Quality Conversation

While Marshall has been MIA, Ryan has been able to take his much coveted spot on the bed. So the little man and I have had some of the best conversations the past couple of nights.
I asked him a pretty leading question about god and he came up with the best answer ever.

"Hey Ryan Why did God send us here to Earth"
"because if he didn't we would have to live on a rocket ship"

Working Moms

Work makes me a better Mom.
Why you ask?
Take today for example, Brianna pooped her pants on the way to Pocatello from Blackfoot.
That's not so bad you say!
Oh yeah, she was wearing a night gown!!! It wasn't pretty!
Now you agree with me.
Now if I were still at home with her she would probably still be crying and I would still be yelling. However, currently I am at work and thinking that the experience was just a tiny bit funny.

How my mind works.

For all of you who wanted a Shawna eyed view (I know that is most of you, especially you Cindy.)

So here goes.... Marshall told me he was going on a dirt biking trip with his buddies from work for five days in Nevada. My first thoughts were good for him, he's got friends. I actually thought this sincerely so I get points for that. My next thought was he deserves this because he works hard and has put in so much overtime this last year. I also get points for that. However seconds later I had the epiphany and it was not a good epiphany. So if Marshall gets to go on a trip with his buddies sans responsibility... WHAT DO I GET!!!
I tried so hard to put this out of my mind, SO HARD. Unfortunately selflessness is not an endearing quality of mine. So I let it sink in a few days trying really hard to argue Marshall's side.
1. He works a 50 hour week sometimes more.
2. He never takes vacation time, he needs a break.
3. He has never gone on a trip like this before.
4. He normally lets me go dirtbiking with him and doesn't complain about me not being very good.
5. He's a great husband and father!
So I got by for a little while thinking Marshall deserves this, unfortunately it was only a little while. The minute I started arguing a side for Marshall my all too cunning instincts kicked in and said what the heck, you should be arguing for yourself.
My selfish Shawna said
1. I work a 30 hour week and come home and work a 138 hour week.
2. I never take vacation time, but I beg Marshall to so we can go somewhere as a family, because I need a break.
3. I have NEVER gone on a trip like that before, but if I did I am sure it would include kids and diapers and yelling and lots of laundry when I finally came home.
4. I have been pregnant the last 2 dirt biking seasons so reason four lost a lot of credibility. And I'm really a pretty good rider, sort of, for a wife at least, okay maybe not.
5. This reason was hard to argue, but occassionally Marshall made it very easy to argue. I won't go into those details on a public blog, however I will in the church foyer (two very similar entities.)

So my mind got the best of me but I still had a trump card. I would let Marshall plead his case. So a couple nights before Marshall was to leave I played him. I said that we should come up with ideas on how to make our relationship fair without having to resort to score taking. For one because I could never afford to keep up with Marshall (he'll rib me for this one), and second because I once heard that sefishness was the third leading cause of divorce. He ended up failing miserably and I mean miserably. In fact by the end I had a lot more reasons for me going to Nevada than Marshall.

Funny thing is I didn't care to argue about Marshall going on a trip or anything else I just wanted to hear him tell me I was a great wife and mother and that he loved me and that it was warranted how I felt....

Ahhh who am I kidding, I wanted him to tell me I was a bigger person than he was AND I wanted to go to Disneyland.

but really I hope you have fun hunny! Just remember I now have more points.

Child Rearing 101

I have devised a new strategy in rearing my children. It is called neglect. Those of you who know me are thinking "yeah right that's not a NEW strategy for her, that's what she's always done."
An example... I am lousy at remembering to make lunch. I just don't get hungry at that time. Brianna on the other hand has food constantly on her mind. So one late afternoon I spied Brianna walking into the kitchen and grabbing a spoon out of the drawer. She then opened up the freezer got the ice cream out. She ate it for about five minutes then put it back and threw her spoon in the sink. I can't even get Marshall to complete all those steps. He's great at the first two but lousy at the last two. So I made my hypothesis (psst Julie, that means an educated guess) if I neglect my children they will, out of necessity, learn to be more self sufficient.
So to continue my experiment on child raising I forgot about lunch on another occassion and was able to document another account. I remained a silent observer while Brianna came in to the kitchen, pulled a loaf of bread off of the counter, retrieved the toaster from the cabinet, and proceeded to put the bread in the toaster, after which she very happily yelled TOAST at the top of her lungs.
Eventually I may publish my findings, but as for know I will just leave you with the gist of my research.
Give a man a fish and he can eat for a day..... ...starve your child and they'll learn to make toast, or eat ice cream, or something along those lines.

Weekend Update

Yeah for the weekend! For your special treat I thought I would fill you all (all 6 of you that read this blog) in on how the Reynolds' have been progressing.

