love and dirty underwear

We had yesterday what my sister calls a "Saturday is a Special Day".  This is a really a fluffy was of saying "I worked my rump of all yesterday cleaning". 

Sheets were changed, floors were mopped, toilets were scrubbed and I even gave Carter the mundane jobs of dusting off the trim and clorox wiping the light switches. (Carter's jobs were mostly to keep him busy.  He can't do bigger jobs like Andrew, but Carter still need to learn to work.  Colby just stayed out of my hair and that was good enough for me.)  By 3:30 pm, the house was sparkling, smelled like pinesol and bleach, and there was even a batch of peanut butter cookies coming out of the oven.  I was doing my best June Cleaver impression - minus the apron and swishy skirt...I clean in a holey pair of old pjs.

Tonight as I'm getting ready for bed, I'm noticing that the house is truly a post tornado disaster area again. Why people...why?  For a moment I had the fleeting thought as I stepped over dirty church clothes still on the floor from the after church strip session in the boys' room..."I should just think of all these clothes and toys on the floor as reminders of how much my kids love me."  Uh...no...scratch that silly sappy nonsense.  That would just give the kids more fuel to leave all their crap on the floor.   Can't you just hear it?  "Mom...didn't you know that my dirty undies mean I love you?"

I need a maid.

Bad.

And just because my dirty rotten kids make me laugh..

Colby:  Mom, I didn't have any dreams last night.  They all went away.

Me:  They did?  Where did they go?

Colby:  Um...I think all my dreams went up to Jesus.

Carter- post tooting in the kitchen and then laughing hysterically about it:  Hey Mom, I ran to my room earlier and every time I took a step I went like this....fftt.. fftt...fffft.
(Would someone please explain to me why little boys think spontaneous body noises are so dang funny?)

Today I...

If you've ever had the desire to know exactly what a day in the life of a Mormon thirty-something housewife with four children is like...read on.

My life isn't glamorous.

My life isn't perfect.

But it's mine

And here is a pictorial recap of what I did today, Friday January 28th, 2011.

6:50 am

I start my day with this book, my family and the comfy basement couch. 

My day goes ridiculously better this way.

   

7:30 am

The boys get ready for school.

Make breakfast, pack lunches, pack snacks for Carter (his bucket was getting low), comb hair, brush teeth.  The boys catch the carpool ride at 7:50.

The house greets me with what I like to call "Groundhog Day Chores"

Laundry

 Dishes

(its even better when I have to put away a huge pile of clean dishes  from the night before)

  Beds.

You get the idea.

8:15 am

 Say is up and ready for a pancake breakfast.

We have a deal where I put the bite on her fork and she puts the bite in her mouth.

She's spoiled...but it works.

   

Wearing my favorite jeans makes me happy.

Love my Silvers.

(is it appropriate to put a picture of my arse on my blog?)

9:25 am

Load the kidlets in the car to check Carter at school.

 View of back entrance to elementary school.  This path is well traveled by the Dixon crew.

Carter was 101.

Gave 24 carbs without insulin.

Yesterday he had his first real low at school at around 10:15.  I didn't want a repeat.

 10:00 am

Kidnap my mom and make her give me a tour of my dad and brother's new office.

It's beautiful.

Un-kidnap my mom.

 11:05 am

Back at elementary school for lunch.

Carter is happy.

He was 135.

I am happy.

 Colby is not.

 He is sick of coming to the school.

Saylor runs all over the place now, and this lunch run is extremely hard.

I'm just waiting for her to trip a poor first grader and get a hot lunch spilled all over her.

So...I ran to 9 Months Later after lunch and bought...please don't judge...a harness.

She will be leashed from now on a the lunch run.

12:30 pm.

 Saylor and Colby's lunch is over.

Saylor goes down for a nap.

I take my meds.

Blue is for blood pressure.

Pink is for heartburn 

(Lately if I eat dry toast I'm burning.  I like the pink one)

Brown is for my back.  I think I pulled a muscle wrangling Saylor at lunch.

 2:30 pm

Saylor is up from her nap.

I lament over her gopher like activity.

She has ruined her beautiful crib in the last two months

I'm sick over it...but there isn't much I can do now.

Pick up kids from school at 3:00 pm.

They drop their bags and run outside to play.

Don't see them again until 5:00 pm.

 I do the usual- keep up the house and keep Saylor happy.

I vacuumed the house for the first time and swept the kitchen and dining room for the fourth or fifth time.

My kids are slobs.

 5:30 pm.

