White blanket

We had school delayed a couple hours today, so left the house a little after 10:00. The children were so thrilled with the ice and snow. They loved the sound of the crunching ice. Jordan was so excited about it that she asked me "mommy, can I crunch some more ice after school?"

But what I really wanted to write about is something else she said. Simple, yet profound. As we were driving to school, she said "Mommy, there is so much snow all around, it is like there is a white blanket covering the whole earth."

Love it!

Our dining room's facelift

Here are some pictures I have been asked for. I held off to put my new curtains, and since I did that today, here goes!!


Here are the kids playing in the dining room today. The chairs are missing because they are a part of a huge tent/fort in the living room. I don't have too many before pictures because I got so excited and forgot. The plates used to hang next to the mirror, and there were certificates of Darin's where the plates are now. I put those away, and put some pictures in the new frames next to the mirror. Here is one before picture I did take when I realized I hadn't taken any.

a before of the "map wall" Darin loves this map and wouldn't let me replace it. I actually do like it-the kids ask lots of questions. They know where mommy and daddy served missions, and where all our overseas friends live.

The wall is now green!!! I loved how it turned out. Green is my favorite color.

A shot of our new frames.

Another of the whole room-I am standing on our steps. I wish I had a pic of the old curtains, you would laugh. I haven't liked them the whole time I have lived in the house-don't worry, Darin is aware of my dislike for them. We have the same ones in the living room and I can't wait to replace them as well. They were an ugly floral and were the kind with the big knots in the corners and hung to the floor. I think this is much improved. I will probably go back to KMart and get the same ones for the living room.

And I finally hung up one of my enrichment projects. I made this when I was pregnant with Landon-before I knew we were having a boy, so I have to order his name to go on one of the stars.

There is a picture of one very small wall missing, but it has a very cluttered bakers rack no one really needs to see, as well as part of the staircase.

So, this is my first attempt at redecorating anything. There are lots of areas to touch up, but I was so worn out from painting, that has yet to be done. I do look forward to doing the living room eventually-I am going to use the same green, so I think that will be really nice.

We got a new table!

Well, not brand new, but new to us!!

As you can see, our table was getting a little warn. The varnish was showing signs of age and lots of use, so I decided it needed a face lift. I was in a restaurant one day and thougth to myself "it would be nice if our table had a nice finish like this." I went to home depot and found some stuff called "Super glaze. " And decided to try it.

Here is the before picture...this is after I had started sanding....and without the leaf, then I realized I had to do the leaf as well so it would be even.

And here is the finished product!!! I was so happy when I saw it in the morning! It was quite a process, so I was happy it turned out well. I learned a lot, andwould probably do much better next time, but nonetheless, it is great.

A close up of the wood. Oak is hard because it is a really grainy wood-it doesn't get perfectly flat. I sanded, sanded, sanded and then sanded some more. I wasn't sure the color would be even, but was so pleased when the natural color came out so well.

So now it cleans off really well, the kids can play with playdough without bits of finish getting in the playdough, and I can roll out cookies if I want!! I must say that I am quite proud of myself for completing this project!!

So disappointing....

I am so bummed. I probably shouldn't be posting this info, since I am not supposed to know it yet, but I was told yesterday that Spencer's preschool is not doing the integration program next school year!!! It was a total shock, since I had it all planned out....oh, so sad. I guess the principal has decided to let some assistants go due to budgeting, and apparently the ratio will be off.....what? really? The model kids are the ones that the teachers don't have to worry about, and they are good helpers. Last year there was a boy in Jordan's class who often, almost daily, wouldn't cooperate unless Jordan told him too. The teachers loved her and were sad when she missed school. Spencer's teachers say the same about him, that he is a great helper and very friendly and caring to the other children...

Ugh....now we have to fight the preschool crowds to register him somewhere next year....at least I found out now so I can prepare. The principal is going to send a note to the current models, but who knows when that could be. If she waits until after March, we would have been out of luck. So glad I know!! And I guess I shouldn't complain too much since we have had 3 years of free preschool!!

Some amazing kids!!

I have decided that I am really in love with my children. I guess I have known it all along, and despite their efforts to make sure I am certified "crazy" by a professional, I do adore, cherish them and am completely smitten with them. Just ask Darin-you will repeatedly hear him telling me stopping hugging and kissing on them...or will you stop starring at your child and take them up to bed, etc. He has also said they are my life and come before anything else, which he says sometimes includes him, unfortunately.

