Tricky Trickerton

Here it is, March. In fact, we just celebrated St. Patrick's day. Well, I guess that's what we did. If you call realizing it was St. Patty's Day at 1:00 in the afternoon and reminding everyone that I will pinch them if they aren't wearing some sort of green 'celebrating'. We weren't even visited by any leprechauns. What can I say, we're not Irish.

What I'm getting at is that I kind of forgot to record for posterity our visit from Trick the Elf this past Christmas. He's kind of like a leprechaun.

If you recall, Anastyn had a couple run-ins with 'Santa Clause' at Christmastime. She had some issues with his authenticity. But never once did she doubt in her trusty elf, Trick. Not even the time or two that she found him in the same exact location as the morning before. (Which brings to mind her first encounter with the Tooth Fairy recently. Another story for another day.) Sometimes these magical creatures can be a bit ditzy. Kind of like me. Odd. :)

Anyways, we enjoyed our elf this year. As you can imagine, he caused some mischief and mayhem. But at times, he was a perfect example of what the Christmas Season is all about. He will always be welcome in our home.

Trick roasted tiny marshmallows on a candle, dressed up like a shepherd, gave us friendly advice when needed (like 'Santa's watching - you might want to remember to clean your room!'), hung the girls' underwear on the Christmas tree, admired pictures of Baby Jesus, left us magic candy cane seeds, got sick, made messes, and even made out with Tinkerbelle. My, my, my! Can't wait til next year!

P.S. - The Tooth Fairy - Anastyn lost her 1st tooth and guess what? Her little tooth fairy didn't show up. Can you believe that??? Me either. The nerve! She did come the next night, though. She paid up (with interest) and left a note with some sorry excuse of having a dentist appointment the night before. 

Adventures of Matty and Anastyn (thought they'd outgrown those? nope.)

Do you know how long it's been since I blogged about the crazy things my kids do? They are always doing crazy things. But I usually post the doozies. There haven't been any doozies for quite awhile.

For the record, I never keep sleeping after the kids have woken up. It's just not smart when you are the mother of my children. But my girls are 8 and 6. Eight and six. 2nd grade. Kindergarten. And we've been sick. I've been sick. I was so tired. So I thought to myself....they'll be fine! Guess what? I don't think I will be sleeping in again until they are grown up and out of my house.

I had to call poison control. 1-800-222-1222.

Ya. I crawled out of bed. Went to the cupboard to get my medicine. Something wasn't right. Chair pushed up to the cabinet. Pill bottles all over the floor. Empty bottle of gummy vitamins. Oh crap, oh crap. What happens if someone eats an entire bottle of vitamins???

I had no idea who did it. Nobody was talking. I automatically assumed it was Mason. I don't know why. I guess because he didn't understand why I was freaking out and wasn't denying anything? Or because he's 2 and the only one who might not know better? Who knows. But I'm pretty sure he didn't appreciate me sticking my finger down his throat trying to get him to throw up. Which didn't work anyways.

Finally, Matty started talking. She said it was her and Mason. Okay, so they shared the vitamins. That's a little better right? So I called poison control, confirmed that there wasn't any iron in the vitamins, and the lady assured me that my children weren't going to die. Worst case scenario they get upset stomachs and a little diarrhea. Even if they did eat the entire bottle. Which, come to find out, is exactly what Matty did. Mason had no part in it. He just couldn't defend himself. I'm sure glad I didn't make him puke. Sorry little dude! It's been a few days. So far no tummy aches or runny poop for Matty. Wow.

Same morning. Same stupid mom sleeping in:

I know Anastyn is younger than Matty. But I usually expect more from her. She might as well be the big sister. She helps me make her instant oatmeal in the mornings. She practically does it by herself. But I'm always supervising. And so when she came in and asked for some, I told her she needed to wait til I got up. Apparently she was starving and couldn't wait. So she proceeded to burn two packets of oatmeal in the microwave. We're lucky she didn't burn the dang house down!

Love my kids. These are the kinds of things I can only laugh about later. They are shaving years off my life, I tell you. And, yes, I learned a lesson - I still can't trust them. :)

The Escape Artist

In my last post, I shared the most terrifying of Matty's escapes...but there have been other incidents. Plenty of them. Enough to have shaved years off of my life, I am sure. Here are a couple that come to mind...

