Merry Christmas Eve!

We stopped by our babysitter, Miss Racheal's, house tonight to give her her Christmas gift. She was not there, but her parents kindly invited us inside. We had never really met them before and it was nice to talk and visit. The kids had a great time looking at all the decorations and presents. Out of the blue, Bradley pulled one arm inside of his long-sleeved red shirt and walked up to Mr. Parker and said, "Where'd my arm go?" He's the comedian that I never thought he would be.

This is one way to keep kids contained during the excitement of Christmas.

You know your kid is too old for a pacifier when he can stick the whole thing in his mouth.

My husband and I have succeeded in teaching our children the importance of praying before meals. So successful, in fact, that this morning while I was changing Wendy's diaper in the family room, I could hear Bradley praying over the Hershey Kisses they were eating for breakfast.

Bradley's first bloody nose.

Bradley has been sick all week long with a fever, stuffed up nose and fatigue. He flipped out when he wiped his nose with his arm and saw blood. Emily thought it was ketchup.

Bradley has a fever today. Is it bad to enjoy when your children are ill? All he wants to do is sit on the couch and watch TV and I love it. The house is quieter. I should probably call the doctor. I never know when I should because more often than not they send you home with no remedy. Maybe I will wait one more day.

I talked to Camille today. She is the mother of Dylan, a boy in Emily's karate class. It was a wonderful missionary opportunity. She inquired about the church because she has a sister-in-law that is Mormon. I told her a lot about the church. I plan to give her a Book of Mormon next week.

You find the darndest things with kids in the house:

1. I very large red Clifford stuffed animal stuffed in an Igloo cooler. ??? According to Emily, she was making a "really big music box."
2. A 21 month old girl fallen on a powder room floor covered in water. In the sink there are Legos, a baby doll and a pacifier.
3. A glass fruit bowl filled with caffeine free Diet Coke and a plastic restaurant kid's cup floating atop.
4. Three bananas on the upstairs, brand new, master bedroom quilt.
5. A poopy diaper tossed out the front door into the bushes.
6. Smashed pop tart in the white Berber carpet.
7. A diaperless toddler wearing a dress and wet socks.
8. A gnawed on chunk of cheddar cheese making a grease mark on a Golden Book.
9. A tragic Fisher Price Little People bus accident at the bottom of the stairs.
10. A gold minature Reese's Peanut Butter Cup wrapper in the parmesean cheese container.

1 brother + 3 sisters =

Happy 3rd Birthday, Bradley!

Wendy went to the doctor today for her 4 month check up. She weighed 8 lbs. 5 oz. She lost 5 oz. since her 2 month appointment. Now I am paranoid and feel like an inadequate mother. So we are going to stuff her with formula so she gains weight by next Tuesday when they want to weigh her again.

Today was Bradley's last day of being 2. Tomorrow we are going to see Walt Disney's Chicken Little.

I have two cavities.

I am constantly reminded why I buy and serve diet soda to the children. Bradley spilled orange juice on the kitchen floor this morning and now it feels like somebody sprayed adhesive on the floor.

Awhhhh!

(Bradley, 34 months and Wendy, 2 months)

Sister Hall came over today to visit teach me. The kids love to take advantage of the time to do as much destruction as possible. Today they decided it would be a good idea to play with Sprite in the playroom. It reminded me of why I purchase diet drinks to avoid the sticky messes. This was not diet Sprite.

Bradley went to gymnastics tonight. I met a mother named Wendy there. She had a baby 9 days younger than my Wendy. Her baby's middle name was Beth. After gymnastics, we went to the grand opening of Sonic. It was so busy we had to go through the drive thru.

What more could Bradley break today? Let's see... he broke the leg off the small white kids table by tipping it over. He broke Emily's Belle crown by trying to pull it away from Sarah. He took the Hercules DVD insert out of the cover, but thankfully it didn't rip. He tore the pen off of the Magnadoodle. He is the most destructive kid I know.

Emily had a difficult time going to bed this evening. She likes to come downstairs a lot and have daddy take her to bed over and over.

I am going to join a Mom's club.

Motherhood is anything but glamorous. Sarah woke up with a goopy red eye. Wendy leaked her breast fed baby poop onto my skirt at church today. At lunch Emily was sitting on my lap. Bradley did something to crack her up and she peed on my lap.

David had to stay late at work today. It doesn't happen often, so I don't complain. But it sure does make a long day for a mother. A mother's work day is so much longer than the father's. David drives about 30 minute each way to work. How I would love to have one waking hour of meditation a day.

I got a phone call from a high school friend today. I hadn't talked to her in over a year. My children love to take advantage of the fact that I am on the phone. Today Emily asked me for a glass of milk while I was gabbing and I granted her permission to stir in the chocolate syrup after I poured the milk. While still on the phone, I walked into the kitchen and the kids were massaging chocolate syrup all over the kitchen table. It's no wonder why I don't clothe my children most days. Less laundry makes for a happier mother.

We did it! We did it! Lo hicimos! We went to the gas station, to Lowes, to the grocery store!

