Random survey

i copied this from logan's blog, because i enjoyed reading his & thought it'd be fun to do...

THIRTEEN RANDOM THINGS YOU LIKE
chocolate
the playoffs
christmas eve
knitting
fireplaces
spring
porches
pink
pies
babies
warm covers
christmas movies
garages

TWELEVE RANDOM MOVIES
robin hood
sound of music
mary poppins
mathilda
the incredibles
while you were sleeping
pretty woman
white christmas
saints & soldiers
mulan
how the grinch stole christmas
fried green tomatoes

ELEVEN GOOD BANDS/ARTISTS
james taylor
the beatles
the temptations
kool and the gang
josh groban
yellow card
faith hill
tim mcgraw
matchbox 20
beach boys
mormon tab. choir

TEN THINGS ABOUT YOU PHYSICALLY
green eyes
shortish
dry skin
hair is colored "chocolate raspberry"
toenails need paint
skinny arms
heart shaped face
scars from gallbladder surger
long fingers & toes
pierced ears

NINE FRIENDS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER
mama
grandma
sherri
heidi
lisa
sarah
shanna
kristin
all my relatives (sister-in law/cousins, etc.)

EIGHT FOODS/DRINKS YOU LIKE
root beer
milk
water
chocolate anything
pies
lasagna
chimichangas
ground steak sandwiches

SEVEN THINGS YOU WEAR DAILY
earrings
at least SOME make-up
shirt
watch
wedding rings
pants
socks

SIX THINGS THAT ANNOY YOU
people eating when it's quiet
cory & the kids eating my cooking cheese
cory eating my pecans
commercials
people commenting on pregnancy related things
people talking about my southern accent

FIVE THINGS YOU TOUCH DAILY
my kids
my face
the computer keys
shower
cory's lips

FOUR SHOWS YOU WATCH
law & order
law & order criminal intent
the apprentice
without a trace

THREE CELEBRITES YOU ADMIRE
this is a really tough one...

TWO THINGS YOU HAVE KISSED
cory
my kids

ONE PERSON YOU COULD LIVE WITH YOUR WHOLE LIFE
my family...can't just pick one...i can't imagine life without any of them!

my clean up crew

you can't get the full effect from this picture, but i had made cookies for something the other day and had drizzled them with a powdered sugar glaze. the glaze had dripped through the wire cooling rack, so ian decided to be a good helper & come behind me and LICK up the glaze off the cabinet. it was so funny! if only milo had been here to do the floor! 

salty dog

my kids like a salty snack better than a sweet one (definitely got that from their dad), but i didn't realize the extent of their salty tooth until a recent trip to ruby tuesday. at some point during the meal i noticed the kids licking the top of the salt shaker. gross, i know....and germy in so many ways....

our mid-december trip

we spent the last week in florida with cory while he was there on business. his brother's family went too, so while they were in class we shopped & let the kids play. we didn't do anything spectacular, but we had a nice time being together. the kids were great in the car (a 7-9 hour trip depending on weather/stops). i was really impressed. the weather was terrible going there. it rained moderately to hard the entire trip except for the last 30 minutes. that was the first time we could even turn the wipers off. it was a rough going. the ride back went faster (we had good weather & made fewer/shorter stops). it was nice to be together, but we're glad to be back home (execpt maybe for elise who would like to live with emmy =) and ian who still keeps saying "hotel" and "bubble bath".)

ian tries to dress himself

ian has on shorts...sort of. he loves trying to dress himself! 

papers, papers, papers....

whenever we go on a trip (or even to the grocery store) elise is mesmerized by the free brochures and magazines. at rest areas, there is a particular wealth of information that elise can collect. here she is with her stash! 

now that's a bubble bath!

we had a deep jacuzzi tub in our room & the kids loved playing in the bubbles! 

oh the horror

this week the kids & i came down with the stomach bug. it was terrible, horrible, no good, & very bad!

tuesday started out as a really neat day. that evening, cory & i dropped the kids off with his sister & went to a unc basketball game. that is something that we haven't done together since we were dating. we parked in a different spot and ended up making about a 20-30 minute walk to the arena. but it was fun just being together. we had gotten tickets to the rams club social before the game. there were drinks & h'orderves and then about 30 minute before game time we got to walk out into the arena from the visitors team entrance. our tickets were really good too--lower level. we were really excited to be there, even though unc lost by 4 points. they played a good game and we cheered them on like crazy. on the LONG walk back to our car, we got behind this one lady talking on a cell phone. within several blocks she stopped at a corner and began puking. i was freaked out. i just think, "of all the people i could get behind..." so we got to melissa's house and cory went in to get the kids. he came back out with one of them and says, "i've got some bad news....both our kids just threw up." if any of you know me at all, you know i was devastated. i HATE the stomach bug.

