Suze Orman

In case you are interested, I'm passing this along. Seems like a great deal and we should all be saving anyway.
"Anyone who opens a new, eligible Save Yourself account from TD AMERITRADE by March 31, 2008, and makes 12 consecutive automatic deposits of at least $50 or more per month, will receive a $100 cash deposit into the account within four weeks of the one-year anniversary of their first qualifying deposit. The first deposit of $50 or more must be made within 30 days of the account opening date and minimum monthly deposits must be met to receive the offer."

I'm thinking about doing this.

Go to www.suzeorman.com for more info.

Updated Family Picture

I updated my family picture in the upper right hand corner but it's hard to see and the one I really wanted to use was REALLY hard to see. So, I'm posting it here so you can get a better look.

Look! I dressed myself!

Joshua dressed himself and I think he did a great job! Definitely picture worthy! Go Joshua! You are awesome!

Colorful Easter Eggs

We love to dye eggs every year for Easter! This year, Joshua dyed all of his eggs green. Any guesses on his favorite color?

Jack seems serious about this egg dying business.

Abby loves anything to do with coloring or painting!

John made a striped egg that I wish I would have taken a picture of before Abby ate it. It was so cool that of course it was the first one eaten!

Ethan's thinking: "When is it MY turn!"

Where am I? Taking pictures of course!

Spouse vs. Spouse Tag

How did you meet your spouse? We actually grew up about 5 minutes away from each other and were in the same stake but different wards. One of my friends had a crush on John and I had a crush on one of John’s friends. I wasn’t interested in John because my friend was—you know how it is. When he came back from his mission and came to BYU, a mutual friend invited us both to a volleyball game. I got to know John better and we hit it off right away!
Where did you go on your first date? I believe our first date was an on-campus movie. He held my hand and I got excited but then he told me that he holds hands with all of the girls. Weird!
How long have you been together? I believe we started dating in December and we wanted to get married that next summer but our parents pressured us to wait because they thought it was too soon. We shouldn’t have listened to them. Anyway, we didn’t get married until the following summer. So, dating/engaged for 1 ½ years and married for 10 ¾ years. And I really believe we love each other more now than we did when we got married!
Who eats more? I eat more sweets than John but he eats more at meals.
Who said I love you first? Honestly, I don’t remember. How sad it that?
Who sings better? John definitely sings better but he rarely sings. He used to sing all of the time before we got married. He was even in a group and I thought “Yeah! I’ve always wanted to marry someone who can sing!” Unfortunately, he no longer sings. I can sing but I don’t really like my singing voice. However, I sing ALL of the time in the privacy of my own home. I just asked Jack and Abby this question and they both answered that I sing better just as I thought they would. John, start singing! Your children don’t even know you can!
Who is smarter? John is smarter in most things. I have a terrible memory which makes me not as smart in things like history, science, politics, and entertainment. I am smarter when it comes to finances and child-rearing.
Who does the laundry? I do most of the laundry but John sometimes switches a load for me.
Who does the dishes? I do most of the dishes but I just started a chore chart that makes it John and Jack’s turn to do the dinner dishes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I even try to plan easy clean up meals for them.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? John.
Who pays the bills? Me.
Who mows the lawn? Have you seen our lawn??? John does all of the mowing and yard work. It is too dangerous for me!
Who cooks dinner? My dream is to have dinner ready everyday when John gets home. Reality is that lots of times he comes home and starts dinner. I think I still do more cooking than him but it’s close.
Who drives when you are together? John. Yeah, I get to play DS!
Who is more stubborn? John, but he’s too stubborn to admit it. : )
Who is the first to admit when they’re wrong? I don’t think either of us actually admits that we are wrong. We just compromise to keep the peace. We really don’t argue a lot.
Whose parents do you see the most? Since our parents live within five minutes of each other, we are able to visit both houses on the same trip. We sleep at my parent’s house and I definitely spend more time at my mom’s. John often goes to his house alone to play xbox. I like to go there when I know another woman will be there to chat with but most of the time I go, there are only men/boys there and they all play xbox while I watch the kids. Not so much fun.
Who kissed who first? John kissed me after what seemed like forever!
Who proposed? John. We had been dating only a couple months when he asked, “What would you say if I asked you to marry me?” I wasn’t going to accept THAT as a proposal! But, we did know we were going to get married after that. He officially asked (with a ring and on one knee) when we were home for Christmas break 10 months later.
Who has more friends? I have more friends because I am very outgoing and John is shy.
Who has more siblings? John has 7 and I have 3.
Who wears the pants in the family? I asked Jack and Abby who they think is the boss around here. Jack said that John is the boss because he’s really bossy. Abby said I’m the boss because I deserve it because I bought the house. Hehe. We really make most decisions together. Like I said, we don’t argue much.

Tag! Your turn!

Cleaning Windows

Have you ever had one of those days where you just start going crazy with cleaning? Scrubbing windows and walls, cleaning out cabinets and closests and getting to those areas of the house that are usually neglected? That's what I did yesterday. By the end of the day I was so sore. I only cleaned one window (inside and out) and then decided to add windows to my chore chart. I figure if I clean one window every Friday, my windows will be much cleaner than usual. It was seriously filthy in the tracks and now it is so clean! It made me happy to see my hard work really show. I also fought the ladybug battle. I vacuum a window and move to the next just to turn around and see more ladybugs in the one I just vacuumed! I decided to just tape up my fireplace because I believe most of them come in that way. While taping, I saw FIVE ladybugs come out of it! Ugh! It doesn't look very attractive to have a black garbage bag with tan masking tape covering the fireplace but if it keeps the ladybugs at bay until the leaves are back on the trees it will be worth it.

By the way John, I'm NOT pregnant! Spring cleaning must just be part of my wiring!

