He is not always cute.

Thomas: Mom, can I have a Crabby Patty? (interpretation: Crabby Patties are really York Peppermint Patties. Unfortunately, Thomas has been watching a few episodes of Sponge Bob Square Pants much to my dismay. Because he is into that imagination stage, “things“ have started to become other “things.”)

Mom: No, you need to eat some lunch before you have your snack.

Thomas: Mumbling under his breath Well, I just need to find a new mom then.

My first thought: Ouch!

My second thought: Good! I must be doing something right because I believe all kids feel this when they don't get their way, thus, I am not as big of a pushover as I think I am.

It could happen....

When I was little, really little, like 6 or 7, our whole family piled up into our old 1960-something white family van and we went to stay with my Aunt Mary for the Thanksgiving holiday. My Aunt lived in a ginormous log cabin deep in the woods. The remote location removed from any type of civilization was Lake Arrowhead, CA. We had a tradition of spending Thanksgiving with my mom’s side of the family, and we were so excited to go play with our cousins, who happened to all be close to our same age (meaning my older brother had someone else to assist him in terrifying me).

After the festivities, all us kids made our way to our rooms for the night. I was bunking in with my cousin, Leslie. While we were playing, or maybe even fighting over some toys (we were really good at that), my older brother, Tim, and Cousin Chad came into the room to tell us that they had heard some noises outside. They continued to inform us that when they had looked out the window, they had seen a man in the tree playing bagpipes. I was scared to death! I thought for sure he was going to break into the house and play us to death! The next morning, Tim and Chad continued with the story and took us out to see the footprints the scary Scottish man had left behind.

So, there you have it. The reason why I am not particularly fond of bagpipes. I knew you were dying to know.

*** If you know this musician, please don’t tell him I was defacing his picture on my blog. I just picked him randomly off google. I would hate for him to get angry and come play outside my window at night.

It's not everyday your dad gets an elementary school named after him.

Friday was a huge day for our family. My dad was given the honor of having an elementary school named after him. He worked for the school district for 30 years, serving as principle for 27 of them. In 1991 (or somewhere around there) he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. During 9 of those years battling cancer, he also served as Stake President. He was a wonderful man, and even a better dad. In August of 2003 he retired from the school district, just 3 months before the cancer took his life. We are so lucky that he lived so long with the cancer.

We found out that the school district was going to honor him with the naming of a school in 2006. It was very exciting. I wish he could have been alive to hear that they were honoring him like they did, but to tell the truth, he probably would have been completely embarrassed by it.

I was a teacher for 6 years. I have spent a lot of time in elementary schools. I can't even begin to tell you how strange it is to walk on a campus and see your fathers name on the school plaque. It is even more strange to walk into the building and see his picture on the wall and various memorabilia from his life displayed in the hallways.

As the namesakes widow, my mom was given the opportunity to cut the ribbon. The lady helping her is Sherrie, a teacher that worked for my dad for 20 + years. She is the one who petitioned the school district to name a school after him.

I think the principal and vice-principal wanted to see if they could make my family cry. They had this man playing the bagpipes throughout the ceremony. I usually do not like the bagpipes (that's another story for another post), but they were very appropriate and very touching.

This is my whole fam-damily. From left to right: Tim (brother), Steve (you should know him by now), Spencer (nephew), Me, Bryan (brother who should be very happy that I didn't post the other picture I have of him), Camille (Sis-in-law), Crystal (sis-in-law), Mom, the rest are my nephews and niece: Hayden, Liam, Harley, Jett, Clara, Maverick, and Thomas.

Once we were inside we were able to check out all the classrooms. The boys were so excited to be able to hang out on furniture just their size! Thomas was thrilled with all the drinking fountains. He ran from room to room searching for them.

The kids were happy, just extremely hot.

Tagged - Good Things Come In 3's

This really cool new girl in my ward (and new friend), Pattie, tagged me.

3 Joys

1. Being a stay-at-home mom

2. My Marriage

3. My kids

3 Fears

1. Loud noises in the night

2. Aliens and crop circles (I know they are not real, but the idea of them scare me. Even though I have this fear, I will still watch Signs whenever it comes on TBS.)

