Best Parenting Advice Ever...

Feel free to pass this along to your friends.

Do you have too many toys in your house? Are you tired of your kids leaving their toys all over the floor? Well I have a solution for you!

Buy one of these

After a few weeks of tears, your children will start picking up the toys that they would like to keep and only those they don't care about will remain on the floor.

When your children are in tears over a toy that has been consumed or at least terribly chewed up, you will have the opportunity to have deep meaningful conversations with them. They go something like this.

"Wow, you are right, Superman is dead. That is so cool; Charlie's teeth must be made of kryptonite."
or

"No, you don't need to throw that star wars toy away; it looks like he really was in the Clone Wars now. He must have survived a great battle with the droid army."

(Your kids will think you are so cool, because you are up on all of their interests.)

You can also teach them about science.

"I guess this is one more theory to add to how the dinosaurs became extinct."

or

"Yes, I can see your striped underwear in Charlie's poop. I guess a dog his size cannot digest a whole pair of underwear."

And apparently, your kids will also learn how to give service. (bonus)

Don't walk, RUN to your nearest pet shop and pick up one of these invaluable parenting tools!

Stay tuned for my next post on how to "antique" your new furniture.

Happy Birthday Tyler

It was Tyler's birthday on Saturday. His parents came to town for the weekend and we had lots of fun. Tyler and I even got to have a date on Friday with NO KIDS. We went to a Thai restaurant, so that Tyler could have sushi and other yummy things.

On Saturday we opened presents, ate at Red Robin with the whole family, and then came home for homemade apple pie. It was fun to have Tyler's Boise Aunts and Uncle come join us. Too bad, I did not think to take a picture of everyone. I did take a picture of Tyler and the boys while he was opening presents. Can you tell how excited Jack and Sam get when someone has a birthday? I also took a picture of the pie. Tyler requests my homemade apple pie every year instead of a cake. I keep making it because he tells me over and over again how wonderful it is and it makes me feel all happy and domestic.

Thanks for being such a great husband and dad - we love you!

Big Mama

I definitely have developed a thick skin by being the mother of little boys. Even when the comments are innocent, sometimes they still leave a little bruise.

Sam: "You my big sister."
Me: "I'm not your sister, I am your mom."
Sam: "You my Big Mama, and you Logan's Big Mama too."

Jack said something about caffeine, and I told him that it had been a whole week since I had any caffeine. His reply...
"Oh, that is why you have been so grumpy."
NICE!!!!
He then came up with an idea. He said that I could have a sticker chart and every time I didn't drink Coke, I could put a sticker on the chart. When I had it filled out, I could get a prize. I asked him what the prize was and he said, a great big Coke. He was a little concerned that he might not have the money to buy me that Coke though.

p.s. I really was grumpy, but only for one day.

Proud Primary Moment

For sharing time, the kids were playing charades. Their topic was how they could serve their family. The kids had already acted out reading to a sibling, playing Legos with a brother, raking leaves, etc. There was time for one more kid, and Sister K picked Jack W's stick. I stiffened, a little nervous and a little excited to see what he would do. If nothing else, I knew he would put his all into the acting out part. Then in what seemed to be slow motion, Jack started softly barking like a dog, squatted down and made a grunting noise, and then acted out shoveling up dog poop. Not once, not twice, but over and over again. I was laughing so hard, out of embarrassment, that I had tears streaming down my face. All of the adults were looking at me. One of the little girls in my class started copying him. I had to tell her to stop, and that it was not funny.

You have to love Sister K though, she keeps a straight face and a with a smile says, "Wow Jack, that is a big responsibility. Children, when you have a dog they have to go to the bathroom outside, and if you don't clean it up then you can't play outside can you? Jack serves his family by cleaning up after the dog so that they can play in their back yard."

Jack goes back to his seat and continues with the sound effects even though I am sure lasers were shooting out of my eyes across the room into his brain!

Seriously people, can't we cancel church the day after Halloween? I have never seen 100 kids in the same room with a sugar high. It was NOT FUN!

Pumpkin Patches - a look back

Our family went to the pumpkin patch last weekend. This has become a tradition that Jack looks forward to all year long. He loves thinking about the corn mazes, figuring out what kind of pumpkin he will find, and planning how he will carve it. I thought it would be fun to put together some pictures of him with his pumpkins over the last 8 years. (note: We didn't go to the pumpkin patch when he was 7 mo - 2002, and for some reason we missed it in 2007.)

I did not get a really cute picture of the kids all together, but here is one just so you can see how cute they were that day.

Just that kind of boy...

Logan is seven months old today, but this post is dedicated to Sam who has thoroughly "entertained" me over these last seven months. No wonder I am so tired, but how can anyone resist that grin!
He is a...
1. Binkie Stealing
2. Cowboy Hat Wearing
3. Crib Climbing
4. Pants-less Puddle Making
5. Tail Swinging (We bought this for our trip to Yellowstone, because I kept having visions of Sam falling into a geyser. Sam loved it, because he could swing the tail.)
6. Fully Clothed Sneaky Swimming
7. Baby Swinging
8. Baby Hat Wearing
9. Stroller Hiding
10. Light saber Fighting (He has three real light sabers, but apparently Lincoln Logs are just as good)
11. Box Playing (again, why do we buy real toys?)
12. Marker Stealing
kind of boy!

The October Incident

This year marks the 15th anniversary of what Tyler and I have always referred to as the October Incident. As soon as the air starts to cool, and there are signs of autumn all around, I can not help but remember this day in our dating history. Here's the story. Tyler had been home from his mission since December of 93/going to Weber State, and I was attending Dixie College for the 3rd year. (Yes I had already graduated and it was a two year school back then. I was just too scared to go to a big girl school at that time. Whole other story!) The Sadie Hawkins dance was just around the corner and since I was a member of the student council I had to go. At this time, the missionary I had sent off was due home in March of 95 and I was not really interested in dating. Kierste (BFF) and I were discussing our options and had planned to ask out some of our friend Matt's roommates. Kierste ended up asking Rick and they lived happily ever after - another story. A few weeks before the dance Tyler told me that he was coming down to SUU in Cedar and wondered if he could stop in. It was perfect - I told him that he had to come to the dance with me. A little history on Tyler and me. We met when we were in Junior High. I was 14 and he was 15. This is what we looked like.

We "went together" then dated until my Junior year and Tyler's Senior year. Tyler has been my best friend for a long time. I wrote to him on his mission and spent a lot of time with him when he came home, but nothing ever seemed to happen, so I figured we were just friends. I figured I could introduce him to Kierste and set them up.

Tyler agreed to go to the dance with me and I was relieved that I didn't have to ask anyone else. The night started out normally. We were happy to see each other and didn't stop talking. Then we got to the dance and innocently enough we held hands to go out to the dance floor. And that is when it happened. Electricity! Years of feelings came rushing back to both of us. We spent all night talking. We kissed for the first time after many years, and then Tyler went home. Poor Kierste and Cathi had to listen to me cry and dissect every minute of the night. By Thanksgiving we had said I love you, by Christmas we had talked about marriage, and on January 14th we got engage. I moved home after Spring Semester. We were married the next June. Our own happily ever after.

Sadie Hawkins 10/15/1994