Entitled

Jordan is a mere week and a half away from turning one-how'd that happen?!?! So many things about him still shout out "Baby", but so many other things evidence that he is growing way too big, way too fast. I think he is sensing the coming of age factor and deciding to try a few things. For example:

Almost-one-year-olds get to go swimming in the middle of winter.

Almost-one-year olds get to sit in big boy car seats.

Almost-one-year olds get to do picnics with their siblings-including apple slices, which is a favorite food these days.

Almost one-year-olds get to sleep in toy doll beds because that's just so comfortable.

Almost one-year olds get to be highly mobile in the bathtub with no concern for their own modesty.

Happy Almost-One-Year-Old Day Jordan!

Join the Brainstorm

Jared and I are brainstorming names for his blog, which is fictional as of yet, but real enough to necessitate a name. Here's what we've come up with so far-what's your vote? Or do you have an addition to the list?

1. I Will Go and Blog
2. Search, Ponder, and Blog
3. I Blog by Faith
4. Follow the Blogger
5. The Great and the Terrible Blog
6. You Know What I Mean?
7. LautenBloggerSchlager
8. Lautenblogger
9. Schlaging Blogging
10. Jared the Blogger Schlager
11. Jared Daniel Lotsofschlblogger
12. Schlager Blogger
13. Lots of Slobber Blogger

Can you tell we are feeling a little silly? I'm crying.

Karianna Quirks

After attending a double baptism....

Rachel: So, what was your favorite part about going to a baptism?
Karianna: Eating a cookie (refreshments).
Rachel: (Sigh. So much for having a good learning experience!)

After hearing a mom (who shall remain annoymous) burp...

Karianna: Daddy is big and Mom is little... but Mama burps big and Daddy burps little...that's weird.

SNAP!

Saturday is a special day, its the day we get ready for Sunday....as such, I gave Jared a very specific job to do while I fed Jordan and put him to bed: entice the kids to clean the loft. Now, as a wife, I know Jared doesn't particularly like cleaning the loft (especially when he probably thinks it will just be him cleaning rather than the kids, who are wizards at finding a fun distraction). So rather than just telling him to do that job, I used the oldest trick in the book-"in every job that must be done, there is an element of fun; you find the fun and.....SNAP! The job's a game!" Works for kids and adults apparently! Here's how it went: I told Jared to become the General, and the kids his army cadets. I told him to pass out orders-give Karianna a specific job and Go! Tell JD exactly what to pick up, where to put it and GO! Works every time! Jared seemed to go for it, and SNAP! The job's a game! Gotta love that Mary Poppins, right up there with Super Nanny. As the icing on the cleaning cake, I was reduced to giggles when I heard how Jared began the "game" with the kids: "Come on you maggots! You clean or you sleep in the garage in your underwear! Go go go! Left, left, left, right, left-move it, move it, move it!" Pretty funny! My husband is just awesome! SNAP!



DISCLAIMER: I embellished just a bit on Jared's dialogue, but the "maggots" part was all him!

Privacy Needed

I'll be making the blog officially private Friday evening 1/23, so if you would like an invite, let me know by then at ratchedyann@hotmail.com, or leave a comment with your email! If you already let me know, you're good!

Conversations with Nana

I had a few very interesting converations with Karianna yesterday. The first represented the pinnacle of her obsession with dental hygiene. Before I share this conversation, you have to remember that this is the little girl who was estatic at the idea of getting floss for Christmas. A few days ago one of her teeth was looking a little brown-just one, which was kind of weird. Nonetheless, we got her in the habbit of brushing after each meal and reiterated the importance of keeping her teeth clean. I thought those conversations were pretty upbeat and positive. Guess not, for this is what transpired after lunch yesterday:

Karianna had just finished eating a cookie and had a smear of chocolate on her front tooth. Very jokingly, I told her one of her teeth had turned brown! Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head, and she clapped a hand over her mouth in pure terror. She leaped down from her stool and raced up the stairs, screaming and crying at the top of her lungs-far too traumatized to hear my confused call inquiring what in the world was the matter. I followed her up only to find her frantically brushing her teeth. I asked her what was wrong, and with tears streaming down her cheeks, she told me she was afraid of getting a cavity, and that she didn't want brown teeth-she wanted white teeth. Since that moment, she has brushed her teeth no less than 7 times in the past 24 hours; after each tooth brushing episode, she asked me if her teeth looked white. I'm not sure if we have crossed the line with dental hygiene and ventured into the land of OCD...Needless to say, we had a good conversation with Karianna last night that hopefully relieved some of her concerns. Time will tell!

