Payton

I am surviving (my new favorite word) these days. But, Payton, she is another story. Poor girl is making her mommy's life miserable. Especially in the last few days. For example, this morning Payton was happy as a lark when she got up. But, it quickly turned into a "no" day. No, I don't want breakfast. No, I don't want to brush my teeth, No, I don't want to wear the clothes you picked out. I was very understanding. I even let her wear her gymnastics uniform (even though I tried explaining she would be cold in it). As we were leaving the house, Payton walked outside and cried because she was cold. We then walked back in the house and changed into the clothes I picked out in the first place. Then she cried because she didn't want the jacket I picked for her. She wanted her purple coat. Of course I couldn't find it. Then I asked her to carry the milk jug and put it in the recycling bin. The world came to an end, in her eyes. She started screaming bloody murder. Oh my, I had had my patients met at this point. I said either you carry the milk carton or carry my stuff (I was overloaded with lunches, backpacks, a purse, a water bottle, etc. you get the picture). She said I will carry the milk jug. I walked out with her. She walked to the recycling bin and she cried. "I don't want to put it in. I will not put it in." I gave her to the count of 5. Of course she dropped it in. Man, that was just this morning in a one hour period. She is a stubborn one. Anything I ask her, she wants and does the opposite.

Ok, I know what she is going through. I am trying to be very understanding, but my patients is limited. I just hope Payton learns life is still ok and that she is still loved. She is usually my sweet, fun-loving, kissable Payton. Wish us luck. No, I don't need luck, I need prayers, if you get a chance. Thanks. I will return to my blog when I feel like life has leveled out a bit. Hopefully she won't be like this for another week.

Valentine Pictures

Every year we go to Picture People for Valentine pictures. I think my girls are so cute, but I have to, I am their mother.
Sorry the pictures are not extremely clear. I can't get the scanner to scan pictures into the blog.
We got some postcards also. I know it's blurry, but some of you might receive one in the mail!!

A Day at the Doctors

Yesterday I brought Madi to the doctors. We left the house at 10 A.M. Her pediatrician said it was not pink eye and it looked like she had a white piece of sand in her eye. They flushed her eye out and Madi said her eye still hurt. By the way, she was screaming at the top of her lungs and the paper on the bed was completely torn up from her thrashing around. The pediatrician referred us to an eye doctor. We stopped to eat lunch and then headed over to the eye doctor (on the other side of town). Her appointment lasted forever. I am very picky, I do not stay with a doctor who holds me in their office for hours. I would rather pay for a doctor out of pocket, then go to a doctor that takes 2 hours to get me in and out. (Greg doesn't agree, but I still go to my old endocrinologist because he gets me in and out in 30 minutes, plus he likes kids). Back to Madi, so after a long wait, we find out that Madi has pink eye. I don't know that I agree with the eye doctor. Madi was screaming bad on Monday night because her eye hurt and her eye ball is not red. But, I am putting the eye drops in her eye. So, after getting her prescription and going to get two things to make spaghetti for Greg's favorite dinner, I was home at 4:30. I was so tired from the day that I went to bed at 9 and Greg left the house at 10 for his training. Yesterday was a terrible day. But, today is a new day. We will survive.

Long weekend

It was a nice weekend. Greg and I started it off with a date to the movies. We saw Paul Blart, Mall Cop. It was funny. I will probably rent it again someday. I wouldn't go as far to say that I want to own the movie. I do have to say that I am glad that there are more PG movies coming out lately. We saw Bedtime Stories and a few others in the past month.

On Saturday we went bowling as a family. And guess what, I forgot my camera. But I will report that I was beaten by both of my daughters. I do have to say that bumpers and a ramp help out a lot. Then we went out for dinner at Pizza Hut and had ice cream at Cold Stone.

Church is now at 9, I have to be there at 8:15 for choir practice, but I love it. I am done with church by 12:30. At 12:30 I give the kids lunch, then we all take a 3 hour nap. By that time it is dinner and then a couple games, then off to bed again. Wow, I really love Sundays this year.

Yesterday Greg's orders started. He was off getting things ready for the first training. So the girls and I went to the gym, to the park and then saw Hotel for Dogs. The movie was cute, Madi laughed, so did Payton, but it was above her head. Then we went to dinner with friends. It was a fun day yesterday.

This morning Madi's eye is swollen shut. I am off to bring her to the doctor. I was somehow able to pull out with a four day weekend. Did not mean to, but it happened. We will just have to make the best of it! :)


I don't know if you can tell, but it is red and purple. She is opening it up because she is afraid that the doctor will hurt her. She thinks if she opens it up she doesn't have to go. Sorry Charlie, your going.

New haircut

Some of my immediate family and the people at my work know I got a new haircut. But, for the rest of you, surprise! Here it is...





It is a little flat because it was after school that I took this picture. Most people at school said they liked it. One guy said he thought I was cute, but the hair was bad. He continued to say that anyone who said it looks cute is lying to spare my feelings. Well, I know that people do say things like that to spare feelings. What do you think?

Madi says...

(Madi's hair today)

Yesterday we were in the car and Madi said, "mommy, it will soon be Valentines Day and then it will be Easter. I guess we should go to the store tonight and buy some eggs so we can dye them." I explained that Easter is still a few months away and the eggs would go bad before Easter. She then said, "mom, the Easter Bunny doesn't know how to hide eggs very well (gee thanks). I can see the eggs when he hides them (isn't that the point when they are four and under)." I told her that maybe he would do a better job this year. She said, "I sure hope so."

