Fun Friday and Facebook Funnies

We slowed down a lot this week. It helped that I am feeling extra tired (thyroid issue maybe?), so I didn't want to be going going going.

We cleaned, and I made real dinners (not breakfast or tuna sandwiches) four nights this week! Steve had game night, and I had writing group.  Tuesday I went to Megan's house to help her get it ready, and then I took pictures so Ben could get her house listed. Did everyone hear she's moving to Colorado? Don't feel bad if you didn't. I found out through Facebook.

My parents are moving too, though not to Colorado. Probably just down here by me and Ben. Yesterday my family had a wedding reception to go to in Farmington, so we went up to my parent's house after lunch and helped them work on painting and decorating. I hung shelves. They looked perty. :)

Friday was Pioneer Day. It's a Utah holiday, so Steve didn't get it off. But for some reason, the state lets us do fireworks around the holiday. And since we had some leftover from the 4th, we decided to do them that night. I love fireworks so much. Mira hates them. We brought sound-deadening headphones for her to wear and she still crawled in the car and cried everytime something big boomed.

Prior to fireworks, I took the girls to the splash pad, then we went home, had dinner, grabbed daddy and went to The Cocoa Bean. I like that place more and more. Every time we go, we have a great experience, and the food is super tasty. Their sugar cookies rival my mom's, which is saying something. And their frappes are WAY better than Starbucks. I've had their hot chocolate and their cupcakes, too, and both are very good. I'm not a big fan of those things normally, so they bight be stellar. I just wouldn't know.  This last time, Emilia accidentally knocked her hot chocolate off the table and made a huge mess all over the floor. Not only did the great employees mop it up, but they made her another hot chocolate so she wouldn't have to go without. I was very impressed.

Recent quotes from Facebook:

7/24
Mira was telling me something about her husband, when I decided to ask how old dear Steve-olatcho is.
Mira: Ninety-six.
Emilia: But you told me he was 4! The same age as you.
Mira: Yeah, but he had a birthday.

7/19
Mira's primary teacher just posted this. It's too funny not to share:
Mira told her, "I have a husband, but he is only pretend...My husband's pet is a rat. He washed it so it doesn't look icky and it doesn't smell bad. He poops a lot.
*Pauses for a moment and realizes what she said*
The rat, not my husband!"

7/12
I just sent Mira and Emilia to a neighbor's house to see if they wanted extra zucchini and squash. When the girls got back, I asked if the neighbors took it.
Emilia: Yeah. They wanted *all* of it.
Mira: And I gave them my acorn. In case they had a collection.

7/12
It never ceases to amaze me how repetition doesn't get repetitious for kids. The other day in the car the kids were eating free popcorn from the hardware store.
Mira: What if this was popcorn world?
Emilia: Then you would be made of popcorn!
Mira: And you would be made of popcorn.
Emilia: And signs would be made of popcorn.
Mira: And street lights would be made of popcorn.
Emilia: And the Dinosaur Museum would be made of popcorn.
Mira: And the sky would be made of popcorn.
Emilia: And chocolate milk would be made of popcorn.
Mira: And dogs would be made of popcorn.This continued for our entire drive. Thank goodness it was only 20 minutes long.

7/2
Cecily: I carry you?
Me: You want me to carry you?
Cecily: Okay!
-----------------------------
Mira: What are puzzles?
Emilia: You know what puzzles are. They have pieces that you move around until they're in the right place.
Mira: So they're games. Puzzles are games.Emilia: No. They're not games. They both have pieces, but there's no versing in puzzles.

6/26
Yesterday, Cecily started out the day by dumping her bowl of Cheerios upside down on the kitchen floor. She then pulled all the boxes of art supplies off the shelf and dumped them on the floor, including opening the box of markers and spreading them through the living room and dining room after drawing all over her arms. She took all the dragons out of her play book, took them to every room of the house, then jumped up and down on the book, breaking the box that holds the dragons. Mira decided to cut her hair while playing outside somewhere in here, and then Cecily, feeling like someone was one-upping her, spilled a bottle of bubble solution on the carpet in the hallway. Oh! I forgot she also dumped 250 (give or take) mini hair-elastics on the bathroom floor. And then when I made the other girls pick them up (while I cleaned their room), she filled a cup full of water and dumped it on them. So far this morning, Cecily has dumped her entire bowl of uneaten cereal on her chair. Can I quit now?

