The Binky Fairy

Now that Eliza has reached the ripe old age of 3 and her attachment to the binky did not seem to be waning, we decided it was time to go cold turkey.  I had planned on taking her to the store and letting her pick out something fun that she could trade me for the binky, but we still anticipated that it was going to be a struggle.  Probably something along the lines of WWIII + a string of sleepless nights.  I mourned that it would probably be the end of naptime.  But my brilliant aunt Glynis told me about the "binky fairy" -- an idea from the Super Nanny herself.  The gist is this: the kid gathers up all their binkies and puts them in a jar, and then the Binky Fairy comes to get them and give them to the babies who need binkies, leaving a surprise in their place.  I didn't know if Eliza would really understand this storyline, but she was all over it.  I really shouldn't have been surprised -- two of her favorite things right now are fairies and babies.  So she was immediately on board with anything to help babies and completely enchanted by the idea of the Binky Fairy.

Much to our surprise, she felt asleep quickly (after a few more reassurances that the Binky Fairy was indeed going to give her binkies to the poor little babies that didn't have any binkies) and slept almost entirely through the night.  She did wake up about a half-hour before the usual time, crying for her binky. We went in and reminded her about the binky fairy scenario and she reluctantly fell back asleep.  A little later we could hear her crying it her room and it sure sounded like she was saying "Why? Whyyyyyyy?!"

But when she was finally ready to wake up and she saw that the Binky Fairy had replaced her binkies with a jar full of candy (pink Whoppers, to be exact) and a Princess Tiana doll, she was ecstatic.  And she has done terrific ever since.  So yay for the Binky Fairy!

That leads, however, to what I think is the funniest part of the whole story. Early Saturday morning, before she had come down to find her treats, Sammy and I were in the kitchen.  The following is our conversation:

Sam (hesistantly): "Mom, I don't think there's a Binky Fairy."
Me: "You're right."
Sam:  "It's just you, huh?"
Me: "Yup, I just went to Walmart last night after you guys went to bed."
--pause--
Sam: "Is it the same with the tooth fairy?"
Me: "What do you think?"
Sam: "I think it's just you... is that right?"
Me: "Do you want to know?"
--pause--
Sam: "Not until I'm done losing teeth."

He IS a smart kid. :)

Upside Down Eliza

A few months ago Eliza and Josh were supposed to be taking a nap at Nana's house, when Nana discovered the strangest phenomenon -- Eliza standing on her head in the crib, with her feet hooked over the railing!  Over the weeks that followed, we found her doing it quite frequently, but never (of course) when we snuck into her room with the camera.  I was starting to feel like some kind of a wildlife photographer, hunting the last of some endangered species.  But at last, at the beginning of this month, success!  (What a surprise that she finally cooperated for Daddy...)

Why does she do it?  Is she trying to escape?  Does she just like the feeling of the blood rushing to her head?  It's a mystery!  She's awfully adorable, though!

Our Awesome April

Whew!  I can't believe this month is nearly over -- I really thought our April would be nice and relaxing after the craziness of March, but we ended up with quite a whirlwind of activity this month!  Here are the highlights, arranged in a nice bulleted list because my brain is presently very tired:

• Easter!  We had our traditional enormous egg hunt extravaganza with lots of Pearce and Tarbet-Neves cousins, which was all sorts of fun.  Eliza, who is really into picking things up and putting them into other things, thought this was a really great activity.  I don't know if she even connected that there was candy involved.  It was conference weekend, so we also got to have a wonderful relaxing time listening to the prophet and apostles and just chilling with the family.  I could seriously get used to weekends like that.  You can see lots of fun Easter weekend pics here.

• Spring weather... sometimes.  It has been a really cold and snowy month (it has been a blizzard today, in fact), but there have been brief glimpses of the sun, in which we have really enjoyed playing outside, going to the park, making bird feeders, and all that good stuff.  Hopefully the sun will come back soon so we can get back out there.  At the moment I'm refusing to leave the house and just accepting the mounting overdue fees at the library...

 

• 2nd Annual "You're My Favorite" Day -- Can you believe it's already/only been two years since Carissa died?  We got together at her grave to bring flowers and sing "You Are My Sunshine."  It was special because it was rainy and nasty all morning, but while we were there it was lovely and sunny.  Sure do miss you, Rissa Ree! 

• Soccer!  This is Joshy's first year of playing on the city league and he has been SO excited to be on the team.  So far he is doing a great job.  Sometimes he'll get frustrated or exhausted, but for the most part he is doing really well and showing a lot of team spirit.  This is Sammy's third year and he has improved by leaps and bounds.  The last two years have gone about like this:  run, run, fall, cry, get hugged and cheered on and convinced to get back in the game, repeat.  Oh, and some twirling, dancing, and picking dandelions, of course.  This year he is running like crazy, getting some really good kicks in, and even scored a goal in the first game!  He is getting so grown up!