sure enough, both kids threw up on the way home & ian did throughout the night. elise threw up 2 more times, kind of randomly. and wouldn't you know...i got it too. it was one of the worst experiences of my life. (in reality i recognize that i have a pretty good life if this is one of the worst experiences--however, it still sucked!) when i threw up i got choked--literally--and couldn't breathe. it was horrible on top of horrible.

cory was such a hero through all of this. i told cory that his service ought to earn him the celestial kingdom. it would if it were up to me. he was so attentive, diligent, helpful, thoughtful (and thrifty, brave, clean, & reverent). at one point after my terrible time, i was still feeling bad and worried that i would throw up again. after a while i just all of a sudden started feeling better. cory, shortly thereafter, came in to check on me. he asked how i was feeling, & i told him i had just started feeling better, but didn't know why. he was like, "it's because i prayed for you." i thought it was so sweet! he's the greatest ever!

but fortunately we're all better now & cory hasn't come down with it. (i sure prayed that he wouldn't!) let's keep our fingers crossed....

Thanksgiving and beyond

our little family spent Thanksgiving at Grandma J's house with some of daddy's family. we had food galore and had a lot of fun visiting, reminiscing, telling about our lives, and just being thankful for our blessings and each other. it was a restful, relaxing, enjoyable day...one of the best, i think!

yesterday morning cory & i got up at 3:30-ish to get ready and head out for the black friday sales. we got most of our shopping done after about 5 or 6 hours and driving between towns to get to different stores and sales. we got most of what we were hoping for & most of what we wanted. it was actually really fun, and since mama stayed home with the kids, it was kind of like a "date".

we spent most of the day resting & just being together...trying to recover from our early morning! in the afternoon, we went outside and the kids played on the swings & adam pitched ball & logan climbed trees. then we all worked together & built an awesome bonfire. we topped the evening off by eating some great spaghetti that mama fixed & then playing family feud (the dvd version) and crashing for the night....some of us were still worn out!

ian & elise watching papa's chickens. 

ian giving junior some sugar.... 

the bonfire we all pitched in to help build. 

Tarzan..."Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah" 

you gotta hate it when that happens... 

sad, snuggly ian with a tear on his nose.... 

cory's & elise's cold faces! 

elise loves her daddy, there's no doubt about that! 

milo gets a hair buzz

cory attempted to give milo a desperately needed haircut last weekend. because of matted fur, etc. this idea was quickly abandoned. although not nearly so bad, it did remind me of the muffy hair cut by daddy. for those of you who won't remember that story, muffy was a dog of ours when i was growing up. she was black and white, probably part border collie, and a wonderful dog. my parents love and take care of their animals, but a trip to the groomers is not included in this plan. i don't remember the circumstances exactly, but something prompted daddy to try and trim her hair on his own. let's just say that it was unsuccessful & left muffy looking like she'd had a run in with the weedeater, and lost! (although after our experience with milo, i now see why!) 

trimming milo

after cory attempted a haircut (which left him *ahem* shall we say, uneven) i tried to at least not have him look mangled when we took him in for a proper grooming!

--sidenote--please no comments on my lovely attire! ;) 

creative parenting

with ian's potty training he has several pairs of underwear. he started off with just plain white ones & spiderman. obviously, the spidermen were cooler and he preferred those. but when in the early stages of potty-training there are numerous accidents (particularly if, like ian, you can't stand even the tiniest bit of wetness--i'm talking mere drops...). so after he'd gone through the spiderman underwear, i'd try to put on the white ones, but he hated them and it was a hassle.

he still would rather wear the spidermen (or his new thomas the tanks that he calls "choo-choo"), but after some creative parenting by cory, the plain whites have become much cooler. cory told ian they were "invisible man" underwear and after singing an invisible man song and talking them up, we hardly ever have a problem getting ian into whichever pair of underwear is available.

one of those mornings...and other fun stuff

so this was an eventful morning at the barnett household. milo peed in the laundry room last night (unusual), ian (who has been extremely successful at potty training thus far) had a poopy accident in the bathroom that included the floor and both bath mats, and actually had another one as i typed this! poor kid!

