Pictures

I like to leave pictures of the kids up when I know I'm going to have trouble posting for a while and I thought these were cute. These are are the only ones with just my kids in and I don't feel like asking the other parents if I can post pictures of their kids; they're taken from a birthday party we went to on Saturday. The birthday was for (pay attention or this might not make since, lol) the younger sister of the little girl who had the birthday party where my water broke. Apparently, I still have some unresolved issues because I was anxious and jumpy the whole time...and that was before all the, "...the last party was so eventful..." comments. lol. I guess there are some things you (and everyone else) will always remember.

After alex was supposedly sleeping for an hour I start to hear him banging all his toys around. I go in there to see what is going on and he starts telling me about his dad and promised money. I thought it was cute so I taped some...

Tagged. and other things.

I really am just blogging to get all of the blogs I was supposed to be writing of late out of the way. Sorry it's taken me so long. And sadly there are no guarantees on how many posts you'll get in the next two weeks because I'm kind of busy. I have time to write this hopefully incredibly long post now because the joint activity I was supposed to be planing tonight has been postponed to next month so, naturally, I'm postponing the preparation. lol.

A. Tagged. My amazing friend Ami requested I post seven of my quirks on my blog so:

1. I'm scared of the dark. Not that quirky...when Alex turns that light off I actually get freaked out he has somehow disappeared until my eyes adjust (to the night light I keep in the bathroom-for alex of course) and I can see him again. I need to work on knowing things my eye can't see.
2. I think you're not supposed to touch the water heater or furnace or you'll die.
3. When I read, I laugh out loud without noticing it.
4. I think the scariest creature in the world is a mosquito.
5. When I go to the zoo I'm always afraid the tigers are going to get out and eat me.
6. When I look over the side of really high bridges I always want to jump off (but ultimately I don't want to die so I don't).
7. I love to have the bed made while I'm laying in it.

I think I'm supposed to "tag" seven people but I'll just tag Sarah S. seven times with no touch backs (and keep it in the old play group). No time frame given though because she has a baby.

B. Favorite Scriptures:
As you can tell from my quirks, most of the time I'm pretty scared about ridiculous things so a scripture I frequently quote to myself is the last part of D&C 38:30 "... if ye are prepared ye shall not fear."

But, I think my favorite scripture is probably Alma 5:14 "And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?"

I love how he addresses these questions to church members, and it always gives me pause to think of His image in my countenance.

Along these lines, when do all of you find time for personal scripture study. I frequently count the time I spend in the scriptures preparing for my Sunday class as my "personal time" but I really need to get a better habit so I'm wondering what works for you.

C. IF YOU HAD TO EAT THE SAME MEAL OVER AND OVER AGAIN FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Probably Spaghetti or Lasagna. In fact, when alex is going to be gone for an extended period of time I make a whole bunch of spaghetti and eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for however many days. To go along with that, in the spirit of Memory Mondays, everyday in High School I would bring two pieces of bread with peanut butter in the middle for lunch and I never got sick of it; and to this day I still like those sandwiches.

The Sleeping Post

I've recently begun to tell alex he has to go to bed because he's not acting happy. Surprisingly, this turned out to be a stroke of genius on my part. He's usually sent to bed because he starts acting unacceptably and by telling him he has to go to bed because he's not being happy, he either starts acting happy and good, or he goes to bed- by himself -it's awesome.

Tonight I said, "After I read three books, you and Chio have to go to bed." While I was reading, alex made a bed for Chio and himself on the couch without any help. When he was done he said "look mommy, me and the baby, baby and me are happy." How nice that he was trying to save the baby from a reasonable bedtime instead of just thinking of himself - don't you think?


I think because our kids were born in different states they're naturally different temperatures. alex likes it cold and Chio likes it hot. This makes finding the perfect temperature to keep our house difficult. Right now we're keeping it around 78 most days; if were doing something heavy (like moving the furniture again or having friends over) we keep it cooler, but usually 78-80. At this temperature Chio is freezing (?) when we get her out of bed; and alex, with a fan blowing on him, sweats like this when he sleeps.


side note: I have no idea why he was sleeping on the side of the bed like that but we thought it was funny.