Dinner of grilled cheese or cheesy chips with a fruit leather.

I'm not getting any "Mother of the Year" awards tonight.

There were NO complaints.

Maybe I will get that award.

6:00 pm.

Steve brings home this for dinner.

He knew I was "done."

My latest favorite is an order of chips and pico.

Its only about $2.50 and totally satisfies the craving.

Have I mentioned I have a thing for pico?

 Steve opens our new hubcaps.

We have been WTing it for a while with one of them missing.

Andrew was disappointed they were hubcaps.  He thought they were shields.

He's been reading Percy Jackson...he has armor on the mind.

 Mulled over this space with my spouse.

What to do...what to do.

This unfinished 900 square feet in my basement is eating me alive.

I have unfortunately expensive plans. 

It will be two more bedrooms a bathroom and a storage room.

Dying over the possibilities.

7:30 pm.

Andrew goes to a friends house.  (am I old enough to have a child who does stuff on a Friday night?)

Colby and Carter watch a movie with popcorn downstairs.

I work on my lesson for Sunday.

Steve works on his talk- we are both speaking. Joy.

 8:30 pm.

Eat way too much of this.

Steve made it.  And he makes it better than me.  

...but it has twice the butter.

....hence why it is better.

9:00 pm

I'm tired.

11:00 pm 

Finish writing this post.

Going to throw all the folded laundry off my bed and go to sleep.

Letter from School

In the last two days, I have received two informative letters from school.
Really...they both made my day.

The first was about head lice and the second was about chicken pox.  They are both going around.

Yick Yick Yick.

My head and skin are itchy just thinking about it.

I have gone through #2 child's head just to make sure- it was his grade that has had the problem.
And, I'm made an appointment for Saylor's 1 year check up.  Give me that chicken pox immunization!

I feel like I need to bathe just writing this.

Blue and Gold Banquet- Medieval Style

Our cub scout leaders are awesome.

Last night they planned a medieval night for the annual Blue and Gold Banquet.

 Our boys were "grinning" with excitement!

They actually really loved it, Carter was just showing his best Angry Knight face.

(love the gnarly teeth)

Food was served with no utensils.

What 10 year old boy wouldn't be thrilled?

(happy to say there were napkins)

Andrew ate his weight in chicken legs, Carter filled up on carrots (his favorite) and Colby ate- what else - a white roll.

I did not have to make or clean up dinner so all around it was a win-win situation.

The evening included a skit by Andrew's den and a cool ceremony where the boys were Knighted- with a real sword.  Andrew was Knighted "Sir Andrew Dixon, Knight of Courage"  Steve and I were able to choose which virtue he was knighted with.  The boy is going to middle school next year so we chose Courage.  

He is going to need it!

 Andrew was given all the rights, privileges, and honors of knighthood.  I have the certificate to prove it! Unfortunately, he was upset when he realized that the "privileges" he was given include laborious duties such as helping others.  Ha Ha.

Here is my Brave Courageous Knight , sword in hand, walking towards the tunnel of swords.

Can't you just see the disdain in his face from having his picture taken?

Again...Ha Ha!

Our cub scout pack is pretty fun!

The evening ended with ice cream sundays.

I was really happy dessert included spoons.

Really happy.

Colby was more excited about holding a real sword than eating ice cream.

This particular sword was about twice as tall as him.

Last but not least, her is Colby punching our Bishop.

(I'm really proud...cough cough)

In my son's defense, Bishop Groesbeck loves four year olds and egged this kid on ALL NIGHT!

We love our Bishop and he is moving.  

We are heartbroken.

Colby will miss his sparing buddy.

favorite pics from last weekend

They are not great or even in focus, but they all make me smile.

Girl likes her spaghetti.

How do you measure up?

 Uh?

 She is loved to a fault.

The camo pjs...the vest...the bionicle...the stare...what more can I say?

 Adorable.

Saylor at almost 14 months

I had Saylor's one year pictures taken yesterday.

I'm only about 2 months behind.

I'm also behind on her immunizations. 

Cut me a break, she is child number 4.

I can't wait to get her pictures back and pretend she was still 12 months when I had them taken.

Until then...here are a few snapshots to fill any Saylor fixes needed out there.

We had some really cold days a few weeks ago.

The highs were in the teens so I had to break out the puffy coat and hat.

She could hardly stand up in it.  It was hilarious.

Here is Her Highness post baby doll kiss...see the pucker?  She loves her baby dolls and kisses them all day long.