The second conversation was on a more serious note. We were working on memorizing the first two Articles of Faith and got into a discussion about Heavenly Father and Jesus. We were talking about where they live and when we get to see them. Karianna proceeded to ask some questions that kind of halted me in my tracks-these questions required some serious thought, not because I don't know the answers, but because explaining them to a 4 year old in a way that is comprehnsible is a bit of a quandry. Karianna wanted to know: How do we get to Heaven to see Heavenly Father and Jesus? What if I am too scared to talk to Heavenly Father and Jesus? Am I going to die soon and go back to Heavenly Father and Jesus? Eesh. I figured this could go either way-answers that bring comfort and joy, or answers that bring fear and uncertainty. Thankfully, the answers Jared and I gave her seemd to ease her concern, and there was a very sweet spirit present. It amazes me the things that my 4 year old can understand and believe with perfect faith.

I just finished reading a book series that has caused some major introspection on my part-what I can do to be a better parent and prepare my children for what faces them in the future. When I was young, I was always told by church leaders that my generation was a chosen generation; we had songs about it. :) The world is in a state of chaos, ruled by selfishness, greed, and a complete lack of morals. The Lord needs strong and righteous people to build up His kingdom now and prepare the way for the fullness of His gospel. I always believed that I had a role in this plan, and I do. However, it is different than what I originally thought, because rather than being in the front line of battle, I have been giving the responsibility of raising the warriors who will be in that front line. These conversations with Karianna, and all of my interactions with my children just remind me every day that they are the righteous spirits that have been chosen to come down to this earth at this time, simply because they are the noble and great ones who will usher in the second coming of the Savior. And it is my job along with husband to teach them. Wow. That is very humbling. All from an incident with over-zealous dental hygiene. I am sure grateful for this calling that I have of being a mother; I would not trade it for anything, and I just hope and pray that I will do my part with this chosen generation and teach them well, as the Lord would have me do.

**I apologize for the length of this post-I figured for family journaling purposes, these insights were important for me to record. :)

Going Private

Well, I think I'm at that point where we are going to take our blog private. I blame Carly :) But if that's the worst thing I can blame on her, she's doin' pretty good!

If you are one of my blog readers, please send me an email so I can send you the blog invite. I haven't done so for some of the blogs I used to follow because I thought, yeah, they probably don't remember me and will think I'm crazy if I ask for an invite. I won't think you are crazy. I promise :)

So please don't hesitate, and actually, I will be a little bit sad if I only get emails from my family. There you go-hopefully just enough of a push to send that email so I can send you an invite! Because I know our family's antics just drive your day! Okay, I think I need sleep. But I am serious about making the blog private, so go ahead and send that email or just leave a comment, and you'll be good to go! Emails can go to ratchedyann@hotmail.com ; I'm going to make the official switch next Friday, the 23rd of January.

Movies

I shot a mini video of Jordan last night in the bathtub. Jared was trying to make Jordan smile so I could get a cute pic, and I decided to secretly record Jared's vocal antics. You can hear Jared start to get a little frustrated at me that I wouldn't snap a picture! Hee hee-makes me crack up!

You Cannot Deter Me!

Jordan loves to eat off of the buffet that is the kitchen floor after a normal meal. Thus Jared set up a blockade of sorts so Jordan couldn't go into the kitchen.

Didn't stop Jordan.

Jordan seriously loves his food. I seriously love the fact that he has hair that can be fashioned into a mohawk. Rock on!

For the Love of Goghurt!

Another child falls prey to the attractive lure of the goghurt.

Regrets

I knew I would regret not taking Karianna to Disneyland in December.

