Sunday with Daddy

The kids woke up around 5:30 this morning . . . which was actually 4:30 with the time change.  Isaac woke up Abby, and downstairs they went to take advantage of their new "freedom/talent": turning on the television and Netflix all by themselves.  It was a while before my tired mind cued into what was happening, and I got downstairs to bring them back up and put them in bed.  But Isaac never went back to sleep . . . Abby didn't sleep for long.  Brianna, who had been asleep in our bed since 3:00 with nightmares or who knows what, also woke up.  And Mommy never got back to sleep.

Two hours later, we realized there had ALSO been a time change.  So I went to church by myself; and Dave stayed home to put all the kids down for a nap.

When I got home, I found that NO ONE had slept yet!  Instead, they'd had a Daddy day:

They ate Daddy's homemade pumpkin/raisin muffins.

They read stories.

They learned to take pictures of each other.

They played Memory Match with the Animal Cards.

And they watched Veggie Tales.

It was a fantastic day!  When I got home, I had eyes peering down from the upstairs window and was greeted with huge hugs and bursts of excitement!  Now I know how Dave feels when he comes home every day.

We continued to play games.
And we had lunch.
And we ALL took a nap . . . all except Brianna.

Then Abby woke me up, asking if she could lay with me.  As we cuddled, she told me, "Mommy, did you know that I LOVE that there's a baby in your tummy?  And did you know that the baby in your tummy has a little egg around it to protect it?  Daddy showed us all the babies of the other Mommies in the book.  And they have an egg around them and are floating in water.  And then, they're going to come out of the egg.  Ummmm . . . I'm not exactly sure how they get out of there.  But the doctor takes them out, right Mommy?  And then we get to have a baby BROTHER!  I'm so excited for our new baby!  It's going to be SO CUTE!"  Dave bought a book on babies at D.I. and showed them all the pictures of what is happening inside my tummy!  And Abby is now ALL-KNOWING on all things baby!  Except how the doctor gets it out of there . . . . I think that one's going to remain a mystery for a while! :-)

After we cuddled and talked, we went down and played the matching game with Brianna.  And Daddy and Isaac sat on the sofa and talked and played games on the Tablet.  Until they watched a Living Scriptures DVD while Mommy and Daddy played Scrabble at the kitchen table.

We finished the night with baked sweet potatoes, steamed veggies, and grilled ham - everyone's favorite!

Before we put them to bed, Isaac started saying that there was a big, SCARY ghost in his room.  So Dave told him that tomorrow, for FHE, we are going to make "special necklaces" that keep ghosts away.

And then he said, "I think we need a story tonight.  Who's ready for a story?" This is a nightly tradition in our house - well, most nights at least.  Daddy reads or tells the kids a story before bed.

So they all gathered around to hear Daddy's bedtime story.  It started out, "Once upon a time, there was a man named Feklehump.  He had a wife - with a HUGE belly with a baby in it - and three kids:  One beautiful, sweet little girl with long, golden hair. One handsome little boy who liked to do things his own way.  And one adorable little toddler who was so much fun every time she got really tired.

One day, Feklehump turned into a ghost . . . . -- Um, Melinda?  Where is this story going?  I need a plot."

"I don't know - but it can't be scary or they'll have nightmares all night long.  Make it kind of funny like Casper."

"Oh - okay.  So Feklehump turned into a ghost.  And everyone knows that ghosts are supposed to scare people.  In fact, it's ghost CODE that they have to scare people, right?  And Feklehump was no different.  But he found out really fast that he had a very. serious. problem.  Every time he opened his mouth to scare people, it came out like this . . . ."

Then he took his hands and started to reach towards the terrified kids before suddenly yelling, 'Hahahahahaha!'" as he started to tickle them!

In seconds, fear turned into surprised delight, and they were ROLLING on the floor, laughing.  Abby was laughing that laugh that only comes to little girls when they are OVERtired and can't keep the laughter from coming out, no matter how hard they try.

