ARTIST

Sierra loves to draw. She will draw for hours and hours. Here are some of my favorites from her gallery along with what she said about each.
My family. Dad, Mom and me a Ballerina.
Mothers and daughters. A mother flower and her baby flower in a pot. My mother teaching me how to play with the yo yo.
My mother. Mom is so excited I got more beans for being good. (No those aren't freckles. Those are moles.)
Me a Mermaid, Dad jumping rope. I am swimming in the sea. I love dad very much.

CAN'T... NO SUCH THING.

My mother use to always say, "Can't is a little girl too lazy to try." Whenever we said, "Mom, I can't _______________." (Fill in the blank.)

My mother-in-law has said, "You can do hard things."

I love these words of encouragement that were pass to me from wise women. My daughter today said, "I can't make my bed." I said, "Oh, can't is a what?" She smiled, remembered, and said, "a little girl too lazy to try."

I want to pass this pieces of wisdom onto my daugters. I want them to know, if they work hard they can accomplish all things with their Father-in-Heaven's help.

Is there a phrase your mom always use to say that still sticks with you?

MJ TALK, BEFORE CC BREAKS A LEG.

CC was acting wild. She jumped off the bed and hit her head. She started to cry. I said, "Why did you jump of the bed?" She said, "Because mom I am trying to get MJ to talk." I said, "Baby, that isn't the best way to go about it."

CC has been asking me at least twice a day if we can have hot chocolate with marshmallows. With the heat and humidity it is the very last thing I am craving. I guess she is ready for fall.

MADDIE BADDIE

Look at her eyes. She loves that sissy.

WIND TUNNEL

An industrial sized fan.

Aimed directly under a white down filled blanket.

Is a pirates cave, where fairies can play.

PEEK-A-BOO

8 BEST MOMENTS OF THE DAY
1. MJ's big 4 teeth grin.
2. Cinnamon French Toast made from homemade wheat bread, hot off the skillet, with lots of butter and maple syrup.
2. Spinning the girls wildly in the office chairs.
3. Watching Sierra build an entire village for her polly pocket princesses out of blocks.
4. Playing hide and seek with Sierra and listening to her giggle madly as I walked back and forth down the hall past the linen closet where she was hiding.
5. Making a perfect dinner.
6. Watching Sierra sit still at the kitchen table and eat all of her food.
7. Smelling my babies as I cuddled and kissed them all wrapped in their towels fresh out of their bath.
8. Reading Piglet's Great Adventures to Sierra with our heads nuzzled together.

WEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Had to post this for my family. Thanks Jess!

MY FAVORITE THINGS

Wish I had of gotten a better picture of this. I now know what angle I should have taken the picture at to get a better composition but I still love it. (I know, I know, I am never suppose to blog about Nate, but I had to this once.)

Last Sunday, we were all exhausted. I invited some friends over for dinner. I was trying to do the rolls on the tray when MJ woke up from her nap early. She was still tired. She crawled after me whippering. She wanted to be held but I had to finish putting the rolls on the tray and I didn't have an extra hand. Nate was in taking a nap. I went back to our room and threw MJ on top of him and said in a huff, "Take her for a walk, do something with her. I am trying to finish dinner." I walked out of the room. (Not my most loving wife or mommy moment.) In less than a minutes she stopped crying. I thought, Wow, what happened? I snuck back into my room and peeked around the corner and he was massaging her little back. In less than five minutes this was the result. Beautiful. Perfect. I love my husband. I am so blessed to have him in my life. He is such a good daddy.

NO PICTURES, JUST NIGHTMARES AND FAIRIES

I know Joy, you are skipping this one. :)

Sierra has really bad nightmares. She wakes up constantly. She won't go to sleep at night. When she tells me her dreams, I even get scared. I don't know where she gets these horrifyingly sad images from. Anyway, for weeks now it has been, there are wolves in my room. They are going to climb up the windows and come into my room. They are going to just appear in my closet. Then the monsters. There are always monsters lurking everywhere. We bought nightlights,bribed, and my sister made her a beautiful room, but she still refuses to sleep there.

