Going Private

Hi Everyone,
I am going private on May 1st.
Please leave a comment with your email address (I will delete them) so that I can send you an invitation to read our blog!
Thank you!

Trista Makes Me Laugh

Trista has been making me laugh so much lately with some of the things that she says.

My BFF LaNae is pregnant, and about to have her baby anytime now. LaNae and her daughters were over playing one day last week. Trista and Kaylee were tossing a ball back and forth to each other in the hallway. LaNae walked over to watch. Trista sweetly said, "LaNae, would you please back up a little, because I don't want to accidentally hit your stomach." LaNae said okay, and took a few steps back. Then Trista said, "Um, LaNae, your stomach is still in the hallway." We laughed for days.

My sister Christi moved to Tucson a few months ago, and asked Trista last week when we are going to come down and visit her. Trista said, "Well, I'll see what I can do, but my mom drives."

I watched The Sound of Music with her on Sunday night, and she has been singing "I am 16, going on 17, and I'm really sweet" for two days. She is singing it right now.

I enjoy being her mom so much!

Santa Did Come!

After talking to Trista about Spring Break Santa all week, I decided that we could make this a new tradition at our house. I bought the girls "The Princess and the Frog" movie.

The girls and I saw it in the theater with my mom and sister for a girls day, and we all loved it! Even my squirmy two year old sat through the movie! They were both so exited to see that Santa left it for them, in the same spot they place their stockings for Christmas.

Santa left his gift on Saturday night. T.J. woke Trista up and asked her if she could look out the front door to see if he got a FedEx package he has been waiting for. She was totally surprised to see a gift addressed to Trista and Whitney in the living room!

My sweet little bed head woke up for the fun!

Trista LOVED it! (Sorry, the picture turned out weird)

Whitney was exited too and kept pointing out the frog.

"Wook! A fwog!"


I couldn't even get them to look at the camera!

They were so exited, so we let them watch it, even on a Sunday morning.

We had to pause it, and finish it after we came home from church.

T.J. sat on the couch with them and watched the whole thing, something he never does with little kid shows. (We mostly watch Barbie movies, Dora, and Blues Clue's around here, so I can't say that I blame him!)

They kept talking to each other about the movie, and trading it back and forth, taking turns holding it.

So what kind of snack does a good movie call for? Saltines, apparently! Whitney must have known that I just vacuumed.

That's one happy girl!

So, Spring Break Santa was a hit. Can't wait until next year!

St. Patrick's Day Playdate

Last Tuesday, the day before St. Patrick's Day, we had a special Spring Break play date at our house. We had such a fun time, had a good turn out, and the weather was perfect. The kids played, we cut and colored a little leprechaun and made a puppet out of him with paper bags, went hunting for "Lucky the Leprechaun", and then frosted green shamrock sugar cookies.
It was a blast!



The kids really had fun when we were trying to find Lucky. He left a trail of Lucky Charms everywhere he went, and you know how tricky Leprechaun's can be! He started in the kitchen, moved to the family room, went in Trista's room, and then Whitney's room. That sneaky little guy made a mess with her baby books, but left us shamrock cookies to decorate! Maybe we'll find him next year.




I didn't get all of the kids in this photo, there were four more, including Whitney. She was enjoying playing in the sandbox while she had it all to herself. After she came to the table, I gave her a cookie, frosting, and a plastic knife to spread it with, but she just liked the rainbow sprinkles on her plate. She figured out it was easier to eat them by putting her tongue directly on the plate, instead of trying to get them in her mouth one by one.



Thank you to everyone that came! It was a fun time.

Spring Break Santa

Spring Break started today, and I am so exited to have a week with my kids and husband with no school for T.J. and Trista. We are going to stay in town and paint the sage green trim on our house a lovely tan color called "Baked Potato". T.J. is playing golf at the Desert Schools Golf Tournament today that benefits Phoenix Children's Hospital, so he is starting his week off in a fun way. It is such a nice day, and I'm so glad that he gets to go and do that before our work gets started.

