My Funny Girls

I have had requets for more pictures and funny statements from my girls. I can't post new pictures because there aren't any. (We got refunded for the broken camera, but have yet to purchase a new one.) There is, however, an unending supply of funny and creative statements from my girls. Here is a sampling.

• I have not bought any new shirts since getting pregnant, and I only have a few left that cover my girth. I save those for when I have to leave the house. The rest of my time spent at home usually finds me in shirts borrowed from Ross's side of the closet. One day Emma asked, "Will Daddy use your shirts when he has a baby in his tummy?"
• One day while my parents were at our house for a BBQ, Sara let out a nice and healthy toot. Afterwards she chuckled and said, "There are bubbles in my bum!" Ross thinks this came from the fact that the previous night a similar incident happened in the tub and caused actual bubbles to come up from her bum.
• Emma likes to be in charge. I am not sure if this is because she is the oldest, or if it is because she is my child. Maybe a bit of both? Anyway, whenever she is with a group of other children, she likes to take charge and is quick to instruct all the other children in the proper way of playing and having fun. Sometimes she takes this instruction a step too far. We noticed this when she kept calling a child on a playground by the wrong name. We tried to correct her, but she just said, "No, I don't like that name. His new name is Kajer." We watched as the boy, who is much older than her, tried to correct her. She was not at all affected by his pleadings and tried to explain to him that his real name was now Kajer because it was a nicer name and would make him happier. He stopped arguing, and went by Kajer until Emma left.
• Sara loves the song, "We are a Happy Family". She calls it 'The Mommy Song' because we always start it with, 'I love Mommy, she loves me. We love Daddy, yesiree . . .' When she is playing with her stuffed animals, she will make up verses for all the animals in the closet. Very cute! 'I love Bunny, she loves me, we love monkey, yes we do, she loves froggy can you see. We love snowman oh oh oh, and she loves tiger and we are a happy family."
• When my sister Heather was younger, she had trouble learning to read. We later found out it had nothing to do with a learning delay, but with a desperate need for glasses. The poor thing was practically blind. No wonder she couldn't decipher all the letters- they were all blurry blobs! Anyway, during this time, my Grandma Wallace lent us a video that one of the schools she worked at had made. It was a funny little thing that taught phonics with puppets and silly songs. Annoying to all adults, but effective for kids. I have been having trouble teaching Emma her letter sounds. She knew what they all were, but for some reason I could not find the right way to introduce the phonic sounds so they stuck. I asked my Grandma if I could borrow her video, and it worked! Emma watched it twice and had all the sounds down! Yay! A funny little habit arose from this though. One of the puppets used in the video is a dog named Annie. Emma now has regular dialogues with her right hand. She calls it Annie. It seems to come in quite handy (pun totally intended!) in the car or right around bedtime when there are no toys available.
• Sara is really upset with me right now because I had her help me make some blueberry muffins. Apparently, I led her astray because the blueberries are not at all blue, but purple, and this dishonesty is very frustrating. She keeps showing me things that are blue and pointing out that the muffins have nothing about them that is even close to that color.

Tender Mercies: Priesthood Blessing Edition

This pregnancy has been kind of hard on me. I have had a lot more pain than I remember having with the girls as my body has grown and stretched to accomodate little Jack. A couple of weeks ago, things got to be too much. I had spent a day moving furniture and things around, trying not to overdo it, but, well. . . did I mention I was helping to move furniture around? I had ANOTHER bladder infection that felt like it might have been spreading to my kidneys. My migraines were out of control, and I was feeling emotionally overwhelmed. It was rough. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, and in reality it wasn't. I know that. It sure felt like it though. I was struggling and I needed some help.

After getting the girls to bed one night I asked Ross for a blessing. He agreed, of course, and asked what it was I wanted a blessing for. I wasn't really sure how to respond and knew if I tried to explain I would break down and I really didn't want to do that. Ross accepted this silence, hugged me, and sat me down to give me a blessing. Have I mentioned lately how much I love that man?

I won't go into details about the blessing because it was very personal and sacred to me, but I will say this. It was inspired. The words coming from my husband's mouth were not things he would have ever said to me in normal conversation. The things he blessed me with were not at all related to anything I had yet expressed to him, and yet, they were exactly what I needed. It was amazing.

Most of the blessing concerned physical ailments of mine- some of which I hadn't even talked to Ross about. Some of the blessing dealt with worries and concerns that I had talked about with Ross, but had never really expressed the deepness of the matters. Some of the blessing was charged with encouraging and praising words for things I was doing and trying to accomplish. Again- some of these things Ross had not seen. He had no idea about my goal to not raise my voice to the girls, he was not yet privvy to my new scripture reading routine, and he certainly hadn't heard my recent personal pleadings with my Savior about preparing myself and my home for my new baby. Those things came from the Lord. Through my husband. Incredible.

The reason for this post was really to express my gratitude for my husband and his worthiness to give me that inspired blessing, and to the Lord for once again fulfilling every extent of his promises to me.

In the last two weeks I have not had any symptoms of a bladder infection. That is the longest I have gone the entire pregnancy. I have had one or two headaches, but no full-blown migraines. My ligament pain has been highly diminished and always dissipates withing a few minutes when it does appear. I have had a lot fewer Braxton Hicks contractions. The charlie horses in my calfs and arches only come on every now and then, and usually go away within an hour.

Ross has been coming home earlier, the girls go to bed easier, my patience has been strengthened, and my Spirit has been bolstered. Even my narcissitic needs have been fulfilled as random people have thanked and complimented me on little things that I have done and said. I am receiving encouragement from strange, but all too welcome sources.

I am getting my lesson plans done faster which has left extra time for playing with my sweet girls and preparing my home for Jack. Ross found a second car that we purchased at a good price with cash. Out of the blue a friend from the ward brought over a big box of toys and dress up clothes that her girls were no longer using. She was going to take them to DI and thought about my girls and asked if I wanted them.

All of the physical, emotional, and even financial burdens that had been weighing my mind and body down a short time ago have all been addressed and lightened. I am happy. I hope I am not opening myself up for something bad to happen, but I have never felt this good and productive when I am this close to the end of a pregnancy. I have two weeks left, and while I feel big and slightly tired, I mostly feel awesome. I have been able to cross most things off my daily lists and still have time to rest, play and snuggle with my girls, and fit in extra projects that I didn't think would happen before the baby came.

I am blessed. I am grateful, and I am blessed.



Also- the Priesthood is pretty darn cool!

Uncle Jay's Graduation

A couple weeks ago, my Uncle Jay graduated from UVU with his second Bachelor's degree- this one in Visual Arts. This degree was a long time coming, and a lot of work went into it from him and his family. During his schooling, it was not uncommon for him to be working 2 jobs and have multiple church callings. On top of that, he has six wonderful children to whom he is a great father. They had to move their family twice during his schooling, and he was the main work force in maintaining and upgrading his house and rental unit. Somehow in between all of that, he still found time to create amazing works of art. The guy is awesome. There was no way I could pass up the chance to celebrate this accomplishment with him.

I had Ross take me to my mom's house early before work so that my mom could drive me around for the day. The girls were pretty good for the convocation, which was a nice surprise.

This was a nice surprise as well. Jay got some great advice from Satan at his graduation. :) I knew who Michael Ballam was when I read his name on the program, but was a bit unprepared for the chill I would feel at hearing his voice in a different setting. Don't know what I am talking about? Don't worry about it. His speech really was good and I found him very inspiring.

Yay for diploma holders!

The Jay Wallace family- thanks for looking at my camera, Garrett!

I love that Grandpa is taking a picture of me taking a picture of the group. What a goof!

This is my friend Julie. She graduated that day as well with her Bachelors in Theater Arts. Her family was taking pictures in the same spot, but then they all left before they got a picture of her by herself, so I offered to take one and send it to her.

After Convocation, my mom took us back to her house where we hung out until Jay's family got back from Commencement. We were afraid the girls would not last through another long ceremony. When they got back, we went over to celebrate with him, and found that Lara had made a huge ice cream sundae bar. It was a nice little surprise.

We sat and chatted with everyone and congratulated Jay. They are now getting ready to move to South Dakota where Jay will be attending Graduate School and working as an intern teacher. They leave at the beginning of June, and while I am super excited for this opportunity for them, I will miss them dearly.

Congratulations, Jay! Your work ethic is almost as inspiring as your talent. I can't wait to see what the future holds for you.

Happy, Happy Birthday Heather Dear!

Heather had a birthday. We went to celebrate and we tried hard to not complain about her usual dinner choice of frozen chicken nuggets. . .

Emma, as per usual, helped Heather with all the brithday necessities like blowing out the candles, eating the cheesecake, and opening the gifts. It's nice having a 4 year old around to do those kinds of difficult tasks.

I love this picture. So much.

Also, notice the new spiffy wall color. Heather picked it out and did most of the work herself. I think it turned out rather nice.

I got her some good reading material. Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, The Secret Garden, and A Little Princess. I wanted to get her 'Your'e Only Old Once' by Dr. Seuss as well, but I couldn't find it.

She got the first season of Chuck, and almost cried about it.

