Emerson's 5th Birthday

I cannot believe this handsome little man is 5 today.  I have to admit, this is not a picture from his actual birthday, because wouldn't you know it, he has pink eye in BOTH eyes. Grrr. He's been a good sport about it though once he got over his fear of the eye drops.

It is hard to describe how much we love this little guy! He has such a sweet personality.  He is tender-hearted, funny, imaginative, athletic, and just so himself.  He is very entertaining to talk to, and I love to eavesdrop on his play.  He likes to imagine he is different characters, and right now his favorites are Bumblebee, Lucky the Puppy, Wall-E, and Fix-It Felix.  He has been sleeping with his plastic hammer at night. When he was born, I never could've imagined I would be so entertained, so in love, and so challenged all at the same time by my precious little boy!

Here is Emerson's birthday interview:
My favorite food is: meat sandwich, spaghetti

My favorite sport to play is: soccer!

The best show is: Rescue Bots

The coolest person on earth is: Tucker

My favorite thing to learn about in school is: The number 5

The thing I do most awesomely is: Soccer, playing with Legos and having fun

If I could go anywhere in the world I'd go to: Disneyland or a train place to ride a train

My favorite color is: RED!

When I grow up, I want to be: a daddy

My favorite song is: Rescue Bots theme song

My favorite book is: Freight Train

Three words that describe me: buddy, fast, strong

When I was little, I used to: be baby E.  I liked to play in the sunshine.

My favorite season of the year is: Fall

The best thing about me is: I am good at having fun.

The snack I like best is: scrambled eggs

One food I dislike is: soup

My best friend is: Tucker

If I had one wish, it would be: Blades and Boulder (Rescue Bots)

My best memory is: Playing with others.  Riding Thunder Mountain Railroad

Happy Birthday, E!  We love you to pieces.

Easter Morning

 The Easter Bunny made it to our house.  The kids kept thinking they could hear him hopping around our house the day before, but he was able to do his job without getting caught.  Both pleasant and unpleasant surprises awaited us that morning, however.  Pink eye made its second appearance at our house in 3 weeks, but this time it infected Emerson.  The poor kid's eyes were extremely swollen by the end of the day and the green junk coming out was disgusting.  I sanitized everything and washed my hands like an OCD person.  I had sanitized everything when Sammi had it two weeks before, EXCEPT for the Lego Duplos they were playing with, and I suspect that was where E caught it from, because it had been a good week after Sammi had it.  Those toys had been put away during the whole week we were all healthy, and then we got them out the day before Easter.  Go figure.  The lesson I learned during all of this was that Clorox wipes are your best friend.

Anyway...onto the fun.

 

 Growing up, the Easter bunny always hid eggs in plain sight, and then he hid the baskets behind closed doors, or cabinets, or closets.  And the big rule is, if you see someone else's basket, you are not allowed to tell them.  You can always tell when one kid has found the other's basket though, because there is always a gasp, a giggle, and a refusal to make eye contact with that person.  Or, in the case of my kids, they just ran and told each other anyway. :)  Mom had to intervene and talk over them so the surprise wouldn't be ruined.

Please ignore the piles of laundry.

The goods

The Easter getups

I ended up having to get E ready for church even though we weren't planning to take him because Ben had to run into the hospital to check on one of his Labor & Delivery patients, and I had to be there to play the piano in Primary.  So we ended up taking him just to part of Sacrament meeting and then he went home with Ben.  I will admit I was glad to get the official Easter clothes picture, though.

Then we finished out a big day by going up to the Christensens' house for an awesome cousin Easter egg hunt, and then to a fabulous Easter dinner at the Johnsons' house.  It was a great day (despite the pink eye).

Egg Dyeing

 When I told the kids we would be dyeing eggs, Emerson got all teary and said he didn't want the eggs to die.  Not a good start. :)  I had to patiently explain that DYE-ing is another word for coloring, and the other kind of die is when something is dead.  Such a sensitive little guy.

We were lucky enough to have Dad home to dye eggs!  Yay!

 

Girly dropped this egg a few times, so we let her eat it.  She gobbled it right up!  You never can predict with my kids what they will like and what they will despise.  (Example: soup)

We only had a few egg casualties, and minimal dye spilling, so overall I would say it was a success!

St. Patrick's Day

 Those sneaky leprechauns visited us with a trail of magic to their pot of gold!  The kids were really excited and remembered from last year how the silly leprechauns turned our milk green.  Lucky for them, they did it this year too, and even turned our pancakes green, too!