I came home today to find that she had meticulously packed a bag for our upcoming trip to Disneyland with all the kids. She had laid out a scarf, her jacket, and a few movies to watch in the hotel room. She just decided her bag is too small for all the things she wants to take to Disneyland, so she is unpacking it and getting ready to search for a bigger bag. She is now scolding Jared for not having packed his bag yet ,and instructing him that he'll need to pack some baby clothes and food for Jordan. She also just told me there is a little fridge in our hotel when we go to Disneyland and so we can bring some hamburger helper to eat. She packed a box of it in her bag, I just realized. The first thing she wants to do at Disneyland is go to the roller coaster mountain where the monster with the red eyes lives; then she wants to find all the princesses (of course).

I am glad she is so excited about the trip...I didn't have the heart to tell her that we have no such trip planned in the immediate future.

Can anyone out there in cyber world cough up the money required to go to Disneyland so I don't have to break the bad news to Karianna?

Stuck Part 2: SIKE!

If I thought Jordan was traumatized the other day by apparently getting stuck on the staircase, I was wrong.


He's not even just hanging out-he's enjoying it! Anybody else think he's mocking me? And just for laughs, I initially spelled "anybody" as "enibudy". Seriously. Without even thinking.


Guess I now know where he learned this stair climbing thing-I love my boys!

I Like Ma' FOOD!

Anyone who knows my kids knows they like their food. Big time. So you think I would have learned by now that it is a bad idea to leave JD alone with a heaping bowl of green beans. I should have bid the green beans farewell before I left the room:


Yes, that bowl was full before I left. At least he's willing to eat a bowl-full of vegtables and not something coated in high fructose corn syrup.

On a slightly different note, Jordan has moved past the novelty of sitting in his own booster seat during meals. He started off being really giddy about it. Then he got serious about it-very carefully eating his food and looking up at the nearest family member for approval. Now, he is just plain old comical. As soon as he gets a bite of food in his mouth, he bobs his head up and down with a very, very clear message: Oh yeah, this is good. Umm. Oh wow. Yeah, gotta get some more of that-good cookin' mom. Pause for the next bite and then repeat. It's pretty funny and a nice compliment to me, until I remember that most of his meals include canned vegtables, fruit, and 2 or 3 vienna sausages. Oh well-at least I can feel good about my ability to cut up said foods in a pleasing manner. :)

Stuck

Jordan sure does love his mom.

I went upstaires in search of some socks earlier this morning. About halfway through my quest, I hear Jordan start to cry. I found him halfway up the stairs just crying his little heart out. I can totally understand why-talk about being torn! I want to find my mommy but I am frozen stiff-why in the world did I decide to climb these stairs in the first place?

Of course, I had to take a picture, but read Super Nanny's mind and took him off the stairs before I located the camera. We recreated the situation on the lower 3 stairs-at that point, he just wanted to dive off the steps and into my arms, so putting him back in the middle of the staircase was not an option. I know. I'm nuts.

Frustration Managed

Today was a little bit of a frustrating day. I had just under a bajillion things to do and not nearly enough time. Maintaining some level of patience was NOT one of the things I managed to get done today. Thus I was a little testy. So in about a ten minute time period, the following things happened; we will dub them "Techniques for Making Mommy Happy Again":

1. Karianna and Jared sang me "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".


2. A spontaneous encore followed of "You Are My Sunshine".


3. Karianna brough me a plate with "I Love Mom" written on it.


4. Under Jared's instructions, Karianna handed me a big bouncy ball and said, "If you are mad at Daddy, you can throw this at him". Karianna threw it at him even though I declined the offer.


5. Karianna then brought the plate back with about 6 dried flower petals on it.


6. She proceeded to "pin" them on my shirt like a corsage.
7. JD and Karianna came over and gave me hugs and kisses.


8. Karianna brought me a star shaped baby cracker and sang "You are like a star shining brightly...."

Okay. Frustration gone-couldn't help it. So in case any distraught husband in wondering how to restore his wife back to her happy, cheerful self, this was the way to do it. Extra guarentee if your daughter throws the big bouncy ball at you for the rest of the night.

Christmas Festivities

Doesn't it seem like Christmas always comes and goes so quickly? I knew it would happen as soon as October rolled around, and sure enough, I can't believe we are at the turn of 2009! The Christmas gifts have all been opened and played with, the garbage is teetering with discarded wrapping paper, and I have started slowly packing up some Christmas decorations so to restore some order in our home. The next big challenge is figuring out where to put new toys and activities! It's always a good time to sort out what can be donated, tossed, or packed away! And in all honesty, that makes an even bigger mess in your home, so I am just ready to toss anything that doesn't have a tupperware home yet!

