Our Sloth

We've got a sloth at our house.

Not this kind.

But this kind.

Except ours looks like this.

Morgan has decided she wants to be a sloth lately.

"Pretend there's a little sloth getting in the tub." she'll say as she's taking a bath. "Pretend there's a little sloth climbing on your bed." , etc.

Really? A sloth? What kid pretends to be a sloth?

Morgan, that's who. :)

Pride Doesn't Pay

Prayer works.

How do I know? Because I was too prideful to do it at first.

A couple days ago I needed to return the library books.

I could find all but 2.

I pulled out Owen's bed, searched all underneath and to the side and found one of them.

"See", I thought smugly to myself, "I don't need to pray to find these, I can do it on my own."

But the other one I could not find anywhere! (and in case you haven't heard, I don't live in a mansion).

But I was in a grumpy mood and I didn't want to pray.

So as the weekend progressed and my heart softened and I felt more humble last night I prayed to find the book.

Well what do you know....first thing this morning Owen comes in and says, "Mom! I found the book!"

"Where?" I asked curiously.

"Under my bed!"

No way. I looked there...10 times!

But I hadn't prayed because I didn't feel like it.

Lesson learned.

Little Miss Morgan

I don't really have anything to say, but I hate having that picture of the mating flies up, so I've gotta say something. BTW, the first thing Shane says to me when he sees the fly picture is, "You know they are mating right?"

So this is it. My Morgan is three and trying to figure out how to handle herself with all the emotions that run through a 3-year old girls little body. She does a lot of whining, crying, screaming, etc. It's rough...for everyone.

So today she told me, "I'm learning to be nice. I don't want to be bad anymore." Nearly melted my heart, even if she didn't magically change today, I know it's in there.

Love you Morgan!

For the Love of Flies

We've had an overabundance of flies in our house lately.

It's unfortunate.

Today Owen and Morgan were admiring all the flies in our window sill when Owen shouted out, "Mom, there's a fly on top of a dead fly. That's so funny."

I came in for a closer look and I said to Owen, "Uh oh, that fly isn't dead. I know what they are trying to do....they are trying to make baby flies!"

Dang flies trying to get it on in my house!

"Oh no!" Owen cried, "Then there will be baby flies EVERYWHERE!"

My fear exactly.

He then explained to our dog that the flies were trying to make baby flies and that the situation was indeed dire.

I tried really hard to kill the two that were tangoing, but those dang things can fly while "in the act".

And quite well at that.

I missed them over and over again and then I lost them.

No wonder we've had so many flies in our house....it's a veritable love-fest in here.

(at least for flies). :)

Three Things I Am Ever So Thankful For.

No, it's not my kids.

I mean, come on, that goes without saying. Boring.

Before I get to my list of three, it requires a brief explanation.

I am an allergy sufferer, as I think has been mentioned on here before.

I started getting them when I was pregnant with Owen and they are fierce!

I mean completely debilitating allergies--lay in bed, can't function because my eyes won't stop pouring out water and my nose won't stop dripping out snot kind of allergies. (too much?) Well sorry, that's how my allergies are and if you've ever seen me during allergy season, you know.

When living in UT my allergy season was from early May until about July. Then I would get them a little bit again in the fall, but not too bad. I never went to a doctor and was never tested, so I didn't even know what my allergies were--just that it was something outside.

So I moved to AZ hoping that maybe my allergies would go away (wishful thinking) and they got worse and suddenly there was no "season"...I had them all the time.

Finally I went to an allergist and got tested. Turns out I am massively allergic to every kind of grass there is and that in Arizona that is a year round allergy.

Nice.

So the doctor prescribed Singular, an expensive medicine even with insurance. I've tried every over the counter medicine without any success, so I was hopeful that this might work.

It was better, but not fantastic. And for $30/month, I wanted fantastic.

Enter my sister-in-law Lana, the first thing (who happens to be a person) I am thankful for.

Just ingnore Porter in this picture...while I'm thankful for him too, this isn't about him. Sorry Port.

One of the things I really love about Lana is that if you share something with her she really listens and tries to help you come up with a solution. And her solutions are really good.

