At Home in the Heartland

October is for costumes... and pink.

2011-11-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

Heidi, a ballerina

Hannah, you're 2 - you get to wear the chicken costume this year.

The children frequently paint themselves with mashed up and watered down chalk

the pink brigade stopped by the house of a neighbor with cancer last week

nice leash

A picture of summer and fall

2011-10-06T06:31:00.001-07:00

Sorry, I have lacked in the blogging department lately. Just too busy living I guess. Summer was fun. School started. Here are some pictures.

School started in the beginning of August, but I took these pictures today.

Yesterday we played in the sink with bubbles. The little ones had a blast.

Joe and Hannah like a change of pace for breakfast time location.

I love when the kids all play together. That happened a lot this summer.

This is our honorary dog. He walks by, we feed him treats and pat his fur, then he goes home. We have a good relationship. His "Mommy"made these aprons for the girls.

My birthday cake tasted as good as it looked. YUM.

Aubrey had a piano recital back in August. She did very well.

It was a hot summer... You notice there are no garden pictures here. There is a reason for that.

I made smoothies one day and Heidi got impatient for her sluggish purple smoothie to flow into her mouth - so she tipped it all the way up...

My latest project

2011-07-16T20:34:00.000-07:00

Those of us opposed to the term "redneck" for our inventions call it "rural engineering". We are working on a little project in the bathroom; the hole in the wall was too unsightly. Now we have the hole fixed and something I think I could claim as modern art on the wall of my bathroom. Probably not up to code.

April

2011-06-20T13:09:00.000-07:00

April was ... eventful. First, our seedlings were growing out of their pots and ready to go to the ground. Definitely our best plants yet. So green and healthy. We fixed the beds up with some horse manure and made them a cozy nutrient rich place to live.

We planted 15 tomato plants in three beds. One of the beds was newly dug to expand our garden empire.

General conference was loved by all. Here is Hannah during one of the prayers during one of the sessions.

Brian and Joe crashed together in a "man nap"

Hannah the princess is sitting on the tailgate of Joe's tow truck. We were pulling her around with the jump rope while she rode and laughed.

Spring weather in Oklahoma...

2011-04-10T12:30:00.001-07:00

You've seen our beautiful plants, now see what else mother nature had in store for us in springtime. Sure spring brings a thriving garden and occasionally, some serious wind. Watch what happens when they compete!

Limbs from the neighbor's tree everywhere!

We managed to save our wee little tomatoes with a clever Teepee before the hail hit.

The small divits in the ground? Hail. Fairly big. Think quarters.

This is the carnage from our oak tree. It broke off and fell in a very strong wind (about 90 mph) and we hear the thud just outside our bedroom window. It was a big branch!

The neighbor's tree didn't do so well either.

This neighbor's tree had a hard time too.

The backyard neighbor's fence wasn't feeling to up to it the next day...

Our garbage can got a bit knocked around.

Our greenhouse suffered a large gash and several smaller gashes from the hail but its still standing! YAY!

Lots of people lost pieces of roof.

The neighbor across the street had the misfortune of having far too many old cedar trees near her yard. One took out the corner of her shed and the nextdoor neighbor's fence. Another took out her beautiful glass greenhouse. Another broke in half and hangs suspended above her backyard gate. I'm glad her house was ok.

By the way, the neighbor next door is not too happy about the cedar in her yard which destroyed her fence.

The shed got a little bumped around.

We were just so happy we were all ok. Everything got cleaned up after a few weeks and life has gone on.

Piano Performance by Aubrey Jean

2011-03-26T15:04:00.000-07:00

Today Aubrey performed at the local Composer's Workshop meeting playing two original compositions by her piano teacher.

She sounded as beautiful as she looked.

Just pictures and a special treat too!

2011-03-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

Annddd.... a little treat for all you Joe lovers out there - This is the young man during a lecturing exercise during family home evening in January. ENJOY!

So Much to be Thankful For!

2010-12-06T21:02:00.000-08:00

We were able to spend Thanksgiving with good friends who recently moved just a little closer to us, making a relatively short trip possible. My friend Lisa and I got together on the phone a few times in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving to coordinate the feast. We envisioned a different, healthier, less glutonizing kind of feast... But when the husbands heard about it, they rebelled and we ended up with a pretty traditional Thanksgiving only moderately simplified - and it was wonderful! It doesn't matter so much what is sitting on the table when across the table from you are many people who warm your heart!

Yes, between the two families we do have 10 children. It was great!

Aubrey's Brithday

2010-11-16T19:34:00.000-08:00

Aubrey turned 7 Monday, and had a wonderful day. I brought cookies, a brother and a sister to her class. We played with the fun play balls at home after school. Had her favorite (plain spaghetti and sauce) for dinner, opened presents and ate cake. I think she loved her day. I sure love her. I am so glad I have an Aubrey.

Aubrey wanted a carrot cake with a bunny on it for her cake.

I was super excited for Aubrey to get the presents I worked so hard on for her. She was super excited to get them. She loved them! Ohhhhh! I was so happy.

The first is a soft bristle brush - Aubrey has a tender head and we keep losing the other brush...

I put Aubrey's name on the front of her first "big girl" journal. She loves it.

This one is the best. I was so excited for Aubrey to get it.

YAY! She loves it as much as I do!

Pretty presents don't last too long - better take a picture while they're still pretty.

I think Hannah is too yummy. I love that girl too.

Look who I get to play with all day!

2010-11-16T19:28:00.001-08:00

The thing that looks like mop is actually a hedgehog--Hannah's favorite friend.

So many clothes, so little to wear...

2010-11-16T19:23:00.001-08:00

Clothing that is too big, small, wrong season, worn out or that just won't do has to go somewhere... Its mounded up in my hallway right now. I guess we're just way too blessed. How nice.

We're quirky in our own sort of way

2010-11-16T19:07:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I embarrass myself by talking to people and using big words. I love words. I love the subtle shade of difference between words that are similar. I need those words to express the subtle shades of difference in my feelings. Growing up, mom wasn't shy with her big words - she loved them too. Its not hard to pick up the vocabulary when you just don't know any different. I have to laugh inside myself when Heidi looks at something and deems it, "sufficient". Here we go with another generation - And with a tendency towards introversion, I like to call us:

All big words, no talk.

Just two things...

2010-11-11T11:19:00.001-08:00

I learned some songs in grade school music class that just stuck with me, so today I looked them up online to see if they were still as I remembered.

The first,

Acres of Clams "Old Settler's Song" by Pete Seeger

The second,

"Seattle" by Perry Como

May I say how much I enjoy these songs? They rattle around in my brain for days and no one else seems to know them at all. Ah, it feels so good to share. Thanks.

Halloween

2010-11-09T08:50:00.001-08:00

Halloween was enjoyed by all this year. We went to the ward trunk or treat Saturday. Brian was out of town all day and couldn't make it. So I got the kids all ready by myself and it was crazy but got done anyway. Then we went home and Brian had gotten home, so we went to a couple friends houses in the neighborhood we had arranged previously to drop by. The kids got a serious amount of candy. We were pretty liberal in allowing them to munch (and far too liberal with ourselves). We noticed the candy made the kids crazy and cranky and made the adults sick, restless and very cranky. The whole pile went in the trash Monday evening. Critchfields can't handle candy I guess...

Anyway, I made the girls costumes this year (not Joe's or Hannah's). Aubrey was a bat (wings too) and Heidi was Hello Kitty. The costumes would have looked a little better had I not been so rushed before the ward trunk or treat, but I think they turned out wonderful considering my sewing skills...

Is that smoke coming from our garage?

