How's that workin' for ya?

When we moved into this house a little more than a year ago, I hung some hooks next to the front door in an effort to be more organized. Keys get lost so often at our house because both Joel and I will come home and set them in random places. Of course, then you can never find them when you're already running ten minutes late and didn't have time to take a shower.

So, the rule is, the keys go on the hook. Period. I admit, I often stick them in my purse before I get out of the car, but otherwise I have made a concerted effort to put them on the hook.

Joel, however, has not. He rarely, if ever, puts his keys on the hook. In fact, just the other day he had to be somewhere and was looking all over the place for his keys without much luck. After at least five and probably more like ten minutes of searching he gave up and took my car instead.

Here is the conversation between us the next morning before he went to work:

Me: Did you ever find your keys?

Joel: No. I'll have to do another search of the house before I leave this morning.

Me: Well, I hope you find them because I'm taking the girls to school now and I won't be back in time to take you.

(I go get my keys off of the hook and notice that Joel's keys are hanging right next to them)

Me: Are you sure you didn't find your keys?

Joel: Yeah, couldn't find them anywhere.

Me: Did you look on the hook?

Joel: No, they're never on the hook.

Me: Maybe you ought to try it.

Amazing when something is actually where it's supposed to be, eh?

Sophie's words

My other two girls were (are) gabbers. They were both unusually early talkers and by the time they were 16 months old they had many words that could be understood. Sophie hasn't really developed as quickly as they did language-wise, and while that worried me for a minute, I've just come to grips with the fact that she has other interests. Interests like cell phones and television remotes, and being too busy pulling pots and pans out of the cupboards to bother herself with silly things like words.

Don't get me wrong, she's a smart cookie. Too smart for her own good, in fact. She understands a lot of what I say and she does in fact use quite a few words. I thought I'd document them here just to, you know, reassure myself that she is developing just fine.

Uh-Oh! Translation: I dropped something, something is out of its normal place, something has fallen over, I threw something, I broke something, etc. Always said very emphatically and continuously until said object is made right.

Ma! Translation: Give that to me! I haven't decided yet if she is trying to say "mine!" or "more!" I'm leaning towards "mine!" currently, but for now it just means you better give me what I want or I'm going to throw a huge fit!

Ba ba! Translation: Bye-bye! Always accompanied with a cute little backwards wave of her hand. She says it to Joel and me whenever we leave the house, to her sisters as they're dropped off at school, to me after I buckle her in her carseat and shut the van door and, my favorite, whenever she is put in her crib for bed or a nap.

Ba ba. Translation: Bottle. (Yes, I still let her have a bottle. She will drink from a sippy cup, but not milk. I'm not up for the fight just yet.)

Uh-uh. Translation: No. Maybe. Yes. It is her answer (along with a shake of her head) to every question she is ever asked. Do you want milk? Do you need to go to sleep? Do you love Mommy? Are you cute? Is your name Sophie? Always uh-uh.

Day-dee. Translation: Daisy. Or Doggie. Same thing, but I'm pretty sure she's actually trying to say Daisy, who is my parents' dog and the only dog Sophie has had much contact with. She loves any animal she sees and calls them all Day-dee. And it may even serve a dual purpose and also mean Daddy. We aren't totally sure yet.

Tat-you. Translation: Thank you. It also serves as please. When she is shouting "Ma! Ma!" we have told her to say please, but she always says thank you instead. Now she is catching on and will stop herself from yelling and calmly say "tat-you" when she wants something. Then she says it again once it's in hand. Such a polite child.

A duh! Translation: All Done. She says this when she wants to get out of her highchair or her crib. I don't think she really gets that it was intended to mean she is finished with her food...but she does get the gist.

Ub! Translation: Up. I've been working with her on this one, to tell me that she wants me to pick her up and she's catching on pretty well. She'll usually get some form of it out and then as she's sitting in my lap she'll practice: Uhhhhhhhb. Uhhhhhhhb. Very cute.

Googa. Translation: Good girl. She says this whenever she does something good, like put away a toy, throw something in the garbage (she thinks she's so good to do this that I often find things like her shoes, toys and even Chloe's pants in the kitchen wastebasket) or close a door.

Mama. Translation: Just what you'd think, Mommy. She just started saying it last week and it makes me so happy since my other two called me Daddy for a really long time. You'd think that with all their superior language skills that they would have caught on, but they didn't. Sophie is definitely referring to me, though. She calls for me around the house when she can't find me and she softly says it as she pats my arm while she is cuddling with me. I love it.

