Once There Was a "Snowmam"

So, today the big kids and I were sitting on the couch reading for school time when Roxie announced that she had found one of her favorite songs in the Primary Songbook. Indeed she did. She then started "playing" and singing it. Christian grabbed the camera so that we could capture the moment...
P.S. She always wants to wear earrings, but does not have her ears pierced, so sometimes, we hook dangly ones over the tops of her ears, in case you were wondering.
P.P.S. Ashton did her hair

The Girly President

My sister in law was trying to watch Obama's inauguration on TV. She explained to my 3 year old niece that we were getting a new President. And not just any president, our first black president. My niece sat there for a minute, digesting the information her mom just gave her and then exclaimed, "I don't want a black president! I want a pink one!"
So, I asked my photoshop-savvy mother in law to help her out:
I sent the picture to them and my sister in law replied: "I just showed it to her before bed and she just said "yeah". Like she expected it all along because that's the way things should be. Funny kids!"
So there you go. We now have a princess-appropriate pink president.

Tonsillectomy and adnoidectomy

Yesterday, the lovely Ashton had her tonsils and adnoids out. The poor girl. When we went to the doctor a few weeks ago, he told us that 80% of her airway was blocked by those darned things when she was upright, even more when she lies down. Yesterday, the naughty girl informed me that it had been getting worse and she had been struggling to breathe. Thanks for the update, child of mine. Anyway, one of the first things she said when I saw her was that she could breathe!!! The doctor said that those honkers were changing her voice, too. I hadn't noticed, but when she started talking after the surgery, she had a whole new voice. It sounds more like a little girl. They let her take her tiny Julie doll with her and even offered to remove Julie's tonsils.
She is doing well. Sore throat, of course, and sore mouth from having it pried open, but other than that, she feels well. Plus, she gets to sit around and drink smoothies while reading. She is being a good eater and drinker (the doctor said that is the difference between those who recover quickly and those who don't), but the smoothies don't keep her full for long, so we're having to get creative. Plus my good blender is in the shop, so I have been yelling alot at my old crummy blender. I'm so spoiled.
Anyway, Roxie keeps trying to "hold her" and Christian keeps bringing her applesauce. They are very sweet to try to take care of her.
Thank you to all of you for your prayers and well-wishes!

The tale of the Target potty...

Once upon a time, there was a tiny princess. Although she was very tiny, she was (mostly) potty-trained. One day, the royal family was doing some shopping at Target. The tiny one informed her parents that she needed to use the potty. The king said that he would take her. Here is a picture of the hunky king and the tiny princess. Not at Target, obviously, but had I known what would transpire, I would have taken pictures there!
The king decided to be sanitary and put a toilet seat cover on the seat before he helped the princess onto the throne (hee, hee!). He told her to lean forward so that everything would be lined up appropriately (she can sometimes miss the potty even when she's sitting on it - talented, I know). When she leaned forward, though, she moved out of the range of the sensor and the toilet flushed its powerful flush, pulling the liner right out from under her tiny royal bum. Horrified and stunned, she jumped off of the potty and whirled around to inspect that mean old potty. The king decided to try again. He put her up on the potty again and, immediately, it flushed again. The princess jumped off and spun around. What was going on here? A third time, the king put her on the potty, and a third time it flushed under her. She flew off of the potty and yelled, "ALL DONE!" She "held it" until the royal family got home. Good thing about the royal grandmother paying for therapy, right? So, I thought a potty picture would be appropriate here. Funny girl.

Quotation of the day

You may have tangible wealth untold;

Cachets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be - -

I had a mother who read to me.

Strickland Gillilian

The tale of the balloon...

Once upon a time, there was a tiny princess who loved balloons. I mean LOVED balloons. One glorious day (three weeks ago), she was invited to her first tiny birthday party, where she played pin-the-belly-on-the-Care-Bear, ate cake, and was given a balloon to take home. Happiness. UNTIL. The princess and her mother got in the car and somehow the balloon (which was actually tied to the princess' wrist) slipped off the tiny wrist and floated to the sky. The poor devastated princess sobbed as she watched her prized possession slip into the big blue sky. Her mother promised her another balloon. For the next three weeks, the tiny princess never forgot the balloon.
"Mom, balloon fly away in the sky. Need another one."
"Yes, I know. I promise we will get you one."
Yesterday, the royal family went to Sunflower market (the queen's favorite), where the kind workers gave each of the royal children a balloon. The tiny one literally squealed with delight. This time, she not only had the balloon tied to her wrist, but she held on to the ribbon for dear life. The family finished their shopping and went to the car. As they climbed in, still white-knuckle holding on the the ribbon, they discovered that the worker had not tied the ribbon to the balloon very carefully and the balloon popped off of the ribbon and once again, floated away into the sky. The tiny and horrified princess let out the most heart-wrenching howls. The queen frantically shouted, "SOMEONE GIVE HER YOUR BALLOON." The beautiful, kind and compassionate oldest princess quickly ripped the balloon from her own wrist and put it on her tiny sister's wrist. (I just found out that the sweet and loving prince also tried to give her his balloon, but the older princess was faster. What amazing children.) Crisis averted. Except... the tiny one could not forget that she had lost her second balloon.
"MOM, BALLOON FLY AWAY IN THE SKY AGAIN."
"Yes, but Ashton gave you her balloon. Isn't she nice?"
"Oh, yep."
(This conversation repeated frequently for the rest of the day.)
Here are the royal children and the remaining two balloons.
Don't worry. The royal grandmother promised to pay for the tiny princess' therapy that she will undoubtedly need after all this.

The temple

We went to the Draper temple open house yesterday. What a beautiful experience. After walking through the temple and seeing the beauty and feeling the Spirit, we were led to a sealing room where a couple talked about the blessings of forever families. The kids got to look in the mirrors and see eternity. I know they felt the Spirit there. Before we were shuttled to the temple, we met in a church where we watched a short video about the Draper temple. On the video, Elder Holland spoke just for a minute, but what he said really touched me. He said that he could not think about Heaven without his wife and family. It would not be Heaven without them. Then he said that some may call it wishful thinking, but he knows that there is something eternal in the words, "neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord" (1Cor. 11:11). It was very tender and beautiful. I, too, believe that without my family, Heaven would not be Heaven.Speaking of Heaven, Christian loves to take pictures of the sunset. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Quotation of the day: "A happy family is but an earlier heaven."
Oliver Goldsmith