Tru & ‘Liza


Tru & ‘Liza are becoming good friends. Tru picks up her toys up for her. He tells us when she cries. He tickles her. He kisses her head.

The other night at dinner Tru did something silly and Eliza burst out laughing. She doesn’t do that often. She gets in really silly-tired moods and Tru makes her laugh, laugh, laugh. I love it.

Today I went to check on Tru during his nap and he was sitting up in bed with Mr. Potato Head Glasses on. So much for sleeping – but it made me laugh. Then he started yelling to tell me that Liza was crying. Oh Tru.

See that last picture with Eliza putting her hand on Tru’s face. I love it. She loves to touch his hair and grab his ear and touch his face.

What cute little friends.

randoms for a Friday

Well… here we are… Friday.

~ Spent most of the day here with my mom, dad, and sister Mary.
My dad went in to see how his heart is doing and possibly have a stent put in. The procedure was quickie (yay!)… which meant no stent.(boo!) He’s “Okay” but not okay… ya know. We’re so blessed to have such an AWESOME mom and dad. We’ll see what happens this week talking with the doc and surgeon (who looks an awful lot like Kramer – only from India.)

~ Passed a Costa Vida on the drive home. I sure was famished so I stopped for a late lunch. After talking with the doctor’s about clogged arteries, I thought a bit more about what food I put into my body. Taste & hunger won & I got got sweet pork deep dive nachos. There may be nothing healthy about those, but they were good. Had some dark chocolate for dessert. I might need to work on my diet.

~ Came home to a Tru who had just woken. He welcomed me with a poopy diaper. Ah – greetings sweet child. Lizzy went down for a nap just as I came home… when she woke, she greeted me with a poopy diaper. Such is my life. Max said, “I just weally missed you mommy.” I think Jimmy is super dad. When I called him from the hospital he had gone to get a Papa Murphy’s (we make it… you bake it!) early in the day and took the kids to Booger King. He’s nice like that.

~ Helped Hannah clean out her room. She had a feast under her bed… corn nuts, fishies, gatorade. I told her she needed to sort through stuffed animals and give away half of them. I told her she could take pictures of special things that needed a new home. She cried. But now she has room for books on her shelf (and she still got to save the most special things). I threw loads of garbage away. We’re half done. Things are lightening up in there… not so ‘heavy’ a feeling of clutter. And she enjoys that … no more tears.

~ Jimmy sees our room as I see Hannah’s room – hideous. It’s somewhat true. Maybe I should teach my children to be organized by example. Oh – but I used to be organized back when I had 2 kiddos. Then we moved… and had 3 babies. If I could get on top of it and find a home-sweet-home for every item in my house, then we could move forward (and wouldn’t that be a fine example for my tots). I might need to do the 40 bags in 40 days with Miss Clover Lane. “Keep a visual in mind. How do you want your house to look?”

~ Love this quote and need to stop speeding my life up and filling it up with busy-ness…

~ Tucked Tru into bed. Usually Jimmy does Max & I do Tru. Anyhoo… Tru is good about things as long as they are his idea. He always says, “Prayer First”. So we pray. Then he snuggles into his bed (don’t rush him). He grabs the tag on his blanket (the brown blanket, that is… not the white). Then he says, “awwwww… beam” Now, he has a very specific order in which he wants the songs. But if you just head into the next song on the list… he stops you and picks a different song… just so he can be in charge (isn’t he so 2!?). Then he goes back to the normal routine so you have to sing that other song again. So… since it really doesn’t matter so much, I let him take the lead (gosh – am I a bad parent to not hold the reins on this?)… So this is the order… “beam,” “Popcorn”, “temple”, “God”, “mission”. Then he decides if he’ll give me a kiss. And I ask him if he wants the door open or closed. Ever since we let him keep it open, he stays in his bed. Anyhoo… just a random about Tru.

~ It’s a little odd… but we hardly dare take our entire family anywhere (mostly due to Truman). Like – we didn’t want to take everyone to Abe’s Blue & Gold Banquet this week. The odd part is that we decided that it would be a good idea to pull the kids out of school & take the fam to spend a week with Jimmy at a conference. I guess we’ll see how that goes in March – may be interesting.

~ Today Hannah said, “Mom, what do you think my husband will be like?” (remember how she’s 9!). I said, “Oh, I bet he’ll be so good… a righteous priesthood holder who will take you to the temple, and obey God, and be good to you.” “Oh, mom… like what will he be like?” “Oh, I’m sure he’ll be cute.” “Oh, mom.”

~ Then Abe said, … oh crumb… what did he say? It was so random and funny.

~ It’s 4 in the morning & I’m up with Lizzy. She’s practicing baby babbling. I’m tired. True Story.

~ Speaking of slowing down (up a few bullet points – eh)… Just thought of a few messages I need to act on:

“Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world’s goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord’s kingdom for the next 50 years. That is influence; that is power. (Julie B. Beck – October 2007)

“There was a time when I needed to prioritize, and in one of those sacred meetings between me and the Lord, He gave me three categories that I have worked from, and they have been a guide in my life. The categories are the essential things, the necessary things, and the nice-to-do things.” (Julie B. Beck – BYU Women’s Conference – 2010)

Good. Better. Best. “We have to forego some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families.” (Dallin H. Oaks – 2007 Conf.)

It’s just that the more things that get piled into my life, the faster I think I need to go to get things done (things that need to be done & things I want to do)… but yah… we can’t do it all… we have to choose. sigh…

~ Since starting this blog post I made a decision that I will do the 40 bags in 40 days. I WILL! Last night I was feeling grumpy so I went through my stinkin’ closet and bagged up 2 full garbage sacks of clothes to give to D.I. Very honestly… there was a dress from Ricks College … let’s see… that was 16 years ago. Yes, it’s a lovely dress… but I can’t imagine that I’ll wear it if I haven’t put it on in 10 years. Really Heather? 40 bags… 40 days. We’re on our way.

~ I remembered this quote that my mom used to teach us. I quote it to my kids sometimes… they love it when I do stuff like that. hardy-har-har!

~ Started this post on Friday evening…. updated in the middle of the night with zuzu… and finished it Saturday Morn. There we go. Off to do Saturday work.

randoms on a Thursday

~ This pretty much made me laugh.

~ Yesterday Miss Hannah thought she was too sick (with a cold) to go to school… that is until I mentioned that she would be spending the day cleaning her room (which is super hideous at the present)… about 5 minutes later she decided she wasn’t sick enough to stay home. Alrighty then!

~ After school I asked Miss Hannah to empty the dishwasher. She suddenly felt so sick… that is until I offered her some cinnamon rolls. “You mean if I empty the dishwasher I can have a cinnamon roll?” “Yes.” “Well, I’ll get to work. I guess I just needed a little motivation.” Ya think? She is getting to that age. Oh boy.

~ I love 4-year-old boys. They will come and snuggle on the couch with you… and they don’t mind if you haven’t showered in 2 days. I laid down yesterday for a rest and Max curled up by me, “I wuv you so much mom.”

~ Zuzu is 6 months old. Can you even believe it?She thinks she needs to be held all the time. And having no muscle to support herself, you can imagine that my weary back is having conniptions over it. Oh – but I love her.

~ Would you like to hear her singing? Here’s a video for you:

~ Truman. I’ve been feeding him oatmeal before bed in hopes that he’ll sleep through the night. It’s worked a few nights in a row. This kid is our lightest sleeper ever. He used to sleep through the night (until Lizzy was born or something like that). He’s had a rough few months of horrible behavior, but I see a light. It’s a faint light, but we are making slow progress with him. We’re working on using words to express feelings instead of screaming and hitting and such. S.L.O.W. But still… it’s progress.

~ Abe made 3 baskets in his game tonight. Rock on! “Best game ever” he said.

~ Sometimes I think I’m missing a child. 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5. Nope… got them all. What does this mean? Another babe? I’m losing my mind and can’t keep track of the 5 I have? I’ve been wondering for years how to interpret this feeling. I thought it would go away after having ZuZu. She was meant to be, I know. Sigh… 5 c-sections, high blood pressure, major scar tissue, old age, weary body… not sure what to think. Way too much info… sorry.

~ Went on a walk today. Bundled Liza up in her snow suit. Tru hopped right in the stroller. Sunshine is good for that boy. He’ll be much happier when summer comes. Liza doesn’t know what to do about sunshine. She doesn’t know what it is and she cries. Getting out… good for our souls. P.S. Can you believe how different Truman & Eliza look?

