Friend of a Friend of a Friend

This is just too good. I have to share. Check this post out.

http://krazykaitlin.blogspot.com/2009/02/im-engaged.html

Day 2

http://krazykaitlin.blogspot.com/2009/02/hooray-its-here.html

Hope you had a good laugh. I know I did.

Issac Summed Up

Issac at a couple months old. This picture will be three years old in June. My I-man is three and I have known since shortly after he joined our family that he would be full of mischief. This grin is one I have seen all to often in his life. And today I got this same grin on just an older looking version of this face. Here is the conversation that provoked such total merriment.

Background: I'm carrying Issac upstairs for the potty and naptime.

Issac: Toilet paper is white.
Me: Toilet paper is white!
Issac: I have white on my shirt.
Me: You do but what color is your shirt? (Issac has known his colors for a while. But it is red with little blue and white stripes.)
Issac: Yellow
Me (thinking let's roll with this and see where it goes): Your shirt isss yellow.
Issac: Yup.
Me: Yellow like the sun.
Issac: Giggles that are giving way to hysterics.
Me: What? The sun isn't yellow?
Issac: No the sun is yellow, Mom.
Me: Oh. So your shirt is yellow like the sun.
Issac: My shirt isn't yellow. (more giggles)
Me: What color is it?
Issac: Red, silly! (giggles, giggles, more giggles)
Me: Oh then why did you say it was yellow when you knew it was red all along?
Issac: I like to tease you. (And he snuggles into my arms as I carry him craddle style to his bed)

I love this smile and I love love moments like these.

Fasnacht Day: A Sweet Success

They might be even better the second day. And for Lent (I know I'm embracing my non Catholic roots) I am giving up white bread and lying. So if you catch me doing/eatting either call me on it.

I Like To Dip

I'm sold. It's not really a hard sell. It all started with a truffle kit I had gotten in a huge basket of chocolate I had purchased for Valentine's Day at my Women's Club of Manheim sweetheart auction. I had never made any candy let alone truffles but I was excited to try it out. It was fun, it was messy, it made me committed to making my own candy at Christmas from here on out. And maybe some other special occasions as well. Travis was in heaven. And with the leftover chocolate I dipped bananas and strawberries I had on hand as well. Treat at FHE last night was especially delicious. And all this on the eve of Fasnacht Day. Oh yeah today is dedicated to frying hopefully tomorrow's pictures don't disappoint.

Cheese Please

I've been tagged. Not typically a fan of the cheesiness but any opportunity to laud my husband I embrace because I can't begin to say enough good things. So here goes the husband tag:

Where We Met?
Ricks College

How long did we date before we were married?
13 months

How long have we been married?
9 yrs. this summer

What is my favorite thing about him?
That he so totally adores everything about me even the bad stuff.

What is your favorite quality about him?
He is a person of integrity always.

What is his nickname for you?
Lover, Marebear, Tanto, Mi general, too many to name them all

His favorite food?
Chocolate

His favorite sport?
Football I guess or maybe I'm projecting.

Who said the "L" word first?
Me, but when he did it was the best day of my life.

First Kiss?
Yes

Favorite Couple thing to do?

Anything as long as we are together

How many kids We have?
4

His hidden talents?
He can make balloon animals, Better with kids than almost anyone, Decorating toots

His age?
32

His favorite music?
Old School Country

What do You admire most about him?
I've never met a person who didn't like him.

His favorite past time?
Playing

Will he read this?
Eventually

I Tag: Whitney

I'm A Little Embarrassed

It's a little embarrassing but true. Your eyes are not betraying you. That is my five year old son kissing the television. Why because of a "pretty" girl. Now my horror comes in that he only watches animated tv so he is kissing an animated girl not a real human and this animated girl is not Barbie, Bratz, or any other girl that resembles mankind this girl is Alicia, Diego's sister. What is wrong with my child?

Updates:

After finally downloading pictures Issac's head after impact injury with the wall; this is cleaned up.







And Issac's dyed blue head from all the glitter. Don't be fooled. This is after cleaning him. This is the glitter stuck to his scalp that won't wash out.

Sparkles, Glitter, and Makeup: Oh My

Today I was trying to clean up the kitchen; the boys were underfoot so I sent them upstairs to play. Typically not a problem. Today they found Bella's makeup kit. They opened it and all the makeup in it consisting mostly of various glosses and a whole lot of glitter. They poured it everywhere.

