It is moments like this...

That makes me so happy he is their daddy!

Ink, ink, a bottle of ink...

JJ has been very into Harry Potter. We finally finished the series. JJ gets really into the books he reads. This time he has made a wand and found a feather to make a quill pen. All he needed was the ink. I was very hesitant about getting him ink, due to the fact that he has two very mischievous little sisters. JJ and I had a good discussion about the ink, and I decided that he was responsible enough to have his own bottle of black ink.

That brings us to today. I was changing a diaper when out walks Ellie from JJ's room with her pants off. I immediately think POOP! So I quickly finished with the one child to go and get the other child. When I get to her I see that she has black ink dripping off of her. My mind was racing with thoughts of what I was about to find. The carpet would be ruined, knowing JJ he would have clothes all over the floor and they would be ink covered, the bed, and on and on and on.

Fortunately for JJ he was not home when this transpired or I think he might have become a missing child;) After placing a very inky child in the bathtub, I then went to check out the damage. I held my breath, opened the door and found ink. But not necessarily in the places I had imagined. It was on his chair, which luckly for me wiped up without a problem, it was on his desk, but it has a glass top so no problem there. There was two swipes of ink on two walls, but nothing a little paint won't cover up. Then I remembered Ellie came out pant-less, and she had on one of my most favotire shirts of hers. I find the pants and nothing, not even a drop. Then I find the shirt and yes it has a little ink but it is a dark brown shirt that after a wash really doesn't even show up the ink. After assessing the damages I think JJ and myself got off pretty lucky. I was able to remain calm, cool, and collected. That is a major deal for me. The catastrophe that I thought I was about to find was not so bad after all.

Ellie is another story! She will wash out in time.

Once JJ got home I learned that he thought his dresser was a safe place. After all, it is in his room. We had a BETTER discussion about safety and ink in the house. Hopefully that was the last of the ink.

Poop, poop, and more poop!

How much poop can one woman take?? I suggest that if you can't handle poop stories to turn back now. I am not holding back. I have had enough.

I will start this by letting you all know that I am a light sleeper. When I say light I mean light. I wake to almost everything, everything that is but my 5-year-old daughter waking up, opening her bedroom door, walking on our creaking floor, flipping on light after light, taking off her pajamas, removing her poopy diaper, stepping in the poop, sitting on the toilet, wiping herself thus getting poop all over her hands, walking on my carpet with poop on her feet, walking with her poopy diaper to the laundry closet, opening the doors with her poopy hands, and placing her poopy diaper in the washing machine. Oh, did I forget to mention that the clothes in the washing machine were clean. Then she sweetly comes in my room, says "Mom, Mom, Mom" I smell the sweet aroma of...UGH! POOP!!!

This is not the way anyone wants to wake up. This now brings me back to the fact that I AM A LIGHT SLEEPER! Why is it that when Ellie decides to make the worlds most awful mess do I choose to sleep? Now if this was something that had only happened once I may be okay with it, but this is at least once a week, at least! And it has been going on for over 6 months now.

Okay, so I did figure out a trick. Thanks to my cousin posting on FB that her daughter peeped the bed after removing her diaper; a commenter on her post said to put on the zipper pj's backwards. Yes, finally I had a plan. And believe it or not, it worked. That is until we got home late at night the other night. Ellie had fallen asleep in the car. We carefully carry her to bed and remove her pants, put on her diaper, and put on some regular pajama pants. Kiss her forhead and whisper I love you, and leave the room and head of in to blissful slumber. Then I here a "Mom, Mom, Mom" and smell that familiar sweet smell of...UGH! POOP!!! I slacked off one night and WHAM! I am not allowed a little slack I guess.

OKAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! WHY THE HECK DON'T I WAKE FOR THIS. I WAKE SOMETIMES WHEN JERON TURNS OVER. REALLY WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!

I disdain poop. I don't just hate it, I loath it! Between Poop, pee, and milk I could possible go insane. I have spent one to many nights on all fours sniffing my carpet because the trail is no longer visible but I know she walked all the way to my room. If you could only hear my prayer after last night. Let's just say it is a good thing I wasn't struck by lightening. Don't worry I repented. I do though however have that voice in the back of my head saying to me "Throw me a bone! I can't be perfect all the time. Sometimes I really could use some help, and believe me this is one of them."

