Dance, Marathon #7 and Silly Things!

Ready for Dance Class

Ashley loves her dance class with Miss Christy! It is so fun to watch her each week. She looks so cute in her little leotards and tutus!

 The Ogden Marathon

Dave and Tyler; crazy enough to go for another marathon! The Ogden was Dave's 7th Marathon - isn't that incredible!? He did great! Way to go, we are so proud of you!

Ashley's entourage! She loves her Elmo, Abby, Ernie, Grover and Big Bird - despite the fact that she's never seen the show. These buddies sleep with her each night and end up all through the house each day. Each morning and night she asks: 'Where Melmo, Where Addy'

I had to pull out the camera when I noticed that Ashley had taken extra care of Ernie and stuffed his mouth full of muffin!

Don't forget our handsome fellow Andrew! Ashley's collection was once his but, he never cared to much for them until she did. He is however, pretty excited about his new PJ's! Andrew's older cousins brought another great bag of hand-me-downs and Andrew was in heaven to see all the pajamas. He would wear pjs endlessly if I let him! He loves these new spongebob ones the most. He's never seen the show and doesn't know the characters so, he renamed Bob to Gonzo, and makes sure to remember Gonzo in his prayers each day.

In other silly news:

Andrew's had a few memorable Church comments/moments recently;

*In prayers Andrew asked for blessings for the 'Mission-ators'. Wow, doesn't that sound more powerful!

*In Church Andrew is always excited for 'big guys' to bring the bread and water. He told us 'The Snackrement is coming!'

*Andrew got to give a talk in Primary and did an awesome job! And he's said the opening prayer 2 times recently! He loves being picked and participating! He answers every single question during sharing time.

*Andrew has been pretty interested in pointing out bald men lately. In sacrament he points to each bald man on the stand and tells us (usually loud enough for all to hear) 'He's a head bald!'

*For prayers at night or mealtimes Andrew always wants to be the one to pray. He usually says, I'll say the opening prayer and you say the closing prayer (or vice versa), so we prayer twice in a row.

*This was a couple months ago, but I need to write it down: When I was asked to stand in Sacrament for a new calling in primary, Andrew stood up on the bench too. When asked if anyone opposed his hand went up nice and high. Everyone laughed, especially Andrew.  

Ashley always keeps us on our toes!

*She is starting to really talk a lot more lately. She is funny because her sentences are better than her individual words. She can be heard most often saying 'I want ___', 'Where's the ____' (like Where's da mama), and 'I did it' or 'Ta-da'.

*She continues to scare us with her climbing/jumping/running/disappearing skills

*She is the best at hide and seek or peek-a-boo. Most kids can't wait to be found but, Ashley sits still and quiet. It's probably the only time she is still and quiet.

*She isn't interested in TV except about 15 minutes of Curious George yet, every time we walk in the door she says 'I want a show'

*She loves to be chased! She points at Dave or me and says 'Get You', which means, come get me.

*She is cuddly, cuddly, cuddly...with me

*She is a Mama's girl through and through. She isn't so nice when Dave, or anyone asks if they can hold her. She loudly says, 'No, Mama!'

*She follows Andrew around and does EVERYTHING he does, good or bad

*She loves books, by herself or being read to. She can't have enough in her crib.

*She loves animals, particularly Dogs and Cats. She picks them out from far away and loves to pet them. She laughs at everything they do.

*She loves shoes and loves to walk around the house in someone else's.

*She loves tubs but, it's scary because she loves to lay down flat on her back until the water starts to get into her nose and mouth. She just doesn't get scared yet!

*She's grown a few inches in the past few months! She is really a great eater. But, somehow she hasn't gained much weight. She weighs a whopping 22.5 lbs.

Love my silly kids!

Mean old man

I'm not one to blog much about anything besides my cute kids but, I had an experience today that I just can't shake. The kids and I had a nice morning, nothing extraordinary. Ironically my visting teachers came this morning and shared a thought on motherhood and I thought about how not a day goes by that I don't feel grateful to be a mother, grateful to have wonderful children and grateful to get to stay home with them each day. We loaded up for a few errands, which I dread but, really did need to be done today. We headed to the bank and got a few suckers at the drive through then straight to Smith's for groceries. They sat in the car shaped cart eating their suckers happily for the first half of the store. Then, Ashley hoped out and grabbed a box of buzz lightyear fruit snacks. We didn't need snacks, especially these ones, I said no and put them back. Que tantrum. We kept going, but skipped just about everything left except milk because this tantrum was loud and I just couldn't seem to distract her with anything else, even the food I had brought in my purse...it was just a really rotten time but, to be honest I've been there before and it wasn't that big of a deal to me. We finished, I ran into a few people I knew and then other well wishing people I didn't know who gave knowing grins and comments. Then it happened. We were at the exit doors, Andrew sitting happily in the cart, Ashley crying on my hip, when an older man, probably between 55 and 65 stopped and said 'I could hear that kid crying clear across the store.' I smiled and he kept talking 'Why don't you just give that kid a sucker?' I responded, 'Oh I already did that' (still thinking he's a nice person), 'You know, that's what you do when you're at a store.' Now at that point I wish I'd known he was planning on attacking me as a mother, rather than simply commenting because I was taken completely off guard and had no comment. And, by then he had an angry look on his face and we had clearly disrupted his fabulous Tuesday morning trip to the check-out line. He was heading out and saw the look of disgust on my face so he stopped and came back in the door to add, 'you know I have kids older than you...' He didn't finish probably because of the scowl on my face and I said 'what a jerk', he turned and shot me evil looks through the glass as he walked away. I didn't know if I should flip him off or cry. I walked to my car completely stunned and then I started to cry. Call it pregnancy hormones or just being a bit tired today but, he made me feel awful. It's every mother's worst fear - that maybe you aren't a good mom, that maybe that rotten man is right. And not only is it possible that I'm a bad mom, I'm bad enough that a complete stranger feels like he must tell me in front of a dozen other people too.

Like every confrontation, I really wish I'd known it was coming or had more time to battle it out with him, even more, I wish Dave had been there, then that man would've really heard it. I'd like to know what kind of dad this man is/was. Did he take toddlers to the store? Did he live through the tantrums each day? Or more likely did their mother do that part? I hope he was a good dad but, I can't help but think he probably didn't have a lot of real dad time or he'd have remembered that the day to day stuff can sometimes be really hard.

What's more, I can't wrap my head around his parenting philosophy that the best way to solve a problem is to put a lollipop in a child's mouth. Is that how his children were raised? Anytime your child cries or wants something or falls or hits or has a tantrum, the answer is a sucker? I'd be scared to see these adults walking around having never learned patience or sharing or coping or discipline or a dozen other qualities any likable person needs.

The last part that I find interesting is why he even cared. Is it too much for people without children to hear a baby cry for 5 minutes, seriously? I can understand at a symphony or play and some other quiet places too but, a grocery store...really? I hope I can always remember to be kind to parents and children, even when my own children are grown and life is more quiet.
~

On a very positive note...when we came home it was so obvious that I was sad, Andrew ran off to work on his legos. He came back a while later with a big smile and said, I made a surprise for you...it's your present! So we took a picture and I'm relishing the fact that though I may not do everything right, I do something well because despite their meltdowns, my kids are sweet and caring and fun right to the core.