2010-10-27T07:25:00.001-07:00

Brian stayed home to do some woodworking commissioned by Conoco this morning. He worked in the garage while I took care of things in the house. While I was busy loading the dishwasher, I could hear him open the garage door. I was thinking he had probably had had enough of the wood dust and was ventilating - but no. Next I see light clouds floating from the garage. What is that? Smoke? "Brian is that smoke coming from our garage?" "Why yes, yes it is." He says as he is on his way out his car. "And you might want to make sure the fire is out while I am gone - no, I'm not kidding. You never know if one of those sparks is still smoldering."

Hmmm. OK. My garage could be on fire. Nice. See ya later!

Saturday

2010-10-17T12:50:00.001-07:00

To all you Grandmas who like lots of pictures. Here is our Saturday. Everyone else - probably more pictures than you want to see, but enjoy anyway!

The Little Man

2010-10-13T20:13:00.000-07:00

Joe is really looking like a little boy these days. He's sweet as can be.

Imagination and Creativity

2010-09-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I suppose I better explain my gleeful explosion during an earlier blog post. (If you missed it see it here.)

I don't know if I want to tell yet. Maybe I'll tease you. Allright, I won't.

I came across an article a few months ago that spoke to me. I've been kicking around the idea of "de-toying" the house for a while, and this was the clincher. I removed all of the toys from the whole house (except the most beloved ones and Joe's and Hannah's small stash), dumped all those boxes I used to try to organize them into a giant trash bag and put them in the garage (I haven't decided how to make the toys leave yet...).

Years of pondering the idea of the kids toys led me to the following conclusions:

The kids play with the toys they throw down for less time than it takes for me to pick them up.
Time spent picking up un-adored toys could be better spent doing things together. The article I read called picking up toys, "stupid work" (a very influential point for me.)
No toys, no fighting over who gets the toy (EVERYBODY has a toy called IMAGINATION)
Imaginary play allows them to grow in ways that toy play does not.
Too many toys are overwhelming for young children to organize. They are just beginning to be able to order and organize personal possessions. I can't expect them be able to conceptualize and execute a plan to keep their room clean when they are overwhelmed by the sheer multitude of toys. Not fair.
Its not fair to my kids growth and development to do for them what they can do for themselves. I am trying to teach them to to be able to conceptualize order and enjoy an organized environment. I can't do that if it takes more time to accomplish than I have available. Gotta start small. (And stay small in my opinion)
People don't seem to value as much what they have a great excess of. A very small number of cherished toys is better than a multitude of toys about which a child is ambivalent. I am trying to raise my kids to value and care for what they have. If they are physically unable to care for their possessions for the sheer number of them, there isn't much chance of teaching them that.

I have spent time with Joe climbing trees, slicing underbrush with a machete, and crossing rivers in the living room. Aubrey, Heidi and I have turned the whole house into a grocery store where we went to buy the ingredients to make pizza. Joe and I ride dirt bikes (uh, tricycles) outside together. The kids all spend more time outside. I've seen more works of art lately than ever before. I watched this afternoon while Aubrey got out leftover blocks of wood from Brian's wood pile and made log cabins, fires, chairs, musical instruments, and who knows what else. I really do have more time with my kids if I'm not picking up after them. They really do have more time for life if they are not busy picking up toys too. I think we are all happier.

And you want to know what? They helped me do it too, lest you think there was weeping and wailing. (In fact, I couldn't help it - I giggled with joy as I filled trash bags with toys, thinking of all the fun we could have together.)

Before I removed all the toys, I explained the above reasons to them. I let them know that they already knew I loved them and that I felt this would be a solution that would make all of us happier as a family. There has not been any bored kids since the toys went away, whereas before they were always bored.

Now they alone are responsible for their play - if they are bored, it is only because they are not using their imaginations. When the toys leave the house, the whole world is your playground.

Confessions of a sleep deprived, mush brained, fourth time mommy...

2010-09-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

Little Hannah hasn't been sleeping well lately, or like, really, hmm... Ever. Anyway, it hasn't gotten better. She still wakes up, and I do not, er, try not to nurse her (if I am awake enough to stop myself). Anyway, its been worse lately. I am tireder and she is more uncomfortable. Brian was sure it was her stomach, or her esophagus (remember the reflux, which by the way has diminished wonderfully). Anyway, I guess I am kind of grumpy because when he makes those suggestions, I think to myself, "Perhaps its her arthritis, or her kidney, or her spleen... we don't have a clue - SHE'S A BABY and she can't TALK!" All I know is that the baby won't nap and I either have to hold her or spend an hour getting her to sleep. That involves dancing a continuous waltz and singing... No wonder I am feeling exhausted. Anyway, Brian got home and I was a mess. I handed him all the kids and prepared to leave to get some ingredients for dinner. Before I could escape, Brian called me to come look. Well, Hannah is getting a tooth - her very first. I guess I just thought she would be toothless forever, because it never occurred to me. And in that moment, I got a mommy reality check - too much focus on me, and not enough of really seeing her. *Sigh*. So -

Happy New Toothy Day Hannah!

Dollies and Dirtbikes

2010-09-26T14:07:00.001-07:00

I'm sure you've noticed the hair clip in Joe's hair on my first day of school post. Joe has been thoroughly indoctrinated on the joys of being a girl. As soon as we got home from dropping the girls off, Joe donned the coveted tutu and proclaimed himself top dog. The flower flip flops and lip gloss and other typically female interests are worrying Brian.

I have decided to take matters into my own hands. I am introducing Joe to "boy" things. Now, in my experience, dirtbikes are definitely manly - my dad had one and it made a very manly noise and he could do cool manly tricks with it. So that had to be first. I showed Joe dirtbikes on youtube and he was hooked. Everything was a dirtbike and he had to have more. Its ok, I actually enjoy dirtbikes too. We ride our dirtbikes in the driveway together. Joe let me borrow his.

In other news, the garden produced some JUMBO sized watermelons. In fact, not just huge, but also yellow and hugely tasty. It kind of almost makes up for our pittiful tomato harvest.

I love Joe and Hannah's growing relationship.

Hannah had her first encounter with spicy recently. We had beautiful, spicy peppers from our garden this year. Hannah eats everything she can reach. The pepper had fallen on the floor. She gnawed (no teeth yet) until it broke open and unleashed its vengeance upon poor Hannah. Actually, she handled it very well...

Another kid, another GREEN SMOOTHIE lover!

The Future of Mormon Motherhood

2010-08-18T12:50:00.000-07:00

I read a really interesting article the other day that had a lot of gems for moms to glean. I had posted "ditto", before, but after carefully re-reading it, I felt that it would be unwise to write a blank check to any other person to speak for me. As a mother I walked away with a few ideas and was rebuffed by a few ideas. No carte blanche today folks. (I think I'm on a latin kick right now...) Sorry for all who read already - the viewpoints expressed in said article are the sole responsiblity of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the owner of this blog.

Carpe infantulus

2010-08-16T07:37:00.000-07:00

Babies don't last forever. So sweet and edible. I drink her in and hope that one day, I might recall with even partial exactness, the tender, full feeling I have when I hold her.

Picture Update

2010-08-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

Wahhoooooo!!! I'm down to two!

2010-08-12T06:52:00.000-07:00

You all know how much I loooovvvveee my kids - but school has started, and I am looking on the bright side. My littlest babies are at home while my big babies go to school. Heidi and Aubrey both made the school transition great this morning. I can't wait to see them this afternoon and hear all about the first day.
In other news about freedom, I made a major change in the household... heheh. Giggle. Tee hee. Wa-HahAhAHa! Keeping it to myself for now. Just had to let you know I was giddily happy.

ANTS!