So, maybe in comparison with her sisters she is a bit behind, but according to "the books" she only needs to be using 3 words in order to be considered on track developmentally. Apparently she is still ahead of the game.

Googa, Sophie!

Ain't nothin' like a good ole' bladder infection to give you some extra rest!

Tuesdays are a fairly busy day for me, and yesterday was going to be a wee bit busier than usual with the addition of a couple rehearsals with people I'm playing the piano for in various things.

I start out by dropping both Bria and Chloe off at their respective schools and then going grocery shopping. I'm sure you all understand why it's absolutely necessary for me to go with as few children tagging along as possible, but Sophie hasn't been feeling very well, so even going with just her was not much fun. Basically, she screamed the entire time.

When I got home from the store I realized I was probably starting a urinary tract infection. I got my groceries put away and started chugging the water, hoping to nip it in the bud without having to see the Doc, since I had absolutely no time to squeeze in an appointment. Then I ran to get Chloe from preschool and came home to get a few chores done. All the while drinking as much water as I could, but not feeling much relief.

My sister-in-law came over at noon to practice her song, and I still felt okay, but by the time she was getting ready to leave I was in some serious pain and starting to feel shaky. Joel came home for lunch and convinced me I needed to see a doctor, so I called the office and made an appointment. I had to cancel all of my voice lessons in order to go, which I absolutely hate doing. But most of them were willing to reschedule for Thursday, so no harm done I suppose.

The doctor confirmed that I indeed had a bladder infection, said I must be miserable by what he found in my urine sample, and prescribed me an antibiotic. I went immediately to fill it, called Joel to ask him to take the girls to their violin lesson so I could go to bed and then went home and did just that.

I cancelled my other rehearsal and stayed in bed the rest of the day/night. So, basically, what was to be a super stressful day became somewhat restful, even though I was chilling and feverish and basically feeling like I was going to die for a few hours.

Not to worry though, this morning I feel like a new woman. Still a bit painful and such, but I can handle it. Thank goodness for antibiotics!!

Off to conquer Wednesday!

Pay Per Post

Some of you have noticed the PayPerPost icon I have on my sidebar. I joined PayPerPost this past summer when my brother was convincing me that if I blog I should be making tons of money off of it. So, I did some research and found out about this service.

Basically, you can go to their site as often as you want and reserve posting opportunities. You are basically writing advertisements for products, or just telling your experiences with a certain type of product. Each post must meet certain requirements (different every time). After your post is approved they pay you for your "work." Easy peasy, usually.

I did a couple of said posts this summer and made a whopping $21.00, which I used to buy some photoshop actions. I stopped doing them because I felt that my blog isn't really about all of that and I just wanted to blog for the love of blogging and not worry about how much money I could be making by changing the entire feel of my blog.

However, there comes a time (Christmas time) that I'm pretty sure my vast readership would not begrudge me a few posts to make a few bucks to buy a few presents for my adorable wee ones. And so, I am making a bit of money ($20.00) off of this very post, and will be doing a few more here and there in the next little while.

It's a cool thing, and you really do get paid. I can't believe how many bloggers I see on the front page of the PayPerPost website making thousands of dollars a month. So, if it's something you're interested in doing, go for it!

I, for one, will not begrudge you the extra money when I read.

I already need another holiday

So thankful that Christmas is just around the corner. This semester has just been so incredibly stressful for both Joel and me that Thanksgiving Weekend just wasn't quite enough. I dreaded coming home to a messy house (and thank goodness for Joel listening to my dread and cleaning everything possible while I was gone at choir rehearsal last night...he's a keeper for sure) and an even messier schedule.

I have so much going on in the next two weeks that it makes me a little insane just thinking about it all. I joined a choir in town this semester because I needed to do something like that just for me. Generally the commitment is just a couple hours on Wednesday nights and I can totally handle it and I am so happy and light when I come home. Singing just does that for me. But, we have two concerts in the next couple weeks, several extra rehearsals in order to prepare and on top of that I have a really huge solo that I've hardly had time to practice. Then, I have scheduled a recital for my students on December 11. I'm thinking I was temporarily certifiable when I thought that would be a good idea. I should have just waited until January. There are still all the regular lessons and rehearsals and chores to do, too. Thankfully there are only 2 more lessons at SUU before finals, and if they pariticpate in the above mentioned recital I will count that for the final. So I may not have to do any finals.

