Things I want to remember and am trying to forget.

First the things I would like to remember because they make me smile:
Last Thursday I had to take Brendan to the dentist for him to get some sealants in his molars to prevent cavities.  I hadn't prepped him that well this time to go to because last time he did so well (who wouldn't if you could just lay back in a chair and stare at a movie on the ceiling?)  So I just told him the morning of the appointment that we would be going to the dentist so that the dentist could make his teeth stronger.  His response was classic!
His eyes welled up with tears and his chin started to quiver as he choked up and asked, "But mom am I never going to be able to brush my teeth at night ever again?"  I just had to chuckle as I pulled him close to me and explained that he could continue to brush his teeth and that the dentist and mom and dad would really like it if he continued brushing his teeth.
Now something Brendan has asked me to try and forget:
Last night at dinner he asked me if yelling was a bad choice or a good choice.  I asked him what he thought it was and he said a bad choice.  I agreed and then he asked me "Well then why do you and dad yell every day?"  Ouch.  It really hurts when your kids call you out on something.  So I am trying to forget how to yell.  I really need to do better and usually I do pretty good at not yelling and speaking nicely to my children, but these past couple of days-I'll admit-have been pretty bad.  No tellin' why.  I can't even figure it out, but I have lost it one too many times for a while.  So Brendan and I made a deal.  I played his little game about trying to figure out if whining was a good choice or a bad choice and he guessed it was bad.  So if he can stop whining, I can stop yelling...wish me luck.
Next up:

Now we have instituted something new at our house.  We have been trying to hold regular Cleaning Parties!  A Party?  Yup.  We get our new timer out and set it for 15 minutes.  Then one of the kids get to choose an index card out of a bowl and figure out which room we get to go to.  We then make our way into that room and clean for 15 minutes.  We actually try to beat the timer.  When that 15 minutes is up, someone else gets to choose the next card and figure out which room we are headed to and we set the timer again and clean for only 15 minutes more.  I can usually get through 3 rooms with the kids and then they are distracted, but while they stay interested, they are so much help to me!  Even Lincoln.
One day I was just trying to tidy up quickly -not having declared that it was a Cleaning Party Day-and Brendan walks into the room.   He stops, looks at what I am doing and asks, "Hey mom, are you having a Cleaning Party without us?"
Loved it!
They soon had rags in their hands and were helping out...of course we had to get the timer out, though.  I have really enjoyed being able to work along side my kids.  They sure have made it fun and I appreciate all of their help and enthusiasm.
Next let's forget again:

I really don't know how she could be comfortable in this sleeping position, but when this girl crashes, she is gone.  More and more often she is crashing at about 5pm, sleeps until 7 or 8 and then wants to be awake until 1 or 2 in the morning!  I am trying to forget about how tired I am the next day after one of these crashes hits.  I really would like some help in this department because it really drives me crazy when she does this, but she is an absolute bear if I try to keep her awake...I know, I know, how could you ever be upset with a girl as pretty and cute as this?

Sleeping during the night has started to be quite the fiasco if you ask me.  3 days ago, all 5 of us ended up in the same bed in the morning.  Neil has promised a bigger bed after school is over.  That is what I look forward to these days.  Last night was better so maybe we are getting through this spat of sleepless nights.
Next something that the kids have remembered:

Now hopefully Neil will forgive be for posting such a flattering picture of him (one of the kids took it and it was the only one on the SD card that I have right now).  Last Friday I went out with girlfriends to a high school play.  One of the young women in our ward did an awesome job with her part!  But before I left, I made dinner for my cute family and then Neil said the blessing on the food.  Well, in the prayer he prayed that I would have a good time that night, but that I wouldn't be too crazy with my friends.  Well then I poured everyone a glass of water and Neil does this crazy thing where he pulls the pitcher of water way up high and then lets it fall into the cups.  The kids love it!  So that night, I tried to do it--and spilled some water and I said that I didn't need to be with friends in order to be crazy.  All of the kids thought I was crazy, though.
Well, days have passed and with Neil working in the ER right now he cannot be home for dinner and so I try and fly solo.  I tried to liven things up again the other night by pouring the water crazy...and spilled again.  Eliza said "Mom are you being too crazy again?"
It made me think of Neil and how much I miss all of the support and help that he is and that he has a way to always make things fun and helps us to laugh.  This is something that I really need to remember.  I love my husband!  I am proud of him for going to school so that he can spend more time with us in the future.
Next.

