It all started with, Mommy, can I have an apple?

Its 4:01 pm. an hour away from dinner and Scholar asks me, "mommy, can I have an apple?" I said to him, we don't have any apples. He said, "can I go look in the fridge for an apple?" I said, "yes". He runs up the stairs and all of a sudden I hear "mommy, there are no apples, can I have a clementine or a baby bel instead?" I said, "you can have a clementine" he said, "or a baby bel.", I said, "a clementine" he says, "or a baby bel." I said, "No, choose a clementine." he says, "ok mom, I am going to choose a baby bel." I say, "no, choose a clementine, he says, "ok"

Scholar, Scholar, Scholar... what am I going to do with you??

So, I wanted to tell a "funny" story about Scholar. I put funny in quotations because I still don't think this is funny but Heber laughed when I told him part "a" and part "b" so maybe someday I will think its funny. (I have to say that he thought it was naughty, but still funny)

So yesterday I needed to go to Maceys. We all got into the car and I realized that Scholar didn't have any shoes or socks on, which is so normal for him, so I got in the car and told him he needed to go inside and get them on. He quickly ran inside, (which is unusual, usually he puts up a fight. What a relief). He comes back and all is well. We go to Maceys, do our shopping, and come home.

I was unloading groceries and Scholar was still in the car, he stayed in the car for an unusually long time. He finally came out with 'that grin'. 'That grin' is the grin he gives when he know he has done something naughty, and its usually something very naughty. I give him a once over and notice immediately that he isn't wearing his shoes. I asked him, "Scholar, where are your shoes?" He says, " I left them at Maceys." "Why would you leave your shoes at Maceys?" I asked while trying so very hard to keep my cool and not flip out. His answer is, "because".

I am so in shock that I say, "are you joking?, did you really leave them at Maceys? Where did you leave them?" and he says, "by the food". I desperately try to think back to when we were walking out, feeling like a horrible mother that didn't notice that my son wasn't wearing any shoes (they were sandals by the way). I forced a calm voice and said, "well, I guess you have lost your shoes, you don't get them back." and his response was, "Yes!!" then I said, "you are going to have to go to time out for this", and then he ran into the house and shut the door.

I finish gathering the groceries and go to open the door and guess what? The door is locked! My four year old locked me out of the house! Luckily Meg was inside and she let me in. I immediately go on a hunt for Scholar because he ran and hid. Do you think he knew he was in trouble?... I searched down stairs and said in a forced very calm voice, "Scholar, if you don't come out before I count to five then I am going to add five minutes to your time out: 5, 4, 3, 2... "I am up here, mommy!", he says as he comes running out of his hiding spot. Needless to say, he spent some time in 'time out' yesterday.

So Part "b"...

This morning I needed to go to Maceys again. I decided to go while the kids were at school to make it easier of course. I wanted to go to the customer service desk to see if his shoes were there, I wasn't going to give them back to Scholar. I just wanted closure I guess. Well, I go and ask them if they were in the lost and found and they said they are not. Hmm... I thought to myself, "I wonder if he put them under the seat of the car and told me he left them at Maceys..." I ran to the car to check and sure enough they were under the seat of the car! Remember he spent a lot of time in the car after the shopping trip??

So, yesterday he spent time in 'time out' for something he didn't do, and then today he spent more time in 'time out' for lying to me about it!

I sure do love my Scholar, but he definitely keeps me on my toes!!

Halloween Gingerbread House

Annica gave us a Halloween gingerbread house and it was fun putting it together.

The kids were so excited to get started

They were putting candy on it everywhere

Finished project

We had fun putting it together. The kids only ate a few pieces of the candy while they were decorating.

Meg and Q

Here are some pictures of Meg and Q before church on Sunday.

I Dont like that!

Q has been saying things like this for a while. One of his infamous sayings is commonly heard when he is done with his food, he will say, "I don't like it". We figured out it's his way of saying I'm all done. He has been doing that for a while, but lately he has been saying things like this:

"What is that?" Then he proceeds to get a sour face and says, "I don't like that!" I ask him this, "How do you know you don't like it if you don't even know what it is?"

Then he will ask what it is and I will tell him. Again the process starts over with, "I don't like it." But this time I give him the line every mother knows well. "How do you know you don't like it if you haven't tried it?

Then frustrated, I tell him to go play. Its a process, we go through it every day, several times a day.

But this day was different. This day he asked what it was, as a plate was being put in front of him. I told him turkey. He said, "I don't like turkey", and I said, "ya, ya I know." Then Heber asked him if he wanted to say the prayer and this is what he says:

"Dear Heavenly Father,
thankful for this food, even though I don't like turkey, Jesus Christ, amen.

Scholar's 3rd Birthday

Heber is the cake decorator in the family, he always does a super job :)

Scholar had a great birthday, and a few parties. He loved getting all the attention for a change. Meg usually steals the show, but this was his day and he loved it.

Scolly is the cutest boy I know. He loves to laugh and will do things just so he can laugh, it doesn't matter if you laugh or not.

He loves to be vocal and run, often at the same time. He will scream, and then run around the room and laugh.