2010-08-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

I stand paralyzed in my new beautiful kitchen staring at nothing. Ants. I hate those things. We just got rid of the ruinous moths. Ants. Ants. What did I come in here for? Ants. Could I vaccum them up real quick before I get on to... whatever it was. Ants. Ugh, they are everywhere! What am I - "MOMMMMM!" Oh yeah, I came in to make lunch. Kids are hungry. Bread. ANTS!!! AHHHHHHH!!!
Every time I go into the kitchen, its the same. I can't focus for the ants. Oh well. I know I ate a bunch with my breakfast. I'm sure I'll eat more. I don't think it will hurt any of us.
This morning, I took the kids to the playground (in 90 degree weather, which is better than the forecasted 103 degrees) to escape my problems in the kitchen.
I took the camera to snap a few photos of the most darling children on earth in freewheeling play. I placed Hannah on the grass and shot picture after picture. Calling for her attention and getting the best shot I could before her face looked down again. Kinda squirmy today. When I picked her up, I discovered a couple dozen little red ants running up and down her chunky legs, giving poor confused Hannah a hard time. I brushed them off and received a few little bites myself. I called it a day, gave up, and went home to fight the kitchen ants in my wonderful air conditioned home.

Oh those ANTS!!!

This is a close up of Hannah getting eaten.

Doors for the cabinets - finally arrived...

2010-07-29T08:37:00.000-07:00

Well, the past month has been CRAZY. That said, we are so blessed to have new doors for our cabinets. Brian and I have been working hard painting the cabinet frames, and now that they are finished, we have new doors to put on them! Lots of work ahead for the kitchen, but I am happy to report, there is also lots of work behind us. (Thank goodness.)

Just pics, no time for words

2010-06-08T19:31:00.000-07:00

Isn't a picture worth a thousand words anyway?

The wrst nitmer

2010-06-02T20:00:00.000-07:00

I found this little gem on the computer screen today:

The wrst nitmer by Aubrey

Critch
Field
Ther livd a wicid wich

Hr nam wus hassle she spint hr
Time in a tawr casteen spels
Ovr the keengdum
Nowun evr wokt neer the path
That led to the wich

Translation:
The worst nightmare by Aubrey Critchfield
There lived a wicked witch
Her name was Hazel. She spent her
time in a tower casting spells
over the kingdom.
No one ever walked near the path
that led to the witch.

I think I have the next Goosebumps style author here...

Just when you think its bad, it can get so much worse!

2010-05-05T10:33:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, my sister Erin passed on a bit of sage advice she received from an old missionary companion while on her mission in Germany. The advice is this:

Don't eat your feelings.

You know, when you're feeling blue and your first thought is some nice cold, creamy comforting ice cream. I've been there, you've been there too... (If you haven't, leave me a comment - I want to know who you are!)
Well, last week was another one of those weeks (preceeded by another one of those weeks, preceeded by another one of those weeks) when you just have to tie a knot at the end of your rope and hang on until the passing of time brings relief. Well, time wasn't working. I called Brian crying, took the kids to a friends house and headed home for a nap. On the way home (now, I forget the exact justification) I told myself it would be wise to get some takeout food so I wouldn't have to fix anything - just eat lunch and get to sleep - no wasting precious time. Now where? Where? Where? Hey, how about that Chinese food place Brian has been saying deserves a second chance (The first chance we gave them, they served some kind of chicken they said was General Tzos, but I wasn't so impressed). Sure, fast, cheap - why not?
I ordered some sweet and sour chicken (they can't mess that up), and went home to eat about half of what they gave me (which was plenty in itself). Took a nap, got the kids, cursed myself for getting Chinese and feeling the Chinese food belly. Brian came home, ate a few bites of the sweet and sour chicken, and then got to work making enchiladas for dinner. A few hours after dinner my Chinese belly took a turn for the worse. I wanted to diiiieeeeeee.... What ensued were the classic symptoms of food poisoning we are all familar with - I will spare you details. Brian suffered with me, although he was definintely much better off. The next day I spent sleeping, nursing Miss Hannah and in other activities uncontemplateable. A bad day. Well, Saturday was bad, Sunday, not good, Monday better but not good, Tuesday better, and today a week later, I am feeling like myself again. However, on the bright side, I've completely forgotten what made me so crazy in the first place last week, so I am actually doing better than before. Isn't that nice!
So next time I want to "eat my feelings", I'm going to remember this and -
NOT do that again!

Goodbye little "Sister", I'm glad you were in my life

2010-04-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

When my parents announced to me and my sisters in a 1996 family council that we would be getting an addition to the family, I claimed the sole, "no way" vote. My little "sister" was born in June of 1996, just before I turned 16. We named her, Lasting Memories. She took up too much of my time, I wasn't too keen on tending her, and she monopolized my mom all day. I didn't like her.

She started out small and really without much personality at all. A long, empty looking narrow room with a large window to the Mervyn's parking lot and a white bookshelf with a few albums and a small white counter with a computer was all there was too it. I sat there after school many days - bored. I entered inventory into the computer system from the back room, and loathed the hours I spent under dim florescent lights counting and typing in numbers. And then my family and I would come home tired each day and continue to "talk shop" until bedtime.

I remember after a while when we finally got to hire a couple employees. Finally, I could hang out with someone other than my family. Little Sister got a little cooler.

Over the years little sister grew up. I saw many of her milestones - I remember when:

· We got our first customer (we were so excited). Mom even framed the dollar bill!

· We finally got a scanner for the register instead of just typing in the four digit code

· More customers came in and they liked what we had to sell

· I started getting a paycheck

· We got a second computer for the counter

· Lasting Memories girl sat outside the front door and greeted customers

· A customer complained about my customer service which led to me taking a good look at myself and deciding to learn to become more outgoing and excel at customer service (a major influential choice in my life)

· We had our first major event involving bunches of gummy cherries that I ate too many of. (To this day it kind of makes me sick to my stomach to think about it)

· We hired even more employees

· We did our first inventory... and the second, and third and fourth...etc. etc. (I really didn't like little Sister on those days)

· We began offering classes

· I went to CHA and other shows

· Began the the keytag program (I still actually have an original keytag)

· We moved into the 21st century and started up the LM website

· Moonlight Madness involved making cute buttons and runs to California Burger for milkshakes

· My best friend from when I was 5 and lived in Seattle came in and we were reunited as I put her name in the computer

· We moved the store to a larger spot

· We knocked out a wall to make an even larger store

· When LM got caller ID and I could no longer call pretending I was someone else and wreak havoc on my poor mom (heheh, that was so funny)

· We hired great crew of many employees and I actually started to like being there

With the years that passed, I came to know many of the regular customers and enjoy my time with my LM friends. 9 years ago I hung up the Lasting Memories apron for the last time, with my marriage and subsequent move to Utah. Yet, the store was still a part of my life because it was a part of my families' life. I experienced the rest of the years through telephone conversations and watching the website from Utah and then from Oklahoma.

When my mom announced to the family that Lasting Memories would be closing its doors permanently, I experienced a mixed reaction. First, I was sad. Then I was happy, a little relieved and excited. Sometimes kids worry about their parents as much as parents worry about their kids. I could feel that mom was ready for a change (actually, needed a change was more like it). It was just time. This is a good thing for mom and dad. And as much as I appreciate the store, I really love them more.

And yet, there is something very sad in it. (Caution: The following is sappy) As I was thinking about what LM means to me, the "Cheers" TV show theme song came unbidden to my mind.

...Sometimes you wanna go

Where everybody knows your name

And they're always glad you came.

