Potty training update, my current read

**For those uninterested in potty training news, please skip the next two paragraphs**
Potty training has definitely had peaks and valleys so far. This is the routine right now: When Whitney wakes up, I usually put her in "big girl" panties. She stays in them until a. she has an accident or b. we leave the house. Sometimes she will stay in them for several hours and do just fine. Other days she wets them within 30 minutes of having them on. I'm not sure if she's just too busy playing to stop and go potty or if she's still learning to recognize the signals. It has not been at all frustrating yet. Just slowly moving along.

If she has stayed dry in the morning and we're leaving to go out, I put her in a Pull-up. She's pretty good at staying dry in those, too. If she has had an accident, I usually just put her in a diaper, which she is not very motivated to keep dry. She hardly ever stays dry all day anymore. Some days she'll just have 1 or 2 accidents. Other days she only uses the potty once or twice. I think I need to find another way to motivate her. The prize jar is not really cutting it right now.

Here is the black eye, day 5

I think the worst is over.
It just looks like she's wearing heavy eye shadow.
Like this, right??? :)

Here's a cute picture of the kids I snapped yesterday.

Soon after it was taken, they started head butting each other.
End of photo shoot!

I'm reading a new book.
Saints, by Orson Scott Card

Has anyone else read or even heard of this book? I found it on clearance at the BYU bookstore this summer and Andrew and I are big Orson Scott Card fans, so I picked it up. Andrew read it several months ago and told me, "I don't think you'd like it." I haven't been reading much of anything lately, other than picture books for the kids, but decided to give it a try. I don't know that I can recommend it. I'm about 100 pages into it. It is very stressful to read. Kind of like watching LOST. I seriously think my blood pressure goes up during some of the tense moments. And there have been a few incidents in the book that I could've done without. But, what I like about it so far is it has made me so grateful for some of the normal, everyday things that I often take for granted.

It is about a family in England in the 1800's. The husband walks out on them and they are left on the brink of homelessness. O.S.Card is SO good at taking me into their lives and feeling what it was like to be in their situation. The children are forced to work in factories where they are beaten. The youngest son gets "apprenticed" (read: sold as a slave) to a chimney sweep. It is terrible. But, at least I have hope for them that they can make it out of their desperate situation.

Things I've been grateful for while reading this book:
1. Andrew. What a blessing to have a loving, kind husband who works so hard to support our family.
2. An insulated house with a heater. I HATE being cold.
3. My absence of pain. These kids are treated so terrible by their overseers at work. It breaks my heart. They are worked to the bone and are sore every day. The only pains I feel lately are self-inflicted. (I bought a new Billy Blanks workout on DVD. I am sore all the time, but only because I choose to be.)
4. Food. I have never had to worry about where my next meal is going to come from. I am so fortunate.
5. Education. For myself and my kids. And Andrew, too. Sometimes I wonder if Brandon's getting the best education that he can. This book has made me remember that it's a blessing that he can be in school at all.

As I said, don't know if I recommend it, but I am grateful for the lessons I'm getting out of it.

Good Sunday

Here are the latest pics of the black eye.

Day 3. Ouch! That purple is SO dark.
It's pretty amazing to watch the healing process, though.

Thankfully, the worst bruising is right on her eyelid,
so it's doesn't look as bad to the casual observer.

Today was the Primary program at church. I felt like the pressure was on for me. I was the counselor who was in charge of writing the script, but then when I got released I was called as the Primary chorister--in charge of all the music. So, if things went crappy there really was no one to blame but me.

We had 4 practices before the real deal. The first practice went GREAT. The second was so-so. The third and fourth were pretty bad. I was starting to get worried. I've heard so many stories about how the kids always pull through for the program and bring a special Spirit with them. I was beginning to wonder if we'd be the first ward to have a horror story instead.

Phew--add us to the list of wards who witnessed miracles. The kids performed better than they'd ever practiced. They did well on their lines and sang SO WELL. They even choked me up on the last song, "Holding Hands Around the World." (And I'm not the kind of girl who gets choked up easily!)

