Are you gonna eat that?

Best part of today by far was a funny little tid bit from church. Lexie was sitting on Jeremy's lap. I see her put her finger up her nose pull it out and say,"look Daddy a boogie." Jeremy didn't see her put her finger up here nose and he didn't hear "look a boogie." He heard, "Daddy, bite it." They had been playing a game earlier where Jeremy had been biting her finger. So I sat two chairs away and watched as my husband put the boogie in his mouth. He quickly realized what he had done, and we had a good laugh. It was really hilarious, especially because Jeremy has a little bit of a germ phobia sort of thing. Hope you get a good laugh, I did.

Here's Your Sign

This entry is related to some happenings of earlier in the week, but it has taken me this long to muster the courage to publicly humiliate myself; but, I thought it might save others from the same mistake (or maybe not, as most are probably not this stupid to begin with) and it is definitely one of those things I will be teased about as well as Andrew, well probably forever.
On Monday, the kids and I went to the park and played, fed the birds, and had a picnic. On the way home we stopped at my parents so I could pick up a book and my husbands bike. We were only stopping for a minute, so I pulled up put the car in park, put the Emergency brake on and ran in. I remember now, after the fact of course, having the thought I should take my keys with me. I brushed it of as I knew I would only be a second (never brush these thoughts off). Well in that minute or two, my darling Andrew got out of his car seat, climbed into the drivers seat, put the car into reverse and well, the rest is history, but I'll tell it from my perspective. I was walking back out to the car looking at my book as I saw a flash of white. My car is white. I looked up to where my car should have been parked saw it wasn't there, started running, thinking it would be at the bottom of the hill. I think it was simultaneously that I heard the crash, into my parents brick fence.
My stomach dropped, I don't remember dropping the book or Jeremy's bike and running to the car. Andrew let himself out and I sort of just stared stunned. I was feeling angry with Andrew and also wondering how I could be so stupid. My Dad was immediately out there. He was very nice about the whole thing. I was lucky the kids were okay, and the car didn't fair to badly. The fence on the other hand is a different story.
For those of you who personally know Andrew, it is obvious how pitifully stupid it was for me to leave the car on, or even the keys in the car. He has gotten the keys form the kitchen drawer before, unlocked the car in the garage(we try to remember to keep the cars locked even in the garage as Andrew has a habit of trying to play in them) and put them in the ignition. He has never actually started the car before, but I think this is because I intervened before he got that far. Let me just say he is a busy, curious boy who always keeps me on my toes. If there is one thing being a parent has done for me, is to teach humility. I'm learning the importance of no longer passing judgement. I remember before I had kids seeing moms in stores with misbehaving children and thinking why don't they make the act differently or make them behave. I no longer think this, I just feel for the mom. I now know every child comes with there own personality and disposition, and there is really not to many things you can make a kid do. You can force the food in there mouth but you can't make them swallow. You can make them get in bed but you can't make them go to sleep. I'm digressing. So that is my foolishness of the week. Maybe some of you will get a good laugh from this and learn form my mistake. Also, an apology to Mom and Dad, it is always a headache and hassle to get stuff like that fixed and get insurance to fork over the money, and now I have two car accidents I'm responsible for, at least I was the driver for one. Andrew said Monday afternoon,"Mom, I'm sorry I ruined your dads fence." Lexie said, as she shook here index finger,"Grandma is going to be mad mad mad at Andrew." She didn't realize it was Mommy grandma would be mad mad mad at. She also said, "it was scary, scary, scary" with both of her hands out, fingers together shaking them. I'm sure will be talking about this one for months to come. The following terms or expressions are how I spent the rest of Monday feeling, (feel free to add your own as I may have forgotten some important ones): Here's your sign, here comes the village idiot, foolish, small, and negligent mother to name a few.

Happy Birthday Dad

Top Ten Reasons why my Dad is the Greatest

1. He rolled my hair in curlers as a little girl. I don't know too many Dad's who did this. He was always a hands on Dad, and involved in our lives and the activities we participated in.
2. He is the proudest Grandfather Ever. He talks about how athletic Isacc is, beautiful Lexie is, Smart Jack is etc... on and on for all of them. Also he will babysit; unusual for a grandpa.
3. He taught his kids to have a love for reading. I remember going to Bob's book barn and trading in our old books for new then having read-a-thons with black licorice and sodas.
4. He let us dump our nasty dinner down the drain when mom wasn't looking
5. He will have the fire on in may or possibly June. He is always cold.
6. He taught us life is about choices, you always have options.
7. He is full of surprises. He may come home with new boat no one knew about (not even Mom) or he may moon you on Christmas morning.
8. He tells the best version of "The Three Bears" and "The Three Little Pigs" ever.
9. He exemplifies charity. He truly "strengthens the feeble knees, and lifts up the hands which hang down."
10. He believes in me, and taught me to do the same.

