Pizza Thief Epilogue

i guess derek talked to guy and got some more details. he said the woman told the officer that she is schizophrenic and when they went to the husband, he wasn't working at the behavioral health center, he was being treated there. i guess he had some sort of breakdown or something. i just want to know, who's monitoring the wife while he's "resting". anyway, i told the story the way derek said it was and then found out these other little tidbits. mental health isn't funny, but the whole situation still kinda is.

Pizza Thief

so, derek wanted me to blog about this lady today. he wasn't at work, but some lady called and ordered pizza for delivery. derek's employee went to the house and gave the lady her pizza and she slammed the door before paying. the employee, "young guy", called derek and was told to call the lady's number and if tell her if she didn't pay for her pizza then he would call the police. when she answered the phone she said that she didn't have the money right then, but would pay for the pizza on friday. he said he wouldn't wait for payment and she hung up so "guy" called the police. an officer came and cuffed the lady and put her in his patrol car and drove, with guy following, to the lady's husband at his work. the policeman told the husband that if he didn't pay $20 that his wife was gonna go to jail. lucky for her, the husband had the money. good tip for guy since the bill was only about $11 dollars so he got nine extra dollars. some people are just dumb. she shouldn't have ordered the pizza if she didn't have the money. if she realized she didn't have the money after she ordered she should have either called and cancelled the order or told guy at the door that she couldn't pay for it. i just don't understand how somebody could be so dishonest as to steal a pizza that was cheap to begin with.

Xmas Morning

so, sasarh told me that i hadn't told about xmas morning yet. xmas eve we went to derek's brother's house for his b-day and had fun and then came home. while i was waiting for the kids to fall asleep i nodded off on the couch. derek woke me up after he had taken the kids to bed.

i set up the train track and got all the presents and put them under the tree

i filled the stockings

and then i went to bed. i woke up around 7:30 am and waited for the kids to get up. emmy woke up first and i sent her to wake up andrew and daddy. i started the train and the kids came out and opened their presents. we didn't do it in any special order or anything. it was a nice morning.

oh, and don't worry, they got lots of presents at their g-parents house also, so they got more than three presents each.

Well...

it certainly was an eventful day. yesterday morning derek's parents called and asked if we could go to their house and get things started, as far as breakfast and fire, because derek's dad was going to the ER. his leg was hurting and it turns out he had another blood clot, just as was suspected. well, they came back a few hours later and we got on with the festivities. we had a really nice Christmas (Xmas) and had a good prime rib dinner, courtesy of charlie. after all was said and done, we were ready to head home at about nine o'clock in the evening. we got andrew into his boots and coat and got him zipped up and told him to go say goodbye to everyone. on the way to the couch he tripped and fell, hitting his head on the coffee table. my poor little guy started bleeding really bad and we took him to the ER for stitches. then we saw nursemom up on the thirdfloor and she heard the whole story. andrew is doing fine. as long as he doesn't act drunk or confused in the next few weeks, he should be okay, and he can get his stitches out on tuesday.

Christmas Eve!

well, tonight is the night. i need to get my kids to bed and then i can get out all the presents and set them up and fill the stockings and set them out. all the preparations have gone toward tomorrow morning. so exciting!

Our Tree

well, i'm finally putting pictures up of our tree. it's six feet tall and derek picked out the lights and star.

the star blinks from green to blue about once every second

here's a closer picture of the tree so you can see the bows and balls better. the bows are just ribbon and the balls are just gathered glittered tulle. i like that i have nothing breakable on the tree.
i am really happy with how it turned out. maybe next year i will get some kind of beaded garland, like gold or winter white, or something. anyway, i really like my tree. it's simplistic and sweet.

It's Christmas Time in the City

so i got my ornaments, but i still feel like there is something missing from my tree. maybe i need some candy canes or garland or something. hmmm, i'll have to think about that. anyway, things are going fine. we're getting stuff together for christmas. i think that i may attempt to make my own pajamas for christmas. see, we have a tradition that we get new pajamas to wear on christmas eve and then we already have them on on christmas morning. i just really love christmas. i love wrapping the gifts and decorating the tree and all. i just really love it.

A Work in Progress

so derek had the day off yesterday and we went to the store. (in this story, "the store" means wal*mart) i wanted to show derek the Christmas trees. we had seen some at Costco earlier, but they were like $100! yeah right, i'm gonna pay that for a tree! we found one at "wal*marts" for $20. now that's more like it. so...we got it. then we had to get lights and a star for the top. personally i don't like blinking lights and angels on top are not for me, so those were both out. derek wanted colored lights and he picked out a star that blinks green and blue alternately. i wanted white lights and just a metal star. we went with derek's choices. i figured since he was being such a good sport about the whole thing i should let him pick out some of the stuff. now i just need to get ornaments. i also think i want to get some red and green ribbons and tie them on in lieu of tinsel or garland. when i'm all done i'll take pictures. the nice thing is that the tree is small enough around i only had to do minimal rearranging. basically i just shoved my big chair about six inches one way. now the tree is in the living room between the chair and couch. i still need to get the stockings somewhere...