While lamenting about my allergies she shared with me her similar struggle with allergies and what her doctor has prescribed.

1 claritin and 1 flaxseed oil pill every morning and night.

Since we were losing our insurance soon I decided it couldn't hurt to try it. So I did.

Enter the next two things I am incredibly grateful for.

Flaxseed oil pills...

And Claritin.

These have been like miracle drugs for me.

I'm putting this on my blog because I'm hoping if anyone is struggling with allergies like I have they might want to give this a try. I was constantly searching for solutions.

And I'm thankful for Lana one more time because as I was talking to her the other night I told her how excited I was to have a $4 off coupon for Claritin. She just looked at me and shook her head, "Dixie, Dixie, Dixie..." she said, "Don't buy Claritin. You can get Costco's brand of 300 pills for $11.99 as compared to 45 pills of Claritin for $26."

Seriously! Why do I not talk to Lana every day.

Thank you Lana. Thank you flax seed oil pills. And thank you Claritin and Costco Claritin for saving my life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sisters--Everybody Should Have One.

Last night as I was going to bed I peeked my head in to see how the kids were doing. Morgan had been crying and complaining that she was scared...her favorite thing to do at bed time lately. Never mind the fact that 3 kids are crammed into one bedroom, the door is open and the bathroom light is on and shining right in there--she claims to be scared. After sending her back to bed and telling her I didn't want to hear it, things had quieted down and I hadn't heard anything more.

A little later I looked in and saw this.

Her big sister, who DOES NOT like to share her bed, had agreed to let her on since she was scared. And there they were, completely content and asleep.

It made me smile and it made me so happy. Truly you could not have two more different girls than these two, but they are sisters, and there is a bond there... no matter what.

It made me hope for their future that they can be as close to each other as I am with my sisters (and sisters-in-law). I think everyone should have a sister. There is no other relationship quite like it.

Last Saturday my sisters (and in-laws, and mom) kidnapped my sister Allyson to take her on a shopping spree. We got to hang out and shop and talk and spend the afternoon together and it was so much fun. We are all very different too, but we enjoy and appreciate each other so much.

I have felt exactly like Allyson did when we took her shopping. How do you thank these wonderful people enough? When I moved from Utah to Arizona my sisters (and others) had worked tirelessly to make my apartment a place worth living. They painted, cleaned, talked my dad into re-doing LOTS of stuff, had flowers outside my door with a welcome mat, food in my fridge and a build-a-bear for Livy. And those are just the things I can recall off the top of my head. It was INCREDIBLE! After reading Allyson's post the other night I told Shane I knew exactly how she felt. I'm so afraid of crying and getting emotional telling people how much I love them and how much I appreciate them (I don't know why I'm this way...it's a huge flaw, I know), so I just sort of move on because I can't take it. It's hard to accept that much love and care on your behalf. And yet, it's there. (currently swallowing the lump in my throat. must. not. cry.)

To my sisters and all others who helped with the apartment and who helped me when I got here, thank you from the very bottom of my heart. I'm awkward when it comes to emotion, just know that I love you and am more thankful than you will ever know.

Some day my Livy and Morgan will know what a valuable relationship sisterhood is. And I hope they will always cherish it like I do. I hope they will remember being 6 & 3 years old and sharing a bed because someone was afraid. I hope they will always remember what's important. I hope they will realize how lucky they are to have a sister.

"How do people make it through life without a sister?" ~Sara Corpening

Love you all!

"Unlimited" is a Bad Word.

We took the kids to Olivia's fall festival at her school this past Saturday.

They have games, crafts, treats and about 5 different big blow up bounce house-type things. It's a lot of fun and very exciting for the kids.

When you go you can either buy tickets to pay for all these things or you can buy a wrist band for "unlimited access" to everything.

As I sat there at the table thinking about what I was going to get I thought through everything available in my mind and felt like "unlimited" wasn't such a good idea, so I opted for the tickets.

