Adventures in Space and At Home

Recently overheard in NASA training:
"Mission Control? This is Roger. Ready for take off!"
Both of the costumes said "commander" but we designated one the captain and one the commander to keep them happy.

"I see the earth! We're going to crash!"

"I'd better go fix the satellite. I'll take my oxygen with me for I can breathe out of the ship."

"Astronauts sleep standing up, Mom!" Maybe I should try that one at home, eh?
I didn't know they made such sweet astronauts!

Last Saturday we went to the Discovery Museum to see the new space exhibit. The boys played with that gear for about 45 minutes before the planetarium show. They've been excited to go since they turned 4 and can now be admitted! Michael especially loves stars, planets, and all things space. He knows the names of the planets, what color they are, that Mars has no atmosphere, that some are made out of rock and others gas. He wants to be an astronaut and a knight when he grows up. Weekend outings are so much fun.

Then we enter weekday life. Today I had to break out the bubbly. I like to keep a little fancy stuff on hand for emergencies and today was such an emergency. Grown up soda in a goblet always lifts the spirits and reminds me of life beyond the mess on the floor (and counter tops, and table tops, and in the bathroom, and . . . )
Maybe it's because I was away for bedtime last night at Relief Society and the boys missed me. Maybe it's because Anna was woken up 10 minutes into her morning nap and didn't go back to sleep for a couple of hours. This combined with a short night's sleep for me led to one of those moments when I think "Are these words really coming out of my mouth?" After yelling because the glass of water I had been asking someone to drink for three hours spilled all over the craft project on the table, I gave myself a time out. I ran upstairs and prayed out loud, alone in my room, and came back with resolve to get the boys' to a friend's house for the afternoon or to get out of the house together.
I put Anna down again and put on a movie for the boys to watch. Since we canceled our cable in October or November I keep forgetting that I can still put on movies to give us all a little rest. I took a nap for about half an hour and felt much better when I woke up. I fed the boys dino- nuggets, applesauce and milk and made myself a concoction with the above: Fresh Herb Salad with cilantro and parsley already in it, avocado, homemade croutons, grape tomatoes and entire can of tuna (26 grams of protein always helps my bad moods), topped off with some killer french vinaigrette.
Then Anna woke up and ate it with me. She loved the tuna and I loved her.

Then we took a deep breath and got out of the house for haircuts and frozen yogurt. We also stocked up on the sparkling water, just in case! Onward and upward. Bring on tomorrow.

I Love Clearance Sales

I coerced the boys to go to preschool today and took Anna to Pier 1 in my arms. I used to love going there in high school and dream about how I would decorate my kitchen when I was married. I haven't been inside for so long and had a lot of fun looking around with Anna. She was dancing and "aaah" -ing along with the world music playing inside. I never could have gone in there with Michael and Sam but Anna like looking at the pretty things with me and it was very relaxing! I might have to go again. They said they have new mark downs to clearance every Wednesday.

Here is what we got, for $12.00.

I got the bowl and plate to use as serving dishes, not at the same meal, I know.
But, what do I put on that bird plate? All I can imagine is California roll sushi, which I don't make, or petit fours, which I also don't make. I guess a simple salad would work. Suggestions???
The ornament was $2.50 at 75% off. It says 2010 so I thought I'd give it to Anna for her first Christmas. Maybe I'll get her one every year on clearance and when she gets a Christmas tree of her own, she'll have a nice start on her ornaments.

Baby Anna

Wonderful, wonderful Georgianna pretty, sweet baby of mine! You are mine today, let's say hip-hip-horray! For our Georgianna! Wonderful, wonderful, Georgianna divine! The day before she was born I listened to an LDS Conference talk about mothers and daughters and I knew I was in for a special experience with this girl. It's only just begun. We can't get enough of her. We are all smitten. She lights up this place. When Josh talks about her his voice goes higher. When I talk about her I get a far away look in my eyes. Michael loves to stroke her cheeks. He prays for her teething pains in every prayer and this morning Sam said, "I just can't stop loving Anna! She's so cute!" We can't resist her. She is at high risk of being utterly spoiled.

Can you blame us? She smiles when she sees us. She claps when we talk to her. She laughs when we play with her. She plays peek-a-boo with a blanket and gives herself the giggles when she pulls it from her eyes. Incidentally, those eyes are about the same color blue as that dress. Gorgeous!
She was given this dress as a Christmas present from my sister in law and we couldn't wait to put it on her. She actually clapped and giggled when I pulled it over her head and it made a crinkiling sound.
Anna isn't in a hurry. She does get impatient to be dressed so she can go play with her brothers, but she enjoys spending time with us and looks into our eyes a lot more than the boys did. Every night when she's ready for bed I "blow" out the lamp and she buries her face in my shoulder. I feed her in the rocking chair and if she doesn't fall asleep nursing, she starts to say a soft "Ahh, ahh." I know that means she wants me to sing to her and I love it. I want time to stand still except that I know I will continue to love her even more as she grows! What a gift she is!
She is becoming a social butterfly. At church today she looked at every person who came into the mothers' room and had to have a little chat with them before she'd go back to nursing. She enjoys playing with the other babies and crawling through the tunnel of chair legs in the classrooms. She is such a lady. We named her little stuffed bunny Lady. It's always in her crib and I've watched Anna crawl to her and snuggle up when she falls asleep. Anna is so dainty. She helps us dress her by putting an arm through a sleeve and loves to have her teeth and gums brushed.