Christmas is coming!

can't believe it's december already! so crazy! anyway, now that that's out of the way- so excited for Xmas. that's right, i said Xmas. i'm not afraid of shortening it. once i said that to someone and they acted all offended, like i took Christ out of it. well, X is an acceptable form of Christ. don't believe me? check it out http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/xmasabbr.asp here. i really like this snopes.com place. they tell me all sorts of things and they are for real. i check out all suspicious emails here. a bil and his wife are constantly sending me things that say they are "for real, i checked it out on snopes" but really, i go and check it out and it's false. anyway, Xmas is easier for me to right.
back to the original topic- i so love Christmas time. i want to get a tree this year. we've never had one before and i think the kids are old enough to not bother it too much. i also made stockings for us all this year. once i get them ironed and hung up i will include pictures. of course i will ask my dad to help with the hanging up part. my mom tried to explain to me how to do it, but it just sounded complicated. why not have someone who knows what they are doing do it instead of me ruining stuff. i want hooks installed under the overhang of my half wall. i don't have a drill, wouldn't know what size hook to get, and would probably just hurt the kids in the process. anyway, i'll have to rearrange my apartment a little bit. my mil says that i should take my chair out of the living room and put the tree in front of the sliding glass door. that opinion is also shared by a sil. i think instead that i will turn my dining table and put the tree in front of that window. of course i first have to get a tree. i went and looked at some the other day, but they were too expensive. my mil said she would make me some ornaments, so all i would need it some ribbon and lights. not much. anyway, needless to say, i'm wanting to really "do" chrismas this year. well, gotta go clean up the house so i can make a fabric wreath, bye bye!

pictures of vegas

so i finally got some pictures from my vegas trip onto my computer. we saw lots of neat buildings and architecture.

the eiffel tower

leo the lion

the statue of liberty

and the strip

we had a really fun time. i'll have some more fun pictures on my myspace page for those of you interested.

people bashing

so i went to church yesterday and there was a new lady there. i didn't talk to her because
1. i didn't even know she was there till they pointed her out in the room and she was about 4 rows back, and
2. when i had the chance i was so busy getting my roles back from primary and young women's.
anyway, i don't even know her name. i'm sure she said it, because she said something which i apparently wasn't listening to because then she says how glad she is that we understand big words in this ward. apparently (according to her) the ward in the south that she went to before couldn't understand big words. now i don't know what big words were said that we understood, but it was just really awkward. so the rs pres just said "okay" and started going on with her announcements. now i'm not saying that my ward is super smart, but i would never want to call another ward stupid. i was totally blown away by this woman's ward bashing. i guess she feels that it doesn't matter because she lives so far away from there and they are never gonnna know what she said, but really. let's be nice to people who can't defend themselves. of course, maybe i'm doing just that, but at least i'm directing it at one person and not generalizing a whole group of people.

condensed vegas trip deets

well, we're back home now. the kids are clinging to us. it's nice. i thought that emmy would be really mad at us and not talk to us or look at us. i've seen her do that with other people, so i was a little worried. andrew had no problem welcoming us back. it's nice to be home in familiar surroundings and people and away from all the business of las vegas. we had fun. we went to the bellagio because that's where the convention was. i didn't go to the classes and at one point i just sat in a chair fro about an hour or so by myself. tony finagled a badge for me so that i was able to go to the vendor expo and we were fed buffet style, plus vendors had samplas and there was an open bar. needless to say, i had lots of cranberry juice and sprite. there were even magicians who would come to the tables and do slight of hand for us at our tables. one guy was so good! he asked me what my favorite card was and i told him queen of clubs. apparently he knew we were going to meet and what card i would say was my favorite since he had the queen of clubs in his wallet. later he made a mistake we thought when derek picked the ten of diamonds out of the deck. the magician pulled a three of diamonds partway out of his pocket. i felt bad for him because we had messed up. derek told him it was the wrong card and the man asked what card derek had pulled. then he started to pull the card more out of his pocket and it just kept going till there were ten diamonds on it and the number ten at the bottom. then he pulled out a huge ten of diamonds card. it was awesome! we are all blown away. he was really good. he was even lighting things on fire and he turned a bunch of loose pearls into a poodle. anyway, the next day they had breakfast, lunch, and dinner provided for us. they were really good meals. yesterday was our last day in vegas and we just played around. we went on a spongebob ride and a roller coaster and watched acrobats at the circus circus, and then we went to the new york new york and tony and michelle went on the roller coaster there. we also went to the mgm and ate at the rainforest café. i'd never been to one of those before, but it was really neat. afterwards we spent about an hour in the gift shop there. then we went to the m&m store. it had 4 stories! more m&m stuff than i'd ever seen! anyway, we had fun. we got home today and the kids were really glad to see us.

what happens in vegas should be happening to you!

so i'm in vegas and i'm having fun. derek is in a class right now and i get to play around the town and on the internet. ha ha ha. he's stuck on some hard chairs for three hours. anyway, we're here for some convention that his boss said he had to come to. we are here with derek's boss and her husband. actually i'm with "the boss" and we are gonna go run around some more. i gotta go!

the parking spot

last night a guy who looked like a teenager came to my door and asked me if my mom or dad was here. i just had to smile and then he realized his mistake and asked me if i could move my car. we had parked in his friend's spot since someone was in our spot. usually we don't park in our spot since it's farther away from our apartment than visitor parking, but it was raining last night when we got home. so i threw on a jacket and moved the car to visitor parking. i think whoever parks in our spot just thinks that it's nobody's since we never park there. i think we've used it once and i know that my parents used it once. i would only want covered parking when it's raining or snowing so this winter i'll probably have to start leaving notes on people's cars telling them to get the heck out of my spot. anyway, i didn't want to just rant. the silver lining of the tale is that a teenager thought that i was a teenager, and my address is not 21 jump st. i just think that it's funny to be thought of as younger. not that i'm old, but i'm 28. high school was ten years ago, college was 6. sometimes people at church think that i'm younger than i am. i have small children so that may be part of it, but i just got started late. well, late for a mormon girl. at age 22 i was convinced i would forever be a spinster. a year later i was married and a year and a half after that i had my first child. i was almost 25. that's old to be starting out. well, in my opinion. sometimes i think about my mom when she was my age. when my mom was my age she had seven kids already. i can't even imagine that, but she started young. one time we were playing a game at a party for my dad and we had to tell two truths and one lie. mom told two truths and then said that she was married at age 20. well, one lady said that had to be the lie because she knew that mom was older then 20 when she got married. she knew it. i just had to smile and laugh because that was the lie, but mom was 19 when she was married, not older than 20. i don't know why that lady thought that mom was older, but i guess she wasn't thinking. did she know that mom had 7 kids and that i am the youngest? did she know how old i was? how old did she think mom was now? anyway, it was funny. that was back in july, since it was a party for my dad's birthday.

