Wallpaper Talk--Smells

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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Question:  What are your favorite smells? Do they remind you of something? What other smells, other than favorites, remind you of something?

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HA! Smells - I WISH I had some favorites!

There is a sad little gene running through my mom's side of the family. It's the one that gives my grandma, my mom, 2 aunts, 1 uncle, 3 cousins, and me the inability to smell. 

Flowers? Nope.
Poopy diapers? Nope.
Our real Christmas tree? Not a chance.

The good news is, I can't smell farts, BO, bad breath, or anything that spoils or goes bad in the fridge. The bad news is, I don't have any idea what that amazing baby smell is that so many people tell me Caleb has. I don't associate any memories whatsoever with a scent. Every now and then I get a small wiff of something really, really strong - like gasoline when I'm filling up my tank, coffee when I'm standing right at the pot, or chemicals when I am on my hands and knees scrubbing the tub. 

When people learn this about me, most of them tell me they feel bad for me because I'm missing out on so much....but since I've lived with this my whole life, I don't know any different and don't feel any sense of loss. The next thing people ask me is if I can taste -- I THINK I can taste, but I'm sure not anything that someone with a normal nose can. Give me a bag of skittles and I know they taste fruity, but I can't single out which ones are which flavor. If I eat a red jolly rancher I don't know if it's cherry, watermelon, or strawberry - I just know it's fruity and yummy. In the last few years I realized my favorite foods are spicy, salty, sweet ~ probably because those are the most strong tastes and I'm actually getting something out of those. Hmmmm! 

Due to my lack of smell, Mark is my bloodhound. And he is such a good sport about it! He'll smell anything I ask him to and helps me make sure I don't embarrass myself with any smelly situations :) Thank goodness for him and his good little sniffer!

Sarah

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Favorite Smells:
This was easy because I had answered this on one of those Facebook surveys awhile back!
1. Baking Bread
2. The smell of any working pool. I love walking into a hotel with a indoor pool. It smells so GOOD to me!
3. The smell of my dogs paws. Eleanore's paws used to smell amazing.
4. Freshly washed hair.
5. Line-dried laundry. I have a clothes line at our home in Chelsea and our cottage at the lake. 
6. Right now I'm loving the smell of a Bath and Body Works candle called Acorn and Fig.

See you next week-Emily
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I feel overkill in my listing future.  Smell is a huge part of who I am.  I can usually smell something 2 minutes before Josh!:)  Emerson is my smelling equivalent in our house.  He is good.  His young sniffer has out sniffed my older sniffer a few times.  In a canine world, he would be a hound for sure.

My favorite smells:

1. the leaf pile....it smells like dirt, which smells like the garden, which smells like spring, with smells like soccer, which means it's almost summer.

2. bleach...reminds me of my house growing up and it was always "mom's smell."

3. Thanksgiving...the turkey really does it.

4. freshly washed head

5. apple spice

6. line-dried clothes

7. Old Spice Fresh deodorant.  Josh has used this since the day I met him. 

8. High School gym (NOT the locker room!)...reminds me of playing basketball and volleyball in high school.

9. leather

10. the bakery

Smells I don't like but bring memories:

1. Diesel fuel...living in Honduras and Belize. 

2. Janitor in the drum cleaner.......the store that I lived by as a kid and went to almost every day.

3.  Grease.......working at Big Boy.

4.  Mold......my grandma's house.

Mellissa

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Jim's explorer used to be his dad's (we bought it from them), the smell inside of it smells like my grade school pencil box, weird, I know. It always makes me think of 3rd grade.

The smell of applesauce makes me think of all the fun my aunt,mom,sisters and cousins have making applesauce every year.

The smell of fresh fish makes me want to gag, but smile at the same time because growing up we went to Ludington every summer and my dad, aunt and uncle would fish every morning and then on thursday night we always had a big fish fry. I have fond memories of going to find my dad at the fish cleaning station they had over my the playground at the cabin resort we stayed at.

My favorite smells are: White bean chili cooking, cookies baking in the oven, chlorine (i love swimming), hugo cologne. This one is wwwaaayyy weird, don't hate me afterward, but I love the smell of my freezer. I don't know why. Can we still be friends?

That's all I've got for now, my 3 year old is being needy. :)
Heather
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Question:  If you were famous, what would you want to be famous for?  You have to!!  I DON'T want the "I really don't want to be famous answer." What are your top three?

