Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.......

...Is not just a Primary Song. It is now the new modesty song in our house. I went to the "How to talk to your kids about sex" class at the Stake Relief Society Meeting last Saturday and I loved it. Even though my babies are only 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 that talk will be coming sooner than I would like to think, so I took the class. One of the sisters said with her girls they play head shoulders, knees and toes to check to see if their clothes are modest. Hands on head- does the shirt come up? Hands on shoulders- are the shoulders covered so that you could enter the temple? and can you see your bra and etc.. in your sleeve because it is too big? Knees- does the skirt cover my knees and do you see your breasts while bending over? and Toes- does your skirt cover you behind or do you see your panties while bending over as well as breasts? I love it.

We are teaching our children young that modesty is important. Brock and I decided No sleeveless shirts or sundresses, We are discussing shorts (leaning towards knee shorts only), one piece swimsuits, etc... They are young but the scriptures say to teach them while they are young. Our philosophy is the younger they learn it the easier it will be to live it as they get older. It is sinking in I must say. Emily informed her grandma that she was not modest when she came over with a sleeveless shirt on. As always we are working on why we dress modestly and that even though other people don't, we still do.

Family Home Evenings

There are times I wonder why we even have FHE. It is like those days you go to church and are wondering why you bothered to come since you heard absolutely nothing. Well tonight was one of those nights. It started off well enough. We had a coupon for a FREE pizza at Papa J's and got to order out. (YEAH. I didn't have to dirty my clean kitchen). Brock had treat tonight and he wanted to make Rice Crispies Easter Eggs. (What was that about a clean kitchen???) I must say though he did the clean up. We dipped some of them in melted chocolate chips and some in sprinkles. Emily loves sprinkles. On the rare occasion we get donuts she always wants a sprinkles one. Then she eats off the sprinkles and leaves 3/4 of the donut.

After we made our treat we had our lesson while they "set up". It was the Easter lesson we made at this last Relief Society Meeting, the one with the eggs. I hid the eggs and then Emily found them and then we opened them one by one doing the lesson with it. All Emily did was keep asking about the eadible eggs, and take eggs away from Meghan. Meghan screamed and tantrumed the entire time because she kept getting eggs taken away from her. During closing prayer Meghan screamed the entire time because the eggs got put away and Emily cried too although I have no idea why. Finally I took the baby straight to bed and Emily went straight to the kitchen. Oh well there is always next Easter. I did have to laugh at the whole thing though, through clenched teeth of frustration. I am sure the spirit was there....somewhere.

The Tampon

The tampon, a little invention designed to make the menstrual cycle a little less gross for lack of a better word. But did you know that they can be used for so much more. I bet you didn't. Since you have never lived in my house; let me enlighten you. Tampons (unused of course) can be used for:

* Sword fighting

* "Paint brushes"

* Make up brushes

* Roads

* They can be "people"

I walk in to the bathroom and the entire box has been dumped out and they were all opened. I started to get mad then thought whatever they are happily playing together. Em then brings two tampons to me and says, "mom the tampons are talking to you" and then makes up conversations for them.

There is something fascinating about Feminine Hygiene Products. Last year the pads were the most exciting "stickers" in the house. I found unwrapped and stuck all over the bathroom wall.
Note to self. Find another place to store those.

Emily Says things like....

Most siblings will call their siblings cute little pet names like "sweetie, baby, peanut, etc...

Emily calls Meghan cute names like "you little ray gun," "you pokey little sharp knife," "you popcorn," "you little golf ball" and today on the way home from church she called her a "little skunk"

I say to Emily "you make me smile" she answers with " I love you too."

While chopping vegetables for dinner I say "Emily, will you take out the recycling?" She says with a huge exasperated sigh, "I have to do everything!" Really? You do?

Today in sacrament we are sitting in our pew. It is after the opening and brother Harper is doing announcements. Suzy (name has been changed to protect the innocent) and her family come in the pew behind us. Emily says to Suzy. "It already started."

Grandpa Brock is talking to daddy Brock about the deer jerky he brought. Emily adamantly says "we don't say that word." Then I have to explain that we don't say Jerk but jerky is a type of meat (sort of) and that it is okay to say jerky blah, blah, blah.

