Lunchtime conversations

Drew - "Mom, where do these come from? (as she is holding a chicken nugget from McDonalds) Do the chickens poop them out?"
Me - "No, they kill the chickens and then you eat the muscle. Its called meat."

She threw me a horrified look and shouted "YUCK!" I guess not Yuck enough to quit eating the nuggets though. I'm not sure why my expanation was any worse than what she was thinking!

I remember as a Sunbeams teacher years ago I had to teach a lesson on where food came from. I was a bit leery as I was preparing the lesson and thought maybe the kids' parents should be teaching them the info. I watched my little 4 year olds' innocence slipping away as I explained that hamburger is really cow meat and chicken is literally a chicken. The eyes and mouths widened in horror the farther along I got in my lesson. I'm surprised Drew didn't have the lesson last year but maybe her teacher was smart enough to skip it. Or maybe they took the lesson out altogether. I will have to have this conversation again in a year or so as Mason was racked with giggles thinking about the chicken pooping out nuggets. He never even heard the right expanation. The joys of being a mom!

Happy Birthday Drew!

5 years ago today Drew was born! After a relatively "easy" labor and delivery they placed my beautiful little girl on my chest and my first reaction was, "Oh my gosh! I just gave birth to my Father-In-Law!" She was a spitting image of Paul's dad. She even had the whitish-red hair he had, as you can see by this picture. We decided she was a keeper anyway and brought her home! Paul started an internship in Hillsboro a few weeks before Drew was due and I, being the naive new mother, insisted on staying in Corvallis to deliver my baby with the doctors I knew. BIG MISTAKE. I didn't pack the apartment while pregnant because I guess I didn't feel like it and thought once I had the baby I would do it. HA! It was an awful first week, trying to get my bearings as a new mom and also trying to pack and clean an apartment. The stress of the situation did nothing to help my ability to nurse, Drew was a bad nurser too, and it turned out she was lactose intolerant for the first year of her life so the first few weeks when all this was going on was just a really awful time for Drew and I. At one point, while Paul was completing his 12 hour shift, I seriously contemplated throwing Drew out the window and just being done with the whole mother thing. Luckily Paul came home about then, took Drew for an hour drive, and came home with Taco Bell for me. I bawled the entire time they were gone, and I believe that was my turning point. I quit trying to please everyone else by attempting to be the perfect mother, and we put Drew on soy formula. It did wonders for my baby! All of a sudden the screaming and crying stopped and she was a joy to be around! I felt horrible for making my baby suffer for so long but I guess I should be glad we got it figured out and she didn't suffer longer than those 3 weeks.

Everyone called Drew a boy when they saw her. Please tell me how she could be mistaken for a boy when you look at those eyes!

Rocky Mountain National Park. She's always been a great traveler.

Crater Lake National Park. The chubby arms and cheeks just make me smile.

We loved her wispy curls that finally showed up around 2 years of age. She was bald up till then.

Drew has always been a superhero fan. Her third birthday party was a superman/spiderman theme.

Here is my gorgeous at her brother's 1st birthday party.

Swimming in our backyard pool.

Today for her 5th birthday she got a big-girl bike with training wheels! She was working hard to get it to move but I think she was getting the hang of it. This birthday was the first one she really got into. It was fun to watch her get so excited about it. She was bouncing off the walls all day and couldn't wait till dad got home from work so we could have spaghetti and strawberry cake. What a combination.

Some of Drew's favorites as a 5 year old:

color - red

numbers - 6 and 10

food - rice, noodles, oatmeal, strawberries, grapes

movies - Star Wars and Indiana Jones

animal - hippos

ice cream - cookie dough

holidays - Halloween and Christmas

activities - swimming, playing with Darcy

We are so lucky to have been blessed with Drew's sweet dispostion in our family. She is (usually) a joy to be around, a great babysitter, always willing to please, a picky eater, and one smart little girl. We are so blessed to have her for eternity!

Play Ball!

