And Bear says...

Bear: Mom, what did you look like when you were my age?

Me: Actually I looked a lot like you.

Bear: Except your hair was down?

Me: Uh, sure.....

Exciting Surprise =/

I don't like telling my kids about things.

If we make plans to go over to someone's house or to go somewhere exciting.

(Like toy story 3)

I don't tell them until we get there or until we are nearly there.

At least normally I don't.

There are times when I have falsly thought that telling them about something exciting to look forward to would get them past a disappointment like a friend not being home.

Yes it's thought falsly because it never ever works.

It alway's manages to get them (Mainly Bear) pissed off at me and me pissed off at him.

His friend wasn't home, so I told him that after lunch we would get out a slip n' slide,

YES wooohooo!

I disappeared to put in a load of laundry and he raced to his room to get his bathing suit on.

I'm ready, he tells me.

Okay, but I said we'd get it out after lunch.

Uhhhhh, NOT AGAIN!!!

Tears streaming down his very angry face.

I calmly and nicely explain to him that it is too early in the morning to do the slip 'n' slide,

but after lunch........

Pretty sure that I'll be listening to him ask,

"How much longer?"

until I actually get it out....

Uhhhhh, not again!

;D

And Lyon says...

Talking to the little boy he was playing with:

"Be nice to me, I your friend..."

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" -George Santayana

:'(

This is me today

(please note that I wrote this last Friday).

Crying.

Though I am not actually crying, I really feel like crying.

:'(

It's one of those moments.

You know the kind.

The kind where you see that all the work that you spent hours doing has been undone in a matter of moments.

It's the house.

Sigh...

I spent the better part of yesterday cleaning and organizing and cleaning some more.

I worked and worked and worked.

I slaved away at it the whole day, and now......

......well I am sure you can guess.

If you were to come to my house right now you'd never believe I spent so much time cleaning it yesterday. You'd never be able to tell.

I did laundry (so so so so so so very much laundry) you can't tell.

I cleared my kitchen counters and worktable and dinner table and scrubbed them down,

you can't tell.

I swept the kitchen floor, and put item after item away, you can't tell.

I did all the dishes, made all the beds, I exercised and showered, but you can't tell.

And all because I did it yesterday, so of course I have to do it all again today.

Such is life.

Though I have to say I definitely remember doing it all and it's all in the past so why am I still condemned to repeat it, over and over and over again.......

And Bear says...

"Mom? Is there giraff in meat pepperonis?"

Well gee, I hope not...

Family is forever? Of course it is....

I'm linking up a few day's early, but I am kind of pouring my heart out all week so I think it's appropriate...

"Families can be together forever, through heavenly Father's plan..."

-LDS children's songbook....

Family is so important to me.

I grew up in a big family of ten.

8 kids:

5 girls

3 boys

I, with my just older than me sister, was a middle child.

#5

The oldest of the youngest.

My family who once all gathered under one roof, is now spread out across the land.

I always felt that my brothers and sisters were my real best friends.

And I still feel that way,

but the fact that we don't live together or even very close to each other makes that hard.

For a while I thought I'd found new brothers and sisters to fill in the gaps.

When I married my husband I married into another large family of 8.

5 boys

1 girl

My husband is the oldest.

I've loved being a part of this big family as much as I love my own.

But it hasn't lasted (the closeness that is).

School and work have caused us to spread out all across the land.

Long distance relationships with brothers and sisters, especially those that aren't your own,

are really difficult.

How?

Well let's just say we only talk with each other when forced, not because we don't want to but because it's awkward.

What it is!

This makes me sad.

I miss sharing my house with all my friends.

Of course I have a new generation of people to make friends with.

I have my kids.

2 boys

1 girl

Life is definitely not lonely.

I am fortunate that most of the time my husband (Superman) is my best friend.

I say most of the time because he isn't ALWAYS.

Why?

Well...

Sometimes there is something of such importance to me or of such

significance and excitement,

wonder and glory,

and he doesn't share that same attitude for it.

Those moments (and they are rare) make me sad.

I want to cry over what I have lost.

(What have I lost? My childhood.)

Because you can't go back.

You can't be a kid again.

The years of innocence and petty fighting

ignorance and bliss,

care free freedom,

well it's all gone away as my years have passed.

I miss playing barbies,

I miss playing house,

I miss "Oompachada" (story for another day).

I miss yelling "freedom!" on the last day of school, after getting off the bus.

I miss walking the two miles to get downtown, just so I could buy a few treats.

I miss it all.

I also wouldn't go back for anything in the world.

