The More We Work Together

It's hard to find work to hand over to the kids. They take constant monitoring and encouraging. Here is what we've accomplished:

They are now the sole dishwasher emptiers; Layne does the top rack and the silverware, Brik the bottom. I have to deal with kid germs on my clean dishes and messy cabinets, but it's getting better and you have to start somewhere, right? Layne cleans his room, which includes putting his toys back in the toy room, throwing away trash, hanging clothes on hangers and making his bed. They are also in charge of keeping the rest of the house free from kid clutter. Now they are doing laundry. Brik puts the clothes in the washer, they use teamwork to get them in the dryer and Layne takes them out of the dryer. Brik is super clumsy and is not trusted to stand on a stool. This video is one of their best work. Usually Brik is trying to throw the clothes to Layne with really bad throws, or he gets distracted and Layne stands on the stool saying "Brik, give me some more clothes!"

For years we have had a no TV policy, now that the TV and the gym is broken they are allowed 30 minutes a day once all chores are done. Layne is super motivated by this and has been super helpful, often asking "What do I need to do?" and encouraging his brother to finish, even helping him at times : ) Their video of choice; The Wizard of OZ.

Now for things we are working on: Hand washing pans, this has proven to be a soapy messy job that I have not been able to hand over. Sweeping; we are far away from this one, but I have them go through the motions sometimes. Matching socks/folding laundry; they complain it is too hard and I can't stand seeing the pile sit on the couch all day. They do take their own folded clothes to their room though, and sometimes other piles, they often become an unfolded mess by the time they get there.

In Your Face

I just have to rub it in...81 degrees mid January day! Come on Mom and Dad, you know you want to live here. Thanks to my great aunt and uncle, Rosie and Dave, we have a beautiful heated pool available for us to enjoy on days like today. Here are a few of the enticing details:

Face floating on the noodle.

Better than a noodle.

Holding on.

Delicious Daddy.Jump.

Warming up.

Going, going gone.

Someone Likes Dinah

For some reason this song has consistently brought smiles. Off camera Brik is talking to my dad and Layne is worried he won't get a turn because Brik would rather share with Roxwell.

That Time

It was that time of the day…Layne is off to school, I am back from the gym, baby is eating, the computer at my side catching up with an old friend Alison on her blog (did you know they had blogs in 2005!?) I am relaxed because my three year old is pretty much and angel, I am seriously concerned that he may be twinkled at any moment. I can be doing my own thing for HOURS and he does not come across an ounce of trouble. Now, with our first born, (that’s what we call him when we don’t want him to know we are talking about him) I would collect all the necessities, phone, burp cloth, nursing pillow, key and herd the boy into his room where I would then lock the door so that I could at least SEE what trouble he was getting into at that time. Yet he still managed to pull one over on me by starting a fire in the kitchen while we were locked away in the bedroom. You may ask how? and to this day Layne could tell you that if you put a tomato in the toaster it will start a fire. That time of the day was always stressful, I had to deal with a loud, destructive toddler crawling wildly all over me while protecting my baby and trying to feed him, never knowing if my house was going to be still standing when we emerged.

So here I am present day, sitting, feeding. relaxed. Jarom walks in, (he does this most days, a welcome treat, if you like your husband, and I do) we greet each other. He walks through the house into the kitchen, I watch him (who wouldn’t? he’s a FINE hunk of meat) turn the corner and his face changed to disappointment, his voice stern “Brik. What are you doing with the shortening?” In that 5 second pause a myriad of thoughts swarmed my mind. He has his fingers in the shortening, he has smeared it all over the cabinets, the floor, the unsealed wood pantry door, his hair, his clothes…I’ll have an hour’s worth of clean up and have to make a special trip to Sprouts to buy more. Am I going to have to start locking us up so that I can keep an eye on him? Do I smell fire? Why would I think these things? Because our first born has done them, more than once, with desetin, bag balm and the like. Then I hear the little angelic boy’s honest, sincere reply “ I was going to say ‘mom, look, we have two of these.'” I could picture him around the corner holding 2 unopened containers of shortening. A smile…SWEET RELEIF.