You wanna be where you can see

The troubles are all the same

You wanna go where everybody knows your name

You wanna be where people know

People are all the same

You wanna go where everybody knows your name

For many, LM was their Cheers (minus the beverages). Wasn't the past 14 years fun? Didn't we have a blast?

I sure hate change, but isn't that what life is all about? "What!? They stopped making that cute paper with the doodads??? Oh, now hold the phone! What's this!? Ohhh, they made even better paper with better doodads - hop into my basket, we're going home to play!" Lasting Memories always had the latest and greatest. There was always something new and wonderful to OOooo and Ahhh over. That's change - bringing good and bad. But you know what is cool? Sometimes something comes along and then it's gone, but the impact it made on you stays with you. It’s yours to keep no matter what.

Lasting Memories began as a college funding idea for me and my three younger sisters. Looking back, it was so much more than that to me. It was where I made the decision to love people, to see the good in all of them. It was where I made many good friends. It was where I gained valuable business experience and a firsthand look at economics. It began as an idea, struggled into existence, and blossomed into what it has become. This idea in my Mother's head has had a greater impact on my life than funding college - it has had an impact for a lifetime.

Yes, it turned out that the store was the all of the work I had imagined in the beginning and worse, but I hadn't counted on the blessings that would come to me and many others because of it.

So, little "Sister" and everyone who was a part of her existence, thanks for the Memories - they truly were Lasting...

What do you remember about Lasting Memories? Please comment and share your memories!

My eyes hurt

2010-04-17T17:26:00.001-07:00

Joe thinks all owies need bandaids.
The other day his eyes hurt when he got baby powder in them.

All Better.

A meal entirely of condiments

2010-04-17T17:17:00.001-07:00

Frequently, Aubrey does not like what I make for dinner. (BTW- I am sooo tired of hearing, "Oh yuck, I'm not eating that!") She does, however, love condiments. She will accept the manditory serving of dinner and then SMOTHER it in condiments, eat the condiments and leave the mushy remenants of whatever was for dinner. She is happy with ketchup, mustard, mayonaise, BBQ sauce, soy sauce, and her latest love - vinegar. The girl loves malted vinegar and basalmic vinegar with such enthusiasm, that I watched her drink the remanants of her basalmic vinegar concoction from her bowl this evening. I love Aubrey; she is just so Aubrey.

They call it spirited

2010-04-16T14:38:00.001-07:00

My four year old is wearing me out today. One book I consulted called her a spirited child. I call her intense. Ever since she was born, I have been aware that she is intensely happy or intensely angry or intensely everything. I am not intense. I yearn for smooth waters. This human pendulum wears me out. I sure do love her - I just don't know what to do with her!

Look out below!

2010-04-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

I call Hannah the spitup queen.

She spits up all day long, but not enough to keep her from gaining weight and growing like a weed.

Sometimes she spits up while I hold her facing outward.

Sometimes it lands on Joe...

He's a good sport about it.

I'm glad it hasn't landed on Heidi yet - she wouldn't be.

LOOK OUT BELOW!!!

Oh the things we do to get the kids to do chores

2010-04-06T13:58:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Brian got very ambitious and made a long list of housework for the girls to accomplish. In return, they got to pick out one toy at Walmart if they accomplished the whole list (with about a 50/50 chance of that happening). Aubrey wanted a pink car and Heidi wanted lip gloss from Claire's (of course).

So I'm thinking he's a bit generous. For Christmas we might buy something like this for the kids, but for a bribe... its a bit much.
Well, the girls worked harder than they have ever worked in their lives and accomplished the difficult tasks set for them.

Aubrey seemed particularly excited for her car. What does she want a car for anyway? To play with Joe? Sure... whatever.

Well, on the way to Walmart we learn that Aubrey is planning on riding in this car... "Um, Aubrey how big is this toy car?"

This is what Aubrey was thinking:

No way Jose! Not paying $250 for a car I don't want. So Daddy helps her find an alternative toy. A Zhu Zhu "habitat" compatible with the Zhu Zhu Pet she won at the Easter Egg Scramble last week.

Its probably double anything we've ever bought for Christmas for our kids... But Daddy couldn't take back the bribe, so he was stuck. So now we're the proud owners of a Zhu Zhu habitat. Not so pleased, but we just laugh at our little misunderstanding and vow not to do that again!

By Request

2010-04-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

And, now, with all the time I have left for blogging today, I will honor my Mom's request. She tells me that when a mother comes into the church, it opens a whole new world of parenting with new methods and ideas not considered before. How do you parent the LDS way?
When I hear this, I cringe and laugh and cry inside myself all at once. I cry - "I have no idea!" and "I know, I know, pick me!!!" all at the same time. Let me explain.
Brian and I live where there are few young families and few families with kids at all in our ward. I am pretty sure there is no "LDS way" to parent. I'm pretty sure we parent differently from many other great families out there, but we just don't have many models to follow.
The good news is that there is a manual and Expert Advice on parenting. The scriptures and personal revelation. The bad news is that it takes patience. Years. Lots of mistakes. And you want to know the worst thing I've discovered - it requires me as an individual to stretch, grow and change to become a better disciple of Christ, and then I can see clearly enough to parent the spirits he sent to me. Its not the kids that need fixing so much as myself. If the kids are disobedient, rowdy, fighting etc. - you know who needs to be more Christlike? Me.
That being said, I've found the Proclamation on the Family extremely helpful as well as this site from BYU that helps me get perspective on parenthood. I've read Steven Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Successful Families" and all the Richard and Linda Eyre I can get my hands on (I really like that stuff). I just devour anything in the Ensign about parenting. I do a lot of footwork, and praying - then I wait (patiently and impatiently) for answers to my needs. God has been good. He has taken care of my family. I couldn't and wouldn't be able to do it without His help. God bless each of you in your individual undertakings! I will try to include more of the way our family actually works in my posts in the future if you want to see what it looks like... But, your way will be best for your family, so don't pay too much attention!

Joe and the Mess

2010-04-04T12:01:00.001-07:00

So, I get off the phone with Brian and this is what I see first. (Did I leave that out... hmmm)

Nope, that is Superquick Joe off to be independent again.... Making his own "corntillas". I watch as he expertly rolls up his "corntilla" for a quick snack.

But what to do with the mess?

Joe knows!

Superquick Joe saves the day again!

...And enjoys a tasty snack to boot!

(I bet your mama is tired...)

A Blessed Day

2010-04-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

Hannah was blessed at church last week. This is the only picture of the 6 (6!!???) of us together.

Hannah was such a pretty little woman (its the hair) in her blessing dress. Pictures follow in no particular order as I just don't have time to do much more than upload them to the blog.

Goofy kids

2010-04-04T11:59:00.002-07:00

I don't even remember now why we made these cupcakes a couple weeks ago... I think it was some treat I promised the girls. We made them and then decorated them. Pretty fun. Pretty messy. Pretty much gained a couple pounds eating them...

My kids are funny. Aub and Heidi stuffed themselves int 12-18 month sized costumes and ran around the front yard... I love those kids!

Goin' home...

2010-04-04T11:59:00.001-07:00

Time passes so quickly. I always thought I would have enough of it to spend with my family all together ... someday. Then I realized - things don't always work out the way you'd always thought. Suddenly, it became essentially important to be with my family all together. I guess I felt like we had all been following our various seperate paths, and I had to make sure that my family was etched firmly in my memory just the way they are now so I could keep them in my mind for years to come. I wanted my relationships with them based on something really real - like being in the same room together, and being us, together again.

In short, it was wonderful. Everything I had hoped for happened. I got to be with my family all together doing "Barnhart" things. I got to hang out with my sisters talking about the quirky medical oddities we all share. I got to spend time with my Grandparents, revelling in the safety and happiness I feel when I am in their presence. I love my family.