Yesterday was opening day of T-Ball! We missed the opening-day festivities at the Moose Lodge since I was working and Paul worked the night before so he was still sleeping when it was all taking place. But I wasn't too upset, how much T-ball related stuff are we really supposed to take when we are 4? We made it to the jamboree game, which was only 2 innings but seemed like a life time! Games are 4 innings and I think it will take all day to complete one. I am so looking forward to it! Drew has a game Monday at 5, which is going to run over into my NCAA championship game which starts at 6, but I signed her up for this so I can't complain. Grumble, grumble. We, with maybe the exception of Mason, actually had a lot of fun watching the game. The first inning Drew was the catcher for her team. The gear is WAY too big for her and it is hilarious to watch her move in it. Check out the video if you want proof! She was a trouper though, and by the end of the inning she was even running a bit in it and going after the balls. She did a great job in the field, and by that I mean she was actually paying attention and not picking flowers. She told us after the game that she fielded two balls, which I was surprised to hear because I didn't know we were keeping track! She had a couple of great hits too, and I heard one of her coaches mention that she could hit pretty hard for being so small. That's my star athlete! She is actually the smallest and youngest on her team since she is still only 4 and some of her teammates are 6. I have to say I think I have the cutest T-baller around!

Happy Birthday Paul! I missed posting about how old you are getting on your birthday a week ago! You are almost catching up to me! I love you tons and hope to get at LEAST another 33 years out of you (oops! did I just mention your age?).

Last Sunday Paul was able to participate in the blessing of my new niece, Ruqayyah. It is so neat to watch him be there for my sisters and their families. We had an interesting "testimony" borne by a man off the street, disputing just about everything we Latter Day Saints believe in, but it was sooooooo great to hear the testimonies of those who followed. Basic, core testimonies were borne about the true tenants of the Gospel and there was definitely a strong Spirit in attendance. Its always iffy when you have family members who aren't in the church who attend blessings, because you never know just how crazy the testimonies might get at times. But I think those in attendance this time got a really good explanation of our beliefs and it turned out very well.

March Madness!

NCAA Tournament time! For anyone who knows me, you know that I live for March Madness. I quit work 2 weeks early when I was due with Drew just so I could stay home to watch the opening rounds of the tournament. Its the time of year Paul becomes a basketball-widower. This tournament is my Super Bowl. And we are so lucky this year, the tourney has come to little ol' Portland! Last year when tickets were on sale Paul said I could get some, but stupid me, I decided not to. I am kicking myself now that the time has come! But as you can see by the pictures our family experienced a small taste of the madness. The Rose Garden was open for everyone to watch the 8 teams practice yesterday, free of charge, so we packed up the kids and hit the town. I must admit, it wasn't all that thrilling, exept for the fact that we were actually where all the real action will take place today. The kids were having a great time running up and down the stairs, until an usher started heading our way, and we decided it was time to leave. We saw Gonzaga and Illinios go through short practices which I enjoyed. There was a great NCAA basketball vinyl poster hanging up just behind us and we tried to figure out a way to get home with it, but I think the ushers had their eyes on us due to our rambunctious kids, so we left empty-handed. Afterwards we thought we would extend our social experiment by celebrating Paul's birthday a few weeks early at Red Robin. We were instantly reminded why we NEVER go out to sit-down restaurants! Drew and Mason actually did really well, thanks to the color crayons they provided, but Darcy was a mess. Paul wolfed down his hamburger while I was trying to console her, and then we tag-teamed it. I passed her off to Paul while I choked down my chicken sandwich and then we were out of there! 35 minutes from start to finish. Must be a record. Needless to say, we won't be trying that again in the near future.

Michael Jordan's son plays sparingly for Illinois.

Darcy is a HUGE Michigan fan, taking after Paul's dad who graduated from there. They will have a tough time making it very far this tournament, but they are the team we will be keeping tabs on. For the next 3 weeks if you don't hear from me, I can be found in front of my tv, the living room a mess, dirty dishes in the sink, with whining kids cuz they can't watch their shows, having the time of my life!

What a Week!

