Precious...

No pics of this, but I had to blog these things... The night before last (I believe...it has been a blur with the illness in the house) we realized we were out of Children's Tylenol. Not good when you have 2 sick children...so, Dan told Jay he was going to the store to get medicine, and Jay had specific orders for him: "I want da PURPLE little medicines, not da pink. No pink, okay, Daddy? Not da juice ones (liquid). Da LITTLE PURPLE ONES! (Meltaways)." Well, Dan called me from the store, kind of frantic. They didn't have purple ANYTHING. Not one brand had grape flavored children's pain reliever! So, he bought what they had. Jayden freaked out. "I said PURPLE! Dis is PINK!" and proceeded to explain to Dan the differences between the two through sobs. Dan felt so bad, but there was nothing he could do about it, really. He snuggled Jay to sleep to try and make up for it, but the little guy has the memory of an elephant, or something. All I've heard since then when I get the pain reliever out is: "Daddy got the WRONG one!"

Jay woke up again last night and came into our bedroom just miserable. He was coughing, wheezing, crying from a tummy ache, and feverish. He climbed up into Dan's lap and said, "Daddy, I want a blessing." Dan and I just looked at each other, amazed that he A. remembered what a blessing was, and B. understood that it could make him feel better! I have never seen him so still or reverent during any other prayer in his life. After it was done, he gave each of us a hug and went back to sleep in our bed. How awesome is that? I can't really describe how that made me feel to see my little boy be so filled with faith at such a young age. I am so blessed to have such great men in my life such as my husband and son, and I am so blessed that my husband is such a great example to my son.

Icky Sickies

Sunday night, I was beat. The kids were cranky, I was tired as all get out, and Dan and I decided the kids were going to bed early. 7:00 pm early. At 6:45, we had prayer and scriptures, then went down to read stories. Neither kid wanted stories, amazingly, they just wanted to be held and snuggled. They were asleep in RECORD time, BEFORE 7:00!! (Neither kid had a nap). I went upstairs and flopped myself on the couch because Dan wanted me to proof read some things. I lasted about 20 minutes before I, too, was dreaming. Apparently, Dan carried me downstairs because at midnight we woke up (downstairs) to choking/screaming sounds coming from the kids' room. Jay was heaving. He didn't throw up, but it was because he was fighting it so hard, he was shaking. I ran him into the bathroom where he still fought the urges to throw up, but still had the heaves and gagging going on. Dan gave him a blessing, and he calmed down enough to tell me his tummy hurt. Then he let out a HUGE toot. He still complained of a tummy ache and didn't want to go back to bed, so we went upstairs to snuggle on the couch and talk. We talked for a while, then he wanted to watch Tom and Jerry for a while. I figured he'd fall asleep during it, but no...we were up until 6. (which was when Karah got up for the day...) Dan took Karah and let Jay and I sleep. Jay woke up before I did and woke me up, but he still had a tummy ache. Both kids are sick with fevers, coughs, and congestion, but Jay's is different than Karah's. His cough is like a bark, and his tummy hurts to the point that he will only drink water or diluted juice. Karah eats what he doesn't... The poor little guy is so sick to the point that he came into the livingroom after lunch, curled up on the floor, and passed out. I hope whatever he has goes away soon...

Little Miss Idependent....

We left the tortilla soup out on the table to munch on throughout the day. I guess she got hungry, too...

Jay's Party!

Jayden had a wonderful birthday week! He got phone calls from both

Grandmas, Aunt Kelsi, Uncle Andrew, Daddy, Grandpa Rick, and even

Cousin Megan on Thursday, he got a special breakfast of chocolate chip

pancakes, and Daddy brought home a pizza for dinner! We decided that

since his birthday was during the week, we'd have his party on Saturday.

We had a great time! I did plan for too much cake, though. We only ate

the pirate hat one. We still have a whole huge cake to eat...He got an

Aquadoodle mat, Play Doh, a Tom and Jerry DVD from the Richardsons,

a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ABC-123 game from Rylee and Nolan, a

basketball (and the cakes) from Mommy and Daddy, and a learning

laptop from Grandma Kathi and Grandpa Rick. It is the same laptop

that Jay and Rylee constantly fight over when we go to her house, so him

getting his own is great! Thank you, everyone, for your efforts in

making this little boy's birthday special!!

I Am My Mother's Daugher...

