The Gift of the Magic Carpet

Once upon a time, there was a little family of princes & princesses that lived in a sad, dry, brown kingdom of rocks.

.
They longed for color. They longed for soft ground underneath their feet. They longed to have a place to play that wasn't covered in stones & thorns.

.
This family was very, very blessed, because they had a fairy godmother that wanted to help them have these things that so many others take for granted.

.
So she sent them some magic carpet to transform their ugly, brown backyard into a green wonderland.

A little work was required to have this dream come true, but isn't that how it should be?

The little prince was so excited that he wouldn't even change out of his royal PJ's! However, he was a very good helper & did more than his share of unrolling the magic carpet while the princess was away at school. It was a wonderful surprise for her when she came home.

There was so much excitement & joy in their little kingdom when the magic carpet came to life. It seemed to bring happiness to all that dared touch it.

The little family of princes & princesses is so happy now. They will spend all of their free time on their magic carpet, telling fairy tales & eating royal meals.

So thank you, fairy godmother. You have no idea how much happiness you've brought to our dry, brown kingdom.

Stan, Stan, the Scarecrow Man

So what do you do when evil birdies are pillaging & plundering daily in your garden?

.
If you're a country hick like us, you get out the pellet gun & try to blast the culprits into the next county. But, when you try that a few times & never get the varmint, you build yourself a real, authentic scarecrow!

.

I don't know why, but I decided that his name should be Stan.

Andy drew up an artist's rendering of Stan, so this is where we started from.

The Beginnings Of Stan

Emma had LOTS of fun stuffing Stan. Frank liked it, but didn't like having the straw stick to him. Wearing Mommy's gardening gloves definitely made it more fun.
Stan had to have Daddy make some wire suspenders so that his pants could stay up. Andy knows how that goes. He's lost so much weight lately that his pants literally fall off his body. Men!
So there you have it. Stan now proudly presides over our garden. We embarrassed him by hanging pie tins & CDs from his arms, but he forgives us. He likes his job.
But guess what?

STAN DOESN'T WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So now we have a very labor- & time-intensive garden ornament.

Sigh- so what do we try now?

.
Bird tape! Basically it's a very expensive streamer. I'm positive that I could've bought this at Lowe's or even the party store for about 1/4 the price, but you'd be amazed what you'll do (or pay) when you're fighting for your little plants.
And so far, it's working! (mostly) I've only had 2 plants go missing since the introduction of our newest garden decor. If our garden didn't look white trash before, it certainly does now. And I mean that literally. It really looks like there's trash all over my garden. But I don't care as long as the plants stay put & the birds stay away.

.

And just for fun, look what we found this week!

Happy Gardening!

Garden Stories

I haven't been posting much lately because I have been completely consumed with getting our summer garden up & going. I don't know how many of you remember the garden saga from last year, but if you do, maybe you'll understand why I'm completely obsessed with every little leaf that pokes its little head out from the soil. Ridiculously obsessed. Ask my family- they think I'm totally plant crazy.

.

We changed the location from last year's, so we had to start from scratch, again. Unfortunately, the spot we chose has even harder ground that the last spot, so poor Andy spent more than a week getting the soil to break up & be semi-workable.

.

Why use just 1 tractor when 2 is so much more fun?

Man, this thing was fun to drive!

Go Daddy go! The kids ventured over a few times, but didn't manage to help him at all.

He even slaved away in the rain & hail on the day before Easter. It was COLD out there! (Notice that all of these pictures are taken from a distance, namely my dining room window? Mommy leaves this part to Daddy.)

Daddy even installed a fancy sprinkler system. Having fun yet, Andy?

Now that the soil was ready & waiting, it was my turn to bring this thing to life.

A little planting & watering, & voila! BIRD FOOD. As soon as the seedlings came up, they were torn out of the ground & destroyed. Darn birds don't even eat the plants, they just toss the little leaves aside like trash. Sometimes I hate nature.

My Kids Are Trying To Kill Me!

Seriously, it's a conspiracy! They're banding together & brainstorming to find the best ways to make their mother crazy.

