Spring has sprung...sort of.

It has been really nice weather the last few days. The sun has been shining and the snow is melting. I even got a sunburn while walking to Harmon's school and home again. It is about 2.5 miles round trip, which shouldn't take that long unless you have an almost 4 year old who gets pooped out and has to stop every 50 feet for a drink. Porter does pretty well, but it was really hot on Tuesday and his little legs were getting wore out. He rides his bike and I push Ella in the stroller with Harmon's bike balanced on top of the stroller. But I digress.

Yesterday was nice again, but very windy. We decided to grab some food and go have a picnic anyway. Just north of the base is a wildlife refuge that we like to go to. It's pretty and it's something to do. We had dinner and then went for a little .5 mile walk around the place. Here are a couple of pictures of our adventure.

Okay, I couldn't figure out how to get everything on this computer with Picasa. I still haven't figured it out yet. So I did it it multiple batches.

Love Is Spoken Here

Or....should I say Love is SUNG Here. We are in a hotel room in Bismarck for Stake Conference. A one room hotel room. We like it because it has a king size bed for Micah and I and a pull out couch for the boys. Ella sleeps in her pack and play. Tonight the boys are pinging off the walls. Micah tried laying down with them, we tried separating them, coaxing, threatening, singing, etc. They didn't want to settle in. I started singing to them because I realized that we should have brought their music cd with them. I made a cd of the primary songs being used in primary this year. We tried to sing a few but it was mostly off tune and there were too many wrong words. At one point I was singing about Ella's stinky poopy bum and was Daddy ever going to check her and change her. That was a mistake, the boys started laughing harder, although he did change her. He is quite the trooper.

Suddenly I was struck with inspiration, or maybe I should say I was blessed with inspiration. I got on the church's website and went to the primary section. I began playing each song for the boys. WOW...what a difference. I am now sitting in the dark in a quiet hotel room. They haven't gone to sleep yet but their little bodies are resting and I think I hear at least one of them snoring. Might even be Ella. Harmon will usually go to sleep really quickly if he is left alone. So actually I think that is him snoring. Now if Porter will just drift off into dreamland. I just heard Porter yawn.

I am so GRATEFUL for the beautiful music that the church provides for us to enjoy. I know that my children are able to enjoy the sweet spirit that the music invites. The boys have been bickering in the car and I can put that music on and they are almost instantly quiet. We are listening to The Family Is of God. The lyrics are so nice and the music is especially beautiful. What a wonderful message to share with my children everyday. They learn that they are loved by both earthly and heavenly parents.

1. Our Father has a family. It’s me!
It’s you, all others too: we are His children.
He sent each one of us to earth, through birth,
To live and learn here in fam’lies.

2. A father’s place is to preside, provide,
To love and teach the gospel to his children.
A father leads in fam’ly prayer to share
Their love for Father in Heaven.

3. A mother’s purpose is to care, prepare,
To nurture and to strengthen all her children.
She teaches children to obey, to pray,
To love and serve in the fam’ly.

4. I’ll love and serve my family and be
A good example to each fam’ly member.
And when I am a mom or dad, so glad,
I’ll help my fam’ly remember:

[Chorus]
God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be—
This is how He shares His love, for the fam’ly is of God.

Words and music: Matthew Neeley

Now my sweet husband is laying next to Porter helping him to relax and go to sleep. I am truly blessed to have a such a loving husband to be a father to our children.

I am going to try and link this song here...we'll see if I can actually do it. You will have to select the song to play it.

Soo...tell me your best story about your children and music.

On the menu...

Last night Micah had to night fly, which meant that the boys, Ella, and I were on our own for dinner. I had cooked some stuffed zucchini and gnocchi earlier in the day so that Micah could take dinner with him to work.

Harmon really likes gnocchi, I must confess, it is one of my favorites too. The best I ever had was when I was a nanny. The kids' grandma made some gnocchi from scratch. It was INCREDIBLE. Anyway, so last night the boys and I were eating dinner. Porter didn't like the gnocchi so much but he was putting away the hamburger filling in the zucchini's. Harmon was sucking all the red sauce off the gnocchi, which left the gnocchi a light tan color. This was how our dinner conversation went:

Harmon: What is this gnocchi made of?

Me: Prairie dog.

Harmon: What??!! Nuh-huh.

Micah has been trying to capture some prairie dogs that are living next to our house and dispatch them to prairie dog heaven.

Me: Why do you think Daddy has been trying to catch all those prairie dogs?

Harmon: What? *pause* Does daddy know what gnocchi is made of? (Harmon was kind of laughing and kind of disgusted looking at his naked little gnocchi, wondering if I was telling the truth)

Me: Yep, Daddy got the prairie dogs from the front yard.

Harmon: GROSS! Well, what part of the prairie dog is the gnocchi made of?

Me: Prairie Dog butt.

Giggles all around....

Harmon: Nuh-huh...gross..uh-huh.... (all the while looking at his gnocchi)

Me: yes sir...prairie dog butt

At this point I about laughed all my water out of my nose. It was hilarious. Porter just laughed because we kept saying "butt."

Harmon: Looking at his gnocchi, "Ohhhh, I can see it's butt crack. It IS prairie dog butt." The gnocchi had a little divot in it and it certainly looked like a little butt.

So, come to North Dakota, Prairie Dog Butt is our specialty. We'll fry some up for you! Any takers???
My boys are sitting here laughing about it all over again!

What's a boy to do?

Porter really really wanted some girl scout cookies. I told him no. Then I went upstairs to do something...this is what I found later. You'd think he'd at least hide the evidence!

Monkey See Monkey Do!

Soooo...I have a slight affection for Diet Dr. Pepper with cherry. It's pretty yummy. Apparently Ella thinks that this should be her beverage of choice also. The other day I caught her sitting in front of the pantry with a pop in her hand sucking at the top, hoping that she just might get a taste. I laughed and thought it was pretty funny. Then last night I left Harmon in charge of Ella while I went to the bathroom. He ran outside to hang out with his dad and left me to discover Ella's surprise. She had gotten into the pantry, pulled out a can of pop and somehow punctured the side of the can. Pop was spraying everywhere and she was FURIOUS! She kept lifting up the can to get a drink only to have it spray her and then she would drop the can, it would spray her face and she would start shrieking. It was hilarious! Of course I had to take a couple of pictures. Too funny...and reminds me that maybe I should kick the habit before I raise a Dr. Pepper addict. 11 months is a little early to be hitting the sauce







And this is what happens when you take away the toy....unhappiness.