Speech Therapy

.Not the most attractive kind of therapy.......

But really, Is any type of therapy attractive?

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And yes, I love Picasa's Collage option...can ya tell?

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Weekend Recap

The weather has been fabulous today. The kids and I spent a few hours in the backyard enjoying the sunshine.
Its been a pretty good weekend.
Friday the girls were out of school and I convinced Taylor to leave us the car so that we could get out of the house for a bit.
The kids voted to go to the Library. We haven't been for months. I enjoyed being in such a relaxed environment flipping through all the board books with Mattie while the girls picked out there own assortment. All three of them put on a puppet show and I even got a book on tape to listen to when I am driving to and from work. (I have piles of books here at home that I need to catch up on so I didn't get anything else).
When we got home we made peanut butter cookies together. We spent the night hanging out and watched Mr Magoriums wonder Emporium. It was very cute.
Yesterday (Saturday) after spending half the day playing outside and the other half cleaning out closets I got to go scrapbooking with a bunch of friends. It was so nice to sit back and be creative, and I am pleased to announce that I have finished Matt's first year book! yeah! Now each child has their birth story and entire first year scrapbooked, completed, and in their box.
I'm doing a lot less scrapbooking now that I've got this blog.
My intent for scrap booking was to journal through pictures, so that the kids would have something to look back on, and now that I have the blog, I can post pictures AND write more about what is happening on a daily basis..... well, And then some.
Someday I'll put it all together and it will be a book for the kids to look back on and see what we did. It might not be as pretty but atleast its something........ Or at least they'll see how much I suck at punctuation.
When I got home around 11:30pm the girls were still awake in our bedroom watching TV. Taylor was dozing on and off, and I was wide awake. I started flipping through channels and at about midnight a show caught my eye. By then Megan and Taylor were snoring, but Ali and I were getting deeper and deeper into the movie. Every time it would go to commercial we'd groan and I'd ask "should we turn it off?" both of us were hooked and wanted to keep watching. I had my hand on the remote the entire time just in case there was a questionable part in the movie but I never had to change it expect for some commercial breaks that would have made a sailor blush! The movie was Looooong, especially with so many commercial breaks. Before we knew it, it was 3 o'clock in the morning! 4 if you count the daylight savings time change.... We were laughing that it was so late, and I asked Ali what we were going to do when we would be so tired in the morning that we couldn't stand up? It was fun. I liked having that time with her even if the movie WAS a little over her head, and it was 3 in the morning.
I looked the movie up this morning and found that it was Pride and Prejudice. I have never read it, so I hadn't recognized the story line. I quite enjoyed it..

so right now the girls are lying here in my bed watching cartoons, Mattie is asleep, and I'm expecting Taylor home from work in about an hour.
Good weekend..
Hope yours was good too.

Memories

Last night I helped the girls clean their room. I wanted to do some ‘mother daughter bonding’ so I told them that I was going to ask them a question and they each had to give me their answers no other talking allowed.
I threw out things like
“What’s your favorite color”
and “if you had 5$ what would you buy your sister?”
I got some pretty typical answers, but then I got some pretty sweet ones too. It isn’t often that my girls show love towards each other, so when I hear the occasional proof it makes me very happy.
This is what I learned
Ali’s favorite color is still yellow. (It has been for about 4 years)
Her favorite food is still mashed potatoes, and spaghetti.
If she had 5$ to spend on one person she would buy
Megan “things to color with”
Mattie “a toy”
Me a “fairy or a frog or a Make over” (should I take that personally?)
Ex (her Daddy) “climbing stuff”
Taylor (daddy too) “a new hat or something like that….”
I learned that if she could go anywhere she’d go to Hawaii, or California,
And If she could spend time with anyone in the world, it would be her family.
She also wants to have a slumber party for her birthday.