All I can say is if I have to wake up to that smell one more time SO HELP ME!

Hair today...gone tomorrow:(

I don't know what it is about this facial hair that I love, but I sure do love it. Did I mention I LOVE it. This sadly is the very last picture we will get of his hotness. He hates it. He says he feels like greasy man. I think that he will have to give it another try. I was surprised how dark it was. Also he has quite a bit of gray in it. He does look hot and sexy, but oh well it is now gone.
And can I just say Jeron looks like he is five now that he shaved it.

Kaleidoscope Kids

I have pretty much been crappy mom since I started working in July. We don't do fun things anymore and I have felt so much guilt for this. Well, I got up today and decided we are going to make a Kaleidoscope today. No, I don't know why I pick this but heck, I picked it and we are doing it. We headed to the craft store, got the supplies, and came home, went on a walk, ate lunch, and then we did the kaleidoscope. It was a fun project.

Here is what you will need.

scissors
glue
hole punch
paper towel roll or toilet paper roll
rubber band
4x4 black construction paper
wrapping paper or scrape book paper
plastic cover (report cover works)
4x4 plastic (plastic wrap)
4x4 wax paper
beads, glittering things, gems, sequins, (smaller is better)

1. Draw an 8-by-4-inch (paper towel roll, smaller for toilet paper) rectangle on the report cover. Cut it out. Draw three lines across the rectangle as shown.
2. Fold the plastic along the lines to form a triangular shape. The quarter-inch strip goes on the outside. Tape the strip along the edge so it stays closed.
3. Slide the plastic triangle into the paper towel roll.
4. Turn the paper towel tube on one end. Trace a circle around it on the construction paper. Poke a hole through the center of the circle and tape it over one end of the tube.
5. Place a square of plastic wrap on the other end of the tube. Press down to create a pouch in the end of the plastic triangle. Put some beads, sequins, and confetti in the pouch.
6. Place a square of waxed paper over the pouch. Stretch the rubber band over both the waxed paper and the plastic wrap. Be sure it’s on tight so nothing spills out!
Trim the corners of the squares. Decorate the outside of the paper towel roll with stickers or wrapping paper.
7. Hold the tube up to one eye and look through it. Turn it and watch your own light show!

A look inside Ellie's Kaleidoscope

It was nice to do something with the kids and not feel like such a slug of a mom. The kids had a great time. JJ was a little un-impressed with the project, but he still enjoyed it. He was more excited about reading "Harry Potter Deadly Hallows", and using his quill that he made. Emma had a lot of fun and was excited with all the pretty things she put inside it. Ellie just wanted to make a mess (reminded me of why I don't like crafts anymore) but we took it with a grain of salt and enjoyed the mess.

All in all it was fun had by all. Now on to school, and schedules, and the kids gone all day. I like having them home.

elSie aNd hEr biG giRl bEd

Switch our kids to a big bed at the age of 18 months is the norm at the Snow household. Elsie has just been so little and has not seemed ready for the longest time. The problem is I still don't think she is ready but she won't sleep through the night anymore and I am sick of sleeping with her on the couch. (since I refuse to let babies sleep in our bed.) She wakes up whenever I move her from the couch to her crib, so I had a brilliant idea to put a bed in her room so I could sleep with her there and not have to move her once she falls back to sleep.

I can't even tell you how excited she is to have have a big girl bed in her room. She says "bed, bed" every time I take her in her room. She loves it.

She is hiding from the picture taking.

Ha ha ha, I snuck one without you thinking I would.

She is adorable, but she is soooooooo much still my baby. She will stay in a crib for a while, but the big girl bed is in her room and she will use it sometimes. I am sad my baby is growing so fast. It is so fun though to see how cute she is getting. Her talking is so cute. She really has the cutest voice. Oh, how I love this little lady.