I learned we are all pretty much the same as always... good. Everything else changes, but at least our "us-ness" is the same as always!

Oscar (Janna's husband) quickly became Hannah's best friend. It was so sweet to watch how gentle and loving he was to her. I just love Oscar - I'm happy he is part of the family.

This is mom and Erin in Joyworks in Snohomish. We all loooovvvee Joyworks.

Joe the MAN is TWO!

2010-02-11T14:12:00.001-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LITTLE ONE!

Cute pictures - Attention Grandmas!!!

2010-02-11T14:05:00.000-08:00

Friends and Family, I would like to introduce you to Hannah's smile. It lights up my day every day. I could just kiss the sweet face it came from! This is one of THE best parts of being a mommy.

Yep, they're all delicious and they're all mine!

My Chimps

2010-01-17T14:17:00.000-08:00

Joe breaking into the kitchen

2010-01-17T14:15:00.000-08:00

2010-01-17T14:11:00.000-08:00

Movie Night

2010-01-17T14:07:00.000-08:00

Hannah's first photo shoot

2010-01-17T13:56:00.000-08:00

And now, for the rest of the story...

2009-12-06T12:07:00.000-08:00

I always enjoy hearing the whole story behind the birth, so I thought I would share for anyone who enjoys birth stories too.

Well, bedrest was fun, but I said goodbye to it at 37 weeks. Now free to do whatever it was that I wasn't doing, I found I didn't care much to increase my activity level. I was tired of being pregnant, but not so sure I really wanted to get to the labor part yet. The whole time I was on bedrest I did not dialate past a 1 or 2, and then at my next Dr. appointment, I was a 4-5. I went grocery shopping and ran errends all week. At 38 1/2 weeks I was finally miserable enough to overcome my fear of labor. It was the day before Thanksgiving, Brian had the day off, we weren't doing anything in particular, and I had a Dr. appointment. I curled my hair (for the first time in at least a year), put on my makeup and contacts and brought my hospital bag to the appointment.

So, I was now 5-6 cm dialated, the Dr and I worked out a deal. Lets have the baby today he said. I said ok. So we went home, called our families to announce the good news, told the kids the deal, got a few odds and ends and headed up to the hospital after eating lunch (I anticipated being starved by the hospital staff until the baby was delivered). So peaceful.

You see, I had been expecting some real drama for labor - like living 2 minutes away from the hospital and not making it with labor progressing too fast. I had several preferences I wanted honored and had worked it all into my chart already, but knew that if I came in in a rush, it would all fall apart. Also, I was B Strep positive, so I had to get the antibiotic IV, however, if labor only took 30 min. like the last one, it would have been pointless to do the IV and the baby had a chance of getting pretty sick. Well, we got that taken care of too.

I went in, they gave me the IV right where I wanted it. I spent 4 hours getting antibiotics into my system. Boooorrrinnngggg... Had to be on the lame-o monitor the whole time. Almost tied to that uncomfortable hospital bed. IV on one side, monitors on the other. I was very happy when I could take a break from the monitors and walk around with the IV trailing behind. In fact, the nurses found it difficult to get me back onto the hospital bed once I was up. Finally I sat back down on the bed and the monitors were left off of me. (I really felt like I got away with something!)

Not long later the doctor came in to break my water. Let's see, that was about 7 PM. Interestingly enough, just sitting in that hospital room all after noon, I dilated to about 7 - it looks like the baby was going to come that day anyway. Well, that was a piece of luck we were already in the hospital. With the water broken, the contractions became more intense. I made sure that I was sitting up to endure them rather than lying down on that bed. There weren't many contractions before, beginning with my tongue, my whole body lit on fire (just like last time only not as bad). The nurse called for a fan, and then it was time to push. They called in the doctor, and he hurried to get ready, surprised at the speed at which this baby was coming (in spite of repeated warnings from us). We managed an upright position for pushing, and a couple pushes and she was out - at 7:31 PM. I didn't have as much pain as the previous times, and I was very satisfied with the whole event. Not lying in that bed was a great decision. The doctor was glad he didn't go downstairs for a soda - he had no idea the baby would come so fast.

As the doctor was finishing up with me, another nurse came in with the fan.... kind of late. We all had a good laugh. Hannah had a little trouble with breathing at first, but after a few minutes she came to visit me. Such a beautiful dark haired girl!

And the rest... is still being written.

Heaven just sent us...

2009-12-03T14:21:00.000-08:00

A brand new beautiful baby girl!
Announcing Hannah Mary Critchfield
Born: November 25, 2009 at 7:30 PM
Weight: 6 lbs 14 oz
Height: 19 inHead: Thick, dark hair!

Our family Birthday celebration for Aubrey's 6th!

2009-11-20T06:47:00.000-08:00

Aubrey is now 6 years old! Happy birthday Aubreyjeanie!

Its almost time to pop

2009-11-20T06:41:00.000-08:00

These are some pictures from this week. Smiles in the pictures, but mostly I've been pretty grumpy. At my Dr. appointment yesterday, I was dialated to a nearly 5. Perhaps my labors aren't quick - perhaps they are excruciatingly slow... lasting weeks... Ugh.
On a brighter note - so looking forward to our cute little girl.

More October

2009-11-06T07:25:00.000-08:00

Here is more from October. And a few words about the last few months. Its been busy. With this pregnancy we've gone from plan A to plan B, to plan C, D, E, F, G, H... I think we're on plan H now. At 30 weeks at the very end of September, I went to the hospital with early labor contractions. They stopped it, gave me terbutaline (I call them jitter pills) and sent me home with instructions to rest (plan B). The contractions continued but were pretty controlled by the medicine. The Doctor officially upgraded (downgraded?) me to bedrest (plan C). What to do about being in bed all day and not being able to do much of anything was the substance of plans C through F. Many, many kind friends have helped us out in so many ways from watching the kids, to making dinner and doing dishes so I could have the elders for dinner (that was while I was still in denial about what "bedrest" means.), many have brought meals, and I've even made a new friend with the person taking Aubrey home from school each day. Brian has been wonderful. My angel husband took over everything from dishes, laundry, kids, dinner, errends, etc. etc. etc. - I think he is amazing. Nothing short of the hand of the God has sustained him in his double portion of the family burden.
The kids got the influenza A a few weeks ago. They all tested negative, but with the high rate of false negatives, and the symptoms they experienced, we assume it must be the flu. They were all sick. Brian and I stayed well, but I went ahead and made the decision to get the H1N1 vaccine. I got it, and a few days later, Aubrey got sick with strep. Brian took her to the Doctor and she tested positive for flu and strep. She had the speediest recovery on record and was back to school on Monday after the weekend. We suspect the flu results were leftovers from being sick with the flu the week before. She got medicine for both, and I called the pediatrician and my Dr and got everyone else on Tamiflu - Except Brian who was supposed to have a perscription called in, but it never got to the pharmacy - twice. Then it was too late. Brian got the flu and strep throat, went to the Dr and got some medicine for both, but he has really suffered. With Brian out of commission, and my really reduced capacity for... anything, its been interesting. So I guess that brings us to plan G. We have been so blessed by the relief society this week. Several families have brought us dinners which has helped out immeasurably - just enough to keep us afloat until Brian gets better. We are so thankful, how can we complain? Nothing has really gone as planned, but neither had we planned on being so blessed during this time.
So, all is well. I will be 36 weeks on Monday and the little girl and I are healthy. Around 37 weeks I will officially be off bedrest, but I don't know that I would be able to increase my activity much even if I wanted to! Oh well, come what may!

