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!

Half a Year Already!

Yep, it's that time again! Jack turned 6 months old this week, and here are his Dr's visit stats: (Don't those little Band-Aids just look so sad?)

Weight: 13 lbs 10 oz- 3%

Height: 25 in- 25%

Head: Don't remember- 25%

Our pediatrician was laughing at Jack's weight. He commented that Jack has decided to follow the "Merriman curve." I guess that means how my kids tend to almost go backwards on the growth curve after their 4th-5th month. 2 months ago he was in the 50% for weight- the little squirt only gained 6 ounces in 2 months! But, that means that he can wear all of his clothes longer, & is easier to pack around, so I'm OK with that as long as he's healthy.

We also ventured into the world of solid foods this week. Here's some pics of the grand event. I think his face says it all.

I also needed to throw in this pic just for fun- because it's so darn cute!

It also reminded me of these ones I took in October of 2006. Frank was 5 months old & Emma almost 3. See what I mean about wearing clothes longer if your kids are tiny? Emma's still wearing the same jammies!

Is it just me or do Frank & Jack almost look identical?

Egg-cellent, Egg-citing, & Egg-streme Fun

This weekend was our ward's annual Egg-stravaganza. It's sort of like a Pinewood Derby, but on steroids & with very few rules. The car can be literally anything- as long as it can carry a raw egg down a ramp, cross the gym floor, & bash into a brick wall without breaking the egg. Andrew decided the night before the race to build a car, & this is what he came up with. We let the kids decorate it, & Mom's job was to carve out the hole for the egg. (Mom with an X-acto knife- scary!) Dad did the rest.

I have to provide pictures to explain this to all of you that haven't had the privelige of participating in this grand event.

The ramp goes practically straight down- the cars really get cookin'.

Our competition- there's definitely a WIDE range of skill levels & design expertise. Remember- each of the items on this table is a "car."

Our family had a great time racing, and did pretty well. We won our first race, just barely lost our 2nd, and were going to keep racing in the losers' bracket. However, the #1 rule at the Eggstravaganza is that your egg CANNOT break. No matter what. That's a great rule, but they also have the stipulation that you must leave your car on these tables in between races. Not such a great situation when you have dozens of kids running around the gym & vying for the best seats to see the race.

Andrew went to check on our car & found the egg smashed to smithereens, sitting ever so snugly inside our custom-made egg-cushy-football. So, despite our success at slamming into a wall unscathed, we were disqualified because of some boisterous Primary kid. Oh well, there's always next year!

Movin' & Shakin'

Jack went from rolling over for the first time to doing that log-style, cross-the-living-room-in-30-seconds-and-get-wedged-underneath-the-couch roll in about 1 1/2 days. He is everywhere! And to make it even more scary, he's already starting to do the bum-in-the-air, swim-with-the-arms move that inevitably leads to crawling. Where has my baby gone?

Oh, there he is!

Remember the Rainforest Jumperoo that we found next to the trash dumpster last year? Well, we washed it really well, and it's definitely a hit! He can really get this thing bouncin', and even shakes himself right to sleep. But the thing that's REALLY cute is that when he wiggles & wakes up, he'll bounce with just 1 foot to soothe himself back to sleep. Too bad I can't let him sleep in this thing all the time!

Note the hat. Little man has figured out how to yank out the hearing aids (not a big deal) and put them in his mouth (VERY big deal, since they don't belong to us)! But seriously, is there anything cuter than a sleeping baby?

And don't forget this stage- I LOVE it when they chew on their little toes! (And I especially love it when it's finally warm enough for their little toes to be uncovered!) He's never really tried to mouth his toes because they've been encased in warm little sockies since the day he was born. But now that they're naked on a daily basis, I think he might chew them right off!

Have I mentioned lately how much I love this little one?

A Whole New Perspective

I will NEVER complain about one of my children waking me up in the night again. Last night, while innocently blog-surfing for coupon shopping ideas, I came across a family's story of tragedy. On Thursday morning, the father went to get his 8 month old baby out of his crib & found him not breathing. After some CPR & a blessing, the paramedics declared him dead. He was only 8 months old! The thing that made it even more heart-rending is that the grandmother had taken a picture of mom & dad holding their poor deceased child in their arms & posted it on the blog. I literally cried for over an hour.

I guess I have never considered too seriously that these sweet little angels that we watch over are not really ours at all, and that if Heavenly Father needs them at home, he will not hesitate to take them back there. Such an eye-opener! As much as I try to cherish the time I have with my kids, I need to increase that appreciation ten-fold, because they could very easily not be here tomorrow.

Yesterday is history,

Tomorrow is a mystery,

Today is a gift,

That's why they call it the PRESENT.

Memorable Moments

Sometimes mothering is a totally thankless job. OK, about 95% of the time it's a mundane, frustrating & totally exasperating job. But every once in a while these little munchkins of ours pay us back for all of the poop, puke, & stretch marks, not to mention the yelling, screaming & throwing of objects (me, not them, unfortunately). These are the moments we need to remember.

Like good little doobies, we have scripture study every night with the kids. We have the Scripture Stories series, and I would recommend them to anyone that wants to have scripture study but thinks that their kids are too small. Emma is usually glued to the book, and has each story memorized before we're even done reading. She even wanted to be a Stripling Warrior for Halloween. (Awesome, huh?) Frank, however, stares at the ceiling, plays with the couch pillows, and climbs all over his parents during stripture time. I've never been all that sure that we're getting through to him.

We finished the Book of Mormon a couple of weeks ago and are now starting into the Doctrine & Covenants. We were discussing Joseph Smith & all of the bad things that happened to him when he was the prophet. We then talked about Newel Knight's struggles.

Our conversation went something like this:

Mom: Newel Knight needed a blessing from the prophet to help him know that the church was true & that Satan was trying to get him not to join.

Emma: Like Satan tried to get Joseph Smith not to pray?

Mom: Yep, honey. Joseph & the other men who started the church had to be very strong men. Satan tried very hard to get them not to believe in Jesus. Joseph was a very strong prophet.

And then, totally out of the blue, Frank yelled: Like Nephi!

Yea! My efforts are not totally in vain, he is hearing at least some of it, and the Lord does answer prayers! I can get through the poop, jumping on the couch, and wrestling for toys for at least one more day. If only these crazy little kids could bring it upon themselves to pay us back more often- but I know that's wishful thinking.

Until the next Memorable Moment.....