Oops!

Abby's kindergarten class dyed Easter Eggs today. When I picked Abby up from school we had this conversation:

Abby: "Mommy, you have a big mess to clean up in my bookbag!"

Me: "What do you mean?"
Abby: "I had eggs in there and they cracked."

I was thinking: "No big deal, they are hard boiled" but I opened her bookbag to see what was going on. See the picture below to see what I saw!

Apparently a parent sent in raw eggs instead of hard boiled and nobody noticed. Abby's teacher happened to come out of the building while we were still waiting for Jack so I showed her the mess. She couldn't believe it and said, "I'm glad you are taking this so well." I was laughing and said, "I have four kids, this is nothing!" I guess it's time for a new bookbag!

This one is for you Nana!

Since Christmas vacation Joshua can't stop talking about going to Nana's. Many a night when it starts to get dark outside, you can hear these words, "It's dark outside. We need to go to Nana's." We usually leave after dark when we go to Virginia Beach. If it is Joshua's turn to say the dinner prayer or the family prayer, you will surely hear about Nana's house no less than 3 times per prayer. Now if we could only convince Nana and Papa to move closer!

Robin

I received a comment last night from Robin but it didn't list a last name. I'm hoping it is from one of my greatest friends from college, Robin Schwausch! Is it you? I have tried several times to find you on the internet with no luck-- and I'm talking hours here! I didn't know if I was still spelling your last name right and your last name could be changed for all I know. If it's you, I'd love to be able to email you. I'm going to post an email address here for a short time. Email me and if you have a blog or website, send me the links. I'd love to check them out!

If it is not Robin Schwausch, sorry about all of the excitement. I'm glad you found my blog and could you please let me know which Robin you are. I have a terrible memory. I'm glad someone feels the same way I do about the house. I'm sure there are many more of us!

More of Ethan's Words!

Ethan is amazing us by constantly learning new words! He even knows what some of them mean now. Here are a few short clips for those interested. I made them short so that they wouldn't take too long to load. He also knows "Jack" and definitely knows what it means but I couldn't get it on video tonight. These were all recorded in the same sitting except for "car." Enjoy!

The first one is "Daisy".

The next one is "uh-oh".

This one is "Da-da". He knows what this means.

This next one is "Joshua" just so you know it wasn't a fluke.

He definitely knows what this means!

Last but not least is "car".

I finally added links!

Be sure to check out the links I've provided in the sidebar. If you visit my blog and would like a link to your blog here, just let me know!

Fun in the Snow!

Okay, so these pictures are from January and now it is March. I really agree with "Better late than never" in this case so here they are!

We all played in the snow this day. My children were excited about me coming out because last year I was pregnant and didn't go out much. Why bother if you can't go sledding at top speed down the hill just to throw yourself off of the sled before it goes over the drop off and into the woods???

This was Ethan's first time in the snow! He really enjoyed it and smiled a lot. When my other children were first introduced to the snow, they were curious but didn't really smile and eventually cried to go back inside. Ethan stayed outside for at least twice as long as the others did as babies.

He even let us lay him down in the snow and help him make a snow angel!

We actually didn't get much snow this winter and the children are disappointed. Abby keeps commenting on the lack of snow and I'm sure I'll continue to hear about it for a few more months or even until next winter!

At least they didn't lose any of their Spring Break like they usually do. My parents are going on a cruise for Spring Break so we are staying home the whole time. We hope to go bowling as a family on the discount day.

Fun, fun, fun!

Before and After

I'm sure many mothers can relate-- or at least I hope they can-- but lately I've been thinking that when I finish my chores and the house is clean I should take a picture. Then I should take another picture in the evening so I can compare. It is truely unbelievable how quickly a clean house can become a messy house! I often wonder if someone stopped by, how long would they think it had been since I last cleaned the house? Hours? Days? Even a week? Maybe I should start asking!

Loving our spouses!

I am copying a letter into my blog that I wrote to the Today Show this morning. I watched it for a few minutes this morning when they were discussing "Why Men Cheat." I saw Dr. Laura basically express that men often cheat because their needs are not being met at home. She claimed that we should love, cherish and take care of our spouses. Of course, she got a lot of negative responses from people who think she was claiming that it is a woman's fault if her husband cheats.

Here's my letter:

I did not enjoy seeing the way you treated Dr. Laura today. You had her on a panel where she expressed her opinion based on years of experience. Then you held another panel, left her out of it and allowed her to be talked about in a negative way. Then you had yet another segment where Dr. Laura was being interviewed by two of you. She again expressed her opinion and I felt that Ann (I love you, Ann!) wasn't even listening to her. It seemed that she had a strong opinion about this topic and so she was unable to listen without getting upset and trying to "fight" back. Maybe someone who didn't have such strong feelings about the comments should have done this interview. We are all entitled to our opinions and should be able to express them without being attacked. I think Dr. Laura deserves more respect than you gave her. It is obviously not a woman's fault when her husband cheats. He made that choice by himself. I think Dr. Laura wasn't try to blame women for their husband's choices but instead trying to express that many men claim they cheat because some of their needs weren't being met by their wives and they were able to have those needs met by another woman. I believe she was trying to help us strengthen our marriages by reminding us that we should be looking after the needs of our spouses. If we ALL did this, I'm sure the divorce rate would start dropping instead of climbing. Obviously, there are many cases where one spouse is trying his/her best to tend to the needs of the other spouse and the spouse cheats because he is selfish. I believe that divorces are often caused by selfishness on the part of one or both spouses. We should try to focus more on our spouses instead of focusing so much on ourselves. I believe this is what Dr. Laura was trying to express. Loving, cherishing and taking care of our spouses will make for a better marriage. Can you really argue against that?

Sincerely,

Heidi