Seat Belt Time Out

So, Peter is a boy. Sometimes he gets into trouble. His usual consequence it TIME OUT. It is not very sucessful as I usually go to get him out of time out and he is either gone, playing, or sitting, but things in the room are misplaced - when they were fine before time out. Clearly he does not think of it as a real consequence for doing something naughty, and no lesson is learned. I thought of this idea. He now goes to time out in the middle of a quiet room away from everything and everyone, on a folding chair, with a booster seat seat belt snapped in around his waist. It works like a charm! He actually stays in time out, and he feels the weight of a consequence. He now says to me that he doesn't want to go to 'seat belt time out'. I think that means it works. Just thought I'd pass the tip along if anyone else is having this problem.

Snow Angels

We got a real fall of snow that finally stuck to the ground yesterday. Not much, but enough to be fun for the kids. They wanted to play in the snow, and so we got all the winter hats, mitts, and scarves out. Along with the snow pants, and snow boots. All bundled up they were ready to go. When they realized they couldn't build a snow man, they turned to making snow angels. Sophie came in after a few minutes very disappointed and she said "they weren't snow angels, they were grass angels!" And that was that, she was done. We'll wait for more snow.

Say cheese...

We got family pictures taken at the end of July. Our photographer took forever to get them back to us, we just barely got all of them!! We love them! She did some creative editing on some of them that turned out great, but those copies didn't end up on the disc she gave us... Here are some of the pictures for a sneak preview. I can't show you the family one we picked because I am sending it with your Christmas letters. I don't want to ruin the surprise!

(Pass along your address if you haven't yet!)

Christmas Decorating 101

The best advice I can give for someone putting up their decorations is to either:

A- Have the kids leave the house for a few hours

or

B- Have someone else do it!

We spent the better part of the day yesterday putting up our 2 Christmas trees, unloading and loading decorations boxes, and trying to keep the kids from touching everything!! We wanted them to help, but on our terms, not theirs... We tried to keep them occupied with snacks and Christmas music and Christmas movies. But they still helped more than we needed.

The best thing that came out of this long experience is that Max has learned the meaning of "No No" It didn't take too long either! A few hand slaps and stern 'no no's and it was in the bag. Now when he goes near the dangling and shiney ornaments on the tree at his level, that seem to be calling his name we can say "No No Max!" he will turn to look at us, get sad puppy dog eyes, stick out his lower lip and cry. He then will turn around and continue to cry as he crawls away from the temptation of the Christmas tree... I wish the other kids could remember the meaning of 'no no' and 'don't touch the tree'...

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving Day was very quiet and uneventful. We were going to go to Colorado, but ended up staying in Utah. We started the day off right with pumpkin pie for breakfast!! Our whole family is pumpkin pie freaks!! We made 6 pumpkin pies, 1 triple layer pumpkin pie, and one chocolate pie!! Rich's sister, Holly, and her family came over for dinner. We had 15 people total for dinner (a lot smaller than any Thanksgiving I've been to in a long time). It was small enough to where we could use my great grandmothers china for dinner (mixed with our regular white plates)! Holly and I split the cooking and everything was so yummy and delicious! Just the way Turkey Day is supposed to be. The only thing that caught us by surprise today was when Rich and I were cleaning up at night and Rich went to put some pies in the garage. He fell down the stairs and there was a loud crash. I ran to his side and he didn't move, he had his legs under him, still on the stairs. I was afraid he had broken or sprained something. He was fine, but embarrassed! He had ruined 2 perfectly perfect pumpkin pies!!! They had landed splat! Face down on the garage floor!!!! Oh well, we still have 2 more!

Giving Thanks

Top Ten Things We are Thankful For

10. Peter is thankful for watching TV

9. Maxwell is thankful for his binki, what would we do without it

8. Rich is thankful the Christmas lights are already put up

7. I am thankful for quiet time every day

6. Sophie is thankful to be the oldest child, it means she can boss around - right?

5. We are all thankful to live by most of our family in Utah

4. We are thankful for our health and happiness

3. We are thankful to live in a free country

2. We are thankful to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

1. We are thankful to know that we are an eternal family

First Snowfall of the Year!!!