I tried a new recipe for dinner last night: Quick and Easy Stuffed Peppers. I loved them. Andrew thought they were pretty good. The kids pretty much refused to eat them. Even though they don't have rave reviews from the whole family, I thought I'd share the recipe for anyone who's interested. It's all done in the microwave and is really fast. The stewed tomatoes were too chunky for my taste. I think I'll chop them up a little when I make them next time. Also, it only makes 4 half-peppers and since it's done in the microwave, I don't know how easily it could be doubled.

Quick and Easy Stuffed Peppers

Submitted by: Jen

"This microwave recipe is quick and very simple, and is a good meal for a busy work week. You can use any color peppers you like. Try using garbanzos instead of the kidney beans for a variation on this recipe." Original recipe yield: 4 servings. Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 15 Minutes Ready In: 30 Minutes Servings: 4

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 large red bell peppers, halved and seeded
• 1 (8 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, with liquid
• 1/3 cup quick-cooking brown rice
• 2 tablespoons hot water
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed and drained
• 1/2 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

---

DIRECTIONS:

1. Arrange pepper halves in a 9 inch square glass baking dish. Cover dish with plastic wrap. Poke a few holes in the plastic wrap for vents, and heat 4 minutes in the microwave, or until tender.
2. In a medium bowl, mix tomatoes and their liquid, rice, and water. Cover with plastic, and cook in the microwave for 4 minutes, or until rice is cooked.
3. Stir green onions, corn, kidney beans, and red pepper flakes into the tomato mixture. Heat in the microwave for 3 minutes, or until heated through.
4. Spoon hot tomato mixture evenly into pepper halves, and cover with plastic wrap. Poke a few holes in the plastic to vent steam, and heat in the microwave 4 minutes. Remove plastic, sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese, and allow to stand 1 to 2 minutes before serving.

Andrew's birthday

Yesterday was jam packed. Brandon and I had one final practice before the primary program. That went from 10-11:30. Andrew had a meeting with the youth at church from 5:30-7:30. So, Andrew and I had this little window of time where we could go out. I was hoping to do something cultural. I searched around online and found a Community Guitar Celebration that was going on all day. Perfect! We got a babysitter from 12-4 and took off. We heard some an amazing young classical guitarist and later listened to a fun Bluegrass band. We love live music.

In between performances, Andrew got to try out the classical guitars that were for sale. He has been wanting a new guitar for a while now and almost decided to get this one, but backed out at the last minute. I think he wants to save up a little more.

We stopped for ice cream on the way home. Mmmmmm.....Cold Stone..... They have pumpkin ice cream right now--love it!

After his meeting with the youth, we had cake at home with the kids.

The birthday boy.

Why did I choose blue frosting???

Me and Whit. (The only reason my piece of cake
is so small is because I'd already eaten a huge serving of Cold Stone!)

The card Brandon made for Andrew:

He thought it was the funniest card EVER!
"Ha! You're TWO years old dad!!"

Quick update

We had a fun day yesterday for Andrew's birthday. I'll post more about that later. Here's a quick update on the kids.

Here's the shiner on Day 2:

The swelling has gone down a bit.
The bruising has gotten worse.

I loved Amy's advice about patching her eye to hide it. My friend, Nicolle, actually suggested the same thing. I've seriously thought about it. It would be a lot easier than answering questions all day at church today. But those patches are so darn sticky that I think it would really hurt when we took it off. So, I guess I'll just have to have the falling-in-the-bathroom story on repeat, ready to be shared.

The bus fighting incident is still an unsolved mystery.

Brandon's side of the story: Me and Sami were sitting together on the bus. William (the 2nd grader) was in front of us and he kept turning around and ignoring(read: annoying) us and hitting us and stuff. [What do you mean "hitting you"? Was he punching you in the face?] No, he was slapping us and stuff. And then Sami and him starting fighting. [You didn't start fighting, too?] No, I was just sitting there. [You just sat there and watched while your friend was fighting?] Uh huh. And I was saying, "Please stop, William. Please stop, William." [So you didn't hit or scratch William at all?] No.

William's side of the story: Those two little kindergarteners were sitting behind me on the bus and they kept bugging me and hitting me. I know that they're smaller than me, so I didn't hit them back. But then they started kicking me and scratching me.

