Time Out

So - I've been thinking lately....

Grace and I are in the middle of a massive battle of wills. It's a daily battle, for lack of a better word. I'm struggling on where to draw the line with my 2 year old - "no mom. no - no - uh uh. nope." These are some of her favorite things to say whenever I ask her to do something. I swear her first response is to tell me no - or ignore me all together.

The other day Grace was put in time out several times throughout the day for telling me some form of "Nope mom, not gonna do what you want me to do." I know she is just barely two but it is driving me crazy!

So, on time number 5 in time out I had a thought come to mind. I wonder if this is how Heavenly Father feels about us(ME) sometimes? How often do we know his counsel and still say "nope, not going to do it HF. Sorry, but no." I wonder if God ever gives us time outs?

Tribute to My Mom

My Tuesday Tribute today will be to my mom, also known as "Grama Kate",
"Katie Cathryne", "Kate", "Papa" and "Grandma".

My mom is the most giving, loving, caring person I know. She does not lie, or even ever exaggerate the truth. She has worked her whole life to provide for her children, we never went without. I know she has worked several Saturdays/Sunday's and extra shifts just to buy school clothes, birthday presents, or that fancy pair of shoes one of us kids had to have.

My mom taught us the value of being honest, good people. She was always an example to her children. She always helps with the grandkids, and they all love her so much! She shares in our joys and is sad by our sorrows. She gives good advice - when I got married she told me there will be times I don't want to be married. Go get some ice cream, then go home and work it out. Because that's what you do. When I had my 2nd baby so close to my first, she said not to forget that Grace was still a baby too. How many times have I had to remember that over the past year?

My mom likes to read, likes to be with family and is the best Parcheesi player (or at least in the top 3) in the world. My mom has probably seen the movies Dave, the American President and Pure Country at least 100 times each. She taught me to only watch happy movies because life is sad enough, why go to the movie to be sad? She taught me not to shop at the Valley Fair Mall because that is where people get shot, and not to eat at the Denny's in Layton because it's disgusting. We never put quarters in the candy machines because the candy had probably been there for years and had germs and we never took the bus into town because it wasn't safe. Well, I'm sure that I'll be warped for the rest of my life for some of these things, but I made it to adulthood, happy and healthy! My mom offered to take me toilet papering when a boy said he wouldn't go to a dance with me. My mom backed us on our decisions and wanted us to be happy.

Love you mom!

If you want to participate in Tribute Tuesday check out this blog - http://pudmud.blogspot.com/ .

Check-ups and Smiles!

Is there anything as sweet as these pictures? Grace loves to dress up in a "Pincess dress". She loves the tiara, and has little glass slippers. Some times (understatement...) she likes to act like a princess and is extremely particular and bossy. My sister has started calling her Cinderella.


Could this child be any cuter? Max has the biggest brown eyes, and reminds me of my dad and my brothers.

We took the kids for well checks and shots yesterday Grace weighs in at just under 24lbs (fully dressed) and was right at 25 percentile for both height and weight. She is doing all the things a two years old should be doing and got an A+ for her speaking skills.... Max weighs in at just over 22 lbs (dressed) and was 75 percentile for weight and 95 percentile for height. Which explains why my 9 month old is in 18 month clothes.

Funnies from the checkups - Grace insisted on wearing her Santa hat and Frosty the snowman jacket that lights up. So she was an instant hit with the nurses and receptionist. She kept saying she wanted to see the doctor for a check-up.

Dr. Hibbard asked if Max was a good eater, and I told her he is if it is something he likes, and I proceeded to tell her he won't eat peas or beans, or chicken & rice, turkey & rice, chicken noodle etc. I said he loves carrots, sweet potatoes, squash and the doctor chuckled, she said my baby has a sweet tooth. (hmm, where could he get that from?) I also said the only meat he would eat was apples & chicken or pineapple glazed ham, pretty much confirming the sweet tooth. (I mean, I never touch sweets so I have no idea why Max would be that way!)

After the shots both my kids were blood curdling screaming and the nurses brought in balloons, Max immediately stopped, not to cry again for the rest of the night. Grace was not to be won over, and cried the whole way home. She cried until we got her a happy meal with her very own Sprite. They both slept great and this had to be the easiest round of shots yet! Yeah!!!

