Creating Olaf's 2nd Counsin Once Removed

Feeding Olaf's Second Cousin Once Removed some Poptarts

Little C and Ruckus molded this little guy

Then stuck him in the microwave

And watched him melt to his death.

WORDS

When I was little and people spoke of missionaries going to the MTC (mission training center)

I mistook it for them journeying to the

empty sea;

envisioning a dirty, vast, empty canal like pit, going on for miles, filled with desks and hard working missionaries.

What a romantically devastating environment.

I was extremely disheartened when I found out the truth.

Lou had a similar discovery this week.

He asked me what it means when someone calls you a light saber?

I explained to him what a light saber was, which of course he already knew, and then we moved on to trying to figure out why someone would call him that.

He finally worded his question differently.

Mom, they said to me - 

Thank you, you are a light saber.

What does that mean?

Lights went on.

Lou, you're not a light saber.

You're a life saver.

You did something to help them that they appreciated. :)

Tricky words.

Ruckus arrived in my room yesterday while I was nursing the baby.

He was curious about the process and asked if the milk came out of my belly button.

Feeling like this was a great teaching moment - to explain one of the purposes of the female body - how amazing it is that a Mama can nourish her baby - and to possibly explain the purpose of breasts without a sexual connotation being associated - I educated him on the lactation process.

Ruckus was such a good student. He was being serious, asking questions, and I felt like he really understood. He looked up at me and said,

I have got to tell Lou.

Good, I thought. Tell Lou. How wonderful to share this information and not be silly about it.

... but I made one mistake my friends. My verbiage was off.

All of a sudden I hear Ruckus yell,

"Lou, guess what? 

MOM SAID 

BOOBIES!"

Laughter erupted.

Christmas 2013.... Yes I'm Blogging About that in March.

Before Christmas

Nativity FHE with the Andrus Family
Photo by Candice Andrus

Ruckus aka Joseph chatting with "Mary"

Little C as the donkey.
What a good sport. Truly.

And Lo the Angel came.

Lou (on R) with cousin T.
Enter in the Wise men.

Moo the adorable shepherd.
Well,  kind of an aggressive shepherd at times with his crook.

The Baby played Baby Jesus.
Look how everyone flocks.
Overwhelming joy.
I love the symbolism.

Lou singing in his Christmas program. He's wearing the light blue shirt, he's the tallest boy with the tallest hair.
He did great! Always so proud of our Lou boy. 

The Beloved narrating the ward Christmas party.
Lou and Ruckus are the little sheep right in the middle.
Little C is a shepherd on the top row, right side.

Our tradition on Christmas Eve is to wake up early and purchase a Christmas tree.
This year our tradition didn't work out so well.
There were no trees to be had.
The Boys convinced Jed to cut one down from our backyard.
Maybe she always wanted to be a Christmas tree and we made her dream come true.
I choose to believe this...
and for some reason that the tree is also a girl.

Christmas Day

Matching Jammies.
Hurrah.
Little C loves matching pajamas.
No, that's a lie.
But I really, really do.

Our normally happy baby was not thrilled to be awake this early.
But really, how cool is that?
We forgive you sweetheart.
Thank you for being such a good sleeper.
Look at the love abounding from Moo even though his sisters ornery.

I LOVE  this picture.
Oh, my cute Little C.

Lou and Ruckus with their new Leap Pads.

Moo conquering a ball.

Ruckus modeling his new helmet and sunglasses.

Uncle Jordon and Aunt Amy came over to visit.
We love these people.
They spoiled the kids with the Turbo movie and bottled coke for me.
Christmas makes me happy.

Utah

Ruckus swinging
Grandma shot these cute photos for us.
Jed's sister Ruth and her family watched all of our older kids, took them sledding , giving The Beloved and I the day and night off.
Thank you!!!!

Lou sledding
He loves adventure and going fast.

Moo bonding with Little Grandpa.

