Happy St. Patty's Day!

Green is my favorite color so I love to dress me and all the kids in huge amounts of green for St. Patrick's Day. Juliet was the toughest because so much of what she wears is pink. We had to settle for a pink onsie with a green frog on it. In an attempt to get Jacky to smile I'm saying, "Cheese!" instead of just smiling and I think it shows. *Sponsored by Teddy Grahams*

I've also been making a menu instead of just shooting from the hip when making dinner. It has allowed me to make things that I wouldn't have made otherwise because I wouldn't have had the stuff on hand. So before I go to the store, I think of one or two new dinner ideas that I want to try. Then I can make sure to purchase all the ingredients needed. It also forces me to think about dinner for the next week, which is a bummer at the time, but then I don't have to think about dinner for the next 7 or 8 days. This week's dinner adventures: Coconut shrimp and French Onion Soup (not together, of course.) I wish I had pictures of the coconut shrimp but they went so fast I didn't have time to get the camera out. So I thought making a menu would make me feel restricted but I've had the opposite experience. Making a menu and planning ahead has allowed me to make some really yummy and wonderful dishes.

And in other news, I stopped giving Juliet her acid reflux medicine about a week ago and haven't noticed any difference! So I think we're done with that unless something else develops within the next couple of weeks. And this picture is from bathtime the other night. I love messin' with her hair. So to everyone: HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Anybody else hate Lost????

Okay, I don't hate Lost. In fact, it's one of my favorite shows to watch. It's doubly wonderful lately because it's the only series with new episodes right now because they delay the start of their season until November or something like that. I watch a new episode every week and at the end of the show I always say, "I hate this show!" The reason? It's interesting, thought provoking and complex but gives so little information and leaves me with so many questions that I feel so unsatisfied at the end and vow not to watch the following Thursday. Grrrr.

But here I am, just finished watching and madder than ever. (Madder or more mad? Anyway.) I wish that I could just stop watching and then have someone just tell me the whole story in 6 years or whenever the series finishes up. But it's not going to happen. I'll watch every week, like a sucker, just like the writers/creators of Lost want me to. I'll feel confused and irritated but keep wanting more. I want answers. I want to know what happens!! Man. I hate this show. Love this show. Whatever.

The good, the bad, and the ugly...

I downloaded the pictures off my camera and I felt like there was a range of emotions as I looked at them:
The good:

The bad:

The ugly:

Merril chopped all his hair off last Saturday and that means mohawk or statue of liberty spikes. It's only for a day and then he shaves the rest. What a punk. Now he just has a bald head. He's almost completely healed from his stitches too. I took out his stitches last Wednesday. Thanks to Jessica for the tips on taking out stitches!

Other than that, Max and Jack are sick. Juliet is still unaffected and I hope to keep it that way. But at least it's Spring Break so I don't have to keep Maxine home from school.

Juliet will be 9 months old next week and yesterday she almost pulled off an army crawl. She was on her tummy, pushed with her toes and leaned forward on her elbows. There was actually some forward momentum but I doubt she'll be moving anywhere with any speed for a while. She's barely starting to wave and clap her hands too. I love this age!

Ahhh, and the time change. Today we're being particularly slow to get going because the kids are sick, it's Monday and because of the time change. It's 10:39 a.m. and I have yet to have a shower. Eeeewwwww. All the kids are in pajamas and might remain that way until Noon. Besides, I don't have anywhere to go today anyway.

Oh, watched a movie called Becoming Jane, which I rather liked, which inspired me to read a Jane Austen book that I haven't read before. I started Persuasion on Thursday and finished it on Sunday afternoon. Neglected home, kids, etc. and remembered how much I like reading Jane Austen. One of my favorite authors. Anyhoo, it's shower time!

I've scared her good...

