Worth getting up for

I laid in bed for about 15 minutes today wishing and hoping Clara would go back to sleep. She has a really bad habit of waking up about an hour before I would like her to. She will sit in her crib and make noises until I come in and rescue her. I finally gave in and made my way to her room. When I walked in she quickly stood up and said....

"I appy."

("I'm happy.")

When to worry...

Should I be worried that this little girl got up on a stage today, started dancing, and lifted up her shirt so everyone could see her "goods?" Something tells me I may want to keep her away from the strip.

Let's make a deal...

" Mom, can I have all your coins and I will buy you more when I get bigger?"

The Assistant

We are still around, still hot, and still counting down the days until fall. This last weekend Thomas, Clara and I abandoned Steve and the messy house and took off with Grandma Shirley to Southern California. My cousin asked if I would come and do a photo shoot with her 3 adorable boys. I gladly obliged because 1) It got me out of the heat for 48 hours and 2) it was a great opportunity to add to my portfolio and get some more practice. Clara was my assistant and made sure nobody walked off with my camera bag.

All about Clara Jane

Clara's word list:

mommy, daddy, puppy, pew-we, that stinks, cookie, here you go, thank you, please, uncle Tim, Harley, Crystal, grandma, more, drink, kitty, were'd it go, baby

She has a word for Thomas, but it's not very understandable.

When we say "I love you" she answers back with "I do."

Along with her words, she is a pro at animal sounds.

She loves to dance, do somersaults, and play in the backyard

These are her favorite shoes. (mine too) I took her to the shoe store because her feet decided to grow really fast. I had 2 pairs for her to pick from. She chose these ones and I was quite happy.

She may be a handful, but she is fun. It's hard to believe she is coming up on 20 months! She will be 2 before we know it!

Because I need to write this down.

Today we had swim day. Thomas has been looking forward to this day for about a month now. It was at the home of a family in our ward. By calling their pool a pool, you are insulting it. It is huge. It has multiple waterfalls, 3 slides and a couple very high waterfalls you can jump off. It's pretty impressive to put it mildly.

Thomas mastered jumping off the cliffs (at least 10-15 feet high) last time we went and has been so excited to do it again. Today he wanted me to join him. How do you tell a 4-year-old that you are kind of scared, not only of jumping, but jumping in front of a backyard full of ladies from the RS? I climbed up to the top of the cliff and tried to stall. Thomas pulled me down to his level and started rubbing my shoulders while singing me a song he made up on the spot about not being afraid to jump. It was so sweet. How could I back out? He then took my hand, lead me to the edge, looked up at me and said, "It's okay, Mom. I'll hold your hand the whole way."

And with that I plugged my nose and took the plunge.

Perception

"Mom, I had a dream last night that I was in the circus. I didn't do anything, but there were lot of clowns."

(I don't know about you, but that sounds like a nightmare to me!)

Must see tv.

If you are not watching Sesame Street, you are missing out. I love their music videos. I truly think that the producers of the show do these just for us moms who are at home with our kids. These are a few of my favorites...

I wish I had this one when I was teaching geometry to my old students.

This one has been one of my favorites for a while.

Is that really my job?

Thomas is growing up. A tad too fast if you ask me. One of the problems we have is he thinks he is an adult. When he gets reprimanded for doing something, he always turns around and uses the same "sayings" on us as we use on him. I have been asked "Mom, why are you acting this way?" or "You know I don't like it when you talk to me like that." It takes everything in me to keep a straight face and not laugh. Today it couldn't be helped, I lost it and couldn't stop laughing.

Thomas was running across the family room and stubbed his toe on Clara's sippy cup that was laying on the floor. He hit his toe, then grabbed it while falling towards the couch. I quickly came to his aid and asked if he was all right, but instead of answering my my question he very sternly said...

"Mom, why is that cup on the floor? Don't you know you are the cleaner around here?"

I should have set him straight right then, but I couldn't get a hold of myself. I was laughing. Really hard and loud! Maybe next time I teach him how it really is. I'm sure I'll have the chance.

(Would you believe this picture was in my files - crazy how perfect it fit this post!)

At the tone, the time will be 3:36 am....

I can't sleep. I was doing just fine until....

