I've failed my daughters

Nora:

"Sophie, wouldn't it be crazy if I saved the world??"

Sophie:

"Umm.. Yeah, it would. Because that would mean you are a BOY."

The one thing I will not do.

I don't make very many demands (right, dear?).  But there is one thing I absolutely refuse to do. I will not check pants pockets before putting them in the laundry. Laundry is a lot of work by itself, it is not unreasonable to ask that people empty their pockets before putting their dirty laundry into the hamper  on the floor where they stand. Unfortunately this occasionally causes me grief. I've washed a few pens {annoying}, a cell phone {mine}, headphones {hope they still work}, and we have a pile of the cleanest rocks on earth piling up on the dryer. But occasionally it works to my advantage. Occasionally at the bottom of the washer I see some soggy, folded up cold, hard cash! My heart starts to race as I reach down and pick it up. Yes!!! It's mine. All mine. Never mind the fact that it's usually a dollar, sometimes two and it may have come from my own pocket. But no matter, because sometimes it makes laundry fun!

Super cute Apron

I found a tutorial for a super cute and fast apron. I whipped one up for my friend's birthday yesterday - and I am not a sewer (no matter how much I wish I was...) But I am learning! It was fun to make and I am in love with the fabric I found for it! So check it out HERE if you want to make one for someone - or for yourself!

Here' s a picture of the one I made:

Car conversation

I love listening to my girls converse in the car. Yesterday I overheard this hilarious exchange:

Nora (talking about a bug of some sort): "I think this bug might miss it's mother..."

Sophie : "Nora, pleeease don't say the word mother. It sounds so old fashioned, and when I hear it I start to think of the pioneers and when I think about the pioneers it makes me feel kind of sad."

The End!

4 years ago today...

I was two days overdue with Nora and in labor... obviously I was not having a contraction when this picture was being taken! Such great memories!

Funny kids...

A conversation with Sophie:

Her: Mom, can you keep a secret?

Me: Yes

Her: Once daddy told me he didn't think you were the right girl to marry

Me: Really ? Well, I hope he changed his mind because it's too late now.

Her: But don't say anything because I'm not sure if that's what he really meant or not

Me: Well, a long time ago when daddy and I were dating and trying to decide if we should get married, it took a long time for us to know that we were the right ones. But before daddy asked me to marry him I'm pretty sure he knew I was the right one.

Her: Oh.

Brian and I have been rehashing our dating story at some backyard barebecues for the enjoyment of friends and neighbors so I'm pretty sure that's where she got this from!

Kids are always listening....

And one with Nora:

Her: Grownups kind of have big bums.

Me: Yep

the end

Hooray!

NO dumpster diving was necessary last night. It got too dark by the time the kids were asleep so I thought I'd wait until morning... and then it hit me *inspiration* to look in the closet in the hall - again. I'd looked a few times already but I remembered Miles had spent a lot of time in that closet while I was reading books to the girls. I pulled out a paper sack that holds all my random paper towel tubes and other items that have potential for being made into crafts by my girls and voila - there the keys were in the very bottom. Hooray!

Time to go..

Dumpster Diving!!
My keys are LOST.
My car is locked.
My cell phone is on the front seat.
My house has been searched.
Prayers have been sent heavenward.
The main suspect is sleeping peacefully in his bed
Why do little kids love to throw things in the garbage can?
I know he thought he was doing something good - he see's me throw stuff away all day.
Maybe I'll also find the cassette tape and book we are missing from the library!!

Ugh.

You know the been in your pajamas all day long, didn't shower and forgot to brush your teeth, haven't really eaten a meal but snacked all day long so you feel sick to your stomach, house is a mess even though you've been cleaning what seems like all day but there's no humanly possible way to keep up with these little mess makers, spent too much time on the computer doing NOTHING and so the kids have watched too much tv, it's raining outside so they can't go out, and now it's time for dinner and I have no desire to cook feeling?? Or is it just me?
Pancakes for dinner it is.
And I'm sending the kids out anyway.

So funny!

Click HERE for a good laugh....

In preparation

For the 4th of July I am (planning) on
making THESE in red for my girls...

28...

This is a pic of me on my 28th birthday. I thought it would be fun for my girls to look back on... I would love to look back at my mom and grandma's when they were my age.

Reassured

Sometimes I worry about the world my kids are growing up in. I feel like I had an awesome childhood - growing up in a small town where I could ride my bike wherever I wanted, play nightgames with all the kids in the neighborhood at night and where everyone pretty much knew everybody. Do towns like that still exist? I want to find one and move there and freeze it so it can't change! Sometimes I worry too much about the state of the world instead of focusing on preparing my children at home so they can face whatever the Lord has in store. Last week I was waiting out another major rainstorm with Nora, Miles and a cartload of groceries in the entrance of Wal-Mart and I watched a man walk out ahead of us with a huge umbrella. Just after he passed us I watched him stop, hesitate and then he walked back and offered to walk us to our car under his umbrella. It was so thoughtful and kind of him I drove away feeling reassured that there are many wonderful people in the world.... and maybe it's not such a scary place after all!

Burn out...

Posting a picture a day during February left me completely burned out on blogging! To make up for it here is a sweet tutorial on an adorable skirt for little girls - or moms! - that my friend Ashlee sent me. We got together and worked on them today. Despite the simpleness and easy to follow instructions and pictures - I still had a few setbacks with mine. I am still learning the ins and outs of sewing! So they are still in the works, but I will post pictures later. Anyway - HERE is the link. If you have a little girl who loves to twirl - you better make one of these today!

P.O.T.D

August 2006

We went on vacation to San Diego with our good friends the Beagley family (Kyle, Janell, Jannika & Kiersten)! It was definitely a trip to remember. We went to Sea World where the kids got soaked by Shamu, took a loooong train ride into Tijuana - with no form of I.D. for us or the kids - oops!!, camped at a place with no hot water for most of the time - but hey, there were showers, listened to our crazy camping neighbors curse and fight and listen to the bible on cd all night, had the beagley's lead the way because brian and I are always getting lost, but the best part of all was just hanging out at the beach! We miss you Beagley's! Let's do it again!

P.O.T.D

November 2006

Trying to teach Sophie to sleep in her own bed at night was hard. One night after listening to her cry I came in and found her like this. Poor girl. We had spoiled her rotten by laying on the floor next to her crib and holding her hand as she went to sleep (because if she cried for more than a few minutes she puked all over. Every time!) I remember gently removing my hand from hers and army crawling across the floor as quietly as possible - until I hit a squeaky floorboard and woke her up. Aaahh!! Then it would start all over again. I eventually found a squeak-free path to the door which usually led to freedom! She had just grown out of the puking thing so we decided we had to let her cry it out in her room. Not fun. But it worked. She still has a hard time going to sleep at night - but once she is asleep she rarely wakes up until morning. Looking back now those nights of frustration have become cherished memories.

P.O.T.D

July 2006

When we lived in SLC I got to be on a committee that planned the annual 24th of July Children's Parade downtown Salt Lake. It was a lot of work - but fun. Sophie was so excited to be in the parade - but once it started and she realized we were just walking down the street in the hot sun, her enthusiasm quickly wore off. Luckily there was a great free carnival for the kids in the end!

P.O.T.D

July 2006
This is Sophie and her cousin Corey (my brother's boy). This was during The Famous Preston Night Rodeo in our hometown (what - you've never heard of it???). They were so happy to be eating suckers and Corey was saying his sucker was a "Byou" sucker.

P.O.T.D

September 2006

At Hogle Zoo in SLC. Nora was so cute pointing at all the animals!

P.O.T.D

May 2006

Sophie and Uncle Patrick. Sophie has always loved to play on grandma and grandpa's "jumperline". And having Uncle Patrick jump with her is even better!

P.O.T.D

Nora and her cousin Tadhg (Emily's boy) On our same trip to Georgia. They were so funny together. Nora was a bit of a stinker (Emily called her H.O.W.E - short for H-E-double hockey sticks On Wheels.....) But they had an understanding when it came to food...... Tadhg would lean down and Nora would feed him food off her plate. Cuties!

P.O.T.D

My cute sister with my cute girls, in September 2006 when we went to visit her in Georgia! We had such a fun time with her and her family.

P.O.T.D

sweet baby nora - 3 months old!

P.O.T.D

Sophie used to love to play in the car while we were watching.... Obviously we weren't watching too closely this time because she got into a tube of Desitin! And man that stuff is hard to get off! And her hair had recently been cut - by herself - and was pretty much crazy!!

(She is about 2 1/2 in this picture - when we lived in South Salt Lake)

P.O.T.D

I love this picture because all three of our babies have done this.......being held by their daddy while he studies (you can't see it but he's on the computer). This is Nora when we lived in Salt Lake and Brian was working on his Masters degree in Rehabilitation Counseling.
He is such a wonderful dad!

P.O.T.D

Cute and feisty Sophie - almost two years old.

P.O.T.D

On this day last year this is what we were doing! I was in labor all day long with Miles and my mom, brian and the girls took great care of me!

And this was how I looked. No wonder my mom was shocked that I was measuring small.......