Because I love playing with my kids.

I love the joy that fills me up when my kids are,

happy

suffering from ignorant bliss,

care free,

and just plain having fun as only kids can.

I'm glad to be where I am at.

And that is all that matters!

:D

And Lyon says...

"Hey Mom, I like your scissors. So can I have them?"

Email of the month...

There is at least one in every person's email list. You know the person who sends on the silly emails that ask you to "keep it circulating". I don't mind them. In fact very often I like them. I always want to forward a few of them, but usually don't due to the fact that I don't want to annoy anyone and most of the people that I would send it to have probably already recieved it from the same person I did.

But I still like to share so I came up with this.....

The Email of the month... (This may end up being the email of the week, we will see)

Watch for it on Saturday's :D

Here is Email numero uno, enjoy, and keep in mind this is an email I received, I didn't write it.

Email of the month:

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress.--John Adams

1 Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart Every hour of every day.

2. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!

3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick's Day (March
17th) than Target sells all year.

4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears + Costco
+ K-Mart combined.

5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people and is the largest private
Employer, and most speak English.

6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the World.

7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger & Safeway combined, and keep
in mind they did this in only 15 years.

8. During this same period, 31 supermarket chains sought bankruptcy.

9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.

10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are Super
Centers; this is 1,000 more than it had 5 Years ago.

11. This year 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur At
a Wal-Mart store. (Earth's population is approximately 6.5 Billion.)

12. 90% of all Americans live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart.

You may think that I am complaining, but I am really laying the ground
work for suggesting that MAYBE we should hire the guys who run Wal-Mart
to Fix the economy.

This should be read and understood by all Americans Democrats,
Republicans, EVERYONE!!

To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature.
It is now official you are ALL corrupt morons:

* The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775. You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke.

* Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke.

* Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get
it right and it is broke.

* War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it
right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred
to "the poor" and they only want more.

* Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965.. You have had 44
years to get it right and they are broke.

* Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to
get it right and it is broke.

* The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our
dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a
budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before.

You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure.
You have FAILED in every "government service" you have shoved down our
throats while overspending our tax dollars AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO

BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM??

And Bear says...

Bear yelled down to his Grandpa who was helping Superman build our basement,

"Grandpa? When humans go in tornados do they get killed?"

Now if I could just remember what Grandpa's answer was....

;D

Friday Fragments and its my own fault...

Really, it's my own fault....

I went to a parade last weekend, there are always a million flyers handed out at parades.

Most of them I didn't want, but the ones for salons and such I wanted.

(Very often they are coupons for free stuff!!!)

So as they'd pass I'd hold my hand out so they would give me one.

The people handing them out kept walking right past me.

Seriously they handed the flyers to everyone around me, but purposely skipped me.

Maybe I looked like a twelve year old or something....

I guess it's my own fault for looking so young ;D

Its my own fault really...

These are a few of the things I've recently found in my washer after a wash.

I guess it's my own fault,

I really should be checking my boy's pant pockets before tossing them in the wash.

Its my own fault really...

Fenix pulled this ice cream box out of the garbage and was using her finger to eat every last drop of ice cream that lingered on the walls of the container.

I guess its my own fault,

I shouldn't have taught her that ice cream is yummy.

It's my own fault really...

They found my candy stash.

They ate all the jelly beans.

I guess it's my own fault,

I shouldn't have let them play in my room.

It's my own fault really...

I put a vase outside on my back patio to dry after washing it out.

While it was drying I went to pick some fresh flowers to replace the old ones that I had just thrown out.

It didn't take long before I heard the sound of glass breaking.

Lyon broke it.

I asked him why, he said, "It was getting me wet."

I guess it's my own fault,

I shouldn't have put it on the concrete.

Oh well,

no use crying over spilt milk...

;D

And Lyon says...

"I wish I was a dad and I was at work."

And the kids say...

Way back when we went to Disney World we bought the boys their Mickey mouse ears and to go with them we got stick on's originally to be stuck on their Mickey mouse ears. Well, we never got around to putting them on their Mickey Mouse ears, so we decided to put them on some baseball caps. Bear's sticker is a pirate, and Lyons is the characters from Toy story.

I finally got around to sticking them on the boys baseball caps today.

Bear's

Lyon's

Once they had their hats on this is the conversation we had:

Bear: Can I go look like a pirate?

Me: Sure.

Lyon: And can I go look like a Woody?

Me: (Holding back laughter) Go ahead. :}

I couldn't help but laugh about that one, lol!

