Wordless Wednesday #3

For more participants check out 5 Minutes for Mom or Wordless Wednesday!

Finally!

After 3 1/2 years we finally got together with Justin and Kristi! WooHoo! Justin called me over the weekend and we set a time to "play." Since they hadn't seen Caden since he was a newborn and have never seen Syd I thought we would bring them. I think I had temporary amnesia of how hard it is to actually have a conversation when you have two little kids with you at a restaurant. I am now making a mental note...get a babysitter. :)

It was okay at first. We met at B.J.'s Restaurant at around 6:30 pm. Caden was excited to sit in a booster, and Syd did okay in her highchair. As we were getting settled, chatting away, and trying to figure out what to order...Caden proceeded to play with the blinds, and Syd started having a fit because she didn't want to be buckled into the highchair. We decided to have Caden trade places with Kristi so that he wouldn't have access to the blinds, and I wouldn't have to man both kids. That worked out pretty well. We finally figured out what to eat, and placed the order. Then tried to have a conversation while Syd continually threw whatever was in her reach onto the floor. Then Caden actually told me that he had to go "potty" (yay!). I excused myself and took him. He still has to take off all of his clothes (minus the shirt) to go so that makes public restrooms soooo much fun! The food was great! I am glad that Justin recommended it. We finished up and continued talking while our kids wandered a bit around the restaurant. Thank goodness it wasn't too busy. It was still a great time, but the kids do make life interesting.

Justin and Kristi went on the same Hawaiian cruise that we are going to be going on for our Anniversary. They gave us alot of pointers on what we should do to make our trip more enjoyable. It is kinda nice to know things before hand. They had alot of fun on their cruise, and hopefully so will we.

It was so nice to see them and catch up on what they have been doing the past couple of years. We even are going over to their house on Monday for a BBQ. (without the kids :) I hope to be able to keep in better contact with them and not let years go by without seeing them.

Favorite Ingredients Friday - Super Bowl Edition

So I thought I would participate in this fun idea that Overwhelmed has been doing on her blog. It is a recipe exchange that she does every Friday. This Friday it is themed for the Super Bowl. This is one of my favorite dips in the world. Shawn's Aunt Sandi made this for a family get together a couple of years ago and I just had to have the recipe. Even if you don't want/or have time to get a bread bowl, you can make it in a mini crockpot and it is still soooo yummy! Enjoy!

Bow Making and Other Random Thoughts

Yesterday I went to a bow making class. I know it sounds a little silly, but I figured with having a girl I need to learn how to make them myself. I had been buying them from a friend of mine, but it will be alot cheaper to make them on my own. At the class they were talking about how people will sell these for $25 bucks!!! That is so crazy - I don't think I could bring myself to pay that much for a bow! We learned how to make three different styles. The layered, side-by-side, and the Jenny bow. These are the 3 I made. I think they turned out pretty good! I am excited to try to make some more. I went to the class with my friend Karyn. She is awesome. Our husbands are good friends from high school. Caden and their son Kent are about 3 weeks apart. It was nice to get away and do something fun for our evening.

Yesterday, Shawn forgot his wallet at home, so we drove to his work and met him for lunch. He was going to have someone else buy him lunch, but I thought it would be fun to go and see him. Shawn's work is only about 15-20 minutes away from our house, but he acts like I am having to drive to another state to come and see him. I think he actually likes us to come, but for some reason thinks it is a waste of time. I love to go see him, and so do the kids.

On the drive over I was kinda entertained by Sydney, and soon found myself in a deep thought. As soon as Syd gets into the car she immediately starts to try to take her shoes off. I don't know why...I guess it just gives her something to do. The problem is she never seems to do it in the right steps, and because of this gets very frustrated. Her shoes are actually quite simple to take off. All she has to do is Velcro strap that goes across the top of the shoe and then they will just slip off. Instead she tugs and screams for quite sometime and then finally manages to pull one off. She then smiles with pride that she got one accomplished. Soon after the crying ensues as she moves on to the next shoe....more smiles....and then the cycle begins again as she goes for her socks.

