Why I Love You Jonas

* your long, beautiful hair * your amazing eyes * because you ate the whole dollup of jam I gave you for your french toast - without the french toast * you "Grrrrr" * you tell me "I love you" * you tell emmy "I love you" * you really adore your little sister * you share a lot with your big brother * you love to play without toys: chase, wrestle, hide 'n seek, ring-around-the-rosy * you love being tickled * you have the best huffy voice ever, especially when laughing * you do things for the sole purpose of making others laugh * you are called a girl at least once a week * you tell me to "go away" when you want to do something by yourself * you so want to do everything by yourself * you are very flexible and gynmasty (word?) * you kept asking me today, "Why the fan falling, why?" (it wasn't) * you tell me to "have fun" when I head out the door on an errand or morning run * you ask to be held at least a couple of times every day * you are Wonderful You

Why I Love You Emmy

* you have the cutest giggle * you are so darn sweet * you are My Girl * you bring joy and happiness to me * you are my calm during my Boy Storms * you are the most beautiful gal I have ever seen * you adore your brothers * you adore me * you adore your daddy * you flail your arms and legs when you're excited * you have chubby legs * you hardly ever spit up on me * you poop like every 4 days * you take good naps most of the time * you are always happy when you wake up * you sometimes burrow your head in my body when I hold you * you look so good in Pink * you so want to be Big like your brothers * you're in bed by 7pm, without a fuss * you have cute headbands * you always suck on your bunting when I am putting you down for your nap or bedtime * you like your music box that was mine as a little girl * you really want to make others happy * and at least another 1001 reasons

Valentine's Idea for the Little Men

We don't really buy each other gifts on V-Day (although I usually get flowers), but chocolate is something that is really nice - any time of the year, really. So to make it "extra" special this year Ben declared that we should buy Gertrude Hawks Chocolates. YUM. We fell in love with these while living out in NY. They are only located in 3 or so eastern states. So Ben and I checked out their website, and were a little disappointed. In their stores they offer a bunch of different flavors - our favs were white chocolate, raspberry, and mint. However, online we can't order these. So we just opted for the Chocolate Candy Bar Variety Pack that comes with one milk chocolate peanut butter meltaway bar, one milk chocolate krispy bar, one milk chocolate almond bar, one solid milk chocolate bar, & one solid dark chocolate bar. It will do and it will be fun reminiscing on those good ol' days there in NY. (Yes, the grass is always greener when on the other side of the continent. But, dang, the grass was greener there with all that rain.)

Okay, but the real reason for this post is that at Gertrude Hawks they offer these:

TWO of these will be arriving at my home for V-day.

Hodge Podge, Mod Podge, and Quote of the Week

Whew, that's a lot.

Well for the hodge podge part: I got a job. I'll be working for a home health agency here in town as a RN. Not that I think I'll be doing too many RN-specific/needed responsibilities, but I guess that will be okay. For this stage of life that I am in (the one that basically requires me to be within 3 hours of any given child at any given part of the day/nite), home health really caters to it. I'll just be working every other Thursday and will be given 5 patients each day to go in and assess, take vitals, educate - but mostly, I think, just to "visit." Huh. Interesting. As a RN on the med-surg floor, this whole "visiting with your patient" thing will be new. I think it'll be nice. Except for those patients (who fellow RNs know exactly whom I am talking about). But I'm excited to just have something different to do then what I have been doing for basically the past 1400 days.

The mod podge part:

I'm incredible lucky to have an extremely crafty and talented sister, as well as many other crafty and talented friends. One of those friends posted some great ideas recently on her blog for ValentiMe's gifts. I stole her first idea, but changed it slightly. I will be doing my kids' pictures later on when we arrange our house a bit differently so I know where I'll be putting it. But it's always fun to make something crafty - and always a bonus when it is so super cheap because then I can actually do it and not just think about it. So I bought some really nice stone tiles at Home Depot ($5.97/pack of 9 4x4 tiles), found some awesome pictures of flowers on the web, printed them out at home on photo paper, and mod podged them on. Fun. I'll be hanging them up in the bathroom. But question for all you crafty folk: how should I hang them? Ben and I have thought about placing ribbon on the back with a glue-gun and hanging them up that way? Hopefully the glue would be strong enough. Or finding some plate-hanger thingys (ya know what I am talking about???). Or what? Ideas would be helpful.