Here she is with her friend who came over to play last week. They are two weeks apart and her mom is my good friend. Anna kept trying to eat the polka dots off of her shirt! When she saw her today at church she squealed and crawled over to her as fast as she could. We're glad they get along because her brother is friends with Sam and Michael too and we love to get together to play.We're looking forward to more fun and giggles from this sweet girl! She's teaching us all, even me, about womanhood. Somehow I feel more special seeing how special she is. We are all respecting women and motherhood more with her in the home and it's a sweet lesson. She will indeed have two very protective brothers to watch out for her and she will teach them a lot about love. We are so very grateful to have her in our family.

Snow Angels

On New Year's Eve we drove the kids up to the mountains to see the snow. It never snows at our house and they didn't remember ever seeing it or playing in it. I rummaged through some yet unorganized bags in their closet and found some mittens and hats that mostly fit!
It was about 65 miles away. Michael kept asking if we were there yet. Things got very exciting when we started seeing cars with a foot of snow on them driving toward us, coming from the mountains. They wanted to have a snowball fight so we all teamed up against poor Daddy who took it all in the right attitude and pretended to be hurt and surprised by every teeny tiny ball of snow they threw.

Here I told them to make snow angels but I didn't tell them how. They figured it out all on their own. Maybe they've seen it on TV.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And the Littlest Snow Angel. Anna in her knit hat that is getting too small for her.

And, to end the year, I sprained my ankle when I slipped on the snow. I'll spare you a picture. That's why I don't like the stuff! We haven't missed it but it was beautiful in the mountains. I like being able to get in the car and drive away from it. I've spent a lot of the year sick and hope the injuries will end along with 2010.

Joy to the World!

Merry Christmas one and all! We had a great Christmas Eve and day here at home. Clearly, the boys enjoyed being wise men in our nativity Christmas Eve. We danced through the house singing in Swedish and Sam asked me what are we doing? Why are we doing this! I missed my family a little, but it was nice to have a quiet (relatively) night at home together. The kids went to bed at normal times and we went to bed early, exhausted with colds. We did stay up the night before that to watch "A Christmas Carol" and wrap presents. Somehow it's so hard to stop and make time for that. We had to put it on the calendar!

Anna had duel roles in our nativity. She was both an angel and baby Jesus. She has such a glow about her that she was a perfect fit for them both.
Christmas morning the boys went downstairs without us. They turned on all the lights and the Christmas tree, and got a stool to reach their stockings and take them down. We came down and they opened one present each from Santa and played with them for an hour before Michael said, "I think we have even more presents!" They were so sweet.
Sam's At-At falls apart just as easily as Josh's did when he was a little boy. I guess the tradition carries on. Michael loves this fire truck set that actually squirts water (in the garage only!) at the flaming building.
Anna got her first doll who she smiled at and held. It made me cry a little. Next year we're really going to get some girl toys around here! Mostly she played with the wrapping paper.

For posterity, here is a picture of all of the Christmas crafts the boys made at preschool. Carefully recorded in this picture, I can now throw them all away and clean up my fridge door!
Anna also got a toy cell phone that plays songs and lights up. She loves it!
I saw this costume set a while ago and picked it up for Sam and Michael. They were almost Buzz and Woody for Halloween but I didn't find them in time for that.
"You've got a friend in me!"
I'm enjoying getting back into a routine and using my time for organizing the house. I'm extra behind on things because I threw out my back the week before Christmas and spent a couple of days in bed while the house got messier and messier. Yesterday we went to buy some toy bins and cleaned out the toy closet. There is a bag of baby toys Anna may enjoy soon and a bag for the trash and one to give away. The boys understand where everything goes and that if it's not cleaned up before bed time, it gets a time out for two weeks. If that doesn't work, we'll have to threaten giving the left out toys away. Yikes! We're so mean!

We hope everyone had Merry Christmases.

A Royal Engagement

Knights and Ladies, Let it be known that Sir Michael and Sir Sam have hereby requested the honor of your presence at their Royal Birthday Party. Please arrive robed in your Royal attire. Crowns will be provided. Royal sandwiches and birthday cake will be served. Please RSVP to the Queen Mother.
Royalty has been in the news a lot lately and we have been having our own Royal Engagements at our house. Sam and Michael used their Halloween costumes again for a costume birthday party! Our invitations may not have been gold leafed, but they got the point across! The boys have been sick for their birthday two out of four times, so we feel very fortunate to have actually held this party!