Sami's side of the story: [What happened on the bus yesterday, Sami?] Nothing. [Didn't something happen with William?] No.

I have a feeling the truth lies somewhere between William's and Brandon's sides of the story. But the driver didn't see it and neither did the two older friends that we know on the bus. So we may never know the whole story.

Would you mess with a kid that had guns like these?

Despite the black eye and the bullying
accusations, both kids are doing fine.

Some moms have all the luck

...Some moms have all the pain. That's me this morning.

First, check out Whit's new sunglasses.

Aren't they cute?

Does she look like she has something to hide??

Well, she does...

Look at this big black eye!

Poor thing. She was using the potty before bed last night. We keep a little step-stool in their bathroom. She had finished going potty and was standing on that stool while I helped her get back into her pj's. Well, she slipped off the stool and hit her eye right on the edge of the bathtub. Oh my gosh. I felt terrible! It instantly swelled up--about the size of a big jelly bean. It was bright purple. She cried so bad. It was heart wrenching.

Extreme close-up

I have a feeling it's going to get worse before it gets better.

When she woke up this morning, the swelling wasn't as localized, but the whole lid is kind of swollen shut. My first thought, "What if she's not able to have surgery next week because of this???" I took some pictures and e-mailed them up to Duke to get their input. Dr. Buckley's in surgery today, but one of his fellows looked at the pics. She called back and said the swelling will probably have gone down by next week and Whit should be ok for surgery. I hope Hope HOPE she's right. I guess we'll find out when we show up next Friday.

The other excitement of the morning...

The bus picks up Brandon right in front of our house. I used to wait outside with him, but now that it's getting cold, I just stand in the front window to make sure he gets on the bus safely. This morning, the bus driver honked and waved for me to come out. Uh oh. That can't be a good thing. She told me that a little boy named William said that Brandon and a third little boy jumped on him and beat him up yesterday on the bus. What? Brandon denied it. I felt that he was put in a very confrontative situation, though, in front of all the kids on the bus. William had two little scratches on his wrist and a scrape on his other hand. I have a feeling William didn't completely make up the story, but I don't really think Brandon would just jump on him and start beating him up for no reason either. I hope to get more of the story when he gets home. The bus driver said she didn't see anything happen. Great. I wish she could either confirm or deny it. That's tough when it's one kid's word against another. I have a tendency to believe Brandon, but he doesn't always tell the truth. I hope he doesn't get kicked off the bus.

Whitney's before and after pics--first surgery

As we prepare for another surgery for Whit, I've been thinking about all the changes she's had in her eyes since she was born. Poor little thing. I wonder what the world looks like through those eyes!

Here are the before and after pics from her first surgery. I hope to take some "before" pics again soon but it's a 4 person process and it hasn't worked out so far. (Whitney being the model, Andrew holding her head straight, Brandon getting her attention, and me taking the pics.)

Looking right

Before surgery..................After surgery

This is the most dramatic change since her first surgery. Her right eye could not move out at all. It couldn't move past her midline, so she would look cross-eyed every time she tried.

Looking left

Before surgery...................After surgery

This one isn't as dramatic of a change. Both eyes worked looking left before the surgery. In fact, I think it almost looks worse post-surgery. Her left eye seems to bulge a bit.

Headturn

Before surgery..................After surgery

This was also a pretty dramatic change. Before surgery, anytime she wanted to look straight, she had to turn her head to the right. I think it's actually pretty cute, but it could've led to neck and back problems in her future. Definitely a blessing to have it resolved.

The before pics were taken in Mar 2005(11 months old) and the after pics in Apr 2005(1 yr old). Her disorder is called Duane's Syndrome. And the first surgery she had was called a Vertical Rectus Transposition--they moved the two major vertical muscles that move her eye to compensate for lack of movement to the right.

Picky (but resourceful) eater, houseplant issues

Brandon is gradually turning into a picky eater. He used to eat everything. It was so wonderful. I'd hear other parents complain about their kids not eating, and I'd feel so grateful. Now I'm beginning to understand what they meant. It can be frustrating. He hasn't gone too far yet. He's not one of those kids who will only eat a handful of foods, but I'm afraid he might be heading that way.