Finally, Quote of the Week:

"GRRRRR."

~Jonas

He says it a lot of times at people when he doesn't like what they say or do. Examples: "Jonas, do not do that (that implying a whole assortment of activities)." "Grrrr." Or, "Jonas get your pajamas on." "Grrrrr." Or, Jonas will get a toy taken away by Miles or pushed down by Miles. "Grrrr." (Or, as just happened tonight: "Grrrrr Wilson." After Wilson the Dog ate the last few bites of Jonas' FHE Rice Krispie treat) I think you get it.

Flashback Friday

A little trip down memory lane again - this time memory lane is in New York. While only there a year, we have many fond (and many not-so-fond) memories. One of the things I loved best there were my runs (and, Kristen, don't even think I'm talking about IBS). Anyways, I absolutely had the best running route ever there. Beats running in Sandy, UT; Provo, UT; somewhere, CT; Grand Junction, CO, and especially Montrose, CO. They weren't easy runs, often quite frightening (I'll explain later), but always, always, always beautiful. Even the same run pretty much every day - always beautiful.



My run started from our driveway - immediately on a huge, steep incline (remember this is the East; it's hilly there). I think it was about 0.6 miles up to the top of our street, but it felt like 4. But during the incline I'd run past neat homes, thick forests (we lived in the "rural" part of the city), and horses. And whatever other animals that were around. I'd vary my run from here occassionally, but it was always just a great run - running in the woods (but really on a paved road - which was scarely driven on - in a neighborhood).


The frightening part of my runs were the "wildlife." In particular: the Wild Turkeys. They scared me. There was a whole flock (or whatever you call a group of Wild Turkeys) of them that lived in our area. They were Huge (please remeber, I am 4'10). And 9/10 times I ran by myself. I didn't grow up with Wild Turkeys and so I didn't know anything about them. Did they like me? Did they want to befriend me? Did they want to show me their home? Or did they just want to eat my head off? I was convinced the answer to the last questions was yes, indeed. For no good nor sensible reason. So whenever the Wild Turkeys were in my way (or I in their way?), I started "clucking." I don't know why. It just seemed, ummmm, the natural thing to do. And you know what, it worked. They scattered and left me alone. I swear that the reason my head is still attached to my body today is because of the "clucking."


Even weirder than my fear of these Wild Turkeys (oh how miss them now) was that we had reports often of A Bear in our neighborhood. And I was less afraid of Him then the Wild Turkeys. But I'm sure If I had seen A Bear on my run I would have definitely peed my pants. I smart enough to know that "clucking" probably wouldn't have scared Him away.


I didn't dare go running in the mornings before Ben left for work (I think I would have had to have left by about 5:45am and it was still dark, really dark. Really dark with Wild Turkeys.) Luckily I only had Miles and so we would go out in the mid-morning time and run together. I relished that - I got the best of two worlds then: running AND talking with my then only-child. It was good. And of course I ran during my pregnancy with Jonas. I would push Miles in my stroller and lug Jonas in my belly. Lovely. But it did get me a spot in some local magazine:

Here's the article:

For Emily Maxwell, a run with her son, Miles, along the hilly roads near her home "just makes me feel better. I have more energy. I just feel good getting outside, and physically I think it's definitely kept me in shape," Maxwell said.

Maxwell, a registered nurse, who works one day a week at Wilson Memorial Regoinal Medical Center in Johnson City, is five months pregnant with her second child. Her husband, Ben, 29, also a registered nurse, works in the Wilson Medical Center's OR.

Pushing Miles up a steep hill in the jogging stroller recently, Maxwell noted that "usually, when you work out, it gets easier and easier, but it's not - not at this stage. But it's OK. I go what I feel I can go, and I slow down when I need to. It feels good to get out - no matter how slow I go."