3. My kids being seriously injured

3 Goals
1. Get my house organized, especially my sewing / craft room

2. Loose 20 pounds (14 to go)

3. Get up earlier M-F and get stuff (scriptures, exercise, shower) done before the kids get up. I always seem to do well on this for a while, it is just too hard to keep up.

3 Current Obsessions
1. Vintage kitchen items like aprons and embroidered flour sack towels

2. Photography - these are a few of my recent faves. I still have a lot to learn, but I will get there one day.

3. Sewing

3 Surprising Facts
1. I am a pop-culture junkie. I check the online magazines on a regular basis to see what my favorite celebs are up to. Just to give you an idea, here is the conversation Steve and I had last night at midnight. I had been in bed for about 30 minutes and he was just coming in.

S: Why are you watching Chelsea Handler?

M: I'm not, I don't like her.

S: Then why is it always on when I come in the room at night?

M: Because it comes on after the news.

He starts laughing at me.

That's right, the news I am talking about is E News Daily. I find that it is not as depressing or scary as the news on local stations or FOX news. I choose to watch the weather channel to get my weather forecasts, so I am really not missing out on anything.

2. I must to have the TV on to fall asleep. I need the white noise. I have broken the habit after the birth of each child, but as soon as they went to sleep in their own bed I started up again.

3. I was born with two thumbs on my left hand. You can still see part of the bone from the thumb that was removed if you look at my hand. If I hit it on something by accident, it hurts like the dickens! So much worse than if I were to injure another finger.

This is the best picture I have of it. It was removed when I was 18 months old.

I am only picking one person to tag on this round, and that lucky person in Robyn C.

I'm really not on blogging strike.

I was accused of a horrible thing today, by more than one person. I was accused of being a bad blogger because I haven't posted in almost a week (gasp). I am usually pretty good about posting because I consider this to be my journal, and I am just anal about making sure I document the happenings of my family. (It is my journal, but note I didn't add "personal" before journal because there is no way anyone will ever read that, unless they are standing over my dead body.)

I really haven't had too much to post about, unless you consider the following post-worthy...

1. I went against everything I believe in and stand for this week when I let Thomas pick out super-snazzy Spider man light-up sandals. Not only do they have lights, they have 3 lights on each shoe! Thats right people, do the math. Six flashing red lights that will act as emergency lights if our mini-van ever breaks down (if only I could be so lucky). I guess I have passed that point in mom-hood where I have given up on dressing him in designer duds everyday. He about had an aneurysm when he saw the sandals and better yet they were only $7.50. Who said money can't buy happiness?

2. My BFF posted this picture on her blog. Yes, that is my child in the shirt he wore for 2 days straight. I thought the mangy hair also added a nice touch to the picture. (Please refer to the comment above about giving up on designer duds.) If you want to see why she posted it, click here...it was pretty funny (and so is she).

3. I joined Weight Watchers last week and lost 6 pounds. I was pretty happy about it, but lately I have been a raging lunatic clamoring for anything that can be considered junk food. I think there are stages to dieting just like there are stages in grief. I think the first stage in dieting is joy because you see that you can get results when you actually put down the ding-dongs and replace it with tofu. The second stage is rage, because you realize you can't chow down on the bag of dark chocolate chips calling your name in the freezer. I'll let you know what the 3rd stage is when I get there.

4. I have been busy sewing some things I need to finish up (I'll post about them later) so my house is a disaster. Steve gave me a little extra cash to play with this week and I have seriously been considering hiring a house keeper to come in and deep clean my house so I can run away from the mess that the four of us have made. One of the perks when I am pregnant is I get to have my house professionally cleaned once a month. Oh, how I miss those days of puking and feeling horrible!

Ambitions of a 3-year old.

Ambition #1

Fireman

Ambition #2

Policeman

Ambition #3

Chef

Newest Ambition

"A black guy that can run fast"

All About the Hubby

1. What is his name? Steve

2. Who eats more? He does, unless I am pregnant then all food is fair game.

3. Who said, "I love you" first? He did

4. Who is taller? He is.

5. Who is smarter? He is in most areas. If we ever had to compete in a trivia game revolving around pop culture, cooking, cleaning, or poop. I would win, hands down!

