ROSENLUND FAMILY

Bedtime Giggles

2012-02-02T11:41:00.000-06:00

2011 Rosenlund Birthday Cakes

2012-01-31T00:45:00.000-06:00

As this is a new year and birthdays in our family are soon approaching, I'd like to document our 2011 birthday cakes. I really enjoy making fun cakes for the kids. In general, I like to decorate their cake to their interests of that year. I tend to research and come up with ideas and let the birthday child make the final decision (The younger kids get to be surprised). Although, this year Michael made a request before I even started thinking cakes.

First cake of the year:

I would LOVE to call this Rachel's 1st Birthday's cake.

Unfortunately, it's not. This cake was made a week before Rachel's birthday. I was trying out an awesome homemade marshmellow fondant recipe. It turned out SO cute and tastey.

Let's just pretend Rachel is sitting in front of the cake taking a picture of her siblings;)

This is Rachel's 1st birthday cake.

I really don't even know what to say about this...

The kids had all been sick (minus Rachel), Michael had to watch the party from the top of the stairs, as he was still in the puke phase:(

Rachel enjoyed picking the fondant dots off her "piece". I don't know, maybe the green was a bit too much for her taste buds. At least it was entertaining.

Rachel's 2nd birthday is in a couple of weeks and I've found what I want to make her. Should be easy and fail safe. I have started testing homemade frostings. Swiss Meringue Buttercream is definitely crossed off the list. We went to school and ate lunch with Jacob and I brought cute cupcakes as a treat and ALL four of my kids scraped it off. Haha.

Moving on:

Michael's cake was crazy amazing!

I don't think I could ever repeat this cake or any close to it.

Michael came to me and asked for a Star Wars cake...

I really am not sure I can take requests ever again.

Such a cutie!

Jacob loved this cake. It is a Florence Flask.

He came up with the idea of using the measurements to show his age. You can find both Jacob and Sarah's cakes at familyfun.com. I also took a break from fondant.

If you can guess, we're doing our mad scientist pose.

Sarah's cake.

Our camera went on the fritz for a while, but my father-in-law was in town so we got pictures with his camera, which are in a file somewhere on this computer... This is just a phone shot of Sarah's cake. Last year she was really into dragons. It was cute and she loved her cake.

Steven and I had boring cakes (yummy). Steven's cake was so boring that apparently I only took a video of him blowing the candles out, a sight no one should miss. This one was my cake. The kids put the candles on. You can see which candles Rachel put into the cake. Doesn't that look tempting, and I'm not talking about the cake, I'm talking about pushing all the rest of the candles in deeper.

Well, there's to wishing everyone a happy birthday.

Really big picture!

2012-01-23T18:31:00.000-06:00

This was an awesome project that cost me $10 and took me 10 minutes (slightly exaggerated) to complete!

First I took a picture of Sarah and Rachel out front. I tried to get them both smiling and both looking at the camera. But they were so

interested in that little bird splashing in a puddle on the driveway.

HA! I wish. My backup attempt was letting them watch Wonder Pets on the ipad.

For shame...

I got the idea from this blog.

And here's the finished product on their bedroom wall. My next goal is to get vinyl lettering

of "I am a Child of God" to put to the left of the picture. The centering on that wall has to be to the right due to the closet and bedroom doors.

2011 Christmas Tree Farm

2011-12-29T14:13:00.000-06:00

Gingerbread House

2011-12-29T13:35:00.000-06:00

The girl's are apart of a little music class that meets at the church once a week. We have field trips and parties. This month we got together to decorate gingerbread houses. The idea was to come with your own house, frosting and a bag of candy to share.

These were my "little" homemade gingerbread houses. Compared to every other house, they were huge. Most took the easy way out and brought gram crackers. I had enough dough to make Sarah, Rachel and Michael each their own house. I knew that Michael would not want candy randomly slapped on. They all took great pride in their work. I also knew that my kids wouldn't take tons of time and load their houses with candy, so I wanted to make the plain houses cute. I used the top of a bottle to indent the shingles in the dough before cooking.

I really tried to get a cute picture of the kids. The best one is with Michael on the verge of a sneeze.

2011-12-28T14:38:00.001-06:00

Woo-woo. All Aboard!

2011-12-03T16:26:00.000-06:00

Our Family trip to the Union Pacific.

Through Jacob's cub scouts there was an invite to the Union Pacific Railway downtown. We totally jumped at this opportunity. This has been a dream of the boys' for quite awhile. First we were given a tour of the engine, lessons on safety, how a railroad is made, among other things. But every one's favorite was the half hour train ride. The kids LOVED it. Steven and I had a good time too. The seats are amazingly comfortable and very roomy.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-30T15:46:00.000-06:00

Rachel loves to color with Jacob. He can entertain her for a good while.

He has always been awesome at interacting with this age.

These two took a break from playing to eat apples.

Check out the pies.

We had two apples, two cherry, a pumpkin and a pumpkin roll.

I found this game Bandu second-hand for $2.

Bro-in-law and I were battling to the bitter end.

I was not the winner.

Steven cooked our turkey this year. Isn't it gorgeous!

He used fresh vegetables and herbs and also made an garlic rub.

I love that my husband can confidently cook/bake in the kitchen.

Because Jacob told me he didn't want to help out in the kitchen I asked him to find something he could do to contribute.

He came up with the idea to make origami turkeys for each place setting.

Thanks Jacob.

For my birthday last year I was hoping for a nice table setting. My sister and mother-in-law and I found these at some consignment shop. It was a steller deal and

I love having a pretty table on special occasions.

Michael went grocery shopping for me and picked out the pretty flowers for the table.

I randomly shoved them into my cornucopia and was very happy with the outcome.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We took a before and after picture of pregnant sister-in-law.

Yup. She's bigger.

But, so was I :(

before

after

Halloween

2011-11-04T14:32:00.000-05:00

I am an author at a crafting blog showtellshare@blogspot.com The blog is doing really well, thanks to some awesome women I co-author with. I'm clearly not a huge contributer, but am proud of what I have contributed. If you visit the site, be sure to click on "Wendy" in the labels section. We are having a give away celebrating the one year birthday of our blog.

THIS was my halloween post. I've really neglected my personal blog and need to just jump back into it. I just copied and pasted...blogging is time consuming and I struggle making time for it.

Alice in Wonderland theme Halloween
While browsing Pinterest one day, I came across a very cute Halloween costume of The Queen of Hearts. Besides it being adorable, what really got me excited to recreate this costume was that I randomly had lots of black and red tulle in my craft cupboard. Had I not already had the tulle, I would have dismissed this as an adorable costume and end up digging in the dress up box for my one year old. She'd be cute in anything, but it REALLY is so much more fun to create and be crafty.

Inspiration Dress. Very nice.

When I clicked on the Pinterest picture to get more information on this inspiration, it took me to an Etsy shop. I personally was blow away that it was selling for $100. And it has sold! I needed a much smaller dress and love to spend the smallest amount for projects like these.
My little Queen of Hearts costume cost me less than $10 + supplies on hand.

My interpretation

I love themes for Halloween and decided to make big sister an Alice costume, in a similar style. Alice in Wonderland's dress is very simple and basic. I decided to add props. My eldest thought, she should have a halloween bucket shaped like a bottle that said Drink Me on it...cute idea. I had fun dressing up one of our stuffed rabbits to play the part of the white rabbit. Ms. "S" LOVES her costume and calls it her "halloweena" and wants to dance around. Alice's costume costs: $25. The leotard was the bulk of the cost.

Now why stop there. I really did try to talk my boys into being The Queen of Hearts' Knights, but they were more interested in being "scary" this year. I studied the original and then created myself a costume of the card who paints the roses red.

I loved making this costume. I had all the supplies on hand, got to try out making freezer paper templates for painting the back and did applique on the front. The black fabric is sparkly and stretchy.

My hubby must have been feeling left out and asked if I'd make him a costume. When asked what he wanted me to make, he said maybe the Mad Hatter. I know he'd rather not wear costumes and did it for me.

I found an AWESOME tutorial on how to make a mad hatter hat and you have to check it out, because his hat (whole costume) is brilliant!

Remember, I'm frugal and did not want to spend money on hubby and my costumes. I changed the build or design of the hat slightly, by using my husbands cowboy hat for the rim and snugly fitting the cardboard buildup on top. I told my husband not to be intimidated by it's awesomeness. He was a great sport and wore it proudly. I do have to say his costume was the easiest to rig up and was a HUGE hit at our Halloween party!

2011-07-04T17:19:00.002-05:00

Cute Puh-toots

2011-06-05T20:02:00.000-05:00

I was looking for a picture of just Sarah and Rachel together to put in their bedroom but was finding it non-existent. So today after church I took my only chance of getting a shot of them both awake and presentable (we get dirty from lunch and crazy hair from naps)... I have a feeling that unless I staple their bottoms down, I will not be getting a GREAT shot for years.

This is the picture that made it to the frame.

Sarah is talking really sweet. Some phrases that come to mind are: "Ohhh-kAy" "Im-ma comin" "Don't worry" Sarah is huge into imagining with her dogs. They have a dog house and take lots of naps and eat lots of bones, I know, I'm her playmate right now. She also loves to sing and dance.

I LOVE getting these girls up in the morning. Lots of squeals, excitement, and giggles" What a great way to start the day!

Rachel is walking (obviously). She is a very careful girl and walking is no exception. She was getting pretty fast cruising along the walls. When she did start taking steps we'd get these looks and smiles from her that said "look what I just did." Rachel is also loving hats, purses and bracelets.

Washington Visit

2011-03-18T15:21:00.001-05:00

The beginning of February I went to Washington. A friend watched my three kids the day I left, so the boys were able to go to a Valentine's party they were invited to. Later that day my sister-in-law and mother-in-law (coincidentally flew in that day) picked them up and kept them for the next five days. Unfortunately, that first night Sarah started throwing up. By the time we got back four of the five kids (two of mine and both of Melissa's kids) were puking sick. They were so ready to get rid of our kids...I don't blame them.

This is what I "missed" out on.

This is what I took with me.

It was so fun going on a trip with Rachel. She is the absolutely the perfect travelling companion. On the first flight she fussed a bit before she fell asleep. We had a layover in Phoenix. I loved it. My brother works for TSA and was just down the hall from my gate. He took off the rest of the afternoon and met me as I got off the plane. I loved seeing him! We had a good visit before I got on my next flight, which was AWESOME. Rachel and I got the whole row all to ourselves! Rachel was perfect. She loved looking out the window, practicing blowing spit bubbles, washing the tray with a wet wipe and playing with our boarding passes. I think she also liked not having to share any of her toys with older siblings.

I loved the view.

Over Arizona.

Utah.

Must be Washington.

We went to lunch at a cute diner. I ordered sweet potato fries on the side. The waiter brought half with seasoning and half without for Rachel. They were tasty. Rachel loved them too.

Rachel must of know she was going to start teething on this trip. The whole time we were in Washington, she was packing it in.

We went to institute, saw the temple. Went on a drive and saw Manito Park (beautiful even in the winter) and had fun going through an $450,000 open house. Met close friends and hung out at the house. It was a nice 2 1/2 day visit.

Steven had a meeting in Tacoma, Wa. and joined us just before we left. We bought my parent's minivan and drove home.

Cute picture, too bad it's blurry.

It was a wonderful visit. I loved seeing John and mom in their home in Spokane Valley. This was my first time visiting. They are in a great community. I met many of their friends. I can see that they are very comfortable and happy. I especially loved seeing the close connections John has made. He has some really good friends there.

