Through the eyes of a child.

I had so much fun yesterday! We went to a gorgeous park near here and just walked all around. Before leaving, we were discussing Nathan's sandals. They're a bit small. I tried to tell him that he needed sandals that fit. He was less than thrilled with this idea, because he loooooves Spiderman. His solution was ... "If we clip my toes so they're all as long as my pinky toe, then
they'll fit!"








Then as we were walking Nathan said "LOOK! A spitting chicken! Wait, that's not a spitting chicken, it's a flying truck!"

What do you think?


















And, in the spirit of randomness... I was watching American Inventor last night and listening to my husband, yet again, tell me about his idea. He's absolutely certain that this invention will be huge! He says he's going on the show if they have another installment. What's the idea?

Chair pants.

He wants to make pants, with a folding stool/chair somehow attached so that at fairs, carnivals, just walking down the street, one can sit down anytime, anywhere. No more looking for open seats, no more sitting by smelly strangers. Just sit on your very own attached chair at any given moment.

What do you think? Good idea? Weigh in now!

6 weird things about me

I was tagged by Stacy so now I'm supposed to share 6 things about me that are weird. It took me a while to come up with any cuz who really thinks they're that weird? But then I remembered a lot of reasons that I'm weird. So here we go.

1. I only eat white Smarties. And I only eat Smarties when they're given to me. I get very sad if I'm given Smarties and there are no white ones in the package. What a waste! Along the same lines, Skittles must be eaten by alternating the colors from yuckiest to yummiest, always ending with the yummiest (which, by the way, is red.)

2. I tried to break my own leg when I was 11. I was apparently feeling a need for attention and I'd never had a broken bone, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I tied a rope to a tree, then my leg to the rope and I ran away from the tree until the rope tightened and I fell. Fortunately, I wised up after falling once (okay, it was three times) and stopped trying to break my leg. I still have never broken a bone.

3. I have a thing about even numbers. For example, my kids. I want an even number of children so there is no "middle" child. I want each child to have another child close to them. I used to want twins, but now that I have three kids it would mess up my even numbers thing. Nathan and Aria are a pair. Gabe needs a younger sister (boy, girl, boy, girl...even and patterned) and then we can adopt 2 kids (internationally) a boy and a girl of course. If I had twins, then they'd have each other and Gabe would be stuck in the middle and I might be forced to have 8 kids (even number) if I still want to adopt, and that just might make me crazy. Of course, even then, Gabe would be stuck in the middle of 2 sets, cuz there would be a long time between him and the one that came after the twins and if there are twins between Gabe and his "pair" then it would still be messed up.....ok, I'll stop now.

4. I'm afraid of cows. When I was growing up, we raised cows and somehow I always got picked to go get the dumb cows if they got out of their pen. (I remember hiding behind trees and throwing rocks) They're big and ugly and snotty and smelly and big. Did I mention big? And one time I was out feeding the chickens and the rooster decided to attack me, so I stepped on it's head so it would stop pecking me and while I was standing there trying to figure out how to make a break for it, the cow came up behind me and TRIED TO MOUNT ME. Yup, cow hooves landed on my shoulders. I've never moved so fast in my life. I think I actually flew over the fence to get away from those crazy farm animals. Therefore, afraid of cows.

5. I believe in holistic and natural remedies. I used to see a Naturopath, but now I see a DO. I think MDs are stupid. (at least the ones I have experience with)

6. I love eggs on toast with strawberry jam. I dip my grilled cheese sandwhiches in milk (or tomato soup). If I'm eating pancakes, eggs and sausage, the syrup goes on everything, but if I'm eating hashbrowns, eggs and sausage then ketchup goes on everything.

Heather, Sara, Bela, Kermit, Vlyb and Jenn (Mrs. Chia)....tag, you're it!

Another day at the children's museum...

We went again on saturday. (we have a year pass). But this time we took my brother, his girlfriend, her daughter, my sister and her husband. All the kids had a blast! And when I say all, I mean ALL of them.

Case in point.





My brother, brother-in-law and husband at the water table.










The gear table....














Putting on a show with a crash test dummy...













riding the plasma cars....





























....and playing with the back-hoe.









YAY for the children's museum!

She's a Maaan - Eater!

We went to the children's museum with some friends today. She has two boys, so Aria was the only girl with 4 boys (counting my two, but Gabe wasn't exactly involved.)

After a while they decided to put on a show for me and my friend. Nathan and J- dressed up in dragon costumes and Aria put on a tutu and started spinning and leaping and dancing across the stage.

The dragon boys tried to chase her around (shouting things about bombs and firepower) and with all the drama she could muster she thrust her hand out to stop them and exclaimed "I AM A GIRL! I am a beautiful ballerina (only she says vallerina) and I am PRETTY! You bad guys can NOT get me because I am SO PRETTY and I will EAT you!" Then she put her hands on her hips, glared at them and made chomping motions with her mouth.

They left her alone after that and she was free to dance all over the stage.

Books, books, books

I have got to stop reading.

No, seriously.

In just the last week I read three books and my house is destroyed, my kids have watched too many movies and played too many video games and I'm not getting enough sleep because I stay up to read.

I really love to read. A lot. A good book and a hot bath, a good book and a big comfy chair by a window or a good book and a cup of hot cocoa (organic cocoa and rice milk) are some of my favorite ways to pass time. I carry whatever I'm currently reading with me in my purse and snatch a few minutes here and there whenever I can. Sitting down to nurse Gabe is a great excuse to read too.

The books I read can be divided into two catagories. Fluff books and thinking books.

Fluff books are usually novels. Reading a good LDS romance or humor novel (good story, a little corny, but no language or sex scenes to worry about) is one of my favorite ways to wind down. Other books that fall in this catagory are teen literature. Harry Potter, The Traveling Pants books, and others like those. Usually the teen lit is easy on the language and sex scenes too, which I prefer. I can usually blow through a fluff book in a matter of hours.

Thinking books are 2 different kinds of books for me. They can also be novels, but they're deeper. I read them a bit slower and take time to think about what I'm reading. Novels that fall into this catagory are ones like "The Giver," "Memoirs of a Geisha" or "The Da Vinci Code." The other kind of thinking books are non-fiction and usually LDS. I enjoy studying the deeper doctrines of the church. Some of my favorites are "The Peacegiver," "Eve and the Choice Made in Eden," and "Life Everlasting."

So last week I read three books. One fluff book that I didn't really like ("In Her Shoes") and two thinking books that I very much liked. ("Memoirs of a Geisha" and "The Da Vinci Code.")

But now I need to take a break. I need to finish cleaning the house (my wonderful husband cleaned the kitchen and started the laundry before work this morning!!!!) and I need to focus on my kids. Guess where I'm taking them after lunch today?

The library.

The coolest Easter ever!

We had so much fun today I hardly know where to start! I actually jotted notes throughout the day so I wouldn't forget all the funny things that happened.

Today began by carrying over a tradition that I grew up with. Every Easter my mom made egg gravy over toast for breakfast. Usually it was colorful egg gravy, cuz she made it out of the eggs we dyed, but I deprived my kids of that particular part of the tradition this year. (it's okay, we'll start next year with the egg coloring).

My sister and her husband came over for breakfast and we made the egg gravy. Neither of us had ever made it before so we were a little nervous. We ran into a couple snags like not having any regular flour and not enough milk, but I had some rice flour and rice milk that worked just as well. Rach was having issues peeling the hard boiled eggs (I don't know what the problem was, I peeled them just fine...) and at one point was throwing the shells into the bowl for the chopped up eggs. Soooo....she had to pick the shells out. We succeeded though! It was so yummy! Just ask Aria. She was like a broken record.

"this is SO yummy"
"Mommy, this is great food!"

Then we made resurrection rolls. If you don't already know, you take a marshmallow and a crescent roll. The marshmallow represents Jesus. You put the marshmallow in melted butter, then cinnamon/sugar to represent wrapping Jesus' body with oil and spices and then you put him in the "tomb." (the crescent roll.) You pinch the edges shut around "Jesus" and bake. When they're done, you open the roll and the marshmallow is gone!