Did you ever wonder...

...what Chio would look like with dark hair. Well, I died it to find out. Just kidding, alex put dirt in her hair; I didn't think that she looked that different, but when Alex came home he thought I was holding a different baby.



She looks so sad because daddy went inside without picking her up and then I made her stay outside to take pictures-such a mean mommy. After Alex took a shower he held her and she's back to her normal happy self.

Reading Program

Let me start by saying I wish I was in the Adam and Ciria's reading program in Utah -because they got T-shirts. This is what we got...

You might have missed it because that picture was dark, see if you can see it in this picture.
A smiley face pin.

I might have preferred the T-shirt but, let me tell you, alex was thrilled; in fact, I forgot it (meaning I didn't know he would want it) for church and he was so awful during Sacrament meeting I had to carry him out while he hung limply in my arms. Right when we pulled into the parking lot he remembered it so I told him we would call daddy (he had to take a call this morning on no sleep so he was going to be late for church) and ask him to bring the smiley face pin. He was good for about 30 seconds...

The second reason I wish I was in their program is because Adam and Ciria get to participate. I didn't even get a pin to get me excited for all the documented reading I'm going to be doing; I know because alex asked and the lady flat out said "no". When alex gave his customary "Why?" she went into a 5 minuet shpill about the library having no money...for a two year old?....I was quite uncomfortable.

Nothing much happens to guys like us....

alex is in his bedroom right now singing a song that goes something like this, "The little boy alex, no pants, gets on a train and all aboard"...I don't even want to know. I figure if he were doing something he shouldn't he wouldn't be singing about it; it's the silence that's scary. Singing is alex's new thing- I guess it's a family trait because I vaguely remember stories of when Alex was younger and he would sing everything. alex is now refering to himself as "boy", he no longer likes to take baths, and he loves cookie dough as shown below.

Chio's doing a ton of new things. She can read (just kidding). She's clapping now and standing up on stuff; it's pretty cute because she never stands up in the middle of the floor but if there is a piece of paper in the middle of the floor she'll stand up off of that-the extra height matters. I guess she just stands because she likes to because she's showing absolutely no signs of wanting to walk. I think Alex said he saw her walk along the couch once and that has been it. She has taken a couple steps here and there but those are currently going into the "keep myself from falling" catagory instead of "walking endeavors" so well see where this goes (maybe Cathy will be able to teach this kid to walk too and we'll just have to make it a tradition).

She keeps her tongue out all the time due to a canker on the tip (probably from all the dirt she's been eating or the hot sauce she was mysteriously fed). And she's a definite morning child rather than a night owl.

And last but not least if you're in the area come over for some treats (Jennifer that means you because you're my only local reader, I think). We walked over to the store last night to get some lemons for lemon bars, but forgot the eggs- so I started to make cookies instead and then Alex decided that he still wanted lemon bars so he rode his bike back to the store (8 minuets total- sooo cool) and now we have lots of treats.

Camping

Well, I hope that you all have had (or are having I guess) a great weekend. We had a great time camping. You can go here to see pictures but I'll warn you that there are a lot, that's why I didn't put them all on here.

Today at church I was sitting by a lady who saw Chio's arms (three bug bites) and said (really condescendingly) I should be careful where I "sits my baby". When I explained we had just returned from camping she disapproved of us taking such a small baby camping - and so did the two men who were apparently listening to our conversation. My reasoning that children love camping at this age didn't go over well along with everything else I said - I think I should have taken a debate class sometime in my life because when I try to have conversations I either agree with everything said (even if I don't agree) or make people mad with my opinions.

The swing view.

Alex and Kiley holding hands and Jayden and Chio hanging out.

See, she did like it!

Anyway, I think this was my most favorite trip ever. We stayed from Thursday to Saturday and I think it would have been even better if Kiley (the little girl of the family we went with) didn't get sick and if I had remembered more of our stuff - including our bedding. We are definitely getting old because we were so sore when we got home we didn't want to do anything; however, we all made it sleeping on a sleeping bag on the ground for two nights and I don't think I'll ever forget the bedding again so that's good.

