Defiance

(Emma and her cousin Ashley at Out of this World Pizza yesterday for her bday)

Help! I am running out of patience with my adorably defiant FOUR year old. I never dreamed her strong-willed, stubborn-extraordinaire personality would extend beyond the three's. Okay, so she turns four tomorrow...I will give her a few days to transform into a mild, well-behaved four year old.

Today at church, my sweet little thing adamantly refused to go into sunbeams. "It is boring" she says...out loud...to the teacher...who, I might add, MIGHT just be the sweetest, most creative, wonderful teacher to walk the earth. How can she be my child? Seriously, I am a person who gets myself into trouble b/c I am terrified of offending anyone. I am a people pleaser. Emma is NOT. To illustrate, we will go back to my blessed Sunday morning. I finally peel her off my skirt (I am the primary chorister teaching music in the front of the room with a 4 year old leech stuck to my leg) but she won't sit in her chair b/c she doesn't want to sit by anyone. At one point, I peer over my music stand to see her sprawled on the floor. After plunking her (forcefully) back into her chair, I turn around to tears and near tantrums. THEN, the counselor in the primary tries to take her to class (b/c clearly peeling her off of me wasn't working very well in singing time, let alone to get her to class) and she openly rebels! My tomorrow- is-going- to- be- a -four- year old child threw a tantrum IN THE HALL!! IN THE CHURCH! I really might die of mortification.

Luckily, the counselor got Spencer (as I might have just started to cry in the hall with her) who quickly plunked her in her carseat, where she and he remained for the remaining HOUR of church. We are really good parents, right? :)

I am sure the rest of the blogger moms out there have perfectly behaved almost four year olds, ESPECIALLY at church, so I'd love some advice. How can I get my sweet as sugar (but only when she wants to be) child go to Sunbeams? I am perfectly open to bribary, threats, and punishment, just give me some ideas!

The Big Arctic Blast 2008

Okay, so it doesn't compare to anything in the midwest or east coast, but wow was it fun! (Well, at least for the first few days...then when we had THREE, yes, three weeks of no school and were virtually homebound due to the road conditions, it got a little old...). Anyway, I am determined to be more vigilant in my blogging efforts in 2009, be ye warned.

Last baby woes

Lately I have been getting so weepy about my little baby growing up. Since he is 99.9% most likely my last child, I am just not ready for him to get big. I know it is what everyone says and goes through, but I can't get over how fast he is growing up. He'll be one in just over two weeks! AHH! The question remains of whether it makes me so weepy that I'd be willing to go through it all one more time....hmmmm.....????????

Fell off the blogwagon

Okay, I have not done much with this lately, but I hope to get caught up here and then get back into this! We had a fun filled, candy gorging Halloween (the gorging was done primarily by me, as I wouldn't allow the kids too much candy, of course). Levi was a mummy and so was Spencer (or some kind of masked mummy that made Caden cry every time he looked at him. To be honest, I knew it was Spencer and it still kind of freaked me out). Levi managed to keep his eyes crossed for every picture that day, and he really was a sight. Kiara was a witch who lost her hat and did her own hair. Emma was an angel ballerina or a fairy princess depending on who asked on what day.

Caden started walking (if you can tell from the pic below) and I am so sad, my baby isn't a baby anymore. It is so adorable how excited my whole family is though. When the other kids learned how to walk, none of the kids cared b/c they were too young...this time there is giggling and whooping and clapping and mass excitement. Caden is really going to have a big head when he gets older I fear. He is just absolutely adored by his whole family.

We also got our family pictures taken, and I will put one or two of them in, but I'll save the rest for our annual Christmas card.

Oh, and football and soccer are over. I was Kiara's coach this year, which was a lot of fun, but made the fall sports season even more chaotic. I don't know what to do with myself if I am not running one kid to or from practice during the week. We get a break until basketball starts in a couple of months. Luckily I don't play basketball and won't get suckered into coaching, but Spencer won't be so lucky. :)

This is Derek and his wife Jaymie and their kids. We took this to frame and give to my parents for Christmas.

Caden walking. Is he proud of himself or what?

The things nightmares are made of.

I won't take credit for this adorable hair do. she did it all on her own.

I am blessed with a husband who actually likes carving pumpkins b/c I loathe the activity. It is messy and sticky and smelly and did I already mention messy? I find pumpkin seeds for weeks after. Ugh. don't let this angelic looking face fool you. There is a devil within. Trust me.

I'm so Quirky

I don't normally participate in tag, but out of due respect for one of my favorite friends, I will do it this time. Love you Meliss! :) Anyway, more info than you ever wanted to know but here goes:

My 6 unspectacular quirks:

1. I must have a blanket on my face to sleep. Even if it is 90 degrees in my room, I have to pull the sheet up over by my face to sleep. It must be from having a "blankie" as a bambina.

2. I am an overly obsessive budgeter. I don't even like gifts from my husband b/c I know where it has to come from. I am also terrible to shop with, b/c I will spend hours collecting things I want, only to leave them at the store, or worse come home and have to bring all the kids to do returns. ugh.

3. I make a menu and a grocery list EVERY time I go to the store. People think it is b/c I am organized, but it isn't. I can't shop without a list and I can't cook without a menu. I am NOT exxagerating about this. My pantry and fridge can be completely stocked but if I don't have a menu telling me what we are eating that night, we will have grilled cheese. if I go to the store without a list, I get cereal, milk and animal cookies. I am totally dependant on my lists!

