Exasparating, yet funny and cute.

I was in the restroom when I heard a chair being dragged across the kitchen floor. I called to Jay to stop and put it back. I didn't hear him put it back, but it wasn't being dragged anymore. While I was washing my hands, I heard a crash, and "Oh, crap!" and little feet pitter-pattering around. I ran downstairs to find this: Jay already in "Time-out", and Karah licking the sugar Jayden had climbed up to get and dropped off the floor. The fact that he'd put himself in time out before I'd even left the bathroom subdued my anger from the fact that he'd climbed up onto the counter, gotten into the cabinet, and tried to sneak pure sugar while I was unable to stop him from the bathroom. He didn't even try to come out early, either, and then offered to help me clean up after the timer I'd set when I came downstairs went off. I am constantly shocked by what this child comes up with, and also with his sporratic "self-discipline".

Merry Christmas, Mommy and Daddy!

They watched an entire movie like this, without screaming once. Who says Santa and his magic aren't real??

Santa Came!!

About a week before Christmas, we decided to take the kids to the store and kind of investigate what they wanted in order to help them with their list for Santa. We went through every toy isle at Wal-Mart, and Jay wasn't impressed with ANYTHING! Well, he did like the $150 bike on display, but he wasn't interested in anything affordable. We'd gotten some ideas from Karah, and were wondering what to do for Jay's list when we walked passed the kid's bedding isle and a "Car's" character pillow caught his eye. He was adament that it was HIS pillow, he "needed" it, it was his "favorite". While we were trying to coax it away from him, he saw the Wall-E bedspread and went nuts. "OH WOW!! A Wall-E bed! Oh, this is awesome! Look, its Wall-E! This is MY bed..." and he kept going on and on and on! I asked him if he wanted to put that on his list for Santa, and he said "YES!" Unfortunately, he thought that meant we were buying that and the Car's pillow for him right then and there. We tried to explain that he needed to let Santa know first so that he could bring it for Christmas if he was able to, but Jay had a hard time understanding it. It took a lot to get him to calm down, and a very sweet couple were so wonderful in talking to him. The lady almost bought the pillow for him because she couldn't stand to see him so sad, but we explained politely that Santa would most likely bring it for him, if he was good. Jay eventually did calm down and we were able to see Santa a few days later. I don't know where Jay came up with it, but instead of asking for the Wall-E bed or the Cars pillow, he asked for money. Good thing I wrote Santa myself, because we had one very happy little boy on Christmas morning when he woke up to see that Santa brought him the Wall-E bedding along with a new (to him) bed from Grandma and Grandpa Richardson that fit the bedding. Dan and I ended up getting him the Cars pillow, and we have not had a Jayden want to sleep in our bed for the first time in his life! (Thank you, Santa!) Karah got a Princess chair so that she had somewhere to sit while watching shows like Jayden with his couch, and she loves that thing. She barely sits in it, but if a certain little boy gets close, her protective instincts kick in and take over. She has perfected the word "NO" and uses it quite often with anybody within earshot. She also got a baby buggy and high chair from Santa, and the Care Bears and new babies are well fed and well traveled now, all while she's trotting around in her little Princess shoes. She wasn't that great at walking in them at first, and even bit one and threw it across the room in a fit of rage because she kept falling down. She didn't want anything to do with them the rest of Christmas day, but the next morning the first thing she did was march upstairs, grab a pair of shoes, and then she stuck her feet up in the air and demanded I put them on her. She not only walked laps around the house perfectly, but she even managed to chase down Jay after he "kidnapped" her baby without falling down. Joanne was the perfect middle name for that child...We had a wonderful Christmas this year, and we hope everyone else did, too!

Temple Square

We decided to go to Temple Square to see the lights and Nativity scenes on Christmas Eve's eve. I took a lot more pictures, but they didn't turn out very well. Jayden LOVED to see "Baby Jesus" and made us stand there forever looking at the realistic looking one with Luke 2 playing in the background. It was awesome to see how he marveled, his big eyes barely blinking. We had to take a break and dash inside the visitor's center to use the restroom and to warm up. While we were thawing out, we walked past the paintings depicting Christ's life, and Jay was just precious with his explanations! He knew everyone in the Nativity picture by name, and when we got to the picture of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus, he was so excited to see "Nephi" and Jesus together, swimming. We explained that it was John the Baptist and not Nephi, and he started singing a song from Scripture Scouts about John. My heart melted! We went along and reached the picture that shows Christ on Palm Sunday, riding on a donkey. Jay looked puzzled for a minute, then exclaimed "Jesus is pretending to be Mary!!" I love his little mind!!

After the paintings, we went back outside to see more lights. Every corner we turned was accompanied by an "Ohhhh WOW! Ohhhhh PRETTY!!" from Karah. We walked by the Tabernacle and heard the organ playing, so we went inside to see what was going on. The organist was just practicing, and Jay loved it. I love the picture I got of him peeking over the pew to watch! We walked around the temple and saw the white Nativity family in the reflection pool. Jay loved the "Snow-Baby Jesus". It was getting late, colder, and starting so snow again, so we decided it was time to leave. Jay did NOT want to leave Baby Jesus. He cried half-way to the car about how he missed Baby Jesus, and how he needed him. We got a lot of smiles from people we passed. Dan was able to finally redirect Jay's attention and cheer him up by taking a little time to play in the snow. We went home and had a little bit of hot chocolate, read Grandpa Rick's Tom and John Christmas story he wrote for me two years ago. It was a very fun-filled, spiritual evening that I will always cherish.