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hiding game

Urban is hiding for good reason.  It is his life's magic.  We play hiding games at lunch between bites, with daddy through the door when he gets home from work, with mommy and the clean laundry she is folding, with Emerson and Ida using his blanket when they are wrestling on the floor, behind the laptop screen, in the car with his snugly blanket on the way to pick the kids up from the bus stop, ANYWHERE!  Yesterday he almost choked on a Cheese Puff because the hiding game was causing super hyper, wind-up toy like giggles.  I did say Cheese Puff and it is what it is.  On a particularly whiny day, he became super naggy seeing the kids eating the left-overs they brought home from their school lunches and I caved.  In all honesty, big deal!  He is down to only about two puffs a day (humor).

Where was I?  Oh, hiding.  The two oldest men had dentist appointments this week.  Josh came home all smiles.  No cavities!  Awesome I thought while unloading the dishwasher.  "YES!" I say to Josh.  My enthusiastic relief is driven by the fear of imagining Emerson's terrified reaction to them drilling in his mouth.  Frightening.  I am not ready for that just yet.  I scooped up Urban and headed into the living room for a double giggly game of hiding.

"Yay, no cavities, but he does need to see an orthodontist," says Josh.

"What?  He's six!" I say while knowing full well he has some crowding issues and I knew it was coming.  Just not yet.  They now recommend getting them in earlier to adjust any small problems that would cause a larger problem in the future.  Agreed.

So, here we go.  We now enter the world of orthodontics. 

better

I did not set myself up this year thinking the kids would be super excited or even interested in carving pumpkins like I did last year.

I still scooped and carved alone with child supervision, but it was FUN!  Emerson and Ida drew the faces they were wanting on paper first then I traced the faces on the pumpkins and carved them out.

Urban ate rice crackers.

the orchard

Last Saturday we took a fallish trip to the orchard.
We have gone every year since moving here and have decided to make it a family tradition.  They have everything and we do it all: wagon ride, farm animals, donuts, cidar, pumpkins, ida red apples (OF COURSE!)etc.
The weather was perfect.  The old man driving the tractor was so sweet.  He made small talk with us while we loaded the wagon, all the while puffing on his cigar.  Between the diesel and the cigar smoke, the kids had plenty of stink to complain about though they didn't let it ruin their time.

Urban did a pretty job on the wagon ride.  He did get a little nervous at times.

After we took all these pictures we went inside the mill and stocked our bellies and bag with donuts and cidar, pumpkin cookies and gummy rattle snakes.

Wallpaper Talk--Perfect Day

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Question:  What would your perfect day look like?

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This question was surprisingly.......um, let's say, well, it wasn't difficult.  I didn't find myself not knowing what to write.  I actually found myself replaying buckets of fun days in my life.

My brain immediately flashed to the day I birthed Urban and that freaked me out.  Seriously, self!  That day was so difficult and painful, but the moments starting when I was holding him and being wheeled to my room to recover and after were totally awesome.  It was very peaceful with just he and I in our dim room after Josh when home to tend our other babies and I felt and knew my purpose in life, it was crystal clear.  It was in the quiet of the evening.  I felt so proud of our family.  It felt so perfect.  But, seriously, I thought again and found some other really perfect days in my past and I didn't have to birth a baby.

There's Thanksgiving 2010, the day Josh and I spent cleaning our Texas house in the morning and swimming in the Guadeloupe river in the afternoon, the time we went took the kids to the fair in Mason, the day we raked and bagged all the hay-type grass around our house as a family, Halloween 2009 (this was an awesome day for all four of us), the day the kids were playing spy with the neighbor kids, one of those snow days during the blizzard of 2011, the last day of school.........

So, here we go.  Let's mix and match:

My perfect day with the kids at the ages they are right now would be, but is not limited to:

Josh having the entire day and following day off work.  That in itself sounds perfect to me!  We would wake up at the normal time, when it's still dark (though I would like to sleep in but getting up before the sun is fun sometimes and realistically, the kids wake up at 6:45 everyday for school and that is when they wake up on the weekend), we would all bundle up in sweats, hats, and mittens and head to the bakery.  We would grab and enjoy some doughnuts.  Then we would take the long way home.  The kids LOVE this.  We would hang out at home playing, cleaning, watching cartoons and football, reading, playing games and talking until Urban was finished with both naps.  Of course we all (oldest four) would lie down to nap also in the afternoon.  Then we would head out and do something fun like the orchard, the football game, the appleumpkin festival or whatever is happening locally.  Then home for a yummy home cooked meal, put the baby to bed, get everyone bathed and in their p.j's and curled up on the floor for a movie.  Lots of talking and laughing.