 

Lincoln is just so cute and at such a fun age.  He takes my mirror from me every morning when I do my hair...then I have to fight with him to get it back so that I can finish my hair.  Oh well.  This past weekend my baby became my toddler.  I finally broke down and gave him a hair cut.  The first haircut is always the hardest for me to give because it makes my babies grow up instantly.  But it was sorely needed and now he is just so cute.

I think that his favorite part of the haircut was being able to touch the clippers.  I wanted him to know that they wouldn't hurt him.  For the rest of the time all he wanted to do was touch them.  :)  But now he just looks so big and old and is ready to officially enter the nursery on Sunday!  YEAH!!!

He is just so cute...almost ready for school with a haircut like this.
And that about sums this catch-up post up.  Thanks to all of those faithful friends and family for reading all the way through this monstrous post.

Thank You Merrill Family

This past weekend we took a little trip up to the Seattle area because Neil was awarded a scholarship at the Washington Academy of Physician Assistants (WAPA) Conference.  He was awarded the Mike Merrill Scholarship in honor of a PA that passed away 3 years ago from cancer.  We got to meet his family: his mother, widowed wife, and long-time friend.  We sat at the same table as them and visited with them some.  What an honor it is to have Neil's name attached to his, in form of a scholarship.  Here are some pictures:

  

Before he passed away from a rare cancer, Mike Merrill practiced as a PA with a passion for emergency medicine.  Neil shares this same passion and we are very grateful and honored that he was able to receive this scholarship.  Congratulations Neil!

And to the Merrill Family, THANK YOU!!!

Pause

I am excited for this new year!  I can't believe that 2010 is here already.  Sometimes I wish that I could take just a little while and pause everything that is going on around me.  Wouldn't that be great?  The kids think that they can pause just about anything.  Today Eliza put her chips on pause so that she could come and help clean up her toys.  They have paused their playdough and even put their robots on pause.  See what the pause button on our DVR has done to my children?  Neil just asked me about 2 minutes before midnight if I could pause everything...has he become corrupted, too?  Just kidding.  What would I do if we could pause for a moment and take a look around.  I think that this is going to be my resolution for this upcoming year.  I would like to pause more often and take a look at my life and count all of the many blessings that I have.  I am happier when I can see them and I can see them more clearly when I pause for even 3 seconds each day.  :)

We got some snow today...lots of it and the kids got to go out and play with their Dad.  Lincoln didn't know what to think but Brendan loved it.  He said "Wha-hoo" every time he slid down the hill.  He is just such a boy and I love it.  Eliza just ate snow off her gloves the whole time.  She didn't like the sled at all.  Doesn't she just look so cute with her purple hat on.  Pink and purple are her favorite colors.  :)

I loved the festivities tonight.  We played Candyland and Squiggly Worms with the kids and then drank sparkling cider at 12 midnight hoosier time (9pm PST).  We figure that the 2 older kids were born there and as far as Brendan is concerned we are moving back there after Dad is done with school.  And they were super tired even at 9!  They are just so cute!

We are sad that we have to take the tree down tomorrow.  The kids don't want to take any of the Nativities down either.  This has been a good Christmas and New Year season.  Can't wait to see what next year has in store for us...Neil's graduation!!!!!! The countdown has begun!

How's this for street proselyting? and HARD WORK!

We love our kids to death. We appreciate them wanting to help when we go out to rake the leaves and do any of the cleaning up around the apartments. They just make me want to smile all of the time...well, most of the time!

Squishing water...that's AMAZING!

For lunch today I made the Sunday classic of grilled cheese and tomato soup.  I let Eliza help me flip the sandwiches and once we flipped it over she responded, “That was amazing!”  Apparently I am an impressive flipper.  Although I didn’t even know that “amazing” was a part of her vocabulary. 

While we were eating our Sunday classic, I finished before Eliza and she wanted some help, so she came and sat by me so I could help her.  In between her bites, I took a drink of water and was swishing it around in my mouth to rinse the food out.  I had a lot of water and so my cheeks were full.  Eliza saw my puffed cheeks and couldn’t help but squish them.  She quickly clapped my cheeks and water gushed out onto her.  She thought that was the funniest thing and I was thoroughly entertained also, so I let her keep doing it and Brendan had to get involved also.  They were just continually slapping my face waiting for water to spray, but I was laughing so hard at times I couldn’t keep my cheeks puffed out and they just kept on hitting waiting for something to happen.  It was very hard to not spray water out of my nose also during the laughing spells.  In the end we were all wet, but had some great fun.  Luckily Julia was asleep so we didn’t get into trouble.