Happy Birthday Dad. We all love you and thank you for all you do, and who you are. I'm so glad your mine. I truly feel like I have the best Dad, the world over.

Just a few photos of Dad.

"Flashback"

Yesterday night I had a very vivid flashback of my childhood. We were drinking apple juice with dinner. I hardly noticed but after I took a big gulp I sighed a large "ahh." What drew my attention to it was Lexie, copying me and very quickly Andrew as well. It made me laugh because I have a very distinct memory of my Mom doing this after a big swallow of Tab. Do you all remember Tab? I can still picture the pinkish reddish can; and I can certainly here my own Mothers "ahh.'' Jessica (my sister), and I would copy her at lunch doing the exaggerated "ahh's", of course we were drinking nasty milk. It is a memory I sort of forgot about, til yesterday when my own darlings were copying me. Isn't imitation the greatest form of flattery? Also what a great responsibility we have in raising these little rascals, nothing escapes there eyes or ears and at times it feels like a daunting responsibility. I sometimes find myself wondering if there isn't someone better for the task, then I trust the in the fact that these children are in my care for a reason and I remember how lucky I am; cause really they are great kids and I love 'em. So thanks to Andrew and Lexie for reminding me of this funny memory, and thanks to Mom. I bet you never thought two generations later, kids would be imitating your original "ahh."

Conference

I thought conference was excellent. I especially loved Elder Ballard's talk, Elder Bednar, and when President Monson closed the conference. I felt like things were very good and uplifting and have inspired me to try and be better. I'm going to try to notice the moments in life that are so precious and fleeting, which Elder Ballard referred to. You know when you just feel like right now in this instant everything is perfect, when you wouldn't change anything and you're not worried about anything. I remember feeling this way last summer when we would do the yard work in the evening. We were all together, getting along, playing, working, and having fun as a family. The day we went to the hospital to have Anna we had one of these "moments". I had worked an 8 hour shift, when I got home it was a nice afternoon, so we had chocolate ice cream in camping chairs on the driveway, Andrew and Lexie were covered in chocolate. Jeremy went in to get them in the tub and I was coming in behind them and that is the instant my water broke. I remember it as my last memory as our family of four together. I'm so glad I have this memory and it is one of those moments where everything was perfect. When I have these moments I try to make them last, but they are brief and then life continues on. The trick is in being present, and recognizing them when they come. Like when you lay by one of your kids and they just lay there and hold still and are truly with you, and you with them, and you are just feeling one another breath. Or when you feel like you husband really gets you, these moments are definitely fleeting. I'm kidding but I'm sure you know what I meant, in the hub-bub of life, schedules, activities, work, bills, church sometimes these precious moments are not noticed or get lost in all the action.
I'm also working on praying in the manner that President Bednar spoke of. Active prayers, and not just going through the motions. I thought of how important this is especially in teaching our children how to pray. So I'm going to make an active effort in saying meaningful prayers and teaching my children to do the same.
It was great to hear all the talks and I look forward to May's Ensign. I've always loved conference, even as a kid. So just thought I would share my thoughts. Hope you all enjoyed it as well.

So Precious

Is there anything more precious than sleeping children? They are so beautiful on so many levels. First, they have such a peaceful quiet look about them, they seem so close to God. Second, the are Quiet and Still, something we don't have a lot of around the Ward house.

Like the other morning, in the space of about 15 minutes, Andrew had opened a cake mix on the kitchen floor, got out the brown sugar, tried to get into the vitamins, and successfully opened Lexie's antibiotic and given himself a dose with a syringe. You may wonder where I was when all this was occurring, feeding Anna. I certainly should have fed her in the other room.

Watching my babies sleep is something I love to do, because they are so peaceful. It is the last thing I do before I go to bed. I'm sure you'll all agree that there is nothing more beautiful than a sleeping child.