splashing away the cranky.

since we're on an energy-saving, money-saving plan here in the devil's crotch {sorry for the crass-ness, but seriously. that's the only description that comes to mind when things heat up around AZ.} which prohibits us from running our AC between the hours of 12pm-7pm, right around 4pm we all get overheated and super cranky.

starting with me.

i don't want to cook, clean, play, wear clothes, laugh, blink, think....or move.

luckily our complex has a fabulous pool that is never over-crowded. but some times being the only adult with two kids who do not know how to swim {YES caleb will be taking swimming lessons this summer. remember how i didn't have a car last summer? that's my excuse and i'm sticking to it.} can be kind of overwhelming.

especially when i can't touch the bottom in half of the pool. {of course it had to be one of those deepest-in-the-middle type pools. short people hate those.}

ummmmm. spare me the short jokes.
call a friend instead, because i've probably heard them all.

anyway, about a 5 minute drive from our house is a really great park with a splash pad.
so instead of water wings, life jackets & a quick review of my CPR skills,
all we had to do was grease ourselves up in sunblock {see shiny, pasty-skinned leah below. i coat the stuff on thick!},
call a friend and grab a towel.



here is caleb anticipating the fun. and asking me over and over and over and over when we were going to leave. to which i mustered up my best mothering skills and said, "when i am done taking pictures of you!" {see what i mean? c.r.a.n.k.y.}



it was leah's first splash pad experience and i wasn't quite sure what she would think.

but she barreled through it just like she does everything else. the girl is fearless.

fearless i tell you!

here she is ready to charge.



if i had known then what i know now, i would have dismissed the light skirt/t-shirt combo i had on and just worn a swim suit myself.
leah kept plowing right into the middle of the sprinklers and then stand there shocked that she was getting sprayed in the face, unable to move.

which is when i would have to walk in to grab her hand and lead her outside of the middle.

which is when she would turn right around and go back in.

which is when i would get completely drenched and wish for my lovely swimsuit sitting tucked safely inside my drawer at home.










caleb had a great time with his cute gal pal eve {whom we secretly hope he will marry someday}.



and we all returned home refreshed, happy, hungry, and most importantly...

cooled off.

and this is just really our first day of high 90's temps.

oy to the vey.

my overheated cranky voice has told me that we will be visiting the splash pad park quite often.

random

since i really have nothing very interesting to write...and what i want to write about is still just a jumble of non-interesting, very confusing thoughts...
i figured i'd dedicate this post to random pictures.


bedhead.
(and bad manners, chewing with her mouth open.)



my eye.
(ben's artistic photographer flair shines through.)




dinnertime yoga class.
(she stayed suspended like this for several minutes.)




blow fish cheeks.
(pretty much the only face i can get him to make in pictures nowadays.)



counting.
(pointing to the dog and saying a loud BOW-WOW-WOW.)



toes helping with the beach ball count.
(again with this amazing ability to utilize the tootsies in any way she can.)



blowing a soapy kiss.
(she hasn't quite mastered the flat hand but always makes the 'muwah!' sound.)

have a great weekend!

(my sister's coming into town for a blogging conference we get to go to together so i'm sure a lot of fun will be had on our end.)

just before my kids get sick,

i often realize that i had just been thinking about how especially "pretty" their features look.

their eyes are just a bit brighter....

their cheeks just a bit rosier...

eyelashes darker...

lips a deep shade of red...


which was exactly what i was thinking about leah a couple of nights ago when she woke up crying. i thought maybe it was a tooth busting through {because isn't that what it always is? i seriously looooathe teething} so i got her up to get her a teething tablet.

i kept thinking, wow! she really is a beautiful little girl! look at her coloring! her red lips! her long dark eyelashes!

and just then



she
threw
up
all
over
me.


and i had to unfortunately realize:

that her eyes weren't bright, but glassy

and her cheeks & lips weren't rosy, but flush with a fever.


i guess it's a good thing i'm not a doctor.

because i have a feeling that when my patients would come in to have me diagnose them i would no doubt instead find myself wrapping them in feather boas and putting flowers in their hair to have them pose for pictures.