Ten on Tuesday

2011-03-08T23:37:00.000-06:00

1. I just got back from the cannery. I have only been once before and that was ten years ago and I didn't even buy anything. I've always thought of food storage as a daunting task. We do have some food storage and do try to stalk up on items. I just REALLY have a LOT to learn. I got some items for long term storage, oats and wheat (I do have an electric grinder that I've never used, so I'm going to have to pull it out and see how it works). I also got some potato pearls and dehydrated refried beans. I love the potatoes and everybody says the refried beans are really good, we'll see. I am definitely going back regularly. We had a TON of orders and quite a lot of people.
2. Steven's sister Becky moved in with us on Saturday night. She is here working until she goes back up to school in April. The kids get to see her for a bit in the morning. Apparently, Michael picked out her clothes yesterday, so she could "find herself a lonely man and get married." She is a good sport and we are going to enjoy having her.
3. Steven and I went on a date. We went to the dollar theatre and saw the movie Tangled. I LOVED IT!!!! It was so funny. It was great watching it at the dollar theatre, I didn't feel like I needed to control my laughter, because everyone there was laughing loud.
4. Sarah is taking an active interest in using the potty. It is really cute. Today she was running around bare. While I was on the phone and she come running out of the playroom yelling potty or poo-poo all frantically. All I know is she didn't have an accident, but she also didn't go on the potty. I put a diaper on and a bit later she pooed. I think she had gas and it alarmed her. Isn't it awesome how we can talk about our two year old's BMs freely? And "I've got to poop" is cute coming out of a toddlers mouth?
5. Rachel likes to climb into this little wagon we have and go for rides. Jacob will tuck her in with a couch pillow, blanket and toys and push her around the loop in our house. She loves it. I love that he so attentive to his sister.
6. My step dad went in for a biopsy on his bladder yesterday. It seems the proceedure went smoothly, but he's had a lot of pain, which is common. I do not know much more, but he need our prayers.

7. I lost four pounds! And I won't be looking for them. This month I decided to refocus on healthy living. For a while there I thought my scale was broken. Phew.
8. I am making a cute bench with Steven. We really enjoy working in the garage together. I am focusing on decorating the girls room, which will not be done anytime soon....a little at a time. We had leftover beadboard and plywood from the wall (an early project that turned out fantastic) and I decided that I wanted to make a little bench. It needs painting still, but so far I am liking it.
9. Steven's brother Brian and his wife have been married for over a year and Crystal has had to commute 6 hours often this whole time. Her daughter Gizelle's dad has been prolonging the court case in all possible ways. Today the judge granted that Crystal and Gizelle can move! Hooray! It has been a long ordeal and we are so happy for them.
10. I tried a new recipe. It is easy and I had all the ingredients on hand. We ate it with steamed broccoli and carrots with rice. Yum!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

from My Kitchen Cafe (www.melskitchencafe.com)

*Note: if you like extra sauce, double the sauce ingredients - pour half over the chicken and follow the baking directions in the recipe and pour the other half in a small saucepan. Cook the sauce on the stovetop at medium heat for 8-10 minutes until it simmers and thickens. Serve it on the side of the chicken.
*Serves 4-6
Chicken:
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil
Cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken in cornstarch and then in egg. Fry in a little oil until brown but not cooked through. Place in a single layer in a baking dish. Mix sauce ingredients (below) together and pour over chicken.

Sauce:
¾ cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
½ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt
Bake for one hour at 325 degrees. Turn chicken every 15 minutes so it is evenly coated with the sauce. Serve the chicken over rice.

Ten on Tuesday

2011-02-08T21:50:00.000-06:00

1. Michael lost a tooth this week. That night I went to "check" on him and he woke up! He knows I often check on him so it was no surprise to see me. I must say that the tooth fairy is sneaky. She is amazing at the tricks she can pull. I do love these unplanned moments that turn into special one on one time with my kids. We cuddled up on his pillow and talked together. After a while he remembered he had lost a tooth. He found his tooth gone and four shiny quarters under his pillow. I loved his excitement and joy and his cute little thought process. We have this tooth pillow that we couldn't find, so we put his tooth in an envelope and wrote a message and Michael signed it. When he found it gone he said, "The tooth fairy took my letter. It's like she's the mail tooth fairy. I think she's going to take it to her castle and read it!"

2. As Michael and I talked I noticed there was static electricity when Michael rubbed his head on his pillow. We had fun rubbing our heads trying to create lots of static AND THEN the cat walked in. We took the pillow and rubbed it up and down the cat's belly and paws. It was like a mini 4th of July. This all happened LATE at night. Everybody was asleep and we were rubbing a pillow against a cat.

(Walking through the crunchy fall leaves and creating static electricity are a couple of childhood joys I never grew out of.)

3. "Chomper" was the king of the fish tank. He was Green terror cichlid and we had him for two years. He was Steven's favorite fish, but he was nobody else's favorite. Chomper was kind of a bully. We could tell he was dying, so Steven flushed him... except he wouldn't go down! So Steven threw him away. He probably froze at the bottom on our garbage can.

R.I.P. Chomper.

(a look-a-like)

4. Steven and I did some more painting in the girl's room. As we were working together on the ceiling, I commented that, "it looked like people threw darts at the ceiling" realizing as I spoke, the "people" was Steven. We are renting the house that Steven grew up in and this room use to be his room. Besides the Chinese stars and dart holes, I also found STEVE carved into the windowsill. Our own little "If wall could talk."

5. Rachel stood for probably 15 seconds unassisted (though it felt much longer, I was so excited for her). I don't think she realized she did it. She was standing by the rocking chair and got interested in a piece of fluff she found and needed both hands to study it. When she dropped it, she just held the chair and bend down to pick it up. Nothing to it.

6. The last couple of days Sarah has been helping me in the kitchen. She'll come in and start helping me unload dishes or pull up a chair to stir to pot. It's very cute to hear her tell me she wants to help.

7. It is amazing what planning for visitors can do to a house. I just want you to know my house is super clean, as of now. So the kids are not aloud to eat, play or for that matter, move.

8. Last night I think we had a skunk visiting our back yard. I woke up to feed Rachel and I could smell skunk really well throughout the house. Luckily the smell vanished by the time I was heading back to bed. Could you imagine, a skunk getting stuck in your wall. What would that do to a house?

9. Melissa came over Wednesday and wanted to practice using a marshmallow fondant recipe that she found. We made cakes in the name of Valentine's Day. We both learned a few things along the way, but I must say I am happy with how mine turned out. The fondant was much better tasting than I've ever bought.

10. I sat down and played the piano on Sunday. It's been forever! I am happy to say, I didn't play as bad as I thought I would. I played from the hymn book and children's songbook. It's really hard to be dedicated to practicing, so until I can get back into practicing and taking lessons, I am going to start playing on Sunday's. It really was enjoyable. Jacob was sitting at the table drawing and started singing along to my playing. I loved it.

Ten on Tuesday

2011-02-01T23:56:00.001-06:00

1. My sister-in-law does a "Ten on Tuesdays" post every Tuesday about ten random thoughts, ideas, or experiences she doesn't want to forget. It has been FOREVER since I have last blogged! I have decided to adopt this tradition to get back into the swing of things.

2. I LOVE Accountable kids!! In the fall I was having major issues with Jacob. I felt like we had a routine that was clear and achievable and didn't understand why my nine year old was throwing tantrums like a two year old. After I came across the Accountable Kids program from internet searching, Steven and I agreed to purchased the program for Jacob and Michael. Because I was so desperate I made up my own cards for the boy's morning, afternoon and evening chores and started the program before it even came in the mail. Basically you have three sets of cards you flip over throughout the day; morning, afternoon and evening. If you complete each set of chores by a certain time you earn a "ticket". A ticket in our home is used for things like watching 1/2 hour show or computer time or riding bikes (mainly stuff the boys would do all day long if they had the chance). If you earn the three tickets that day, you receive a sticker on your special date card. When you get ten stickers on you special date card you get to go on a one on one date with a parent. I had to laugh at the resistance I got from Jacob. He told me he just wanted to have fun and do what he wanted to do. WHAT!?! No wonder we were struggling so much. Our expectations were so extremely different! It has been about four months since we first started accountable kids. I realized last night that Jacob isn't throwing tantrums! I had forgotten that he had behaved that way. We have been able to move on to other aspects of the program; earning money by doing extra chores, and using the helping hands card and privilege pass card. This morning before I even came out of the bathroom the boys had all the morning chores done and did their helping hands in the process. Jacob said, "Michael did the kitty litter for me and I made his bed, cleaned our room and put his toothpaste on his toothbrush for him." Accountable Kids has by no means made our lives perfect, but HOLY COW it has made quite a positive impact!

3. I am now teaching the 8 year olds at church and so far so ~~good~~ awesome. We are studying the New Testament this year. The kids almost all have the 8th article of faith memorized and we are also working on memorizing the books of the New Testament. I've been getting ideas on how to present the lesson from Sugardoodle and have been really pleased with our class time. The first Sunday Steven brought Rachel to me during sharing time, I think that is when I became a favorite teacher. I am okay with that:)

4. I used my Sunday's lesson for Family Home Evening last night and plan on dividing it up for the next two FHE nights. I taped nine pictures up on the fireplace and had nine different scripture accounts of people who bore witness of Jesus Christ. First, we would look up a scripture and then match it to it's picture. Then we would have the kids answer the questions that were on the back of the picture. Last night we learned about Simeon, Anna and the Wisemen.

5. I created art for Sarah and Rachel's room and hung them on the wall tonight. I am happy with how it turned out. I used scrapbook paper and an exacto knife. I have a long way to go before I take pictures of the rest of their room, let alone move both of them into their room. Sarah is not even sleeping in there. She doesn't really have a room. I took her out of the boys room (she's shared with them her whole life) and put her toddler bed in the guest room. Rachel has graduated from our room to up stairs, but is not consistently sleeping through the night. Someday it will all come together, hopefully someday soon.

6. My parents bought a new van and told us, "anyone who wants their van to make an offer." Our van has so many expensive issues that are not worth fixing. It is too old to be putting that kind of money into it. Each year we cross our fingers come inspection time. The timing is just right. Steven has a work meeting in Tacoma Washington this month. We decided I'd fly up with Rachel to Spokane Valley and visit with my parents in their home. We'll buy their van and drive home. They have taken care of it and it will be a good replacement.

7. I told Amber (sis-in-law) she should come down from Canada and meet us in Montana or even Utah. Well, she has decided to meet us in Utah and Caravan down to Houston and stay for a week and a half! Our kids are all close in age and I love seeing them play together, especially Katie and Michael. Too bad they are cousins, because they say they are going to marry each other.

8. It may be considered slow going, but I'm homeschooling and do not have to follow the "no child left behind" mentality. I have really enjoyed teaching Michael. I've taken things at his pace and have been patient with that pace. It is so fun. He enjoys doing school and comes to me saying, "I'm ready to do school, mom." He is just beginning to sound out words and I am SO proud of him.

9. I have started playing volleyball on Thursday nights with a group of women. We play from 9-11p. I am LOVING this "me" time. Another bonus is that it is getting me active again. This past summer I exercised four times a week and met a huge goal of competing in what was called Summer of the Seals. We swam 500 meters, max sit up in two min, max push ups in two min, max pull ups, and mile and a half run. I was eating healthy and lost 20 lbs. Since then I have had lots of yummy dessert and have completely stopped exercising. Aaaah!

10. I have joined a blog group titled Show Tell Share. Basically, it is a blogging show and tell ;) We have some challenges and drawings to win prizes. The invitation is open and you do not have to know anyone to participate. It is just a fun way of sharing, learning and getting ideas from each other.

Who needs Mom??

2010-08-15T22:40:00.001-05:00

Little Curl

2010-08-09T12:26:00.001-05:00

There was a little girl,

Who had a little curl,

Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good,

She was very, very good,

~~But when she was bad, she was horrid.~~

Meet Dot and Dash

2010-08-04T13:21:00.013-05:00

Meet our new pets, Dot and Dash.

We didn't start out with both these kitties. First we got this cat...

At the shelter she seemed like a great cat. She was eager to sit in all of our laps. And she was SO soft. I think she helped me get over my phobia of petting cats.

We decided to get another cat because we cat sitted for Dave and Melissa and Steven really liked that the cats had each other.

So we got this kitty.

It turned out that the Grey cat was NOT a good family cat. She was not adjusting to our home, even after two weeks. I'm not going to go into details...we took her back.

I was happy to find out that the Vet we got our kitty from still had her sister. I quickly went back and got her. It was fun seeing the two cats reunite after a week of separation.

We named them Dot and Dash.