One of T.J.'s favorite pastimes is teasing the girls. Trista is pretty hip to his shenanigans now, and she usually looks at me and says, "Mom, is he teasing?" Last night T.J. teased Trista about Santa coming twice a year, once for Christmas, and the other for Spring Break. He told her that she had to be good, or Santa wouldn't come. She didn't believe that Santa comes for Spring Break, so T.J. called Santa from his cell phone. He told Trista a long time ago that all parents have the big guy's number, so they can talk and give updates to each other on how the children are doing. (She totally believes it.) The conversation he had on the phone with "Santa" was so funny, I couldn't stop laughing, I think I might have spoiled his joke.

It went like this.....

Hi Santa, this is T.J. (Pause) Good, good, we're good. How are you and Mrs. Claus? (Pause) Oh, she's baking cookies right now, that's nice. Well, I called because Trista doesn't believe that you are coming for Spring Break. (Pause) I know! I keep telling her that she has to believe or you won't come. (Pause) Well, I'll keep telling her, and maybe she'll come around. (Pause) I know! Why wouldn't she want presents two times a year? I told her that you come twice a year, once for Spring Break, and the other for Christmas. It's like that every year, you come for Christmas and Spring Break. I remember one year you gave me a rocket launcher for Spring Break! (Pause) Ya, you remember that too! It was great, until my little sister Cami, you remember Cami right? (Pause)Yep, yep, that's her. Well, Cami stepped on it and broke it. I called her a fatso for about a week after that. (At this point, I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants, Cami is the thinnest person I've ever known.) I know, I know, it was hard coming back from that one! (He is laughing now too, and Trista is yelling in the background that Santa only comes on Christmas.) I almost didn't get Christmas presents because of it! Especially since there is only six months or so until Christmas comes again! (Pause) Right! Well, Santa, I'll keep trying to get Trista to believe so that you can come for Spring Break. I'll talk to her again, and then I'll let you know. (Pause) Tell you what, I'll text you. (Pause) Yep, yep. Okay, so I'll text you later and let you know what she says. (Pause) Tell Mrs. Claus hi! Okay, bye Santa!

I had to run in the living room because I was laughing so hard. Trista was so upset the whole phone call, and was adamant that Santa only comes for Christmas. T.J. came in after me, and gave me a big hug and told me that I was ruining his joke! He was laughing hard too!

So, now the question remains.....should I be buying presents? I think that I will get them all something small, and start a new tradition of gifts from Spring Break Santa.

When you went private....

Dear Friends,
One or two of you have gone private during my blogging hiatus. I'm sorry! I haven't blogged since June and missed your "going private" announcements.
My email is azcurlysue@yahoo.com. Please send me an invite!

New Nephew!

Mr. Declan William Goodfellow was born this week, and I am once again a new auntie.

Just look at this adorable little guy! What a sweet face! He looks so cuddly and soft!

Congratulations to T.J.'s sister Megan and her husband Will. Declan is such a pretty baby. He has the exact hair line that both of my girls were born with. I say it's a widows peak, T.J. says it's a double cowlick, one on both sides. Whichever, I think it's adorable!

Here are some photos that we received of the new little man and his mommy.

You did a good job Meg.

I am now totally missing my babies! Whitney is 18 months old and I am holding on to every bit of baby she has left. Maybe I'll have to talk to T.J. about this......

We are so happy for you Meg and Will! We love you!

An Itchy Situation

T.J. has been having an allergic reaction to something (haven't figured it out just yet) and has had hives since Sunday. He went to the doctor and was given a steroid to take for the next 12 days. He was so miserable on Tuesday night, couldn't sleep at all, and was going crazy with itchy hives. So, Wednesday he was itchy and exhausted and stayed home from work. Even his face had hives! He has been using a lot of Benadryl and Aveeno.

Trista loved having him home, but wanted to know why he didn't go to work that day.

T.J. said, "I don't feel good honey, look at my arms and my face."

Trista said, "Oh, you have a rash!"
T.J. said, "That's about right, I have a rash."

Now, the first, last, and only time that Trista remembers ever having had a rash was when she was potty training....

So in trying to figure this thing out, she came to her own conclusion.

Trista said,"Ohhh....It's because you go to the bathroom standing up instead of sitting down."

T.J. howled with laughter.

It makes sense though.

She goes sitting down and got a rash on her bum.

So if he goes standing up, he would get a rash on his face.

Priceless.

I'd like a glass and jam sandwich please...