• Penny and Dallas came to visit!  My Aunt Penny has always been super special to me, even though she up and moved to Texas a million years ago and the last time she made it up for a visit was when my Grandma Tarbet died about 13 years ago.  Thank heavens for email and Facebook -- it really doesn't feel like we're so far apart.  But hooray -- her son Dallas graduated from BYU this past weekend and that was at last enough to lure her up our way.  We had fun family doings every night they were here to celebrate, and it was so darn fun to be together!

You can see more pictures of all these fun events by clicking here.  And now I think I shall go back to my dejunking spree! 

Where did February go?

Wow, I can't believe March is here already!  Our February was jam-packed with all sorts of doings.  So let's see -- I already told you all about our trip to California and Valentine's Day, so what's next?

Ah, yes -- Eliza started nursery!  HOORAY!  She is such a little busybody, and the last few months of church have been, um... less than spiritual for me.  She had no trouble going to nursery at all.  I set her down and she took a moment to look around.  When she saw the toys on one side and Katie, the nursery leader who she already loves, on the other, she jumped right in and never looked back.  Apparently one little boy is already smitten with her -- he was following her around hugging her saying "Cute!" all day.  Ah, young love.  Here she is on her first day of nursery:

Notice the awesome stripey tights from Auntie Jana and the corduroy skirt made Mommy.  I'm definitely getting better at this sewing thing!

We also had fun celebrating Crystal, my dad, and Noah's birthdays this month.  We really like to clump birthdays together in this family!  Here are a couple of my favorite pics from our cute little Noah's birthday party.

This guy knows how to react to opening a present!

Sammy says he didn't cheat to win pin the tail on the donkey, but the jury's still out on that one...

One of the greatest highlights of the month was hands down a visit from Sarah, Zack, Cole and Laila!  (That's Dan's sister and her family, for those who don't know.)  They drove down from Washington, going a loooooooooong way out of their way to visit us on their way to California to visit Grandma and Grandpa Olive.  It was such a treat to have them here!  The kids were all completely smitten with baby Laila and had a great time rousting around with Cole.  Uncle Zack was also a favorite wrestling opponent and Aunt Sarah got good and snuggled.  (The two of us also snuck in a trip to the quilt shop...)  Chad, Esther, and Cody even joined the fun on Sunday, and we had such a great time together.  Here are a few of my faves from the weekend, and then you can see all the fun pics in this Facebook album.

During that same weekend we also got to go see a bunch of my little Neves cousins in their elementary school play, Choc-a-block.  It was all about a chocolate lovers' club I could totally get behind -- their pledge went something like this: "Chocolate dark or chocolate light, I'll eat chocolate day and night!"  Where do I sign up?!  I was so proud of all my cousins -- they did a great job!  We had a fun family gathering at my parents' house afterward, too.

 

Phew!  March is shaping up to be a very busy month as well -- never a dull moment around these parts!  And now, I must go get ready for cub scouts!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ah, Valentine's Day -- how fun to have a day to celebrate all the people you love!  And also eat chocolate with no remorse...

Dan and I got up (not even early -- yay 11 o'clock church!) and made a most delicious waffle breakfast for the kiddos, who were delighted to come to the table and find valentines and chocolate boxes just for them.  Dan surprised me, not only with roses, but with a Pandora One membership.  (Pandora is a music website where you can create your own custom radio stations and listen for free, but only for 40 hours a month.  Since I listen pretty much all the time when I'm working, crafting, or just checking Facebook, I'd usually run out a few days shy of the end of the month.)  It was such a thoughtful gift -- something I hadn't thought to get for myself, but that I will appreciate every day.  Who could ask for more than that!  I just love being married to Dan; we just have so darn much fun together!

I just love having these three wonderful kids as my valentines!  They fill my life with love and laughter.  Thanks, kiddos!

Is it a bad sign if...

Is it a bad sign if...

...you walk past the kids' bathroom and water puddles up around your feet through the carpet?

... or if you then try the bathroom door and find it locked?

... or if, in a moment of sudden quiet while your lovely visiting teacher is praying for you, you can hear water running in the ceiling above you?

... or if, when you open said bathroom door and find an inch of standing water covering the whole bathroom, you ask your 4-year-old what happened and he says there was a toilet paper monster trying to escape from the potty?

                            ... It may possibly be a sign that a certain 6-year-old, who shall remain nameless, tried to be helpful and gather up the huge pile of toilet paper spun off the roll by a passing 17-month-old and flush the TP down the toilet.  It's also possible that said 6-year-old freaked out when the toilet started flooding, locked the door so his mom would never know, then ran off to school.