Megan When asked about the 5$
Turned and asked Ali “what would you like Ali?” which I thought was very cute. Ali said she’d like “a book”. (ahh, a girl after my own heart).
She’d buy Mattie “a toy”
Her Daddy (Ex) “climbing or camping stuff”
Daddy Taylor she wasn’t sure of….”what does Daddy like?” she asked
And we didn’t even get to me, because there was too much squirming and talking about Birthday parties that I had to move to the next question..
So I learned that if she could go anywhere right at that moment, she’d go “swimming”. After hearing Ali’s answer, she changed hers to Disneyland.
She’d spend time with her family, and
She WANTED to have a Ballerina Birthday party… including Jack! “do boys do ballet Mom?” but after hearing that Ali wanted a slumber party, she’s decided that she is going to have one too.. With Michie, Emmy, and Mia.

To keep the mood going I started telling them stories. Now for those of you who know me, I love to get lively when I tell the kids stories.. I use motions, gestures, and different voices with facial expressions.. I love to see the sparkle in their eyes when they hear stories and they love it even more when I get animated.
I began with stories of myself when I was a child. I told them of the time we stepped out of our cabin in Yellowstone to find a Buffalo right outside our door.
I told them about how when Pushing kids on the tire swing in third grade I ran into the pole and got a concussion. I dramatically re-enacted the entire scene for them, including my Teachers reaction to the giant welt on my forehead. . I told them how I was the ‘best tire swing pusher in third grade” to which Ali responded “That comes from you then, mom, cuz, I’m the best tire swing pusher too, I get that from you! It must run in the family”.
I told them about the time I broke my pinky playing kick ball, and thought my pinky was my thumb.
I described to them the temperature of the water as we jumped into the pool for the first time every spring. (I definitely burned calories re-enacting that one!)
I ran out of my own stories so I went on to tell them stories about when they were tiny.
I told about Ali’s pacifier addiction and how no matter how hard I tried to get rid of them she would always magically find one hiding somewhere, and when she did, she’d pop it in her mouth happily and suck away. She LOVED the binky!
I told of Megan when she was about barely crawling and would climb into the baby bouncer and bounce so hard she’d catch air.
The girls were giggling and begging for more. I remembered that I had Megan’s bouncer jumping on video so we went in search of the old home movies. As it was getting late, we spent just 20 minutes playing the tapes and forwarding through to the fun parts. I couldn’t believe how little they both were. Listening to Ali’s little gruff voice telling me things was just darling. She was such a little busy body. She was jumping around, climbing on things and talking non-stop just like she does today. Megan was a super chunk and she loved seeing herself crawl around ‘growling’ and being charming. I could have watched them all night. I really enjoyed it. And I think the girls did too.
I was especially grateful when they climbed into their beds and went to sleep without any protesting. It always feels good when you can tuck them in and leave with a good feeling.
When I went in to check on them a few hours later Megan was yet again curled up on the end of Ali’s bed, squished into the 2-foot space she had.
I picked her up and put her back in her own bed. I’m glad I did, because unfortunately she had an accident last night… I probably should have woken her up to go to the bathroom, but that’s okay, we’ll keep trying.. First thing she said when she woke up was “will I have to wear a pull-up tonight?”

Oh and cute Mattie had been hanging with us the entire time. He LOVES playing with the little trinkets and things that the girls have on their shelves.
He was particularly intent on getting something on the top shelf of Ali’s and kept saying "dat, pees, Dat, pees" so I picked him up and let him point it out to me. When I handed it to him he took it out of my hand, immediately stuck his hand up under his chin and said “dant-do” (aka Thank you). He’s such a smart boy. We only showed him once and he does it all the time now.

Principal Pride

Both the girls have been honored this past month for special achievements that they have done in school. Each month Teachers pick students that have done things that deserve recognition or for things that they are excelling at.

Its Called Principal pride, and parents are invited to come to a little ceremony where each child gets recognized and given a certificate. A Letter comes home announcing their special day about a week before.

I thought it was great that Megan was chosen a few weeks ago, as it happened to be at a time that Megan was working very hard on being "the nicest girl in class".. She was so proud of her letter and even slept with it that night. Taylor and I felt really bad because we were both scheduled for work and couldn't get the day off. Grandma and Papa came through though and took lots of pictures for us.I was sad that I missed her little face. I wanted to see her expression so bad..

Megan's Achievement was for "getting her work done in class, and working hard on reading".

