Rambling on ...

So I thought the chocolate theme for the blog was a little appropriate since I feel like my days revolve around food, and of course chocolate is the king of all foods. Before I go anywhere I have to think about the last time I ate and try to figure out how much longer I have before I'll need something else to eat. I can't seem to make it through church without a snack. Nikki is loving that, and I let her share with me so that it looks like I brought it for her instead of myself. I think I have been craving lasagna and oranges the most -- not at the same time. Lasagna, spaghetti, BBQ chicken, burritos, mmm.... they all sound good. There really hasn't been any kind of food that makes me sick, I just want to eat it all. Just about every night after the girls go to bed I'll eat an orange. I love the smell of oranges. It's funny how any strong smell makes me gag except for oranges. What is the medical reason for pregnant women having an increased sense of smell, anyway? I've had to buy a new kind of hand soap and laundry detergent because the kinds we had been using were making me sick. I also got Nate a different kind of shampoo and deoderant that just didn't have as strong of a scent. I remember my band director in high school mentioning that he didn't wear cologne. When I asked him why, he went off about how we already have so many scents on us from our soap, to deoderant, to shampoo, to hair gel, to laundry detergent, to lotion, etc. He didn't want to add cologne on top of that mix. At the time I thought he was crazy, but now I think he was a really smart man. Why do so many women feel like dressing up for church includes adding an extra dose of perfume to the mix? Last Sunday I almost spent Sacrament meeting in the foyer except when I went out there, there were too many loud kids to hear the sound from the speakers. So, I went back in the chapel and Nate passed me some cinnamon candy, which helped while it lasted, but I was just being bombarded by the scent of the people in front of me. Anyway, I think those leftovers in the fridge are calling my name about now.

Hula Nate

Nate's work has started an activity group on Fridays during lunch. They have gone roller blading and on a hike, and then last week they broke out the hula hoops and jump ropes. I think Nate might get a hoola hoop for Father's Day because I would just love to see this action in person. Go Nate!

So polite

Mom: Do you want to help make your bed?
Nikki: No, thank you.

I know, my fault for asking.

Anger

Our Relief Society lesson today was based on President Hinckley's talk from the last conference about anger. One scripture that the teacher shared has stayed with me. It's Proverbs 27:4, "Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous." You know most of the stories we hear about people doing crazy things are done when they are angry. Road rage or crazy parents on the sidelines of their kids ball games. Those are outrageous actions.

Unfortunately, my own conscience was pricked this morning. Well, it was pricked yesterday when I was outrageous, but I was reminded of it today. I had asked Nate to touch up a little paint in our living room where a picture had fallen and scratched the wall a little bit. So he did it, and I was grateful, and then I looked at it, and then I acted outrageously. They were small knicks that could have been touched up just using the tip of a brush or even a finger, but he had used a whole brush stroke to cover it up and the paint was drying a different color than the rest of the wall. So I said not very nicely, "Nate, you might as well bring the whole can of paint back in here because you have to paint the whole wall now. This is going to be awful when it dries." My husband said not one word. He got a wet rag and came in and started rubbing off all the extra new paint which hadn't completely dried yet. He was so calm and came up with such a simple solution. I felt so sheepish. Maybe if I hadn't been upset I could have thought of a good solution, too. If nothing else, I certainly didn't need to make him feel bad for doing something for me. He made me think of another scripture. Proverbs 15:1 "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger." His response showed me how ridiculous mine had been, and I wasn't angry anymore. I just felt sorry for acting so outrageously. I'm glad he is so calm and quick to forgive, and I'm looking forward to us having many more years together for him to keep teaching me how to behave.

I actually think of myself as a pretty calm and easygoing person, but I realized in church this morning that this really was a good message even for me. I may not fly off the handle very much but we all have times where things annoy us, and we have the choice to act in anger or not.

A couple of things

Have I mentioned lately that my husband is an angel? He was cleaning the bathroom earlier today and I walked by and saw him taking a break to paint Nikki's fingernails. The whole time he was talking about how he wasn't very good at this because he is a boy, boys don't usually do fingernail polish, it might be a while before he tried to do this again, etc. It was so funny and so cute. I'm so thankful that my husband will not only clean the bathroom but also paint our daughter's fingernails.

We took our house off the market last month and have just been doing a little for sale by owner. We wanted to give it a little break from the MLS since it had been listed for almost a year, and we also had to figure out what realtor to go with next time. Such a frustrating decision. It has been so nice to be able to walk out the front door without making sure everything was clean in case someone came to look at the house. Especially since I was feeling so crappy for the past couple of months. Anyway, we have decided to go with the realtor who sold us this house, which we should have done in the first place. I gave him a call today, and he's going to come by Monday morning. I'm excited to get things moving, but my goodness I'm going to have to start doing the breakfast dishes right after breakfast again. Yes, feel free to join my pity party with me. =) I'm feeling so much better now that it really needs to go ahead and sell before I get too big to move around and pack. So, we'll see what happens.