So for now that time is still fantastic, but I still worry about the twinkling thing.

P.S. The pictures have nothing to do with today. I just posted them because some people look for the pictures, some for the details. I’m a people pleaser.

Uncle John

Man to Man Talk

Lord, help me be better

Never been too much for New Years Resolutions, but I do see the value in setting goals. Here are mine in writing, easiest to most challenging.

I will exercise , not to lose weight, but to transform my squishy new mommy middle into a firm, hard core.

I will be more social by staying in touch. I will make efforts to get to know people more deeply and keep in contact with friends and family – hence the blog.

I will give more service by taking meals to those in need of help and befriending those who need a friend.

I will be a better mom by attributing positive intent. Instead of assuming Layne is evil and always trying to make my life difficult I will assume he is truly meaning to do good and simply falling short. Too many times I have jumped all over him for making a mess of something when he was really just trying to help.

The Forgotten Baby

So I just realized I haven't posted about Roxwell since he was born and he is almost 3 months now. So I took a bunch of pictures today to try and redeem myself.

I actually have found myself enjoying him more than the other two. Sometimes I lock myself in my room with him and pretend I don't have anyone else trying to steal my attention away. It makes me realize I was in too big of hurry for my other babies to grow up.

Roxwell is so easy going. He loves his pacifier which makes him easy to soothe. He falls asleep on his own with out nursing or rocking. He deals really well with all the noise and commotion of his brothers. This baby is strong, he has been rolling over from tummy to back since he was 1 week old-no joke! He sits well in the bumbo seat already for 10 minutes before he tinkers out. I wish he would stay baby forever (except for the nursing thing).
Roxwell loves to swing, in fact he will sleep right through feedings when he is left in it. This is the greatest swing ever, not only is it stinking cute and matches the nursery decor, but it plugs into the wall - meaning no batteries! I also love the music feature, it drowns out the other household noises. We turn it on for almost every nap.

Just Like the Wicked Witch

I love recording the funny things my kids say. This morning Layne was in his room (I don't know what for, his dad sent him) during this time Brik took advantage of having the easy bake oven all to himself. Note: this is a hand me down from Aunt Katie last Christmas, Jarom would NEVER let me buy our boys a "girl" toy. So Brik left the plastic stick thingy in the oven too long so it is mis shaped. He said "mom, I breaked it" I said "yep, it melted" He said "Yes. Just like the wicked witch. (high squeaky voice) I'm melting, I'm melting.

Back to Layne who yells out from his room "Dad, I thinked a lot about things and I am not going to be grumpy anymore." Jarom talks to him - yadayada. Then Layne finds what Brik has done. "Brik I never want you to break that! I am just going to put it up and you are not going to play with it for two years."

A Bowl Under His Mouth

Jarom went home from church sick today. So on our drive home I was trying to prepare the kids for some quiet time so that Dad could rest. Brik thought he needed to "take care of Dad." When I asked him what he was going to do to take care of him, he said " I need a hoed a bow unner his mouf por him."

Back on My Feet

I feel a little self conscious posting this, but this is like my diary now. Not everything is going to be pleasant, or interesting for that matter. I am fascinated by this injury because I have never had a bruise like this in my life. I just do not bruise much, so to see a bruise cover half of my foot baffles me. All I did was catch my toe on the leg of Brik's little trampoline. It hurt...a lot, I thought it must be broken. I can hardly believe it is healing so rapidly. I can walk without limping now. It mostly only hurts when the kids step on it or I bump it on something (sure wish somebody would have picked up the house while I was laid up) Anyway, this explains the many posts this week and the start of my food blog. So, sorry if the posts start lagging. Just know it means I am back on my feet.

P90X

Jarom has started doing some at home workouts. Layne and Brik have been known to join in. One of the warm ups involves moving arms an legs in a scissors like motion. Layne was all into this move, looking over at Jarom he said "This is like Dorothy and the Scarecrow doos." Jarom feels a bit foolish doing that move now that Layne has pointed that out.