It has been too long since I have really expressed my gratitude for my-I keep saying "my" but I should say "our" children. I guess it is my blog, so I will say "my children." Anyhow I am sooo thankful to have been blessed with 3 healthy, loving, caring, fun, cute, smart, imaginative,sweet.....I could go on...children. I am, however, aware of many women who struggle to become pregnant for the first time, or to add to their family. I wish I could take away all their pain and sorrow...

In the meantime, here are some of my favorite moments my sweeties have blessed me with lately.

Jordan doesn't have school today and Landon's little class was cancelled. Jordan and Spencer were doing Starfall on the computer...at least I thought they were. I came down to check and they decided to watch a movie. Jordan managed to put a VHS tape in the VCR and press play. She hasn't ever done that before because we usually watch DVD's. They were so cute in this chair. Our Princess Jordan

I need to take stock in a paper company for this child. If there is any pad laying around, she will burn through it in no time. The dining room table has become her personal desk. She comes home and goes straight there to color and draw. I can't get mad because most of the time she makes pictures for me. Spencer spilled water yestrday and she made a cute sign saying "stop" and folded the paper and put it on the floor. So cute.

Landon is in love with his older sister. He loves to play with her, dance with her and anytime she is sitting on the floor, he plops himself down on her lap. She loves him as well, and just wraps her arms around him.

Here she was playing with both her brothers in big piles of pillows.

Spencer: A cross between Curious George and

Dennis the Menace

Here is my little helper. I recently refinished my table and he had to get in on the action. He put the mask on himself and decided he needed to help. He was also thrilled with the sander I borrowed. He loved carrying the case around. Wish I had a picture of that. He loves to carry around anything with a handle.

Spencer and his daddy. He crawled up on the couch with his daddy for a Sunday afternoon nap. Spencer is my sweetheart. He is known to say "I love you" at any time of the day, to anyone. Last Sunday he turned around in them middle of primary and said "I love you mommy" Ah...so sweet. Speaking of primary-he spoke at the microphone for the first time Sunday. The Sunbeams were in charge and the teacher was trying to get each child to say something. None of them would, but Spencer was the first one. He did great, despite the giggles from his sister. Then they all did. Then he said the closing prayer because the Sunbeam who was supposed to wouldn't. He almost swallowed the mic, but he did it all by himself!! Proud mommy moment!!!

He loves this backpack and will carry it around all day.

Tie obsession......loves em...wears em all day.

Landon.....Uh Oh is all I can say!


I thought Spencer was bad, but this kid is really giving him a run for his money! I guess it doesn't help that he has 2 older siblings to watch. He picks things up so much faster than his big brother and sister. Here are some of his doings

He got himself into this little predicament.....

Proud little stinker!

We went to Kids N Motion and he wasn't scarred of anything!!! He crawled into this bounce house by himself!!

I wasn't feeding him fas enough one day so he got something for himself, got into his chair and started without me.

This is one thing Jordan and Spencer never figured out. When Landon wants out of his highchair, he reaches under the tray, presses the buttons and pushe the tray off...just like so:

Ah, life is good-I am free. I am lucky mommy is too lazy lately to buckle my straps. You would think she would learn....

Landon is also becoming quite the talker. He says so many thing and repeats whatever we say. This morning I yelled for the other two to come down and he yelled "sissy and roo roo." (We have called Spencer the name Spencerrooo for a long time.) Here are some of our favorites:

if he can't find me he will say "mommy, ere are you?'

He says "I'm coming" "buckle me' and so much more.

we love to have him say Wall E because it is sooo cute the way he says it.

we also love to hear him say raspberries, the name Lucy, and robot-all very cute because he puckers up his lips. Today when we were going to play in the snow he was yelling "my shovel" and that was just from hearing us say it. Oh, so cute!!

Tag, I'm it

This is from my friend Brighton. Enjoy!

5 things I was doing 5 years ago

Wendi
1. Taking care of a 5 almost 6 month old baby
2. Young Womens president
3. I cleaned my house much more and much better
4. Hanging out with my friend Jill alot because our babies are a month apart.
5. I cooked dinner a lot more than currently!!

