"Lists"

Those of you that know me well know that I am ALWAYS making "lists" . I think I leave the house everyday with a list of things I need to do or buy at the store. I've tried NOT bringing lists before but end up having to run that errand again because I forgot HALF of the things I needed.

Somehow Jayden picked up on me "making lists" and the other day he started making his own. He'd be playing in the front room and say..."oh, where's my list...I need to write something else on it." He'd run into the kitchen and write on this piece of paper (below). He did this 3 or 4 times that day. Then we left to go to the store and without my help he remembered to carry his list with him.

He held it all the way to the store and through the entire store. He'd see something he'd want and say "mom, we need to get that...it's on my list". Sneaky little kid!

Every once in a while he'd say "AHHHH, WHERE'S MY LIST" ....while looking around frantically... "oh, [sigh]...here it is". It's funny but I didn't realize I do that (lose my list and frantically look for it) until he did it. It's crazy what our kids pick up on.

Jayden's 1st list.

I think I see Jayden's & Tia's names on there and a bunch of letters from all of our names.

Then, a day or two later I told Jayden to remind me to trade Dora movies with Briley's mom (our neighbor). Do any of you tell your 3 or 4 year old to remind you to do something? I think I've done that to him ever since he was a baby. It might sound crazy, but half of the time he actually remembers and I don't.

After I told him to remind me he said "I need to write it on my list" and he ran into the kitchen and DREW this picture on his "list" for me...

"Briley's mom & I trading Dora DVDs"

Isn't that awesome! I can totally tell what it is. He gave me his "list" and said "Here mom, you need to remember to trade Dora DVDs with Briley's mom" .

I love this kid! Thanks Jayden for always wanting to learn and try new things. We are so proud of you!

Sweet Little Tia

This little girl's personality is just getting so cute! It's amazing how much she has grown up in the last few months. She just turned two and is a little chatterbox (I wonder who she inherited that from :).

Two weeks ago we took a quick trip to Tokyo and stayed at the New Sanno hotel (a military hotel) for the night.

Tia splashing in the pool at the New Sanno.

Well, that night we headed to bed...all in the same room. This is what happened when we turned off the lights:

TIA: "Mom, we in a hotel?"

MOM: "Yes Tia, good job...we are in a hotel!"

a few seconds pass...

TIA: "Mom, we in a hotel?"

MOM: "Yes Tia"

a few more seconds pass...

TIA: "Mom, we in a hotel?"

MOM: "What do you think Tia?"

TIA: "YESSSSSSSSS" (as she giggles)

a few seconds pass...

TIA: "Mom, we in a hotel?"

MOM: "Tia, mom is trying to sleep!"

TIA: "Mom, we in a hotel?"

no one answers...

TIA: "Mom, we in a hotel?"

JAYDEN: "TIA...MOM IS SLEEPING!"

TIA: "Dad, mom sleeping?"

DAD: "Yes Tia!"

TIA: "Dad..............we in a hotel?"

Tia...we love you so much...thanks for always making us laugh!

7 Years!

Shane and I just had our 7 Year Anniversary!

I told Shane when we were newly weds not to waste money on flowers--he's a good husband and every once in a while ignores what I said :)

It's crazy how much can happen in 7 years...

...here's to an eternity more! I love you so much Shane!

(for the sweet, sappy entry please visit Shane's b.day entry of this year)

A good book...a good laugh!

My friend Alisha let me borrow this book a couple of months ago because she said it was really good. I finally sat down on Sunday and read it and I LOVED it!!! It's a small book with really quick chapters...just how I like it.

Anyways, I wanted to share one story from the book because it made me laugh so hard I could barely read the story to Shane because I was crying from laughing so hard. I know it's not as funny as it was to me that night, but I still want to share it and recommend this book to my friends and family. It is uplifting in all areas of life (laughing, friendship, loving where you come from, being single, saying good-bye, feasting on the scriptures, enduring to the end, & much much more). Reading it inspires you to be a better person.

About the Author: Mary Ellen Edmunds has served as a director of training at the Missionary Training Center and as a member of the Relief Society general board. She graduated from the College of Nursing at Brigham Young University, has been a faculty member at BYU, and has served full-time missions in Asia and Africa. She is the author or several books and talks on tape.

Book: MEE Speaks: But Does She Have Anything to Say?