Yesterday was Ali's turn. Taylor and I were both able to attend. Grandma ,Papa, and even Mike came to see her too. She was so grown up. She'd picked her outfit out the night before and looked fabulous!

Ali's achievement was "Amazing Author Award! Works hard in writing, very creative!"

They're both doing so well, I'm so proud of them.

saturday night in kaysville

Alex with Sammy
Originally uploaded by me and mine

Last night we went to Kaysville to hang out with Megan and her three. My Megan was in heaven playing with Mia because Mia is a total Girlie girl, and together they successfully went through every dress up in the house. They played happily and without even one squablet for 3 hours! Megan’s been working on "taking turns" when it comes to deciding what to play with her friends (something we've been working on when the Cason's are at our house) and I think she did a pretty spectacular job because I happened to over hear Mia asking to play wedding after they played Princess, and Megan said "okay, then it will be my turn to decide again" I had to stifle a laugh when Mia came down the stairs in her 'wedding attire' it was complete with veil, and very adorable! I loved watching their girly play. It really looked like fun. It was fun seeing Mattie and Sam playing together, although they really didn’t play together, just kind of side by side, in the same room. It was still fun to see them interact occasionally and to see how "solid" Mattie is (aka chubba wubba bubba) compared to Sammy who is still a skinny little guy. I told him he's got three months to put on a few inches to catch up with Matt. Mattie being the little co-dependant thing that he is played fine as long as I was no more than two feet from him. Megan had to leave to work and I offered to hang out with her crew until her husband got home about 45 minutes later. Both Mattie and Sam were exhausted and cranky so I was trying to manage them both when Ali offered to step in. Since Mattie was not going to have anyone but his mamma holding him, I quickly demonstrated to Ali how to rock Sam while patting his bum, and shushing quietly to calm him down. My skinny little 8 year old picked him up, laid him in her arms and proceeded to rock, pat, and shush that 24 pound little guy to a happy little slumber. I was so impressed and told her so over and over again. She said something then that made me so proud to be her mother, she said "well, I learned from a very special person" I said "oh yeah?" and she replied " you Mom!" It felt fantastic. She was so proud of herself too, she kept saying " I just feel so grown up mom" and "I can't believe I can do this!” She sat on the couch with him asleep in her arms for a good twenty minutes. I propped up her skinny little arms and neck so they wouldn’t give out on her, but she wasn’t about to move that baby.. She’d worked too hard to risk waking him up! When Ryan came in, you could see how proud she was sitting there on the couch holding his little boy and I made a point to let him know how much she'd helped me out with him..

It was a great night. We got home in time to watch Goosebumps, which has become a tradition for the girls every Saturday night. It started at their Dad's house, and I'm not sure I will continue it, because (and Ali won't admit this) they were both freaked out, and spent the night in our bedroom!

To This.......

Originally uploaded by me and mine

My boy crazy 8 year old!
We have Speech therapy tonight. Its going really well. She can actually feel the back of her teeth when she bites down, that's amazing!
Tonight she gets to "Learn how to eat" what ever that means...
I'm very curious to find out...
Update: Okay, so the "eating" part was pretty interesting. She has to chew in steps, and watch herself swallow in a mirror while she's eating. Its all very specific. Ali was not excited about the fact that she'll be sticking her tongue out at the dinner table to make sure her food is in a ball. (basically using her tongue muscles to form her food together) then she has to bite down, open her lips and swallow while watching so that her tongue stays in. She also gets to take steps in swallowing water, and this sounds weird but she has to "practice swallowing her saliva" 5-10 times after eating or drinking anything.. apparently that is when the teeth shifting happens most often , during saliva swallowing... who knew?

Thanks Mom for all your help during Speech.. I really appreciate you.