Mellissa

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Really, my perfect day is quite boring and nothing too big. I'll take a Wednesday in the middle of any old work week. No, I'll choose a Wednesday in the fall or winter because those are my favorite seasons. I would just do my normal everyday stuff. Get Jack to preschool. I LOVE school days. It is so fun to drop him off and watch him walk into class. I imagine all the things he'll learn about as I drive John home for breakfast. Then, my perfect day would just be cleaning, playing, cooking, and checking my emails, facebook, pinterest, and hopefully bundling up for a walk that night if it's not too cold.
See, the thing is, I want just a run-of-the-mill day like this. I want it pain free. I want to be healthy. I want to just be a mom, and do mom stuff without wondering how i'm going to make it through the day without needing to lay down because I don't feel well. So, my perfect day is FEELING WELL on a normal boring Wednesday in the middle of the work week doing nothing but the daily grind. I want nothing more then to feel proud that I was able to parent our boys on a typical average day without having a desperate feeling of needing Chris home to help because I feel like I have been on a merry-go-round for eight hours straight.

See you next week-Emily

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Question: What are your favorite smells?  Do they remind you of something?  What other smells, other than favorites, remind you of something?

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i pinned a monster

Ida's bottom tooth is wiggling?

Oh my goodness, I'm not ready!  Actually, yes I am.

A few months back I pinned this monster tooth fairy pillow and last week mother's intuition told me I needed to sew two asap.

So on Friday morning I went down to the basement and milled through the boxes of scrap fabric looking for something cute to make two small monsters.  I found plaid.  I had them on the counter when the kids got home and......

1. I didn't mind sewing again.  It actually felt good.  But in small doses, still small doses.

2. I really want to make Urban some winter hats now that I am feeling the sewing itch but he HATES hats. 

3. I am a super cool mom.

4. Ida is wiggling her tooth with determination now.

5. And, completely unrelated, I just heard a brand new toilet on a brand new bathroom floor flush.....oh, new flushing toilets make my day.

6. Josh bid for a new schedule at work and he got stuck with the worst schedule offered.  If you need me, I will be trying to figure out how to make the best of it. 

7. Cold clementines!   

Wallpaper Talk--Service

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Question: What are your favorite ways to serve others?

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I like to do service always. I will serve when I'm asked and when I'm not. I will serve the fortunate and the less fortunate. I will do big service projects and little service projects. I will do hard and easy service. I will give or make for service. I will serve when there is no acknowledgment for it. I adopted animals from shelters as a form of service. I even graduated with a degree in business and then changed my career field and got a job as a registered social worker so I could serve others.

So, it can be as simple as putting my boys in my truck so I can help unload the elderly woman's grocery cart into the trunk of her car parked next to me. It can be as simple as picking up my neighbors recycle buckets that have blown into the street and putting them up against their house. Other times, it can be as big as organizing and going to girls camp for church, buying groceries with my own money for schizophrenic consumers whose disability checks did not come in the mail, or forgiving the debt of a year's worth of rent from a father of two boys so that he can continue to live in Chelsea and provide for his sons. I'm all about service! Service will always be near and dear to my heart. My boys WILL be raised with a respect and appreciation of doing service. Mark my words. The End.:)

See you next week- Emily
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My mom's saying when I was growing up was, "If you are feeling sorry for yourself or having a bad day, go do something for someone."  I appreciate being raised like that and I hope it is something that Josh and I pass along to our kids.

My favorite ways to do sneaky service: smiles, conversations, compliments, forgiving another and having a positive attitude.  These work really well, especially at the grocery store, church and school.  Just yesterday I was at church with the three kids and a stranger complimented the two oldest on being so well behaving.  I was wrestling with Urban and what seemed to me sweating through my sweater and her compliment didn't fall on deaf ears.  I needed it.  I was so lifted by it.  What a sweet thing for her to say and I let her know that what she said meant a lot to me.