Lincoln just keeps on getting into the drawers.  We are going to have to do something about our climber.

I have two weeks left of my summer break.  It has gone by so fast.  The only good thing about starting back up with school is that the sooner I start the sooner I finish.  And the sooner I get to draw a regular paycheck again.
-Neil  

Long time no blog...

A million things happened during the month of May...and I thought about blogging them...and never got around to it. So here is an update:

Brendan just got back from the Father and Son camp out this past weekend. It was the first time that he has gone and spent the night and he was pretty apprehensive about it all. When I got up the next morning I found his blanket sitting on the couch in our family room I was hoping that he survived the night ok. But he had a GREAT time and loved it. He did say that he missed me though and that makes me feel important. They went to Ensign Ranch (that famous one that we were stopped next to on our way to Maple Valley) and rode a horse, went in a canoe, went fishing, got to see a snake...all things boys and I heard that they threw lots of rocks-not at each other, but into the water. :) At family scripture study we have been letting the kids read a lot more. They love to repeat what we read, but lately Brendan has been wanting to read by himself. He tells us about the lions and zebras and everything else. What is funny about that is that we have been in the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi. Maybe he understands it better than us and is interpreting it into our language?

Eliza is such a beautiful princess. While Dad and Brendan were gone we got together with some friends and had a girls night with our girls (and baby boys, of course). We stayed up late talking about Fancy Nancy and eating chocolate cake at 10:00pm and scrapbooking...and just giggling! She is just so cute these days. Her eyes (which hid behind her hair most of the time) are such a deep, beautiful brown. I love looking into them. She has such the sense of humor, too. I can often find her in her room surrounded by books and reading one out loud. And if you interrupt her reading time she gets really upset. (She must be related to me because I am the same way when I get into a good book.) Her favorites are still Fancy Nancy and Curious George.  Sometimes she even falls asleep! I'm glad that she loves learning so much. The other day I was opening up the curtain in the morning and we get the bright morning sun through our windows in the morning. She said, "No, it's too shiny!" The sun was really bright but I don't know if she knows that word, yet. I don't know how she couldn't know that word because she has mastered so many others. It is fun to see her reading the scriptures and the hymnal at church. She will point out letters and gets so excited that she is recognizing them. I am pretty excited, too. Oh and something else is that she is on this kick where she wakes up and asks for Wheat Thins (specifically). I am ok with this as long as she doesn't go back to asking for chocolate pudding...Cwazy gwill! Favorite movie by far, right now, has to be Peter Pan. She loves it when they sing Following the Leader.

Lincoln is on all fours-no crawling yet, but I know that it is just around the corner! And he is eating solid foods now. When I say solid, I mean solid. He is anti spoon and it really is driving me crazy! I have made all of my own baby food with Brendan and Eliza and was all geared up to start with Lincoln (I have frozen mango cubes in the freezer) and he won't have anything to do with pureed stuff. He wants to grab something and put it in his mouth by himself or for me to put it in with my finger. He gags and throws up EVERYTHING else. This has been kind of hard for me...but I am learning-AGAIN-that every child is different and has their opinions about everything very early on. I love his giggle though. I find him laughing with the kids so much. They get a kick out of it, too. My heart has taken a picture a couple of times when I look at them playing together, giggling together, and communicating on their own level with each other. I really can feel a little bit of heaven in my home and that is a good feeling. It makes me feel like I am doing something right.

Neil is almost done with his classroom school year. We made a paper chain a couple of weeks ago and the kids love tearing one link off every day that he gets home. This is his last week of lectures and then next week is finals. YEAH! We are so proud of him. And he still finds time each week to go to his garage sales and get screaming deals! He has actually made some money reselling some things. The kids love to see what he brings home for them from the yard sales. I think that they think it is the coolest store or something. He is amazing and we are excited to honor him on Father's Day in a couple of weeks.

Life is good and we laugh a lot!

Valentine's Dinner

I have a good husband that made me this for Valentine's Day Dinner.