My mom is always throwing herself into big projects. Nothing can be simple. If she is asked to make a poster for a wrestling event, she ends up making at least 30 (one for each wrestler, regardless of whether or not they are going to wrestle that night), she makes dinner for the coaches and refs, she makes a mascot costume for a small child fan, and everything is done by hand. If someone asks her to bring a side dish to a pot luck dinner, she brings at least 6 different kinds just in case someone else forgot to bring something. She spends 60 hours a week on a hand out for her 18 month-3 year old class at church. (She's made cardboard ox-carts, bonnets, chaps, and vests just for a pioneer lesson, she's hand made flannel boars and magnet boards, she draws the characters, makes copies, colors them, cuts them out, laminates them, and then cuts them out again...) She is constantly making everything special by her love and effort put into things, and she never complains. That part I didn't inherit...I inherited the "throwing myself into seemingly impossible projects" part, but I lack her grace, patience, and talent in so many ways. This latest project I undertook was Jayden's birthday cake, AKA: The Birthday Cake from Heck. We decided that since we just had Christmas we'd try and make things special in other ways than just presents. We got him a basketball to go with his basket ball hoop, but I decided that since we were being frugal with the birthday presents, I would make up for it by making him the most ridiculously awesome (to him) birthday cake. We sat down with the Family Fun website and went through about 50 different cakes when he decided on one shaped like a pirate hat (standing up). I've done "specialty cakes" before, and this one looked fairly simple. I decided that instead of using a boxed cake, I would really go all out and bake it from scratch! And I would double the recipe because Dan's family was coming over along with Aunt Krissa and Rylee, and I wanted to make sure I had enough for everyone. I also decided that I would make everyone tortilla soup for lunch using dry beans instead of cans. "Piece of cake..." I thought. So, I set out making the cakes at 10:00 last night. I was going to make the pirate hat cake along with a big rectangular cake and decorate it like the ocean and stick some of Jay's pirate toys on top. I followed the directions exactly, but when the timer went off and I went to pull the cakes out, I screamed. The rectangle cake was OVERFLOWING all over my oven! The two circular cakes that made up the pirate hat looked done, but when I pulled them out to check them, they caved in! I will admit that I lost control and may have used some inappropriate language, but here was 10 1/2 cups of flour, 16 egg whites, 5 cups of sugar, and so on, appearing to be completely ruined. It was now 11:00 at night, I was exhausted from my day, and I burst into tears. All I'd wanted to do was bake a freaking cake and make it special for Jay (he'd been talking about his pirate hat cake all day) and I was a failure. I banished myself from the kitchen, cursing at myself, and locked myself in the office. My sweet husband held me while I cried and then went to the kitchen to see if he could salvage any of it. I called my Daddy and vented and cried to him a little, then tried to get my thoughts off of the darn cake by playing a little Halo. I don't know what miracle Dan performed, but he came upstairs about 45 minutes later and informed me that the cakes were done and looked good. Somehow, and I truly take no credit for this, but give it to a loving Heavenly Father and a dear husband of mine, the cakes ended up being perfect for what I needed. Everything went smooth this morning when I decorated the cakes and there is no evidence of my emotional breakdown last night...

Jayden's Birthday Thought...

This morning Jay came in and woke us up like every morning, but today was his birthday! We wished him a Happy Birthday instead of telling him to go back to bed and made a comment about how he was now 3 and growing so big! This was his reply:

"No, I smart big, not growing big."

What brothers do...

Poor girl. While I was making dinner Jayden found a Care Bear Band-Aid and decided that Karah needed it. I ran into the living room after hearing screams of protest from Karah to find this. I didn't want to take it out right away because Daddy and Uncle Jeff were very close to getting home and I wanted them to see it. Unfortunately Jayden had other plans and ripped it out of her hair before I could stop him. *Sigh* Sibling love...

Silly Daddy

Dan and Karah were having such a fun time with this game, so I tried to capture some shots of Karah in mid-air. I then decided I would try and catch her expression in the air, too. I know they aren't centered or anything, but they just cracked me up. Jay wanted in on the action, but unfortunately Daddy's arms were tired of throwing kids in the air by the time I started timing the shots for Jay right...

Uncle Jeff's Visit!

Jeff came into town for work this evening and had dinner with us.

We loved sharing our new nightly routine with him, however I

wrote down the wrong date and was expecting him tomorrow.