Parenting 101

I had one of those “Ahhh, what do I say?” parenting moments last night.
I’d sent the girls up their rooms to get ready for bed, finished up a few things and went upstairs to tuck them in. There sat Ali in her bed looking awfully forlorn. I questioned her and she explained to me with tears in her eyes that she did not get the Big part that she was hoping for in Drama.
Our school started drama program last year and it was a big success. They put on a fun play at the end of the year and This year they offered the program again. I don’t think they realized just how popular it was going to be because there are over 100 students there every Tuesday morning ready to perform.
Ali had auditioned last week hoping for the part of “Cat” in there final play and from the sound of it, had assumed she’d won the part. (I mean after all, her crush was going to be the ‘Dog’, and together they’d be the stars of the show). She’d practiced and practiced and knew every word. It WAS her part!
However when the Drama teacher announced parts yesterday Ali was not only Not the ‘Cat’, but her humiliating title? “Narrator”!
She is devastated. I spent twenty minutes telling her things that I’d hoped would make her think more positively about her part. I told her that the Narrator was an extremely important part of the play and the play couldn’t possibly go on without the narrator, (which is when she informed me that she was Not the only narrator, but ‘Narrator 12’)
I told her how they’d chosen her because they were so impressed by her voice and memorizing skills, and that maybe they gave the part of “cat” to someone who needed to improve on their acting abilities because you know its “drama CLASS”.. I tried and tried but I Had NO idea what I was supposed to say. She was heartbroken that she hadn’t gotten the part. She was embarrassed because she had assumed she had, she felt like she wasn’t good enough, and she felt like they’d given her a “stupid” part for ‘kids that weren’t good actors’ because you know, “Narrators” don’t even get SEEN! .. The worst part? Her crush DID get the part of ‘Dog’.
In the end I told her she could feel bad that she didn’t get the part she’d hoped for, but that she needed to move on and to be positive and give her best to the part that she did have. Through tears she agreed, but I still felt powerless in making her feel any better.
Its only going to get harder from here…. I wish there was a book that gave parents exact phrases to use when situations like this happen!

Romantic?

Ali walked in from school yesterday with a twitterpated look in her eyes. I gave her my usual welcome home hug and kiss, and she immediately took my hand, leading me to the couch as if we were in for a very important discussion. We sat down and I looked at her encouragingly. Ali Giddily; “Guess what Porter said today mom” (Pausing while Megan came in the room, Because she was NOT going to have this kind of grown up discussion with a 5 year old in the room! And then Meg left). I leaned in to hear the news as she proceeded to describe to me the entire affair.
He’d followed her into school as she walked Megan to her classroom (an entirely different route than most 3rd graders take). He’d made silly comments about being “big kid, third graders”, and “ liking her hat” and Then… Then he said something VERY Notable. Breathlessly Ali repeated word for word their conversation.
“ He said {“Ali, I like you… And Rachel”} It was a little less romantic that he said Rachel too, but he said he liked me!” Then she giggled and squirmed excitedly.
I had to stifle my laugh. Did she actually just say Romantic? My 8 year old?
She was completely and utterly serious though, so I congratulated her then worried a little bit more that my baby girl is getting older by the minute and boy crazy too!
She’s going to make him a special poem for Valentines Day. She also informed me that they chase each other at recess (a group of girls and boys) and who ever catches each other has to ‘get married’ Porter has captured her of course, and in all her 8-year-old maturity that is the best thing next to watching Goosebumps on Saturday night!