He's teaching Grandpa about my smart phone. :)

The Beloved with Little C, Lou, and Ruckus at temple square.

Merry way-late Christmas!

All too Familiar

But Let's Embrace It. :)

Happy Valentine's Day Date.

The Beloved called me around noon on Valentine's Day letting me know he would be making a romantic candle lit dinner for two upon his return.

Ooh La la.

I like. Even love probably.

The kids had McDonald's, dressed in their PJs and I rented Free Birds to babysit them downstairs. 

The Beloved made outstanding stuffed peppers, prepared a green salad and we cheated a bit with the carbs on some extremely desirable french bread. We're being healthy. It's weird and great.

Our meal was the perfect gift.

And... we only had one party crasher.

Moo could sense we were having sugar free chocolate covered bananas and strawberries (that were surprisingly delicious) and had to sneak a bite - or maybe seven.

Thanks Dear for your thoughtfulness and hard work in the kitchen. There is nothing sexier.

Love you. 

The morning after. :)

Little C's 11. What the World.

Little C ice skating FAST at his b-day celebration.

He invited two of his pals to go ice skating with us and accepted the accompaniment of two little brothers.

Little C was off skating his brains out. He LOVES to ice skate - but this doesn't allow time for him to be captured in many photos. This was Lou's first time ice skating and he was a champ. He fell numerous times but got back up and tried again.

Ruckus on the other hand - HATED ice skating. :)... at first.

But eventually began to enjoy himself.

Even paused for an "USie"
(I'm so annoyed by the word selfie that of course I know the other terms of annoying picture taking descriptions - like USie is taking a selfie of you and someone else - also if you take a picture of someone while they're taking a selfie it is called a themie -  my knowledge is vast.)

Hanging with his buds.

The Beloved, who refuses to participate in any activity where something other than shoes have to be attached to his feet, stayed home with Moo and The Baby. :) In his defense,  he does desperately struggle to keep "The One" off the ground when engaging in sports aforementioned. :)

 Ha - "The One"  - it still makes me laugh.

I had a really fun evening with my older boys. We ice skated for about an hour and then had deliciously hot chocolate afterward.

Little C and his friends sat at a different table than Lou, Ruckus, and I while we sipped our hot drinks. Ahhh, It begins. How does he not recognize how amazingly cool I am? :)

Little C,

The other night we made a tally of how many times you disagreed with us during Family Home Evening. I think we arrived to the number 8 within the first five minutes. You are the disputer my friend. A funny, sarcastic, never ending disputer. I see a future in the law business. Aunt Angie told me the other day they call your close cousin H, who has similar qualities in this department, "The Contrary". Ha. I love it. You guys will probably disagree with this naming of Cousin H and make up a word similar to the silliness of the word "irregardless" except have it be "irrecontrary" - meaning contrary of being contrary. 

What? I don't know. I'll stop teasing you now. :)

Anyway - 

although you love to disagree (which is truly is a trait you somehow developed from The Beloved, who loves to play devils advocate A Lot.) you also are quite obedient despite your verbal retorts. You are my go-to guy. 100%.

I don't know what I'd do without my eleven year old pal. You've mastered making macaroni and cheese for your hungry, younger siblings when I'm busy with a task. You can babysit, mow the lawn, shovel the walks, warm up the car on a cold day, and OCD clean when you put your mind to it. When I was pregnant with your sister you were even willing to ride your bike to the gas station to get my sleepy, overly large self all of the items sprawled out on my cravings list.

You're so cool.

  These trips were short lived though after you came home telling me about all your various friends you were making at the gas station. 

Alert, alert! Scary! Danger! What was my prego self thinking? 

NO craving needs to be met that badly. 