Rollin' in the Dough

My kids are mad about dough, it never gets old... well, it does but they still play with it. We have to sneak it in the garbage while they are sleeping and hope they don't remember in the morning. Brik asks almost daily if I have any dough, then if I will make him some.

They used to just make a really big mess.

Love that curl, I miss that.

Now things have become sofisticated. They are involved in the mixing, setting the timer and waiting for it to be done.

They roll it out, cut it with cookie cutters, let it rise and even bake it, thanks to this 10 year old Easy Bake Oven from their Aunt Katie.

Layne has gone a step further in wanting the family to eat his confections. Brik and him with eat them like they are really cookies. Last week Layne announced with profound insight that his cookies taste like mom's bread. Jarom and I pretend to eat the goods that are cooked at 200 degrees for the amount of time that spans a five year olds attention, laced with buggers and all the dirt that can stick to it from being dropped on the floor time and time again. Yet, they are always delicious. Tonight Layne made us rolls to go with our pizza.

Brotherly Conversation

Brik: "Ask me." Taps Layne on the head, Layne looks up. "You have to ask me Layne" I look up, now he's got my attention. Authoritatively now "Layne. Ask."

Layne: "Can I play with your camera Brik?" Mom finally understands what is going on.

Brik: Thrilled his brother complied with his demands "Yes." Then simply walks away.

The picture has nothing to do with the conversation. It was taken after enjoying a cup of Abuelita. The kids were tipping their mugs to get every drop, in doing so, received these very similar chocolate markings.

Arizona Kids on Snow

Layne (2) Jarom is flipping through the channels, when Layne excitedly declares "Ice cream!" It was a scene of a snow covered forest. That would have been a lot of ice cream!

Brik (barely 3) From the backseat of the van he yells "Look Mom! There's snow. Right there, I see it." It was a big fluffy cloud in the sky uncommon in the valley where the clouds are usually thin and streaky.

Impressions of an Impressive Lunch

When a Bagley from out of town comes to visit there are always tons of opportunities to go out to eat. This of coarse comes with the daunting task of pulling off an outing with a crowd of people who have no skills in planning, sticking to a plan or even looking at a clock. We were ahead of the game with the restaurant chosen, only women attending (cutting the crowd in half) and the day was set without an option of changing since Jill was flying out the next day. Let's just say I left my house at 10:45 and returned 5 hours later.

The restaurant was True Food Kitchen and the menu was centered on Dr. Andrew Weil's anti-inflammatory diet. I have been a fan of Dr. Weil since I read his books in 2001 and was captivated by the science behind nutrition. I loved everything about the place...the plants that lined the walkway to the entrance, the thick wood counters with chefs prepping ingredients, the large open kitchen, the colors, the knowledgeable servers, the 3 varieties of natural sweetener packets on the tables. But the food...oh so fresh, high quality I could taste. Organic, grass fed, wild caught, whole grain, low glycemic, and powefull anti-oxident are some of the buzz words that permiated my soul. A restaurant that can make super healthy meals that taste great it top in my book. However, the portions were diet sized. We ate at 1 and I was hungry again at 4!

The company was delightful. The women of the Bagley family are the most fantastic mix of charisma. Here is a glance at just a few of the qualities that make them so inspiring to me.

Elaine is generous, assiduous and supportive, she always sees the best in others.
Jean is fun and social, always having a good time, great self esteem and lively conversation.
Heidi is super nurturing and endearing, a good listener and very sincere.
Becky is so sweet, loveable, and totally down to earth. Her spirit shines with true humility.
Jill is personable, loyal and real. She is easy to talk to and opens her heart as a true friend.
Reachel is ambitious, thoughtful and reserved, she has a grace about her that is captivating. (And is a great party hostess)

Leisel is a talented and altruistic with great compassion and understaning for others

Ashley is vivacious and reliable with honorable character and a strong sense of virtue.