Christmas Tree Fun!

Why do I hate myself? j/k

A friend of mine had the brilliant idea of "trading kids" for our anniversaries this month. I would take her 3 kids (Lily age 1, Brynn age 4, and Isaac age 6) overnight for hers, and she would take my 2 kids overnight for mine. Dan and I spent Sunday night getting the house ready, cleaning the kitchen, straightening the living room, and so on. We got things looking good, and I spiffed things up even more before they came on Monday afternoon. Being the self-loather that I apparently am, I decided that the kids would help me make dinner. Not just part of dinner, but EVERYTHING, including dessert. We started at 3:00 pm (dinner was at 5:30) by baking homemade bread. The kids did everything and I helped them count. While the bread was rising, I had the brilliant idea to bake sugar cookies. So, we did that, too, and the kids rolled out the dough and cut out the cookies. While they were cutting out the cookies, I found this recipe for homemade chicken nuggets! "Oh, that would be so much fun for the kids!!" I thought. Where was the person that was supposed to tell me "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND, WOMAN?? YOU'VE ALREADY BAKED BREAD AND COOKIES!! JUST GET OUT THE MAC AND CHEESE!" So, we cleaned up the cookie mess with the promise we'd frost them later, and we set out hammering the chicken flat (in baggies, of course) with our fists, and then doing the same with the crackers. We soaked the chicken strips we'd pounded in egg and milk, then each child got to shake a few in a bag of cracker crumbs with dash of Italian seasoning. As if I hadn't done enough already, I decided that I would make up a sauce to go over noodles (it tasted great, by the way). As the kids sat down to eat their dinner that they had made, I looked at my formerly spotless kitchen and decided that I must indeed hate myself. I could have just done easy macaroni and cheese and the cleanup would be 5 minutes, but no. I had to turn my kitchen into a flippin' 5 star gourmet restaurant for kids. I'm pretty sure that when I swept up my floor, I would have been able to make another batch of cookies...

An Early Merry Christmas

I've always been a "gamer". I have 2 games that I like to play in my spare time (ha). Warcraft 3 and Halo 2. Dan and I had gotten an Xbox Live account when we got married so that we could play with some of our friends that lived across town without going out into the frigid Idaho weather. We kept it after we'd made some good friends and played with the same people for years. There were a few points where we either didn't have internet, or we were too busy to play and we'd forgotten we even had the account. After Karah was born (and she would only sleep if I was sitting up with her) I began to play again. It had been about a year since I'd last played. Online it is so easy to forget your standards because no one can see you. I decided that I wasn't going to let that affect me. I was a mother holding my child while I played, and I was going to act like it. No swearing, and only promoting niceness. I developed a close knit group of friends over the last year, even emailing and chatting with some outside of Halo. Once the economy got bad, and Dan's job became uncertain, we've been looking for areas to but back on our spending. My Xbox Live account fell into that category. I explained to my friends (not all of them were guys) that I probably wouldn't be back for a long time, if ever. My account was about to expire anyway, so we just let it. I got a few emails begging me to find someway to get back because everyone was now fighting and they all missed my "Mommy humor". I explained that until things got better for Dan's job, I wouldn't be able to. A few weeks later, I got a card in the mail, and part of it said this:

"When I heard that your account got cancelled, I rounded up some of the guys from the clan and asked them if they'd like to donate to me through Paypal to try and get you back online. Hott Karlz, Johnny2xs, and firecake were all for it! I went online and bid on a number of auctions on a year of Xbox Live for you and I ended up winning one! If you aren't on as much, we all understand, but at least you'll have it for a year and you can hop on whenever you have some spare time to relax. So Merry Christmas from all of us!" He went on to explain how to make a new account and then said this: "Merry Christmas again and I hope your whole family, Dan, you, Jayden, and Karah get to spend a lot of quality time together throughout the holidays! Thank you for always taking the time to go out of your way to care about people."

I had no idea that I meant enough to this group that they would pool in and get me back for a year! I cried when I read the letter, and it was just an all out awesome experience to realize I'd made a difference to people all over the world for sticking to my standards and reaching out to listen to people. This is a huge example to me that even though it may seem like no one is watching, someone always notices you. What they notice about you is what makes the difference.

Thank you, Johnny!! It really meant a lot!!

Fine.

Mom has said she won't listen to me until I blog, so here it is.

Jaydenisms:

"Mom! I'm so sick of Karah messin' with my movie!!"

"What does a fire dog say? OUCH OUCH I'm BURNING!!"

"What does a mad cow say? (deep voice) MOOOOO!"

"What does a happy cow say? (giggle-like) MooOOOoooOOO!!!!"

"What does a crab say? PINCH PINCH" (while he pinches you)

"Karah Jo-MANN!!!" (when he thinks she should be in trouble)

"Your feet stink, Dad."