6. Who is more sensitive? Me, why would you ask that question?

7. Who does the laundry? This is one of the many reasons why I absolutely adore my husband. When he sees that the laundry is getting overwhelming for me, he will do several loads to help me catch up.

8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does.

9. Who pays the bills? He does.

10. Who cooks more? Me, but when it comes to cooking salmon or grilling, he is a master.

11. Who is more stubborn? He is.

12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? Me, however I have never been wrong!

13. Who has more siblings? He does, and they are all great.

14. Who wears the pants in the relationship? I am so glad to say he does. We do like to play a game whenever we meet new couples. It’s called “Guess who wears the pans in 30 seconds or less.“ We are always in agreement and always spot on!

15. What do you like to do together? We love to travel together. Before we had kids we would just get in the car and take off, sometimes not even knowing where we were going. We look forward to doing that again when the kids get a little older.

16. Who eats more sweets? Toss up. We both are what you might call “pushers.“ Both of us can always talk the other one into some kind of chocolate.

17. Guilty Pleasures? He loves to get massages.

18. How did you meet? We met playing volleyball at a singles ward activity. Our mothers had worked in the Stake YM together 20 years prior to us meeting. He could remember coming to our house when he was 10 years old and kind of freaked me out when told me all about my family and where we used to live the first night we met.

19. Who asked whom out first? He did.

20. Who kissed who first? He did. He was fixing the sprinklers in his backyard and I was sitting on the porch admiring his buffness. Every once in a while, we drive by his old house and pay homage to it.

21. Who proposed? He did, after 6 weeks of dating. We waited that long to make it official because we didn’t want all our friends and family to freak out too bad. We knew we were going to get married within a few days of meeting one another.

22. His best features and qualities? His eyes, his sense of humor, his ability to get me to relax and the way he takes care of me and the kids. He is a traditional kind of guy and I love him for that.

Tag you’re it: Amy (you're always first on my list), Karen, Holly (after you tell us about your awesome vacay), Michelle, Cathy (you need to post something before your blog shrivels up from in-activeness), Jamie (if you're not in labor or too busy nesting), Gina (you need to post something), Chelsea, Kristie, and Danielle (You're going too long in between posts!)

Answer: What are sadlebags, cankles, and a small butt.

Question: What three words describe Clara's backside?

I usually don't post pictures of my kids' butts, but this picture was begging to be posted. Clara LOVES her bath. She makes a b-line for the bathtub every time the bathroom door is open, so we have to keep it shut at all times. Not to mention, I don't want her crawling where a 3-year old marks his territory on a regular basis. Last night she was so excited to get in the tub with Thomas. I was thrilled because they played together for about 30 minutes while I sat on the floor and enjoyed my newest magazine.

Thou Shalt Not Kill.

I have posted a few other times about my little garden that Thomas and I planted in April. It was doing pretty darn good (sorry, I know that is not the proper usage of good), and my ultra-chic tomato tree I purchased from QVC was doing better than I ever expected.

I was getting tons of tomatoes from both the tree and my garden. On top of that, Thomas had only “harvested” a few vegetables a little too soon. I was feeling pretty proud of myself. My thumb was beginning to turn a shade of green I never had expected. I was feeling so….Molly Mormonish, and if you know me, you know I love that feeling!

We even had people over for dinner one night and the conversation went something like this…

Guest: Oh, Amy! This is fantastic bruschetta!
Me: Oh, please stop…really go on.
Guest: The tomatoes are so refreshing. Where did you find them?
Me: With a grin on my face…Well, brace yourself, I grew them! Come outside, jump in the tractor and let me give you a tour of my fields (okay, this last part of the conversation really didn’t happen, but it sounded better than... Oh, I grew them. Do you wanna see the garden I planted in a kiddie pool I bought from The Wal Mart?)

Then the real heat came on. It all went down hill from there.

