She's Practically a Celebrity

(I think this picture makes me look silly, but overall Mabel did a fabulous job taking it.)

I saw my dear friend Mrs. Dub today
(and our friend, Hilari).

We ate tamales, went swimming, and chatted.
It was fun.

Now, if only she was in town just to play and not because
her brother is getting married.
Those family obligations are really getting in the way of my secret plan to make her husband and my husband best friends.

p.s. Eden is really cute.

If You Need Us,

we'll be at the pool 'til Tuesday.

Number 3

He's a big one.

For some reason, he is giving me the heeby-geebies more than the previous 2.

I hate scorpions.

My Bloggie Thing

1. How old is your blog?
18 months old. It's still just little.

2. How would you categorize your blog?
It's mostly about my kids and my house. Next to my husband, those are the two things I love the most.

3. Are the photos you post Photoshopped or otherwise altered?
While we do have photoshop, I don't really know how to use it. Instead, I edit my pictures in iPhoto. I am in love with their "enhance" button.

4. Do you lie in your blog?
No. That would be lame. That's like lying in your journal just to make yourself sound cooler to your posterity.

5. Are you passive-aggressive in your blog?
I don't think so. But I don't really know what passive-aggressive means.

6. Do you ever threaten to quit writing so people will tell you not to stop?
No. That's lame, too.

7. Have you deleted any of your own posts? Why?
Just dumb drafts that I had written in a weird mood.

8. Do you delete mean comments?
No. But I also don't allow anonymous comments, so I don't really get mean ones anymore.

9. If your readers knew you in person, would they like you more or like you less?
They would probably think I was really boring. So they might like me less.

10. How many blogs do you follow?
Everyone on my sidebar plus a few more for good measure.

11. Which blogger do you want to meet in real life?
Well, in an effort to spend less time on the computer, I have a policy of only reading blogs of people I actually know (I read a few of people who are one person removed from me). I would most like to meet Emily of acte gratuit. (I know her sister-in-law, Mrs. Dub.) She seems fun.

12. Does your family read your blog?
Totally. There are 6 kids in my family, living in soon-to-be 6 different locations (7 if you count my parents) around the world. It is the best way to keep in touch.

13. Do you have a hit counter? How often do you check it?
Yes. I check it every few months.

14. Is blogging narcissistic?
Totally. I have a hard time with that.

15. Do you feel guilty when you don't post for a long time?
Nope. Sometimes I just don't feel like it, you know?

Bonus: Do you try to look hot when you go to the grocery store just in case someone recognizes you from your blog?
um...Mike does the grocery shopping and he always looks hot.
But sometimes when I am at the mall or something, I feel like I might bump into a fellow blogger.

Bwaaa?

I found this growing in our arizona room this morning. It sprung there overnight. How, pray tell, did it get there? Granted, an arizona room is kind of like an outside room, but this plant is growing at least 10 feet from the outside, through the concrete foundation, between the baseboard and the threshold, and through who knows how many layers of paint. It has worked so hard to get there, I kind of feel like letting it stay.

I Caved

The rubberband trick simply wasn't cutting it anymore.

I was forced into maternity pants at a mere (almost) 14 weeks.

sigh.

We Have An Exciting Anouncement

Mabel, who has been growing out her hair since the hair trauma of '06,
can finally wear her hair in a ponytail!
(Well, at least a half ponytail.)

It is very exciting.

Today, My Baby Needs This:

spinach dip.

for breakfast.
I don't ask questions.
I just eat it.
and it tastes good.

Do You Like It?

My dear sister, Leslie, and her dear friend, Natalie, thought it was high time I redesigned my blog. They were right. Thank you, Natalie, for making my amazing new header. Thank you, Leslie, for walking me through all of the changes.

Now, what do you all think?

Just One

Phew.
Although, I have to say that I was prepared for twins.
Oh well, maybe next time.


In other news, we spent the morning in the ER with Mabel.
Her eyeball (no, not just the area surrounding her eye,
but the actual white part of her eyeball)
was swollen around her iris.
It looked really really sad.
After a thorough cleansing with saline solution,
that for some reason almost caused me to faint,
it is looking much better.
She was very brave.
When we told the kids we were going to go the hospital,
Oliver lost it. He started sobbing.
He was so scared for Mabel.
In a very calm voice, she assured him that she was going to be ok.

I am glad they love each other so much.

