Caroline is 4!

My sweet Caroline is 4

The family birthday party. She requested chocolate cake.Opening her presentsThis card played music, can you tell?She got a MobiGo game player from her Grandma and Grandpa and some games from G&G and Aunt Sarah & Uncle Christian. It will be great for our trip, but Henry wishes he had one too!Grandmama personalized a princess bookFor the past few months Caroline has had an obsession with an old pink razor cell phone of mine. She does not leave it out of her sight! She even sleeps with it. And if she can't find it for 3 seconds, she will burst into tears. It is quite ridiculous, but maybe better than a stuffed animal or blanket!

I made the bag too big for her 4 year old body, but I liked how it turned out.

Thanks for the potato sacks Jill, I knew they would come in handy!

I can't take the credit of this idea, I got it from the Family Fun magazine.

She is definitely a leader. Being so little with the graces not quite there, it can be percieved as bossy. She is a good big sister to Henry. Loves her phone. Wants pasta, spagehetti or mac and cheese for dinner. Loves to go play at Aunt Sarah's. Wants to wear skirts all of the time. Writes her name really well. And wants her hair crimpy almost everyday.

Happy Birthday sweet girl.

Hot, sizziling, burning, on fire

That is exactly how my hands felt for 3 hours.

Last week, we made a trip to Miller Farms. We always have an awesome time, no matter the weather conditions! I brought home bags of sweet corn on the cob, popcorn, peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos, green beans, a few beets, onions and potatoes- all for 12 dollars! I spent 4 days cleaning, peeling, chucking, chopping and blanching to put them in the freezer. We had corn on the cob days in a row, carrot cake and just yummy fresh meals.

On Saturday night, I decided to pick one of each color of peppers to mix with some onions. I honestly don't know the differences between any of the peppers I got. I just chopped, seeded and cooked. With in just a few minutes is when I started to feel the burn. Half of my right hand and a few fingertips on the left hand were red, puffy and burning.

We looked on the Internet for different remedies; I washed my hands, put them in baking soda, flour, under cold water, I held frozen vegetables, put my hands in Clorox, rubbing alcohol, covered them with Vaseline and took Advil. Nothing helped the burning sensation disappear. The only thing that helped was cold running water. Two hours later I called my Mom in tears and asked what to do. I took more pain medicine and called poison control. Poison Control lady, Tiffany, said to wash them with soapy water (ya, did that) and then explained to me that the oils from the peppers were in my skin and I needed to extract that oil with a different oil. She suggested vegetable oil or olive oil. And if that didn't work, to buy liquid Maalox. Since I had vegetable oil in my pantry- I decided to 'wash' my hands in it several times. The pain subsided. About 20 minutes later I fell asleep- I'm sure due to exhaustion. Half an hour later I woke up with absolutely no sign that the last 3 hours existed.

Yeah, I know I have heard and read to never cut hot peppers without gloves, but it never bothered me before. I still have the peppers on my kitchen counter- waiting for me to buy gloves from the store. I plan on making pre-made fajita packs with them and the onions. We'll see. Cutting peppers I think will frighten me forever now.

I'm a Mormon

Check it out.... www.mormon.org

Thanks to Caroline for taking my picture

Hi, I'm Katie
I am a wife to a hard working husband. A Mom to 2 beautiful children. I love to to eat. I love to sew. I'm a Mormon.

About Me
I was raised in California. My parents divorced in between my freshman and sophomore year of High School. Both of my parents chose to get married with-in the next year. I lived with my grandparents for a while, and then moved in with my mom and step-dad. I got married to a loyal man. I finished college and started teaching at an elementary school. I am now a stay at home mom with 2 young kiddos. My sweet husband works his life away to support our life experiences. I love my kids and family so much! I wish I could live closer to my my brothers and sisters. I love to try new recipes. I like to wear loud, yet subtle tights. I like to sew, but my true obsession is to hand stitch. Together as a family we like to watch movies and eat ice cream.
Why I am a Mormon
Even though I have had a broken family, I have had wonderful additions to my pieced togther family. I love my family so much (immediate and extended) and can't seem to live without them. I am so grateful for the knowledge of eternal families and that my family can be together forever- even after this life.I have felt God's love and his spirit testify to me at different times in my life that He lives. That there is a purpose to this life. That through Him I can experience peace and joy no matter what trial is placed in front of me. Knowing that has encouraged me to keep His commandments and trust in Him. And from keeping His commandments I know that it has made me a happy individual.
How I live my faith
I try to be like my Savior, Jesus Christ. I try and teach my children to trust in Him. We say our prayers in my house. We read the scriptures every night. We talk of Christ. We have Faith. We fast regularly. We pay tithes and offerings. We speak kind words. We hug each other. We go to church weekly. My husband and I encourage our children to know scripture stories. We spend at least one evening together a week together talking about spiritual and temporal matters. In my house we try and serve others; members of our own family, church friends and our neighbors. We visit the elderly. We shovel snow off of people's driveways. We bake treats for others. We try to have the light of Christ be shown in our countenances, because we love Him.

