Nicholas and Ellie speak

"Look, this is my 'Captain America: Dinosaur Hunter' outfit!"

While wiping the table clean one afternoon (one of his daily chores): 
"Someone should build a robot that does all this work so that I don't have to."

He called me into his room in the middle of the night. I stumbled in there and he said, "I thought of something that rhymes! Pink, Purple, and Pig. And pigs are pink!"  
Thanks for letting me know, Bud, and we'll work on rhyming when it's not 4 am.

Nicholas was sitting on Kent's lap. He kept looking up at him.  "Um, um....no, I shouldn't say it."
Kent: "What is it?"
Nick: "How do you even smell with all those hairs in your nose?"

I've been trying to teach Nick that he doesn't need to take off all of his clothes every time he uses the bathroom. One afternoon I was reminding him again, probably a little less than patiently.  "Nicholas, Please don't take off all your clothes!" His response? 
"But this is Earth, isn't it?!"

While coloring: "Some girls have yellow hair. Like chips are yellow. This girl has chip hair."

He pressed his nose to mine and put his hands on my cheeks. "Mom. Which cheek is your favorite?"

Playing some sort of battle game with my brother Jonah:
Jonah: "Well, I'm eternal and I can't die."
Nicholas: "That's okay! I brought stuff that kills turtles that can't die!"

After eating a banana.  "Mom! I just figured out what 'wasting food' means!" He then explained what it meant to waste food--throwing it out without eating it.  
He laughed, "I've been wasting bananas for years!" 

Inside her castle fort, talking to my sister, Sarah: "This is mine horse! I found him in the woods.   ....his name is Princess Dave."

We drove past a dump truck.
Ellie: "Look! That truck has a great big rock in it!"
Me: "It does. What do you think they're going to do with a rock that big?"
Ellie: "Turn it into babies."
Me: ......
Me: "Rocks don't turn into babies."
Ellie: "Yes they do! I saw it on a show!"

Riding in Grandma's car on the way to Church: "I'm just so surprised I'm in here!"

Comes running into our room one morning: "Mom! Dad! I'm the BEST! Nicholas said so."

Again playing with Sarah, playing with my old Polly Pockets.  Ellie's person invited Sarah over to her house. When Sarah's person got there and asked what they should do, Ellie answered:
"Well, I just drank all the hot chocolate, so you should probably just leave now."

I walked past the playroom and saw Ellie sitting in the doll high chair, lashing herself to it with the string from my bathrobe. 
Ellie: "This is the jail for the bad guys."
Me: "Oh, are you a bad guy?"
Ellie: big sigh.... "No...I'm a good guy who did a bad thing."

valentine's photo shoot

 The Valentine's cards the kids sent out this year:

It seems like each year our valentine's photo shoot gets just a little bit harder.
Last year the kids were grumpy and we had to try a few different days until we got a good one, but when they were happy they smiled and sat still and it was great. 

Also, last year I could lay on my stomach to get down on their level, crawl around to change the angle, be up and down and around, etc.
This year? Not a chance. I'm pretty much stuck in whatever place and position I plop myself down into. So I spent a lot of time asking the kids, "Move just a little over that way, no, no that far...a little more...STOP!"

And this year, the kids had opinions. They had ideas. They knew exactly what they wanted to pose with and how.

So now I present, the outtakes:

Nicholas and "Bao Bao" the panda.  This panda....Nick is super attached to him.  And for a stuffed animal, he's crazy high maintenance.

I think I spend more time "taking care" of Bao Bao each day than I do taking care of myself.  Bao Bao wants a snack. And a drink. Bao Bao needs a blanket to take a nap. Bao Bao needs a kiss good night. Bao Bao wants me to sing him a song. Bao Bao wants me to sew him some clothes...

and so on.

I find myself wanting to just say no to the stuffed animal every single time
but the way Nicholas smiles when I help him "take care" of Bao Bao?
I guess I'm just a sucker for that smile from my boy.

 Nicholas posed himself for this one too. I think he wanted me to write something about how he's good at shooting arrows, so Happy Valentine's Day.  
Or maybe he was pretending it was a guitar?
I honestly can't remember. My brain is shrinking, you know. (It's a fact, despite Kent's disbelief.)

 And for this one, he suggested I write, "You're a dinosaur, Valentine."

Next it was Ellie's turn.
This was her first pose, and because I was plopped on the floor and getting up requires more energy than I usually have, I just zoomed in on the dark corner where she was standing on the back of the arm chair:

Nice. 

We got some pretty cute ones of her, too, though.

We hope you're all having a very happy Valentine's Day!

five things

1. Holidays: Valentine's Day--this is about the extent of my decorating this year. A banner I made while I was at my parents' house last month. My mom found a book she didn't need anymore, and I traced the hearts with a cookie cutter.  

Last Monday was Groundhog's Day, and while we usually have a party, a fun dinner, and ice cream (sometimes even homemade!) 

this year, we pretty much just did ice cream. 

I'm nearly 9 months pregnant. We're in the "just do what you can and call it good" stage.

