Notice anything wrong?

I am sure that many years from now, if Emma hated being the middle child this picture that I have posted will be a testament to the fact that middle children get the shaft. As for myself I loved being in the middle. I felt like I had the best of both world and gained very beneficial skills I wouldn't have otherwise.

For the record. YES I love my middle child Miss Emma. And NO I did not intentionally make the mistake you will see below. Just chalk it up to tons of pictures to pick from and having to have certain photos fit a format.

My journal came UPS and as I pulled it out of the package I was thrilled until Emma got a sad look and said "Hey!" She noticed immediately and my remorse inevitably followed.

Emma's picture will be promptly placed in the cover of my new journal simply because I love her so.

A few tidbits about our Emma as of late:

-Emma has increased her title. A few months ago she preferred to be called princess and now she has made the upgrade to Princess Bunny Bear. (A name we came up with for a stuffed bear) She decided it would be a good fit.

-Emma hates to clean, there have been many a time that I have asked her to pick up her room, to which, she gets all slumpish and says in a whiny voice, "I'm tired." and then while she is supposedly picking up she has really tucked herself into her bed and is taking a nap. Sometimes they last for 3 hours. Sometimes she locks the door to keep me from pestering her. When Jed and I would discuss her in private, we would refer to her as Lazy T. Lazerton. At which point we would giggle. We are wicked aren't we?

-Her favorite movie is Sleeping Beauty.

-She is obsessed with the disney princess polly pockets my mom has at her house. They are the first thing she asks for upon arrival at Grandma's.

-I had a very sad day on Saturday and Emma sat by me on the kitchen floor while I cried and took her small little finger and would catch each little tear as it would fall. With a very compassionate look in her eyes and a quiet reassuring voice. Oh how I love this little one.

- She likes to help me pick cherry tomatoes from the garden but refuses to eat them.

Kindergarten arrives

The day has arrived! Ruby's excitement has infected us all. She woke up at 12 a.m. and asked Jed if it was morning or night. She was sent back to bed and woke me up at 6 a.m and climbed in to bed with us and then kept asking what time it was. I sent her to have some quality time with PBS so I could have another 30 minutes of quality time with my eyelids.

She had a great day and had enough to tell me about to fill in the time on the way home from school. The best part of her kindergarten tales are this. "Our teacher told us about some books they were sending home with us to make money for the school. I told my teacher no, I don't want one, because we were saving money for a vacation." :)

A schedule will be good for all of us.

Ruby in real life

I am waiting for my journal to come in the mail but I didn't want to forget these two important stories to write in the mean time.

Last Friday I was making dinner, and the girls were playing in the kitchen. I could hear their voices, along with jumping and laughing. Right as I was removing a pot of boiling water from the stove I was about two words into telling the girls to stay back, right when ruby and I collided and water spilled from the pot. It splashed into her braid and down her back. She was screaming and I was in a frenzy.
My first thoughts were to put her in the sink but realized it wouldn't work well space wise. I rushed her to the bathroom, taking her things off on the way so I could get her into a tub of cold water. I wasn't sure how badly she was burned. I got the water running and set her in the tub. I hurried back to the kitchen to make sure Emma hadn't touched the pot. She knew their was pasta in there and it is always such a great temptation for her to pick. All was fine. I drained the pasta and combined it with the sauce and spent the remainder of the time back and forth feeding Emma and Eli and then between bites checking on Ruby. She wasn't digging the cold water so I helped her out and gently dried her off careful not to touch the burn that was an angry red on her left shoulder blade.
I wrapped and icepack and placed it in her robe. She climbed on the bed and I tucked her in and fed her dinner by the spoonful. She was full and just wanted to rest, 5 minutes later she was asleep. Knowing there were dishes to be done and a sauce covered boy in the high chair, I reported to the kitchen for duty.
Later that evening, when Ruby woke up I asked her how she was doing. She responded as such:

"Better. When you placed me in the tub and went back to the kitchen, I said a prayer that Heavenly Father would make the burn stop hurting and in a few minutes it didn't hurt as badly."

On another occasion right before dinner, Ruby saw some neighbors out playing basketball. She poked her head out the sliding glass door and made her inquiry as to what they were doing. One of the children responded unkindly to her and I asked her to come in. When she came inside, I was feeling very mama bear,

Me: Ruby don't even talk to that boy, he is always so mean to you. Just ignore him.
Ruby: Mom, were are supposed to love everyone. Even when they are mean to us. So I am going to still talk to him even if he is mean.
Me:Where did you learn that? (I was feeling very put in my place.)
Ruby: In primary.

