what goes in, must come out...

Bill had another stroke. So, while we were at the hospital Claire...well...this can be funny if seen in the right light. So, let's do it right:

Claire, Nick, Matthew and I went down to visit Bill (my father) in the hospital after this stroke happened. It was this past Sunday. Claire asks if she can take off this necklace that Grammie Krista gave her. 

Me: Ummmm...I don't know, Bear. You tend to put whatever you can in your mouth for reasons I don't understand. Will you keep it out of your mouth.

My Trained Monkey of A Daughter: Yes, Momma.

Me: Okay.

Matthew gets a stinky bum, and we left the diaper bag in the car. Nick and Claire go down to get it. Nick hears Claire coughing/choking. 

Nick: Bear, you okay?

Claire: cough cough, I swallowed my necklace. cough cough cough

Nick looks in Claire's mouth and sure enough, the necklace is gone. She gets spoken to sternly, I'm sure, I wasn't there. I was told after the fact. And then the two proceed back up to Grampa Bill's room. Claire stops.

Claire: Daddy? 

Nick stops and looks at her.

My THREE year old says: Don't tell Momma, okay Daddy?

Obviously it was the first thing he said when he got up to the room! We died. Seriously. Then Gramma Rosi turns to us and says

Gramma Rosi: Should you call your pediatrician?

Me: uhhhh...?

Rosi: I should just pop around the corner and ask Grampa Bill's nurse.

She returns while I am telling Claire that she promised not to put things in her mouth and then did exactly what I was afraid of...

Rosi: Yes, you should call your doctor. Just to make sure.

So, this is getting longer and longer. Basically, because the necklace was 10 inches long, the doc wanted us to get an xray after it passed through most of her body...just to make sure. The next morning we took her in, got an xray and found that is was clumped in a little ball and very close to being on its way out. She was fine. 

Is it bad that I almost hoped that it was something that would scare her JUST A BIT to help her remember how bad it is to put things in her mouth? That's awful though, right? Especially because I try so hard to not make her scared of the doctor. Hmmmm...sigh...grrrr...

Thanksgiving II

1. I am thankful for my amazing children. The more I watch, the more I care. I can't help it. They are positively amazing! Claire is totally PRE READING! And she loves it. She asks to do practice multiple times a day. Matthew is a total flirt. He can't help but liven everyone around him with a smile. And the way he attacks popcorn is something to be seen.

2. Aggies! WA-freakin'-hoooo! We went to the football game in the freezing cold this afternoon. It was awesome. Matthew was an ANGEL! He literally watched the game the entire time. And when he wasn't, he was flirting with the cute girls behind him. Claire was pretty whiny, but she was fairly okay through the whole thing. I was never ever a sports person unless my awesome brothers were playing, but I can't not watch this team. I'm sad if I have other obligations. And if we can't get free tickets, we watch it online! I can hardly believe this! I love it. I love the Aggies! They rock!

3. The Sorensen Family. They almost all came over for this Thanksgiving. It was awesome to spend so much time with them. Matt took us to see "Real Steel", which I totally recommend. Although I had a very hard time with the total destruction parts of this movie, but I really did love it. We ate fabulous food that we spent two days making. We had lots of fun playing games, going out as girls, playing with the kids, Black Friday watching---that turned into buying! ha ha ha!...etc. So glad they came. We love them. Thanks, guys.

4. This country. Glad we live here. Glad for our jobs. Glad for our security. Glad for our home. Glad for our ability to make changes. Glad to eat lots of food. Wish for a few changes, but who doesn't!?!

5. Heavenly Father...For allowing all of the previous. and more.

melissa villasenor!!!!

Everyone can totally be jealous! I went with my friend, Lizabeth E, to see this comedian on Thursday night up at USU. Not only is she a fantastic comedian but, she's CLEAN and she's a singer! You better believe that I feel in love because of that. She truly is amazing. I could do a complete critique of her vocal abilities, but I'd bore almost everyone but my mom, so...naw.

Check her out:

laughs...

There is a woman at a store that we use often who has a laugh...

