i swore this day would never come

When I was a teen I swore to myself that I would never be like my dad (and my mom sometimes) and listen to AM talk radio. I swore that I would listen to FM radio and know all the new songs and artists and be a cool mom. I realized many moons ago that I have become just what I didn't want to become. I would rather listen to AM talk radio than to the FM stations. Don't get me wrong, I still listen to my CDs, and if there is nothing on AM then I will venture to the FM side, but I find that the songs on the radio I enjoy the most are the songs that were popular when I was in high school. I feel so out of touch, and it doesn't bother me in the slightest -- which is probably what is so disturbing to me!

lulu's boutique

Cute stuff here at Lulu's Boutique. I love other people who are creative for me! She's also having a great giveaway. Check it out here.

family picture

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just some fun

Hopefully by summer she'll be at least tall enough to get her toes on the ground!

Dallin had done something to make Adeline upset, so she took off down the road -- she's so much like her mother, I'm in a for real treat later on -- Tyler went off and tried talking her into coming back. They ended up walking to the corner together and coming back.

I think Dallin has decided that Saturday nights are pizza nights. He picked this one up at Papa Murphy's on Valentine's Day. This was the extend of our holiday celebrations.

mmm...yum

To anyone else this may just look like a regular canning jar filled with a dark substance. But to our family this is the elixir of life: real homemade Wisconsin maple syrup. My sister's in-laws make their own syrup every year. And every so often when Stacy's family visits our parents she brings my parents & us a couple jars of this heavenly creation. This jar will not last very long as I will make pancakes & waffles as conduits for the elixir as often as possible. Have no fear, because there is another jar in the fridge just begging to be opened! So, here's to you, Penny & Dennis up in the great white north of Wisconsin, and to your incredible elixir of life. Our family thanks you. Yum!

Des Moines River Ice Jam

I think this is self-explanatory. I was standing on the road for this picture, but I was still standing on ice. I can't even tell you where the shore is supposed to be. You can kind of tell because of the grass showing in places. I've never seen anything like this before.

This is looking up river. You can see where the ice has crept up almost to the road.

More of the same. This is taken looking down river from the bridge that was in the background of the other pictures.

This is the furthest down river the ice jam goes. It's about a 2 min. drive from the bridge. It's not the best picture ever. We were sitting in someone's drive to get this picture.

sick

This morning while Tyler was at school, I spent most of the morning in the bathroom with an upset stomach. I managed to pull myself together enough to go pick him up, and then Tyler threw up 3 times on the drive way while bringing in the garbage cans. (When Dallin got home he mentioned that what we had done to the drive way was interesting.) Tyler felt better after that, in fact, asked for some food. I gave him some crackers, and I had a couple, and we managed to keep those down. I had emailed Dallin to let him know that we wouldn't be meeting him at the library, but that I did need him to come home and get the books that needed to be returned. I also called the Elders to cancel our dinner appointment. And I talked to my friend whose kids I'm supposed to watch tomorrow. She mentioned that her youngest was also sick today and couldn't keep anything down. Adeline wanted a snack later so I gave her some carrots. Tyler wanted some too, and since he had kept the crackers down for a couple hours I let him have some -- and myself. After Dallin came home and got the library books and Adeline, I promptly disposed of my carrots -- and felt SO much better! Tyler was doing very well keeping his food down, but he was getting really tired, and kept leaning on me as I was washing dishes. Just after Dallin got home -- with pizzas -- I know he was helping so that I wouldn't have to fix anything, but it just makes my stomach growl from hunger & I'm so bummed because I can't eat it right now -- Tyler disposed of his carrots in the middle of the living room floor. The nice thing about the wood floor is that clean up is pretty quick. The bad thing about the wood floor is that the clean up area is HUGE! And usually this stuff doesn't bother me, but cleaning up after Tyler this evening, I thought I was going to go through it all again myself. Through all the tummy troubles though, I got one load of dishes done, and 4 loads of laundry through the washer & dryer, which will get folded tonight during my prime time down time. I also managed to drive the kids to the train tracks to "find" the train we could hear from our house, and all of us got dressed in clean clothes & Adeline has eaten 2 meals so far. I also took Tyler to school & picked him up from school. I've also done 3 easy crossword puzzles, and finished a book. Ahh...isn't it great being a sick mom? Apparently this is some bug that's been making the rounds. I really hope Adeline has a strong stomach constitution like her father. She's never had the stomach flu before, and I'm not looking forward to going through it with her. I just think it's worse for me when they can't fully communicate about how they feel.

happy birthday, tyler!

