Odious Spring

Ah spring. This beautiful sight provokes warm and happy thoughts in the hearts of many.

Just look at those stupendous colors. The hearts and souls across the country thaw out from a long winters slumber and awake to feelings of joy and renewed life.

Sightings of this kind bring feelings of resurrected hope......

....but to me it means this....

...which leads to this....

...which invarably equals this.....

....and this....

......and this.....for several months.To say that spring was my least favorite season would be totally understating my feelings on the subject. I LOATHE spring. Those nice, springish pictures only mean misery to me . I have year round allergies, but spring comes and every bit of it hits me smack in the middle of the face. I couldn't really find pictures to show how miserable I get but the one below shows how I wish I could spend the next 3 months.

Oh to hibernate in my own personal head bubble.....heaven

Funny girls

Remember Sophie's hat fetish? Here's another hat. They are baby pantaloons. She looks like a wrestler.

She also has a thing for shoes. I love how she not only got them on the wrong feet but also one is backwards.

Sophie also cannot function without her bears and blanky (not pictured as it was being washed). She sleeps with all of them and if she wakes in the middle of the night all of them are in tow when she comes into our bedroom. Me and my girls have been sick going on 3 weeks now. Sophie always gets high fevers when she is sick so here she is just chillin' with "da poo" and bear. So funny to me that Pooh is as big as she is.

I love this picture of Regan. She looks so beautiful. She is pretty much over being sick. Still has a little cough, but is doing alright. She says the funniest things sometimes!! Yesterday I was laying on the couch while she was playing on the floor with her bucket. She starts "stirring" in her bucket and says, "Mama, I'm gonna make you some yucka, kucka-monkey cookies. It will help you feel so much better!" Hahahahahaha........ When the girls hair isn't done and they don't want me to do it, I tell them that they need to let me do their hair so they don't look like a little orphan. One night in the bathtub Regan says to Sophie, "You have a crazy little orphan bum Sophie!". HHhahHAHhahHAHhah........she kills me!

On Saturday I went to a warehouse full of great deals and got this carpet to cover our living room for $10! Love it. Our floors before were pretty much cement with a couple pink fibers covering it. Having this is like a lush garden of softness...for only $10!! Hooray for me. I also got some freakin' awesome mirrors for $5 each! Still not helping me to get better though. I think my cold has turned into a sinus infection. Peace out!

Think this is Chocolate?

...thInK aGaIn!!!

YouData

I found something that I think you will like. The company's name is YouData (youdata.com). They are trying to convince consumers like us that we should be the ones controlling our own data and selling our own attention, not third parties like broadcasters, newspapers, and spammers. By creating a MeFile at YouData.com, I now control what ads I see and when I see them. Best part - I am selling my attention directly to interested advertisers, for real money. That's right, I get paid for giving them my attention. I can use the funds to buy music and video online, donate to charities, give to my favorite blogs and websites, or keep the change myself and do whatever I want with it.
It's real. They pay. I've already been paid over $10 in the last month. You should check it out.
Click this link to sign up. My MeFile ID, rizkid22, in the "Referral Code" will tell them I sent you.
http://www.youdata.com/join/rizkid22

Pay it Forward

1) The first 5 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a gift from me sometime in the next few months!

2) When and what you receive will be a surprise!

3) Then you have to post this "Pay it Forward" challenge on your blog, then come back and leave a 2nd comment telling me you've done it.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2- What I create will be just for you.

3- It'll be done this year.

4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!}Just a little tidbit of fun for those who love to WIN ANYTHING/better the world through kindness!! Good luck!! Happy commenting!

More Kisses

Todays post is dedicated to my one and only, highly energetic, super sweet, mostly silly Sopher Dopher. My heart just flutters when I look at her and realize she is mine. Tonight as I was putting the girls to bed I gave her a kiss and sat up. She said, "More kisses. Dere ("there" pointing to her eye)". So I kissed her eye several times and then sat up. "More kisses. Dere". I kissed her several more times and this pattern repeated for about 15 minutes. I would get up and start to go when she just kept saying...more kisses. She wanted me to kiss her to sleep. Of course I had to oblige. How could I not? It melted my heart and made me forget about her tirade through the local thrift store this morning. I laid by her until she finally stumbled off to dream land. What a great night.


I have never seen a girl with more energy. She makes caffeine nervous. She can make a mess faster than I can clean it. I really don't know how I have the energy to keep up with just her, let alone the two partners in crime. This picture is pretty much the way I see her half the time because she is always running as fast as she can with her little egg beater legs away from me. Her walk is not really a walk. It encompasses, running with skipping, galloping, and jumping. I love the way she gets her little arm out in front of her and moves it back and forth when she walks.