They have been perfect for our family. We wanted a cat for the kids, and we wanted two, so they could be buddies. Dot and Dash have been great with the kids. We've had them for one month. They handle Sarah's love very well. Here's some pictures of the kids enjoying their pets. When I say "their pets" I mean their pets. They take care of the kitty litter, food and water :)

Sarah put Dot in her baby's cradle.

(Patricia, this is the cradle I made Sarah for Christmas.)

One of the kids gave Dash to Rachel.

The look on Rachel's face seems to be wondering why the cat got up and left.

Carlsbad Caverns

2010-08-03T11:42:00.000-05:00

On our way to the natural entrance. Realizing it was a bit of a hike, we turned around and took the elevator down to the cavern. Michael was wearing flip flops, because he lost a shoe in Arizona. We were not prepared for hiking. Dang Tourists.

I believe these are all pictures Steven took. I couldn't figure out how to take a good picture in the dark. He got some great shots. We had an awesome time. You have to be really quiet in the caverns and we did it! We must of left our grouchiness at the Grand Canyon. The girls were REALLY good. Jacob and Michael loved it. We checked out these audio self tour guides and Jacob pretty much had the thing glued to his ear.

Many of the rock formations had names. I do not remember most, but this one was called "Lion's Tail". Can you see why?

Family Reunion

2010-07-26T22:53:00.000-05:00

We had our very first Peterson Family reunion. It was held in Pinetop-Lakeside Arizona on the week of Father's day. We had a great time with everyone. I didn't always have my camera, so I missed a lot of great memories. I enjoyed FHE. We're not the most talented bunch but we put on a talent show, great fun. We had adult sibling game night, thanks Grandma and Grandpa. Boys day out/ girls day out. Lots of Wallyball, ping pong, billiards, swimming...I'm sure I'm leaving lots out. Here's some of our memories...

Saturday morning we had family pictures taken. There were some nice looking pictures taken...just not of Steven and my family.

Leslie and Sarah.

Just behind our resort there was this great stream. Someone had built a bridge and fort. The boys LOVED playing down there. The water was "refreshing".

Eating lunch in the fort.

Jacob taught Jonathan how to play Blockus.

Father's Day

I had to plan ahead for this one. The boys each picked out a new tie for Steven (He's got some pretty ugly ones). Special occasions would not be complete without a blueberry muffin breakfast in bed. I even packed our muffin tin. The higher altitude does make a difference...

Hey we do have talent!!

What cute boys!

Jacob, Jaken, Jonathan, Sean, Nephi, Sunny, Michael

The boys had fun exploring...

Poor Romeo, can't keep up.

Father's Day Devotional

Sunday we went to my dad's grave site and had a wonderful devotional. We each got to share our fond memories. There were great tributes to all the father's in our lives. I loved it. It was one of the highlights to the week.

This isn't the whole group. Steven currently has the whole group photos on his laptop. All the attendees:

Mom and John,

Scott and Jordan,

Jaken, Sean, Honor

Jon and Stephanie,

Jonathan, Sunny, Nephi, Romeo

Patricia and James,

Leslie

Our Family

Andrea and Mike,

Kristi and Derek,

Alex

Walk down memory lane: Snowflake, Arizona

We had a picnic at the park that we grew up at. Boy it sure is different...not as fun. We walked down the road and saw our old house (I can't believe I didn't take a picture!) and walked a little ways further and looked at the creek where we use to spend a lot of time. When we were leaving the owner to our old house was getting the mail and Patricia and I went up and chatted. We got invited in. It was SO MUCH FUN! That was a great house to live in as a kid.

We took a picture of the bull living next door to our house, but not one of the house??? Check out the flimsy fence.

Wednesday we went on a Geo caching hike.

The treasure.

The weather was great. The scenery was beautiful. The company was fun. Thanks everyone for a great first reunion!!

The Grand Canyon

2010-07-26T11:41:00.000-05:00

We went to the Grand Canyon while in Arizona. I am SO glad we went 8 hours out of our way to do so. It was awesome. We all loved it.

I was in the car feeding Rachel for this view. We had just arrived at the South Rim and this was our first glimpse of the canyon. Steven pulled over along with all the other cars in a no parking zone (tisk, tisk) and took the kids out. Sarah's response to seeing the Grand Canyon was "WOW" and then she cried for the remainder of the day.

We went on a Rim Walk with a ranger. He chose to speak on the Native Americans. It was interesting learning about the things they used in nature for survival.

The canyon looks fake, even in person.

Listening to the ranger. Jacob was interested.

The ranger was talking about the trees and what the different needles were used for, not that I remember.

Working on their Junior Ranger packets that we picked up at a visitor center.

We to some Native American ruins after lunch. The boys had finished their workbooks and had to show it to a ranger. She then swore them in as Junior Rangers. Michael loved it! And wore his badge proudly. Jacob is now at the age where things are embarrassing :( and didn't want to have his badge on in public, though secretly I thing he thought it was awesome...right?

See Michael looking down at his badge. Cute kid.

We loved Lipan Point. It was beautiful!!!! I wasn't lying when I said that Sarah cried the rest of the time we were there. We just wanted someone to take our picture so we could get her out of there! I was feeling bad for all the other tourist trying to enjoy this gorgeous view and having to listen to some tired, sick, crying kid. Oh and Rachel was crying too in this picture.

I took the girls to the car and fed Rachel and had Sarah buckled in (which she was happy with) while Steven stayed out with the boys enjoying the scenery. When they finished I got a turn. I really liked being by myself. Even though there was a railing, I was nervous with my kids, so it was nice to have them all safely tucked in the car waiting for me.

Having the binoculars was fun.

Petrified wood. Holbrook, Arizona

The end of a great outing.

Run, run, run.

2010-06-12T20:47:00.001-05:00

Okay, this week's run scared me. Last week I was only running a total of 9 minutes and now it's up to 16 minutes! Run 3 minutes, walk 1 1/2 minutes. Run 5 minutes, walk 2 1/2 minutes. Repeat. On Monday, my baby alarm woke up late and I didn't get out until 6:50a. The sun was already up and it was feeling like summer. I don't know why the program has the run ending on five min instead of starting with five and ending with three. That last five minutes I was DYING!! The voice in my headphones always tells me "You have 45 more seconds of running...ten more seconds..." I'm running for what felt like forever and thinking I had to be more than half way. Finally I hear "congratulations..." When I hear the word congratulations, to me that means, good job, your done, you can stop now, but no-o-o-o.... "You have 30 more seconds of running" WHAT?? I had already stopped running and there was no way I could start back up. So, I did not finish Monday's run, by 30 stinking seconds.

I got up earlier on Wednesday, but even though it was just barely light out the air felt really gross. I guess this is just how it is going to be. I was hoping that this second run would be easier than the first time. The whole time I was trying to distract myself, by pointing out all the wonderful creations God has made, including myself :) By the end, all I was doing was staring at the road. My brain was going to explode from how hard I was concentrating. I didn't realize that running was a mental exercise too. Holy Cow!

We had a co-worker of Steven's over Wednesday night. He's a big time runner and gave me some tips. The reason runners can run so long is because they've trained themselves to keep their upper body very relaxed, letting their legs and hips do all the work. I catch myself being tense ALL the time: running, driving, nursing, sleeping, even just now I'm telling myself to relax my shoulders.

Relaxing was my goal for Friday's run. I went Friday night. My body needed a bit more rest. I had to really focus on relaxing. It was a great distraction and I made it through the run, no problem. I do have to say I felt really flabby. My gut was hanging out, my arms were flapping and my hands were waving around, but, I was relaxed! It was a good run and I'm ready for next week. Did I really just say that?

Side note: I signed up to do this 12 week fitness competition. At the end of the 12 wks, we have to run, swim, do sit up, etc. To get points for your team, you have to exercise for 30 minutes, 4 times a week. So I need to squeeze one more day of exercise. I think I'll focus on my core. So even though it is almost 9:00p I have to go do 30 minutes of my fun little exercise video. Can't let my team down. GO TEAM!

Week 3

2010-06-04T08:47:00.000-05:00

I finished my runs for week three. I liked week three. Review: week one was fine. The highlight of week one was having my kids and hubby go out with me one of the nights. I really enjoyed that. Steven pushed the girls in the stroller and Jacob and Michael did some runs with me. Week one was run 1 minute, walk 1 1/2 minutes--8 times. Very doable. We'd run and then walk back to Steven and walk with him. I think they stuck with me for half the time, I then finished the rest of the runs on my own. Week two. I don't remember liking anything about week two. One of those runs I did pushing the stroller and stayed close to home as the boys rode their bikes. It stunk! The up side, Jacob got me some water as I passed by the house for the umpteenth time. It was a hot day. In week 2, I also tried a run in the morning before Steven left for work. I liked the idea of running in the morning, no kids and no heat, but it was a REALLY hard run. I felt discouraged, after all it was only week two. Run 1 1/2 minutes walk 2 minutes--6 times. I'm looking at that thinking that shouldn't have been so hard, but then I just recalled that I was dealing with the sludginess of a cold. Okay. On to week three. Run 1 1/2 min, walk 1 1/2 min, run 3 min. walk 3 min--two times. I really liked these runs. I had taken a break. I should have ran week three Sat, Mon and Wed, but I really felt my knees needed a break. So, I'm now on Mon, Wed, Fri schedule. I ran these in the mornings. I'm thankful for my little baby alarm. Side note: Rachel's been doing awesome! She's slept through the night this week, 9-5:30a. Last night she did 7-6:00a. AND she goes back to sleep. I liked the morning runs this week. My body was feeling better and it felt good to get showed and be done for the day. I also liked having the 3 min. runs. It was the same amount of running as week 2, but WAY better. It was great to finish my first 3 min run and to be half way done. I also changed up my route for a change of scenery. I love that I'm done for the day and don't have to run until Monday. Week 4: run 3 min, walk 1 1/2 min, run 5 min, walk 2 1/2 min--2 times. AH!!

Reusable Swim Diapers

2010-05-28T21:12:00.000-05:00

Cloth diapers have always fascinated me, but I just don't have the guts. Besides, I have enough on my plate to be scrubbing poo too. But it is swim season once again. I was interested in trying reusable swim diapers last year, I can't remember why I didn't pursue it. Though the idea of buying swim diapers for two babies has renewed the desire. We got home and I wanted to try them on the girls to make sure they fit right. I took Sarah's DRY diaper off (that should have given me the hint) and put her little swim diaper on under her swimsuit. She got up and was running around while I got Rachel ready. As I was putting little Rachel Ann's on, she peed in it. I also noticed that Sarah took the opportunity relieve herself too. Nice. Just like disposable swim diapers, they are not meant to hold in the wet, so I wasn't surprised. I really hope this is going to be a happy purchase. It makes me feel like I'm doing cloth diapering, but on a much smaller scale. I can handle that.

Four Plus One, Can Be Done!

2010-05-28T01:18:00.002-05:00

I took the kids to Meyer Park this morning. It was the first time going to a park all alone with four kids. We did great! We went with bread. Not only did we feed the ducks, we fed turtles, nutria, geese, pigeons and of course a daughter.

Jacob pointed this "little" family out. I'm so glad, I would have missed it. They were very obedient little ducklings and kept very close to their mommy where ever she lead them. (Sigh) This mommy can only dream;)

Good thing the bread hadn't yet turned green and moldy. YUM!

I think this may be a favorite tree of Jacob's.

Obviously, Michael's objective was not to watch the wildlife eat. I think he was just trying to see how far he could throw.

The boys were great. We also spent some time on the play equipment. The boys were on the big kid jungle gym, but came and played with Sarah while I took care of Rachel's tummy. Good thing the park was not crowded, because Rachel does not like being covered by a blanket while she eats... lovely.

I pushed Sarah on the swings while the boys went and played war with stick guns. Sarah was watching them. She kept saying, "Michael". She is getting good at saying all her siblings names.

When I was pregnant with Sarah I said I didn't care whether I had a boy or a girl. I felt like if we had a boy, he'd fit right in, but I also felt that a girl would really change the dynamics of our family and be a good addition...It is fun seeing how true that is. Sarah and Rachel are lucky girls. Jacob and Michael might have a love/hate relationship, but when it comes to their sisters they are caring and serve freely. Brothers are awesome!