My favorite ways to actively serve others: making a meal, taking on a responsibility for an overwhelmed friend, helping the elderly anyway I can, visiting those who need a visit, mowing a lawn, paying the remainder of a grocery bill that the woman in front of me just didn't have enough for, shoveling snow for the lady across the street so when she gets home from work she doesn't have to do it, letting my husband move and fix and cut and carry for anyone who needs it or anything!  Anything at all!

My favorite ways to serve my family: being patient (HARD!), cleaning and cooking while the kids are at school so when they get home they have my full attention, using good communication to solve problems, sewing them surprises, giving them my time and attention, lots of hugs and compliments, teaching them to be good people and citizens and having a schedule and discipline.

Mellissa
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Question: What would your perfect day be like?

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things that matter

When I was an overwhelmed mother of two young babies and a wife to a over-worked, see you 5 hours a week husband, I heard someone on WJR make this statement, "Each year with kids gets better and better."  I was so out of touch with the statement at the time, having my view clouded with diapers and crying babies.  I applied the statement to my life at that time and thought the speaker surely meant I would survive all the conversationless days and hours sitting in chairs holding babies to find a little freedom with older, more self-reliant children.  While that is true and exactly what I thought I needed at the time, I had no idea what our potential was.

I see that statement differently now, as I can imagine I will see things differently in six years to come.  The years do get better and it's not entirely because of the freedom.  It's also because of the investment.  Really, sounds like a silly word to use with your children, but that is what I feel explains it best.  When Ida was a baby, I chose what she ate, her sleep schedule, what she wore, her health care plan etc.  I made her world for her.  Now that she is older and going to school, the world is acting upon her more leaving mom with less control.  Now we have her opinion, my opinion, and outside opinions bumping around all the time.  Now my convictions have to be more and more secure.  Now she needs to know I will fight for her no matter what.  We are on the same team working toward the same goal.  We are both active players.  Does this make sense?

This week Emerson faced some things at school that stirred my emotions and thinking.  The years do keep getting better and it's because through each trial or awesome experience, I come out loving my kids even more than before.  I see who they are becoming and love those people more unconditionally.  And afterward, I look back feeling successful, like we chiseled another detail into our family picture.  Made our family story even more great.  And each time I am reminded of the things that matter.

Grandpa's Birthday

I've given up hoping that our camera will take a good picture indoors these days. 

And because of that I just don't take as many pictures as I should anymore.

Poor Urban IS going to be the third baby with hardly any pictures in the album.

I really need to do something about it soon.

My dad turned 69 last Friday.

We threw a small party for him on Saturday that, according to Emerson, was "the best birthday party we ever had."

 (I don't know why Josh didn't tell me my hair was all screwy!  None the less, I will post the picture.)

My dad is a sucker of suckers for the infomercials.

If it is advertised on television, has a "call in the next 10 minutes and we will double your order FREE" deal and is guaranteed to make your life easier he wants it.  He won't always buy it, but he is more curious than a cat prowling a fence.

Have you ever seen the advertisement for Eggies?  The second I saw it I thought of my dad.  They had to be one of my dad's birthday gifts.  My dad makes hard boiled eggs all the time because I really believe he thinks putting an egg in everything makes it taste better.  He is always right.  Have you ever tried his macaroni salad?  He says the egg is the secret.  But peeling the eggs has always been tricky for him......Eggies=Perfect!

 (First picture is blurry because I was laughing so hard.  His genuine reaction caught in picture.)

We had a great day.
I made baked Brats, chili and coleslaw.  I was going to make him an apple pie, but the kids ate all the apples without me knowing.  So instead we had frozen brownie, ice cream, cookie cake.  All mouths present highly recommend I make it again.

Grandpa played soccer with Ida in the living room while I cleaned up.
Emerson and Josh threw one of Urban's rubber balls back and forth.
Urban played with everyone.

When Grandpa arrived, the kids hopped in the car and took a ride with him down the road.  He did a little squeal of his tires in the driveway.  Their reaction was priceless. 
Before leaving, they begged Grandpa for another ride.
He squealed the tires for them again.  The squeal was so small but Emerson and Ida roared with laughter!

I should have gotten a picture.

Wallpaper Talk--Holidays

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Question:  What are your favorite holidays and how do you celebrate?