When will my kids realize that I'm really not that bad of a cook? Whenever I tell Nikki what I'm cooking for supper, she usually says she wants cereal instead. Tonight was no different, and even Hannah was complaining about having to eat steak. Steak! Come on! So I did take a little pity on them and also added mac and cheese to the menu (I'll admit that the fact that it's a lot less work to cook than mashed potatoes had a lot to do with that decision). When Hannah took her first bite of steak, her eyes popped wide open and she said, "Mmm!" like she was so surprised. Nikki was a little harder to convince. She took a bite, said it was okay, but she didn't want anymore. Next thing we know, she is so proud of herself for clearing her entire plate. So supper actually turned out really well tonight, but I'm sure tomorrow will still bring more requests for cheerios.

Nikki still doesn't care too much for boys. She is so sure we couldn't possibly get a baby boy. Whenever we ask her what we should name the baby, she says Rebekah. She can't think of anything for a boy. Since she has been so against boys, the other day I said very seriously to her that we just might have a boy. She said, "Well, we'll just have to learn him good things."

Hannah's Birthday

Here are a few pictures from Hannah's birthday party last week. It's taken me a while to get them posted. Here is my best artistic attempt at cake decorating this year. Hannah was pleased, so I guess that's all that counts. Can you guess how old she is?

Opening presents with cousins. Nikki now wants a pink poodle webkins for her birthday, but Hannah is pretty adamant that she can't have that because Hannah already has one. Nikki doesn't care that there are other kinds, she wants the pink poodle. Funny girls.

It was a little mean to spread the candles all around the whole cake, but she did a good job anyway. And I know I look 8 months pregnant in this picture. Definitely not my best side.

Is there a cuter baby out there? Brenna is so adorable.

Valentine's Dinner for 4

We had such a fun Valentine's Day yesterday. Hannah and Nikki absolutely LOVE this holiday, and Nikki wished me a Happy Valentine's Day almost every hour. I was planning a candlelight dinner, but Nate actually got off work early yesterday and it wasn't dark yet when he got home. So we closed the curtains and lit the candles anyway. It was fun. Hannah wants a heart-themed birthday, so we went ahead and decorated the table with her party stuff. Not quite the romantic feel one would expect of Valentine's Day, but it was a lot of fun. And since the girls were eating with us the menu was nothing too exciting -- just spaghetti. It was something I knew they would eat, though, and the sauce was RED. After the girls were in bed we broke out the chocolate and watched a movie, and it was such a nice relaxing evening.

Rough boys on the playground

I took the girls to the playground today, and there were these two little boys playing on the slide. Their mothers were chatting on the other side of the slides, so they couldn't see exactly what they were doing. The first little boy started climbing up the slide and the second wanted him to do something else, so the second little boy starts pounding away on the first kid to get him to listen to him (not just pushing, but hitting and punching). When the first boy pushed him back, the second one said, "That's it. I'm telling your mom!" Of course, the first kid wasn't happy about that and started yelling really loudly, "I didn't do it!!" So, I hear the second kid, the one who was really doing the hitting, go up to the mothers and say, "He was pushing me and isn't playing nice." Of course with the other guy screaming his innocence he made himself sound completely guilty, and he had to sit in time out. He was furious and fussed and yelled and what a scene! I just had to think, would Heavenly Father really send me a boy? I don't know if I have what it takes for that.

Then we have our two girls tonight playing the princess and the monkey together, pretending that graham crackers were the monkey's bananas that she was sharing with the princess. They get along so well together and their play is so mild. They are sweethearts and I am very thankful to have them.

My Crazy Husband

Nate is so funny when he is asleep. He is always muttering something, and I wish I could see a video of his dreams. Last night we were both dead asleep when I wake up to hear him rattling around with something on his nightstand. The next thing I know, he rolls over and hands me his lamp and then rolls right back over and is sound asleep again. What?! I left it right on the floor beside my side of the bed because I know tonight when I tell him about it he won't believe me.

My favorite of Nate's nocturnal episodes happened just a few months after we were married. He scared me to death in the middle of the night when he jumped up and started searching for something all over the bed. Then he starts talking this crazy nonsense, "Where's my dentures? Call the dentist! Where's my dentures?" He felt all over my face, under my pillow, all through the blankets, and I was just so stunned I don't even think I could move. Finally, he found his retainer that had fallen out of his mouth onto his pillow. He put it back in and layed back down and was asleep the whole time. I certainly wasn't asleep anymore!

I know some women say they get up with their children in the middle of the night because they know their husband has to get up the next day and go to work, so they don't want him to miss his sleep. I certainly don't feel that way. My sleep is just as important as his, but I get up in the middle of the night when the kids are awake because it is just so much easier to take care of it myself than wonder what world Nate is functioning in at the moment. =)

A couple of pictures

Here are a few pictures that we've taken over the past couple of months.

It's nice to have a beautiful purple flower in February. I love her creativity. Although it did make me think about the time I spent at Halloween making a flower petal headband for her costume when all we needed was just a tutu!

This picture was obviously taken a while ago, since Pearl was only in the house for a very limited amount of time. Nikki is wearing her newspaper Hawaiian skirt. We got a book of crafts you can make from newspaper from the library and the girls loved it! I thought the skirt turned out pretty well. Hannah made a heart pillow, but I didn't get a picture of that one.

And this is one of Hannah's art projects. It's a piano with a bench that she made for me. She's a sweetheart.