After church, E and I went on a leprechaun hunt (per his request) while Sammi was playing in her room napping.  The hunt consisted of tiptoeing around and jumping around corners while shouting "ha!". Unfortunately, we didn't catch one this year.  Maybe next year.

For dinner, our sweet friends from Residency invited us over for a St. Patrick's Day extravaganza.  They went all out with green food, green play-dough for the kids, a treasure hunt, and green prizes for the winners of the games.  We all had a great time.

A Little Announcement...

  We let our families know with a Valentine a little earlier...

 But it's not official until it's been announced on the blog, right? 

We are expecting Baby #3!

I've been feeling pretty good.  I've been tired of course, but I've also had worse morning sickness than with any of my others.  I think we're past that now though, thankfully!  We are so excited, but it just seems so far away!

E keeps saying it's a baby brother, and he keeps telling me to ask Heavenly Father to make the baby a boy. Sammi is convinced it's a girl most of the time, but the other day she told my sister that it was a baby brother and we were going to name him Lizzie.  She also announced to her nursery class that her mommy has a baby in her tummy, so it's not staying a secret for much longer.

Joseph's Pink Mustang

Sammi has discovered all sorts of fun toys at Grandma & Grandpa J's house lately.  She found this pink Mustang Barbie car, but it got even better when she discovered Uncle Scott's old Robin Hood playset, and promptly assumed that because of the forest surrounding the treehouse village that it was the Sacred Grove.  Therefore, following said two-year-old's logic, that would ACTUALLY make Robin Hood...Joseph Smith.  So Joseph has been cruising around in his pink car, loving life.  If only Satan had tried tempting him with the pink Mustang, then maybe that whole true church thing never would've gotten off the ground.

iPhone Picture Dump

   I love being able to take pictures with my phone, but sometimes the pictures get lost on there.  These are in no particular order, so in some my kids look really little.

This is when Sammi pulled our toy shelf over onto herself.  Luckily she didn't even need stitches, which was pretty amazing.  Poor little thing.

This was another incident when Emerson pushed her into the corner of the wall and cut her head open.  Luckily Grandpa was able to take us to his office at 9 pm and glue it.

A rare treat.  She has been a much worse napper than Emerson.  She just runs on less sleep.  I can hardly ever get her to take a nap, and when I do she is up talking to herself and reading herself books in her room until 11 pm.  So most of the time she just goes without and then goes to bed at 8:00 and sleeps until 8:00 the next morning.

This is her in what she calls her Rapunzel dress.  Obviously she thinks she is very gorgeous.

This is her favorite outfit.

It must be tiring looking so gorgeous all the time.

Documentation that I am fun.  I let them go outside to play in the snow.

E making a snow angel

The girl loves to be beautiful and sits still so well to have her hair curled.  It's a treat because her hair is stick straight.

This was later the same day.  She hijacked the neighbor's bike and helmet, and somehow her pretty ended up clipped to the chin strap.  It is very serious business, as you can tell.

And...much later the same day.  She went from being the World's Most Adorable Girl to the World's Homeliest Girl.  That orange and black frosted pumpkin-shaped donut didn't help matters.

The kids playing doctor at our last COSI trip in Ohio.

Sammi decided to sit and read to Emerson while he was asleep.  It was probably the most attentive he's ever been to her.

This is E's drawing of himself being Wall-E for Halloween

Sometimes Preschool really takes it out of you.

Sammi thinks this is her Princess Sofia dress.  She twirls and twirls every time she wears it.

I secretly snapped this picture one day of Daddy playing princesses with Sammi in her room.  It melted my heart.

This is the kids playing "Collection".  It comes from Ariel's collection in her grotto.  Basically, they just grab a bunch of crap and pile it on the stairs and then pretend to sleep.  Whatever keeps them entertained. :)

Sammi's first big-girl ponytail!  Unfortunately it was short-lived because she got her hair cut the next day.  I love her hair cut, but it's just shorter and layered.

Sammi has been into Angelina Ballerina lately.  We had this leotard from last year at Christmas when we visited from Ohio and forgot swimsuits and this was the closest thing we could find after looking at all the stores, and the tutu was a cute party favor from a friend's birthday party.  So luckily they appeased her.  And of course the Ariel shoes complete the outfit.

Emerson is in ice-skating lessons this winter.  It honestly started out as just something to get us out of the house so I could talk to my good friend from Residency every week since her son was enrolled too, but E has gotten amazingly good and really enjoys it now.  His little body on the ice is hilarious because he's so tiny!  Not to mention his tiny skates.  I'm really glad we had him do it.

