Tag from Lynita

This is a really interesting tag. You're supposed to grab the nearest book, go to page 123, find the fifth sentence, type it onto your post, and then tag five friends. So here it is:

"From the beginning of this phase until the end of it, most PDF moms transition from seven or eight feedings down to five to seven feedings in a 24-hour period."

This is from the book I'm re-reading, called On Becoming Baby Wise. It's describing phase two of infant development - weeks nine through fifteen. PDF means "parent-directed feeding," which means that you, as a parent, decide if your baby is giving you hunger cues or if there is a different reason he is crying, such as a wet diaper, gas, etc. You, as a parent, look at the clock to see how long it's been since the baby has eaten, assess what the baby needs, and make the decision. I love this book. It really helps to take the guesswork out of caring for an infant.

I'm tagging Autumn, April, Em, Abbie, and Amy.

Butter Face

We were eating garlic bread a couple of weeks ago, and Sadie got the butter from it all over her face. We were joking that she was a "butter face" - have you guys ever heard of a "butter face"? Ben taught me, a long time ago, what a butter face is - a girl who has a really cute body, "...but her face..." is another story. Leave it to men to come up with mean stuff like that! A guy friend in college was telling me that some girl had "a high F.P." - a high Fat Potential. Nice.

Dylan's Friend Birthday Party

Alright. So, two days after Dylan's birthday, we had a "friend" party - the first time I have ever attempted such a thing. And boy, was it a pain in the butt. And expensive. I might do it every other year, or something, because it was hard, especially with a newborn in my life. Luckily, Mom watched Micah while Ben and I did the party. Dylan is really into Transformers, so we had a Transformers party. I got all my ideas from http://www.amazingmoms.com/ - thanks, Amy, for the website. I would have been dead meat without those ideas! They have hundreds and hundreds of themes for parties.

First, we had the kids make Transformers masks. Ben, helping Sadie:

Natalie stuck around to help with the party, instead of just dropping off her kids. I was really grateful for her help. My sister, Lex, was in town, and she came over to help. Thanks to both of you! Here is Nat, helping to make Jake's Bumblebee mask:

Below is Lex, helping one of our winner neighbor kids. See my post entitled "Mother Bear Instinct." I will figure out how to make links sometime! I am, after all, a huge technophobe.

Here are Dylan and his best friend, Marcus. Dylan was just informing me that he didn't want to do the other activities - that he and Marcus just wanted to play alone in his room. I was like, "Okay, then you can't have any of the toys your guests brought." That shut him up really quickly:

The kids just kind of ran around while they were waiting for others to finish. Sadie's mask slipped, and she couldn't see. So, instead of taking the mask off, she was blindly wandering toward the table, going, "Mommy? Help me..." It was so funny. She almost ran into the tree:

Then we had the kids do an obstacle course. I split them up into teams - Decepticons versus Autobots, with Decepticons wearing grey armbands and Autobots wearing blue arm bands - and I was going to time each team and give extra prizes to the winners, but it became apparent that it would have taken forever, and I would have lost most of the kids' interest by the time it was their turn. So I just let them go one after another. Here's Jake:

Sadie:

Dylan and winner neighbor, getting their treats after finishing the obstacle course:

Our next plan was to have the kids play freeze tag, but as I was trying to describe how to play freeze tag, I realized that I couldn't figure out how to play it! Here are Lexi and I, trying to figure out how to describe freeze tag:

And the kids, confusedly trying to listen to us:

Ben came up with a good idea to replace freeze tag - red light, green light. Here he is, showing them how it works:

The kids really had a great time with this:

Then we had a treasure hunt, which was probably the favorite activity of the day for the kids:

The "treasure" that the kids found was the All Spark, and when they opened it, there were little party favor bags inside:

Lex:

Then we went inside and had Dylan open presents:

Jake:

Sadie, sitting next to the other two winner neighbors:

Lex:

Brock:

Dylan's face as everyone was singing Happy Birthday:

Blowing out candles:

I never got that great of a photo of his cake, but it was a Transformers cake, courtesy of Wal-Mart. They do good work:

The Best-Laid Plans of Mice and Men...

Okay, I seriously cannot resist posting something about this magazine that I just finished reading. It's Entertainment Weekly, one of my favorite magazines, and it lists "The New Classics," the best movies, TV shows, albums, and books of the last 25 years only. Hence the title "the NEW classics." I had the best time reading their picks for the 100 best movies, shows, etc. I'm excited to try some of their picks out, especially the books. I always like reading book reviews before I pick my next book to read. I thought I'd put each of the top ten of the aforementioned categories on here, just for fun. It's fun to see if what I've watched/read/listened to makes their list.