Every so often, Maxwell paused in her run to pick up a stone or a couple of sticks for Miles. "Right now, I'm just teaching him about getting out, about being outside," the mother said. "It's just me and him, and there's so much to see out here. I talk to him about the trees and the birds. It's just our time to explore, and he gets his supply of sticks," she said with a smile.

Once or twice a week, Ben joins Emily and Miles for a run, and the parents take turns pushing the stroller: "He gets the jogger on the uphills," Emily laughed.

Last June, the couple visited family in Utah, and while there they ran a 10K race while pushing Miles in the jogger. "It was fun," Ben Maxwell said.

(Ha. I love that eloquently stated quote from Ben: "It was fun." That's my man of many words.)

So these days as I run along the Bypass with the passing of semi-trucks and the driving of automobiles, I occassionally get a smell of Skunk and think fondly of my not-then-friends the Wild Turkeys.

Quote of the Week

"Sometimes if we use our binoculars we can see Heaven and see him (President Hinckley) on the stairs."

~ Miles

I was talking to Miles and Jonas this morning about the passing of our much beloved prophet President Hinckley. I was explaining about Heaven (which Miles originally declared was in the temple) and other things. Then Miles came up with this quote.

Our HOT Date on ICE

So Ben's parents have been here since Thursday. We've enjoyed their company and generosity, and them cleaning our carpets and babysitting. How lucky are we? This morning we went out on a date - to a local pond that froze over (there is no risk of the ice breaking and falling through. I mean, the ice might break but the pond is probably 2-3 feet at its deepest. Even I wouldn't drown in that depth).

Ben just adores ice skating - and it is so much the better when we can do it outside. I don't think I've skated since the Gallivan Center. Oh that was quite The Night. It was a little over 6 years ago and it was that night that Ben and I looked at rings at decided that, yes, we were going to go ahead and get married. Wow, such a long time ago. I think I felt (wobbly ankles, perhaps?) and looked (wrinkles, perhaps?) and acted (clumsier, perhaps?) older at this ice-skating adventure than the one 6 years ago. But I guess that is just bound to happen. Although I think I was more affected by this whole older thing than Ben. He looked very good out there on the ice. I mean he was practically melting the pond - he was that hot.

Quote of the Week

"A child is a curly dimpled lunatic."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

How did Emerson know Miles?

New Thing

Thanks to my MIL (who credited her daughter, my SIL), she alerted me to a fantastic quote (see above post). So now I am going to do a "quote of the week." I will post them as side-bars. But since I want to also archive/save these quotes, I will post the quote as a separate post each week (make any sense?).

Cowboy Take Me Away

During college my favorite lyrics/song was the Dixie Chicks' Cowboy Take Me Away. I wanted that life sung about in the song; my daydreams were patterned after the song. So I thought it would be fun to revisit the lyrics and see how close I'm living my "dream life."

• I said I wanna touch the earth (I have played in lots and lots of dirt with my three boys)



• I wanna break it in my hands (I have helped hoe and weed our 4 gardens)



• I wanna grow something wild and unruly (Miles and Jonas can definitely fit here)



• I wanna sleep on the hard ground (camping trips. . .)



• In the comfort of your arms On a pillow of bluebonnets In a blanket made of stars (our homes in NY and here have a plentiful blanket of stars due to lack of real city lights)

(chorus)

• Oh it sounds good to me I said



• Cowboy take me away (Ben has TWO pair of cowboy boots)



• Fly this girl as high as you can Into the wild blue (We've flown to NY and then back west)



• Set me free oh I pray Closer to heaven above (we live at about 5600 feet elevation)



• and Closer to you closer to you

• I wanna walk and not run (whoops, i run 5-6 days/week)



• I wanna skip and not fall (well i did slip and fall on some black ice on my morning run the other day. . .)



• I wanna look at the horizon and not see a building standing tall (uh, yeah. where we live there are no tall buildings. none.)



• I wanna be the only one for miles and miles (i am the only mom for Miles)



• Except for maybe you and your simple smile

(repeats chorus and first verse)

Huh. Who woulda thought marrying Ben and having 3 kiddos would help me in living close to my dream life?

That's right. Me.