Wii had a great Christmas!

It's hard to believe that Christmas is over. The excitement hangs around in our house. We received a Wii for Christmas and the kids (and us adults) just want to play it. Last night we got a fun game for it that includes it's own foot pad. It's called Outdoor Adventures and has you stepping different directions on the pad to do what you are supposed to. I think this game will be part of my New Year's Resolution to get healthy. Man, it's a workout! I'll have to get a video of the kids playing it. It's so funny.
We have had a mostly wonderful holiday so far. Despite the snow, we made it to Cookie Day. It was great. Jake showed up from Utah. We had all thought he was coming in later that week, but he just couldn't miss Cookie Day. Which was good, because our cousin Kelly and her husband Kevin announced that they are EXPECTING! Wow! There was a lot of snow on our way home, but we made it home alright.
We went out to Souru Teriyaki for our annual Christmas Eve dinner. Just the five of us go and then we drive around looking at the Christmas lights before heading home. The snow stopped us from the lights, but we never miss the Teriyaki! Christmas morning was fun. It's always exciting to watch the kids open all that they recieved. Obviously, the Wii was a big hit. We were hosting my parents and my sister and her family at our house this year. We were so excited until Brandon took his morning shower. He came out from our bedroom to hear a funny sound in our garage. Our septic alarm was going off! I quickly called my mom (yep,32 years old and I still called my mom first!) and she said that we could ignore it for a day or two and just use minimal water. So we ignored it for Christmas and had a really great time. It was fun to have everyone here. We hope someday to have a big enough house to have both of our families here. We spent the next day at Brandon's parents house. We started with our annual breakfast at IHOP. It is usually on Christmas Eve, but some people were working so we changed it. We had a great time at the Kirkwood's house. It was so sad to leave that night knowing that we wouldn't see Meri and Dustin or Jake for quite awhile. But we had a great time with all of our family. That is one of my favorite things about the holiday season. We will spend New Year's Day up at Jeff and Lesha's house. WE're looking forward to that. On Saturday, we had people over to check our septic. The pump was broken and they could fix it on Monday. So after a weekend of yelling at the kids FOR flushing the toilet, it is fixed. And I have to say, money well spent. It was so annoying having to not flush or shower regularly. And all of our clothes needed washing and the dishwasher was full when it broke! Brandon is off this week, so we have plenty of time to catch-up and still relax a bit! -Pam-
P.S. I'll make a slideshow with pictures. We just haven't downloaded them all yet!

If you've already read the family letter, skip this!

Here is what we sent out in our Christmas cards this year. It was entitled the Kirkwood Christmas Pop Quiz. It's even longer in a blog than on paper (Sorry, Jeff!), but it gets squished a little bit on here. If you decide to take it, let us know how you did on the poll. I'm curious who only got 1-3 right?

Merry Christmas! I thought that we would test your knowledge to see how much you already know about our past year. So grab a pen( & paper, if you need it) and take a second to see how well you know us.

1. At the beginning of the year Brandon and Pam renovated their:
A. Kitchen
B. Family Room
C. Living Room
D. All of the above

2. True or False: In January, Brandon helped coach Riley’s football team.

3. True or False: In June, Brandon left the United States for the first time in his life.

4. During the summer, Pam and the kids raised how many frogs?
A. 40
B. 25
C. 26

5. Every week in Nursery at church, Evan
A. Sings songs
B. Pushes somebody
C. Plays with puzzles
D. All of the above

6. This summer we went to our family cabin how many times?
A. So many, I just can’t remember.
B. 3
C. 5

7. True or False: In September, Anna started A.M. Kindergarten.

8. True or False: In October, Pam and Brandon added a new member to their family.

9. In October, the Kirkwood’s caught a virus that almost did Pam in. What kind of virus was it?
A. Flu
B. E-coli
C. Computer virus

10. This year Pam, Brandon, and the kids wish you
A. a Merry Christmas
B. a Happy New Year
C. God’s Blessings
D. All of the above


Answers:


1. E- We did a lot to our house this year. We pulled up all of the flooring in our living room, family room and kitchen. We repainted and added a new stove and dishwasher. It was a lot of . hard work that many people helped with and it turned out wonderfully. .
2. False – Brandon helped coach Riley’s basketball team, not football. Riley really enjoyed it and is just starting his new season for this year. He did flag football in the summer and loved that, too.
3. True- In June, Brandon and I went to Victoria, BC for our ten year anniversary! We had a wonderful trip, just the two of us. It was so strange to be without the kids for 3 days. We had such a good time remembering the “old days” when it was just the two of us.
4. C- This summer, we took a trip out to our family cabin with my sister’s family and we decided to bring home some tadpoles. We brought home 40 tadpoles. We released 25 into the wild, but about a week later, I discovered that there was one still hiding in the cage. He is still doing well out there and brings our grand total to 26. It was so fun watching them grow and change.
5. D- Evan sings and plays puzzles every week in Nursery, but unfortunately, when we ask him what he did, he always says “I pushed somebody”. I began to doubt that it is true though, because a few weeks ago he claimed to push his friend Abby, but she was not even there that day!
6. C- We went out to the cabin a lot, but I could never lose count. It is always so fun and relaxing to be out there, and most times we are accompanied by lots of family members. We were out there for Memorial Day, July 4 weekend, the first weekend in August, Labor Day, and one last time in September to release the frogs. What memories we made this summer!
7. False- Anna started P.M. Kindergarten. She loves it and I enjoy quiet afternoons while Evan is sleeping. She has learned so much this year and enjoys coming home to tell us all that she has learned.
8. True- We found a stray cat in our yard and we turned it in to the shelter. This prompted us to start talking about whether we were ready for pet ownership and a few days later, we adopted Peek-a-boo. She is a now 4 month old kitten and she is so much fun.
9. C- At the end of October, we encountered a computer virus that nearly drove me crazy. To get rid of it, we had to take everything off of our computer and restore it back to its original state. Then we had to try to load everything back on. With Brandon just starting his MBA program, he was already stretched thin. I tried to help with whatever I could and between us both, we got things up and running in just a couple of weeks. Wow, not fun! Our household was much happier once it was fixed.
10. D- We have had such a great year! We are happy to have had many of you be a part of it and hope to see others that we missed next year. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and pray that God’s blessing’s will be with you as we celebrate His Son’s birth and always.