It was so cold today, but I really didn't think it would snow!!! Well, this afternoon I was watching Oprah (it was her 'favorite things' episode!!) and my friend came over to pick up her little girl, Holly, that was here playing with Sophie for the afternoon. While we were chatting about the new fridge with the TV on it that Oprah gave away the snow started coming down, in big chunky flakes!!! The girls were outside in their bare feet trying to catch snowflakes on their tongues! And of course Peter was right behind them following suit. Peter thought Santa was coming tonight because of the snow. And then Sophie asked if we had missed Thanksgiving! Holly and her mommy left after a few minutes and Sophie wanted to back outside and I said yes. But by the time she found her shoes, and put them on, by herself, the brief but beautiful snowfall had ceased into nothing. She came inside SOOOO disappointed. I was quick to remind her not to be sad and reminded her of our family tradition!

Each year on the first snowfall

we celebrate by going out to ice cream!!!!!!

She was so excited that she couldn't wait for Rich to come home. She wanted to help me make dinner early so that daddy would come home (we always eat like the minute he walks in, so naturally she thought that if we made it now he would come home now. Too sweet) and we could get our ice cream! We waited for what felt like an eternity, ate our dinner and jetted out the door! We went to Dairy Queen and ate the delicious frozen treats. Sophie wanted a chocolate kids cone, Peter a white kids cone, and I had a vanilla cone - dipped in butterscotch, and Rich had a pumpkin pie blizzard. "One of these things is not like the other..." We loved it, but I think Max loved it the best. He tried some of everything. Sophie had a brief moment of sadness when she took her first lick of ice cream and splat - the whole thing fell on the floor. She had big alligator tears and shouted "My ice-cream!!!!!!!!!!", and everyone in the whole restaurant knew what had just happened. It was so sad to watch her. They were so kind and quick to give her a new cone. Thank you Dairy Queen, you saved the night. We ended the night by turning the van around in the middle of the road because Peter realized he had left his guy there. Rich searched everywhere, only to find his guy on the floor by Peter's feet - IN THE VAN!! The things we do for our children. And Sophie asked on the way home when it would snow again so we could come back for ice cream!! Too bad it doesn't work like that....

ps-this turned out to be a really long entry just to tell you we went to ice cream last night because it snowed!! Sorry about that.

Happy Father's Day!!

Father's Day was June 17th this year, more than 5 months ago now, and it has taken that long for me to finally take a picture of Rich and the kids with his father's day present. I have thought about it often, but there has always been an obstacle. Bad lighting, no lighting, bad weather, messy kids, etc. We finally did it today and I am so happy to have it! The kids and I made this stone path for Rich with their names and footprints. We had so much fun making them. And then we couldn't wait to give it to Rich and he got his present a couple days early. The new stone path goes in the back yard in between our strawberries, leading up to our garden. And it was all in place before Father's Day actually came. Happy Father's Day Rich!!! You are the best dad ever to Sophie, Peter and Max! We all love you so so much!

Max and the New Crawl

Last night Max started crawling on hands and feet!


And now he won't crawl any other way! It is too funny to watch!! He gets around just as fast as ever... He is so goofy and we love him!