This is the kids on Valentine's Day with their little I Love You presents from Mom and Dad.  We got Sammi some ballet slippers, and Emerson a new Rescue Bot.  They were both thrilled.  Most of the time they are such good buddies, but that doesn't mean they never fight.  Unfortunately they do...and usually when Mommy is hungry and therefore very grumpy.

This is from forever ago in the summer when Sammi was even smaller.  I got out of the shower and saw her sitting on my bed like this.  I hate to have a picture of my unmentionables, but she is so smart to know how to wear it!

A rare picture of E looking kind of at the camera and smiling his darling little smile.

 

Pinterest

I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest.  And it's not what you think.  I don't hate it because it takes up too much time just ogling over every single idea.  I hate it because literally every pin, (and I LITERALLY mean LITERALLY in the purest form) has the 7 ULTIMATE MOST AWESOMEST TIPS TO OUTDO EVERY PERSON YOU'VE EVER COME ACROSS AND MAKE THEM FEEL INADEQUATE AND THEREFORE REASSURE YOURSELF THAT YOUR SAD LITTLE LIFE IS WORTH SOMETHING BY FREAKING DIY-ING EVERYTHING IN YOUR HOME WHILE TRAINING FOR A MARATHON AND COOKING ZERO FAT MEALS THAT YOUR KIDS ALWAYS EAT AND REDOING YOUR FRONT DOOR AND HANDSEWING COSTUMES FOR YOUR 1-YEAR-OLD'S BIRTHDAY PARTY AND 50 OF HER CLOSEST FRIENDS WHILE YOU'VE GOT SOME HOMEMADE YOGURT PROOFING IN THE CROCKPOT IN YOUR FRIDGE UNTIL DAY 12 WHEN IT'S FINALLY READY TO EAT. Pin now, read later.

Sometimes I am inspired by Pinterest and I find really good ideas on there.  That is why I love it.  The irony is not lost on me though when my kids are tapping me saying, "Mom! Mom! Come play with us! Mom! Can we have a snack?" while I am impatiently shooing them away so I can repin beauties like 100 of the Healthiest Super Snacks for Your Toddlers or How to Teach Your Kids to Stop Whining or How To Show Your Kids You Really Care.

I would just like a little moderation.  To be honest, I'm betting the chicken entitled, "HOLY COW.  THE BEST. CHICKEN. EVER." is really not the best chicken ever.  I bet it's tasty.  It's probably worth making once.  I'm betting it's not going to make me take my careful, purposeful compilation of recipes from 4 years of college and 8 years of marriage out to the firepit in the back yard and burn it.  I'm kind of tired of salted caramel everything.  I don't think I'm going to take the time to learn to make fondant cupcakes that look like iPhone apps.  Because really, if you make them for age-appropriate teens, they are not going to eat them anyway because no teens eat in front of their friends, and if you make them for your toddler's birthday party because that's what they wanted, you've got bigger problems.  I would love to see a pin entitled, "Pretty Good Chicken."  (And I'm betting that would quickly morph in 2 pins or less to "Pretty Darn Good Chicken", then to "The Best Chicken Ever" to "The Ultimate Best Most Amazing Chicken...Never Make Another Chicken Recipe Again".)

I admit, I repin a lot of stuff.  I do.  I tend to pin in spurts once a week.  I will go for 7-10 days without checking it at all, and then I will pin 30 things.  It probably drives Followers crazy. I have repinned stuff that I will never make or do.  And I am just as guilty as the next person for feeling validated when I have 12 people repin my pin.  It's just when the panicked, reckless pinning has taken over that "the ULTIMATES!!!!!!!" lose their credibility.  I feel like sometimes people think the more things they pin, the better the mom they will be.

Most women I know are really great moms.  They have different talents and abilities and most are much more creative than I am.  I just think people tend to lose sight of the fact that they don't have to be (nor will they ever be) amazing at everything.  There is nothing wrong with simplicity.  It's ok to say that you are only going to plan a birthday party for your kids every other year because that's all you can handle.  It's ok to (heaven forbid!) BUY your cupcakes.  It's ok to not run marathons.  It's ok to make your kids the same thing for lunch every day because that is what they will eat and you are lucky to be able to switch around carrots and applesauce and sometimes the only fruit they get is fruit snacks, and sometimes it is healthy enough.  Sometimes enough is enough, and the things you do every day, just plugging along, not drawing attention to yourself, are the things that are the best for yourself and your family.  My ultimate message: don't let Pinterest get you down.

Happy Valentine's Day!

...From my little sillies to yours!