Beds, buildings, and a puppet theater

This has been a busy week and gone by quickly. I tried a yoga class on Monday at my friend Stacy's persuasion and liked it, although it made me quite sore! I got an A- on my first midcourse exam and just took the 2nd midcourse this morning. Also...

It is my turn to teach two weeks of preschool for Weston and his friends. I made a puppet theater out of our deep freezer's box we never bothered to throw away. I thought it would be a big hit, but the preschoolers were only moderately impressed. It was a lot of fun for Savanna Fiora and Weston for family home evening though!


We got Weston a new big bed. I was proud of myself for finding the "Schauers deal" this time. We got a matress and box spring for $129.00 and the black cottage style headboard for $99. Anyway that was the best we could find for all new items.


I thought it appropriate to buy the girls bedspreads while shopping for Weston's, after all they've used toddler blankets up till now for their covers. It took a lot of convincing to get one of them to take the green one, my personal preference, but Fiora settled for it with a small bribe attached. They have both made their beds for three mornings straight!


Jared's company Home Basics is building a commercial building on State street and the builders just framed the 2nd story. It is exciting to see some progress on that! And here is a slideshow of our sledding trip last weekend, Savanna and Fiora got a hold of the camera on the way home and took some interesting candids too.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade

We got another solid 6 inches of snow today. And that on top of what Savanna is modeling in front of here. There was no school on Friday and instead of staying inside cooped up and at each other's throats, we went sledding! Jared had to go to Eagle Mountain for some business so he dropped us off at a great sled hill on the way. Weston got hit in the head by a sled of a kid whose head was in the clouds, but otherwise it all went well. Too bad we could only stay for 2 hours, as soon as we got in the car to go home we were all at ech other's throats again.

Saturday we dragged the kids with us to shop for a big-boy bed for Weston who is growing out of his toddler bed. Of course the girls wanted new beds too when they saw all the different beds. We tried to explain to Savanna, who insisted we get her a new bed or move out of our room so she can have our bed, that we just don't have money to burn, and she simply said, "You both need to get better jobs." I wonder how long it would take for her to realize she'd rather have a mom than a $600 bed. I was hoping the girls would be satisfied with their bunk beds until college, maybe not. I compromised with "when we move into a bigger house and you have your own room, you can have a new bed" which Fiora countered with "let's move tomorrow."


Fiora in her red leotard for gymnastics. Maybe if we quit gymnastics we could afford a new bed for her.


Batman taking off. We never did get him a bed, just a headboard, everything is too expensive! Jared needs to find the right DEAL.


Jared and I got to go on a date to Macaroni Grill last night, how fun! Of course Jared would always rather be fishing. Too bad this weather is relentess, however we are grateful for the moisture.

Husband Tag

I've been husband tagged, so here goes:

What is his name? Jared Charles

How long have you been married? 8.3 years

How long did you date? 7 months

How old is he? 30

Who eats more? Jared, except when I'm pregnant or nursing

Who said I love you first? me, I was a little antsy

Who is taller? Jared, 5' 10' (he has 9 inches on me)

Who sings better? Jared does a great beat box!

Who is smarter? Jared's college GPA was .02 higher than mine

Whose temper is worse? Jared flares, Heather glares

Who does the laundry? If I didn't do the laundry, my mother in law would do it before Jared would

Who does the dishes? Me, okay he helps once in a while

Who pays the bills? I used to, until free bill pay, now the computer basically does it but Jared types in the numbers

Who cooks dinner? me, but he made some awesome homemade marinara sauce last week

Who drives when you are together? He very gentlemanlike always offers

Does your husband take you on dates? Yes, sometimes it's just a lunch together and sometimes it's with others but we do try to get out

Who arranges for the babysitter? We switch off

Whose parents do you see the most? toss up

Who is more stubborn? Unfortunately, that too, is a toss up

Who has more friends? Doesn't matter, Jared has Justin (his twin brother)

Who has more siblings? I'm oldest of 10, Jared's 2nd youngest of 8 by 30 minutes

Who wears the pants in the family? Jared, and that is okay because he is a good guy and I love him. (And why else would I be doing all the laundry, dishes and meals:)

I tag: all the wonderful ladies who read our blog!

What was that?