Here's all of us.

A Little Poem Regarding Computer Spell Checkers...

My sister found this and I thought it was great....

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

Crazy Clouds

When we went outside this morning this is what the clouds looked like. I might think these look cooler than you do because I know what the real thing looked like, but they were crazy we've never seen anything like them before-so I decided to post them anyway.




We first saw them in the backyard; we wanted to get a better view so we headed to the front yard where the neighbors and random people driving by were also looking at the sky. I felt like I was in one of those the-end-of-the-world-is-coming movies where the people are all out side looking up at the sky waiting for it to come.

And in a completely unrelated event, regarding our actual life, our fridge broke yesterday (meaning the half open popsicles in the door were leaking onto the floor); so we headed to the stores. On the way to Lowes Alex thought that we should go to Sears to check them out first. The first fridge he saw ended up being exactly the one we wanted, for an unbelievable price, without waiting for Memorial Day sales. We still went and looked everywhere else and ended up going back to get it. They couldn't deliver it for a week but our amazing friends let us borrow their truck so we could bring it home that night (thanks so much). However, the fridge still isn't hooked up because when the city was redoing our water they denied us curbside access so we can't turn our water off...I guess I'll let you know how everything turns out!

Lazy Day

Today we've done nothing. I felt pretty crummy this morning (tummy ache and headache-I feel like I'm in grade school complaining of those) I didn't even want to get out of bed. I also don't look that hot; my kids, on the other hand, look fabulous and they have throughly enjoyed trashing the house while I lay and watch them. Here are some pictures and videos from the day.








I was trying to get Chio standing by herself but she lost interest in that and found something thing in the toy box.


I took alex to a Cinco de Mayo party a while back and today he reenacted one of the activities...any guesses on what he's doing?

Update: I didn't realize how dark the alex video was so I'll explain what's going on. alex was walking around with stuff on his head (in this video a basket and a hat pulled over his eyes) using the yoga ball as a pinata and the broom as the stick- can't wait for the next party.

Messy Face Girl

All yesterday I was trying to write an actual post to tell you about my morning (crazy) and I still only have two incoherent sentences; so instead I'll post this video of Chio with animal crackers all over her face- nice trade, huh?

Watch out for Chio's dance moves when I start singing and then at the end when I ask Chio if she's okay and alex says "Yeah". I wish that I wouldn't have turned it off right then though because he goes on to say "yeah, but my knees hurts because I fell down the stupid stairs but Ryan ate my cookie but the window's stuck." And then he had to go to time out because he can't say "stupid".

Parenting Tips

My friend Kimberly found the best parenting information sheet I've ever seen.
Whenever I have any questions in the future this is where I'm going to check.

Make sure that you check out this link. The really sad thing is, according to them, some of our parenting techniques are bad. For example:

My Mother's Day

I had a wonderful mothers day today! I hope that you did too! I heard one of the best mothers day talks I've ever heard- from a youth speaker. She got up and just read a whole bunch of rules and things her mother has told her in the past. It was so heart felt, innocent and wonderful that it just really touched me. And to finish the day I'm going to blog... with pictures ...my favorite thing to do.

I love to go walking, so after dinner we went on a walk around our neighborhood.

alex rode his bike.

We also took our family photo to go in our picture frame. My most favorite part is the actual process of getting the picture so here are all the pictures we took for our "new house picture, happy" as alex calls it.

(above is the one I think we're going to print)

The rest of the pictures are in no particular order. The first ones are the "garden" planting pictures. It took us forever to dig this garden because we made it from a patch of grass so we'll see how it goes. On this day it was so hot and humid you could literally see the humidity in the air; we had to take a popsicle break so that is why alex is covered in red popsicle-he'd already been given one bath in the morning so I figured I'd wait until the garden was completely done before I cleaned him up again because there's no keeping him from helping.

He was in charge of flower placement.




And we made lots of new friends. This is actually among the smaller of the worms that we found. We also found: a frog, a snake, tons of bugs, ants, etc.