Halloween

so we had a fun time trick or treating. we went to the ward trunk or treat last saturday and then this past friday we went out trick or treating. it was fun, but my legs are still sore from all the walking that we did. i am not used to walking that much, but it was nice to do. anyway, i'll be putting some pictures on my myspace account soon, so my friends can see what we looked like. derek even wore his costume long enough to get his picture taken.

five years together

so derek done did good. he got me a butterfly necklace for our anniversary. i'd show a picture, but i can't get any to come out right. basically it's a silver butterfly with crushed diamonds on it. everytime i take a picture the flash gets on the diamonds and all you see is a mass of light. when i turn the flash off you can't see any detail at all, it just looks hazy. maybe when i'm out today i'll get a better picture and post it. so our plan is to go to lunch together for our anniversary. my dad said that he and my mom would probably take our kids for us during that time. it should be nice.

quoting movies

i like to quote movies a lot. today i read my sister in law's blog and it said that she was a smarty pants. so i commented to her and i asked how pants could be smart. well, i reminded me of a movie line where a young "girl" asks how an airport can be wrong when her dad says maybe they're at the wrong airport. that part always cracks me up. points to anyone who can guess the movie. here's the quote:
daddy- maybe we're at the wrong airport.
marie- but how can an airport be wrong...?
i bet nobody gets it. it's too obscure, with too narrow of a target audience. maybe i'll give it away later.
anyway, derek and i do this movie-quoting all the time. it's great when the quote totally fits the situation. on the season premiere of snl there was a skit where a waiter kept talking about how it smelled like pepper in the restaurant. well, a couple days later we were at derek's parents house and one of my sil's said "why do i smell pepper?" i just about died and nobody knew why i was laughing so hard until derek finally figured it out, and chuckled. then we explained the skit. i know that snl is not technically a movie, but it's still nice to quote. one thing that my bil has said to me a few times is "keep it secret. keep it safe." all you tolkien fans ought to know that one. anyway, what are some of your favorite quotes? let me know.

a liger, bred for it's skills in magic

so we're watching napoleon dynamite. it one of the only movies that derek and i can agree on to watch. we love this movie. it is so funny. the first time i saw it derek thought it was so dumb. i immediately watched it a second time and derek started quoting and chuckling. i think that some things just need to grow on him. anyway, we really like that movie. the other day he said something about a bodaggit. i forgot about when napoleon calls uncle rico that. it was really funny.

braggin'

just a little story to brag about emmy. yesterday during sacrament meeting she was standing in front of the pew and playing, but when we started singing she would stop what she was doing and start waving her arms like she was directing the music. she wasn't on the right beat, but she was on beat. like she didn't go down on the down beat, but she was keeping the right time. i knew that the ladies behind her were chuckling and thinking that she was so cute, but i didn't know who it was because i didn't want to turn around and stare during sacrament meeting. so, anyway, when we got to relief society it was a combined meeting since it was ward conference and the stake relief society president stands up to talk and she started by saying how cute the little coltrin girl was. then she said "what is she, three?", so i said "two!". i thought it was funny because i don't think of her as looking like a three year old, but i guess that sometimes she acts like it. i think she is just way ahead of the game. she's so smart. sometimes derek says that he thinks she's smarter than him. yesterday i jokingly said that he should wait until she's in kindergarten and then she would be smarter than all of us. not that my kids are awesome and your kids are slow, but i just get amazed when they learn a new skill. i have to admit, though, that i do tend to wave the kids arms during songs, though not anymore. emmy wants to do it on her own. she did it all on her own yesterday. she and andrew sing the songs that they learn in nursery. they really like "i am like a star" and "i am a child of God" and "popcorn popping". we like to sing songs and they do the actions they learn in nursery. sometimes i don't understand what they are doing, but as long as they know, it's all good. anyway, just wanted to brag about the kids.

anniversary

so i've been dropping some hints to derek for what i want for our anniversary. this saturday is our fifth anniversary. it's just zipped by. it doesn't even feel like it's been five years already. i guess in some ways it does, since i have a three and a half year old, but it still seems like we should have hit a rough patch or two along the way. maybe at seven years we'll get the itch, like sarah was talking about a while back. not that she has an itch, but she was glad that they weren't feeling that way. anyway, i've been dropping some pretty obvious hints at potential gifts. apparently i'm always obvious. one of my problems is that i'm not sly at all. this is a problem when people want my help. case in point: sarah's engagement ring. so tony wanted to propose, but he didn't want to go ring shopping with sarah so my job was to find out just what she wanted and her ring size. like i'm gonna be able to do that without her knowing what i'm doing. needless to say, she figured it out and patiently waited to get engaged.

redone

i just made the apple crisp again and i layered it like i said i would and it definately turned out better. mmm, apple crisp

.

recipe

so apparently i need to post this apple crisp recipe. i called nursemom and she gave me this recipe over the phone and it just came from her recipe box.

apple crisp

4 cups of apples peeled and sliced
1/2 cup of sugar
1 tbls flour
mix all together and put into dish

topping:
3/4 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
stir together and sprinkle on top

sprinkle cinnamon on top
bake at 350º til done, about 30 minutes

now, i used apples that were a little too juicy so mine came out just a little bit runny. i also think that i will do alternating layers next time i make it with apples then topping then apples then topping then cinnamon. just a thought. i have not made it again yet, but maybe today i will.

if anyone makes it let me know how it turned out for you.

tagged again

so i got tagged again, only by maura this time. this time it's only five things per category.