Before the Great Escape of 2010 (previous post) she ran away several times. One day she came up missing and I ran up and down the street calling for her, panicking, the whole routine....couldn't find her anywhere! I was yelling and running and panting and running and yelling. I knocked on doors. I knocked on the door of a particular next-door-neighbor who didn't answer. A little while later I tried her door one more time. She answered this time and informed me that Matty was in her house. Holy Crap!!!! I guess she had gone in their back yard and let herself into their house through the back door. What a little stinker.

While we were living out here on Sand Cliffs Road in Meeteetse we woke up early one morning to find that Matty was not anywhere in the house. We looked everywhere and yelled and yelled for her. So, naturally we figured she had gone out. It was quite chilly outside. We went out and finally did find her in the back of the house. She was in her pajamas and a jacket and shoes. I grabbed her and carried her inside and gave her the whole 'you can't go outside without telling Mommy' lecture. Later, she brought up the subject on her own and I just listened to what she had to say. It was a pretty amazing story. She talked about walking around and doing this and that...and then in her own very simple language, she said the Holy Ghost told her to 'go home'.

I'll tell you what, I believe in the whisperings of the Spirit. And I have no doubt in my mind that that little girl heard a voice telling her she needed to go home. I am so grateful to know that our Father in Heaven is mindful of each one of us and will warn us when we need help. I am so glad that Matty was listening.

More recently, she had another sneaky break-out. At least it wasn't so scary this time...but made me nervous about the things this little girl will do! I couldn't find her one afternoon and automatically opened the front door to look for her (even though I had just been in the kitchen and never saw or heard the front door open or shut). Sure enough, there she was playing outside. But I couldn't for the life of me figure out how she had gotten past me without seeing or hearing her. Later, I went downstairs to do something and saw how she had accomplished her escape. She had somehow gotten the window in the family room open (it is way out of her reach, but she must have pushed something over there to climb up on) and crawled out into the dog kennel with the dog and somehow got herself out of the kennel too!!! She never ceases to amaze me!

I hope she is finally outgrowing this escape artist routine. I am so tired of it. :)

A Blast From The Past - "I Was Running"

I thought that I had posted this story about Matty running away, but I couldn't find it anywhere on my blog. Must have been one of those posts that I composed in my mind but never got around to typing. She has run off quite a few times and each time it scared me to death. In fact, I am still to this day careful about doors being locked, and on occasion when I get a 'feeling', I even barricade the doors at night!  But she really out-did herself this particular time. It was a couple years ago, spring 2010 I believe when we were living on 10th Street in Lovell, but I wanted to make sure I had it recorded...

I had been at a Young Women activity on a Wednesday night and was just getting in my car to go home when I got a phone call from Kyle. "Matty is missing." It was almost 9:00 at night. It was dark and it was cold. I raced home and called 9-1-1 on my way.

Kyle had put the girls to bed earlier. They had been fast asleep. So he went out to the backyard to work on our pump. He went back inside to check on them and they were still fine so he went back outside. About ten minutes later he went to check again and saw that our front door was open. Assuming that I had gotten home from my meeting, he started looking for me in the house. When he didn't find me, he looked outside and saw that my car wasn't home and automatically realized that Matty must have gotten out. He went to her bedroom, and sure enough, there was no Matty. He looked up and down our street and couldn't see any sign of her. That's when he called me and I called the police.

My heart was pounding on the way home. Once I got there, I started helping Kyle look all around the neighborhood. I was really pregnant at the time and was having a hard time running and yelling and I was really starting to panic! So many people showed up - almost immediately. Police, Sheriff, Fire Department, family members, neighbors. Everyone was combing the area. It was so cold outside and all I could think about was the fact that they had let the water into the canals and I didn't think she was in anything but a t-shirt and pajama pants. I was so afraid that she had wandered somewhere dangerous or was freezing. I was f-r-e-a-k-i-n-g out! And I wasn't the only one. Even Miss Anastyn as little as she was was terribly upset and wanted to find her Matty. Finally, after we were searching and yelling and crying for what seemed like an eternity, I got a phone call from a lady wondering if I was "missing someone". I said, "yes! do you have her???". And thank goodness she did!

My little Matty had wandered clear down the street, all the way down the hill, past a canal full of water (which typically she would have been curious about because she loves water), to a house that she had never been to before. Apparently she had tried to jump on their trampoline and eventually ended up at their back door. She knocked and they didn't hear her, so she just walked right into their house! Luckily they knew who she was!!! The fire chief and her Uncle Tyler drove down and picked her up for me. I was so happy to see that little girl's face. So happy!!! As soon as I had her in my arms I asked her where she had been. She matter-of-factly stated, "I was running!" like it was no big deal!