{of course while idiotically spouting off remarks about their amazing coloring and eyes so bright you could get lost in them.}

kissie face

caleb's pearls

a few weeks ago we took caleb for his first (gasp! yes he's almost 5) dentist visit. aside from not being able to close his mouth over the plastic x-ray thingers without gagging, the visit went fantastically well. he wasn't scared and said that the dentist cleaning his teeth tickled.

no cavities. phew.

side note: have your kids had to get x-rays? i didn't know that they would do that, i just thought he would get the initial cleaning & exam but the dentist swore that he did this for all the kids...and said that he couldn't really tell if caleb had cavities or not because he didn't get the x-rays.

so he said we had to go back in 6 months and try for the x-rays again. (is it just my cynical attitude thinking that he wants to get more moolah out of us?)



i don't know where he got this from, but every time caleb brushes his teeth he looks in the mirror and says,


"how are my pearls, mom? do you like my pearls?"

the need for space

yesterday i came into the front room to find caleb perched up on our couch, drawing his letters. i asked him why he was up there and he said that it was to get away from his stinky sister, who wouldn't leave him alone. the two have a love/hate relationship...mainly according to caleb. leah could follow him around all day long. caleb is more fair-weathered, where he will pick & choose when he wants her around and when he doesn't.

i can't say i blame him.

it is hard to have someone who is in constant need of your attention.

sometimes i crave company, and for the most part adore the company that my children are. to look at the world through their eyes. to watch caleb say i love my sister with my whole heart, (this same stinky sister he had referred to just hours earlier) and watch his beautiful eyes fill up with tears as he says this. to see the new things leah learns how to do every day and how proud she is of herself when we all erupt in clapping and cheers for her new tricks. to watch her dance. to hear them laugh.

and some times i crave company that is not my children. company with someone who challenges my mind without trying my patience. who makes me laugh from deep down in my gut, or think differently about situations and alter my perceptions about ideas. or to just be quiet with. and i get this with ben when he's home, but between finals and working and internships, he's not home a whole lot.

and then there are other times when i just want to climb up on some couch cushions, away from phone calls and children pulling on my pants or throwing books at me, asking me to get them more grapes (which caleb is doing right this very minute) or wipe their rear end. away from figuring out new recipes and weaning pre-toddlers off of bottles.

or to get space from the pressures i put on myself to do better, dig deeper, try harder and not settle for mediocrity and just coasting through life. to have someone walk on the treadmill for me and fix healthy meals for me, figure out physical therapy locations for caleb, try to find a family-friendly place for us to live (yes we are trying to move) and do the research on going back to school (have i mentioned i'm trying to go back...while ben is in school too? am i crazy? it's possible) and clean the house and fold and actually put away the laundry for me. to spend quality time with my children and teach them not just to exist in this life, but to live happily and fully and contribute to the good part of humanity. to make sure that the connection with ben is there, as a couple in love and separate from this parenthood thing. and most importantly, work on my relationship with God.

the need for space? to get away from life for just a few moments?

yep, i get it. and i think it's okay.

so i let caleb stay up there for as long as he needed.

and after a while he climbed down, and chose to come back, and joined his little sister in playing. which quickly erupted into a necessary lesson about sharing.

and his mom?

well she took a small break too,

and wrote about life for a few minutes,

and then she also chose to come back,

and sat down on the floor with her two children,

and taught them about compassion and empathy and doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. (the deeper meaning of sharing, or at least that is her hope.)

morning chores

my brown eyed girl

i was seriously hoping against hope that this little gal would have brown eyes.



of course i would have loved the color no matter what, but growing up i always wanted brown eyes.
so now i just get to live vicariously through hers.

the strader family....rules! (ha ha, get it?)

everyone has different ways of parenting.

i know a lot of people who have read parenting with love and logic and i did and loved it. that book helped me to realize that i was doing more of the "helicopter" parenting with caleb. because i was so afraid of him getting hurt, or sick, or having his feelings hurt by other kids, i was holding him back from learning how to navigate through life as an independent individual. learning consequences for his actions, instead of me protecting him from those consequences.

there's a fine line for me though, when it comes to parenting. making sure there are strong boundaries without being too controlling. (i'm still working on this) i'm a big believer in being strict when the kids are young and then loosening up the reins as they get older.