You see, when you live in Hell for 3 months of the year, you need to water things…a lot. I started out really vigilant. I would water everything every day, I would fertilize, and go out and coddle the little buds. I talked to them, sang to them, and told them funny jokes. Then I got sidetracked with other things, like cooking, cleaning, wiping butts, and stepping on legos. I started to let the cool air-conditioned house tell me little lies like, “oh, one day without water won’t hurt anything.” Or, “Come on, do you really think those veggies have a chance out there in that inferno?”

I started to listen to the air-conditioning and began to forget about my little garden on purpose. I would keep our shutters closed so I wouldn’t have to look at my crops baking away in the scorching heat. I gave up on them.

The day before we left for Washington, I went out to have a look and found my poor little garden infested with ants. I finally had a solid reason to let it die. I wiped my hands clean of the whole ordeal and made peace with the garden. It was time to pull the plug. I was going to let it die while we were out of town.

It's been a month since that heavy decision was made. Since then, I have had several friends ask me about my garden. They want to know when they are going to get that nice bottle of homemade pickles, or jar of salsa. I have changed the subject in many of these conversations, or just flat out lied because I just couldn’t bring myself to admit what they probably already knew...

My name is Amy, and I kill green things.

Why I love being a mom.

This morning I had the privilege of getting up early with Thomas so he could enjoy the Spanish stylings of Diego and Friends. I was curled up on the couch, hugging a pillow, trying to catch a couple of sneaky zzz’s before he asked me what I thought Diego‘s latest scientific discovery.

While my eyes were closed, Thomas came over to me and rubbed his face on my leg, kind of like a cat does when it’s happy to see it’s owner. When he moved his head away, I had a nice wet, slimy spot on my thigh.

Me: EW! Thomas, don’t lick me.
Thomas: I didn't mom!
Me: Then why is my leg all wet?
Thomas: I didn’t lick you mom, I rubbed my snot on you.
Me: Oh, okay.

Question: At what point did I decide that being snot-ed on was better than being licked?

Best Friends

The post where I continue to expose my dorkieness.

So, I have not had the chance to post about our awesome night at Rod Stewart. I have been to busy reading, I had to finish before anyone spoiled the ending of Breaking Dawn (which I might add I finished an hour ago and I am not going to spoil it for anyone) for me.

Rod, in one word was…Crazyfantastc. He sang all the Greatest Hits (living up to the tour name). We had so much fun, it was even better than last year!


I did however learn a few things that night.

1. For Heavens sake, if I am ever going to be away from my nursing baby for more than a couple of hours, wear nursing pads! The nursing relationship has been pretty predictable lately, so I have been able to forego that expense (and add it to the gas fund). I knew I was in trouble before the concert even started when (ladies, I’m sure you know the feeling) I started frantically searching the crowd to see if there was a baby I could nurse nearby. I was able to get things under control, but by the time the concert ended (3 hours later) I realized I was in possession of some rather large water balloons. I walked with my arms shielding my chest so I wouldn’t accidentally drench anyone. If anyone has attended a concert at the Grand Garden, you know how tricky this can be as you are walking out to the garage with thousands of other people all bumping into each other. So, if anyone did notice the large, wet target spots on my nice blue silky blouse, I hope I didn’t offend you!

2. French people still smell like smoke and like to talk a lot. There was a couple sitting in front of us. I am assuming they were French because they were speaking French. Since they were sitting in front of us, their scent was lofting up towards us, it brought back memories of riding the subways in Paris, sandwiched in-between people who felt that showering wasn't a necessary everyday thing and tried cover up their BO with dubious amounts of cigarettes. Don’t get me wrong, I love Parisians, I love their city, I love their language, I just didn’t like how these two smelled and it brought back my smelly memories. I spent one song listening to them talk and focusing on their smell rather than listening to the music, and that got kind of irritating.

3. Old people, here is a little advice for you. If you are going to drink obscene amounts of beer, wear a pair of Depends, for your own safety! We had quite the experience watching senior citizens get blasted only to have to make their way down many steps (did I mentioned we had bad seats?) very carefully to the facilities. We were sitting by a couple who repeatedly had to get up and take care of business. It was interesting to see their deterioration during the course of the night. I was sure one of them was going to take a spill, but lucky for them, it didn’t happen.