Last night I tried a new recipe. I know, I know that's the first scary part to a kid--something they've never tried before. It was a dish with farfalle pasta, marinara sauce, ricotta cheese, and mozzarella. Whitney and I loved it. She even asked for seconds. Brandon took one look and said, "I don't like this." I made him at least taste it, but he still said he didn't like it. Well, I'm not one of those moms who is going to make a different meal for every person in the family, so I told him he didn't have to eat it, but I wasn't making anything else. He said, "Can I make myself a salad?" Uh...sure. So, that's exactly what he did. All by himself.

Here he is with his vegetarian dinner.
Hey, it could be worse, right?

Here's a close-up of the salad--
some leaf lettuce, ranch, and baby carrots.
And he really did eat the whole thing.
Maybe I should stop complaining.

Ok, now on to a question. Are any of you houseplant owners? How do you take care of them? When Grandpa Ranquist passed away, some of Andrew's co-workers sent him this really pretty plant. I've only had one houseplant that I didn't kill and I'm trying to make this #2. It's not going so well. This is what the plant looked like when we got it:

This is what it looked like last night:

It made me laugh out loud to see the 2 pictures together. Agggh! What have I done? I've heard that you can over-water plants. I don't think that's my problem. I've only watered it 2 or 3 times in the past month. I read on-line that all plants are different and will need different amounts of watering. How do you know? I normally water it when it starts looking like this, but I'm afraid I'm killing it.

This is how it looked this morning after soaking up some of the water I gave it last night:

It's perking up a little bit. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Budding artist

Brandon has never really been into art projects. At least not the kind that you put down on paper. I think it takes too much concentration and sitting still. Well, he has finally gotten to a maturity level where he enjoys sitting (for a few minutes at least) and drawing or creating. He started on the computer a couple of weeks ago.

Here are some flowers.

And a football player.
Not bad, huh?

Then at school (since he is always one of the first to finish his work because he thinks everything is a race) his teachers will ask him to draw pictures on the back of the worksheets when he completes them. Yesterday he brought home this one:

A mummy and a princess kitty.
I was SO impressed!
Not sure why he colored his mummy costume blue.
I guess because white crayons just don't cut it.

Today he has the day off because of a Teacher Workday. We did our civic duty and voted this morning. Afterward, he was back in the playroom working at his little table. He came out with these three creations:

I had put a bunch of extra scrapbooking supplies into the playroom for the kids to use. He used stickers to make the skeletons and then embellished them. He told me that one was him, one was Jonas, and one was Ethan. Then he said, "Will you put these on your blog, Mom?" How funny is that? So, here you go.

Things I hope to do before I die

This is not an exhaustive list, but here are some of the things I've come up with that I would love to do before I die. I plan on living for a long time, so am in no hurry to get these all checked off.

*Vacation in New Zealand. I especially want to go

"river boarding"

and zorbing

--both of which I saw on the Amazing Race a few seasons back.

*Serve a full-time mission for my church with Andrew.

*Have a scrapbooking layout published.

*One summer I want to take a trip across the country to watch games at several different major league baseball stadiums. Andrew and I used to say we wanted to visit all the stadiums in a summer. I've downgraded my expectations, but still want to do something like that.

*Finish my Bachelor's Degree.

*Go to the Hill Cumorah Pageant in New York.
(Done, July 2007)

*Become a GOOD visiting teacher. You know, the kind who calls the women on her list more than once in the month, remembers birthdays, and is a true friend. Right now I think I'm mediocre at best.

*Play tennis, volleyball, and/or softball competitively again. I don't know how competitive I'd actually be in any of these sports at this point in my life, but I'd like to try.

*Become a better piano player again. I think this would probably require owning a piano.

*Get a pedicure and manicure. I've never had either one before.
(manicure done--Dec 2006)

*Have regular personal scripture study. In our family we're good at reading the scriptures with the kids and as a couple, but I've been slacking on my personal scripture study. I think it's a really important part of spiritual growth. I want to get into a good, regular routine where it's just part of my day.

What's on your list?