I began to think about this cycle that she seems to go through almost everytime we get into our car. It is such a funny thing to me. Children are so lucky because they are so innocent. They have no real awareness of the world around them. If they don't like the way things are going they let you know....they never hold back, and are for the most part honest. There are times when I am doing things that I would love to scream and cry until I figure it out. Then after I get all of the screaming and crying out of the way I can beam with pride when my final goal is accomplished. Sometimes I think as adults we bottle up alot of feelings and emotions that we should let go. Maybe next time I am head to head with something I can't seem to figure out I will try "letting go"... but probably not if I am in public - I don't want anyone to think I am crazy. :)

Love Thursday

Today is my first "Love Thursday" two women founded this. The idea is that every Thursday post a picture on your website or blog of something that depicts love. I chose this one today.

Snuggle time with Dad

These are the 3 most important people in my life besides my Heavenly Father whom without Him I would not have them. I love to watch my children with their Daddy...they love him so much!

Wordless Wednesday #2 - They must seem gigantic to her!

For more Wordless Wednesday's check out 5 Minutes for Mom or Wordless Wednesday

Flight Attendant

My sister and I are both flight attendants and she sent this to me the other day. It is actually a commercial for NicoDerm, but anyone who is a flight attendant can relate to this. She is actually doing what we play out in our minds when we are at work. So enjoy...hopefully it will make you laugh as much as I did.

Tackle It Tuesday - The French Doors

A funny thing happened after I posted my first Tackle it Tuesday last week. My husband started asking me, "Hey hun, what are you going to do for next Tuesday? I think you should do ...." I will just stop there. Shawn has lots of ideas, and hopefully we can get to them. Maybe he can even pick something to "tackle" each Tuesday. What I am going to post today was actually a project that we worked on starting on Thursday, and it took all weekend! I might even update the post later if I tackle something else today...which is very likely because the kids are sick with pink eye. :( They started the antibiotics yesterday, but it takes 24 hours before they are not contagious. So hopefully I can get some stuff done since we are homebound.

The project I am posting today is the installation and painting of our new back door. A few days before Christmas, something hit our sliding glass door and this was the result. We joked about how we had a frosted window...our new decoration for Christmas. Luckily the door was double paned. Shawn duct taped up the outside to keep the glass intact in case the kids were to push on it. Then it stayed like that for weeks. I really hate sliding doors, and didn't want to pay to have the glass replaced so we decided to put in a french door. Shawn wanted me to go "shopping" for doors while he was at work. I just laughed. Imagine me trying to go around with two little kids looking at doors...not going to happen! So we finally went out together and found the door that we wanted. We bought it and last Tuesday Shawn and a friend installed it.

We had originally wanted to stain it, but decided against it. Wood is not "in" and a white door would go much better with whatever we want to do in the future. You can never go wrong with white, right? The only problem we had was that we couldn't take the door off the hinges because it was already "hung" and if we took them off we would have to do that all over again. So instead we got to do ALOT of taping. We started painting on Thursday and finally finished everthing late Saturday night. It was alot of work, but I am happy with the results. Here are pictures of the LONG process that I am so thankful is done!!!

Check out what other people have tackled at 5 minutes for Mom Have a great day!

Birthday's and Potty Update

Yesterday was my mom's birthday, she turned 65! We had all the family come over to our house to celebrate. I have 5 brothers and 2 sisters so when my immediate family gathers...it is big, and last night we had all of them PLUS aunts, uncles and cousins! The house was full, but it was nice to visit and hang out with family.