Luckily I felt a little inspired and made a big dinner . I did not,

however, focus the same amount of attention on the cleanliness

of my house as I have been due to the whole play-dough activities

that went on today. Bad Karlie, I know, so please ignore the mess

in the background. The kids LOVED playing with Uncle Jeff, and

it was so neat to sit back and watch them bond. He even put

Jayden, our nighttime terror, to sleep , no sweat! Thank you,

Uncle Jeff for the presents from Japan and for spending such

sweet time with us tonight!

Play Dough

The kids had a lot of energy today since we unplugged the cable. I decided it was time to start doing constructive things with our time, so I got out the Play Dough! (Doh?) Jayden LOVED it. He has a play set that has these little alien things that you put play dough inside of and when you smash it in, their "insides come out", as Jayden put it. He is such a boy. His sound effects were amazing. Tons of "BLEEEEEEHs", "AWWWWs", and "EWWWWWs" were filling my kitchen as the aliens were...mutilated? Some of them grew hair and he would give them hair cuts with his safety scissors. Karah was just sitting there, so I grabbed an alien and made it do its thing for her. She screamed. She did NOT like alien guts. It took me a while to calm her down, but she never got comfortable with it being close to her... She did warm up just enough to take a nibble and taste it, but after she spit it out she had nothing to do with it. If I put it near her, she'd scream. I think my daughter is strange. She's afraid of play dough. So, I have one kid that loves play dough and another one who is terrified of it. They really are complete opposites!!

Not So Fast Food

After we left the museum, Dan and I realized we were all starving. We debated on whether or not to get some fast food before going home. We decided that we would total the amount of the meals we would get at a fast food restaurant and then go to the grocery store to see if we could beat it. 2 kids meals and 2 adult meals would have cost us about $15.00 at Burger King (not including a dessert). I spent $22.00 at the grocery store and we've had 3 meals each from it so far! We've had fruit, Alphabet Tater Tots, hamburgers, chicken nuggets, Frosties, and drinks. Our hamburgers are custom made and yummy delicious, the kids love the snow-man shaped chicken nuggets, and after 3 full "not so fast food" meals, we STILL have stuff to make more! It may take a little longer than a restaurant, but it is much cheaper and tastes 10xs better! These pics are of the kids enjoying their Frosties. Karah started dipping her tots and nuggets in hers...so my daughter!!

The Church History Museum

I have been wanting to get out of the house with the kids the last few weeks, but I also wanted to have a family outing. I kept telling the kids we'd either go to the Church History Museum or the Aquarium, but I wanted Daddy to come along, too. I guess we could have gone during the week and then again on the weekend, but I wanted Dan to experience some of the excitement of being somewhere special with the kids for the first time in a long time...if that makes any sense at all. Plus, it is an extra person to help me juggle the kids around (Yeah, yeah, the truth came out...) So, we finally decided to reward ourselves this weekend for keeping up with our new rules and chores throughout the week and go to the museum. The kids LOVED it, especially the "I am a Child of God" exhibit. It started with a little baby nursery with baby dolls, clothes, "doctor" toys, bottles, and kid-sized rocking chairs and changing tables. Jayden worked very hard at making sure all of the babies had their hearts listened to, that their immunizations were up to date, and then he would hand them off to Karah to feed and rock. Half the babies were almost as big as Karah, and she looked so funny trying to "mother" these babies that were just about 2 inches shorter than her! She "bonded" with one little "premie" baby and loved to feed and rock it. We had a few "Code Adams" when she tried to take the baby out of the nursery area and play elsewhere. She wouldn't let Daddy or Jayden hold "her" baby, but she'd let me and I would calmly walk the baby back into the nursery while her attention was diverted. Once she noticed that her baby was missing, she'd run back into the nursery and snatch it up as fast as she could and we'd repeat the whole process again. They also had a dress up area, which she loved. I put one of the little costumes on her and she proceeded to parade around the area, flaunting and twirling for all who would look at her. And, if they didn't look at her she'd stand in front of them, twirling, smiling, and saying "Pretty" until they finally acknowledged her. Needless to say, she DEMANDED attention. They had an area where the kids could play blocks and Jay loved it. They could also put together a big puzzle on the wall that resembled a stained glass window. The wall lit up behind the pieces, and it was really cool. Both kids had a blast putting different colored pieces into their spots. As you left the exhibit (which our kids were a little reluctant to) there was a mirror with the words "I am a Child of God" above it. They played "Peek-a-Boo" with each other in the mirror, and then Karah inspected her hair and smile while Jay made silly faces. We had such a good time. I'm just mad that I left my camera at home!!