She likes to read books upside down and sometimes the right way. Her hair has the cutest little curls in it and I love to get it ready and hope she doesn't decide to "help" and mess it up. She is the most stubborn kid yet very loving and loves to give Regan hugs and kisses. She adores Regan and misses her when she is at pre-school. When she is sleeping next to me, she has to have her arm around my neck and if I try to pull away she grabs me tighter....love that. She is the wildest sleeper and has refused to sleep in her crib since she was 9 months old. (i.e. screamed at the sight of the crib and screamed for hours without stopping if she was in it....hence part of her stubborn streak). When I have a sad looking face she rubs my cheek and says, "Sad".

She has become very possesive of everything, especially me. If she is around me and you ask her any question, she says, "My mama". My sister, Kandra, loves to get in a "possesion war" with her. (Sophie wins of course :) And she loves to smash and rub her face into my face.

I love to hear her talk. Her little voice is like a little chime. Her mouth is so expressive and is frequently puckered out to say words. She is talking so much and just jabbers all the time. Here are some words that I love to hear her say...

fuffin = muffin

fribbitt = ribbitt

munch = lunch

pockiso = popcicle

fend = friend

poopoos

stinky toes

ticky = sticky

openit = open it

whe au you = where are you (in a sing-song tone.....LOVE it!)

Kisso = Kristal

kaka monkeys

naked

ocean = lotion

Wegan = Regan

peese = please

pie corn = popcorn

tubby tubbies = teletubbies

onge = orange

poons= spoons

joosh = juice

hoo ray = hooray (but rather loudly and with emphasis)

shoosh = shoes

cuder = color

wackersh = crackers

raf = giraffe

weezeen code = freezing cold

lub you = love you

hode you = hold you

uh-huh

bye, see ya

yater = later

carsh = cars

da poo = Winnie the Pooh

chocate nilk = chocolate milk

She says sorry every time I change her diaper because that is what I say to her when she has a diaper rash. I think her favorite word is "No way!".

I may add to this list when I remember more.

Sophie loves to sing. Her favorite is "Twinkle Star". In church she has to have her own hymn book and will sing at the top of her lungs. She climbs up to my piano and pounds the keys while singing loudly. She will try to climb anything, anytime, anywhere. She is a better climber than Regan (which is sometimes not a good thing).

Regan has never been that into hats, but Sophie sure is. She can't go out of the house without a hat on. For her, anything can be turned into a hat. Hence the picture below. If you can't figure out what it is, call me. Little princess Leia (Laya?) will get the plastic that the diapers were packaged in and put it on (not over :) her head and even her Halloween bag that I made her turned into her hat. I just made a matching halloween pillow case and when she saw it she said it was a hat.

But even with all the hats, she loves to be naked. I can't leave her without pants on or her diaper will come right off. Even then it's a gamble. After a bath she runs out to me and exclaims, "Naked!!", then runs away so we can't get her. Once she is out of the bath we have about 20 seconds (somtimes less) to get a diaper on her or else she whizzes on the spot. We call her whizzer.

I just can't wait to see how this sweet little tom-boy turns out. And at the same time I wish I could freeze time for a moment. Love you kiddo!

This and That

January was a good month for me mentally, emotionally, ect. Probably the best month I have had since Regan was born. Jason and I decided to start reading scriptures with the girls before they went to bed and it has made a huge difference. I think there is something the Lord is trying to teach me. Read scriptures=happiness, don't read scriptures=suckiness (maybe not in those specific terms but you get the idea).

Here are some of the highlights:

Making snow angels with styrofoam and yes clean up was not fun (2 hours).

Making "sand" art with salt and food coloring

Spicing up lunch with muffin tins.

Then we made Valentines decorations with crayons and wax paper.

They are very pretty with the sun shining through them.

Regan started preschool with Catherine Reed and she LOVES it. She loves thinking she is so big like daddy cause he goes to school. She loves Catherine and always wants to go there and see her. Today I told her she was going to school today and she said, 'I want to run to Cafrins wight now!" Thanks Catherine, she loves you!

Reganisms

My friend Angie takes amazing pictures and I want to learn as much as I can so we went on a walk with our kiddos and I got a couple cute shots. Believe it or not, I didn't ask Regan to pose like that. She did it for some random reason of her own. Can you believe those blue eyes?!?!? Gor.ge.ous. Speaking of eyes, Regan is fascinated with the fact that she has blue eyes like daddy and grandma and Sophie has brown eyes like mama and grandpa. She loves telling me that repeatedly. "I love your eyes mama. They're brown like Sophie."