Darin
1. Working at Ft. Meade Maryland
2. Elders quorum secretary
3. getting fed much better by his wife
4. Travelled to Belguim for work
5. living in same house as now, although it was more quite and relaxing....

Wendi's to do list
1. Find screws and put up my new curtains. A word caution...if you buy a curtain rod from IKEA, it does not come with screws.
2. Declutter and reorganize my kitchen and storage room.
3. get a regular work out routing going to lose this weight and have energy to keep up with you know who!!
4. prepare living room to get painted...sometime this year hopefully! Maybe if Darin goes out of town again:)
5. sell a few things on craigs list to pad my "camera and computer" account:)


Darin's to do list-I'm guessing since he thinks this is a "time waster"
1. relax
2. get his wife to be much less an emotional keel
3. finish taxes
4. go out of town again...soon
5. relax some more

5 things I would do with a million dollars
Wendi
1. Buy a bigger house and new minivan
2. Pad all our various bank accounts
3. Share with family/church/good charity
4. Get the camera and laptop I currently desire
5. take a great vacation

Darin
1. Pay off house
2. put in bank
3. Add to mission and college funds
4. Buy a new car
5. forgot the last one Darin said, but I think go on a good vacation

5 jobs I have held
Wendi
1. hostess at Po Folks restaurant
2. counselor in group home for juvenile delinquents.
3. Nanny-live in and live out
4. checker in grocery store
5. Social worker in a Community Center

Darin
1. checker in grocery store
2. World Bank/IMF
3. Department of Defense
4. Firework sales
5 . hmmm...not sure!


I tag anyone else who has a desire to share...would love to hear from you all!!

History

Yes, that's right. Darin and I were in the sea of over a million and a half people yesterday. It was quite and adventure. I wasn't sure I even wanted to go because of the crowds, but then Darin got tickets from the Washington State Representative....so off we went. Actually on Monday he went down to get the tickets. He took Jordan and the line wrapped around the building for about 3 blocks. He went around the building and found another entrance that was extremely shorter.

The actual ticket Here are some things inside the packet:

Here is our timeline for the day.

8:30 am leave our kiddos at Carla Price's house

9:00-arrive at the metro after parking a few blocks away.

Here is the crowd at the Metro just waiting to get to the turnstyles!! It was crazy. We couldn't figure out why we stayed in one spot forever, then all of a sudden it was really fast through. We got on a train and were amazed that they let it leave before it was packed. Metro really could have done a much better job.

11:00 we arrive in DC-yes it took us 2 hours to get there. The Metro stopped before every station and it took forever at each station. It took forever!! And there was a high school group on our train that were not schooled in Metro ettiquete. Their teacher was really loud and gave a free tour to everyone on the train

By this point they had closed off the Mall, and also the entrance for our tickets. Everyone was really annoyed, then there was a rush and the crowd smashed down a fence and we think we ended up in the area we were meant to be in anyway. About 11:45 we made it to the place we stayed for the ceremony.

A view of the Capital building .

About 11:45 as the program is underway I looked around and saw all the snipers on all the buildings-they were on all the buildings.

Here I am just before noon.By the way, I have to thank Carla for the use of a really warm coat-much better than mine!!

A shot of the crowd. It was unbelievable. People from all over were there. And parents with small children. The family next to us had a boy probably 9-10 and he was up on his dad's shoulders taking pictures. Darin and I were among very few caucasian people the whole time.

Here we are about 12:10 or so after President Obama was sworn in. I couldn't really see much, but sometimes there were breaks in the crowd so I could get a glimpse at the gumbotron.

12:30 ish...Crowds leaving-a massive push of people. I hung on to Darin for dear life. My biggest fear was getting separated, even though I could find my way home if I had to.

The line getting into the Metro to go home. We were privileged to have on one side of us a mother and daughter arguing about getting separated, and on the other side a group of roudy teenage boys, of which one or more of them had body odor, or bad breath or something causing a smell. The ride home was much better.

So it really was a cool experience. It was great to witness the excitement of the people-tears falling, exclamations of joy and hope and to see all the young children and teenagers was awesome. I had been very cynical about Obama being "the first black president" because I had felt that Obama didn't truly represent the real "black" people of our country-he was raised by a white mom so how could he identify with the real "black" people. I have lived and worked in my life with populations of african americans from the inner city and wondered how Obama identified with them-I saw what they had been through in their lives.