Birthday's are funny things. As a child I remember counting down the days until my next birthday, wondering what kind of party I would have, what kind of presents I would get, anticipating being a whole year older! It seems that over the years they lose the appeal that we had when we were young. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy birthdays, but as the years go by I don't feel any older. I remember once someone telling me that even though they were 30 they felt like they had just turned 18. I thought they were crazy at the time..."How could someone that OLD (hehe) feel like they are 18!?" And now I am starting to realize what they meant. I will be turning 28 this year, going to my 10 year class reunion, yet I feel like I just graduated last year. It is really true when they say, "The body may age, but the soul stays young forever."

You can see that in my mother. She is a great woman. Probably one of the most giving, energetic, funny, entertaining person's I know. If I would have known her when she was in high school...she probably hasn't changed much. There are times that we don't always see eye to eye, and she frustrates me. But in the end I love her very much. I am thankful to have her as my mom. I hope that her birthday was a good one....I think that it was.

One thing that I hope to do this year is to try to make some type of contact with friends and family on their birthday. My sister, Nancy, is awesome with this. I have tried to do it in the past, but I always seem to miss somebody. Today happens to be an old friends birthday. Justin Yentes is a whole year older today. Happy Birthday Justin!!!! I have know Justin since I was a junior in high school. We met back in the day when I worked for Organ Stop Pizza He used to drive me home from work when we worked late, and we always had major discussions about religion. He later ended up investigating my church and joined when we were Seniors in high school. He is a great guy. I really look up to him for the courage he had back then. It was hard and amazing to watch him struggle and grow. Since we have both gotten married we have really lost contact. I usually end up calling him on his birthday (we already called him, and Caden and I sang Happy Birthday to him on his voicemail.) and he usually calls me on mine. We always say we need to go on a double, but never seem to actually make it on one. Hopefully he will call us back, and we can actually set a date. I think the last time we actually got together was when we blessed Caden. That was over 3 years ago!

On another note...an update on the Potty Training Saga

At the end of last week, Caden had gone through his pull-ups. I had decided that I was just going to put him back in diapers because the pull-ups were costing us way too much money. When it came down to it, I just couldn't go and buy them. The thought of going all the way back to diapers just sickened me. So I decided to bite the bullet and go cold turkey!

Before we had put him in pull-ups the first time he was doing pretty well going pee-pee in the potty. It was the poop that he had problems with. I just got so sick of cleaning the poop out (because this kid goes 2-3 times a day!) I just didn't want to do it anymore. The problem with putting him in pull-ups is he ended up treating them like a diaper. I really don't know how any child can really train themselves in a pull-up. I think it is a stupid marketing ploy that they use because in all reality...it is alot easier to clean up a pull-up than it is real underwear. But really, they absorb like a diaper, so the kid doesn't get it. I think we all hope they will, because it is more convenient for us as parents, but in reality ---they don't work!!!! Let me know if I am wrong, I would like to know if there is anyone out there that actually used pull-ups and was able to train their child in them because it didn't work for me. My child regressed instead.

So on Sunday we went to real underwear...and that is it. Caden knows when he needs to go, but had gotten lazy because of the pull-ups. So the first couple of days, as expected, he had numerous accidents. As the week progressed he has had fewer and fewer accidents. He is still working on #2...but he is doing so well! I am so proud of him! Yesterday he actually went the whole day without having an accident, and that included when we had the huge crowd at our house! I was surprised, but very happy. I know he will still have accidents for a while, but I think we are finally on the right track! YIPPEE!!

Wordless Wednesday -- I Wondered Why He was so Quiet!

For more Wordless Wednesday pictures check out 5 minutes for Mom or Wordless Wednesday!

Tackle it Tuesday

Okay, I know in some places it is already Wednesday, but it is still Tuesday for me. So here I am. I came across this blog through Amanda, and decided to do it today. The purpose is to pick something that you have been meaning to do, but have kept putting it off...and then "tackle" it. You take a before and after picture and then post it to your blog.