Tagged

5 Things...

5 Shows I Watch
1. csi
2. csi new york
3. csi miami
4. criminal minds
5. psych

5 Favorite Restaurants
1. applebee's
2. casino coffee shops
3. ihop
4. 5 buck pizza
5. burger king

5 Things that Happened Yesterday
1. emmy's halloween costume was finished
2. made apple crisp
3. went to a baby shower
4. ate nana's homemade stew
5. fell asleep in emmy's bed

5 Things I look forward to
1. trunk or treat
2. 5th wedding anniversary
3. thanksgiving/christmas
4. real christmas
5. derek's birthday

5 things I love about the fall
1. colder weather
2. smaller electric bill
3. the holidays
4. soon it will be time for my kids to start going to school
5. the colors

5 things on my wish list
1. a mini van
2. a nice sized house
3. a personal hair stylist
4. kids clothes that grew with them
5. to go sledding

5 important things to me
1. Heavenly Father and Jesus (i know that technically they are two people, but i grouped them together, so there)
2. my family
3. going to church every sunday
4. fulfilling my duties
5. staying connected with people

5 people I tag
if this looks like something that you would like to do then consider yourself tagged

halloween

so we've been planning our halloween costumes for a while now.

emmy will be alice.

andrew will be the white rabbit.

derek and i will be playing cards. specifically the ace and deuce of clubs.
i think it will be very cute and i will have to take pictures of us in our costumes. my sister sarah is planning to be alli from karate kid when they are at the dance. tony is gonna be daniel san as a shower and their boys are gonna be johnny and the other cobra kai's as skeletons. i thought that that was a really cute idea. i hope that she takes pictures, too.

apple crisp

i'm attempting to make apple crisp. i can't wait to see how it all turns out. if it comes out nice then i will make it more often. apple crisp isn't as good as apple pie, but it's easier to make. i hate making pie crust. it is so messy and i never get it to turn out right. my crust always cracks or it too thick. sometimes i just buy the already made crust, like if i really want a good pie, but i don't remember to buy it just all the time so i never have it on hand. i wish that i did so that whenever i want it i have it. i had all the stuff i needed to make the apple crisp, even the oats. that's not something that i usually have, so it was exciting to be able to do something. i got the oats so that i could make no bake cookies a while ago and didn't use all of them. derek hates peanut butter, but no bakes are his favorite cookie. he refuses to believe that they have peanut butter in them. derek's mom says that she's never seen a no bake recipe with peanut butter in it and i've never seen one without it. it must be a cultural thing.

lots of the disagreements between derek and me are a cultural thing. not that we have lots of disagreements, but when we do, that's usually what they are about. no really, we don't argue that much and no, derek did not give me a black eye. i ran into a door. oh, the sling? i slept wrong on my arm. no, i've always had this limp. just kidding. not to make light of spousal abuse or anything because it's not funny, but i just got a kick out of saying all that. that's just sick and wrong.

mmmm, just took the crisp out of the oven. looks and smells good. just have to wait until it cools down. see, this morning emmy said that she wanted pie. for some reason she thought that there was pie in the "fridger", but when i opened it she saw there was none, so she got upset. i told her that i would make apple crisp. she was pretty excited. i am too.

tagged

so i've been tagged by kienna. the problem is that i don't know how to add links and pictures to posts so the tagging will end with me. i will however share 7 weird or random things about me.


1. i like to watch kid's shows with the kids. i think that some of them are so funny. i can't watch them without the kids, though.


2. i like things to be even. if i step on a crack with my left foot then i have to do the same with my right foot. if derek has put one sock on and then doesn't put the other one on it drives me nuts and i tell him to put it on.


3. i don't think that bluejeans should match every colored shirt.


4. i love shopping as long as i am going for something. i hate shopping with marathon shoppers when i am not looking for anything. i get bored quickly. sometimes it hard to shop with one of my sisters, at least back in the day it was. she would go to six thrift stores and then target all in one trip. i remember just staying in the car at the end of the trip.


5. i think it would be cool to be an elf or a fairy.


6. i like to watch crime shows, like monk, psych, law and order, criminal minds, and those shows that are real like cops or with police chases.


7. i like reading. right now i'm reading the wizard of oz. i've seen the movie, but i've never read the story. i like to see the differences between books and movies.

interview with a derek

so some people seem to be on this "interview kick" lately. well, i thought that since it was the in thing to do that i could do it also. however, andrew and emmy are not as articulate as some people's kids, so i will interview derek.

1. what is your favorite color?
derek: navy blue

2. what is your favorite meal that i make?
derek: anyone that's edible

3. what is your favorite song?
derek: my favorite song? (thinking)... belleau wood by garth brooks

4. if the moon were made of spare ribs would you eat it?
derek: no

5. if you could only watch one channel for the rest of your life which channel would that be?
derek: mmm, military channel

6. what do you think is the purpose of your life?
derek: make people laugh, keep 'em happy

7. what else do you think i should ask?
derek: i dunno

huh-in

derek went and got a new gun today. all i have to say is that he best be bringin' home all kinds of critters. ducks, goose, maybe even rabbits. seriously, i get that he "needed" a new one since his was pretty old and not working right, but come on, it could have made it one more season. actually i don't know that it could have. i know nothing about guns and hunting except that deerock likes them. i could call him big D, but that may cause confusion. anyway, back to the original story: derek went with his brother to cabelas and sportsman's warehouse and somewhere in there he got all the stuff he needs to go hunting this season which starts on saturday. one nice thing about him going hunting is that he rides with other people and so i get to drive myself wherever i want to go. this saturday i have a babyshower to go to and then on monday i have a doctor appt. it's my last one and i think that i may just refuse some of their services. seriously, i don't want a p-smear and it's not like they are going to hold me down or anything. well, maybe i'll do it just for health and wellness (puts head down and kicks the floor).