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We don't have a lot a "traditional" traditions in our house. That is ok with us. We never know where we are going to be celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter or any other "celebrating" holiday. My family is divided and all but one sister are local. 2 of Chris' sisters moved back home and live in the area along with his parents. Figuring out the logistics of where to be and when has become near impossible. We have learned to roll with it just as long as it fits into the kids' bedtime schedule..LOL!:)

My Favorite Holidays In No Particular Order!

1. Birthdays: Your birthday, my birthday, your neighbor's birthday, your kid's birthday...if there is a birthday, I'm celebrating it! I really LOVE birthdays. We celebrate birthdays in this house by 1. making a cake of the person's choice (characters and shapes are welcome). 2. decorating with a theme (swamp, space, 40th whatever) 3. meal of your choice 4. PRESENTS!!!!! Gifts matter. I love giving, and I spend hours looking for the perfect gifts. We also take a picture of the kids in their beds right when they wake up on their birthday morning (thanks for the suggestion Mellissa).

2. New Year's Eve: I'm definitely a glass is half-empty kind of girl. New Year's Eve is one day that I look back at the past year and realize how much I accomplished. I realize how much I have achieved and how much I struggled. I always feel so much hope for the coming year, and I always have such a feeling of gratitude for all my blessings. We also watch football, have football food, do our football pool, and try to watch the ball drop.

3. Valentine's Day: The Day Of Love! For me this day is so simple, but so BIG. We make homemade Valentines and mail them to all our loved ones. We decorate the house with lots of hearts. I always get the boys and Chris a Valentine. I also make a special dinner for Chris. Always one of his favorites.

4. Our Anniversary: The Day of Emily and Chris. Heck Yes! Without this day there would be no Jack and John. No Orlandi family. Plus I have two anniversaries. My sealing at the Temple 11-6, and my marriage at the church/reception 11-7. Two days of gifts. :) We never celebrate this in any certain one way. Having kids makes celebrating kinda hard!

5. Halloween: LOVE!! Fall is my favorite season. Well, it's tied with winter for my favorite. So I think that has a lot to do with my love of Halloween. It also reminds me so much of my childhood. One of my favorite memories is spending Halloween with my parents. If you have ever watched Rosanne's Halloween on TV, that is what our family was like on Halloween (my parents did not dress up, try to scare each other, or go to costume balls though). My family just made sure we made a BIG deal about Halloween. We carved pumpkins, MADE our costumes, went trick-or-treating together and enjoyed our neighborhood. We take Jack and John up and down Washington St. We see all our friends out and about. It is a wonderful feeling. I always in some way end up making part of a costume. I thought this year I would not. I am. John's lion costume.:(

We always decorate the house with lots of decorations. Some gaudy, some not! Jack makes me buy a lot of dollar store stuff.:) That is ok with me. If that is what it takes to teach him to LOVE Halloween, I'm all down for it! We also do pumpkins.

See you next week.-Emily

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I would just like to say that I love any holiday that Josh isn't working!  But, that has been so unpredictable the last four years, I will just stick to my favorites imagining he is celebrating with us.

My favorite holidays in no particular order:

1. Christmas:  It is the holiday for all ages!  I loved it as a child, when Josh and I were dating, as a newlywed, and now as a mother.  Seriously, I still feel like a kid every Christmas Eve.  It is something in the air the whole season that makes me feel cozy.  We always make and decorate Christmas cookies and watch Christmas Specials.  We hang lights.  We hang stockings and have Christmas music playing in the house.  We have an advent calendar, read Christmas stories every night and DECORATE everything.  I am so happy we have a mantle for our reindeer and mini trees.  We cut a live tree every year.  Last year we had two trees.  I want three this year.....so greedy, but here me out.  I have always wanted a tree in the entry and I think I may do it this year!  We do cookie drops for other families and go to the Christmas parade downtown.  Hot chocolate and ho,ho,ho's!  Christmas cards and wreaths.  Each Christmas Eve we go to Josh's Aunt Cindy's for a family gathering.  We always send letters to Santa and leave out cookies and milk.  Tis the season!