Rachel Blessing Portraits

2010-05-24T17:44:00.001-05:00

Couch-to-5K Running Plan?

2010-05-14T20:20:00.000-05:00

Am I Nuts???

Running is HOT!

My sister-in-law had her fourth baby the same time I had mine. SO, we are both feeling the flab. THIS was not my idea, though I have been attempting to exercise and resist eating whatever I feel like (chocolate!) whenever I feel like it.

I am joining Amber with this fitness plan, Couch-to-5K. I'm sure lots of people have heard of it, but it's new to me. The one problem I see in this exercise plan is that I HATE RUNNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tonight was my first official run of the program. Five minute warm-up walk, 60 sec run, then 90 sec walk for eight times, then five minute cool-down walk.

Steven was taking the boys on the ward father/son campout, so I thought I could just run with the girls in the stroller. Ha! Sarah woke up so cranky sad from her nap (she has a cold) and Rachel was being fussy after nursing. It was like they were competing with each other. It was sort of funny. Just as I was getting the stroller out of the garage and Steven was loading up the last of the camp stuff in the back of our Brother-in-law's truck it started poring down ran! Before he could get a tarp over it all, the sleeping bags were soaked. New plans! The boys all decided to bag the campout and go on a daddy/son date. They went out to eat and then to see How to Train Your Dragon in 3D. Steven offered to stick around and let me go running without kids. It had stopped raining but started up for a bit while I ran. The girls would have been miserable! Thanks hun!!

As I ran every time the words "I hate running" came into my head I quickly fought back "I can do this, this isn't so bad." Really, it was doable. I'd like to see myself continue. Running three miles really isn't a goal of mine. My goal is to exercise and feel good about my body. I wouldn't mind if I end up being able to run three miles. I haven't done that since running with Steven in college! What happened to that? I guess we fell in love and running wasn't important anymore or he got to darn fast for me.

Steven's Woodworking

2010-05-13T11:36:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to show off the great job my husband did on building our nice new dining table. He did everything from picking the wood out at the lumber yard to tapering the legs. His goal was to have it done for dinner the Sunday Rachel was blessed. He put a lot of work into it and learned a LOT about woodworking. With family in town, it was great to fit comfortably around the table. Now we just need to find chairs. We have a few ideas. One would be to go to an antique furniture auction to find a complete set of chairs. Another idea would be to find randomly mismatched chairs for a country feel. Steven is also thinking about building a bench for one side.

Count Your Blessings...

2010-05-04T22:10:00.002-05:00

Today happens to be "one of those days". It began with one loud child, two crying babies needing my attention, and one child having a complete meltdown--all before 9:00a. We just have had a end to a great visit from both sets of grandparents, so I was okay with this. The rest of the day I'd have to label as bipolar. Yes we had MANY downs, but we had incredible ups!
So here's to the top of the hills...

Jacob figured out how to build with cards and accomplished his goal of two levels. Yeah to persevering!

We went outside and spontaneously took off Michael's training wheels on his bike. Apparently those things have been slowing him down! He didn't even need me. We went cautiously on the driveway and grass. When he realized he wasn't going to fall, he was zooming up and down the street racing Jacob.

I love this.

Steven came home early to work on his breaks. He took off the tire to find this. I had the camera out for Michael on his bike and took this picture as he told me about the problem. If you can see what's going on, good for you. It did look and sound dangerous. I'm very grateful for his safety.

Sarah and I watched one of our butterflies emerge from it's cocoon. It was way cool. The boys went with Steven to get his break part and missed it. A second chrysalis began shaking shortly after. We now have two butterflies. Hopefully Jacob and Michael will get to see at least one of the remaining three.

These kind of moments are worth it all...and more.

Rachel's Blessing Day

2010-05-04T20:00:00.001-05:00

Everything I Do I Do It For You.

2010-04-21T22:22:00.003-05:00

I had the radio on this morning while doing housework and had to call Steven because I had warm and fuzzy feelings. The song playing on the radio was Bryant Adams' Everything I Do, I Do It For You. I haven't heard this song for some time. Tomorrow is our TEN year anniversary and I thought it was pretty fun to hear "our song" randomly on the radio.

I have to thank my roommate Crystal. Without her I don't think I would have even met Steven, let alone go on our first date, or even have a song. Wow! Thanks Crystal!

Here's the story...

My first Sunday at Ricks College my apartment was invited to dinner by this nice guy named Tony. He new Crystal from the summer term. I am not initially a social person, so my first reaction was not to go, but then I told myself I needed to start the year out being an extrovert. It so happened that Tony asked Steve from another apartment if he'd help make dinner. So, that's how I met Steven, this Texan who just came home from his mission to Hawaii, weighing 100 lbs more that when he went, wearing a church shirt with camo shorts, black church socks and flip flops. WHAT A HOTTY!

Side note. I loved my college days, BUT boy am I glad it's over! I remember that outside there was this guy playing his guitar and a whole gangly gang of girls flocking around him. THAT is what I do not miss...too many hormones.

Come October my roommates thought it would be great fun to go to the girl ask guy dance. I, being the duddy person that I am, thought it was a terrible idea. They were trying to talk me into it when Crystal mentions that it would be fun to ask Tony or Steve. I blurted, "You can't ask Steve." So that is how I asked Steven out on a date. The big dumb head didn't even remember me. Though he did break up with his psycho girlfriend to go out with me. (He swears that he remembered me).

At the beginning of our courtship we were playing badminton on the church lawn at night with my roommate Crystal and friend Dan. In an apartment back behind the church parking lot somebody was blaring their music. They were listening to Everything I Do I Do It For You. Well, my girly roommate, who loved dancing, made us dance in the parking lot. I still think it was incredibly sappy and fondly remember feeling like the biggest dork, but look back at it with a smile.

Sisters

2010-04-09T10:54:00.004-05:00

At any given moment of everyday you will find one little girl adoring and loving one baby sister.

Kisses and Hugs, Pats and Rubs.

Play time, Nap time,

Dress up, Bath time.

Being Cute Together. Helping, Giving, Comforting, Showing that I care.

A Friendship in the Making.....

If YoU aSk StUpId QuEsTiOnS....

2010-04-08T11:17:00.002-05:00

Bedtime is at 7:00p. After prayer, scriptures and story, we let Jacob read with his bedside lamp until 9:00p. Last night I went up to tap on the door for him to turn off his lamp and find out that Michael is not even in his bedroom! I met him at the playroom door, and he had this look of oops on his face. This was my reaction:

ME-"Michael! What are you doing in the playroom?!?"

His answer is classic...

MICHAEL-"I'm just looking at the Legos. I'm not playing with them."

Right when the words came out of my mouth I knew how stupid they sounded. In my my mind I was saying, "I'm totally blowing off steam." I've been trying to avoid asking stupid questions to my children.

The following I copied from a blog I came across. I loved this parenting tip. I'm thinking about getting Dr. Glenn I. Latham's book The Power of Positive Parenting. I think I could learn quite a bit from it. This section made total sense to me and since then I've been trying to correct my inappropriate responses to shocking behavior. Not an easy thing to do...at least I'm recognizing when I do it.

Ask a stupid question and you get a stupid answer.

Have you ever asked any of the following:

☻Why did you hit your sister? (because she is ugly and I wanted to make her look better)
☻Is there a reason why you threw that rock? (no, I just like to hear the sound of breaking glass)
☻Why did you wet your pants? (because I like to make you mad)
☻Why can't you put your things away?(because I like to spend hours looking for them later)
☻How could you possibly hit a parked car? (it was easy, I just didn't put on the brake)
☻Do you call this horrible mess a room? (no, I call it a mess)
☻Do you want your face to stick like that? (yeah, then I won't need a costume for Halloween)
☻How many times have I told you not to do that? (not exactly sure, but I think it is about 3245 times)

One of Dr. Latham's basic rules for raising children is to not question children about their behavior unless you really need information for problem solving There are two main reasons for this. First, you don't really want an answer-and even if you get one, it doesn't improve things; behavior doesn't get any better. The second reason is that by asking questions about the behavior, the child is getting lots and lots of attention for that behavior and the probability is very high that the attention will strengthen the very behavior being questioned; hence, the probability increases that it will reoccur.

Dr. Latham said he was forever amazed at how much family discord and hostile parent-child interactions are caused by the improper use of questioning. When one carefully analyzes how questioning is used, it's no wonder problems arise. Consider these examples from Dr. Latham's book:

Parent: "Billy, why did you hit your brother?! Haven't I told you a hundred times not to hit your brother? How many times am I going to have to tell you to quit hitting your brother?!"

Billy: "I hit my brother because he is very ugly and I was only trying to fix his face. Yes, in fact you've told me 112 times to quit hitting him. I'll quit hitting him when he quits being ugly."

Parent: "Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to know!"

Though this example uses an absurd response from the child, and a subsequently absurd response from the parent ("I just wanted to know"), these are no more absurd than the questions being asked. In the first place, the questions were not asked to get information from the child. They were simply words the parent used to blow off steam, a desperate attempt to get the child to "shape up"! Nothing the child would have said would have been acceptable.

For example:

Billy: "He started it! Why do you always get after me when it's not my fault?! I hate that dumb brother of mine. I wish he'd die. The only thing he does is get me in trouble!

This is a more likely answer. Not absurd at all. But does it set the stage for problem solving? No. What typically happens is that the discussion-by now an argument-is off on a tangent and things will only get worse:

Parent: "You're always blaming your brother for everything! And besides he's smaller than you are. Furthermore, don't you ever-do you understand me young man?! - don't you EVER say those wicked things about your brother!"

By now you can see what's happening. It's a lose-lose situation no matter how you cut it. If the child answers the question, absurdly or otherwise, he's in trouble because the parent was never looking for an answer in the first place. Once again, according to Dr. Latham, that's the first reason you never ask a child to explain his inappropriate behavior. The second reason is that the behavior is more likely to be repeated because the child is getting lots of attention for it. The principle to be kept in mind is this: behavior is strengthened by attention, and behavior that is strengthened is behavior that will more probably reoccur. In the examples, the parents have strengthened the very behaviors they want to get rid of.

Dr. Latham states: "Parents almost never ask questions to get answers."

Some more examples from his book:

Avoid asking questions if you expect the answer to:
☻Be one you don't want to hear:"Are you going to school today?"Rather, assume that he/she is going to school and be directive: "It's time to get ready for school."
☻Alienate you from others: "Why don't you get your hair cut?"Rather, use contingencies to do your nagging:"You bet you can use the car Saturday, Son. Just as soon as you get your hair cut."
☻Provide no answer: "How many times have I told you to hang up your clothes?"Rather, either ignore it, and wait until it's done, then acknowledge it, or let contingencies do your nagging: "Your allowance is ready once your clothes are hung up/room cleaned."
☻Prompt the child to lie: "Did you steal that money from my dresser?"Rather, say nothing until you have proof, then administer the pre-understood consequences. In the meantime, keep your money as secure as possible.
☻Be obvious: "Have you been smoking again?" Rather, give empathy:"I'm really sorry you have chosen to smoke. When you decide to quit, I'll be happy to help in any way I can." In the meantime, the natural and logical consequences of smoking must/will be felt.Natural consequences: Coughing, bad smell, damage to the body. Social consequences: No car privileges, allowance, etc.
☻Arouse personal animosities: "Why do you associate with such crummy people?"Rather, keep your mouth shut unless and until you can say something good.
☻Lead to further conflict: "Aren't you just about the biggest mess imaginable?"
Rather, wait for a positive characteristic to surface, then "pay that off."

A final note from Dr. Latham about questioning. Do not ask a child a question if you already know the answer: Alice has failed to get her homework done because she dawdled her time away watching TV.
Parent: "Alice, why haven't you gotten your homework done?"
In light of what you've read, why is this useless and how can it even make a bad situation worse? Here's a better way:
Parent: "Alice, turn off the TV and complete your homework now."

2010-04-04T12:26:00.003-05:00

Rachel Ann Rosenlund

2010-04-04T11:59:00.001-05:00

Here is the beginning days of our sweet Rachel.

This little girl is our biggest baby. 7 lbs. 6 oz. 19 3/4 in. I don't know how you women have larger, she felt big!