On Tuesday afternoon I told Trista that she could get herself a snack out of the pantry. She forgot to close the pantry door when she was done, and Whitney took that as an opportunity. Whitney likes to give me things from out the pantry whenever she gets a chance. I keep the kids snacks on the bottom shelves so they can get to them easily, so I thought she would be fine. I was working at my desk and she brought me a bottle of ketchup, ranch dressing, salt, and nutella. She was being cute, and it was keeping her busy, but then I heard the sound of glass breaking.....awesome. I jumped up to see what had broken, a jar of homemade cinnamon pear jam from my mother. Whitney didn't get cut, but the glass was stuck to her with the jam. Glass skids on tile floors, so pieces of glass were in three different rooms! The living room, kitchen, and the family room all had pieces of sticky glass on the floors. I cleaned up Whitney first, and then started to clean up the glass when the dog started barking like crazy. He was going nuts outside and Whitney was mad and was screaming and crying because she wanted me to hold her instead of clean the floor. The doorbell rang, and it was only then that I remembered that my visiting teachers were scheduled to come over, and neither me or the house was ready for company! To recap: dog barking like crazy, baby screaming, glass on the floor, four year old asking lots of questions, and the doorbell is ringing. The house was quiet five minutes before! My visiting teachers were so sweet and came back to see me Thursday instead, the dog stopped barking when they left, Trista played with the baby to calm her down, and I got to clean up sticky glass from the floor which took forever. So now I remind Trista and T.J. to close the pantry, and I'm not going to let Whitney play in it anymore. I don't know who that bad mommy was that lets babies play in the pantry! Good mommy is back now.

Bug Potion

Trista has learned how to lock her bedroom door. Not such a big deal, when she's inside of it... She locked the door and closed it from outside yesterday afternoon to, "keep her chapsticks safe." She was sad that she couldn't play in her room and that she would have to wait for Daddy to come home to unlock the door. She thought and thought about how we could get in there before Dad got home to fix it.

She got exited and said, "I know! You could turn into a bug and crawl under the door, then turn back into a human and unlock the door and let me in!" I told her that was a very good idea, but I didn't know how to turn into a bug. She thought about it again and said, "You could make a bug potion! But you would need two, a bug potion to turn you into a bug, and a human potion to turn back into a human when you are in the room." Again, I told her that was a super great idea, but I didn't have a recipe to make bug and human potion. She thought again and said, "Let's call Dad! He will know!"

So Daddy, you are not only the master fixer and playmate, you also must know magic.

We are sure lucky to have such a multi-talented Daddy!

I looked up the recipe for bug potion. I found it and the cute photo below HERE.

Bug Potion
3/4 cup of cornstarch
1/3 cup of water
5-7 drops of food coloring
Add plastic or slimy bugs if you wish
Mix together, let stand 3 minutes.
It actually makes slime!

Look at the ingredients on the jar!



I'm still looking for the recipe for human potion...

Easter Pagent

My mom, our family friend Susan, Trista and I went to the Easter Pagent on Tuesday.


It was such nice weather, and we were able to get good seats! My sister Christi volunteered to stay at home and play with Whitney. Thank you Christi!



We were there two hours early, so I brought a cooler full of water, soda, Subway sandwiches, blankets, sweaters, a camera, coloring books, cards, and games for Trista to play. Grandma played "Hungry Hungy Hippos" with Trista too! I found the travel version of the game, and I highly reccomend it. It is just the same, but has a plastic lid on top, so the marbles don't get lost!



Trista really liked looking at the actor's costumes while the cast was walking around before it started. A young man came by holding a baby lamb!
Trista did get to pet him, but I wasn't quick enough with the camera.

We talked about what would happen before the pagent got started, how it was a play that showed all about Jesus life from the time he was born to the time he died and then was resurrected. She still cried when Jesus died, and I did too. I held her and we talked about how Jesus died for us because he loves us all so much. He did that so that we can all repent when we make mistakes. When he was resurrected, she was so happy and said that was her favorite part of all.



Saturday night while I was tucking her in bed, we talked about the Easter Bunny coming to visit our house and about why we celebrate Easter. She thought about the Pagent and said, "When Jesus died, I was so sad that I couldn't stop crying, and you held me. When he was resurrected, I couldn't stop crying because I was so happy." I smiled and said "Me too." I had tears in my eyes again but this time she hugged me. I am so proud of her and love her sweet, tender heart.