JJ and the Geography Bee

Back in November JJ won his class Geography Bee. He has been practicing since then by taking quizzes and things on the internet. The school does not have any kind of guidelines other than anything geography. What the heck! Do they know how much there is that is related to geography? For the spelling bee they give you a list of 400 words and you study. So for this we felt a little lost.

JJ was so nervous. He woke up in the night with an upset stomach. When he got up he couldn't stop saying how nervous he was. When he walked in the gym his face screamed nerves!! Jeron and I were feeling just about the same way. He had studied but we really didn't know what to focus on. All I know is he needed to know EVERYTHING! That is a lot to know.


There were ten kids. One had been eliminated the day before, so the kids were well aware of what it would be like to be eliminated. The only difference is now it was in front of the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade. They had the preliminary round and JJ got every question asked him right. Then they started the real thing. JJ was #10 out of ten. He made it to the final four. Then there was a round where one of the kids got it right and all the other kids got it wrong including JJ. This meant that JJ and the 2 other had to compete but the kid that got it right was automatically in the finals. After 16 rounds of wrong answers by all three kids finally the 4th grade girl got the answer right. I think it was a bit unfair the question she was asked but I am also the mom of one of the contestants. It was something like "What country in North America is furthest north?" There is only two countries. The other two questions were about African countries and European countries. See, UNFAIR! Anyway, I was actually glad that she got it right. She was so little and cute that I was glad that she got to move on. This meant that JJ and Madison had to compete for 3rd place. These two poor kids got asked more questions than any other contestant because of having to be in round after round. They went back to asking questions about the United States. I am so bugged but I totally forgot the question that he answered that helped him win but the answer was "Ohio". Jeron and I were so proud of JJ. Seriously, it made me want to have my kids involved in everything. It is so fun to see your kid excel at something. JJ is one smart cookie. I would say for the studding he did, had we worked just a smidgen harder I can say I think he would have won.

Super babysitter

Emma had her great to be eight tonight. Normally we would have my parents watch the kids but they were out of town. So we had JJ do it. This was different then any other time we have left them before. I usually have one of the little girls asleep or with me. Also JJ and Emma usually have each other. With a little hesitation and a lot of rules we explained to JJ what we expected. No electronics of any kind. He was to play what the girls wanted. Barbies most likely. It was only for a hours. I called my neighbor and she was on standby if we needed.

It was nice to spend some time with just Emma. I can't believe she is going to be eight. Our church has a program for kids that are turning eight this year. They talk to them about getting baptized and give them a packet with fun things to learn and do. She had a lot of questions but had a great time. She is one smart cookie and kept answering all of the questions that the speakers were asking, to me only of course. It is going to be a special year for our family. I am excited to see her get baptized.

When we got home I was pleasantly surprised again. Not only had JJ obeyed again, but he had done a craft project with the kids and played monsters with them after. It was so sweet. He is a better playmate than me. I have been pleasantly surprised by this kid now two days in a row. Man,do I love who he is becoming.

This is the monster that they made.

Elsie loves the monster.

Jeron and I are tasting freedom...and it tastes sweet!!

JJ is in charge...dudududum

Jeron and I have been trying to see how JJ and Emma will do when we want to run to the store or go somewhere close by. For the most part they have done fairly well. We pushed our boundaries a little further this weekend. We got the two little girls down for bed and we headed to dinner and a movie. Yes, is was a way late dinner and even later movie.

We gave the usual instructions, who to call, what to do, you know. We told them to not answer the phone or the door. They obeyed this one to the letter. Good kids. Well, I told them to go to bed at midnight. (Ya right, go to bed without being told it is time.) I knew I was pushing my luck with this one.

When Jeron and I were leaving the theater at 1:30am I got all panicky. What if one of the babies wakes up and JJ and Emma are asleep. I should have never told them to go to bed. We couldn't call because they wouldn't answer. In the car on the way home I am telling Jeron that I should have told them to sleep on the couch just in case. Ugh, sometimes I just don't think.

We walk in the house and all is quite. Me being Me thought that I should feel the TV to see if it was warm. This is a dead give away that they just turned it off. I touched the TV and it was cold. Wow, they obeyed. Then I turn and look at the couch and there is my adorable little boy. He was fast asleep on the couch.