"Superman can beat up Batman, hands down!" (made me so proud)

"There's a naked boy in the house!!" (as he's running around naked after a bath)

"Don't go, Daddy! Don't leave me here with HER!!!" (Dan was going to the store and Jay and I were butting heads that morning...)



Karah is all over the place. She is understanding so much lately, it is awesome. She is Jayden's shadow. Sometimes he likes it, sometimes he doesn't. It is because sometimes she'll do everything he tells her to, and then sometimes she gets fed up with him and wants to be the boss instead. That doesn't set well with Jayden, and he comes to me complaining how he's "so sick of Karah thinking she's all that."

We've all been sick this week, starting last Friday. Fun stuff!! Jayden has taught himself how to use the DVD player in the office and pretty much crashed in there watching Kung Fu Panda and Baby's Day Out while I tried to manage Karah. Neither kid slept a wink the first three nights of the illness, so neither did I, and I welcomed the fact that he kept himself quietly occupied. Now we're all feeling better I've locked the office door andI have been meeting resistance. We had a 30 minute melt-down today after he only got to watch one movie one time, and then he proceeded to find other things to be offended by for about an hour or so.

Both kids are excited for Christmas, and Jay's been very good about not opening the presents. He will sit there next to his presents and just rub the box and tell me how he's going to open it on Christmas morning, and he makes guesses about what it will be. ("I fink dis one will be a cow.")

The Richardson Family in a nutshell this week.

"Gorgus"

There is a new word in our house: "gorgus". It means "gorgeous", and it is used by both Jayden and Karah to describe themselves when they "dress up fancy". As you can see, Karah LOVES to be "gorgus". She and Jayden "clip-clopped" all throughout the house for at least an hour in my dress shoes. Karah loves my shoes, but hates them at the same time. She can usually make it at least 2 rounds before they slip off and she comes crying to me to put them back on. The princess tiara (one of what she considers her "pretties") must be worn if she sees it. The same with her other "pretties", the necklaces. I can see her being very girly, but tom-boyish, too with the way she handles herself with Jay. He grabbed one of her "pretties" and I was surprised at how fast she could move in my shoes to chase him down! This girl is most definitely a princess that can handle herself!

This one is a stinker...

Saturday night she was up at 10 pm, 12:30 am, 2 am, 3:45 am, and from 6:30 am on. We came home from church after Sacrament meeting because my back was killing me, and gave the kids some lunch. Karah got one good bite out of her chicken nuggets before she crashed. You can see that she's still holding on to them...

Family Fun!

I'm not sure where we got these, but Dan found a HUGE box of Popsicle sticks. He got them out and was "building stuff" with Jayden for the longest time! They "built" houses, trees, people, you name it. The following is my attempt replay one of their conversations.

Jayden: "Lets build a....TEEBEE!! (T.V.)"
Dan: "Okay, what shape is a T.V.?"
Jayden: "A square."
Dan: "Good job, now let's build our T.V. by making a square!" (they proceed to make a square, and then Jay starts putting things inside the "T.V.")
Dan: "Oh, Jay, what's that?" (pointing to the pile inside the T.V. and wondering if Jay is making a scene from a show or something.)
Jayden: "Sticks...."(with a look of unbelief on his face)

Jayden's tone when he said that totally came across as: "Uh, you're dumb"! I've never heard him use that tone, and I was just cracking up. Dan looked up at me and said, "I feel about an inch tall. I've been put down by a toddler." They continued to play together, and Jayden made sure Daddy know the difference between the sticks and reality..."This is a stick, Daddy (pointing to a stick) and that's Karah." (pointing to Karah) Again, the tone of voice Jay used with Dan for the REST OF THE NIGHT was hilarious!!

Oh, like Karah's "deer in the headlights" look?

...and yet again I make a fool of myself...

Saturday morning I fell down the stairs and felt something pop in my lower back. No problem! I was in a little bit of pain, but not tons. Sunday morning, I did something embarrassing that ended up in my landing HARD on my tailbone and shooting excruciating pain up my back. I now need help up and down the stairs, I can't pick up my kids, and cleaning is just out of the question (not that it wasn't already....). I'm hoping that this is just some pulled muscles and that I'll be fine in a few days. In the mean time, my kids are so excited that they can now out run me and stay JUST out of reach to taunt me. It is SO DARN FRUSTRATING!!! Of course, they think it is hilarious. UGH!! Sometimes I just need a NANNY!!

...I answered the questions truthfully, I promise...

I have no idea where they came up with this figure... I'm sure ALL of you disagree with that percentage!! (I know I do...I wouldn't call blogging my addiction!!)


71%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Online Dating

Snow Day!!!

We had so much fun in the snow this week! This was Karah's first time playing in the snow...she was too little last year! She did NOT want help walking in the snow (not from me, anyway). She would face plant and then scream "MAMA!!! I DOWN!!! I DOWN!!!" I would help her up, and then she would push me away, only to fall down again. She finally got the hang of it, though. Jay was so excited when he woke up to see snow. "AWESOME!!! ITS SNOWING!! LETS GO OUT NOW!!" He did such a good job helping me find the snow suits, boots, and hats. He helped me get Karah ready and was just dancing with excitement. When we finally made it outside, he was everywhere! He showed Karah how make snow angels and tried to have a snow fight. It was so fun to watch them being such good friends!