But thank you so very much for your kindness while I let it last.
You usually tell me what's going on in your life. Please continue doing this. I love hearing about what is going on in your fifth grade psyche.
You did have a girlfriend for a bit but then The Beloved and I decided we were being undependable in our belief re: not dating until you're sixteen. We thought it was kind of cute at first, you having a little girlfriend, and since you can't technically go out on a date at this age - no harm, no foul. But the truth is, there is no exception to the standard, so we had a little chat with you about not dating until you're sixteen - what that means - and how we're sorry for the lack of discouragement previously shown. You responded beyond your years; understanding perfectly.
But, I still felt bad.
Then next day you obediently broke up with your girlfriend. You explained you really did like her, a lot - but you can't have a girlfriend. You said you were way too immature for a relationship (your own very wise words).
I was super proud.
She's been horrible to you ever since. 
It breaks my heart and ticks me off.
We've discussed how girls are crazy and she's responding this way because her feelings are hurt.  Sometimes it's hard to be strong but I've been overly impressed by your endurance.
We tease you that you're suffering from MMS and MMR.
MMS - Multiple Made-UP Sicknesses
MMR - Multiple Made-Up Randomness
You are a bit of a worrier and hypochondriac so if anyone is sick or injured you probably will be to.  If your friend brakes a bone, you're sure you will to. You questioned me for about half an hour the other day about breast cancer. Can you get it? No Little C. No Little C. No Little C. Over and over again. I felt a little dishonest knowing once in awhile a man does develop this kind of cancer so I shared this info with you - focusing on the rarity of it - which brought on another half hour of questioning. Funny guy.
MMR - you are random, random, random. Asking questions completely out of the blue with zero relevancy.
Example -
"Mom, if the only way to save my life was to eat my poo, would you?"
"Yes."
"Really! You would eat my poop?!"
"If it meant saving your life, yes. Wouldn't you eat my poop to save my life?"
"Yes."
So... there you go. We've agreed to eat each other's poo in a life or death situation, though we both dry heaved a bit at the thought. What a bond we share my boy. :)
Tween Little C is fun.
You sit with the adults now being chatting whilst humoring us with your wit and sarcasm. 
It's so enjoyable getting to know "growing up" Little C. 
I love, love your guts buddy.
Please forgive me for my teasing.
I adore you immensely. You are such a blessing in my life.
Love,
Mama

Remembered More...

TRULY SUCH A DELIGHTFUL READ.

UPON FINISHING THIS BOOK I HAD SUCH A DESIRE TO BE A BETTER SPOUSE. I ALSO GAINED A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE ATONEMENT. ALTHOUGH IT IS A FICTIONAL STORY -THERE ARE SO MANY ENLIGHTENING LIFE LESSONS TO BE DISCOVERED.

... This one was left out of my series loves.

Some of my Favorite Reads -

LOVE THIS SERIES.

IT'S A GOODIE.

A LITTLE MUSHY, MAKE YOU WANT TO BARF - BUT STILL WORTH EVERY OUNCE OF THROW UP IN YOUR MOUTH.

SPIN OFF SERIES OF VAMPIRE ACADEMY. THE FOURTH BOOK WAS A LITTLE RISQUE BUT DEFINITELY NOT AS CRUDE AS VAMPIRE ACADEMY. I'M A FAN OF BLOODLINES FOR SURE.

FOUR STARS.

COMPLETELY DUG IT.

SUPER CREATIVE AND FUN.

THE BEST ENDING OF A SERIES E.V.E.R.

ENTERTAINING.

YOU CAN READ THESE WITH YOUR KIDDOS. ME AND ARTEMIS FOWL ARE TIGHT.

TRULY THE BEST SERIES EVER. T.H.E. B.E.S.T.

Series I am embarking on now -

I just finished Etiquette and Espionage and am moving on to the sequel. 

p.s. sometimes I have to get out a dictionary to figure out what the heck they're talking about but it's worth it.

Cover looks freakier than Miss Peregrine's really is. I enjoyed the first book. I just got Hollow City on my Kindle so it's on the list to read. 

You decide if you like this one.... it sucks you in quick.

Share your read loves with me!