The D&M DIaries

My Family.....A new Series

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:35:24 PDT

One of the things I cherish most in is life is my family,scratch that, my family is not one of the the things I cherish most it Is what I cherish most. I come from a family of 8 children and oh boy are we all a little weird. For example see my brother below

I come home to find this. My brother was babysitting and I find him dressed like this with all three of the kidletts locked in their rooms, I could hear whispering and laughing from behind the Doors.
I asked Daniel what on earth he was doing and his simple response was
" we are having a war and this is my armor"

My mistake.... How did I get so lucky in the family department?

French macaroons

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 08:08:48 PDT

True story:
I went to This sweet little cupcake shop to get a friend some sweets. Lo and behold this sweet little cupcake shop makes French macaroons.... Daily. I couldn't believe my eyes.. Up until now if I wanted those sweet babies the only option was to ship them in. Since there was 5 flavors I got one of each, a girl has to know her options right? After testing each one I decided that the coconut and burnt almonds ones were my favorite so I bought six of each. I figured this would be a nice daily treat to give myself. Fast forward to two hours later...... They were all eaten. Every single one, by yours truly. I have a serious problem.

Pictures of the Week......

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:41:56 PDT

I really have nothing to say. Nothing at all. So here is some of our week.

It's No Fair

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:06:05 PDT

Oh Jude I want to remember this conversation forever

" bed time Jude"

" it's no fair that Jesus made this rule"

"What rule?"

" the rule that older kids get to stay up later than younger kids"

" Jesus didn't make that rule your dad and I did "

" Please don't correct me mom"

" My bad, now go to bed"

" I wish Jesus was my mom and dad, goodnight "

This is true no exaggeration.

And then you stomped up the stairs, I guess I should be glad you said for me to please not correct you, you weren't so kind to aunt Diana this weekend. I'm pretty sure " if Diana corrects me one more time ........I might punch her " came out of your mouth. I'm glad the little talk we had worked seeing as this time you said please

I got Busted With a Spoonful of Nutella

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 07:01:23 PDT

This guy busted me eating Nutella straight from the jar with a spoon. I can't even tell how many times I have told the kidletts not to do that. My punishment is watching an entire episode of Yu-go-oh with this guy. Little does he know that i would kill for special time with this guy... So got a spoonful of Nutella and special time with my sweetie. Jokes on you sucka!!!
Love my Logan

General Conference is our kind of Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 15:31:37 PDT

So Don Juan is still away in Arizona for his residency so we had a long boring weekend ahead of us. So, my Sis Julie came up with her brand new little dumpling Liam.....what is it about other peoples babies that are just so alluring? Its like i forget that we are done with our kiddos and it makes me feel like I could have a million more.
The kids all took turns loving and snuggling little Liam. We sat there in our Pjs watching conference and stuffing our faces.
No pictures of Myself, Julie, or Diana because we were not camera worthy all weekend.
We were a sad sight.
seriously seriously sad

A Religious Post, So Beware

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 14:25:16 PDT

I have taken bit of a break from my journaling/blogging, for personal family reasons, and just because I needed a break and some time to gather my thoughts about thing and life.
1 week after I wrote this post....I got my wish. 2013 had a whopper for me and my family and it has sent us into a tailspin. we are coming out of it all now and we are going to be fine but holy moly its like I knew something was brewing and I was being prepared. And let me state that no my Cancer is not back,I am still in remission and I don't plan on it ever coming back, but thank you for all of the concerned emails.

So Im about to get all "churchy" so if that isnt your thing you might want to close this post up right now and come back another day because I am about to go there.

I consider myself a religious person. I havent always been but since my early 20s i would say that it has played a big role in my life. I hesitate to admit im religious because it seems the moment a person admits that they are religious judgements start rolling in. everyone who knows every wrong thing you have ever done hears you say your religious and they snicker under their breath or whisper something to their friend about how they know your past behavior or they know how you yelled at your kids so what a hypocrite you are for saying you are religious.

Im going to say it. Im religious... I try every day to be more like my Savior and everyday I fail miserably. Let me say it again I fail MISERABLY. I am not saying this because i am down on myself, Im simply stating it for the fact that it is. I am Human and make mistakes. A lot of them.

I have had to learn a lot about forgiveness in the last bit of my life. I thought I had learned about it before, I had little lessons here and there, and to be honest I thought that I kind of had it down, to art. I wasnt easily offended, I was able to brush things people did or said easily off my back. I was ok at forgiveness and not just to people who did something harmful to me but just the simple act of forgiving people for being human, for not being perfect.

