The Doll Dilemma

So, I really should be doing something productive right now, but I don't want to, so I thought I'd post a funny story that happened over the weekend. That's better than my children having clean clothes tomorrow, right?




Friday night around 8:30pm, I walk through our foyer area and glance quickly out the front window and see what looks like a small head looking in our window. Seeing as it was dark and I didn't have my glasses on, I tried to take another look without really "looking" because I was kind of freaked, and yes, it looked like a small child was looking in our living room window. I go tell Bud to take a closer look and he discovers there's a 3-foot doll outside, positioned to be looking in our living room. Bud opens the door, than slams it shut saying that there's another one right by the van. I look out the office window and there's this blonde doll with pigtails up against the car positioned like it's trying to open the sliding door. So now Bud and I are really freaked out and decide it's probably a prank, but what sicko would do something like this, and if it is a sicko, we should call the cops. So we do. After a friend came over to make sure there wasn't anyone in the front yard and there were no more dolls around, the cop comes to the door and says, "Yeah, I saw those dolls from the curb. I was hoping it wasn't about them, they're just weird." By that point I'm crying, the cop and Bud go around the whole house, don't see anything, and the cop takes the dolls away as "evidence" (imagine the evidence locker with weapons, drugs, contraband, and two dolls). Bud and I decide it best to head up to my parents house for the night and Saturday we cancelled our babysitter because we didn't want to be away from the kids, and that night everyone slept in our room on mats, and still by Sunday morning, even though we were pretty certain it was probably just a prank, we wanted to know for sure before letting our guard down. Well, after Sacrament meeting, Courtney Nielson and I are leaving and she asks me how my weekend was. I told her it was horrible, someone had left these dolls outside our windows, and she kind of laughs and says, "Uh-huh". I immediately sense she knows something and ask her if she did it and she laughs and tells me her whole family was in on it and the whole thing just blew wide open. Bud, Jeremiah, Courtney and myself were laughing hysterically (it was funny NOW). Court and Jer felt so bad, we felt dumb for overreacting, half the ward knew about it, and 20 minutes after church some of the young men tried to drop off a doll at the front door as a joke, but I caught them and told them to take it over to Courtney's, which they did.

So, Courtney and Jeremiah, watch out, because revenge is sweet, oh and I really hope Mya and Wynn weren't expecting to get those dolls back anytime soon because you'll have to make a call to Officer Johnson. :)

Super Saturday

It's been one of those great Saturdays where there's a lot to do, but it's all been pretty fun. We attended our caucus this morning (Go Mitt!), ran over to a Primary activity, had tractor rides (that is Bud's dad's baby right there), went to a birthday party, got the house and yard cleaned up, and hopefully Bud and I will be going on a date tonight. I didn't get a nap - that would've made it pretty nearly perfect, but maybe tomorrow...

So the boys sometimes scare me with how they mimick my discipline techniques. In the last half hour I've heard Jacob tell Jonah, "When I come back you better be cleaning up" and then Jonah tell Jake, "What did I just say?".


Speaking of mimickers, Elle is obsessed with putting makeup on like me. After a ruined outfit and many messed up makeup items, I've put them up high, but I still catch her doing it every now and then. And toothbrushes! My goodness that girl loves her toothpaste and toothbrushes. Doesn't matter whose it is, she loves to have one in her mouth.

Bad Mom Award

So, just about everyday there seems to come a point when I give myself "The Bad Mom" award. This one happened last week while I was in the middle of cutting the twin's and Elle's hair and Mae was sitting in the boppy next to me screaming her head off. It's just not a project I could stop in the middle of and hold her while doing. Then suddenly she was quiet and here's why...

Dad Had a Bad Day

Last Friday we were supposed to go to Arizona to see some friends. I spent the morning packing and then got a call from Bud that some deal didn't close and he was stuck at work for at least a few extra hours and we had to cancel the trip. Later that afternoon I asked Bud to pick the boys up from school since both girls had FINALLY fallen asleep. Well, unfortunately, he forgot, but luckily a friend of ours got the boys and brought them home. I was pretty upset, Bud was just sick about it and came right home. About an hour later the boys and I were reading "Hop on Pop" and found the perfect page for Bud.