I look at the counter and here is what I find:

Dear Mom and Dad,

I got Doctor Mario on the Wii.
The reason I am
asleep on the couch
is because I don't want
to not hear Ellie
or Elsie cry or if Ellie
came out of bed asking for you.

Love,

JJ

I had one of those proud mom moments. I just love this guy. He is so sweet and thoughtful. I was so proud of him for thinking of everything, and not only that but he also obeyed the rules. Plus he bough Dr. Mario on the Wii for me. I had been looking all over for it and he found it for me.

I will have to say JJ and Emma are pretty great kids. I think Jeron and I are pretty blessed.

A little piece of heaven...

We have all waited a long time to finally get to meet little

Lucy Katherine Vogel

She was definitely worth the wait. Oh, how I just love this little lady that I have never met. My sister and bro in law just had their first baby today. It has been a bittersweet day for me. I am so happy for them. Oh, how I long to be with them right now. I just love love love this little lady. She is simply perfect.

Chucky Cheese with the Cousins

All the kids had a wonderful time at Chucky Cheese. It was very nice of the Meads' to take us all out for the afternoon. It was Austins birthday party. Austin turns nine on January 06. It is fun to have cousins to share these fun times with.




Just a side note: When Jeron and I were driving home we discussed the atmosphere in which C.C. represents. It is pure greed and I want want want, need, need,need. It was interesting to watch the kids faces. It was all about getting tokens not about enjoying what you are doing. It was sad cause even if they did a good job they were not satisfied unless they got a ton of tokens for it.

Sledding again! Starting the New Year out right.

We started the New Year off by going sledding with our wonderful neighbors. We headed to Bountiful. This time the hill was not enormous, but was still as much fun. It was nice cause the big kids could be a little crazy and the little kids could go on it. Ellie was even caught saying Weeee a couple of times. Elsie still thought it was a miserable experience, but she is cute even though.

This picture proves that Ellie is much happier. Maybe the fact that we put extra thick socks on her feet helped her mood a little.

The studs of the family.

So cute, Daddy and his princess

Ellie and Richard. Richard is one of Ellies most favorite people. There are some that she always loves no matter how long it has been since she has seen them. Richard is one of them.

Daddy and his angel

Do they come any cuter? I think not!

I love this picture or Emma. She make taking pictures fun.

JJ always looks so handsome.

The hill was small enough that if an adult went with their hands down you would be called a chicken for sure.

For some reason at the bottom the sleds kept turning. Jeron was just being cautious so that he didn't tip with Miss Ellie.

All the ladies

That is as happy as she got. Then when we put her in her car seat and asked her if she had fun she said "Yes!" Huh?

Annie, Emma, and Shayla

We had a blast again. This time we were able to go up and down a lot more because the hill wasn't a mile long. After we hung out and watched movies. It was a good day. Happy New Year.

Happy New Year 2010

Jeron has been so funny this year. As we were packing the car to head to may parents he disappeared. He came out with a whole bunch of fireworks to set off for the new year. He has been like a kid in a candy store with those things. This is a pic of him lighting off his fireworks.

We go to my parents every New Years Eve. They offer Alaskan King Crab. Enough said! So until they stop offering that they are stuck with us. I love going there cause my mom will play games with me and Jeron and my Dad will with protest. This year we didn't even watch the ball drop because the kids were watching a movie. We headed out side to ring in the New Year. The kids banged pots and pans. I was the yell-er and the holler-er. Jeron was in charge of pyrotechnics, and my parents are over smiling at their grand kids.

Our first picture of the new decade. yikes I look tired

THis is Elsie ringing in the New Year.

Ellie didn't like the idea of getting cold so she banged the pans in the house. Too cute.

Emma and her big pot

JJ heading to the fireworks show while doing his job.

Mama and Papa for the New Year

After we ate our crab this is how we found Miss Ellie. She is fast asleep, but still such a lady.

Happy New Year to all of you. I hope this year brings us all much happiness.