It Makes Me Happy

I have to admit that I am a sucka for TV theme songs. Sometimes I enjoy the intro more than episode. I think it is because the intro is a constant and reminds me of all the goodness from every episode I have watched. Holly bought me season 5 of the Mythbusters for Christmas, and the intro at the beginning of each DVD just puts me in a good mood. It is not the "theme song", but in this case it is even better. Several times I have power-cycled the DVD player, because I missed the intro while I was switching inputs on the TV. As a bonus the kids love it too (especially when the tribal guy delivers an enthusiastic "BOOMDIYADA!"). I defy you to be in a bad mood after enjoying this clip.

Doneen & Izzie

Just to start off, in the last post for my b-day, it was my idea for Jared to put the picture of the old lady. I mean, this is how I feel most days!! When I saw the picture, I thought it looked like my Great-Grandma Minnie, and when Parker and Jase saw it, they both said, "It's our cowboy Grandma" which is what they call GG Minnie. It cracked me up!
Speaking of Minnie, her actual name was Armeda, but when she was a baby, one of her siblings couldn't pronounce the name, so she became "Minnie". That brings me to Doneen. That is what Lizzie calls Dalila. I don't know why. She can say "Lila", and she can even say, "Dalila", sort of! But she insists on calling her Doneen. It may be a blend of Dalila Jean, but who knows?
Lizzie also calls herself, "Izzie". So now I call her Izzie. Izzie and Doneen. Not names that I picked out, and they probably won't stick like Minnie did. But still cute!
Lizzie really likes to "help" with Lila. She REALLY wants to feed her baby food, and is constantly getting out baby carrots, baby peas, baby bananas, you name it, and getting a spoon and bib and trying to force feed Lila. I try and get Lizzie to feed her babies, but no go.
This morning Lizzie was pulling on Lila trying to get her to crawl, and I told her to stop. A few minutes later, Parker asked if Lizzie could come out of time-out. I looked over, and Lizzie was standing with her nose in the corner, where we make the kids go for time-out. I told her she could come out, and she walked over to Lila and said, "I'm sorry, Doneen". So cute, but obviously not her first time-out!!
Lila is getting so mobile! She rolls all over the place, and she also scoots forward. She really wants to crawl, and she is getting close. It won't be long now and she'll be running!
Okay, so this just happened this afternoon, after I published this post, so I guess this is a P.S.:
We have been trying to get Lizzie to use the potty. Not seriously "potty training" her, but just getting her used to going in the potty sometimes. (I am determined that when we actually attempt to "potty train" it will be a matter of days, maybe weeks, not months or more than a YEAR like it was with the boys. I cannot do the tantrums and tears (on my part;)!) any more, so this time will be better!). Well, I was telling her that when she is all potty trained, we will buy her a new toy. I asked her if she would want a new doll, or maybe a slide, because she loves slides, but we don't have one. She thought about it for a minute, and then said, "Playhouse. " What? She wants a playhouse? I guess she's not one to go for the inexpensive toys. Jase was easy. He just wanted a light saber. Arrgh! Then, she actually went number 2!! Yea!!!She was very excited, and so was I, but now I think she is expecting a new playhouse today! She kept asking me the whole time I was trying to get her to take a nap. Hopefully she will forget about the playhouse while she is sleeping....

Holly's B-day!

It's Holly's birthday today, and she did such a good job on the post for my birthday that I thought she deserved a nice B-day tribute post too. To start things off, here is an updated head shot:
She hasn't changed a bit since the day we met... But seriously, she is terrific and here is a little photo recap of the year for her (NOTE: Holly would like me to remind everyone that she did HAVE A BABY this year, and that it may have impacted the way she looks in some of the photos):

Fun in the snow

We spent the holidays with the family down at Ruby's Inn. There were some decent storms, so we had lots of fun in the snow. The snow was deep enough in grandma and grandpa's yard to dig some snow caves. We dug a tunnel that was about 20' long overall and had 3 entrances. Even Lizzie went through (no picture unfortunately).

Happy Birthday Jared

Today is Jared's birthday! Yea! I'm not going to say how old he is, only that he is 4 years older than his sister Gina, who just turned the big 30, and 7 years older than his sister Amanda who is still a youngling at only 27 (Happy birthday, girls! I figure it's okay to mention your ages since you did on your blogs, rights?!).
Here are some pictures of the birthday boy!









Hope you have a great birthday, hon! We love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously?!?!

I was at the mall, doing a little Christmas shopping, and passed a shop selling these:




Are you serious? Really? I thought just plain skinny jeans were ugly, but these are over the top. There are definitely some things that should never see the light of day again! I had a pair of these in 6th grade. Only they were GREEN acid washed. To "top" it off, I thought wearing a Yellow and Blue striped sweater with them "matched" because yellow and blue make green....

Enough said!

I need an Alice....and other stuff we've been up to.