I am so thankful for our Savior, for the sacrifices that he made, for his perfect example, for his atonement for our sins so that we may repent and be forgiven, and also for his resurrection so that we too may be resurrected and be with our families and our Heavenly Father forever. Through him our Father's Plan of Salvation was made possible, and I am eternally greatful.

I hope that everyone has a Happy Easter!

Birthday Wishes

Happy happy birthday Aunt Tami!



The first time that I met Aunt Tami was at a family camping trip. It was also the first time that I met the rest of T.J.'s family. He told them that he was bringing a "friend". He wanted to surprise them, so he let them think that it would be his best friend Adam, but his mother knew better. I found out the night before that he hadn't told his family that I was coming. I said that he had to at least tell his mom so that she wouldn't be upset that he brought his girlfriend without letting her know ahead of time. So, he called his mom and told her that this friend would need to sleep in a separate tent, but that was all. She didn't say anything to anyone, but told me later that she knew.... as mother's always do.... that he was bringing a girl, not Adam. This was a really big deal for T.J., because bringing me was pretty much announcing our pending engagement to the whole family.

T.J. and I drove up after work and arrived that night. We saw all of the adults standing around the campfire talking after the kids had been put to sleep. Wanting to surprise them, he pulled up slow in his white S-10 with the headlights off so it would be harder to see who was inside the cab. I'll always laugh about Grandpa calling out after seeing my shadow in the truck, still thinking that it was a guy, "Who's the long haired hippy?"

We found a place to park between some trees. T.J. couldn't stop smiling. He was nervous that everyone was watching to see just who would get out. T.J. kissed me, asked if I was ready, and opened my door for me. Instantly we could hear lots of laughing and his mom yelled, "I knew it!" It was so fun to meet and talk to his parents, aunts, uncles, and grandma and grandpa for the very first time that night around the campfire.

We got rained out and packed up and left for grandma's house in the morning. I met all of his cousins while trying to help his mom and the aunts and all of the kids get packed up and de-mudded before they got into their cars. It was, "Hi it's nice to meet you!" (insert the sound of rain hitting the trash bags we were all wearing)" and then run run run.

Here is a photo from that day of T.J.'s Grandpa playing with his little brother Jordan, Grandma, and Mom. T.J. and the long haired hippy in the blue cardigan are in the back.




When we got to Grandma's house I saw that Uncle David and Aunt Tami's sweet little Molly was sad and wasn't playing with her cousins. She was embarrassed about having a black eye. I took her outside to T.J.'s truck where my suitcase was to put some makeup on her.

I sat her on the passenger seat and got started with some foundation. It wasn't working to hide the bruise, so I moved on to concealer. It had to be a little thick above and below her eye to cover up the purple. I blended it out and used foundation on the rest of her cheek. Then her cheeks were off balance, so I used foundation on the other cheek. Then I had to do the rest of her face and use a light powder to set it. She looked totally pale and washed out, and of course had concealer in the tips of her eyelashes on the bruised eye... I was thinking "Oh my gosh! I should have asked her mom first! They hardly even know me!" This was turning out to be much more makeup that I had planned. I told her that since she was wearing makeup anyway, we would make it special and do her up right, the works. When wearing that much foundation you have to use mascara and blush, so I used a little lip gloss too, since we were already in it to win it. I was so nervous that her mom wouldn't be happy with me for putting that much makeup on her. She looked really cute, but I wasn't sure if it would be okay with her mom. Aunt Tami was so nice and told me several times that day that Molly was happy and wasn't embarrassed anymore. Molly was back to herself again and was enjoying playing with her cousins. She said that I made Molly feel special, but Tami made me feel special too.

She is friendly and welcoming and has always made me feel like part of the family. T.J. loves her so much and we always look forward to the times that we get to see her.

Happy 50th Birthday Aunt Tami! We love you!

T.J., Suzanne, Trista, and Whitney

Yesterday I ....

Made all of the beds
Dressed the girls
Made a pancake breakfast
Picked up toys and books and cleaned both girls rooms
Did two loads of dishes
Vaccumed the whole house
Washed four loads of laundry
Took out the trash
Cleaned out my car
Unpacked suitcases from our trip to Show Low this last weekend
Cleaned my kitchen, family room, bedroom, and bathrooms
Rescheduled traffic school (camera van got me)
Worked for four hours
Took the girls to Wendy's for lunch
Talked to my best friend, my mother, and my husband
Grocery shopped and put all of the groceries away
Went Visiting Teaching
Made Strawberry Chicken Salad for dinner
Bathed both girls and got them ready for bed
Read book and sang a lullaby to sleepy children

And somewhere in the middle, I registered this sweet little girl



for kindgergarten.