My great finds

We had some neighbors that moved a while ago and then they did a moving sale. There were also a few other sales happening. I called my bestie Steph and we went together. I found items that I loved. But I think, my grand prize over all were these great costumes. They were seriously $2 a piece. I saw them and I snatched them up. The girls were thrilled! They have had so much fun playing with them, and they love getting together with their friend MaKadin and playing Star Wars.

I love these pictures but I think what is the best is that you can still see feminine touches here and there, check out the pink toenails and fingernails.







Ruby also demonstrated some of her stealthy batman moves. What a treat that was. I have to say though, my favorite of the whole weekend was putting on the mask myself and getting close to Eli and making the Darth Vader breathing sounds. I would take the mask off and he would take it put it on his face and make a huffy little breathing sound. It was one of the cutest things I have seen in quite a while.

Look at me!

Yep! Eli is up and on the move! He started walking at 15 1/2 months, and now he is loosing the drunken sailor swagger he started off with. I love watching him do the things he wants to, he is so determined.

He has only said one word for a long time, and I was jumping up and down and so excited because he started making a new sound "baba" when he was 15 months old. He has added two more to the repertoire "guh" and I heard him say "dada" once. All of these little steps are so huge for him. It get so happy when he meets new goals we have set for him and are working on. It is so exciting for me. Along with his physical therapist that comes to see him, we now have an early childhood developmental specialist coming to see him once a month as well. She has been so helpful and in July when she came to visit for the second time I was very discouraged. She came to see us again in August and I had so much to tell her about the progress he made. I was a proud mama. He is also signing "more" and we are currently working on "eat" and "all done." He loves to be outside, pop bubbles, and swim.

He is such a special boy. I know I say that a lot, but he has helped me appreciate what a wonder these little spirits are. These types of achievements came so easy for my girls and I just expected it from them. Everything he has accomplished has taken determination and lots of falling down and sometimes frustration for him and me. He is so happy! How blessed we are to have him. I never anticipated to have a child with health problems but I know he was sent to us for a purpose and I wouldn't change how it has all turned out. I just love him. One person who I love very much told me once that looking into his eyes is like looking into eternity. For me when I look into his little face, I see a little boy who has such a strong spirit and I feel like he knows so much more than he can say. In short I am grateful.

The Aquarium

My mom is a jewel. Jed had a meeting up in Sandy one afternoon and so we took a Grandma field trip down to the aquarium. The girls loved it! We had a great time walking around and seeing all of the exhibits, the girls would literally leap from aquarium to aquarium to see the new things.


I think the thing they loved the most was touching the stingrays. Initially they weren't interested. Right as we got to the exhibit, they were getting ready to feed them and there were tons of people and I made the girls fold their arms so they weren't tempted to put them in the water. They lost interest quickly and so we traipsed over to see the seahorses, a few feet away. We then ventured back to the stingrays and it took a lot of coaxing to get the girls to be ready to leave, they loved it so much.


Bubba was so good in his stroller, as usual and I got very grossed out by the octopus. I wasn't a huge fan before, and then Pirates 2 came out and Davey Jones Locker pushed me over the edge with his octopus face. It makes me a little squeamish.


The girls were making their best attempts at pulling a fish face. I am so glad they didn't succeed!

The "H" word

Recently Ruby had two of her little friends over and they were in the basement when I heard someone shout the "naughty H word." I called the kids to come and have a chat with me (if they are at my house I figure I have every right to mother them.) Here is how our little chat went:

Me: I heard someone say a naughty word.
3 kids: we didn't say it.
Me: I heard someone say Hell and that isn't a word we use here. (figured I should clarify) I'm not mad and your not in trouble.
2 boys: It was Ruby!
Ruby: It wasn't me, it was ______.(this went back and forth)
Me: Since you can't tell me who said it, then I am going to let you go play. If I hear it again everyone will go home.

A little later Ruby sent everyone home so she could practice writing her name and other school prep as she calls it. When she came up stairs, I asked her if she said it, she had a very guilty look and nodded. I explained what they word meant in the context she used it and why we don't say it, I asked her where she heard it from. Turns out that she saw it at a friends when Star Wars is one. She told me Princess Leia says it and when she said it downstairs they were playing Star Wars and she was Leia.


A week later(tonight) we are reading scriptures and the "naughty H word" came up. I said it with abandon. And Ruby's jaw dropped and she just stared at me. I explained that it is a place, just like heaven is and if it is in the scriptures it is ok to say it. She closes her mouth and we get ready to proceed. I look at Emma to make sure she is ready to start and she looks at me and says "HELL" with the most pleased look on her face. She stretched and enunciated that word until she was out of breath. I laughed. I failed to mention to the girls that it is also ok to say Hell during or after childbirth. I will save that little lesson for later in life.