Then there are all of Joel's concerts, and I think the girls have a violin thing for Christmas, even though their big concert was at the beginning of this month. And then there's the getting ready for Christmas. That's causing me stress this year, when it should be making me happy and excited. I haven't decorated a thing, and shopping is only half done. I like to be much better prepared than this, and looking at my schedule and trying to find time for it all is overwhelming.

So I'm kind of stressed And I just plain have a bad attitude about living here in Cedar City and all of the stretching we're having to do just to make ends meet. A good two week Christmas break should do absolute wonders for my soul.

Black Friday

So, I didn't get up very early to go this morning because nothing, NOTHING was worth getting up for. I combed the ads and honestly there was like one thing that was just a maybe on the doorbusters. Unless of course I decided to go and buy myself the Cricut, but I am not really sure I want one yet.

So, my mom and I went out around 9:30 and shopped until 5:00 or so. Definitely a full day. Got some pretty good deals, especially for Sophie and Chloe (ahem, and for me too thanks to my mommy. Did you know Dressbarn is selling Seven jeans now for 49.99? And they were on sale for buy one get one 1/2 off. Love the way they fit).

Bria got the shaft though. Because the Easy Bake Oven has apparently been recalled (I was wondering why it wasn't in the ads since it seems like it is there every single year) and that was all she wanted. I even called Joel from Target when I found out the terrible news and asked him to get more ideas from her. She couldn't come up with anything.

On the one hand, I suppose that's great. My daughter isn't overly materialistic. On the other hand, she really had her heart set on an Easy Bake Oven. She is in kind of a strange stage for me. She is starting to really like all the tween stuff, but I'm not really sure I want to get her started in a lot of those things quite this young (High School Musical has been the only exception thus far). But she isn't loving a lot of the things she has been into in the past. She still really likes Barbies, but she got a Barbie house from Santa last year and is getting quite a bit of Barbie stuff from my parents this year.

So I'm completely stuck. No clue what to get my own daughter as her premiere gift from Santa.

Any ideas?

The best thing about it is that I didn't actually have to use the Mastercard

The legislative educator's bonus amount Joel received on today's paycheck: $1000.00.

Cost to replace battery in the van: $54.00.

Cost to repair the gargantuan rock chip in the van windshield: $20.00.

Cost of oil change for the van: $36.00.

Cost of oil change for the Prizm: $36.00.

Cost to replace radiator cap in the Prizm: $10.00.

Cost to replace the water pump in the Prizm: $375.00.

Cost to fix the brakes on the van tomorrow: $???.00. (e.t.a. It was $304.00)

Paying for all car repairs without going into (more) debt: Priceless.

I would like to know, though, why both cars feel it necessary to fall apart at the same time. Of course, I am grateful that they were considerate enough to do it when we had the fundage. Even if that means we won't be able to put that money away for a rainy day....it just rained sooner than planned, that's all.

The new boy

The first thing Chloe said to me after church today:

Mommy! Guess what? We have a new kid in our Primary class!!!! His name is Caden and he has really cute eyelashes!!!!!!

Good intentions and (finally) a new header

So, originally, I had thought I would do a new banner for my blog each month, just like Hilary, since I want to copy her in everything I do. I thought it would be so cool to have it say "overstuffed with....something pertinent to that particular month" and have corresponding pictures of the kiddos.

I had one for December of last year, that leaked into January: Overstuffed with JOY.

Then, I had one for February that went for months and months and months. So long, in fact, that many people have linked to my blog calling it Overstuffed with Love. Which is fine with me, it's better than being overstuffed with, say, junkfood. Besides, I just loved this one so much I couldn't bear to take it down after just one month. (I'm sure it's pointless to put in this post, since you all have it MEMORIZED...but here it is anyway, just in case you forgot.)

Well, what do you know? It's November 16, and I got a bug to do another one. It's my first real attempt at a header for this blog (Hilary made the other two), and while my talents are nowhere near hers, I think it's okay. And a nice change.

Just wait though, I plan to wow you all with a Christmas banner.

This post is worthless without pictures!

Remember how I said Sophia has the cell phones figured out?

Well, she does. And now she has figured out the camera part of the phone. Don't think it's just accidental either. She knows exactly what she's doing. She knows which button takes her to the camera and which one takes pictures, and she definitely knows she's taken a picture. She points at it and tells you all about the picture she just took. And then she takes another one.