Ah, the life.  15 soaking towels, an hour of stomping the wet carpet, and a big bulge in the paint on the wall of the kitchen later, the jury's still out on this one...

Today's funny conversation is brought to you by...

... Joshua.

Me: "Hmm...maybe we really don't need to go to the craft store today..."
Joshy: "Please oh please! I want to go the craft store!"
Me: "YOU? Why? What would you get there?"
Joshy: "Um...Supplies..."
Me: "What kind of supplies?"
Joshy: "Ya know, designs. Cool designs. Stuff you could glue to the wall!"

Don't worry, hon -- he didn't REALLY want to go to the craft store. He was just afraid I was going to make him eat lunch at home instead of packing his chicken nuggets in a bag to eat on the road. These kids think home-made kids meals are the coolest thing ever.

Everday Life

Life is fun, you know? These three kids keep us so entertained as their little personalities and talents develop. We've been having fun times over the past few weeks. We've taken a couple of trips to the childrens' museum, which is SO fun. The boys love all the different outlets for creativity there. They've done some really cool classes, like exercise, learning about eyes, and "action painting." (Thanks again for the membership, Grandma and Grandpa! Best present ever!) Eliza loves to watch all the big running around and occasionally gets to get out and play, too. Last time we went with Aunt Carrie and Taya and Noah, which was a blast.





I snapped this one a few Sundays ago -- my daddy is such a great Bapa! The kids love piling on for story time.



The weather around here has not been very spring-like -- the other day we woke up to 2" of snow, and even when it's been sunny it's been chilly and windy. We made the most of it the other day, though, and got out the kites Grandma Hill sent for the boys. They were SO excited. It took some doing, but we got both kites up! We couldn't get Joshy's to stay up for very long, but he had a great time watch it swoop around and crash and go up again close to the ground. We were trying to do it in the front yard, and I think the air currents were too swirly in the cul-de-sac.




Oh, I have to share a funny, sweet story. Last Monday, when we were getting ready for "You're My Favorite" Day, Sammy wanted to make cards for my mom and dad. This is the card he made for my mom:



I thought it was very sweet. On our way to my parents' house that morning, Sam was holding the card in his lap and Josh said, "Jesus's hair looks funny!" Sam fixed him with a stern eye and said, "Josh, how do you think Jesus would feel if He heard you say that about him?" Glad to know the lessons are getting in there somewhere...

Josh is feeling very conflicted about whether he wants to be a baby or a big boy. He sees Eliza and Sam and kind of wants the best of both worlds. He is hilarious, too – always looking for ways to make people laugh. He’s gotten very friendly, too. He’ll walk right up to people and start a conversation, almost always starting with “Do you know my name?!” I’m trying to teach him that it’s only okay to talk to strangers if Mommy is with you. He’s pretty independent and likes to do things his own way.

Eliza is getting SO big! She’s almost 8 months old. Her big thing right now is pulling herself up to standing, which she’ll do using anything she can get her hands on. She hasn’t figured out how to move her feet yet, though, so we’re in no immediate danger of walking. She’s also trying very, very hard to crawl. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks and rocks and then pushes up on to her toes and fingertips, but (just like with walking) she can’t figure out how to move her feet, so she mostly pushes herself backwards if she goes anywhere at all. It’s very frustrating for her to be trying to get a toy but only getting further and further away! Between rolling and just generally squirming around, she can cover a lot of ground, and I think she’s pretty proud of herself. Here's a cute video of her trying to make her move:



Eliza has her boys wrapped around her little finger -- this is just a small sample of the lengths to which they'll go to entertain her. It may not always be successful on her, but I sure found it entertaining...

What we've been up to...

Hey, family and friends -- sorry I've been remiss in updating our blog! We haven't had any major events lately, just lots of everyday fun stuff. Here's a very cute pic of the kids we took to send out as Valentines for the grandparents. Sammy helped me make the sign, and he was very proud of it. I was very proud of the fact that I took it myself -- the kids are sitting on the bed in our guest room!


Here are some other fun recent pics:

"My, what big eyes you have!"


Sammy and Dan building the cool ferris wheel and swing rides Grandma sent for Christmas:




The rest of these are from the last couple of days when Leanne and Amelia were here -- we got to spend some fun time hanging out at our house, and then the last day we went shopping with Nana and the boys had SO much fun on the merry-go-round with Nana.






Another very exciting happening in the family was the arrival of baby Cody! We went over to Chad and Esther's house to meet him, and he is just the cutest little guy. Here are a few pictures from our visit: