Out of the mouths of babes--September

Hope you get a chuckle or two out of this month's installment.

9/3--We were listening to a children's CD in the car today that had the song, "When the Saints Go Marching In." It's a new CD and we hadn't listened to that song before. After the line that says, "Oh, I want to be in that number..." Brandon asked, "I want to be in that HUMMER?" I don't think anyone wants to be in a Hummer these days, honey.

9/4--Brandon noticed a poster up in the hall at school. It says, "If you believe it's possible, it IS possible." Most people would read that and find some inspiration in it. Oh, no. Not B. He came home and said, "What about the kids that think they can fly? They can flap their wings really hard, but they're still not going to fly. Even if they BELIEVE it's possible." Technicalities.

What if I BELIEVE I can do flips on my bike?

9/18--Whit is a REALLY helpful little girl. She had gotten out the diaper changing basket for me and I had given her a very emphatic THANK YOU. As I was changing C's diaper, Whit made sure to tell her, "See, I'm a nice sister, Caroline....NOT a jealous sister."

Can you just FEEL the sisterly love?

9/21--During church today, Brandon was going through some little cards that we have with pictures of temples on them. He started "quizzing" Caroline. "Which temple is this?" Then he'd whisper in a high-pitched voice, "Washington DC." "Good job, Caroline!" It was so cute.

9/21--On the drive home from church, we were talking about possible Halloween costumes. Whit has some interesting ideas. "I want to be a tree. No, I want to be a bridge!!" Any ideas how I can put that one together? I'm hoping it was a passing fancy, because she hasn't mentioned it since.

9/21--We were sitting around in the living room today and Whit said, "Let's play dye-berry!"
Me: What's "dye-berry?"
W: It's where you die and then you get buried! But you just pretend die.
Hmmm...pretty morbid game, don'tcha think?

9/23--Out on our bike ride today, Whit was doing a GREAT job going up the hills and I was sure to compliment her....over and over. She said, "I've got good skills, Mom. Good LEG skills."

Since when did she turn into Napoleon Dynamite?

Look at Brandon's skills:
He can ride Whit's bike backwards AND

do this cool circus trick on his own.
(Sorry it's so short and there's no sound!)

9/24--When I was volunteering in B's classroom today, his teacher shared this story with me: Brandon was talking with some other kids and telling them about how in the future, they'll be able to make computer chips the size of atoms and molecules. The other kids looked at him like, "What's an atom?" His teacher said, "Brandon when you grow up to be a rich and famous scientist, will you remember me and share your money?" He told her, "I'll consider it." Well, at least it wasn't an automatic "No."

And a couple of bonus pics of Caroline:
Can you just smell the clean baby scent wafting off this girl?

I LOVE her smile in this pic.

Look!
She has enough for hair to make a baby fauxhawk.
I see Halloween costume potential here!

It runs in the family

Look at this picture of Whit at 4 months.
And then scroll down and look at the post about
Miss Caroline from last week.

They're both left-footed!
It must be in the genes.

(Thanks to MIL for pointing that out.)

How to go on a bike ride/walk with three kids

Step one: Have all potty-trained children use the bathroom. This is a must unless you a) are willing to return to a restroom at a moment's notice or b) have boys who are willing to go to the bathroom just about anywhere.

Oops. Almost forgot step 1.5: Pack water bottles and snacks as they are necessary for every child over the age of 1 if you'll be away from the kitchen for more than thirty minutes.

Step two: Load up bikes and/or strollers into the vehicle.

What did I do before the minivan???

Step three: Drive to a location without too many hills (unlike our neighborhood) because one or more of your children may be fearful of riding up and/or down hills.

Step four: Unload bikes,

ensure that helmets are in place,

and allow older children to begin down the trail.

Load adorable baby into stroller which you will push,

attempting to keep up with the bike riders.

Did you wear your running shoes?
I didn't.

Step five: Proceed down trail as if interval training: sprint at times(like when the stroller is getting away from you because you stopped to help B get his helmet-protected head out from under his bike) and at a snail's pace other times (when W encounters the slightest downward slope because she's afraid of careening out of control).

Notice there is no blur in this photo.
She is inching along.

