Phillip Turns Two!!

How can my baby be two already? I guess that's a cross Phillip will have to bear. Being the last child, he will be called the baby far longer than any of the other kids. When Sophie was his age she already had a younger sister, and Ryan was almost 5 months old by the time Maddie turned two!

It has been so much fun having a little one around again. The whole family adores him. He can do no wrong in our eyes, but I'm sure that is subject to change now that he's entering "the terrible two's". He's definitely getting very busy these days and keeping all of us on our toes. I really couldn't do it without the older kids. They have made this experience what it is. They are so helpful to me and they all love him so much. They are all such good kids. What did I do to deserve them?

Phillip had a "Cars" themed birthday. I don't think he got anything that wasn't related to the movie "Cars". He especially loved the little die cast cars from the movie and currently cannot be found without one (or two, or three) in his hands. The clothes were of no interest to him. As soon as he saw the little cars, that was the end of it for him. The older kids ended up opening up the rest of the gifts. We had cupcakes with Grandma Mickie's famous chocolate frosting and ice cream tonight. Yummy! Phillip's favorite part was the Lightning McQueen candle on top. I don't know if he had more than two bites of his cupcake, he was too busy playing with the candle (after it had been blown out, of course!).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHILLIP, WE LOVE YOU!

It Makes Me Happy!

It doesn't take much to make us happy. If we will just open our eyes to the seemingly ordinary everyday things around us and acknowledge the joy that they arouse, a lot of perspective would be gained.

Today I was upstairs getting ready for a doctor's appointment while Dave was making lunches and Maddie came upstairs and reminded me that I needed to write on her lunch bag. Lately she's been taking her lunch to school in a brown paper bag because she lost her regular lunch box and I've been writing her name on the front of it along with a simple little picture (like a sun, flower, happy face, etc.). She said, "I like when you write on my bag, it makes me happy". I was simply doing it so that in the sea of all the other brown paper bags that get sent to school, she would know which one belonged to her. I had no idea how that simple little act provoked such joy.

I then got to thinking how it really is all the little things that make us happy. It's not the big house or lots of money or expensive cars, it's the kind words we say to others, or that are said to us. It's the bedtime ritual of reading a story with my kids and then as I'm tucking them in with a kiss, breathing in their sweet scent. It's Dave going out to buy treats with the kids for movie night and then bringing back some soda just for me. It's the random "I love you" from a child. It's seeing the peony that you planted in your yard three years ago finally flower. It's feeling that extra surge of love from your mom when you go to eat lunch and see the smiley face on the front of your lunch sack. Happiness is for the taking all around us. We just need to open up our eyes and see it!

Cookie Monster

It's times like this that I really wish I had a walk-in pantry with a door that closes instead of a pantry with slider doors and no way to keep a very busy two year old (o.k. maybe I'm jumping the gun here, I realize he won't be officially two until Sunday) out. Initially he pointed to the box in the pantry and asked me for a cookie, to which I said "no", then he asked Sophie who (reluctantly upon my command - I say reluctantly because she is putty in that kid's hands) said "no" too. Several minutes later Sophie told me I needed to come look in the dining room. Whenever the kids say something like that, my stomach sinks just a little bit, wondering what I'm going to find. Will it be sharpie marker all over the dresser?, toothpaste ground into the carpet?, A poopie diaper taken off and left (hopefully not upside down)?, My mind starts racing. When I walked into the dining room, thankfully the diaper was still in place, but there was my little sneak of a son sitting and gorging on those forbidden cookies to his heart's content.

I started thinking back to my own childhood and what a sneak I was. I wonder if sneakiness is inherited? I did some pretty sneaky things. My mom used to keep a stash of candy underneath her bed which I would find and help myself to. My parents would notice candy missing and get upset with us. Did that stop me? Nooooo. I just knew I had to be better about acquiring my sugar fix. To throw them off my scent I would slit open the bag of candy (like M&Ms or skittles for example) in the back next to the seam, take some out, and then tape the seam and fold the flap over the tape so no one would be the wiser. Another time I pretended to be sick so I could stay home from school and look for my Christmas presents while my mom was running errands.

The funniest part about finding Phillip was that when he saw me and knew he was busted, he looked at the cookie and then held it out to offer to me. What a politician!

Ballerina Girls

Sophie and Maddie enjoyed their dance recital this past weekend. They were in the same class this year and got to learn ballet, jazz, and tap. They were in three performances that were all fabulous (I'm not biased). As much fun as they had performing, I think their favorite part was getting to wear all that make-up!

To See or Not to See? That is the Question.

My Sister, Kristin and I used to have a gourmet popcorn business back when Dave was in grad school and we lived in Utah. When we moved to Texas for his post doc at UT Southwestern, I wasn't able to keep up with the business anymore, but Jason and Kristin made a real go of it for awhile until they ventured off into the restaurant business. At that time they sold the business and I wasn't expecting anything from the sale of the business for a couple of reasons:

1. I know there were a lot of debts from the purchase of equipment that needed to be paid off and I didn't know if there would be any money left over.
2. Since I had moved away and wasn't really involved anymore, I honestly didn't deserve any of the profits from the sale.