Top Ten Movies

1. Pulp Fiction. I won't be watching this, because it also has the highest amount of f-bombs in a movie - 269, I think they said.

2. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

3. Titanic

4. Blue Velvet

5. Toy Story

6. Saving Private Ryan

7. Hannah and Her Sisters

8. The Silence of the Lambs

9. Die Hard

10. Moulin Rouge

Top Ten TV Shows

1. The Simpsons

2. The Sopranos

3. Seinfeld. Well said. My favorite TV show of all time. Also, the Elaine dance from when she was at a party was listed as the top "new classic" dance moment. That visual of her dancing still makes me giggle.

4. The X-Files

5. Sex and the City

6. Survivor

7. The Cosby Show

8. Lost

9. Friends

10. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Top Ten Albums

1. Purple Rain by Prince. I'd just like to take this moment to rub this in the face of all my Prince-hating friends and family. And there are many of them. See? Prince is a genius!!

2. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill

3. Achtung Baby by U2

4. The College Dropout by Kanye West

5. Madonna by Madonna

6. American Idiot by Green Day

7. The Blueprint by Jay-Z

8. Graceland by Paul Simon

9. Back to Black by Amy Winehouse

10. In Rainbows by Radiohead

Top Ten Books

1. The Road by Cormac McCarthy

2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

3. Beloved by Toni Morrison

4. The Liars' Club by Mary Karr

5. American Pastoral by Philip Roth

6. Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

7. Maus by Art Spiegelman. I actually read these graphic memoirs in high school, when I was doing research for a holocaust project. In this two-part retelling of his dad's experiences in a concentration camp, the Jews are mice; the Germans, cats; the Americans, dogs. It is actually really interesting.

8. Selected Stories by Alice Munro

9. Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Top Ten Plays

1. Angels in America

2. Rent

3. August: Osage County

4. Doubt

5. Jersey Boys

6. Fences

7. Glengarry Glen Ross

8. Avenue Q

9. The Heidi Chronicles

10. The Producers. The only one I've seen on this entire list is Rent! And I saw The Producers when it was a movie. Phantom was number 12, Lion King was number 13, Les Mis was number 15, Wicked was number 16. I'm surprised Mama Mia didn't make the list. Chess was number 50 - I'm glad Chess made the list, because it has the all-time best song on it - "One Night in Bangkok." Aw yeah.

Anyways, this issue totally jazzed me up. I now have an enormous list of stuff to rent, check out, go to, watch online, and buy. If I want to get Ben a CD, I can just look on this list and pick one from one of his favorite artists that he doesn't happen to have yet. If I'm in the mood to watch a TV show that I never had a chance to see when it was first on, I can rent it from Blockbuster. If I ever take a trip to New York City and want to go to a show, I have a list to refer to. Now I just have to find the time to do all these things. And shouldn't I be using this time to study the Book of Mormon? Shame on me. :) I'm interested to hear your opinions on these lists - what should have made their top ten lists, in your opinion? What do you think of the ones they chose?