Step six: After 10-15 minutes of enjoying the

beautiful scenery and perfect weather on the trail,

stop for a snack because B insists that he will starve
TO DEATH if he doesn't get nourishment ASAP.
(Did you only bring pretzels, Mom???)

Step seven: Turn around and head back the way you came because you don't want to hit that point of exhaustion where you end up pushing both bikes AND the stroller back to the van. That would be bad.

Step eight: Return bikes, helmets, and strollers to the vehicle.

Step nine: Drive home and arrive just before it's time to nurse C again.

Phew. Let's do this again soon! Or maybe not so soon.

Bargains blog update

Ok. I got it up. Let's give it a try.

Here's the address: http://letsbargainhunt.blogspot.com/

I invited everyone who seemed even slightly interested to be contributors. I'm not sure exactly how that works. And after I sent the e-mails, I changed the name of the blog. So if it isn't working, let me know and I'll try again.

And, Jayne, I'd love to include frugal living tips, so I'm sending you an invite as well.

We'll see how it goes.

Attention all bargain hunters

Ok, so I have a proposal. Let me know if I'm crazy or if anyone else is interested. I was thinking of starting a Bargain Hunting blog. I envision several team members who would contribute and share the bargains that they find. It would serve two purposes:

#1 Other readers could capitalize on good deals they may not have heard of otherwise.

#2 We could brag about how cheap we got stuff. That's always a fun game.

Seriously, if you are interested in participating in something like this, let me know. I don't want to just start it up myself if no one else wants to pitch in. Call me lazy if you will. :)

Anyway, here's my deal for the week. Amazon is having a magazine sale. I think it only goes through the end of this month. I don't always take the time to read mags, but one that I've always thought looked good was "Family Fun." They have a one year(10 issue) subscription on sale for FIVE bucks. I couldn't turn that down! And you don't have to be fooled by Amazon's good marketing. They'll try to convince you to add twenty more dollars to your order to get free shipping, but mags already have free shipping. (On the other hand, if you wanted to get free shipping on books or toys from them, you only have to spend $20 more instead of $25.) I think I'm making this more complicated than it needed to be.

They have a few other options for $5 including Fantasy Sports which I also ordered. I'm hoping to continue my winning streak against all those boys in Andrew's league. hee hee

Do you know where your toes are?

Because Caroline does!

I think it is SO cute when babies find their feet.
What a fascinating built-in toy.
She prefers her left foot,
thank you very much.

They haven't made it to her mouth yet,
but everything else does, so I'm sure
it won't be long.

You look like....

When you have a new baby, there are some questions that you hear over and over.

How old is your baby?

Is it a girl? (Doesn't matter if she's dressed from head to toe in pink with a pink flower on head, some people still ask.)

Is this your first? (If I only have C with me.)

And one of the harder ones:
Who does she look like?

I'm not sure with Caroline. I used to think she looked SOOO much like Brandon. Now she reminds me a little more of Whit. Other times I think she has a little of both siblings, but isn't a cookie cutter of either. Here are pics of all three kids when they were 3 months old. You be the judge.

Brandon

Whitney

Caroline

What do you think?

BTW, she is feeling better now. Her fever only lasted two days. Then she seemed to have some lasting general malaise. (Do I sound like a doctor?) She just wasn't acting like herself and I decided she just didn't feel good. Now she has a runny nose off and on, but is otherwise acting fine. Yippee!

Mood swings

It was a rough night. I think the worst since we got through Caroline's first week home. I have taken three half hour naps since 2 am. Phew. That's exhausting!

Caroline is sick. Her first sickness. I guess she missed out on Brandon's "unbreakable" gene. Dang. She has a runny nose, a little bit of a cough and is running a fever. And she's just not happy. Poor little thing. She sleeps better if she's upright, so she spent the majority of the last twelve hours sleeping on my chest. And the rest of the time crying that pathetic little whimpery cry that just breaks my heart.

Then we have the other end of the spectrum. Here she is a couple of days ago in a really good mood. She can be so fun.

Disclaimer: I was filming AND trying to make her laugh at the same time. Sorry for the shaky and off-center image.

Let's hope she gets over this sickness SOON so we can get back to more smiles and giggles.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

...That's what little girls are made of!

I had to take advantage of my two girls having these ADORABLE matching dresses from Destiny's wedding. So I took them to the studio for some pics. I usually have such great willpower and can just pick one or two poses, but I was a sucker this time. There were too many good ones!