It's a SNOW DAY!

Yesterday and today there is too much snow on the ground for the schools to be open. Yesterday, Anna cried when she found out there wasn't going to be school. It was her one day during the month that she can buy lunch and there was finally going to be something that she liked. I didn't know exactly what a big deal it was for her to buy lunch, but the tears came for quite awhile. When she calmed down, it was time for breakfast and when they finished, it was time to go outside. At that point, the snow wasn't packable enough to make a snowman, but we went over to my in-laws house for a few hours, and it was ready by then. Brandon took the day off so he could stay and play. He always misses out on those things. Half way over to the Kirkwood's I was wondering what the heck we were doing driving in that weather, but we made it just fine and only got stuck in our driveway arriving home. We stopped in the driveway to get some extra snow off and when I tried to pull forward again, I couldn't''t move. I had to rock it back and forth just a little to get it to move. Today, Brandon made it into work alright. I'm not sure what the weather is supposed to be like for next week but I know there might be more snow this weekend. I would be excited, but Saturday is Cookie Day, and it might mess that up. Cookie Day usually happens the last Saturday before Christmas. Lots of our family get together, usually at my in-laws or Brandon's Aunt Brenda's house. We spend the whole day in our Cookie Day aprons, making cookies and memories. It is always so fun and is one of my most favorite parts of the Christmas Season. I haven't gotten nearly enough goodies done yet, so I really want to have that day to get some stuff checked off of my list.
I am adding a poll to the sidebar for those who get our family Christmas letter. I will post the letter in a few days, so everyone can see it, but I want to give the mail a chance to get through first. I hope you are all enjoying this weather. One week and counting! -Pam-

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Oh, Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree...

...You are so lovely and annoying!

It was almost a week ago that we went to get our Christmas tree. And we still have many more weeks for it to be up. And we have a toddler and a kitten. Can you guess where I am going with this? It is driving me nuts! To his credit, Evan is pretty good with the tree. It only took him a day or two to figure out not to touch it or there would be consequences. The cat, on the other hand, has a learning disability. Not only does she like to eat the ends of the branches (good toothbrush?) but she also thinks all of the ornaments are cool the way they sway when she bats at them. I've seen her peering at the ones that are a little out of her reach. The last thing we need is for her to take a leap at them. The tree has already fallen over twice. We had a hard time getting it to sit just right in our stand. It fell over once before we even got the lights on it. Once it was decorated, we left the room and a few seconds later, Riley yelled "MOM!" It is now wedged in there with a big rock and some wood, but I don't think it could withstand Peeka jumping on it. I don't think the first person to have a Christmas tree had children or pets. We don't dare put any presents under the tree yet. But it is so sweet to walk in the room to find Evan just sucking his thumb and staring at the tree. Hopefully the holiday baking will go better than the tree has. Two weeks and counting! -Pam-

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'Tis the Season...

Sometimes I get quite overwhelmed by the Holidays. All of the work that is involved in one birthday party. Brandon and I have already made our Christmas buying lists, fretted over our budget, argued about how much to get the kids, and planned how we can out-do our neighbors with decorations. We're pretty much done with all of the planning. All we have to do now is decorate, buy the gifts, get everyone to smile at the same time for one Christmas photo and think about Jesus for a second before we are on to the New Year... Sometimes it goes just like that, doesn't it? I like to try to get as much of that "stuff" out of the way so that we can focus more of our time on our Savior's birth. I am so grateful for this time of the year where I take more time to reflect on how closely I follow my Savior. I love that Christmas follows Thanksgiving. It's like we just had a warm-up for gratitude and now it's time for the big test. I hope that I pass. I've studied quite a bit this year and I think I know what I'm doing, but I don't want to be over confident. I've had many great examples of charity and gratitude in my life. I hope that I can live what I have learned. My big thing this year is trying to come up with a good way to teach the children to think about Jesus when they think about Christmas. I've had some good suggestion. We might do the idea where you have an empty manger and every good deed that your children do will get one piece of "hay" placed in the manger and you are trying to make a good bed for baby Jesus. We do always say a prayer on Christmas morning before they are allowed to touch the gifts. That is a tradition that I love, watching my beautiful children, with enough excitement to make them burst, bow their heads and kneel in prayer with appreciation for Our Savior. That is my favorite moment of Christmas! -Pam_

One week and counting...

Thought I'd spruce up the blog a bit in honor of the upcoming holiday. I can't believe that Thanksgiving is only a week away. Before we know it, we'll be sitting on a couch, too stuffed to move. Brandon and I have the pleasure of doing that two days in a row! Thursday with the Kirkwoods and Friday with the Schillings. So I thought it would be a good time to start thinking of all of my blessings, before the holiday rush really gets going. Holidays are always so stressful, even though they are supposed to be cheerful. But this year Brandon and I have a goal of making this a less stressful holiday season. I am so grateful for all that I have in life. Even on my worst days, things are a lot better for me than a lot of other people. I am glad for this time that I can take to reflect on this year and my life. I am so blessed. -P-

I'm in Heaven!

I'm sure this will come off as being a bad mother, but I'm going to write it anyways. My friend April has given me a little bit of Heaven on earth. Once a month, Anna gets to got to school from 8:45 - 1:35 and my friend April takes Evan for that whole time. Do you know what that means? Most of the day to do whatever I want to in my own home! Usually I have to argue to get my own way, but not today! I'm sure in a few years, when Evan is in school full time, I'll be lonely. Until then, I am just so happy to have a little "me" time that I don't have to fight for. I'm going to go take a nice, hot, long shower that no one will interrupt by saying "Gotta go potty" or "I can't find my..." or just "MOM!" It'll probably be so quiet that I'll get freaked out. Then I am going to sit on the couch and play video games and eat BonBons. Just kidding. I'm actually going into school later to cut up more than 1300 strips of red and green construction paper. Hurray for Christmas paper chains! But until then, no kids! -Pam-

From one virus to another!