Tag from Em

1. WHAT'S YOUR MIDDLE NAME? Mathia. It's Norwegian - my great-grandma's middle name. My mom and my great-grandma were really close.
2. HOW BIG IS YOUR BED? Queen. For now, the two of us fit okay in a queen! :)
3. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE #? For some reason, 22. I have no idea why. But that's always the number I think of when people are like, "Pick a number between one and a hundred."
4. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Oatmeal
5. LAST PERSON YOU HUGGED? Micah.
6. HOW IS YOUR WEATHER RIGHT NOW? Only a little breezy, which is nice. I hate all the wind here.
7. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE OR TEXT? I talked to Nat. The last person I texted was Pooh.
8. WHAT DO YOU FIND SEXY IN THE OPPOSITE SEX? Eyes, smell, loyalty, and kindness.
9. FAVORITE TYPE OF FOOD? Mexican.
10. DO YOU WANT CHILDREN? I have them. The million-dollar question is if I want more! But I don't have to decide that right now.
11. HAIR COLOR? Brown.
12. EYE COLOR? Green.
13. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS/ GLASSES? I wear contacts at day and glasses at night.
14. FAVORITE HOLIDAY? Christmas
15. FAVORITE SEASON? Fall.
16. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Cars, again. Sadie watches it every single day.
17. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? I'm so ashamed - reading has gone far down on my list of priorities since I had Micah. I've been re-reading Baby Wise. When I get time, I'm going to finally start Twilight. Everyone I know, except my mom, has loved it.
18. PIERCINGS? Yep, just one in each ear.
19. FAVORITE MOVIE? It changes daily, but for now, it's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
20. FAVORITE TEAM? Um, the Idaho Falls Tigers? That's the only teamlike thing I've felt any strong feelings about.
21. WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE FILLING THIS OUT? I was getting Sadie dressed.
22. ANY PETS? No, thankfully. I adore animals, especially dogs, but I really don't think I can try it ever again. I'm too big of a neat-freak. I don't have patience with beings that destroy my house.
23. HAVE YOU EVER LOVED SOMEONE (OTHER THAN FAMILY OR FRIENDS)? Um, yeah. That's like asking if I breathe air! Who hasn't ever been in love?
24. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE RIGHT NOW? I'd like to see my bathroom miraculously, instantaneously scrubbed. It's starting to get pretty gross.
25. HAVE YOU EVER FIRED A GUN? Yes, it was sooo fun! I went on a date where we went shooting, and it was a blast. My hand got sore afterward, but it was so empowering and really fun.
26. DO YOU LIKE TO TRAVEL BY PLANE? Yes, but I can't ever afford it. But I can't afford to travel by car, either! :)
27. RIGHT-HANDED or LEFT-HANDED? Right-handed.
28. IF YOU COULD GO TO ONE PLACE WHERE WOULD IT BE? I'd love to go to Hawaii again:

29. ARE YOU MISSING SOMEONE? I always miss my hubby when he's at work. I miss my sisters who don't live here.
30. DO YOU HAVE A TATTOO? Nope.
31. DO YOU STILL WATCH CARTOONS ON SATURDAY MORNINGS? No. Sometimes my kids do.
32. WHAT IS THE WALLPAPER ON YOUR CELLPHONE? A picture of Sadie. One of my laurels did it for me - I don't know how to do that. That's what a big technophobe I am.
33. DID YOU GET ENOUGH SLEEP LAST NIGHT? Oh, I wish...
34. FIRST THING YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THIS MORNING? I thought to myself, "Oh crap. Micah's awake. I don't want to get up."
35. WHAT DO YOU HAVE HANDY AT YOUR BEDSIDE? My scriptures, my alarm clock, and my medicine.
36. GRILLED OR FRIED? Grilled. Though sometimes I'm in a fried mood. Fried mozzarella sticks...yum.
37. WHAT MAKES YOU UNIQUE? Hm. I don't know. I think everyone is unique. Maybe my need to overshare is a unique quality.
38. ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK? Only after I've watched a scary movie. Which is why I avoid them.
39. FAVORITE HANGOUT? My bed!
40. 3 THINGS YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT? Coke, my phone, and my anti-depressants!
41. FAVORITE SONG? I love Ben's and my song: Honey, You Are the Rock by Coldplay.
42. WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? Tornadoes, for sure.
43. ARE YOU A GIVER OR TAKER? I'm mainly a giver.
44. WHAT ARE YOUR NICKNAMES? Kar. My roommates in college called me Mathia. My friend Gregg calls me Kar Alarm. My friends from London call me Karlos. My friend from college, Glen, called me Karlina.
45. WHO IS YOUR HERO? Well, it sounds cheesy, but Christ, really.
46. IF YOU COULD LOOK LIKE ANYONE WHO WOULD IT BE? That is a really thought-provoking question! I've never channeled it into a person - usually I just want me, but improved. Um, I like Jennifer Aniston's hair, I like Angelina Jolie's eyes, I like Madonna's arms, etc.
47. STUCK ON A DESERTED ISLAND & COULD TAKE ONE THING? Ben. Not only because I love the man, but because he's really handy. :)
48. FAVORITE T.V COMMERCIAL? The Sprint one where those three office dudes are dancing to "Push It" by Salt-n-Peppa. I've never laughed so hard.
49. WHO'S YOUR CELL PHONE PROVIDER? Verizon Wireless, which is great, because I have a lot of friends and family on it - free minutes, baby!
50. FIRST THING'S YOU'LL SAVE IN A FIRE? Family and pictures. I can always re-buy scriptures, you know?
51. WHATS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR? Purple.
52. WHAT ARE THE THINGS YOU ALWAYS TAKE WITH YOU? Kids, purse, cell phone (when I remember to), diaper bag.
53. WHAT DID YOU WANNA BE WHEN YOU WERE A KID? I wanted to be a professional ballerina.
54. WHAT DO YOU USUALLY DO WHEN YOU ARE SAD? I crawl into bed and have a good cry.
55. THE COLOR OF YOUR BEDSHEETS? White.
56. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT BEFORE YOU GO TO BED? All the stuff that still needs cleaning.
57. WHAT MUSIC ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The soundtrack to Cars. Sadie is watching it right now. :)
58. DID YOU KNOW THAT RIGHT HANDED PEOPLE, ON AVERAGE, LIVE NINE YEARS LONGER THAN LEFTIES? Really? I know that left-handed people tend to be more creative.
59. ARE YOU 18? I wish! I'm starting to feel old.
I hereby tag Autumn, Beads, Lynita, and Nat.