6/18
I made pork fried rice for dinner with some less-than-stellar cuts of meat. Emilia was chewing up a piece of it and complaining.
Emilia: Ugh! This fat. I can't chew it. I don't like this fat. I don't like any fat at all!
Mira (incredulous): Not even Santa's fat?

6/4
This morning, Cecily woke up and was talking to herself in her crib. Then I hear a sneeze, an enthusiastic, "Bless you!" and a surprised, "Thank you!" Cecily sleeps in her own room.

5/26
"Mom, you shouldn't sleep on your hairdo. It makes it look all crazy."

5/25
When I went in to get Mira out of the shower, she had already crawled out and put a towel on her head. When she saw me, she grinned and said, "I'm Lizard Bagonda!" Then she picked up a towel and held it over her chin and said, "Lizard Bagonda is a girl, but she has a beard." Lizard Bagonda has continued to take turns poofing Mira in and out of the house, telling us about her Gandalf-like wizard staff that provides magical sparks. (I love her imagination.)

5/14
Emilia and I went on a date on Saturday. We only had about 45 minutes to spend and 1/3 of it was driving to where we wanted to go. I told Emilia on the way home that I wished we had more time for our date because I feel like I don't see her much these days. Her response? "Yeah, that's because I like playing with my friends more."

5/14
The awesomeness that is Mira lately:
This morning, she was beatboxing in the car--"Mmm-pshh-aww, mmm-pshh-aww, mmm-pssh-mmm, aww aww aww aww."
---------------------------
Yesterday in the car:
Mira: Who's that big slimy guy in Star Wars? Is the big slimy guy the boss of Darth Vader?
Me: Jabba the Hut? No, he's not the boss of Darth Vader.
Mira: Yeah. Jabba the Hut. He looks like my scrape.
Me: Your scrape looks like Jabba the Hut?
Mira: Yup! We need to watch Star Wars again.
----------------------------This morning before family scripture study, Mira brings the helium balloon she got three days ago into the bed room, which now floats about 2 inches above the floor. She sets it on the bed. Beaming, she says, "Mom! My balloon learned how to sit! Good balloon."

5/8
Mira was playing with our "little legos" (translate: regular-sized, non-duplo legos) and was giggling about switching the guys heads around. A moment later, she comes to me and says, "Mom! I can't find the hair of that guy who walks on the sky." She walks her fingers along the air to demonstrate. "You mean Luke Skywalker?" I ask. Her eyes light up. "Yeah!"

5/5
Mira (from outside): Mom! Mom, mom, mom!
I open the door.
Mira: I gotta go potty and I don't want to go in my panties.
Me: Hurry.
Mira (walking up to the toilet): Don't worry, don't worry. Here's a spot, here's a spot. Stay positive, stay positive!

5/2
I was laying in bed with Mira after we all read scriptures the other morning when she told me, "You have a shirt crack."
Me: What does that mean?
Mira: You know, like when my pants fall down and I show my butt crack, when your shirt comes up it's a shirt crack.

4/21
Cecily is such an actress. We were reading stories (in just a diaper) and she ran back to her room to get another book. When she came back out, the diaper was gone. I say, "You're naked! Where's your diaper? Where'd it go?" She gives me this baffled look and says, "Wha?" I tell her, "Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about." She grins and runs back to her room.

4/1
Mira: Only a few things make me happy. Birds in the sky, hot tubs, and people I know.

3/22
Cecily stole my phone earlier and started up Netflix, which, of course, Mira and Emilia were drawn to like moths to a flame. Ten minutes later, for no apparent reason, Cecily gets up and starts running away. Mira chases after her. Now, imagine, two pajama'd girls running around in a cartoon-like chase with Mira trailing behind and not-so-calmly stating, "Cecily, you're going much too fast!"

Last night, Cecily was up late because we were playing at a friend's house. Near 9:30, she gets up on my lap and flings playing pieces across the table, smashes my cards, spreads a pile all over, and reaches for more. I tell her no and tell Camber, "She's such a turkey!" Cecily then looks at her and goes, "Bah-ha-haaaa."