Now for all of you who haven't had this experience sticky gloss and glitter or gold shimmer powder don't vacuum so easily. Yeah it's a pain. And you can guess that my anger and intense desire to clean it up before the stains set prevented me from taking a picture. But your imagination will suffice with how messy it got.

Hair Care

I have wanted to do it for a while. Really a hair cut is in order. Although I love my long locks I get stuck often sticking it in a ponytail. So I went to set up an appointment to have it cut and realized I haven't had it cut besides trims since we have lived here. So I need referrels to people who do good jobs and are realatively inexpensive and are in the York or Lancaster Area. Hairdo to be revealed later. Hint: I have never had this style before. But I figure if I hate it my hair grows fast. I'll survive. Recommend away.

What Have I Done

About a week ago I had a friend call me up sort of out of the blue. We start talking and she is giddy and excited all atwitter. I know something is up so after a couple of questions it comes out. She wants me to do a triathlon with her. Now in my day I was an athlete. I'm not going to lie. I just don't think I can cut it anymore. I haven't swum seriously since high school. I have never been a competitive bike rider and running well let's just say it's been a two years since my last race. And that was not an impressive performance.

To her benefit it is a sprint triathlon which means only 500 M swim, almost 15 miles on bike, and 5K run. Independently I'd have no trouble with any of them but the idea of putting all three back to back terrifies me. Overall I think I am more excited than anything. Excited to train again, compete, and have fun with one of my favorite college friends. But think is the key word here; in the back of my mind still lingers all my inadequacies and finding time to train seems like a daunting task. It's Memorial Day weekend though so hopefully the weather will warm up and I can take to the outdoors to train over and over again. She already told me that after that she wants to do a half marathon with me. I haven't committed to that yet, we'll just see how this first event goes. But I am starting to question who my friends are. What is she trying to kill me.

Growing Up

I loved playing with my nephews. Every Sunday I would try and cajole all the parents into letting us play. It was weird because we were always more like cousins than aunts and nephews but that is the way it goes when you have so many kids in one family. I had one particular nephew who no matter what we did always seemed to get hurt in the end. I remember cuts, bruises, crashes, and I couldn't ever figure out how he managed to get hurt each time.

Well now that I have kids of my own I understand a little better. Issac decided to take the place of ruling injury king. At three he has a deformed upper lip, a mangled toe nail, many little scars covering his body, and one to add to his head. Last night we had our home teachers over and they brought their three kids. Well Issac decided to drop his head into the portruding corner of a wall on the corner bead and bust the plaster all up and split his head open too. Bled horribly but actually wasn't that bad. Still trying to get the picture we'll see.

I now know that all these injuries come from living hard. Last night as Travis and I lay in bed I told him how when I think that Issac is only three I am surprised every time. The boy has so much energy and lives so fully that I often assume he is at least seven. His excitement is explosive and injuries have become just a repercussion of each of those explosions. I love to watch him play but the getting hurt part kills me every time.

Tis The Season

With all the jollyness of Christmas and snow comes also the flu season. To this point my family had been spared as I heard horror story after story of sick kids and all that goes with it. I was feeling pretty smug having been saved and hoping that I could exit the winter season without incidence. Alas I could not. Someone infected my kid and since he woke up Monday morning at six barfing for the first time I am going to assume it was some snotty nosed kid at church (no real hard feelings anonymous little kid). Regardless he has barfed at least 6 times since. And what I have learned is this. I am just as crappy as ever at dealing with this kind of stuff. I have always had what is arguably the weakest stomach ever. And I still gag and hold my breath as I help my kids get cleaned up.

And secondly I learned that for every way that Issac is like me this is just another one. He watched Wyatt throw up this morning and spent the next five minutes dry heaving. Now I have to shout for him to get away when Wyatt gets started so I won't end up cleaning double the fun. Because I then for sure would lose it as well. My mom always said I would outgrow this once I had kids but I think she is insane because four kids later it is the way its always been. Pretty flaming horrible.