Come to find out, she was at least smart enough to put some shoes on and one of my coats! (They found those on the ground by the trampoline the next morning!) Oh, Matty. You almost gave Daddy a heart attack and dang near sent Mommy into pre-term labor!!!! I am certain she had some guardian angels looking out for her that night...

For The Record...

There are things that our kids do and say that we think we will never forget. There are times that I've thought to myself that I should write that down. But, I guess out of laziness, I talk myself out of it thinking that I could never in a million years forget something that crazy, or funny, or whatever the case may be. So I am noting some recent shenanigans. :)

One that has been providing frequent chuckles in our family circle:  The other day Mason got a small cut on his finger. There was a small amount of blood. I was looking at it when Anastyn came strolling by. She saw it and exclaimed, "Bloody Hell!" I was stunned. What???? I gave her that 'what-did-you-just-say' look, to which she explained, "Well, Harry Potter says it!"  We are really working on which words are appropriate to say and which aren't. It's really hard, because even the cartoons take the Lord's name in vain (which is not okay in our book) and include some inappropriate language. It's really confusing for kids...and its so hard to monitor and filter. It's dreadful. So, if you happen to hear one of my children say a 'bad' word...please know that we are trying to teach them. :) And, yes, I do have to confess that my mouth needs a good washing out with soap once in a while. Shameful.

A week or two ago I had to take Matty to the doctor in Cody. We drove thru McDonalds and got her a kids meal to eat while we were running errands around town. I had to run into Walgreens real quick to pick up her prescription and figured she and Mason would be okay in the car for a second. I forgot she still had the little bag of sliced apples from her Happy Meal. I came back to the car and got us out on the road when I heard Mason make a strange noise. So I asked Matty if brother was okay. She said 'no'. All of a sudden I remembered the apples. I asked Matty if she had given anything to her brother. All she said was 'apple'. Holy Crap!  I freaked out thinking Mason was choking on an apple. I swirved through the opposing lane of traffic to pull into the Holiday Inn parking lot - barely missing an oncoming vehicle - threw the car into park, jumped out of the car landing in a huge puddle of water, and prepared to yank my baby out of the car to get an apple out of his throat! I opened the door and found Mason sitting there....just fine. I talked to Matty. She had never given him an apple. I guess she just felt the need to watch her mother have a heart attack. Took me a while to settle myself down and get the heart rate back to normal after that one.

So, what else is going on around here?

Mason is going on 10 months now! He is crawling, pulling himself up to stand, climbing the stairs, occasionally playing in toilet water, and running around (literally running) in his walker! He is so proud of himself, and we are proud of him too! He is such a joy!

Easter came and went. There were fun Easter baskets left by the Easter Bunny (which I have no photographic evidence of). There were spiffy new Easter dresses and clothes. I have no pictures of those either - probably because we were in too much of a hurry to get off to church. We drove to Lovell to have Easter dinner and an Easter egg hunt at Grandpa and Grandma Tippetts - there were Easter baskets at their house as well! We also visited Grandpa Leithead and the cousins! It was a lovely day.

We drove the kids out to the 91 Ranch to see the baby calves, sheep, and to ride horses. They were so excited about this trip...they could not wait to get there! And they weren't disappointed! The Love's showed us a great time and even fed us a delicious dinner! Big thanks to them!

Drumroll Please....

You asked for it...you got it!

 (see previous post)

Can you see by the looks on their faces just how much trouble they were in?? Don't mistake the stripes on Anastyn's face for master face-painting skills...those are just the tracks of her tears. Ugh.

Found these pictures on my camera. I did not take them. Both of the girls denied using the camera. Lol.

 And someone decided that Mason needed a few more rice treats. How helpful.

Ready or Not!...

My kids. They entertain me. Today we were visiting Grandpa and Grandma Tippetts. We spent a few minutes outside in the almost-spring weather. (I can feel winter disappearing thank goodness.) Anyways, my dad and I stood by watching and giggling at the girls' version of Hide-And-Seek.

Anastyn:  "Matty! You hide and I'll count!"

Matty:  "No, Anastyn! You count and I hide!"    (he he he)

Anastyn: "1...2....3....4...18...19....18...19....18....19....18....19....18....19....18....19..."