A few nights ago I was at my wits end trying to get her to stay in her bed. I was sitting there kneeling at her side telling her there is no such things as monsters. I have argued this point countless times. I finally looked her in the eyes and said, "Sierra, I love you so much and your Heavenly Father loves so much. Before we came to dental school your father was given a blessing that said your great-grandma Oma Wilson would come with us to Pittsburgh and watch over us. I know that many nights she sits in this room and watches over you." Sierra asked, "Who is she?" I said, "She is your great-grandma. She died and now she is our guardian angel for a time." Sierra asked, "What is an angel?" I showed her a picture of an angel. She said, "Angels are like fairies, huh mom?" I said, "Kind of, they are kind of like fairies." (What a beautiful moment. I felt at peace and warm as I told her of all the people that loved her and watched over her. I wish I could end this post on this peaceful note. I can't.)

Conclusion: She became so excited at the prospect of fairies in her room that she couldn't sleep. Still no sleep. Then she yelled back at me and said, "Mom, I have an idea." I said, "What now?" She said, "I will die myself so I can be a fairy." I alarmingly replied, "Not a good idea." She asked, "Why?" I told her I would miss her too much. Then this morning I was cleaning the mirrors and she wanted to suck on the ammonia filled glass cleaner. I told her she couldn't because eating it would kill her. She sprayed some on the counter and licked it. What? Yes, she wants to be a fairy. Ahhhh. How do I get myself into these situations?

Moral of this story: Oh parents, be wise (wiser than me.), what can I say more?

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY MY DARLING ANGEL GIRL

Sierra's I am 4 pictures. She is getting so tall and thin.

YEAH, Aunt Emily sent me a package for my birthday!!!

Yummy, I picked out my cake. Pink Jell-o cake. Raspberry Jell-o cake with Cheesecake pudding mixed with cool whip for frosting and fresh raspberries. Yummy.

A present that lasted 12 hours. The child climbs inside and grabs onto the handles and you roll it. Nate said it wouldn't last, but I thought 12 hours was a bit ridiculous. She was sad when I took it back but she exchanged it for more princess Polly pockets, her latest obsession.

BASEBALL

Yesterday Nate took Sierra to a baseball game. They bought a hotdog and sat in the stadium and watched the game together. Nate is the secretary to the Young Men in our Church. They bought tickets for all the leaders and the youth and told Nate if he wanted to, he could take Sierra.

Conversation on the way home from playing at the Nunnery's home today.

ME: Did you have a good time at the baseball game yesterday with your dad?
CC: Yeah, but nobody would let us play.
ME: They wouldn't let you play?
CC: No. Only some other people got to hit and catch the ball. Nobody would let us play.
ME: Really, that's sad.
CC: Yeah. I guess you got to have numbers on your pants, shirt, and hat to get to play with that ball.

ODE TO JESS

Here's to Jess, my Pittsburgh sister who preserved my sanity today. MJ has been breaking through two teeth and has been very irritable. She has just whinned at me for 48 hours. I can't put her down. I can't clean my house. I can't work on the quilt that I want to finish for my growing neice. I can't make dinner. I have to walk and bounce and bounce. Anyway, I begged Jess to let me come over to her house. She spoiled MJ by letting her jump in her jump-a-roo, which she loved and giving her dum dums. After an hour of Jess MJ appeared cured and this was the final result. Heaven, a sleeping baby.

Jess took these pictures. I laugh. Do you think they are sisters? Where do they get that look of death from?

MESSY MADISON

Madison has been making messes for me. Michelle, you can empathize. She tore apart a sewing book of mine. She climbed Nate's bike and got bike grease all over her.

Then she went into the bathroom and emptied a toilet paper roll.

Every day she unloads all the movies off of this shelf. (When this picture was taken she had only started the job.)

Sierra never went from thing to thing discovering and being messy. Sierra mostly enjoyed pushing her physical limits and contracting a lot of bumps and bruises in the process. MJ likes to figure out and explore her surroundings and with that comes a whole lot of mess. Still, I think I prefer it to blood, bruises, and goose eggs.