Dissection of a Toddler's Bed

okay, holy crap. i don't know how perry gets any sleep at night. i went in to snuggle her awake the other morning. i know i've gained a few pounds so that twin bed was cramped, but it wasn't until i sifted through the bedding ingredients that i realized how many items were sharing the bed with us. i seriously had a dino tail poking me in the bum. let the dissection begin: 1 etcha-sketch, 1 book of mormon (can never be too spiritual), 1 jingle bell for the holiday, 1 ninja turtle action guy, 1 baby bottle, 1 naked cabbage patch baby, 1 clothed cabbage patch kid, 1 ratty old bear, 1 hello kitty backpack, 1 stuffed cat, 2 dinos (bum hunters), 1 black and white calf, 1 bracelet (for fashions sake), 1 baby pillow, and 2 baby blankets. wowsers!!!

A Wife for the Holidays

Well, since one of the kids' favorite uncles (Chuy) FINALLY got himself married off, Cora thought she'd meet her matchmaking urges elsewhere. This is Mr. Snowman, handcrafted courtesy of Cristian and the kindergarten art department. Cora, I guess, thought he looked lonely under our tree and put her artistic abilities to work. Mrs. Snowman is smok'n. She has a lovely girlish figure, complete with a sassy bob and green scarf. Cora is so thoughtful. She placed the wife next to her future hubby. There may have been a private ceremony which I was not privy to. In the future, there will be a fee for such matchmaking skills.

Our Gratitude

We had the kids articulate what they were thankful for - our annual turkey tradition. I was surprised by their depth. I think I'll pull up this entry Christmas Day at about 2 pm when the buzz of their gifts has worn off!

Crisitian: Mom and Dad, the family, the Book of Mormon, our house, Heavenly Father, and our world.

Cora: My home, my family, our world, our food, all the clothes we have, my room, my brothers and sister, my toys, movies that we get to watch. That's it.

Perry: Daddy and Mama, Cristian, Cora, and Daddy. My house and my Cora and Mason. My computer and my eyes.

Mason: I am thankful for you mom. My scriptures, my coach (who was dad), cars, and my toys. And that's it.

Hodge-Podge

little picasso right here baby. cora is the ultimate artist in the house. there isn't a day that goes by that she doesn't ask me to paint, draw, color. this is a watercolor (paints were bought by her paw-paw several years ago for cristian). i really love this picture - so bright and vibrant. i adore this little girl.


check out these bad boys. mason's wrinkle factor is the craziest i've seen. i mean we all get wrinkly in the bath but he shrivels up like no other. we always call him our "old man" gett'n out of the tub.

SAY WHAT?!?

Oh yes, a new little section that we likie to call "Say What?". No doubt this will become a frequent post with 4 little chatterboxes in the house. Mason will be the first to start this off.

This morning I physically dressed him for a change. He still wears a diaper at night so we did the undies and then the jeans. I reached up to start with his shirt when he matter-of-factly stopped me with these words, "Wait Mom, my penis is crooked." This is when my keen ability to know when NOT to laugh kicked in. So I seriously asked, "It's crooked? What do you have to do?" He takes his little hand and reaches down the front of his pants, does a little jig, and says, "Okay, it's better now."

Wow, sometimes it does pay to be a female.

Hooked on Phonics

So little miss Cora will be our reading prodigy we think. She has taken initiative with her academic career and run with it. I'm not sure what it is they learn in kindergarten, but they are doing something right because she is ever so interested in reading. Sadly, I don't spend the time with her to let her read a whole book to me - you'd think she was my 8th child or something. So she improvised and skipped to writing. She put a smattering of letters on a paper the other night and read them off to me. "What does that spell mama?" "That doesn't really spell anything babe." She has been doing this little game with me for about 2 weeks now. I stopped the laundry for a second and listened to her sound out each letter. "That almost sounds like octopus though," I said. "I know; that was what I was trying to write." OKAY, PARENTING LOSER AWARD REDEEMED HERE!! She has been doing this for 2 weeks and I never stopped to really see what she was doing. So the other night she wanted to spell words and this time I knew what that meant. Here is a sampling of her thought processes:

PESA = PIZZA
PLAT = PLATE
BYNNA = BANANA
PAR = PEAR
BRED = BREAD
NOZ = NOSE
PUANS = PANTS
PRESET = PRESENT

GENIUS!!

Pastry-Wrapped Cranberry Brie

So, you know Thanksgiving is around the corner and I love to experiment with new recipes. I saw this recipe on my crescent box and thought of a darling girl who we will call Annie. Annie is a brie fan, in fact, I feel she should name her first daughter after the lovely cheese. Hint, hint. Anywho, I saw this recipe, drooled, thought of Annie, drooled, and said, "I must make this lil'number for Turkey Day." Done. I am confidant the kids won't touch it - yes - but what can I expect, it's for a sophisticated pallet.

1 can (8 oz.) crescent dinner rolls
1 round 8 oz. brie cheese (don't use triple creme brie)
3 TBS whole berry cranberry sauce
1 TBS apricot preserves
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
2 medium pears, thinly sliced

You serve this with the pears. I am drooling at just the ingredients. But do you really just eat the rind, I mean isn't it tough and tasteless? I'll let you all know how it turns out. Happy Turkey Day!