i remember when caleb was about 18 months to 2 years old, i questioned how strict we were. we were living in spanish fork at the time and we had a lot of kids around his age in our church ward. it seemed like every sunday at about 30 minutes into sacrament meeting, all of the kids would spontaneously combust at the same time. one by one you'd hear some primal toddler scream, and then watch a parent haul their wailing kid out of the chapel. (i'm also a big believer in taking your kids out when they're screaming...but that's another soap box for another day.)

caleb would have those moments too, so either ben or myself would take him out into the hallway. once we walked through the doors though, caleb would immediately stop crying and try to get down. as i looked around i would see all of the kids who had once been screaming now were happy and content to be running around, with their parent following behind them. i thought that it was fine, so i let caleb down to party with the other toddlers.

however, week after week we went through this, and i noticed that caleb's tantrums would start earlier and earlier... soon erupting almost as soon as we sat down. it began getting more and more difficult to keep caleb in the chapel.

it wasn't just that i was no longer getting anything out of the meeting...i realize that during this time of my life with young kids i might not come home completely fulfilled and enriched with all that i had learned at church. however, what bothered me is that i felt like we were totally getting played by an 18 month old kid.

so after ben & i talked about what to do, we decided to change things up. we already were bringing toys & snacks for caleb to keep him entertained, so we didn't have to add that in. but the next week when caleb decided to throw a tantrum, we walked out of the chapel, and took him into one of the sunday school rooms that was empty, pulled out a chair for him, and had him sit in it with his arms folded.

needless to say, he did not like it.

over and over again he'd try to get up. he would cry and become upset. at that point ben or myself would sit down next to him and calmly let him know that he could come inside and play with his toys and books in church, or he could stay out here and sit in this chair with no toys.

it took a couple of weeks, but he quickly learned. he was given choices, and he would make the choice to come back in and sit down. one week though, he was having a tough time so i took him out in the hallway. unfortunately, the class that we usually had him sit in was full for some reason. there was a kid-sized chair already sitting out in the hallway, so i just had him sit in that with his arms folded.

all of his little friends were out in the hallway, and they each walked up to him. i stood there next to him, and realized that all of the parents were looking at me. and i had a moment. where i questioned,

are we being too strict?? is he too young for this??

but. within about 2 minutes, caleb said he wanted to go back inside. and stayed in for the rest of the time with no problem, playing quietly with his toys and books.

and i realized that even though he was young, he was capable of understanding...and also capable of sitting in the chapel and being content. we stayed consistent with what we felt was appropriate for us. it wasn't a perfect ride after that, but it sure became a lot easier.

when elder bednar visited our ward in north carolina, he opened up a meeting for questions. he was asked by one of our ward members how he was able to raise such good and righteous men. and he spoke about how he and his wife set strict boundaries for their children while they were young. that it was especially important while they were young for them to know what the rules of their home were, and that they were to act within those rules or earn a consequence. then as they grew older, they knew what the expectations were and they could be allowed more freedom.

you know, the whole "teach them correct principles and then let them govern themselves" thing.

as we listened i felt that what he was saying was true and so we continued doing what we were doing...even if sometimes to others we might have appeared too strict.

ben and i also felt it was important that our kids will feel safe in our home. so we don't allow physical bullying (funny though, we're having to teach leah this lesson more so than caleb) or saying mean and hurtful things to each other without a consequence.

we do have a lot of open communication with caleb (how can you not? the kid is a chatterbox), and let him contribute not only to making the rules with us, but also picking out consequences that he feels are appropriate for his actions.

so last year for one family home evening lesson we decided to sit down and create a list of our family rules. since caleb is young, we wanted to make sure that he understood what we meant when we said to "obey" or "be kind" or "respect our bodies." we let him explain what he thought it meant and then we would add in anything we thought he had missed.

my sister asked for a copy of them (she & her family were going to make their own rules) so i wrote them down here.

we decided to come up with 5 major rules. and here they are. again, the explanations for our rules are a combination of caleb's thoughts and ours:

#1 BE KIND

• be nice
• stop yelling
• don't say mean things
• when you're mad, go to your room quietly without yelling
• share
• don't let others pick on our brother/sister/friends

#2 BE HONEST

• tell the truth, even if we're afraid of having a consequence
• do what we're asked to do when we're asked to do them

#3 RESPECT OUR BODIES

• don't hit, bite, kick or punch
• don't let others hit, bite, kick or punch you
• don't let others touch your private parts-or show them to others-
• respect each other's privacy-knock before you open a closed door
• eat healthy. exercise. get a good amount of rest.

