The Good Wife's Guide...

I just had to post something crazy today. My dad sent me this article from a 1955 "Housekeeping Monthly" magazine. Some of you may have already seen this one, but it makes me laugh every time I read it. Click on it to read it for yourself. I have to say that I am very glad things are quite this way anymore... How 'bout you?!

"I've been thinking, Mom"

As you may all know, Geoff is really busy, and he sometimes just spends the night at his aunt and uncle's house down in South Jordan so he won't have to waste two hours of his time driving home at 11:00 at night and then just turning around and going back at 6:00 in the morning when he could use that time to study. When he doesn't come home (like tonight) I think to myself.... hmmm.... I could clean the house, or go to bed... heaven forbid... but I think I'll come up with something to blog. Especially since I JUST became addicted to this blogging thing, I have these older pictures that I should write about.

So, this is Jackson just a few weeks ago. He lost his first tooth, and since this picture, has lost another. Just before this first tooth came out he said to me, "Mom, I've been thinking about it, and I just KNOW there is no such thing as a tooth fairy! Think about it Mom, there are no such things as fairies, and it just doesn't make any sense that a fairy would bring you money and take your tooth." I guess I need to add here that Jackson has inherited Geoff's ability to analyze EVERYTHING! I, on the other hand, never think about anything.... except lately, when I think about something to blog. Anyway, I told Jackson that he didn't need to believe in the tooth fairy, but don't ruin the fun for others. Since it was his first tooth, he wanted to have money under his pillow anyway. I left him $2.00 that night under his pillow (I know! Big spender, eh?!) and when Jackson woke up he did the sweetest thing. He said, "I thought I was only going to get one dollar - this is great because now I have one dollar for me and I can give one dollar to Natalie!" He was just as excited to give her a dollar as he was to get one himself. I thought that was a really sweet brother. He really is getting to be such a sweet and thoughtful kid!

Do any of you moms ever feel this way... like you
clean and clean and clean and then clean some more?

Maybe it's just the mood I am in today, but I would

rather be doing almost anything than cleaning.

Have you ever heard the saying:

Cleaning your house while your children are growing

is like shoveling the snow while it's still snowing!

Now I have shoveled a lot of snow this winter,

and I know there are times where it is a lot easier to

shovel before you are in knee deep.

Unfortunately, I am already knee deep in housework!!

Dancing Queen!

My Grandma told me that she watches Staci dance (on one of the previous blogs) at least once a day to get a good laugh. Since I am not around my family at all, I just wanted to put another post of Staci dancing (especially for you, Grandma). We may not keep our house spotless, and we all usually look a tad bit "grungy".... but WE DANCE!

ALL SHOOK UP!

This morning at about 6:00 Jackson and Natalie woke up. I think Natalie was excited to play with her new toys from her birthday so she couldn't sleep. I had a really bad headache, so after I got the kids breakfast I decided to go and lie down for a while until Staci woke up. At about 7:15 I felt some major "rumbling" in my bed, and heard my bedroom windows shaking and rattling. At first I thought it was a BIG train going by (occasionally we will feel rumlings from some of the bigger trains going by because we live really close to the train tracks - I KNOW, you are jealous - but I have only ever felt the trains going by when I am upstairs, and my bedroom is downstairs). Anyway, I listened for a train whistle and it never came. I kind of sat up in my bed and looked around, and at first thought it was all in my head (because I have a lot of dizziness from time to time and I am sure I could feel my bed moving without it really happening). I knew I had heard the windows rattling quite a bit though, and couldn't have imagined that. Well, when I turned the T.V. on at 9:00 to, of course, watch my favorite game show "The Price is Right", (although I have to say I think Drew Carey is awkward as the new host and sometimes acts as if he has never been on television before!)... I heard that there was an EARTHQUAKE just about 100 miles west of here on the Nevada/Utah border. It measured 6.0, and there were a lot of people here in the Salt Lake area that felt it. I have only felt one earthquake before and that was on my mission in Victoria, B.C., and I'll never forget it. We were teaching a discussion to someone and the pictures on the walls started moving and the ground below us was shaking.... and I thought it was a sign for this person to get baptized. Today's earthquake was a sign for ME to hurry and finish up my 72 hour kits! Right?! So anyway, there you go.... something exciting to write about, for a first.

Natalie's Birthday

Today is Natalie's 4th birthday. We had a really fun day... mostly I did because Geoff's parents took Natalie for several hours while Jackson was at school and Staci was taking a nap... for a minute I thought it was MY birthday! I worked really hard on her cake until late last night (because she has been talking about a princess castle cake for a couple of months now) and when she woke up and saw it she said, "Mom! I wanted a kryptonite cake!" You can never please them, can you!?

If you have ever seen any footage from old family movies when I was a little girl then you may find this video clip especially funny. I dare you to figure out which one of my children acts like I did (well, and maybe a little bit still do!)

Basically, Staci climbs on anything she can and then she just thinks it's no big deal to "jump" off the table. Here she was trying to get down, and she was just hanging off the edge. That Monkey!!

Ok, I must admit that I am getting a little bit addicted to the blog thing. This is a video from back in October, but I wanted to put it on anyway. It was taken in our backyard.... you would never know there was even grass now under the enormous amounts of snow that have been there for a couple of months! The other girls in it are little girls from our neighborhood.

Just a funny thing Jackson said the other day: Geoff had someone from the Stake bring something to him for his calling and they were just visiting at the door. Well, Jackson just kept standing there quietly staring and listening to them. Then he excitedly came and said "Mom, there is a guy at the door and he used to be a pirate!!" I wondered what he meant, and so he told me that the man had a mechanical hand (I guess it was the closest thing to a "hook" that Jackson had ever seen... and he thought that anyone with a hook was at sometime or another a pirate!!) I thought that was pretty funny!! By the way, this picture of Jackson was taken on "wacky hair day" at school. When Jackson first saw this picture he said, "Mom, I think that is probably my best smile ever!"

Staci has become obsessed with books lately and is always bringing me something to read her... even if it is just an ad from the mail or something, she brings it to me and then immediately turns around and sits on my lap. Then she says, "what's that?" or "what's this?" over and over and over. Staci also loves to go "bye bye". Maybe 20 or 30 times a day she will bring me her coat or her shoes and say "Bye Bye Mama!" If we are going somewhere I better put her coat on RIGHT before we walk out the door because she has NO patience once we are ready!! Let's GO NOW! She is also learning the ways of her older brother and sister and loves to see what she can do for herself. She always is climbing up onto the computer desk and typing or clicking the mouse on the computer. She is really busy, but so much fun.