Our computer is fixed. No more EVIL Trojan bug in it. We had to restore it down to new status, but have been able to get almost everything back to normal, with an upgrade to Office 2007 even. But, as I should have predicted, we have all come down with colds! So we skipped church today, got a little napping in, and off to another fun work week we go.
It's fun to be in the holiday season. We've already started talking about who's family we will see for Thanksgiving and Christmas. And the stress of thinking up gifts is upon us as well. I read some funny songs updates in the Reader's Digest last night. Here's one to get your holidays started! -P-

Taken for a Ride
(To the Tune of "Sleigh Ride")

Just hear that cashier jingling,
Ring ting ting-a-ling, ooh!
That will be 16 dollars
For three bananas for you.

Come watch our dollar falling
While friends are bawling "Boohoo!"
Because it's 16 dollars
For five green olives for you.

Giddyup, giddyup, giddyup, they go,
Those prices we know.
They're leapin' like those
heatin' bills we owe.
Going up, going up, going up, it's tons
For hot dogs and buns.
We're tryin', our credit's dyin',
Did somebody say "bank run"?

Our cheeks are red from sneezing
Since it is freezing in here.
We're bundled up in blankies
And craving hankies and cheer.

Let's move into the Taurus
And sing a chorus or two
Because it's 16 dollars
For seven fish sticks for you.

Pity Me Perspective

Well, it's been awhile since our last blog. No, it's not the pee that did me in. It was a computer virus. Somehow, while Anna was playing on the computer, we were infiltrated by a TROJAN virus. Not fun, really not fun! I am updating this from Brandon's laptop, as we are currently saving all of our files and music and pictures onto Cd's so that we can restore our computer. I won't go into much detail about it, except to say it is EVIL! Evan has conquered the potty. I wrote a cute little story about it to blog, but I feel so much past that right now. I have been so caught up with our virus and potty training and Peeka problems, that I think I spent a lot of time this week thinking "Poor Me!" I don't mind saying that a little bit once in awhile, but this week it just consumed me. When the reality is, I am so blessed. Brandon and I take an opportunity every month to fast on one Sunday. Today was that day. There is something about feeling so hungry that helps you find your deepest thought. As my belly rumbled for food, I realized, it never really does that. Brandon and I have enough in life. We have enough food, enough transportation and housing, but mostly enough love and laughter. We are truly blessed by all that is around us. Sometimes, I can't believe that people don't always see God everywhere. Yes, our computer crashed, but we were blessed to have just gotten a back up. And maybe I was able to play with my children a little more this week, because I wasn't reading or writing a blog! Yes, Evan took awhile to potty train, but as my sister pointed out, some people will never have the opportunity to potty train, because their child is physically challenged. As I type this, I can hear my children running around with their father playing a game that makes them laugh, while I get one last moment of sanity, before we head back into the work week. These are all small gifts to me from a Father in Heaven who loves me and this week He gave me a perspective test. Did I pass? I hope so. There is a hymn that we sing at church called Count Your Many Blessings. The whole song is great, but the first verse says "When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed, when you are discouraged thinking all is lost, count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done." Sometimes when I am having a pity me moment, I think of this song. It really is good to count your blessings, big and small. It helps you to have a great perspective on life. No matter how hard this day may be, it will end soon, and tomorrow has a whole load of possibilities. Heavenly Father is with us in all of these moments, just waiting for us to ask Him for help or comfort. We just need to humble ourselves enough to realize that all of these burdens can be lifted when we rely on the loving guidance that is offered to us. -Pam-

I hate....

Brandon always says that my blogs are always so long. I figure people obviously come back to read more, so they must not be that bad. But,to help make Brandon happy, I will keep this one short and ...sour, not sweet. All I have to say right now is I HATE PEE! I'm sure there will be a long blog about it later, when I have settled down a bit and stopped thinking about where I could run away to.-P-

Sunday Message

Today was a wonderful day. Aside from the fact that I thought I would have a heart attack as I stood up infront of more than 200 people to deliver my talk, it was very gratifying to give my talk and then go to teach the primary children. I always feel that I learn more than anyone else. So below I have included what I typed up for my talk. I hope that you all have a great week! -P-

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the Bishop called on Wednesday, I knew it wasn’t just to chat about his son’s wedding. So when he asked me to give a talk this Sunday, I was glad the subject was forgiveness, because it helped to not hold a grudge against him.
My first thought was that I knew a lot about forgiveness. After all, I have three young children at home. I always have to tell one of them to say, “Sorry” and the other one to say, “That’s okay.” So there you go, that’s forgiveness. Now what am I supposed to do with the rest of my 12 minutes?
I thought it would be good to look up some scripture verses to go with my talk and as I was searching the scriptures, I began to understand how little I really knew.
I came across Luke 17 1:4. It says:

Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!
2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.
3 ¶ Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
It states very simply that if someone asks your forgiveness, you forgive them, even if it is seven times, you forgive them. It is not always that simple, but did you catch watch it said in the first verse? Jesus said “It is impossible but that offences will come.” Jesus knows that we will be offended, but he leaves us scriptures to tell us what is required of us. In Doctrine and Covenants 64: 9-10 it states:
9 Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.
10 I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.
Here we learn that we are to forgive ALL men and that if we don’t, we will have the greater sin. Why would it be the greater sin if we choose not to forgive?
In Mark 11: 25-26 we read:
25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
Our willingness to forgive is linked directly to Heavenly Fathers willingness to forgive us. As we learn in Luke 6:37:
37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.
Our relationship with our Heavenly Father should be reflected in how we treat our brothers and sisters here on earth. It is not our job to stand in judgment or to criticize others for their actions. It is our job to act in love, the way we hope that our Heavenly Father will act towards us. Following the examples of Jesus can only help us to achieve this. He was the ultimate example of love and compassion, not being reviled by the lepers as others were, not casting a stone at a woman who had sinned saying in John 8:7
7 …He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her...
Even at His last moments we read in Luke 23:34:
34 ¶ Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.
At one of the most horrible times in His life, Jesus was able to offer forgiveness to others, the very ones who were crucifying Him.
I can not say that it is easy to forgive someone that has wronged you, but I do know that it is required of us. If we choose to judge and condemn others, even in the smallest way, making fun of the way someone looks or making them feel bad for their actions, we are in the wrong. But if we choose not to forgive, we then take the greater sin upon ourselves. I believe that it is the greater sin because, first, we are not obeying our Heavenly Father, but second, we are allowing something negative to linger in our lives. If we truly forgive someone, we can move past that event. On the other hand, if we choose not to forgive and let the bad feelings we have fester, they can only increase the pain that we have and possibly knock us off our course back to Heavenly Father. When we try harder to examine the life of Jesus, we are able to see the full range that forgiveness can encompass. I know that it is hard to be that forgiving with others, but I know with prayer and practice, it can be accomplished.
We should all listen to the words given to us in Ephesians 4:32:

31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and lamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
If our Savior was willing to sacrifice His life for our sins, we should be able to forgive others who sin against us. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Good Morning, Jake!

We have a little tracker at the bottom of our page and when we log in we can see where people have visited us from. We can label each visitor if we can figure out which one they are. Sometimes we can match up what time they left a comment with what time a specific computer has logged in or just by location and there's only one person we know there. Because of this, we are aware that my wonderful brother-in-law Jake checks our page from Utah every morning. I have felt bad not having any updates lately, knowing how disappointed he must be when he checks and there is nothing new. So I wanted to say a big "Good Morning, Jake. Have a great day!"

We've also noticed that there are several people that routinely visit us from some of our friends sites and just wanted to say, "Welcome to our crazy world. I'm glad it's something worth reading about."

I wouldn't want to disappoint you today, so let me tell you about our morning. Well, I guess it actually started last night. I took my Mom to see the BYU Ballroom Dance Company perform at the Washington Center. IT WAS AWESOME! If anyone is near Auburn on Saturday evening, they'll be at the Auburn P.A.C. and you should go. They do a number that is all black light stuff that is so great. Anyways, Brandon and I decided that we could be one of the host families for two girls that night. We got them home by 10:30 and were finally off to bed by 12:45 or so. Our family was all up by 6:15, against my will, so I was trying to keep them all quiet so the dancers could sleep. They got up for breakfast and after we ate I started making sack lunches for them. I kissed Riley and sent him off to school. Then it was time for us to get them to the church for their bus. YAWN, I know it doesn't seem bad, but here is where it gets better. I get home from the church just in time for a meeting that is to be held at my house. As the first person shows up a little early to feed her baby before the meeting, I get a phone call from one of the girls that had stayed over. She had left her cell phone and could I bring it there, please? So I asked my friend if she was okay with my two children and her three for a minute and was off. Dropped off the phone and got back in time for the other people to show up. Between us there were only 7 kids today, which is down from the summers average of 11 or so. We always seem to get stuff done, even while having to rescue a tiny kitten from the hands of too much love. Just after the meeting, I received a call from the Bishop. He had been out of town and realized I never had received a phone call to invite me to give a talk in church on Sunday. This is my week to teach the children's lesson about service, so how could I say no? And since the Bishop wants me to talk about forgiveness, how can I be mad at him? So I will have one 15 minute talk and two 15 minute lessons on Sunday. Hurray! Please, no one call me for the rest of the week as I will be insane. As I am wrapping up my phone call with the Bishop, Anna very calmly walks into the room, tells me Evan has taken off his pull-up and it had poop in it and then calmly walked away. Yikes! So...I'm trying to finish up the conversation, consoling a crying child, quietly yelling (really you can do that) at the girls (Anna had a friend over!) not to step in anything while I am stripping Evan of the remainder of his clothing that unfortunately were not clean anymore. Finally I hung up with the Bishop (I'm sure the crying child was an indication that I needed to go) and carried a naked, poopy, crying child to the bathtub where he stood for a few minutes as I visually tracked where I had found him to where it had all started. Of course, the phone rang. It was Brandon calling. NO, it was not a good time since I was cleaning up tracks through the kitchen that were not MUD! Oh my goodness! A little while later, my husband showed up home from work early, deciding to work longer on Friday, because he was "tired" and thought he'd have a nap this afternoon. He took care of Evan while I took the girls to school and then we spent 2 hours napping in our perfectly quiet house. I don't know what I loved more this afternoon, my nap or my wonderful, loving husband. Most days there would be a clear winner, but today, by husband pulled ahead a little. Ha Ha! I love Brandon so much. Hope this made someone feel better about the day they had. I can still manage a smile, so I guess it wasn't that bad of a day. -P-

Peek-a-boo!