Madison is always asking a hundred questions and she never misses anything. She asks me questions like "how do you know I was Cinderella for my second Halloween?" I tell her because I bought her the costume and put it on her. The questions are never ending. She tells me "remember when..." All the time. She remembers something I said to Greg a week ago on the phone. I think she doesn't listen, and she does. She never forgets anything. Last night at Family Home Evening we were talking about the sacrament. Madi and Payton would not sit still and I stopped reading from the children's Article of Faith book, told them to sit and listen because they needed to learn. Madi said, "Mom, I got it, the bread stands for Jesus' body and the water stands for his blood." I asked if she heard it at church (of course she couldn't possibly have heard me just read it while she is screaming and jumping on the coach). She said, "mom, I heard it from you two seconds ago, can we play our game now." OK, another reason I know she misses nothing.

Sorry, I know this is long, but one more Madi thing. On the way home from church Madi said she was going to get married in the temple when she grows up. I agreed with her. She then said, "Do I marry dad like you did?" I said no. She sat confused, then asked "do I marry Uncle James." I told her she would not marry a family member. I explained that as she gets older she will meet other men and marry someone we haven't even met yet. Payton then says "well, I am going to marry a girl." (Oh, Payton I certainly hope not.) I explained that girls marry boys.

Bows!

I have been looking at a lot of Blogs about hair and bows. There are blogs that teach how to make bows. On one website (sorry I can't remember where) I learned how to make a korker (sp?) bow. It was easy, but time consuming. Here are a few that I put together.


Do you ever go to a craft fair and see an idea that you think, "oh, I can make that for so much cheaper then they are selling it for?" Well, that is what I did. Most of the time I forget the craft before I leave the fair, but this idea was one I wanted badly. For less then $15 (they were trying to sell it for $50) I made this sign. My bows were getting ruined in the drawer, so I made this. I am so happy with it. My friend Tara said that she has seen it made with the letters of the daughters name. I also liked this idea, but had already bought the letters for "Bows." I like making things, it makes me happy in a depressing time. It just feels good to complete something fun. It's something I made with my own hands. I feel the same when I make desserts and some meals.

A Little Side Note: For the last week I have been reading Inkheart. It is a book written by Cornelia Funke. I had read the book years ago. I saw that they are making it into a movie. So, I picked up the book to read it again. I really enjoyed the book. She also wrote Inkspell and I noticed she wrote another one called Inkdeath (I think). If you like Fantasy, I recommend reading books written by Cornelia Funke. She has written other series and I have enjoyed all the books that I have read. You do have to like children's fantasy. Happy Reading!

A weeks worth of being sick and doing hair

Tinkerbell
(well sort of, I was sick and it was my first time. I still thought it was cute)

I am just having way to much fun with this hair website. I missed work this week because I was very sick, but I did manage to do a couple hair styles with the girls. These are not my ideas. They are all found on the hair blog. I also followed it to another website that sells hair bows for cheap (Believe me hair clips can run very pricey. Don't tell Greg I once spent $30 on a flower clip.). I got this cute flower in Payton's hair for $10. I also got butterflies for $4. Look it up. She has some cute stuff. You can check it out here.

By the way, has anybody else felt like this week has dragged on forever?! Isn't it Friday yet?!

The Girl's Hair Do

The girls have been throwing up and running fevers, Payton since yesterday morning and Madi since midnight. We stayed home from church because of it. I was looking at my friends blog and saw a connection to a Hair do's link. I clicked on it and found such wonderful hair designs for girls. The link is She does Hair. The lady does step by step instructions on what you do to the hair. The girls sat in a chair and watched a movie while I worked.

Madi was my first try. I think it turned out ok. After I finished I realized what I did wrong.
"Cheese"

Payton's turned out better because she was my second try.
This is not a hair do that I can do during the work week. But, I can't wait to try it and others out on the weekend!

Letters and Sounds

The other day I came downstairs, after getting ready for the day, to find the backdoor open and Madi talking to Payton. She was drawing these upper and lowercase letters. She was saying "Payton, this is an F. Say it. It says /f/. What does the F say?" Payton was playing along repeating the letters and sounds. It was so cute. It would make any teacher proud. Especially if the teacher happened to be the little girls mother. :) Of course I ran as quickly as I could to get the camera and by the time I got back, Payton was on the bike and Madi on the slide. I made Madi come back and repeat it for me. I hope you enjoy my little shinning star!


Later I noticed that she wrote all the letters in fox, just not in order. Wow, I wonder where she learned how to spell fox. She writes her name. But she will write Mad, then put the i in the front, the s behind, the o under. (You get the picture). We are practicing writing in a straight line. She is really making her mother proud!

Of course Payton wanted her shinning moment. She is getting very good at identifying numbers and a few letters. She is also very good at coloring pictures. She colors the pictures all the way in with just a very few marks out. She is always asking to color. The nursery leader commented that Payton was a good colorer because of me being a teacher. I think it has nothing to do with me. Payton has OCD or something. I watched her eat a bag of fruit snacks the others day and she lined up the bag by color, then ate all the colors with the fewest, to the largest number. Wow! She can never stop anything half way through. She has to be done or she has a melt down if I pull her away. I love watching my girls grow.

Mess Vs. Organization in 2009

Warning What you are about to behold may be hazardous to your health and well being.


With 2008 almost over. I decided that I really needed to do something about my lack of organization. After hours of work and brown fingers. I have finished the down stairs.
My fingers turned brown when I put together the book case. I told Greg that I would put together the book case because I need to become more independent. He gladly agreed. Who knew my fingers would turn brown in the process?! (They are still brown 48 hours later)

Before

After

After

Before

After

I also painted my floor boards. I am so glad I finally did it. It actually was very easy. I don't know why I waited so long!

So what is to come? An organized upstairs in 2009!