This week has been one of the busiest, and most stressful, for me in recent memory. Tons going on. You have to remember that I am a total homebody so leaving my house at all is stressful and considered an event to me!

Starting last Saturday: Drew had T-ball practice at 9am. I took her and Darcy to the park for practice while Paul and Mason helped the Cub Scouts pick up the Good Will Good Turn donations in Columbia City. Drew is really enjoying T-ball. She has a big smile on her face when practice is over and tells me how much she loves it. That's good, since we have spent our retirement fund on equipment for her. She was very disappointed that she couldn't get a pink batting helmet or pink bat, but this equipment has to last through the siblings coming along behind her so we went with neutral blue and red. Sorry Drew, but at least you get it new! Later that evening I took Drew to the Urgent Care with a fever and ear ache. They gave her a prescription but told us to wait to fill it in case it was a viral ear ache and not bacterial. That's what it has turned out to be. She has a pretty bad cold and it seems to have settled in her ears. She can barely hear anything and we have to practically shout to get her to hear us. I feel horrible for her but the last time we were at the ear specialist he said he didn't want to do tubes since her hearing loss seems to come and go so quickly. Hopefully this will pass soon too. My poor little Drew! Darcy surprised me Saturday morning with her bottom left front tooth poking through. No wonder she has been a bit fussy and needy. My kids always get their teeth late and Darcy is right on schedule with the other two.

Sunday: Paul's nieces Korrin, Paige, and Kendall came from Vancouver and attended church with us, then had dinner and played and visited with us for the day. It was fun to have such a strange mix, since Korrin is an older cousin babysitting the younger sisters whose parents are in Italy. We had a great time with them!

Monday: I decided to leave the love of my life - Dr. Pepper! (Sorry Paul) I thought it was time to get the sludge out and break my addiction to caffeine. I had also heard so many stories about people quitting the pop and losing 25 pounds so I thought I would give it a try. I have come to find out that is just an urban legend! Makes me wonder why I gave the stuff up. For the first two days I had a headache but after that I have been good to go. I think my addiction was mostly mental, more of a habit. I still REALLY want a Dr. Pepper now and then but I'm glad its no longer a physical road block for me. Paul has also quit the pop, and we are both on diets with a monetary bet on the line for the winner. We'll see how it goes.

Tuesday: Fed the missionaries. No big deal, our elders are great young men, but when you feed the missionaries you have a timeline so they can get to their next appointment. Darcy doesn't work well with timelines. When she wants mommy, she wants mommy. So I was making dinner with a teething, crying baby on my hip. We had a very nice dinner but the stress level was definitely high that night.

Wednesday: Webelos. Not too bad. We have been Webelos leaders for 3+ years now so its pretty automatic. We know exactly what we are doing each time, and we hold scouts at our home so Darcy is able to be in bed and the kids watching a show. This helps immensely.

Thursday: The Enrichment quarterly activity, which was the Pine Wood Derby and Relief Society Birthday dinner. Paul and I set up the track that morning at the church, with the kids in tow, and then he had to work late that night so I also got to tow the kids along with me to Enrichment that evening. Luckily we had childcare but I held on to Darcy since it was past her bedtime and she was not happy to be anywhere besides her bed. I was in charge of taking down the track too, after a quick tutorial by Paul that morning, but I think I must have looked a bit lost since a few of the great men in our ward jumped in and did it for me, before I stripped the wood removing the screws! It turns out that every other month, for only one day a month, Paul has to work late. And that day just happens to be on Enrichment night. This is not a hugely responsible church calling, but the circumstances it falls under for my family makes it incredibly stressful. I will admit, if I wasn't on the committee, I would not be at the activities. Also on Thursday Drew had T-ball practice which ended an hour before I was supposed to be at the church to help out. STRESS!

Friday: I actually had nothing going on this day except for Drew's preschool, and it was a rare occasion where we were all taking a nap at the same time. It was wonderful!

