Ah La Peanut Butter Sandwiches!!

So, I used to be able to do stuff. And I don't just mean jumping on a trampoline without peeing my pants kind of stuff. I love my children so much, but I am quickly finding myself lost in a world of sticky fingers and runny noses, with dirt and other stuff between their toes-es. Again, to clarify, as much as I love the sticky stuff, I want to know where I lost my other passions along the way. Cause, beleive it or not, I was awesome. Oh yeah. I won't get into the long list of my awesomeness, so as not to intimidate, but I miss that stuff! And I was funny! As impossible as that might be to imagine, I remember being funny! And passionate and exciting and spontaneous. All adjectives that have been lost in my self made definition of "mom". Why? Why did I let them go, and can I get them back? I would not trade one second of my time with any of my kids for anything (okay, lets be honest. I would trade some of the potty training seconds for a peanut butter sandwich. And I hate peanut butter sandwiches) but I want them to know that their mom is not always a red eyed banshee who can do other things besides yell "Stop doing that." I want to mesh who I am with who I was. Is that even possible? Or would it just make one ugly, mushy peanut buttery sandwich. I could handle that, like I said, I love the sticky stuff.

From the Pen of Babes

Think we need much?

Happy Birthday, Andy!!!

It's Andy's birthday, shout hurray! He is the big 3-2, and my oh my, the years have been kind. So the girls helped me put together a list of the top 32 reasons why our dad, husband, personal gymnasium, personal coach and best friend is the absolute best:

32. He takes all of the garbages out as soon as they're full!

31. His stories are always super funny. (Ella)

30. He makes the best "bskedy".

29. His piggy back rides are the funnest. (Ella)

28. Because of the way he looks in his firefighter uniform!!!! (Me)

27. Because I love him so much! (Zoe)

26. He is the smartest person I have ever met, he is my own personl PDR.

25. He bought nipple diapers (nursing pads) for me without me even telling him I was out, he just knew!

24. He read the first chapter of "Twilight" when I asked him to, just so I'd have someone to talk about it with. (That's love!)

23. He remembers every birthday of every person he ever met. If you are reading this, guaranteed on your birthday he says to me, "Hey, its so-and-so's birthday today."

22. For randomly starting dinner without me even asking him to.

21. For emptying the dishwasher when its clean.

20. He changes dirty diapers without blinking an eye.

19. Have you seen his arms?

18. For being able to play the guitar and sing.....swoon!

17. For being so strong.

16. For being so gentle.

15. He is so romantic and doesn't ever need a reason.

14. He wasn't mad when I scratched our 3 day old car!

13. For walking the dog in the middle of the night in below zero weather.

12. He gets so excited about putting up Christmas lights, and it always looks awesome.

11. He makes a wonderful "king" and is always ready to waltz with Zoe the princess.

10. He never hesitates to jump up and play whenever and whatever the girls want him to.

9. For telling me I'm beautiful at 8 in the morning when I'm in my robe with lines still on my face from my pillow.

8. He remembers all my favorite foods, flowers, movies, songs...everything.
7. For actually being excited about taking three girls camping.

6. He makes banana pancakes for us!

5. For his strong testimony and love of the gospel.

4. He always includes us in his plans for his triathlons.

3. For always being willing to get up with the baby at 1:30 a.m. (or 3:00 a.m. or 4:00 a.m. or 5:00 a.m. .......)

2. His family comes first over everything, and we know how much he loves us.

1. Because he's my best friend! (Ella) Me too! He's mine! (Zoe) Me too! (Me) Ahhoooow (Translates to "mine too" from Max).

I love you, Beary-bay! You really are the greatest everything and we are so lucky to have you. I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Death to the Smoke Detector!!

Sometimes, not often, I do stupid things. Okay, it's pretty often. But this is one I wanted to remember, because it will be up there on the inside joke list for future Beardall vacations to come...Purification!

