Mom says...

I was playing around with Rachel the other day - she was being me, and I was being her. I asked her about some things that Mommy says. Did I really want to hear the answer? Not so sure! But, I got some rather insightful things out of her.

Here are the first few things she said - things that Mom says:
"Be obedient!" (Really, the only thing I want out of my kids)
"Knock it off!" (What else is there to say when they're all fighting?!?!)
"Sweetheart." (I'm glad that was one of them. I love that she knows she's my sweetheart!)
"I love you." (I'm also very glad she hears this one, as I say it plenty of times in a day and wonder if anyone ever hears it!)

Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith must be living in our ward.

It's true. Rachel saw him today.

"Mom, look - I see Joseph Smith!!"

{I'm still trying to figure out who she was talking about!}

Cute Stuff

Caleb loves to repeat what he hears. And he repeats pretty much everything he hears - the good, the bad, and yes, even the ugly. Trust me - I've heard a lot out of this boy!! A few things I'm a little ashamed of, because I know he heard them from yours truly.

I love it when he promptly repeats an "I love you mommy" that he just heard from Rachel. Even if it is parroted, it melts my heart.

I was just changing his diaper when I reached a new level of meltedness (is that even a word??). As I laid him down to get things started, I said, "Hey cute stuff," to which he immediately responded, "Hey coot tuff!" Really, does it get any better than having your 2-year-old son think you're cute?!?!

Little Mermaid Addict

Rachel has completely given up naps (sniffle), so while Caleb is taking his nap, I have Rachel watch a movie. It gives her a chance for some down time, and me some time to take care of things I need to do.

Her favorite movie is Little Mermaid. She chooses it around 95% of the time. I'm getting a little tired of it, but it keeps her happy, so we watch it over and over and over...

This is what happens every time she watches it:

We get to the part where Ursula is inviting Ariel into her lair. She says, "Come in child! Don't lurk in doorways - it's rude! One might question your upbringing." Rachel ALWAYS responds with "Ariel's upbringing??" as if she knows exactly what Ursula is talking about and completely disagrees!

Then, there's the part where Scuttle (the seagull) is trying to figure out what's new with Ariel (she's just received her legs from Ursula). Rachel ALWAYS says, rather emphatically, "Scuttle's not in my book!!" She has a Disney Princess seek-and-find book, and it is quite upsetting to her that Scuttle isn't in the section with Ariel, Sebastian, and the other characters from Little Mermaid. How dare they not include him! The nerve of some people!

December Happenings

Some of the things we did during December:

Jared, Emily and I took a trip to SL to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. It was fun to see Grandma and James singing! We gave the choir two thumbs up, and Natalie Cole was less than impressive...sorry Natalie! Here we are waiting in the freezing cold before the doors were opened.

Emily had her very first orchestra concert. She started playing the violin this school year, and she is picking it up so fast! She really has a lot of talent for music. She sure has learned a lot in 3 short months! It was neat to hear everyone play together - there were over 3o0 kids up there on that stage! An amazing logistical feat! I promise she's in this picture somewhere towards the right side!

We also went to see Santa Claus. Rachel has been completely fascinated with the concept of Santa, and talks about him like they're best friends! One day she told us all, with complete and utter excitement, "Ho Ho's getting happy at me!!" When it came time for the real thing, however, she was a bit more reserved!! Thankfully she didn't freak out, but you can tell she's nervous because she's chewing on her coat!

Caleb, who is Mr. Friendly, was more than happy to go sit on the lap of this strange man dressed in a very bright red suit with a fuzzy, shaggy thing hanging on his face! He was just as happy as could be the whole time, and even had a great big grin on his face! I wasn't able to capture any smiling, though, because I had nervous Rachel hanging on my leg!

And Emily and Josh were more than happy to tell one more person everything they wanted for Christmas, and to get a free candy cane for doing it!

We had an extended Ripplinger family Christmas, where Josh managed to get a goose egg on his head, and upon arriving home, Rachel was one big rash from head to toe! Never did figure out the cause, but thankfully it went away with a dose of Benadryl.

We also had a Larsen family Christmas party at Grandma and Grandpa Farnworth's house. It was fun to get together, but we missed not having Greg and his family there. Within 5 minutes, the kids had re-arranged all the Christmas presents into piles of presents that belonged to each child! We ate some delicious prime rib, and had fun playing in Grandma Farnworth's toys. Here are the kids dressed up in a wig that I remember playing with as a kid!

