Pumpkin carving

Our time spent together carving pumpkins was fantastic. Andy and I couldn't believe how meticulous the children were in carving their pumpkins. We searched the internet for free pumpkin carving patterns and each child found one to their liking. Brenna carved a pig, Tobin carved a dragon and Noah carved a traditional pumpkin face (that's my boy). You have to use this one tool to punch the holes of the pattern onto the pumpkin. Andy and I didn't think much about it, but after about an hour, Brenna said, "my hands hurt, Daddy, can you do some now?" We couldn't believe it that when we looked at her pumpkin, she had only punched out the ears and the eyes: After an hour!! When we lifted the pattern up, the light bulb went on. I couldn't believe it. She was so painstakingly careful that she had pretty much punched out the lines in her pumpkin so much that we just had to push the pumpkin through the punched out holes. The boys, never to be outdone by their baby sister, stepped up to the plate and used the carving tools in the same meticulous way. Overall, we had a great day!! The missionaries came over for dinner afterwards so we were able to show off the pumpkins and hard work.

Babysitting woes

Hi everybody!!

As most of you know, a couple of times a month, I am lucky enough to have my niece come and babysit my children in the morning before school. The last time she babysat, boy did she have an encounter with my darling Brenna.

The first indication of the morning was when Brenna came downstairs in capris and a tank top. My niece politely explained to her that if she wanted to wear that she would have to put on a jacket as well. Brenna, hands on hips (can you picture it!), said, "My mom doesn't want me to wear a jacket. She will only let me when we go to church or to nice events."
To which my niece responded, "Brenna, I don't care. When I am here, you need to do as I tell you. Now, please, go upstairs and put on a jacket." Brenna huffily pumped her arms and made a big todo about going up the stairs. Quickly forgetting the incident, my niece started playing with Noah; they were kicking a balloon around when they accidentally kicked each other's foot. And they promptly laughed (but have you heard Noah laugh, cry, screech, make any primal noise: it has a scream in it. I don't know where he learned it, but boy does he scream). So, apparently Brenna heard this noise.
A little while later, my niece called up for Brenna to come down for breakfast. When she finally did, Brenna came down crying, huge tears running down her face. My niece asked her what was wrong. Brenna, drew in a deep breath and let it go, "you are being mean to me by telling me to do something my mom won't let me do and you scared me! You really, really scared me and that is not nice. Besides, it is my balloon and you need to ask me if you want to use it. How do you think I feel, knowing that my balloon is being used without asking me? I was very scared."
All my niece could do is laugh!! All I can do is make the next reservation on the next plane to get the fartherst away before she becomes a teenager.

Annoying Funny Mom William Tell Song Video

This is really funny. I love anything that puts a humorous spin on being a mom. Too often I get caught up in the stress of wanting to raise happy, healty and productive people that I forget the fun along the way. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Brenna spells her first sentence

I am so proud of Brenna. We are sitting here doing her homework (I am also scrapping so I don't become the overly, obsessive mother--it's a great way to be available and not anal). Her homework is to write two sentences with the word can, her spelling word for the week. Her first sentence is "Can you trust me?" Brenna sat there and sounded out the word trust. I was so excited. So, Tobin of course, mimiced me. Little stinker! But Brenna wrote this sentence completely on her own and I was excited to see her smile at something she had accomplished. If you can catch it, this is certainly like when they eat their first food, get their first tooth, first roll over, you get the idea. Brenna is growing up. Someone asked me yesterday if my kids were growing up to fast. What I do think is that the days go by like weeks, and the weeks go by like days. In essence, the days are long and the weeks are fast. I love this stage with my children as I have loved every stage before (although I wouldn't mind a shortened toddler period), so I look forward to the next stage to discover what I still don't know about my children. Although I will admit that having them go visit their grandmother for a weekend is always fun. Breaks are fun; it makes you appreciate them more.
On another note, Andy and the whole sports car thing: He called me soon after he picked up his car and was like a child on Christmas Eve. You could hear the excitement in his voice as he retold the event where he asks for a more European car than the Ford he was supposed to originally have. Doesn't that sound like Andy? Andy was so excited to have that car; it is on his list of dream cars to own one day! I hope he has a great time in England.

Brenna beats to her own drum

Today has been a crazy day for all of us. In addition to our usual games, Tobin and Noah had pictures at times and locations other than where their games were played. But today has been the day of Brenna. I couldn't help laughing as I watched her dance. She is soo funny and definitely has her own direction in which she is headed. Then this afternoon, as I was coming downstairs to get something, I saw that Brenna was outside and in the street!! I opened to door to correct this mistake when I saw our young neighbor was outside skateboarding. He waved and said, "hi."

I stepped outside my front door and onto the first step and then I saw that an entire group of young teenage boys were skating right outside my doorstep. And where was Brenna? Skating right along with them!! Crazy. Enjoy the videos. They make me smile.

Which image best represents you?

It hit me last night! Just how crazy my life is. I was trying to think of a dinner that would sit well, waiting for those in the Pagley family who waltz in the latest to the dinner table. I realized that I have gone from squeezing in dinner between homework and sports practice to now squeezing in dinner on the way to the sports practice. I just hope there are enough red lights for my children to digest their food!

When did my life become this busy? When I wasn't looking obviously. We have something every night of the week-- sports practice, a school event, or cub scout event. It is completely crazy. And how do you limit? If, as a mom, you say to your children, "you may do one sport and one music instrument." What happens to boy scouts? We have all heard stories of boys who have gotten scholarships or something great (like a job, even better) because they were an Eagle Scout by the time they were 14. So, if you put boy scouts in, then what do you leave out? Sports? But if you leave out sports then what happens to the epidemic of obesity that is plaguing our young children? I can certainly tell you that the kids who are playing on sports teams are not the ones experiences a greater girth. So, if you need scouts and sports, what about music? You can't give up music--there is too much beauty in it and it provides value to your enjoyment in life to actually be able to have a trained ear when you listen to music. So, as a mom, you try to be supermom and do it all.

schoolwork

Brenna was so proud of her "roller coaster" I simply had to take pictures. Plus, a picture fits into her scrapbook a lot better than the actual art itself. :)

Funny, Tobin and I are both sporting ice packs today. Tobin jammed his fingers in football practice yesterday. I am taking him to the doctor tomorrow. His biggest hope is that he gets to play in Friday's game. My biggest hope--that he will make a full recovery with no long term, permanent injury. (Mine may be a little bit exaggerated, but who knows). I, on the other hand, had bacon grease splatter onto my wrist as I was cooking bacon for dinner. Yes, I'm trying something new and the consequence of this is a burn. Really makes me want to cook more often. Anyway, I hope you are all having a great week.