Karah's first face plant--Snow is COLD!!!


Jayden helping Karah find her "snow feet". Such cute siblings!!

Jayden eating snow.Karah trying to eat snow. She got ticked off after a few tries and threw a snow tantrum...


When Karah and Mommy were done playing in the snow, we had another tantrum from Jayden. Promises of hot chocolate did nothing to console him. It took him 10 minutes to even listen to me! Once he realized that Karah already had her luke-warm chocolate, he threw another tantrum that I didn't like him as much as Karah because she had her chocolate drink. DRAMA!! We drank our hot chocoloate, had lunch, then sat down to watch Mickey Mouse Club House. Both kids were out before Toodles was called...

Peanut Butter Painting

I was livid. These pictures were taken after I had cleaned off a Peanut Butter Baby (Karah) and half of the peanut butter off the floor. It went all the way down the stairs, it was on the walls, baby gates, the couches--I had gone into the office to send Dan a file and was gone about 10 minutes. The pantry has since been locked tight. The kids each got a rag and got to help me clean it all up. It amazes me how fast catastrophes can happen!!! (The ENTIRE jar was spread throughout our house!!)

More "Belle"

Princess tiaras are now a part of every day life in the Richardson house. Karah LOVES to dress up and be "pretty". The child does not, however, permit bows in her hair. Drives me nuts. She loves her Belle dress Grandma Kathi sent for Halloween, as you can probably guess.

More Halloween

Ok, I guess the pictures of the guys are on my camera, and the card reader is MIA. These are pics that my friend took at our ward party. The kids had a BLAST with Halloween in general! My friend and I helped eachother get ready for our ward party during the day. She did my hair, and I told Jayden that this was my "princess hair". He replied with "No, not princess hair. You're just a mom." Ouch. However, when we got home and I put my dress on, his face lit up and he exclaimed, "YOU CINERELLA!!!!!" I was not "Mommy" for the rest of the night. AWESOME! The party was difficult because Dan had to run the Priesthood booth, and I had tiny kids running away from me the whole night. Pretty much our whole neighborhood showed up, and the kids had plenty of places to hide from me! We were all pooped when we got home!

Trick or Treating was awesome! We went to Grandma and Grandpa Richardson's neighborhood...a guy in their ward works for Nestle, and he hands out BEAST bars :D. Poor Jay had a hard time in the beginning...he was so excited to get candy that his little legs couldn't keep up with how fast he wanted to go. The older kids were so good with Jayden. They slowed down and made sure that he didn't have to run to keep up with them. There was one point where we were near a large group of teenage boys dressed as pirates. They each had a musical instrument, and they would sing and play for the houses. I thought it was fun, but Jay was a little freaked out. He got close to me, grabbed my skirt, and said: "I hold your skirt so the pirates won't take me away, okay, Cinerella?" He did so well with the candy, too. Last year, he did not understand that he couldn't eat each piece as we walked to the next house. This year, he was excited about hoarding his candy to eat it later. I was afraid that we would have problems with Karah in that area, but she surprised me. (Like usual...) She would prance up to the house with her hand outstretched, inspect the candy, then put it in her bucket. She was the only girl in our group, and played that up big time. She would smile, twirl, and play every cute trick in the book to get that candy!! Oh, and she kept her tiara on for the entire time she Trick or Treated!! They were both very good with "thank yous" and Karah walked a lot of the time. After about an hour and a half, she was done. She just wanted to sit and watch a movie in Grandma's lap. Jay and Daddy went back out with the boys and almost doubled our loot. Karah was ready to go home, but Jay wanted to go Trick or Treating some more. That is where we had the meltdown...the kid would have stayed out until his feet fell off. Needless to say, both kids were asleep when their heads hit the pillow. We have had fun with our candy, as it is now a reward for good behavior!! :D Thank you, Grandma Kathi for making Karah's ADORABLE costume!! We got so many compliments on our "Royal Family"!

Halloween Freaks

The Ickies

I know I have my camera back, but the Richardsons have been fighting off the ickies since my last post. It started with Jayden throwing up and having a fever, then Karah and I both got upset tummies and fever for a few days. Karah has not been waking up happy since she's been sick and it lasts all freakin day. Hopefully since we all woke up fever-free this morning (5:00 am thanks to the little princess) we can get some happy attitudes in time for our ward party tonight and get some great pics!!

*Sigh*

Jayden has been potty trained for about 3 weeks now. The first week and a half, he woke up dry every morning. This last week and a half he has been wetting the bed. I had finally caught up with laundry, and now the only thing I can get done is his bedding. It takes all day to wash and dry his bedding. When Jayden wakes up after wetting the bed, he comes to our room and sometimes wets our bed. Fun fun!! Dan and I were hesitant to put him in a pull-up at night because we didn't want him to want to go back to diapers. We finally gave up and bought some, and some plastic sheets for both of our beds. We went to sleep happy and peaceful because we had thought of everything and I would finally be able to wash clothes!!! At 7:00 this morning, Jay walked into our room, screaming. He crawled onto our bed and threw up.

A Quiet Kid is a Mischievous Kid

Its my own fault for putting my makeup away while he was in the bathroom...he found my hiding place. Not too bad for a 2 year old boy...