I work on one of my pantry's today. It had gotten terrible. It is not my food pantry so it became the everything pantry. It is supposed to be mainly for my cleaning supplies, paper goods, and a few other things. Instead it was the landing spot for...well pretty much everthing. I would continually shut it, and pretend it wasn't there. It was bad!

Before

After

I now have empty space in the bottom of the pantry! What a great feeling! Woo Hoo!

Friday's Feast

So in all of my surfing of the web in the world of blogs... I came across different things to do each day. I made links for them so check them out. Today is Fridays Feast they supply questions...in a dinner style (ie. Appetizer, Soup, Salad, Main Course, Dessert) and you answer them and post them on your blog. So I will do that today. If you don't have a blog, just e-mail me, or add a comment. I would love to see your answers! It is kinda a fun and interesting way to get to know other things about people...with random questions. Here we go!

Appetizer:
What comes to mind when you see the color orange? First I immediately thing of an orange because I love fruit. Then I immediately think of Halloween probably because I have one orange shirt, and I only seem to wear it around or on Halloween.

Soup:
Did you ever get in trouble while you were in school? If so, what was it for? I was sent to the Principal's office in 4th grade. Me and a couple of other girls were really mean to a boy that was in our class. I think we made him think that one of our friends like him and then tore up something he made for her in front of his face, and said that she didn't like him back. It was really cruel. He was crushed and went to the principal, and we were called in. I cried like a baby, and was sorry that I ever made that decision. I don't know why as children we feel the need to pick on other people. I guess that we still do it as adults, but not in such a blatant way. I hope that I can teach my children to be better people, and stick up for those who need it.

Salad:
Which topping(s) make up your perfect pizza? Hmm...I like pretty much everything on my pizza. When I used to work at Organ Stop Pizza, I would make one with every ingredient that they had. It was awesome!

Main Course:
Do you believe in UFOs/aliens/etc.? Why or why not? I guess that it is always possible, but I don't really believe in them per se. I believe there is probably other life somewhere out in other galaxy's, but can hardly fathom them looking like how they are depicted in movies. That thought scares me. I would like to think they are just like you and me, and you would never be able to tell the difference.

Dessert:
What color is your bedspread/comforter/quilt? Our comforter is a sage green color. I love it. The outer border is a satin and then center is an embroidered sheer. It is really pretty. :)


Okay...now it is your turn.

I am this tall!

Just a little fun snippet. At Christmas, Julie & Robbie made us a height chart to use to track our kids. We finally got it hung up and Caden can't get enough of it. He loves to "stand up real tall" and have me mark it. Of course he doesn't change in his height, but loves the fact that I wrote his name on it. Caden is a little taller than 40 inches, and Syd is almost 30 inches. It is really a great thing...nice and sturdy. The best thing about it is IF we ever move (which is very unlikely) we can just take it with us and always have the memories. What a great gift. THANK YOU, Jules & Robbie!!! They made this one themselves, but I know there is one similar you can buy on-line. I will have to get the link from Julie if anyone is interested.

Potty Training Saga

You know they say, "A child never goes to Kindergarten in diapers", but I am beginning to wonder if Caden will prove that saying wrong. I feel like I have tried EVERYTHING to help this kid. We had a Potty party, bribed him with candy, got him really "cool" Superman underwear, sticker chart...etc. etc. etc. Yet he continues to not care whether or not he soils himself. I tried only having him wear real underwear, but had my fair share of cleaning poop out of underwear! Then we went to pull-ups...yet they are just like diapers because he doesn't really feel "wet." I don't think that I would be so frustrated except for the fact that I know he KNOWS when he is going...it is a conscious decision not to go to the potty. I remember one time sitting right next to him when he was about to "go." The conversation went a like this:

Me: Caden, do you need to go poo, poo?

Caden: Shhhhh (as he walks over to the other side of the room to finish his business)

This week I have tried to implement some things to help motivate him to want to go in the potty.

