Successful Coloring Job

Today was the most successful coloring project we've ever had. Check it out.

In case you can't tell what everything is, here's a list....
Carrie, Ariel, Rapunzel's tower, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Flynn, Pascal, Prince Charming, Cinderella, Cinderella's Carriage, and Alien from Toy Story, Mike Wazowski, Sully, a horrible sketch of our house and yard, and a random pine tree with a baby red bird in it.... Overall, I was impressed with Carrie's seemingly endless memory and request of characters, and my drawing abilities, that based on the order I drew the pictures, seemed to improve as I went :)

It all started with a little Toy Story Alien toy she has lovingly named "Zabo". After we were done using him as a model for our coloring project, she proceeded to put him in her toy microwave to take a nap.... Oh the imagination!

Fun Project Idea

I recently decided to play the role of "crafty mom" and help Carrie make a maraca to play with.
The supplies I used were:
2 pieces of blank paper
1 empty paper towel roll
1/2 cup dry rice
crayons/markers
random buttons and stickers
glue gun
tape
felt circles
rubber bands
ribbon

Decorate the paper, color, stick on stickers, glue-gun some buttons and/or bows on etc.

Wrap the picture around the roll and tape it in place

Put a felt circle over one edge and use a rubber band to hold it on

Then crumple the other piece of paper a little and stuff it inside the paper towel roll and carefully pour the dry rice inside

Lastly, put the other felt circle on and put the rubber band on to keep it secure

Tah-dah! A fun new "shaker" toy!

This has absolutely no relation to the project, I just thought it was funny. A couple days ago, while at my parents' house, Carrie had gotten her clothes all dirty. While they were getting washed, she sat in her diaper and watched a movie on a portable DVD player, complete with her own headphones. She thought it was so special to have her own little personal movie set-up.

Her Own Personal Playground

Carrie is loving having a swingset in our backyard. She'll ask if she can go play in her park.... There is still only dirt back there and the sprinkler pipes are still uncovered, but her own "park" serves its purpose. Fun.

Swinging (and looking far too much like a dirty, unkempt orphan child)

And the slide. Ready.....

Set......

GO!!!!!

Cousins!

For Labor Day, we spent the day with my family in Mesa. We got a few really cute pictures of Carrie with her baby cousins (on my side of the family).

First, here she is with her brand new cousin Isac. He's just over a week old. I forget how tiny babies are when they're newborn! And he weighed 8lbs- how is it possible that Carrie was almost two pounds littler than that?!

"Alright, I'm ready to hold the babies. Bring it on"

Isac, Carrie and Rose.

And since we're already talking about cousins, here's a little project I did for my sister and her new baby Isac. Can you tell what it is?..... No?.....

It's what a diaper bag looks like when it's rolled completely inside itself to be sewn! Duh! The right-side-out version is a little cuter though, so here you go :)

And while I was sewing that for a couple of hours, Carrie played with a little jar of buttons. The whole time..... I wish I was so easily entertained

That Time With the Steak Knife

I'm sure you're wondering what the title of this post could mean.... The following is sure to be a quick, funny, "remember when" story that we tell at family reunions for years. About me, a steak knife, electrical wiring, and a sprinkler system. Sounds dangerous, I know....

Yesterday we worked on the sprinkler system again. Attached the sprinkler heads, adjusted their direction and water-shooting length (getting absolutely soaked in the process), and connecting the wiring to add it to our automatic system. We have wire cutters, but they're pretty dull and not very useful. We don't own any wire strippers, which were more important for this project anyways. So we improvised. With a steak knife and pliers....

It was working pretty well and I was on my last of 6 wires to be stripped and connected. All I needed was another eighth of an inch worth of space to work with. I went to make one last slice, slipped and proceeded to stab my finger with the steak knife. I swear the only reason it didn't go straight through is because it hit my knuckle bone.

I automatically shoved my finger in my mouth and soon started to feel a little vampirish with regards to the amount of blood that continued to pour out. Since we were almost done with the wiring work, I didn't want to go inside to take care of it, only to have to come back out into the grueling heat to finish. I had Justin grab me a paper towel and we made the most ghetto-rigged bandaid ever. Paper towel and electrical tape. But it worked!


So far today, a bandaid is managing the wound just fine. I might have over dramatized it in the moment, but for a split second, I thought I'd sliced my finger off. Lucky me, I only got the point of the steak knife. And I've learned my lesson. No more bare-handed electrical work on a water system using a steak knife.... (You'd think that would be a lesson I wouldn't need to learn by experience....)

Funny, Funny Girl

I don't know how she comes up with so many funny things, but seriously.... This girl is a hoot!

For my first example, you get a picture... I took this while we were on our way to the hospital when my sister was about to have her baby. This is not staged.... If you don't get why it's funny, just look at the picture again and think about the situation....
Next, a long, long list of hilarious things she's said and done lately.