As Anastyn was counting, Matty ran behind the BBQ grill. You could see her from a mile away. :) Anastyn started running in that direction, so Matty hurried to find a different place. Grandpa took Matty to help her find a real hiding spot. In the meantime, Anastyn totally forgot that she was playing Hide-And-Seek. Poor Grandpa and Matty were hiding for quite some time while Anastyn's curiosity led her in a tour of Grandpa's garage. I got Anastyn back on task, but Matty was tired of waiting to be found. She decided to go look for Anastyn instead. Way too funny.

Yes, indeed, they are funny kids. They are also, at times, very, very naughty. Last night I went to Zumba. I was so glad for a break from home and children. (No school on Fridays can be hard on a mommy.) And I got a great workout. On the way home I was thinking to myself how nice it would be to go home and take a nice, warm shower. And then pop Season 1, Disc 1 of Glee into the dvd player and spend 4 hours on the couch with my husband.

I did get a nice, warm shower. And I did get to watch Glee with my man. Just not as soon as I had expected....

I entered my home after Zumba and before my shower to find what looked like two little Aboriginal children standing in the kitchen in nothing but their underwear. Their faces were completely painted. Anastyn's was black. Matty's was red and blue. In their tangled hair was more paint and about a pound of glitter. They were both standing there with sad, pouty faces as their dad was recording them with the camcorder and giving them a lecture about what they had just done (which also included some artwork on the walls).

Since we can't bathe the children at our house - oh. my. heck. - this required a trip to town to sweet Jeanie's house to use her bath tub. It also required some clean up after bath time. Little black fingerprints all over Jeanie's bathroom. It also required a much earlier than normal bed time for my two "angels" as. soon. as. we. got. home. I can't wait to see how my new Dyson vacuum handles the glitter in the carpet all through the house. And the only other thing I have to say about this incident is THANK HEAVENS FOR MAGIC ERASERS!!!!!

This and That...

There are so many things I want to blog about. Just not enough time in the day. Lots of things going on around here. My baby boy is growing up. He is sitting up, on the verge of crawling, has been issued two brand new teeth, and is a pure joy. He is so fun. One of his newest mannerisms is sticking his tongue out. When he is smiling he likes to stick it out the side of his mouth and curl it up. It is adorable! Everybody loves Mason – and he is getting so big. He is starting to look more like a little boy than a baby….

Matty is doing GREAT in school. I was so worried to leave Lovell Schools and wondered if Meeteetse would be a good place for her. But I haven’t been able to complain one little bit. The teachers are AWESOME!!! The school has made sure that she has everything she needs. They communicate with me. And most importantly, Matty is happy. She loves it there! We couldn’t be more pleased. Recently the Longhorns celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Matty is a huge fan of Cindy Lou Who, so naturally we had to fix her hair accordingly. She was the Cat in the Hat’s meow at school!!!

And then poor Anastyn nearly got her eyes scratched out. We won’t mention who did it. Because even though there was some shrieking and a lot of tears involved, Anastyn was very quick to forgive. She has a big heart and is such a good sister….I mean person. And "She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" was really, truly sorry. She even said so.  :)

Here, Anastyn is cheering on her sister - who made a CIRCLE out of her play-doh! An amazing feat, I know. But apparantly they thought it was a really big deal! Yay Matty!!!! :)

Adventures In Motherhood...

Most of us would agree that being a mom is both overwhelmingly challenging and undescribably rewarding at the same time. The past couple months in our family have been loaded with lots of challenges and lots of rewards. Here is a summary....

A trip to Thermopolis to visit Aunt Emily, a.k.a Aunt "Enemy", a.k.a. Auntie Em. We don't make it over to visit her and Uncle Pat very often, so I thought it was post-worthy. Especially since my girls have a huge soft spot for their greatest of great-aunts. Children automatically fall in love with this woman. She is spunky and fun and caters to their every whim. We had a fun time visiting for the day and enjoying her and uncle Pat's hospitality!!