In the back yard we hale this little path alex likes to ride his tricycle on and some times he takes a break to dig in this mud pit he made.


Hair brushing.

alex is sweeping the walls for me here, what would I do without him?

Someone's in my House!!!

I had quite a busy day yesterday. The story doesn't take place during the day so without getting into too much detail I'll say the morning consisted of running errands; various stores, the post office, the library, the bank - how I put so much stuff off I have no idea. Then we came home for a nap (for alex), unloading and straight to the church to decorate. After another trip to the store I came home made gobs of salsa, showered and dressed everyone (Chio, alex and I in 30 minuets) and went back to the church.

Now for the story, after clean up at the church was over I came home and it was way past dark. I pulled into the driveway and the front door was wide open. With two screaming kids in the back seat (yes, I had pushed the poor things way past exhaustion - "bad mom, no more") I deliberated for a long time before I saw the mail box lid had been left open when I knew I left it shut; I decided I would play it safe and I went a friends house a couple blocks over to get a brave man to check out my house.

Here is where the frantic day and getting ready comes in to play. My house was not clean: I had thrown a load of laundry from the dryer on the couch so I could put alex's sheets in the dryer; dumped a basket of dirty laundry on the other couch so I could use the basket (all the unfolded laundry in my entire house was in the living area); all the dirty salsa dishes were in the kitchen sink; the kids toys were wherever they put them while I was making the salsa; I had the clothes and dressing stuff (lotion, diapers, towels, etcetera, I had laid out for rapid dressing) strewn on Chio's floor; all this was coupled with the middle stages of unpacking a house. So not only was I embarrassed because I had to go and get some one to check out my house, I was doubly embarrassed to have him look through my mess.

You've probably figured out by now that no one was really in my house or I wouldn't have been talking about all this other stuff. When Alex called to say good night I told him what happened and found out he was the one that came home and moved little things around, unlocked various doors (and left others open), but didn't take anything or wait to accost us. He was showing the house to his partner. And while I am overly cautious (thereby frequently locking us out of things) Alex definitely is my counterpart which is why we go so well together!

Meditation for Stop Lights?

So little alex is sick again - or I guess I could you could say he's still not better. I'm posting again today because I think I'm headed to the doctors for alex again tomorrow and that always seems to take up the entire day.

I always forget how tired I get when I'm taking care of sick kids, it's really is draining! After I got them both down for naps I tidied up the house and did the dishes (pretty much the only chores I do on Sunday) then I sat down at the computer to "relax" (which means going through my email and reader). While I do like yoga, I'm not that into mantras and karma and such; that being said I decided I would try the steps in this blog as I was reading it. As suggested in the first step , I was "Pay[ing] particular attention to [my] feet and to the back of [my] neck" and the next thing I knew Chio was waking me from a deep sleep with her crying. Needless to say, I'm not sugesting this for driving! lol. As shocking as it may be to some of you Nields; I have a hard time falling to sleep, napping, staying asleep and sleeping through anything; I can't remember the last time I feel asleep without intending to no mater how tired I was. I wonder how many people are going to be awakened by horns at traffic lights as a result of this blog- or am I the only one it has this affect on? -- I just hope they put on their breaks! Try it and see what happens for you.

The Front Window Views

We moved in at the perfect time...look at the view from our front window.....of course people who don't live with a two year old boy probably aren't as excited as we are.


This is the other view from our front window...alex not sharing his toys.

What I HATE about my new house....

...Nothing.

I thought that would be easier than to tell you everything I love about it!

Sorry I've been missing for so long; the kids are still battling various sickness that keep evolving into something else.... and we just finished cleaning and getting everything out of our apartment yesterday. Now I'm in my element so I hope to have everything back to normal soon - including my blog.

Because I love hearing all the great things your kids say here are some alex quotes:

"I'm not a buddy, I'm a boy!"

And when Chio wore an adorable red knit hat which perfectly matched her red Sunday dress we got "Baby no baby, baby baby snowman" and then he would laugh hysterically. Translation: Rocio's not a baby, she's a baby snowman. This statement I'm pretty sure stems from his current favorite computer game here.