Big Girls!

Well in the span of 24 hours, both Elle and Mae have taken monumental steps. Monday night (1/7) Elle came to me while I was feeding Mae and said "poopies". I thought she was just wanting me to change her, but I just had and knew there wasn't anything to change. So I asked her if she wanted to try in the bathroom and she said "yeah" and ran toward it. After awhile, I thought we'd have another failed attempt, but all of a sudden she did it. Now, I know this is utterly gross to some people (thus the "censored" photo), but to mothers, it's one of the best days of our life. Especially when you're changing two sets of diapers all the time! I know we still have a LONG way to go (she hasn't done it since), but for a 22 month-old, I'm pretty impressed.

Then yesterday (Tuesday 1/8), I was giving horsey rides to the three older kids while Mae laid on a blanket about 5 feet away. After everyone had had a turn, I look over and there's Mae on her belly looking at us! I squealed to the kids that she had rolled over and they said "Yea Mae!" and Mae smiled. First, I was so sad I missed it, but so excited too. Of course I spent the next hour with the video camera waiting to catch it on film and she didn't do it again, but we'll get it one of these days.

Campout

I saw these pictures and wanted to make sure I got the story in down on paper (computer). Bud had been telling the kids that we'd do a backyard campout for months. During the summer it was too hot, then it seemed every weekend we could do it, the weather didn't cooperate, so finally after months of nagging, Bud promised the boys we'd do it the first weekend in December. This happened to also coincide with putting up Christmas, so that Saturday was hectic and we were kind of hoping the boys would forget. Of course, children don't forget anything, so they begged to set up the tent and the sweet dad that Bud is, he went ahead and did it. We did it in the family room and lit a fire in the fireplace for the "campfire". We even had microwaved smores. Bud had planned on sleeping in the tent with just the twins, but Elle was not leaving her brothers to have all the fun. The boys fell asleep quickly but after catching Elle sitting on top of her brothers trying to get them to wake up and play a few times, we had to move her into her crib. Bud "forgot" to make it back to the tent before the boys woke up the next morning and they were not too pleased with him, but still had such a great time. Sometimes I forget how worth the effort it is to make your children happy.

Holiday Recap

The holidays were fantastic! We were able to go to Chicago for Thanksgiving to spend precious time with Nana and Pogger who will be home from their mission in 18 months. We cannot wait! The boys love Chicago, but loved most of all getting to see their Fontano cousins who live in Houston. The picture of the three boys was taken at the airport within 5 minutes of reuniting. It even snowed a little while we were there and since Elle had never seen snow and we knew all the kids would be excited, we got them all up to play for a little bit. Mae finally got to meet Nana and Pogger and seemed to bond quite quickly. It was a great week and we were sad to leave, especially knowing it would probably be about another 6 months until we see them again, but we are so grateful for all that Carol and Will are doing for the church and our family.

Christmas was low key - just the way I like it. We had lots of time with cousins here and Uncle Mark and Aunt Jenny came down for awhile too. Christmas morning was just wonderful, I think I like it better as a mom than I did as a kid. Elle seemed to get it this year and we pretty much haven't seen much of her since she got her little playhouse. I can't believe I was worried they may not have enough Christmas Eve. I think we may have overdone it again this year...

We had dinner with our dear friends, The Nielson's, New Year's Eve, but were still home by nine and in bed by about 10:30pm. I gave Bud a hard time about how boring we were not even staying up until midnight, but truth is, I like my sleep much more than watching a ball drop around a bunch of drunk people. : )

In December we also celebrated my 29th birthday and our 9th anniversary. December is definitely my favorite month, but it's a busy month! Every year I tell myself I'll plan ahead a little earlier next year... yeah right.

I can't believe it....

I can't believe I'm actually (finally?) doing this, but I wanted to set up this blog as a journal of my crazy life with four small children. At first I wondered how anyone has time, but then I remembered how often I check my email and why not just post a quick message if something notable happens that day? So here, we go. The posts will most likely be short and sweet, often interuppted, few and far between, but I'll give it a try.