4. Bryan Adams makes me feel like a shy girl at the Friday night Church Dances. Bryan Adams was the opening act for Rod. He was great! I didn’t realize how many of his songs were tied into my very early days in college. When he sang one song that he mentioned he recorded it in ‘94, I about died! That was 14 years ago and I was a freshman in college then…you can all stop doing the math now. He played all of his ballads and a couple of them reminded me of hiding in the bathroom at the dance because all of my girlfriends had been asked to dance, or asked someone to dance, but I hadn’t or wouldn't. (This is the part where I mention how happy I am that I am not shy and timid anymore! Oh, the awkward pain of discovering yourself!)

5. Either Rod Stewart has some great hair product or some very nice wigs. I don't think I need to expound upon this subject.

Like I said, It was a great night and I will always remember the fantastic time we had, especially when I wear my super-cool concert T-shirt that I bought.

How to know your teaching is paying off.

This morning, I was sitting on the couch reading. Thomas came over and snuggled up next to me.

Me: Hey you.
Thomas: Mom, I'm not you. I'm Thomas.
Me: I know your name is Thomas.
Thomas: I am NOT a letter!

I guess we have the letter thing down, now I need to start working on those tricky homophones.

Eight months and it looks like there is trouble brewing!

Clara is 8 months today! I can not believe it ( I know I say that in every month-birthday post, but it really is going way too fast)! We can tell already that this little girl is going to be trouble, in the she's-too-smart-for-us kind of way. Here is the list of her recent accomplishments.

* She crawls like a pro!

* She can wave and clap.

* Words she says: Mama, bye-bye, hi, and she can say "woof" thanks to Grandma Shirley.

* She gives kisses and even makes kissing noises.

* She is pulling herself up on furniture and up in her crib (way too soon for me).

* She is starting to give her brother trouble. She is getting into all his toys and wants to be involved in everything he does.

* She loves "real" food, although I am very careful about the things that she is given due to food allergies running amuck in our gene pool.

* She loves to look at books with pictures of babies, or animals.

* She has a giggle that makes my heart dance.

* She is in love with Mickey Mouse and attacks the stuffed doll we have of him.

* She squeals like a banshee. Her nickname is piccolo-pete because she sounds like fireworks when she screams.

She is just getting keeps getting better with age!

What no patience looks like.

I decided I couldn't wait until tomorrow, or even worse, Monday. My BFF, Amy, talked me into going tonight to get the book.

The post where I expose all my dorkieness.

August 2nd has been circled in red on my calendar for a few weeks now. I am having the same butterflies in my stomach that I had when I was little on the night Santa would come. I am going to spend today cleaning my house so I can bask in the uncontrolled excitement tomorrow. Why?

1st Reason - Breaking Dawn is being released tomorrow. I know! I can’t believe that I am that excited for a book to come out. This is so not me. I swore up and down I would not get into the Twilight books, (my mom refers to them as “those voodoo books you read“) but I am. I have been to the Stephanie Meyer website several times just looking to see if there is some kind of message that says, ”just kidding all you fans, go get your books now!” My book is supposed to be delivered to my house tomorrow morning, however I am seriously thinking about attending one of the midnight release parties and buying a 2nd copy and returning the one I ordered from The Wal-Mart. What’s a girl to do?

2nd Reason - The Rod Stewart concert is tomorrow night! Woo-hoo! Yes, I am a huge dork who likes un-cool music. I will totally own up to that. Steve and I took my mom last year and we loved the concert, so we are going again tomorrow night. We have awful seats, but who cares! It is just going to be fun to rock out with all the old people. Last year when we went, we tried to find someone who was close to our age and came up empty. On top of that, Steve kept on running into his physical therapy patients who are all old people. It was such a fun, magical night and I can’t wait to go again. I need to go out today and buy a gold lamaie top and some leather pants so I will fit in with the crowd. If anyone has some I can borrow, give me a call or post a comment.