, Kierra!

Kierra, I can't believe you're 4 already! My, how time flies. She had a really fun day, including being sung to by her preschool class. I think that was a highlight for her. And then Daddy took us out to pizza for lunch. That was nice. Poor girl, she came down with a cold the night before, so she had a runny nose all day. Then Grandma came just in time for dinner. Kierra chose tacos for her birthday dinner. Then we had friends over for cake and ice cream. A very fun-filled birthday!

Excuses, Excuses

Boy, I sure am one to talk. "I'm going to start blogging again," and then followed by a 3-week hiatus. Hmmm. Maybe I am all talk. Oh well. In my defense, things have been crazy here. A couple weekends ago, we went down to St. George for a baby blessing and had lots of fun in the roasting heat. Then we moved the party to our house for a couple of days, hosting a mini-reunion with Jeromy's family. Then I had to leave early to go up to Idaho for my Grandmother's funeral. It was great to see cousins I haven't seen in many years, and also to commemorate such a special woman. Since then we've been tackling preschool starting for Kierra and swimming lessons, both of which keep us very busy. So there's my excuse. On to the blogging!

Blog Fast

So this ends my 3 month fast of blogging. It gets so depressing for me to blog sometimes. It's so much easier for me to focus on my family and my life right now than to constantly see what old friends are up to and what my life would be like if we hadn't have moved. I love our house and being so close to Jeromy's work, and the ward is certainly better than it was a year ago, but sometimes I still feel lonely. What makes me feel even more lonely is thinking that if we hadn't moved away from our awesome neighborhood, things would probably still be the same: old friends, not current ones. So I'm trying hard to make some new ones, and I have, but I'm not placing as great an importance on it this time. Yes, Provo was the one time in my life that I can say I had good, close friends (except for college roommates). But that ship has sailed and I need to realize it will probably never happen again. So I'm focusing a lot on my family, and throwing myself into my new calling at church, and it's been great. But I've also just remembered how blogging is so good for our family, capturing all those moments so we don't forget. Plus catching up with friends and family so we can stay "current" friends. Now that the craziness of May, June, and July are done, I can bring blogging back into my life, cuz seriously, we were in Survival Mode for most of these past 3 months. So here goes, I hope I can make it a regular habit again. See ya soon on your blog!

Cream Paintings

To give the girls a break from summer boredom (and me a break from my symposium homework), we cranked out the shaving cream and tempera paint. The girls love this! It seems that the more mixing they do, the more green it gets, but they have a blast. They made swirls in the cream with the paint, then we laid pieces of paper on top, pressed lightly, then peeled off. Very fun.

Golf Lessons

Jeromy taught the kids a little about golf last night. When we drove past a golf course today, Audrey told me that they didn't need to go golfing anymore because we can do it in our own backyard.

Happy Pioneer Day!

I took the kids to the parade downtown today.


It was more like this: (Did you know it's 2 hours long?!? We sure didn't.)


Then we went to the zoo and had a picnic lunch.


And a ride on the train.


Then tonight we watched Bedtime Stories from Redbox and ate pizza from our favorite place, Big Daddy's $5 Pizza. Since it was too windy for fireworks, we decided to have fudge bars instead. Jacob devoured his.


And now we are all exhausted.

Our First Stitches

At 10am this morning, Jacob fell off my bed and hit the nightstand twice. He tore the flappy thing on his upper gums and bit through his bottom lip (not quite all the way through actually). Three hours later his lips started bleeding crazily again, so I finally decided to take him to Instacare. They took one look at him and sent me to Primary's. The cut was right over the part of the end of the lip that transitions from pink lip to normal skin, so it definitely needed stitches, even though it was relatively small. But, since he's a little kid and squirmy, they needed me to go to Primary's so they could properly sedate him before stitching him up.

So I raced home to try to get ahold of any neighbors. Nobody home. So I grabbed some coloring books and headed out the door. Down the street I saw a neighbor out for a walk and [frantically] asked her to take the girls. Went up to Primary's, waited and waited and waited, and finally got his stitches and got home about 7:30pm.

And today was the day I was supposed to get everything done for Girls' Camp that's in 5 days, so that I can spend the holiday weekend with my family. Oh well. I'm just so glad it wasn't worse! When he went down, I totally thought he hit his eye, so I'm so grateful it wasn't. I'll take lip over eye any day!


Poor guy was so bored! He really wanted to rip off his IV, so I was constantly trying to distract him. So here he is hammin' it up for my camera phone. Look how swollen his little lip is! Poor thing! (Sorry about all this, hopefully next time I post something, it will be uplifting good news!)

Hives

I've got 'em. Not fun. Everywhere but my feet and face, and the worst is in the middle of the night. So I'm taking another week off to figure this out. It's not quite as bad as it sounds, it's just you know how one thing can set you over to an everyone-in-pajamas-and-eat-scrambled-eggs-every-night kind of week. So maybe I'll tackle the blogs next week. I just wish I could figure out what allergen caused this so I can avoid it!!!

Crazy May

I'm really afraid to look. Ok, Google Reader, bring it. EEK! 250 posts! And that's not including the ones on the private blogs. Yikes. I guess that's what I get for taking a month off from the blogging world.

Excuse: Last week I was at my Mom's house for my little sis's high school graduation. The weekend immediately before that we were at Jeromy's folks' place for the annual Wilson Shindig for Memorial Day. A few days before that we were in Florida having a fabulous time at Disneyworld (can't wait to go back!). A few days before that, the chillun's and I were up at my Mom's for the Taste of Home show and to see my sister visiting from Portland. Right before that was BYU Women's Conference with my 2 older sisters (and Jeromy hooked us up with a brand-new nice Marriott stay! Talk about girls' nights out!). And the month before that was in preparation for all of this. Oh, ya, I got a new calling too. I'm the Beehive advisor (or helper of the YW presidency since they don't do Mia Maid and Laurel advisors).