An interesting laugh...

So, the story goes, we were in said store when Nick noticed Matthew had an 'eye bugger'. Matthew does not like to have his face 'picked' so I turn to Nick laughing out loud to see what happened. Nick was 'picking' at this 'eye bugger' when Matthew decided that he didn't like it. He squaked and squinched up his face, then took his pointer finger and jabbed at Nick's eyeball saying "Eye! Eye! Eye!"

After Nick told this adorable story of Matthew standing up for himself, I laughed out loud. Nick and I continued to glance at each other and laugh out loud again and again.

Low and behold, this woman of previous mention is heard laughing...from about 500 meters away.

Claire turns to me and says, "Momma! That girl laughs like you!"

So, Nick and I decided to ask. We recorded this woman's laughter by drawing her into conversation. She was ready and willing. I don't know if she recognized me from when I worked there years ago, but she is absolutely hard to forget, so I will always remember. But she totally told me some very personal things, keeping this upbeat, uproarious laughter at the same time.

Check it out and vote!

thanksgiving...

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving, I'm copying my dear friend Missy and writing a thankful blog post for a few days:

1. Claire's preschool. SHE LOVES IT! She is a better artist, better reader, better communicator, better sleeper, better helper, better big sister.

2. Matthew's cheery smile. That kid smiles at everyone! I can't get enough. When he adds that giggle, the world is a better place. (insert cheesy comment here)

3. Food. the end.

following maggie

I selfishly want this so I'm posting it.

free lds 16x20 temple picture

bulldog...

My friend, Regina, had me watch her kids one morning and as she was leaving, she picked up Matthew, said, "You are such a bulldog." and put him down.

I nearly died! What an apt description of the little monkey. It totally makes me wanna change his nickname. It's not only that he has the personality described by that title: he pushes through anything, he is obstinate as a...Well, he's obstinate...and then there is the crawling factor. That kid puts his little arms kind of to the sides and waddles his little hind parts to resemble the best bulldog around.

My favorite is that when he's in the mood to wrestle, his form of 'tackling' is to crawl up till his practically sitting on you, then just lay. Making it absolutely impossible to ignore the kid. 

His breathing might even resemble a bulldog because it's so audible. This kid is awesome. 

Not so happy news: he's bleeding out his ears with disgusting pus and nose and eyeball drippings. Poor kid. Doc thinks it's another sinus infection (which is supposed to not be possible because kids don't have any sinuses developed yet). He went in for a blood test on Friday. I am very interested in what the Doc decided to test for...

He's signing! Not even just a little bit. He'll do complete sentences. 

"Milk, please, Momma"

"More, please, Daddy"

"Thank you, Daddy"

"No thank you"

"All done!"

"Amen!"

Astounding...

Deb: Claire, will you set the table?
Claire: Sure, Momma.
I hand her four plates. One for Claire, one for Momma, one for Daddy and one for the French Toast to sit on in the center of the table. Though, i didn't bother explaining this to her...Claire sets all four plates in thier prospective places, in front of each chair at the table. I didn't bother telling her because it didn't matter.
 Deb: Why don't you get 1 knife for Daddy, and forks...
Claire interupts: and a spoon for Brother.
Deb: Great. thanks.
Claire gets out 1 spoon, one knife and four forks. Again, I didn't bother correcting her because it didn't matter and also, I doubted she knew she had too many and would put it on the table to get dirty. She places the silverware in a pile on the counter so she doesn't have to hold them all at once. I secretly take one fork and put it back. 5 seconds later, I'm still making dinner...
Claire: Hey! Where's my other fork?
drat! She noticed.
Deb: do you need another one?
claire nods.
Deb: okay, here you go.
She finishes by putting it by the extra plate.

 If you didn't catch it, my daughter counted. Not only did she count the forks, but she counted the plates to know how many forks to get. I'm sorry if this seems simple to you. This is amazing. She is asking herself questions, drawing conclusions and getting it right! My daughter is SMART! This is six year old material, this. If your kid can do it too at this age, or any age before six, make sure you're praising that kid up and down.