Time out for Women and my funny kids

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend Time out for Women with my good friend Donna, her sister-in-law Rebecca and my mother. This was my second time attending a conference like this and we had a wonderful time. All of the speakers and musical performers were so wonderful and their messages truly uplifted me. I came away feeling refreshed and ready to be a better mother, wife and friend. Here is a picture of us at the conference.

I will move the the second part of this post--my funny kids. I want to post a picture of all of them, but the "funny" stories come from my youngest 3. They are quite the characters.

Kenedy, who is going to turn 12 in July, finished her first semester of Middle School in February. She got a 4.0 and made the Superintendent's list of the Honor Roll! Needless to say, Jim and I are so proud of her! It's hard to believe she is almost 12. She's growing up way too fast!

Hallie continues to do well in school and I got a great report from her teacher for this last trimester. Great job Hallie. We are so proud of you. I found Hallie, Haden and Lexie playing with some glass beads in the entry way last Sunday. Hallie laid them all out in the shape of a horse. It was pretty impressive as you can see. She is definitely my animal lover and just started back into riding this last week.

Alexis is just totally cute. Her hair has gotten long again and I'm able to put it in pony tails and pig tails when she lets me. She is quite a fire ball and loves to roll her eyes and say "No" as loud as she can when you ask her to do something she doesn't want to. It's a lot of fun. Well, the other day, she had her friend Emma over to play. They were playing really well together and then Lexie came in crying about something. Here's how the conversation went:

Lexie: Mom, Emma hit me in the face with her pony she was holding. She was twirling and twirling around and she hit me in the face.

Me: I'm so sorry, Lexie, but it sounds like it was an accident. Did she say she was sorry?

Lexie: Yes(with a huge roll of the eyes), but Mom, she wasn't even looking at where she was going.

Me: Well, sometimes that happens when you are playing and she said she was sorry, so you need to forgive her.

Lexie: But, mom, she didn't even look where she was going.

Me: Lexie, you need to forgive Emma because she wasn't trying to hit you.

Lexie: (It was like a light bulb finally went off) I know what will make her like me again. I will go get the princess movies and we can play the games together on it. I'm sure she will like me again!

The drama of a 4-year-old girl just never ends! :-)

Okay, so now to the boys. Haden, my 6-year-old, is quite skinny and getting him to eat anything but breakfast food is like pulling teeth. Quite often he doesn't even eat dinner. I'm starting to wonder if he even eats the lunch I pack him every day for school. Anyway, the other night I made stir fry for dinner. It was fantastic! I was sure that he was going to like it. So, I dished him some rice, some chicken and 1 piece of broccoli. I decided to start small to see if he would eat it. Pretty soon he was done with the rice and chicken, but had that one piece of broccoli left. I turned toward him to find him sliding ever so silently off the stool with the piece of broccoli in his hand. I said, "Haden, what are you doing?" He said, "I need to go to the bathroom." I said, "With a piece of broccoli in your hand?" He said, "Well, I just want to eat my broccoli in the bathroom." I said, "Haden, I didn't just fall off the turnip truck." He said, "What?" So, I said, "I mean, I wasn't born yesterday." He said again, "What?" I said, "That means that I'm not dumb. You are either going to throw that piece of broccoli away or flush it down the toilet." He said, "No, really. I just want to eat my broccoli in the bathroom." This picture represents how he feels about most food I give him. I wish I had a picture of him trying to sneak off with the broccoli.

This is even hot chocolate and he looks like he will die if he has to drink it. ;-)

One other funny thing before I end this post. Haden is going to be 7 this year and he is a skinny kid. He weighs about 45 lbs. Now, in comparison, Cooper, who is not quite 2 1/2, weighs 40 lbs. Haden is all skin and bones and Cooper is just a solid tank. One morning after scriptures, we were just sitting there and talking about whatever and Haden randomly says in a matter-of-fact tone, "Me and Cooper wrestle all the time. He always wins." It's exciting around our house!