picture tag

I just got tagged. Thanks Brittny! What you do is go to your 6th picture file & select the 6th picture & post it! Here's mine:



This is Samuel in the fall of 2003. John was actually changing a diaper. I figured I had to get this on camera!

I tag:

Keri

Tyler and Rebecca

Andrea Card

Heather Wakefield

Amy Schmutz

Erin Knowles

new calling

Since it has been announced in most of the wards in the stake, I can now share the news about John's latest adventure. He was released from the stake high council (and no, it wasn't because his wife is crazy, I checked) and called as the stake clerk. What it means is that he has a whole lot of stuff to do and even more meetings than before. The plus side: he doesn't have to write a talk every month and he will usually be in the clerks office at the stake center so the kids and I can always pop in and say hello. Wish us luck!

stupid computer

We have a Dell laptop that is 31/2 years old. It has always had a loose connection where the power cord plugs in... at least we are pretty sure that is why the battery died within a year. We had barely used it on battery power , but since the plug wasn't in as it should have been, it drained and then failed to recharge the battery. Of course it took us until after the warranty expired to discover all of this.

Anyway, lately the connection has become so loose that I have to sit and hold the power cord in with one hand while I type with the other. Bugger! Stupid computer!!! It is a simple problem to fix, we just have to replace the motherboard which costs about $200-$400. Ugh!


Has anyone else had better luck with Dell or should I look into a different brand for my next computer? I am ready to throw this one out of the window!

tubes again

Thanks everyone for the congratulations/condolences! I just needed a day to reset my thinking. I was so sure it was a girl... but now we are all -James excepted- looking forward to another sweet baby boy. James keeps insisting that the baby is going to be a girl! Gotta love that three year old mindset!
Anyway, maybe the reason James is so grumpy is that he is having ear problems again. He has had a persistent ear infection for the past month and after a visit to his ENT today, will be getting tubes back in his ears next week. Poor kid! I would be grumpy too!

So now that we know we have another boy on the way, we are in desperate need of names...

AND IT'S A...

Girl!


Ha ha! Just kidding! Apparently I am not capable of having girls. (sigh) We are now looking forward to our third boy. We are all a little bummed- yes, even John- but when Samuel thought about it for a minute he got a big smile on his face.

"Mom, since it is a boy, now we can name him Obi-Wan!"

quilt conundrum

I figured since we are going to empty out the office and paint and decorate it as the baby's room, the least we could do is decorate the boys' room too. Right now the walls are all creamish-yellowish with beige carpet and a random assortment of blankets and window dressings. Since the dino quilt we have for Sam's bed is no longer being made, I thought now would be a good time to get the boys matching or at least complimentary quilts. My mom gave them these awesome Star Wars sheets (thanks Mom and Dwane!)for Christmas so I thought we could build the room around that. My great concept was light blue walls, paint the pale colored bookshelves (relocated from the office) red, and get some sort of quilt that would be a blue/red plaid in various shades with some sort of interesting patterned rug to compliment the whole thing. That way we could put up Star Wars decorations that the boys will enjoy for now but them we won't have to buy new comforters again if they want to redecorate for sports or something else.

So here is the problem. I can not find any quilts to fit the bill. There is of course the ultra cool Millenium Falcon quilt at PB Kids

- but who can really afford to pay $170 per quilt anyway??? As for finding a straightforward plaid quilt, forget about it! All kids quilts have airplanes or surfing or fish or trains quilted on the plaid quilts. Cute, but not what I am going for. So if any of you out there happen to have a brilliant suggestion - or happen to see the desired quilt. Please let me know! ...And just in case your bright idea includes me making quilts for both of the boys' beds, please remember I am almost 20 weeks pregnant!

tooth news

Sam is my tooth-losing fiend. He had one come out yesterday on the way to school and another this afternoon just after he got off the bus. Are they doing something to these kids at school? =)

He is so proud about his lost teeth (4 in total now) but John and I are scrambling. What did the Tooth Fairy leave you when you were a kid? We started out with a silver dollar but we only have two of those and we want to save one for James. Any suggestions?

And just because I took a picture of Sam, James wanted me to take one of him too. Look at that smile!

I love money!

Samuel cracks me up! He really likes the Geico commercials where the little stack of money sits and watches people. So yesterday he decided that he needed to make himself a pet stack of money. He cut up some green paper (with dad's help of course) and drew dollar signs and a smiley face on them. After he had a nice stack he borrowed a ribbon from my craft supplies to tie it together and then cut out some circles of paper to make eyes. He was so excited by the result that he dragged the stack of money all over the house like he does with his stuffed animals.

As he was getting ready for bed he had to make sure he had his elephant webkinz, his zebra blanket and his Money. "Mom, don't forget Money! I love Money!" He didn't understand why I started cracking up.

Oh and for those of you who are dying to know, we are going in for an ultrasound on St Patricks Day. Vote soon on what you think the baby will be!

pregnancy DONT'S

I don't know what it is but people conversing with pregnant women forget that such a thing as tact exists. So I have compiled a list of things said to me and to friends that you should NEVER EVER say to a pregnant woman. Are you taking notes? Good!!!

--Wow! You are HUGE!
--Are you sure you're not having twins/triplets/octuplets?!
--You're having ANOTHER one?
--Your face looks swollen.
--Have your ankles always been that big???
--You are only 20 weeks? Man! You are as big as my wife and she is due any day now!
-- Do you feel like a whale? You sure look like one! (Yes, someone actually said this!)
--Just wait till the next one...

In case you are wondering there are a few things you can always say to a pregnant women that will make them love you forever.

--You look great!
--Are you sure you are six months pregnant? You look like you are only 3!
--You are tiny!

Honestly, if you don't know what to say, remember what your mother always taught you. "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."