It is a good thing that I love my kids because they are a lot of work! All I wanted after this LONG week was a quiet time for me to shave my legs and paint my toenails. Well, if 3 kids coming from 3 different rooms in the house into MY room at the precise moment I opened my nail polish, screaming at the top of their lungs, running like mad-men all over creation so that my toes ended up looking like this...
...then I guess I got my wish. Seriously folks, I'm not asking for much here, just 15-minutes by myself. (sigh...) It's not like I want to part the red sea, turn water into wine, or raise someone from the dead. 15-minutes...and smooth legs...and painted toes...that's all. Not much really in the grand scheme of things.
Don't let these angelic faces fool you...they are little terrors!
I saw the idea first on Pinterest and thought that this would be something my kids would love. Then our cousin Robyn tried it with her kids with much success. So, it was time...time to bring out the glow sticks and throw them in the tub with the kids. I was not disappointed. The kids LOVED it!
Tanner: Hey Riley, let's play a guessing game.
Riley: Okay
Tanner: Okay, I'm thinking of a word that starts with "Hell"
Tonight right after family scripture and prayer
Tanner: Hey mom, guess what I can do?
Mom: What?
Tanner: (winks...)
Mom: Awesome!
Tanner: Hey mom, guess what else I can do?
Mom: What?
Tanner: I can talk with my eyes closed.
(closes eyes really tight)..."hey mom."
Mom: Wow bud! You are one talented kiddo!
Riley even has gotten in on the Tannerism bandwagon. Uncle Seanny drove out from Colorado to spend Christmas with us. He hasn't seen the boys a whole bunch, and this is the conversation that ensued. I walked in just in time to hear it, so I don't really know how it actually started.
Uncle Sean: Hey, you don't even know who I am!
Riley: Oh yeah? Then how do I know you live in a barn?
Mom: bahahahahahahah!
We tried so hard to get a decent picture of the 5 of us all dolled up for Christmas Sunday...but, as typically happens in the Register House, it just did not work out. We did get a cute one of Ava and me though. So, merry Christmas everyone. Enjoy our "family" photo.
Mom: Do you guys want to go to McDonalds for lunch?
Riley: si, si, si, si, si, si, si, ......
Tanner: Riley, stop saying that! I can't hear mom!
Riley: (silence.....)
Tanner: Riley, STOP SAYING IT IN YOUR HEAD!
Riley: (silence....)
Tanner: Riley! I can still hear you!
Riley: (silence....)
Tanner: Mom! Make him stop!
Mom: Tanner, Riley can say things in his mind.
Tanner: No! I can still hear him
Riley: (silence....)
Last night while trying to go to bed:
Mom: Tanner, if you get out of your bed again you are going to be in big trouble!
Tanner: Mom! My bed is too warm and comfortable. I can't go to sleep.
Riley surprised us a few weeks ago by bringing home a note from his teacher saying he was going to be a contestant in the school spelling bee. Todd and I had just watched the documentary "Spellbound" and had to laugh. We decided we were going to have to channel our inner Indian to train him in the art of spelling bees. It is an art after all.
There were 2 children from each class grades 1-3 who competed and made it to the "finals". I know there were 6 first graders and a total of 14 children. The spellers were sitting on the stage with their numbers while the other children in grades 1-3 filed in to watch. Riley was LOVING life! That child has some performer in him for sure. He was waving at everyone, giving double thumbs up, and just plain looking "cool". You could tell that he felt totally awesome.
I was a bit nervous about how the stress of this would affect Riley. Todd and I kept telling him that it was okay if he didn't win, that we were proud of him no matter what. Finally he said, "Mom. It isn't about winning. It's just about doing your best." I'm pretty sure that I was more nervous than Riley was. No, I'm definitely sure that I was more nervous. Truthfully, I felt like I was going to lose my breakfast. I just kept praying that he would at least get ONE word right. I needn't have worried. Riley was calm, cool and collected. Totally in his element.