Peter Goes to the Dentist

With Sophie having been to the dentist three times now, I figured Peter needed a turn to go in for a check-up. He was so excited! And so we made him an appointment. The appointment was set for 9:30am and we ended up taking Rich to work (and Sophie, it was her daddy day today) and then we had time to spare so we ran some errands. In the car he had sneakily found a bag of M&M's from yesterday. How did he find them? I didn't see them anywhere, I thought they were gone... So he is eating chocolate right before going to the dentist, and we didn't have enough time to go all the way home to brush his teeth again. So we did some 'rinse and spits' with a water bottle, and we got most of the candy debris out. The visit went along smoothly and Peter was so quiet!!! He was just watching everything, and soaking it all in. After the x-rays they took him to the open bay cleaning and exam area. The chairs were all empty and they took him to the green chair, his favorite color! How perfect! He got to watch the movie 'Cars' on the ceiling and he picked bubble gum toothpaste for his cleaning. At the end they gave him a token to get a prize and he picked the spider man tattoo! The concept of it going on and not coming right off, like a sticker is still puzzling him as he plays with the cracking and fading tattoo of spider man on his right forearm. But he loves it. He did great and there are no problems or cavities, despite his obsession with candy!

New Boosters

Today is a glorious day!!!

We FINALLY got new booster seats for Sophie and Peter. I have wanted to buy these for a year, well since we started planning the arrival of Maxwell. The kids are in the same size car seats now, and they fight over the one that we have, and neither child loves the built in car seat. We have a pretty good system down, but we still need these before Max has to move up to the front facing car seat. An even calendar day is a girl day, and that meant Sophie would get to sit in the car seat, and the odd calendar days were Peter's turn to sit in the car seat. And even then there was fighting each time we got in the car. But the fighting days are over!!!!!!!! Sophie has her pink car seat and she LOVES it. And Peter wouldn't want to sit in a pink car seat, he loves his 'pirate' car seat! They are both happy, and mom and dad are happy too!! We put them into the back seat in our van, and the best part about buying these new booster seats is that Sophie can buckle herself!! Yeah!! And she is so proud of it. I went to get Peter to show him the boosters in the van and I found Sophie practicing buckling and un-buckling herself! Too cute! Now we only have to wait 2 more months and we'll have Max in his front facing car seat too. Life seems pretty good today...

Flower

No, we don't have a pet. We are kitty-sitting for the week. Our friends went out of town for the week and asked us to watch their cute little kitty. The kids were so excited, and I didn't mind having a temporary pet. Her name is Flower. And I hope she makes it through the week. The kids LOVE her. More than they should. She is so tolerant of their holding and holding of her. They fight over who gets to hold her, and that part gets really old, really fast. But over all it has been fun to have her. Even Max loves her. He will see her running around and try to chase her, but he is as slow as a turtle and doesn't realize he could never catch her. The other kids are faster and Flower has quickly learned that under the couch is a safe place for her to hide away from them. That, and we have a caged off area for her bed, food and kitty-potty (as the kids call it), and that is supposed to be off limits for the kids, a safe zone for Flower. Despite the chasing, Flower has taken to Peter. She will sit on his lap, without his seat-belt-of-an-arm. And Flower likes to play with Max's arms and legs like they were toys. Max doesn't like that and tries to swat her away, which makes her think he is playing a game with her, and she keeps going. Sophie holds her like a little baby and likes to put a blanket on the two of them to watch TV until Flower falls asleep. This experience has made the kids want a pet really bad, and has made me want one less and less.

Outside Today

Today was such a beautiful fall day! It was so nice out, it was almost hot... We already had plans to use today to put the Christmas lights on the house, and they even mentioned that on the radio today, saying it may be one of the last nice Saturdays left of the season, and people should get out there and put up the Christmas lights. So Matt and Rich were up there on the roof trying to figure out everything. Usually Rich's dad is here to help and instruct the whole process, but this year it was left to us to follow the map (thank you for that, what a help) of what strands go where, and there were a couple phone calls to ask for blind guidance too. And 4 hours later all the strands of lights were clipped to the roof shingles, and all the bad bulbs changed out. What a process. I even had a chance to walk on the roof and try my hand at it all. But Matt was the real hero of the day. He was up there the entire time, he didn't even come down for water, we threw it up to him. THANK YOU MATT, WHAT WOULD WE HAVE DONE WITHOUT YOU!!!!! While they were up there I spent a little bit of time trying to rake some leaves. I didn't get too far before the kids were 'helping me' and it was all over. Taking care of a house and yard is hard work. Will we ever be ready for winter, I don't know. But, we had a great day in the sun today. (PS - Rich and I got to go on a date after all the hard work! We went out to lunch to Texas Road House and gorged out on food, it was SO GOOD!!!) It was all worth it.

