Made to do Good Things

For your viewing pleasure, some before and afters of my kids. . .

MIA

Today Mia told me as she skipped through the kitchen, "Mom, I was made to do good things! Some people aren't, but I am!" I LOVE that! I love how this girl thinks. She is inquisitive about everything around her-wondering how things work, or why things are the way they are. She is the type of person that is going to succeed in many things in her life. You know how some people are just good at everything? That's Mia. First place in a race and most recently, I got a call from the school saying that her Reflections entry is moving onto the next level. She is very stubborn and demands that she can do it by herself. I think it's that stubborness that pushes and motivates her. Like when she was teaching herself to ride her bike without training wheels. She cried and cried but never gave up and pushed just as hard.

XANDER

Xander told me the other day while we were reading scriptures, "We read all this, we go to heaven." I was so proud of him. He's been fascinated with heaven lately. While we were shooting hoops, he said, "Heaven's a good place, wight? You walk on clouds." The other day, I lost my patience with him and was upset. I was too hard on him and I apologized. He said, "That's okay. We're still buddies!" Xander is learning to write his name. He's pretty much got all of his letters in his name down and can even spell it. It's the writing part that is difficult. He writes the letters of his name randomly on the paper. Out of all of my kids, he's got it the worst with learning 6 letters. His sisters only have 2,3, or 4 letters in their name.

CJ

CJ poses qualities that make her a wonderful person. She is very forgiving and has no problem letting go. Another quality which I admire about CJ is that she is very loving and thoughtful. CJ has a huge heart. It's natural for her to love and help those around her. When I need help, CJ is the first to volunteer (unless it's emptying the dishwasher :) I can learn alot from CJ! CJ's classmate just moved in next door. It's been so much fun for CJ to have someone to play with all the time!

ZOEY

Zoey is the happiest baby you'll ever meet. All you have to do is say, "Hi Zoey" and she will give you the biggest smile. She loves to dance. Whenever and wherever music is heard, you will see Zoey dancing and doing her favorite bobble head move. She also loves to read books and explore. This is the hardest age for me because she is EVERYWHERE! I have to put all of the chairs on their side because if I don't, Zoey will be on top of the tables. She is very active and on the go. She is talking more each day. Just the other day she said, "thanks" and "I love you" to Ben. Some of her other words are: Momma, Dada, Hi CJ (she says it together), kitty cat, down, and more. Everyday she is looking and acting more like a toddler than a baby. I keep thinking, "Slow down!" She is probably our last baby and I just want to enjoy and remember every minute.

Sometimes, I think the roles are switched and my kids are the teachers and I am the student. I learn many things from them. I think my kids are wonderful and I'm not the only one who think so. I kid you not, every Sunday at church, someone says to me or Ben how "cute" our kids are or how they have so much "confidence"or my favorite, how "well behaved" they are. I agree. I think my kids are pretty wonderful and that they are all MADE TO DO GOOD THINGS!

A Trip to the ER

Xander was having a playdate with his buddy Hudson and I was in the office with Zoey. Zoey started whining, so I stopped what I was doing and said, "Let's go play something." As I was leading her to the kid's room, she continued to whine. She does that alot because she is learning to talk, so I really didn't think anything of it.

We went to the other room and I started to lay her down to change her diaper when I noticed CJ's earrings in her mouth! That was why she was whining. I'm sure it was poking her mouth. At first glance, it looked like her tongue was pierced by them, but as I looked closer, they were just laying in her mouth.

At 16 months, Zoey is very active and doesn't like to stay in one place very long. I managed to get one of the earrings out and as I tried to get the other one out, she was trying to kick herself free and started to lay back.

Frantic that she was going to swallow the other earring, I quickly pulled her up which resulted in her swallowing the earring! I screamed! All I could think of was the pointy tip of the earring, hoping it didn't do any damage on the way down.

After she swallowed the earring, she acted totally fine like nothing happened. I called the doctor and they told me to take her to the ER. I was trying to think about what to do with the kids because school was going to let out soon.

I called my friend Jane and she came over and watched Xander and Hudson. Ben decided to come home early, I'm sure because I freaked out. I tend to do that when I'm stressed. I'm not very good in stressful situations.

Anyways, at the hospital, Zoey was EVERYWHERE! She kept wanting to go out the front door, which was automatic and of course, just obliged. She wouldn't let me hold her and would squirm out of my arms. As I followed her around, evidence of her destruction was left and I couldn't put things back because she was so fast.

Finally they called us and we went back and had an X-ray taken.

You can see the earring clear as day! The earring was in a good place and not in the trachea. So now we just wait and check her poo to see if she has passed it. What a crazy day!

The End of Halloween 2010. . .finally

There were school parties. . .

A ward party with a trunk or treat, 2 other Halloween parties, and trick or treating at Ben's work. . .

Dressing up a zillion times. . .

Ben impressing everyone with his costume, which no one knew exactly what he was. . .

Ozzy Osbourne??

Mad Hatter?? Oh well, he still nabbed the "Scariest Costume" Award.

And then there was Valerie who like Ben, no one knew what she was either. . .

Until she told them she was a Harajuku Girl which still didn't mean anything to anyone. She won "Most Original Costume" award because she looked so weird.

Adieu Halloween, until we meet again next year.