biz bucket

two weeks of potty training, and still more hurdles to jump over.

i'm so scatter brained i forget to ask conner if he needs to go.  i've used a timer, but i'm too scatter brained to remember to use it...especially today.

either he'll be potty trained eventually, or his wife can do it.

everyone over here at our house is running around in their natures.  we had haircuts and somehow no one seemed to care to get dressed after their bath.

oh well.

a couple cute stories from yesterday:

Kaylee said she had to go to the bathroom during dinner.   She's in there and yells out to us..."I think I have diarrhea!"   A few moments pass and we're still eating dinner.   "Yup, I have diarrhea!"   David says some type of remark...like 'thanks for the update'. She then asks for me to come and wipe her.   I'm still eating dinner, so I told her she had to wait a few minutes until I finish.   David finishes first and goes to help her.   A bit later David comes out and said she didn't have diarrhea.   Kaylee then bursts out the hallway and says...."I tricked you!"   "I don't have diarrhea." ....now that's a potty mouth.... Kaylee is practicing her spelling with David.   She has to spell the word "seven".   She spells it with an 'f' instead of 'v'.   David enunciates the 'v' sound by saying 'vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv' to her.   She looks a bit confused.   Cade interrupts and tells Kaylee.... "V!   It goes like this..." and he fingers the letter 'v' in the air"

switcheroo

turns out Kaylee has failed her vision test at school.  so I take her to the eye doctor yesterday to see what we need to do to get her seeing better again.  it was probably that her glasses weren't strong enough for her.

we get in and the nurse gives her a vision test....poor thing did horribly on her left eye.  she takes the glasses from Kaylee to look at the glasses.

a few minutes pass

the doctor comes in.

i'm expecting a new prescription...and some nice new expensive lenses to buy.

.......

......

.......

her lenses are put in BACKWARDS!  the left lens was in the right side, and the right lens was put in the left side!  I'm not sure who is to blame yet, walmart or the original doctor who wrote out the script...but my guess is walmart.

nice.  real nice.  a real treat.

so now Kaylee has been wearing glasses that are too strong for her right eye and too weak for her left eye....for about 6 months.  the doctor said that she wouldn't have known to tell me.  she's been putting up with it.

grrrrrr.

and i don't have any time to go and take her to walmart to get it fixed until tomorrow.

grrr more.

my poor blind girl.

just a side note....Cade has also failed his vision AND hearing test at school.  updates to come.  fun fun.

I QUIT!

kaylee is on timeout

of course, isn't singing my praises.

she yells out,

"I QUIT"

wow....I don't ever remember hiring her.


***how much do we pay her anyway?

that's right!

if you were a fly on our wall/toilet/toy basket/washing machine, this is what you might hear a couple times a day.  (scenerios vary from episode to episode, but the outcome is just about the same).

cade: AAAAAH!  {cry}....{sob}...KAYLEE!

mom: kaylee!  what did you do!?

kaylee: i HIT CADE!

mom: go to your room.  we don't hit.  you know better!

kaylee: FINE!  YOU'RE NOT MY FRIEND!

mom: That's right!  I'm your mother!

kaylee'ism

So, we've been excited to see what Kaylee learns at school.  It's amazing what she learns through songs!  She knows the sounds of letters...thanks to the Letter Factory!  She's beginning to spell words by singing them.  She knows the days of the week by singing them.  She knows the months of the year by singing them.

Only if I could make up songs and sing, then all this talking stuff wouldn't have ever been a problem with speech!

We taught Kaylee her birth date.  When she was asked, for the first little while she would say, "July next!"  She finally is able to say it correctly.  We've tried to add a bit more information since then...like her birth year!

.2004.

daddy: ok Kaylee, repeat after me!

daddy: July first

kaylee: July first

daddy: two thousand

kaylee: dollars

i yuv her

we were watching a music video of taylor swift. Kaylee was dancin and doin her thang. Cade was just sitting there on the couch and suddenly piped up, "I yuv her." Yup, my son has his first crush!
the video that started it all...for your enjoyment...made ever so popular by this first video from John Schmidt on the rendition of Love Story meets Viva La Vida

it's the new brown

one funny moment I wanna share from the reunion.

Kelly was up late one night cutting Cara's (another sister of mine) hair. Cara decided to be gutsy and cut her hair from a longer length to the same one that Kelly and I have. Cara then said this was the most she would do, no 'black' in her hair like Kelly.

pause.

Kelly pipes in, "I don't have black hair, it's dark brown. I'll show you what black looks like!" She goes and gets a color swatch of black, brings it out and puts it up against her hair to prove her point.

same color!