Babysitting Shelby

The kids had so much fun with Baby Shelby! We got to babysit her as her parents got to go on a date to see Aaron in his play, Little Shop of Horrors, for his closing night performance. They loved having a new baby around! How quickly they forget what a almost 3 month old is like. They kept asking if she could crawl or play. No. But they each enjoyed holding her for a time. Even Max liked seeing a little baby. He was kind of confused looking at me hold her, like if to say "What is that and why are you holding it and not me?" We had a fun night! Thanks Steve and Cyndi, lets do it again some time...

Sophie & the dentist

Sophie loves the Dentist!!!

Today Sophie had a dental check up. It is the 3rd time she has been and she has loved it each time. We go to the best pediatric dentist group. I don't have a preference of doctors, they are all great, and the atmosphere and staff are what set this place apart. There are fish and lizards and snakes and video games and movie and a chalk wall to draw on - all in the waiting room. There is an open bay area with 4 bright color chair, puppets, lots of windows, and movies on the ceiling for the kids to watch. And they can pick one of 4 movies to watch when they are there. (Today the office was busy and we ended up having our own private room, the open bay area was full.) They always take pictures of the kids teeth and then they 'tickle' their teeth with their choice of toothpaste. The list of flavors is endless, and today Sophie chose raspberry, yum! She also got to watch Ratatouille (did I spell that right, yes, I looked it up on our Disney home page!). All of the staff introduce themselves to the kids, and today our dental hygenist was Mindy. She was so nice, and gave Sophie a choice of toothbrushes to take home in her goodie bag. She chose a purple Belle toothbrush out of all of them. It was a tough decision for Sophie, they were all different Disney Princess toothbrushes, how did they know what she would like? Well, when the dentist came in he said how beautiful Sophie's teeth were. She polietly said thank you. He said they looked like princess teeth, and he asked if Sophie was a princess and of course she said yes! When it was all done they gave Sophie a coin she got to pick a prize out of their prize machines. She picked a squishy ball, the same thing she picked last time. Love those squishy balls! But most of all we love the dentist! The first visit the dentist said that according to the x-rays, she may need braces when she is 8 or so. Sophie, not understanding the implications of braces, proudly went around, and still goes around telling people that she will get braces when she is 8... I don't have the heart to tell her what braces really are, and how wonderful they are. I don't have any first hand experience with braces, but I can only imagine! She thinks they sound wonderful and special! But all in all, today was a sucess and we'll be back in six months for another fun check-up with the dentist!

But I didn't do it!

This phrase is the story of my life!!!

Today I am babysitting 3 little kids. I trade babysitting with my friend Tawna, so two of the kids are her boys, and we asked Sophie's friend, Holly over to balance the genders out. Things have been going fine, until now. It is clean up time, and each one of the kids tells me

"But, I didn't do it"

and that is supposed to be the magic phrase that gets you out of cleaning up? I don't think so. I tell them, "I didn't ask who made the mess, I just asked you all to clean it up." Do they think it was me who scattered the ninja turtle cards, dumped the domino's and left dirty socks all over the floor? I wonder what would happen if me, as the mom, were to say "But I didn't do it" every time there was a mess to clean up. I have a feeling nothing would ever get cleaned up.

Anyway, today my gripe in life is each time my kids say "But I didn't do it" in response to my asking or telling them to clean up any given mess.

Update: They somehow managed to pick up everything on the floor. It took far far longer than would seem humanly possible. Motivation came half way through when I said they could watch a movie when the floor was picked up. They even got a little over zealous, and tried to clean up Max!! A little motivation goes a long way.

