Hair Cuts

First thing on the agenda for mid-winter break: Hair cuts for the girls. After cutting the girls hair myself last time, I thought that it would be best to take them somewhere to have it done. The girls loved going to a salon! Hooray for less snarls, tangles and crying when it is time to comb our hair.
The before shots:





During:







The after shots:

Homemade Books

The kids just love the books by Mo Willems. He is such a funny author and we enjoy reading all of his books. We get so excited when a new book comes out that we have never read. Last week Julia and Cameron decided that they wanted to make their own books by copying the originals. Their books might be the cutest things ever. I love the determination and creativity they had when creating them.

Two pages out of Julia's book:

Two pages out of Cameron's book:

Cameron also is in the process of making a book of his favorite book of all time "The Cat in the Hat." It is priceless to me.

Random Thoughts

Just in case you think that everything at the Stuard house is perfectly wonderful all the time... Here are a few rants, whines and everything in between of things going on with us:

• The other night after dinner Cameron said, "That dinner was delicious, but not the best I have ever had. Maybe my 4th favorite." Well...good to know...
• Why is it that for Valentine's Day my kids got a million Fun Dips and Pixie Stix? They are the WORST candy for kids. Straight sugar that inevitably ends up all over the floor.
• Julia brought home a Skippy Jon Jones book from the library. That series of books is so bad that I cannot stand reading them. It is actually painful.
• Natalie will NOT go Primary. The first two weeks were no problem and then she decided that she hates it. She has been TERRIBLE. I am talking full on screaming in the Primary room when I am sitting next to her. We have tried to reasoning with her, talking it out, bribing and now we are moving on to threatening her. As you can see, our parenting skill are exceptional. Mitch and I are about ready to sell her.
• Our roof is STILL leaking. I asked the roof guy how much it costs to replace a cedar shake roof like ours. I now want to die. Anybody have an extra 10 thousand they might let us have?
• While helping in Julia's classroom the other day her teacher told me that in her 23 years of teaching, Julia was the first to throw up in her classroom. OOPS.....
• Cameron had to learn to spell the word- Quadrilateral, Amazon River, and Andes Mountains in spelling last week. Enough said.
• After 10 months of Natalie being potty trained she still will not go by herself (I have trained myself, good job self.) Boo.
• Cameron asked me the other day if I could get the recipes from the school's cafeteria to make chicken patties and Big Daddy's cheese pizza because they are SO delicious. Can you imagine the shock of the cook at school if I asked her. That might be a first ever, somebody actually liking cafeteria food!
• This coming week is Mid-Winter Break, no school all week long--it is supposed to be 40 degrees and raining most of the week. HELP!

The Green Grinches

Cameron has had a fun basketball season so far! His dad is the coach!! Each week Cam is getting better and better and I think the coach is enjoying the season too. The name "The Green Grinches" is the results of letting nine- 7 and 8 year old boys come up with their own team name. Nice.

Eleven Years

We celebrated by shopping for a new couch and going to Benihana. What more could we need?

Happy Valentine's Day

Cameron's class made mailboxes for their valentines. He decorated the inside of the mailbox like this:



It made me laugh so I had to take a picture.

Last Night

Yesterday was a nice relaxing Saturday. We enjoyed being home and running a few errands. At around 7:30 we put the girls in the tub for a bath to get ready for Sunday. They love to take a bath and play but at times can argue and fight. Last night was one of those times. They would not stop fighting and after giving them a warning that they would have to get out if they didn't stop we made good on our promise. They were both banished out of the tub and had to finish washing in the shower solo. I put Natalie in my shower and finished washing her. As I went to get her out, I had to slide the glass shower door to the other side. An earsplitting crashed occurred and the glass door completely shattered. Shattered with Natalie standing naked inside. She was scared to death and screaming. I immediately grabbed her from the shower, but she was covered in glass and bleeding. It was quite the scene: glass, water, and blood all over the bathroom. She is okay. She has two deep cuts on her feet but didn't need stitches and has little cuts all over. We are SO grateful nothing more happened to her, it could have been a real serious accident. It shook us up and scared the kids. The clean up was a real mess and there are still little shards of glass everywhere. It is going to be challenge to get it all picked up. After we got the kids to bed we looked at each other and said "What just happened?" Talk about weird, freak accident.

Side note: Cameron threw up AGAIN last night. When will this stomach flu leave us??

Compatibility

The other day I went to the Goodwill to have a look around. I never go to the Goodwill (I never think of it), but the other day I decided to go. While wandering down the game aisle, I came across the game Compatibility. I could not believe my eyes. This is one of our favorite games. When Mitch and I were first married we used to play this with a couple of our friends and LOVED it. We tried to buy it at the time but it was discontinued and not for sale anywhere. I ended up buying a really strange, cheap version of the game that we have played off and on over the years. So as I was standing in the Goodwill looking at the game, it was like I struck gold. I immediately snatched up the game and bought it for $1.99. When I got home and opened the box I found that the game was brand new, still in its wrapper. What a find. I love that!