I made a promise to my mom that I would not post the picture of her posing with the wig on, and I intend to keep that promise! {but if you'd like to see, let me know and I'll email it to you!!}

We also made and decorated a gingerbread mansion! Jared almost burst into laughter when he saw how big the pieces of the house were! Hey - this is my first time ever making houses out of anything besides graham crackers! Cut me some slack! But seriously, it was huge!

And to wrap up the month, we saw a live nativity on Christmas Eve, opened a lot of presents on Christmas day, and reflected on just how thankful we are that our Savior came to earth as a precious baby all those years ago!

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!

Ho Ho Ho, Merry...

You all know the ending to this title - Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!! Well, Rachel has taken a new spin on this saying. She has been watching a Barbie movie lately - Barbie as Mariposa (or something like that). So, to Rachel, it's now...

Ho Ho Ho, Mari-posa!

Celebrate!!

This is the 100th post for our blog!! Yea!! It's only taken me 3+ years to make it!

I wanted to do something special for this post. Something to knock your socks off and make you want to actually keep reading this blog (all 4 or 5 of you).

But I can't seem to come up with anything. NOTHING!! My creative juices have all dried up!

So I'll just give you a cliffs-notes version of life around here lately. I have not taken a single picture, as every time I go to use the camera, the battery is dead!

Rachel has almost completely given up naps (well, she's about 50/50). Caleb is trying to give them up too. He has napped less than Rachel this week! Add it up - you get two cranky kids and one very insane and cranky momma! But they're too cute to be mad at!

Rachel says some of the funniest things. And sometimes, it's just the way she says things that makes me laugh. Like, "This is my favorite book!" with as much excitement and energy as you could expect from a 2-year-old. The book was some Christmas craft book that has been sitting around. Definitely not an exciting book! She also came running in with a doll and said, "I found my Rachel!!" How can you not love that??!?

Caleb is getting a few words too, like kitty cat, what's that, and num-num (with a hand motion, which means he wants more). He only has 5 more Sundays until he can legally go to nursery!!

Emily is counting down the days until her birthday. For any of you who don't know, it's 5 days away. She wants everything, and I mean everything! So, if you were wanting to get her a present, rest assured that you can't go wrong! (But please don't run out to buy one for her - PLEASE!!!) Oh, and she's starting to wonder about how babies get in their mommy's tummies (I have dreaded this for the past 9 years!!). She informed us that there is a lock on the mom's tummy that you unlock, which obviously lets them in! Chuckle, snicker, giggle!!

Joshua is trying to lose a tooth. By trying I mean he wiggled it to the point that his mouth was sore enough that he had to call me to come get him from school! (OK - I'm not that easy! I gave him some ibuprofen, fed him lunch, and took him back to school.) I think he's got another pesky root that doesn't want to give in. Which means we're probably going to have to make yet another trip to the dentist!

I got a new calling as the primary chorister. Hmm...never done that one. I pity those poor kids who have to listen to me "sing" the songs. I think the singing genes skipped me!

Jared, after working 2 late nights at work last week because of the 6-month extension deadline for income taxes, is now trying as hard as he can to find work to do. ??? ??? Why can't the government have taxes due all year long, according to social security numbers or something like that?? Wouldn't it make more sense to spread it out a little?!?! I think I might just email them my plan!

The garden is dead!! I've never been so happy to see a plant die in all my life. Next year, we will not be planting more than 6 tomato plants!

I hope you have enjoyed this installment of "As the World Turns in the Ripplinger Home." Stay tuned for scenes from our next episode!

Doggy Bags

This morning Emily looked at herself in the mirror and said,

"Mom, I have huge doggy bags under my eyes!"

Hmmm...is that where she keeps her eye candy??

Kid Funnies

Several months ago, the light in our garage was on the fritz and would sort of blink, like the light bulb wasn't completely screwed in.

Emily's reponse..."Hey, the light blunk!"

What a great new word!

-------

The other night we were reading scriptures as a family. Josh was super excited because we got to start a new book, 3rd Nephi to be exact. He begged us to let him read the first verse, and we happily agreed. Whatever it takes to get them excited, right?