Regardless of messes, strep throat/bronchitis/laryngitis (or just a cold-I still can't tell), and last minute gifts, we had a great Christmas weekend! We spent Christmas Eve playing together; we all made a sign for Santa, set out the traditional Santa-reindeer snack, and watched "The King Is Born". I spent about an hour ransacking the house for a lost stocking gift, only finding it after both Jared and I said silent prayers about it. That's what I call a Christmas miracle!

Christmas morning was just so much fun! There's not too many things better than watching the joy on your kids' faces as they open their treasures. Jared surprised me with actual gifts, which we were not really planning to do for each other ...I was very grateful for such a considerate husband! Karianna's favorite gift was a new barbie; she was very serious about her gift opening and gave pretty decent reactions. :)



JD's favorite gifts were trains and 1$ stocking stuffer of little plastic horses....should have stuck with that for all his gifts!!!




Jordan's favorite gifts were the bows, though his new activity table was a close second.


The next few days were spent travelling to and from Mesa to visit with both Jared's and my family; we always feel so blessed that our families live within minutes of each other so we can double dip during holidays! My mom gave us a beatiful Christus statue, and we absolutely love it! We have no idea where we are going to put it right now, at least no where worthy of its presence! It was wonderful to see both families and spend so much time together.

Karianna with her cute "cousin friends", Elizabeth and Makayla.

We also took one last trip to the temple to see the Christmas lights; when we stopped by the Christus in the visitors center, Karianna said, "We have a Christus at our house too! Now we don't have to come to the temple to see it!" We stuck around at the temple until it hit 38 degrees, at which point my toes demanded that we take our leave (I need shoes other than flip flops.).

We sure hope everyone had a great Christmas! We loved visiting with our families and ending the year on such a good note. As part of our family tradition, we set aside a special giftbox for the Savior. Each member of our family considers one gift that he or she can give the Savior in the upcoming year-having more patience, treating each other with kindness, showing compassion for our neighbors, or becoming more self-sufficient. Even if you don't pull out all the bells and whistles for such a tradition, we hope everyone can remember the Savior during this time of the year and remember it is His gift of love and mercy that strengthens us and provides us the opportunity to return to Him someday!

Rites of Passage

Everyone celebrates New Year's Day a little differently. Our family went out to breakfast; afterwards, Karianna and I cleaned out the garage in order to make room for the newly packed christmas boxes. Jared took a much needed nap in anticipation of cleaning the carpet later tonite (he doesn't know he's going to be doing that yet). JD shocked us all by being amazingly well-behaved during our hour wait for breakfast. Looks like everyone is turning over a new leaf, eh? Jordan is definitely not exempt! It seems to me that the theme of the last few weeks has been development. Everything Jordan does these days has a pretty obvious purpose-where he crawls, what he says, what he plays with. A few days ago, he spent about half an hour taking each individual bath toy and finging it into the tub. It was very obvious that he appreciated the splashing effect and wanted to know more. That's just the stage he is in and it's great!

So in order to enrich Jordan's new developmental stage, I decided to nix the high chair and strap in the booster seat. Jordan was seriously so delighted that he got to eat dinner with us last night-on the same level, with his own plate, and with zero baby food. As the icing on the cake, he only threw his plate on the floor one time! That's gotta be a record! I remember my other kiddos joining the table crew when they turned 1; Jordan's jumping the gun by a few months, and I don't think there's any going back! What a cool rite of passage-I think babyhood is just about over!

Top 10 Goals for 2009

Here's our Top 10 Family Goals for 2009:

10. Read the scriptures together as a family every single day.
9. Be vigilant in keeping the spirit in our home on a daily basis.
8. Be grateful for our blessings.
7. For Jared...avoid sleeping in and maintain a healthier lifestyle all around.
6. For Rachel...find more joy in the daily tasks of motherhood.
5. For Karianna...be a protective and kind sister to her brothers.
4. For JD...get rid of the selective hearing phenomenon ;) to listen and obey more frequently.
3. For Jordan...get rid of diaper rash. And start walking.
2. Teach our children gospel principles and prepare them to be valient servants in the Lord's kingdom.