Emilia: Mom, I have four names in case I have four kids.
Me: Okay.
Emilia: Two are boys and two are girls.
Me (choosing not to burst that bubble): What are they?
Emilia: First is a boy--Ricardo. Then a girl--Annie. Then a boy--Andrew. And a girl--Andie.
Me: You want to name your children Annie, Andrew, and Andie?Emilia (straight faced): And Ricardo.

3/15
Every time we ask Cecily to say "Nana," she does the sign for banana.

3/14
As I was driving home from the doctor's office yesterday, I decided to stop at the grocery store to get some chicken. I turned the corner, off the main road, and then half-way down the block, remembered I had something else I could use. So I drove around the block back to the main road. From the back seat I hear Mira say, "Mom, we're driving in circles." On the way home from Costco last week she asked, "Are you sure this is the way home, Mom?" That kid does not trust that I know where I'm going. On the other hand, I was impressed that she realized that we had driven in a circle.

2/28
During lunch--
Mira: The noodle is benouncing a whole new world!
Me: Is the whole new world your tummy?
Mira: Yep. They like it there.

2/24
Steve was telling the girls that his new job wouldn't throw cool parties like his old one. Emilia jumped up and pronounced, "Tomorrow, go to your boss and say, 'I quit!'"

2/22
From a different room I hear Emilia squeal.
Emilia: Mira, what are you doing?
Mira: I'm trying to marry you. Now hold still.
Emilia (sounding scared): No, don't! Don't do that! You can't marry your sister!

2/20
Mira colored just Fluttershy's boots.
Mira: Do you like my drawing, Mommy?
Me: They are so colorful. I can't wait to see the rest.
Mira: You'll get there eventually.

Emilia turns 7

Emilia's birthday party was this week. And most of my week was consumed with getting us ready for it. But I tried not to be crazy-Godzilla-mom about it. Just crazy mom.

Dragon's eggs we made as party favors. The kids went on a dragon egg hunt and then we "incubated" them in order to hatch their baby dragons.

Their baby dragons. I love how they turned out.

I ended up asking my MIL Wilda to help me sew dragons because I knew I wasn't going to get them all done and get everything else done for the party. Lucky for me, she got her knee replaced a few weeks ago and had some time on her hands. Probably not so lucky for her, but I am super duper appreciative of her help.

These next pictures are of the decorations

We made it to the library this week. And the splash pad. I took the younger girls to the mall playground and Emilia had a playdate with a friend from school. That was my attempt to not be a terrible mom while stressing out over party stuff. Somewhere around Monday night, I decided that stressing wasn't making anyone happier and it certainly wasn't going to get my to-do list done faster. This realization helped me calm down until Thursday night when I officially freaked out again.

My mom and dad came down Friday morning. Mostly because my dad agreed to help us mud and tape the wall that Steve closed up last Saturday. But my mom came because she was invited by Emilia to her birthday party and it was easier for both of them to come down at the same time. I am also super duper appreciative of their help! My mom being there kept me sane throughout the day. She took the girls to their end-of-summer library reading program party. Which they left 1/2 way through because it was "just so BORING."

At one point, my top layer of cake broke and started sliding off the cake. My mom was especially helpful in keeping me from having a melt-down at that point. We made it into a canyon and Emilia thought it was totally cool. Crisis averted.

Yesterday, there was a family reunion for Steve's mom's side of the family. I'm glad we went for his sake. For my sake, I kinda wish they made child muzzles. My kids were out of control. Then tonight we went to my parents' house to celebrate Megan's and Emilia's birthdays. They were much better today.

The clouds were beautiful on the way home from the reunion. We even saw a rainbow. I felt like it was God's way of saying, "It's okay. There is beauty in the world. Not just screamy, whiney, difficult kids." And I felt loved.

Cecily fell asleep on the way to my parents' house. She snored. It was cute.

This is the cranachan I was telling you about (I made ours without the whiskey).