So yesterday Brandon and I were one of those terrible types of parents who reneged on everything we said. Almost always, we make good on our word. Yesterday, that all went wrong. It all came about from an event that occurred a couple days before. We ended up feeding a very cute stray cat. We took it to the shelter and they said that since we were turning him in as a stray, we could adopt him in three days,if we wanted. We have been talking about pets lately and this pushed me over the edge. So I convinced Brandon that I would end up doing all of the hard work and he gave in. On Friday we went to the shelter to get the cat we had turned in and there were tons of kittens. So we took forever trying to decide on a cat. Whatever Anna wanted, Riley didn't. I was almost to the point of calling a blind vote when they agreed on one. So we went to the front desk to fill out the paper work and were told "Adoptions were over 30 minutes ago." Tears! That's all I can say. So we headed to pet smart to look at their cats, but none of them were kittens. So we told the kids we could go next door to rent a movie to try to cheer them up. We were there for about 30 minutes, and having the same problem with making a decision, when we hit our last straw and gave up. We told the children never mind and left without a video. I don't think that we have EVER done that. So we headed home with more tears. We had talked about having pizza for dinner because it was our Fun Friday dinner night. But we had done pizza the last 3 Fridays. We decided to get Happy Terriyaki instead, because the kids love it. As Brandon picked up the phone to order, I ran in the other room to tell the kids the great news. MORE tears! At this this point I was hiking up my pants to keep them dry from the flood waters. Oh my goodness! I had had it! No more. Too much yelling and a lot of I'm sorry's to the kids later and life continued on okay. Well, Evan has been on a really long "Days Go By" kick. He can sings almost every word of that song. You know when you have a favorite thing and you introduce you child to that thing because you love them. Only they ruin it by making you get totally sick of it. So it is with that song. Anyways, when he was done with dinner, he wanted to sing it "Really loud," so we sent him in the other room. A few moments later, Brandon opened the family room door and sucked in his breath. No, not more Sharpie, but poop! Evan loves taking his pull-ups off, but had chosen a bad moment. Luckily there was none anywhere but his legs. Should I even say it.... MORE tears! Only this time it was me . I wanted to be sent to my room at this point and was never so happy for bedtime to come. Today, we went back to the shelter and got the kitten that we picked out last night. She is two months old and just precious. We named her Peekaboo but call her Peeka for short. It had originally been Pika, short for Pikachu, Riley's favorite Pokemon character, but when my mom came to meet her, she thought it was short for Peek-a-Boo because she was hiding and kept peeking at us. We liked that. Just when I thought I was about done changing diapers, I've moved onto litter boxes. What was I thinking?-P-

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Club Members Only!

I've joined an elite club. Here's how you can join, too. First you have to be busily drawing pictures on a balloon for your daughter. Then, you have to have a 2 year old who will yell, "Pee Pee in the toilet." That's your cue to drop everything to run to the bathroom. When you are done (and disappointed with wet underwear), you have to decide now would be a good time to shower. After you are all done and dressed, you must then go search out your children. You will have to enter a room, suck in your breath and try hard not to yell at the 2 year old who doesn't know what the word permanent means. And then you will have to take the Sharpie marker away from him and go throw it in the garbage. That's when you become part of the "I was stupid and left a Sharpie where my small child could reach it" club. You can join in other ways, too. But this is how I did it. Anyone care to join me? -P-

The Bravery of a Mom

I don't think that anyone truly understands how brave a mother has to be. There are so many times that a Mom has to take a deep breath and just move forward. The first time you leave your baby with a babysitter that is not family. The first day of Kindergarten or Preschool when you let them go off for the day with strange kids who will teach them who-knows-what. Sleep-overs at someone else's house. What about when they become teenagers. The things they are exposed to. The three D's: driving, dating, drugs... There are so many times in a mother's life that she has to be braver than she really is. Sometimes letting your kids grow up just sucks. It is so scary that Heavenly Father has entrusted us to raise these children. But it is important to realize that He has only lent them to us for a small while. If we do a good job as parents, they will want to remain in our lives even after they no longer have to.

So today, when I took off Evan's pull-up and replaced it with plastic underwear, I was braver than I wanted to be. I was saying Yes to letting Evan be more independent, but also reluctantly saying Yes to cleaning up many messes over the next few... days.

Okay, I'm more of a realist than that, but anyways...

Potting training, here we come!

Gone hog wild!

We always kneel in a circle for prayer as a family at bedtime, after we have read our bedtimes stories and scriptures. It is quite an adventure when you have small children. Never so much as when you have a 2 1/2 year old. Tonight was not exception. It is always a battle of the wills with Evan. Trying to get him to join the circle and stay quiet during the prayer is so fun. But tonight he got us all laughing, actually snorting, hysterically. With all of our coxing, we got him to kneel with our family. His older brother and sister were sitting reverently, being good examples. We all started to fold our arms and bow our heads while Evan starts to grab his nose with two fingers and plug it. Then he snorts in real deeply, making a very loud sound, and announced to us "I'm a pig!" He does it again and says "Anna, be a pig. Riley, be a pig" I can't help but laugh out loud while Brandon is trying to remain reverent, waiting for the moment to pass. Then Evan, between loud snorts, looks up and says, "Daddy, be a pig!" Brandon reluctantly grabbed his nose to snort as Evan turned to me. Before he even said "Mommy" I plugged up my nose and snorted. Evan got the biggest smile on his face, probably because he realized that he has complete control of his family. We had to love the joy of this moment, though. We held off prayer for one more moment so we could get a short video. Have a great laugh and a good night. -P-

Frogs - The Revenge!

While we were picking tomatoes today, we found a big green tree frog. Of course, Anna wanted to keep it. Just last night, she was crying in bed about missing the frogs. So when she begged to put him in our tadpole's home, I decided it would be okay for a day or two. I hadn't yet cleaned it out after getting rid of all of the frogs. So I reached my hand into the tank to set up the plants again and something sprang into the water. Now you have to understand, I overturned EVERYTHING when we captured our 25 frogs for thier release. I don't know how it happened, but it appears we had 26 frogs! Wow! I guess we get to keep one afterall, at least for a little while. -P-

A case of mistaken identity

Today, we decided to pick as many tomatoes as we could before the mice got to all of them. With the ones I picked a few days ago we'll have plenty for a batch of spaghetti sauce and a little salsa! After picking tomatoes I decided to clean up the garden a little bit. My cucumbers had been overgrowing into the pumpkins so I just grabbed them by the roots and pulled. As I dislodged some vines that were stuck to the pumpkins, I came up with this one. I found two more just like it as I continued to pull. Is it just what happens when cucumbers get WAY overgrown or did I just make a cuckin or a pumper? It is really much more orange in person. So weird. -P-