We finally did something to solve our muddy mess of a yard. I trucked the kids to Lowes to buy some drainage rock. Hopefully it will rain so we can see if it worked. It was quite an excursion. But the kids were amazingly well-behaved. They were all rewarded with fun fruits.

Emily asked me today why Wendy sleeps so much. I told her new babies sleep a lot because they need to grow. She told me she didn't want Wendy to grow because she is so cute.

We are trying to figure out how to get Emily to go to bed. Bradley and Sarah are pretty good about going. My theory is that they like going to bed because it the only time they have alone without older siblings bullying them. But for Emily, she just hates missing out on anything.

David is concerned about losing his job for not having mesothelioma at the top of the search engines. He most likely has nothing to worry about.

I feel like I shouldn't be so tired when I have been blessed with a baby that sleeps through the night. Wendy slept from midnight to 6 am. Only waking up once halfway through needing help finding her pacifier. But I couldn't help but doze on the couch as Emily scattered her newly organized Barbie and Kelly dolls over the playroom floor and Bradley and Sarah spilled, stomped and crushed Goldfish over the family room floor. Normally, the mess would cause much screaming and yelling. But today I didn't care. The mess was worth the sleep time. Perhaps it's the weather. A rainy day can make you lazy. A rainy day can also make your yard a mess. We've been parking our new van basically in our yard. Everytime it rains we get a mess of mud where the tires have worn away the grass. So we have been parking the van in our narrow street. We'll probably get a ticket eventually. We just can't seem to come up with an inexpensive solution to our mud problem.

Time saving strategies:

1. Teach your family to turn clothes right side out.
2. Read your scriptures while stretching.
3. Exercise with your kids.
4. Read in the bathroom.
5. Don't put kids clothes away.
6. Buy diet drinks.
7. Don't dress your kids until after lunch.
8. Wash sheets once a month.
9. Bathe kids once a week or on an as needed basis.
10. Don't purchase items with intentions of returning.
11. Buy in bulk.
12. Don't rinse the dishes before putting in dishwasher.
13. Pee in the shower.
14. Don't wash your hair everyday.

A motherly good deed is something a mother does to please her children even though she does not want to do it. Today, my motherly good deed was to allow the children to play outside in the pouring rain with their boots and umbrellas at 10:30 in the morning. The thought of soppy, dirty kids coming into the house makes me cringe a little when I try so hard to keep on top of the housework. But we haven't been outside much this summer since the birth of Wendy. I figured I better let them when it's raining than when there is a heat index of 105 degrees. They had a blast jumping in puddles. It was worth some pictures and a little bit of video.

We organized the playroom today. Get rid of the old to make room for the new. I finished putting my number 10 food storage cans on top of the cupboards with their magnetic labels.

Family Home Evening tonight. Lesson was on the Holy Ghost. Activity was races across the family room and counting how many hops it took to get across the room. Bradley can't quite hop on one foot yet.

I feel so much more organized after my fourth child. Four must be the magic number that forces organization and time management. It's awesome and essential. There is always the daily dilemma of whether to take a nap or get work done. Lately I have been opting to get work done and have been successful. I think God created breastfeeding to force the mother to take a half hour to just sit and relax and cuddle with baby.

I'm tired. I am going to bed. Let's hope Wendy sleeps through the night.

As we sat in sacrament meeting this morning, Brother Hall, a grown man with eight kids, stuck his tongue out at Emily. Is the phallic symbolism not a bad thing anymore? I just remember never being allowed to do such a thing as a child. Then again it was also forbidden to speak the word "fart" in my house. Perhaps we are becoming immune to such vulgarity!

It was a big day at church today. Wendy was named and blessed. It was Sarah's first day of nursery. She absolutely loved it. She acted as if she had always been going. Playing, sliding, singing. Emily gave a talk on the Holy Ghost in primary.

Last night David and I were able to go on our much needed and anticipated date night. We were thrilled to learn that Miss Rachael, our babysitter, saves her Friday nights for us. Our reaction: "Yes!!!" She is a fantastic babysitter. The house is often cleaner when we come home. The kids adore her. Bradley has a crush on Rachael.

Today was a day! Picture day for Emily, Bradley and Sarah. Fortunately the session went great. All kids were very cooperative and we were able to spend $225 on fabulous portraits. Of course there was bribing involved. Can't go a day without a good bribe. Dangling fun fruits in front of Bradley got a couple of good smiles out of him. If allowed, Bradley would eat a whole box of fun fruits (all ten packs), even princess ones.

I had the pleasure of mowing the lawn while David worked on his businesses. Today he worked on a website. After chores and kid's naps, we took a family expedition to to the local sandwich shop, Old Navy and the grocery store. The grocery store got new shopping carts. Not the most exciting thing for most people. But I was delighted because they are the deep kind not the shallow ones that they used to have. That's important when shopping for a family of six. And they were blue and drove so smoothly. The things mothers go gaga over!