Last year my family spent a few days at Bear Lake. We rented this great cabin, really beautiful with about 20 foot vaulted ceilings to give room for huge windows with gorgeous views. All very nice. Until the second night...By this time I am exhausted. Playing all day, staying up extremely late with the fam and waking up super early to start it all again as soon as possible. Well, this night, I am lying in bed when I hear a voice in the darkness! Scared the crap out of me, and it had the strangest message too..."Low Battery" it warned me in an ominous voice. Followed by repeated chirps every 10 seconds for one minute and then ANOTHER warning, "Low Battery". You ask how I know the timing, 10 seconds vs. 15, who could tell? I could, because I listened to it for two hours straight. Could no one else hear it? I was going crazy, nothing could drown it out! So I tiptoed into the hall, and the life saving piece of @#%! was at the tippy top of the 20 foot ceiling!!! Not only that, but I could hear others! I went through the cabin and found the second fire alarm, just outside my parents room and right next to Jenny and Marc sleeping on the couch. I was going to do them a favor and turn theirs off. I climbed on a chair and pushed what I thought was the "silence button" when an ear splitting alarm resounded through the whole house! Surprisingly, only a few awoke. (It's about 4:00 a.m. at this time.) And the dang thing wouldn't shut up. I took this alarm, which I couldn't turn off, outside and but it in my mom's car! Smart? I thought so. One down, two to go. Together, my mom, Marc and I went to the basement where the rest of the family was sleeping and, joined by Fred, expiramented on a third alarm. Again, ear splitting wails that we quickly turned off, but not the deathly chirp and voice. This one went outside on the balcony. Some of you might ask, "Where is your fire fighter husband in all of this? Wouldn't HE know how to turn them off." Well, this is when I went to get him. He was sleeping soundly on the balcony, missing all of the not so much fun. (He does that. Sleep outside, I mean.) He called the office of the cabin where a maintenance man would meet him (about 2 miles away) after the m. man woke up, dressed and drove over there. So Andy headed out while I sat on a couch and stared at the devilish alarm. A few minutes later, he was back! That was fast. Well, he had gone to a construction site next door and stolen one of their HUGE ladders and just brought it on over in the middle of the night. He and Marc maneuvered the enormous thing up the stairs and the maddness finally came to an end. Or so I thought...
The next day after breakfast I went to find Andy. He had gone on a bike ride when a thunderstorm hit. I jumped in my mom's car and headed out. Too late to remember..."chirp". I couldn't get away from it. I shoved my nemesis under my butt to muffle it and cursed it the entire ride until I found Andy (of course he was fine) and went back. Now I was safe and sound in the quiet cabin. I went into my room only to hear the muffled chirp! Fred! I knew my brother in law had hidden it somewhere. I tore my room apart, the mattress was thrown on the floor, suitcases ripped apart!!! I spent the day going crazy looking for it, to this day I still don't know where he hid it. He denies doing it, but I don't believe that for a second.

Zoe Anne Avery

Oh, my blue eyed trouble maker, what did we ever do without her? Our little Zoe is a two year old like no other. She came into this world on her own terms, and she has definitely kept it that way! For those who don't know, Zoe was born frank breach, which at the time was really scary, but now we know, it was just because she wanted to do things her own way . It took quite a few months for her legs to come down from her face because of this, but hey, she'll be a great gymnist because of it, right? She was so chubby, with oodles of rolls and a perfectly round face. She had this skiff of blond hair that stood straight up so Ella called her "Fuzzy Headed Goose." Weird, but so dang cute. Sometimes, the second child is more quiet, lets the older sibling speak for them, etc. Not in her case. We had another mover and a shaker. She walked at 9 months and was carrying on conversations at 18 months. People constantly would ask, "How OLD is she?" when she would walk up to them and start jabbering. They still ask that because it hasn't stopped, her words have just gotten bigger. Her current phrase is..."It's possible." Yes, she is only two. She has constantly been keeping up with Ella, and doing a mighty fine job. And she loves her older sister so much, she cried harder than I did when Ella went to Kindergarten. She is another devoted animal lover, and even as a baby, was so gentle. She would and does speak softly to them and pet sweetly. Never grabbed cats tails or anything like that. As you can see from the picture, she loves her dog, Fezzik. She is the most imaginative child I have ever met. And oh so talented...did you know she has the ability to morph from a butterfly to a mermaid to Dora in a matter of seconds? Let's see you do that! She also speaks fluent "kitty." She is always telling stories and here is one for you to play and experience, although it really issomething to see in person :) Sheloves to go on adventures. This is a common conversation, "Mom, Ella won't go on an adventure with me." "Ella, go on an adventure with Zoe." She is the sweetest thing. "Mommy, I LOVE you! I do! Do you love me?" And she has the best hugs you have ever experienced, honestly. You have to have one of these hugs. Full body around the neck as hard as she can sqeeze to show you all that love, and ALWAYS accompanies it with a huge kiss, boogery nose or not (I'm sorry about that Andrea!) I hope my hugs show her how much I love her, the way hers do. Just looking at this little girl makes my heart burst with how lucky we are! I LOVE you Zoe, I do!