Okay. I need an "Alice". I think having four kids has finally caught up with me. It didn't seem so hard, but suddenly, it just feels like there is not enough time for anything to get done. The house feels constantly messy. Poor Lila is always sleeping in her car seat because we are always in the car. If we're home, I'm probably feeding Lila, so not much is getting done. So, I decided I need an Alice.
We don't have cable, but we do have a really nifty HD Antenna that gives us great TV. We have 4 KBYU channels, and 3 PBS channels, not to mention 4 channels of Christian Television....so I'm not complaining. Anyway, the other night, the kids were watching KBYU, and the cartoons got over, and "The Brady Bunch" came on. The kids always say, "This is so lame", but none of them turn off the TV. They are such couch potatoes!!

Back to "The Brady Bunch". So, Mrs. Brady and Alice are in the kitchen. Mrs. Brady is sitting there at the table, and Alice is making something in the kitchen. Then Mr. Brady walks in and say something like, "Man, I'm starving", and Mrs. Brady says, "Alice, fix something for Mr. Brady." WHAT???!!! That is my dream. To just sit at the table while someone else does everything else for me, and not feel guilty!! I figure that if the Brady's can afford a live-in maid, why can't I??? Oh, wait. They were just a TV show. Still, one can always dream.....



On to other stuff, we've had a lot going on the last month. First we had Lizzie's b-day. She got a new bike, and she loves it, but she can't figure out how to peddle yet. Then there was Halloween. The kids all had lots of fun, and Lizzie is especially excited about the candy. She would say, "Treat" when asking for candy. Then last week I had her with me when I was begging people door-to-door for money doing "Friends of Scouting" (not my favorite thing I've had to do!), and Lizzie would say, "Treat" as we went to each door. It's much easier to ask for candy than to ask for money! Anyway, the kids all had fun, and I'll post some pictures when I can figure out how to find them.....Our computer died, and we are using an old computer, but I know the pictures are here somewhere, I just don't know where. Can you see why I need an Alice!?!

Also in October, we went to St. George and visited Zions National Park. We had a good time, except we were not prepared for hiking, and decided to do it anyway. We were carrying Lila, no pack or anything, carrying Lizzie, I was wearing flip-flops, and trying to keep Parker and Jase on the trail and away from the edge of the trail. Okay, so the hike was only 0.5 miles round trip, but it was up hill. I think it was called Weeping Rock. We made it to the top fine, but as we were starting back down, Parker got a little ahead of us, and lost his balance and fell off a small 4-foot ledge. I didn't see it, but this lady saw it, and said she almost had a heart attack when she saw him fall. Poor guy. He had mud in his hair, and was soaking wet, because he landed in a small stream. We were just glad he didn't fall all the way down in to the river. I also have pictures of this...arghhh!!! Oh, yeah, and we got a 4-wheeler while we were visiting my mom and dad. Jared took it out once here, and already we've had one accident. I'm thinking the 4-wheeler might have been a mistake......

Parker also had a birthday. He is 7! I can't believe it!! He and Lizzie had a combined family party with Jared's family, and they had lots of fun. Parker got lots of fun presents. I especially love the "Hulk Smash Hands". If I get a little frustrated, I put them on, go in my room, and punch the bed. The sounds they make is really satisfying, and it really eases the tension! I advise all moms to get these. If I had an Alice, I wouldn't need them, though. I would not be stressed out ever. Alice would have to deal with the kids, and I would just sit back and smile and teach them lessons about being good people.

Last thing. I've been watching some of the cute things my kids say, and here they are:
Lizzie: We were at the fabric store, and I was showing her all of the cute fabric. We came to the Minky section (you know, that really soft, plush fabric with the raised dots that is on a lot of baby blankets). She touched the fabric, and said, "Night, night, ahhhh". So cute!
Parker: He likes to say, "It's not FAIR", all the time. Most of the time it doesn't even make sense. Like I say, "Parker, come and eat." He says, "It's not fair". What? Eating isn't fair? Whatever! The other night, I went to check on the boys, and I was fixing Parker's covers. He rolls over, and says, "It's not fair!". It cracked me up.
Jase: The other night, the boys were upstairs, fighting--I mean playing. Jase was really tired, and I could hear him saying, "I can't take it anymore. I just can't take it anymore". I have no idea where he got that. Okay, maybe I do know. You see why I need an Alice??
Lila: She doesn't say anything, but she is so dang cute. I took her to get her pictures taken yesterday, and she did awesome. She got some really cute shots of her! When I showed Jared the picture I got, he said, "She's even got her pajamas on." What!! It was a super cute fleece outfit, not pajamas. There were no feet, so they were not pajamas. Here is the picture. NOT PAJAMAS! Judge for yourself...
So that's what's been going on with the Lemke's. As soon as I figure out where the pictures went, I'll post some more pictures. They've got to be around here somewhere. Alice, can you please find the pictures for me, upload them to blogger, and post them for me? Oh, wait, that's not real, it's just TV.............................