I miss her already.

A Teenie Hoodini

I put Whitney in her swing this afternoon, hoping that she would take a nap while I loaded the dishwasher. She loves her swing. Remember this picture?

It turns out she was more in that kind of mood than this one...

A few minutes later I heard her making noises, and then there was quiet. I turned around from the sink and she was sitting next to me on the kitchen floor. She had lifted the tray up off the swing, wiggled her way out, and then crawled over to me! I am very careful now to make sure that she is buckled in just right. I didn't know that I have a teenie Hoodini on my hands!

A "Nie" Sort of Day

Yesterday I had a very "Nie" sort of day, which got me thinking of her. If you haven't read Stephanie Nielson's blog, here it is...I have been enjoying reading it.
http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/

Shh! Don't tell but....

I know a little baby that pooped in her morning bath.... That was a tricky one to clean up! I should have known that she wasn't done yet! But, who could be upset with a little face like this looking up at them?

I'm proud of you for eating your Cheerios and not the dog's food...

The Evidence.....


The Crime Scene....


The Suspect....


(Click on Whitney's picture to see her cute little teeth!)

I have had a booger of a time keeping Whitney out of the dog's dishes. Munch munch munch....It grosses me out to hold/feed/nurse her when her sweet baby breath smells like dog. I decided that I would keep the dishes up off the floor, and Toby would have to eat when she is sleeping. I put the dishes up on the dog's kennel, but she found them there after about a week. So, I put them on the back of the dog's kennel where Whitney couldn't get to them, or so I thought....
She had been awake less than an hour yesterday morning, and had a super cute Halloween bubble/onesie on with an orange hair bow. I had left the room for a minute while she and Trista were playing. I heard a crash, with lots and lots of little plink plink sounds and Whitney crying. She had crawled under the kitchen table, in between the chairs, and pulled the dog's bowls on top of herself. The water dish was full! Wet, soggy baby with dog food down her wet outfit, stuck to her bare chest, down in between the legs of her bubble. The water made all of the little dog food crumbs stick to her face and hands, in between her thigh rolls and all over her legs. It was bath time! I bathed both girls and got Trista ready for preschool, cleaned the floor, and put Whitney down for her nap after her snack. Then, I caught myself saying to my 10 month old, "Thank you for eating your Cheerios and not the dog's food." Not something that I ever thought I would say!

She did it!

Miss Whitney Grace is officially crawling as of yesterday afternoon!

Without further ado, I present Princess Whitney in action.

She toyed with the idea for a few weeks, going forward just with one knee and stopping, like we see here...

here....


and here....


She has now mastered it and is really fast!

Here she is showing off her crawling skills at her play date with baby Lacey...

And this picture is just too cute not to share...

This one too.... They actually play really well together! Not too much eye poking! :)

I was pretty sure that she was able to do more crawling than she had been when she pulled herself to standing at her toy box!


She just needed some motivation to really get going..... So I had an idea. Trista was just about the same at this age, just barley crawling for weeks, and then took off full speed one day after a little encouragement. T.J. and I had some pink foil wrapped Hershey Kisses from Valentines day that we got Trista to chase all over the living room. I remembered this, and went and got a piece of candy in a shiny silver and green wrapper for Whitney. It worked like a charm and she went racing towards it at full speed as if she had been doing it all along. I guess both of my girls like shiny things!

She also cut her fourth little tooth yesterday!

Now she has two on the bottom and two on the top.

The night before she cut her first tooth back in June she was doing a lot of this....

and this with her tongue.....


We thought she had "found her tongue," thought it was so funny and took pictures. I should have known that she had a little tooth coming in that day!

She was just so happy and smiling like this....

and this......


and this.....


that I couldn't tell that she was teething!

Although this chewing the next day...

should have been a hint!

Aunt Cami saw the little white spec, at the end of Trista's birthday party!

Here are photos of that first little tooth that came in on big sisters birthday!


A closer look.

Whitney has been such a sweet happy blessing of a baby and I am so grateful for her. I can't believe that this first year has been going by so fast!