4. Cooking. I love to try new recipes. This is good in some ways b/c we are always eating new and different things. It is bad in other ways b/c we never repeat (too boring) and Spence and/or the kids will ask "can we have...like we did...." and I can't bring myself to do it. It is also bad b/c I have large amounts of precious storage space used up in cookbooks!

5. I love to read. but, I never have time to do it...so when I finally get a book and decide to read, NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING gets done. My kids don't eat (unless they find their own granola bar from the pantry), dishes don't get done, the phone doesn't get answered, and the TV stays on for longer than it should. Equally bad, I don't go to bed until it is finished. I have stayed up till 3, and 4am just to finish a good book! Haven't I learned about "moderation in all things"? Apparently not when it comes to a good book.

6. Food. I do not like any food on my plate to touch any other kind of food on my plate. The worst is if fruity stuff touches vegetably stuff. And dessert can NEVER be put on the same plate that dinner was eaten on. Ever.

I am now tagging: Nancy, Michelle, Kim, Mari, Havva, and Mikayla.

Rules:1.Link to the person who tagged you
2.Mention the rules on your blog
3.Tell 6 unspectacular quirks about you
4.Tag 6 following bloggers by linking to them
5.Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged.

I DID IT!

Okay so running marathons are HARD. Is anyone else surprised by this? Holy cow, I was shocked at how difficult this feat was for me. I am SOO freaking proud of myself, it is probably sinful, but you have to know...I am just NOT a runner. I don't love doing it, I am not driven by this innate need to move quickly for long distances...hmmm....don't get me wrong, I love to exercise, but really running for over four hours straight? that is just plain craziness!

Okay, so for the dirty details: My girls weekend was SO much fun. We got in on Thursday night, stayed up (foolishly) late chatting and watching 27 Dresses. Then we went to the Salt Lake temple on Friday morning (well, closer to afternoon since we were sort of exhausted from staying up so late), and one sleeping pill and a decent night sleep later it was 4:00am and time to head up the mountain! Unfortunately, the altitude was a bit more exhausting than I had predicted and I was plagued with side aches from mile 3 on, but other than that the exhilaration and adrenaline of what we were doing got me through the first 18 miles fabulously. I started to feel my two blood blisters, loose toenails and and aching feet about then, but trudged on and was facing what I had anticipated in weariness...until we hit mile 24. The phrase "hitting a wall" came freshly to my mind at this point and the last two miles seemed to last like 4 hours. I started to feel nauseous (I think due to altitude...and lack of oxygen adjustment), but managed to plug on. If one more side liner said "you are almost there" I MIGHT have hurled my Ipod at them, but we eventually rounded a corner and I saw the finish line and like any normal sane person I started to cry, like the hiccuping cry and laugh at the same time kind of cry. Oh brother. As if I had any energy or non-evaporated water left for tears! But crossing that finish line was a feat more difficult than I could have imagined and i was so so so happy! More importantly, I beat Oprah.

Okay, so moving on...after the marathon we were exhausted and sore, but that didn't slow us down...it was a girl's weekend after all, so we had to eat, shop, and get a hair cut...so now that I am officially a marathoner, i thought it appropriate to drastically alter my style:

After all that partying was done, we stayed up ridiculously late again (I mean really we have to enjoy every moment of non-child-interrupting time don't we?) and we tried on all of our new clothes, ate our deserved extra calories in skittles and Peanut M&M's and laughed (gossiped, but just a bit...)and had a great time.

I am purposefully not mentioning the few glitches that occurred during the short weekend (losing cell phones, PUMPING every several hours or not getting to pump every several hours and having bowling ball boobs, my mental breakdown over not getting my suitcase packed in time for church and scaring everyone with a burst of unexplainable and quite laughable tears at the sight of the mess of my stuff, losing boarding passes, and questionable Sabbath day activities) but overall I wouldn't change a thing (okay, next time I am NOT breastfeeding) and had a great time. I learned a lot and got to know my friends even better. Here is us at the airport after all the fun was coming to an end, looking forward to our next big adventure (which may involve husbands and a half marathon in some exotic place if we can talk the men into it!).

Top of Utah!

Okay, this weekend is my big marathon! Yeah! I am sooo excited for this to be overwith mostly. I can move on with my life and not spend every weekend running, sore, and blue toenailed. I don't have expectations of time, though I will be admittedly disappointed if I don't beat Oprah...but even if I don't, I'll be happy to cross that finish line! :) I have trained, so now I just hope it all pays off and it is a good experience. I leave tomorrow for Utah, and we get to hang out Friday, run on Saturday and come home Sunday night. It is my first EVER girl's weekend away. I have never left my kids and I am weirdly sad about it. Caden is so little and Kiara cries every time she thinks about it (though Emma point blank told me she won't miss me and she won't be sad...hmmmm...). I need them to miss me and I really need to miss them! I have the greatest friends I am going with and I can't wait to have some me time, it will be SO much fun (well, if I survive, forecast shows snow on the mountains and between the cold and the altitude there is potential for disaster here...ahhhh...excited but nervous...).

I'll take lots of pictures and do a real post when I get back!