Silly me....I had and still have a lot to learn. While I was busy thinking I was doing ok at forgiving something came up that has helped me realize..." well michelle you arent that great at it, you still have a long way to go"

how often do we "forgive" someone for their flaws? how often do we see a mother make a bad mothering choice and not look at her differently? How often do we say that we forgive the sinner but we never look at them the same, even after they have made right with God? How often do we Say that Christ died for all of our sins, but then look at someones sins who are all out there and judge them and what they have done, even as they are fighting their way back and are searching for the same love and mercy each of us hope to receive for our sins?

I say these things because I am guilty. I "forgave" the bad mother but never looked at them the same. I " forgave" the husband or wife who made a horrible choice of being unfaithful but I never looked at them same. They were tarnished in my eyes. I still loved them and cared for them but if I am being truly honest with myself I have to say that Inside i looked at them differently,not all of the time but I was not truly accepting what I professed to believe

BAM there you go. Im a judger, the last thing I ever wanted or tried to be I am. But I am not going to be anymore. these last few months have taught me that.

I believe that through the atonement of Christ we can all be clean again. Really really really clean....like it never happened, it isnt an easy process but it is possible.

I believe that. Now its time for me to start acting like it.

By the way. Happy late Easter.

I'm raising a republican darn it.

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 09:35:03 PST

This is Logan's backpack packed for grandmas.... I'm flabbergasted

A Failed Mom Experiment

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:20:12 PST

Dear kidletts,
You are all brats about food. I don't really blame you I missed the oh so important window when you were babies to stuff your face full of a wide variety of tastes and textures. Let me also say I make a mean taco, I don't want to brag but my Tacos are fantastic.....so tonight as you all whined about me making tacos I decided that I was going to teach you all a lesson. I was going to show you what gross tacos really tasted like. I drove you to the nastiest taco place I could find...my old high school favorite....now I barf in my mouth a little bit just when I see the commercials TACO BELL.

I got 10 tacos and 1 quesadilla and told you all to see what gross tacos really taste like. It was brilliant, I knew that I would never hear another complaint about my food again, why hadn't I thought of this before?

What did you picky eaters do? You loved it!!!! Kennedy you asked me if we could take some home for your lunch tomorrow.

What is going on?

Then to make it worse the stupid manager being all good at his job brought over 4 free taste freezes because the kids were being so good..

Come on, are you serious? Not only did you guys walk out of there gross taco lovers, but you walked out yelling

" we love that place it was the best dinner ever"

This was a major fail on my part.. No more brilliant mom experiments here. I'm done.

Family Time

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 18:35:33 PST

We have been busy here. Busy with some family time. I have the most amazing friends and family. Friends, you have made me feel love every day for this last month. Family, you have also made me feel very loved.

And here is Jude reading his book when he was supposed to be sleeping. Why are you going to do?

A Few Pictures From Our Week according to Jake...( My phone )

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 20:19:49 PST

let me tell you,the kids are finishing up their 2 week Christmas break and I am exhausted. Did I mention it has been 6 degrees here the last few days? 6. Its pretty dang cold.

super cold weather means I don't feel very creative so kids if your reading this in the future just know that we had a fun busy week. trust me

Good day

Want to Communicate differently with your Kids? Try this.....

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 05:00:15 PST

I have tried many things in my 32 years that have ended in a big fat FAIL. I had been looking for something I could do for the kidletts that would make them feel special and know they are loved because to be quite perfectly honest I am not the most affectionate mother. I try and I fail, miserably.
Sweet Kennedy Jo is always leaving Don and I sweet notes on our bed that we adore but they seem to get everywhere and I am having a beast of a time figuring out how to keep and organize them.keeping a few and throwing the rest away is not an option seeng as I have already been busted doing that and you would think that I had told kennedy that there was no santa clause....seriously she was distraught that I wouldnt keep every single one of her thousands of notes. So I got this little idea

I bought these sweet babies at the Target clearance section for $.57 each.
I labeled each one with the kidletts name and wrote them a sweet note to start

I left them on their pillow with this simple note:

" This is our super secret private notebook. I will write you notes and leave it on your pillow, when you are ready to write me a note back, do it and put it on my pillow."

For little Jude who is 4 he just draws pictures back or writes the two words he knows over and ove

"Jude, poop,Jude,Poop,Jude, Poop"

not only do I look forward to seeing what they are going to write/draw, all of the letters are confined into one notebook thatI can put neatly away in storage once they are full and we need to get a new one.