Counting Cousins

Up until this last weekend, Anna couldn't count her cousins right. She would count with her fingers "Emily, Daniel, Michael, that's three and the twins is two. I have five!" "Nope" I would say. She would look at me puzzled and I would have to remind her about Aunt Meri's new baby, Tanner. Well, she doesn't forget him anymore. She adds him to her count in a sing-song kind-of way that is just so sweet.
We had a wonderful time with the Kirkwoods' last weekend. We got to see Dustin and Meri and meet Tanner. And Jake was back in town for the weekend. Jeff and Lesha came down for the weekend. Marji and Bill took us all out to dinner with on Friday. DJ was even there, although were at the restaurant where he worked, so he didn't get to have fun with us. They all came to Riley's football game to see him score the extra point on Saturday. That evening we added more family for a big birthday bash. All of the aunts, uncles and cousins showed up for a great time. We played a really fun game that Jake taught us called "Signs" where you sit in a circle and pass discrete little motions back and forth to eat other while trying not to get caught by the person in the middle. It gets pretty funny, as you can choose some crazy stuff to be your sign. Case in point, Dustin chose scratching his armpit. Can you even do that without getting caught? I think he just didn't want to get chosen! Sneaky way to not participate, Dustin. On Sunday, we drove up to Dustin's sisters house to participate in blessing Tanner. What a beautiful day! The sun was shining and we were all dressed up. So much family around us. I am one truly blessed individual.
On Saturday night Lesha and I got to go to a special women's conference at our church. One of the leaders talked about creating something, anything, with our talents. "The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before." President Uchtdorf goes on to say, "The bounds of creativity extend far beyond the limits of a canvas or a sheet of paper and do not require a brush, a pen, or the keys of a piano. Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before—colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter." Some people don't recognize the untouchable things that we can create, only looking to the things that we can feel and see. But so many times it is the untouchable, unseen things that we have created in our lives that hold us up when our feet fall out from underneath us. I am glad for the relationship that I have with my family. But I know that it did not just appear out of nowhere. We have all put our fair share of creativity into it to keep it happy and loving and one of the most prized possessions in my life. Okay, sappy I know, but true. Love you all -P-

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Warning: this blog may contain political opinions...

So, Brandon and I have gone and done it. We have decided to share our political views and worldly opinions with others. But we have decided to keep it kind-of separate from our family blog. At the bottom right of this blog, we have added a link to our favorite political candidates, links to our religious connections and a link to our new blog, where we feel free to say exactly what we think. We feel it right to warn you, if you think that knowing our views of the world and politics and religion and so on would change your love for us as family or friends, just stick to this site and don't scroll down too far. If I have intrigued you far too much just now, go ahead and pop down to give it a look-see. We have just started the other blog so there is not much to see yet. But I sure have a lot of stuff going on in my head right now. I thought that would be a good place to put it.
It is funny how politics and religion seem to be two big NO-No's when it comes to talking to people, especially family. But people are entitled to their own opinions. That is why the voting system works. You can't count every one's opinion. So you take the opinion that is expressed the most. It is not always the most popular opinion or position. Sometimes the minority is just much better at getting their opinion heard and the majority think that there are so many of them, they don't have to state their opinion, because enough others are bound to have said it. I hope that none of you will take your opinions for granted. Whatever it is, it matters. Especially right now. Of course, I hope that you would all agree with my opinion, as it is the right one. HA HA! I would state for the record that I am both Republican and Mormon. I have the right and the privelidge to make these choices, just as everyone else does. It is fun to debate others with different views, while secretly trying to make them come over to your side. But in the end, we are all entitled to our own opinions, and Brandon and I have decided not to be afraid of ours. Hope you'll still love me in the morning. -P-

Frog Blog 4 - The Final Chapter!

The frogs are gone. What a fun journey it was to have them in our home. I decided last weekend that we would have to get rid of the frogs soon or they would all die of starvation. We just couldn't keep up with their eating. We found that at Petco they sold flightless fruit flies. So we had bought some of those, but with 25 little hungry frogs, they just don't last long. We decided that we could head straight out to the cabin after school on Wednesday, because it was early release and the kids got out of school at 1:35. Brandon could not take off of work, so I asked my friend April if she and her two children would like to come with. She said yes, despite the fact that rain was predicted. Well, for the first time in a long time, the weatherman was dead on. Rain, it did. Lots! So here we are, out at the river; mud, rocks and baby frogs everywhere that we stepped. Anna was trying to catch them all and put them in the grass to be safe. Abby, who is almost 3, just wanted to "hold" them. Well, baby frogs are really fragile. It's a good thing that frogs lay a lot of eggs, since there are predators as loving as three year olds around. We found out that Abby has the same misconception as Anna does about rain boots. They are not for collecting water in, but rather keeping it out. After hiding under the shelter of the trees for a little while, the rain let up enough for us to find a good spot for our frogs. One of our frogs became especially large, so we were able to name him. Anna had named the first tadpole out of the water, Nemo. Since this one was the biggest, it had to have been the first, so it must have been Nemo. ( She's pretty good at reasoning. ) We were able to name one other frog, as he looked a little different from the others. His name was Cyclops. Yep, poor guys only had one eye, although it was not in the middle of his head. After the frogs were all out of the jar, we headed back up to the cabin to make S'mores, in the oven. The kids ran around and played, then we headed back home. Such a wonderful experience.

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Welcome Autumn!

In honor of the change of season, we have changed our blog colors. It is a little unfortunate that our neighbors just cut down there oak tree as we will miss out on jumping into a pile of leaves. We will not miss raking the leaves and cleaning the gutters however. We can always go to the Grandparents house and jump in their leaves.