On another note, Mattie has Finally learned to crawl down the stairs backwards. YEAH! I’ve been trying to get him to do it for a few months now, but all he would do is laugh at me like I was being silly and turn back around. Then he’d stand at the top of the stairs and grunt or say “peas” while pointing down. So yesterday I demonstrated it for him a number of times, and he did it too. After a few practice runs he was up and down all by himself for the rest of the day. (minus one minor mishap when he forgot about that last stair. Thank goodness for soft carpet)
I moved all of his toys from the living room to the family room downstairs. It will be nice to have an actual grown up room now.
Mattie will hopefully be more independent now that he can go down to the playroom with the rest of the kids.
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More Mattie Milestones……… For my own records.
"wus-AT?" said quickly with enthusiasm= What’s that? Usually before looking out the window for a guck aka Truck.
He is saying "yuh-you"=I love you, all the time now. and "bye bye"
putting "more" and "peas"(please) together more often. Two word combo's starting up...
“Hair”, (he still loves rubbing his hair especially with food) “head”, “fee” (feet) “um” (tummy)
cootee=cookie (thanks to Daddy!)
drink is still kind of mix between 'gunk and gek' no matter how hard we try for "cup, or Drink" but at least we understand what it means. and if we don't he just signs the 'more' sign, points at his cup and says "peas"
He is blowing kisses with the real smacked lips sound, which is enough to melt your heart and soul into a million pieces. Especially when its followed by a “yuh you”
He thinks its really funny to head butt, or hit so we're trying really hard not to give ANY kind of reaction to either one. (he learned the head butting part from Oli-Oli)
He loves to throw his own diaper or any other trash for that matter away all by himself. And to help sweep. (which usually consists of everyone else in the room running for their lives or risk getting smacked by the metal broom handle)
He likes music... his dancing consists of bobbing his head dramatically. (sometimes throwing a leg maneuver in here and there)
Loves to give 5 and to play patty cake
likes to climb up the couch to look out the window or torture Weston. ( I just worry about his getting down off the couch)
Likes to rock in his toddler size rocking chair. sits and does it very deliberately
Can spin himself on his sit and spin. pretty talented if you ask me.
Loves to ‘kick’ at things, or push things with his foot. (esp Weston)

Speech and Secrets

We had Ali's first official Speech therapy appointment tonight. It was pretty interesting to see what kinds of exercises she gets to do for the next week.

She was instructed on how to do them while holding a mirror in front of her face so that she can see what it looks like. One of the Exercises consists of her holding a very small rubber band to the roof of her mouth, and swallowing with her lips open. The other is clenching her jaw while saying the letter T over and over again.. Very interesting. She has to do this and a few other things 3 times a day until we meet again next week. I can already see a difference in her jaw when she's doing these exercises. They kind of force her jaw back in where it isn't as pointy. I'm excited to see end results!

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I had an appointment with my Dr today. I've been given permission to stop wearing my CPAP. Its a good thing too, because I didn't plan on using it anyway! I'm so non-compliant!! I think I only wore the thing a total of one Whole night! I feel terribly for anyone who has to wear those things on a permanent basis!

The bad news is, is that they weighed me...... Ugh!

I weigh 25 pounds more than the 124 pounds I was when Taylor and I met. I'm the biggest I've ever been and its very uncomfortable. My Size 10's (yes 10's!) are getting snug! Its embarrassing to me, having my gut flop over my jeans. I don't get dressed anymore unless I have to go out in public. I just stay in my jammies all day because they aren't so binding. When I do have to dress up I fret and fuss over every visible bulge and leave defeated and insecure.

So...................

I'm going back on the weight watchers. I did it after I had Mattie and it worked really well. I got down to about 140 and felt great. I can do it again but this time I need to be more consistent and I need to incorporate exercise into the mix.. An over all Healthy body is what I'm going for here.

I have also dusted off my treadmill (and even used it!!!) I will be getting this 30 year old body back in shape . I want to have energy again, I want to feel good about myself and wear cute clothes (like all the cute size 6's I have tucked away in a box in my basement).

I'm going to track my progress here because you know, I'm an open book and y'all know how much I weigh now, so nothings secret anymore!!

