Has anyone ever told you that you have a hole in your left eardrum ? That is what I heard from the doctor today . I went to see him because I have an earache . My ear starts itching horribly so then I scratch it . That is where I always seem to go wrong . I don 't know if the scratching leads to the ear infection or if it itches because there is an infection . That all said , I think that is his way of telling me I have a hole in my left eardrum . He prescribed ear drops for me , to use 4 times a day . My oldest son and my youngest daughter don 't have strep throat . That is the good news of the day ! Tonight is Parent / Teacher Conference for my two older children . I always look forward to that . My husband is only working a half a day so he can go with me . My sister will watch my kids while we are gone . I am thankful for evening hours for conference . My one year - old daughter had a half hour nap yesterday . That was it . She usually takes a few naps a day , and for longer periods of time . I wasn 't surprised when she cuddled up to me and went to sleep at 8 pm . The shock came at a few minutes before midnight when she woke up . She wanted to play . She wanted a whole lot of mommy time and mommy , who is me , was exhausted . It took all I had to stay awake . I found Sesame Street on TV . They seem to have a marathon of Sesame Street on Sundays around midnight around here . I never knew it until last night . I am not one to stay awake to watch Sesame Street . She enjoyed one episode . It seems like it was about bullying . We then got up and went upstairs into the bathroom . She likes the bathroom . She likes to open the doors under the sink and play with the drawers around it . There are a lot of mirrors in the bathroom . She loves mirrors . She flirted with herself for a little while . We came back downstairs . We had been hanging out for an hour and a half at this point . I was far beyond exhausted . It didn 't help much to know that morning would be arriving in a matter of a few hours . I enjoyed every moment with her in middle of the night though . She doesn 't do this often , thankfully . We played with my phone for a little while . I let her play with the remote control buttons . I changed her diaper . I figured that since she was awake I might as well change it . I usually wait until morning to change her , unless she wakes up in middle of the night . She likes prayers . She will randomly fold her arms . I know that it means she wants to hear a prayer . I often wonder if babies and toddlers pray . I believe they remember being with their Heavenly Father . I believe they miss that connection . It wouldn 't faze me to think that they pray to Him in their own language , whatever baby language may be . I believe He understands what they are saying also . We had a freezing rain storm on Thursday , so essentially , it was an ice storm . When I went to pick up my children after school , there were kids falling down left and right . I didn 't really understand why they didn 't close school , but apparently they have never had such a phenomenon around her . I think they might cancel it next time . I literally slid my baby 's car seat on the ground to the front doors of the school . It slid easily on the ice . There was no effort needed . I didn 't want to fall carrying her and her car seat served as a bit of a crutch . I spent 1 1 / 2 hours getting the ice off of our driveway . It was about 1 / 8 inch thick and very slick . I have been limiting my time online lately . If I don 't want the children spending so much time online , I figure I need to lead by example . Well , the baby is resting now , I am going to see if I can join her . Lately , this is something I have been forgetting to do . I wake up cold , I go to sleep cold . Some of the snow melts , just enough melts so at night it will freeze and cause everything to turn to ice . This sure makes it a lot of fun to try to go on a walk or run ! Anyway , you get the point . Sometimes things happen which I dwell on , that I should just sit down and count my blessings . I have so many things to be thankful for . I am so blessed to have four healthy children . They are very energetic . They love to be with each other . They are each others ' best friends . What mother could ask for more ? I am blessed to have an amazing husband . He puts up with me , even when I think I would be hard to put up with . He makes me smile when I am down . He cheers me on . He goes to work five days a week to make money so we have things we need . I have great brothers and sisters . I am blessed to have one of my sisters live with me . I think that she makes living away from the rest of my family more bearable . My siblings have always been my best friends . I have always had someone there for me when I needed to talk . I have always had someone to hang out with , when I needed to get away . My parents are amazing . First of all , to raise six children that truly love each other . I think that is a fete in itself . They helped us get through college . They taught us correct principles , and let us govern ourselves . Although , I didn 't always govern myself correctly , they loved me anyway . My parents always made sure we had what we needed . They loved us unconditionally . We always look forward to being together as a family . I have many wonderful friends . I have friends that know that even though I am horrible at keeping in touch , I love them anyway . I always enjoy seeing my friends when I can . It is nice to bump into someone at Wal - Mart or the grocery store and get to visit . I have always been a homebody . I am most comfortable at home . That is just how I am . I am blessed to be in good health . I am not sure I will always have this blessing , but I am trying to take advantage of it while I can . I have started running again . I bought a FitBit Zip which monitors my steps , miles , and calories burned . My sister and I have started a running regimen which helps to motivate me . I want to take good care of my body . I am blessed to know that my Savior , Jesus Christ , lives , and to know that He died for me . He took upon the sins of everyone that has walked on earth and will walk on earth , that through Him we may return to our Father in Heaven . He has marked the way , we just need to follow Him and repent when we sin . He loves us all . He does not love our sins , but He does love us . I am blessed to know there is a Prophet , Thomas Monson , on earth today . He will let us know the things which we need to know , if we but listen . I am blessed to be able to watch sports . I have loved sports since I was a little tyke . My dad coached my brother 's football team ( peewee ? ) and I would run the laps and practice with all of them . I ended up being a cheerleader for the team though . Guess it wouldn 't be good to have a girl on the team : ) I am blessed to have a house and a car . There are so many people in this world with neither . Although my van really doesn 't ever want to go anywhere , it generally will . I don 't dare to bring it on the freeway until it has had plenty of time to warm up . These are just some of the things that I feel I am blessed to have . at It is quite evident that this post is a bit overdue , just by the title of it . I was waiting until I could post pictures of the costume . Our camera is lost more frequently than not . I found the camera and took the card out . I then copied the photos to my computer so I could get them on here . My children were supposed to be matching this year . My two daughters were supposed to be fairy princesses , compliments of matching costumes my friend made for them . My two sons were supposed to be Army soldiers . My youngest son ended up being Mario from Mario Bros , because he had no clue where his Army costume went . We started off the evening going to Krispy Kreme doughnuts where the children each got a free doughnut . We then went to Nielsen Frozen Custard where people would get a free small frozen custard if they brought in a text . They didn 't say that each person needed their own phone with the text on it . We got one small cup and I let my children eat it . When we got home , there was a trunk or treat at the Church close to my house . My kids each grabbed a bag and ran to the corner . Well , all of my children that could walk . . . . The baby hung out with me . The children then came home and I brought all of them Trick or Treating , including the baby . We went to a few houses . I just wanted the baby to go out and be seen her in costume that matched her sister . They got a lot of compliments . They looked really cute , all of them . When we came back , my husband took the children out . That night , the Great Pumpkin came and took their candy . It is something that happens right after Halloween every year . It is so that they don 't eat too much candy . Last night , after I finished my blog , I went upstairs to tuck in my son . I also check on our Guinea pigs to make sure they still have water and food . Well , something seemed a little strange in the cage . For a few days , I had been asking my husband to flip over one of the Guinea pigs and see if there were signs of pregnancy . He thought I was kidding , but I was quite serious . We were told that they were both female . When my Dad was visiting at Thanksgiving time , he took a look at told us that one of them looked like a male . We left them in the same cage , and still called them Gracie and Elizabeth . It was confirmed last night that Elizabeth is not a female , Gracie is a female . There was a baby in the cage when I checked . Little did I know that Guinea pigs go into heat as soon as they give birth . Elizabeth , who is now Harry , was trying to procreate . This is how I knew right away who the mom was . We removed Harry from the cage and put him in his own container . He has not been happy at all since then . He cries a lot , and it is very sad . He has never not been with another Guinea pig . Well , here is Baby . That is what we are calling it until we know if it is a boy or girl . We are still determining if we will end up keeping it or not . We also need to figure out how we are going to deal with the Gracie / Harry situation . Baby looks just like Gracie . . . My children are very excited that they are grandparents . They have been telling the baby that they are