in other events of the morning, cory finished the third volume of "the work and the glory series". he hasn't always been too much of a reader, but in the last couple of years he has read the 4th harry potter & now the first 3 work and the glory's. i'm so proud of him!

it's been a busy week all the way around--ian & i got flu shots (elise was dreading it, but after i told her we'd get ice cream afterward she perked up, only to be told that they were out of the dosage for her age group. so then she was totally disappointed!) another funny elise moment happened earlier in the week. ian had some diarrhea on monday. well, that afternoon the kids were eating popsicles. elise started to lick ian's and i told her to stop. i said, "ian's had diarrhea, so you don't want to catch it." she looked at me like i was a total moron and goes, "he didn't have it out his mouth!"

unwanted advice

something interesting happened to me at stake conference on sunday. we had already been in the meeting for over an hour when ian discovered that his diaper was completely full. as is the case, he wanted to be changed immediately. i had left the diapers & wipes in the car, so i took him outside to get him all fixed up. after he had been changed and carted back inside, he became really really restless, wanting to take off running and other nonsense. he would not even walk and hold my hand. so i picked him up, offering to let him down as soon as he would walk and hold my hand. after two failed attempts (he threw a mini tantrum each time) he was up for a while. as i was standing there a girl i knew from our old ward was out with her youngest who is a similar age to ian. we chatted while ian squirmed a fussed a little. about this time a lady approached us and began to give (at least to me & i would imagine to both of us...) some unwanted advice. she was probably in her mid 50's with a thick spanish accent. the upshot of what she had to say was that ian had manipulated me into bringing him out in the hall and carrying him around. that basically if i would only tell him "no" and not give him everything he wanted, he would not want to be pampered by me. therefore we could have stayed in the meeting. she also said that we should do something else like "get another job" or something instead of hold our kids all the time. she then proceeded to talk about how kids in spain & mexico were so obedient and quiet during church & that here in america all the mothers were out in the hall with their children. so here is my editorial on what happened. she is entitled to her opinion. she has a valid point that mother and fathers often overindulge the children. i can't speak to the fact about how american children vs. hispanic children behave in church. if she is correct in her facts, i would put forth that neither way is necesarily better, just different. different cultures handle situations differently. i think we can learn from and appreciate those differences without saying one is "better". also, i don't have a problem with her expressing her opinion of life as she sees it. i do, however, take issue with the "finger pointing" attitude i felt from her. she really had no idea why i was in the hall. she had no idea of how ian had been behaving or what he might have done. i think i handled everything fine, and even in hindsight, i don't think i would have done anything differently. i just think she had a lack of understanding of what my situation was. despite how this post may seem, i really don't hold any hard feelings toward her. i think what she said was odd, somewhat offensive, and ill-timed. i think i'm left more stunned by it than anything else. i guess i'm just glad she said it to me instead of so many other people who might have been hurt far worse or in far deeper ways than i was.

ian microwaves the tylenol

the bottle did not start out looking like this... 

Do not try this at home

as ian saw me working with these pictures on the computer, he kept repeating, "hot, hot". i guess that would be the end result...

halloween

so the holiday is pretty much over, but i think we crammed every ounce of gaiety we could into the long weekend. as you can see from the insane about of pictures, that we went to a karate party, a trunk or treat (where we forgot cameras), and the regular halloween trick or treating. we also made sugar cookies and painted pumpkins (not to mention the pumpkin farm from earlier). so we really lived up halloween this year!

posing as a polly pocket princess in all her glory! 

these girls have a little glam going on! 

kyleigh, elise, & emmy at the karate party 

ian was pretty handy with the cookie dough. i think he might could help papa kneed some bread! 

elise got pretty good with the spatula! 

i used powdered sugar to "flour" the table. after we finished, ian just used the rolling pin as a vehicle to lick sugar. it was so funny! 

elise was such a great helper while we made sugar cookies. she's quite the little chef! 

is he gone yet?

while out trick or treating, we ran into a teenager with a scary ghost/skeleton mask. ian was not at all impressed. he pulled his dinosaur hat over his head & hid like that until he got in the car and asked, "all gone?" i told him he was, so he was okay...but he wanted no part of any scariness. he was even scared of dallen & victoria! 

myranda brought pumpkins & paint for all the kids and helped them get started and cleaned up. it was such a fun project!