She is the word police. She has yelled at grandma for saying gosh and stupid. And Brock who yelled out gosh after stubbing his toe. And me after yelling dang it when I couldn't take it any more. The list goes on. I apologize if she has policed anyone reading this. We are trying to teach her that other people may say things we don't. She's three.

Emily has her doctor kit out and is taking my blood pressure. I say, "are you a doctor Emily?" She says, "no I'm like a doctor." Oh, well, yeah.

I could go on and on. It is so fun to see what she will come up with next.

Fun times with my Sister

Here are some shots of the girls playing together in their various forms of fun.

They love to play in the laundry basket.

I rarely get a picture where they both are smiling. Here Meghan is actually laughing hysterically while Emily clearly doesn't want to share the chair.

Helping "clean up "the utensils after banana bread baking

In this one Emily is so happy to give hugs and Meghan is actually screaming to have her let go. Can't we all just get along?

This is one of my favorites. I love that they love books and I love that they are enjoying them together.

So Grandma got Emily this Princess bed set for Christmas and it came with a mask to sleep with. This is her a couple weeks ago. Well we haven't been able to find her mask and so tonight I had to get her a wet washcloth to lay over her eyes so she would go to sleep.

My first time

I know there will be many more of these conversations throughout my parenting career, however, today was my first of "I don't love you." and "I don't care about you anymore." I believe I also heard a "dangit" muttered while going up the stairs and a "shut your mouth" through the closed bedroom door. What caused all of these harsh words and hurt feelings? It would be the simple, "No Emily, you may not have a bottle to play with in the living room" I would hate to see what happens when it is something big. What or who is it that posses my sweet little angel and turns her into this little demon and how do I get rid of it?

My little Helper???

Meghan has become quite the explorer these days well she has been for a while I actually was just able to capture it on film.Here she is helping to "clean out" the cupboard that has all of my baking supplies in it.

Here she is "sorting" the recycling. I love the "what did I do" look.

Can it be True?

It is hard to believe that my little baby is 3 and is now a SUNBEAM!!!!! I am so glad that Jamie is her teacher. That will be a big help with the transition of leaving "Super Loop." It is crazy to me. I feel like I just gave birth to her and her she is going into Primary. I tried to document this day all cutie for the scrapbook and stuff. But she refused to take off the coat and ditch the balloon so there you go. I am excited to help her learn the theme for the year and see her in the program this fall and watch her grow and develop. Despite all the craziness and the headaches I get from her sometimes she truly is so wonderful. I love her so much and she brings me so much joy and happiness.

Birthday Party #3

This is the party with the grandparents on Saturday. There were a lot more pictures but I picked the top 5. Bubble wrap was the favorite gift until the tea set came out.


Brock partied hard. He fell asleep right in the middle of the festivities.

We made a pumpkin roll and cheesy potato soup in bread bowls for dinner

She now has big girl panties. Here she is donning the entire pack. I guess it will still work like a diaper if you put all 5 pair on. She has since learned they go on under the panties and potty training is going well. Yeah! Hoo rah!

Fun with Prayer

Em is starting to expand her prayers now. It used to be that every prayer was "bless this food" with a hiss of "I don't need any help" or "I do it myself" as we would try to teach her to expand her vocabulary.

Since she has been branching out we've gotten some great prayers such as this one while she was blessing her food. "Heavenly Father, bless mommy and daddy and Meghan and mommy and daddy and mommy and Emily and this day, and the alligator comes and chomps our house and we throw him out the gate, bless this food, make us strong in the name of Jesus Christ Amen."

The other night for family prayer amidst the bless mommys and so forth she said "bless us to get on the website and be musketeers etc... "

It is so hard to keep a straight face sometimes and be a good example.

Happy Family

Thanks to Ivory for this little story. Today in Nursery when she was doing the music time she said that Emily was laying on her back, knees up in the air, diaper hanging out with this blah blah air about her. They had just sang "We are a Happy Family" when Ivory ask "do you have a happy family?" Amidst all the yeahs our little Emily loudly proclaims "NO." Ahhh, its good to see that all my hard work has paid off. :)

Favorite Words

My new three favorite words as a parent are "More Broccoli Please." It makes me feel warm and fuzzy as do "More Peas Please", I love Green Beans and "I don't want a hot dog. I just want corn on the cob" It makes a good balance for "I want Ice Cream for breakfast"