Problem Solved

Maybe, if I just eat out 3 meals a day, I wouldn't have to clean my kitchen 3 times a day!

Butterfly Pavillion

Grandma Watts took the kids and I to the Butterfly Pavilion! They loved it and their souvenirs!

A wonderful experience to see all of the butterflies! Caroline wore a flower in her hair hoping that a butterfly would land on it. No such luck. She was sad, until one went on her shirt then she was okay after that! And a brave Caroline, letting a tarantula spider walk on her hand!

8 years and 1 day

This last month and a half have been quite eventful for us-as well as members of our extended family. Moments in time like this you can't help but reflect on what life is really about. How precious it can really be. That relationships do matter. Death in the family really does that to you, too.
I don't know why I have had to have tooth number 4 and 5 pulled (besides the 4 wisdom teeth) in the last 10 years, but I guess that is for some reason too.
I am grateful for a husband that LOVES me and his two darling kiddos. I am grateful for his belief in Christ. I am so thankful for the knowledge we both share of Heavenly Father's eternal plan and that right now, we are only taking part of a glimpse of it here on Earth. I am grateful for his support in what I want to do and become. I am grateful for his willingness to provide for our family. I love him for who he was, is and what we can become together through it all, thick and thin.
I love you, Aaron. Happy Anniversary.

Adjusting

Life has taken a new turn in our everyday, usual routine- since we packed up, moved out, moved in and unpacked (mostly). We are excited to be in our new home, new neighborhood, new community, new city, new ward and a new chapter in our life.

Since we took the front off of Henry's crib, naps seem to be the hardest. We took the front of Caroline's even earlier (16 months) and she adjusted well. Henry seems to want to play a lot more. How can I get upset when everytime I see him supposed to be sleeping he has a book in his hand? He found his way to Carolines room today. He seems to love the sticker book. He also loves toothbrushes, phones and stuffed animals.

Bribed: Didn't work.

Yesterday at church, I had to go up with her on the stand and she was attached at the leg like Velcro and then when we got up there- her head was in my lap the entire time! No singing for Dad this year. I was going to sign her up for a summer sing and dance class, but I decided I didn't want to waste the money. I don't even know if she would have gone to the class! Oh my shy girl, but the story is told in my family how I was too shy to even ask the McDonald's guy for packets of ketchup! When I was a kid, I hated dance class, girl scouts and anything else that I didn't know anybody else. I wouldn't consider myself a shy person now. I wonder when she will grow out of it.

Bribed

When your own child bribes you with her own (easter) candy to do something (to put Henry's shoes on), it makes me wonder what kind of values I am teaching her. Yet, I just found out that she has been bribed to sing in church for Father's Day tomorrow (the last 2 opportunities for her to go on the stand she has refused.) I'll let you know if it happens.

Another Cleaner

As most of you know, my sweet Caroline is pretty good at cleaning up. Thinking of her starting her own load of laundry still makes me laugh.

Well, we have another child very similar to her! Sweet Henry is almost obsessed with the broom. The first time I really remember it was when I was ironing in the laundry room; Henry found some snacks in my purse and started to eat them. A few minutes later I heard him go in the pantry, get the broom behind the door, come out and sweep up the mess!

He also insisted on using the garage broom today- almost pulled the nail out of the wall that it was hanging to, just because he wanted it down so bad.

Henry also gets a towel to wipe up messes he has created on the floor. Of course cleans up the table with a napkin, or wipes his face. And one of his favorite things to do is to get out the vacuum and vacuum with me or when he sees the need.But what made me just love him even more, was when I came downstairs with the shoes I was going to wear today and I threw them next to the door of the laundry room and was about to head to the kitchen to make breakfast, when I noticed Henry go and pick up my shoes, walk the 2 steps into my laundry room and put them with the rest of the shoes. He sure told me! So sweet. Love him!
P.S. Made 64 dollars on Day 2 of the garage sale. And listed the big items on Craigs List that didn't sell and so far I have made 40 bucks! The rest went to good will.