Hiking

Jayden hiked (ran) the whole way up to the tree, hiked (ran) with Uncle Jordan up to a different vantage point, then had to be carried back down to the tree. Luckily Randy and Lecia had brought an extra kid backpack just in case. Jay was so excited to be "Daddy's Backpack".
I didn't realize how slippery little rocks could be, or how heavy my daughter had become until this hike. Dan was mainly holding my hand because we are madly in love, and partly holding my hand so I wouldn't fall backwards and squish his daughter when we came to a slippery spot.
This is Kelsi and Jordan. Jordan was on his mission when all of the excitement was going on, and it was a huge relief to him to come home and see that things were as well at home as he'd been told. He is single, ladies.
This picture was taken about 4 feet from the ground, don't worry, and Dan, Jordan, Randy, and Andrew were all very close by just in case. Kelsi has a picture similar to this from right before she fell, and she wanted to take another one to show that she is the same Kelsi today as she was before the fall.

Kelsi's Tree

This is THE tree. Kelsi fell about 20 feet from this tree, landed on her feet, and then pitched forward into a pile of rocks causing her to lose consciousness. So many miracles happened after she fell. That is the only way I can describe it. Heavenly Father definitely had His hand in this. It was an awesome experience to be there at the tree with the family and share the different experiences we had all had and learned from. Only those of us who knew her well before the accident can tell a difference, and it is getting harder every day.
The Life Flight Paramedics told Randy that the flat area just right of the tree was the only place they could have landed the helicopter for about 5 miles every direction. It was about 50 feet from where Kelsi fell.
Randy standing on the hill, remembering waving down the helicopter.
The Richardson Family (minus Lecia taking the picture, and Mike, Adrienne and Greg.)

Camping Trip

I (finally) have our camping pictures!! This trip was very, very special to our family. Jordan had just gotten home from his mission from Ireland, and the first thing he wanted to do was go see where Kelsi had her accident and pray as a family there. It was an awesome trip, but a little stressful thanks to the little sloppy joe smiley face up there. She screamed all night our first night. We were supposed to be up there 2 nights, but Dan and I left the second night instead of going through that again. Jayden and Benji played in the truck a lot, but got in trouble almost every time. We would lock the doors and roll up the windows, and next thing we knew they were back in there with the windows down! We realized that they would climb into the bed of the truck, and the back window doesn't lock properly. They would open that window and climb inside!! Little troublemakers!!!! We had sloppy joes one night for dinner. I think Karah likes them...that child ate 5 on her own!!!!! FIVE!!!! And she'd been eating good the whole trip, too. We had a blast!!

The Camera Has Been Found!!!

Please bear with the old pictures that I'm about to post...the camera has been missing since July!!!

Where the HECK do they come up with this stuff????

I had just hit "Publish Post" on the Care Bear/Necklace story when I looked up to see that Jayden had dug through the trash in the office and found an old tube of liquid foundation makeup. Not only did he find it, but he empied the WHOLE FREAKIN TUBE ON KARAH'S HEAD!!!!! My first reaction was pure horror because she's been going through a silly phase where she crawls with her head on the carpet, but then I just started laughing. Not a good thing when Jayden is STILL holding the tube of makeup. I had to wrestle that away from him while I had to keep Karah from getting Mary Kay's WATERPROOF foundation on the couch and carpet. 4 or 5 shampoos later, her hair still has a little tint of peach to it, but it was getting to difficult to hold with one hand and wash with the other since she was in a highly uncooperative mood. She's now been bathed 3 times today...once in the morning because it had been a few days, once in the afternoon because Jay decided to give her a thing of yogurt while I was in the bathroom and she fingerpainted her entire body with it, and now this...Motherhood is NEVER dull!!!

Drama Anyone?

There were two things that I HAD to get Karah for her birthday...necklaces and a Care Bear. Had I known the insanity that would follow, I might have scrapped both ideas. Care Bear (we call Karah Kare Bear) HAS to be within Karah's line of sight at all times. It goes everywhere with us. She is okay with certain people handling the bear...as long as she can see that it is being brought to her and not away. People not in our family are pretty much asking for their ear drums to rupture if they attempt to take the bear. I think it is funny, since it is a small "Share Bear", because she is not about to try sharing that thing. Last night when she wasn't paying attention (I think there was a diaper change going on...) Jayden decided that the bear was "too dirty" for Baby Karah, so he gave it a bath in the sink. It was getting a little dingy, but a full on dunking right before bedtime was not what I had in mind for cleaning it. Unfortunately, it is a glow in the dark bear and therefore we are not able to put it in the dryer. Oh, bedtime was a nightmare last night. She graced us for about an hour of "Mah Caaaa-Baaaaa!!!!" (My Care-Bear!!!) I felt so bad. This morning Care Bear was clean and dry, and she squealed with happiness for about 15 minutes after re-aquiring the thing. She has also been even more possesive of it, if that is possible...