But being down there yesterday was amazing...the african americans in our country are so so excited-they see the possibilites....I imagine they feel like they are heard and counted now....being there made me see the significance of Obama being elected. It didn't seem to matter where they from-the getto, middle income neighborhoods, or even the more prosperous aftrican americans. There was a huge black guy a couple people in front of us and I swear I could see a huge superbowl ring on his finger. Everyone around him kept handing them his cameras to get closeups of the jumbotron and he graciously took every camera handed to him. I saw so many different people-from different walks of life-even heard lots of different accents. The cool thing was that I felt so united with them-we were all excited for the possibilites for our country.

When Obama was proclaimed the president the cheers were amazing. People were waving flags, crying, screaming, etc. Wow!!! It was really cool. Then he spoke and people really listened. Oh, I just remembered that during the prayer so many people around me quoted the Lord's prayer while he was saying the prayer. Anyhow, Obama really is a great speaker. He said some great things. My brain was a little cold, so I don't remember it all...but I do remember him quoting the scriptures saying that it was time to put childish things aside. I hope this spoke to the politicians...that they can stop acting like "children" when they "don't get their way" and to go about things in way to benefit the whole country and not just their own interests.

I do have to say the only one disappointing thing was when the crowd booed Bush. I know that he has made some bad decisions, but respect the man for simply being the president for 8 years (after all, he was elected!). Respect the office of the President no matter who holds it. I really believe that Bush is a genuine and decent person and thank him for his efforts on behalf of our country. I will also miss seeing Laura-she is a class act.

We are praying for you President Obama, Michell, Malia and Sasha-take good care of us!!

On the spot

I had a good chuckle in the car on the way home from church today. We had been chatting about the fact that we forgot that Landon was assigned the nursery snack and that I realized in sacrament meeting that Jordan was supposed to give a talk. That one we took care of easily and it went really well. So, Jordan once again out of the blue asked a good question. Here is how the conversation went (with my own little thoughts:)

Jordan: Daddy, what did you about learn today? (she must have learned that from me....)
Darin: About Jesus.
Jordan: No daddy, what about Jesus did you learn. (apparently we always learn about Jesus. My giggling starts here.)
Darin: that we need to be like Jesus.
Jordan: what did you learn of how to be like Jesus? (how about some specifics here...more giggling)
Darin: Well, my teacher told us.....( and this is where I was really chuckling so I didn't get all of what Darin said.

I guess the time of giving the usual "cover everything" answers has ended!!

Question of the Day....

Here is one for you to consider...and if you have a good answer, let me know!

This is what Jordan asked me in the car tonight, completely out of the blue:

"Mommy, how do Santa and Jesus see us all the time even though they aren't here?"

Yikes...first of all can you compare the two? Darin asked me to compare and contrast...yeah righ!!.
Second of all how do you teach 5 year old of ...I can't think of the word...omnipresence...no, omnipotence? See, I can't even think of the right word! I guess I need to be doing some of my old mission days type studying!!

Oh, Darin is home....yeah!!!

Landon's new trick

Uh Oh!!!!
We have a bit of a problem in our house now....Landon has learned a new trick which has make mommy have to move some furniture....
We have a really small nursery, so the furniture is all pretty close together. The changing table is next to the crib. It was used a lot for all the babies, but after they were all about a year old, it becomes a storage center. It was not a problem for Jordan or Spencer....I guess because by 20 months they were both in a twin bed preparing for a sibling to take over the crib.

Landon is another story. I went to get him from his nap yesterday and heard giggling. I was happy because that meant I would not have to wake him from a sound sleep to go get Jordan. Well.....the following picture is where I found him!!
I actually took the picture today so I could show everyone, but this it is exactly where he was yesterday. So, I put him in his crib after I took it to see what he would do....

Step 1: Grab onto the changing table.

Step 2: Put your little knee on the side of the crib like so...

Step 3: Pull yourself over onto the changing table.

Step 4: Turn around and sit down to show mommy what you are capable of.