So that's the long and the short of it. Sorry I haven't been checking everyone's blogs and such. It's been absolutely crazy here. I hope to get caught up soon, but prob not this week.

This week: pretty crazy. But then again, we got used to crazy a long time ago. About 3 1/2 years ago, actually. I found out Sunday that I'll be teaching all of our YW for the first time this Sunday and I'm freaking out a little stressed about it. I've only been to YW twice and I've only met a handful of the girls and I've never taught this age group before. I guess it's time for me to buck up and get to work.

Be forewarned: there will be much camera dumping in the near future.

Southwest Egg Rolls Recipe

Mmmm mmm. Good eats. We love Chili's only because of their Southwest Egg Rolls and Molten Chocolate Cake. So I had to figure out how to make at least one of these at home.


Southwest Egg Rolls
20-24 egg roll wrappers
1 can corn
1 can black beans
5-6 green onions, chopped
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cumin
few dashes pepper
about a cup of shredded cheese (however much you have on hand)

Mix ingredients (except wrappers of course). Place 1/4 C. of mixture into center of egg roll wrappers. Fold up bottom, then sides, then top (like a burrito). Place on greased cookie sheet. Spray egg rolls with cooking spray. Bake at 425 for about 10 minutes (or until golden crisp). Serve with Avocado Ranch.

Avocado Ranch

1 medium avocado, mashed
1 C. ranch dip or dressing

Mix.


(Oh, and Leslie, we had these with your cream cheese wontons. Awesome! Thanks!)

Operation Finished Projects

Wow, I've been gone from the blogging scene for awhile. And will be. We've got a TON going on in May. We recently decided to take the kids to Disney World in a couple weeks (yay!). And I'm about to get a new calling. And we're coming up on our 1 year anniversary being in our new home, so I've been trying to get a lot of projects accomplished so I don't beat myself up about how I've lived here a year and still don't have our pictures up on the walls. So stuff like that has been eating up our time.

Some things I've done recently that I'm really proud of myself for actually doing: cleaned out and organized our closet (it's been just boxes and piles since we moved in and now it is glorious, absolutely glorious), finished a crocheted blanket for Jeromy for our anniversary (it only took me about 7 years to complete), I am very close to having all those file folder games from neighborhood digital swaps a couple years ago totally done and put together, having 2 years of cooking magazines wripped up and put into binders for better organization, not using my "fat" belts and pants anymore since I lost a couple of dress sizes, and having no more moving boxes cluttering up my room!!! The only boxes left are the junk and holiday and baby clothes ones in the basement! Hoo-rah. Oh ya, and I also kinda sorta started teaching the girls Joy School. I don't have the online membership, just the books, but from what I can tell, it's basically the same thing. The girls like it, and I might have to count that as preschool for Kierra next year since I can't find anything we can afford. Poor girl, if only there were some neighbors or someone to do this with. Dang second child sydrome. I'm tryin' kiddo!

Ooh, and I almost forgot! I started a babysitting co-op with a couple of neighbors!! Oh, it is wonderful to have that back in our lives. We're only a couple weeks in, and it's only 3 families (haven't convinced them yet that 9 kids is the same as watching 7), so we'll see how it goes, but we're super excited. This week I'll be in Provo for Women's Conference with my sistahs (YAY!) so Jeromy will have the evening on Friday all to himself for the co-op. Wonder what he'll do.

While I'm at it, here are some funny things the kids have said recently:

Audrey: "Well, you know what they say..." Just funny coming from a five-year-old.

Kierra: (very happily) "Mommy, I am going to give a piece of my mind to Audrey." I replied that this wouldn't be very nice (and wondering where in the world she heard such a thing), to which she said she thinks Audrey would like it. Me thinks she's a bit confused.

Audrey: "I swear! Do you know what 'swear' means? It means you really know."

Jacob doesn't say much yet, but I can understand all of his little grunts for ball, food, blanket, Audrey, uh-oh, where'd-it-go, etc. He's started to close doors and then clap to congratulate himself for being so tidy. And he pats his chest when he chokes or coughs, to which the women at church find very endearing. Two weeks till nursery!


Okay, sorry for the rambling. It's late, gotta sleep.

Piece Out, Man

While looking at magazines with Kierra:

Me: Hmm, here's a pumpkin pie, and ooh, a honey walnut pie. Yum, sounds good.
Kierra: Peace out, Mom.
Me: ??? Did you just say 'peace out'?
Kierra: Ya, there's a piece out of that pie, Mom.
Me: Oh. (laughing)
Kierra: Tricked ya!
(More laughing, and running to the computer before I forget this funny conversation.)

Awesome Book- Wrong Link

Oops, sorry, wrong link.

http://selfreliantsisters.blogspot.com/2009/03/menu-planning-with-food-storage-srs.html

Scroll down till you see Menus at a Glance. That's what you want to print. Enjoy!

Awesome Free Book

http://members.cox.net/auburnheaven/selfreliant/1_dividers.pdf

This is a link to an amazing downloadable/printable book about food storage and where to begin and how to organize it, etc. It also has some tips about canning your own meat and sprouting your own grains. OR You could just copy her 1 month menu and grocery list, times 3, and you've got your 3 month supply! All of the recipes and everything on the menu can be made from dehydrated and canned items. Way cool. And all free!

I'm looking forward to trying to make my own Wheaties and Grape Nuts, and also Maple Donuts. Mmmm.