In the above video the child in front of Riley was asked to spell the word "chef". You'll notice Riley's expression when he heard the word...that was the first word I ever asked him how to spell when we started practicing...and he spelled it "sheff". (Isn't the English language totally strange?!?!) That was a word that I always asked him just at random times. When his friend spelled it correctly, he knew it.
We are so proud of Riley. What a smart, wonderful boy he is. We are so blessed to have him in our family. Riley made it to round nine when he missed the word "shuffle". He spelled it "shuflle". When I picked him up after school, the first thing he said was, "Mom, I knew it was shuffle, but for some reason I said it wrong." He wasn't mad though. He was very proud of his accomplishment.
This is Riley and his fellow spelling bee classmate, Taelyn. They were in kindergarten together as well and are great friends. It was a lot of fun for him to be able to do this with her.
Riley says he is going to marry Anneka when he is older. Anneka says the same thing. They have been saying this for the past 3-years...and with no prompting from any of their parents. If they really do get married, this picture is going in a frame at their reception!
Riley turned 7 one month ago, and I need to blog about it. It is actually kind of a miraculous story. I had been thinking a lot about what we should do for his party and who we should invite. I really wanted to be able to invite his whole first grade class, plus some of his friends from church. Well, that is A LOT of children! If you are going to have a party THAT big, then there is only one place to go: Monkey Bizness. The problem is, it is expensive.
I prayed a lot about it and really felt like this was the right choice. So, I told Todd my big plans. He pretty much laughed and said no. I told him to pray about it too and he would get the same answer I got. Well, wouldn't you know it, I looked on facebook one day and saw that Monkey Bizness was doing a Halloween photo contest and the person with the most "likes" and comments would win a FREE party. Long story short, we won! It was close...thanks to a good friend of ours who made 7-comments in a row, we almost didn't win. It was a miracle! Riley was getting his party. He was so excited.
We had THIRTY kids come to his party and it was fun! Riley felt like a rock star. All the kids had a great time. Mission accomplished.
It was Tanner's turn to say the prayer and I was helping him.
Mom: ..."We're thankful for our family."
Tanner: "We're thankful for our family"
Mom: "Please help us to be kind to each other"
Tanner: (looks up and whispers) "No. I don't want to do that. Let's skip that page."
Mom: ?!?!?!?
Todd has been scanning some slides that he brought back from California of his family from way back when. It is like he found a treasure chest and each photo we scan is a new gift to be had. There are really some great pictures. I think I'll share a few...try to guess which one is Todd :)
Melissa (Todd's sister) at top. Todd's cousin Robyn and brother Ryan in middle. Robyn's sister Heidi and Todd on bottom.
Is that Ava I see?
The name is Bond, James Bond....
Todd had just been spanked for saying a naughty word...so THAT'S where our kids get it from!!! :)
Todd has the Ava scowl down pat! Like father like daughter.
Todd, Michael, and Ryan
Hello Hot Stuff! Charlene is WORKING this camera! Todd's mom looks amazing in these photos!!!
Todd's dad looking mighty handsome in this beautiful landscape. It is so much fun to see what
everyone looked like 30-some odd years ago. Love it!
Todd and I have not had Thanksgiving with our families for a VERY long time! It makes us sad. This year however, was the first year that Todd and I didn't feel as bad as we usually do. We have some great friends that we shared the holiday with, and it was lovely.
Part of what made the day so lovely was the fact that we sent the kids outside to eat. That's right...it's the END of November, yet warm enough to send the kids outside to eat while the adults ate inside in blessed silence...well, not total silence, but you know what I mean. I never understood having a "kids'" table when I was younger. I just thought is was so unjust. Well, now I get it. Kids' tables rock!