Yes, I need to get my head out of the garbage, a woody, lol!

;D

And Bear says...

This was while riding in the car.

The kids were in their car seats, all in a row in the back seat.

Lyon was teasing Sissy and this was Bear's concerned statement to me,

"Mom!!! Lyon is stealing Sissy's promise!"

Clearly he doesn't know exactly what a promise is.

Lol!

Grapes anyone...

Did you ever see this post of mine?

Well, this is what I had planned to do

with the giant bowl full of freshly washed grapes, that I bought from Costco....

Apparently my kids had other plans.

Lyon used them to [try to] make grape juice,

and Sissy Fenix [tried] to help.

I looked up from my distraction to find grapes E V E R Y W H E R E!

There were only a few that managed to be smushed in the bowl rather than the carpet.

Let the attempt, to get Lyon to clean it up, begin....

(This picture doesn't even do the mess justice, the grapes spread out all across my living room!) (and my living room is massive ;)

So, what are your kids up to right now?

;D

And Lyon says...

Lyon yells something at me that is unintelligible.

I say, "What?"

Then he says, more calmly and with a note of authority,

"That's right, I am getting a bike."

Uh, okay....

Moving help...

Alright this is a subject that has come up recently in my neck of the woods.

Particularly because it is summer and this seems to happen more frequently in the summertime.

Moving.

Its a common fact that when you move you usually look for others to help you.

If you are going to be moving and people are going to be helping you,

you need to be ready for those people to come help you.

People may not want to help a lot of the time, but they usually will.

You are going to make those people a whole lot happier to be helping you by following these,

Rules of having Moving Help:

1- Have everything ready to go.

2- Boxes should be boxed, taped up, labeled, and ready to haul.

3- Furniture should be empty of personal belongings.

4- If you have animals lock them up somewhere out of the way.

(No one wants to trip over a cat or a dog while trying to carry a piano down a flight of stairs)

5- Have drinks ready to offer to those helping you.

(With all of the lifting and carrying, the moving help will probably get really thirsty.)

6- Remember that guy's don't like to be told to, "be careful that box is really heavy!"

(If your a woman and the box is heavy for you, chances are its not that heavy for a guy.)

7- Don't fuss, nothing is more annoying than someone fussing over you when you are trying to haul a bunch of heavy stuff in to a truck.

Remember, when a person hears that you need help moving they are expecting to come over carry some furniture and some boxes out to a truck or trailer, load it up and then be on their way. Should they show up to a mess of a house and you haven't even got any boxes packed up and you have to be all moved out that night.....Well, people are going to want to run screaming and crying from the house so they don't have to help.

People are willing to be your moving help if you are willing to make it as quick, efficient

(and easy) as possible.

And Bear says...

"Maybe oil is monster spit."

Superman/Phil got me an iPad!!!

First of all do you know what an ipad is...

It's totally awesome is what it is!

Superman got me an ipad and totally surprised me with it!

He wrote me the sweetest note on my new ipad!

What a stud!

I love you babes!

Bird watching, the Fenix

Like I said, it's fair game.

Its a good thing she is so darn cute when I catch her.

It makes cleaning up the mess worth it.

;D

What's in a baby name, Fenix/Phoenix...

Some of you may have seen this post.

That isn't the reason we named Fenix as we did,

but it helped to set the decision in stone.

Here is the story of how we came up with the name for our sweet baby girl.

When my husband and I knew we were pregnant with a baby girl,

(I knew from the second that I found out I was pregnant, that my baby would be a girl)

(but that is a story for another day)

we started discussing names.

We didn't search through baby name books, we didn't scour the internet,

we didn't make lists of names we liked and names that were unacceptable for each other.

We knew already that the name for our baby wouldn't come from any list.

Our boy's didn't get their names that way and our daughter would be no different.

It was obvious that we needed something as unique and awesome as our boy's names.

But what name to choose.

There were many suggestions from everyone that we talked to.

There was:

Lynx

Tigress

Fawn

Dear

Bunny

The list goes on and on and on.

I didn't want to name my baby what somebody else suggested.

Not because other people don't have good ideas. There were quite a few actually.

I am just like that, I like to be original and creative by myself.

I wanted her name to be one that I had come up with and one I could surprise everyone with.

I had learned I was pregnant shortly after the death of my Grandmother.

Her name was Lilllian.

I loved that name and held onto it in the back of my mind for a long time before suggesting it to Superman.

I knew it didn't go with our unintentional "theme"

That didn't matter to me.

I loved the name and it felt right to me.

Plus I figured for short we could call her Tiger Lily.