We shared it with our children, of course, but I didn't mind because we love them, too...and Neil did the dishes after it was over!

We hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day.

We love you!

True Love's Kiss

So I was helping Brendan get dressed this morning and went to put his shirt over his head. He stopped me and asked me to give him a kiss through the neck opening. I did this and then he pulled it down and couldn't wait to tell me as he was putting his arms in by himself that that was a "true love kiss."

Yes, Disney's Enchanted is not only one of Eliza's favorite, but Brendan's too. They both go around singing all of the songs. Grandma Bedke got it for Eliza and we watch it all the time. Neil hadn't watched it before Christmas. He finally sat down and watched it during his break and he can't get the cute songs out of his head either. The one that he has in his head "how does she know."

Well, Brendan you aren't my true love kiss...Daddy is. I DO love you though!
And to Neil...I know that you love me because of so many things. Mostly because you just accept me for me and you have given me the opportunity to be a mom...3 times in 3 years :) And you love our kids and they adore you. So that's how you can know.

Yesterday

5:00 am: Eliza asks for cereal and milk. I persuaded her to eat a sandwich instead and while she was eating PB and Honey she told me to go back to bed. She later joined us, butjust tossed and turned and was finally relaxing when Neil's alarm went off at 6:30. Eliza was up for the day but luckily I married a good mad who took care of her until he had to go to school. They even went to the store together. When I got up and found out what her hair looked like...I'm glad that no one here knows us.


Mid morning: Brendan and Eliza start getting into it and are yelling and screaming over some toy, I think. I call Brendan aside and start talking to him and suggest that he go and "Cool down on the couch for a minute." His response was classic--"But mom, I'm not hot right now." That just made me start laugh.


Right before lunch: Lincoln has a blow-out diaper. He doesn't have these very often, but lately they have become the norm. And it isn't that his diapers are too small. We just moved up a size. I guess we just need to work on his aim...I don't know.

Then during lunch Neil remembered to check in on me and tell me that he was coming home right after class instead of later. That one just made my day because he remembered that we were at home. Thanks hunny.

I wonder what today will bring. At least we got a better nights sleep and Eliza seems to be feeling a little better.

I love my family and what they teach me about every day.

The Third and Seventh

Ohhh...look at the fireworks...

Brendan's expression during our own fireworks show on July 3rd. We had to celebrate it one day early because Daddy was going to be working on the 4th. I had bought a small package of fireworks last year and we never set them off...we had to make sure that we used them this year for sure-even if it meant that we had to set them off a day early!
It was a good thing that we set ours off on the 3rd because it rained cats and dogs on the 4th of July. The city cancelled their fireworks show on the fourth and rescheduled it for the 7th. We were excited about this because Neil was able to take us to the park to watch them. We parked on the side of the road and waited for them to start. Brendan was more interested in the cars that kept on passing...even after the fireworks started. All he wanted to do was look out the window at the car headlights that were going by. It never ceases to amaze us at the simple things in life that are so fascinating to him.
The city put on quite a show--too bad that Brendan wasn't even interested. Hopefully he will discover the beauties of the not so simple things, too.

Looking out the car window...saw nothing...except headlights. But if I would have just turned my head, I would have been able to see...Happy Fourth of July!!!!

We are so grateful to all the men and women who serve and have served this great country in preserving our freedoms. May God continue to hear the prayers of the righteous upon this land and may we always remember the many blessings He has blessed us with. Especially the blessing of freedom to worship the way that our conscious dictates. God BLESS America!!!

Look at the surprise Eliza had waiting for us when we came into the living room. We just had to snap a picture of this because she was so proud of herself...can't you see it written all over her face?

The Father and Son Outing

Brendan and Neil were able to go to their first Father and Son Outing during this past week. I think that they had fun. Eliza and I sure did :0)

The Outing was on some property of our old Branch President. Some people pitched tents and spent the night, but Neil and Brendan came home after the evening's festivities. The night before the Father and Son, Brendan screamed uncontrollably for about an hour (it couldn't have been because he drank 1/2 of Neil's 44oz. slurpee for dinner). Neil told me that he didn't want to have to deal with that by himself in a tent. The way that Neil deals about things like that at home is just sleep through it...but he figured he would have to wake up if the screaming was only 2 feet from his ear. So we elected to not spend the night in a tent. They played games together and had fun with the men from the Branch and then came home to a nice bed. I don't know if Brendan will let Neil have the easy way out (coming home early) when he grows up a little bit more. He loves the outdoors too much.