This Is The Way We Pray

So anyone who has ever been to our house knows my husband is a hunter and that isn't just because we have five different animals in our living room either. My husband may also ask you which deer head is bigger and so on. And because it is important to him it has become important to our kids also. Last night when it was time to pray all the kids raised their hands shouting their volunteers. Unexpectedly Kody wanted to as well. He is almost 18 months old and is becoming a good mimicker so we thought sure why not. Bella started to help him. She said, "Dear" and he said "Deer" and jumped up and ran over to the couch and pointed up towards the ceiling to the deer that hung on the wall above it. After that we couldn't get him past deer he was too excited and the kids were in a fit of giggles that he had put homonyms to good use. And that's how we pray at our house.

New Favorite

If someone asks me my favorite anything I become like a mute unable to speak. It isn't that I don't like things quite the contrary I really like everything. My favorite number is six, favorite color is purple, my favorite person is Travis. After that it ends. I just can't decide. Last night I stumbled upon a new favorite. I just saw it for the first time and although I had seen the previews almost two years ago it hadn't caught my eye. But while watching it tears rolled down my cheeks several times. It was a beautiful love story that reflected reality versus the romantic comedies that corrupt women's expectations of real life and love. A must see for those of you who haven't yet. Happy Watching.

Choices Choices

Bella has been wanting to take dance and karate for a while. We told her to pick one. She has been debating for days now. Last night I came home from some Enrichment Meetings to this paper. When inquiring what it was Travis informed me that Bella had been so torn over having to pick one activity. She decided the best way to choose was to make pro and con lists. She did one for each activity. This one is hilarious to me.
The cons of being kicked in the head and punched in the belly after eatting were just too high a risk. She ended up deciding maybe dance would be better to start with.

Thanks for the Support

Thank you everyone who has called or commented on the "snow we received". I am glad that you are all emotionally invested in me and my happiness is your happiness. Although due to the influx of calls and comments I can take no more. We actually did not get a foot of snow as did practically the rest of the whole county. Travel less than four miles east and yes they had 12 inches. We got less than one. I don't know how to explain it except that Heavenly Father is saving it all up for one big four foot plus snowfall. Let's hope.

Flashback Friday on Tuesday

No one knew how to have a better time than me and my college roomates. Well sort of roomates within a room or two really. Anyway one night we decided to do WWF wrestling, girl style before it became WWE and girls actually did it. We were quite fierce and ended up wrestling for real. After a bit we traipsed on over to Travis's house to let him in on our fun. Not really sure why he married me but everday feel lucky he did.

Anger Management

Wyatt is typically so mellow, so easy, just like Travis. Well today he had his five year old doctor appointment. It's a little more thorough since they fill out the medical evaluation form to start school, kindergarten registration starts next month. He nervously asked me early in the day if he was going to need shots. I knowing that he would fight me the whole way to the doctor nonchalantly said I don't know we'll just have to see when we get there.

We get there and things are going great. He thinks the vision test, hearing test, color blindness tests, and extra things are so fun. He was a little hesitant about his first urine sample ever. Had a bit of a nervous bladder, but got it done in the end. We finish with the nurse, see the doctor who warns him of his three impending shots, and finally the nurse comes back it. I have negotiated with him the entire time since the doctor saw him to the nurse about all the cool things he can have and get if he handles the shots okay. He is quite confident and insisting that indeed there will be no shots.

Long story short of course there are shots, I end up having to hold him in my lap bear style so he doesn't move, whereupon he starts screaming bloody murder like someone is slicing him up. Still no shots, so I cover his mouth knowing it will get worse. He tries to kick the nurse, in the face mind you, I get him totally restrained. She does it quickly, but I can feel under my hand his mouth open even wider in what would be a huge scream. Finally with her done I release him and he is yelling, kicking, and punching the office walls, chairs, tables, etc.... He is yelling, "No, I told you no. No. No. No." A lot of no's. And the nurse says when you calm down you can come get a sticker.

Well I let him go at it for a bit feeling guilty that I took his agency away. And I knew he was more angry about being held down and gagged than anything so I thought I'll let him vent it out. But instead he got angrier and more violent. I didn't know this little sweet boy had it in him. But apparently he has anger management issues, but he's never been angry before so how was I to know. In the end I had to get firm with him and offer the ultimatum of cool it or you get a spank. Cooling it seemed like a better option and we left. He sulked for a good bit till we surprised daddy at work. Dad is his favorite person and he made everything all better. Maybe next time I'll just let Dad do the dirty work.