~ Made Apple Dumplings… really tasty. Also enjoyed Stir Fry with loads of veggies for dinner.

~ My dad is having an Angioplasty procedure tomorrow. We’re all a little nervous. We sure love our pops. Wishing… hoping… praying… for the very, very best.

~ I think I was placed in my calling not for all I could contribute as a leader… but because I need to learn so much. This week I’ve learned a lot. Sometimes I know all that I do wrong and where I error… and am still figuring out how to correct things. We’ll get it… hopefully. This week I remembered to delegate. Yes, it’s a good thing.

~ Another Funny Mormonad…

Valentine Cards 2012

I’m afraid I was kind of a poo-poo about Valentine Cards this year. Hannah found all sorts of glorious ideas online that she wanted to do. They required going to the craft store and I wasn’t up for all that jazz this week. I convinced the kids to do homemade digital and they could help design it. They were okay with that. I’m not sure about the entire Moustache thing… especially for Miss Hannah… but the kids thought it was hilarious. Oh well. As for the homemade envelopes… it was a “Make do … use it up” thing since we were out of white envelopes and I had oodles of paper from the last 10 years. The kids now think we should do it every year. Sigh… More later on V-day 2012.

JUST ONE MORE… at least for this week

I’m sorry, but Max was just too funny this week.
(well… and he sure cried a lot this week… but we’ll focus on the positive – eh).

This is what he said as we drove to Hannah’s basketball game this morning.

It’s a follow-up from his “Toomario the sun might come out” statement.
I’m glad he’s
LOOKING UP!

Yes, we’ll keep him.

the only sweetie in the whole entire world

today i called max sweetie.
“i am not sweetie.”
then he continues and says this:

This is combo of all he said. Cute boy.

too-mario

you know… i love max. well, i definitely love all my kids, but i do think 4-year-olds are about the funniest people on the planet because they are still so innocent.

so yesterday we drove zuzu to the doctor. on the drive, max said this:

i love that he calls TOMORROW = toomario. Too much Super Mario I guess.

And I love that he commented on the sun. He knew it was cloudy and dreary i guess.

And I love that he said that the sun might come out tomorrow… kind of Annie like.

Today he had a Valentine’s Party with some friends. He could hardly contain his excitement. We put it on the calendar like 5 days ago. And every day we taught him about yesterday-today-tomorrow. He still calls anything before the previous moment yesterday. So we said in 5 sleeps, it would be his party. So he’s getting it. And boy-howdy was he excited for the party. He showered all by himself. He quickly got dressed. He put together his Toy Story valentine’s with Circle Treats (York Peppermint Patties). It was so cute.

Next year Max will go to preschool. It will be good for him. I need to teach him more now. Get to work Heath!

Anyhoo… love our Max.

in the still of the night

this is the kind of stuff i work on when i am up with lizzy in the still of the night.this one is for max. sometimes when he is sad & thinks a task at hand is too hard (like eating a bite of that icky dinner), the family starts cheering for max: “you can do it. you can do it. you can do it!” Usually by the end, he’s all smiles & at least makes an effort. i love when siblings encourage one another.

speaking of siblings… i think tru gave lizzy one too many loves & kisses; he shared his cold & cough with her. poor little girlie is snoggy. she wants to be held. hence jimmmy staying up till 12:30 trying to calm her… and me getting up with fussy zu-zu at 1:30. i hope she’ll decide to breathe calmly & sleep in her bed all comfy-cozy-like. feel better lizzy. you can do it. you can do it. you can do it.

Our weekend.

This is not nearly as exciting to others, but little Eliza finally showed her tooth… and it happened to be right when I was taking a picture. See that wee little tooth on the bottom right. Are you dying about the bow? Ok – sorry ’bout that ‘Liza. I gave it a try, but it’s a bit thick. We’ll try again some other day.

Our weekend.

Hannah almost made a basket in her game on Saturday. Jimmy did laundry on Saturday… while I was at the funeral.

Our R.S. was in charge of the funeral luncheon. It gets tricky when you think 30 people will be there… 60 show up to eat… and some of the food never showed. What I loved was that the sisters who came to help just worked and worked and washed those dishes. We tidied much faster than we anticipated. Sunday morning my feet were swollen from standing so much. We learned a lot and will do things differently next time (I hope there isn’t a next time… as in – a funeral in our ward).