2 years, and counting

This week has had me doing a lot of reminiscing over the last 2 years. You see, this week marks the 2 year anniversary of Ford Family Chiropractic!!!! We have been open and in business for two years, I can't believe it!! It has gone by so fast... When we came here Peter was so tiny, just barely 1 year old. He had the funniest new walk that others referred to as his 'dinasour walk' because he held his arms at his chest as he walked. Sophie was 2 1/2, and had just been potty trained. Max was not even a thought. Our hopes and dreams were so high and we had just started an adventure in the unknown. The office needed designing and decorating, so we got to work. That was really fun. We picked out, and painted the walls. We shopped at furniture stores, and online for exactly what we wanted. We were also a little frustrated that the construction dates were moved back more than once, but I guess that is to be expected. Rich hired a secratary, and we opened up. It has taken so long to get where we are today. Every new patient was so important, and still is. We kept thinking things would get easier, and they did in certain respects, and harder in others. Our secratary didn't last long, she wasn't the right fit for our office. So, then I got to take over 'temporarily'. So I would go with Rich to work everyday, with the kids. Sometimes one of them would stay with Grandma for part of the day, that helped. And then in the fall Sophie started preschool (2 different ones) being busy 4 days a week. It was nice, because she would get bored at the office. Sitting in one room, having to be quiet, all day is hard on little kids. But then I would have to run her to and from preschool in the middle of office hours. It was all hard, but managable. 'Whatever it Takes' right? Almost a year later we hired Julie to take over as secratary, and she is wonderful. She is exactly what we wanted, and so much more. And not more than 2 weeks, if that, after she was hired Maxwell was born. It was nine months ago now, but I still remember everything like it was yesterday. We prayed that he would be born on a weekend because Rich couldn't afford to cancle on any patients at the office, and Max was born on a Saturday evening. So then we added one more to the bunch, living in 2 rooms at Richard's parents house. Living with Richard's family was a neat experience. We have gotten to know his parents and Aaron and Matt in ways we never would have otherwise. His family is amazing to put up with us for so long. Thank you so much. What would we have done without you? Now his parents have moved to Colorado and we miss them, expecially the kids. They don't understand why they moved. But Aaron and Matt are still here, and we love them. It is fun having them around.

But I have been thinking about Chiropractic. The human body is amazing. It is designed to take care of itself. Chiropractic helps to restore the body to its best self, without the intervention of medicine or surgery. And it can work miricles. There are some that say they don't believe in Chiropractic. Well, believe or not. It works. I have seen it. Each memeber of our family is under regular chiropractic care, and we are all so healthy. Our children have been since they were babies. Chiropractic does so much more than take care of back pain and headaches. It helps the nervous system, which controls every single thing in our body, so if your nervous system is healthy then you are allowing your body to be as healthy as it can be. Chiropractic care is so important for everyone. You need regular checkups, just like visiting the dentist to check your teeth every six months, or changing the oil in your car every 3000 miles. Needless to say, I am so proud of Rich. He is an amazing man. He has been able to run his business and still be there for the family. He has somehow figured out how to keep this business going under the field of chiropractic. They are totally two separate things, and they don't teach you that in school. Owning your own business means you can pick your hours and other great perks, but it also has so many responsibilities like paying all the bills and always going back to the office for hours on end until you get everything done and ready for the next day. Things are still not perfect, and where we want them to be, but they are getting there by going in the right direction, and we are happy. I look forward and see many more anniversarys to come!!!!!

These are some of the things I was meaning when I said chiropractic is connected to and can help with more than just the neck and back.

On the Blog...

Yesterday the funniest thing happened. Unfortunately I cannot tell you about it. Sophie called me to her and showed/told me her funny thing. Then in her most serious voice she said "Mom, you're not going to put this on your blog are you?" She knows me so well... But to respect her wishes, it is staying off of the blog. But it really was funny.