(That was someone's suggestion, which goes to show just how bad I wanted to name her Lillian)

I had decided, nothing Superman said could sway me from this choice.

My daughters name would be:

Lillian Cathleen Graves

Lillian after my Grandmother

Cathleen after my Mother.

The weeks and months rolled by and the delivery was looming right ahead of me.

I still loved the name I had chosen, but Superman kept insisting it wasn't the one.

(He really wanted our daughter to share my name)

About a month before my daughter was born our family sat in the living room.

Watching The chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

There is a part in the movie where a war is taking place.

Involved are all manner of mythological creatures.

I watched half interested, and then I saw it.

A bird of fire swooping down into the midst of the brutality of war and offering its fiery aid.

(google image)

(Aid for the good guys of course)

Yes, it was the Phoenix Bird in all her glory.

I kept that picture in my head for several days.

That beautiful, fierce, fearless, fiery, bird.

Finally I couldn't contain myself and I blurted out to Superman:

"What if we named our daughter Phoenix instead of Lillian?"

Fast as lightning he jumped at this unpredictable opportunity.

He said, "Could her middle name be Rose?"

I rolled it around in my head for a minute

Phoenix Rose

I knew.

I knew without a doubt that that would be our daughter's name.

Part of me still clung to the first name that I loved so much.

But I couldn't deny the overwhelming knowledge that was

Phoenix Rose

We did change it a little.

Perfected it really

I didn't want her name to start with a P because that could get confusing to have two

P. Graves in our household.

And I wanted the name to be shorter (have less letters).

I asked Superman (Phil) how Phoenix is spelled in Spanish (he speaks the launguage)

F-E-N-I-X

I loved it!

It was perfect, beautiful, and totally my daughter.

Fenix Rose

My avita de fuego

bird of fire

and of beauty

*The name suits her*

Bird watching, the Fenix

I'm not sure if she wanted to join in and play or if she was cheerleading...

Out of the mouthes of babes...And Fenix says...

We taught Fenix what a dog says,

"Woof woof woof"

It means a whole lot more than that to her.

Every morning when I go to get her out of her bed she says,

"Woowoowoowoowoowoo."

She points out her window exclaiming,

"Woowoowoowoowoowoowoo."

Every animal she see's says,

"Woowoowoowoowoowoo."

And when she see's something she wants she says,

"Woowoowoowoowoowoowoowoowoowoowoo!"

Now its your turn,

What are your kids saying?

Bird watching, the Fenix

Awww =(

Caught in the worst way,

with Mom taking pictures...

Wordless Wednesday with Fenix

Bird watching, the Fenix

The world just looks better from underneath the brim of a purple hat...

Maybe she just couldn't see, because the hat didn't stay on for long ;)

I really shouldn't be surprised.....

Fearless.

Yes, she is climbing up the slide.

Right up to the top.

I have a feeling this girl is going to be scaring me to death for the rest of my life...

Bird watching, the Fenix

I ought to know better than to be surprised by this.

If its within her reach it's her's to get into, right ;D

Can it really have been a whole year...

It actually seems like its been forever.

I can't even remember life without Fenix.

With Fenix, there was no surprise.

I wasn't out and about and suddenly struck with an urgency.

My water didn't break in public.

And fortunately I didn't give birth to my baby at home.

Though I did plan out what I would do if the situation should arise. You can't really blame me though. My doctor had predicted that my labor would probably be around an hour and a half. And considering that it took almost twice that long for me to realize I was even in labor with my first two baby's, well having the baby at home wasn't an impossibility.

I fought the idea of being induced.

I fought the idea or suggestion from the very beginning.

To me it was the whiny, lazy, impatient woman's way out.

(Sorry not trying to offend, its just what I would have thought of myself if I went through with it. I've learned a thing or two since then.)

I fought being induced up until the moment I was hooked up to the pitocin a week before my due date. Even then I was in denial about it. I didn't think it would work, I kept picturing myself walking right back out of there, and did so until the doctor broke my water and said to me,

"No turning back now."

There was no turning back. I was terrified.

Though I think I did a pretty good job of hiding it.

The truth was that even though I was in the hospital and clearly contracting regularly, I just had no idea when my baby girl would up and decide to poke her pretty little head out.

I labored for 3 and a half hours, that's all,

before Fenix decided that it was high time to get on out.

(It only took that long because she was posterior and needed to turn around)

We didn't realize that she had decided this (turned into position) until after three hours and fifty five minutes.

She was coming on out and she was coming fast.