#4 OBEY

• when asked by mom or dad, just say "okay" and then if you need to, come and talk about it after you have finished what you've been asked to do
• make sure our chores have been done first thing in the morning
• dad & mom are the boss, you can share your ideas, but we make the final decision

#5 SHOW LOVE TO OUR HEAVENLY FATHER & JESUS

• when we say prayers, we say them reverently
• say you are sorry/forgive one another
• say and think good things to each other
• go to church every sunday (unless you are sick)
• Love One Another

we wrote these last year, and so far they are working out really well. i'm thinking that we need to come up with a new one about safety...and include talking to strangers and that sort of thing.

i have them hanging up on a wall, and hopefully someday will display them in a fancier way then just written with marker on a piece of paper.



we're not perfect parents and we don't have perfect kids. and i don't really expect any of us to be.

and what works for our family may not works for another.

i'd love to hear some ideas of what works for you...do you have any tips for what helps your family run smoother? (specifically when it comes to a strong-headed 13 month old? :)

***here's a link for a talk i liked about this subject.

be'were'....

when i straighten my hair, i love the unusual smoothness of it (as opposed to what i encounter on a normal day), but am faced with the issue that it falls flat up top. it takes a little work to not look like a drowned rat, and unfortunately i don't have the face to get away with such styles as this:





(though speaking quite honestly i think i could rock that dress. okay speaking more honestly, i really don't think i could.)

i think it has something to do with the lovely roundness of my cheeks. (i will call them lovely to make myself feel better about this characteristic.)

i'm afraid poor leah is going to face this life-long struggle of flat-hair vs. rotund cheeks.



poor gal.

luckily, years ago i was shown a a technique that overcomes this struggle.

i knew i looked funny, but it was worth it.

that is, until caleb saw this movie:



and now, every time i get out of the shower he says to me,

"mom! do your hair like the were-rabbit!"

keeping me humble, of course. (he's so very good at that.)



so i decided to do a picture-comparison.

with my best were-rabbit face to give you an accurate depiction.





so.

what do you think? is it a good likeness of me?

and.

do you think i should wear my hair like this while sporting heidi klum's dress?

because i'm kind of leaning toward yes.

blogging about blogging.

so i've been thinking about this one for a while now.

it might turn into a vent.

it might turn into a rambling tangent. (i know, i know. this one is more likely.)

it might be offensive.

it might make you agree, or not agree.

i'm just forewarning you that there may be danger ahead...i don't really know since i'm just going to start typing and see what happens.

so anyway, read with caution. or just ignore this. either way, you've been warned.



i have heard several friends at one time or another say to me that they were no longer going to read blogs because they become depressing. that everyone (generally speaking here) posts about how WONDERFUL! life is. and how FABULOUS! their marriage is. and how BEAUTIFUL! their children are. how CRAFTY! they are. what great and marvelous CHEFS! they've turned into.

and that it's depressing enough to these friends that they want to swear-off blogging for a while.

and then the comments. ohhhhhh, the comments. why in the world are some people basing whether or not they feel fulfilled for the day on how many comments they've received???

why do comments affect a person's self-esteem? why do we let others' blogs affect our self-esteem?

here is how i feel about it, and about blogging in general.

i started our blog in 2007 when we were at a group home full of troubled teenagers and i felt that aside from ben and our co-workers, i had no outlet. i lay awake at night disturbed by whatever had gone on that day, and was trying desperately to fight away anxiety-induced nightmares that one of the kids had hopped in bed between us while holding a knife to kill us.

pretty, no?

so i started writing. and the more i wrote, the more i could see the humor in a humor-less situation. and i felt better. i began sleeping better and getting through some days with the single thought that i could blog about the trauma of the day later to relieve some of the stress. so i kept it up.

and as blogs began to catch on like wildfire i was so excited! to be able to keep in touch with some of my family and friends who were across the country from me pretty much saved me from losing my sanity while finishing out the year. i could look at pictures of family vacations, of new homes and new babies and keep tabs on a world outside of the chaos i was living.