A small fix

Things settled down a little this week, so I decided to take on a project to make my life harder. Emilia's birthday is coming up this week and she requested a How to Train Your Dragon party. I decided to hand-sew 8 of these (because I'm crazy):

Most of my free time this week has been devoted to making the pattern, cutting out the felt, and sewing them. I've finished 2 1/2 of them. And now I'm stressing out because I've got everything else to get ready--like decorations, food, invitations, games, etc.

We also got a kitten this week. We shopped for all the cat accoutrements on Tuesday and picked her up on Wednesday. I think the only reason I was brave enough to get a pet is because Ben and Haylee's cat had babies and they wanted to give us one.

This is what she looked like for most of Wednesday and Thursday:

Now she's gotten braver and is playing and running around. I'm glad. And she's pretty cute. too, so that helps. :)

Her name is officially Flaming Beauty (a compromise between Sleeping Beauty and Flame--we thankfully didn't ask Steve for his input because he says he would have named her Nancy).

On Thursday night. I got to go to my friend Leah's house (she's in my writing group), we mostly talked and ate unhealthy food, but I did pick raspberries. She has a beautiful patch with both white and red raspberries and wasn't going to have time to pick for a while. I told her I would be a good friend and help her out. So I came home with about 5 pounds of raspberries for no more cost than my time. Heaven!

I made raspberry syrup, cranachan (if you haven't tried this Scottish dessert, you really should) and froze the rest. <> Oh happy da-ay!

Other than that, we mostly hung out at home. Reading, making funny faces, gardening...

Anyone know what kind of plant this is? It's getting a bit too big.

My first produce of the year. A nice big zucchini.

We at the zucchini and the squash I got later in the week with  this recipe tonight. It was delicious. And it's easy. What's not to like? http://www.marthastewart.com/334243/pasta-with-roasted-summer-vegetables-and

Yesterday, we worked on the house and I worked on the dragons some more. I sprayed for bugs and worked in the garden. Steve was a regular handiman (not his regular schtick to be sure) and put our entire wall back together except for mud and tape. I am super proud of him. We went out to Red Robin for dinner to celebrate not having to spend thousands of dollars fixing our foundation. Yay for things not turning out as bad as you thought, right? I feel like God watches out for us in those small ways and I'm so grateful. We are very blessed.

Missed it again. Shoot.

How did I miss last week again? I don't even know. And today I'm tired and feeling lazy. You might just get a bunch of pictures with minimal explanation. We'll see--if I can ever get my computer to recognize my phone. Annoying electronic devices.

Ahh....here we go....

The kids were bored one day, so I made a tea party for them.

We've been to the library, it feels like, a million times this summer. I picked up some books for sale while I was there. I'm excited to read them.

We went up Hobble Creek Canyon to roast marshmallows one night. It was so nice in the cooler temperatures and I'll always eat a toasty s'more.

Cecily helping Steve put out the fire.

I had just washed my hair and didn't want it to smell like smoke because we had church at 9am the next morning. So I wrapped up in an old t-shirt.

Emilia begged to be able to pose with the roasting stick. Funny girl.

Love this little diaper bum.

Visited my mom on Monday. Cecily built her first WonderBlocks tower. Momentous occasion.

Another trip to the library. Mira reads books to herself all the time, with no reading skills other than her imagination. She's got a stellar imagination.

Cecily doing puzzles while she waits for her sisters and their books. She's not so impressed with them yet.

Emilia is a voracious reader. She picked out 16 books to read and will be done with them in about 10 days.

I wanted the girls to have something festive to wear on the 4th, so I made them some shirts.

An attempt at a family photo in said shirts.

We also went to the splash pad. Emilia and Cecily were wearing the same swim suits. We have an awesome splash pad. Have I mentioned this?

Emilia looks so grown up in this picture.

We also went swimming with the Strattons, had a bbq and fireworks on the 4th, fixed our car only to have it break again, and Alison moved out, revealing that we had a leak in our basement. This resulted in taking out a large section of drywall (thanks for the help, Dad!), pulling out insulation, getting new stuff for the walls and carpet, and getting advice from a restoration guy. He'll have to come back now that we can see the extent of the damage, though. Overall, these last few weeks have been very stressful. Hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July!