We had seven knights and ladies arrive all dressed up and ready to go! We adapted Duck, Duck, Goose and played "Knight, Knight, King." Note Michael playing while holding Monkey! We played Hot Potato and let everyone have a turn winning.

We decorated crowns with jewels and ate castle-shaped grilled cheese sandwiches around the round, well rectangular, table. Moms had hamburger vegetable soup and peach muffins from the freezer.
Our friend made the shield cakes. Michael had yellow cake and cookie dough ice cream while Sam requested chocolate cake with peppermint ice cream.

Here are my birthday boys! I can't believe they're four years old.

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In other news, we have a darling baby girl in the house! She is crawling, waiving, and laughing when we make animal sounds. We're not above oinking for a laugh!

Here is our attempt at a Christmas card picture. It's the best one. Unfortunately, I deleted my revised Excel spreadsheet with everyone's addresses on it, so we'll probably be sending out a limited number this year and re-revising the spreadsheet for next year.

Santa came to our friend's house. No kidding. It was pretty amazing.

We're sharing the magic of Christmas with Anna. She loves to look at the Christmas tree and hasn't even tried to pull it down.

Josh took a trip last week and came back with pirate kits the hotel gives out to kids.
Do you recognize these tough guys?Now, A-rrr we ready for Christmas? Good thing there's another week to go!

Lucky Mommy

I am one lucky woman. Blessed, actually. Once I thought I might not be a mother and now Lucky Mommy is my blogging name. People who saw me in the grocery stores with twin babies would always tell me, "You're such a lucky mommy." Let me give you a few reasons why I feel I am so lucky.

Michael. Michael wants to marry me when he grows up. He is funny and lives to make me laugh. He is loving, considerate and wants to do the right thing. He has an amazing imagination and builds complicated lego creations daily. His eyes look just like his dad's and he holds me tight when we dance together in the kitchen. He loves the hymns and his family. When he wakes up in the morning he closes his bedroom door without a sound so Sam won't wake up and tiptoes downstairs to start playing toys. Michael is curious. He asks me "why" questions all day long about things I have never pondered. Why do brakes stop the car? Why does the wind blow? Why are teenagers the same size as their moms and dads? Why do we poop? He is impatient with childhood and wants to be a man. He wants to have a farm but live with us at home. He will grow blueberries and chocolate on his farm and I can come cook for him. He has my sweet tooth. He worries about a lot of things, is very conscientious and hates violence and making mistakes.

Sam. Sam can talk the entire time he is awake unless there is food in his mouth. He once spent twenty minutes talking to his grandma on the phone. When he wakes up in the morning he throws his bedroom door open and runs down the hall into our room where he jumps into the easy chair and says, " I need breakfast!" Sam loves ritual. He has me sing "Rockabye Baby" and "Rockabye Sammy" every night. He likes to sing along with me to "I Know that My Savior Loves Me." He says a girl at preschool is in love with him because she likes to play with him. Sam is great at taking charge and plans out elaborate play-schemes with a character for everyone to be and a fun plot to act out. Sam is logical. He wants to go to work with his dad when he grows up. He also wants a farm (because they can't have an idea without the other one wanting to weigh in on the idea). He is sensitive to others' feelings and doesn't like for any one to be sad. He runs his fingers through my hair and kisses me on the lips. When I leave his room at night he calls out, "Wait! Mom, I love you." Sam hates feeling like I'm not listening to him.

Anna.
Anna smiles like this every time she sees us. It's straight out of the "How to Win Friends and Influence People" book. She is a cuddler and falls asleep without crying. She likes to feed herself sweet potato puffs and opens her mouth like a bird for her pureed vegetables and cereal. She prefers action figures and matchbox cars to baby toys which keeps us all on our toes but she enjoys her role of Princess Leia in our Star Wars games. (As the mother, I am naturally Padme. Sam is Anakin before turning to the dark side, and Michael is Luke Skywalker).

Anna lights up all of our lives. She can turn a stressful day into a party with one giggle.

Josh
Josh hates having pictures of him on my blog. I took this one in the apartment when he was home from a long business trip. His jacket on the back of a chair means all is well. He is home and we are all calmer and happier because he is there. Josh thinks of everyone's needs before his own. He practically ran this house while I was pregnant since bending over and lifting gave me contractions. Like Michael, he is very creative and conscientious. Like Sam, he is very observant of others' feelings. He plays dragon and horse and Star Wars (he's the Emperor) with the boys and smothers them in kisses. He teaches them about the way things work, why we should be reverent, and to say "This is the best food I've ever tasted!" to me at every meal. He is my best friend. The love of my life. Trite but true.
And he's handsome in his suit.
I had to throw that one in there.

As for me,
I don't look like I did in that picture anymore. Ha! But, nevertheless, I am one blessed woman.