Recently we drove over to Otto to spend a little time with Grandma Great for her birthday. The girls always love to explore at her house. This time they explored in a few places they shouldn't have. I think Grandma was glad to see us go home that day. :) Besides dragging out every toy in the house and pulling clothes out of drawers, they also got into a drawer that had a razor in it. Being the curious little critter she is, Anastyn managed to cut her precious, most beloved thumb (the one she is constantly sucking on). She cut it pretty deep and, oh boy, was there drama. Drama, drama, drama. We had blood everywhere. On the clothes that they had pulled out of Grandma's drawers, on Grandma's carpet. Everywhere. And when we finally got everything under control and the poor thumb bandaged up, we thought it might actually be a blessing in disguise. We kind of thought maybe this would cure Anastyn of her obsessive thumb-sucking habit. You know - since she would have it all bandaged up for a while. Well, that's not really how it turned out. Now we just have an ambidextrous thumb sucker. :)
Somewhere along the way, we had Easter. We dyed Easter eggs the night before with BrookLynn and Elle (which I hate doing, by the way...way too messy). And, naturally, the girls loved finding their Easter baskets on Easter morning and eating candy. Oh, how they love candy. :) It was nice to be able to relax and enjoy General Conference on t.v. and we had a delicious lunch of ham and funeral potatoes and homemade rolls and jello at Grandpa Leithead's house. It was a good day. This past Friday night was Matty and my "all-expense paid" night in the Sleep Lab! Unfortunately, I have no pictures to share with you. I forgot my dang camera. I did get some pictures on my phone, but I have no clue how to get those pictures onto my computer. We were testing Matty for sleep apnea. Now, I knew this wasn't going to be a pleasant experience. And I also figured that I wouldn't get much sleep. But it really was worse than I had expected! Knowing Matty's history of doctor's offices and hospitals, it was no surprise that she was scared out of her mind the moment we arrived. So scared that she did, indeed, hurl all over the carpet in our room shortly after we got there. And her little hands were shaking the entire hour it took to get her hooked up to all of the wires. I lost count of how many wires they had her hooked up to. Ten on her head alone. Don't ask me how anyone is supposed to be able to get any sleep when they have wires attached to every part of their body. It was one of the longest nights I have ever made it through. I am pretty sure I looked at the time on my cell phone at least fifteen times during the night - just to see how much longer before we could get the heck out of there. I spent the entire night trying to make sure Matty stayed asleep, stayed untangled from her wires, and that the wires stayed attached to her through her very active tossing and turning through the night. I did not want to have to re-do the dang test! I do have to mention that I was slightly creeped out the next morning when the guy sheepishly admitted that he had forgotten to have me sign a form the before we had gone to bed. The one that says "Yes, I was informed that we would be observed on video all night long." I patiently signed and dated with the previous day's date and then thought really hard to remember if I had done anything embarassing-like scratch my butt-during the night. We were so happy in the morning when we could finally leave!! And I was so glad that Kyle and Anastyn had stayed the night in a hotel in Billings that night. I am pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to drive us home without falling asleep at the wheel! We haven't heard on the results yet, but we are hoping that we don't have to have this experience again for a very long time!!

Next. I was hoping that we would somehow be able to avoid this common childhood crisis. But that was not in our stars. Last night Anastyn found scissors. And she knew exactly what to do with them. I wanted to cry when I saw her bangs snipped off at the scalp. Luckily, she left a few longer strands on the top layer so we can camouflage them. :) It wasn't until this morning that I discovered that she hadn't stopped at her bangs. When I took yesterday's messy bun out and started brushing I realized that we were missing a lot more hair. Then I started taking out Matty's messy buns. This is when I realized that the scissors did not stop at Anastyn's hair. After brushing, Matty was actually missing a significantly larger amount of hair than her sister was. I was not happy. You can see the pile of hair in the following picture. I was extremely upset. And Anastyn could sense that. I heard her in the other room a little while later saying, "My Mommy doesn't like me." I had to explain to her that I did, indeed, like her. I just didn't like the haircuts she gave herself and her sister...

Anastyn is very aware of the upcoming arrival of her baby brother. She is so excited for him to come. She loves to rub my tummy and feel the baby moving. She and Matty came in to show me that they, too, had babies in their tummies this morning. I thought it was so cute. When they unzipped their jammies to show me, I discovered that they were actually expecting kitties. :) Too cute.

Oh The Joys!!!

Funnies...

I have had a miserable cold the last few days. Saturday we were traveling in the car and i was sipping on a fountain Pepsi. Anastyn wanted me to give her a sip, but I told her she couldn't have any because there were "sick bugs" on my straw. With a look of curiosity on her face, Anastyn said, "Let me see 'em, mom!"

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Saturday the girls and I rode to Thermopolis with my parents. My aunt Emily had invited us to come down for a Father's Day BBQ. Auntie Em is just a really fun lady that loves little kids and so they love her in turn. The girls had a blast at her house - she had filled up a little swimming pool for them to play in and provided fun toys and movies to make sure they had a great time. When we pulled up in front of her house, Matty exclaimed in her most excited voice, "Aunt Enemy's house!!!"