talking

so, yesterday i was in the car with derek and he was on the phone talking to his brother about guns and gun manufacturers. we had been at cabela's and sportsman's warehouse looking at guns and he found two that he kinda liked, but had never heard of the manufacturer for one. that's why the phone called happened. anyway, his brother asked why he'd gotten a new shotgun and derek said he hadn't "boughten" it yet. as soon as he said it he realized what he said and then i started laughing at him. he blames me for doing this to him. he's always going on and on about how boughten and broughten aren't words. ha ha ha. that's all i have to say to him. he is so nitpicky with how i speak. he doesn't like mou'ains or bu'ons or mi'ens. he prefers mountains and buttons and mittens. for some reason i leave t's out of my words. when i write things i know how to do it correctly, but i just don't speak that way.

nitpicky

the older i get the more and more i realize that i'm a really picky eater. i can't stand certain foods and if something is made with these then i won't even eat any of it at all. take peppers for instance. i hate peppers. all peppers, whether they be bell, chile, or jalapeño. i won't eat stuff with these things in them, unless it's store bought salsa. even i don't understand how i can eat it. i also hate certain beans like green, yellow, and lima. these are so gross. i don't even like to sit by people who are eating them, the smell is so terrible.

better

well, i'm feeling a little better and so are the kids. we've been drinking clear fluids and keeping warm. we are going to derek's parents house this afternoon. we have to wait until after they should be out of church before we can go over there. derek just put on his hawaiian shirt from mom and dad. it looks good on him. they had to go to walmart to find a shirt big enough for him. dad was surprised because with all the polynesians who live there you would think that stores would sell bigger shirts. i mean, polynesians in general are thought of as bigger. anyway, we are doing better today.

colds

the kids and i are sick. we've been having runny noses and scratchy throats. i think that we are going to have to skip church tomorrow. it's too bad because the kids love going to church and especially nursery. we don't want to get all the other kids in nursery sick, too. we slept in until ten this morning when derek called to see if i was up yet. i think the ringer woke the kids up. anyway, we are not feeling good. i'm wondering if i should even go to my in laws tomorrow. well, i think that we won't pass our germs to adults as easily as we would to kids. derek hasn't gotten sick at all. i tell him to just keep washing his hands. that's the best defense against colds, they say.

emmy is cute

earlier today emmy laid two baby dolls in the hallway next to eachother. she left them there and went off and played with other things. hours later andrew and emmy were playing and pretty soon i only heard andrew and he came out and said he couldn't see emmy. i asked him where she was and, of course, started to panic. i was thinking that she must have somehow opened the window and fallen out into the rain and would now develop pneumonia. well, andrew comes and says that he's found her. she was in the hallway asleep next to her dolls that she had lain down hours before. i got some pictures because it was so cute. of course i don't know how to put pictures on here, so you can't see them here. they will probably be on myspace soon, so check there if you are a friend.

nothing much

so we had the funeral yesterday. it was really nice. of course we cried, but by the time we got to the little reception afterwards at the church, we were okay. the only thing left for us to do is get a headstone, which derek's aunts and uncles will pay for. apparently they just told derek this yesterday, so we are very happy that we won't have to wait for that.
on another note, i will try to update more often to appease the mindless banterer. i believe that she may have been referring to me in one of her latest blogs. how can i expect her to have a new blog all the time when i'm not willing to return the favor?
also, check out the links on the side. there is a new funny blog link called seriously so blessed. check it out!

she came

little mary lenore was stillborn on tuesday evening. we knew that she would be gone before we got to the hospital. earlier that day we found out that there was no heart beat while we were at the doctor's office in the morning. we are very sad, but dealing with our loss very well. there doesn't seem to be any reason for this happening except that she just decided that since she didn't have to experience earthly life that she would just get a body and work in heaven and wait for the rest of us to come to her. she looked a lot like emmy when she was a baby and was very petite like emmy had been. she was 5lbs and 14ozs and 19 ½ " long. she had blond hair and dark blue eyes. just to let everybody know, it's okay to call us or whatever. we are okay talking about it.

yea for this weekend!

so the mindless banterer is coming to town and i am so excited! she will be here tomorrow along with funnyman, little duckling, and pretty pretty princess. we are going to have fun i think and i look forward to the many bob stories to be made. we will have to contact emilyjuice and let her know when and where to be. derek will not be invited because he HATES bob. apparently he thinks that we just get too dang rowdy. what? me, rowdy? never! whenever we are at his parents house and talk turns to bob he says that we have to leave. now. maybe it's because his dad always ends up mentioning how bob has incontinence problems and is constantly having accidents. or maybe it's because bob always seems to have an animal who is dying and stinking up the place. one of my personal favorites happened at girls' camp in nevada when bob had to practice bear safety by squeezing his butt cheeks together so that the bears wouldn't smell his waste matter and be drawn to him and eat him. whatever the reason, bob is not welcome when derek is about. we've got plenty of paper and plenty of pens and plenty of ways for bob to come to a sad end. let the games begin!!!

more key problems

yesterday, my husband got his key stuck in the mail box. our mail box is on the outside of the apartment complex's office building. i guess the lock has always given him trouble whether he uses his key or mine and yesterday he just couldn't get it out. the office people got the maintenance man over there and he just unhooked the rest of the keys from the mail key and told derek that he didn't have to stay there to hear him cuss at the lock, so derek left. he told me that the man said he would just take the whole door off and either "gently persuade" the key out and fix the lock, or just chuck the whole lock and get us a new one and new keys. derek thought it was funny that he would "gently persuade" the key. derek really gets along with the people in the office and they like us because we always give them our rent check early. it works out better for us to pay early, otherwise we'd be two days late with the way that his paydays fall.