Marshall: Cheers for the big guy! He has lost almost 25 pounds in the last 2 months. The treadmill has become his new best friend, and the kids and I have his ipod workout mix dedicated to memory. So a word to Brianna's nursery leader, Don't be surprised if Brianna begins singing Shinedown's 'The Sound of Madness' after The Itsy Bitsy Spider. But we would gladly give up 30 minutes of Marshall a day to the treadmill so he can be here well into his years. Speaking of which he'll be the big 3 6 tomorrow so Happy birthday to ya honey!

Me: Not much new here. I got a new ipod nano and within minutes of it's delivery Ryan had claimed it as his "movie watching thingy." Now after 3 days of ownership I have no idea where it is. Thanks a lot Ryan!
I am trying to be a better all around person, which is something easily attained because my bar is set pretty low. I've decided our food budget has been way out of control and decided to half it this month, so far so good. I've made dinner rather than buy dinner which has gone a long way in helping me save.
I have recently become a gymboree addict, luckily I have also been listening to Dave Ramsey's radio show, so I credit the financial guru for keeping me on the wagon as far as SUPER cute children's clothes are concerned.
Oh yeah, I also had to apologize to my mother this week. She loves to use the word "ironical", after years of hounding her that it was not a real word and she could just say ironic I finally looked it up. Sorry mom your right.

Ryan: We went swimming for FHE last night, I work mondays so we pick another day of the week for our FHE. Ryan has been in swimming lessons at Blackfoot pool and last night I got to see him in action. I was really impressed (wow a mom impressed by something her kid could not do before and now can.) But really I was impressed. He was actually swimming which gave me a little relief cause now that we have three kids swimming is not an easy family activity without the intervention of a lifeguard.
My other brag for Ryan moment is last week for FhE we went to Randy's Tumbling Gym (love it.) If you refer to one of my previous posts you would probably realize this wasn't one of the safest activities I could do with my kids due to my lack of regard for their well-being. So true to my nature I asked (no told, uh no made) Ryan do a backflip into the foam pit. And to my surprise he did, without even a hesistation. He's such a cool kid.
Wednesday I was driving Ryan to gymnastics and he said "mom your not cute." I had tried really hard that day (sad I know) so I said "What!" Then he replied "you're not awesome either." So I put on my sad looking face, which prompted him to put on his mischevious grin. After a sufficient amount of time had passed with me looking forlorn he exclaimed "You're CUTE and AWESOME!"
Julie had to call me the other day because of something ryan had said. My mom was watching him and Julie was there. She told Ryan she was stealing some of grandma's pizza, so Ryan yelled "grandma Julie is stealing your pizza" to which Julie replied 'Ryan you're a snot." Ryan didn't hear her reply so Ed told Ryan what Julie had called him. Ryan calmly told Ed "that's okay Julie's uncool." Ryan really gets people.

Brianna: I learned a new lesson this week from Brianna. Apparently you don't have to try as hard to be a mom for your 2nd and 3rd children as you do your first. Somehow magically they can learn things without being taught. I remember spending hours with Ryan trying to get him to count to three. This week Ryan and Brianna were playing hide and seek and when it was Brianna's turn to count she put her hands on her eyes to keep from peeking and said 1--2--3. Where did she learn that? Then during her next turn Ryan told her he wasn't ready yet and to keep counting and I heard a 4--5--6--7--8--10. Of course my mom took credit for her math skills stating it was because of all the times they've played bubblegum bubblegum in a dish.
Brianna has also been doing well with potty training. She got panties for Christmas and has been sans diaper for about a month now. Sorry to Monica for the added pressure, besides it was Julie who told Jon not me, she's so uncool.
Also thank you to Brianna's nursery leader! She has been singing songs all week which I have never sung to her. So far I have heard some very interesting reditions of twinkle twinkle and itsy bitsy spider.

Case: This baby has definately been on my good side lately. For the past 2 weeks he has been going to bed at 9:00 and not even stirring until 6:30. I believe he has been my smiliest baby and he doesn't just half smile he goes all the way. He looks like a little monkey when he smiles which most people think is so cute, unfortunately I really hate monkeys. Luckily I really, really love Case.
Case got a new gift this week. We brought up Brianna's old baby swing for him. Good thing Case is already a tough guy cause if not the other babies would make fun of him for chillin in a baby pink swing with sheer fabric and butterflies. More than once Brianna has shown us how jealous she is that Case has her swing and more than twice I have found her in the swing. Which wouldn't be a big deal except Case has been in there under her.
I was looking through pictures that my mom had taken of Case (being that Case is the third child there aren't a lot of pictures that I have taken of him) and I found one that I love. So I put on my sidebar for your enjoyment. The reason I love it is because it reminds me of one of those photos of professional people like bankers and university presidents. Maybe if he ever does become a professional and has his picture on the wall of a university or bank I'll play a prank on him and switch it with the picture on my sidebar, now that would be funny!

Sorry for such a long post, I'm glad you hung in there until the end. Just thought I would let you know how jealous I am of you. That is why I do all these crazy things just to keep up with you and all the fun things I read about you doing on your blog.