What a laugh we had! I knew Kelly's hair was pretty dark....almost black, but yeah, the swatch didn't lie. Her color is only 1 shade from mine...I guess coloring it more often will make it darker and possibly darker than the intended color.

Kelly's black is the new brown

but

yesterday I had to discipline Kaylee for....can't remember what for....but she was in trouble, that much I do remember! She pouted for a while and was quite unhappy with me. She was sitting at the table while we were getting ready for dinner, looked up at me and said, "I don't like you mommy."

"What?" I asked.

Kaylee responds, "I said, I don't like you...."

a short pause.

"But I love you."

made me smile.

'my wocks wu duk'

Cade just got a rock stuck up his nose. It was up there, but we luckily just pinched it's way out. Hopefully that is the extent of the nose fascination for this little 'booger'.

foot problem

my sister told me this story, I couldn't resist not sharing it with you guys:

took Brienne to her 6 yr. well check on Friday.

On of the questions he asked her is if she had any issues with her feet.

She replied "Yes, they fall asleep alot".

Dr.: "How do you wake them up?"

Brienne: I jump on them.

Dr.: Does it work?

Brienne: Yes, but it doesn't feel so good.

Dr.: Do they ever not wake up?

Brienne: No, I make them wake up.

Dr.: Why?

Brienne: Because if I let them sleep too much during the day, they'll be awake all night.

isn't that true!!!!!!

green thumb?

David and I went and planted a garden for FHE tonight. Alright...he planted the garden. I held the long stick and punched the holes in the ground.

A member of our stake is a farmer and donated land to the wards so that individual families could plant their own gardens. He irrigates the ground. We are required to weed the gardens and harvest. We had some fun tonight planting and talking to some friends that were there planting their garden as well. We planted into the dark. There were car lights on letting us work in the dark. It was a fun FHE activity.

We got kinda silly and decided to give silly names to the plants on little wooden sticks.

Here is what we planted and the silly names we gave it:

Corn............popcorn

Spinach...........coconut

(eating spinach will make you strong like Popeye, and Popeye has big muscles in the shape of coconuts!) it's a stretch, I know, but having 'coconuts'? cool!

Lettuce.............let us rejoice

Tomatoes..........tow mater

(think of the movie 'cars')

Carrots.............jelly beans

(David's reasoning: jelly beans are given on Easter, bunnies and Easter go together, and bunnies eat carrots)

Arugula.........don't argue with me

(kinda catchy)

Lavender...........popo

(not poo poo...but popo...kid language for purple)

Zucchini.............linguine

(another Davidism)

Peppers...........salt

(silly David!)

Cantaloupe...........antelope

Watermelon.............the last melon

(from the movie "ice age"...think 'do do birds')

This is my first try planting a garden. My fathers mother was a wonderful gardener. She is/was known for the amazing gardens she would grow in their Chicago suburb home. Just amazing. My mom, on the other hand, had quite the opposite effect on gardens. Not quite the green thumb that Grandma Price had. We've made fun of her for that.

We'll have to see how this garden does. Will I follow in my mom's footsteps, or am I destined to be a green thumb?

wanna go tubbin?

yes...we do!
Conner will soon be the newest tubbing member of the family. Ear tubes, that is.

He is currently on ear infection #5...and he's not even 6 months old.

I guess our family loves to go tubbing!

*&%#@

We went to the park today for our Christmas Eve playtime. While Kaylee was playing in the sand beneath the jungle gym some teenage girls were talking and having fun above her. Suddenly one of the girls said loudly, "Oh my G@#". I immediately thought of Kaylee overhearing that language and wondering what she might be thinking.

I heard her almost instantly. She said, "That's a bad word." The girl who said it looked surprised and said "What?" Kaylee replied saying, "That's a bad word. Say, oh my goodness."

That made me and David so proud and also made us laugh at the same time. Kaylee had no fear in correcting someone.

David said, "It's no wonder why we should be as little children."

I was so proud of Kaylee. Way to go!

i want

Sometimes Kaylee will be so persistent at getting something I have to come back with something to say or I'll go crazy. I've been responding when she says "I want......" by saying "I want a million bucks."

The other night Kaylee wanted more grapes, so of course, she says "I want more grapes!" David, having heard my way of staying cool, said "I want a million dollars!"

There was a short pause. Kaylee responds..."I want ten!"

We had a good chuckle!

dude!

Kaylee sits next to Conner in the car. She's the 'keeper of the binky'. She will help hold it in Conner's mouth when it falls out...over and over and over again.

She pays a lot of attention to what we say and do and will repeat what she observes, many times making us chuckle.

