Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

Mom:  How was school?

(This is usually followed by Carter giving a thumbs down sign, saying "not really,"  or holding his pointer finger a millimeter away from his thumb.  On this particular occasion it was the latter.)

Mom:  Why didn't you have a good day?

Carter:  I did a lie to my teacher.

Mom:  You told your teacher a lie?  What did you say?

Carter:  I didn't TELL a lie; I DID a lie!

Mom:  What did you DO? 

Carter:  When my teacher said (using his high-pitched girly voice) "Everyone that likes school...stand up,"  I standed up but I don't like school!

So...I'm trying really hard not to blame Carter's teacher, but I don't understand why he absolutely LOVED preschool and Kindergarten and HATES 1st grade.  I'm totally bummed about it.  He still loves homework (thank goodness!), but I'm hoping that he will get used to first grade and start liking it eventually. 

Last week I finished my biggest homework assignment since I dropped out of college.  Lydia was Star of the Week, and I admittedly went a little crazy.  It's been a long time since I've busted out the scrapbooking supplies, so I had fun with it.  Now I need to figure out what to do with an enormous gaudy poster.   Any ideas?

Bye-Bye Summer!

We've had such a crazy fun summer that I haven't even had time to blog about it.  We went to Lagoon, several family reunions, the cabin, and to Vegas for Labor Day.  We took swimming lessons, camped in Manti, had family bike rides, went to the movies, had a yard sale, and even changed houses. I didn't take pictures at all of these events (dang it!) but here are a few that I did take -

You can't really tell from the picture, but my Mom helped Lydia walk up this crazy steep hill with her walker at the cabin.  She is getting so strong! (Lydia, not my Mom.  Mom has always had notable vigor.)  Ü  It was such an amazing summer that I was sad to see it end, but I've actually been enjoying our return to a schedule and kids in bed by 8:00.

Blueberry Muffins!

Blueberry Bran Muffins

3 cups Fiber One cereal (or All Bran)

3 cups bran flakes

2 cups boiling water

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

3/4 cup applesauce

2 mashed bananas

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

5 cups whole wheat pastry flour

5 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons cinnamon

4 cups skim milk, mixed with

4 tablespoons lemon juice

6 egg whites, beaten until fluffy

4 cups blueberries

Pour boiling water over cereal and let stand. Mix together remaining ingredients except for egg whites and blueberries, then add softened cereal. Fold in egg whites and blueberries. Bake in muffin tins sprayed with cooking spray for 15-20 minutes at 400°F.

This recipe makes 60 muffins. They freeze really well, but if you don't want to make this many you can easily cut the recipe in half. I've also made these without the blueberries, and they're still really good. I didn't calculate the calories/weight watchers points, but hopefully they're not too bad.

All Clean!

Meleah's Dictionary Volume II

aw better - all better
tisses - kisses
my pot - No, this is not what you're thinking. It actually means my spot, this is stated repeatedly even if it has been two days since she sat in that particular "pot."
lellow - yellow
nowannit - no, thank you.
aw full - I'm bored of eating now, so I'm going to go get into something while you all are distracted by your dinner.
unto do it - I want to do it.
fower - flower
self - I did it all by myself!
otay - okay
tearit - carrot
boopit - blanket
yep - this actually means what she says. She just says it all the time and I think it's so cute.
awesome - I want some; awesome
ook - look
amren - Cameron
pippy - sippy
gar - car
one, two , three, cinco, seis - One, two, three, four, five
no opum - no problem
fofun - I have no idea. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. FYI it's not "for fun."
unnies - undies/underwear
piyer - spider
nked up - once again...not what you think. I believe it's "I just woked up", since she says it in her happy voice every morning and also when she comes walking out five minutes after I put her down for her nap.
oh trist - in the name of Jesus Christ
at me Mommy - Look at me, Mommy! She usually says this when she's climbing on something very tall and precarious. Does she want me to have a heart attack?
UPDATE - fofun means this one. I knew I would figure it out someday! Ü

Daddy Day!

Happy Father's Day baby! We love you SO much! Isn't he adorable? Ü

My Bad!

Dear Readers,

It has come to my attention that there are a couple of errors in my last post about Meleah's Birthday. First of all...apparently the 90's fad of calling yourself by your name rather than "I" is actually considered using the THIRD person, not the first. I wasn't really sure about that, but was too lazy to look into it. Secondly, I referred to my daughter as bull-legged, and have since been informed that it is actually BOW-legged. I assumed that it was bull-legged because it looks very much like a person that has just gotten done riding a bull. Unfortunately, as my High School friends know, this is not the first time my hearing has deceived me. Well, you learn something new every day. Thanks go out to my husband for bringing this to my attention 2 weeks after I posted (He LOVES to stay current on the family blog), and to all of you that were too sweet to tell me about them. I hope these errors have not discouraged anyone from reading due to my vast lack of intelligence, and hope to acquire literary perfection in every post from this day forward.

Sincerely,

Candice

p.s. I realize that the title of this post is yet another 90's fad, but it was either that or "My last post was perfect...NOT!" Which do you prefer?

Elly Jelly is TWO!

Once again, I'm posting late. This time because I was MOVING. We're all settled in now, so I can tell everyone about my little Meleah Susannie's Birthday. Usually it seems crazy to me that my kids are turning a year older, but it's really quite weird to me that Meleah is only just now turning two. She has already developed many characteristics that I haven't seen from my other children until they are older, if ever. For example, she's potty trained YAY and she has learned at least five different ways to inflict pain upon another human being BOO. She has become quite adept at hitting and pulling hair, and has now added pinching and eye-poking (yes, she has truly poked other children in the eyes on more than one occassion.) She's constantly saying "Me'ya do it." It sounds so cute when she says it, so I haven't been able to make myself tell her that using the first person is SO 1998.

Even though she is definitely my strongest-willed child so far, she is so much fun to be around. I could just watch her run around the house in her little bull-legged way all day. She loves to be Mommy's helper and usually responds to my requests with an "Otay!" We did a combined Dora/Diego costume Birthday party for Meleah and Dalton with my side over Memorial Day weekend, and we had another party with Randall's family on her actual Birthday. Both celebrations were tons of fun, of course. Meleah was given some cute clothes, a Dora doll, some Dora color and water books, a Barbie car so that she doesn't have to steal share Lydia's, a cute stuffed cow, a "Rella" cell phone, and some McDonalds money. As usual, I provided the supplies for the cake, and Laura used her artistic abilities to create it. My family's Birthday season is officially over. Wahoo!