The other day, she had Joel's phone (identical to mine...he has my dad's old phone due to his phone troubles, and I have my mom's old phone because of my phone troubles) and was playing with it while I was in the shower.

You do know where this is going, don't you?

As I got out of the shower, little Sophie who is a mere 15 months old, took a few risque pictures of her mama. She was having so much fun laughing and pointing at the pictures, you'd think she understood just how inappropriate they were.

Joel and I had a good laugh over them ourselves and and then promptly deleted them from his phone. Thought that was the end of it.

Until I was telling my mom about what Sophie had done, and she said, "Yeah, I saw those pictures." I could hardly believe my ears. No way in HECK would I have sent those pictures to anyone, not even my mother! How on earth did she get them?

Then I remembered that since Joel has my dad's old phone, every time a picture is taken on it, it asks if you want to send it to my mom. (He hasn't figured out how to change that particular prompt.) Looks like Sophie had some fun picture messaging as well as playing the photographer.
Yikes.

Just thank goodness she sent them to her grandma and not some random person in Joel's phonebook.

I think I like her version better

Chloe loves singing show tunes. Loves it. While she is drawing, she is usually singing a medley of songs from Fiddler on the Roof, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, West Side Story, Wicked, High School Musical, the Barbie movies, Jekyll and Hyde, or Spamalot. I'm not even kidding. Many of them she has learned from the CDs and movies we have here at home, but a bunch of them she hears my students singing during their lessons, so she expands her repertoire that way. I even heard her singing what I'm pretty sure was Seasons of Love from Rent the other day, and I have no idea where she heard that one!

The best thing about hearing Chloe sing these songs, is her lyrics. She usually doesn't know or understand the words very well (who does, right?) and so she just makes them up. Except, she's adamant that the words she sings are 100% correct, and if she hears anyone sing it the real right way she immediately puts them in their place.

So, I've been listening to the Wicked soundtrack an awful lot lately while driving around town. Usually, the girls just want to listen to Popular over and over and over and over again. I've been telling them sorry...we're listening to all the music now, because I don't know how much longer I can handle hearing Popular, much as I like it! Anyway, so yesterday, No One Mourns the Wicked must have been rattling around in Chloe's brain, because she was singing it all day.

But her way went like this: Every day a Weekend!

Sounds good to me!

Sophie

Just a couple pics of Sophie, who caused my text messaging bill to be 30 dollars more than normal last month. And I am not even exaggerating. At least she hasn't figured out how to text on my "new" phone. (I'm now using my mom's old phone since mine no longer works.) She did call Joel 14 times in a row on it tonight, causing him to think I was in an accident or something.

And yes, she has her own toy cell phone. She likes it fine, but definitely knows the difference!

Farewell, Anatevka

We bid a bittersweet farewell to Fiddler on the Roof last night. I was so happy with how it went, and really proud of all the kids in the show, and what they were able to pull out. It turned out to be pretty awesome for a small town high school production. (And I'm talking about the actual performances. The set left quite a bit to be desired. But I had nothing to do with that. The singers did great!)

Especially my own little Anatevka daughter. Her going up on stage and being in a play, even if it was only the children's chorus is huge. HUGE. Bria just doesn't do stuff like that. Of course, neither did I at one point in my life, but the first time I was ever brave enough to even audition for a play, get a part in the chorus, and have a little taste of what performing was like, I was hooked. I miss it a lot, so it was fun to be part of the "behind the scenes" this time.

But, I digress. Back to Bria. She had such fun and is already talking about being in another play down in St. George. (Not going to let her do it...we've slacked a lot on homework and violin the past few weeks, so need to take a teensy break.) I am really hoping that this Fiddler on the Roof experience will help her come out of her shell a bit more...to realize it's not so scary after all.

Last night, during the wedding scene when all of the kids are supposed to be dancing in the background, Bria and her cousin Hana stole the show. They were as far upstage as they could possibly be and dancing the tango. Yes, the tango. Probably not very kosher for Russian Jewish children in 1905, but it was pretty hilarious.

So, a couple pictures of Bria in her costume. The school did not provide the children with costumes, so I had to come up with something all by myself with the help of DI, our local thrift store. The skirt is a misses skirt, size XS. Still too long, so rolled up and pinned at the waist. The blouse is from DI, but is also something she can continue to use. The "apron" is a girls summer dress and the head scarf is a scrap of fabric from my scrap bin.