It probably wasn't too safe to watch him do this and take pictures, but I wanted to get pictures of it. He is such a litle stinker. He is actually doing more than Spencer did because he has another trick-when he is finshed with his food and wants out of his high chair he just reaches under the tray, presses the release buttons and pushes his tray off.....I can't believe he figured that out...he is so smart!!!

I put he and Spencer to bed tonight and figured he was tired he would be ok....no way!! I was reading to Jordan and finishing up some homework and heard all kinds of commotion up against the wall. Well, he was sitting on the changing table when I went in there. Needless to say, the changing table is now in the middle of the room well out of reach of the crib. I just hope I don't trip when I check on them when I go to bed. If you are close to me and need a changing table or know of anyone who does, let me know-otherwise it is going on Craig's list tomorrow because we have no room anywhere else in the house!!!

Did I bite off more than I can chew?

Ahhhh...So, I decided to paint and boy has it been an adventure. I have learned so much, but am so overwhelmed. The first thing I have learned is that I will never take 3 children to Home Depot right after school ever again. I really am not fond of the place alone, so add 3 tired, hungry kids to the mix and it is not enjoyable. Today Spencer fell asleep in the car picking Jordan up, so consequently he was a bear in the store and cried most of the time. He continued this behavior until bed time. It was funny today thought because there was a guy in line with me when I was getting the paint, and he entertained the kids that day-really nice. Well, I got there today to do some returns and the same guy was in line returning something as well. He said "we have to stop meeting like this."

I thought I had everything, but unfortunately I will have to make one more trip the morning with just Lanny. I have such a hard time with a couple things painting. First of all, how on earth do you make the corners look nice with an accent wall? I don't have the most steady of hands, so am finding this an extremely challenging task. In addition, I am struggling with making the stokes of the painting right up to the ceiling match up with the roller part.....ugh. Hence another trip to the dreaded Home Depot for a tiny little roller. I bought another item today that isn't working well....ugh...why am I doing this...oh yeah because despite the eventual flaws of the final project, it looks awesome so far and is so clean. I do see why people hire painter!!! If only I had a fund for home improvements that never went dry!!

And now to the dining room table. I figured that since the dining room was already a mess, I would take on another dining room project. Due to much wear and tear of our busy family, our dining room table is in great need of a face lift-a couple water spots, marker spot on bare wook because of lots of peeling varnish-which by the way isn't too fun for playing with playdough and elimintates the possibility of rolling out cookie dough. So, I found this resin protectant stuff-similar to the stuff on some restaurant tables and decided to get it. The saga of the sanding begins. I started to sand with the sand paper I had and wore it out. I borrowed a sander from the neighbor and it just wasn't taking it off very fast-I got the most coarse paper you can get for that brand of sander. It was very frustrating. So I wrestled with the idea of buying a more powerful sander....I spent way too much time waffling back and forth in the sander section of Home Depot not once, but twice this week. In the end I just bought a $4.00 pack of the most coarse sand paper they have, and lo and behold with some elbow grease it has worked better than the sander paper!! I am almost ready to apply the protectant, just have to finish the leaf and do a final sanding with the fine sand paper. This where the sander will be helpful:). I forgot all about the leaf, and am so glad I remembered it or it would have looked really funny if we ever needed to use it.

Today I spraypainted a little picnic table we picked up this past summer.....finally. I ran out of spray paint, but it is entirely too cold to do that. I just feel bad there is not a patch of blue grass in the common area behind our house. Hopefully it doesn't catch the eye of some big wig in our HOA.....

Silver Diner

I did something tonight I didn't think I would ever do. I went to a real restaurant-not a fast food restaurant, or a quick eat type like noodle company-but one with servers and all-with my 3 children. I think I may have done it when Lanny was a tiny baby in the car seat, but haven't been to a real restaurant with all 3 myself. I decided that we would go to Silver Diner since the kids love it and Darin is gone. I find that my motivation to make real meals drops significantly when Darin is gone-probably since he is the one who appreciates them the most.

Anyhow after Jordan's gymnastics class we went to Silver Diner. The kids were great!! The really did well. They were really excited about the Juke Box at the table. The sound was off when we sat down, then Jordan figured out how to turn it on and the Sesame Street theme happend to be playing. Lanny perked right up. The waitress was cute and ordered the kids food first and it came out before she even took my order. Anyhow, the kids loved picking the songs, and after depositing about 6 quarters to pick songs, we realized you could push the buttons and the songs would play....oh well, kept them quiet for a while. There were little pictures next to some of them, so Spencer was really happy to see Spiderman.