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The other day I needed to run to the grocery store for something. I was just going to leave the girls at home with my mom because, well, that's just easier. :) While I was getting ready, Matty came in and asked, "What you doing, Mommy?" I explained to her that I was just going to run to the store for a minute and be right back. Then she asked, "Mommy...Matty go a store?" I couldn't resist her cute face, and I figured it wouldn't be so bad to take one child to the store, so I told her that she could come with me but she would have to let me brush her hair because it was full of snarls. Matty doesn't especially enjoy having her hair brushed out and so she replied, "No! Matty cry!" I had to giggle to myself that she already new that it was going to make her cry. :)

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Anastyn is really good at remembering things and is a pretty good talker. So we have fun teaching her things and then asking her about them later to see if she remembers. She can rattle off her birthday, Matty's birthday, her full name, Matty's full name, the names of her grandpas and grandmas and her mommy and daddy, what town she lives in, what town BrookLynn and Elle live in, and she even knows the name of our President. We will ask, "Anastyn, who's the president?" and she quickly replies, "Oooooo-Bama!" It is really cute how she says it. Makes us laugh every time.

We ask Matty some of these same questions and she does pretty good, too. The other day I asked her what her sister's name was......she said, "Sissy Belle Leithead". So cute.

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This one isn't a very good reflection of the kind of language that escapes my mouth occasionally...but it was pretty darn funny...

We went to Powell with Kari, Kaleb, and Kristin and her girls to have dinner at Grandma Marla's house last week. We were all sitting around after dinner teasing the kids. Somebody threw Anastyn's favorite blanket at her head and she said, "Don't mess up my hair, damn it!" Yikes.

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I often have my nose in a book. One day Anastyn was trying to accomplish something naughty, but I kept looking up from my book and giving her "the look". She was getting really frustrated because she wanted to make her trouble without me interfering. After a while she shouted, "No Mom!! READ-YOUR-BOOK!!!"

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Because I have had this cold, my voice has been very hoarse. It is very frustrating to try to have a conversation because it hurts to talk and it sounds so annoying. The other day I was trying to explain something to Anastyn. She looked at me, scowling, and ordered, "Mom....STOP TALKING!"

A List of Things....

• yogurt
• dishwasher detergent
• mascara
• eyeliner
• piano music
• lotion
• baby wipes
• crayons
• cereal
• crackers
• notebook
• juice
• scotch tape
• fertilizer (when I say fertilizer, I mean poop)

You may wonder why I would post a shopping list on our blog. Well, I wouldn't. But I would post a list of things that my children made a mess with or destroyed this past week. I will laugh later I'm sure...

Sunshine

It is Perfect outside today. Absolutely Perfect. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, the air is still.

We went to the park this afternoon and soaked up the sunshine. The girls played and played. I could hear them giggling as they ran up the stairs and soared down the slides. They took turns on the swing and pushed eachother. Anastyn got to hold a baby and Matty got to play with a friend from preschool. They had so much fun.

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And then Matty ran away. Out of the park, across the alley, into someone's yard, and around a garage before I finally caught her. And then we went home. I wasn't having fun anymore. I know...I am a party-pooper.

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I think it may get cold again before Spring is officially here in the Big Horn Basin. But, we sure enjoyed the warmth and sunshine today!! Good-bye Winter - see ya next year!!

More Adventures of Matty and Anastyn...

Last night we went out to Grandpa Leithead's to hang out. As usual, we were playing games. This time it was the fabulous Wheel of Fortune on the computer (we rock, by the way!!). Anyways, admittedly, sometimes we don't pay as much attention as we should to my little ones while we are busy solving puzzles.

All of a sudden I came to the realization that my children were spitting, which usually means they have gotten bored and are entertaining themselves with the contents of their sippy cups. So, without taking my eyes off our game, I started saying, "Quit spitting your drinks! Girls, I mean it!" blah, blah, blah...whatever. They kept doing it. I kept telling them to knock it off. Then Grandpa Leithead said, "I didn't give them any drinks." Well, this got my attention, so I crawled under the table to see what the heck was going on. And this is what I found...

A whole pepper shaker spilled on the carpet under the table - and my girls with pepper on their tongues, their eyes watering and their mouths slobbering and sputtering. To me this was funny. Call me mean or whatever. I don't care...I thought it was freaking funny - and so did Kyle. We were laughing our heads off and our girls were crying because their mouths were burning. Parents of the year, I know. But you must understand that this is all after Matty had put one of her outfits and my favorite bra in the toilet, having to chase Matty all over my parents yard - in heels and a skirt - before church, Anastyn getting into Kari's cough drops, and writing all over herself with red pen. So, ya, it's hard not to chuckle a little when they get whats comin'!