Daylight savings.

Well, yesterday was daylight savings. It was great, for a Sunday. We had an extra hour to get everyone ready for church and not rush. It was even nice putting the kids to bed a little early - according to the clock. Today, daylight savings backfired! The kids were up so early. I have my nice morning routine all figured out. I have an hour to myself to get ready and stuff for the day before the kids wake up, and then, bam. They wake up at 6:30am!!! And it has sort of ruined the day. I figure in a couple days life will be back to normal, but I do not like daylight savings time. I wish it always stayed the same, no 'Spring ahead, and fall back' to think about. But that's just me I guess. And I'm just complaining about something I will never be able to do anything about...

Image:Daylight savings time world.png

PS - I thought this site was interesing about daylight savings.

The Stairs...

So today is a busy blogging day.

This afternoon I was laying on the couch (I ate too much icecream!) and then the kids called me over to see a surprise, dealing with Max. I didn't know what to expect, but I came over and saw Max up a couple stairs. And, yep.

He climbed the stairs all by himself!!!

What a big boy! I've been trying to teach him by helping him, and going through the motions moving him up the stairs. But I didn't think he had caught on yet. I was wrong. I watched him do it, and he is slow, but determined. One step at a time. So now I need to block the upstairs with a gate, and keep the basement stairs door shut - at all times, because his crawling is getting faster!

My baby Maxwell is changing and growing every day. Cheers to his 9 months and 1 week birthday!

Maggie Moo's

We LOVE Maggie Moo's Icecream!!! Rich's secratary, Julie, knows this. She gave Rich a thankyou card for something and enclosed was a gift card to go to Maggie Moo's!!! I was so excited! We made a special trip down to Salt Lake City today just to get icecream. And I am so glad that we did, it was delicous! We let the kids get some of their own, they each chose cotton candy, with nothing mixed in. I stuck with my tried and true: Better Batter, with cookie dough mixed in!!!!! I can't get enough of it, and neither could Max. He kicked his legs and loved every bite. I don't think he understood when the icecream was all gone and we were leaving the shop. He got upset. Rich had a dark chocolate and black cherry icecream with chocolate chunks and cherries mixed in. Aaron and Matt came with us and we all had a fun afternoon.

Cute Clothes!

Grandma Canada sent us a package that we received in the mail today. It was packed so tight!! There were cute new clothes for all of the kids! And the boys got matching outfits (yeah!). Sophie especially loves her new jeans, they have stars embroidered on them up near the pocket and also on the back. She calls them her 'Hannah Montana' jeans. Just like her new boots. She doesn't know who Hannah Montana is (she is a cool teen TV star), but she knows that some of her older cousins and friends know who she is, and that makes her cool. Long to short is: SHE LOVES THE JEANS!!!! And for some reason, Peter thinks these are pirate clothes....... I don't know....... But that means he loves them! (I do have to mention that Peter was a little disappointed that there were no pirate toys in the package. I don't know where he gets this Pirate obsession!! We have never watched a pirate movie, read a pirate book or even played with pirate toys! And yet he thinks he is a pirate, and loves pirate everything!) And everything fits perfectly.

THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING GRANDMA CANADA!!!

WE LOVE YOU!!!!

(In the same package were 2 things from Sophie's cousin Samantha that didn't fit her anymore, there was a cute Princess night gown, and a blue winter coat for Sophie. They fit great and Sophie loves those. They fit, and now we don't have to buy Sophie a new winter coat.

THANK YOU UNCLE MIKE AND SAMANTHA!!

WE LOVE YOU TOO!!!)

Banana Max

I was getting dinner ready, and Max was in his high chair watching me. He was starting to get bored, so I gave him a banana to HOLD... He demolished it!!! It was shredded and gooey and everywhere!! He loved it! But it sure was a mess to clean up when all was said and done... YUCK!

(so much for the tiny bib he has on, it didn't do any good... I should have stripped him down)