See what I mean?

I thought Caroline did really well for being 3 months old with no schedule. We just happen to catch her at a happy time when she wasn't hungry or sleepy. Yay! Wait, maybe next time I should try to not plan as well...hope to only get one or two good shots...and then I won't have to worry about over-spending!

A few of my new favorite things

Once in a while you come across a book or item and you just want to share it with others so they can have that same satisfaction or joy that you got out of it, right? Well, I've made several new discoveries lately that I wanted to pass on.

*BUMBO

Is this the cutest thing?

I've seen these new fangled bumbo seats around, but they seemed too dang expensive for what you're getting. So I kept my eye on Craig's list and found this one. Yes, it's blue, but I'm OK with that. I think it's so cute that Caroline can actually sit up and look around. She likes it and will hang around in it for short periods of time, but gets sick of it after a while. I think she enjoys being able to see more than just the ceiling, but it's like her muscles get tired of holding her upright. Anyway, it has been great in small doses. And if I cover it with a blanket, it's an easy way to take pictures of her upright.

*Yummy chocolate spread

We've discovered World Market over the last few months. What a fun place to shop! The other day I had the kids with me and we came across this chocolate caramel spread that sounded too good to pass up. Oh, man. It rocks! I guess it's similar to Nutella??

For FHE treats the other week, we roasted marshmallows over the stove and made s'mores with the spread for our chocolate. Decadent. I'm drooling right now.

*Skechers version of Fit Flops

Have you heard of Fit Flops? They are these sandals that are supposed to make it more of a workout when you walk. I passed a woman walking in my neighborhood who had them on and stopped to talk to her about them and she raved about how great they were. Ever since then I've been wanting a pair. But when I got online to look at them, I found that they cost fifty bucks. What? For flip flops?? Then I looked on eBay for new pairs but they were closing at around $48. Still too much for me. Well, when I was on my scrapbooking getaway and hit the Skechers store, I found these for $20. That's more like it. They are really comfortable and I LOVE them.

*Puzzles

I'm going out on a limb here and saying that we are a puzzle family. Especially since we had kids. Both Brandon and Whit enjoy puzzles and it's something fun for us to do with them. Well, I found these "Time for Us" puzzles at Target that are perfect for families with kids.

If you look closely, you can see that the left half of the puzzle is made of adult-sized pieces and the right side is kid-sized. How cool is that? They are a little pricier than plain puzzles, but have been worth it for us. Lots of fun.

I found this Star Wars "quizzle" at Tuesday Morning for $3.
Yay for bargain hunting!
Paul and Daneen helped us put it together over Labor Day weekend.
After you assemble all the pieces, there are little ovals with names
on them and you have to identify the Star Wars Characters.
Brandon is a fan of this one. And he knows so many more of
the characters' names than me!

*Facebook

I can just hear my Mom saying, "If your friends all jump off a bridge..." Yes, Mom, apparently I'd jump, too. I think it was purely because some of my friends did it, I signed up for Facebook a couple of weeks ago. I've loved it. It has been fun to find friends that I hadn't kept in touch with for a long time. It's one of those sites where I could end up spending A LOT of time, but so far have tried to limit.

There you go. Any new discoveries to share with me?

We LOVE preschool

The house just got much quieter three mornings a week because Whit's preschool started this week. Woo hoo!

This has been a highly anticipated day
for her. I think she has been waiting all summer.

She was jumping for joy!
She moved to a different preschool
from last year.

And one of her best little girlfriends

is in her class. Yippee!

I feel blessed that neither of my kids
have suffered from separation anxiety.

She found her seat and got right to work.

It feels like deja vu because this is the same school Brandon attended.
They meet in the same classroom.

And B's teacher is now the director.
It's fun to see so many familiar faces.

When I picked her up, she reported that the day went great. Her favorite parts were story time and playing. They read a book called, "Don't Eat the Teacher." It was a hit.

Now what am I going to do with myself three mornings a week? I'm looking forward to having some quality time with Caroline other than 2 a.m feedings. I'm hoping to meet Andrew for lunch a couple times a month. (Whit's school goes until 1 pm, so I think we could make it work.) And I need to order my next BYU class so I can get cracking on that.