Logan my 9 year old has actually opened up in his notebook in ways I have never been able to get him to do before. It is been wonderful and special an I hope that when the Kidletts are grown it something they will look back fondly on and carry on the tradition with their children...

If you are looking for something easy and special to do with your kiddos give it a try. you will be surprised how easy yet fulfilling it is.

Michelle

" Mom I have a little bit of yucky in me.. because I licked the toilet seat" says my 4 year old

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 20:06:09 PST

Oh my sweet Jude monster... I am about to document something that I want to never forget. You are going to be quite embarrassed as an adult to read this but here goes.

As I was helping get Kennedy all dressed up for the snow on this bright New Year's Day I hear an oh so familiar yell from my sweet Jude upstairs in the bathroom. At first I did not respond seeing as usually when Jude yells something from the bathroom it is to tell me something awesome that he made his little boy part do that almost always leads to me having to clean up a huge disgusting pee/poo mess. Alas i hear him yelling my name again so I reluctantly yell back "yes Jude?"
his reply was simple..
" I have a little bit of yucky in me"
this was from the bathroom mind you so I knew it couldn't be good
"What kind of yucky?"
and here is where the shocking part comes..mind you, this is 100% the truth..no fabrication or elaboration
" I licked up some pee"

everything I was doing came to a sudden halt

" What did you say?"

" I licked pee...there was some pee on the toilet seat after I went pee pee and I wanted to see what it tasted like so I licked it up"

I was upstairs in less then 2 seconds, as I burst open the bathroom door i said

"are you serious or are you kidding?"

Jude was very confused by this question

" Im serious.. it was disgusting" ( if you know my Jude you know he has a lisp and speaks with a british accent at times.. I really don't know why but that being said when he says disgusting it will melt your heart)

I then sat on the bathroom floor and explained to him why we cant do that and how goss that is and how it could make him very sick etc......He brushed off all of my reasons and said again

"and it tasted disgusting" (again with a british accent and a lisp)

"Yes Jude, and because it tastes disgusting."

"well there will be a little bit of yucky in me now for a few days but you can still kiss me it wont get yucky on you, ok?"

I sighed and said all I could say

" OK Jude. I love you"

as I walked downstairs to call Don Juan to inform him that Jude toilet seat licking ways must have come from his side of the family I found myself dreading Jude's teenage years..

" Mom I ran the car through the garage door because I wanted to see what would happen"

" Mom I jumped off the ski lift when it was halfway up the mountain to see if I could land on my feet"

" Mom I cut all of Kennedy's hair off to see how fast it would grow back"

That last one might actually be happening sooner rather than later.

But I sure do love his adventurous spirit..:)

Bring it on 2013.... Im ready

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 20:43:28 PST

2012 has now passed. I just cant believe how fast this year has really gone. Its been an interesting year, a lot of changes and progressing has come about in ole' 2012....it might have to be categorized as one of my roughest years in the last decade. I know this sounds a little dramatic but I dont see saying my year has been rough as a particular bad thing. I have led a pretty charmed life, I love my family..immediate and extended, I love my friends, I have food to eat and a warm home, my husband has a job, I am lucky enough to stay home with my little rugrats in this very impressionable time of their lives. I am lucky.

I have been thinking these last few months about life. Life and expectations to be exact. Life is kind of a crazy thing isnt it? It is our entire reality, our entire being..It is all we experience...When I was a younger woman, younger being my early 20s I had this idea of what my life was and what I wanted it to be.I had these big things I was looking forward to almost like a finish line, "when I get married", "when I have my career", "when I have Children"...the list could go on forever. I had a plan and I was following that plan like my life depended on it. Silly me...because then I got those things they were never what I expected. They were not bad, they were just as fulfilling as I had ever hoped but they were different than I had imagined, and maybe a little bit harder than I had imagined also. Does that make sense?

I have been married for 10 years and I have been a mother for 9 of those years. My old definition of love is not even recognizable... We build these boxes for our life, we build them out of all of these things that we always thought we knew about love and family and life and then we spend so much time trying to stuff our lives to fit into these ridiculous boxes and when they inevitably do not we feel let down and sad. We look at our trials and weaknesses as these horrible obstacles that are making it so we cant fit into this perfect box we have created.We pray that we can just figure out how to make those stupid boxes work. Hoping that just around the corner is our smooth sailing.