This picture is being posted for many reasons.

In my humanities class at Ricks I was taught that true appreciation of art comes only after knowing the story behind the piece.  

So here's the story so you can truly appreciate this pictures:

 Saylor  made a "mess" when Steve had her in the tub. Steve called in reinforcements aka- me, because he thinks he lacks the skills so clean a "floaty" out of the tub.

  My rump perfectly shows my position in this family.

I am the official poop cleaner. 

Thank you husband dear for documenting this.

Saylor got a hold of a stray toilet paper roll last night.

Why?

Because no one is this family will put the paper on the roll EXCEPT ME.

Along with Poop Cleaner, I am also the official TP Roll Changer.

(I'm living the high life around here.)

In less than a minute, Saylor had TP over the entire front room, bathroom and two front bedrooms.

And I just let her run with it.

She is definitely number four. She gets away with everything.

Munchies

I'm exhausted and grateful I do not work outside my home.  I spent the day at my boys' school for Mad Scientists' Day.  It's a kickoff for the science fair that will be held in March...which I am also in charge of, or, at least "head parent" of.  I have a few friends who work part time outside their homes and I have a new appreciation for them.  They are Super Women....if I knew how to quilt I would make them capes. (ha ha)  I worked full time until Andrew was three.  It's a lot different being gone all day with four kids to come home to instead of just one.  At 6:00 I sat over my bowl of spaghetti- picked at it and then laid my head on the table.  I'm tired.

It's 8:00 now and my children are all in bed.  I'm fighting the desire to make muddie buddies because I know will eat until my stomach hurts.  Work makes me hungry.  It's going to be either muddie buddies or popcorn.  I better make popcorn so I wont feel "the guilt" in the morning.

...just too tired.

Maybe I will just go to bed and forget about any of it.

...yah that sounds good.

Quilting Shame

I come from a family with some serious quilting skills.

Skills that I do not possess.

This stack here counts for maybe half of the beautiful quilts that have been made for me or my children.

It's impressive.

For a closer look...please scroll down.

This one was made for Saylor by my mother.  It is flannel with green minky on the back. 

This one was also make for Saylor, but by Steve's Grandmother Dixon.

She has also made one for each of my boys.

Here is another one made by Grandma Dixon.

This one is Carter's

I treasure each and every one of her quilts.

My fabulous mother made this quilt for Andrew's eight birthday and baptism. 

 It sits on his bed.

This was made by my Grandmother Walker and was on my twin size bed all growing up.

It will be passed down to Saylor.

Those ties are about an inch apart.

There are hundreds and hundreds of them.

This quilt is amazing and soft and snuggly.

This quilt was also made by my Grandmother Walker.

Ever stitch you see was hand stitched by her.

Her stitches were even and perfect.

This quilt was in her house until very recently before she passed away.

It is now on my king size bed.

The amount of work that went into these stitches overwhelms me, as does the fact that I now own this quilt.

I can still see her tiny hands quilting away- she wore super glue on them to keep them from getting sore.

I love this quilt.

This amazing beauty was made by Steve's mom for Steve and I when we got married.

It's the quilt Steve requested.  I can't believe all the little pieces cut out and sewn together.

Our names and wedding date are quilted in the sides.

And, it has this on the underside corner.

I love it.

This bad boy was made for my family by my sister JaNae.  

She is the quilter to out quilt them all.

She deserves the word gifted.

Because she is.

I have posted quilts made by her in the past.

And I'm sure there will be more in the future.

Such as...

I hired my sister to work on a few projects for me.

I'll post pictures when they are finished.

Let just say that she has outdone herself...again.

This...is how I quilt.

Sad isn't it.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm buyer, not a quilter.

Even the thought of going into a fabric store makes me want to have a panic attack.

I'm hopeless.

I tried not to be hopeless once.

Really I did.

I actually sewed maybe four or five pieces of fabric together for this quilt...it was the most stressful thirty minutes of my life.

JaNae had to finish the masterpiece.

It was for my boys.

They love it.  It is the most favorite in the house at the moment and they take turns sleeping with it at night.

But I did bind it.

I bring shame to my quilting family.

I'm am the black flaw on the quilting fabric of life.

However, my lack of quilting ability and knack (heck...simple desire)  does not diminish the gratitude and love I have for those who have quilted  for me.  

Each of these quilts were made by someone who loved me.

And I am forever grateful.

...even if I do plan on buying my grandchildren quilts from Pottery Barn.

(but I might cut off the tags before I gift wrap them)