Speech Therapy, and Good Hair

Ali went to the Orthodontist a few months ago. He did a thorough examination, took x-rays, and talked at length about his assessment. The First thing he instructed us to do was to make an appointment with a Speech therapist. Huh? I thought we were looking at her teeth? He explained that the way her teeth and tongue were sitting he suspected that Ali is a tongue thruster. Even with braces you can’t fix teeth unless you fix the tongue thrust or the tongue just messes up all the work the braces did. The molars in the back of her mouth don’t even touch when she bites down! The Orthodontist was baffled at how she actually chews her food. I felt bad that I’d never noticed.
Last night We met the speech therapist.. A 40-ish woman who works from her home. ( A HUGE 5,500 square foot GORGEOUS home I might add) only a few miles from our house.
She led Ali through a series of exercises that included eating graham crackers, and swallowing water. She confirmed the Orthondist’s theory telling us that Ali has a “moderately severe” tongue thrust. We will spend the next 7 weeks seeing this Therapist once a week for Oral exercise and treatments, which Ali will be assigned to do as homework on the remaining days of the week. For one Grand 400 dollar fee (which insurance does not pay for thank you very much) she will follow Ali’s therapy for the 7 weeks, (and more if needed included in that 400) and will also follow her progress through the entire span of her braces. I think Ali will be a good little pupil, and it will be interesting to see the results. I wonder if it will change the structure of her jaw at all? ( I doubt it, but I still wonder).
I do have to mention too that Megan was there at the appointment with us (as she was with EX) and she sat quietly on my lap the entire time listening and watching Ali through the entire testing process. She was also starving and didn’t complain once that Ali was munching on crackers and drinking water not three feet away from her famished little body. What a good girl! I was quite proud of both my girls last night.
So Fast-forward to this morning.
I awakened to voices at the crack of Dawn this morning. I looked at the clock and it was only 5 am. I thought for a moment that maybe one of the girls was talking in their sleep or having a nightmare.. (or perhaps it was Craig on his phone)? I got out of bed, and both the girls bedroom and Mattie’s room lights were on.. Ali was sound asleep in her bed, but Megan was missing. I knew exactly where she was.
I pressed Mattie’s door open a little wider and there sat Megan on the bed next to his crib, dressing her bear in Mattie’s clothes and telling Mattie stories to keep him occupied. She’s done this a couple of times but it’s been at our regular waking hour. She goes into his room and entertains him by putting whatever he points to into his crib for him. By the time I arrive his crib is full of various items from his room. Toys, socks, blankets……
I told Megan it was still nighttime, and sent her back to bed. I cleaned out Mattie’s crib, snuggled him for a nano- second and laid him down. (I am pretty sure he thanked me with his sleepy eyes). Meg fell back asleep within minutes, Mattie was out.. But there I was. Wide-awake, and only 35 minutes till my alarm was to go off anyway.
So up I was.
And my Hair got special treatment today.. I actually CURLED it! That’s a pretty big feat for someone who LIVES in ponytails!
Here I am at work. A wee bit tired, but with great hair!

Catching up.

I haven’t felt much like blogging lately.. Not for a lack of topics.. We’ve been quite busy around here.. Its more a Laziness issue… When I do get a minute to sit down, I have been catching up on my Magazine reading, or just sitting alone enjoying the small windows of silence.
So lets catch up shall we?
Craig is still here. And yes, we are still enjoying his company.
Last week we watched Michie, Emmie, and Olivia while Ang had Orientation. It was pretty crazy at first, but by mid week, we’d gotten everyone into a routine. Things went quite smoothly from there. I have to give Taylor credit for most of that.. He was seriously super dad, keeping the house clean, and taking care of 6 kids! His laid back personality can really be a blessing sometimes.
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Angie Home schools her two older girls, so I picked that up for her the days I was home.. Ali was a fantastic little tutor; I think Michie felt quite privileged to be her little pupil.
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Thursday I took them ALL to the dentist for Ali and Megan’s 6 month check up.. I was quite amazed at how smoothly it went. The girls behaved beautifully, and hooray, No cavities.
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Week in review via picture........................................…. CHAOS!!!!!!!

Friday evening, The North’s (sans Michael) came to town for a visit and for MJ’s 5-month pictures. Coryne and Ali tore the place up and were literally jumping off the furniture until we had to separate them for bed. Megan and Shane weren’t far behind.
Saturday we had a great photo shoot, then ran errands with them before they left for home. Let me just say…. 6 kids running errands… Not so fun. But we made it.
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Sunday........ Ahhhhhhhh quite! LOVED it!

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Monday we started over again with the Cason girls
More ‘home schooling’ and lots of play-doh..

Taylor started his NEW JOB at UPS (YEAH!!!) His last day at Primary Children’s is the 27th. He’s sad to leave After 5 years, but it’s a really good move for our family. I’m really proud of him, and super excited for great benefits. You’d think we had great benefits working for IHC, but they really suck.