As we went throughout the day it was confirmed to me that the tickets were a great idea--this was a day my kids would learn value when others did not. (Please don't think I'm judging you if your kid had a wrist band. It's just that, well...maybe I am. :) )

Before I even got the tickets the kids were playing on the playground, happy as could be and didn't even know the bounce houses existed. They could have enjoyed playing there all day. I got the tickets and explained to everyone how many we had and what we could do with what we had. Everyone could pick one or two bounce houses to go on and then have some tickets left to play a few games and get a treat or do a craft.

They all thought about it, looked at all the different bounce house options, and picked where they wanted to go. As I watched kids with wristbands go in and out of the bounce houses, they only seemed to 1/2 enjoy themselves while my kids were ECSTATIC to be inside and enjoyed every minute. They knew they had used their precious tickets to get in there and it meant something to them.

After that we played games at the game booths and did the same thing....look, decide, play. Other kids ran from one booth to another without even really enjoying themselves because the lure of the next game booth was already calling to them. They could play them all so none of them had any real value.

I know I'm way up high here on my soap box right now, but sometimes I have a really hard time with this "unlimited world" full of instant gratification and everybody wanting more. The more we get the less satisfied we feel. It's not just our kids, it's us too.

I think it's more important now than ever to teach boundaries and value and to live that way too. It's hard to do because we want our kids to have everything, but what we don't realize is when we do that they lose the most important stuff along the way.

I want my kids to have character and morals.

That's what matters.

Halloween Bash Triathlon--Race Recap

We did it.

Halloween triathlon completed!

Olivia and Owen's first and they did awesome.

We started friday night at packet pick-up. The kids got really cool bags full of stuff and I got a bag full of really cool stuff.

This is also where you get your number. We got some good ones.

We left at 4:30 am to get out to the race and it was FREEZING!!! Here we are pool side waiting for the kids swim to start and just hoping that it started to get a little warmer. Olivia wasn't sure she wanted to do it since she was so cold, but she got over that.

Morgan was our "cheerleader duck". She's really good at it and shouts stuff like, "Come on Owen, I know you can do it!" and "Go MOMMY!" She's great at what she does. She was a mini-celebrity at the race. Everyone kept laughing, "Oh my gosh, look at the cute little duck." Then Morgan would tell me all proudly, "Everyone is laughing at me." I couldn't help but make the contrast between Olivia who nearly dies if anyone is laughing at her. Two very different girls.

The race finally got underway. Olivia kicked booty on the swim. She passed 3 girls in 50 meters. Pretty impressive. She transitioned well and took off like a pro on the bike. Owen did okay on the swim but got stuck behind some kid with his dad in the pool helping him so he had to dog paddle trying to get around them. But he transitioned well too and took off like a pro on his tiny little bike. Then it was in from the bike and off on the run. Livy and Owen both took off like rockets. I missed Owen crossing the finish line because trying to coordinate everything was very tricky, but here is Olivia crossing the finish line.

I was so proud of them and they had a lot of fun. They decided triathlons are pretty great.

Here I am waiting on deck for my swim to start, which started 40 minutes late, btw. That was lame. Shane found a nice warm spot inside for he and the kids to hang out in so I was talking to them through the window.

Out of the swim and onto the bike. I finished 2 in the swim.

Took off on my bike and felt great. No women passed me and only a few men. That's never happened to me before.

Then onto the run.

Here I am sprinting to the finish line because I could see Shane and the kids cheering me on and telling me to sprint, sprint, sprint!!! So I did.

I ended up getting first in my age group (out of 19) and 5th over all (I don't know the total number of participants). I was happy about that.

Also cool is that Olivia got first in her age group! This made her quite happy because she's been stressing since they day we signed her up that she might not win.

Owen got 3rd in his age group. He did great!

Building the big guns already. :)

How sad is it that my 6 year old daughter has bigger calf's than me?

My little triathlete.

My other little triathlete.

My awesome husband who allowed me to do all this and got up at 4 am with me even though he has two performances for his musical today. Thanks Shane. I love you!

P.S. If you want more race details click HERE.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO

...lives in a pineapple under the sea?

SPONGEBOB SQUARE PANTS!

Owen is obsessed with Spongebob so I thought I'd oblige his request for a Spongebob birthday cake.