the " Grandma " and " Grandpas . " This is my 5 year - old in complete joy holding his grandbaby . This makes me a Great - grandma and I am not sure I am ready for that : ) This has brought on a whole new conversation that I am trying to avoid as long as possible . My children have been told that when they were born , the doctor had to cut me open and take them out . We have left it at that . They have seen the place that I have been cut and everything , as soon as I had the baby . They wanted to see where the baby came out of . I have c - sections . The children know Gracie was not cut open , but there is still a baby . I heard one of the theories and it was quite amusing . . . my 9 year - old suggested that she threw up and the baby was there . I think that delivery method would be shocking to any mother ! : ) I am a Tupperware Lover . I admit it . I even bought waaaaayyyyyy more than I ever should have . I had to sell a lot of it . I was a Tupperware Consultant , and if there was a good deal , I would buy it . Wow , did I spend a lot of money . I kept a lot of my Tupperware too . I use it for everything . My husband brings his lunch / dinner to work daily , courtesy of Tupperware . I store my flour , sugar , brown sugar , and powdered sugar in Tupperware containers . My toddler , a few months back , found where I kept some of my Tupperware . I don 't keep anything toxic under my kitchen sink . I have little children and I would hate myself if they got into anything that could hurt them . All of my medicine is up high . . . higher than any medicine cabinet could ever be . Just not worth it to keep it down low . Anyway , back to the Tupperware . My toddler , who was 11 months at the time , figure out that the things under the kitchen sink were doors . She then went on to open them . . . She was innocently looking through the things under the sink , and then started to pull things out . She discovered some uses for them that I would have never come up with . That thing she is sitting on ? Well , that is my cereal holder . At that time , it was full of Rice Krispies . It is amazing to me how comfortable she can make that look . It is the perfect sized seat for her . She is such an inventive little child . AS she sat on the cereal holder , she played with the sugar container . Seems like the perfect world , if you ask me ! Everyday we wake up and make choices . We can choose to not get out of bed , or get out of bed long enough to do the vital things after waking . . . eating and going to the bathroom , and go back to bed . Sometimes , I wish this was a viable option for me . It isn 't , having my kids and husband , no matter how much I want to stay in bed , I can 't . My bed is warm and comfortable . . . my house , not so warm . We keep the temperature at 68 and wear warm clothes . The price to heat a home is much more expensive than the price to heat an apartment that was less than half the size of our home . The learning curve began when we started getting our electric and gas bills . They were much higher . We had to figure out what to do to keep them at a reasonable cost . The answer was , keep the thermostat at 68 . Brrrrr . . . but it is our choice . We could choose to turn the temperature up , but the money we spend to pay the bills would have to be allocated from another necessity we have . I have chosen to get in shape . . . again . So , as I sit here and type this up , I am hungry . It is not fun to be hungry , but I have reached my caloric intake for the day so I will live with this feeling . I am hoping in the morning , the scale reflects the effort . My sister and I have started to run . I have signed up and forked over the money to do a half marathon on June 8 . This keeps me motivated to reach my running goal . I have chosen to not spend much time chatting online . I choose to not play SCRABBLE as much as I do . I enjoy learning new words . I have learned a lot of them lately . Who knew there were so many words in the English language that I had never heard of . . . for example , NABE , QAT , QI , XI , XU , ZA , FIVER , but NINER is not a word . I could go on and on . . . I hope to make good choices in my life . I have not always been famous for good choices . I have lost my temper over stupid things . There was a point in my life when I would go days without eating . That wasn 't a good choice either . Once I decided that I should eat , I gained weight quickly . I screwed up my metabolism . I hope that my children learn from both my example and my mistakes . Just an update on my son , he seems to be better now . I think the chicken pox are better . I am going to keep him home just to be sure . I don 't want to infect any other children . It isn 't a fun thing to deal with . As of right now , my toddler is healthy . She doesn 't seem to have been affected with the chicken pox . I am hoping she doesn 't get them . I 've decided I would love to see a Super Bowl between the Harbaugh brothers , with the 49ers winning . I am not a fan of the Ravens at all , but I do think it would be a fun Super Bowl to see . I would be thankful I wasn 't their parent . That would be a hard one to watch , although , in the end , one of my kids would have coached a Super Bowl Champion team . The only reason I am thinking about this life - changing moment is that I am feeling it right now . It was August of 2005 , Hurricane Katrina was bearing down on the southern portion of our country . I wasn 't down there , but the police chief 's son was , so that is how I remember what was going on . I had asked my husband to buy diapers to bring home on his way home from work . During this period in my life , I had two babies in diapers . They were 1 and 2 years - old . He was too tired to stop , so I ended up needing to go out and get them . It was a Saturday morning . I got the diapers and then decided that I also wanted donuts . My little fellow that decided to ride with me wanted donuts too , so we ran through the Tim Hortons drive thru . I had also bought him animal crackers while I was in WalMart . I headed out down Constitution . When I got to the light at the intersection of Constitution and Wayne , the light turned red . So , in all my obedience to the law , I stopped . Apparently , the old man driving behind me ( he was 84 ) , doesn 't always stop at red lights , and doesn 't think that others should either . I had been stopped long enough to have had my left hand securely on the steering wheel , and turn around to talk to check on my son , whom I had handed an animal cracker . Well , the man hit the back of my car . My shoulder has hurt ever since . The man told the police officer that I had " stopped abruptly " at the red light . I told the officer , that although I don 't know about the gentleman that hit me , I have always stopped at red lights . I also told him that I had been stopped long enough that I had time to turn around and check on my son . I believe that if I hadn 't been turned in that position with my hand on the steering wheel , I may have not injured my shoulder . It is hard to know for sure though . I have come to understand that I will always have pain in my shoulder and my back . My back had been injured in 1999 when someone backed into the front of a car I was exiting . Getting rear - ended certainly didn 't help that pain . I have a baseline for the pain . I just know that it will hurt , but it is bearable . I guess the best way to explain it , is since I have to live with it , I should bear it and not complain about it . I think everyone , including myself , would get tired of hearing about it . Well , today , for some reason , my shoulder is in immense pain . I am not sure if it due to one activity over the past few days , or several , but whatever it is , I have not hurt this bad in a long time . I still have pain medicine from when I had my c - section after my baby was born . I took one of those . It helped , but didn 't completely remove the pain . I am hoping that I will be able to get some sleep tonight . It is my plan . It is 1 am and I am still hurting . I don 't want to take another pain killer because my husband is sleeping and I need to be alert if the little one wakes up . Oh well , I hope you all had a wonderful Sunday ! I woke up a little before 7 am this morning . I don 't know why , I just did . It certainly wasn 't because I had enough sleep already . I was awake until almost 1 : 30 am . I don 't know why I was up that late either . My brain just doesn 't want to shut down some times . I turned on our local news channel when I woke up . Knowing how much snow we had by the time I stopped looking outside , I thought that school might be canceled . I was right . As my children woke up , I let them know . They were super excited . My two oldest children are working on perfect attendance , so my daughter was not quite convinced that school was really canceled . She didn 't want me to be mistaken and miss her perfect attendance . She wanted me to call the school , I didn 't want to call the school . She got really close to the television and announced that she didn 't see the name of her school go by . I let her know that they didn 't list the name of all the schools , they just listed the name of the school district . With that , she was a bit more satisfied . Then when she heard the news anchor actually say the name of the school district , she was happy . She no longer needed me to call the school . She was able to go on with her day , no matter how early it was . My son didn 't have any qualms about it . He was completely happy to know that school wasn 't going to be happening today . He loves school , but I think we can all admit , it is nice when we don 't have to go . Whether it is work or school , it is nice to have a break ! My husband called in to work . Last night he almost went off the road a few times due to the road conditions . We were predicted to get 4 to 8 inches of snow today on top of what we received yesterday . It wasn 't worth the chance of getting in an accident or killed . I think he made a good decision . I got two workout videos today . One was a walk at home video and the other was a belly dancing video . The walk at home video is a great workout . The belly dancing video will be a good workout too , I think . I just need to work on my coordination . My kids , my husband and I did the