Tuesday I had a really nice visit from my visiting teacher (her partner had sick kids). It was really nice to sit and chat and get to know her. Even though I have been in the ward for 5 years, I’m still socially hopeless and don’t know people very well.
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TodayI worked again.. a VERY busy day and finally an early bedtime for the kids which means blogging time for me!
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And just a little something to end with

Matties boots finally fit..........................

I believe in Santa Clause………….

A week or so ago, Ali came into my bedroom obviously ready for a serious talk.
She climbed up onto my bed, and jumped right in.
Ali- “mom, some of my friends think there’s no Santa Clause”
Me- “well, what do you think?”
Ali- frustrated “I just don’t know!!!!”,
Me- “Well, what do you want to believe?”
Ali- “ Well……. I WANT to believe, but even Michie and Emmee said there is no Santa Clause, so I just don’t know”…
Me-….. silent thoughtful pause…..
Ali- “ I just want to know Mom….”
Me- Silent conflicted pause…… “Well Ali, You’re right.. There is no Santa Clause… BUT isn’t it FUN to believe in it?”
Ali- Smiling “yeah, it is!”
Me …relieved …..
This Picture is from two years ago. You can still see from the look in her eyes, that she really believes..............
My little girl… growing up right before my eyes. The first to stop believing.
I did remind her that she got to believe it for this many years, so she was not to ruin it for her little brother and sister.
I think she felt important knowing that she knew but could still let her siblings enjoy it.

Beautiful

Please not her hair again!!!

Although everyone here on this blog knows that I am not happy with Ali’s hair, Ali is oblivious to that fact and to spare her feelings I have not, and will not admit to it.
I’ve told her at least 30 times in the last 4 days that I think she looks darling and that her hair looks fine. She is Beautiful after all.
So what do I do with her “best friend” who when Ali asked “do you like my hair?” screams and says, “ Aaahhhhh, You look like a BOY!” and runs screaming in circles around her. ?
And then to my Ex’s Mother, who last night simply says to Ali “Your hair is like mine, it doesn’t look good short.” “ You should have talked to me first”. As if she's the authority on Ali's hair.
What can I do but hope it grows fast, and that her spirit isn’t crushed….

Graffiti Girl

I pulled in an 11 hour day at work today, so all I have energy for is to post another picture from the 'Gully' yesterday..
Here's my little Graffiti girl.
I'm off to watch biggest Loser........

Down in the Gully

This afternoon we went down to the 'Gully' with Jeane and her grandsons.
We thought we'd take advantage of the warm weather because tomorrow we're supposed to dip back down in the 30's.The kids had a great time throwing sticks into the creek.

There is a park nearby and we took a little cracker eating, post balancing pit stop.

I can't say I'm looking forward to the cold weather. I'm not one for Snow unless I can afford to go Snowboarding.... ahhh snowboarding.. Taylor proposed to me while we were Snowboarding.........

anyway..
so I washed the girls hair and blow dried it out..
I think I was able to make Ali's not look so masculine......... I am terrible at doing hair but I think it looks better.......
Before ............................................and ..........................................After what do you think??

Saturday post

In Kaysville again.. just can't seem to stay away.

The girls got their hair cut today.... I'm afraid to say that they butched poor Ali..... its bad........real bad...... So bad that I want to cry about it. It hurts me to look at it,(Not at her because she IS beautiful no matter what) but the hair.............. SO SHORT!!!!!!!!!! I pray it grows fast......
They cut Megs MUCH shorter than I'd have liked , but her's is salvageable at least...... guess that's why people pay big money for a good hair cut and not 10 dollars at the super cuts.....

"Cuz, I AM a rocker girl!"

When I work LOoooonng hours at work, it seems like my personal life disappears. I have no idea what is going on at home, or with the kids.

I can call and check in but more often than not I get a brief distracted description of what everyone’s doing, and then It's back to work.
I've got one more work day this week (I've worked the last 3) and then I'll be home again, and I can kick back and relax with the kids. (After I clean the house and catch up on laundry of course).
I'm hoping that the weather will permit me to do a few more pictures of the kids outside.
I'd really love to get something worthy of a Christmas card......