I have decided rather resolutions in 2013 I am going to just throw my box away. Life is beautiful and crappy at the same time. We have had some family things that have come up in this past year that have been hard at times. when we were in throws of these perilous times I had many many wars with myself as I was struggling to find out the type of person I was going to be. Not who I was when the going was good but who I would choose to be when the going was hard. I struggled accepting that sometimes things just don't work out the way you planned.Things aren't always how you thought they were....and that is ok. Learning that made all the difference for me.

I am trampling on that stupid box and hopefully I will never build it up again.
I will never mourn for a different life that was never really a life at all. I will walk away from 2012 a stronger person which will in turn make me a better mother,wife,and friend .

here is my top 10 list. The top 10 things I really came to discover in good old 2012

1. Love is wonderful and it comes in many different shapes and sizes. One persons love is not the same as another...but both have equal importance. Accept peoples love however they choose to give it to you.

2. I will never be the person I know I am meant to be without going through hardships. Trials mold us into the people we are meant to be

3. I must CHOOSE to grow and learn from my trials

4. Life is good.even with all the bad stuff in it.It is good

5. I love my husband with all of my heart....All of him.

6. I love my children with all of my heart

7. I love my Savior

8. I am Happy

9. How I choose to behave everyday dictates whether I am a good person or not...not my ideas

10. I like Panda Express.....Don was right I didn't know what I had been missing my entire life. Gross I know.

So 2013, Please don't be kind....I know I have a lot of learning to do, I am ready

Weekend Photos

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 09:10:52 PST

Our holiday was extended throughout the weekend. Visiting family, going on date, playing games...me learning how to play chess and being completely smashed into the ground by Logans mad chess skills.I have been spending a lot of time on my new Christmas present thanks to my sweet one...Thanks babe. now we are on to our annual lame New Years party ...which consists of us ringing in the new year at 9pm and being sound asleep by midnight.Thats how we roll.

Christmas Eve went a little crazy

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 21:48:30 PST

We decided to do something a little crazy on Christmas Eve this year... Well we did it last year also. Don Juan convinced me to forgo cooking a big Christmas Eve dinner and going out to a restaurant instead.i use the term restaurant loosely seeing as for the second year in a row I have been outvoted and the Golden Corral has been the restaurant of choice thanks to the lovely children loving the idea of an All you can eat buffet.... The crazy thing is we convinced our friends to join us and so they had to partake in the gluttony of Golden Corral. It was not as bad as I was expecting.... But it sure was not good. The children loved it. We have no pictures of Jude and don because Jude had a coughing fit at just wouldn't let up and other patrons were glaring our way so Don Juan being the gentleman he is took Jude to hang out in the car. We wrote letters to Santa... Opened our Christmas Eve pjs, and met up with Santa to help him distribute the gifts under the tree. It was exhausting yet wonderful ....maybe I should have wrote this post before the Christmas post... Ah we'll

Vacation Time

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 21:07:32 PST

We have been sick on over here. Started with Jude and then moved on to Kennedy Jo and then travelled its way over to Don Juan just in time for Christmas Day. So we opened presents and Don immediately fell asleep for most of the day. My brother and sister and dons mom were able to spend the day with us and it was wonderful.very few pictures due to sick people... But trust me it was fun as sick Christmas can be

Christmas part one

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 21:27:56 PST

Merry Christmas to everyone.it has been a very fun but exhausting day. this is us after the kids are finally in bed just looking rough but happy.Don Juan has been sick so he has been sleeping most of the day, the poor guy. Christmas went well...more on it later but merry Christmas to all and to all a good night

Date night

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 15:56:58 PST

Our annual date to the Mormon tabernacle Christmas concert was last week. The concert was wonderful, the company was exquisite, and it was nice to get out of the house and have an adult night with no kiddos.
This Christmas season has been especially busy, it probably seemed that was since Don Juan was gone for the First two weeks of December.
The holiday I now upon use
Merry christmas

Brotherly love

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 18:55:50 PST

These guys love each other. They show it by wrestling every waking hour of the day. One day I'm sure they will be too big for this. I dread that day. The day when I don't have to help Jude get his foot unstuck from his underwear band ( atomic wedgie) when I don't have to admire Jude's red hand print in Logan's back.
Oh boys I love them

My Letter to My Children

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 14:43:51 PST

To my sweet Children,

I have sat a long time and pondered what I was going to say to you about recent events. This last Friday a sad lonely boy did something very bad...

He was hurting so much that he decided the only thing to do was to hurt other people.

That was a very bad choice and it caused unimaginable damage to numerous families.

