A frustrated genius

Don'tcha hate it when you have a fantastic idea for something in the middle of night and wake up and it's just GONE????

Totally happened to me. I was dead asleep after doing two births (kind of, I missed one) in one night/morning, and so when Oliver woke me with piercing screams into the baby monitor, I was like, "GENIUS!"

And now, I don't know why. I know it was an idea for a new blog. And it was a good one, an award-winning one. But like I said, no clue what it was. SO SUPER FRUSTRATING!

Anyone know what it was?

It's a Small World Afterall

I'm always amazed at how small the world is. Specifically, when you're LDS, it tends to take WAY less than 6 degrees to close the gap between people.

Such was the case today.

I was sitting in Sunday School, lalalala, learning about Moses, lalalala, and in walks one of my VERY BEST FRIENDS from college whom I hadn't seen in 3 years. I had NO clue what she was doing there. Turns out, her sister lives down the street from me and is in the ward that meets after ours. She was visiting from Boston and just happened to run into my husband in the hall. We still keep in touch but hadn't talked in a few months and she "forgot you live in Vegas." HA!

We whisked her, her husband and cute baby girl away from church (I know, bad) and made them have lunch at our house. It was wonderful to catch up and just see her. SO awesome.

And it really made me think, like a lot, about how fantastic it is to have friends. I have lived a lot of places in the last 26 years and have made friends along the way. I always keep a couple close from each place I've lived and that results in me having dear friends that date back 19 years! It also means I have to spend a lot of time keeping in touch, if I don't want to lose these friends.

Thank goodness for Facebook. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I mean it! I have moved a ton and left very very dear friends, and Facebook allows me to know what's going on with them from a distance. I'm also thankful for cellphones and email which also allow me to stay in touch with people.  With three busy boys and various time-zones it makes it even harder to SPEAK with friends on a regular basis. But social networking is a blessing if at the very least for reconnecting people.

If letter-writing was the only way to go, I'd be screwed.

And I'm grateful that Laura, my very dear friend whom I saw today for the first time in three years JUST joined facebook. :) It's about time.

Mostly, though, I'm just very very grateful for friends, who add variety, advice and understanding to my life. Thanks friends. I love you. All of you. :)

Cheesy post.... OVER!

Guess what?

Happy New Year Dear Friends!

I'm posting today at Mormon Mommy Blogs all about New Year's resolutions and my secret to success (that I'm not good about doing at all!)

http://www.mormonmommyblogs.blogspot.com/

GO! Leave a comment about your New Year's resolutions. :)

Thanks!

An angry post about Carrie Underwood

Ok.

I got the new Carrie Underwood CD from my 'rents for Christmas. FANTASTIC. I love it.

So, I've been swapping it from car to car when ever I have to go anywhere. With the kids, the van, by myself, the car. You get the idea.

So this morning, as Derek was leaving, I grabbed the CD out of the car (so he could take  the car and I could have my music and threw it on the front seat of the van.

As I did so I thought, "I really should put it in the case... nah, it'll be fine."

Then, later after a disasterous attempt at walking to the park, I chucked the boys in the van so we could drive there instead and commanded that they get in their seats. I ran back in the house to get the baby and it took longer than it should have.

My little princes were not obedient. They, instead of doing as I asked, climbed into the front seats and proceeded to "drive" themselves who-knows-where. I grumped at them and hooked them into their car seats. Upon returning to front of the vehicle, I discovered Carrie Underwood was not where I left her.

"Henry, where's my CD?" I asked.

"In da thing." his answer. I looked about and saw that a sliver of the cd was showing, having been SHOVED into the CD player. So, I did what any normal person would do and pushed it in the rest of the way.

Big.Mistake.

I turned on the player and the words "CD NO" flashed across the screen. I pushed the "eject" button. Again, "CD NO."

At this point I began to yell. "HENRY! YOU ARE IN HUGE TROUBLE! YOU BROKE MOMMY'S CAR!"

And Henry began to cry. And I called Derek.

"I'm going to kill Henry." I declared matter-of-factly. I was irate. There was no way to get the CD out, and it was telling me rather stubbornly, "CD NO" no matter what I tried to do.

After explaining to Derek, he simply said, "Just bring me the car. I'll fix it."

"HOW?!! Are you going to magically push a button that I don't know about???" (Remember, I was mad.)

Ever the gentleman, Derek just repeated, "Come here and I'll fix it."

So, I yelled at Henry to zip it and if he made one more noise he was going to live in his bedroom for all eternity. It was a quiet 20 minute drive to Derek's office. I was absolutely fuming the entire way. WHY? Why can't Henry just do as I freaking say? I tell him to get in his seat, and he DOESN'T. Then he breaks my car!

Like I said, I was mad.

We got to Derek's office, and I texted him to get his tush outside since I was here. He appeared, climbed in without a word, hit the eject button and the now famous, "CD NO" message appeared.

"Hmm," was all my husband said. "Harumph" I said with great satisfaction. I already TRIED that. It didn't work!

Then Derek pushed the eject button and

held

it

down.

And the cd popped out.


Derek had to buy me a diet coke to get me to calm the heck down.

An important lesson

So, I hope you all had an excellent, fantastic, happy Christmas.
(The pictures are from Christmas and have almost nothing to do with this post, enjoy!)

From December '09

Note the matchy-Christmas-jammies. I made the bottoms and jazzed up the tops. I had to go to SIX stores to find long-sleeves-with-gray for Oliver. And it still didn't match. Sigh.

We did. It was quiet (mostly) and restful (kind of) and happy (some of the time).