Drama #2...the necklaces. Poor Mom got to hear the start of it on the phone yesterday. Karah got about 9 play necklaces for her birthday. Since then, the necklaces have been distributed all over the house and the cars. Karah had a red necklace and was playing with it...putting it around her neck, making bracelets out of it, and just swinging it around. After about 10 minutes, it looked like so much fun to Jayden. He decided that he NEEDED to play with it. The Battle of the Necklaces had begun. High pitched screams from Karah, and whinning cries from Jayden carried over the phone to Grandma. Jayden had taken the necklace and refused to give it back. So, I searched and found another necklace (the same necklace, only purple) and gave it to Karah. She was happy, he was not. He wanted the purple one and Karah would NOT trade. So, the Battle of the Necklaces turned into an all out War of the Purple Necklace. Jayden was crying on the floor, letting us know he did NOT want the red one, he wanted the PURPLE ONE, and Karah found this to be the perfect opportunity to get him back for all the times he'd pushed, tackled, hit, ground her head into the floor, slapped...you get the picture. She started WHIPPING him with the @#%!# necklace!! She was letting him have it in her language, too. I was across the room, so she got some good whacks in before I made it there, but she got a good, long time out for that one, along with both necklaces being taken away. I had no idea two pretty necklaces could be the cause of so much contention!!!

I am alive....

I know, I know, I've kind of dropped off the face of the earth there for a while. Not that it isn't out of character for me, but I've had a hard time blogging without pictures to back me up. This no camera thing is driving me crazy!! I'd finally learned how to upload the pictures and was getting into blogging when the camera went MIA during our camp out. Just my luck... Anyways, so much has happened since then!! I should have been posting everything regardless, but that is my bad and I'll try to remember everything. Jayden and Karah have grown so close since we put them in the same room. When Karah started teething a few weeks ago, she'd wake up and cry in the middle of the night. We'd rush in there and grab her before she'd wake up Jay, then we learned that it was pointless. 5 minutes after we brought Karah into our room, Jay would wake up, screaming: "Where's my sister??? I need my sister!!! KARAH????", and she would be fighting her way to him. So, we just let Jayden wake up and comfort her after that. 

Well, Karah has 5 teeth now, and we decided it was time to get her a toothbrush. Jayden decided he needed a new one too. Thanks to Grandma Kathi, Jayden is on a Wall-E kick, and Eva is his favorite character. He found a toothbrush with Eva on it and HAD to have it. When Karah saw the Eva toothbrush, she chucked the little baby toothbrush I'd given her and we proceeded to have WW3 over Jayden's toothbrush. Instinct kicked in, and I grabbed a Cinderella toothbrush that was similar to the Eva toothbrush, but it was pink and purple instead of black and yellow, and handed it to Karah. Peace was found until Jayden tried to LOOK at her toothbrush. Not take it, but LOOK at it. I'm sure that people in the Old Navy next to our Super Target heard the bloodcurdling screams that came from my little sweetheart. Jayden's face was priceless.  Unfortunately, Karah's scream only warded his curiosity for a little while, and I was soon sprinting to the check out line. The nice thing that came from this is that both kids love their toothbrushes, and brushing their teeth.

Jayden has taken to being a puppy. Most of the time this is okay with me, but he sometimes tries to use being a puppy to get out of things like going potty in the toilet, going to bed, and eating his food. Dan and I were going crazy one night trying to get him to listen to us, when finally Dan said, "Jayden, if you don't get in your bed and stay there, the Dogcatcher is going to come and get you!!" Those words were like magic. Jay let out a huge sob, and ran downstairs and jumped into his bed. That trick worked for about 2 weeks, but it has started to die down now. We now have to put him in our room for bedtime because Karah has decided that bedtime is for wussies and she cries for about an hour until she falls asleep. This was a problem for a few days until Grandma Kathi suggested we play some music in the hallway for them. I turned on the Scripture Scouts CDs that we have, and now that has to be played for naps and bedtime, but the main thing is that it works.

Karah has been talking up a storm. She has added "yucky", "milk", "drink", and "down", along with other gibber-jabber that Jayden and I can translate. She is running all over the place now, not walking, and WILL NOT keep a freaking hair bow in her hair!! It drives me nuts. She has to be doing what Jayden is doing almost at all times, and heaven forbid you treat her like a "baby". She is very into jewelry and has monopolized the toy stroller at play group. She almost gave herself an aneurysm yesterday when another little girl tried to take it. I have been trying to get her to share, but it is like trying to teach a fish how to speak English. I have to hold her in my lap when it is someone else's turn with the stroller, and she lets the whole world know that she is not happy with me. I think I know what she'll be getting from Santa this year...

Jayden went to Benji's birthday party last week, and he talks about it all the time. I made the dumb mistake of mentioning that Jayden will have a birthday in January. He wakes up every morning asking me if it is time for his birthday party. Everything we see or do has birthday party potential.  He wraps "presents" (toys in clothes), finds "birthday hats" (plastic bowls upside-down on his head), points out the party things every time we go to the store, and asks me if I'm going to bake his cake any time I go into the kitchen. I'm on day 12 of this...and I'm trying to figure out how to make this party (in January) live up to his expectations!!!

Well, there is a little peek at what has been going on for the last few weeks. I'm sorry I've been slacking!!