When I first asked Tyler what he wanted for his birthday breakfast he said, "cake." I suggested coffee cake, and he thought that was a pretty good idea.

After I went grocery shopping he noticed that I had bought frozen waffles -- then he said he wanted waffles instead.

You'll probably notice that there's no syrup on his waffles. That's because they're still frozen. That's how he likes them. Frozen waffles -- frozen. I admit he got that from his mom. I like 'em that way too.

I did great with the gifts this year -- despite my hubby's lack of confidence in my ability to shop for a 5 year old boy (my own son) on my own.

Man, I am the coolest mom ever -- this week.

Okay, and notice the books on the floor. The 360 loop isn't enough for this kid. He likes to stack up the books under the track to make the car jump off the track after it's done the 360 loopy thing.

Tyler blowing out his number "5" candle set in his mac & cheese birthday dinner. Mac & cheese with a side of green salad with tomatoes and ranch is his favorite dinner.

more pictures

This is what happens when you help Daddy make the bed...

Adeline has finally "allowed" me to do her hair -- and she now leaves it in. I took this picture a week ago just to prove that it had been done just in case it didn't last. In order to keep her from playing with her hair, we remind her she looks pretty with it done up. So now when her hair is done, she goes around pointing to it and saying, "pri-ee."

Okay, I realize by snapping pictures of this event, I am some how sending a message to my children that I condone such action...but really, had you been there, and walked into the room to find the two of them putting on a little show on the kitchen table, you would have been snapping some pictures too.

what addie does while tyler's at school

Dressing up in Mom's shirt.

Pretending to sleep on her accumulated pile of shoes.

Crying because she didn't get her way.

Okay, technically, this is after Tyler comes home from school...

snow

Tyler went out with Dallin to play in the snow while Dallin shoveled the drive & sidewalks. Tyler thought it was the coolest thing to ride his bike into the snow and topple over.

Notice how tall the snow pile is next to Tyler. Tyler's at least 3 1/2 feet tall.

the quriks in all of us

My cousin posted this on her blog, and I thought I'd have a go. Basically, I get to list 7 quirky things about me.

1. T.P. must come off the roll from the top. I do not change it in other people's homes -- though I'm sorely tempted -- but I have found my guests have changed the roll in my house. Grr....

2. I like things alphabetized. Our movies right now are not alphabetized because I have resigned to the fact that until my children stop pulling them off the shelves (Addie) or until I get them in a cabinet with doors, I will have to be satisfied with the fact that at least my family knows which shelf each movie goes on. We have a Sunday movie shelf, a Mommy & Daddy shelf, and a kids' shelf. As long as they are getting the movies on the correct shelves, I will relinquish the alphabetizing frenzy...for now....

3. I like things labeled. Dallin got me a label maker for my birthday last year, and I have gone a little label happy. I'm tempted to take it to church and label all the shelves in my closets there.

4. I like even rows. This is particularly important to me when it comes to ice trays, egg cartons, and the Sacrament water trays. I always put enough ice cubes in my glass so that both rows are even when I'm finished. And I always take ice cubes from the same end of the tray. Admittedly, my family is not quite as obsessed about this as I am, and so sometimes there will be missing cubes from random places in the tray, and it drives me nuts. I will literally take as many ice cubes as necessary to make the tray even again.

Egg cartons & the water tray are a little bit more difficult. If the recipe calls for just 1 or 3 eggs, there's nothing I can really do about it -- unless I make hard boiled eggs that day -- which has happened -- but it eats me up inside putting that carton away with an odd number & non-even rows.

And with the Sacrament water tray I always try to keep the row even when I'm taking the cup of water. Not always an easy task, but since our family is the first one to take the Sacrament from that tray -- we sit near the front -- it's not too hard to keep things even -- at least until the tray is out of my sight.

5. I like my kitchen to be cleaned spotless after dinner -- but I'd rather bribe Dallin to do it for me -- but it must still meet my cleanliness expectations.

6. I procrastinate like no other. But really, I'm not procrastinating, because technically, I'm working it all out in my head before I actually do it. For instance, all the papers I had to write in college were written in my head for days before I sat down the night before the due date to actually type it out. Same with my scrapbook pages. I plan the entire page out in my head, and then, when I've got it just right -- whenever during the day or night that may occur -- I put it together. So when I stay up until 12 or 1 am on a Saturday night doing stuff for Primary, I really haven't procrastinated, because in my head I've been working on it, it's just Saturday nights are the best time to do the actual foot work.

7. In my blue eyes, I have a brown spot on my right eye. It's been there forever. Guys used to tell me it was cool. I wonder if my hubby even knows it's there -- he still thinks my eyes are green...long story...