sad to say, but it became my social life. i didn't have the opportunity to go out with friends or to go on dates with my husband during that year. there were times when i felt like i was a total loser because of how much i looked forward to blogging, but the more i think about it....the more grateful i am that at least i had it to take my mind off of things and to be able to vent and have others read about a little of what we were going through.

when we moved to arizona it was hot, i was pregnant and i didn't know anyone. i again found my outlet through writing and keeping in touch with friends through blogging.

most of my posts were reminders of how good things really were, and brought me out of my loneliness and the heat and put my life back in perspective.

and that is what it does for me now. puts things in perspective.

is my life perfect?

absolutely not. whose is?

everybody, EVERYBODY has something.

but is it a good life?

absolutely.

do i have a perfect marriage?

no. we have our good days, our bad days, our days spent annoyed with each other.

but do i have a husband who loves me, is committed to our family and who treats me well? do we work hard at taking care of our marriage?

definitely.

am i the perfect mother?

(good grief, is there such a thing?)

NO. i'm not even close! i question my mothering skills all of the time. being quite honest, i have absolutely no idea what i'm doing! i take it one day at a time, just like the majority of moms i know. i do the best that i can. i read, i pray, i feel guilty, i second-guess myself.

am i a completely secure and happy individual?

ummmm. did you read this post?

no. i struggle with the same things that the majority of women struggle with. self-image issues, inadequacy, feeling like i don't do enough and i should be doing more.

but.

like i mentioned before, when i blog, it seems to help with these things. it puts my life back into perspective. makes me realize that i have an enormous amount of blessings. and that i can choose to feel inadequate about the fact that i haven't done the dishes in 2 days or haven't cooked a meal in about 4 days, or i can focus on the sweet and funny things in life.

but just because i write about this stuff it doesn't mean my life is perfect.

i try to be realistic and also write about times when i'm frustrated and bummed, or my vacations aren't going very well, or i have had it up to there! with my kids, or i'm completely insecure.

i do think it's great to be honest and write about the hard times...but i also think that anyone who blogged about that stuff all of the time would probably not only depress anyone who was reading, but also eventually end up depressing themselves.

i think that we as women need to stop comparing ourselves to what is portrayed by others and instead realize that blogs are just that. they are what people want to portray about themselves and their life. it doesn't mean that life is actually all rainbows and bunnies and kids holding hands in the backseat. those are moments. and some choose to focus on those and that is awesome.

but my personal preference is to read blogs where people are realistic. they acknowledge that life can be tough and people go through hard things but that there are also beautiful way to look at hard situations.

i also love that through blogging we can find support. we can realize that we are not alone, that there are other people...sometimes strangers... who feel exactly the same way that we do. through others baring their souls about tragedy or trauma it causes me to pull out of myself and remember all that i have. to be a better mother, a better wife, a better person. to take better care of myself and of my life.

for me, this is a blog about my life. the good, the bad and the ugly. and hopefully the funny.

i turn these bad boys into books that i can look back at and remember the struggles as well as the joys. there are things that i feel are too personal to share to random strangers who happen upon this blog page so i am cautious about what i share here, and things that any family member...like my kids when they're grown...wouldn't be embarrassed to read, or have read about themselves.

so anyway.

um.

(this is the part where i just re-read what i've written and realize how random and all over the place this is but have no idea how to re-write it to be more coherent.)

in a nutshell:

let's be realistic! support each other! stop comparing ourselves! realize we all have problems! we all have blessings! you're great! i like you! let's be friends! forgive my ill-written tangent!

wow i'm a botard.

okay, that's all.

amen.

easter 2010 style.

we had a fun and busy weekend, starting off with caleb's first official soccer game and an easter party with friends right after.

on sunday the kids woke up to run around and find their easter baskets. which brings me to my favorite picture of the weekend...quite possibly my favorite picture this year so far:




this was leah's face when she found her basket.

and here she is shaking the eggs so hard that we ended up having to tape hers shut so she wouldn't eat the jelly beans inside and choke.



we don't go all out for easter (my motto is to start out small & simple so there's low expectations for next year :) so they each had a couple of eggs, a small stuffed animal and some bubbles.