And that was just the beginning . . . . .

And the ending of a PERFECT day with Daddy!

Updates Sans Pictures

I cannot believe it is almost November!  Where does the time go?

We have been constantly busy, but it seems not much is really happening!  We're trying to get some damage in the condo repaired (gotta love an HOA Manager who is great at avoiding and putting off, an upstairs neighbor who is great at reassigning blame and ignoring correspondence that would suggest liability) and get it sold.  There are too many things to manage without adding a condo on top of it, and our mortgage is high enough that it would cost us every month to have someone else manage it.  So - lowering the cost to less than what we paid for it, paying agent fees on top of it, and getting out while we're still above sunk is the only thing to do! :-)

Other than that, the kids are growing up so much!  I am reminded time and time again that they are WAY older than their 2 and 4 years.

Dave brought home a plant someone was getting rid of at work.  He told the kids it was a houseplant, and they ask me every day if we can plant our new house yet! LOL!  Get it?  House plant!

Abby reminds me every day that this is not our house and we are going to get a new one that is going to be better and have room for horses, chickens, cows, and roosters! (And a dog - but I'm not convinced on the dog yet!)  About three months ago, I took them out looking at various properties, dreaming about where we want to live and what our house might look like.  And she has HELD ONTO THAT dream with both hands!  I love it!

Isaac is determined as ever!  Yesterday I had them down for a nap and was just (thankfully) falling asleep myself when I heard Elder Bednar BLARING from the iPod downstairs.  Yes, Isaac had snuck out of his room without a sound, down the stairs, out the door into the garage, in the car for the toy I had taken away from him (because he climbed to the top of the closet to get it), turned on the iPod (thinking it would be too soft for me to hear) and was scared when it was so loud and started to cry!  When we went shopping for winter clothes/shoes at the local thrift store, Isaac nonchalantly took his "old" shoes off (even though he had been told repeatedly not to) as soon as we were distracted with the girls, put his "new" shoes on, and lost his old shoes.  I looked everywhere for them only to be told by the workers that someone else probably bought them - what do you expect from used shoes lying around in a thrift store? LOL!

Then today they had their FIRST Primary Program.  Last year, Isaac watched as the kids in the Lancaster Primary walked up to the stage and excitedly asked to join them.  I told him he would get a turn next year.  And there they stood in front of the entire (incredibly large) primary.  Their parts on the program were at the VERY end, so they had to keep reverent the entire time before it was their turn.  Isaac had his part memorized, "I can keep the Sabbath Day holy by listening my home teachers!"  He was so proud to say it!  Abby's was, "I can keep the Sabbath Day holy by reverence in Primary."  We found a suit and a gorgeous dress at the thrift store for them - cost us $11 for both!  And they looked so good!  I can't wait to take and post pictures.  We were going to get some today, but our Home Teacher came over right after church and by the time we had time, they were done with church clothes!

After the Primary Program, we took the kids to Primary.  Abby immediately started to cry and put the brakes on!  "But Mommy, I already sat and sang and sat and sang and sat and sang - now I'm done!  I want to go home!"  She has always struggled with that part of Primary for some reason, even last year she would cry about having to sit so long and sing so much. :-)

Isaac, on the other hand, didn't tell us he didn't want to go to Primary.  And it wasn't until I looked up from playing with kids and getting things out in Nursery and realized we had an extra large child playing in there that I got the hint that he was done as well.  I have NO IDEA how he got out of Primary undetected, but somehow he did!