So, we were trying to figure out how to put the fire out. We tried water. We tried milk. Thank goodness Grandpa had the brilliant idea to give the girls ice cream! The crying stopped as soon as the word was said. Ice cream is definitely medicinal!! :)

The night went pretty well after this...except for all the poopy diapers, the discovery of the emptied salt shaker in the toy room, and an incident involving a tampon. hehe!

Almost Got Me...

Anastyn has a new tactic. Last night she wanted to watch a movie so bad. I told her 'no' cause she had already watched like three movies yesterday. And this is after the pediatrician told me to limit the girls' movie watching to 30 minutes a day - say what??? ha. Anyways - she was not happy with my answer. She threw a fit. Cried and carried on. I ignored her. So she left the room for a few minutes.


When she came back, she walked up to me quietly and softly set the remote in front of me. I said thank you. And thought I had won. A few minutes later she came back and said in her very sweetest voice, "Mommy, up?" I looked down into those dark brown puppy-dog eyes and she said, "Mommy, up? Hug?" Of course, I couldn't help myself - I picked her up. She gave me the nicest hug she has ever bestowed upon me. She even squished her cheek against mine and held my face in her little hands. Then she said, "Yuv you, Mommy." I melted and said, "I love you too, Anastyn."


Then she looked me in the eye and said........."Movie??"


Ha!!! That was quite the performance!! She still didn't get to watch her movie. Not because I wasn't dangerously close to caving...but because we had to go to the grocery store. That was a close one!!

**P.S. - Still having trouble going up and down the stairs. Did Yoga X this morning. The only reason it was relaxing is because most of the hour and a half I just watched Kyle and the people on tv do yoga. I really like Child's Pose. Especially at 5:00 a.m.**

Mischief Managed

When it comes to mischief, my girls can get it done! There is no marker too high, no mess too big. They are professionals. And even though both of them seem to have been born with brilliant natural ability, their philosophy is "practice makes perfect". And they practice. A lot.

They do not get discouraged easily. If an evil plot is thwarted, plan B goes into effect immediately. They are quick, they have back-up plans, and they are oh-so-resourceful. They are always one step ahead of me, and they know it...I can see it in their eyes. They let me think I'm in control....but I am not. I repeat. I. AM. NOT.

It seems innocent enough. Normal imagination, curiosity, fun...whatever. But I have reason to believe that much of the time these acts are pre-meditated. And here's why:

• I had just gotten out of the shower, slipped into my room and had the door shut just long enough to put on some clothes. That is NOT enough time for a 2 year old to casually wander into the bathroom I just left, zero in on my mascara that is out of reach, push a stool across the bathroom, retrieve the mascara, locate a poor, innocent dolly and give her a makeover. Trust me. This little girl was on a mission, and it had been carefully planned and carried out to a "t".
• "Divide and Conquer". This is a technique they use on me frequently. They have signals. I haven't figured them out yet (a raise of the eyebrow, a wiggle of the nose, something like that...I'm not sure). But they are good at it. One will create a distraction-like falling down or throwing a tantrum; while the other slowly inches away until they are at a safe distance and can run for it. Since it is extremely difficult for me to carry the "diversion" while chasing the escapee, the other child is then free to run in the opposite direction. Picture this: an out of shape, uncoordinated mommy running and lunging (sometimes in heels) and yelling at two little girls that are giggling uncontrollably as they run in circles, diving between mommy's legs, dodging her attempts to catch them. They love to make me look like the fool that I am.
• In an effort to avoid said "divide and conquer" technique, I decided one day to take Anastyn in the house and shut the door before unbuckling Matty from her car seat. I am getting smarter. *ahem.* It is not possible that 45 seconds or less is enough time to carry out the following mission without it being carefully planned in advance: wait for mom to shut the door, run into the kitchen, open the junk drawer, find a marker that normally wouldn't be there, run back into the living room, find Grandma's leather chair, open marker, scribble all over leather chair, hide marker, climb into leather chair and pretend like nothing just happened. Holy crap she's good.

I could go on and on. But I think you get the point. I am in way over my head. I need reinforcements.