Broken Trust

Jayden will not eat anything I try to give him anymore. He will eat anything Dan gives him. All day today I have tried to get him to eat anything, even pulling out cookies!! If it was in my hands, he had nothing to do with it. I was totally baffled until about 10 minutes ago when Dan and I were trying to figure out what we could get Jay to eat. He would just run away from me when I suggested something. Finally, Dan made him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and he gobbled it down like I'd been starving him. After a small investigation we've found that Jay apparently thinks that I'm trying to sneak cat poop into his food!! Food made by Daddy is safe, while Mommy food is "yucky cat poop." On one hand, it is pretty funny. On the other, my kid thinks I'm poisoning him/thinks my food literally tastes like crap. I've got some mixed emotions going on here...

A Two Year Old's Logic...

Ok, so yesterday I made a beef stew with hamburger as the meat. This is one of Jay's and my favorite things to eat. I'd slaved away in the kitchen making this meal, and even baked fresh bread to go along with it. (A huge feat, since Jay and I both woke up with fevers...) Daddy gets home, and right before we are able to sit down and eat, we get a knock on the door. It was a friend who came over to take pictures of the house. While we were putting the trash cans in the garage, Jayden found the kitty litter box and was about to play in it when I told him that it was where the kitties went poop. (We still have 2 kittens left...) He was clearly disgusted. We went inside to finally eat, and Jayden would not touch his soup. I threatened him and he finally took a bite, but looked like he was about to throw up. I couldn't understand why he went from not being able to wait to eat his "hobo soup" to gagging at the very thought!! It wasn't until he spilled his soup on accident that I got the answer. He went and got a paper towel and picked up a piece of hamburger off the floor. "See, Mommy? That's CAT POOP!!!" The poor kid thought I was trying to feed him cat poop for dinner!! I tried to explain that it was hamburger, not cat poop, but he didn't buy it. I'd made enough soup to last for a couple of days, but it looks like I'm going to have to make him something separate anyway. Poor kid!!

Where is Karah?

*Squeak, squeak!!* There she is! She finally fits into her squeaky shoes that Rylee got her for Christmas! I wish I knew where my camera was, because she was just precious the first time I put them on her. She assumed the "frisking" position, hands up on the wall with her legs spread apart, and was watching her feet while she stomped them. Jayden joined her, making his shoes light up. She loves those shoes!! If she can see them, they need to be on her feet. She wore them to a dinner with Great Grandma and Grandpa Richardson, and everyone loved them, too. We knew exactly where she was at all times. I am going to be so sad when she grows out of them!! Thank you, Aunt Krissa, Uncle Matt, and Cousin Rylee!!

Kittens Anyone????

We have 3 kittens left, free to good homes!! Our house has officially been taken over by animals! The kittens are not from our outdoor cat, but from Dan's grandma's outdoor cat. We had her cat carrier when she wanted to get the thing fixed, so we are now responsible for finding homes for the kittens. They are so cute, and the kids absolutely love them. Poor kittens...Jayden is very good about being soft and careful, but he loves to catch them and hand them to Karah and well, she's not. She squeals and squeezes, tries to walk with the kitten over to me, and usually trips over the tail. She LOVES animals. Too much. Yesterday one of the kittens was in the house awaiting their new owner. Karah picked it up by the ears before we could get to it, and it probably had a sore tail after Jayden caught it going under the couch... Needless to say, we are giving the animals away not only because of Dan's allergies, but for their own survival.

Jayden's Revenge...

I have had several posts recently about the Birds from Heck getting into our house and tormenting my little boy. Well...today we accidentally got the bird species back... We were on our way home from picking Daddy up from work, when out of NOWHERE, a bird smacked into our windshield...we were going 70 mph. I screamed, "Oh my gosh, we killed a bird!!", Dan jumped, and Jay was wide eyed. "Bam bam Birdie!!" He cried, re-enacting the sound the bird had made bouncing off our car. "I killed Birdie?" he asked. "No, no, you didn't kill the bird, Jay," Dan reassured him. "Daddy killed it." Jay said. We tried to explain that it was an accident, and no one's fault. The bird had simply flown into the car. "It's Birdie's fault." Jay replied to our explanation. "Birdie got hurt. Kiss it, Mom." We heard that the rest of the way home. I was happy to realize that he didn't really know what the word "killed" meant, that he was just repeating what I had said when I wasn't thinking straight, and that he was really concerned for the welfare of the bird. Is it bad that I told him that the bird was okay, and that he flew away to play?

Conversations With Jayden...

At the Grocery Store...
Jayden: "Jesus!!! JESUS!!!" (He was pointing emphatically to a man with a beard and mustache)
Mommy: "No, Sweetheart, that isn't Jesus."
Jayden: (after thinking for a moment) "Okay, that's Nephi!!"
It feels so good to know that he's kind of paying attention to church!

In the car...
Jayden: "I want to go to the airport."
Mommy: "Why do you want to go to the airport?"
Jayden: "I want to pick up Grandma." (This was the day after Mom went home...)
Mommy: "Jay, Grandma isn't at the airport anymore. She's in Texas."
Jayden: "I want to go to Texas."
Mommy: "We don't have the money to go to Texas right now."
Jayden: "Grandpa does in his pocket!!"

He has also been conspiring ways to get to Texas...
"Thomas the train can take us..."
"I can ride Aggie to Texas..."
"I want to go to the airport. I'm going to Texas."