walking DVD together . Even my toddler was attempting to do the workout . We got a kick out of that . It was a very nice day together . I enjoyed the time we got to spend that we wouldn 't have had together otherwise . Although I am not a fan of snow , I was thankful for the time we had as a family . I woke up with every intention of bringing my 5 year - old to school . He made the announcement that his whole body itches . I took a look and noticed some bumps that I haven 't seen before . Being a mother of the 2000s , I haven 't seen the chicken pox since my younger siblings had them . This has been a good 28 or 29 years . I have seen pictures . Probably back then , parents didn 't have to bring their child to a doctor to be diagnosed . My 1 year - old received her vaccination for MMR and varicella ( Chicken Pox ) yesterday . I hope that it keeps her from getting them . Since my 5 year - old has been vaccinated , the doctor said this should be an attenuated case , meaning he won 't have very many spots , apparently . He gave me the daily breakdown of what to expect . Day one - rash , day two - bump , day three - bump with white spot on top , day four - ulcerated skin , day five - scab . I will have to wait until all of them , and I am hoping there aren 't a lot , get scabs , and then he will no longer be contagious . I let his teacher know in case she needs to give a heads up to other parents . I also let her know so they wouldn 't be expecting him at school . The doctor is having me give him Benadryl . I thought it would knock him right out . It has done the exact opposite . He has all sorts of energy . It is nice that he is not lethargic . It make me sad when that happens to my children . My sister has him convinced that he is going to grow feathers and lay an egg . He is very excited about the idea of laying an egg . He has been running around for about 10 minutes saying " You can 't beat the chicken man . " It is quite cute . I may have to get an egg and put it in his bed tomorrow after he wakes up so he can think he laid an egg . We shall see ! On another note , we are getting slammed with snow today . It is no fun . It started right around 3 pm . Tonight , at about 8 pm , my sister and I shoveled the snow . She went out first , then I went out and finished . There was at least 5 inches of new snow and it was still coming down . My husband got out of work 1 hour early . He got home at the same time he would have if he had left on time . It took him 1 1 / 2 hours to make the 1 / 2 hour drive . I am glad he took his time to be safe . My 8 year - old daughter made me a delicious cup of hot chocolate when I came back inside . She added whipped cream which made it even better than it would have been by itself . It hit the spot . It is so cold outside ! The day started at 42 degrees and it is 28 degrees now . It is only going to continue to get colder . Over the weekend , it is predicted to have lows in the negative temperatures , brrrrrr ! This is the question I get everyday at approximately 1 : 30 pm from my 5 year - old . It all started the first day of school for him . I dropped him off at school and went on my way . I had to be back to watch my baby when my husband left for work . He was on cloud nine . He loves school . Before I picked him up from school , I had gone to the grocery store . At the checkout stand , I saw that York Peppermint Patties . He loves them , especially right out of the freezer . When I picked him up from school , I asked him what he had to eat that day . He said pizza . I said I got him a present . He asked what it was and I said it starts with " p " too . I started making the " p " sound and told him it sounded like pizza . When I told him what it was , he did one of his high pitched " woohoos . " If you have heard it , you know what I am talking about . Of course , that day when I bought the Peppermint Patties , I didn 't know it was setting a precedence . The next day , when I picked him up , I got the question , " What is my present ? " It has been that way ever since . When I was really sick and it took all my energy just to pick him up from school , one day I didn 't have any more " presents " at home . Presents can be anything from food to a toy , generally . Thankfully he loves his baby sister , because one of those when I couldn 't get enough energy to get him anything else , I told him his gift was getting to play with his baby sister . He was happy with that . I was happy that he was happy . I felt bad , because some of the days when I was sick , I didn 't feel like I should even leave the house . I had to keep him home from school . He had a bit of a cough , but he would have been fine to go . The problem was that I would not be able to pick him up . It would be terrible to strand a 5 year - old at school . One of his favorite " presents " after school is " oyster skins . " That is what he calls smoked oysters . It cracks me up . I don 't know how many children like smoked oysters , but all of mine do . That includes my one year - old . I used to eat them whenever I thought to buy them . The last two times I had them , which is about 3 years ago , I would get sick within 30 minutes . I think I somehow managed to develop a food allergy . I haven 't had them since then . I figured that it would be quite a coincidence if it happened both times and several weeks apart . I am so thankful for my children . I am thankful that I can do little things for them . My older children remember that they would get little gifts when they were young too . It wasn 't daily though . I have started to get them things also . I figure that it is only fair . They haven 't missed a day of school yet . They want perfect attendance . I can 't blame them for that . They are very smart children and they enjoy school . I hope that someday my children remember this time in their lives and they try to make school , and coming home from school , a memorable experience for their children . I hope that is several years down the road though ! at There hasn 't been a day above freezing in a long time . Long time , being over two weeks . That is a long time to me when it has been this cold . It is bitterly cold in the mornings and at night . Although , it does get warmer during the day , we can 't really say it is warm , by any means . I felt warmer on Saturday than I did in a long time , then I heard the weather person on the radio say we had reached 20 degrees . Whoopee ! My sister and I will be going out in this freezing cold weather in a matter of minutes . We will do our exercise . It will be nice to do the running / walking . I will look forward to when we can do it in a little warmer weather ! I think one of the days this week , it is going to get above freezing . I may not wear a coat that day . It will feel warm . Some of the mornings it has been in the single digits . My husband is in charge of getting the children to school . I am in charge of getting them home . Up until Christmas break , this meant a walk . After Christmas break , I have picked them up from school every time , except for twice . My husband has driven them to school everyday , except for once . That was their first day back to school , that is when he realized that it was way too cold . My baby girl has a rash on her stomach . It is some kind of viral rash . The doctor says it isn 't anything to worry about , but had me start giving her benadryl just to relieve the itching . It knocks her out pretty fast . She is sleeping now . My husband just got home so I am heading out for a run . Have a good night ! It was a wonderful Sunday . Our church schedule switched to 9 am - 12 pm . Our schedule last year was 1 - 4 pm . It is not a good schedule for us . It was wonderful to wake up , get ready for church , and leave . There was no time to fight . The children got ready for church and then it was time to go . When church is at 1 pm , half the day is over , and the children have really annoyed each other . It seemed like the 3 hour block went really fast . I hadn 't been to church in several weeks . If I wasn 't sick , one of the children were . No one had seen the baby walking until today . She went throughout Relief Society ( the women 's meeting ) visiting everyone . I would stand up to see who she was with , and the women would smile and tell me she was okay . Everyone really loves her . She would go over to them and give them a big smile and grab some of their hands , or their purses , or their scriptures . They would just smile . I am grateful for the opportunity to go to church again . It is wonderful to be able to take the sacrament . It was nice to sit with my family and see the people I know from the ward . There was nothing awkward about going back . It was like I hadn 't missed a single week , let alone several of them . I watched some sports after church . I enjoy sports . I did some Family Search Indexing . I did 630 names today . It is nice to do things that will help others . It helps to keep me busy too . I watched The Biggest Loser premiere . My baby went to sleep at 7 : 45 pm . I think I need to go to sleep too , because I imagine she will be waking up quite early . Have a great night ! This morning , my sister , my 8 year - old daughter , and I got up and went for a walk / run . I had told my sister yesterday that I wanted to go at 9 am so I could go get my hair done afterward , and it would still look good tomorrow . My daughter came in a little before 9 to let me know what time it was . I got up and got dressed . I knew , for the most part , what I was planning to wear this morning . I didn 't know that it was going to be so cold that I should have doubled up on the long johns . It was really cold , I am not sure of the temperature , but I know that 5 hours lately , it had reached 20 degrees . Thank goodness I had decided to wear my heavy coat , instead of my jacket ! I am excited to hit the loop at the park with my sister and daughter . We are working up to a mile , then up to a 5K . Today was run 1 / 16 mile ( 100 yds ) , then walk 3 / 16 mile ( 300 yds ) and repeat for a total of 4 times . We are planning to do a Kiss Me Dirty run in June . It looks like it will be a lot of fun . I am thinking that I need to add some strength training as well . My upper arm strength is seriously lacking . I went to the beauty school and had my hair colored