Another family misadventure

I didn't post last week because we had another family misadventure on the way home and we were so exhausted by the time we got here, we fell asleep a 1/2 hour after the kids. I guess I'll go in order though, so you'll have to wait for the misadventure story 'til half-way through the post.

This first picture is from two Sunday's ago. My Aunt Jean gave us this dress that my cousin Dot wore when she was this age. She looked totally adorable. But she was mad that I wouldn't give her a snack from the pantry, so this was the best picture I could get of it.

Also, two Sundays ago, Cecily spilled something on her dress at dinner at Meemaw and Peepaw's house, so she was running around in her bloomers, found the dress up stuff, and this cuteness ensued:

There's an adorable video of her singing the itsy bitsy spider in this get-up here:
https://www.facebook.com/sabrina.frohlichwatts/videos/908635822511225/?l=4732714821796192372

That day, Mira was having tummy troubles and threw up all over Grandma and Grandpa's bathroom. This is important only because it leads up to other stuff.

We stayed home Monday, since Mira was sick and the girls mostly watched TV. By Tuesday, we were almost out of groceries, so we made a grocery run and stopped to pick up some Brag Tags. If you are a mom of school-age kids and don't know what that is, feel lucky.

This was taken Wed, I think. I just love how my hair curls these days. It makes me happy.

Wednesday night, Steve had game night, so I watched Pitch Perfect (the first one, since Alison owns it and loves it), while I finished a wreath for the 4th of July. I love how it turned out. I love the kid who wanted to be in the picture, too,

Mira wanted me to take a picture of her standing on the crib. . .

Wednesday morning, Cecily woke herself up early by throwing up all over her crib. She proceeded to throw up every couple of hours after that because she kept wanting to eat. We have shag carpet. It was not fun. Thursday, I decided to limit what she ate, and by Thursday night, she had some regular food she kept down. Friday, she seemed much better, so I decided to risk taking her with the other girls to Springville's Art City Days festivities. Friday was the Children's Art Festival. We've gone to it the past two years and had fun, and this year was no exception. Here are the girls getting their faces painted.

Cecily waiting her turn.

We went with friends, the Ables and Addison.

Saturday morning, we took the girls to the parade. It was a pretty good parade. Much better than the Provo Freedom Festival parade we went to last year. The kids lasted about an hour, so I guess I should be happy with that. (I love parades, so I was sad to leave, but I should have been happy.) :)

Emilia, Mira, and their friend Gracie waiting for it to start.

Everybody else waiting for it to start.

After it started, they had to stand in the street to have a chance at getting the candy that was thrown. Emilia was amazed at how much candy they threw. Like it was Christmas. Mira was cute. She just sat on the blanket and waited for people to feel sorry for her and give her some of their candy. It worked out very well for her.

On a Saturday night grocery run, Emilia dressed up with all the accessories she could find while I looked for sunglasses. "Look, Mom, I'm fashionista Emilia," she said.

Okay, so...
Sunday, we had a family dinner to celebrate, my dad's, Cecily's, and Lincoln's birthdays.

(WARNING: Our family misadventure starts here. If you don't want to read about bodily functions, 
skip down to the picture of Emilia and Mira in the pool.) 

About 15 minutes after we arrived, Steve and I walked into the living room, where Cecily was playing, and found her squatting in front of the couch with poop erupting out the top of her diaper. Everybody flew into disaster mode, with Steve grabbing Cecily and hauling her into the bathroom, spraying her down with the shower head and getting her cleaned up. I cleaned up what I could off the floor, then grabbed the clothes, rinsed them out with the hose and threw them in the wash along with the rugs from the bathroom. Mom grabbed the carpet cleaner and cleaned up the rest.

I don't know why Steve and I didn't see that as a possible tummy problem, but we didn't. We just figured it was a bad diaper, a small leftover from her being sick this week and went on with the day. Cecily had been eating just fine for three days now, so she was feeling better, right?

Apparently not.