The only reason why my doctor even made it in time to deliver is because he happened to have come over from his office to see how I was progressing.

He walked in the room and Fenix came on out.

I clearly remember thinking that I never wanted to have another baby again.

Then I held my precious little bundle of joy in my arms and I knew it was all worth it.

I also still knew that I never wanted to go through it again.

Fortunately Fenix has been the perfect addition to complete our family.

Happy 1st birthday baby girl, I don't think I could ever love another baby as much as I love you!

I thought what I thought and then forgot...

Yeah, I seem to still be on a trip.

Lol!

I'll be back Monday for sure.

By then I ought to have gathered myself together enough to really be able to read and write.

;D

And Lyon says...Out of the mouths of babes...

I told Lyon I was making hashbrowns and eggs for breakfast.

Lyon tells me,

"No, dats too bording!"

Now its your turn.

What are your kids saying?

Write your post,

publish it.

Come link up!

;D

In and out...

I went for a visit this last week.

My older sister had a baby and I was fortunate enough to go visit her and help

her out for a few days.

My big sis lives in Indiana so I don't get to go out there and see her and her family very often.

I'm so glad I was able to go.

I had so much fun visiting with her, holding her brand spanking new baby daughter

and playing with my nephews.

Though I had posts all ready for last week, I never got around to this week.

And now.

Having been gone for ten days, I've not quite gotten back into the swing of things with my blog.

I haven't quite found time to visit other blogs.

Too much to do.

You know,

the post "vacation" busyness that gets you wanting another vacation.

Lol!

I'll be back full swing tomorrow.

I hope you'll join me in posting an,

Out of the mouths of babes

What are your kids saying?

Meme

Look at that little baby darling!

Totally worth the post "vacation" blahs.

;D

And Lyon says...

"HEY MOM, MOM! My head is yittle [little]! It is!"

And Lyon says...

Me: I am making grilled cheese sandwiches

Lyon: No you not, you making boy pepperoni samiches

Oooooooperaaaaaaaaaaa, OPERA!

"Peoples reactions to opera the first time they see it

is very dramatic; they either love it or they hate it. If they love

it, they will always love it. If they don't, they may learn to

appreciate it, but it will never become part of their soul."

-Edward Lewis, Pretty woman

(google image)

I've never been to the opera.

Unless of course you count The Phantom of the Opera, which I don't.

I would like to go to an opera someday.

There are very few places that you really need to get dressed up, to go to, or can, without looking completely ridiculous. That is how it is here in Utah, anyway.

Really Utahns, don't you think it looks weird when someone is all dressed up at the movies, or at the.......

Gee what else is there to do around here?

....................

Oh all right for heavens sake, go look at c janes guide to provo, she's got a lot of great ideas.

You know, of things to do around here.

But still, places there aren't many places you can to where you don't look ridiculous in a gown, with your hair done, and make-up, etc...

I'm not planning on getting married again anytime soon, unless of course Superman insists on renewing our vows, which isn't likely, so I can't count on getting dressed up for a wedding.

I'm pretty sure I am not going to be being a bridesmaid, ever, I'm too old for that.

Anyway,

I'd like to go to the opera, any opera really, as long as its a real one.

I'd like to get dressed up, I'd like to feel really pretty.

The kind of pretty you only feel in a long flowing gown.

I'd like to find out if I am the kind of person who loves opera, or the kind that hates it.

Really, that is what I want.

I wonder how Superman would feel about escorting me...

:D

Guy talk like girl talk

I was having a conversation with another woman not to long ago.

The subject ranged from food and getting stains out of clothes, to breast augmentation and tummy tucks.

I got to thinking....

Suppose our husbands who happened to be sitting a few feet away from us, had conversations like we did.

Guy 1: "So I tried this recipe the other day, it was awesome!"

Guy 2: "Oh really! What was it?

Guy 1: "I made turkish turnips with allspice and oregano."

Guy 2: Wow, that sounds complicated.

Guy 1: No, it was really quick and easy.

Guy 2: You'll have to get me the recipe.

Guy 1: So have you ever thought about getting a nose job.

Guy 2: Yeah, I've thought about it. I just don't know if its for me. I don't think I need to go any bigger or smaller, I think maybe a lift so its not so droopy. You know.

Guy 1: Oh yeah I know what you mean. I have a lot of friends who've had theirs done. They say its really painful.

Guy 2: Yeah. What does your wife think about it.

Guy 1: Eh, she isn't really into it, she says its fine just the way it is. I don't know though, I still think it could use some help.

That would be a fun conversation to listen to ;D