to its natural color . So , I have achieved one of my New Years Resolutions . It feels very good to have it back to normal . While I was having my hair done , we were engaging in small talk . I asked her if she had any children . She said she had a son that is 15 months old . I told her I had a daughter that was 15 months old , born Oct 5 . Her son was also born that day , in the same hospital , with the same doctor delivering the baby . My baby was born about 7 hours before hers though . It was quite unusual that would happen though . Speaking of the baby , she is sound asleep . I think I shall head that way soon . It was a good day of football . . . Houston and Green Bay have advanced in the playoffs . I would like to see Houston go all the way and win it all . at It is amazing what a smile can do for you . When I see the smiles on my childrens ' faces , it makes my day . Whether it is because they are happy or something funny was said , their smiles absolutely brighten my day . I enjoy dinner time , when my children tell funny stories about their day . They sit around and all smile and laugh with each other . They enjoy hearing stories about their birth and the years since then . They look at each other , sometimes in disbelief that something like what was mentioned actually happened . There are other times when they remember when something happened and their smile gets even brighter . I can remember wondering what each of their smiles would look like before they were born . I never got it quite right , but they have amazing smiles . My 5 year - old enjoys when I sit down and attempt to play DSi with him . I really stink at it . I am not really into those kinds of things . Earlier today , he told me I stink at it , in so many words . I pretended to cry . He then told me he was kidding and got a big smile on his face . He put it back to the first level and let me try again . I beat level 1 , it made him get a big smile , and he reaffirmed that he was kidding . It is amazing how big a toddler 's smile can get . When we pick her siblings up from school , her smile radiates in the room . She absolutely loves each and every one of them . She knows them by name , it seems . I can ask her where one of them is , and she goes to that one . She can 't say very much yet , but she definitely knows everything that is being said . I think it is important to take the time to enjoy the smile of the children . Yes , they have their moments when there is anything but smiles . I think those are the moments that it is most important to remember the smiles , and take a few deep breaths . I am thankful for all the little moments that might not always be remembered , but in the moment , they are important . I am thankful for the smiles from strangers , that although they might not know it matters , it really does . When I am having a bad day , getting a smile from someone that doesn 't know what is going on can really perk up the spirit . I can sum it up pretty quickly . I believe crock pots were invented for those people that do not hang out at home the whole time the food is cooking . This is the second day in a row that I have made dinner in it . My children come home from school and announce how good dinner smells . This is the reason I hate it . . . I have to smell it all day long . I am starving by the time the food has been in there for about 2 hours , because it is so aromatic that I just want to eat . I then have to wait 4 to 6 more hours until I can actually eat the food . I have also found that adding onion soup mix to anything with meat in the crock pot makes it taste exceptionally delicious . This is true , even if some people ( namely my children ) don 't like onions . They enjoy the food and don 't even know that any kind of onion touched it . I have been making up my own recipes and throwing them in the crock pot to cook . There is something about food that cooks in a crock pot for several hours that really makes it taste good . I think it is better than if I put it in the oven for a few hours . If only there were a crock pot big enough for a turkey ! Last night , I put in stew meat , several different vegetables , onion soup mix and water . I let it cook most of the day . My 8 year - old made brown rice . I put my crock pot mixture over my brown rice . My children had it on the side . This morning , I put in chicken bratwurst with some onion soup mix and water . I cooked it for about 7 hours , until the kids and I had to eat it because we couldn 't stand how good it smelled anymore . My daughter , once again , made brown rice . We had it on the side with shredded cheese . It was really nice to go shopping for the week . I went on Tuesday with my sister . I used to go several times a week and then try to decide daily what we were going to eat . This week I know what we will be eating which makes things a lot easier . at Today was the first day my children went to school in 2013 . It was miserably cold out ( 11 degrees ) this morning with about 10 - 12 inches of snow on the ground . We like to have them walk to and from school . My 9 year - old lost his knit cap so he got to put a shirt around his head . This was my first