Adventures in parenting: Maxine has always been prone to...fits of bad temper. They've lessened as she's gotten older but to be sure, not gone away entirely. If we're in the car and she's flown into some whining, crying, kicking fit, occasionally I'll threaten to make her walk home. I've even gone so far as to pull the car over and walk over to her side of the car to open the door like I'm going to pull her out. It's worked, but too well. Last week when she was really tired, she started crying about it, saying she couldn't stop thinking about it. Two nights ago, it happened again. When asked what was wrong, she replied,

"I can't stop thinking about when you told me I'll have to walk home! I don't even know the way home! (More sobbing) It would take so long to walk all the way home, what if it gets dark!!" My regret for ever threatening such a thing starts to sink in.

Me, "I'm sorry baby. You won't have to walk home."

"But what if you want me to walk home another time!" (More sobbing)

"I'm sorry. Mommy won't ever leave you."

"Mommy, I want you to take away this punishment for me."

"Okay."

We then said a prayer that Maxine's heart would be calmed. She was immediately soothed and fell asleep. I left her room feeling quite bad and resolved I'd never threaten to make her walk home. Woops. Sorry Maxine.

On a nicer note, we're making strawberry freezer jam today because Maxine asked, "Why don't we have strawberry jam anymore?" I said, "Because we ran out and haven't made anymore." Maxine, " Let's make some TODAY!" Thusly, today's project will be strawberry freezer jam. Yummy!

Oh yeah, one other funny thing. Maxine was reading the back of the Hidden Valley Ranch bottle at dinner and Jacky leaned over and very matter-of-factly whispered, "It's called Ranch." We all busted up laughing and that was the running dinner joke.

Bring on the Piston Cup...

Maxine has always had an affinity for drawing and coloring. She likes watercolor paints lately and has come up with some pretty funny stuff. Saturday she drew Lightning McQueen winning the Piston Cup. She draws the outlines with pen and then uses the watercolor paint to color it in. The color blobs on the bottom of the picture are everyone from Radiator Springs looking on. In order from left to right its Blue Sally, Rusty Mater, Lizzy, Fillmore, Luigi, Guido, Sarge. Flo and Ramone are up in front, just under Lightning. She drew Lightning by looking at Jacky's little Lightning McQueen car.

Next is the scene where Sally and Lightning are talking after Mater and Lightning went tractor tipping. We call it, "Getting cozy at the Cone" You can even see Mater down at the bottom driving away.

Oh, and Maxine said something funny the other day. We were driving through Hurricane and passed a Subway. She said "That Subway stole those letters from Del Taco." Looking at the Subway sign, I noticed it said, "Feed the beast" on the letterboard. "Feed the beast" is the slogan for Del Taco so she figured Subway must have stolen the letters in order to put that on their sign. I thought it was rather intuitive and maybe we watch too much tv. Fish taco, fish taco, fish taco, fish taco...

Our first set of stitches...

Ahhh. We've never had to get stitches before. Today was our first experience with stitches and it wasn't Jack. Nope, not Maxine either. Juliet? Nope, not her either. It wasn't even me. It was the biggest and silliest of the family: Merril. He went to California with Ryan Rosenberg to go surfing today and the board came back and smacked him right above the eyebrow. To say the least, his surfing was cut short and they headed in. A doctor, who was about to go out surfing, looked at his cut and said he'd better go get some stitches. The doctor taped his cut and sent them on their way. They drove to a clinic and Merril got 5 stitches, a Tetnus shot and oral antibiotics. The goof is still going to stop at Dumont Sand dunes on the way home and ride his dirt bike. What a loon! Below is a picture of Merril's shiner and I have to warn those with a queezy stomach to change blogs now and not scroll any further.

Remember eating Grape-Nuts cereal hot? Anyone??

