Happy Birthday Liz!

Happy Birthday to Liz,

Happy Birthday to Liz,

Happy Birthday dear Lizzie,

Happy Birthday to Liz!

Coming soon: Pictures from Lizzie's Halloween Birthday Party.

Terrible three-and-a-halfs?

Our little angel is finally "testing her bounds." When she does something deliberately wrong, I am at a loss for what to do because she has never done anyting "bad" before. There is no real system in place for disciplining.

The worst part is that I can threaten almost any consequence and she doesn't respond because either she doesn't take me seriously or she just doesn't care. Maybe she's spoiled . . . nah.

Today, after more whining than we could take, Matt said, "Tali, stop being a brat."
Tali was silent for a minute, acting like she didn't hear him, and then said, "If you call me a brat one more time I will smack you!"

Here's the problem: How can you discipline when you can't stop laughing?

Can you keep a secret?

If you tell a secret to a little girl . . .
She will tell her two best friends.

She'll tell them to keep it a secret . . .
but they will tell their moms . . . that very night.

Their moms will not know that it's supposed to be a secret,
so they'll tell their husbands. . .
and two more people from our ward.

Their husbands will hear, but not listen or repeat ;)
But their two best friends . . .
will tell two people from the next ward over.

The next day the first little girl will think,
"I told two people yesterday . . .
so I better tell two people today."

And so she will tell her school teacher
and Tuesday's classroom parent helper,
who, after leaving school, will pick up her younger child . . .
from the same pre-school your younger child goes to.

She also won't know it's supposed to be a secret,
so she'll tell your younger child's teacher . . .
and another mom whose children go to your Kardio Kids class . . .
every Wednesday morning.

After having told the secret to the precious little girl on Sunday night, it will start returning to you from all different angles as soon as

• Tuesday night at the Stake Primary meeting,
• Wednesday morning at Kardio Kids,
• Thursday morning at school and
• Thursday afternoon at pre-school.

It will make you feel a bit surprised,
and also a little dumbfounded at how far-reaching this little girl's social circle is,
but mostly good that people care . . .
and say "Congratulations" vs. "Are you crazy?"

If it's not obvious, the little girl is Liz and she's all about talking and friends. The silly person who decided Liz would be a good confidante is me. And my secret was . . .

We're having another baby!

He or she is due to arrive at the end of May, which puts me a measly 8 weeks along. But with my track record, I'm not expecting anything until at least June. Better to be prepared, right?

Now that you all know, can you start bringing meals? Just three times a week for the next 7 months would be great!

Microwave on fire

Last night I put a Capri Sun in the freezer for Josh to take in his lunch.

This morning he decided that he wanted it for breakfast instead of lunch.

But it was frozen.

So he put it in the microwave, with a paper towel underneath of it.

You can probably see where this is going.

He pressed start, bolts of lightning shot from the microwave, sparks flew and the paper towel caught on fire.

And here are the reactions from the three kids (who were in the kitchen alone):

Josh - very level-headed - saw the flames, grabbed a dirty cup from the sink, filled it with water, threw it in the microwave and successfully doused the burning paper towel.
Liz - always looking for an adventure, especially if it's not her fault - bolted up the stairs, threw our bedroom door open and, with a big smile, yelled, "Mom! Dad! Josh lit the microwave on fire!!!"
Tali - along for the ride - sat dazed in her high chair. When we reached the kitchen she said, "Whoa . . . Dad . . . Mom . . . There was fiiire! . . . in da microwave . . . and . . . and . . . Joshy threw the water . . . and . . . the juice was frozen! . . . Whoa."

I'm glad I wasn't there to see the lightning bolts or the fire. But after hearing the story from all three points-of-view, I have been giggling all day just picturing the scene.

If a tree falls in the woods . . .

A conversation between Tali and I at lunch today:

Me: Did you just throw that on the floor?
Tali: Yes
Me: Don't throw stuff on the floor.
Tali: Okay . . . Don't look at me.
Me: What are you going to do when I look away?
Tali: Throw this one on the floor.
Me: But I said don't throw stuff on the floor.
Tali: But you won't see me so stop looking at me.

If a toddler throws something on the floor and no one sees it leave her hand, did she really break a rule?

Flips

Josh had attempted about 1,000 front flips and had only landed on his feet about twice . . . until Jason came over.

In one night Jason taught Josh how to land a front flip

AND do a backflip.



And, just for fun, a pregnant lady back flip!

haha! I hope you have a good sense of humor, Lisa!

September

I knew it was bad. I was tired and feeling like a single mom. Then I did the math and Matt was out of town for 19 out of 27 days last month. First it was to Juneau for work. Then to Provo for pleasure - BYU vs. FSU (turned out to be not so pleasurable). And lastly, hunting, which apparently counts as more work than pleasure . . . "We're hunting for food, ya know." But he's home now and we're happy about that.

When I'm home alone, I stay up too late, sleep with a phone and a fire extinguisher, neglect the laundry and the blog.

I thought we hadn't done anything blog-worthy. But I guess I was just too busy to download the pics. Here's a quick re-cap of our September adventures.

Tali and I had a lunch date at Thai Orchid.

Lunch at school with Josh and Liz,
recess at school with Josh and Liz,

and a science experiment presentation in Josh's class. Launching rockets for all the 4th grade classes is not usually in my job description, but Josh and I were successful. This pic is from a previous launch. I didn't have enough hands to take a video of the school launch.


Girls' Night Out

I finally followed Brooke's Facebook advice and we got gigantic ice-cream treats for 49 cents from Carls Jr.


Jayme Carter's wedding reception.

A field trip to Campbell Creek to watch wildlife biologists mate salmon? - interesting

Swimming - Josh and I talked Tali into going down the slide by herself. Why? I don't know. She didn't really like the dunking part, but she did it twice.

Walk a day in my shoes . . .

. . . if you dare.

Yes, I left the house like this.

No, I didn't mean to.

(Those shoes don't match, you see.)

How long until I noticed, you ask? I spent about an hour in Home Depot and I was in a friendly-type mood. I got advice from three employees, smiled at people as they walked by and even stopped to talk to a stranger while Tali admired her newborn baby.

I have been trying to think of a time that I've ever seen another person unintentionally wearing mis-matched shoes. Oh, that's right, this isn't my first time. One 7th grade morning I called my step-dad in a panic, "Please, please bring me a shoe!! Either one, I don't care!"

Sincerely,

Losing my mind in AK