Visiting Teaching

Have you read the Relief society visiting teaching message this month? I'm sure you are all way better than me at getting this done, and don't procrastinate until the 28th...but I really liked it this month...

It talks about Standing strong and being Immovable in Faith.

Julie B. Beck, Relief Society general president: "Latter-day Saint women must be strong and immovable in their faith. They can and should excel in living and sharing their testimonies of the Lord Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. We do this as we:

Make and keep covenants with Him.
Are worthy and worship in His temples.
Study His doctrine in the scriptures and the words of prophets.
Qualify for, recognize, and follow the Holy Ghost.
Share and defend His gospel.
Participate in sincere personal and family prayer.
Have family home evening.
Live principles of self-reliance and provident living.

I love that is says these are essential things that must be done before nonessential things and that no one can do them for us. We must do these things for ourselves. I'm sure this is a great reminder for all of us, how easy is it to put the nonessential things first? I do it every single day - "I'll just start one load of laundry before I read my scriptures." "I'll clean my house first, then read." "Let's watch this TV show, then have family scripture study and prayer." And more often than not, it doesn't happen. Satan is so powerful and wants us to put aside the essential things!

:) Got to go visiting teaching now.... :)

Tribute Tuesday

So, yesterday I posted a completly true version of events from the past week in Not me Monday. Today I have been invited to participate in a Tuesday Tribute created by this guy - http://pudmud.blogspot.com/ Wayne.

With gladness -

My tribute today won't ever read this. My dear sweet brother Patch. I mean Elder McBride.

He is my hero - I am so grateful he is serving a mission. I'm grateful for the example he is setting for my youngest brother, my nieces and nephews and his friends. Elder McBride put his life on hold for two years, so you can tell others about something that is so important. I know the words he is teaching are true. I know if the people who are taught will read the Book of Mormon, with prayer, seeking it's truthfulness, they will be answered.

He is so excited to teach people - and he is so loving! Patch - here's to you!

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by McKMama. You can head over to her blog at http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not try to put Grace to bed for three hours last night. I did not give in and let her stay up with some friends way past her bedtime. I did not give her sugary ice cream after said bedtime. I did not laugh hysterically when she came into the kitchen at 11pm and stated that she had a good nap. I am not sitting here posting this at work today. And on Friday, I did not spend at least 3 hours figuring out how to post a collage of pictures on my brothers blog, at work, because I wouldn't blog at work.

I did not watch the original Star Wars trilogy over the weekend, instead of cleaning, dusting and doing laundry. I did not go to church yesterday and forget wet wipes for my two diaper wearing children..... hmm.... I did not pack gold fish crackers that Grace may or may not have spilled all over the chapel floor, and I most certainly did not smirk and chuckle slightly as my husband, whom I love and adore, was on his hands and knees in the middle of the isle picking up said fishes...

I did not let Grace parade through the Wal-mart, Super Target and Albertson's in a "pincess" dress and a Santa hat this week. As she wished people "A Happy to me."

While playing cards with some friends I did not read Jacks as Jackus, Sounding more like Jack@**. We did not laugh for 1 hour and 12 minutes every time someone in the group said Jackus.

I did not originally spell Monday incorrectly in this post and have to come back in and edit it.

Nope, not me! Monday!

The light at the end of the virus!

I give up! I have been trying to post a collage on my brothers blog for 3 hours now and I keep getting an error message..... Swear words!!!!

So - I'll just post something else :)

How bout' Max - yes lets talk a little about Max today.

So the last time I talked about Max you may remember he was sick. (His mommy thinks this is a gross understatement.) Well, he is still sick. He finished his antibiotic Last Thursday, and by Saturday (Grace's bday party day...) we were back up at the hospital where they gave him another shot of steroids for croup again. (If you are keeping a tally that is 3 ear infections, 2 rounds of croup and 2 months worth of runny nose since Thanksgiving...) Sunday was worse, Monday was worse and Tuesday was the worst. Well, obviously the steroids were not working, so we tied an alcohol wrap around his neck - (which he was allergic too...of course....)

During the night the humidifier broke - probably because it has been running every night for 2 months.... and Wednesday morning when I went to get him out of his crib he was smiling - I have not seen him smile like that for weeks - and he isn't coughing every minute, and I only wiped his nose like 5 times yesterday, instead of 55 times. Oh, my boy is getting better!!!! :) :) :)

See!!! He will even get down and play!!!!