Ella Cherie Avery

I wanted to sit down and write up a post on each of our beautiful kids, and I'm going to start with my sweet Ella, share some of my favorite pictures (which I had to painfully edit because there were so many!)and tell all about her. This will be long, but it is more for me and for Ella to look back on.

Ella was so beautiful, with wide staring eyes and her bald head (that remained that way until she was almost two!) She was crawling at 8 months old and walking before 10 months, and I can't remember a time when she wasn't talking. I think one of her first words was "alright" because that was her answer to everything. The OCD kicked in early. Before she was even a year old she was lining her stuffed animals up in a perfect lines, biggest to smallest and would freak out if you moved them. That hasn't changed much. She wasn't into princess stuff like other little girls, she was obsessed with Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz." I think she wore her Dorothy costume for a whole year straight, and she was Dorothy for Halloween three years in a row. Oh, she is so smart! She finished Learning Dynamics Preschools' entire reading program in 4 months and is now reading 2nd grade level books. She did her masters thesis on the effects of fossil fuels on our economy and is up for this years Nobel Prize in physics. Keep your fingers crossed! I know every mother says this, but she is so good at everything she does. She took tap and a little ballet and was so good at it, keeps right with the rhythm, does all the steps, but she doesn't like it. She likes gymnastics, mostly the "balance beam". She gets so excited to go camping, just mention it to her and she starts jabbering and telling us everything we are going to need. The same thing with skiing. She is generally a quiet, thoughtful girl, but when it is something she really loves she doesn't stop talking! I started teaching her piano and she picked it up instantly, knows all the key names and could read quite a few notes, but when I had Max the lessons stopped. We'll start over again soon. What she is really great at is writing. She writes books, writes the story and several pages with illustrations for each one. Gives it a title page and staples them together. They're usually about 5-7 pages long and so cute. A few titles are "Sally wants some Cheese-its", "Jessica the Sleepy Little Girl", and my favorite, "The Unicorn and the Horse." She has no help with spelling or ideas at all. What did I say? Genius! She is the sweetest child, always telling people she loves them, taking such good care of her baby sister and brother. She is so responsible and serious sometimes that I worry she will forget to have fun. I guess that's not really possible with Andy as her dad! I love her so much and am so proud that she is mine!

When It's Okay To Not Change a Diaper

So, we are in fact still alive, despite the lack of blogging. Andy asked me why I haven't put anything up, and it's because I can't post without pictures, and our camera has recently turned to crap so pictures have been scarce.

But we went to St. George last weekend. Andy had some classes for work he had to go to, so we all tagged along. I attempted to leave the hotel room by myself with three little kids, but that didn't work out so well, so we hung out by the pool for two days, and it was awesome. It was so warm! We went to a park and it was so packed with vacationers, not locals, taking advantage of dry ground.

When Andy got home from classes, the girls wanted to jump back in the pool with him, naturally. There were dozens of kids there, and it didn't take long before they were ALL climbing all over Andy. He's a magnet. He turns to me and says, "Every pool we go to this happens!" And it wasn't as if there weren't other parents in the pool, either. One little girl was even calling him "Daddy!" I wonder if the other parents felt bad, but I doubt it. I think it was more, "Ahh, now they're his problem. I can relax." He just shouldn't be so much fun! Max and I just hung out and watched, which was fine with me. I'm not even close to being ready for swimsuits yet!

So, on Saturday we had to check out of the hotel and I had to entertain the kids without a pool. We went to the park, and then to the movies (Hotel for Dogs, don't waste your time even if it is for kids.) and when we went into the movies I didn't bother to bring a diaper bag with. You see, Max only poops about once every five days. And if I'm carrying a car seat with fifteen pound baby in it, plus trying to keep a hold of a 2 year old and a five year old is pulling my pants down by my back pockets, the last thing I need is a diaper bag. Long story short, Max is happy as a clam, but when I adjust him on my lap, I feel IT! POOP has leaked out, and is not only on him, but all over my pants! I'm in a movie theater and to get a diaper I would have to lug the aforementioned car seat, baby, toddler and 5 year old clear out to the parking lot. So what did this genius do? I wrapped him in a blanket and he happily sat in it for another 45 minutes! Gross? Yes. My pants had dried poop that couldn't be wiped off by the time we got out, but I stand by my decision. Don't judge me! Despite the poop, the trip was wonderful. Our kids are so good in the car that the long ride was really not that bad. Thank goodness for portable DVD players, eh?

Andy and the girls having a blast.

Zoe flipped herself with an elastic in the hotel room. Check out the shape of the welt!

Max got his first "real bathtub" bath at the hotel after a short romp in the pool!