I had a wonderful birthday weekend. The tradition in our family is to make your birthday last as long as you can. Mine started on Thursday, but I think my last official party will be on Saturday for a Kirkwood September birthday party. There are several of us on that side that have September birthdays. This birthday party will be mixed with a Welcome to the family shower for my new nephew Tanner. We get to meet him soon! That will be the best present.

My sister did give me a pretty good laugh as a present. I had said in a e-mail that I needed new shoes. On Saturday, my sister's family and my parents were over for a party. We were opening presents and my niece, Emily, was really excited to have me open theirs. When I opened the wrapping I saw that it was a shoe box and Emily said "Guess what's inside?" I said "Shoes" jokingly, because people don't really buy shoes as a gift. It's almost like buying someone underpants. I opened it and it was shoes. Then I noticed they were really old, worn out shoes. I am sure my shock showed on my face, because everyone started laughing. Emily told me to keep looking and their was a gift card underneath it. My sister was just tired of giving a gift card inside the birthday card and wanted to have a wrapped gift. We all had a really good laugh.

Thanks to everyone who helped make my birthday so great. Anna gave me a card she drew with a picture of me & her (see below) and Riley made me a card that said "Happy Birthday to you. You live in a zoo. You look like a monkey and you smell like one too." I'm not sure that I look like a monkey, but I know I live in a zoo! -P-

My number is 32... What's yours?

Today is my 32 birthday. I have had a lot of people ask me if I feel old. It kind of stumps me. Am I old? Well, to anyone younger than 32, apparently yes, I am old. But you get to people in their 60s and 70s; well they wish that they were 32. My husband asked me last night if it has hit me yet and I find myself wondering if I should be waiting for a brick to fall. I won't be much older tomorrow than I am today, just a different number. I guess what I am saying is that I am one of the lucky ones that are truly not bothered by my number. I can't change it. I could lie about it, but then it would resent me for not liking it. I could hide it beneath some make-up or pretend that I didn't know it. But it would still be mine. The good thing is you get a new one every year, but it will always be bigger. (Unless you are my father-in-law. His started going backwards at 50. How lucky for him. I think he is almost 46!) It is, however, just a number. I think that what really counts is your perspective. Think about it. If your number was not your age, but rather the number of friends you had? Well, you would want a higher number. Some people think there is a perfect number and they just want to keep that one. Think of all the fun stuff you could miss out on if you stuck with just one number. And which one would it be? 25 was good for me, but then I would be stuck without my children. 40 might be good, but then I would be stuck WITH my children. If I never get past 50, I won't ever be claimed by the most special name "Grandma." I have been so blessed in my life with good friends and a family that doesn't make me cry (most days). Every bit of that has been collected in my number 31. I hope that as the days come, I will be blessed with a bigger number so that I can add to it. 32 will only hold so much. We'll never know when our number's up. But I do know that I intend to wear my number out. I am going to fill it so full that in about a year it will need to be replaced. We'll have a going away party for it. Cake and ice cream, the whole sha-bang! It is something to celebrate. After all, I'll never see that number again. So my birthday wish today is that all of you will take a good look at your number. Have you been cherishing it? Or have you just been taking it along with you, hiding it where you can? Every second of our numbers count. Whether we like it or not, we get to fill it with what we choose. I hope that all your numbers are as full of blessings and good memories as mine have been. Goodbye 31, Hello 32! -P-

P.S. Click on the song "Older". It's fun

Summertime Blues

Okay so I don't miss the boring days of summer where you just don't know what to do. But I sure do miss the fun things that we got to do during our summer. I finished our slideshow of all of our summer events. It is not for the faint of heart as it lasts about 5 minutes. There are more than 100 pictures! All these pictures that had no real place to go. Pictures, you are free! Hope you enjoy. -P-

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While the boys were away...

While the boys were away on Saturday Anna, Evan and I had some fun of our own. Anna and I had a girly party while Evan was napping. Then, when he woke up, we got out the camera and started making faces. I would call out some emotion and Evan or Anna would make that face. I didn't catch them all, but I made a slide show out of some of them. Sometimes, we have some fun moments that make me forget how hard this job really is. -P-
(Oh, you have to click the remote on the slideshow everytime you want to change the pics)

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Football Saturday

Okay, So Pam let me put an update to our blog. So here goes...



Saturday was Football day. Riley had his first game for his flag football team. It is an interesting story. For weeks I kept asking him if he wanted to play flag football. He kept telling me that he did not like football. So, we were all set to sign him up for YMCA soccer. However, last week after watching football on TV, he and I went out in the backyard and started playing catch with the football. Soon catch turned into a game of one-on-one. We had a great time. Afterwards, he came to me and asked if it was too late to sign up for football. He told me that he now loves football. It was a complete reversal. So, on Monday I went down to the YMCA and signed him up. He was so excited. The team had been practicing since August 17. However, they were still accepting players. His first practice was Thursday and his first game was Saturday. He seemed to fit right in with his team. In fact, he caught two passes in the game and nearly scored a touchdown. He was the only person on his team to actually catch a pass. He had a lot of fun. What a difference a week makes!

After his game, I had the opportunity to take Riley to his first UW Husky football game. Although the game was a complete flop, a 55-14 loss to Oklahoma, we had a great time. We drove up to the game with my Dad, who also had tickets and met with my brother, Jeff. Riley had a blast. It was great to share the experience with him. Thanks for the tickets Dad. It was a fun day!!

More grows in the garden...

