Things I didn't know until just recently:

*I am a green bat. Miri informed me of this fact the other morning. She came into the bathroom while I was doing my hair and said: "You're not a princess. You're a green bat."  Oh really? It must have been the green shirt I was wearing...but a bat?  Where does she get this stuff?

*There is no dancing allowed in the house.  Nina rebuked me yesterday as I started to snap my fingers and dance like the Jets from West Side Story.  "NO DANCING in the house Mom!" she told me.

*Nina has a job. In her own words: "I put my dress on when I go out of the house, and I take it off when I come back inside..... And that's my job."

*Potatoes are lovely.  Nina counted the potatoes in the bag today, picked one out, and said "Mom, this is a lovely potato."    

I tried to make salmon patties the other night.  Ya, it was a total failure.  In fact, they weren't even salmon patties at all, but rather tuna fish patties.  Bleh!  In my moment of stress, with the two girls begging me for sandwiches, the baby screaming, and daddy about to arrive home in a few minutes, I accidentally opened up tuna fish cans instead of the salmon.  To make my salmonless salmon patty even worse, I forgot to put any sort of seasoning in my tuna mixture.  Needless to say, they turned out pretty gross.  We ate them though!  Mmmmm...good.  Flavorless tuna fish patties over rice.  Yum.  I never thought I would reach this point in my life, where I can't even make a simple salmon patty.  Kids will do that to you, I guess :)   I used to be such a good, creative cook.  Now, I just make whatever I can as quickly as possible and with one hand (the other hand is usually holding the baby).  Pancakes, rice and beans, cereal anybody?      

There comes a day when your child will no longer get chocolate all over his/her face and hands after eating a donut....and this is the day you realize,wow! my baby is growing up.  Such was the case today with Nina.  I can't believe how quickly she is growing up.  I almost felt sad this morning thinking that my sweet little babies wouldn't be so sweet and little for too much longer.   Even though it's hard, I love having them all at home with me, all the time.

I did actually have a small moment to myself today.  Chris took the girls to pick up a take n' bake pizza for dinner and Weston was down for a nap.  I had about fifteen minutes of alone time...fifteen glorious minutes :)  As I basked in the complete silence, I suddenly remembered the last remaining tangerine popsicle hiding in the back of the freezer.  I've been waiting for over a month for the perfect moment to eat it, without having to share with the girls and explain to them why there is only one popsicle.  So I snagged it out of there and enjoyed every last bit of it.

  

Miri found Pony.  Hurray (I say that in the most sarcastic way).  He was hiding in between the couch cushions.  Miri's whole face lit up as she pulled him out.  She was elated!  She hugged pony and said that she missed him.  Yay for Pony.  Looks like our daily pony hunts will continue on and on and on....

Today, Nina told Miri to stop "noisying" her.  (I think she met "annoying.")

Miri told me to go back to bed this morning: she was upset that I wouldn't give her more Frosted MiniWheats.  (Miri tends to eat only the frosting part of the MiniWheat.  I am sure she could down an entire box of cereal doing that, if I let her.)  So, I have decided to no longer buy Frosted MiniWheats.  I love them, but I am tired of seeing, and stepping on, half eaten MiniWheats under and around the kitchen table.  This has got to stop!  :)

Today's Meltdown:  Miri couldn't find her Lamby.  Lamby happens to be Pony's Mom.  Go figure.  If it's not Pony, it's Lamby.  If it's not Lamby, it's Horsey (Pony's Dad).  If it's not Horsey, it's Belle (no relation).  If it's not Belle, it's Flynn Ryder (Belle's Man).  If it's not Flynn, it's Pinky Pie.  If it's not Pinky Pie, it's Suzy.  Oh yes, and if it's not any of these, then it's her sippy cupp.  AAAH!!!! I think I will be the subject of tomorrow's meltdown.    


Today's Moment of Joy:  Ah yes, joy, joy, joy.  Three joys: one for each of my kiddos. (And another big JOY for my dear husband.)   I have moments every day...well, not every day, when I experience sincere joy and gratitude for my children.  Tonight, as I prepared a bowl of mashed up black beans for Weston, I looked at his eyes, then I looked over at Miri's eyes, and then Nina's eyes, and I thought:  Wow, their eyes are the same color as these black beans.  How I love their big black bean eyes! 

Miri was fascinated with the ashtray stands as we walked to SafeWay for donuts yesterday morning.  She remarked: "Ashtrays are gross.  I like trees."....okay?   Later that night at the dinner table, Chris and I asked the girls if they would like to have a Barbeque at the park.  Miri's eyes lit up as she said: "Ya!  An Ariel Barbie-Q!"  Then Nina joined in the excitement, "Ya!  We can eat princesses at the Barbie-Q!".....okay??  Kids' minds are so cool.

 Pony is officially lost.  Yay!!!!!  I think Miri accidentally left her at the store.  Can I just say, Yay!!!!!!!!  Yes, Miri had an emotional breakdown when we broke the news to her, but after a day, she has come to terms with her loss.  Yay!!!!!!