Jacob recently told me, "Mom, I'm your first accomplishment." As funny as that was, it's true. I have been blessed with four beautiful, wonderful accomplishments!

2010-04-04T11:58:00.000-05:00

Meeting Their Sister

2010-04-04T11:57:00.000-05:00

Jacob and Michael came to the hospital to meet their new sister. We waited to have Sarah meet Rachel till we came home from the hospital. Sarah had a rotten cold, ear infections and cutting five teeth. As you can imagine, she was not feeling the best. But that did not stop her from being enamored with this live baby doll!

2010-04-04T11:56:00.000-05:00

Love isn't the only thing Sarah gave Rachel these first days of her life. Right away Rachel got Sarah's cold. Early on Sarah declared that this is HER sister! Sorry Lily (cousin), you'll just have to get your own little sister/brother.

Rachel has sucked her finger once and we were able to snap a picture of it before she pulled it out.

First "bath"

2010-04-04T11:55:00.004-05:00

March Madness

2010-03-06T12:09:00.004-06:00

New baby and moving to a new home is a interesting combination! This is how I was feeling yesterday.

Thanks Dora for letting me come hide out at your house for a break.

After a good night sleep--bed at 11:30, two night feeding at 2ish and 5ish and up at 7:45--a morning trip to the donut shop and I'm ready to go. It's funny how the definition of a good night sleep changes.

These are my happy thoughts:
Rachel is being an awesome baby through all this chaos. Michael has been a fantastic helper. He was in the attic working hard passing camp gear out without complaining. It was very cute, he and Sarah worked together packing movies. I love that Jacob is older and can help with the baby. I can trust him holding Rachel while I work in another room.

I am grateful to all the guys who came over last night and helped move lots of heavy furniture.

Uh-oh. Here comes the Sledge Hammer Steven. Better post this and..........Ahhhhh!

Pictures coming soon....

2010-03-01T13:52:00.003-06:00

Our computer died while I was in the Hospital. Steven got it up and working, but just hasn't done the picture stuff. We do have pictures!

Birth Story

2010-02-28T14:06:00.006-06:00

I went to bed at ten Sunday night and at 1:30a I woke up wondering if I was really having contractions, because I certainly was in my dream. Sure enough, there they were, pretty mild but about five minutes apart. I am not one to jump in the car at the first signs of labor and rush to the hospital. I like to labor comfortable at home for awhile before being stuck in a hospital bed attached to machines.
At 3:30a I decided I should wake Steven up. I like him to be well rested and even then I wasn't sure if I was waking him too soon. He was all excited. I was glad I woke him, because Labor really picked up. We called Steven's parents and headed to the hospital. This is where this labor fell out of the category of "Ideal Labor". I wish I had the guts to just stay home and enjoy the birth of our baby. Oh well. So from 4:00a on I felt I was in constant movement. Driving, walking, wheelchair (hospital floors are NOT smooth), exam bed, wheelchair, delivery room bed. When we came in Steven says, "My wife is in labor and she went through transition in the car on the way over." They looked at him like he was a dumb dad. Steven is really good at reading my emotional sign posts of labor and of course he was right, but who's going to believe him. They told me to lay down on the examining bed to check how far along I was. That was a joke. I climbed up the Mount Everest of a bed on my hands and knees and got as far as I was going to get. The idea of laying on my back was like asking me to jump in front of traffic. Steven asks, can you check her on her hands and knees and got a blank look in reply. The other comical moment I found was in the delivery room. I asked Steven to hold my calf up in the air in his hands. I needed it to relax and that was the position that called to me. The nurses were telling me to put my leg down. Steven looked to me for some response to their command and got zero action from me, he then looked at the nurse while holding my calf and shook his head no.
It was a wonderful experience to hear Steven say as our baby came into the world, "Wendy, it's a girl!" Rachel Ann Rosenlund was born at 5:31a on Monday February 15, 2010. She weighed 7 lbs 6 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long. A beautiful baby.

Nursing

2010-02-28T13:20:00.004-06:00

I have nursed two and a half of my kids. Sarah only got half a year due to a horrible breast infection. Even then nursing Sarah was no picnic. She had a strong sucking need and it hurt to nurse her. Latching on especially hurt. Looking back I'm convinced she and I were not doing the whole nursing thing right. This time around I wanted to start off correctly. In the hospital I asked a nurse who I felt comfortable with if she could make sure I was doing things right. First off I made sure she'd helped breastfeeding moms before. For some reason they didn't have a lactation consultant come in to work with moms (I found that odd). My first concern was Rachel's bottom lip. My babies chins are non-existent at birth. So nursing I couldn't tell if her lip sucked in or was turned outward like it was supposed to be.
With the nurse there we went through all the check points to proper latch on:
-Baby's mouth open wide
-Pulling baby towards breast
-Taking in approximately one inch of the areola
-Lips turned outward
I wasn't satisfied even though it looked like Rachel and I were nursing correctly.
I did a youtube search and saw this video:Breastfeedingbabies. It is very well done. Seeing what's going on inside the babies mouth was fantastic. I am clearly a visual learner and was able to make slight changes in helping Rachel latch on and can tell a difference. Nursing is going AWESOME!
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Rock-a-bye-baby...

2010-02-09T11:19:00.002-06:00

I was very excited about this find. I saw this baby Moses basket and stand at our Kid to Kid store down the road and went for it. I did some online price searching and am happy to say I saved QUITE a bit by purchasing this second hand.
I do love the cowboy theme, but for me, visually, this fabric combo just doesn't work...so, to the fabric store!!! I was looking for a non-gender specific fabric and was very unhappy with my choices. Then on the way home I realized the answer to my fabric problem was to make the bedding reversible.

Here's my finished product. I love how it turned out! It was a great project and a fun challenge coming up with my own pattern. I'm glad to be done and will never make another one again:) Good thing it is reversible.

Oh. And Yes. We will be placing a baby in it soon...very soon.

My Little Homeschooler

2010-02-08T10:50:00.003-06:00

After Jacob and Michael were finished doing some assignments, I turned around and found Sarah diligently working in Jacob's handwriting book. I'm glad I could get the camera in time. That rarely happen.

Pinewood Derby

2010-02-01T11:05:00.002-06:00

Jacob had a great time at his first Pinewood Derby. He worked hard getting his car ready for the races. We loved that he designed his car and helped sand it and did his own paint job. It was a fun night and Jacob had great sportsmanship. What a cute Cub Scout!

Piggy Tails!

2010-01-21T12:37:00.000-06:00

Sewing Project

2010-01-21T10:38:00.002-06:00

This was a fun and rewarding project. I've never sewn pillows before. The larger ones were easy. I just had to pin the heck out of them. That fabric was a bit slippery. The smaller ones were more involved. I loved learning how to add cording to the edges. I just love how these turned out and how much they add to the room.

Real or Not Real. That is the Question.

2009-12-14T23:33:00.002-06:00

Jacob: Mom. How has Santa stayed alive for so long?
Michael: By eating cookies! AND hot chocolate and milk!

Michael's Santa letter

2009-12-14T23:30:00.002-06:00

Dear Santa,
I really want a airplane, boom, boom, boom. I REALLY want one. I love you, Santa.
I'll give you a present of cookies and milk when it's Christmas Eve for you.
This is from Michael. And, I love you berry berry much. And, will you bring Sarah a present and Jacob a present. There. I'm done.

I don't care if he's bringing me a gift!

2009-12-14T23:10:00.004-06:00

Ward Christmas party December 2009. The theme was Christmases around the world. We visited Finland, Czech Republic, Hawaii and Nigeria. Santa came during lunch. Who cares bout talking to him, we just want a picture of the kids with him. I had a plan..Jacob you stand beside him, Michael you sit on one knee and I'll put Sarah on the other, ready..go! I stepped back, took the picture and promptly removed the screaming baby. Mission accomplished.

Provident Living

2009-10-26T15:38:00.001-05:00

We were driving down the road and I made Steven turn around. I saw a sign that looked like it said FREE DESK sitting in someones garage. Steven's comment was if we don't like it we're NOT getting it. The crazy thing is that it's perfect! I knocked on the door and told the lady that we were interested in her desk. She said that she got a new desk for work and didn't have room for this one anymore and that we were free to have it. Steven was making plans to build a corner desk with his dad, so we have had our computer sitting on a fold up picnic table for quite awhile, so we have had our computer sitting on a fold up picnic table for quite awhile.

Sarah's Birthday!

2009-10-26T15:23:00.001-05:00

September 27 2009.

Enjoying the cake. My favorite pictures are ones Sarah looks like she is blowing out the candle and the one where Sarah and her cousin Lily are the last ones at the table quietly eating birthday cake.

Sitting with Grandma and Grandpa ready for bed in new jammies looking at some of her new gifts.

2009-10-26T15:04:00.001-05:00

We took the family to the zoo a couple of weekends ago and had a great time. The boys really like the aquarium and Sarah liked pointing at all the animals. While there we stopped off at the Naturally Wild Swap Shop. It is fairly new to the zoo and had learned about it during a previous trip. Jacob has started a nature colletion. When we go on nature walks he'll pick up something of interest. He's kind of picky. I had him learn about the spanish moss he found and when we went to the zoo we took it with us. He sat down with the naturist and he talked with her about what he brought in. I wish I was videoing it. He did a great job in explaining what he knew. It was cute listening to their scientific conversation. The naturalist told him that normally spanish moss would earn him 10 points but because he knew so much about it she was giving him 25 points. How cool is that? He was loving it. At the Swap Shop you earn points to trade for nature items that they have there. Jacob walked around the room and decided to save up his points for another visit. He asked if he could look at his moss through the microscope. Michael loved the microscope and was sitting there putting different items under it the whole time Jacob was talking with the Naturalist.

If you Give a Mouse a.....

2009-09-30T22:54:00.004-05:00

We recently figured that we had a mouse in the garage. Both the grass seed and bird food bags had holes in them. We had also heard a scurry one time when we both had gone in there. I was hoping it was just a squirrel on the outside of the roof. Steven set out traps with cheese, but no bite. Our worry was the overpass(?) connecting the garage to the attic.
Well, tonight Sarah was having a hard time going to sleep. I went up there and was rocking and singing to her and really just having a sweet moment with my little girl, then.....Squeak! I froze. Was that the rocking chair? Squeak! NO. It was coming from the wall behind me. I was trying so hard to get Steven's attention by whisper yelling through the baby monitor.
we've set out more traps in new locations and the bait this time is peanut butter with bird seed. Let this mouse have a weakness for bird feed.

2009-09-23T10:36:00.005-05:00

This is our "school room". Our hall upstairs is pretty wide and I love having this area. I have our weekly schedule pinned up nice and big for Jacob and myself to see. So far, it has really kept me on top of things.

There have been times that "one" of my children is driving me crazy, but are not doing anything worthy of the timeout spot. I've said, "Hey go sit at the school table." It's great, because he ends up getting absorbed in a book or drawing. Ahhh! Nice moment for me.

Steven got me this chalkboard off of Craigslist this summer. I love it!! The easel is just too small when teaching certain assignments. I believe I use it the most with grammar. For one grammar lesson I gave Jacob a couple of books with great pictures of places in it. We then made a list of common places that covered the chalkboard. We left that list up and for the next lesson we came up with the proper nouns of some of those places: state, city, neighborhood, street...

Scheduling activities in a place that is visible is so important. A day planner gets forgotten. The white board calender as already been awesome. There have been those times that my kids have missed out on a primary activity or such and only because I forgot. When that happens I feel terrible! So I see happy days coming.

Yum!

2009-09-23T10:26:00.001-05:00

We had to take pictures of Sarah's first time eating spaghetti. She LOVED it!

Baptism

2009-09-13T13:46:00.002-05:00

Jacob's baptism was a special day. He has been so excited to turn eight and be baptised. I got really teary eyed when he came out of the restroom dressed in white excited to give grandmas and grandpa, aunts and uncle, cousins and his family hugs. He was very happy. The opening song sung was I am a Child of God. "...Lead me, guide me, walk beside me. Help me find the way. Teach me all that I must know to live with Him someday." Those words were so strong to me as I sat next to Jacob listening to him sing them.