2. Staying entertained: We've been avoiding going out lately because it seems like everyone around us is sick. And I don't want to be. But, this has made for some long days at home.  Last night, I pulled out the art treasure box and we made musical instruments. I wish I could say I was doing fun stuff like this with them every day, 

but I haven't been. I just really am looking forward to having this baby and being able to actually move around again. I know some people say they like baby inside because it's easier to take care of them that way, 

but I disagree. Being able to walk around, roll over in bed, get up off the couch, and stand long enough to make dinner for my family is kinda important.

3. Nicholas has been awesome. He's always a good kid, but this week he's been especially sweet and kind and helpful. I'm loving it. He dressed up as Captain America a few days ago and then spent the day asking me what he could do to help me. 

He and Ellie mopped the floor, vacuumed, cleaned up all the toys, and were so kind to each other. 

4. My brother and his wife had me take some pictures for them on Saturday. My little boy is going to have a cousin!  We're so excited!

5. The kids are really very excited about the new baby. Nicholas often wakes up and tells us that he had another dream about the baby being here, that "he was so cute!" And Ellie beams whenever anyone asks her about the new baby coming soon,

but I think she's also feeling a little insecure about it. She gets upset about things that never used to bother her, she's had a few screaming fits and troubles we've never seen in her,

but I'm really hoping that maybe she'll just get it all out of her system before the baby arrives?? I can hope, right?

Ellie eats

Or rather, Ellie doesn't eat. At least, not when she's supposed to be eating. 
This girl has decided that mealtimes are much better spent slumped over in her chair, waiting for us to all finish so she can go play again.

All so that, fifteen minutes later she can come bouncing up to me, 
"Mommy? Um, so, I'm hungry."

And even when she hasn't been avoiding mealtimes, this girl is ALWAYS hungry lately.
There's definitely a growth spurt happening here. Suddenly, all of her pants are too short and all of her shirts show her cute little bellybutton.

A few days ago, after I'd just finished cleaning up her snack,
"Mommy? Um, so, I'm hungry. Still."

So I gave her the carton of cottage cheese. 
And she found what she felt was the best place to eat it.

I've got to figure out way to keep this girl sufficiently fed before baby brother arrives.
Either that, or hire a private chef just for my three-year-old....

blue streamers party

 Last week, the kids wanted to have a party.
And everyone knows, parties need decorations.

The party that day also included: 
a game where I had to guess what each bite of their apples tasted like,
reading lots of books,
couch-pillow tossing contest,
coloring together at the table in the quiet afternoon,
checking out a charter school we're hoping to get Nicholas into next year,
muffins and smoothies for dinner,
and discovering that Ellie can actually jump over Kent as he lays on the floor.


It was quite a party-ful day, 
and the kids actually even worked together happily to clean up all those streamers before bed.

dentist visit

Today Nicholas got a cavity filled. 
It was the third time we'd taken him to attempt to fix this same cavity.

When we took him for his first cleaning last year, he was a champ. So calm, so cooperative, and happy to be there. I was proud of my brave little guy.

Somehow that changed when we came back to get his cavity fixed, and he freaked. Screaming, crying, absolutely positively unwilling to lay in that chair so they could fix his tooth. 
As he says, he was "Neverly peverly dever" going to sit calmly. 

So we waited a couple of months, then tried again.
Not happening. Not quite the same level of freak out as before, but still way too anxious for them to get anything even started.

Our only option at this point was to come back and do it with oral sedation.  This morning, early, Kent and Nicholas headed in.

And finally, (so thankfully!) Nick cooperated. He drank the medicine, got a little sleepy/loopy, and was calm enough to allow them to fix his tooth.

Unfortunately, by this point, the cavity had grown so much that the tooth had to be capped. He's now our resident pirate, with a silver tooth and everything.

Kent deserves all the credit for the success of today's visit. 

When Nicholas is scared about something, I seem to only make it worse. I'm not sure what I do wrong,

maybe it's because he and I are too much alike and I have little patience with my own anxieties and even littler with his? 

Maybe it's because I'm the mother and Nicholas sees me as a source of comfort, so he does not feel any need to show bravery to me? 

Either way, when Nicholas needs to be brave, he needs Daddy. 

For this dentist visit, Kent bribed him with a cake. 

 After the dentist, Nicholas got to go to the bakery and pick out whichever cake he wanted. 
Kent is a genius.

Nicholas came home pretty dazed, still kinda loopy from the sedatives.
He'd stand in one place and stare at nothing, without blinking, for several minutes. It was a bit freaky.
But soon the loopy, dazed Nick turned into the "medicated monster Nicholas." 

Aiy. He was nuts.
And I felt so sorry for him. And the rest of us.
He spent a good 45 minutes yelling at me that "No, Mommy, I'm in charge!"
Then he was furious that I wasn't letting him into the bathroom so he could make sure Ellie was washing her hands.
Then he was screeching at me because I didn't print out the right Valentine's picture for him, I didn't give him the correct color of cup for his water, etc. 
I just kept my voice low and soft and we tried to stay out of his way as much as possible. Poor kid.