Maybe it was just my family growing up but I remember eating and liking Grape-Nuts as a hot cereal. Never heard of it? I don't think they even put the recipe on the box anymore. The only reason I thought to start eating it again was because I was sick of oatmeal. Take 1/3 cup of Grape-Nuts cereal. Cover with 1/2 cup milk, or in my case, almond milk. Add 1 tsp. butter or margerine and 2 tsp. brown sugar or honey. Microwave for 1-2 minutes, depending if you want it crunchy or not, and eat up. I ate it for breakfast yesterday and Maxine asked if I'd make it for her today because it smelled good. She ate the whole bowl. I haven't eaten it in years because let's face it, who still buys Grape-Nuts? Grape-Nuts are on the nutty side so it's easy to disguise the almond milk flavor. I've made Cream of Wheat more in the past 6 months than in my entire life for the same reason. Thank goodness for eggs! "You got love 'em! The incredible, edible egg!" -Paid for by the ad council for the American Egg Board.

We love cookie dough, how 'bout you?

If none of the cookies make it to the oven, that's okay around our house because we love cookie dough! Did you know that if you go to a pizza joint in town, where they make their own cookies, they'll sell you a scoop of cookie dough for $1?? Sheer genius!!

I lack patience when it comes to my kids helping me in the kitchen but if we're making cookies, I just have to make it to the cookie dough stage. Once there, they just want to eat dough and pretty much lose interest in helping me. My cookie making has gone up considerably since the dairy free thing because I can make most of my cookie recipes by substituting margarine for butter. And I feel like I deserve to eat a lot of cookies since I can't have anything in the way of ice creams, puddings, chocolates, etc. So I end up sneaking about 5 cookies a day until they're gone. It's not great for the waistline but they taste so yummy!! Besides, that's what exercise is for, right?

FINALLY!!!

Okay...I have been trying for the last month to get a nice picture of my 3 kids! (Anyone with multiple kids knows this challenge well) Jacky was my stinker because he's 2 and doesn't want to sit still. Tried one photo shoot at Sears and Jules was not gonna smile for the photographer, no matter what. So then I decided I'd just take a picture myself because I can get Jules to smile better than anyone. The first 2 photo shoots were right before dinner. (Yeah, hungry kids + the end of the day = no happy smiles from anyone) I tried the end of the day bit because I employed the help of Merril to try and control Jack. So today I thought I'd just try to get it done in the middle of the day even though Merril was going to be at work. So I fed Juliet right before her nap, gave the other 2 kids a mid-morning snack and got them dressed. When Juliet woke up, rested and still full, we drove into town. I sat the kids down and tried like crazy to keep Jack in one spot. Even now in the picture, he looks like he's about to spring into action. When this shot came out, I just about jumped for joy! All 3 kids, smiles, happy faces, nice postures, looking at the camera, hallelujah!
















I also caught this one of Maxine telling a story about a magic blimp. I guess Juliet was buying it because she's looking up at the sky too.


Oh, and one more victory!! I read a whole book. (I'm meaning a Mommy book, not Green Eggs and Ham.) It was one of my new year resolutions because I read to my kids a ton and read magazines but my book reading has gone way down since I had kids. It was called 'I Am a Mother' by Jane Clayson Johnson. The author talks about how hard it is to be a Mom but how it's totally worth it. Furthermore, Mothers should get a lot more credit for this huge service that they do but for which they rarely get acknowledged. So every time I picked it up, I felt encouraged and uplifted to keep going and being the best Mom I could be. Who doesn't need that at least 10 times a day?

It's my birthday...

Okay, I turned 28 today. I'm feeling pretty good about it. I've been exercising for a couple of months to tone flabby areas that got all stretched out from being pregnant. I feel stronger than I've felt in a long time. So in honor of feeling young, I attached the one of oldest pictures I had of me on the computer. It's from 2004 and I was at our ward campout and rodeo and I caught a chicken in the chicken chase. (I love Vegas wards!!) We only had Maxine back then and she was 1 1/2 years old.

I just walked out and found Merril asleep on the couch like this. Jack must've thought the car would help him sleep better.

Oh, and this is the coconut cake I made for my birthday. I'm still off chocolate and I was bored of yellow cake and coconut sounded good. I made it with coconut milk and that stuff is yummy!! I was eating the leftover coconut cream and looking at the can. It's pretty fattening. Pretty much it was like I was standing there eating butter. Tasty butter.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love Valentine's Day! I know there are people out there that loathe this holiday and to them, I'm sorry. I do have to say that I hate roses, especially red ones, so Valentine's Day may be a little daunting for Merril. Seriously, red roses are so boring and cliche. The world is full of beautiful calla lillies, hydrangeas, tulips, gerber daisies, etc. This morning I was greeted with Stargazer lillies. Merril has always been extra creative for the Valentine's Day bouquets. Good job, babe!

I'm baking heart-shaped brownies for Merril's dessert and I can smell the chocolatey goodness waft in from the kitchen. I will be having strawberries dipped in marshmallow cream. We'll be putting the kids to bed and Merril and I are going to spend the evening at home and I'm making him a fancy dinner. We went out last year to a super fancy party and I just wanted to stay home and be super relaxed this year. I love to cook and tonight's going to be yummy. I can't do my special 3-cheese fondue this year, that'll have to wait 'till next year.

By the way, I made burned my first movie to a DVD today. I was making a Valentine's movie for my sister. It was her present to her husband. It was a lot of fun, a little frustrating but in the end turned out really nice. Thanks to Amy for being the resident movie expert and allowing me to pick her brain.

View out my window

I took this picture the other day with a feature on my new camera called Photostich. It's actually 9 pictures stiched together. I have software that came with the camera that analyzes the photos and overlaps them for ya. The ending result is a panoramic shot. I think it's fun! Since the photo is so long, it got squished quite a bit for the blog.

Wahoo! Look at it snow!!

I have to have one good snow storm a year and it's here!! On Sunday evening, it snowed and left a good 4-5 inches at our house. The kids were in and out of snow gear all day yesterday and we built a snowman! I even had icicles on my house! I can't remember ever seeing icicles in St. George!! I don't know how people who live up north do this ever day! There was snow gear everywhere, the floors were wet by the garage door and my Tahoe is filthy.

Merril and I had fun driving home in the snow after the SuperBowl. We'd taken two cars so we hit the parking lot by our house and had fun doing donuts and making the back end drift. Merril's new tires grip the road too well so the Tahoe was better for getting the back end to slip. It's good practice for snowy road conditions.

Okay, so the icicles are pretty tiny but they're there!! Yeah! We had fun and sipped hot chocolate and then it was back outside for more!! Storms like these make me grateful. We can have a little taste of the snow but most of it's gone by the next day.

She's the only one that can't run away...

Okay, I've been taking more pictures than usual because of my new digital camera. The star of the show: Juliet. Not necessarily because she's the cutest or easiest to get to smile but because she can't run away. The other kids will put up hands or say, "Mom, no more pictures!"

We also made some heart-shaped sugar cookies in anticipation of St. Valentine's Day and I got frustrated with Jack while he was "helping" me. In apologies, I gave him a beater with more than the usual amount of cookie dough on it. He forgave me. Keep it away from the camera, kiddo.

And lastly, yesterday's sunset was pretty so I set up my tripod to snap a few pics.

Wow...President Hinckley passed away.

Okay, I know it's been coming for a while but I was surprised when I heard that President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away last night. I remember Presidents Benson and Hunter but for me, President Hinckley was the first President of the Church that made an impression. He helped my testimony grow when I was old enough to listen. I thought to myself, Heavenly Father must be rejoicing today to have this faithful servant by his side again.

He was so kind and witty. I admire the relationship he had with his wife. I'll miss his light spirit and his energy but look forward to President Monson. I'm overjoyed to be in a church that knows exactly what the next step is. Even if the President of the Church dies, the work goes forward without missing a beat. Most of all, President Hinckley has made me want to be more generous, more kind, a better example to my kids, more forgiving and more understanding. Loves to everyone today!

Maybe I spoke too soon...

Well, Juliet spit up quite a bit yesterday. Maybe the milk took a day to work through me and then into her. Anyhoo, my bite of ice cream the other night was worth it. :)


I got a firewire card for my computer today and set it up and actually captured a bit of video. I'm a movie making moron so it'll be quite a few days before my videos look anything like Amy's. Amy's the queen. For now, I just want to get the video off those little tapes and burnt to a DVD. I'll do movies with music later. I popped one in the video player to see what it was and starting watching our Europe trip from last winter. I was having so much fun that I watched pretty much the whole tape.

Off to the grocery store with 3 kids. Hopefully I'll have a lucky day at the store!

A glimmer of hope...

When I used to eat milk products they caused the following reactions in Juliet: lots of spit up, gassiness, irritability and constipation. Lately, with all the new foods she's been eating, I thought she might be growing up a bit and yesterday I tried half a bowl of cereal with some regular milk on it. Then I waited....and waited...and nothing happened. She didn't spit up any more than she usually does and she was happy. She was a teensy bit gassier than usual but it didn't seem to be bothersome. And the big test! Was she going to be plugged up for 5 days??? Nope, she was poopy this morning! FOR ME, THIS IS BIG NEWS!!!!! I'm not ready to run out and get a huge ice cream sundae but I'll probably have a bite or two from now on and work up to a banana split. Wahoo!!

We saw the Brackens at the sand dunes on Saturday and I'm finally getting some pictures up from the day. By the way, Beka, did you have on a UV filter??

The dune buggy got jumped a bunch by Merril's friend, Drew. Merril jumped it a bit as well but I like Beka's pictures better. (I was trying to get pictures while holding a squirmy Juliet and I just didn't catch was I was going for.

On a funny note, Jack really likes to wash his little matchbox cars. Merril gets his truck washed probably twice a week so the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Anytime they get sticky or dirty, he takes them into the bathroom sink, washes them off and asks for a towel to dry them.

Oh and Merril ran a 5K on Saturday. He shaved 5 minutes off his time from last year. The kids and I cheered at the start, ran to get donuts and cheered at the finish! He's been pounding the gym for 2 hours a day, 5 days a week!! He goes with Rick at 5:00 a.m. Ick. Rick stays for an hour and Merril stays for another hour because there's nothing else to do at 6:00 in the morning. If he came home, the rest of us would still be asleep. He's really starting to trim down and I'm like,"Wow, babe!" He's never been this trim, at least not since I've known him. I'm really proud of his determination. His goal is to run the marathon in October! Go!

Have a great week!

I spy two little teeth...

I was taking pictures of Juliet and this last one actually shows 2 little teeth nubs in it. So you can spy her two bottom teeth if you look closely. She's actually bitten my shoulder a couple of times. I think it's cute.

I want to get a cute picture of all three kids now that Juliet is older. I like outdoor shots a lot and I'm hoping to find a place that's still green. If anyone has any ideas, let me know!

Merril, the fix-it man, fixed my dryer yesterday. The dryer's been leaking gas since we pressure-tested the gas lines for the basement. The dryer valve was left open during the test and it messed up the valve a bit. Merril took the valve apart, cleaned it and did a little dance (or whatever he does to fix everything he comes across) and ta-daaaaa! It's so nice to have a handy husband! Have a great weekend!

Zicam miracle...

I just have to say how much I love the product Zicam! If you don't know what it is, it's stuff you put in your nose the moment you start to feel sick and it shortens a cold and makes it less severe. I feel like I've hardly gotten sick at all this season. If you start taking it the instant you feel yourself getting sick, by the next day you're feeling better and by the 3rd day, you're pretty much over it. No coughs that hang on for weeks or runny noses and sore throats that take forever to go away. It's kind of pricey, about $9 for a tiny bottle at Wal-Mart but for me, that's well worth it not to be sick for 7-10 days. I use the bottle but put it on a cotton swab to swab my nose. My last bottle lasted through 3 colds. For a Mom who doesn't have weeks to lay in bed and be sick, it's the best! Happy flu season!

Sledding

We went to the mountains today to go sledding. Merril said he wanted to bring our little 110 three wheeler and I was like, "Okay." We were sledding up by the reservoir and Merril drove the three wheeler onto the frozen lake and proceeded to tow sledders around. We brought a snowboard and a water skiing rope too. At one point we had 2 tubes, 1 sled and one guy on a snowboard. Jack just liked to ride on the three wheeler with Daddy and Max liked to be pulled in the tube. Juliet rode with Mommy on the tube for a bit too! We had a great time and it was a lot more fun than hauling our tubes and kids back up the hill. I shot this 15 seconds of footage with my old camera because my video camera had dead batteries. There's no sound so don't try to turn up your computer speakers. I still think it's fun to watch!

After all the fun in the snow and ice, nothing's better than a nice cup of minty hot chocolate! Yummy!

New teeth and new blog!

Juliet cut a tooth yesterday and another bottom tooth is right behind it. I expect she'll have 2 bottom teeth by tonight or tomorrow. So my baby has baby teeth and then I thought, "Bummer. I've got one more set of teeth that need to be cleaned now." I don't have pictures because I didn't really want to post the inside of her mouth.

Other than that, I wanted my blog to look a little different from the one I had, so I started editing the html on my blog. I messed up a thing or two but ended up with what I wanted. So that was fun because I've never messed with the html on anything before. Happy Thursday to ya!

Wonderful Stroller...

Last month, my Mom asked me what Merril and I wanted for Christmas and I said, "A double stroller." She looked at me like, "Really?" Oh yes really! The stroller that she purchased was a super hugmo stroller with a couple different orientations so that Jack can spin around in the back or stand in the back. What has ended up happening is Juliet sits in the front seat, Jack sits on the second seat with the back support removed, and Maxine stands in the very back. Now I don't think the stroller was designed to carry this many passengers but it leaves me with a stroller full of happy kids. Seriously though, someone else should be walking besides me.

The Grocery Store...Ugh

Going to the grocery store with 3 kids is becoming more of a challenge lately because Jules doesn't want to sit in her carseat in the basket but I still NEED Jack to sit in the grocery cart seat. So today I had to go to the grocery store because I was completely out of diapers & wipes as well as everything else! Juliet is teething too, so she was fussier than usual and was not going to do the carseat bit. So I grabbed my baby backpack and kids and headed off to do a Costco run and a Wal-Mart run on the last day of 2007. I also forgot to take into account that most people had the day off too so it was busy.

The outcome?? Everyone behaved great! I snapped this in the produce section with my phone. Jack sat in the cart the whole time!! That NEVER happens!! Juliet was content except for the 5 minute drive between Costco and Wal-Mart (she really just wanted to be held because of her teeth.) A quarter of the way through my Wal-Mart run, she fell asleep in the backpack. Can you tell she's tired in the pic? I got so many smiles from old people and comments like, "Looks like you've got your hands full today!" Maxine rode in the basket until there wasn't room for her and then she walked. She was pooped by the time we were checking out so she sat on the toilet paper while we waited. What a trooper! But everyone stayed happy and spirits were light. No screaming, no yelling, no "get back here this instant or I'm going to rip your arm off and beat you with it." Nope, it was a good day at the store.

Here's some more pictures I've taken that I like!

Jack wanted his picture taken too. His shirt's all wet and there's a car in the frame but whatever!

And then there was the train at Grandpa's house. Let's just say that it needs a constant adult helper because the kids get so excited and grab it off the tracks and then want someone to put it back on again. Happy New Year!!

New Camera.....YES!!!

