My Afternoon

This afternoon, I made the most disgusting cake ever.

I kid you not.

I saw the recipe, thought it looked good, and decided to try it.

I actually have a good chocolate cake recipe that Justin loves, but I thought it would be fun. I should have quit while I was ahead.

Instead, I bought the ingredients.

Then I spent the afternoon making it instead of finishing any number of sundry projects around the house.

I knew I was in trouble when, as I tasted each part of the whole, I was revolted.

I did not even want to lick the beaters.

I am not a complete moron, so I read the instructions again to see if I had become one, by mistake.

All seemed fine.

After dinner, E asked for some cake. I warned her it might not taste good, but gave her a slice.

After making a funny face, she remarked: "Well Mom, it looked good."

M's reaction was even more telling.

She opened her mouth and spit it back out on her plate.

Tonight there is an entire cake in my garbage.

Wow.

I have got some major talent.

Choo Choo

I don't really mind changing diapers. It's something I do right now. It's easy. I barely think about it. But since M is 2 1/2, I decided I needed to buck up and get over it.

So, today I have done nothing all day long.

With E, we discussed going potty and that did it. She's my verbal girl. I could talk about this with M until she was 40, and she'd still think I was insane. I decided I'd follow Kara's example and give her lots of liquids and put a timer on for every 5 minutes.

Can I tell you how short 5 minutes is?????? I am going nutso over here. We are all in our jammies, accomplishing nothing because 5 minutes is apparently 30 seconds long. I swear.

Here is the difference between M and E.

M apparently has to go potty every 3 minutes. And she will go, it's true, but if you try to make her stretch to - I don't know - 4 minutes, she goes on the ground. No commitment my friends.

On the other hand, she does it all herself. Gets on the stool, sits on the potty, goes, wipes, flushes, etc. etc. E was always frightened of falling in (and rightly so, once she and Annie fell in together). I always had to hold her hand and such. Not my M. She's off to the races.

But here comes the next conundrum.... E, a truth teller, M - not so much. So, I could just let her go by herself, but I'm pretty sure she'd say anything to get a marshmellow. She wouldn't even think it wasn't true.

It's 12:52. I'm excited for nap-time.

And I'm thinking fondly of diapers.

Temple Visit

Our new Temple District is Nauvoo.

We went once, when we first arrived, because the pageant was still going on down there. That was fun - and hot!!! We haven't had bad humidity - to me - since we've moved, but that Mississippi River humidity! Man, that is no fun at all.

The pageant was good though. This is a picture of us at the pageant. GQ is soaked through since he likes to drink water and spit it out on himself. I look like a spaz because.... okay, not so sure about that one. (Christina, I did not post the picture of me looking like a duck, I posted the pictures of everyone else not looking as good instead. What can I say? If I'm doing the post, I get to look best in the pictures. Unfortunately, this particular one was the best one of me for this run.)

There's the Temple behind us on the hill.

This weekend we went back to the Temple and the girls wore dresses so they could go on the grounds and touch the Temple. (I tried that last time too, but M had a blow-out... you were dying to know!!!..... and she wore her pajamas the rest of the day.) This first picture is of E saying:

"Mom, my eyes hurt. Stop telling me to smile!!"

Laura, I will do a house tour soon and tell more about Iowa. Probably next Sunday, if I stick to my guns and finish unpacking.

Bad Mother

I have a memory.

It is from when I was little, so it is entirely up for debate as to how much of it is actually true.

(I was going to scan pictures, but I didn't. Surprise, surprise.)

When I was little, I had long hair. Apparently I cried whenever my mother did it, and so when I went into kindergarten, my mother chopped it off.

This is what I remember:

I remember going to the haircut place, I remember it being cut, I remember it being crooked, and I remember them cutting it again to straighten it.

I remember thinking it was sooooooooo short. And I remember whining a lot about it afterwards. I'm pretty sure my mother remembers that part too.

As a mother myself, I have not cut E's hair much, and I have somewhat encouraged her quest for "Rapunzel" hair. But E's hair is pretty sparse, and it grows pretty slow. I knew it was getting to be time for a trim if I wanted it to look at all healthy.

At the same time, I'd debated cutting M's. I haven't cut hers since she was a baby, and it had almost caught up with her sisters. M has thick, somewhat curly hair. Justin loves how it curls in the morning... it reminds me of Medusa hair, snaking around her face with it's little red locks.

Unfortunately/fortunately, for everyone involved, on Tuesday,I had idle hands. Not because there wasn't much to do, but because I didn't much want to do it. (Anybody want to unpack a box.... I'll let you do it for free... anyone, anyone....) So, what did I do instead?

I made E cry, and cut off Justin's pride and joy.

I didn't do too horrible of a job. Luckily M's hair is curly, so it doesn't show much if I cut it crooked. And as for her E, her hair is thin enough I could do it all in one continuous cut around her head.

I had convinced her I was only 'trimming' it, and when I was finished, she cried. She'd heard my Mom say I might cut out the curl in M's hair when she was visiting, and she was sure her hair would never curl again. (Don't worry, I'm not completely evil. I let her wear it 'down' more, now that it can't get in knots, and she's quickly deciding short might be better than long.) She is starting to forgive me.

These first pictures make M's hair look a little bit like a mushroom, it's calmed down since then. She didn't care AT ALL that I was cutting her hair. Justin, however, still tells me often (in Spanish, so the girls can't hearhim) that he can't believe it's gone.

I'm sure I'll be hearing about it from them one of these days.

You Know You Wish You Could Eat It Too!

GQ has a TINY obsession with eating rock/grass/dirt and anything else on the ground. These photos were at our last KOA in Nebraska.

When the Cat's Away, the Mouse will Play

While we were in L.A. having a children break, we went to Disneyland (thanks Mark and Bekah!!!). Grandma Paula and Aunt Jessica brought the kids down and we enjoyed Disneyland like the British upper class in old books. We got to look at our kids when they were cute, and leave them behind when they screamed. Thanks Grandma Paula and Jess!!!!

Need a smaller skirt, M?

It was M's year to love the princesses. E was scared for some reason.

On the Way....

We didn't take many pictures along the way. Too much going on. Here's a few things that happened.

Justin and I went horseback riding during our get-away to L.A. The horses were pretty sure we were dumb as rocks and ignored anything we did, but other than that, it was fun. My glasses did get scratched when I ran into a tree, luckily they only cost me $5.

Grandma Paula and Grandpa Mark took the kids to the Children's Museum in Vegas. On the way in, E started crying because the parking lot was so hot. When people say it's hot here in Iowa, Justin and I just look at them in wonder. Nothing is hot like Vegas.

One of our KOA cabins, and GQ's temporary home. None of the KOA's we went to had grass. They did have a lot of rocks, which kept GQ busy tasting them all.

The Grand Canyon. Not much to do in the heat with little ones. After this, we pretty much skipped sight-seeing and got the drive done.

Dinner-time at the KOA. Needless to say, GQ is more than happy to have a house again.

Pre-Iowa: Birthday/Goodbye Party

GQ has enjoyed his new toy... if M will let him have it.

Look at all those cousins.

Yummy Cake!!! Thanks, Laura!!