Is their pose not just precious!! (Jacob, Michael and cousin Katie.)

DAY 4

2009-09-12T10:19:00.004-05:00

Friday September 11, 2009

Today was supposed to be Sports Day with our homeschool group, but we cancelled due to the unpredictability of the weather. It really looked like we were going to get washed out. This semester I am co-leading the sports day group. We rescheduled for two weeks from now.

Our Schedule for today was math and grammar in the morning and history and science in the afternoon. It didn't quit go in that order. The first thing we did, even before devotional was a sewing project. Jacob was filling a requirement for his Faith in God for church under the developing talents, and also doing it as history activity. They made a "game bag" used to gather food. It was a great first sewing project for first time sewers. I made a simple pattern out of wax paper.
Pinning and cutting out fabric.

I had the boys practice on paper without tread. Jacob was slow and steady. He stayed on the line very well.

Michael did a great job too. When he'd get off course, he'd try to get back on.

I didn't have to do anything but give verbal instructions on when to back track and stop. I couldn't get a picture of Michael sewing his bag, since I had to guide the fabric through as Michael put the petal to the metal. I still need to take a picture of their completed game bags.

Science was much better today. We learned about why birds can fly and did an experiment on air pressure to support that information. If you fill a glass full of water and cut a straw to be 1 inch above the water and hold it in place and then blow out of another straw across the top of the first straw the fast air creates less air pressure against the water in the straw than the water in the glass. The result is the water come up and out of the straw and is blow across the table. Jacob loved doing this sneakily at dinner to surprise Steven sitting across the table.

Sarah Update

2009-09-12T09:53:00.003-05:00

Sarah made all those dots on the chalkboard all by herself. She's getting so big!

Sarah likes looking at her board books and yesterday we were reading The Very Busy Spider, by Eric Carl. When we got the the dog which says "'woof, woof' said the dog, 'want to chase a cat?'" Sarah started saying "woof, woof" and patting the dog.
I think we can now say Sarah is walking or can walk, even though she has been doing a few steps here and there for some time now. We are having so much fun watching her practice. She's been getting into the zone and tries over and over again. She's even standing up from the floor. Her record is now up to 30 little itty-bitty steps. She gets excited and a bit goofy.
Sarah has attached herself to a baby doll. She loves it. She grabs it by the arm or the leg to carry around with her. We went to the zoo with cousins last week and she held on to that dirty doll the whole time. If I took her out of her stroller and tried leaving the doll in she start saying mumumumumum, reaching for it. She is a lot of fun!

Day 3

2009-09-10T22:39:00.003-05:00

Thursday, September 10, 2009

I think Thursdays are going to be a great day each week. I planned it to be a lighter day. This way I can use it for planning, requesting books at the library and, cleaning and errands OR just enjoying the down time.

After morning devotional and choirs Jacob got right to work on his handwriting redo. He had his own incentive and completed it very neatly. He wanted to do more spanish!

I found this website that I really like. It is called Book Adventure "Book Adventure is a FREE reading motivation program for children in grades K-8. Children create their own book lists from over 7,000 recommended titles, take multiple choice quizzes on the books they've read, and earn points and prizes for their literary successes. Book Adventure was created by and is maintained by Sylvan Learning."
I get books at the library. After Jacob reads he gets on to the "Quiz-O-Matic" and takes a quiz earning points towards which ever prize he likes. The prize he is interested in is getting a 6 mo. free subscription to Highlights magazine. Today he took two quizzes earning 200 points towards the 2,000 it takes for his prize. He read Bony Legs, a story about a witch and a little girl, and The Napping House.

After Sarah's morning nap we went for a "bike/walk". It felt great, not the weather, but the walking. I stopped for Sarah along the way. I noticed she was very interested in the butterflies and sat in her stroller just staring at a butterfly as it fluttered from flower to flower.

After lunch the boys and I folded laundry while watching BYU tv. I'm still pretty strict about tv watching in our home, but am trying to make it more normal, if that makes sense. I did turn it on this morning to watch a bit of the news. I was curious about the reaction to Obama's speech on health care, not that I really gained a clear insight.

Anyway, after laundry, it was nice to sit and relax. Michael came up to me with his map of the US and asked me to tell him the names of places. It was a very sweet time sitting on the couch with him. He then got a book for me to read to him and we read it four times.

At 2:00 I took the kids over to a fellow homeschooling friend's home. We are doing a geography together and will switch off on teaching each week. I thought it went really well and will be fun for the kids.

Day 2

2009-09-09T21:03:00.003-05:00

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Math- check
Grammar-check. We are using First Language Lessons by Jessie Wise. We started these lessons earlier in the summer. Jacob has learned the definition of a noun and about common and proper names to people and places. We had just finished places and it was a great place to have Jacob learn his address and important phone numbers. We worked on that today.
Handwriting-not check. I completely spaced it. Lucky for Jacob I have been very forgetful lately. Unlucky for him he gets to do tomorrow morning.
History-check. We read books that I had reserved from the library that goes along with chapter one-The Earliest People.
One Small Blue Bead by Byrd Baylor
The First Dog by Jan Brett
It's Disgusting and We ate it by james Solheim
Spanish-check. I picked this material up at a homeschool garage sale. It's called Children's Spanish by Power-Glide Foreign language Courses. The boys liked it. They sit there listening to a tape of an adventure story and pointing at pictures. Michael had come up the stairs repeating "pelota" and remembered it at dinner and that it meant ball. So who knows, they might actually pick up a bit of Spanish this year. If you can tell, this isn't a high priority on my list....for now, at least.
Science-ugh! I had given Jacob the option on what he wanted to learn this year from this series and this is what he picked- Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day by Fulbright. We learned about Classification today, wee. I sure hope we'll be happy with this. I still think it looks hands on and interesting as I look through even just the first chapter, but what an unsatisfying first lesson.

Unfortunately our first homeschool playgroup was cancelled today due to the rain,but that didn't stop my boys from going outside. They were out in the backyard playing in the rain. I swear, they are magnet to water!!

Tuesday: September 8, 2009

2009-09-08T19:32:00.006-05:00

Disclaimer: This is a long post on the details of our first full day back into homeschooling. I before mentioned that I wanted to blog more about our homeschooling experiences. I know you won't read it if it doesn't interest you. I'm doing it more to track our progress and memories...

Today was our official day of full blown school. I loved it. Granted I am not always going to be on top of things, but not only were we able to finish school work, I was able to get the things that are important to me done. I read my scriptures this morning. After breakfast the boys wanted to play outside with the badminton that we set up yesterday. So while they tried getting the birdie over the net, I was having quiet time inside. Sarah had not yet woken up.
I had the boys come in for morning devotional.
Morning Devotional
Prayer
Children's hymn
Article of Faith memorization
Chapter from Children's Scripture Stories
Family Prayer

Next on the list of thing to do is Choirs. Okay, the boys had help this morning. Some how, and it's not that hard to imagine, they had clean AND dirty clothes scattered all over the floor. I was not going to rewash clean clothes, so they got lucky and the job was easier for them. Besides picking up their floor, they make their beds, get dressed and brush their teeth.

Our morning school schedule varies slightly from day to day as does the afternoon. Today's schedule was Math, Handwriting and Phonics.

Math- We are using Singapore math. This is the first year we are really getting into math. I got Jacob level one math. He "should" be on level two, but I do not want to rush through and have him miss important concepts. I had had Jacob take a comprehension quiz that the Singapore math website had online and found that there were certain things he had no clue how to solve, like word problems. We started working on his math when we got it this summer. Today he did Exercise 25. He had to write four different number sentences from each picture problem. It think for tomorrow we'll do some more of this together outside of his workbook, something more hands on.

Handwriting- The program we are using is called Handwriting Without Tears. For Jacob this is a once a week assignment with exceptions. He is given a handwriting assignment on Mondays. If he completes it neatly he is done for the week. BUT, if I find sloppiness I'll put an arrow next to it and he gets to erase the sloppy letters and redo them the next day. With no school yesterday he did it today and he gets to redo some of it tomorrow.

Phonics- Last year I used a book called Alpha-Phonics and LOVED it. We started out using Hooked on Phonics and both did not enjoy it. The Alpha-Phonics was very effective in teaching Jacob how to read. He is reading well, but I still want to continue with these lessons once a week.

While Jacob worked on his math and handwriting Michael sat next to him and did his "work". His grandma had given him a kindergarten workbook this weekend. He'd have Jacob read to him what is was supposed to do. This little boy still has not decided what hand is his dominant hand.

While they did their independent work I got to unload the dishwasher and start a load of wash. Woo-hoo. These are important for me to get done or the house blows up.

After we finished our morning school work we had the rest of the morning to do whatever. After lunch we had, what I'm calling Geography, and History.

Geography- 50 States Under God. I really was unsure of whether I would like this curriculum, so I wasn't as prepared as I'd have liked, but I was happy with today's work. I had prepared by called Delawares Tourist department and had the boys sent information on their state. They really liked getting something in the mail from a different state and were excited to start. They have been getting things from the first few states we'll be studying in the mail and I haven't let them open any of it. My plan for that was for their note booking. The plan backfired. Jacob did not want to cut up what he just got in the mail! What was I thinking? We did some map work, looked closely at Jacob's Delaware quarter from his Sate quarter collection, learned about Caesar Rodney and Peapatch Island, cut out pictures of the state's bird, flower, tree and painted the state flag. I really liked how Michael was involved in doing his own note booking. He created his own flag and glued the symbols he wanted on the back. He was funny. I was showing him the different pictures off google of the Blue Hen Chicken and he wanted the Bluest of blue chicken picture, whereas Jacob liked the realistic picture. We really didn't follow the curriculum, but found it a good source of information.

History- I am using Story of the World. Volume 1-Ancient Times, by Susan Wise Bauer. Today's lesson we learned about the Nomads. I love how this book is written, very engaging and from a christian perspective. For the activity, the boys had fun wrinkling up a large sheet of brown paper and painting "cave drawings" on it and fashioning it into a cave. We had to bring it inside because it started to sprinkle. (I did take a few pictures and will add them soon)

That brought us up to watching a bit of Monster Inc. and dropping Jacob off at Scouts at 4:00 while Michael, Sarah and I went grocery shopping. Jacob learned about emergencies and needs to learn his address and important phone numbers before Scouts next week.

Can I call in for a substitute??

2009-07-22T11:01:00.002-05:00

Mikey Air

2009-07-02T10:39:00.001-05:00

Sarah's Portraits

2009-07-02T09:08:00.003-05:00

These are a few of the pictures I had to selection from for the packet pose. I am not going to point out which one I bought, because I aways leave wondering whether I picked the right one.

If only it could stay this way

2009-06-30T12:30:00.003-05:00

This morning I FINALLY took the time to Flylady my kitchen sink. I've been meaning to really give it a good scrub down since painting how many months ago?? Doesn't it look nice? I even put car wax on it. Of course it doesn't look perfect but it sure looks a ton better. I should of thought of taking a before picture, but this wasn't something I thought I'd be blogging about.

Here's the reason for the blog. NOW WHAT??? I have this beautifully clean sink....and lunch to clean up. Seriously, I don't even want to turn the sink on, let alone wash my dishes in it! I finally took Sarah and washed her hands and face in my bathroom sink.

Right now my kitchen is still waiting for me to get up the courage to flush my hard work down the drain.

Home school

2009-06-29T21:36:00.004-05:00

We are taking summer off so I can prepare for next year. I have a good homeschooling friend who is being my mentor in the world of home school whether she's liking it or not. I am extremely grateful to her!!!! THANK YOU!! When I begun this whole insanity I said to myself and probably out loud that I needed someone to show me how homeschooling works. Home schooling is very unique to each family and no matter how many mom's you talk to, you can still feel lost, because none of it matches what what works for your family and individual child or you're just slow (me).

These first years have been great as I have be learning how I want to home school. My goal in the beginning was to develop a love for learning (Jacob's kindergarten year was intense and he hated school work-in kindergarten!! Not a good foundation.), to allow my kids to be kids, spend time in nature, and to teach them principles of the gospel. One thing I have learned is that learning comes naturally we just have to provide opportunity. Also that we need to be patient and let these little kiddo's minds develop, they'll get it well they are good and ready. I could go on, but I'll step down now.