Isn't she adorable, even with the fake smile du jour? And that is the plight of being a mom who really likes to take lots of pictures. Even Sophie has the fake smile down pat.

Another round of Google searches that land you here

So, I have nothing interesting to say. Closing night for Fiddler is tonight. Trying to get a babysitter now so I can go...unfortunately it's also Stake Conference tomorrow, so most girls are already sitting for the adult session. And I'm feeling guilty for going to the play and not to the session.

Anyway, without further ado, some Google searches that have shown up on my sitemeter in the last few days:

mommy i went pee in my bed again (I am not sure why people search such sentences...if I were looking for tips on how to cure my child of wetting the bed, I'd probably just search "bedwetting")

I love Bria layouts (Everybody loves Bria...Bria's easy to love. And so are layouts about her)

Bag making blog (I have seen blogs like this. Mine is not one of them.)

Pregnancy bell necklace (If you remember, this was on my last Google post. I get this one a lot, and yet I still don't know what one is. Perhaps I should Google it myself?)

pics of tutus (Heaven knows we've got a lot of those around here lately.)

you don't know what you got till it's gone (So very true.)

and, my personal favorite:

I turned my ten year old into a baby (Insert shocked look here.)

Pretty much the craziest Halloween ever

Today was not just crazy, it was totally and completely insane!

We started out with our very first Fiddler on the Roof performance...you know, the one that's a pseudo dress rehearsal in front of all the elementary schools in the area. It actually went pretty well, considering how there was a school holiday Friday through Tuesday and our last dress rehearsal was Thursday night. Bria had lots of fun being in the play and I hope that it gives her the bug to do things like this more often.

When we were done, we were all famished, so we headed to Wendy's (since I haven't gone grocery shopping since we got back from the funeral yesterday and we are a bit Mother Hubbard-ish around here). I didn't even bother checking Bria back into school because it was early out day today and she would have had about a half hour of school left by the time we could get her there.

After lunch, we went home, where I madly cleaned the mess that was waiting for me in the kitchen, got ready for SUU lessons, and threw the girls into their Halloween costumes. Joel was feeling super sick, so he slept. I then left to SUU (where nobody even showed up for lessons!) and then met the girls and Joel for group violin. Most of the kids wore their costumes and they had a little costume parade around campus, while playing Twinkles. Very fun.

After violin was over we went and met my sister-in-law and the cousins at their house for trick or treating. I was the only one not dressed up. Much as I wanted to, I had no time and didn't think it would be very professional to show up to my lessons dressed as Cruella Deville. (Darn them for not coming!)

And off we went to beg for candy from strangers. Sophie wasn't quite sure what was going on at first, but she figured it out really fast. She'd go right up to the door, usually with Ada, and "ask" for some. She'd put it right into her little kitty and say "tatyou" and then wave bye bye to the person who gave it to her. She'd even get a little impatient to get to the next door, and thoroughly enjoyed examining her loot from each house.
The other girls (and cousins) also had a blast, until their feet started hurting. They were usually about five houses ahead of Ashley and me and the babies. But they had fun....especially since we didn't even bother trick-or-treating last year.

You'll notice that the fairy princesses are not wearing make-up. You guessed it, absolutely no time. But we had our ward Halloween party a week or so ago and they wore it then, and I did take some pictures. Of course, they're gorgeous either way!

After trick-or treating we tried to go to Matt and Ashley's ward chili cook off, but it was already over. So we came to my house instead and ate spaghetti, watched Harry Potter and sorted through bags and bags of candy (the kids did this, not Ashley and I!).

Sophie was pretty excited about all the candy, too, and I let her have a couple little pieces before she went to bed.

Joel and his brother were not in on any of this since they were both at rehearsal for the SUU musical. Their loss. Also mine, though, because without Joel, I didn't get a chance to do a real photo shoot of the girls in their costumes like I usually do. Oh well, I think I got good enough action shots...they're just mostly taken in auto and quickly composed. Again, thank goodness I took some before the ward party.

But, speaking of photos, this last one (and sorry for the tons of pictures this time) is my favorite of the night. I do realize the pictures are a bit Sophie heavy, but like I said, the other girls were usually several houses ahead of us, so I didn't get as many shots of them.

I like it because it's just so her...never still long enough to get all of her in the frame.

Happy Halloween everyone!