time

when did august slip away? it's already halfway through the month. i keep thinking that it's the 3rd or something. nope, two weeks later! it always amazes me how fast the days go by. some days just seem to lag and other days just zip by. why is that. i do pretty much the same thing everyday, so it's not the whole "time flies when your having fun" thing unless what i do could be called fun. running the dishwasher? vacuuming? brushing little kids' teeth? are these things fun? rewarding, yes, but fun? i guess. anyway, it's halfway through the month already and that means that fall is coming soon. i love the fall. it's my favorite season. it's nice when the weather starts to slack off and you don't get so hot all the time, but your not cold either. the ac won't have to run as much as it does, and my mil's house won't be so hot when we are over there. right now it's pretty hot. of course outside it's almost 100 degrees, so it's understandable. the thing about fall is that i will have to carry jackets for the kids. the night time starts to get cold. right now the night time is in the 70's so it's still plenty warm. anyway, i didn't mean to write about the weather, but i guess that's what's on my mind right now.

birthday

so, they've finally given me a date for the c-section. it is september 3rd. i have to be at the hospital at 7:30 in the morning. now, this is assuming that i make it to this point. last time i had a baby she was so early i didn't even make it to the scheduled day. this wednesday i will be 36 weeks along and therefore considered full term. derek says that i'm not allowed to have the baby this week, but anytime after saturday is fine with him. i'd like to have the baby before the end of the month. my sister is coming to visit and i would like to have the baby by the time that she gets here with her kids. not that it's a big deal, but when am i going to get to show off the baby to my family? anyway, i need to think about when the baby will be blessed and let people know about that. well, gotta go. the olympics are on!

this morning

so i think that i'm slowly going crazy. hmmm, maybe not crazy, just more forgetful. yesterday i asked derek when his next day off was and he said tomorrow, meaning today. well, this morning i kept thinking "why is derek just piddling around instead of getting ready for work?" soon, after he was "supposed" to be at work i realized that he has the day off. HELLO! i knew that already. people say that i can't remember anything because i'm pregnant. i think it's just because of the sleep deprivation that i'm experiencing. i can't seem to find a comfortable way to sleep and also, at least one kid comes into our bed during the night to cuddle up. usually it's andrew, but last night it was both kids. emmy seemed hot to the touch so we gave her some tylenol and said a prayer for her. this morning she seems just fine. she ate cereal for breakfast. she's been playing with andrew and me this morning, except for right now. she's crying because we took her brush away. it's an old paddle brush that i used to use, but now she can play with it. she decided to hit me with it so andrew took it away from her and told her not to hit me. it was really cute of him to do that. i love my little boy. well, i love my little girl, too.

the new baby

so, tomorrow i will be 34 weeks along. i realize what this means. when emmy was born she was two and a half weeks early, meaning i had her at 37 and a half weeks. if this baby comes as early it could be in three weeks! what?! three weeks!!! i'm not ready! well, i'm really not that unprepared. i don't have a stock pile of diapers or bottles or formula, but i do have a crib and some clothes. doesn't sound like much though, now, does it? i've got to get to the store and buy the bottles that i want. i have a very specific taste, so i need to be the one to get them. i also need to go to the WIC people and start the process of getting the baby on that when it (she) is born. formula is so expensive, but WIC has switched from enfamil to similac and the store brands are a lot closer to similac than enfamil so when i need to buy some i won't be so hesitant. the doctors say that you shouldn't switch a baby's formula once you've started with one, so i never liked getting the store brands because they were so different from enfamil, but now it'll all be okay. anyway, i need to start making a list of all the things that i will need for the baby and just buy stuff here and there so i'm not dumping a huge chunk of money at one time. maybe that way it won't seem like so much. must remember pacifiers!

the keys debacle

so, derek and i have a system when we drive home at night. when we get to our complex he pulls into the parking lot in front of the main building and goes to check the mail using my keys so that we don't have to turn off the car. he asked me for my keys and i was frantically searching for them in all the pockets in my bag, but came to the conclusion that one of the kids probably took them out of my bag and didn't put them back. emmy has a real fascination with taking stuff out of the pockets of my bag. so, using my husband's cell phone, i called my mother in law, whose house i had been at, but she didn't answer. then i called my sister in law who is visiting and told her that i had lost my keys because probably one of my kids had taken them out. she asked me to describe them, so i did. she said they would see if they could find them. then my mother in law buzzed in. while i switched over to her derek looks at the keys in the ignition and says "um, ruth, these are your keys." then my mother in law asks what i needed. i tell her that i'm an idiot and to please tell crystal to stop looking for my keys. my mil laughed at me and we hung up. it was really funny. derek especially liked how i was looking in every pocket in the diaper bag desparately trying to find what wasn't lost.

visitors

so i've had my niece chelsea over the last two afternoons. it's been nice because my kids like playing with her. she's a pretty good kid and not very loud, so she doesn't add much to the madness that is my kids when people come to visit. they go crazy when other people are around. chelsea's mom and siblings are coming today, so that will be nice to see them, too. i hope that they can come over to play one of the days that they are visiting. i want to play games with someone and the other game players are not in town. well, i'm the one who moved away, but now i have no one to play with until i become closer to the people in my ward.

