I have no babies to name as of yet (well besides the ones I already named).  But a lot of my friends have newborns right now and baby names are a hot topic, so I thought I would put out some thoughts for those pregnant or future pregnant women.  (And anyone else who will name a baby at some point in their lives.) 

Let’s assume you’ve found the perfect name.  Totally unique.  Easy to pronounce based on the spelling.  Right number of syllables to correspond with your baby’s last name.  This is the one!  You have got the PERFECT name for your little angel.  But before you curse bless junior for the rest of his life, I would ask, have you considered the repeatability of the name?  Is this a name you are going to be comfortable saying over and over every day for the next 18 years or more?

"Carraway!  Don’t hit your sister!  Carraway!  Get your shoes on!  Carraway!  Carraway!  Carraway!"

Is the name sweet enough that you can yell it at the top of your lungs several times a week without making it sound like a curse word?

"What the.. SHAQUAN!  SHAQUAN!  I Can’t believe the… ShaqUAN!  SHAQUAN!  GET DOWN HERE!"

Does it go well with the siblings names when spoken/shouted in rapid succession?  Or is your tongue going to get tied?

"Serendipity, Shawntika, Temperance, Declan!  Who made this mess?"  (Heaven forbid you add anyone’s middle name..).

And lastly, if you plan on having more babies, don’t pick a name that could potentially cause sibling rivalry.

"Suzy, why can’t you be more like Favorite?"  "Jimmy, take heed from Exceptional’s example."

And these are the thoughts of my mind as I got the uncooperative people in my house ready for school this morning.  Happy Naming!

*Pssst!  All these unique names were found at:http://www.babynameworld.com

I am not sure my children really get the concept of prayer.  I know they know the words to say, the format, and the behavior expected during prayer, but it’s fairly clear that they don’t really understand yet what it’s all about.  Their prayers however continue to amuse me, and they are all over the board:

Engineer (the know it all 6 year old, excuse me 6 and a half year old boy)

"Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.  Thank you for our family.  Please bless Sugar to be reverent during prayer.  Please bless that Spider will stop talking right now.  Please bless us to always be right.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Sugar (the unpredictable, airy fairy 4 year old girl,)

"Heavenly Fath-eerr,  I’m thankful for our family.  I’m thankful we had fun.  Please bless us to be safe.  Bless us to have fun and do something tomorrow.  Lord of Commandments.  Love one another.   In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."  (she will not finish a prayer without the italicized part)

Spider (2 1/2, blesses the food regardless of type of prayer)

"Heavenly father, thankful for this day.  Bless that daddy can go to work.  Bless safe.  Bless the food.  Thankful for the food. Chryst.  Amen."

 So there you have it.  Hopefully when they begin to have real life issues, they will understand that they can turn to Heavenly Father in prayer to give them strength and lift their burdens.  For now though, they can continue to ask to "always be right" and love one another.

(And may the food be perpetually blessed.)

We saw Santa, it snowed and since we skipped church on Sunday due to inclement weather, we reenacted the nativity.

Santa was not so much of a big hit.   My kids actually really don’t know who he is.  We asked Sugar if she wanted to go and she was like, "uh, sure."  Spider said no until we told her he had candy…

Which is why she is now smiling.

The chickens did not know what to think of the snow.  They’ve been staying in their little house a lot.

Daddy insisted we do something "spiritual" on Sunday.  It was fun anyway.   

My sweet little Spider,

In my prayers last night I told Heavenly Father how thankful I am for you.  You are our little act of faith– an unexpected blessing.  You are the child that brings balance to our family.  My little snug a bug and my source of endless smiles and laughter.  You just continue to become more of a delight the older you get, and that makes me glad.

I can’t believe that you are two!  I love watching you grow and hearing you learn to talk. You are so teachable and a quick learner.  Yesterday we got to put all my eyeshadows and cheek colors away and I found joy in hearing you repeat all the color names with me.  How many other people get to hear their two year olds say "sunny spice", "sweet plum", or "ivory 1"?