The only snag in the evening was trying to do the bathroom with all three. Jordan needed some personal time....if you catch my drift and Landon and Spencer kept crawling under the door. We were in the big one with the changer, but the door wouldn't stay closed. A lady came in next to us, and well...um...she needed private time as well. We all finally had a turn, and went on our merry way-after Spencer nearly burnt his hand when he turned the hot water all the way on.

Thanks for being so good Jordan, Spencer and Landon!! Mommy is so very proud!!

Flying Solo

So I took Darin to the airport tonight for a class in San Antonio until next Saturday. He has been gone that long before, so not to worried, except for the fact that he children have been very attached to him lately. We'll see how long until they are sick of me and are begging for their father. I anticipate sooner than later:)

I do have big plans for the week-I decided that since Darin would be gone, I would change the house...well, not too much. I am just going to paint the dining room and refinish the dining room table. Not too much, right? This is in addition to the list Darin left me, which is mostly to put things away that I have been procrastinating...outdoor christmas lights, toys we got on clearance for birthdays, etc. And sewing for him. We'll see how much of his list is done. I did do one thing tonight, so that was good!!

Odds and ends

There won't really be an order or theme to this post, just a compilation of funny/interesting things from our lives lately.

First I have to thank Darin for something he did for me the other day. It was it was bitter cold-I think it was Wednesday. I tried to get out the door early, despite the best efforts of my children to thwart my attempts, we were a couple minutes early. I was very delighted to see that Darin had scrapped the frost off my window!! How sweet.

This is what we find lately when we arrive at our destination. We will be driving along, then I hear the ever familiar sound of Velcro being pulled apart. Sometimes he will be nice and leave his socks on, but often this is what we find. Not so fun when I am ready to go in a store and it is really windy and rainy....I don't understand how he minds the cold, but he does it anyway!!! But they are such cute little piggies:) Our most recent dinner guest for Sunday lunch.

Jordan was most adamant that this monkey be safely strapped in his seat so he could sit up and eat and not fall out. (I was happy that I was able to convince Jordan to only open one cheese stick and pretend Monkey would eat...)

While Darin went to NY overnight, we had a slumber party with the Price girls. They were thrilled to pull out our sleeper sofa. Jordan and Spencer were also so excited to use their cute little sleeping bags. Jordan lasted until about 1:30, then she came crying up the steps and spent the rest of the night with me.

Here is our new SUNBEAM!!! Spencer started in Primary this past week and really was cute. He was quiet and did a really good job. I watched him even trying to do some actions to one of the songs, and he has been singing them at home this week:) He has a really good teacher and the funny thing is that her son is in my class. I have a new class of 4 year olds olds who are really cute!

Daddy is everybody's favorite person these days. Especially Landon. He gets so excited when Darin comes home-he runs to see him saying "daddy home...daddy home." I teased Darin that it is time to get pregnant again so I am someone's favorite:) Really, it makes my heart melt to see the children so happy with their daddy:)

A new addiction in our house: YouTube....

One day when I was gone, or maybe I was just upstairs trying to clean or do dinner....I forget...anyhow Darin was trying to do somethings on the computer. Landon would not leave him alone, so he figured he would find something on YouTube to entertain him. Little did he know that now anytime we even sit at the computer Landon is right there and points saying "ee aa oo" His way of sounding like a monkey. I guess Darin introduced them to dancing monkeys, farting dinosaurs, dancing and farting hippos, and the like. They absolutely love it......is this really OK?

Look at Lanny in this pic...he laughs, and I mean real belly laughs when he is watching YouTube. It makes you laugh to see him laugh at it.

Landon is really starting to repeat everything we say, and it is sooo cute. Our favorite is the way he says Wall E...it is sooo cute. I have to film it because it is that funny. He also says robot and rasberries in funny ways. It is so fun to listen to him. He is communicating verbally so much more, so that will make things easier. It is hard to imagine that when Spencer was his age, I was a month away from having a baby....can't even fathom that now!!!

The other day in the car Spencer (who insisted on bringing 3 of his new Thomas trains) said to me "Mommy, I need another arm." I feel the same way sometimes, Spence!!