It was actually kind of funny because the little hispanic boy is our next door neighbor, Gerlan. He is at our house all the time! He popped on over, sat with all the kids and asked for a plate with turkey and potatoes. I just chuckled and got him a plate. Our friends told us we could just send him home, but it didn't bother us. He's kind of a staple at our house.
I love any excuse I have to bring out my grandmother's china. I really, REALLY love it!!! Luckily, Todd loves it too. It is just classy. Thanks grandma!!!
This year I did not have to make the turkey OR the rolls! It was kind of nice. I did however make my specialty Sweet Potato Casserole. Mmmmm...... I also made the Jell-O salad (thanks Holly!). The Jell-O salad is a HUGE hit whenever I make it. It really is a gem of a recipe.
Our friends invited a couple from Cameroon to feast with us. They were a lot of fun! They loved my sweet potatoes and Jell-O salad, so of course I liked them. Nothing like having seconds and thirds of something to make the chef feel good!
I have the most talented sister-in-law! Annastacia sent Ava and I the most darling package in the mail. It was full of headbands and hair clips and bookmarks that she made. I love them all! Ava loves them too. She pulled the pink flower clip out today and said, "Mom, wear the princess?" A big hug and a thank you to Annastacia. Thank you!!!
Annastacia has a really darling etsy shop. You can check out her blog here at Heart's Inc. to see what treasures she has.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am kind of a nut when it comes to food storage. I just can't shake the feeling that all too soon we are going to need it. Anyway, I found out about this Black Friday sale from Shelf Reliance and had to share. I have tried a lot of their food and it has all been really good. What sold me on them though was their Instant Milk...it tastes JUST like milk I'd buy at Costco. I use their milk and eggs in a lot of my baking and cooking and I love it.
Anyway, the milk is not on sale, but there are a lot of other items that I have bought before and loved and am going to buy again. Here are the items I'm planning on buying:
Freeze-Dried Sweet Corn $10.39 for a #10 can. This stuff we eat like candy. Love it!!!
Freeze-Dried Peaches $21.39 for a #10 can. I'll probably only get 1 of these, but they are really great for snacks for my kids. Yummy!
Freeze-Dried Raspberries 23.39 for a #10 can. These are really good on cereal, in oatmeal or just out of the can. AND, I made up a fantastic recipe for frosting where you can use the dregs of the raspberry can to make raspberry frosting...the color and the taste is AMAZING!
Brown Sugar $7.59. They have the BEST brown sugar! It is dark and molassesy and great for cookies.
Also, they are selling their Grain Mill hand crank wheat grinder for $55.19. I bought one from another company a couple of years ago on sale for $60 and I thought that was a great price. Everyone should have a hand crank wheat grinder as part of their food storage.
There are a lot of other items too that are a great deal, but these are the items I'm going to get.
If you decide purchase anything this Black Friday weekend, please click on my friend Laura's link so she can get credit for it.
p.s. I am not a salesperson, so please don't feel like I am trying to get you to buy anything. I really do just want to share this with my family and friends.
Well, I finally know what Todd looked like as a baby. And imagine my surprise when I saw this picture:
Can you guess which one is Todd? I showed this picture to Riley who immediately burst out laughing saying that his daddy had Ava hair! It's true buddy...Ava looks like her daddy! :)
Tanner loves to make me "presents". He takes a lot of time to find just the perfect phrase to write...usually found on the Internet on one of his websites. Then he carefully writes it and draws a lovely picture. His presents always make me smile, but today it made me laugh out loud. In fact, I'm still laughing!
You'll have to click on the image to make it larger so you get the full picture. I personally think he has pretty great handwriting for a 4-year old, but in case you can't read it, let me translate:
"MoM COMBO S TANNEr
LIP
SMACKIN
SMOOTHIES
20
COMBOS
Little Riley turns SEVEN tomorrow and asked for an Angry Birds cake to take into his class. So, I spent HOURS making this cake today to take into Riley's class tomorrow. I know it's not totally professional, (I mean, Riley actually looks like Ribey after all) but Riley took one look at it and loved it! I have to thank my friend Anna for helping with the details and my kids for unknowlingly providing their Halloween candy.