Stephanie's Thoughts On...Discipline

**I am going to start a new installment on my blog called "Stephanie's Thoughts On...". You don't have to read it and you don't have to agree with me. That is ok. Feel free to comment, but only if you promise to be nice.**

When we first moved into our ward here in the AZ, a very wise man was speaking in Sacrament Meeting. He was directing his words to young parents, like myself. He said something that changed my life.

Before I tell you what it was, let me preface by saying that I am no parenting expert. When Mabel was a baby, I dreaded the day that she would require discipline. I felt so inadequate and so nervous about it. Fortunately, I have been extremely blessed with two very well behaved and obedient children. They came from heaven this way. I am only trying my best not to mess them up, because I think they are very nearly perfect. I used to use the Super Nanny method of discipline that involves a naughty spot and the child sitting on said spot for a certain amount of minutes. I tried to show a lot of love for my children while doing this, but something about it just felt wrong to me.

And then Brother Smith looked directly at me (at least it felt that way) and likened our relationship with the Savior to our childrens' relationship with us, their parents. When we sin, the Savior doesn't send us away. He envelopes us in His love and wants us to come to Him for comfort. He doesn't want us to feel lonely in the midst of our trangressions. He wants us to feel loved. So when we make the wrong choice, we need to turn to Him and know that He will always be there for us. Likewise, when our children do something wrong, instead of sending them to a corner, we need to bring them to us and love them. We need to hug them tight.

After thinking about this and implementing it in my family, I realized that this is what my very own parents did when they were raising their 6 children. They never sent us away. They loved us, even when we made the wrong choices. My dad would have "talks" with us. I usually left these talks with a great deal of guilt that made me never want to repeat the offense.

I have seen this work in my home. When my kids do something they know they shouldn't, all they want to do is hug. It helps them calm down almost immediately and then we can talk about what happened and how we can fix it. More than anything, I want my children to feel loved. I want them to know that I will always be there for them. They are young, only 2 and almost 5, so it's not like they make big mistakes. The choices they make now are not that important, but someday they will be. And someday those mistakes will be bigger, too. I want them to know that they can always come to me. I might not be happy with their choice, but I will hug them tight and love them no matter what.

I realize that parents are doing their best. All kids and families are different. This is what works for me and my family now. I don't know if it will still work when my children are older. What works for your's?

My Simple Questions

1. What makes you laugh?
Mike. He is the funniest person I know.

2. My first kiss was...
pretty average. I was 17 and a senior in high school. (We P* girls kissed late in life, very unlike our P* brothers.) It was with my first boyfriend. He was cute, but not exactly what my parents had in mind for me. Luckily it was just a high school fling and ended amicably when I left for the B Y.

3. What celebrity crushes did you have as a teenager?
I was anti-celebrity crushes. I thought girls who had them were lame. (Sorry, Les.) I lived in constant fear of being a "cheesy girl". In my mind, only "cheesy girls" did things like have celebrity crushes, get their hair done professionally for school dances, and wear make-up. I was such a dork.

4. Fill in the blanks: "I cannot leave a ______ store without spending less than $______ ."
I cannot leave HomeGoods without spending less than $20. I love that store. It is my current favorite. Sorry, Target.

5. Name three things you've survived.
a. 2 c-sections. They are very painful and so not fun. I get to have another in about 6 months. I am not looking forward to it. It is only worth it because it gives you a perfect little baby with a perfectly round little head. And you don't have to go through labor.
b. climbing into the bowels of the Great Pyramid in Egypt. I am with you on that one, Les. I was so scared and totally overcame (briefly) my fear of small, enclosed places.
c. living with my parents (for 6 months) and Mike's parents (for 2.5 months) after we were married and had children. It wasn't that bad, but I am sure they were glad to get rid of us.

6. The big decision I'm currently wrestling with is . . .
what to serve at Mel's baby shower (yes, I lead a very easy life). If I served an omelet bake and a berry french toast bake would it be too much?

Oliver and I have the same problem.

Our tummies stick out.

Kindergarten

Good news!

Mabel, who is currently dreading kindergarten,
got into the half day class!
I was so worried that our school would only be offering
full day
(that means 8:30 am to 3:00 pm),
but they opened a half day afternoon class for next year.
Mabel gets to be in it.
That means she can hang out all morning in her poojies
and eat lunch at home.
(She was so scared to eat lunch at school.)
She is very relieved.
And so am I.
Now she might actually like school.

This is me in kindergarten.
The kids in junior primary had to guess who it was.
They all guessed Mabel.
I think it looks like her a little bit.

p.s. Thanks for all of the yummy shower food ideas!
They all sound fabulous.
Now how am I going to decide?