This little girl started to whine. She was moaning, then whining, then crying. I finally dragged myself into her room to check on her and figured she just wanted a little cuddle. I happily obliged because she rarely wakes up at night, so I knew something must have scared her. I heard some talking outside, so I looked out her window and saw a cop car down the street blocking one of the intersections. After seeing that, I was wide awake. I had to watch and see if anything else happened.

Of course, nothing did.

About 30 minutes later, I climbed back in bed only to be reminded that I really need to slather myself in sunscreen when I do my kids. Yesterday we went swimming and I neglected myself. I have been in pain all day long. I know better! I'm Irsih for heaven's sake! I burn faster then bread under a broiler! I tried to rub some aloe gel on my back, but arms only reach so far. I tried to get comfortable, but it wasn't happening.

To top that off, Steve was snoring. Usually he is not a snore-er unless he is extremely tired, which I know he is. I didn't want to roll him over and wake him up, so I turned on the TV to try and block out the noise. I usually turn on QVC or something else for the mindless white noise, but unfortunately I stumbled on a movie that has great Michael Buble music and got sucked into it.

The movie ended at 3 am and I was still wide awake trying to get comfortable. I decided I would go take some tylenol to try and mask the sunburn pain. Lucky for me, when I got downstairs I found that Steve hadn't eaten all the left over chocolate cake from the Cheesecake Factory. I grabbed a fork, turned on the computer to play around and then dropped the cake on the floor.

I'm not going to tell you what I did next.

Drum roll please.....

I finally finished editing all the wedding pictures. Photography is an interesting art. I am a creative person, I love to make things and create things that pop into my mind in the middle of the night while I am trying to sleep. With everything else, you can change the end results. You can rip out a seam, paint over, cut out, or start over. That is so not the case with photography. It is what it is. I look at these and love them, then come back an hour later and get a pit in my stomach because I should have been standing 3 feet more to the left. These are just a few of the many, many, MANY that I took. I am sure that my favorites will be different from the bride and grooms favorites.

I still have a lot to learn, but I know I will eventually get there. I can't thank this cute couple enough for letting me use them as my lab rats.

I need this song on my ipod.

This video was made in the Antwerp, Belgium Central (Train) Station on the 23rd of March 2009.
. . . with no warning to the passengers passing through the station,
at 08:00 am a recording of Julie Andrews singing 'Do, Re, Mi' begins to play on the public address system.â€
As the bemused passengers watch in amazement, some 200 dancers begin to appear from the crowd and station entrances.
They created this amazing stunt with just two rehearsals!

Journal Entry

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. Many of my friends say they know when I am busy, because the posts are few and far between. They are right.

I learned a valuable lesson these past two weeks. DON'T OVER SCHEDULE!!! There is a reason why I quit teaching school to stay home with my babies, it is so I can be at home with them - not running off thinking I have to do every nilly-willy thing that comes up.

These past two weeks have been packed with meetings, playdates, teaching numerous classes, and finally...my first paid photography gig - a wedding. I did not want to do it, I was scared to death, but I am proud of myself that I did. There is no way I could have accomplished it without my best friend. She came along (it was in UT) because she wanted a day without responsibility. Little did she know she would be responsible for my brain. She had to whisper things in my ear like, "don't forget to get the groom in this shot." Oh yeah, he is kind of important! I'll post the pictures soon, I don't want to anyone to see them until the bride and groom see them - but I am happy with how they turned out.

Because of how busy I had been the past two weeks, I decided I had had enough and I needed to be with just my little family, no distractions. Steve had an unexpected day off, so I decided we were going to take advantage of it. We had been toying with the idea of going to California to spend some time at the beach, but we didn't know if we could pull it off. Saturday morning I taught one more class (the last of them for a couple of weeks). As I was cleaning up I decided we were were going to go. At 1:30 and started searching the Internet for last minute deals. I quickly packed everyones' suitcase and waited for Steve to get home from work. We were able to make it out of town by 4:30 - not too bad!

We had a great trip. We spent every minute playing with each other either at the hotel pool or at the beach. Our swim suits never had a chance to completely dry! We also stopped at a few of our favorite Southern California restaurants and did some damage there as well. It was a great get away - one we desperately needed.

Clara was playing and having a great time. She then reached up for me to hold her and within seconds this is what happened.

She was zonked!

Oh, that Girl!