He even brought me his wallet with $7 in it, asking me to take him. He sure misses his Grandma!!!

Why me?

I have been going crazy this week looking for our camera!! I took it with me when we went camping with Dan's family last week, and now it is nowhere to be seen. I had so many pictures of Kelsi's tree, the family, and of course, my cute kids!! I know this sounds silly, but please pray that I'll find my camera!

4 Things I'm Thankful For...

1. I'm thankful for the dryer dying...I am able to appreciate what my ancestors had to go through with hanging up the clothes throughout the house because it has been raining off and on the last few days. Plus, I've always loved playing "Pioneer"!!

2. I'm thankful for the wild birds getting into the house. It makes my life unpredictable and exciting, never knowing when we are going get "attacked". It also gives me the opportunity to be a hero, and I get awesome snuggle times with Jayden.

3. I'm thankful that Karah won't stay away from the window and blinds...it means that she can see and appreciate the beauty of the world. It also means that she is strong and determined. She will get what she wants out of this life.

4. I'm thankful for Heavenly Father's sense of humor for giving me trials that I can sit back and laugh at with my husband and children.

Our Daddy, the Hero

I just talked to Dan on the phone (the first time today...YAY me!!) and he told me the reason Jayden woke up 3 1/2 hours earlier than usual... Dan woke up very early to the terrified screams coming from Jayden's room. He said they were not the normal "I had a nightmare" screams, but some "I'm about to die!!!!!" screams. He went down to see what was the matter, and another *insert bad word* bird had gotten into our house and was dive-bombing my poor baby boy!! Dan caught the bird and threw it outside, then tried to get Jayden to calm down. Karah woke up during all of the commotion, so going back to bed was not an option. Daddy bravely faced the cranky kids alone, trying to keep them from waking me. Thank you, Sweetheart, for being our Hero!!

Chocolate Chip Cookies are Magic

The last few nights have been kind of weird with everyone. Monday night, I stayed up all night reading the new Twilight book. (For those of you who stopped at book 2, keep going. Book 2 stinks, but it is necessary...books 3 and 4 are AWESOME!) I'm the type of person who literally cannot put a book down until it is done. Food is brought to me to ensure that I eat, and sleep will not come until I know "the rest of the story". I've tried. Anyway, I stayed up Monday night, and Karah got up at 5:30 am, Jayden at 6. I gave Karah an early nap, and tried with Jay to get him asleep, but did not succeed. I got an hour nap while Karah slept, then another hour and 30 minutes after Dan got home. I stayed up late Tuesday night, too, because I got a call from a friend that needed to talk. It was okay....I'd gotten another rush of adrenaline 5 minutes before the call came. So, with that background, this morning both kids got up before 6. My loving husband, knowing the last few nights I had, got up with them. The poor man had such a hard time waking me up before he left that I think he was late for work. Last night he and I made chocolate chip cookies together. After I woke up, the kids were both whining and crying. Jayden was freaking out that Karah threw a Cheerio on the floor. He was sobbing, yelling at her, and demanding that I pick it up and put her in Time-Out. Karah was giggling (an evil little giggle...) at his reaction after each Cheerio she dropped. (Little stinker). I was trying to calm Jay down when Karah kicked him in the head, on purpose, as he was picking up the Cheerios off the floor. I can't say that sent him over the edge, because he had already been there, but that set him off on an even more uncontrollable fit. Karah started yelling at him, probably telling him to be quiet. I'd only been up an hour, but I couldn't take both of them being sassy and vindictive. They had already had a big breakfast and I'd given them snacks in the middle of this ordeal, so hunger was not the culprit. Fatigue was. I put Karah in her crib, and then I had to carry a screaming, squirming, flailing body upstairs to my room and hold him down so he wouldn't go and hit Karah back. 15 minutes later and the tantrum was still going. (From both kids...they were yelling their obscenities to each other...Jay- "I wanna HIT KARAH!!! I wanna HIT HER!! BE QUIET KARAH!!" Karah- "DAYDAAAAAY!!! (Jay Jay) A blabber dado * long toot noise* AHHHHHHH!!!") I calmly asked Jayden if he wanted a cookie. Silence. "Yes *sniff* please." I said if he laid down and took a nap, I would give him a cookie when he woke up. 5 minutes later, he was out, and so was Karah...she'd stopped yelling when he did. Wow. All it took was the promise of a cookie! I wish I'd thought of that earlier before my headache hit...I took advantage and had a nap myself. Karah only slept for an hour, but I think she'll take another nap later this afternoon... Jayden will probably sleep for at least 3-4 hours...he needs it!

Gotcha!!

Jayden pulled her off the back of the couch. At first, she thought it was fun, but then he wouldn't let her go. She has such a temper! Jayden kept saying, "Gotcha, Karah, gotcha!! I give you bear hugs!!" Karah was letting him have it in her language, and he would just laugh. I had a very long day yesterday...

Caught in the Act...

This is what is happening at my house EVERY FLIPPING TIME I turn around...both kids up and messing with my blinds!! Jayden isn't as bad as Karah. He understands crime and punishment and the top picture was actually him trying to get her down. He's not all perfect, though. There are some times when I catch him and he tries to blame it on her. I guess this is just the beginning...