For the last week, every night at dinner Regan stands up in her chair and starts singing "Old MacDonald". Sophie of course cannot be left out so she stands up and joins in too. Tonight here is how the verse went...
"Old MacDonald had a Regan, e-i-e-i-o. With a talk-talk here, and a talk-talk there......ect." Freakin' hilarious!! At least she knows that about herself.
Sophie was standing there and tooted. In a cute little voice she said, " 'cuse me". I thought to myself..."At least she was polite. Dang, I did something right!"

Sophie HATES to have her teeth brushed. But being the diligent hygienist that I am, I don't take no for an answer. So I lay her between my legs with each arm pinned under a leg. A few months ago this would make her howl like a banshee and I could sort of brush them. Then she started closing her mouth super tight so I started plugging her nose so she would have to open it.
But you don't know Sophie if you think she would go down that easy. This is Stubborn #2 we are talking about here (me being #1). Now, even with her arms and head pinned and her nose plugged, she only opens her mouth a fraction of a millimeter....enough to get air and then closes it until she needs more air. What am I to do with her? Does the end justify the means? I think it does. Along with wanting to get rid of her nasty butt-breath, I want to prevent her from getting dental caries....cavities to the laymen, which is much more intense than merely brushing her teeth. I just imagine my daughter coming up to me someday, full of gratitude and appreciation for the torture we put her through to spare her lovely..........wait a sec, this is reality.....probably not going to happen. However we are talking about Reganisms, so every time we do this we ask Sophie....."Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?".
Regan belted out a song for Sophie with those same words while Jason was brushing Sophie's teeth. Pretty darn cute. Regan is so good at making up songs or adding new lyrics to old ones. I LOVE it! Could we have a potenial song writer on our hands?

Tonight Regan was building a tower with her blocks but here's the clincher....it was color coordinated! Either pretty smart or OCD. Time will tell.

Can I just say that I love this stage that Regan is at? She is getting out of the terrible two's and onto the smart, helpful, funny, sweet girl that I knew was in there.

TOdaYs RanDom tHouGhtS

Is it really 5 am? Regan!

I don't want to get up.

I really should take down the Christmas decorations.

Sophie is so stinkin' cute.

Why is the floor crunching?

Stop Regan!

Vacuuming won't help this place

Why is Sophie still crying?

My legs are really hairy.

Will she be 17 and still in diapers?

Stop crying.

My boots are here!

Does human flesh taste something like pork?

It's a good thing you're cute!!

Does my face make me look fat?

Oh great, another boogie.

Where is the rent check?!?!

This dinner rocks! I'm so domesticated!

Stop crying.

Did I just burn enough calories to eat this cookie?

THEY ARE ASLEEP!!!!!!! :)

Epiphany

Months ago I came to a realization about our holidays. Christmas and Easter are the only holidays that have a magical person/creature that comes and gives us things. We don't have a magical eagle for the 4th of July that comes and brings us Old Navy glory t-shirts. There isn't Trevor the Thanksgiving Turkey to lay some golden eggs in our shoes. Not even a Labor Day ant eater to come wipe out the varment infestation. Christmas and Easter are the only holidays that are supposed to be about Jesus Christ yet are the only ones that have things to distract us from the real meaning behind the celebration. The thought struck me and I haven't felt the same since. This year I made 87% of the few gifts that I gave. I didn't get to go see all the shopping frenzy and see all the crazy deals and fake Santas that drive us further from the celebration of our Savior's birth. It was great!

Next year I am not going to give as many gifts to my children, but just keep things simple. I'm going to do more things for others. I want my children to grow up appreciating the things they have and learning that the greatest happiness comes not in what they get, but what they give. I am grateful for this holiday season and the time it gives me to reflect on the many blessing that I have, the greatest being my Savior and friend Jesus Christ. I hope to do better in the year to come and think less of myself and more about others. Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New Year!

One day my mother was out and my dad was in charge of me. I was maybe 2 1/2 years old and had just recovered from an accident.

Someone had Given me a little 'tea set' as a get-well gift and it was one of myFavorite toys.

Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought Daddy a little cup of 'tea' (which was just water).

After several cups of Tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came home.

My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of tea, Because it was 'just the cutest thing!'

My Mom waited, and sure enough, here I come down the hall with a cup of Tea for Daddy and she watches him drink it up.

Then she says, (as only a mother would know), 'Did it ever occur to you That the only place she can reach to get water is the toilet?'Hahahahaha....I got this in an email and about peed all over myself. Hope you pee all over yourself too ;)

Tree Lighting Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Tree Lighting Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!