I put the cake on a counter that no child could reach and went to teach my piano lesson. I started to get the feeling that something was amiss when I could hear only blissfull silence. I ran upstairs to find that Ava had desicrated my cake! My poor little birds. She was very unrepentet about it. Didn't even say she was sorry :)
I still haven't broken the news to Ribey yet ;)
*** Addendum***
Here is my "fix" to the Angry Birds cake. In a way it's better...now it is officially a RiLey cake :)
****Addendum #2****
I took Riley's cake in to his class today and the kids though it was the coolest thing EVER! They all started talking at once describing all the different things the birds could do and how they can all smash the King Pig. It was a lot of fun. I could tell that Riley felt like a total rock star with his Angry Birds cake and the birthday hat his teacher lets all the kids wear on their birthdays. Ya know, everyone should feel like a rock star on their birthdays...no matter how young...or old....you are!
Todd was brushing Tanner's teeth...and Tanner was hyped up on too much sugar. He was fidgeting and just being plain difficult. Todd sighed and said, "Tanner, what am I going to do with you?" To which Tanner replied, "Keep me forever." :)
Yesterday Riley had an MRI to make sure there is nothing wrong with his spinal cord. You see, my son is a toe walker. He's always been a toe walker, but this year it has gotten worse. We first took him to our family doctor where he discovered that Riley's achilles tendon is not as long as it needs to be. In essence, Riley cannot flex his foot...at all. He recommended we take him to a neurologist to rule out any neurological issues. So, we took him to a neurologist to get his expert opinion. He recommended that we get an MRI to rule out physical issues like a "tethered spinal cord" or a tumor.
Riley was a trooper. He was VERY nervous about having to fall asleep, but did a great job. Of course, the nitrous oxide helped just a little :) He was so funny when he was waking up from the sedative. I had to get some video. I must apologize to Riley for letting him bonk his head...twice...while filming this video.
The poor kid could just NOT wake up. We kept trying though. The nurse wanted to make sure that he COULD wake up.
We tried putting him in a wheelchair to wheel him out to the car, but he kept flopping out of it...or he would have flopped out anyway if we hadn't been there to catch him. Luckily, this was at a children's hospital, so they had these handy wagons we could use instead.
I put him in his booster and went to put the wagon back inside, only to come back to find him like this:
I tried talking to him, but it was no use. He did show some "signs" of life (pardon the pun). We always say "I love you" using the sign language sign for it. Well, sweet little Riley "woke up" and tried to tell me that he loves me. It was funny...in a very loving sort of a way.
He was totally loopy all day. He slept from about 10am-4pm. He'd wake up every now and again for just a minute or two...enough to stand up, walk a few drunken steps, and then fall down. I could not take my eyes off of him. I put him on the couch to sleep (thinking that was pretty safe), went upstairs for about 5-minutes to help Tanner get something to eat, and came back down to find him here:
And here he stayed for THREE hours! I'm glad it's over and that it went well. We should find out the results in a few days. Hopefully they didn't find anything wrong.
My friend April and I hosted Tanner's preschool Halloween party this year. It was a lot of fun! We dressed their teachers up like mummies, played a rousing game of "who's the ghost", ate ghost pudding cups and apples in caramel sauce. We also made some cute pumpkin crafts.
Tanner and his friend Landon. They were partners in crime. Can you just see how terrifying they are with their "prisoner" faces?
Tanner and Landon being goofy...it's pretty normal behavior for those two...especially Tanner!
Tanner's friend Brogan was Optimus Prime and wanted to get a picture with Tanner where they were both making character faces.
Ava came along for the ride. She had a lot of fun terrorizing the classroom. She wanted every baby there was and was NOT going to take no for an answer...don't let that sweet face fool you :)