The other night my Sister Steph brought over two great big bags of new shoes and clothes for the girls (its an Aunt thing) and although I was a little sketchy on some of the outfits, The Girls LOVED everything they saw.
They both immediately threw together their favorite outfits and set them out carefully to wear the next day.
Megan chose a "rock star girl outfit because" as she informed us "I am a rocker girl".
She looked so cute I couldn’t stand it!

Look at those bright Pink Leopard print leggings!

Ali looked equally cool in her cropped Rock star sweatshirt complete with hot pink and blue hearts and graffiti ( I didn’t get a picture of her because SHE WOULDN’T SIT STILL LONG ENOUGH!!) She got a few pair of really cute jeans that had fun appliqués on them totally "teenagerish" as Ali put it...
Ali told me that Stephanie is the only older person she knows that has such good style!
I wonder what that says about me??

Pumpkin Patch

We took a little trip to the Pumpkin patch because you know...

Its tradition!

Mattie thougt it was funny to peek through the pumpkin

Megan wanted a "Tiny baby one"

Ali picked a perfectly shaped medium sized pumpkin that was only 5 Dollars!!!!

(When I was 8 that pumpkin would have cost a quarter!)

(I used a little "old school" finish on this picture.. I like how it looks)

Typical morning… and the rest of my Friday.

My Morning
We started off with our regular morning routine where I drag the girls out of their beds kicking and screaming. (They don’t realize I feel the same way most mornings). Then I spend the next 20 minutes debating Megan on her attire. “No Megan, You can NOT wear Alex’s size 10 skirt, because you thinks it’s beautiful.” “Yes, you HAVE to wear underwear”, “Megan quick wigging out and just put your stinking socks on!!!!!” “oh, Megan PuhLEASE just put your boots on”
And in between all of that I’m re-directing Ali from the many million distractions that she finds every morning. “Ali, get your Shoes on”, “Ali, put your stuff away, and get your shoes on”, “Ali, get your shoes on, come eat breakfast” “ALI, IF YOU DON’T PUT YOUR STINKING SHOES ON, YOU’RE NOT GOING TO HAVE TIME TO EAT!!”… And then as we’re walking out the door, “ALI! Where are your shoes?” Ugghhh!. Its a lot of work getting those two off in the morning.
As I walk back in the house after dropping them off at school, I see Ali’s backpack sitting by the door.
Pretty typical.
Its my morning verbal calisthenics..
This morning
I put Matt down for his a.m. nap and set out to make the crucial choice between taking a shower (which I hadn’t had the opportunity to do in two days), taking a quick nap (which I hadn’t gotten to do for weeks), or cleaning.
Nap won… but no sooner had I laid my head down than my doorbell rang.
Like I said. Pretty typical morning.

The Rest of my day……….
We had Kate over to play after school, I like play dates because the kids are less likely to complain that they’re bored, which in turn gives me time to get something done. Kate and Megan play really well together, and Megan told me just today that she [Megan] is a nice girl now because she wants to get the principal pride at her school. (I’ll take whatever incentive that works).. .
When Ali got home, I sat out in the front yard and played games with the girls while Mattie walked around the yard using the baby carriage as a walker. (Shhhh, don’t tell Daddy.. We’ll just pretend it was a big monster truck). The Weather was good and my kids love the outdoors. They get that from me.
Around 4:30 Mattie pointed up the stairs and babbled something very persistently. I walked him up to his bedroom and he practically threw himself into his crib.
He slept until 6:30!
I’ve been in a mood lately to cook things that I’ve never tried before. I made porcupine meatballs the other night, homemade butter flake rolls and cinnamon rolls the day after that and so last night, I decided to try my hand at Chicken noodle soup. From scratch! Stock from the bones, home made noodles, the whole bit! It took HOURS! And only 4 calls to my neighbor Jeanne for instruction. I had no idea what I was doing, and no recipe. It actually turned out really yummy. I was quite proud of myself.
When Matt woke up he was in a great mood. He was giggly and playful, finding great Joy in pulling the clothes out of my organized laundry piles. He’d pick up an article of clothing and before he could even do anything with it, he was giggling and rolling around, climbing into my lap and falling all over himself.. I LOVED every second of it.
Good Day I’d say.
Hope yours was too.