We planned to meet some friends at the park right about the time that Medicated Monster Nicholas morphed into Sleepy Nicholas. 
He fell asleep on the floor as I put his shoes on.

Then we got to the park and he spent the first fifteen minutes doing this

followed by him asking me if he could go wait in the car while we finished playing.

He watched from the windows, opening the door every so often to ask us if we were almost done.  

When we got back home he was so odd, bouncing between angry and sleepy and happy every few seconds. 
I made a craft for the kids, little dragon "masks" made out of toilet paper tubes, because Nicholas was asking me to. 

(I was ready for a nap at this point, and I kept offering to let him just sit and watch a movie, but he refused....so we crafted.)

When the dragons were finished, he was bitterly disappointed.
"But Mom, this dragon is dumb! It doesn't even do anything! I wanted it to breathe fire!"

After he finished yelling at me/crying about it, he asked me if we could do a different craft.
Not a chance, kid. 
I was doing my very best to be patient, but I was done.
So I turned on a show for Ellie, and lay down on the couch to try to take a nap. Nicholas wandered the house for the first twenty minutes or so, then he asked me if he could lay by me.

He didn't wake up again until Kent was already home from work,
and like I said, 
Daddy makes everything better. 

He has to go back next month for one more cavity.
At least this time I'll know what to expect for the rest of the day.
It will certainly include a mandatory nap for everyone involved.

he's home, we're home

Whew. 
Kent just got back last night from an almost 3-week long trip to Romania and Paris for work. We spent those three weeks at my parents' house.

Just a few days before he left, we found out that my body is a little too excited about having this baby, and getting ready for labor too soon. 
I had a couple of visits to the hospital to try and figure out what was going on, some tests were done, and we were given a 99.2% positive the baby would NOT be born over the next two weeks, so Kent was clear to go.
It was an intense couple of days for me emotionally, not knowing what was going to happen, and knowing Kent was going to the other side of the world,
but I now believe that Heavenly Father gives special attention and closeness to the mothers who are helping to create His children.
Prayers were answered, immediately, every single time. Assurances were given, and we feel completely confident that our little guy is going to stay put for several more weeks while he grows bigger and stronger. 

Even still, my doctors and I felt it was wise for me to head up to my parents' house to stay while Kent was gone. And it was fantastic. My family is wonderful-I had so much help with the kids, got lots of rest, and I'm feeling much better now.

We missed Kent, but we made the best of it,
spending our days pajama-lounging, scooter-riding, reading, sledding, playing with the uncles, visiting my Grandma Murray, 
eating waffles (Nicholas ate TEN for breakfast one morning...), crafting and sewing things to get ready for baby.

It's been a crazy month, 
and we're so glad to be back home together. 
The kids have each given Kent about 40 hugs this morning, 
and maybe I have too. We sure like having him around.

my little sunbeam

Our little Ellie got to attend Primary at Church today for the first time. On January 1st, all the kids who have turned 3 in the past year get to move up, out of the nursery, to the big kids' classes.

Now, Ellie hasn't once attended nursery by herself. From 18 months old until now, she's been too nervous for us to leave her there. The unstructured playtime with children going a little wild around her stressed her out. (To be fair, it stresses me out a little too...)

I knew she'd do better in Primary (less chaos, more structure and lesson time,) but I was completely surprised at how awesome she was.

We took her in, she marched up to her seat, sat down, folded her arms, gave me a kiss and said, "Bye Mom!" 

And that was that.

In fact, it was me, standing there looking at my big little girl; I was the one who had a little bit of a hard time with it.

I mean, isn't she still just a baby? How is she old enough to be in Sunbeams??

A healthy dose of sibling rivalry had a huge part to play in Ellie's bravery today.

Whenever Nicholas is acting out, disobeying, or being disciplined, 

Ellie steps up, sticks her chin in the air, and says,

"Look at me, Mommy. I'm being good." 

And then she'll go and do whatever it is that Nick isn't, just to prove that she's the good one.

It's actually quite hilarious. It makes Nicholas furious, but there isn't really a way for us to stop her from simply being good and obedient.  

She's learned all sorts of things out of her determination to prove that she's better. She's been chewing with her mouth closed at the dinner table for almost a year now, and we're still working on teaching Nicholas that. 

I think it's safe to say they're both rather stubborn.

Anyway, this morning, when I was chatting with the kids about how they get new primary teachers and classes today (all the children move up a level on January 1st),

Nicholas started to freak out a little. He doesn't do well with change, plus he kinda sorta likes for me to see him miserable....yes, he's got a flair for the dramatic.

Ellie watched him moan and complain, shiver and whimper, and say how he was going to be scared and how he didn't want to go to Church,

she tipped her head, and said,
"Mommy, I'm going to go to my primary class. I'm going to be brave. I'm not going to cry at all."

And that was that.

I'm really quite proud of Ellie. She's definitely attached to me, but she sat quietly with her arms folded and was happy and brave the whole two hours. 

 Nicholas did great also. As soon as I left the room, he cozied up to his new teacher. When we went to pick him up he told us all about how great his new class is and how he'll get cookies next week if they're reverent.