I cried on Friday while you sat in school because I knew that you would have heard of the situation and that you would have questions. These are one of the many times as a parent that I have these strong instincts that push me to hide and protect you from all of these horrible things the world has to offer.

But I know better

I know that only with horrible things can we truly recognize the wonderful things

I know that our Agency is a wonderful gift that we have all been blessed with and it can bring us great and lasting joy if we use that angency wisely.

I also know it can bring us sadness if someone abuses that agency.

I wish I could say that everyone chooses kindness and love, but they don't.

Sometimes people choose to do horrible things that are scary and confusing

The wonderful thing is that in this world where there are so many bad and confusing things we are not alone.

Your Heavenly Father will not stop someone from making those horrible choices, that is not his way, but he can and will be with you and everyone else who is affected by that choice. He can heal your heart and take the fear away.

I know those children were not alone in their last terrifying minutes on earth.I know there were Angels there ready to take those sweet babies to heaven where they now exist without fear or sadness.

please remember that

Please remember that you are also never left alone

no matter what happens

Dang you American Girl!! Dang you

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 15:03:47 PST

Dear American Girl Empire,
I would like to write you to tell you that your marketing department sure knows what they are doing. I have a 4 year old son who loves to destruct everything in sight. He also loves to undress his sisters barbies and tie them to the kitchen chair and pretend to light a bomb underneath them.,nothing funny with the clothes coming off he says he just doesn't want to waste nice clothes when the Barbies are going to be on fire anyway.He runs and jumps and does everything boys love to do.There is one catch to this little boys boyishness. He has fallen and fallen hard. He has his first crush and cant stop talking about a girl named Julie. Julie is blond and beautiful and you can find her on page 7 of your catalogue. I thought it was odd that he was carrying around his sisters American Girl Catalogue but I didn't really give it a second thought. And then today I asked him to put the catalogue back in his sisters room.
"Kennedy gave it to me because I have a crush on Julie."
"What?"
"I have a crush on Julie so Kennedy said I could have it"
" do you even know what a crush is? "
" Yeah it means i love her a lot and I think she is beautiful."
And so there you go.
Now let me be clear...I have already succumbed to the American Girl craze. Kennedy asked Santa for your Caroline Doll and by golly Santa got it for her....so now I might be getting My little Jude your Julie Doll so he can stop staring at the catalogue all day....I'm hoping that he will find a new girl to bestow his love upon. I am hoping that this new girl will actually be a living human being.
So there you have it. Congratulations you have succeeded in not only ensnaring my daughter ( this was expected ) but now you have ensnared by son also.
Bravo!!!!
Your people do their job very well

sincerely.
A bewildered Mother

Dad is still gone

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:11:43 PST

Dear Dad,
Well you have been gone a long time. We are on day ten of missing you and asking mom every 5 seconds when you will be back. We missed you while we put up snowflakes, and while we sled down the stairs in a cardboard box. We missed you at our school Christmas concert.....and a bunch of other stuff. Mom started off making dinners but now we are down to a rotation of cereal Mac and cheese and pancakes. We would like to thank you for making it so we have not had to eat our green vegetables for the last ten days, we didnt even have to fight with mom about it because she never even made them! We think she is losing her mind. Hurry home we miss you and until you are here we hope you don't mind we are taking your place in bed as our reading spot...
Love,
The kidletts

Don Juan needs to come home.....we are being reckless

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 09:24:48 PST

Dear Don Juan,

I am getting worried about our sanity....we still have 7 more days until you get home yet we have come to this.

dont you worry. i am looking after their safety. I insisted on the pillows at the bottom of the stairs,I also insisted that we try it out on Logan first so if it ended up being harmful only our oldest would need to visit the hospital.

But look how happy they look, who wouldnt be happy riding the "Dragon roller coaster"?

I am happy to inform you it ended with no injuries.

there was however a lot of tears when the inevitable happened....the box, excuse me, the roller coaster broke.

it was a rough night after that

Movie day

noreply@blogger.com (The Meadow Muffin Diaries) — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 22:47:32 PST

So Don Juan is out of town again. The Philippines to be exact. Far far away. I would like to take this moment again to state for all the creepers out there that my strong brother is still living here and so is my mean vicious huge dog.
So with Dad being gone for so long I wanted to take the kids to do something fun with the kidletts ... To the movies we go.it was fun. There was a lot of laughing and giggling but we sure did miss Don Juan. Ahh well. When he gets back our Christmas frolicking will commence.