clue that I would have to go and get more winter clothing . I started to think that I should buy each child about 4 pairs of gloves and 4 knit caps . I think that is how many they go through in any given winter . After I picked my 4 year - old up from school , we went to the Dollar Tree store . I love that store . It is especially nice when they actually have what I want . I think they are just about out of the winter clothing , because I had to dig through a cart and a couple baskets in an aisle to find the sizes that I needed . I bought both of my sons another knit cap and mittens . I got myself and my sister a cap and mittens also . Who wants to be cold ? I bought them for my daughter on Saturday , so she didn 't need winter necessities . I bundled up my 4 year - old and my 1 year - old at the appropriate time , and we headed out to get my older children from school . I brought the knit cap and mittens for my son . They were a bit dismayed that we were walking . They wanted a ride . My son was pleased that he had a cap and mittens though . I might need to drive more frequently in the winter , until the weather gets better . Although my baby was in a hoodie , a zip - up thing that you put on them for their carseat to keep them warm , and a coat , I still think she was colder than anyone would like to be . I put her in the carrier and away we went . I am not a cold weather person . I would prefer living in Hawaii so the temperature would remain stable all year . These mornings , and days , when it is so cold , I don 't even want to get dressed , let alone go outside . I do what I have to though . . . I am hoping , perhaps beyond hope , that it will warm up and stay warm for the rest of the season . It doesn 't look like that will happen anytime soon . at Who else can 't believe it is 2013 ? ! A new year , a new set of resolutions . I am willing to admit that I failed miserably when it comes to resolutions last year . With that said , I am willing to start over . I will start over . I am a huge chocoholic . If it were up to me , chocolate would be paired with just about everything . I am going to start unpairing it though . I will not eat as much chocolate as I did in 2012 . I think I will drop weight easier . I did manage to lose about 15 pounds this year . This year , I would love to double that . . . or even triple it . I know it is possible , it would be less than 1 pound a week . I will start to run again . For my birthday , I bought myself a couple of gifts to help with this goal . I bought a running calendar , it has a day - by - day entry for how far you ran and a few other things . I will use this to track what I am doing and what I have done . I also bought a running watch , or rather , a watch to track running times and splits . I think this will also help me out . Now I just need to determine places to run . I live in a safe area , but that being said , nowhere is really safe , it just takes one person to end the safety of an area . I know , quite pessimistic , but very true . My sister and I are going to start running together . I think this will be wonderful . I always do better with someone else along . I am hoping to convince my children to join me . I need to get back in touch with the spiritual aspect of my life . I need to make the time to read my scriptures daily . It isn 't a hard thing to do . I have 24 hours in my day , just like everyone else . I also plan to have normal colored hair again . This is one of the first things I plan to accomplish . I got red highlights back in October . They weren 't very visible , so the Saturday before Christmas I asked to have them be more visible . We will just say , I look like a dark brown and red candy cane on top of my head . It is not nice . I don 't know what color this red is , but I wouldn 't advise getting it . I don 't really like going outside where other people can see me with this hair , but I do it when it is necessary . I will be getting it redone on Saturday . It is just not me . . . some people look good with hair like this , but it is very bold and just doesn 't fit my personality at all . My house . . . I will attempt to keep it clean . I will spend at least 30 minutes a day doing that . I want to organize things so I know where to look for them . I need to remind myself that life is good . Even though I am not near more than half of my family , I can be happy . I miss them like the dickens and I get depressed because I can 't just go 5 miles or less and see my parents and my brothers and one of my sisters anymore . My blog . . . I need to do this more often . My children are growing up so fast and I want to do better about recording it . My baby started walking on Thanksgiving with the help of her sister and cousin . I can 't believe it . She doesn 't even crawl anymore at this point . She has six teeth and loves listening to the " Piano Guys " with her " da . " Oh , and I want to win the ESPN Streak for the Cash . That would be really nice . : ) I am a wife , mother , daughter and sister . These are the most important roles in my life . I enjoy blogging about my family and about my training for races . The training blog helps keep me motivated .