unpacking

so, i know it's been a while since i last blogged, but since i'm sure nobody reads this anyway, i guess it doesn't matter much. so we got all moved, but are still unpacking stuff. yesterday was independence day and i was with my mom for most of it. while i was at her house we watched a kids show called "yo gabba gabba!" this show is awesome! dj lance has five toys that come to life and learn about stuff, in case you've never seen it and don't know what the heck i'm talking about. one time i saw the show and elijah wood was the dancey-dance instructor. i guess they always get a new one in every episode. yesterday i saw the two people from sugarland on there as the dancey-dance instructors. they show up and say their names and the guy is wearing a cowboy hat. i assume that they are married because i don't know of many country music duos who are not. later, when i was telling derek about it he asked me why i thought that they were married and i started to tell him this, but all that came out was that the guy had a cowboy hat on. now derek thinks that i think if a man has a cowboy hat on his head the closest female is his wife. derek also pointed out that there are other country groups that aren't married, like big and rich, or brooks and dunn, or montgomery gentry. i said that since there are no homosexual country singers, i can assume that a two man duo will not be married to eachother, no matter how many cowboy hats are involved. so, back to "yo gabba gabba", after sugerland they had this segment on seeing how biz is feeling today. they showed biz and i thought he looked like a rapper. as soon as i heard him speak i popped up and said "that's biz markie!" my mom had no idea what i was talking about so i had to explain that biz markie was big in the rap world and that he had recorded one song that i knew of and that emily and i loved that song. emily is my sister in law, in this story. i just don't know why derek doesn't like this show. my kids just love it.

still moving

so, we've moved to carson city. we are a lot closer to derek's work now. we will be saving so much in gas as soon as we have all our stuff here and nothing left in dayton. we have until friday to get everything out of there. the funny thing is the electricity is still on there so whenever i go it's not killing me and i can vacuum still. i guess the electric company left it on and put it in the complex's name, but i've been using the juice the last couple of days. oh, well. so today i am gonna unpack some more boxes and go out and buy a table for my dining room. it will be so nice to have a place for us to sit and eat. right now the kids have been using the coffee table in the living room. i want to get a pretty small table, but one that can have a leaf added maybe. i like small tables because that's all i need with just us, but also they are good for games. however, with in a year i will need a bigger table than just a four seater so it would be good if i got one that expanded. if i can't find an add in leaf kind then i will just want a long table that seats six, but like a rectangle, not an oval. my sister in law michelle has a kitchen table that i want. well, maybe just like it except a little bit darker. hers is a really light colored wood and i want a more country toned wood, if you know what i mean. most of the wooden stuff i have is the about the same color and i'd like to keep it that way. i don't want all my stuff to just look thrown together. if they were in different rooms it would be okay. my bedroom has wood that is painted white. we have three dressers. the kids room has two dressers and they are the same light brown as everything else, but their beds are going to be painted. i guess i don't mind painted wood alongside varnished wood. the kids beds are going to be green and yellow. they got primer put on them yesterday and i think the color will go on today. they will look so nice. andrew really likes yellow and emmy really likes green. they go together, but once the kids are separated the beds will still look nice.

Slow, but sure.

we are slowly, but surely moving things. derek took a bunch of boxes to our new apartment this morning and i need to fill more so he can take those. we are going to wait until we get some help for the big things. we'll probably get derek's parents or my parents to help us and maybe some people from church. i just need to get everything in boxes. it will be nice to move and just unpack. that is a lot more fun. i love to organize things, although most people might not think that is so. it will be nice to have all the things in their places, at least for a little while. i will have more closets and my own bathroom separate from the kids bathroom. i can have their little potty seat on the toilet all the time and have a little stool so that they can reach the sink. it will be nice to have my own bathroom. well, i'll still have to share with derek, but that will be okay. i'm also going to have the kids bedroom be separate from their playroom. that will make it easier on me because they just won't be in their bedroom during the day. right now their bedroom looks like it was hit by a tornado. the beds are all over the place because i don't have the energy to put them back together several times a day. i need to get a couple more small toy bins. i plan on having a bin for all andrew's train things and a bin for stuffed animals and baby dolls and a bin for legos and other blocks and then a bin for books. i only have two little bins now, but hopefully i can find similar ones if not the same ones. i also think that it will be easier for me to keep this new apt clean because i won't be so hot all the time. i'll still be tired, but at least i won't be sweaty. derek's parents or giving the kids some twin size beds. emmy's will be green and andrew's will be yellow. it will be nice to have big beds that they can grow with. i'll have to get another one later for the next baby, but that is a while down the road. she'll be in a crib for the first year in my bedroom and then will share a room with emmy, but will probably have a little bed at first. so that's my plan so far. we'll see what develops once we are in there for good. i hope that this move will be really good for us.

andrew's teeth

so, apparently i'm not brushing andrew's teeth correctly. we went to the dentist to have his mouth checked out because of the tooth that is hurting him and they found six cavities. i knew he had at least one, maybe two, but not six! what?! andrew loves to brush his teeth, so it isn't hard to get him to do it, but i guess i haven't been doing it good enough. so the lady was showing me how to do andrews teeth at home. so, on the 17th of this month he going to go to a surgery hospital and get totally put under while the pull that tooth and put two fillings in and four crowns on. i'm so glad that he will be knocked out. i had better get emmy in there for a checkup sometime soon so that the same thing doesn't happen to her. i really liked that dentists' office. we saw a woman, dr yen, and she seemed really nice and the lady who did the initial cleaning was really friendly and was talking to andrew about trains and kept him somewhat calm. it was funny because she had her finger and a toothbrush in his mouth and he was trying to talk. it was just like when your watching a movie or tv show with a dentist in it and the patients are trying to talk, but you can't understand a word. so funny.

