Let me Re-phrase

Today I asked Madi to water the flowers that we planted for family night a few weeks ago.  They have been sitting on my dresser by a sunny window and are growing beautifully! She goes into the bathroom, turns on the sink, and comes back out.  I watched her as she leaned over our flowers and spit a stream of water onto the plants!  I quickly stopped her and told her to get a cup or something else that would hold water....but not before a giggle or two escaped me!  This girl keeps me on my toes!

Adventures in Sacrament Meeting

Church is pretty entertaining with 3 kids. You never know what irreverent episode is going to take place, and Mark and I are constantly on our toes and very, very grateful that Hali now is old enough to attend nursery. I am pretty sure the elders quorum had a party the day she went into nursery! Here are a few examples of funny things that have happened while at church, usually sacrament which is where all parent's know they can count on their children to be running on all cylinders!

We got to church late (gasp!!! Yes it has happened once or twice, or maybe every sunday!) and were sitting out in the foyer waiting for the sacrament to finish so we could make the walk of shame from the foyer to the back row as quietly as possible. Madi was asking us what we were waiting for and I told her we were waiting for them to be done passing the sacrament and she said this in shock and disbelief, " WHAT!!?? We missed the food!!!!"

One Sunday during sacrament meeting, we happened to sit behind a family that has a little girl a little younger than madi named Emily. Emily and madi actually go to preschool together so they are buddies. Anyway, Emily made her way around to our pew and she and madi started coloring. I looked over to see that madi had created a drawing of two stick-figure girls with blond hair. She leaned over and whispered (thankfully, it was right in the middle of someones talk) for me to label the stick-figures gilrs madi and "emily". I did, and then didn't think anything of it as they went on coloring and we later wen't to our other classes at church. A few days later she pulled out the picture she had drawn of her and emily and said, musing to herself, " i never knew emily and i looked so much alike"

This one could top them all. We had just been passed the sacrament and had passed it on when we hear a strange sound. I looked over and there was Hali, head tilted back, gargling the sacrament water. It should be noted that Hali does this frequently at home and after gargling, she usually spits a stream of water as far as she can in front of her. in panic I slammed my hand over her mouth in an attempt to stop what I knew was coming next, and held it there until she swallowed. By that time everyone behind, to the side, and in front of us was looking back and doing their darndest to muffle their laughter (some were more successful than others). I am surprised we haven't been kicked out although I have the sneaking suspicion we are allowed to stay for comic relief.

Emerging

The last few months for me have been a doozy. My mom came over the other day and laughed because I still have my fall wreath up on my door and my christmas mat at the foot of my door. It is now March. I defended myself by saying, yep, you can pretty much tell when I lost the will to do anything but survive! I thought of a couple cute ways to say this but just don't have it in me other than to say we are expecting our 4th baby in August!! We are really excited for this addition to our family, but man alive, I just feel so crummy when I am pregnant! Mark has been wonderful and has had to pick up a lot of slack the last couple of months. It is just no fun to come home from work everyday to your wife in the fetal position on the couch either looking like a dead mommy or crying because she feels so terrible. Every time I am at this point in my pregnancies I think to myself "I don't think I can do this again". But, I feel like I am having a few more good days, and my bad days aren't as bad as they were a week or so ago, so I am crossing my fingers that maybe I am pulling out of this. So, hello world, I am slowly coming back to you, and to the realization of what a house will look like after 4 months of neglect and 3 children who took advantage of a not- so -coherent mother!! Let the games begin!

Tonight I was listening to a podcast on some ideas about disciplining children and mothering in general, when my mom stopped by to drop something off. I was out in the kitchen and she ran back to my room to use the computer where madi and tyce were listening to the podcast with me and coloring.

my mom: what are you guys listening to?

madi: mom is just trying to learn how to control us.

That about sums it up. I couldn't have put it better myself.

this killed me!