Here are pictures from my latest ultrasound this week. The first one has a very good picture of the little girl's face. Is she not beautiful? The doctor was able to catch some hair on the ultrasound - its already fairly long. What excitement!

This week's situation has necessitated some creative dressing as the laundry is not getting done. Joe had to wear his sister's pink shirt to bed... and no one changed it the next day! He's ok - very secure in his boyhood.

These are the arrangements Brian made before he got sick to keep the germs at bay. Notice also the many medications and syrenges - There's more drugs there now...

October

2009-10-31T16:24:00.000-07:00

Family pictures from the Reunion

2009-08-30T20:01:00.001-07:00

My cousin Maria is one of my favorite photographers. She took our family pictures while we were together for our family reunion. Here are a few of them.

The three silly amigos

2009-08-30T19:46:00.001-07:00

My man and I

2009-08-30T19:42:00.001-07:00

We don't really take pictures of ourselves, but I know I'm going to look back someday and wish I had just one picture. Here they are. My man and I. (Not in the same picture, that would be way too rare!)

Gotta love the big belly - three months more and its really going to be big!

Waaayyyy too many books

2009-08-30T19:35:00.000-07:00

I LOVE BOOKS! Lately, I have been blessed to have many delicious books cross my path through birthday, discount section of the LDS bookstore, and the best one - good friends who are downsizing their immense library. The only problem - no bookshelf. That and I just want to read everything all at once. The combination of the two equals:

Anyone up for a little reading before bed?

Just Heidi and Joe

2009-08-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

The other day I took some pictures of Heidi and Joe while Aubrey was at school. As you can see, they both have "personality".

The most persistent thing on two wheels

2009-08-30T19:22:00.000-07:00

Heidi is the newest member of the Critchfield two wheeler crew. After Aubrey learned to ride a two wheeler, Heidi just had to do it as well. She was the most persistent learner I have ever seen. Falling down with an, "I'm ok." every ten seconds (really), she learned how to stay up longer and longer every time. She still runs over people occasionally, and my van shows signs of wear from her running into it, but she still goes. She rides fast and wild. Still falling every few minutes, but I suppose its just part of a normal ride for her. I adore this little person. She is amazing!

First day of Kindergarten

2009-08-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

Today is Aubrey's first day of Kindergarden! She was excited and not a bit scared this morning when I took her to school and dropped her off. We've been practicing getting up and getting to school for a month, so it should have been easy. No tears, no fears... Thank goodness. Only after we dropped off Aubrey did I realize the nature of Heidi's Aubrey withdrawals. I am back to the job of full time entertainer for the time being. No one really knew what to do with themselves at first without Aubrey, but already things are getting more normal.

PM Update: Aubrey had a great first day of school. She loves her teacher and she has learned all the rules... JJ got in trouble because he was naughty, but all the girls were good. She doesn't know the rest of the kids names. She got chocolate milk without money today at lunch. She ate about half the lunch mommy packed for her. Mrs. Courtney had a lot of kids to help out during lunch - she was so busy! Aubrey got three recesses! They played with playdough, sat on the rug for story time, colored a picture of themselves, learned all the rules and raised their hands to answer questions.

The rest of us missed her... But we are all doing fine!

Happy Birthday Heidi (oh yeah, and Jill too)!

2009-08-12T09:00:00.002-07:00

August 8th was Heidi and my birthdays. We had a great day. Heidi and I went to Claire's (the girl store) and spent an hour trying to decide what she wanted to buy with her birthday money. She finally settled on a set of lip gloss, nail polish and a hair doodad, a pretty flower hair decoration and a cute pair of flip flops that will fit better next year. We got Aubrey a pair too because they were basically free when we bought the first pair.
We ate pizza for lunch and had cake and present opening after that. Then that evening Brian bought Heidi's new bike and surprised her with it. He also suprised me with some delicious, glorious books (I just love books!)! We had a lovely day!

Happy 4th Heidi! Happy 29th Jill!

Finally a blog entry...

2009-08-04T12:37:00.001-07:00

Its been a busy summer. I know you don’t care about all the details so I will hit the highlights (that I remember), and get on to the pictures (that’s what you want to see anyway, isn’t it?)
Our biggest adventure was 19 hour drive to and from UT for a Barnhart family reunion. We rented a house in Midway for a week and celebrated my Grandpa Barnhart’s 80th birthday. It was really so fun. I loved being with family, and it made me so happy to see my kids and my cousin’s kids playing together.
Brian and I had a wonderful 8th anniversary. We took the kids bowling and then out to Dollar General where we all picked out a present for another person and went home to have dessert, open presents, and sing happy anniversary to you. It was a great celebration of our family.
I think I would call the garden an event. We are doing something in it at least every day. But now, its not all work – we are harvesting. (Boy are we ever!) It doesn’t take too many cucumber plants to take over an ENTIRE garden. They keep trying to edge in on our beloved tomatoes, and we fight them back daily. Our butternut squash have done pretty well too. They own the other half of the garden. The tomatoes are now about 12 feet tall and still producing. They like the heat, but 105 degrees is not what they had in mind, so our best harvest was earlier when it was slightly cooler.
I guess we have another ongoing “event” – but it gets its own post -

The power of PINK

2009-08-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

We are expecting baby number 4 - our third girl! YAY! She is due December 7th - we are all so excited to welcome another member of our family.

Here is a side photo from the ultrasound

Harvest Time!

2009-08-04T12:14:00.001-07:00

It took me two trips with the basket to haul all this stuff in yesterday.

Here is what you do every few nights if your garden produces loads of cucumbers... Brian is now a pickling expert.

Onion braid, so pretty

We even grew "The Big One". Just don't know how we're going to haul this thing to the county fair... but its a blue ribbon for sure!

Crafty when copying

2009-06-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

I went to my favorite shop this week and saw some cute flip flops. I noted to myself, "ok, flip flops, ribbon, velcro, and a button, how hard can it be to make these?" I went to Hobby Lobby (did I mention three hungry kids in tow) and purchased the materials. I came home, and when Joe was sleeping, the girls watched while I assembled. Watching turned into touching, touching turned into their own creating, creating turned into a mess and the mess turned into crazy mamma. I got them finished, but I think I am not going to invite the girls to the party next time I do this.

The flip flops are designed so that you can remove the ribbon etc, from the straps and switch it for another design at whim. Can't switch mine yet - I haven't gotten around to making another pair to switch them with. Still, cute as a solo act, eh?

A small little tiny dream come true

2009-06-11T13:37:00.001-07:00

Two years ago I saw some beautiful colored glass mason jars at Dollar General. I put off buying them, but then I just had to buy a few. The next year I bought a few more and put them up for "later". I had a vision of stringing them up in the backyard and lighting small candles inside each one. Well, after spreading the hay in the garden, we had a bit of baling wire left over. I decided it was perfect to complete my vision, so I painstakingly made wire curly cues and nailed in nails for the wire to hang on. I then went inside and brought out all of my glasses. I had the girls wipe off the dust outside with a cloth. Then Joe got a couple and with one good bang, shattered a green one to pieces. Well, I took a "lets move on" attitude (after considering crying) and picked up every speck of glass I could find in the grass. Brian took the kids inside. I carefully placed the rest but one. When one of the girls came out I asked her to carefully hand it to me... but it didn't make it. Crash. (I really thought about crying this time - my beautiful glass I've been saving!!!) "Lets move on," I told myself and I ended up with five remaining jars. Five is more visually appealing than six anyway. (Seven would have been better though.) Well thats life. Here's the pictures.

The garden has grown

2009-06-11T13:21:00.000-07:00

The garden is looking good. Still green. No dashes of color yet like yellow squash or red tomatoes. We are still looking forward to that.