He definitely has a mind of his own, and knows what he wants and wont settle for anything less. He loves to just play and have fun. We love our Scolly!

Karate School

Scholar calls it Karate School.

They let Scholar in early, he is in the 3 and 4 year old class.

Both kids are in the same class until Meg turns 5.

Getting ready for the first day of class.

I had to hem their outfits to make them fit better.



Showing off their moves


They are not wearing their belts because they were not allowed to wear them before class because they had to earn them on their first day. It was so cute, they did a ceremony and the kids got to open the belts and the instructor got to give them a speech about trying hard and getting different belts, the kids just loved it!

I need to do my chores!

That is what my kids have been saying lately before bed. I need to do my chores so I can get a gumball!

I was at target the other day and saw this gumball machine.
I started tossing around ideas of how I can use it to help my kids do their chores. I ended up coming up with this:

I thought I could put rewards on it and then they get to pick one every night before bed if they get their chores done. I sat down with the kids and asked them what chores they wanted to do and gave them some suggestions. This is what we came up with.

Meg:
Clean room
Brush teeth (2 times a day)
Clean living room
Take meds (2 times a day)

Q:
Clean room
Pick up toys from family room
Brush teeth (2 times a day)
Go potty in the potty

It was been so wonderful to hear my kids say, "I have to do my chores tonight!" they love getting a gum ball out of the gum ball machine.

The rewards are really easy and simple to do. they are something like this:

Get a treat before bed. (like 1 star burst or something small)
get a snack before bed. (like pretzels or something that isn't candy)
get a special drink before bed ( 1/3 cup of apple juice or something in the fridge)
get to stay up an extra half hour with mom
get an extra story before bed
get a story and a song before bed

I did 2 of each of the rewards so there are 12 balls. I used masking tape to write on and then taped it to the ball so I didn't ruin any of the balls.

The gum ball machine is a toy for small children. The gum ball are toy balls and it doesn't cost any money to get one out. The brand is 'Sugar Chute' I got it for 15 dollars at target.

My Poor Scolly!

My poor Scolly and Meg decided to play on my treadmill yesterday morning. Q was on it but Meg wasn't, and she turned it on full blast resulting in 2nd degree friction burns on Scholar's arms and burns on one leg and his chin.

He has one spot on his arm that they tell me is going to scar and he got nerve damage in that spot so he cant feel it.

The burns weren't over any joints so we dont have to worry about joint loss, so that is a blessing. I have to take Q back every morning to get him redressed and have them scrape the dead skin off. I am nervous for Q but so far they said he has been the best patient they have ever seen he just sat there and let them put the bandages on.

One good thing is that Q is almost potty trained. He can sleep through the night with no accidents, and he wears big boy underwear when we are at home, but the problem is that we haven't been able to stay home for long lately so we are still working on it, but we have high hopes. I cannot wait until he is potty trained and we have no kids in diapers!

On another note Meg is doing better, I took her to see the allergy doctor yesterday because we think that her asthma was allergy induced this time instead of viral.



It turns out she is allergic to cats, dogs, and dust.

We are still giving her treatments every 4 hours around the clock. Heber and I take turns getting up with her in the night.

She has bronchitis and a sinus infection on top of her asthma and now she is on 5 medications that need to be taken multiple times a day.

Somehow we are getting through this week. It has been insane!

He is a sneaky one...

Q decided to take one bite out of each Clementine and of course it wasn't good because of the peel, so he thought he would try another one, again and again.

He threw them in the garbage thinking I wouldn't notice.

The whole house smelled like yummy citrus for hours.

Scholars a kid

I will often ask Q, "are you a happy boy", or say "hows my boy?" or even ask flat out, "are you a boy?" and every time he will say to me in a matter of fact tone, "No, I'm a Kid!"

Such Good Helpers...

Meg and Q got up this morning and decided to help out by unloading the dishwasher for me. the problem, the dishes weren't clean!

Kids!

Meg was watching tv and during a commercial I told her to go and pick up 5 toys in the toy room. she said I cant! I said why cant you? and she said: Because the tv said not to go anywhere! The tv said!

We were at the rite aid drive up to get a prescription and had to wait longer then i would have liked and all of a sudden Meg said: this is not working for me! its just not working! its taking too long!

I asked meg if she wanted to do something fun today and she responded: Ya! You have 2 choices mom! You can either go to the little star, or chuck e cheese! Those are your choices!
(little star means Carl's Jr play place)

The other day Meg was playing a dog, and she told me that I was a cat, and she started growling at me, and when I didn't respond as she expected she told me that Cats are nervous to dogs!

Q loves balls. He loves to play basket ball. He will throw the ball into the basket and say Almost!, or So close!, if he misses, or Yay if he makes the basket and he will clap for himself.

Q is such a climber! he will climb on anything he can get his body on top of, and if he gets stuck he will just hang there and say help!, help!, or help me! until someone comes to "rescue" him.

If you ask Q what he wants to eat, he will say cake!

We decorated for Halloween yesterday and it was so fun to see the kids expressions to be so excited about Halloween! Meg loves to get scared, and i haven't been able to tell if she really is scared, or if she is just pretending. I love the innocence of children!