P.O.T.D

I couldn't decide which one of these to post so I decided to keep both of them. This is Sophie and her uncle (Brian's younger brother) Dallin Paul. We were on a Phillips family vacation at Bear Lake the summer of 2005. Sophie adored Paul and would follow him everywhere..... They were having a great time playing together in some yummy stagnant water. If I hadn't been 8 months pregnant with Nora I may have put a stop to it (and If I remember correctly she had diarrhea for a few days after this incident! Blech!) I can't believe how much they have both changed!

P.O.T.D

Me & the girls last Valentine's Day. Two days overdue with Miles.

P.O.T.D

This was at my mom's 50th birthday party in May '07...... Nora would turn 2 in August. At a park where we were having the party Nora mysteriously disappeared, and when I found her she was doing this. I remember how she used to tilt her head down like she is doing in this picture when she was doing something she knew she shouldn't be! What a cutie.

P.O.T.D

This is Sophie with her great-great grandma Ruby (my mom's grandma). They had a special bond that was just so sweet to watch. Sophie adored her and still talks about her often.

P.O.T.D

Sophie always twirled her hair around her finger while drinking from a sippy cup- even when she barely had enough hair to twirl! She stopped doing it when she stopped drinking out of sippy cups so much but I always tell her that's what made her hair curly! (I just realized you can't actually see the sippy cup in this picture - but she was using it while Brian read books to her!)

P.O.T.D

This was right in front of our apartment in North SLC when I was managing the storage units. I love her sweet little hands in this picture.

P.O.T.D

I remember when Sophie did this picture and I was amazed! We had been at the park earlier that day and had seen a duck sitting by her egg..... and Sophie drew it when we got home. It was May 2007 so she wasn't even four yet. I thought it was a pretty awesome picture for a 3 (okay - almost four!) year old. She has always loved to draw.

P.O.T.D

Let's go fly a kite!! (March 2007)

Today's pic

Sophie at age 3, after getting into my make-up..... nice eyebrows!

pic of the day

Sophie and I - ice skating in SLC, January 2007.

Pic for today...

So sweet...... need I say more.

Today's pic (& story, too!)

Just before moving here we were living in SLC at a Storage Unit Facility in SLC, Utah, where I was a manager. We lived on-site with 3 other managers and their families. I worked in exchange for rent/utilities. We made some great friends there that I still miss hanging out with! We had a golf - cart that we would drive around the facility to show people units and to do our daily check of the place ( it was HUGE!) One winter day I took Sophie out with me on the golf cart to do my daily check and she had a notebook and pen on her lap. As we were driving she dropped her pen and leaned over to see it...... just as I turned a corner. She fell out of the golf cart and before I could stop I felt a bump and realized I had just ran over my 3 year old. It was a horrible feeling. She was screaming and crying (naturally). I picked her up and held her on my lap and drove back to the office. I washed Sophie's leg a bit and then left Nora with my friend and drove Sophie up to the emergency room. She could still bend her leg so I didn't think it was broken too bad, but I figured it needed to be checked for a fracture. I called Brian on the way there and after talking to him for a minute I could tell he didn't think she needed to go the emergency room (he comes from a family of 8 kids.....) But I insisted so we kept going. I was holding myself together pretty well until Sophie (who cried and screamed all the way to the hospital) yelled in the car, "YOU DID THIS TO ME!!!" That's when I started crying, too. Brian joined us in the ER and after a long wait we discovered that other than some road rash, her leg was fine (although getting her to let them take an x-ray was probably more tramautic then being ran over by the golf cart!) We made a stop at Wal-Mart and let her pick out a Barbie (to ease my guilt mostly) and went back home. I later realized that if she had not insisted on wearing a skirt that day she probably would have been fine. Unfortunately for me she has an extrememly good memory.

Pic pick of the day..

Sophie and one of her best friends Jannika. We lived by her family at the USU Trailer Court and have been friends ever since!

Pic of the day...

This is Nora at 20 months old, it is still one of my favorite pictures of her! I can't believe how much she's grown!

A picture a day.....

For the month of February I am attempting to post a picture a day.... I've been thinking about doing it for a while but haven't been able to commit myself to making sure it got done each day - but I've decided to make it easy on myself and only use pictures that are already on my computer, which will be fun for me to look back on! So here is the first one....

This is Miles and his Grandpa Phillips last summer taking a nice nap in Idaho by the river......

What's not to love....

....about spending every day with these two??

We miss Sophie while she's at school - she's gone from 8:30 am - 3:40pm. But spending time with Nora and Miles is sure fun. They make me smile every day.

A little too honest sometimes

On Sunday I was fixing my hair in my bedroom mirror when Sophie walked by, looked in, and said with a sigh, "Oh no, not THAT hairdo." and then kept walking. I know she's only five but it made me a little paranoid for the rest of the day!