From December '09

We all know it's a waste to buy babies Christmas presents. He enjoyed the bows.

But, that's not what I'm here to discuss. I'm here to talk about the part of our Christmas that WAS NOT quiet, restful or happy.

From December '09

From December '09

Every picture of Spencer, there is copious amounts of snot flowing freely from his nose.

So, way back in November, we bought these two small Batman action figures, for Spencer and Henry for Christmas. One was a little Batman with a grappling hook and wings, and the other was a Batman on a snowmobile. We discussed buying two of the same, but there wasn't two of either, so we just bought different ones.

From December '09

NOT SMART.

So, then, Christmas Eve rolls around and at 11pm I'm suddenly realizing that we should have put more effort into buying two of the SAME Batmans.

BUT, they were small, and not even close to the main gifts of Christmas. We decided not to stress about it.

From December '09

Bad choice.

Let me tell you, it did not matter that there were like 10 other toys for the kids to play with. It didn't matter that the other toys were BIGGER AND BETTER. Nope, all they did was FIGHT all day long about who got to play with the grappling hook Batman.

From December '09

Yes, there were even new bikes involved, they so did not care. It was all about the Batman.

Poor, unloved snowmobiling Batman.

I got REALLY sick of making them take turns all day yesterday. It was not my favorite. Screaming and crying does not a happy Yuletide make.

From December '09

Totally gratuitious adorable-ness from Oliver.

We truly thought maybe by this morning the boys would be over it and ready to move on to some of their other toys.

We were wrong. First things this morning (as in before 0700) they were at it again.

From December '09

So we packed up and went to the store. Walmart we struck out. Target was a no-go, but Kmart. Ahhh, Kmart-fall-apart delivered. It was a Boxing Day Miracle.

And now, my life make sense again. The fighting has (mostly) ceased. In fact, because the stress of not each having an awesome Batman has lessened, they are actually enjoying the OTHER toys they received. No more are they watching each other out the corner of their eyes. Instead, they know their own personal Batman with a grappling hook is resting peacefully at their side.

So, yeah, Operation Christmas was a success. After a Boxing Day Miracle of course.

I learned a very important lesson: I ALREADY KNEW I SHOULD ONLY BUY MATCHING TOYS FOR THE KIDS!  And now, it's just been cemented. I tend to forget these kinds of things though... remind me in 11 months, okay?

Wisemen Still Seek Him

Time now for another Christmas Post, because it would be weird to post it in April. NOW is the time, people!

Tonight, we are planning a Family Home Evening all about the Nativity. Henry kind of knows the story, and Spencer is getting old enough to start to understand. If you ask him "When is Jesus' birthday?" He answers, "CHRISTMAS!" but then again, he might just think that is a coincidence...

Anyway...

I'm excited about the part about the new star. It's a symbol that I think the boys will understand. A new star, a literal celestial miracle occurred to show the world that their Savior had come.

I think of the wisemen, following that star. What faith they must have had, to just follow, to stop all they were doing, and go. No angels came to the wisemen. (The shepards had that priviledge....) They did not hear and see the Heavenly choir praising God. They just saw a star, and went and found their Lord. Even with distractions and fear from the outside world, they pressed onward, they stayed the course. It took them two years to find the King of Kings. But they found him.

As the Lord calls me, am I prepared? Am I ready to stop, and follow? To look up and accept a command to answer the simple call "Come follow me"? I hope each day that I am indeed following the new star to find my Lord.

Some days it is more of a battle than others. Even during Christmas, the distractions pile on, until you can barely find the truth of Christmas beneath the mounds of sugar cookies and glittery lights. So, I have to do what I can to remind myself to find the Lord. Every.single.day.

And each day, He comes bearing the gifts. The gift of redemption, of forgiveness, of eternal life. It's a small sacrifice to do what He asks of me, to be the receipient of His Grace.

"Three Kings Found the Lord, and so can we!" ~Michael McLean's Forgotten Carols~

I dreamed a dream in days gone by...

Oh my gosh you guys! I have such exciting news! Hang on to your hats!

Ready?

I've been having dreams lately. Psychic dreams. They lead me to believe that good things are in my future...

What's good things?

Well, I have had not one, but TWO dreams that I am on vacation in NYC. Seriously. They were fantastic dreams. I mean, like NO kids, just Derek and I, at a show, walking Time's Square, eating at fantastic hole-in-the-wall restaurants.

The other day, I was having such a great time with Derek, that I was QUITE frustrated when Spencer woke me up. (Like I said, in my dreams, the children are NOT invited.)

So, I have taken these dreams as a sign. A sign that I freaking need a vacation. Not just that, but I need a vacation without my children. (Any mother can tell you a "vacation" wherein children come along is NOT a vacation. As my mom would say, you are merely relocating.)

Oh my gosh. I can't believe I just said that. I have never left my children for any reason other than births! And then they are with their daddy. But let's face it, births are WORK, so they do not count as a vacation.

I need a break, oh so much.

So, I jumped on the interwebs and started looking up flights, hotels, etc. Dude, I am GOING. Dereks' invited too. When? Meh. That's the tricky part.

What to do with the kids? I'm not worried. We'll stock the fridge and pantry and lock the doors from the outside. They'll be FINE for a few days.

WOAH!

 Relax, I'm only joking. That is what grandparents are for, DUH!

Listen, I am SO excited! When/how/what/where/howtopayforitall are left to be determined. But this is happening, for the sake of all our happiness'. It's a MUST.

And it's a when, not an if.

HOW COOL IS THAT?