The even more classic Isaac ingenuity and determination stepped in about 15 minutes later.  The Primary President brought him to me and said, "Um - we're handing out gummy bears, and he told me that he doesn't eat sugar because it makes him sick and needed to come and find his mom."  I was stunned!  And he wasted no time with her and I distracted by conversation to jump back in and start playing with the kids.  After I asked him about it and got the same reply she had - that he doesn't eat sugar because it makes his throat hurt and his tummy sick - I sent her back and said I would bring him.  Then I offered him marshmallows if he would sit all the way through Primary and not sneak out again.  It worked!  I guess the sugar in marshmallows and the sugar in gummy bears affects him differently! ;-)

Brianna is keeping up and then some!  In one day, she learned to climb out of the pack and play (her bed), turn on the light switch, and open the door!  If she can apply that same determination to potty training, we'll be set!  We have finally moved her into a toddler bed (for the most part) as well, and we moved her and Abby into the toy room to sleep with Isaac alone in the "boy" room.  Lots of changes all around, but I think we've almost worked through all the kinks.

Other things that have been going on?  Dave spent a week in Tuscon, Arizona for work training.  Then he came home and took the GMAT the next weekend.  It was actually horrible!  Guess what section he bombed?  Math!  When an Engineer bombs a business-school entry exam math test, you know something is up!  In our case, it felt like the Lord was telling us it wasn't quite the right time for Dave to start school again.  He had planned on starting in January - and with our little boy coming in December, that timing would have been hard, all around!  So - for now - we're firmly planted in just working and living and enjoying life!

And that was our other BIG news!  We found out that we are having a BLUE Christmas this year -- a baby blue Christmas, to be exact!  Our little boy is measuring at 36 weeks, so he'll be born sometime between December 10-17th.  As long as it isn't the 15th, I'm okay with whenever! 

I Love to See the Temple

A few weekends ago, we took the kids to meet up with my dad and my sister's family to walk through the Brigham City Temple Open House.  It was such a special experience to be able to take them.  I hope their little minds and hearts - which seem to absorb EVERYTHING these days - really took in the Spirit and the joy they felt there.  I am SO THANKFUL we were close enough to attend an Open House before the temple is dedicated. 

One of my favorite quotes from the introduction to the temple that day was by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, "I don’t know how to speak of heaven . . .in the traditional, lovely, paradisiacal beauty that we speak of heaven…I wouldn’t know how to speak of heaven without my wife, or my children.  It would not be heaven for me.  Now, you can say that’s wishful thinking, you can say, ‘ Well that’s just because you love each other and you’ve gotten cozy here on earth and you like each other’s company.’ It’s a lot more than that.  There is something eternal in the statement that neither is the man without the woman, nor the woman without the man in the Lord.  That isn’t just good sociology it’s good theology, it’s eternal" (Holland, Between Heaven and Earth).

I, too, would NOT be in heaven if David and our children were not there with me.  An eternity without them would be an eternity of hell.  I am SO THANKFUL that I don't have to know that misery.  And the hope of it makes me want to live to be worthy of it SO MUCH MORE during my time with them each and every day on this earth.

One of my favorite moments at the Open House was with Isaac.  He couldn't get enough of the 12 Oxen - symbolic of the 12 Tribes of Israel.  When he saw them, he said, "Wow!  Mom - look at that!" And as he stood at the head of the Baptismal Font, he exclaimed, "That is just PERFECT!"  Then he proceeded to explain to me the differences between oxen and cows and bulls and yaks.  I still don't even know how he knows what a yak is, but these ARE my kids who request to watch Animal Atlas and Word Girl on Netflix! LOL!  We had talked about the oxen and looked at pictures online, but I honestly don't remember ANY mention of a yak! :-)

One of my other favorite moments was when we first got there and my sister's little boy, Elliott, asked where his brother, Isaac, was.  With SO MANY girl cousins, I'm SO GLAD these two have each other!  I think they will always be great friends, even more so as the age gap narrows. And since his last visit with the girl cousins on Dave's side of the family ended with him asking in his prayers that they never had to come back again, I'm glad we live close enough that he can enjoy some "boy" time with Elliott.  Just this last weekend when we got together with them, they were making all sorts of animal noises and grunts and growls at the breakfast table.  When we asked them to stop, Elliott said, "But we boys!" LOL!  Already, they're getting each other into trouble! :-)