Dylan's Family Party

Dylan's birthday is on June 12th (this post is really late - sorry), and that night, we had a party just with our family. Dylan is really into Speed Racer lately (we still haven't gone to see it), so I got him a Speed Racer cake from Wal-Mart. They did a good job - it's too bad that store-bought cakes taste like straight shortening. No one else seems to mind, but my philosophy is this - if I'm putting the calories into my body, then they'd better be REALLY YUMMY calories. And I think store-bought cake tastes gross. Same with store-bought cookies and brownies. Anyways, here is the cake:

Dylan made a cute face when everyone was singing Happy Birthday to him:

Blowing out the candles:

My cute mom got Dylan a Speed Racers outfit - here is Ben, modeling it:

Mom also got what Dylan was dying for - a Mach 6 Turbo Booster car. I think that's what it's called. If you pull the spoiler, the car has these guns that come out, and then you can shoot little plastic torpedos out:

Ben's dad and stepmom got Dylan a scooter and a helmet:

Dylan desperately needed a bike - his old one is teeny; we got it when he was two! So Ben and I really sacrificed to get him a bike his size. He wanted a Speed Racer bike, or a Transformers bike, but he was too tall for them, and the bigger bikes don't have themes. Here's the disappointed look on his face when Ben brings out his new bike:

Spoiled little brat. He got over it quickly, though. We were worried that he would have to re-learn how to ride a bike, with such a big change, but he easily made the adjustment:

Dad and Mom, holding the babies:

Nat and Sadie. I think Sadie prefers Nat to me - Nat is better at comforting her when her feelings get hurt, or if she gets hurt. I try to be a comforter, but Sadie is a total drama queen and overreacts to everything, so I'm usually like, "buck up, dude":

Ben and Micah:

Pete and Nat:

My nephew, Jake:

Sadie and Troy:

Brock was really wanting to play with Dylan's Mach 6 Turbo Booster, but Dylan was playing with it, and Brock was upset. You know that age:

Tag from April

Six of my Quirks:

1. I hate having greasy fingers, so much so that I eat my pizza with a fork. Yes, I could use a napkin and wipe the grease off, but I still feel it, and it drives me crazy!!
2. I'm totally scared of tornadoes. When I was a kid, I read my Great-Grandma Watts' Reader's Digest one day, and there was an article about this town that was destroyed by a tornado. It gave accounts from the people who survived. That article really freaked me out, and from then on, I became a conneisseur of tornados. I insisted on having a basement bedroom in my family's house, and mine had to be the one farthest west, because tornadoes come from the midwest, which is east of Idaho Falls. To this day, I probably have one dream per week about tornadoes, and in each dream, I know exactly what to do - open all upstairs windows, go downstairs, and get under a really sturdy table. Have I ever SEEN a tornado in real life? Nope. But they still freak me out.
3. I have to go pee immediately before bed. If I pee ten minutes before I go to bed, but don't go, my brain plays tricks on me and gets me to think that I have to pee. It's so dumb!
4. I lose everything. And I forget everything. I am famous, in my family, for forgetting to pack underwear for extended trips, and for forgetting food that I've prepared for a barbecue - I always leave it at home. I lost my paycheck on my birthday this year, and a week ago, I accidentally left my debit card in the ATM machine, with the pin number still activated, and the dude that was after me at the ATM machine took advantage of it and withdrew $200. I was devastated. I have to be very, very careful to always put my phone and keys in the same spot the second I get home, because I will forget where they are if I place them anywhere else. I have to literally pat my pants as I open the front door to leave, to feel the keys in my pocket. Because I've locked myself out of my car and my house scores and scores of times. Sigh. It's so frustrating. Sometimes I think that I seriously am mentally handicapped.
5. I have to eat Skittles one color at a time, and two at a time. So I'll eat two oranges at a time, then two greens, etc. The reason I have to eat two at a time is so that each side of my mouth has equal chewing opportunity. I'm serious. I'm worried about chewing on one side too much and causing damage to one side of my mouth.
6. I wear my clothes "in order." This means that I wear the shirt to the farthest left in my closet. After I wear said shirt, and then wash it, it gets hung up on the far right side of my closet. Not kidding. I do this so that I don't have to make decisions - I just wear what's the farthest left - and I do this so that I don't wear the same shirt over and over again.