then we got cleaned up and went down to casa grande for a delicious easter dinner.
honey baked ham & turkey, fabulous rolls, deviled eggs, green beans, cheesy potatoes, home made banana cream pie and coconut cupcakes.
holy moly we were stuffed.





the kids played while we set up for another easter egg hunt. ben was in charge of hiding the eggs and i think he thought he was hiding eggs for adults instead of small kids because it took them a good 20 minutes to find them all.


here are the boys ready for the hunt.





leah was satisfied with just one egg.





here i am, unknowingly having my picture taken. don't i look lovely? right.




the master egg hider.
not the most flattering angle for either of them but they're still cute....er, handsome.




as we drove the hour home, the kids were in the backseat talking to each other and i turned around to see this:





second favorite picture of the year.


we were so happy to have been able to spend time together and with people we love. and mostly to remember the reason we have this holiday. we talked with caleb about the life of jesus, the example he set for us to follow, his death and resurrection. how he made it possible so that we can do the same.

when we were through with the story caleb said, "oh dad, i'm so glad jesus is feeling better!"

and that's a wrap on easter 2010.

what we've been up to.

i had fully intended to do a post-easter write-up with some pretty funny pictures but it looks like my little thumb-drive-picture-uploader-thingy has decided to throw a tantrum.

since i feel like i post about random stuff, i figured i'd be a little more informative and write about what we've been up to...aside from polka-dot bums and caleb's silly monkey face.


ben:




he is almost 2 years down from school and ROCKIN' it.

i'm so proud of him. for those who don't know, he's dyslexic & has ADD which is a nasty combo for a grad school that is chalk-full of 10 page research papers and 50-100 pagepernight readings. he's getting fabulous grades for all of his hard work.

he will have his master's by this winter & is considering starting up with a practice in january of next year as a therapist. he would be able to make good money and also start into the real stuff while finishing up his doctorate (which should be done in 2012).

the man never ceases to amaze me. he's doing full-time school, 20 hours a week of an internship and he is still working part-time overnight graveyard shifts at a youth treatment facility. going down to part-time has made a huge difference though, for both of us. and even though our money is extremely tight it is worth it to us to have more time with each other, for him to be successful at school and also not have him living life looking like a zombie. he is such a wonderful husband and an amazing, fun dad.

most days i feel like i don't deserve him....but you know what? i think that's how it should be. he makes me want to do better, be better, work harder and enjoy life more. plus he makes me laugh like no one else on earth.

my one complaint is his continual determination to dabble in the life of a bearded man. i'm a fan of a scruffy face, but not so much of the full-grown cheek-covering fur. luckily he will let it grow to where i am just about to threaten to withhold my kisses until it's gone, and he shaves it to start all over (i think he can sense it in the air). we've never had to cross that bridge and let's hope we never do.



caleb:



just started soccer and is loving it. it's good for him to learn how to play on a team and be a good sport even if he doesn't win or get the ball every time. it's also great to build up strength in his legs and endurance while running around so much.

he's almost 5 and is on a countdown to get there. i think he feels life really begins at 5. and to be honest, it just might. his health has been fabulous and i thank God every day for that. he is still on the small side even though he's a great eater. he's about the same height as most 3 or early 4 year olds and only weighs 7 lbs more than leah. sometimes i think about holding him back from kindergarten for another year just so he can catch up physically, but the more i think about that, i feel it's not the best idea. he's ready in every other way and there are worse things than being short, right? i mean look at me... :)

but he's happy and good-natured. he adores his friends. he really is a good kid, who is well-behaved in primary and the community classes he takes. he can do simple addition and subtraction math in his head and can also read and write. sometimes i'm shocked, when we're reading one of his chapter books and he leans over and says, "mom, that says bucket! or that says zookeeper!" it's so fun to watch him learn.

he's a deep thinker and analyzes everything we tell him. it's good that he's this way, even though sometimes i have to be careful about how deeply i go into details about things. let's just say he asked me about death a couple of weeks ago and it was a rough couple of days. no matter what i said to convince him of how fabulous heaven is going to be (as much chocolate cake and cucumbers as he wants!) , he was traumatized thinking about me getting old and dying. the other day we were reading the scriptures and one of the "bad guys" was killed. caleb began to cry and i kept saying, "but sharem was a bad guy! this is a good thing!" but he wasn't convinced.