Neil and Brendan a the Father and Son Outing
Men and boys from the New Castle Branch

UTAH

We just got back from an amazing vacation in Utah. We went out there to bless Eliza and for the Rugg family reunion (that is Neil's mom's family). We had a really nice time visiting with everyone...especially Brendan and Eliza...they got to know their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins and miss them terribly.

Eliza was named after her great-great-great-grandmothers on both sides of the family, Eliza Ann Barrett (Erickson side) and Eliza Dorcy Brian Kinghorn (Bedke side). She was blessed in the evening of the 27th of May, 2007. It was really nice because we were able to have Grandpa Paul Rugg talk a little bit about Eliza Ann Barrett and then Aunt Lorraine Midgley (Grandma Ruby Bedke's sister) talk about Eliza Dorcy Brian Kinghorn. After they shared a little bit about each of these ancestors, Eliza was blessed by her dad. It was so nice to be surrounded by so many family members. We know that Eliza is loved by so many people and we appreciate the support that was shown that night.

Her dress that she wore was made by her aunt Sarah Bedke. Jamie and Adam Bingham were able to come down from Rexburg, Idaho (right before Eliza's cousin Kaleb was born). Grandma and Grandpa Bedke weren't able to be there because they were in Japan visiting Anna Jones ( and the rest of the Jones family). We missed them, but knew that they were there in spirit.

Eliza loves talking to her dad. I know that they will be great friends

Brendan really had a lot of fun being the center of attention a lot of the time. Getting to know his cousins Trey and Tye was a cinch because they were so fun to play with. The day after we got home, I loaded the pictures on to our computer. Brendan saw me doing this and then saw a picture of Trey and Tye. His eyebrows went up, his eyes got big, a huge smile swept across his face and then he started laughing and clapping and ran over to be closer to them. I had to put one of those pictures as the wallpaper. Without fail, he gives the same reaction every time we turn on the computer now. I just wish that we were closer so that he could enjoy these relationships more. (I've written of Trey and Tye, but I should add that a pretty similar response happens when he sees Grandpa, Grandma, and all of his aunts and uncles.) He always tries to honk grandpa's nose and expects the "a-woooo-ga" sound to come out!
Here Brendan is standing on Grandpa Erickson's hands, being helped by aunts Nicole and Jamie and cheered on by everyone else!
Eliza got to meet her cousins on the Erickson side for the first time. She loved being held by each of them. Here, Tye is being a big helper and loving Eliza even before he got dressed for the day!

Chad was a good friend to Brendan and Eliza as well and got to spend a lot of time with them because he was off track from school.

For the Rugg Family Reunion, we camped at Heber Valley camp, Camp Sariah (in the same campground as last year.) Thank heaven for all of those built in family babysitters--that way it was a real vacation for mom and dad, too!
Oh, boy! Brendan loved camping!!!

Brendan absolutely loved playing outside everyday almost all of the day long. We don't have mountains anywhere close by in Indiana, so Brendan had to go and discover all of the neat things that Heavenly Father created for us! He wasn't timid about it either. First thing in the morning was to go and explore.
The service project was one of the highlights of our days up at camp. Everyone had a job to do, and did it well. The missionaries had a separate project for the little kids. They were to clear the small sticks and brush away from the cabins. Here, Brendan is helping clear a pretty big stick and is on his way to the stick pile. I was so impressed by all of the work that we got done, in such a short amount of time. Many hands can accomplish so much and I know that we are blessed when we work together.
Even Eliza had a great time camping, even though it was kind of cold and windy at times...nothing that a warm coat and blanket couldn't remedy though!
Dad was such a good sport in playing with Brendan at camp. They were good pals when it came time to look at the deer that walked through our camp, completing the challenge course, going on a walk, or scoring the winning point in a volleyball game.
What boy wouldn't like to play in the dirt or with sticks?
Camping with cousins is the best way to camp! Brendan beckoned to Amber to come and play with the rocks in front of the grown-up cabin.
And I guess he roped Troy into playing with more rocks.
Eliza was a good sport in dealing with the elements. I don't know what kind of pioneer mother I could have been...WOW!

We miss everyone so much. Know that you are always in our prayers and that we love you. We can't wait to see you in July when we get to come for Sara's wedding!