It was a fun cake to make for his 5th birthday.

It was 10:30 at night, the night before his birthday and I was NOT wanting to make it. In fact, I told Shane several times I wasn't going to do it. Things have been crazy busy around here (and funkish) and I was obviously very tired since 10:30 is already half an hour past my bedtime.

I went to the store to just buy a cake but they were all crappy.

When I came home from the store I told Shane, "I'm gonna do it." Owen was expecting a Spongebob cake and I could not disappoint.

Shane's response, "I knew you would."

So up I stayed until 1:30 am getting things just right.

It was totally worth it.

Owen loved it and that's all that mattered.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OWEN!

**Thanks to Porter and Lana for sharing the day with us and letting us use their house to celebrate since we don't have one. :)

I'm In A....

funk

1  [fuhngk] Show IPA

–noun

1.	cowering fear; state of great fright or terror.

2.	a dejected mood: He's been in a funk ever since she walked out on him. Definition #2 is my problem. I hate being in a funk. I don't know why I'm in a funk. I have no right to be in a funk. But here I am...totally and completely in a funk. I want out!

Grandpa Davis

(This picture was taken a few weeks ago.)

Today my Grandpa Davis died.

What a weird day.

He lives (or lived) in the apartment just in front of me, so my mom flagged me down as I was driving in to let me know he had passed away.

I was just coming home from a hair appointment where my sister-in-law Lana and I were talking about how he would never die.  Literally minutes before.

He has held on for several years longer than "they" thought he would as his quality of life has become more and more tragic.  These last few months my mother has had to take care of him almost like a newborn.  

It's been hard on both of them...and probably good for both of them too.

There were two young boys, maybe 19 or 20, sent from the mortuary to come pick him up.

Inexpertly they hoisted him up on the gurney, nearly dropping him once, and struggled with trying to get the gurney legs to lock at the right height.  They were trying desperately to be respectful while doing their job...but it was awkward.

There my grandfather lay through all of it, mouth hanging open, looking like a wax museum figure and it made me sad.

I don't know that I have ever seen somebody so close up after they just died.  Not embalmed and all dressed up at a funeral.  

Just dead.

As I looked at him lying there I knew it wasn't him.  It was so obvious.  It was the shell that housed my grandfather while he was here, but that was not my grandpa.

The two young boys shuttling him to the mortuary have no idea who my grandfather was.  They just transfer the shell.  They don't know that he's the father of 4 wonderful children, the grandfather of 12 and the great-grandfather of 25.  They don't know he was an inventor, a musician or a survivor of WWII.  They don't know he had a life, full of experiences and people that loved him.

All they met was the shell.

How sad it would be if all was forgotten as they took that shell away.  If grandpa really was dead.

But grandpa's not dead.  

His body is, but he is most definitely not.

See you on the other side Grandpa.

Mr. Rogers Definitely Ain't My Neighbor!

As the kids and I strolled out of the neighborhood grocery store we were greeted by 5 cop cars and a fire truck and I couldn't help but think....hmmmm, something's wrong.

But what was it?

Then it came to me.  What was wrong was that I was totally un-phased by said cop cars and fire trucks.  We'd been greeted by such a scene before.  Just another day in the ghetto.  I wasn' t nervous or even all that curious about what was happening.  

As Shane and I pulled into Mesa from our trip to San Diego last night there were several cop cars, lights a blazing, right in front of our street.  I said to Shane, "Well, just another day on Broadway."  And he laughed because he hadn't even noticed.

It's awesome.

But what's even more awesome is this.  The place that I LOVE to eat, Krazy Sub, is right next to an Asian Massage parlor.  Yeah, I think it's that kind of Asian massage parlor.  We saw a news report about them and I'm pretty sure this has to be what they were talking about.  But, nevertheless, they carry on their business 2 doors down from Krazy Sub where every Mormon kid that goes to Westwood loves to dine.

I made Shane pose in front of their sign.  He was afraid some pimp was going to come out and beat him up.  I assured him all would be fine, just pose for the picture. :)

Could somebody please enlighten me as to what a "free table shower" is?