Soup

I love the change of the seasons. I love all the seasons for different reasons, most of which have to do with food (are you surprised? Really?). I love watermelon and barbecues in the summer and soup in the fall and winter. I could eat soup year round, but I love that it is socially acceptable in colder weather. Not that that stops me from making soup at other times of the year, I just won't blog about it then. My mom just made this soup and dropped it of for me to try. Ohh, it was nice, let me tell you. So if your soup recipe section is growing thin, here is a great one to try. Enjoy!

Italian Potato-Sausage Soup

20 oz. Jimmy Dean Sausage

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1 tsp. paprika

1 large onion diced

5 cloves of garlic minced

8 cups chicken broth

8 small red potatoes diced

1 tsp. italian seasoning

2 cups low fat or fat free milk

3 oz. light cream cheese

3 Tb. flour

2 Tb. butter

1.2 tsp. salt

3 cups baby spinach, chopped

Cook sausage in a large soup pot. Ad red pepper flakes, paprika, onion and garlic.

Saute until the sausage is fully cooked and drain if necessary. Add the chicken

broth and Italian seasoning, increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Add diced

potatoes, cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook potatoes until tender.

While the potatoes are cooking, place the milk, cream cheese, flour and salt in a blender.

Blend until smooth. Heat the butter over medium heat in a sausepan, then add the milk

mixture and cook over medium heat until thick. When the potatoes are done, add the

thickened milk mixture and chopped spinach. Season with Parmesan cheese before

serving.

Super Mom in disguise

Today I was feeling ambitious and wanted to clean out and reorganize my closet. Among the pile of clothes I spotted tyce's missing shorts.

Me : Tyce look! I found your shorts

Tyce: ohhhh!! Awesome! Mom do you have magical powers?

why yes........yes I do. Thank you for noticing.

In case you think I really am super mom, I must admit this conversation I had with mark this very evening

Mark: any chance you did any whites? he asked with raised eye brows and skepticism in his voice

Me: ummmm, I got them in the wash?!

Mark: that IS an important step. Any chance they made it into the dryer??

Me: (with some hesitation) nooooo, not exactly, but I put them in the wash this morning so maybe by now some are dry??? (hopeful)

Mark: I doubt it

You can't win them all, it's nice to know that at least one person in this family has seen past the "mediocre mom" facade I try so desperately to pull off in order to keep my "super mom" true self under wraps. It's a tough job, and takes all of my time and concentration.

And I quote

Just a few funny quotes from the kids this week

we were sitting at the dinner table this week and out of the blue madi says: "when I grow up, I want to be a waitress!"

I think I can officially say that I have failed her.

Earlier this week I was hounding madi and tyce to pick up their room, (can you tell this is a reoccurring theme in our family?). By the fifth time I had herded them back into their room to finish the job as I was breathing threats I don't even remember at the moment (thankfully), I remember being fully committed to following through with said threats.

About 5 minutes later madi says : Well, I picked up my stuff, and i recommended tyce pick up his stuff.

Apparently someone took me seriously. I wish all I had to do was recommend something and it would happen.....wouldn't that be nice!

Tyce and I had this conversation the other day

ME: tyce you need to wash your hands and go put your toys away ( you may read this nicely,...but it was not said in my nice voice. I have a tried and true "mom voice" that gets me results...I do not use it sparingly I'm afraid!)

Tyce: shrugging his shoulders....that doesn't make any sense!

So true, in fact I can't think of a single thing I have done raising kids that makes any sense at all. For instance, why do I allow madi stickers in the car, they end up plastered eternally on the inside window every time! Why are we in such a rush to teach our kids to write their names? Now various pieces of furniture are tagged "madi" all over the house! I let tyce color with markers.. I know it was a moment of thoughtlessness, he colored all over hali's face, and then she ate a green marker! I actually captured that one on my phone, it was pretty amazing! You are right tyce, it doesn't make any sense, not even a little.