This week my sweet darling son Weston started using a new term of endearment. "Weston you are a cutie" was answered with "Mommy your a poo-poo head!" What was that? "You are a POO-POO HEAD!" How dare you! I'm shocked! Say you're sorry! "Sorry poo-poo head."

On the other hand Fiora has decided to create a dialect all her own. "Fiora, pick up your coat please." "Hheormaoivenoiadmalmv...hogeinsdajgioda." What was that? Then she waves her arms around and does a few extra finger motions because that sign language sure clears it up. "Just pick up your coat."

Savanna's speach is clear and kind, albeit a bit loud. In the car, when her piercing outbursts are particularly resonant, she was heard to say, "That even hurt MY ears." Things can get interesting when she is reading her homework. Reading "being" as "dink" and "dance" as "bank" makes a mother wonder if she is learning anything, or if she is a bit dislexic. And then of course when she is both deaf and dumb when I ask her to put her coat away.

We've made some progress on the "poo-poo head" problem. After the initial shock I learned to ignore it and ignored behavior isn't repeated with Weston. Unfortunately ignoring him doesn't get hime to flush the toilet after he goes, or put away his coat!

Winter Wonderland

I came back from sunny Texas to a perpetual ice-skating rink. The ground here is covered with snow and under the snow is two inches of ice. Jared is ice-fishing today, fishing fever knows no tempurature limits, I hope he comes back with all his toes and fingers. It was Lillian's birthday the 15th so despite the snow we took the kids up to the cemetery to look for Lilli's headstone and put a poinsettia on it, that Savanna so wisely pointed out "would just die," and sing happy birthday. It took about 10-15 minutes digging through ice and snow to find it, but we did (after Jared and the kids said a prayer)! Weston is in the picture hiding in the middle, it was COLD!

While I was gone, Weston got a bad cold and croupy cough. But otherwise they did very well. Grandma Sandy gave them all a very good report, and so did Jared. They went down to Gunnison Saturday and had fun at Grandmas. I guess that means I can leave more often! Just kidding. I missed my sweeties.

Wilkinson Quints

What a super time I had in Austin Texas with the Wilkinson Quintuplets! Their grandma and my aunt Betty Ann took a picture of me holding all 5 babies, Kyndall, Ryder, Kassidy, Rustin, and Kaydence Wilkinson. I miss those babies! Rachelle (my cousin, the quints mother) has that house running like a well oiled machine. Volunteers come round the clock and I didn't need to get up at night with the babies because of the night shift helpers. I did get to push all five in the five-seater stroller though, that was fun!

In spite of the busy work feeding, rocking, playing with and changing babies, I got to go to lunch with Rachelle one day, and every evening we played games or watched "The Office" or a movie. We sang Americna Idol Revolution kareoke to the babies every evening before putting them to bed. What an amazing experience, and miraculous that they are all so healthy and developing so well. Rachelle and Jayson are living a life of service, it wore me out! It was very inspiring to see their stamina, work, faith, gratitude, and love. Read all about the quints at www.wilkinsonquints.org.

Thanks so much to Jared, my mother-in-law Sandy, and my mom for helping with my responsibilites so I could be a part of the quints miracle for a few days.

Are you smarter than a 1st grader

(While singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer)
Rudolph the red nose reindeer, you'll go down in history...Like Columbus!
(Jared deciding to use this as a teaching moment says) Savanna do you know who Columbus is?
Yes.
Why did he go "down in history?"
Well, he was looking for the West Indies but actually sailed into and discovered South America.
Uh, yeah, but do you know what he's really known for?
He proved the earth is round.
Right.

Savanna: Mom, playground is a compound word. See play (does playing motions) and ground (hits the ground) then put them together, playground.
Me: Right. What else is a compound word?
Savanna: Into. Upon. Outside. Outto.
Me: Wait, outto? that's not a word.
Savanna: Yes it is, out and to put together is a compound word.
Me: But nobody says ...
Savanna: Mom, out (grabs the air with her left hand) and to (grabs the air with her right hand) OUTTO (brings hands together).
Me: OK.

Well I'm off to Texas tomorrow. Jared's got the kids for 6 days, with help. He is terrific! I'm going to visit my cousin Rachelle and help her with her quintuplets! I've been wanting to do this for 5 months now so I'm excited.