Hostage Take Over

The Stuard family has been M.I.A this last week.

The stomach flu has come in and taken over. Just when we think that it is over and we are starting to feel better, it strikes again. It began with a Stuard family party we attended and then two days later five people including Cameron came down with it. We have officially given it to my side of the family (No, thanks needed Laura) and possibly the school. Julia's teacher has been absent for the past two days, two days since I was called to pick Julia up from school because she threw up in the classroom. Talk about the walk of shame...

I was the last victim on Wednesday where I literally stayed in bed all day unable to move. Glad to have my strength back I am ready to tackle the loads of laundry that needs to be done and a house waiting to be sanitized, but on the bright side my pants are a little looser than before.

Groundhog Day

I don't know what it is about Groundhog Day that we love, but we really do. The first thing the kids wanted to know when I came downstairs the morning of February 2nd was if the Groundhog saw his shadow or not. Nothing was going to get done until we found out, so we went to the Internet to see what Punxsutawney Phil had to say. Cameron was really nervous that he saw his shadow because in Maple Valley it was sunny. To the kids extreme joy, he didn't see his shadow...spring is around the corner! Our house has hit the mid-winter blahs and we can't wait for spring to arrive. Hopefully the groundhog is right!




Cameron and Julia came home with lots of groundhog crafts.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

The good:
I have a carpet cleaner and it works! Yesterday I spent my day cleaning my carpets.

The bad:
I used the carpet cleaner today to clean the same carpets that I did yesterday.

The ugly:
Cameron has the stomach flu. He threw up all over the carpet and in an attempt to make it to the bathroom raced through the house leaving a trail as he went. Did I mention he didn't make it to the bathroom?

Mitch told me today(in the wee hours of the morning) that his crowning achievement with his kids in this life might just be to teach them to THROW UP IN THE BATHROOM! He isn't quite there yet.

Finished!

I made a goal back in 2008 to read all of the Newbery Award winner books. It has taken me a few years, but on Saturday I finished my last one-89 books in all! It feels good to accomplished something that took some endurance to finish. I am proud to say that I read every last one and didn't quit any of the books, although tempting at times (some of these books were terrible and really took some effort to finish), while others were actually quite good. All in all I enjoyed it! Now what to read?

From the Stuard Vault

This morning I woke up thinking about some of the things the kids did that were so dang cute when they were small. Instead of cleaning my bathrooms like I had planned today, I sat and watched home videos of my sweethearts. Seriously, so cute. This is a "Cameron Classic" that makes me smile every time I see it. He is about 3 maybe a little younger in this clip. Enjoy the flash back-- the days of Cameron and his love of Mary Poppins.

Stinker

I'm talking this guy!

Case 1:

Tonight after making something less than desirable for dinner (according to Cameron) he asked me: "Mom, what don't you like to eat?" Thinking I was having a normal conversation with him I said "fish." "Well that is what I am going to choose for my birthday dinner so YOU have to eat something you don't like for a change!"

Case 2:

On Sunday while driving in the car Natalie told us that she wants to be a mommy when she grows up and is going to take care of her babies by changing their diapers. Cameron then piped up and said, "Well when I grow up I am going to be a dad and it is easy, you just put the crying kids in time out." Not five minutes later he says to Mitch, "Dad, I know what you do at work every day." Mitch said "Really, what do I do?" "You sit at your desk and work at the computer playing games till you come home."

Like I said--STINKER

Jinxed

Last week I called my sister to wish her a happy birthday. During our conversation she told me that she had to speak in sacrament meeting that Sunday and that she had just recently done it a few months before. I told her how much I HATE speaking in church and that I have been really lucky because I hadn't spoke in a long time.

That was my when I jinxed myself.

On Sunday a bishopric member found me and asked me to speak this week...I also have to teach Relief Society. Somebody seriously needs to call the wahmbulance for me because I am going to cry....

Then--

On Tuesday I went to help out in Cameron's class and his room was freezing. His teacher was telling me how the school's new roof is leaking in their classroom and it won't stop. The roofing material is bad and the roofing company now has to replace the whole roof on the school over mid-winter break. I was saying to her what a nightmare that would be and how leaky roofs are one of mine own fears. So expensive to replace. Well today as I was cleaning the house I found a spot of wet carpet and water dripping from the ceiling in the living room. Yep, our roof is leaking.

Ironic? I think I need to knock on some wood. My luck is turning for the worse!