I was thinking about starting up a blog souly for our happenings with learning, but I'm not sure I could keep up on two blogs. Okay, so I pretty much know that to be a fact. So I've decided to post more about what we do with homeschooling on this blog. Granted everyday life is homeschooling, I just usually leave out what we are working on academically........ Ug, now I feel committed. I do have to say that I am very excited for school next year. I've started to get the curriculums I want!!! I gave Jacob and Michael the Introductory lesson for our History and they gobbled it up. Jacob keeps snatching my material to look at and he keeps asking when I'm going to be done with my planning.

I do want to say loudly that I have nothing against public schooling...at this time. I never wanted to homeschool my children. I cried pulling Jacob out of public school, but knew it was the right thing for him. Even though we NOW are living by great schools, I find that I want to home school. I love it. This is what I am supposed to be doing. Some day we may feel like it is time to go back to public education and I hope if that day ever comes that it is our choice and not because...we may just have to move to Canada.

Chores

2009-06-29T20:56:00.007-05:00

Last week I informed the boys that because it is summertime I am giving them more opportunity to help around the house. Today was the first day of said goal. Michael was responsible to help with dishes and Jacob was to help with meals. This has been coming up in conversations with friends lately. I'm doing more than I need to and our children are very capable. At dinner preparing time, Jacob was not very eager to help, but that didn't last long at all, granted I let him use a knife. As I think about it, this may be the first time I've ever done that. Jacob was responsible for filling the pot with water, turning on the stove, chopping onions and mushrooms, stirring the noodles and sauce. He was a great helper. I really enjoyed spending time with Jacob as we prepared dinner. Michael was very interested and is looking forward to next week when they trade jobs.

Along with the whole chore subject. The boys have had the same morning chores for 2 1/2 years now: make bed, get dressed, pick up floor, brush teeth. We've moved past needing a flip chart to accomplish these chores. Since moving, morning chores have even gotten easier. Picking up the floor use to be split into sub-categories to help divide the work equally. Moving into a larger place has eliminated the clutter. They don't hang out in their room very often and so there is not much to pick up, mainly clothes. But nonetheless I still get some resistance. One of my boys would gladly walk around naked all day if I'd let him. His attitude is if we're not going anywhere why get dressed. I hope that they are getting the concept of cause and effect. Sarah is my great helper on this one. NO movies until late afternoon and only if chores are done. They can't procrastinate all morning and then quickly run in and make their bed, because their sweet sister is taking her lengthy nap!!!!

"I Love to See the Temple"

2009-06-23T14:10:00.000-05:00

We had a fun impromptu outing this morning. I happened to have my camera from taking pictures of Michael at swim lessons this morning and was able to capture the moment. After his lesson was over I needed to stop by the distribution center. The boys we excited to be going to the temple and wanted to walk around the grounds. A group of missionaries were there this morning doing service and were really great with the boys. Jacob was interested in what they were working on and they gave him and Michael an opportunity to help. It was also a fun coincidence to see the kids Grandma as she was coming to the temple.

Camping

2009-06-17T12:17:00.003-05:00

This last weekend the boys had a father son campout. Steven took Jacob and Michael. Grandpa came and so did cousin Mark and Uncle Dave. They had a fantastic time. Jacob was the only one to catch any fish. He caught two in the first ten minutes of fishing. All week when the boys woke up they would talk about camping and how close they were to Friday. I think that this campout was everything they anticipated and more. Way to go dads!

May 2008

2009-06-01T21:08:00.002-05:00

Over the years I've heard Steven say he'd like to learn how to play the banjo and that it was his favorite instrament. So for his big 3-0, last year, I took a chance and surprised him with one. This video is Steven ten days after his birthday. He's playing with our brother-in-law Dave who's hamming it up. They're playing "Boil them Cabbage". Nice.

One Year Later

2009-06-01T09:55:00.007-05:00

We thought it would be fun to video Steven and Dave one year later. Steven and Dave are playing "Fireball Mail" for those who are wondering :)

Rupunzel, Rupunzel....

2009-05-29T16:17:00.003-05:00

A promise fulfilled....finally! When we moved, I told Jacob that once we were all moved in with all the boxes unpacked, we could build something with the boxes. For the first while I could get away with saying the boxes were not all unpacked, but I have about four boxes that I'm in no hurry to unpack, so I didn't really feel my excuse was valid anymore. Jacob was excited when I told him to draw me up a picture of what we were going to make. I'd scan in his cute picture of the castle he drew, if my scanner was unpacked (wink, wink).
The boys did a great job painting. When Michael was finished painting, Jacob saw to it that the project was completed. I would have liked to make a fake balcony with a window just above the door. Jacob says no, because someone could break through and get into the castle. SO apparently that would mess with the imagination. But he does want me to build a backside. We are definitely not throwing this one out anytime soon. It may end up in the rafters in the garage. You never know when you might need a castle.

My baby's alter ego is...

2009-05-28T10:40:00.002-05:00

This is what happens when you feed Sarah regular formula!!!

LOOK at her EARS!!!

Poor kid. Even though she was turning into an elephant, she was as happy as could be.
I went to a garage sale around the corner and got three cans of this regular formula for $2 each. I thought it was an awesome deal. They do not expire until 2011 and were unopened. We knew Sarah was mucousy and pooped green the first time we gave her this formula, but were thinking her body was just use to breast milk. The hard thing about goats milk is that the health food store runs out of it and also it constipates Sarah. We are continuing our search for what works for our baby without me going in the direction of making my own formula.

Ah! There's my pretty girl.

She Lives!!!

2009-05-05T10:43:00.003-05:00

To all my family and friends who have fasted and prayed for me, Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! This has been one long month. Though the infection is gone, my body is continuing in it's healing process. I NEVER want to go through that again. For those of you who do not know, I had a nasty breast infection. The regular antibiotics were not effective. I had to go see a breast specialist and was put on heavier antibiotics. Because of that, I had to stop breastfeeding Sarah. I am still very sad about that. Now that I'm not on antibiotics and could nurse, Sarah has moved on and won't nurse.
Sarah had not responded well to formula. We give her goat milk formula and add greens to it. It looks like we're feeding our baby mud.
I think I would of ended up in the hospital had it not been for my brother. He sent me some good stuff for my body to heal naturally. Can I just say tea tree oil is A-MAZ-ING!
It feels so good to be at the end of this whole thing. I feel incredibly grateful for all the selfless acts of service...many tender mercies.

2009-04-02T18:54:00.002-05:00

Some of the pictures that were taken at Target on Michael's birthday.

At age five Michael still has not decided if he is right or left handed... not that he has put thought into it. We notice him favoring one, than the other, and than interchanging them.

This was a fun conversation.
Steven: Hey, Michael. What hand do you throw with?
Michael: (touching his left hand) With my left hand.
Steven: Which hand do you draw with?
Michael: (touch Right hand) With my right hand.
Uncle Dave: Michael, which hand do you hit your brother Jacob with?
Michael: (hesitation) With both hands.

Favorite March Pictures

2009-04-02T18:47:00.005-05:00

Jacob and his cousin Mark.

Sarah Jane

Sarah's first bites!

2009-03-18T13:49:00.004-05:00

Sarah is just shy of six months. She loves being with us at the dinner table. It's been fun watching her watch us put food in our mouths. She sometimes finds it very funny. Is it possible to feed a baby without opening your own mouth as you bring the spoon to their mouth??

Change of Address

2009-02-05T22:28:00.004-06:00

We are moving! We found this house for lease just down the road from where we are now. We do not want to buy and are excited that we can stay in the same area. So, it's begun. Our walls are beginning to be lined with boxes. As if we were not squishy enough. The boys sure love the boxes. Their Rescue Heroes now have mountains to climb. Boy am I glad we massively dejunked a month and an half ago!!

New house excitements:
-A BACKYARD!!!!!!!!
-A garage so I don't have:
....tools in my closet (we even have an air compressor in there too)
....paints and stains and under my kitchen sink
....bikes at the storage unit
-Getting to have my full size washer and drier. Goodbye stackable
-More cupboard space in the kitchen
-An office
-A playroom!!!!!!!!
etc. etc. etc.

Even when we lived in the scariest place known to man, a part of me was sad to move. We create memories and routines--it's saying goodbye. This little townhouse has been a good home, even if we are popping out at the seams. (I had to put that memoir in.)

Out of the mouth of Michael

2009-02-02T22:54:00.004-06:00

Some of you know Michael, so you'll enjoy these clips from today.
I've got Michael and Sarah grocery shopping with me. I strapped Sarah to me in her baby carrier and Michael was sitting in the seat of the shopping cart. I'm pushing the cart down an isle and Sarah burps and I say to her, "don't spit up, I don't have anything with me to wipe it up." First Michael says he'll help her close her mouth, but I didn't think that was a good idea. So I can see he's looking around and thinking then says, "You can use my shirt!" and holds the bottom out with both hands.

I've just put Sarah in her crib for bed, Michael is climbing on Jacob's buck and we're waiting for Jacob to come in for scriptures and story. Michael asks, "Do doctors have toilets?" I was really curious where this was going, so I say, "Why would doctor's need toilets?" Michael: "For when the baby is born." Me: "You don't want the baby to be born into a toilet." Michael: "Then, do you poop the baby out in THE BED!?!"

The kids are in bed and Steven and I are watching The Office on the laptop in our room. I guess the boys could here us laughing and wanted to listen too. We paused the show and Steven says, "IS somebody in my room?" Michael and Jacob: "No." Steven: "Go back to your room." Jacob: "We are in our room." Steven: "Close the door." Michael: "Okay...click" Steven looks at me and says, "Did he just say click?"

My Man.

2009-01-26T10:51:00.004-06:00

For me, it is the little things that makes life sweet. This weekend those little things sure added up. I do get help and support from Steven, but this weekend he was fantastic.
--He wrote Michael's little talk and helped him give it during opening exercises in Primary at church. It was very nice to sit in the back watching how cute it was. Michael was shy and would wrap his arms around Steven's neck after saying each sentence out of nervousness or embarrassment. Steven said he would just give him encouragement and he'd talk some more. I loved it!
--I taught in primary, which was a last minute thing. Steven took Sarah. To me, he was showing me that he supports me. He has his own church calling and I loved his attitude, "Here, I'll take Sarah." Very simple. I had a great time teaching the Valiant 9 class. I enjoyed the lesson and the kids got into it. During Singing time Steven looked very attractive sitting there holding our sleeping baby.
--After church he hung out with the boys while I got to take a nap. I didn't even have to get up when Sarah woke up!!!
--Sunday dinner was at Steven's sister, Melissa's house. While we were there we put Sarah in their Bumbo (a seat that supports babies as they sit). Sarah had a monster blowout. She was wearing a diaper(it sure didn't seem like she was), tights, a onesie, a dress with matching diaper cover......Yeah. It ran all the way to her foot inside the tights. She even got a blanket and burp cloth. All I had to do was wash Sarah off and Steven did the rest. He scrubbed all the poo out of everything and put it in a bag. Again, I didn't even ask.
I went to sleep last night feeling a lot of graditude for my husband. I sure love him!!

Timing is Everything

2009-01-22T13:37:00.002-06:00

Last year Steven built me a square foot garden and I excitedly planted different seeds. Well, as it turned out. I planted too late. I called Harris County Extension and they sent me planting info for this area. So I know what I did wrong. The plants that did grow, did not produce. So after faithfully watering it for months I decided to pull it all up. I left a little carrot and a broccoli plant. September is a good time to plant, according to my little fact sheet I was sent. There was no way I was gardening with a newborn, so nothing happened with the garden. Well, last night, this is was I pulled.

Isn't it beautiful!!!!! It's crazy how this carrot has been in the ground for 8 months. It actually tasted good too. (well, the truth is I only tasted a little bit of it. We decided to steam the rest. Steven went to Scouts and I went up and read to the boys for bed. When I came out, my nose realized I killed our little carrot.) I think I am ready to try again. I had felt like a big fat failure and that little carrot has given me courage to "Try, try again."