2. Birthdays:  Our birthday traditions look a lot like Emily and her family's.  Can you tell we were raised by the same people:)?  We decorate with a theme, choose a themed birthday cake, choose the birthday meal, take a morning birthday picture in bed, and spoil the birthday boy or girl all day.  I always felt special on my birthday when I was growing up and I want our kids to feel the same.  It is fun spoiling others!:)

3. Independence Day:  We don't do anything special to celebrate this holiday, I just love it.  Obviously my patriotism has something to do with it.  Plus, falls in the middle of the summer which is perfect.  I love the summer.  We are lucky to be able to see fireworks from our bathroom window or the East side of the yard.  I also watch the fireworks on TV when the kids are in bed.  In the future I imagine having a nice Martha Stewart style bbq in the yard with friends and family.

4. Thanksgiving:  We don't have a set place to be anymore, but it doesn't matter.  No matter where we are, we are surrounded by the ones we love.  I love watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.  Plus, it is the kick-off the the Christmas season.  Last Thanksgiving was extra special to me.  I was large with child and had been in the hospital all morning through the afternoon in labor.  My dad came down to stay with the kids until they could head to Aunt Liz's house.  When Josh and I arrived, there was so much love and family everywhere.  I was so uncomfortable the who evening, suffering through contraction after contraction, but I felt so grateful for so many things that day.  It was overwhelming.  I have to count Thanksgiving as a favorite because that was one of the best holiday days I had ever had.

Mellissa

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Question:  What are your favorite ways to serve others?

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urban and big fern

Urban is ten months old.  Good GRIEF!  Here he is at nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one and birth.

*Urban still loves cords, a lot.  He plays with pull along toys all the time because he thinks the ropes are cords.
*He gives hi-5's.
*He waves hello and good-bye to strangers now.
*He understands the word "no" and will obey most of the time.
*He loves wrestling.
*Home made macaroni and cheese is so yummy to him.  He also loves home made mashed potatoes and gravy...really anything made by mom.  He also likes sweet potatoes and oatmeal.  He WILL NOT eat the premade toddler meals.
*He has an adorable fake laugh he will use when the kids are having a laughy time and he wants to join in.
*He throws his hand up in the air as if he is doing the wave and leaves them there...for a long time.  Not sure why.
*He loves being tickled and scared.

morning time

(Our in-house handy man unloading the waduzzy pile of flooring.  94 bundles or something like that.  EXCITEMENT!  Emerson can't wait to run his hot wheels around on it, Ida is thrilled to try a little tap dancing, Mama likes to clean it and walk on it in her boots and Daddy wants to be done installing it so he can hear mommy tell him what a spiffy handyman he is and how beautiful it looks with the sun beams shining through the window dancing off every perfectly sanded wood grain.  Urban will probably bump his head too many times for a mother to be happy about, but I will never, ever curse the wooden floors.  No I won't!  This is a long caption and yes, I cleaned the window immediately after Urban was done smearing all over it.  Smeary windows keep me awake at night.)

After school is really not the time to talk to the kids.  It really isn't.  I have learned from many a experiment.  They have mentally checked out for the day and can tolerate no true questions, that is, questions that make them think and give an opinion.  After school time is more of a time to ask yes and no questions that require little thought.

"Did you go outside for recess?"

"Have you used the potty at school yet?"

"Did you have a good day?"

"Do you have homework?"

True questions would be something like:

"Before I left after dropping you off this morning, I noticed you were talking to Mrs. W.  What were you talking with her about?"

"What was Benjamin doing at the coat rack this morning?"

"What did Ms. B talk to you about regarding snack?"

BAD!  This is such a bad idea for after school time.  I promise these questions will bring nothing but silence or tears.  These are morning time questions.

Like, last Thursday morning.  The kids asked me to tell them a story to pass the time on our way to school.  I thought back to when I was a kid and going to school and riding the bus.  I told them that Granny put me on the bus in the morning whether I wanted to go to school or not.  That I would sometimes cry the whole 40 minute bus ride there, but I would feel better once I got to school because I got all the cries out.  They gasped and giggled.

Then I told them the time I was first in line for the bus one morning.  It didn't happen a lot if ever because I was one of the youngest getting on the bus and somehow the older kids managed to beat or bully me out of the front.  But, one morning I was first and proud of it.  I was going to stand my ground no matter what....then our neighbor, Nathan, came to the line.  Because we waited in his driveway across the street from our house he thought he had the final say in the bus order.  Little did he know that the Carty sisters would have the final say, because just as he was pushing me out of his way, Emily socked him right in the nose and told him to take his hands off me.  I got on the bus first that morning, Nathan got a bloody nose and Emily got grounded.

Double Gasp! 