And the number one goal for our family in 2009 is:

1. Figure out how in the world to keep our carptet clean.

What are your resolutions? Happy New Year!

Portrait of a Lady

Me: Karianna, why won't my cough go away?
Karianna: Because you don't get enough sleep.
Me: So can I just go to take a nap right now?
Karianna: Um.....
Me: Oh yea! I can take a nap! You can just watch JD and Jordan; you can give them lunch and you can change Jordan's diaper, but if it has poop, you have to give him a bath.
Karianna: But mom, that's not something that girls do!
Me: Yes it is-I am a girl and I do those things.
Karianna: You are not a girl, you are a lady. Ladies do those things. I am a girl, and I don't do those things.

Guess I can't argue that logic. There goes my hopes for a lovely nap!

Add a Verse

Karianna is currently singing:

"Follow the prophet, follow the prophet, follow the prophet-because it's nice to do..."

Christmas Sunday

Today is Christmas Sunday-Merry Christmas 4 days early! We had our Christmas sacrament meeting program today and it was a lot of fun! I got to sing quite a bit in our ward choir (which is really good!) and a small group of sisters. Karianna got to sing with the primary children, I was so proud of her for singing all the words! JD got to be escorted our of the room twice for throwing fits. Jared got to be the escort. Jordan got to sit with the family behind us in lieu of everyone else being otherwise occupied. Definitely a busy meeting, and I will be glad when we switch to 10 AM church!

It's tradition in our family to get the kids Christmas outfits, so here are the kiddos in their festive apparel. This was the first year I got to dress the boys up in matching sweaters and it made me so happy! Also, you will notice that in a few pictures, JD looks pretty beaten up; those pictures were taken after he attended nursery. You should see the other guy. :) Merry Christmas!

Can't Stop Laughing!

Ha ha, this was hilarious, can't help but share it! Remember to pause the ipod before clicking play!

Compliments

Last Saturday my sister Rebecca took our family pictures with her awesomely cool camera. We really appreciated her doing that, since it is difficult to catch a good family shot via the self-timer on our preshistoric camera-not to mention the milky-eyes-effect. They turned out great, so thank you thank you thank you!

Since they turned out so great, I sent several of them to Walmart for framing and Christmas cards etc. I went to pick them up today and was told I was not allowed to get them. Why? Because the Walmart people had decided they looked professionaly done and they will not sell photos without a copyright author signature. After about 15 minutes of arguing, waiting for a manger, and finally signing my own name to claim responsibility in the case that I was utterly lying, I got to take my pictures home.

So even though I was amazingly frustrated at the Walmart people, I think this is what I can come away with: my sister is pretty darn talented! :) What a lovely compliment-the pictures looked so good that they thought I was breaking the law to get them. So thanks again to Becca, and kudos for picking up new talents! Here's a family collage I made that will go out with our electronic Christmas card at some point this weekend.

Way'da Be Compassionate!

Me: Karianna, we are going to have a visitor come over tomorrow-her name is Ava.

Karianna: Oh, is she 4 like me?

Me: No, she is about JD's age.

Karianna: Oh, so she is little. Okay, then I will make sure not to hit her.

Me: That would be helpful Karianna-thank you.

A Tribute to Laura Numeroff

If you wake Karianna up in the morning, she'll want to go potty right away. If she goes into the bathroom, chances are she will do her best to find a cricket on the wall. She won't want to go potty with a cricket-peeper, so she will ask Dad to come and kill it. Dad will say not right now because he is busy trying to wake up.

If Dad says no, Karianna will decide it is prudent to kill the cricket herself. And if Karianna decides to take the task upon herself, she will ask JD to help her, because cricket guts can be cool.

The children will creep into the bathroom to make their plan. If they see Daddy's shoe lying on the floor rather than being placed on the shelf where it belongs, they will use it to smash the cricket. And if two excited children try to smash a cricket with Daddy's shoe, chances are the shoe will fall into the toilet.

Which is what happened.

And if Daddy's shoe gets all soaked with potty water, then Daddy can't get mad-because he said "not right now". And because he left the shoe lying on the floor. And because Karianna really had to go potty. And because if you wake Karianna up in the morning and she has to go potty, chances are she IS going to find a cricket on the wall.

The End.

Challenge of the Day: Make up your own tribute to Laura Numeroff and "If You Take a Mouse to the Movies"!

Merry Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

My classy, elegant daughter

Me: Karianna, you need to stop picking your nose.

Karianna: But I don't want to stop picking my nose.

Me: Why don't you want to stop picking your nose?

Karianna: Because I LOVE picking my nose.

Current Events

We learned a lot of new words today as we watched footage of a car jacking in our neighborhood-the car, with an 18 month old strapped in the back, was actually found on our street! Thankfully the baby was just fine, although the man who stole the car is still at large (isn't that a scary statement?). We had news helicopters and policemen circling around our neighborhood all morning, so it was an opportunity for the kids to learn about current events and some new words: newstation, carjacking, jail, cell, and pivot (that last one doesn't have anything to do with this, but Karianna keeps doing it, so I figured, might as well teach her the correct lingo).

I was pretty impressed with the kids' reactions-they understood quite well. If you asked JD what happened, he would say, "Oh no, he took the baby-all better!" If you asked Karianna what happened, she would just talk your ear off for half an hour, telling you every minute detail in relation to the situation (and not in relation as well, since she is all about tangents these days). Her best comment though was this: "That man was probably listening to Satan because he made a bad choice. Mama, do you think he is ever going to repent?"

Sand Sculptures

We are back from California and suffering from Disneyland withdrawl! There is definitely a reason it is called the Happiest Place on Earth! Kind of funny because every second we were there, we heard nothing but kind words. When Disneyland closed at midnight on Saturday, we immediately witnessed a patron showdown at the tram-those seats are high commodities! It just was funny that when the Happiest Place on Earth closed, the little devils seemed to come out again! Anyhow, our trip was great, and I'll post about that later when I sift through all the pictures. For now, I wanted to post the magnum opus of my sand sculpture career, which started and probably ended on Saturday at Hungtington Beach. While Jared tested for 10 hours, I lounged on the beach. Two things to know: I really missed the kids. Hence the following sculptures:
The second thing is I was really in the mood for ice cream. Preferably with hot fudge, because ice cream is naked without it. That's just a fact. Hence the following sculpture:Pretty cool eh? It was lots of fun, which was the theme of the weekend! Thanks for taking me Jared-GREAT memories!

On Resurrection...

Karianna: When Ellie gets resurrected, she will go to a new family, because now Grandma has Bella.

Me: No, Ellie can go back to Grandma-it's okay to have two dogs.

Karianna: Okay Mom, whatever you say.

A Creative Entreprenuer

Does anyone else think Karianna could market this as an ideal way to teach babies how to successfully use the pincer grasp? And I know I don't even have to ASK about this one. Who wouldn't want to buy an awesome looking pilgrim hat like this one?

Temple Light!

I meant to post about this last week, but time escaped me! Each year our family tries to make it to the Temple the day after Thanksgiving in order to see the temple lights flipped on in one fluid motion. It is pretty spectacular to see the Temple suddenly bathed in the twinkle of thousands of Christmas lights! The temple was PACKED, and as such, we had only just cleared the parking lot when the lights came on, but it was still wonderful to be there and taste the atmosphere that always surrounds the Temple, especially at Christmas time. If anyone is looking for a great evening out with family, loved ones, friends, solo-this is a great spot to go! Here's a few pics of the kids reveling in the spirit of Christmas!

Not sure if JD likes where he is at in this shot....

FLOSS!!!

Today in preschool Karianna learned about keeping your teeth healthy. This topic for some reason really struck a chord in her because she talked my ear off all the way home about the proper way to brush your teeth and floss! She got a little bag of toothpaste, brush, and a lovely flossing wand, and guess what she did all the way home? You got it-flossed! My favorite part of her action-packed description was: "And don't floss too hard mom, or your gums will start to BLEED!"

So as a result of her newfound love for dental care, I called my mom tonite to give her an idea for Karianna's Christmas presents. Guess what I told my mom to buy? You got it again-smart cookie! FLOSS! So my mom is officially buying the weirdest Christmas gift for a 4 year old, and that 4 year old is going to absolutely, positively, 100% love it! Mom, just in case you are still wondering, here's what they look like, although I don't know if Walmart will have ones that look as cool as this.