This post was actually really easy! I'm a bit OCD, as you can see. I have several other quirks that I could mention, but I don't want to freak you out even more! I hereby tag Em, Nat, Pete, Ashley, Nicole, and Brianna.

Dylan's Last Soccer Game

So I had posted a lot of pics from Dylan's soccer practices, but I realized that I hadn't taken any shots from an actual game. I realized this right before his last game of the season, so I was sure to pack my camera when I went over. Well, the battery died after taking just one picture. Grrr. And it's not a very good picture at all. He is number six, the kid in the blue farthest to the right, with his back to the camera. Sheesh.

The jury is still out on whether he will ever play soccer again. His opinion on this matter changes daily. So we'll see if he's up for it again this fall.

Here is a picture we took a couple of months ago of him in his uniform:

Dylan at the Bat

I posted pics of one of Dylan's practices, and now I'm posting pics that I've taken during the last several games. Here is Arin, the coach:

And my sister, Nat, the assistant coach. The way she poses for pictures reminds me so much of my late grandma. Grandma was always hastily trying to do a silly glamour pose:

My job at these games is to try to keep Nat's extra three kids, my extra two kids, and Arin's extra two kids occupied, so they won't run out onto the field during the games. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. You would think my nephews would readily go to me, but if Nat's around, I am like a leper. They are big mommy fans. My mom often comes to games to help us out; she was gone for a couple of games, and Dad came and helped out. I love this picture of him and Troy:

I often bring food to lure the youngsters to me. Colorful goldfish crackers are a big winner. Troy and Sadie:

Sadie likes to feed the other kids the crackers. Sadie, feeding Jayce, Arin's son:

Sadie:

Jayce - he is so cute, and I think he's a pretty big fan of me:

My nephew, Jake, is a crackup at these games. He doesn't really want to be there, most of the time. He comes to talk to me whenever it's time for our team to bat, wanting to play with the toys I brought for his siblings, wanting a shoulder to cry on if he didn't get the ball enough while he was out in the field, or asking for some snacks:

Jake especially hates being pressured into running after he hits the ball. It really embarrasses him. He'll usually mopily walk:

Sometimes Arin has to drag him from base to base. Today, he slowly walked from third base to home with his arms folded, and Mom and I asked him, "Why don't you run fast from base to base?" He said, "'Cause it sucks." We laughed so hard!! Sometimes we can get him to run, though. One day, my mom promised to take us all to Burger King for lunch if he would run. That was a good motivator for him:

Dylan, waiting for his turn to bat:

Gavin, my friend April's son, in the batting line:

Dylan batting:

Arin, helping her daughter, Ila, to bat:

Nat is the first base running coach - Dylan is on base, and Brock won't leave her side:

Dylan playing rover:

Dylan is a little over-zealous about fielding the ball. He totally runs clear across the field to someone else's "territory" to get it. We've told him several times to stay in his "territory" so that the other kids will have a chance to get the ball, but sometimes he gets excited and forgets. Here he is, fielding a ball close to the pitcher's "territory," along with two other kids. He was playing left field that day:

There are usually many, many tears shed during each game. Usually, if a kid is crying, he covers his face with his mitt. I think that is so funny. Here is Ila, crying because she wanted to sit on her daddy's lap, instead of playing:

Jake, crying because someone else fielded a ball that was in his "territory":

This is a picture of Ila, Dylan, and Jake, in the field, totally not paying attention! I love t-ball. It's hilarious:

Me, watching a game. I got this pic from April's blog: