Book Tag

I liked this tag... thanks Kristine!

1. Pick up the nearest book (with at least 123 pages)
2. Turn to page 123
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the next three sentences
5. Tag 5 people

1. Book: The Baby Name Wizard by Laura Wattenberg. (It goes with me everywhere right now.)

2-4. This put me in the V's for girls. The way this book reads is not sentances, so I will post the names: Venice, Venus, Vera, Verity. Since the girl names no longer apply to me, this book lists the brothers of these girls. THAT does apply to me.

So, how about: Tarquin, Baron, Thor, Adonis, Willis, Clarence, Royce, Crispin (yes, CRISPin).
As evident, we are still looking for that "right" name.

5. I tag: Lisa M, SIL Carrie, Shawna McE, Nicole R, and sister Summer.

Zoo in the snow

(a couple weeks ago, before we got the flu.)
Landon squawking at the ducks. This duck is not one-legged. I thought it was- Ryan won.

Carrying his snowball around, throwing it, and picking the same exact clump back up...

At the gorilla house. (We sat down to rest and the kids always correlate that with a snack.) As I was opening the bag of animal crackers for Landon, we had company. Landon's face is pressed to the glass with the cracker in hand and that gorilla watched Landon eat everything. Every single cracker. If that glass was not there Landon would have literally been kissing a hairy stomach.

Caution

to me... close the dryer right as I empty it. Landon climbed in and when I came back to close it he was trying to see if it would work as a merry-go-round.

Emma gets her first trim

She lost about 3 inches of baby-fine lightly curled hair. I keep hoping she will have thicker hair- please grow!

Flu, flu go AWAY

So we've had the flu again this week. Interestingly, Ryan & I were discussing when he works at the Urgent Care clinics how many people he sees who come in with the flu or cold. They seem to all want antibiotics (he hates that). In turning 99% of them down he gets strong irritated reactions. He told me he has found a way to ease the medication rejection. It goes like this:

Dr. Ryan- "I'm sorry so-and-so, you have a really bad virus. You need plenty of rest. You need to go home and tell your spouse-mother-sister-kids-whomever to take really good care of you while you recover."

So, my sick children have been taken really good care of throughout the rounds of flu. I know, because it's been by me. And then I began to suffer with the "stomach rejection" issues myself and ironically Ryan was home and he nicely yells to me, "Hey, you okay?" as I am standing over the toilet. Uhm, not so much. And I HATE being pregnant and being sick. It multiplies everything I think.

Yes, Emma sings to me twinkle, twinkle little star as I am in the bathroom and tells me I need to "go to the doctor". And I have found myself looking over at the guy snoring next to me in bed whose always ready to jump up at the crack of dawn and "go heal the masses" and offer lots of good advice. Yet, I think the "plenty of rest and have someone take care of you- Doctor's orders" has not resignated so well in my house. Just tell me, whose house does it work in? Can I come over? One final thought: Do I need a new doctor? (I'm smiling Ryan.)

Welcome to the family baby #4

Was it clear over the crying? Over Emma's weaping and wailing (that went on for another 5 minutes)? Yes, she did want a sister, and I am going to be the mother of 3 little boys. I never thought it would be!

Confession

I have a confession. I could NOT TAKE THE DANG sealed "Surprise" envelope. It was making me irritated and it was not fun and although I don't care what I have, I wanted to just know. So I peeked. I know, I know. I am lame. And, the best part is I know what IT is. And I feel so much better and who cares if my husband said I was a "temptress Eve" ( he signed the back over the tape to reassure that I would not open the seal- further irritating me).

But, it was a great surprise! And Ryan and I both laughed, and it was sweet that just he and I opened it together at home- Now we have to tell the kids. Stayed tuned....

Overheard

Tanner to Emma in response to her questions about things that happened to the characters on Ice Age II, "Emma, I told you once and I am not going to tell you again." Consequentally, Emma asks him again.

"What did you learn at church today Tanner?" asks Ryan. " Well," says Tanner, "If you were a kid and your parents didn't buy you a birthday present, how would you feel?" Ryan answered,
"Well...bad." Tanner answered, "That's what I learned today."
I further heard Ryan trying to cause him to elaborate (like, maybe your lesson was about gifts we could give the Savior on his birthday? Tanner said that was not what his lesson was about, once again, it was about getting a present from your parents on your birthday.)

Emma wanted Tanner to be the puppy so she could be his mom. Tanner played along for a bit, and then said he didn't want to be a puppy anymore, he didn't want to play with her at all. Emma not understanding said, " Oh, you want to be a cat? Come here kitty, kitty."

Valentine's Day 2008 Recap

For Dinner (the plan)

Chicken Alfredo with brocoli on Angel Hair

Spinach Salad with Strawberries

French Bread

Sparkling Juice

PINK strawberry cake with mom's Fudge Frosting.

BUT, Ryan worked, which I did not realize til after the groceries were bought. (So, hopefully Sunday Night.)

We did have Fruit Faces with yogurt and Macaroni and Cheese and, yes the Strawberry Cake. The best part.

Emma thought it was her Birthday all day long. I had to keep explaining to her it was "the day of love" but, she was certain the pink heart cake was for her nonetheless. I got a sweet love note from Ryan with Godiva Chocolates and we made sure each of the kids woke up with a small valentine gift at each of their places at the table.

Lastly, I found this card for Ryan a month or so ago. When he opened it he thought it was a "bald old guy". WHAT? I had to point out that it was a cupid with real feather wings. Way to bring on the romance. Note to self- anything that might be construde as a person with thinnage of hair causes senstitive reactions.

Tap, Tap, Tap...

Do your feet look like boy feet or girl feet? We had our ultrasound today.

The heart and brain and size were all perfect. We saw some GREAT profiles of this babies little face. We watched arms and legs move and I realized:

First, I love this little baby very much. Not that I did not want this baby. I always have. I just have felt preoccupied with the other kids (mainly that I have 2 in diapers still) to spend too much time thinking about this one.

Second, for the first time in any of my pregnancy's I have no "wanting" of a certain gender. I am genuine and truthful.

That said, we do not know what it is! The Technician did not show us and Ryan could not tell and I really could not tell. BUT, the Technician could for certain. And so, I have a sealed "Surprise" envelope that will hang on my bulletin board- NOT wanting to be opened until delivery day.

(At this point I have partial placenta previa and so have to have another ultrasound in 8 more weeks. )

To My Valentine Ryan

Snow Day

No school yesterday.
But, I was visit taught (and tutored on how to use my new slr camera. Thanks talented 1 and talented 2 visiting teachers.)
Pizza and hot chocolate.
4 Valentines for girls and 4 for boys, handmade (per Tanner's assignment).
There was sledding on ice (it rained).
Breakfast for dinner.
Tanner read a complete 24 page book- an accomplishment for us all.

Template Tweaks

I keep changing my look because I am TRYING to tweak my template and give it a second sidebar (like Jocelyn). I am getting tired of this tweaking stuff! I have to keep re-doing it. Any html advise (Jocelyn? Anyone?)???

UPDATE- I DID IT! Thanks to directions from THE Jocelyn- the true direct source of someone who knows how to do everything GOOD. Thank you!

Pictured on Heather Bailey

Hey- Check out my cute niece, Macee, on Heather Bailey's Blog. It was a Princess Birthday party, and Macee fits the mold perfectly.

Randoms

I am so glad my DVR (TIVO) finally worked so I could watch the re-broadcast of President Hinckley's funeral! The Monday after his passing for FHE we watched the DVR of the most recent Sunday morning general conference closing talk given by the Prophet. His closing words STILL make me cry. "God bless you & I love you." Poignant to me because I still feel those would be the words he would say to each of us in his final moments. The funeral was so profound to me and caused me to re-evaluate some standings in my own life. Like to try harder and be better. Which leads me to...

The Relief Society lesson yesterday taught by our president had a repeat statement that resonated: Never supress a generous thought.

Finally, I have recieved 2 emails about President Hinckley's Challenge- to read the Book of Mormon in 97 days. I cowered a bit. That's almost 6 pages a day. But I need too and so made my commitment to Ryan and now in writing. I will try hard to meet this goal. Check out: http://www.hinckleychallenge.com/

ps- I like this fatty angel. Maybe because I am getting a bit fatty myself.