Q's almost 2!

I took Q to the dr today for his 2 year check up. I was prepared to for him to get shots but wasn't prepared for Meg to get a shot too! Flu season is upon us!

92% height - that was a surprise. We still think of him as so little.
15% weight - he is tall and skinny

Based on their height when they are 2 they can tell how tall they will be when they are an adult and it shows that Q will be 6 foot tall. Meg too by the way, but the dr doesn't think Meg will be that tall, but she thinks Q will be 6 foot tall. I guess we just have tall kids.

Q is a bit delayed on his speech but everything else looks great. We are just hoping he picks up on speech soon. He has been saying new things every day, he just doesn't put two words together yet. he just grows when he wants to, he has always had a mind of his own!

Highlights for the week, he is expecting a hair cut soon, hopefully really soon because he needs it bad, and pictures from Kiddie Kandids, and I am going to make a rocket ship cake, adn he even gets an elmo piniata. Fun things to look forward to at the billings house this week!

2 Sick Kids

I am taking care of 2 sick kids today. Q has been throwing up all night and Meg went to the dentist to get cavities filled.

Q started getting sick yesterday at Heber's family's party. he threw up 3 times at grandmas house, 2 times in the car on the way home and 1 time in the bath tub when we got home and 1 time after he went to bed about 10. He has been sleeping all morning with a fever, poor thing.

Heber watched Q while I took Meg to her dentist appt this morning. She needed 2 cavities filled but ended up getting 4 filled! I feel like a horrible mother! She did really well at the dentist. She started off bad and the dentist asked me if I wanted to wait to do the 2nd one but i said just do it and then I told meg to chill out! in a nice way of course and then she calmed down and we were able to finish and were so proud of her. She did great!

The dentist told me that the nitrogen helps with asthma, it clears the airways, so I am hoping that it helped her.

I woke up feeling like Q looks today so hopefully I can take care of my kiddos and myself while Heber is on vacation at work! (just kidding, I know Heber works hard to provide for our family and he does a great job at what he does,we love him!)

Orem Summerfest!

We had so much fun a few weeks ago at Summerfest! We were able to spend the day exploring and playing.

Here is Meg showing off the crafts that they made. Pencil Toppers

Taking a break at the Playground.

Police car and motorcycle

Army Cars

Airmed Helicopter

We got to watch it land, and then the kids got to sit in it and play with buttons.

They were more interested in this dog then riding on the helicopter.

Fire Engine and Ambulance

I didn't know the fire engine had so many buttons, levers and gadgets! Q was in button heaven!

no pictures of the ambulance because the kids were too interested in the fire truck to stop to get a picture with the ambulance.

The tire on the fire truck is taller them Meg. It is Massive!

We had a lot of fun at summerfest, it was a great day!

Leaves of Three, Let it Be!

Q's Dr thinks its Poison Oak. Heber isn't so sure. We checked our back yard (the only place Q has been playing lately) and there is no signs of poison oak. Either way, we NEED to get our yard finished!

Q is doing well, no itching or change of behavior from him. He doesn't even know its there. I just feel bad for the poor little guy!!

The dr's aren't exactly positive what it is. They said it could be poison oak, or chicken pox but are leaning toward poison oak.

He has had his shots for chicken pox and sometimes when you get them after you have the shot they can be abstract, meaning that they will look and do different things then regular chicken pox, like not spread across his whole body, and look slightly different then regular ones.

Dont worry, its not contagous. We can still go to Ogden this weekend, (unless you dont want us to and we will Completly understand. Just let me know!)

Heber thinks its not poison oak, but an allergic reaction to something. Maybe we will never know what it was, but I hope it doent happen again!

BackYard Adventure ~ Heber's Company's Party

So I am a Dummy and totally forgot my camera. Luckily I have a friend who took some pictures of Q and sent them to me! Thanks Nicole!

Last night Heber's Company Party was at BackYard Adventure. We look forward to this party every year, I think this was our 3rd time going. anyway, BackYard adventure is a place that sells swing sets and stuff like that, but they are over 1000 dollar swing sets! wow! anyway The one in Draper has blow up stuff like obsitcal courses and slides. They also let you play on their swing sets and whatever. its really fun, and the adults are allowed to play on the things too. We raced and slid and did everyhting the kids did.

For dinner we had Jdawgs (not even sure if I spelled that right) . Sooooo Good! they are basically a gigantic hot dog (real meat) that is really really good and a really nice bun, and of course you can't forget their "secret sauce" on your dawg. I got heber one and he sent it back because it didnt have the "secret sauce" on it. I learned my lesson.

So here Q playing around. in one of the bounce house slides:

Here we are making our way up the stairs, he can do it all by himself!



Both the kids were so tired, we didnt get home until 8:30, 2 hours past Q's bed time. he was tired but didnt want to leave. Just laying on my lap resting!



We are posing for a picture!



Q decides to go down all by himself! What a big boy!

s

Every time when he got to the bottom of the slide he would cry and want to be held for a second. then he would get down and go right down again!

Scolly's Hair Cut

Sunday, I decided to give Q a hair cut that was long overdue.

Anythings possible with a bag of jelly beans