The Great Outdoors

2009-01-22T13:04:00.001-06:00

We found an awesome bike trail that was recently made. It connects the park behind our library to another park further down the road. The sign says it's 5.6 mile, but I don't know. We've been loving it! Today we went with the purpose of exploring and enjoying the beautiful weather. There is a dirt trail next to the paved one and we headed down to the creek and played there for awhile. Wow. it doesn't take the boys long to get filthy. They were loving it. We enjoyed hiking through the trails and I swear Jacob could live out there.

Paved road. The boys are usually on their bikes and Sarah in the stroller.

Going with the flow.

Off roading it.

On the way back we saw some guy biking the dirt trail. I asked him if it was hard. I was curious, because Steven likes mountain biking and I was thinking it could be fun to do together. This guy was saying it wasn't to bad. He also said his friend was behind him, but that he must of fallen down. By this time a lady in skates with her dog joined in. We all see this guys friend biking towards us. He started to pedel faster to make it up this steep incline and we're all watching him, then..... WAM! His front tire hits the incline and stops and he goes flying over his handle bars. He didn't get hurt, so I don't feel bad saying it was really funny to watch.

Our own Rube Goldberg Machine

2009-01-19T22:18:00.010-06:00

Today the boys and I watched Rube Goldberg videos. Then, I sent the boys downstairs to make their own contraption. They got out the tracks and dominoes and a lot of toys (we cleaned that mess up before recording). They got to a great start and then had help from me. We had fun!!

2008-12-17T14:07:00.005-06:00

Here's a couple of recent pictures of our gorgeous baby girl. Sarah is doing really well. For a while I cut cheese and milk out of my diet. Sarah was very gassy and it seemed to hurt. I noticed some difference, but I've slowly added it back and she's doing well. I think her system is maturing, or maybe it's all in my head. I was proud of myself for going without cheese and milk. The milk was not too hard. I did get vanilla rice milk and that worked. The cheese was VERY hard. I love cheese and didn't realize how often I ate it till I went without.
Sarah is bunking in with Jacob and Michael and it works really well. The boys love having her in with them. They are old enough to respect her space and leave her be and they even are quieter at night. Jacob's always been a night owl. He has his books and bed lamp and that is working well. Michael goes to sleep quickly most nights and rises early every morning:) Sarah has done amazing with her sleeping. She has given me a few solid night sleeps, her record is ten hours! But boy am I eager to nurse her in the morning!! She's got some chunk reserve, so I don't worry about ten hours between feedings.

We are getting lots of smiles. When Sarah gets going her whole face smiles. Deep dimples, wrinkled nose, big gummy smile. I'm noticing that when she's about to laugh, she'll do the "hu-hu" of the beginnings of a laugh, but then instead she gets the hick-ups.
Well, Sarah I am off to Arizona tomorrow for Andrea's wedding. She is getting married in the Mesa temple Friday and the reception is in Sierra Vista that night. My family has lived there since I went off to college. It will be a fun get together.
It would have been great for Steven and the boys to come too. Not very good timing. We are going to have to start doing family reunions.
All of Steven's family are coming to Houston this year, so the boys are going to have fun playing with cousins starting tomorrow. They had a sleep over at Grandma's last night. Aunt Becky is home from college so that's a double bonus treat. It was great. I finished up sewing a Christmas gift to Michael and we wrapped gifts and had a very quiet evening together. Thank you Mom R!

Remember

2008-12-10T18:00:00.000-06:00

December tenth. Wow. My dad died 14 years ago, exactly half my life ago. I find that so remarkable that someone that I consider a very influential person in my life to not be in my life. So, today I feel like sharing some of my memories of my dad.

I was a daddy's girl. I loved when he came home from work. We had a squeaky step coming in from the garage and I could hear it anywhere in the house and would come running to welcome him home. I think I sat on my dad's knee to watch tv till I was too heavy and then moved to the arm of his bulky chair.

I loved going to the grocery store with him. He'd buy an Almond Joy and split it with me as a special treat.

He was my best study partner. I always learned my spelling words faster when he helped me and would go to him to prepare for a test. I really missed that. I remember when I was learning how to read I really tested his patience. "You just read that word." What's the word "was" doing being spelt that way anyway? wuz? He stuck with it.

He loved games. Some dad's wrestle with their kids, my dad played games with his. Loved gin rummy and cribbage. When we had the missionaries over for dinner they'd stay for awhile after eating and my dad would start these silly thinking games: "are the scissors crossed or uncrossed", "Cahoots", (you'd have to figure out the trick.) It was very fun for us kids. He knew how to laugh and had happy eyes.

I love that he was close to the spirit. I am grateful for the times I choice wrong he chose to use them as teaching moments and not punish me. One, that I'll share, was when I was in seventh grade. I skipped second period with some friends. We were good kids, but thought it would be cool. So we hide in the neighborhood behind the school and did our math homework. We had our books and what else were we going to do? So we got caught, and spent the rest of the day in in school suspension for the rest of the day. I missed the bus and walked to my dad's clinic down the road and my dad sat down with me when there was a break between patients and asks something like what happened and then listened and then gave me council that has always stuck with me.

I loved that my dad was a chiropractor. I could always go to him. I'd have a headache or my back hurt or what ever, and he'd always make it better.

I think he really liked working on things. He'd make fun little things like a cat-a-pult, a blow dart gun, a boomerang, a skateboard made from old skates. My first bike was made from parts of many bikes. It was ugly, but I loved it.

It is amazing how fast time goes and time heals. Fourteen years is a long time, but it's gone by fast........It is fun to remember.

Stocking

2008-12-09T14:07:00.004-06:00

I finished Sarah's stocking last night. So happy to have it done. I worked on it while I was pregnant and finished all but the marshmallows, name, and putting the back on. So I stayed up last night till after one finishing it. Those marshmallows took awhile, though it doesn't look like they would. I thought, "I'm going to be up in the next 45 minutes to feed Sarah, but it was worth it." I have so much to do before going to Arizona the 18th for my sister's wedding, I needed to get it off my to do list. Lucky for me Sarah slept till 5 am from 7:30pm!! New record. So I still felt like I got enough sleep. Hooray!!

Ice Skating

2008-12-06T21:19:00.003-06:00

This was so much fun. We went the evening of the day we got our Christmas tree. We picked out our tree two days after Thanksgiving and we actually needed jackets. I loved the this years Christmas tree farm experience. I wasn't worried about the boys getting lost as they excitedly ran around the tree, no one felt sad not getting to carry the sharp saw around, and no one got hurt (aunts getting bonked on the head with a giant measuring stick). It was fantastic! After setting our beautiful tree up and a relaxing afternoon we went to the ice rink. Once the boys figured it out, they loved it. Michael wore these double skates you strap to your feet and we used a walker for awhile and then they braved going on their own. Steven sat out with Sarah. He uses his skateboarding days as the reason he can't travel on a small device with his feet facing forward.

Catching up on October

2008-11-18T16:07:00.006-06:00

We carved the boys pumpkins for Family Home Evening the Monday before Halloween. When I say "we" I mean Steven. I meant to be involved, but Sarah had other plans, so we (Sarah and I) watched. Each year the boys contribute more to the jack o' lantern process than the last. Both boys designed their own jack o' lantern face. I was surprised at how well Michael's turned out. He doesn't care for drawing yet, so it's great to see his skill now and then. Jacob cut his face pieces out and taped them to his pumpkin and traced it on by poking wholes along the lines for Steven to cut out. It was pretty funny. Jacob was all ready and eager to scoop the guts out, until he saw what was inside. He said, "Oh, I forgot what it looked like, maybe when I'm ten." Apparently, that's the magic age.

We had the boys pose with their completed pumpkins. They wanted to make the same face as their jack o' lantern's. Steven just kept snapping shots of Michael.

Halloween night we went out with Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Dave and Aunt Melissa, cousins Mark and Lily. It is fun having cousins near by, we wish all the cousins lived closer. Jacob and Mark have a cute relationship and Lily is four days younger than Sarah.
While trick or treating, some girls in the neighborhood were admiring the babies. One said, "That's a bumblebee and that's a cow." Michael retorted, "that's not a cow, it's a giraffe!" So cowboy Markie doesn't have a "horse", he's got a giraffe.

This year's costumes: I'd like to thank Santa for bringing Jacob the spaceman suit two years ago and for making it too big. Jacob LOVES dressing up and he was excited that it fit without rolling up the sleeves. Grandma Rosenlund found this cute tiger vest at Once Upon a Child resale shop and Michael loved it. I tried so hard to find tiger fur to make matching pants, but without success. Plan B: sweatpants. Since I thought Sarah was going to be born in the middle of October, I didn't even think she was going to be participating in Halloween, so THANK YOU Nicole for lend of the bee costume. Cute kids!

The stash! We still have candy. I cannot wait for it to be gone!!! There is a family in the ward who has a neat tradition that I am seriously considering. They let their kids pick 25 pieces of candy each and then the rest gets put away for decorating gingerbread houses at Christmas. Who eats the candy on the gingerbread house anyway, so why buy new candy? My brother and his family has a similar tradition. They make a thanksgiving pinata and use the Halloween candy for that. I love these ideas--limit candy intake with the kids knowing that the rest is going towards a fun tradition that they can look forward to.

My Sister

2008-11-11T12:26:00.000-06:00

Friendly Neighborhood Garbage Man

2008-11-10T13:51:00.004-06:00

Today is a nice rainy day. I have windows open and a fresh cool breeze coming in. The boys wanted to go out and stomp in the puddles this afternoon. While out playing the garbage truck came. It was SO cute. Michael was standing on the sidewalk directing the garbage man with his stop and go sign. I think it is so great that this garbage man was humoring my four year old. He was sitting in his truck, lifting the big dumpsters and would stop when Michael flashed his STOP sign and continue when he flashed his GO sign. Stop, go, stop, go. Michael gave him the thumbs up and the garbage man smiled and waved as he drove away.

Sarah's Blessing Day

2008-11-05T20:06:00.002-06:00

Home Depot

2008-11-03T12:17:00.004-06:00

On the first Saturday of each month we always go to Home Depot for Kids Workshop. The boys really enjoy this activity. They have made some pretty fun wood projects. Each time they get a certificate and pin of they project they worked on to stick on their apron. This months project was very simple, a leaf press. We'll have to gather some flowers and leafs and test it out.

The Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-18T13:41:00.009-05:00

It was a beautiful morning! We had a fun outing to the pumpkin patch just down the road from us. The boys picked out the biggest pumpkins we've ever had! They are not ones to dig in and get slimy, so Steven and I have something to look forward to when we carve these monsters next Family Home Evening night. We did have a great time picking out pumpkins, riding the hay ride and watching the boys slide down the big blown up slide. Sarah slept nearly the entire time. This pumpkin patch is actually the Christmas Tree Farm. On our hay ride we were taken all around the farm. I felt like we were getting a preview for next month when we come to cut a tree down. They could take tree reservations.

Of course I took TONS of pictures of the boys and with my picture taking skills and their lack of cooperation I manage to get one decent picture. I am really happy with this one of Jacob. He was just chillin.

This is the only picture I have of Michael looking AT the camera. He was coming at me with his toy soldier walk (watch the movie Santa Claus 2). It actually looks like he is holding the camera and taking the picture.

Pig Latin No More

2008-10-17T19:22:00.002-05:00

Rats! We had moved on from spelling words out in front of the boys, because mister smarty pants would sound it out. "Hey, Steven what do you think about the p-a-r-k today?" Jacob-"Yeah, let's go to the park!!" So then we moved on to "ark-pay". Tonight at dinner Steven said to me, "Maybe we should think about etting-gay ome-say ame-gays for istmas-chray" Jacob was standing there staring at us and says, "Games for Christmas? (Big smile) I understood you!"

We Are in Texas!

2008-10-10T09:45:00.000-05:00

I Can't Wait!!!!

2008-10-09T16:50:00.002-05:00

The Nutcracker, a pop up book: written, created and illustrated by Patricia Fry. I am incredibly proud of my older sister. She worked hard and I have loved seeing the progress and process of creating a pop up book. Talk about talent!!! Way to go, Sis!

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2008-10-09T16:09:00.001-05:00

2008-10-02T15:00:00.000-05:00