A few completely random thoughts

Boo on daylight savings time! Growing up in Arizona, I enjoyed the bliss of having the same time all year round. No changing clocks, no loss or gain of an hour, no confusion, no sleep deprivation...it was great. When I moved away to college, I had to endure DST for the first time. It stinks! It is just not cool to intentionally mess up your circadian rhythms twice a year.

We started daylight savings time to save energy, but it's just not working. The only studies that have been done in relation to the energy savings were done back in the 70's and were limited in scope(read: they're not accurate!). Ok, I do like having that hour of extra daylight in the evenings during the summer. Can't we just stay on that time year round? Isn't it funny that "standard" time is only observed for 5 months out of the year(soon to be changing to 4)? Shouldn't we call it "daylight losing time" in the winter and standard time in the summer?

Can you tell I'm sleep deprived? Whitney has been waking up between 5:10 and 5:45 every morning this week. Thus, the DST rant. I put her to bed at the same time every night and even have dark-colored curtains in her room, but there's no fooling her. Darn.

Speaking of Whit, I tried a cool new way to do her hair:

Fishtail braid.
Do you like?

My final random comment: Has anyone else tried these yummy veggies?

They are one of my new favorite healthy treats.
You just pop them in the microwave for a couple of minutes
and voila--a tasty good-for-you snack. Sometimes when we
go eat lunch with Brandon (at 10:45!), I'll need something
in the afternoon before dinner. This is perfect.
So is Halloween candy. :)

Two random acts of kindness

Number one: The young women from church did the sweetest thing last night. They came over while Andrew was doing Bishopric visits and chalked our driveway. That was so sweet of them. And it was great timing. It had been a busy, stressful week for Andrew church-wise. He even got a little misty-eyed when he pulled into the driveway last night and saw their messages of gratitude and encouragement.

Whitney even got to help out a little bit.
Both times when we've walked outside this morning
she's pointed to that orange heart and said,
"I helped do that one!"

The happy recipient.

Number two: Brandon is known for being the generous one in the family. He loves to share. It is so wonderful. Well, today in the middle of breakfast, he sprinted away from the table for about 17 seconds. I was in the kitchen making his lunch, but it sounded like he had gone into our bedroom.

Me: "What were you doing?"
B: "Leaving a little surprise for Daddy."

I thought that sounded cute and didn't bother to ask any further questions. When I went into our bathroom a little while later, I found this:

Yep--this was the "little surprise". A half-eaten Baby Ruth, one quarter of a Kit Kat, and a single orange M&M all shoved into a sandwich baggy. The funny part is that Brandon really thought he was being kind by sharing these things with his Dad. Good try, buddy. :)

The REAL Halloween

Every blogger must be trying to post Halloween pics today because I had the hardest time getting these loaded. Finally, after the 3rd or 4th attempt, here are ours.

Our family home evening activity on Monday night was pumpkin carving.

Die, pumpkin, die!

I think this was Brandon's first year
of "gutting" the pumpkin. He thought
that was pretty cool...and disgusting.

We usually print templates off the internet
to carve. We picked this cute happy face for Whit.

Brandon picked his own--a gecko.
What could be more Halloween-ish? :)

They both turned out pretty cool,
especially once we lit them up.

I think we have the perfect-sized block for trick-or-treating.
In the past, we've just gone around it once and that's been
more than enough candy for my little munchkins.

Whitney didn't even make it all the way
around this year! Is she the only kid in
the country who was done trick-or-treating
before her parents? Andrew went home
with her to pass out candy.

Brandon and I made it all the way around.
Oh, yeah! That's quite a stash. He is SO excited
about it. I am afraid he may get his first cavity
after this!

To the other parents of young kids out there, what do you do with your kids' Halloween candy? Let them have free reign? Limit it? Get rid of it after a few days? If it were up to me, I'd give the kids like 3 days to have as much as they wanted and then throw the rest away. (Actually, a friend at church told me that he raids his kids candy bags and saves some of the best candy to put in his kids' stockings--way to multi-task!) Andrew gets sentimental about it, though. He says that saving his Halloween candy for months was one of the best parts about childhood. (His dental records support my theory about cavities.) Anyway, he won't let me trash it....yet...we'll see what happens in the next week or two.