-"I want to eat Minnie Mouse for brekiss!" Translation: she wants to eat Mini-Wheats for breakfast

-During "quiet time" (what used to be nap time, about 2-3:30ish), sometimes I'll tell her, "You can come out when Daddy comes home" (about 3:30). One day about ten minutes after I left her room for the unpteenth time trying to get her to lay down and be quiet, she started knocking on the door from the inside and yelling, "Daddy! I'm stuck in my rooooom! Heee-eelp me Daddy!" Lucky for her he came home just a few minutes later ;)

-While I was getting ready for the day, she climbed onto our bed, starting jumping and shouting/singing "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. The best part though? She doesn't know some of the words, she just knows their general sound, so she mumbled over them. One part that was crystal clear though was "Bright young women, sick of swimming, ready to SWIIIIIIIIMMMM!!!!" (Yes, that's supposed to be "ready to stand")

-She was playing with a star-shaped toy and suddenly shouted, "Come on Twinkle Little Star, the Street Rat's gonna get you! Hurry! Hide!!" (The obvious reference to the famous nursery rhyme and the less obvious reference to Aladdin)

-She also has a new infatuation with imaginary monsters. But not in a scared way, in a playful way. She'll shout, "Oh no, the monster's gonna get us!", squeal with delight and run into another room where she can "hide where nobody can find her". This could be anywhere, behind a couch, in a closet, a bathroom..... Somehow though, the "monster" usually finds her and she has to run somewhere else, giddily screaming as she flies through the house. One of us often gets pulled along for the ride.

-She found my cold rice pack in the freezer that I put on my head if I have a headache. She plopped it on her own head and said, very seriously, "I have a hiccup up here. The ice pack will make it feel better"

-She came up behind me started licking her fingers, mussing my hair everywhere and kept saying, "It will help your hair look wonderful OK?!" When she was done styling my hair, she carefully placed a baby toy on top of my head and announced, "You look like a Princess!" When I asked which princess, she responded, "Sleeping Beauty". I probably did look like I had a serious case of bed-head ;)

-We've recently started reading the scriptures as a family before bed. Justin and I each read a verse and then Carrie will copy me as I read a few words at a time of her verse. Only a couple of days after starting, I was trying to get her to copy me in saying a verse. As soon as I started, she harrumphed, and said, "Mommy, you forgot to say, 'and it came to pass!'..." It. Was. Awesome.

-"Tangled" was recently on TV and we DVR'd it. We've been watching it a ton. Luckily I don't mind watching that one over and over. Yet. This morning, Carrie said the blessing at breakfast. She did the normal "thank you for and blessing the food" part and was about to close when she stopped short and added, "and please bless us to watch Rapunzel again today, inthenameofjesuschrist,amen!"

-So we watched Tangled. I swear, 10 minutes after it was over, she said, "Mommy, can we watch Tangled please?" I said, "Sweetie, we just did!" She quickly replied, "No, we watched Rapunzel!"

She is so dang quick-witted for a 2 year old! I love it! She must get it from her uncle Jake (whose lightning fast quick-witted dry humor is likely to make you spurt milk out your nose) Because you all know Justin and I aren't this funny! We're so lucky to have her to keep us entertained!

Figuring It All Out

Since we've been through some crazy grief-inducing events regarding our children this year, we decided that maybe it would be a good idea to finally talk to a grief counselor. We met with our Bishop who referred us to LDS Family Services. I wouldn't have it any other way. Having an LDS counselor was #1 on my priority list. Our faith has the biggest impact on how we're "dealing with" all these emotional trials.

So a couple weeks ago was our first appointment. As it turns out, our grief counseling has turned slightly more toward communication counseling. We discovered that we didn't know how to communicate what we were feeling with each other, and the grief of our trials this year was only adding to the stress.

Now, I was a little leery about writing about going to counseling because it's kind of "none of your business"..... However, I've already learned so many things in this first couple of times that I have to share a bit.

1. Humans are not mind readers. Don't expect your spouse to read your mind and don't expect to be able to read theirs.

2. In regard to #1, say what you're feeling. Even the little things (especially the little things). An example: If it bugs you that your husband puts his dishes in the sink instead of loading them in the dishwasher, kindly mention it. He probably doesn't realize it bugs you. Or how much you would appreciate it if he just loaded them. When you keep it inside, over time it keeps building up until one day you explode about it. Then and argument about nothing is sparked. Because seriously, not loading the dishes isn't the end of the world, but in that moment it might feel like it. Frustrations come flooding out from both people and a silly thing can become something ridiculous and unnecessary.

3. Learn how your spouse likes to receive love. Learn their Love Language (Click to take your own love language quiz, have your spouse take it, and share your results with each other). For example, my strongest love language is service. I feel loved when Justin helps me around the house etc. His strongest love language is physical. I feel like I show my love for him by having the house clean when he gets home from work. While he appreciates this, he'd rather I be waiting at the door to give him a big hug and kiss when he gets home. We automatically give love in the way that we most like to receive it, but the other person may not recognize that we're trying to show it. When we learn their love language we can make efforts to show our love in ways that they'd be more likely to notice and appreciate.

4. Compliment each other. Show verbal appreciation. Praise. Be positive..... SMILE. Making your facial muscles smile actually releases chemicals in your brain that make you feel happier, whether you're actually happy or not.

It's amazing the difference in our home since we've gone to a couple sessions. We were by no means fighting, yelling, etc. all the time. We've always had a happy healthy marriage and family life. We have little arguments occasionally, just like everyone else. It just kind of felt like there was always some little stressor or grief cloud that made life a little ho-hum and tense sometimes.

As we're learning more and more how to communicate with each other, we're realizing we can work together to get through stressful times and by being honest, can feel the warmth of the Holy Ghost residing in our home every day. It's awesome. You should try it....