.

I'm not sure I even want to comment on this one, but let's just say that Emma needed to rinse off her feet and somehow that led to this. The thought process in-between is a mystery to me.

Oh no! He can't be getting ready to crawl just yet! But sure enough, he's starting to get that whole little body up off the floor. In fact, he had just started to lay back down when I took this, so he was up even higher. Aaahhh!

Jamie K just had a post about "Stickering as a Verb" More than once lately I have walked by a mirror & noticed that I was be-speckled with stickers. The sad thing is that I don't even remember them doing this to me!

And Frank is doing his best to just melt me into a little puddle of goo by flashing those big brown eyes at me. Seriously, how can I hope to even think straight when faced with these?

Sometimes There Are Just No Words...

Sunday evening while I prepared dinner

Sunday evening after she went to bed

Yes, sometimes there are just no words....

Memorable Moments

Tonight I had 2 Memorable Moments within just minutes of each other. One was beautiful & touching, the other just typically goofy.

.

I had a bishop once counsel me to pray for myself & my family members in front of them, not only in my personal prayers. He said that it creates a stronger family bond when the kids know that the parents are praying for them & each other. I have followed that counsel, and tonight Emma showed me why it was such good advice.

.

In her evening prayer:

"Heavenly Father, PLEASE, PLEASE help Mommy be the kind of Mommy that she wants to be, and that she can be."

.

I was so touched by how fervently she prayed for me to be a good Mommy, and impressed that she did it in a way that made me feel like she was really rooting for me, not just wishing I wasn't so cranky all the time. Maybe tomorrow I can be a little better Mommy than I was today.

.

#2- Frank cracks me up!

.

After scriptures, we were discussing what Jesus & Heavenly Father look like.

.

Emma: See? In this picture Jesus has brown hair & a beard.

.

Frank: Yeah, Jesus had brown hair & comes to our church!

.

Mom: Yes, he could come to our church if he wanted to.

.

Frank: Yeah! I want him to come to our church, and Santa, too!

.

Mom thinking: Doh! (Homer Simpson style) So close & yet so far!

Frank: All Sorts of Crazy

Frank has been going through an "I Want To Dress Myself!" phase. And to be honest, I couldn't be happier. One less person to dress every day? Yea! However, I think that Emma's been giving him fashion tips.

.

He has on 2 socks on each foot- I guess the layered look is in? And whew, you should've seen the fit he threw when I made him change out of this to go to the store.

"This is what cowboys wear, Mom!" Yeah, the workout pants & flip flops would go great on a farm, buddy. Actually, this one isn't so bad, but he purposely changed from his "normal" clothes into this outfit specifically to go work in the garden. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.


And my favorite- "No, Mom! These are not too small! I want to be a hunter!" And yes, I let him wear them, and Daddy was so proud that his boy loves camo so much.

1 more picture that's just for fun. I just happened to have my camera in my hand when Dixie (the dog) sniffed Daisy's (the other dog) tushy. So Frank just had to see what was down there, I guess. Kiddo, you crack me up. Lastly, Andy has been wanting me to post about Frank's rather unique way of telling me that he loves me, but I've been too embarrassed. Oh, well. Life's too short, so what the heck.

.

We're in the "I love you bigger", "No, I love you bigger!" phase. And yes, Mom is breastfeeding the baby. So this is Frank's standard reply when I tell him that I love him.

.

"I love you bigger than your chest, Mom!"

.

Sometimes he goes on to elaborate:

"I love you bigger than your nose, arms, and belly, Mom!"

.

I'm not sure whether I should be flattered or offended. I guess I'll just savor the fact that he loves me & let the rest of it go. Aah, motherhood!

It's Egg Hunting Time!

This Saturday we ventured out to an Easter egg hunt that was put on at the local school by a local church. We've never been to a real egg hunt before, so it was fun to see all of the kids dash frantically for all of the eggs that were laying in plain sight for as far as the eye could see. Hmm, that's a little different than the 30 minute hunts that we put on at home that require clues & "warm", "cold" hints for the kids to find the eggs that Daddy hid.