This is what I heard Kaylee say to Conner (regarding the binky):

"Keep it in your mouth, Dude!"

now, who do you think she learned that from?

What a HOOT!

time-out musical chairs

Lately Kaylee, if sent to time-out, has begun singing "I am a Child of God." Here is how it's been sung:

"I am a Child of God, and he has sent me here, has given me an 'earfy' home, with parents kind and dear. Lead me, guide me, 'walk by myself'"....too silly Kaylee. I don't think David taught her that one, at least he says so (he usually takes pride in teaching her silly lyrics), like he has with "Give said the little stream" (go away, go away instead of give away, give away). This might be an instant Kaylee original.

I'll have to try and get it on tape. We have 'Give said the little stream' on tape and it's fun to watch.

skittles

Cade and Kaylee got their hands on a small skittles bag and disappeared for a while. Kelly found them in Conners room behind the rocking chair. We both walked in there pretending to not know where they were. We'd call out, "Kaylee, Cade, where are you?" They wouldn't answer. Not even a giggle. The only thing you could hear were their little mouths chewing up those skittles as quickly as they could. I was able to get a bit of it on video. It's funny to hear their chewing, knowing they are trying to keep quiet. So cute! So Yummy!

conner update

Last night the evening nurse noticed Conner was breathing rapidly. She hooked him up to some equiptment and found that his respritory rate was about twice it should be. It was concerning since that sometimes means there is some type of infection.

Blood tests were done and nothing could be found. They kept him hooked up to monitors. In the morning the pediatrition checked him. We had already packed the car and were just waiting on the go ahead to check out. The doctor told us that Conner would have to stay the day and the night to be monitored. Sad news since we were excited to go home. But this is for the best. Better they find something possibly wrong than to experience anything scary at home. They did some x-rays and everything seems clear...so again...nothing to explain the rapid breathing.

David left to get the kids and go to church for a couple hours while I stayed at the hospital. I called some family, but left messages since everyone had church during that time. I was alone and feeling a bit sad and alone. The nurse came in and helped me feel better. Not fun to have a sad mommy with hormones going up and down and a little baby she can't have with her.

Luckily I've been able to nurse him still. His O2 stats are ok and his breathing during nursing seem to slow down. We're crossing our fingers that we can go home tomorrow. David is again staying with me overnight. His parents are watching the kids tonight and his brother and sis-in-law will take them in the morning.

Conner is a trooper. A cute little one and the nurses are really enjoying him in the nursery. He's been the only one in there the whole time. Hopefully good news tomorrow!

family candids

So, those of you who live down here in Maricopa and can think back to December '05 in the 1st ward you'll remember a RS Service Auction that was held for Enrichment. I had auctioned off a job of ironing as well as a batch of homemade eclairs...both of which have yet to be claimed!

While I was taking a look at all the different services be auctioned I noticed one that was a winner with me. It was a free photography sitting and a high quality CD of the pictures taken from the none other than our own Cindy Price. Being new to the ward, I had no idea who she was or what her photography was like. I took a chance and put all my money towards that one service auction. Sure enough, I got it!

Later on, Cindy approached me and told me that she'll be ready to take photos when I'm ready. I was about 8 months pregnant at the time, so I told her once I have the baby and loose the baby weight, that we'll plan on doing that. Well, time went on and Cindy kept asking if I knew when I would like to redeem the coupon. I kept telling her that either I'd take them now (with the baby weight still on, but pass it off as 'the beginning of another pregnancy' **tee hee hee*) or postpone it for a little while later. She was so patient with me!

Turns out I decided not only to take photos when I'm 8 months pregnant again, but also in 115 degree weather....two things I didn't think would work very well. Call me crazy, David did! I had reasons though, Kelly was coming to town and I thought now is better than never. It's been over 7 years since we've had professional twin shots taken.

Cindy and I decided on a date and Kelly brought all her fun cute shoes and clothes and jewelry....we picked out cute outfits for the kids and the adults to wear. We were super excited. We wanted an old urban style shoot. Cindy knew right where to go! (we didn't get to go to two of the places though, but next time for sure!)

Cindy did such a great job. I'm over-impressed with her work! Anyone who can make a chubby pregnant woman feel beautiful deserves to be recognized! She was so great with leading us, and listened to all our ideas before and during the shoot. We'll be going back to her for sure! I believe there's nothing better than family pictures that show the family in character...how they really are. It's priceless!

Click here and here to view Cindy's posts with our family and some candids with my sister Kelly. Enjoy...and be very jealous!

thank you Cindy! Thank you, thank you thank you!

neil diamond: coming to america parody

I heard this Neil Diamond parody of Coming to America on the radio a few days ago. I got a kick out of it.