Home Improvements

Pottery Barn eat your heart out! Carlos purchased this dresser at a garage sale for $25. We repainted it and swapped out the hardware. The hardware wasn't cheap but the whole project came to $125. Not bad for a new dresser. It just pops in the boys room and de-cluttered their closet.

Another Shay inspired idea... Shay has these frames from IKEA with Kavers pictures in them. I am ultra snobby about photos on my walls so this may be it for awhile, but all the kids look just darling. Cora's turned out the best. And Mason's has captured his attitude perfectly. Only $3 to enlarge each picture! God bless Costco!

okay, so these little babies just make me happy. They have the same effect on me as sunflowers. I just look at them and it's instant happiness. Our Relief Society president, who is an awesome shop-a-holic, brought these over weith cups and plates for the whole family. It was our adoption present from her. She said it was because I appreciate the "hippy" in her. Incidnetlaly, Perry is named becasue of her. Her name is Elena Robinson and Carlos loves the name Elena; short for Magdelena in Spanish. Cora calls these dishes the "confetti dishes". And, of course, the pink bowl is the daily request.

Early Morning Hysterics

So I had to ponder the other day when Perry gave me the pleasure of a good, deep, boisterous laugh early in the morning. Before I get out of bed everyday I have to stretch. Not just once or twice but like five minutes worth of twisting, stretching, and yelps of happiness because it feels so delicious. Cora has inherited this same need. It takes her longer to get out of bed whether from overnite slumber or Sunday naps she has to stretch. Anyway... I dd my stretches and proceeded to "help" Perry get dressed. She's almost 3 so she is totally self-sufficient without the capabilities. You know what I am talking about. So she had to have her Halloween kitty undies and had to do it herself. I came back to check in on her and this is what I found. She managed to insert her hips into one leg. I especially love the tag running down the thigh. I then asked her to turn around to see the rear view....

and this is where my hysterics kicked in. I had such a great laugh. Oh, it felt so good. I was stretched from the inside to the out. I thought, "What a way to greet the day - with stretching and laughter! I should do this every morning." So I was in debt to Perry for starting my day on a great note. She is one funny, darling girl!!!

Indian Girl

Okay, so we must all agree that these flower clips are about the cutest things ever. A cross between flower love child meets Pooahantus. Perry reminds me of a little Guatamalan Indian quite often. And where, do you ask, do I find such adorable creations. Shalynn of course. She whose creative energies always flow just like my chocolate cravings. She is always coming up with some new crafty idea. It would be nice if she was an awful cook or crappy designer but she excels at these as well. She hasn't completed a marathon yet so she maybe is a total loser after all. For the marathon you look to my other sister Noel. Yes, I am content in my life of mediocrity. When I say that I am a mom, I mean it. I do mommyhood and that's it. Not very multi-dimensional am I? So the pressure is on for me to put out a future Nasa engineer or the next Dr. Laura or worse....Martha Stewart. I only hope that my 4 amazing kiddies continue throughout their lives amazingly. See what just a little hair deco will do to me?! How I digress!

Vampire Perry

Winding down the Halloween season left me fondly admiring Perry's year-round contribution to this goulish holiday. Her very own set of vampire teeth. For real, they need to be filed down a bit. But they make her a unique little number don't they?!

Cutest Buns Award

Okay, so these little beauties belong to my niece. It will be great blackmail evidence in about 12 years. We did tattoes at Cora's 6th birthday and I had a great idea! Her parents found a nice little surprise that evening at bathtime! It'll make you all second guess me watching YOUR kiddoes!!

A Slice of our Weekend

A LITTLE WORSHIP
So church was a joke this week - stake conference... We were in a room with seriously 20 other demonic kids and a 12-inch tele. This is a lesson in faith and obedience. It got to the point where I busted out the camera, that's how much worshipping was goin' on and Paco didn't disapprove so that is sayin' something! I thought Mason and Paco looked so much like each other here. Mainly the Mexican-ness and spikey hair.

A LITTLE SOCCER
Bug is in the white sweatband, courtesy of his dad's habits, thank you very much. That gargantuan man in the background is the coach. He sounds like Arnold Swartzneger.


A LITTLE WORK

Cristian enjoys (ha,ha) a rite of passage when he turned 8 in September. He is now in charge of his and Mason's laundry. Yeah, it's one of those "good parent" things because as we all know it is more work for me than it's worth. It's easier for me to just do it then continuously nag and instruct how to wash and dry. But I can hear his wife thanking me in my head.

4 Kids!

Posting by Carlos

If you would have told me 2 years ago that I would be a father to 4 kids by the end of 2008 I would have told you that you were crazy! Yet, here I am, November of 2008...father to 4 of the best kids in the world. It's a great priviledge and a blessing to be with these kids and watch them learn and grow. Of course, it has it's ups and downs but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

In the beginning...

So here goes kids! The beginning of a mother's ramblings. Being a mommie of an 8, 6, 4, and 2-year-old, I find that I can't remember the cutenesses of each of my kids so I MUST blog them down so they have some sort of history of their childhood existences. Hope you all enjoy our day-to-day musings.