Dialogue with David

We wanted to watch a movie with the boys tonight, but we couldn't find the remote control for the DVD player. I decided to organize a search party. The dialogue with David began......

Me: David, where is the remote?

David: Here it is!!

Me: No, that's the TV remote. We're looking for the one that goes to the DVD player.

David: What about this one?

Me: That's the satellite remote and the other one is the remote for the speakers. We need the other white one.

David: Oh.... Hey, I drew a picture of it! Wanna see?

Me: Sure, but we need the real remote.

Update - found the remote today (Friday) in a place I never would have thought to look.... behind Jared's bookshelf.

A mother's dream come true

I came into the kitchen and found the boys doing dishes. We have a perfectly useful dishwasher, but they remember the good ole days of washing dishes by hand when we lived in Tacoma. I had to document this because I'm not sure how long these things last. Pretty soon, they'll complain about having to do the dishes even though a machine does all the hard work.

And yes, David is in his underwear. Wearing pants is just too complicated, he finds a way to ditch them. One of these days, I'll take a picture of him with a t-shirt, his underwear, some old snow boots and his homemade superman cape. It's quite the costume.



By the way, dinners are going well. David still doesn't eat everything and sometimes refuses to try anything at all. However, he doesn't complain or cry about going to bed without something different. He has accepted the rules and drinks water if he doesn't like what I cook. Jared tries things, he is willing to experiment more and more. The other night we had spaghetti and meatballs. Jared did not want to try the meatball, but after some coaxing, he did and actually liked it a lot. I was so proud! A small victory with David happened last night. I made stir fry with noodles and David ate the noodles. Normally if things are touching or are mixed up, he won't try any of it so we won that battle.

Angel Slideshow

I posted a link to the slideshow of my latest Angel here, it will only be up for a limited time. A few of my friends said they couldn't view it for some reason so if you're one of those who can't, then I'm sorry. I'm still looking for another site with the same benefits of security (not a public place like youtube). If you know of one that doesn't charge for 5-10 minute videos, then please drop me a line.

Quote of the day

By David...... "Who ever loses, wins." And this was totally random.

5:30am

I got a call from a nurse at the hospital, a family was expected to lose their baby who was born prematurely and suffered an infection. When I arrived, the baby had already passed away and the nurses were cleaning/dressing her for pictures. The nurses are amazing, they understand the importance of what I do and they go the extra mile to help me serve the best way I can. Here is a picture of her hands, I posted more on my photo blog. Her necklace says "Missing You" and "Forever in my Heart" and it was one of the gifts provided by the hospital.



I thought about staying home after my photo session, but decided church would help me pull myself back together again. Plus, my boys were there and I needed to put my arms around them.

Day 3 of making 1 dinner for everyone

Last night we had stir fry, I made it from scratch and thought it was pretty good. Jared ate the chicken and tried some of the vegetables, he liked the chicken. David pushed his plate away and drank water. This time, he didn't whine or cry about it. We let him leave the table when everyone was finished so he didn't sit too long. He went to bed and accepted the consequence, I think he understands that I am serious about my new rule. Larry and I think it's a good idea to have a dinner the boys are more likely to enjoy every other night so David gets a break. I haven't decided what to make tonight.....

Day 2 of making 1 dinner for everyone

We had pizza and steamed carrots tonight. Everyone enjoyed the pizza (David was breathing a sigh of relief) and almost everyone had carrots. Can you guess who didn't want a bite? If you said David, then you get cyber points! Jared already likes carrots, but has never had them steamed before and he actually liked them..... but not enough to have seconds. David didn't starve tonight so that's a good thing. There should be more drama tomorrow, I'm making something new from a cookbook.... stir fry from scratch.

Day 1 of making 1 dinner for everyone

A little back story, I am a softie. I cook a meal for Larry and I, then I make something for the boys together or separately if they don't agree on what they want. Some nights, that's 3 meals I make at dinner time. I have finally decided that there are several things wrong with this picture and want to make a late resolution to change it.

First, David has become the pickiest eater I've ever heard of. He cannot grow up to be a picky eater, his future wife will hate me.

Second, I'm afraid the boys aren't going to get the nutrients they should be getting. I give them a quality multi-vitamin from Shaklee every day so I doubt they would become deficient by any means.

Third, it's a daunting task to make 3 meals in one night.

So we made a new family rule tonight, the boys will eat what I cook or drink water for the remainder of the night. They also have to sit at the table until I tell them they can leave. Tonight I made steak, salad and sweet peas. Jared ate his steak and tried the salad. He said he liked the peas and plans to finish them. David immediately pushed his plate away from him and said "Hmmph" with his eyes closed and head turned. Clearly he has declared war on my dinner. He may win the battle, but I will win the war. How many nights will it take before he decides he doesn't like water for dinner? We shall see. (throwing down the gauntlet)



Oh and he decided to take off his shirt and pants as part of his protest.

Who says I can't play with my food?

If vegetables had feelings, what do you think this one is trying to express?

Happy New Year!!

We partied hard until about 12:30am, it was fun having Tara and Gnanam over for games and chatting. Tara totally killed me on the game "Stratego," but I did win one round of Uno. Yeah.... Jared also won a round so I can't toot my own horn too loudly.

I've been thinking about New Years Resolutions and the ones I made last year. I didn't make my actual resolutions public, but I'm proud to say I didn't fail on any of them. I think the reason people fail at resolutions might have a lot to do with how big the leaps are. I think we have to be realistic and our resolutions have to be attainable. With that, I've got my new list. It has much to do with increasing my spirituality, growing closer as a family, advancing my photoshopping skills and a few other miscellaneous things.

We had a wonderful 2008 and we feel like every year gets better for us, we're looking forward to 2009 and the things we'll accomplish as a family. We wish you the best for your 2009!