Chapter: Laugh with MEE

So I try to laugh at myself whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Several years ago on Easter weekend I had assignments to speak in Fresno and Visalia (California). In order to save at least $7.00, I flew into Sacramento rather than Fresno. This allowed me the opportunity to drive to Fresno in the traffic of not just any Friday afternoon, but "Good Friday" afternoon.

I had made arrangements to go to the Fresno Temple with Lynn, whom I'd met at a women's conference in the area a few years earlier. When I finally got to the motel in Fresno and called her, I admit I was hoping she'd say that she wouldn't be there for another ten minutes or so. But no, she was very close, so I just said that I would hurry and change and meet her in the lobby.

I changed and collected my things as quickly as I could and headed back for the lobby, smiling and waving at the people who were in the halls and those cleaning the rooms.

I got to the lobby and met Lynn, and I smiled and waved at the kind people at the desk who had helped me check in just a few minutes earlier.

We got into the car, and I was buckling my seat belt when I noticed, to my horror, that I had forgotten my skirt!

I couldn't believe it! It just was not there where it should have been! I had on a slip, but it definitely looked like a slip...it looked nothing like a skirt!

So I said to Lynn, "I forgot my skirt!" And she said something like, "Oh, I didn't notice."

What? How could you not notice something like that! I wanted to do my grade-school rendition of "Liar, liar, pants on fire..." Instead, I said, "I'd better go get my skirt, since we're going to the temple." She agreed.

Back into the motel I went, smiling and waving...

A visit from home!

What a sweet surprise! Last week I got a call from 3 of my cousins telling me that they were in Tokyo. All 3 of them served missions in Japan and came back for a visit! It was so nice of them for taking a one and a half hour train ride just to come and say hi. What a special day!! Thanks again you guys!

Troy, Kelly, Tyler, Me, Tia, & Jayden standing on the flight line.

Tia & Jayden jumping on the trampoline with Tyler. Tyler was their best friend after this :)

Kelly, Tyler, & Troy

Visits from home are the BEST! Thanks for the hugs and smiles!

Jayden's 4th Birthday

Jayden turned 4 this month! Happy Birthday little dude! We love you so much!!!

This year he had his very 1st "friends" birthday party. We had parents drop off their kids for 1 1/2 hours so that we could PARTY PARTY PARTY. Jayden was SOOOOOO excited! Oh how I wish his cousins & California friends could have come also! We missed you guys!

Jayden chose to have a MONSTERS INC. birthday party, so that's what we tried to do.

THE INVITATION

PARTY DAY GIFTS

We gave Jayden these gifts that morning so that he could have them at his party.

Monsters Inc. Shirt

I finally had this shirt "professionally" made. I'd attempted making it 3 different times before, but each time it has washed off. So finally here's a keeper.

Monsters Inc. Pinata

Shane worked all week making this pinata for Jayden. Jayden couldn't believe his eyes when he saw it...he was SOOOOOOO excited!!!

THE DECORATIONS

The front door.

The front room.

Monsters Inc pictures.

I made this Mike "thingy" out of a green Asian lantern. I couldn't believe it actually worked. Yay!

THE NAME TAGS Aren't these cute? I found them on this blog and then just modified them a little. I'm so grateful for people that share their ideas...it saved me a lot of time and headache.

OUR LITTLE MONSTERS

THE 3 STATIONS

1) Fishing Pond Tia fishing.

Jayden couldn't believe that he "fished" out Monsters Inc socks.

Here's what we found for the fishing pond prizes. I'm so excited that Japan likes Monsters Inc also. I would have never found these things in the States.

After everyone "fished" they colored Monsters Inc pictures.

2) Monster Masks All the kids got to create their own Monster Masks (saw the idea at Oriental Trading Co.).

Here are all of the little Monsters (except for Tia & Briley)...

Jayden, Mattea, Nikolai, Mayci, & Xavier

Giovanny, Jonah, Brynly, & Hailey

Tessa, Tyler, & Everett

Isn't that cute how Everett can't see because he covered up his eye holes? What a doll!

3) Pin The Eye on Mike (Idea came from this blog also)

Jayden, Mayci, Xavier, & Nikolai doing their best to get it in the right spot. I won't say which one's were peaking :)

Then we let the kids have a little FREE TIME to get their wiggles out.

All 14 little Monsters excited for the Pinata.

THE PINATA

Jayden's big hit.

The BRAKE by Xavier.

The POUR.

The SCRAMBLE.

THE CAKE

I love that EVERYONE is working SO hard to help blow those candles out. Team work is the best...thanks guys!