Today was Sunday...glorious Sunday...a day of rest.  HaHa!  The morning started out as usual: 6:30am Miri started crying and screaming for her pony.  (Her little pony gets lost in her blankets every night. I can't tell you how many times we have gone on all out man-hunts throughout the house trying to find her little pony.  Chris and I are on the verge of "accidentally" throwing the pony away...it is her most prized  possession though...so I am sure we will just continue on our daily pony searches.)

Needless to say, we found the pony, managed to recover from this rude awakening, and began preparing ourselves for the Sunday morning bustle.  "Where's all the shampoo?"  Daddy cried out from the shower. "It was like half full yesterday!"   "Nina emptied it all out to make bubbles...without me knowing,"  I remarked.  A few minutes later after getting out of the shower, he asked: "Where's my deodorant??  It's been missing for weeks!"  Nina, do you know where my deodorant is?"  With a sly smile and a giggle, Nina said matter of fact: "It's under my bed." And sure enough...it was under her bed and it has probably been there for weeks.  (Should have thought to ask her sooner.)  Daddy then proceeded to carefully iron his clothes, as if he had all the time in the world :)    Meanwhile, baby screamed, Nina ran around like crazy, and I tried to curl my hair, while Miri tugged on my skirt asking for food.  Ah Sunday...a day of rest.

After finishing my hair, I managed to grab hold of Nina to do her hair:  "DON'T BRUSH IT!!!"  She screamed.  She cried.  She struggled to get away.  (Every single time I do the girls' hair, they act as if they are being tortured.  Every time.  Is this ever going to get easier?  I wonder.)

8:30am arrived.  Game time.   "Everybody get downstairs...quick, eat your food...hurry, hurry!" I cried. (I feel like a drill sergeant at times.)  I quickly scrambled up some eggs and placed them in front of the girls.  "I want applesauce!!!!!!!" Miri screamed, "APPLESAUCE!!!!!!"  This went on for some time as I tried to explain to her that we don't have applesauce in the house.  "APPLESAUCE!!!!!!" "APPLESAUCE!!!!"  "WAAAAAAA!!!!" Finally, Daddy was able to calm her down and she succumbed to eating her eggs.  I looked at the clock: 8:58am. Church starts at 9am.  We were going to be late...yet again.  I felt totally bummed and defeated.  What is my deal?!  Why can't we get out of this house on time?!

We piled the kids in the car and rushed to church.  On the way, Daddy realized he forgot a tie.  Chris has never forgotten a tie...and even if he did, there is almost always a back up tie in the car...but not today.  "Don't worry about it honey," I said..."What's important is that we are here...that we made it."  Chris wasn't too convinced...(he feels strongly about wearing his white shirt and tie to church).  "Maybe you'll find one in the lost and found, eh?" We laughed, but sure enough when we entered the church building, we couldn't help but notice the lost and found box in the corner of the lobby with an ugly tie hanging out of it.  Chris snagged it and put it on right before we entered the sacrament meeting.  We sat on the back row, bracing ourselves for what might lie ahead.   (Our girls tend to get a bit crazy trying to sit through a meeting reverently.)   Fortunately, the girls did pretty good today.  There were the usual wiggles and giggles, but nothing too disruptive.

The first speaker was a return missionary who served somewhere in the south...Georgia, maybe?  He said that the first thing we should know about the south, is that all the stereotypes about the south are completely true.  Haha.  That made me laugh. He then proceeded to give a beautiful talk about the apostasy, the restoration, and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.  My heart just sang.  Nothing brings the spirit more to a meeting than a simple talk on the pure, basic principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  No ramblings, no long stories or analogies...just pure, basic doctrine!  It was so refreshing!  This is why I love the gospel!  I know it is true.  I can't help but feel with all my heart that these things are true!  Jesus Christ is our Savior.  He established his church on the earth, built upon a foundation of apostles and prophets.  Joseph Smith did indeed see God the Father and his son Jesus Christ.  He was called to be a prophet, to bring back the true gospel of Jesus Christ!  How exciting is that folks?!  The spirit testified to me, once again, that these things are true.

The rest of the Sunday meetings were crazy, but such is to be expected when you are a primary teacher.  After our last primary class, we picked up our sweet girls from Sunbeams and Nursery, gave them hugs, praised their artwork, and made our way out the door.  We breathed a sigh of relief.  Phew!  We did it!  We made it through yet another Sunday.               

I read a talk given by Elder Henry B. Eyring last night, entitled: "Gifts of Love."  He said that the best gifts we can give to our children cannot be bought or wrapped or placed under a tree.  The best gifts are gifts of love, time, example.  I felt strongly that I needed to start writing a journal...that maybe, just maybe my children will read it someday and benefit from my feelings about the joys and struggles of life. I wish I could write more at the moment, but it's almost midnight and Daddy has returned home from his part-time cleaning job (making pennies...but every little bit counts). So, goodnight my sweeties!