We parked kind of close to the car next to us. So to avoid filing an insurance claim, the entire family loaded from the rear of our 12 passenger van.

"I'll buckle the kids. You take care of the stroller.", David said. "Kids, get in your seats!"

While David buckles, I fold the stroller and lift it into the van. Meanwhile, Wendy sits crying in her infant seat in the cargo area. The noise of high pitched children's voices fill the van,

"Daddy, why do I have to get in my seat?", says Emily.

"Daddy, Mulan", says Bradley.

"Da da da", says Sarah.

"Daddy, where's my Rapunzel?, says Emily.

"I don't know, get in your seat", says Daddy.

"Ba ba ba."

"Daddy, Mulan."

"Daddy, I need help!", says Emily.

"Get in your seat! I'll help you in a minute."

"Ba da ga ba."

"Daddy, Mulan."

"Mulan, Bradley?"

"Yeah", Bradley replies, smiling.

"Oh, cool", says Daddy with no idea to what Bradley is referring.

"Daddy, I can't buckle. It's too hard! Where's my doll?"

Finally Daddy finishes buckling three children, lifts crying Wendy over two bench seats and snaps her seat into its base. I climb in, shut the doors and walk my way to the front of the van. Looking back from the front seat there are three smiling, babbling faces, with one rear facing, bright-eyed 5 week old baby. David and I plop into our captain's chairs and I can't do anything but just laugh as David is slumped over the steering wheel crying, "Ohhhh, what have we done?" The children suddenly become absolutely silent because they know their parents have lost it.

Church tomorrow. A day of rest!

As I finished up the last minute cleaning before our babysitter arrived, Emily started acting out. She stuck her tongue out at David. In a voice to make sure Emily could hear, David asked me, "What should the punishment be for sticking a tongue out?"

I was standing at the kitchen sink and my eye caught a glimpse of the dish soap. I reply, "Soap in the mouth?"

"What does the label say?", David inquired.

The label read, "Keep out of the reach of children. If swallowed, drink a glass of water to dilute."

"Doesn't sound dangerous to me," I said. As long as there were no skull and crossbones or warning to call a physician, I felt we were safe. It was probably safer than the silica gel packets the Emily and Bradley ate when they were younger. I gave Emily the choice of the blue Dawn, yellow Joy, or pink grapefruit scented dish soap. Of course she protested the whole situation, so I chose the pink one. She likes pink and it smelled the most food-like. With a look of terror in her eye she cried and begged as I dabbed my finger with a pea-sized drop of soap that I was going to wipe on her tongue. David and I had very different envisions of our new punishment tactic. He envisioned tilting her head back and squeezing the bottle into her mouth. But since we gave her no warning, I decided to forgo the punishment altogether and simply warn and make clear that from now on soap on the tongue would be the punishment for sticking a tongue out. She repented and was grateful for my leniency.

Shortly after, Miss Rachael arrived and as she entered she playfully stuck her tongue out at Emily.

I walked into the kitchen to microwave some day-old pasta for lunch. Attached to my left breast was my one month old infant. As I was standing with baby in left hand and trying to open the Tupperware with right hand, the container slipped and knocked a plastic Moe's cup (a "counting" one) full of orange juice onto the floor and Emily who was being towed by a Fisher Price scooter, driven by her younger brother Bradley. Much to my disappointment, my newly cleaned floors were now contaminated by a sticky mess. Good thing for my stack of bath towels kept handy for situations such as these. This time I had no one to blame but myself. Why is it that kids love to flock to spilled puddles on the floor? Sarah dipped her toes in the puddle while Bradley rolled his scooter through it and Emily took her juice soaked pants off anxious to join the fun. My dilemma was, do I relieve my bladder of its uncomfortable fullness or clean up the mess before it becomes a disaster? I decided to avoid disaster. I put baby Wendy in her "travel yard" screaming and starving then grabbed a towel to mop up the mess. Finally I relieved my discomfort and attempted lunch again. I recovered as much pasta as possible and divided it among three bowls and sprayed on butter and served it. I was going to fix myself something later during naps. I went to the computer to check my emails. Never leave children at a kitchen table unsupervised. I returned to find parmesan cheese spread over the table, on the chairs and pasta dropped one by one onto the floor, compliments of Sarah. I didn't even get any good emails to make the mess worthwhile. It was time for naps! My later fixin's ended up being a sour dour roll, two slices of cheese and four Oreos with a glass of water. I look so forward to date night dinner.

I did get to go shopping at Walmart after David got home this evening. Not without a price, though. I had to take Wendy for her one month photo shoot. When Emily was a baby, it seemed like a good idea to take an inexpensive portrait session every month of their first year. Fourth time around? Pain in the neck! I hope they appreciate their monthly portraits when they are grown.

I returned $45 worth of clothes I purchased a couple weeks prior. There was a summer clearance of clothes for a buck! I ended up walking out of there spending $99. It never fails. I will always spend twice as much as I returned. But the clothes were only a buck!

I'm exhausted. The house is clean. Tomorrow is laundry day.

Artwork