• He now has to "pay" me with a toy when I have to change his "underwear" (pull-ups)


• I will "pay" him with one of the toys I got when he goes potty in the toilet


• We went through all of his remaining pull-ups & now all he has left is diapers. He really hates wearing a diaper...so I am hoping that he would rather go pee-pee in the potty instead of wearing the diaper.

Any more suggestions?

We attempted wearing real underwear for part of the day today. He did okay until later in the evening...this was the result...

I may just have to go through another week of cleaning pee and poop out of his clothes. If it gets him trained it will be worth it. I really would like him trained by February when Shawn and I go on our cruise...I would hate for those watching him having to deal with this!

On a side note, Shawn and I have booked a cruise for our Anniversary in February. It is 7 night Hawaiian Cruise!!! We got a smokin' deal through interline rates...it is nice to "work" for an airline. I am so excited, but sad to leave my babies for so long. But it is definitely overdue. We have not gone anywhere alone since Caden was born. We thought we would get this in before we add another one to our crew. I will write more on this later.

Beautiful Baby Search

Okay, I know I am biased, but I think that I have pretty cute kids. My best friend Julie called me today to see if she could come over to submit some pictures of Gemma and Tanner (her children) for the Regis and Kelly Show's Beautiful Baby Search. Julie has yet to get the internet (how has she survived?--I think she thinks the same thing :) and didn't know a whole lot on how to format a picture to the right size (100kb) and format (jpg or gif). So she popped on over so I could help her out. By the time we actually got to the computer her wonderful hubbie, Robbie, had already figured things out...but I thought...what the hey... I will submit pictures of Sydney and Caden. What do we have to lose, right? Now Julie and I have facinations of being able to fly together out to New York to be on Regis and Kelly because OF COURSE our children will be in the top five! :) If anything we may see one of our cute faces on TV so set your Tivos and see if our kids get a cameo. Here are the pictures that I submitted...tell me what you think...are they winners?

Caden

Sydney

Take one

Here we are at the beginning/end of another week. Sunday's are always bittersweet. Shawn leaves early in the morning for his meetings. That leaves me to get the kids ready and get to church. It has been an interesting year having Shawn in the Bishopric. It has been a blessing yet also a challenge not having him around. I truly have a deep respect for all the women who have had family members in the bishopric. It is still nice to be able to renew yourself each week, and be able to reflect on the blessings that I have in my life.

Before church I tried to prep Caden for Primary. I showed him the gift his teacher gave him, and got him excited. After sacrament meeting Caden actually did okay. He walked in the the primary room, but wouldn't sit down. I left him and he did okay. After church he told me how you are supposed to "fold your arms and walk like this." I think that he had alot of fun, and is getting used to the idea, but still says that he doesn't want to go to Primary. Sometimes I think that he just says he doesn't want to go because I want him too. We will see how next week goes.

Jesus Wants Me for A Sunbeam!

Well, I am back. Yesterday I got my LASIK done and everything went well. It was a pretty interesting experience. It is amazing that a procedure that takes less than 30 minutes can make it so I can have good eyesight. I rested the majority of the day and by the end of the day I could see almost clearly. When I went in for my post-op they said that I am close to 20/20 vision, and it will only get better. Now I just have to wear these funny goggles whenever I sleep, put drops in my eyes every 30 minutes, and an antibiotic drops about 4 times a day! I also can't wear any eye make-up for 2 weeks. I guess it saves me time when I am getting ready, but I also feel like I just woke up. Overall it has been a pleasant experience, and I am so thankful!!!