Saturday: Drew's practice again. Paul took her this time. Thanks! I won tickets to a children's theater production of "Honus and Me" in Portland, thanks to my vast knowledge of obscure 80's trivia, and Drew and I were supposed to be at the 2pm showing. Didn't happen. I just didn't have the energy or desire to go to Portland today. We actually all got naps again today! Woo Hoo! 2 days in a row!

Also this week, I decided to wean Darcy. We were down to only 2 feedings so I dropped her to 1, and tomorrow will be our last day. I'm sure I will be sad we are done, and Darcy is going to throw a fit Monday morning, but I need my body back, to myself. Pregnancy and nursing are not my favorite things, and I am surprised I lasted this long nursing Darcy. She has the record at 8 months. Mason wanted nothing to do with me anymore at 4 months, and Drew and I had problems from the start, so she had about 3 weeks of nursing. If I had planned things a bit better I probably wouldn't have weaned my baby the same week I quit the caffeine and she is teething, but it all had to happen sometime and I guess we made it through OK so far. I am really looking forward to an uneventful week coming up. There is nothing out of the ordinary on my calendar, so I'm sure something huge and unexpected will pop up to keep me on my toes!

Random Events

My Mason is keeping me on my toes. We can have a really great time one minute reading together before bedtime, and then a really frustrating time while he makes up his mind as to which pj's he wants to wear, not letting us help him get dressed and him screaming and kicking the entire time becasue he can't do it right, who he want's to snuggle with him, etc. All of which takes about 25 minutes! Getting ready for bed is not my favorite time, except for the snuggles when I am invited to snuggle with him and not his dad. He really is a huge sweetheart when he wants to be. I was laughing at him yesterday when we were cleaning the disaster we call a playroom. It was nap time and he wasn't helping us clean so I gave him the choice: take a nap or help clean the room. It was funny that the lesser of two evils for him was cleaning the room. I would have headed straight for bed had someone given me that option!

Darcy is getting so big! She is working on nodding her head and it is really funny to watch. She is babbling and waving and I think the bottom left tooth is just about ready to break through.

Drew came home from preschool yesterday and told me a story about how she and some friends were playing doctor. OK. One friend (a girl) decided to die and the other friend (a boy) kissed her on the cheek to wake her up. Drew thought this was hilarious. Then she told me he kissed her on the cheek too! And she wasn't playing dead. I tried to swallow that one gracefully and not make a big deal out of it. Its OK, no problem, no big deal, they were just playing, they don't know what kissing is really about, she's still my little spotless girl, uh huh, no big deal, I'm fine! I guess I should be grateful that she feels like she can tell me this, even though it means nothing to her now. Yikes, I didn't think I would have to deal with this for a while yet! I'm good with cleaning diapers, I don't know about this older kid stuff!

I'm not sure this was a staged expression by my dad. The kids really ran him ragged Saturday night while we were visiting grandma and grandpa. They had a great time and grandpa was able to move enough in the morning to make us his famous pancakes.

This is the reason for our trip! This is my new niece, Ruqayyah Hailie! She was born on February 20th. This is my youngest sister Samantha's first baby. She is infinitely sweet and just a tiny little thing. Darcy grew about 10 inches in my mind as I was snuggling with Ruqayyah. Boy I don't miss those days of struggling with a new born. I'll take a wiggly worm 8 month old on the changing table any day!

Paul's mom is home and doing really well. She is just waiting for the kitchen renovations to be completed and then things may seem back to normal. We had a good visit with her and the other members of Paul's family in the area on Sunday.

Drew's First Professional Hair Cut

Drew had her first professional hair cut last night. I had an appointment to get mine cut and she decided to have hers cut too. She was willing to have it cut VERY short but the hairdresser and I decided to go shoulder length with it. We love it. It has totally aged her. Well, as much as you can age a 4 year old, and it has shown me just how bad I am at trimming hair and cutting bangs!

Drew wasn't real thrilled about the process but loved the outcome. When she went to bed she informed me that "I'm so adorable! Mom, what does adorable mean?"

It has this fun little flippy stuff at the bottom.

The finished product.