We did this with Nathan and Aria and told the story as we went. When we opened the "tomb" I said "where did Jesus go? He's gone!" Nathan's eyes got wide and with alarm he said "He melted!"

I had to do a little extra explaining then...

Other events of note today...Gabe loved his easter basket. We put him on the floor and he scooted over to it, put the handle in his mouth and laid there, unmoving, handle in his mouth (not even chewing it, just laying with it in his mouth) for about 15 minutes. Hilarious.

Aria got one of those velcro ball catcher things in her Easter basket and Nathan tried to use it. Nathan is quite smart, but when it comes to anything requiring coordination, he's lacking. He managed to catch the ball on the velcro catcher, and then he tried to throw it back. But instead of removing the ball and throwing it, he tried to just dislodge it from the velcro catcher as if he were throwing it out of a mitt. Didn't work so well. The catcher thing went flying across the room with the ball attached.

I bought a ham to make for Easter dinner and was going to put it in the crockpot last night (frozen) and cook it on low until today. I pulled it out of the freezer and tried to put it in, but it was too big. I ended up leaving it out on the counter to thaw and then sent Dave home between Sunday School and Priesthood to put it in the oven. (fortunately, our house didn't burn down while we finished church). For my first ham, it turned out quite well and we had a lovely Easter dinner with some old friends from my home town. I figure since I refuse to cook Thanksgiving dinner, and I'm too lazy to cook a Christmas dinner, then Easter will be it. A big dinner once a year. Good enough for me!

Overall, it was a fabulous day! Dave even spoke in church today and gave a great talk on the atonement. His words were simple, yet powerful and the spirit touched many people that were there.

Yay for Easter! What a great holiday!

I almost forgot! It snowed today! How weird is that?

Raising a gamer

Dave is a gamer. There's no question about it. So, naturally, his oldest son is also a gamer.

Xbox, Nintendo, Leapster...if it's a game system, he'll master it.

So this morning we asked Nathan to say family prayer. About half way through he said this.

"and bless me to figure out my games that I'm having a hard time with."

At least we somehow managed to convey that Heavenly Father cares about everything he does. lol

Attn: Everyone Dave has ever worked with

I don't know if it's just my husband or if other guys do this, but Dave has this image of me that he spreads around at work. He used to work at a massive corporation where (according to him) everyone is vegetarian and people have 0-1 child. Well, since he took paternity leave 3 times in the 5 years he worked there, he decided to tell everyone that I'm a vegetarian. (since he's totally not, he figured he'd pretend like one of us "fit in.")

So, at every company party/dinner I had to pretend to be a vegetarian since Dave was so insistant that I was one.

Then we moved to the land of meat and potatoes. I figured I could finally start eating meat in public again. Then Dave came home from one of his first days at the new job and says "I told them you're a vegetarian." WHAT THE HECK? Why does my food preference come up at every job he works at? And why does he lie about it?

So....I am no longer keeping this ruse up.

Dear Dave's fellow employees,

I. Am. A. Carnivore.

Respectfully,
Misty

And I like it. Ok, well, I don't like pig. I don't anything from a pig (usually), but other than that, bring it on! Chicken, Turkey, Fish, Beef, I'm all over it baby!

Can't wait for the first company dinner.

YES!!!

So, I'm on the TED with Gabe. So far, he's allergic to corn, squash and oats. The other night I decided it was time to test something else and so far, two days later there is NO REACTION! Guess what it is?!

Go ahead, guess!

Here's a hint....I'm very very happy to get to eat this again.

Nathan

My kids rock. Seriously.

My goal for this summer is to see how much I can teach Nathan before he starts Kindergarten. The kid is a sponge for information and he loves to read. Last night he came running down the stairs really excited about something. He was yelling "MOM! We're sinking fast so we can do a conspearmint!" (huh?) It took me saying what? about 4 times, but I finally figured it out. He was saying "MOM! We're thinking fast so we can do an experiment!" He was holding a card in his hand that said "Think fast." A little while later, Dave came down and they learned about gravity and states of matter and they made oobleck (it's apparently a liquid and a solid.)