An Old Spanish proverb says "More grows in the garden than the gardener sows." This year Anna and Riley have really gotten into gardening with me. They've helped me dig the earth and plant the seeds. They've helped me keep the ground moist for the seeds to sprout and protected the plants from "The evil weed monsters" and "The slimy slug bugs". Then we begin harvesting and that is everyone's favorite part. Early in the season we start to get our blueberries and strawberries. The kids loved moving the leaves of the strawberry plants around to find the sweet little red berries that hardly make it inside. Now, though, we are finally beginning to harvest the things that take awhile. We planted carrots of every color, shape and size this year. Red, yellow and purple, round as a ball or as small as a finger. That is their favorite. We have harvested our broccoli many times, but we let some go to seed for next year. If you have never smelled a broccoli flower, you should try it sometime. It smells nothing like broccoli, believe me. More like the sweet sent of honeysuckle mixed with lilies. We have more zucchini than our friends can bare (Here, have some zucchini bread!) Our tomatoes are just becoming ripe and even though the children say Yuck to them, they can't get enough of the spaghetti sauce that they turn into, cooked up with our onions and green peppers! We are so blessed to have enough space and sunshine in our yard to grow such a variety of foods. We even grow our own pumpkins to carve. We planted things so late this year that we thought we wouldn't get any pumpkins, but just this morning, we found two huge ones that we must have missed! More has grown in my garden this year than I ever planted. There may not be a seed for love, but it certainly grows well in my heart towards these beautiful children that Heavenly Father has lent me for awhile.

"Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own." Charles Dickens

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Dinner and a Bookstore?

We decided to spend our Friday night date with our kids. I know what you are thinking, but we owed them one. We were supposed to go out for dinner on Wednesday to celebrate the first day of school, but our lovely little Evan decided to get sick and we didn't think paying $50 for dinner out would be great if we had to endure his screaming humiliation in the middle of a restaurant. So we had pizza and a movie on Wednesday and postponed dinner until Friday. The kids chose Red Robin (YUM!) and we all had a great time.

Anna kept wanting me to pick the strawberries out of my lemonade for her to eat. Evan saw this and said "Me, too!" I offered him a strawberry, but he said "NO" and pointed to the lemon that comes on the side of the glass, you know, so you know it's lemonade.
Anyways, we gave it to him.

He thanked us kindly and gave it back.

So after dinner we weren't quite ready to go home, but didn't want to go anywhere expensive either. I thought "Border Books!" We have never taken our kids to the bookstore before. For me that was a terrible realization. Some of you may know I have a fond love of bookstores. Libraries, too. When I grow up I want to be an author, and sometimes I get overwhelmed walking into a bookstore just thinking about all of the people who contribute these stories to our lives. Fact or fiction, doesn't matter. It just overwhelms me. So there we were, introducing my children to something that I love, and guess what, they loved it too. Anna ran off with Daddy and Evan. They found what they wanted in the bargain section. I found a children's book written by Mary Higgins Clark, my favorite mystery author. Of course I got it so that I can introduce my children to her, too. Riley couldn't find any chapter books in the bargain section, so he and I ran off to the children's section. He was so excited by all of the choices. He just couldn't decide. We were probably at the bookstore for about an hour and ended up coming away spending only $25. Not a bad price to pay to watch your children's imaginations take flight. -P-

Back to School!

Another one of those big moments that I thought I was ready for. I was wrong. I am not ready to have two kids in school. Anna is so excited about getting to be a "Big Girl", but I'm not so excited. It means she is growing up. They are all growing up way too quickly. These milestones are just coming at us from the left and the right. If we're not watching, they'll fly by and leave us wondering were they went. We put together a small slideshow of the last two days. I'm not sure when I'll stop crying, but when I do, I'll post a slideshow of our summer. I'm sure that will make me cry, too. Frankly, there isn't much that doesn't make me cry. In an effort to make some of you cry too (MOM), before you open the slideshow, scroll down and click on the song "You're gonna miss this" in our song player (it's the last song) and then look at the pictures. I especially love the last verse of this song. Thanks for sharing this moment with us. -P-

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Mealtime Mayhem!

I don't know how it is at your house, but it is getting to the hour of the day that I dread. Dinnertime! So I am avoiding it by blogging. :) Usually we have a dinner menu planned out for the week. We do ask for the kid's input, but then we have to tell them that we can't just eat pizza and hotdogs. So I'll look at the menu to see what's for dinner and most nights I cringe, knowing we'll have a fight on our hands.

(On a side note, Brandon just walked in the room and said, "What do you want to do for dinner?" On the list for dinner tonight, chicken salads. Brandon just said "I didn't buy salad. It wasn't on the grocery list. I said "Are you sure? I thought I put it on the list." He goes to look at the list. Second item: Salad! While he is at the store buying salad, I'll finish my blog...)

I don't know why it is so hard for children to like dinner foods. For example, the other day I set a plate of food in front of Anna. She looked at it and asked if we were having anything else. I said no, this is the food we are having. She proceeded to burst out into TEARS! I really couldn't believe it. I stood there for a second, dumbfounded. This was a new one. I had heard all of the complaints, gagging, moaning over eating the disgusting foods I serve them, but I had never had just plain tears before. Evan, on the other hand, doesn't complain about his food. He rearranges it on his plate, so that we will think he has eaten some. Or he will try to make something so amazing out of it that we will just be so proud of him that we won't try to make him take a bite.











(Brandon just called, "What kind of salad do you want?" "What kind? I don't care, Salad" "Well, they have double carrots, would that be good with chicken in it?" I think about it. "If that's on sale, buy it.")

So as my time runs short and my kids get hungry, I would like to take a survey. On the sidebar over to the right there is a poll. I want to find out if I am the only one in the world, kicking and screaming my way through dinner every night. Or am I one of the average mothers, just doing her best to force healthy, good food into her children.
Ah, just in time. Brandon's home. Time for dinner.

Frog Blog 3

So here I am with my third entry and it too is about our tadpoles. But this will be the last entry about them, except for thier upcoming release. The kids and I have really enjoyed watching these big black blobs turn into something different! So I created a little slideshow to show you the latest. I aslo was told by two people today that I need to allow comments, so I figured out how to do it. I guess I accidentally turned them off. Also, if I add you as a friend and you don't want to be, please let me know and I'll take you off. -P-

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Frog Blog 2

Not every entry will be about the tadpoles. But this is just so neat that I had to add a picture of them now. Three of them now have their arms, too! Wow, this is so cool! -P-