My digital camera has been on it's last leg for quite a while. The kids have stuck their fingers in the lens door, rubber bands are holding the battery door closed, you get the idea. So I asked Santa for a new one and viola, one arrived on Christmas morning. I've taken over 100 pictures since I got it yesterday so I could play with the buttons and settings. So I decided to set up the living room like a studio and see if I could get a new "portrait" pictures of Maxine since she's 5 and my last portrait of her was when she was 4. This one is my favorite-

Besides the camera, I got a new blow dryer (that has some how made my hair softer and smoother than usual!!), some new jeans, new knives and new pots and pans. Did you get anything fun?

What do you want to accomplish by the time you're 30?

The other day, Merril asked, "What do you want to accomplish by the time you're 30?" (Merril's always been very goal oriented and reorganizes his goals about once a month.) I sat there and thought, "I don't know, I just want to survive until I'm 30." I thought some more and said, "I guess I just want to take care of the kids." But that's not a goal; not something to accomplish. So I've been thinking more and I can't really come up with anything. I want to finish the basement and back yard but I tried to think of a personal goal and came up with zilch. Where am I going if I don't have a goal? I have a goal to get the celestial kingdom. (Hopefully not by the time I'm 30.) So it's spun me into at least 10 minutes of introspection, of which I have emerged with this goal: No more diaper changing. All kids potty trained. :)

Eight years ago today...

I can't remember the day he proposed or the day we first kissed but our first date has always stuck in my head. Eight years ago today, one week before Christmas, Merril and I were set up on a blind date and he showed up at my parent's house to take me out. We went wheeling and after a huge mishap that involved Jason D. and Danny Z., we went to Denny's and stayed out until almost 4:00 a.m. I can't believe it's been that long, the time has flown by. It's definitely been a lot of fun. He changes things up and keeps me on my toes, mostly because he gets bored easily of one thing or another. That's why I'm so surprised he still hangs around with me. Someone out there has certainly lost a bet. I must be keeping him on his toes too.

Jack, my sweetie!

Max is at preschool, Juliet's asleep and Jack is playing with his cars quietly in the other room. I was checking blogs on the computer and answering e-mail when Jacky came in and said, "You're my best sweetheart." Cue the, "Ooohhhhhhh." Jack has always been more affectionate than Maxine, always snuggled more. He's making my day today. :)

Christmas picture...

I don't feel like I'm getting anything done and Christmas is coming too fast! Yikes! So instead of cleaning the kitchen and wrapping presents, I was taking pictures of my kids in front of the Christmas tree. This one was the best. I wish the light would've been a little different but I was working around the tree's position. However, 3 kids smiling is quite a victory in my opinion. :)

Maxine's backtalking has been steadily decreasing and I've only been working with her for about a week! Yeah!

Woosh. I need a nap! Two kids are down and I'm about to follow. Sweet dreams.

Backtalk...

Maxine has always been one to speak her mind but lately I'm sick of the sassiness associated with her comments. So I researched some websites and implemented a new "no backtalk" program. I've only been doing it for one day but she seems to be doing well already. The program emphasized commitment and keep at it for at least 3 weeks to be successful. If I can keep at it, she'll come around.

Merril was buffing a wheel for his truck with a power tool (angle grinder with a buffing wheel attachment) and it got away from him and ran into his face. He came in from the garage and I was like, "You have something on your face." He's like, "Yeah...I know." I followed him into the bathroom and he'd taken a fair amount of skin off right under his bottom lip. "Yikes! Does it hurt?" Merril-"Not really." Anyhoo, I'm just glad it was a buffing attachment and not a grinding attachment or he'd be missing some teeth. (He went out yesterday and bought a full-face shield for just such an accident next time.)

Christmas candies...

I'm longing to make some toffee, caramels, butter shortbread cookies and a few other Christmas favorites. The only problem is all the Christmas yummies I want to make are butter specific and I can't substitute margerine (Jules is still having a reaction to milk products). So I flipped through recipe books one after another, searching for a Christmas treat that I can substitute margerine for butter. The pickings are pretty slim. I also can't have chocolate or peanut butter. If anyone has any ideas, please pass them along!!