Then this morning, he brought a book into our bedroom and said "Dad, will you read me something in the Handy Science Answer Book?" (we did not tell him what it was called, by the way, he just read it) Then he opened it up and read the question "How were the months of the year named?" and asked Dave to read the answer to him. He's FOUR! So I decided it would be fun to see how much he can learn before he starts kindergarten in the fall.

He also likes to play guessing games. The other day he came up to me and said "Mo-om, I heard what you said to dad." I'm thinking "uh-oh...what did I say? What did he hear? shoot!" lol. I asked him what he heard and he goes "you know...you said it to dad...." I still didn't know and he says "somewhere we're going?" Still clueless, but he left. I figured the conversation was over, but he came back a few minutes later with a piece of paper. He had written the word RED on it. He gave it to me. I was still stumped. Red? He said "Mom, it's a clue. Red....." I go "yellow?" He rolled his eyes at me. "No, Mom! You told dad we were going there! Red Rrrrrr....."

*lightbulb!* It finally clicked! Red Robin! Needless to say, we made sure to take the kids there later that week.

Of course, he's still a 4 year old that does 4 year old stuff. Like the day we went to the park with my sister and he came running up to her and said "Hey Auntie Rae! Look at my new Star Wars undies!" and pulled his pants down right there in public. *sigh*

It's a conspiracy!

And the targets are my children. Who has it out for them, you ask? The chairs. Yup, the chairs of the world don't like my kids. I don't know what my kids ever did to them, but they have made it their mission to dump my kids out of them at every opportunity.

We'll be sitting at dinner, eating and talking, when *thump* Nathan's on the floor screaming. I'm not sure how it happens. They sit on them like anyone else. Maybe they shift positions too often, maybe they havn't mastered their center of balance yet. I don't know.

If it's not Nathan, it's Aria. Not ten minutes ago, she fell off the rocking chair (granted, her and Nathan were spinning it and playing on it), but it wasn't the first time! She's fallen off all of our chairs at least once. The rocker, the couch, the table chairs, the piano bench, the computer chair...

A couple days ago, the chairs claimed another victim. Gabe. He was sitting in his overpriced, infant propping system, uh...I mean, his bumbo chair and he arched his back and twisted to the side and plopped out onto his face. Luckily, I was right there to save him and he really didn't fall far (about 6 inches) but it startled both of us!

So the next time you use a chair, be careful! They're a vicious bunch!

Note to self..

Don't watch TV when the kids are around.

Aria has a talent for memorizing. She remembers everything anybody says, and she especially loves to memorize songs. She does this by asking you to repeat it until she has it.

For example, my mom was singing Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and Aria listened then said simply "sing it again, Grandma." After a few more times through, Aria had it. That's how she memorized all her favorite songs. "Down By the Bay," "Popcorn Popping," "In the Leafy Treetops," any song on Barney, etc.

The other day, my sister and her husband were visiting and my sister starts singing "Gold Digger." I believe it's by Kanye West? Anyway, she finished a couple lines and Aria looks at her and says "Sing it again, Auntie Rae." Luckily I was there and knew what she was doing and said "DO NOT sing it again!" lol. That's just what I need, a three year old walking around belting out "get down girl, go 'head get down". Yeah, fun stuff. And she really does belt songs out wherever we are.

The other thing she likes to do is listen for words she hasn't heard before or words pronounced differently. For example, her Uncle Sean pronounced "yeah" like "yee-ah" one time. Just once. Every time she's answered yes since then, she's pronounced it "yee-ah". lol

Back to my note to self. Last night I was folding laundry. A chore that I simply can not do unless I'm watching a movie or the TV. I had Scrubs on, cuz it can be funny. ("I never knew what that song was about!....Liver disease!") So I'm folding laundry, half paying attention, when one of the actors calls another actor a jack-, uh...fill in the blank. Then Aria starts to laugh. Uh-oh, I think to myself. She looks right at me and says "HAHA! Yer a jack-***!"

Oops. Needless to say, we turned the TV off and talked about words we don't say.