My Grossest Moment of Motherhood

I think I experienced my grossest moment as a mother yesterday. Lindsey had laid down for her nap, but kept getting up. Finally, she asked to go potty- and peed a tiny bit- then laid back down. About 45 minutes later, I hear Lindsey open her door and say, "Yucky!" I go to her and find her looking at her hands- they were covered in poo! She also had pulled down her pants and pullup to her ankles. She had obviously rubbed her hands together because there was a layer of poo all over her hands. I quickly grabbed her and cleaned her hands while repeatedly saying , "Don't EVER touch poo-poo!" Then when that nasty job was done, I sat her on the potty to clean the rest of her. That's when I noticed that there was NOTHING in her pullup. I also saw that poo was on the bottom of her shoe! (Yes, the girl likes to wear shoes even during naps). A horrible realization came to me- it's in her room somewhere!! I was so scared to go in there. Lindsey kept saying, "I'm so sorry, mommy!" Then she said, "On the door!" I opened her door to find poo smeared around the door and doorknob and the lightswitch. Then I noticed some poo mashed into the carpet by the vent. I quickly cleaned up the mess the best I could. I saw that the heating vent cover was off, so I peeked inside. I had to laugh when I discovered a couple of "surprises" in there. I think she was trying to hide the evidence! Needless to say, after the carpet cleaner did it's job, we were all feeling better. I have never had a child play with or touch their poo. I'm really hoping this is the last incident I ever have to experience!

St. Patrick's Parade and exhaustion

Here is where I found Larry- in his sleep cocoon. It was a Sunday afternoon and the kids were all being loud around him, but he was resting peacefully inside. (Good thing it has air holes). Here's another cute one of Larry and Kara. I found them like this when I first got up in the morning. If Kara ever doesn't go right back to sleep after nursing her during the night, then I call in Larry to take over.

Here's me and Kara at the St. Patrick's day parade in Hillsboro. It was raining so hard and it was windy and cold, so there weren't many people around. The kids got TONS of hard candy- about half of it was wet and inedible, but they had fun collecting it in their Halloween pumpkins. They didn't even have time to pick up all the candy during the parade.

We are all staked out and waiting. Lindsey was very friendly and cute, so tons of candy got thrown her way. (By the way, 2 of the kids here are friends, and Spencer is standing behind Derek).

In other news, Miranda just finished a basketball class. She enjoyed it- kind of. Derek is plotting with Spencer to earn $500 for the Star Wars Legos Millenium Falcon. They have both been doing lots of extra chores to earn money for it. (We keep reminding Derek that Spencer might change his mind and decide to buy something else before they get all the money. We'll see what happens with that). I have started teaching Spencer to read, like I did with Derek. He likes to say the wrong sounds for the letters. He thinks it's a great joke on me. Lindsey is the puzzle maniac lately. She's really getting good at them. She also likes to name the colors of things, play baby dolls, and she can actually draw a face with a circle head, eyes with a dot in them, and a half-circle mouth. Pretty good for a two year old. Kara is now 6 months old. She got her first taste of solid food and loves everything she has tried so far- rice cereal, bananas, carrots, and applesauce. She has her two bottom teeth as well.

We are in the process of getting permits for our house addition- so hopefully that will begin in a couple weeks.

Winter Randomness

Here is a funny picture with commentary that Derek came home with one day. On the top is a picture of the school. If you follow the arrows carefully, you will read, "I am the smartest kid in my class I bet that I know some things that my teacher dosent know". Lindsey decided to dress up her baby sister with Lucy's headband. I think this will be something that Kara is just going to have to get used to.

Here's our preliminary design for our home addition. Things will be changed a little (br#4 will have a walk-in-closet, and a large storage closet will be accessable from the family room). We aren't adding the bathroom yet- probably a few years down the road.

"Hello...My name is Inigo Montoyo, you killed my father... prepare to die!"

Actually he's suppose to be prince, but whatever.

Larry took the kids to OMSI while I went to our Stake Women's Conference.

Spencer and Lindsey in one of the few peaceful moments they spend together.

Miranda taped these apology letters to our front window after Larry got the brunt of one of her "freaking out" episodes the night before.

Hide and Seek...

Renovated bathroom

This will give you an idea about our "new" masterbath. I don't have a before picture because it was just too ugly- all white with a really bad wall texture and holes where all of the towel bars had fallen out. We replaced the shower, towel bars, faucet fixtures, lighting fixture, and added the new cabinet over the toilet. The wall color and flooring are also new. Basically all we kept were the toilet and pedestal sink. Of course, this was all done in order to get it ready to sell-but it is nice to enjoy it just for us. Everytime I open the door, I feel calmed and relaxed because it is beautiful and actually turned out how I envisioned (instead of most of my home projects).

Cute Video of Kara and the kids

Things are calming down

Well, we've decided to stay put in our house and add on to the back. This addition will be a little over 900 square feet. It will be two bedrooms and a giant family room (part of which will eventually become a new bathroom), and a large storage closet. It will connect to the rest of the house through the dining room (which is currently a sliding glass door). We are very excited to have more space and especially that Kara will have a room to call her own. It is very nice to not have to worry about selling our house in this economy. Luckily, because of the economy, construction workers are hungry for work and material costs are down. We meet with our architect on Friday to draw up the final plans.
In other news, Kara is almost 6 months old and is now sitting up on her own to play with toys. She also likes to suck on her toes and lick her feet- it is very funny to see. She is so happy and generally content. It is so nice! She has such beautiful, large eyes- I love it.
Lindsey is potty training and doing VERY well. She even stays dry during naps and nighttime.
I will post pictures and more later- once I get things unpacked...

House Hunting Drama

Boy, the past few weeks have been exhausting!! I have painted every room in our house except for the living room and one bathroom. We painted all of our baseboards white, all of the doors white, and now we're just touching up trim around the house. We boxed up about twenty boxes of stuff and put some furniture in the garage. We even had our master bathroom completely remodeled (new shower, floor, lighting, cabinet, and fixtures). All of this was on a crazy schedule to get our house ready to sell by next weekend. We were very interested in a house in our ward, saw it four different times, and just about put an offer down on it. BUT- we didn't. Larry and I didn't both feel good about it, so, as of yesterday, all of our efforts came to a screeching halt. At the same time that we were house hunting, we also had a couple bids to see about adding on to our house. On Monday, we are looking at some architectural plans. We both feel like maybe that is what will be best for our family. There just wasn't a house out there that met our needs.
I am feeling a little sad about it all. I was excited to move and have a change, but I think it's more important that Larry and I are unified in our decision and both feel good about it. I AM getting excited about designing a space that will help us function better in the house and neighborhood that we love, though. We are planning on adding about 900 square feet off of the back of our house, with a giant family room, 2 large bedrooms, and eventually, an additional bathroom. Our yard will still be big enough and the price seems right.
So, now I've got some boxes to unpack! At least the craziness of painting several hours each night will be relaxed and we can enjoy the fruits of our labors. Oh, and we don't have to try to sell our home in this crazy economy...