The tomatoes are getting pretty tall. An inch or two daily isn't unusual.

We've been helping the green bean vines climb, but it seems they just do not climb until they are ready to climb. A very interesting lesson in life.

Brian lined all the walkways with a thick layer of hay to keep the crazy weeds from invading. It has been so helpful. I'm not much of a fan of cultivating and picking weeds.

Did you know potato plants made such pretty flowers?

Here are just a few of our growing tomatoes. I had to go out and give the flowers a good shake on the rest of the plants because they weren't in the mood to produce fruit. Haha! Now they are all going to town. I suppose that is also an interesting lesson for life.

I think the corn is probably our most visually appealing plant. It just looks so corney.

Chalk Art

2009-06-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

I bought a giant box of chalk at Walmart and we've all had fun with it.

Family Farm - Finally unveiled!

2009-05-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

With all our focus on the garden, it is surprising that we haven't posted any pictures yet. Well, thats about to change.

Brian engineered trellises for the green beans, tomatoes and cucumbers.

Pepper plants, started inside, babied to perfection... sort of. Lets see what kind of peppers they produce.

These would be newly sprouted cucumbers

Potato plants have made a happy little home here.

This is Brian's #1 favorite tomato plant.
Our corn is fun to watch grow. One day last week, one of the plants grew about 4 inches in one day!

These green beans have such cute heart shaped leaves

Our lettuce didn't grow too good in its rock hard bed, but a few lucky plants found a soft corner and went wild - lucky us. The salad was yummy.

The onions have been fun to watch pop out of the ground. I hope I didn't plant them to shallow.

Well, thats it for our online garden tour for now. More pictures to come of lush, green, wildly producing plants... We hope.

Itty bitty Harvest

2009-05-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

YAY! Today we had our first itttty bitty harvest! This morning, Brian consigned a poor unfortuneate potato plant to the compost bin, after discovering a virus beginning to take over. At the bottom of the potato plant was the world's itty bittiest little potato. Probably 1/4th inch all around.
A bit later this morning, I came into the kitchen and saw him microwaving a toy story melamine plate... with nothing on it. I made inquiry, and was informed that he was cooking his potato and planned to eat it. Well, we split that itty bitty thing four ways and enjoyed our first fruits of the garden. New potatoes are tasty little things.

Picture overload

2009-05-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures to keep you visually updated, witty writing to come forth at a later time.

Easter bunny hopped into town

2009-04-13T05:32:00.001-07:00

The Easter Bunny Surprised us this year by bringing us treats outside! Brian saw the little brown bunny hopping around the back yard, and when he asked the kids to pick up their tools by the playset, Aubrey discovered this stunning array! The kids were thrilled, but I suspect the "Easter Bunny" was the most excited...

Brian just glowed with excitement. He was so excited to be the Easter Bunny this year. He got the kids all sorts of treats that Mrs. Easter Bunny would never approve of, much to the delight of little girls and boys. We were all happy.

Heidi expresses excitement in desires to do good things - When we got inside she informed us:

"If we say thank you to the Easter Bunny, he won't have to bite us!"

I keep telling the kids not to touch the little bunnies in our backyard, "They may look cute and sweet, but they'll bite your finger right off!" I guess Heidi concluded that the Easter Bunny will bite ungrateful boys and girls.

Early April

2009-04-13T05:26:00.000-07:00

And here we have another Aubrey creation out of tinkertoys...

Its uncanny how much Heidi looks like my sister Erin in this picture...

FHE outside in the backyard

2009-04-13T05:22:00.000-07:00

By request: Aubrey

2009-04-13T05:11:00.000-07:00

So I hear I haven't blogged Aubrey as much as the rest... Well, she's been busy too. She is our resident artist - after being an engineer, she desires to be an artist. She draws elaborate pictures and as you can see below also creates works of art out of food. (Looks like she has my weakness for cute food!).
Also, she has learned to ride a two wheel bike. She wanted to be able to, so she pretty much took off her own training wheels and taught herself. Now she rides in fast, wild circles all over the driveway every chance she gets.
Bunny continues to be her best friend, and I am still forbidden from washing him - so he has turned a lovely shade of gray.
Saturday, we decided to go to the library as a family. Brian aasked Aubrey to get her shoes on so we could go, but it never happened - so, she got a talking to. It turned out that Aubrey cannot keep track of her shoes and they are all lost somewhere. She felt she shouldn't be expected to find them-
Aubrey: I'm not a finder like Heidi!
Brian: I know, you're a loser - uh, no, wait, um - I didn't mean that...
Anyway, we sure to love her.

I looked out the window and what did I see?

2009-03-27T13:58:00.001-07:00

The most handsome little boy in the world looking back at me.

This is Joe and his dog, his best buddy. Joe has become quite the little man. He loves his cuddles, wanders far away when unsupervised, and flirts with the old ladies.
I taught him to give kisses - but he won't kiss me - he will, however, kiss dog. He wakes up in the morning and the one and only thing he wants to do (after eating of course) is play with tinker toys. He could do that almost all day. He says "na" for food of all kinds and points to what he wants. Graham cracker, fruit bar, milk, water, and banana are all "na" (except banana is "nanana"). He says "da" for dog. "Ma" is mom. Dad is "da" too. He signs "more" when he wants more food and he signs "shoes" when he wants them on. He signs "all done" when he is finished. It seems he knows the difference between yes and no. Because when I tell him no, he throws himself on the ground and has a little fit. I just smile at him, pat his little head and walk away. Every morning we say goodbye to Brian as he goes to work. Joe stands at the window and waves at Daddy as he pulls away in the car. Joe has a funny way of saying outside - I don't even know what word he uses but he just intones "outside". He loves the big wide world, with the flowers, rocks, sticks, space, and DIRT. Every time I turn around Joe is in the dirt (with a little smudged on his lips) playing.
He likes to eat what he likes, but has gotten kind of picky. Won't eat peanut butter, potatoes and other various kid foods (kind of strange for a boy who thinks dirt is yummy!). Loves hamburger, grits, indian food, tomato sauce (not so keen on pasta though), enchilladas, chocolate, roasted brussel sprouts, bananas and he's wild about apple flavor cereal bars.
I am so blessed to have Joe. I love him so much. He is so kissable and loveable, I just wish he weren't on the run all the time. I love my Joe.

I can read Mommy

2009-03-03T09:47:00.001-08:00

Aubrey is really getting to be a pretty good reader. She and Brian have spent many evenings after bedtime in the girls room reading books. Aubrey used to guess at words to get it read faster, but Brian and I insisted that she sound out the words. So now when she gets to a word she doesn't know right away she will sound it out. "Huu-eeee-He rrrr-aaahhh-nnnnn - ran hhuuu-oohhh-mmm-uuuh- home. He ran home."
It looked pretty easy to Heidi, so she began to read too,
"Kuh-muh-grrrr- see uh-uh-ppuh- my muh-gg-gg-kite."
Very close Heidi. Keep on trying, and you'll get it sweetie!

I just don't think so Heidi

2009-03-03T09:38:00.000-08:00

Heidi is notorious for always having a song to sing and usually at the top of her lungs. We kind of don't notice much anymore. The other Sunday we were in the kitchen making dinner and Heidi was in a particularly cheerful Sabbath mood. With all pomp and flourish she was singing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic". "Glory, Glory, Hallilujah!" does sound pretty impressive from our little three year old songbird. And she continues,

"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,
He is trampling out the lillies, where the grapes of wrath are stored..."

You know, it is pretty easy to merge verses of the song - however, I just don't think so Heidi.