I love your love of animals both real and inanimate.  If I could give you a real dog, I would, because I know you would be best friends.  As it is, watching you tote around all your pluffies makes me smile.  I love that you need them to sleep.

I love your general cuteness.  You are going to be the end of me!  It is so hard to resist when you pull me hand and say "Come wis ME!" and lead me to the fridge where you tenderly ask for a "pockle" (popsicle.)  It’s so hard to say no to you!  And even when you get mad you are cute. I could just give you kisses all day long.

And I love that on your birthday, you and me had some special time.  You sat and played with me and my sunglasses (and my earrings and necklace…) and we got to take crazy pictures together.  I love you, Spider.  I am so glad Heavenly Father gave me you and that I get to be your mommy.

Happy Birthday baby! 

The boy is so literal.

On Easter Saturday we took the kids to the big hunt at the park.  They had each age group sectioned off by colored balloons.  Spider and Sugar were in the blue baloon group, and Engineer was in the red balloon group.  We kept reminding him before the girls went that he would have to wait this round and that he was in the red group.  Well, the announcer started the engines for the little ones.

The girls made a good haul.  Lots and lots of eggs.  Then we had to race over to the next group because the turnover time was quick.  We let Engineer loose and lost sight of him in the crowd.  I finally decided that I needed to move in, he’s a sensitive type and I didn’t want him lost or upset in there.  And when I found him he was VERY happy.  Considering his miniscule haul, I was glad he was smiling.

In his bucket: 3 eggs only.  All RED. 

I didn’t figure it out until later that it was because we were pumping him so full of "red group" talk that he felt his mission was to find red eggs.  And we’re happy he found some, because red isn’t your typical Easter color.

I love this kid’s enthusiasm and his innocence.  If only I could be as overjoyed at every accomplishment I made, no matter how small.  I’m glad I have him around.

You put on your best party clothes, and you serve hot dogs.

Oh, how I love the Little People Christmas!

I love Thanksgiving.  I love the turkey, the stuffin’, the green bean casserole.  I love how it takes people all day to prepare a meal that disappears in about 15 minutes.  I love not having to be involved in any of the preparations, but the downfall of no leftovers is kind of a bummer. 

Most of all, I love my quirky extended family.

We held the event at my aunt and uncle’s home this year.  The food was fantastic.  I lost my cell phone.

It happened this way, my Grandma was holding Spider, who was playing with the phone.  When Spider dropped the phone between the cushions, we dug around for a minute, but we didn’t find it.  I told Gram not to worry and we went on with our "family time."

But then I really couldn’t find it.  It was on vibrate, so calling was not as helpful as you might think. Especially when we tried to keep everyone from gabbing so we could hear it.  No one seemed to think the drama as critical as I did. Anyway, I had become convinced that it could not be in the couch until Charming asked me to reconsider. We took all the cushions off and called the phone while I pressed my ear to the springs.  

It was in there. 

My cousin J upended the couch while the swooshing sounds of sliding treasures indicated that the phone was not the only thing that was lost in the furnishings.  

Problem was that the couch had one of those fabric coverings along the bottom.  The cell phone recovery was now involving major sofa surgery.

And look what else we found:

A card for my Uncle, a piece of a bacon cooker and an unopened April 2000 issue of the Reader’s Digest.  And the best part?

Yes, that’s an article about cell phone secrets.  What are the odds that this particular RD with that particular headline would one day be lost in the couch with my cell phone?

God has a sense of humor.  That is for certain. 

All right, it is the much awaited birthday, recap post!  Hoorah! 

Well, so the big event was on Monday.  I turned 27.  The big 27.  Over the weekend I went to visit my parents.  Somehow, we managed to con my dad into taking Engineer and Sugar on a fieldtrip, and I ended up having some girl time with just my mom and Spider.  Mom bought me some much needed "professional woman shoes" and I love them, love them, love them.