Thomas and I have a little saying that we often repeat. Whenever someone has done something naughty we say "oh, that _____!" Now, the blank isn't there because we fill it in with profanity, we fill it in with girl, boy, daddy, mommy, grandma - take your pick. Thomas picked it up on an old episode of Davey and Goliath. If you don't know about that cartoon, you are so missing out on the corniest cartoon ever made - and we love it. Grandma Barb gave us a whole bunch on DVD for Easter and we have been watching them ever since - but only when Dad isn't home because he doesn't appreciate it like we do.

Just thought you would like to know the meaning behind my title.

Anyway....

This little girl has been giving me a run for my money. She is such a doll. She is such a lover, but she is sooo sassy.

When I pictured my little girl (before I had her), I always thought she would be running around in cute little dresses, her hair always done, and just looking so...um...what's the word.... girlish.

Not quite. 9 times out of 10 she is in her diaper because she strips down. Recently she has figured out how to take the diaper off to and run around naked. We went and bought her a potty seat just to see if she was interested, but instead of sitting on it she wears it as her hat (I need to get a picture of that). She does not like to wear anything but dresses, but when she is home she prefers to be in the buff.

This picture says it all. Let me explain. She loves this little cart. She has all her rocks she has collected in the bottom, her baby in the top and is standing in a puddle of water. The puddle is there because she had pooped on the patio earlier on in the evening and I had to wash everything down. When Thomas came in to tell me what she had done I wasn't even shocked -because it's the third time she has done it. I really hope she grows out of this before she gets to high school. I would hate to see her miss her own prom because she keeps pooping all over campus.

But you know what? Even though she is not what I imagined, I think she is a whole lot better. She keeps us laughing and is always keeping me on my toes.

Partners in Crime

Are they not the cutest things ever! They play so well together. It is such a joy to be able to send them upstairs and let them play and entertain each other.

However, we relearned a lesson tonight. If it is too quiet, bad things are happening.

Like this...

Tonight we were all home. My meeting was canceled and Steve was home from work early. We had an early dinner and then sent the kids upstairs to play until the backyard was shady enough to send them out. Steve and I laid down on the couch and were enjoying the peace and quiet.

Then Thomas came downstairs and asked me to help him put his shirt on. I noticed something greasy in his hair.

Me: What's in your hair?
Thomas: Oh, Clara was just putting Vaseline in my hair.
Me: NO! Where is she?
Thomas: It's okay mom, it's just Vaseline.

I ran upstairs to find Clara in the middle of the hallway with her hair completely covered in the goo.

I frantically started searching the Internet on how to remove the stuff and kept reading to put cornstarch in it and then wash it out with a clarifying shampoo. I ran to my cupboard and couldn't find any. How could I be out of cornstarch??? I sent Steve to Albertsons and gave him a list of things to get.

Clara knew she had done something naughty and didn't care one bit. I was chasing her around trying to get her to stop rubbing her head on the furniture.

Once Steve got home we doused them in cornstarch and then threw them in the bath. We did the cornstarch, then washed with Aussie Shampoo, because it was recommended. Then I washed their hair with Dawn Dish soap. It felt like it was working.

We got them out of the tub and dried them off. Thomas' hair felt okay, but Clara's felt like I had just rubbed the Vaseline in deeper. I jumped on google again and found another site with some tips. The first one they said to do was use peanut butter. Yes, just what we needed. Lets see if Clara has a nut allergy too by covering her in peanut butter! The next trick was to use an egg.

We covered her hair again in cornstarch and then washed her hair with and egg. I about lost it when Thomas came running into the bathroom.

Thomas: Mom, what is that in the bowl?

Me: it's just a scrambled egg

I poured the egg over her head and Steve started working it into the mess.

Thomas: ARE YOU GOING TO BAKE HER???!!!

He said it with so much worry in his voice.

We explained to her that we were only using it to try and get the Vaseline out and that we would never bake his sister.

After the egg, we tried the next trick - Coke. This is the coke that I ran to the corner store to get wearing a black shirt an denim skirt that were completely covered in white powder. You know the sad thing is nobody even gave me a second glance.

I think the coke finally worked. When I got her out, her hair was feeling pretty normal and I was able to get it combed out. I think I am going to wash it with egg and coke one more time tomorrow just to make sure I get it all out.

I promise I won't bake her.