This morning Caden had a "Meet your Primary teacher Breakfast." I can not believe that my baby is going to be a SUNBEAM!! We dropped him off at around 8:30 pm they had decorated the gym with footprints. Each class had different colored footprints that they followed to the stage and then the curtains opened to reveal their new teacher. They got to eat breakfast with their class, and do some other things. This has been a little of a challenge for Caden. During the last couple of weeks of December they had all the kids that would be going into primary at the beginning of the year come in for Sharing time and then go back to nursery afterwords. I am glad that they have done this, but Caden is still having a hard time. Whenever I would ask him if he wanted to go to Primary he would say, "I say NO primary!" I think he had a good time at the breakfast, but when his teacher asked him if he was going to come and sit with her in Primary he shook his head "NO." It will be interesting to see how everything goes tomorrow. I am sure he will be fine once he gets used to the routine. Sister Peden, his teacher, even came by tonight and dropped of a note and some candy, and got him a little excited. I am thankful that he has a good teacher...I know that will be really helpful.

Aiden Goodmansen and Caden

The rest of our day was pretty uneventful. We FINALLY took down all of our decorations... and then got ready and went to Shawn's cousin, David Shill, baptism. It was nice to go and support family. We like to go to things, but sometimes don't know about them until after the fact. It was good to go. Caden and Sydney were a little crazy, but at least we were there. I took some pictures of them while they were eating dinner tonight. I started doing Syd's hair in two little ponies on the top of her head. I just thought they were so cute so I had to share.

CHEESE!

Puzzles

Today was a pretty good day. Shawn stayed home from work because I had a pre-op exam for LASIK surgery that I am getting tomorrow! It was nice to have him home to help out. I left for the exam in the morning, and when I got back I took a nap. Shawn was great... he helped to clean up alot around the house. Since Christmas our house has been a disaster. I guess that he finally got so sick of it that he decided to do something about it. He cleaned the kitchen and mopped all of the floors in the house. It was really nice. Tomorrow he will have to do even more since I will have to rest the majority of the day after the surgery. It is somewhat exciting to know that I will no longer need contacts or eyeglasses yet a little scary all at the same time. I will let you all know how it goes.

Caden has really cracked me up the last couple of days. For Christmas he got an Aquadoodle puzzle board. It is really cool. You puzzle the squares together, and then use the water pencil to draw pictures. It also has a border that has different shapes that you can trace onto the board. You can see it in the picture below.



Anyway, the last couple of days I would be doing something around the house...cleaning in the kitchen, working on the computer..etc. He would come and find me to tell me that "the puzzle is all apart, Mom!" I would go with him to the play room to discover that he had taken every piece apart and thrown it all around. We would sit down together, put it back together, and then I would go back to doing whatever. Moments later he would come running back to tell me it was "all apart" again. He has done this over and over for days. It has really helped me to realize how much he loves to have my attention. He will do anything to get me there. It is not that I don't spend time playing with him...in fact it seems that is all I do...but he still has a way of bringing me home when he really needs me. He is a great kid. I do sometimes get frustrated, but overall he is a bundle of joy. We all need to take sometime each day and "put the puzzle together." It makes all of the difference.

A New Year!

I can't believe another year has come and gone. One of the things that I would like to do better this year is journaling or blogging the day to day activities that our family does. Since Shawn and I have been married I have really slacked on writing down memorable and mundane things that have occurred. I feel that there are many things that will be forgotten because of my laziness. I hope to do better this year so that our children can look back and recall the fond memories of their childhood. Hopefully you will find this fun and interesting to check in on our family from time to time.

New Years this year was a little different since it was on a Sunday. We had a nice relaxing evening. We went over the the Christensen's (Shawn's cousin Jared) for dinner and then watched some movies while our kids played. Jared and Karma have two daughters, Madison & Hailey, that are about the same age as our kids. Caden really loves Madison, and even though they are really second cousins...I feel they will be real close as they grow up. Hailey is still quite small, but it will be fun to watch her and Sydney as they get older. Here are some pictures that we took of them last night.

Caden, Karma & Madison

Hailey & Sydney

The kids after we woke them up to drive home... I love thier just woke up face!

Of course the kids did not make it until midnight, but we stayed up...rang in the new year...and then went home and went to bed. I know...so exciting! hehe Man, we are getting old!