Sunday. Early Morn Meetings. Missed my ‘Liza. So glad to see the barnlings arrive with Jimmy. Hannah knelt down on the floor and cried into my lap. She didn’t have the best morn. Abe hurt her feelings… Well, it seems everyone hurt her feelings. She is a girlie. Tru yelled, “Mommy! Hi Mom…” right in the middle of the opening prayer. Awe-some.

Had a nice R.S. Lesson on Prayer. I loved this quote shared by our teacher, our 1st Counselor. (made by Ryan)

This week I have been thinking about the Spirit of Revelation… Inspiration from the Holy Ghost. I realized that the Holy Ghost speaks way more often than I’m listening. I’ve been trying to “listen to the still small voice… listen… listen.” It’s really interesting how things turn out when you follow-through on a thought. I need to do that more often.

Visited Wendi & Zachariah up at Primary Children’s. He’s a cute little fellow. I can’t believe Eliza was once that small… 7 lbs. She’s such a chub now. We sure hope the best for Zach & that he’ll be able to come home soon – all healthy and well.

Had a nice visit with mom and dad. I feel like I haven’t seen them in forever. And when I do see them, we are wrangling tots. It was nice and quiet and calm at their house. I decided I needed to stay there for 24 hours to rest up for my life. But alas… I came home to my love Jimmy who had been parenting the tots all day while I was out and about. He is very supportive of me when I have to be gone to so many meetings for my calling. I hope I can be that supportive of him someday when he is gone for many moons to many meetings.

Onto Monday… and the rest of the week.

celebrating the HAPPY

this is the HAPPY sunrise we spotted yesterday morning as the kids left for school.

this is ‘liza on Sunday. This is a funny photo of her. She was spitting all day – like a lot. Here she is about to blow a big raspberry.

this was ‘liza yesterday. In the morning I discovered her first tooth was about to break through. I had no idea. We weren’t expecting teeth this soon. Most of our other kids cut their first tooth at 9 months. It was an exciting day for ‘Liza… well, exciting for us. She was fussy.

this was ‘liza today. Doesn’t that look like a teething baby? Her first tooth broke through (it’s so cute!)… and the second is on it’s way. I can’t believe she has a tooth… isn’t she still my newborn? She’s growing up too fast. S.l.o.w  d.o.w.n  TIME, please.

remember when she used to look like this:

this is a snapshot video of our afternoon. Truman especially likes Wonder Pets on Netflix. I love that Max still says serious with a w. He’s a chum.

abe made a basket at his basketball game tonight. I’m seeing real progress in his skills. He’s been jumping to block shots. His dribbling skills have improved. I think he’s a little more confident on the court so he’s a little more assertive in trying to get the ball. Overall, it’s a good thing.

hannah read 1 Nephi in 2 days. What? I don’t know if I’ve ever done that. I encouraged her to read more out of the scriptures since she is spending so much time reading for the Jazz Read-a-thon. I want her to know we value the scriptures. I told her that I’d take her out to dinner when she finished the Book of Mormon. She thought she had to finish it by the end of the read-a-thon – like in a month… so she was cruising. Go Hannah! We’ll see how 2nd Nephi goes. I told her to keep a goin’ through Isaiah.

happy … talking with dear friends … they understand … the budget… the kids… the expectations & pressures… they build and strengthen me.

as I dozed to sleep last night, How Firm a Foundation was going through my mind. “I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand.” I do not think it was a coincidence that the Holy Ghost sent those words to my mind… and heart.

really, really, really enjoyed the music & painting classes at our R.S. activity last night. I’m sure I’ll write more later, but overall… I felt like being a better mom… to teach the gospel through music… to be more INTENTIONAL as a mother. Have a purpose to the day, follow through… go forward. I stunk at that today… but I’m encouraged nonetheless.

p.s. just so it’s noted for the record… the major 2-year-old fit tru threw today for an hour was NOT happy. In fact, he cried… I cried… Eliza cried (poor dearie gets so scared when he screams). It was not good. Hence… celebrating the other happy things going on today.

p.p.s. why does weary rhyme with cheery?

p.p.p.s. darling happy colors from etsy… sorry i don’t have linkies.