Yummy Breakfast!

Erica has been sharing some of her yummy recipes and food ideas from time to time on her blog and we have enjoyed many of them. I'm not sure how she links things, so just go to www.allrecipes.com and look up pancakes. There will be a whole-wheat apple pancake recipe (not the one with applesauce or flax). Oh my word, those are to DIE for! Make sure you use Granny Smith apples, though, because the flavor will come out much better. (I used gala apples and could barely taste the apple) It tastes like a freakin' apple pie! And it is (slightly) healthier!! The kids usually only eat one or two pancakes each (thank you Caity, for the little pancake pan! They LOVE the animals!) but today they snarffed down at least 4 each...the recipe makes a TON of 2" circular pancakes, like, maybe 25-30! They raise a LOT, too, so just a small scoop will do. (I learned the hard way-the batter grew over the edges of my skillet!)

The Wrath of My Children...

Oh boy. I thought I'd seen my kids mad before, but apparently not! I had two totally ticked off tots today! (Say that 5 times fast...lol) We have a cookie jar in our kitchen, and thanks to Daddy and Jayden's activity the other day, it is full. Well, I've been having some trouble keeping my kids away from the cookie jar. It is a glass jar and doesn't really fit in any of my cabinets, so we usually leave it out on the counter...but it usually doesn't have enticing cookies in it, either. The kids are usually pretty good about not climbing on the counters, but today they had something urging them to push the envelope a bit. Every time I turned around Jay was helping Karah onto the counter near the cookie jar. Sometimes I was too late and they already had half a cookie in their mouths. After about the 4th time, I gave up trying to get them to listen to me and I hid the cookie jar on the top shelf of our hall closet (Jay can unlock and climb all the way up the pantry...there are no shelves in the hall closet). From 3:00 pm until Dan got home (roughly 2 hours...) I had Karah following me around crying. "Iyana COOKIE!" and Jay screaming out, "I don't LIKE YOU!!" periodically. Oh my goodness! They have NEVER been so unruly/disobedient/rude/disrespectful to me! For the first half-hour after I hid the cookies Karah landed herself in time out a few times for hitting me (while screaming for a cookie) and Jayden ran around the house making messes everywhere he could! I sat them both down and told them I would throw away the cookies if they didn't start behaving, and if they were good for the rest of the day they could have a cookie after dinner. It worked, for the most part...sheesh...Cookie Monsters describes them to a T!

Band-Aid Buddies

Jayden did something to his toe when he was up in the bathroom and he won't tell me what (meaning he was participating in some naughty behavior). He had a nasty bruise on his big toe and he wouldn't calm down until I got him a Batman Band-Aid. Well, Little Miss Karah was not going to let me off the hook until she got one, too. So, I put a Care-Bear Band-Aid on the same big toe as Jayden. She was happy until she started walking around discovered that it felt funny on her toe. She couldn't get it off fast enough! I thought this picture was just so sweet...

A little about myself...

A. I like fun.
B. I don't like anything that isn't fun.
C. Cleaning isn't fun.
D. My kids are fun.

So...add my kids to cleaning, and what does that make? Chaos. Yes, chaos. I hate using a mop and prefer to hand-scrub the floor. So, I decided to let the kids help me in order to insert some fun into cleaning. My kitchen turned into a toddler water-park. Karah was more interested in playing in the water bowl than scrubbing the floor, and Jayden discovered that if he braced himself up with his arms he could run in place where the floor was wet. The ENTIRE floor was soaked. I'm not talking just wet, but SOAKED. It was "splash in the puddles" soaked, and so were they. It was fun, but it got a little dangerous at the end when they wanted to play chase. We grabbed some towels and walked on them in order to dry the floor. It is clean now, but I'm thinking about cleaning it every night after the kids go to bed in order to avoid this situation again...if I try and do it while they are awake, there is no keeping them out of it!

It WAS logical, I guess...