.

It was a little chilly, but after the sun came out it wasn't too bad. I was glad that we went to this early morning hunt, because by noon it was raining & hailing, and that lasted until dark. There was even SNOW on the mountain/hill by my house. Yikes!

.

I love how much my kids love each other.

It was a little chilly for Jack to come out & hunt for eggs. He stayed snuggly in the carseat & batted at his frog & duck. It was so cold that I had to put his hat on. They call it a "pilot hat", and it's designed to keep his little fingers from ripping out the hearing aids. He hates it, but he looks like a pretty good sport in this pic!

The kids must've been really nice to the Easter bunny at the egg hunt, because look at the cool outfits he brought them! I remember being so excited to get our first summer outfit of the year at Easter, & wearing it just because I could, even if it was still too cold to do so. Aah, I miss childhood with all of the innocent fun!

We were blessed to have Grandma & Grandpa come stay this weekend, & they brought bunnies for all of the kids. I would like to report that the older 2 are sleeping with theirs tonight. Quite a feat for Frank especially, since the only thing he allows in his bed at night is Matchbox cars! Thanks, Grandma & Grandpa. We love having you come & stay, and it was nice to celebrate the holiday with you.

.

Happy Easter everybody!

Thank You, Nana & Poppa!

We have a wonderful Nana that provides us with adorable Easter outfits every year for the kids. But this year I think that she went totally over the top. Look how adorable these clothes are! (or is it the kids that are so adorable?) Anyway, I think that the outfits were perfect this year.

.

Smile, Jack, Smile! No? Ok, you're still cute.

Frank was calling himself a "ladies' man" all morning. I'd say he's right!Since there are only 2 girls in Nana's mess of grandkids, they get homemade dresses. Emma said she felt like a princess, so I'd say it was a winner!

And Nana, remember that cookie pan you bought me last month? Look how the cookies turn out! They're really thick & super soft & chewy. AWESOME!

Emma's Easter Hair

OK. So maybe Mommy went a little overboard with the Easter hair. But, the look on my baby girl's face was enough to make me happy all day. And yes, I did make those hair clips. I think I should start having people call me Crafty Kris!

The hairstyle itself actually looked better without the clips. But since Easter is a special day, I decided to go ahead & go all out. I loved how they looked like a halo on my little angel.

Happy Easter!

What Is WRONG With Me?

Ugh- you know how your life has times & seasons? Well, this season in my life can be compared to blizzard season in North Dakota. Miserable & lonely.

I just typed about a 2 page post about all of my troubles, but I realized that you all might call CPS to come take my kids away, or the funny farm to come take ME away if you read how I really feel right now. So, I'll just say that I'm not in the best frame of mind lately & leave it at that.

I remember my mother saying "I'm just about at the end of my rope!" when I was a kid. Well you know what? I've been about 6 feet PAST the end of my rope for about 3 weeks now. I really try every day to manage my temper & focus on the fun stuff, but my life is about to push me off the edge of my cliff of sanity.

On the bright side, because I've been desperately searching for ways to feel good about myself, I've been doing all kinds of things that I've never tried before.

A friend in my ward has been teaching me how to make jewelry. Emma thinks it's awesome that Mommy can now supply her with an endless stream of shiny baubles.

I made a friend's daughter an Easter dress just because I was depressed last night. Well, sewing definitely isn't new to me, but offering to make a dress out of the blue, just because, sure is. Hope she likes it! (It looks very brown in the pic, I don't know why.)

I've also been researching the world of hair bows. Man, I found the BEST website ever- Girly Things Bows! I made these adorable little bunnies for the kids yesterday (sorry for the fuzzy pics, I just couldn't get my camera to focus), and tomorrow I venture to the store to get supplies for Emma's Easter hair-do. Stay tuned, because it's going to be really special!

So hopefully I'll be out of this funk soon, because I'm running out of new crafts to try, and I fear that the town of Tucson's supply of chocolate is in real danger if I can't snap out of this!