While we were gone, my darling sister housesat for us. She fed my kitties and made sure no one came in and remodeled anything for us.  Although, we could definitely use some improvements around here.  When we got home, she had left these for me:

I love floral surprises!  

Then the actual day came.  My sister-in-law sent me a sweet talking card.  It was a surprise since she had already sent me a card.  But this one made me laugh:

We got our new fridge, finally, only to find out that it didn’t fit in the space.  I am not going to post a picture, but with a little drywall removal, it fits fine.

I spent much of the day feeling sorry for myself that our house hadn’t sold, and I tried to go out and talk to people about Mary Kay, but I chickened out.  So that was a bummer, but then just before I left for my unit meeting, I got a call from my realtor with a contingent offer, so that was pretty good.  When I got home, I got to open my only gift– a present from Kathryn.

I didn’t get my cake until Tuesday when my sister brought it over for our "official" birthday celebration. She had made it in a hurry after work.  She didn’t have time to let it cool before she frosted it, and she wrote happy birthday on it just before covering it with saran wrap. So it ended up saying something in Hebrew-ish language.  Not sure what it said.  I’m hoping it was "happy birthday" and not "a curse on your house this night" or something equally ominous.

It tasted good though.  So I guess that’s all that matters. 

And we put seven candles on the cake.  Engineer was mad about it, but hey, we didn’t have enough for 27.  The package maxed out at 24.  I guess I am officially old.  But not too old to puff out my cheeks ridiculously while being photographed blowing out the candles!

I got the best phone message the other day.

My little sister who I had seen a week earlier called me and said, "Hi, I am calling because I missed you and want to hang out with you this weekend.  Call me back.  Bye."

THE BEST PHONE MESSAGE EVER.

It is soooo nice to be near family again.  It is so nice to be around people who not only want to hang out with me, but actually make the first move and call me first. Wow.  Amazing.

So today, Charming, Aunty Jessica, the kiddos and I piled in the car for a tour of a few of our local farms.  It was wonderful.  The weather was inconsistent, but it was sunny for our hayride where we enjoyed gorgeous views of the valley and only rained when we were in our car driving.

We ate corn and we saw pigs. 

A good day.

P.S.  Check out Sugar’s coat.  She put it on this morning and said, "Mmm.  Cozy." 

How far would you go for a great deal?

I drove 20 minutes the other night to go gorcery shopping at Albertsons even though the church is only three minutes away.  I couldn’t help myself.  It was the big Quaker ten for ten sale.  But driving there, I kept thinking, "gee this is really far, am I really saving that much money?  Will the cost of the gas justify the savings?"

I spent $74 and saved $78. My pantry is stocked full of useful things.  I drove a total of 40 minutes, was in the store for less than 30 (kidless, yay!) and my name brand cereal was only one dollar per box.

But the driving!  Living in this new place, I find that I must drive at least twenty minutes to get most places.  It only takes me about two or three minutes to get anywhere in the town, which is great, but the town is small.  There is a lot here considering the size, but not everything I need or want. 

I’ve been getting depressed lately because Engineer is not in Pre-School.  The cost of it here is so high, and there would still be some driving involved.  (Not to mention, not much enrollment space).  I toyed with the idea of sending him to a local co-op (three minutes away!) where I would have to find a sitter for my girls and help out once a week and still pay $100 a month, but canned it because of the sacrifice involved.  But as I explored other less expensive options, I took into account the driving, and now I think he’s going to the co-op.

I want him in school so badly, for his sake and mine, that I am willing to do a little more than I might normally.  And I really don’t want to drive 2-3 hours a week so he can go.

And yet, once our house sells, I am willing to drive Sugar 20 minutes to gymnastics because she is gifted in the sport and it is soooo good for her. 

It’s funny the things I am willing to do and those I am not.  The trade-offs I make.  I think the twenty minute drive to the Alby’s was worth it.  But I am still looking to see if there is a store closer.