"These stories are scary, Mom.  Tell us more like these when we are 10.  They are so good but they make me a little nervous," they say while giggling.  "Auntie Em punched someone in the nose?  Oh my gosh!  I can't believe it!  We won't punch someone in the nose.....hahahah.  This story is so cool!"  Their emotions were all over the place after listening to the unexpected ending to that story.

"I wouldn't punch someone for picking on Ida, but I would tell them to leave my sister alone!" says Emerson.

"Yay!" replies Ida.  "Me too."

"Mom," Emerson says because I have them talking now because it is so easy to do in the morning, "I think one more baby girl would be fun to have in our house.  Then Ida would have a sister.  Don't you want a sister, Ida?  But, we would have to have one more kid.  And Urban's a baby now, but we're already a mess.  Actually, we are a mess with three kids.  I don't think we should have anymore more.  Three is enough!  Sorry Ida."

At one point after having Urban, soon after having him, I felt like I wanted another baby.  But it is, well, something that has never gone the way I thought it would.  Emerson came right away, like first try, when we thought it would take months.  Ida was a SURPRISE (born 14 months after her brother) and Urban came 2 years late and was a thought-it-would-never-happen-again surprise.

I am not pregnant.

We are not trying.

Emerson's comment just got me thinking.

It would be nice for Ida to have a sister.  I don't know life without a sister.  Life with two sisters is the best.  I want that for Ida.

I know, we wouldn't get to choose anyway.

And, we are a mess, hahaha.

Wallpaper Talk--Life Lessons

Wallpaper Talk is back with some very wise life lessons from some very wise ladies.  I feel so lucky to have the female friends and sisters (this includes sister-in-laws) I do.
On with the Talk.
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Question:  What are the lessons you have learned as you have journeyed through your experiences in life so far?

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Lessons I've learned so far:

1. The path of my life is out of my control. The more I try to manage every detail and plan my little tail off, the more I realize it's not up to me. My path has already been determined by my maker and the more I try overrule what He has in store for me, the more I realize it is just easier to embrace what I have and STOP trying to be a control freak.

2. NOTHING is more important than the people and relationships in my life.

3. I need to stop wishing for greener grass on the other side of things in my life. Instead of being crabby about what I don't have, how about I just be thankful for what I DO have?

4. Wine, chocolate, or snuggling make anything better.

5. I am not perfect. I will make mistakes. I will learn from each and every one.

6. I can't go to bed upset or leave for work upset. Fix the problem, whatever it is, whatever it takes.

7. A very hard lesson I continue to work on every day: It's OK to just sit. Sit and do nothing, sit and not try to multi-task. I'm proud that I am a master multi-tasker, but I really stink at just sitting and relaxing. Even on a snow day, after the first couple of joyous hours pass, I feel like I have to be doing 'something' constructive. It's a sickness of mine. I'm learning that it really is okay to just BE sometimes.

Sarah

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I have thought of these sayings often throughout my journey through life. They mean a lot to me!

1. "You who have dreams, if you act will come true." This is a quote that I heard from President Nielson. He read it to me from a poem when I was in Young Women's. I used it in my senior year high school newspaper as my senior quote.

2. "Keep your friends close. Keep your enemies closer."

3. "Choose your battles."

Recently, I can across to quotes on Pinterest that really rang true to me.

4. "Judging a person does not define who they are...it defines who you are." heymissaweome.tumblr

5. The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before." Albert Einstein

See you next week- Emily
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Things I have learned so far through my life experiences:

1.  It's okay to stand alone if need be. 
"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."--Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Be brave and confident."--Andrea, my sister-in-law

2. Relationships with people are everything.  They bring the most happiness and fulfillment in life.

3.  Laughter won't fix it, but it will make it MUCH better.  Stay positive and happy.  Make that choice.

4.  No matter how much I want to have complete control of everything, I don't and I never will.  AND THAT'S OKAY!!  Faith and trust play a huge role in life.

5.  "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."
C.S. Lewis

6. Count my blessings, literally and figuratively.

7.  Make my home a haven for my family.  They will be proud to be there and will want to be there.

8.  Don't give up what I want in the future for what I want now.
"The cause of most of man's unhappiness is sacrificing what he wants most for what he wants now."  Gordon B. Hinckley

Mellissa
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Question:  What are your favorite holidays and how do you celebrate?