Those are two of the reasons I was really surprised one day to go to the mailbox and see a gift certificate from my sister for LASIK eye surgery. I was blind as a bat (to put it mildly). If you know anything about diopters (how they measure eyesight variations), 0 is normal eyesight. Negative numbers indicate nearsightedness and positive numbers indicate far sightedness. Mine was -8.50 in my right eye and -8.00 in my left eye which is pretty bad. I couldn't see my alarm clock or even my hand in front of my face without contacts. Everyone in my family (except my mom) has had it done and has had nothing but good to say about it. I had wanted to get LASIK ever since I knew it existed, it just was never something we had money for and so this was such a cool surprise. The only problem was that when she gave this to me, I was recently pregnant with Phillip and found out that not only could I not get the surgery while I was pregnant, but I had to wait until I had been done nursing for 6 months as well. That set me back another 2+ years

Fast forward two and a half years and I finally got to have the surgery last Thursday (May 15). At my original consult I was told that my corneas were too thin for IntraLase (where they make a flap in your cornea and laser the underside). This meant that I could still have the laser surgery, but it would have to be PRK which gives you the same end result, but recovery is much longer and they only do one eye at a time. But when I went in last Thursday, they re-tested everything and my cornea readings had improved enough to where I was able to get IntraLase. How did my corneas change? The doctor said that they could have changed because the last time they checked, I had been off of contacts (glasses only) for 5 days, and last week was closer to two weeks. I personally think that the priesthood blessing Dave gave me before we went in had a lot to do with it.

Now, it's been almost a week since the surgery, and I'd like to say that I see perfectly, but I don't and I'm not sure why. At my post-op appointment, the doctor said that since I had such a big prescription change that my corneas were quite traumatized. I'm hoping that is a huge factor and that things will start to improve when my corneas heal. I also have these lovely red marks from the pressure of the instrument that made the corneal flaps. I don't know if that's normal or not, but my sister said she didn't ever have any marks when she had it done. I feel like there's a film over my eyes and things are kind of hazy. Nothing is clear. It's quite annoying. I go in next week for another check-up and I hope things start to get better soon.

I included a picture of what my eyes look like so that you could all feel sorry for me. Looking at the picture, I'm not sure if you'll feel sorry for me about my eyes or about all my wrinkles (or my crooked nose)!!!! I've got to get photo shop so I can airbrush that stuff out!

More Productive Than Playing Webkinz

Now I know that by reading the title of this entry, you are assuming that one of my children must be writing this. Kids are the only ones that play Webkinz, right? That is where you would be wrong. Yes, that's right I am an admitted Webkinz addict (I'm looking into a 12-step program for it). But before I go on, I might need to explain to those of you who do not have children between the ages of 6 and 12 (or in my case, 34) what Webkinz are exactly. Well, before a year ago, our family, too, had no idea what they were, but thanks to a well-meaning neighbor who gave one to Ryan for his birthday last summer, we've all been sucked into the wonderful world of Webkinz, and subsequently have upwards of 30 now. They are stuffed animals that come with a secret code when you purchase them. You then go to the Webkinz website where you enter your code, thus "adopting" your pet. With that comes a whole virtual world of possibilities for you to care for your new adoptee. You can feed, clothe, and house your new pet, but as in real-life, that ain't cheap, so in order to earn (virtual) money to afford your money-sucking loved one, you can play games at the arcade. You can also go to the "tournament arena" and play games against other players to earn money. The better you do at each game, the more money (or kinz cash) you make and the happier (yes, they have a "happy" meter which tells you if you are adequately spoiling them) is your webkinz.

It's a great website for kids and yes, the occasional "I'll do anything to get out of housework while my toddler is sleeping" stay at home mom. I particularly like the arcade and have gotten quite good at some of the games, which brings me to another point-- I clearly cannot be the only adult out there who dabbles in webkinz. I've entered some of the tournaments for the games at which I consider myself quite adept and I am amazed at how soundly my butt gets kicked. Now, I'm not saying that kids cannot be good at these games, or that they can't kick my butt (My Wii addict -a.k.a. my son Ryan, is proof positive of that), but some of these games require skills that have not yet been taught at grade school level (i.e. speed typing). So, all of you closet webkinz addicts, please know that you are not alone and you don't have to pretend that you're buying your one-year old a webkinz for Christmas. We all know darn well that one-year olds don't even have bladder control, let alone the ability to feed, clothe, and sufficiently care for an on-line pet. Go ahead and buy yourself one and don't be ashamed!

Now, as much as I do enjoy the occasional jaunt in Webkinz World, I've realized recently, that I could be doing so much more with my time. I've never been a good journal keeper. I've had good intentions every ten months or so, but have never been consistent. I've also heard what a good way blogging is to keep people up-to-date about the goings-on of family and friends as well as being a form of journaling, and so I figured that even though I'm quite computer illiterate (I still make Dave upload music to my Ipod because I'm sure that if I do it, I'll find a way to make the whole internet explode), I would try my hand at it. And although I sigh at the thought, it really is a whole heck (yes, there are my mormon roots showing) of a lot more productive than playing webkinz.