How about a sandwich

2009-03-03T09:21:00.000-08:00

With some delicious "slobberoni"???

Until recently, Heidi was only familiar with pepperoni, however she discovered she loves salami on her sandwiches. Somehow though, she just can't leave the word pepperoni out of her love for salami. So...

Slobberoni -

yum, that sounds tasty.

We love Daddy day!

2009-03-02T18:47:00.001-08:00

With Valentines's day over, and having not done enough celebrating, we decided to have our own little holiday to celebrate Daddy. We put chocolate in each balloon and pumped each full of air and then wrote one thing we love about Daddy on each of them. Then we drove to his work, loaded them in his car and waited for him to get home. It was every bit as exciting as we had imagined. We knifed balloon after balloon and chocolate went flying everywhere. There were lots of smiles hugs and kisses and a good time was had by all. We sure do love our Daddy!

Heidi the little artist

2009-03-02T18:44:00.000-08:00

Heidi's artwork is just so cute - like her.

Our first GREEN SMOOTHIES

2009-02-22T13:10:00.000-08:00

Mom has been touting the virtues of the green smoothie. It will make you run faster, jump higher and even do your dishes for you... well, maybe not all that. I tuned out the virtues after the first few and just put "green smoothie is good for you" on my "to do" list. So, since we are slowly going darker shades of green over here all the time I thought, sure, I'll give it a try. (We are building an organic garden, making our own compost and even getting really excited about manure!)

Brian stuffed a whole bunch of kale into the food processer, added a couple bananas, a couple apples, some berries and some yogurt. Voila! Dark green kind of grainy textured smoothie! (I learned later that it is better smooth and not so texturey.) Big glass for Brian, Big glass for me, little glass for Aub and Heid, and some in a sippy for Joe. And down they went. Pretty good. The girls even asked for more! Next time we'll change some things, but for a first time it really was quite successful...until...

Remember the berries? Let me tell you - I really think Tide can do miracles. And it took me a half hour to scrub berries out of the carpet (I just got it cleaned last week - go figure...). All in all we are unscathed.

Randomness

2009-02-13T20:02:00.000-08:00

How to walk like a family

2009-02-13T19:55:00.001-08:00

Hot Stuff

2009-02-13T19:53:00.000-08:00

You know those spicy hot Jolly Ranchers that are bright red? Too hot for me - But not for Joe. He seems to really like them.

PJs

2009-02-13T19:50:00.000-08:00

I think kids in PJs are so cute!

Pictures of many good things

2009-02-13T19:47:00.000-08:00

Big Joe is 1!!!

2009-02-13T19:40:00.000-08:00

Joseph turned one last month. We had a nice little family party with lots of fun toys from friends and family. Happy Birthday Joe!

Little bites

2009-01-19T15:13:00.000-08:00

We got a big box of apples and oranges from a friend recently. We put it on a lower shelf thinking it was safe. The girls haven't really bothered it much. But Joseph discovered it. He will crawl over to the box and pull himself up, peer over the side and reach one arm in to pull out an apple. Then he takes the biggest bite a little boy with just 6 teeth can take. (Little) Then the apple goes back and he grabs another. At this point, I think every apple has a bite taken out of it. Its so cute I can't bring myself to get rid of the darling little "one tiny bite" apples.

Can you crack the code?

2009-01-19T13:53:00.001-08:00

Yes, this really does say something. See if you can read it!

For those of you that need a little help see the next picture (yes, she has a tendancy to write backwards).

It says: "Mom, I love you; I know you are not feeling good."

This is the latest in artwork from Aubrey

Christmas pictures...

2009-01-13T17:40:00.000-08:00

mmm... not much in the way of Christmas pictures. We took our camera with good intentions, but when we discovered that our card was full and we couldn't download our pictures, that was the end of our photographing. Luckily the girls got digital cameras for Christmas - here are the highlights compliments of Aubrey and Heidi!

The boys got a new "do"

2009-01-13T17:12:00.000-08:00

Joe got a haircut Sunday afternoon. It was crazy how much hair came off of that head of his! Maybe he won't be such a sweaty boy now. Anyway, he's a cute boy. See pictures of his daddy below, who also got a new "do".

Standing up in the high chair

2009-01-13T17:06:00.000-08:00

Joseph really likes food. One day I put him in his high chair and set his food on the table while I got something and when I turned around he had found a way to reach it. The Joe had managed to stand up while still wearing his high chair! (Never mind the girly pjs - we had a rough night the night before and I just pulled whatever I could grab on him... poor boy!)

The crafty lady inside me won again

2009-01-13T17:00:00.000-08:00

I have been saving baby food jars for several months now thinking that I was going to use them for something. Then Christmastime rolled around and the crafty lady inside me started prodding me to do something with them. So I made hot cocoa mix and did a little extra and gave them out to as many people as I could before we left for Christmas vacation. As usual, it took more time and energy than I had to spare, but I think they're so darn cute! I'm pleased.

Joe catcher

2009-01-13T16:56:00.000-08:00

Joe has so much fun playing in the girls room, Aubrey had to engineer a solution to her problem.

A December visit from Grandma and Grandpa Barnhart

2009-01-13T16:48:00.001-08:00

Better late than never. My parents came for a little visit in the beginning of December.

It was so nice to have them visit. I know the kids thought so too.

I confess...

2008-12-15T13:29:00.000-08:00

I am a closet foodie... I love looking at darling food. I found a book at the library last week called "Hello Cupcake", and I love looking at it. I doubt if I will ever make any of the pretty cupcakes and much less eat them (can you imagine eating those gobs of frosting? EW!), but I just love pretty food. Check out the book on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0618829253?tag=hellocupcakeb-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0618829253&adid=0KCJE5FZAA5XEH7X8JEA&

(PS Don't drool on your keyboard)

What??? No snacks?

2008-12-14T15:53:00.001-08:00

The other evening Aubrey was in a naughty mood - naughty enough to lose her bedtime snack. When snacktime rolled around, Heidi and I went to the kitchen for snacks; the whole time Aubrey made it very clear that she was disappointed by exclaiming many times, "I don't get a snack." Brian, upon hearing this replied, "That's right sweetie, you lost your snack privliges." Then, a sudden stroke of genius came over Aubrey, and in her best attempt to maintain an optamistic view of the world, exclaimed brigthly, "I know...I can have a water snack." When Brian heard this his heart was softened and he could not withhold, saying with a giggle, "Sure Aubrey you can have a water snack." Aubrey then joyfully, as if she had been given all the chocalate in the world, went about filling up a sippy cup with water - and then enjoyed the "Water Snack" for the rest of the evening. (Co-Authored by Brian)

Also Joe is finally crawling. He is so cute. He crawls sideways and forward - kind of funny looking but he gets where he's going. I love the big proud smile that comes with it.

Engineers fix things

2008-12-02T18:44:00.000-08:00

Last week Brian decided to control access to lip gloss for the girls, so he closed the lip gloss lid very tightly. They finally badgered him enough that he gave them the lip gloss to play with. Heidi tried every which way she could to twist the lid off and just couldn't get it. So Aubrey, thinking she could do better says, "Heidi, give it to me, I'm an engineer."

So, that's why she goes around the house "fixing" things... hmmmm.

Heidi has decided that Aubrey can't be the only one with special super powers. She claims that she is an engineer too, "because I find things."

Gee, my kids really have put a new spin on being an engineer - to them they are fix-it superheros (rather than the downward shoe staring, pocket protecting, social inepts)

So Cheers to the Engineers!

The Howards Visit

2008-12-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

A wonderful time was had by all when the Howards came for a visit the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We played, made cookies, had lunch and took a walk up to the mansion. The day passed all too quickly.