The kids were all cranky after dinner, so we packed every one up (after Cecily opened her presents) and headed home. This was about 7:30, I think. It's about an hour's drive from my parents house to home, the first 15 minutes of it through town, then the rest is interstate. Right before we were about to get on the interstate, I hear a strange noise from Cecily and look back to see her throwing up everything she at at Nana's house. We are driving our Corolla, because the AC in the Pacifica went out and it's been in the 90s. So all three kids are squished in the back seat and Cecily is throwing up over and over and over. Emilia is in the middle, so next to Cecily, and starts screaming, "It's gonna drip on me! It's gonna drip on me!" Cecily was sitting in her carseat, and so far has managed to keep all of it in her lap, where she is also holding her blankie. Steve immediately pulled over into he parking lot of an Applebees. I run inside to get paper towels and come back out to Steve yelling at the older two to get away whist picking up throw-up with his hands and dumping it on the ground in the parking lot. I manage to get Cecily out of the car, but to my utter disgust, I cannot do it without touching a whole lot of Cecily's half-processed dinner. I quickly strip her down to her diaper, find a plastic bag and stuff the clothes in it, then, while Steve starts wiping Cecily down with wet-wipes, I try to get the cloth covering off the car seat. So so so so so so gross. After not a little swearing, I manage to get it off and start wiping the hard plastic down with more wipes. I figure she's just going to have to sit on the hard plastic for the rest of the way home because I don't know what else to do. I have to wipe down the straps, which are going to smell terrible no matter how much I wipe off and realize some of the puke dripped down them into the seat, so I flip it over to wipe the bottom off, when a lot more puke runs out onto the pavement. Ulgh. That's when I decide we are throwing this carseat away and buying a new one at the Walmart across the street.

I forgot to mention that at one point, while we're still trying to get everything cleaned up, the other two girls are wandering around the parking lot. Steve starts yelling at them to stay still and sit on the grass, which obviously doesn't work, so then there's more yelling--you get the idea. Just then, a highway patrol guy pulls up and parks in front of us. "Oh great," I think, "Somebody called the cops on us because we are freaking out at our kids in a very public place." Thankfully that was not the case. I guess the guy was just coming to Applebees for dinner. He was nice and gave us some more paper towels from his vehicle.

So now we have two kids, bored out of their minds, sitting on the grass in front of Applebees, a naked baby who thinks this is a funny adventure, but with an upset stomach running around them, an irate dad stalking through the restaurant to rinse out a puked on blankie and clothes, and a momma ready to leave them all there to go get a new carseat so we don't have to smell throw-up all the way home.

Steve watches the girls, I take a quick drive and end up buying a booster seat, which is $12 instead of $70, a new shirt for Cecily, so she's not completely naked, and a big bottle of hand sanitizer, which I use to wipe down every part of the car that I've touched that night.

We put Cecily in Mira's old car seat, switch the other boosters around and head for home. Cecily is crying for her blankie, Emilia's got her shirt over her face, quietly repeating, "It's really smelly. It's really smelly. It's really smelly." And Mira is happily telling us stories and trying to tickle her sister, which ends up getting her yelled at.

Like I said. We fell asleep a 1/2 hour after the kids were in bed. Gah.

Nana and Grandpa set up a wading pool for the kids to play in.

Cecily got lots of fun stuff for her birthday, including sunglasses, a watering can, and How to Train Your Dragon gear.

On Monday, Emilia and Mira started swimming lessons. They loved it. And Emilia learned to get her whole head in the water and to blow water out her nose. That's a huge step for her.

Tuesday, I started not feeling well. I was really not surprised after our adventure on Sunday. Steve was lucky, as usual, and didn't feel sick at all.

We had gotten tickets for an event at the library, and even though I was not feeling great, I was stubborn and took everybody. It didn't go very well.

Eating our picnic lunch after the event.

On Friday, I was feeling fairly normal, so I decided to spray paint the lamps I got at DI a while ago to put in my bedroom. This is the before picture. I will have to post an after next week. Because I'm lazy and I don't want to go take one right now.

By Saturday, I was feeling yucky again. This virus is so weird. So instead of going up the canyon to roast marshmallows, we ended up watching a movie on the couch. Cecily's face encompasses how I felt about the movie, Strange Magic. "Why are we watching this again?" Weird weird waste of time. I don't recommend it.

Today is Father's Day and I'm feeling a little better again. So we're trying to celebrate a little. I did make Steve a peach pie...