Last, but not least...eating & enjoying the cake!

We are so glad that everything went well, nobody got hurt, and Jayden LOVED it! Till next year little buddy. Love ya!

"The Tree"

So, here's our $10 Christmas Tree.

(see the post below labeled Tia's Ambulance Ride)

Not bad for $10-I think we'll keep it!

(Thanks Grandma Suzy for the red sleigh bells-we LOVE them)

P.S. This is our 1st (big) Christmas Tree and our 1st Christmas alone as a family-I hope we know what to do-this Santa stuff is hard work :) So far Santa is not doing too well-he keeps trying to open and use all of the gifts. I think Mrs. Claus might fire him!

Tia's Ambulance Ride

Okay, so this was totally my fault. I couldn't resist the urge to get a good deal!

This is how it happened...

My kids were both sick with croup and we had been in the home for 5 straight days (I couldn't even go to the grocery store to get fresh food because Shane was out of town and I didn't want to leave my sick kids with anyone). On the 5th day about 6:00 p.m. (1 hour before they would both be going to bed) I saw this ad on Yokotaads.com (it's like a craigslist, but just for our base)...

A 7.5 foot "USED ONCE" Christmas Tree for only $10. Shane and I really wanted to buy one but they were $120-$180 for this size, so when I saw this ad I didn't even care what it looked like-I NEEDED IT--it was ONLY $10-and if I didn't like it I could just give it away!

It would only take 10 minutes to get to this person's house, then we'd be on our way home-right??? You may be asking WHY TONIGHT???...well, it was such a good deal that I thought the guy might change his mind...so I HAD to buy it right then!

Both my kids had croup and a slight fever, but I could roll the windows down and it would be a nice "cool" air drive (the doctors said that a few minutes of cool air each day is good for croup), so I would be hitting 3 birds with 1 stone 1) I'd get a good deal 2) My kids would get some nice cool air and 3) We'd get our Christmas Tree. Those are 3 good reasons-right??? I wasn't totally being irresponsible!

I didn't want to get the kids out of the car (because they were sick) so I asked the guy to meet me at the bottom of his tower, but he said he couldn't because his little girl was at home and his wife had just stepped out. No big deal I thought...I'll just make sure the kids don't touch anything and everyone will be fine.

So we went up the elevator to their apartment. Jayden and Tia both did a fabulous job! They didn't touch a thing. I got the tree, paid the guy his $10 and we were out of there in less than 3 minutes.

"THE TREE"

It was all going just as I had planned it UNTIL....we got to the elevator.

The elevator door opened up and I knew my kids were going to dash in there and was afraid that I couldn't get this big heavy tree (with no handle) in before the door closed on me.

I'm sitting there thinking "I need to beat them into the elevator with this big thing". So, when the elevator door opened I took a huge step with the tree between my arms and the bottom of it resting on my toes. Right when I did that-Tia took off running for the elevator and collided with my leg. She bounced right off it and into the elevator door frame.

Blood started gushing out everywhere. When Tia saw the blood she started freaking out and wouldn't let anyone touch her. I tried to hold her so that I could put some pressure on the cut to help it stop, but she wouldn't let me.

It just so happens that there was a nice older man in the elevator that saw the whole thing. It freaked him out and he ran to the guy's apartment that sold me the tree and they both called 911.

I could see that the cut really wasn't that bad, so I was trying to yell at the two guys that it would be okay and DON'T call 911, I just needed a towel and I would take her to the hospital myself. Well, it was too late...the ambulance was on it's way.

We had to sit there on the 7th floor and wait for the Ambulance workers to come and check Tia out. By this time Tia's cut had stopped bleeding and she wouldn't let a single person touch her besides myself. So the workers told me what to do and how to clean her up. We then made our way to the ambulance and headed for the hospital.

Here's Tia in the Ambulance AFTER I cleaned off most of the blood.

Jayden thought it was the coolest thing in the world to ride in the ambulance!

I didn't get a picture of it, but the workers put the TREE on the STRETCHER in the ambulance-it was so big it wouldn't fit anywhere else-it was hilarious!

Arriving at the hospital.

Waiting in the E.R. to have Tia's head "glued" together. They don't stitch very much anymore-they glue it shut.

Tia and her "glued" stitches.

This is what Tia's head looked like a few hours after it happened.

And, it was all because I COULDN'T pass up a good deal-WHAT'S MY PROBLEM??! Poor little Tia-I'm so SORRY!