teeth and the er

so last night we went to the store to get some milk and bananas and what not. andrew decided it would be a good idea to run away. so i'm following him all over the store and he gets trapped in between me and derek so he starts to dart down another aisle and he falls. suddenly derek starts moving faster and then i get worried. andrew was bleeding out of his mouth. the workers were all nice and it doesn't seem that he slipped on anything except his own feet. so we took him to see nana and she said his bottom left eyetooth looked like it might by broken at the root or something. so i called the emergency room and talked to the nurse and she said that we should bring him in. we went and they checked him out and said to give him motrin for the pain and then gave him a prescription for amoxycillin so that it doesn't get infected. now he has a doctor appointment tomorrow morning at nine in carson city with a pediatric dentist and we'll see how he does. i think another tooth may have a cavity so i hope that they can put a filling or something in it. i really want andrew to see a dentist anyway and i think i should get emmy in for a check up too. it was just really painfull for him and we all felt bad for him. he's so young and doesn't understand why his mouth hurts. the doctor at the hospital said it was okay if andrew pulls at the tooth and that it will probably just fall out. he said if the tooth had been a permanent one rather than a baby one then they would be more concerned. i'm just glad that i happened to have children's motrin in my cabinet at home and didn't have to go to the store again last night. after we left the er we went back to nana's house and picked up emmy. she stayed there with nana and grampa and auntie heather. andrew was asleep in the car so i stayed outside with him and derek went in to get emmy and he said that when he took the blanket off of her she woke up and asked if andrew was okay. doesn't that just make your heart melt? derek said it was so sweet.

talking

so i really like to talk a lot, especially on the phone. so today i was on the phone with my sister emma for about and hour and forty-five minutes. that's nothing. i've been known to talk to twice that long about nothing. so anyway, derek buzzes in and makes me hand up with emma and then goes on a tirade on how talking for so long is ridiculous. it's not like it's running up my bill or anything. i have unlimited calling on my phone. i can call anyone i want in the us and talk as long as i want as often as i want. so, anyway, i just sit and listen to him because there is really nothing for me to say. now for the kicker- derek got off of work and he was supposed to go to the store and get some things tonight so we would have them for tomorrow: milk, tape gun, fruit snacks, maybe some chips ahoys or oreos. an hour after he was supposed to be off i called his cell phone to see where he was. that's right, standing in front of his work talking to an employee. and how long had he been standing there talking? 40 minutes he says! now he knows he's in trouble. so i tell him now he sees how easy it is to talk for a long time about nothing. he has now promised not to get mad at me for talking to my siblings on the phone for exorbitant amounts of time. don't mess with the master, young grasshopper.

puke duty

what is up with men not being able to handle kid-puke? seriously? so about one in the morning emmy comes into our room and wants to sleep with me and derek and so i pick her up and put her next to me. then she wants juice, so i get up and get her some apple juice. she drinks it, gives it to me, cries because i have it, takes it back, drinks it, and falls asleep. this is pretty typical for her. i don't know why she gives me the juice at all. she hands it to me and says "there you go" and then gets upset like i stole it or something. hey, little girl! you just gave it to me and i don't even want it! so anyway, things were fine till about three in the morning. andrew comes in hacking and wants to lay down next to me. now we have a problem. emmy is in that spot and if i move her i risk waking her up for a while, but if i don't move her i risk andrew laying on top of her and waking her up. so i tell derek to take emmy. he goes to reach for her and andrew starts coughing on emmy. of course he sounds like he's gonna throw up so immediately derek takes his hand away leaving emmy at the mercy of andrew and his cough. nice. so i'm thinking, what the heck? i said something like "way to give up" to derek and he's all "well, i don't want to get thrown up on." okay, does anyone want to get thrown up on? really? i'm sure emmy doesn't. okay, there are a few times that i have thrown myself under the bus on that one. when i'm at someone else's house and the kids have thrown up on me i would rather them continue to do that than to have to clean up the carpet or have the home owner have to clean up the carpet. they throw up on me, and then i put something else on. now we just have really dirty laundery, but a clean carpet and everyone is happy though simultaneously completely grossed out. okay, back to the original story- i push emmy away onto derek's arm, which according to him is throwing her at him. i snuggle with andrew and calm him down so he doesn't cough anymore. then i get more juice for emmy who has now woken up enough to realize that she doesn't have any juice left. by this time it's about half past three or so. i go to the bathroom and then go back to bed only now my head is at the foot of the bed because andrew has taken my spot over. now i can't sleep so i get up and have two bowls of cereal while i look at stuff online. now it's an hour later and i'm realizing that if i don't go to sleep soon i'll be oh so tired in the morning. this run down is, sadly, a pretty typical night for me. now, just to add to the sympathy factor for myself, i'm 5 1/2 months pregnant. smelling the garbage makes me gag. how am i the best candidate for puke duty? i'll tell you how, because i'm the mom.

magnets

my kids are playing with refrigerator magnets in the kitchen. they are pretty calm right now. whenever we go anywhere they just seem to go crazy. they get all hyper because they are excited, i guess. people think that they are just wild hellions all the time, but when we are home alone they are usually pretty good. i'm looking forward to moving soon. we've been approved for a new apartment and now we just have to give them the money for a deposit and first months rent. i think it will be a really good move for us. we'll be a lot closer to derek's work and we'll be in my parent's ward so we can sit with them at church. my kids have been doing better at church. i don't have to chase them down so much anymore. i think if i just always have books for them to look at they will be easier to keep in the pew. oh, and if i have plenty of fruit snacks for them to nibble on.

hotdogs and noodles

my kids like hotdogs and noodles. you know what that means. we're having mac and cheese and hotdogs for lunch today! they are drinking elmo water, which is actually floridated water with elmo and big bird on the bottle. emmy likes it so it's an easy way to get her to drink water. andrew is a big water drinker. i'm mostly a lemonade drinker. i'm a corn eater, too. emmy LOVES corn. she had corn on the cob yesterday and really cleaned that cob off. that was at lunch. at dinner she had creamed corn. obviously she also ate some other things as well, but she really goes to town on corn. she has hoosier in her blood i guess. we're gonna have a baby in september. we are pretty excited. after that baby we are done. no more kids. three is plenty for me. i think it's plenty for my husband, too. this one is supposedly another girl which is just fine with us. that will be one boy and two girls. i'm glad my son is the oldest. hopefully he'll look out for his two little sisters as they all get older.