If you look at your scriptures, the first word in the first verse of a new book always starts with a really big capital letter and then the rest of the word is capitalized.

(Go get your scriptures if you need to.)

In his enthusiasm, Josh interpreted the difference in size for this first word to mean that it should be shouted. If only I had a recording of this! Just imagine what it would sound like to hear - "NOW it came to pass...." with complete innocence and a huge amount of enthusiasm.
Needless to say, we all laughed through the first verse and then stopped to compose ourselves!

Another Josh-ism

Josh, our most comical child, can always make us laugh harder than we ever thought possible.
Case in point: we were all in the van the other day, on our way to get some errands done. We passed a man wearing a rather interesting outfit - shiny brown leather pants and a shiny red leather coat (wish I had a picture). Jared and I both said, "OK?!?!" to ourselves, and Josh popped off with,

"WHAT, IS THAT GUY FROM THE LICORICE COMPANY?"

Jared and I laughed so hard we thought we might not recover! Thankfully we did, and we can continue to enjoy the laughs that come from such a fun boy!

5 Dollar Foot Long!

You know that unforgettable and highly annoying song on the Subway ads for their 5 dollar foot longs? We were doing some errands earlier today when the song came on the radio. Emily and Josh picked right up on it and started singing their own version, with harmony and everything. I was laughing so hard my cheeks hurt! Emily understands harmony a little more, so she was trying to get Josh to just stay on 1 note for the whole song. He did a great job until he got to the very last note, and then he changed his pitch to match Emily. She kept saying, "No!! You need to stay on this note, like this," and then she'd sing it for him. So Josh would do his part again, perfect until the last note, and the whole cycle started over. Jared and I could hardly keep our composure - it was seriously a music teacher's worst nightmare! But so cute at the same time.
So thank you Subway. I hate your ads, but they've helped to create a memory that will make me smile whenever I hear them.
Oh, and please accept my sincere apology if the song is in your head the rest of the day!

The Whole Enchilada!

I saw these questions on someone else's blog recently and thought it would be fun to see what my kids (well, the ones who can speak in sentences!) had to say. Here goes - these are all direct quotes!

What is something Mom always says to you?
E - Go clean your room up
J - No

What makes Mom happy?
E - Seeing me happy
J - Being good (not sure if he meant me being good or him, but both work!)

What makes Mom sad?
E - Seeing me throw a tantrum
J - Being mean

How does Mom make you laugh?
E - Tickling me
J - Being funny

What was Mom like as a child?
E - You never went on time out and you were good all the time
J - I don't know!

How old is Mom?
E - 32
J - Let's see...32!

How tall is Mom?
E - I don't know...5 feet?
J - I don't know. Do you know how tall you are?

What is Mom's favorite thing to do?
E - Sleep or rest
J - Play with ME!

What does Mom do when you're not around?
E - Play with Rachel
J - Be on the computer doing stuff

If Mom became famous what would it be?
E - Someone who's famous at reading
J - You would sing (now that's scary!)

What is Mom not very good at?
E - Shooting baskets with diapers into the garbage can
J - Swimming

What does Mom do for her job?
E - Make dinner
J - Making your bed

What is Mom's favorite food?
E - Indian food
J - Pasta
(both right, but pasta just inches out Indian)

What makes you proud of Mom?
E - When you don't give me too much jobs
J - When you make my bed

If Mom was a cartoon character who would she be?
E - Maya and Miguel's mom - you kind of look like her
J - A strawberry and I would be Arthur and eat you!

What do you and Mom do together?
E - Play games
J - Play Chutes and Ladders

How are you and Mom the same?
E - We both do that trick with our feet (a wierd toe thing)
J - We have ears, eyes, mouths, etc... (He went on naming every body part he could think of!)

How are you and Mom different?
E - You're taller, have green eyes, and brown hair
J - You're a girl

How do you know Mom loves you?
E - You take care of me
J - Play games with me

It's Fun to be Five!

Emily was eating breakfast this morning - homemade waffles - when she yelled, "Mom, guess what? I love America's Favorite Syrup''!! You know your 5-year-old is getting good at reading when she wants to read the syrup bottle! We love you Emily! You are an amazingly bright and fun little girl!