he's a sensitive fella who doesn't like to hurt others, and is specifically sensitive when it comes to shows he watches and scary music. so when other kids his age are watching disney movies and who knows what else, he's still sticking to nick jr. shows. i used to worry about this but remembered that at his age i was exactly the same, and ben said that he was too. so i don't push it and know that eventually he'll grow out of it. (or maybe not? i still have nightmares about the girl from "the ring." i'm a total wuss!)

he's also still very music-oriented. he absolutely loves to play instruments and to sing. he belts his heart out during primary programs. it's awesome.

he's a fantastic big brother. every now and then i find myself breaking up a fight when leah comes over to just grab toys out of his hands and then lets out a screech when he won't give it up. but other than that they love playing together. he is constantly making leah laugh with crazy dance moves or running around. i love how kind he is to her and have my fingers crossed that it lasts.


leah:




this roly-poly gal has won over all of our hearts. she is learning new words every day, and currently has about 10 down, along with some signs. she loves to do the "ooh oooh ah ah" sound for monkey and to let out a hilarious "ribbit" for a frog.

her favorite songs are "old mcdonald" (we'll hear her wake up at night and sing "EIEIOOOO" over and over until she falls asleep) which she can listen to for hours, or "popcorn popping." that's how i get her to smile in her pictures, by busting out one of those songs. works like a charm.

she also looooooves to read books. if she could, she would sit plopped in someone's lap reading books all day long. she's constantly dragging one around with her to throw it at whoever is walking by in hopes that they'll read it.

she's a tough cookie. when caleb was her age, he struggled more with getting hurt and so when she falls over and hits her head and cries for a few minutes but gets over it i am pleasantly shocked. she is also constantly making us laugh with her craziness. she loves music and dancing and has the funniest moves.

she loves to be rocked and sang to, can blow kisses and wave bye-bye and also gives the best hugs.


me:



well...why is it hard to write about myself? hmmmmm. i've been working as a contracted writer off and on for sheknows.com. i've currently written 6 articles and have enjoyed the experience and the extra income. even though the subjects they have given me i've felt completely inadequate to write on, it's been good to figure out how to do research and become educated about things that i wouldn't have otherwise.

i'm working hard on being healthier. i haven't realized how much i've neglected myself in this area. even though i don't eat a lot, i'm working on giving my body the best. my current goal is to walk for 60 minutes a day 6 days a week and also change the quality of food i'm eating. nothing drastic, but just better choices. so far i've lost 4 lbs. and i'll take it! but it's more for me about how i'm feeling. with energy, strength and endurance. so we'll see how that goes.

we're also looking at moving, and hopefully in the very near future. we love our complex but we need caleb to be able to enjoy a bed (have i mentioned that he's been sleeping in our walk-in closet for almost a year now? yeah, i still haven't figured out how to get my kids to share a room...with any of us being able to sleep. but let me tell you it's awesome that when caleb gets a time-out, ben and i get to hear ourselves say, "you need to go and sit in the closet and take some time to calm down." words we thought we'd never say. and i can't wait for the day that he tells his primary teacher that he gets banished to the closet when he's bad. i'm sure i'll be pulled aside for that one.) and for ben to have somewhere to study that doesn't have a toilet and a sink nearby.

so i think that's about it. we've been enjoying the beautiful weather here in phoenix and are gearing ourselves up for the hot summer. which most likely means spending the majority of our time at the pool.

well there's my once-a-year informative, boring post!

a tweet-tastic giveaway!

my lovely sister, who runs supermomcentral, also writes for a website called traveling mom and they are hosting a twitter party TONIGHT with some amazing giveaways every 15 minutes! their final giveaway will be a 2-night stay at any CoCo Key Resort!

so if you're into twitter, be ready to party tonight from 9:30-10:30 EST.

go here for more details.

excited for...

4 sessions of spiritually-enriching conference
after mr. c's first soccer game

3 easter egg hunts
with our fun friends

2 faces that i love
which will no doubt be over-photographed





and 1 fantastic weekend.

happy easter!