**P.S. After nearly dying of a heart-attack, I almost fainted with relief when I realized the marker was dry erase and not permanent. Phew. Thank you for thinking that through, Anastyn. Grandma would not have been happy!**

The Rest of the Story....

So I had a couple people ask me to explain the "Handcuffed In Our Underwear" incident. I decided to type it up and make it really funny. Well, I typed it up....and I read it....but it wasn't that funny. So, I asked Kyle if he would do it because he tends to be a better story teller than I am. Well, he never did it. So, here is the "not-so-funny version". Sorry....guess I'm just not quite over it yet?? Here goes..............

I was somewhere in dreamland, as I usually am when fast asleep at 2:00 a.m. I wasn't exactly sure what it was that suddenly pulled me back into reality. Maybe it was the loud "BANG!!" that I heard at the front door or the shock of having my husband shove me off the bed and onto the floor while shouting at me to "Get Down!".

I was still trying to wake up.....What the heck is going on?? As I was trying to make sense of what I was hearing, my room was being invaded by men in black clothes, boots, and helmets. They were pointing guns at us and telling us to put our hands up in the air....
My uneventful dream was turning into a nightmare. This couldn't really be happening to me. I was pretty sure the S.W.A.T team wasn't here to recover the pack of bubble gum I stole my freshman year of high school....were they?? Not possible.

The lights had been turned on. Now they were telling me to lay face-down on my bed. What? But I am in my underwear!! They didn't care...I had better lay face-down on the bed and put my hands behind my back. I remember how tight the zip-ties were. It hurt...really bad. Kyle was asking, "What did I do??" - the only answer he was given was that they were carrying out a search warrant. We were scared. But things were slowly starting to dawn on us....

We started to recall the concerned looks we received our first Sunday at church in our new ward when we explained to people that we had just moved into the duplex on Main Street. They warned us about the people who lived in the upstairs apartment. It was rumored that they had a meth lab up there. "Creepy people", "Oh, honey...you need to be careful", "So, you moved into the 'drug house', huh?", "The Orem PD has had that place under surveylance for quite a while", "That guy was in prison for 13 years!", etc, etc, etc.

Okay...that's what's going on! The crazy guy upstairs with prison tattoos all over his body is getting busted! But why are we getting busted too??? And why the heck am I still laying here on my bed, in my underwear, with my arms zip-tied behind my back? It's been 10 minutes...and these nasty S.W.A.T. team guys keep finding their way back here to the bedroom to peek at me!!!! I am getting p.o.'d here. Can I put some clothes on? No, I can't? Why? Can someone at least cover me up with a blanket?? No? This is not cool. I am feeling extremely vulnerable and humiliated at the moment. Finally, a compassionate soul, obviously disappointed with his own unit members, throws a blanket over my exposed body. Thank you, sir.

Now comes the laughing. Uncontrollable, hysterical laughing. Kyle thinks I've gone crazy. I have definitely gone crazy. Okay - help me understand - I am a law-abiding, god-fearing girl. I am the most harmless person on the face of the planet. I don't like to get in trouble - I AVOID trouble! Those men are ransacking my home. I am having trouble understanding the situation I find myself in. And...I AM IN MY UNDERWEAR!!! So I am laughing....to keep from crying.

We are finally freed from our handcuffs. It is explained to us that a search warrant was being carried out due to the fact that our upstairs neighbors were involved in drugs. The police were not aware that there was anyone else living in the building. We had been living there for a month and they had never noticed our vehicles outside! They never checked with the landlord or the utility companies to make sure there was no one living downstairs! And do you want to know the worst part? They wouldn't even apologize. They refused to. They would not admit they had messed up!!!

Oh, wait. We did get an apology a few days later....from our crazy upstairs neighbor with the prison tattoos. How nice.

Now, at the time of this unfortunate event, we were extremely traumatized. It took quite a while to get back some sense of security. We now realized that a dead-bolt can't keep anyone out of your house. You just have to kick a door hard enough and the dead-bolt will bust right through the door frame. I had nightmares of a scenario where Kyle's gun had been under the bed where he used to keep it just months before. What if he had pulled a gun out to defend us since we didn't know who was breaking down our front door? They would have fired at him. I have no doubt about that! It was a terrifying experience.

Now we just look back and laugh. What a story. I love those "get-to-know-you" nights at Relief Society where you have to tell them something about you that they don't know. Hmmm...."I have been handcuffed by a S.W.A.T. team!" .....You would actually be surprised at how many RS sisters have also been handcuffed!! :) Funny.