Toddler Whys

1. Why is it that I can spend two years teaching table manners and after one week of preschool she has forgotten it all?

2. Why does a toddler who is so tired have a tantrum for 3 hours?

3. Why don't toddlers want naps when I would love to have one?

4. Why does a toddler repeat herself over . . . and over . . . and over . . . and how in the world does she not annoy herself?

5. Why do toddlers like to carry a pile of things around the house?

6. Why are toddlers so obsessed about things . . . like princesses or ponies?

7. Why do toddlers know the word "no" and can't seem to learn how to say the word "yes?"

8. Why are toddlers so cute one minute and the next minute they make you want to pull out your hair?

9. Why do toddlers like to have the same story read to them over a million times until you can quote it from memory? (Annalee's current favorite story begins "Tom lost a tooth, Jim lost a tooth, Bob and Bill lost a tooth on the very same day. Everyone in Kara's class lost a tooth -- everyone except Kara.")

10. Why do toddlers make friends so easy . . . or rather, why can't adults make friends that easy? We could all go play pretend and be friends and life would be SO GOOD!

11. Why can toddlers sense when I am frustrated and just when I answer "WHAT?" for the five-hundredth time do they decide to say in the sweetest voice, "I love you, Momma."

12. Why is a toddler so much more creative than I am? I should have had more practice!

13. Why are toddlers so good at sensing when someone needs a hug?

14. Why do toddlers love the one movie that is the most annoying movie we have in the house?

15. Why do toddlers ask the hardest questions about life and death and people?

16. Why (on a good day) can toddlers laugh for ten minutes longer than an adult about one thing?

17. Why do toddlers insist on doing things by themself that they can't do?

18. Why do toddlers love the most unhealthy foods?

19. Why can toddlers have the power to break things labeled "unbreakable."

20. Why do toddlers have to be so stubborn!

Random Fun Kid Facts

• I think my name is "Hey, Mommy" and Jim's is "Hey, Daddy." The kids can't seem to start a sentence without saying one of those.

• Violatte told me she can't wait until she can get baptized when she is 8 years old.

• Annalee calls a helicopter a "Birdplane"

• Violatte told me she had a hurricane in her back (aka. a headache in her back -- or a backache)

• Violatte told me she misses Jesus and wants him to come visit our house

• Annalee sometimes snorts when she giggles -- it's the cutest snort ever!

• The other day Annalee and Violatte were playing pretend and Daddy was the bad guy (who was unaware he was the bad guy until he got ambushed by two lively toddlers) and Luke was the princess they rescued from the bad guy (poor Luke)

• Violatte said Trissa is a "Mommy Aunt" because she made her pick up her toys

• Annalee stands in the door of Trissa's room until Trissa picks her up and then Annalee falls asleep while Trissa holds her
  

• Luke loves gnawing on Trissa's arm (I think he's teething)

• The kids sometimes say they want to give us a kiss and when we're feeling all loved they give us a slurbur instead (blech!)

• When Jim and the kids were playing hide-and-go-seek, Jim would look for the kids and say "Where's Annalee" and she would jump out and say, "Here I am!"

• Both Violatte and Annalee like to "play" the piano and "sing" just like Mommy

• One of the young men that Jim works with in the Priest Quorum played hide-and-seek with the girls at the Father-Son campout and now Violatte blesses him in her prayers

• Violatte and Annalee like to go out and pick carrots from our garden

• Luke loves his tongue and if you make any face at him with your tongue you can usually get a good giggle from him
  

Luke

When I took Luke to his appointment last week these were his statistics:
Length: 24 1/2 inches long (50th percentile)
Weight: 11 pounds 4 ounces (25th percentile)
He is a really tall, thin little guy.

At his appointment they saw something that they thought was a hernia. Our pediatrician referred us to a pediatric surgeon because the only way to fix something like that is surgery. We were really worried about it.
So, the kids and I traveled the two and a half hours to Loma Linda and saw the doctor. The doctor told us that he doesn't have a hernia (thankfully) but just that he has a large hydrocele which should go away on its own within the next year.

Luke is the happiest little guy! He talks so much and he has the cutest smiles! He always seems to be smiling! The girls love talking to him. We sure love having him as part of our family!

This is a video of him eating some ice cream. It was funny to us because his reaction to it was so delayed. But, he loved it!



It's hard to get good pictures of him smiling because he is fascinated with the camera and just stares at it intently. This isn't the best picture of me, but we were lucky enough to catch him smiling and his smile is so cute in it I had to post it.

Bedtime Stories

Note for this Post: We rented the movie "Bedtime Stories" a couple of weeks ago. Since then the girls have wanted a story before bed every single night -- usually about mermaids. I thought that I would write one of them on here so we could remember how funny they were.



Once upon a time there were three beautiful mermaids named Violatte Mermaid, Annalee Mermaid, and Mommy Mermaid. There were also two handsome Mermen named Merman Daddy and Merman Luke. Well, it was the big day of the Mermaid olympics and all of them were competing against each other. The first event was the Race of the Rings of Fire (Dum, dum, DUUUMMM)! All three of the mermaids raced fast but they got singed just a little bit. The Mermen went slow and were safe. It was a tie! . . . but there couldn't be a tie . . . on to the next competition!!!

The next competition was a sea horse lassoing competition. However, since the sea horses swim so slowly (they actually do) the lassoing competition put the audience to sleep . . .

So! . . . (Dum, dum, dum) the next event was . . . (Do, do do doooo) a dance competition!!!!!!

and the music started. But no matter how hard the Mermaids and Mermen tried to dance they were terrible until . . . they each took a partner and danced together. Then they were all so good dancing the cha-cha that the audience cheered and everybody decided a tie was ok and so they all won the olympics and everybody was happy!
THE END

Mothers' Day

These are the reasons I get to celebrate Mothers' Day. I love them all so much and feel so grateful that I get to be their mother!

Also . . . Happy Mothers' Day to all you amazing women out there!

Happy Mothers' Day From Your Sons

I love this! It is so funny and reminds me so much of brothers. Enjoy!

Mothers' Day Picture

It's just what Mothers Do

This video clip is great!
Happy Mothers' Day to all the women