Simple pleasures of a mother

I really need to get out of the house more often, I mean without my kids. My friend upstairs called Monday morning to ask me if I wanted to swap babysitting so she could finish up some last minute Christmas shopping for her children. I said sure, though I'm pretty much done with my Christmas shopping and I really don't mind doing shopping with my kids....or so I thought. This morning it was my turn to go shopping. So I took the kids upstairs, jumped into the car and headed to Walmart. I will tell you what, by the time I was half way into Wally's World with no kids, hadn't worried about parking close for their sake, etc. I was near giddy with childlessness glee. And then I saw a lady with kids about the same age as mine, one was screaming and she was telling him, "I am not buying that so just drop it," while holding the younger one down in the basket seat so he wouldn't stand up and fall and there was really only a small bit of confusion when I started high fiving everybody else who was at the deli counter with me, really I just did a small though unconcealable dance.
After bringing some of the shopping spoils to my husband for a quiet enjoyable lunch with him, not once did I have to chase either child or say no we are not buying anything out of the vending machines...ok only once to Rob ;)....I went back home to hugs and kisses with the determination to babysit swap more often.

Random

Cute Story. So I went to Carl's Jr. for lunch last week to let the kids play, yes the playgrounds at those places gross me out, but I will do just about anything to get out of the house with some other women and I justify it with thoughts of building my children's immune systems. Kaitlyn would take Hyrum up the steps and then help him go down the slide but once the kids get up in that labyrinth you can no longer see them so when I saw Kait emerge without Hyrum I asked her to go find him in there. One of the moms was leaving and I said if you happen to see Hyrum out in the nonplayground area let me know... he might be lost. Sure enough a minute later one of the moms brings him in from the other eating section. Kaitlyn then emerged from the playground, sees him, runs up to him, gives him a hug, and says, "Oh there you are Hyrum, I looked everywhere for you. You just about broke my heart." Cute story, huh? I'm not sure I even got off my seat. It will be amazing if my children and house survive this pregnancy.

Quick, easy, mom isn't feeling good, FHE. Oh that is embarrassing, I just looked at that picture and I was so focused on my family that I cut out the baby Jesus in a laundry basket at their feet. You may decide two things about this picture on your own. One, if Hyrum is an angel, shepherd, or just got out of the shower and two, if Rob just got sunburned on the top portion of his forehead or if the rubber band around his head is too tight.

My cute kids in front of the Christmas tree. Kait is wearing her new Christmas dress from Grandma Adams. I am pretty sure Grandma just likes shopping for her grand kids and all of the cute outfits she buys are not because she thinks I dress my kids funny.

Kait and I drew these. One of us draws the head and then folds the paper over so that the person drawing the body can't see what the head looks like. Kait loved it and we played for ever last night. Just a fun idea to entertain your 5 year old during sacrament meeting or in times of boredom. It is sad that my 5 year old draws as well as I do.

Rules are: Anything you have done has to be in bold. How much have you done?

1. Started your own blog (Actually not this one. Amy started this one.)
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity (I've never gone into debt for charity...?)
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a Praying Mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Been to the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa at the Louvre
20. Slept on an train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (php?)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (all the time)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance (I wasn't conscious at the time.)
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud (see #52)
54. Gone to a drive-in theater (Grew up a block away from one)
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (I'm not allowed)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Tied a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (2 or 3... depending on the definition of 'fired.')
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a Bone (does someone else's bone count?)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (everyday I prevent my son from electrocuting himself.)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Visited Italy

New Christmas Tree Decoration Trend

It is after 4:00 and I really should make dinner but I don't feel good so I am just going to sit here and blog until Hyrum wakes up and hence makes making dinner 10 times harder.

So far almost every year since Kaitlyn was 15 months old I have started out the Christmas season decorating the entire tree and then usually by about the day after setting it up all of the ornaments are on the top half of the tree. This year has been no different despite the fact that I refused to hang a single glass ornament no matter which great grandma's they were. When ever I find one of said plastic ornaments, more like half a dozen said ornaments, on the floor I place them on the top half of the tree which greatly slows my one year old's ability to pull them off. Anyway, I have been babysitting 3 kids once or twice a week for a friend while she finishes a class at school. And hurrah, hurrah, when I arrived Monday morning they had their tree set up as well. So now I got the joy of trying to stop 5 children 5 years old and under, from destroying somebody else's great grandparents ornaments. The first 10 minutes went great. Everyone was informed to stay away from the tree and they were merrily playing with a nice plastic tool box a good 10 feet from the tree. But the next 10 minutes didn't fair so well. My sports fanatic one year old, yes his daddy loves that ok I do too, was playing with a plastic 12 inch screwdriver when he walks over to the tree and swings the screwdriver like a bat hits a beautiful glass ball and yells "ball". I took away the "bat" after telling him to level out his swing next time, cleaned up the glass pieces and went to go throw them away, my mistake for the garbage is in the kitchen, and come back to him holding at least 7 other glass bulbs happily singing balls, balls, balls. I rescued those but they all ended up on the top half of the tree. The good news is that I think they liked the way we changed the decorations because when I showed up this morning to babysit there wasn't a single ornament on the bottom half of the tree, of course their 5 year old kept telling me that "if Hyrum goes near the tree am supposed to tell you Sister Adams" so it may have been something besides my artistic ability that inspired their great liking of my unique decorative style.