This morning I had a hard time getting up because the kids had a hard time sleeping last night. Dan told me he'd wake me in time for breakfast, so I got to sleep in a bit. I woke up late because my sweet husband decided that I needed more than just 10 minutes. He did wake me up in time to grab a shower, though. Again, very sweet of him! When I got out of the shower, he was standing outside the bathroom door just chuckling. I asked him what was so funny, and he told me that while I was in the shower he'd gone downstairs to iron his shirt. The kids had been playing nicely, so he just left them upstairs. When he came up, he found them each chowing down on a cookie. Before he could say anything about them breaking the "You have to ask" rule, Jay piped up and said, "I asked Karah, and she asked me, and we said it was okay." As Grandma Kathi said, there aren't any dummies in this house...

Friends Made Over Cookies...

Lately Dan and Jayden have not been getting along very well...Jayden will NOT listen to Dan, and that just ticks Dan off. They have gotten into a few arguments that just make me giggle to listen to, but then I get reminded by both of them that "It isn't FUNNY!!" It has gotten to the point where Jayden has all out said that he doesn't like Dan and they aren't friends. (The biggest insult that Jay can come up with.) Dan understands that Jay is almost 3 and that it is kind of normal for little kids to say things like "I don't like you!" when you keep them from doing what they want, but it hurt him when Jay told me he wanted a new Daddy after a fight they had over bed time. Dan and I sat down and had a "meeting" about what to do with their relationship, and decided that it was my job (since Jay would talk to me) to find out why Jayden resented Dan so much, and then we would make another plan after that. I discovered that Jayden was hurt whenever Dan left for work because he thought Dan didn't like us or want to spend time with us. I tried to explain to him that Daddy needed to go to work and get money so we could go to the store and buy things. Daddy really loved us, and because he loved us he went to work so we could have a house. He seemed understand, but when Dan got home they got into it again. Dan's problem isn't what Jay is doing, necessarily, but the disrespect that Jay has for him. So, after the kids went to bed, we had another meeting and I told Dan what Jay had told me. We decided that we would start a new daily routine to teach Jayden respect while repairing their relationship. Every morning we all wake up together and have breakfast as a family, Dan takes time with each kid to tell them he loves them and then they plan an activity to do together when he gets home. He gives them hugs and kisses and then leaves for work. Throughout the day I remind the kids of the activity they will do with Daddy when he gets home from work to keep them excited about it. Then, when Dan gets home they immediately get started on their activity while I finish getting dinner ready. Yesterday's activity was baking cookies. Jayden was so excited for Dan to get home and talked about it all day. He was watching a show he earned (he finished all of his jobs on his job-chart) when Dan got home. The kid actually turned OFF the show when he heard the door open and jumped up to meet Dan, screaming "LET'S BAKE COOKIES!!!" They were so cute and precious together. It was mainly a Daddy-Jayden project, but Karah was an excellent spectator. The funniest part was when Dan decided that Jay was old enough to add the eggs. I kept my mouth shut because this was "their time". Dan handed Jay an egg, and then said, "Crack the egg and put it in the bowl". So, Jay chucked the whole egg into the bowl as hard as he could, then exclaimed, "Yay! I cracked it!" It took Dan a few minutes to fish out all of the shells. All in all, we lost about 4 eggs because Jay decided he would help Dan put away the ingredients while the cookies were baking and tripped while he was carrying the huge carton of eggs. I asked him later if he had fun with Daddy, and he said: "Yeah, he's my best friend."

A New Fashion Statement

Before this weekend, Karah was doing WONDERFUL feeding herself with a fork and spoon. She got about 80% in her mouth and only 20% on the floor or her body. That is, until she decided that food was much more fun in the hair, on the clothes, and smeared everywhere in between. These were taken yesterday and today. The white stuff is cottage cheese (something I still won't touch, but Karah LOVES it) and the other stuff is oatmeal. It is difficult because she refuses to eat when we try to feed her, but then as soon as we've turned away from her to get on to Jayden about something, her plate or bowl is on her head. She has also discovered that bath-time is tons of fun now... I remember this time last year when she would scream and scream during bath time unless Grandpa Rick was holding her, and now she screams and screams when we take her out. I think that the food antics is her way of tricking us into bath time during the day instead of right before bed...

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Lately Jayden has been all about Superman and LOVES to have a cape on. So, that means Karah must have one, too. The other day I was being silly when I was tying their capes and gave them each hoods. This is the only picture I got, unfortunately, but the kids were so funny running around. Karah had to pick the biggest "kid" blanket we had and would NOT allow me to give her a smaller one that would be easier to maneuver in...