It was a fun evening- but it seems weird to me to see her all grown up and stuff. What is happening to my little sisters?!

Catching Up

I have been a bad blogger. I know. I have, however, been a very good mommy, wife, incubator, and hard worker. Blogging just hasn't made the cut lately. I am in the process of trying to play catch up.

These are just some cute shots of Grandma Jones entertaining the girls during one of our visits. I think they are looking at pictures of kitties on Lolcats or something. My mom is a great mom. I always knew that. I think she is a fantastic Grandma as well. It is fun to watch her with my girls. They have a special bond and get so excited to be with her. I don't blame them. She is fun.

I am who I am because she is who she is, and I think we are both pretty great!

The Couch Horse

This made me laugh the other day. These girls are funny.

They were racing here, and Sara was very into it. She won. Emma is nice like that! :)

Who needs toys when you have imagination and furniture?

This Weekend. . .

. . . was divine. Ross surprised me by putting together a weekend of things that I will not be able to do very well for a while after having a baby. I loved it. First off, he took the day off. We went to Kneaders in Lindon and had all you can eat French toast and watched the robins finding worms in the grass. The girls were cute and happy as they got their fill of wildlife and whipping cream.

After breakfast, we headed to BYU to hang out in our favorite spot and torture the ducks. Seriously. This is Ross growling at the mama duck to make her hiss. He is nice. (yes, I know these pictures are blurry. My new camera has a problem with the auto-focus, and will be replaced by the warranty this next week.) I still think my girls are cute when they are blurry.

We wanted to have some good quality time with them with lots of running, tickles and loves before their world is turned upside down in a few weeks.

Sara has a problem. She has no bum! We cannot find pants that will stay on her hips, and belts are not at all effective or smart with a newly potty trained child. This is her running to find the ducklings while holding up her britches on both sides. Cute!

See them slowly slipping to meet her ankles. . .

I love my girls and I am so grateful for them. Their smiles and giggles and animated presence light up my life and make me feel like this whole stay-at-home-mom thing is truly where I can make my mark in the world. They are so delightful and just so beautiful. I can't believe I have been entrusted with them.

Ross then drove us over to a hotel (A HOTEL! I LOVE HOTELS!!) where we all went swimming (SWIMMING! I LOVE SWIMMING!!). We were there early enough that we had the whole thing to ourselves. It was bliss. We swam around for a good 2 hours before everyone else was ready to leave. I could have stayed there at least 2 more hours- but I was out voted and out whined.

After some quality time with the girls, we dropped them off at my mom's house and went out to dinner for the first time ALONE in . . . well. . . a while. It was nice, and will likely be the last time we do that for another year or so since I will be nursing at least that long.

After dinner we went to a movie. A MOVIE!! Thanks to raised ticket prices and RedBox movies, we very rarely go to movies in the theater anymore. We saw Iron Man 2, and were both well-pleased. Great movie. Great company. Just enough action scenes that go on too long allowing for good making out possibilities. What? Ross was even sneaky and got me all full of steak before taking me to the movie so that popcorn didn't sound appealing until the movie began. The lack of over-buttered, over-priced, theater popcorn may very well be the only complaint I have of the entire day.

After the movie, we went back to the hotel to find it CRAWLING with high school kids. The state track and field competition was going on at BYU. That meant another dip in the pool was not to be had. Sadness. Instead, we went to a grocery store, got some cookies and ice cream, and played in the hotel room for the evening.

The next morning, I woke up realizing I had slept 8 whole hours without interuption. I can't even remember the last time that happened. Between two little girls who occasionally get scared or sick in the night, a bladder the size of a lima bean, a very active fetus who likes to use the tiny bladder as a punching bag, and my brain that tends to resist shutting down, I have had very bad sleep lately. I'm not sure what was different about that night, but I slept like I wish babies would (I've never had a baby that slept like that!) and woke up feeling revived and refreshed (after I ran to the bathroom, of course).

Ross was not easy to rouse and I was aching for my girls, so I headed over to my mom's house to collect them, and take them to the breakfast at the hotel and another jaunt in the pool. So much fun!

When the check-out time rolled around, we headed home and got to work on some much-needed projects.

I loved this weekend. So much! I can't remember the last time I felt so relaxed and so loved. Ross did a wonderful job of making me feel special, and it was so nice to have this time with him before the baby comes. Don't get me wrong- we are THRILLED for this baby boy to come and join our family. We just know that there are certain things that are not possible to be done with a small infant. Germ threats, nursing, loud and dirty places, midnight (and other even worse hours) feedings, and other such elements make a lot of the things we did this weekend a little out of reach for the first year or so. Thanks, Ross. I love you!

Testimony of the Book of Mormon