Please?

This Kid

Amid all his crazy, Owen is a great kid.  

He has one of the softest hearts I've ever seen.

I think he must have heard us talk about him in this way before because the other day he did something nice for Morgan and Shane said, "Thanks Owen, you're so nice."  

Owen replied, "Yeah, and I'm sweet too."

Well, he is.

Spooky Jammies

Who needs Christmas pajamas when you can have Halloween pajamas with matching pillow case to boot?!

Happy October--we're ready for Halloween here.

Just don't tell them it's 30 days away--that's an eternity in kid land.

**I made the pillow cases and shirts.  Aren't you so impressed? No?  Oh well, it was fun. 

Hard Life Lessons--Gratitude.

Today Olivia got a gift.

I guess it would be more accurate to say that she "almost" got a gift.

As soon as she was presented with the gift she said, "That's it?  I want something more."

Oh no you didn't.

Ingratitude is highly intolerable in our home and Livy has been walking a finer and finer line when receiving things lately.

Today was the last straw.  

I informed her that the gift was no longer hers.

Suddenly it seemed very important to her...like the only thing she wanted in the whole world.

She screamed and cried and then asked if she could have it.

No.

She pouted and told me she wished she was an orphan and then asked if she could have it.

No.

She told me she was sorry and then asked for it.

No.

More and more bawling ensued.

I explained to her there was a difference between being sorry because you're sorry and being sorry because you can't have something and I can tell when she's really sorry.  I told her when she didn't care about whether or not she got the gift, I would know if she was really sorry.  

She said, "I'm sorry.  But I really, REALLY want it!" (cryyyyyyyy!!!!)

No.  (I know, it's a harsh lesson.  But I would so much rather her learn this earlier than later).

She told me she was "going away" (I've been waiting for this since becoming a mom!  I was thinking No way!  This is the day my child tells me they are going to run away. Awesome.) 

She grabbed her back-pack and came in telling me angrily that she needed a pen and then headed out the door.  (luckily I know Livy is WAY too much of a 'fraidy cat to go anywhere).

Sure enough, she just sat outside our front door and I'm sure contemplated things.  She is very thoughtful.

She finally came back inside, pouted a little more and then told me, 

"Mom, I'm sorry.  I don't need the gift.  But I would still like it."

I told her that was good to know, but I didn't hand it over.

I could tell she was still sort of waiting for it.  But she finally was able to let go and move on.

And it's in that letting go that she earned it back.

Like Butter!

I fear my blog has been Morgan-heavy as of late, but what can I do.  This girl never ceases to surprise me.

This morning as I was doing her hair she stopped and said,

"Mom, boogers taste like butter."

And she LOVES butter.

My stomach is still churning from that statement.

Get The Point?

I've developed a fabulous new system.

Really, it was a stroke of genius.

The kids lost Jersey because Owen whacked her really hard and hurt her.

We took Jersey back over to my parents house to live until we could figure out what to do.

One night, when the kids were bouncing off the walls and Shane was in our room on a phone call it hit me.

Jersey points!

So I explained to the kids they could earn a Jersey point for every time they were obedient or did something really well.  Conversely, they would lose a point every time they fought or disobeyed, etc.  Once they got 20 Jersey points we could bring her home.

I asked them to shower, brush teeth, get on jammies and read in their room until Shane was off the phone, and if they did it nicely they could get one Jersey point.

No time was lost and they were on task, quietly and respectfully.

Shane came out of the room, looked in their room at them all cleaned up and reading quietly and came in to ask me, "What is going on?  I feel like I'm in a different house."

I explained my brilliant idea and he was impressed.  I mean, how could he not be? :)

It was so brilliant, in fact, that I decided it should extend to other aspects of my life.

Morgan woke up dry, so she got a point (5 points equals a trip to Chucky Cheese).

Shane did the dishes after dinner, so he got a point.  He wanted to know what he was earning points for and I told him I didn't know just yet, just that he had earned himself a point.  He sent me a sweet email yesterday and got another point.

It's a great system.

The good news is today the kids got Jersey back.

The bad news is today Shane lost a point.