Hope Moments

Hope and I had our date night the other night and as always she didn't disappoint in the entertainment area.

As we were driving to the movie I started talking to her about being a good friend and qualities that make a good friend. As the conversation went on I started telling her how her dad and I were really proud of some recent situations we had observed. For a minute she was quiet. And when I asked her what she was thinking about the conversation went like this...

H: "I sure am gonna get a lot of presents this year."

M: "What?"

H: "Santa. I was just thinking about all the good decisions I've been making. He will probably bring me a LOT of presents this year."
M: Laughing.

Another moment of silence.

H: "You know what I was just thinking?"
M: "No what?"
H: "I'm kinda surprised I got presents this year. I wasn't very good last year? Remember when I ....(as she proceeded to make her list of last year's transgressions)."
M: Chuckle. Hmm....What should I say? But that's the funny part. Before I even have a chance to respond she is off on an ENTIRELY new subject with not intention of going back. Seriously cracks me up.

I {HEART} Walmart

There I said it. I do. I know. You just might not be able to look at me the same after this but that's okay. Seriously. Where else can you find church dresses for $7.00 that are cute enough that people ask where you bought them from. And Easter dresses for $12.00. Second year in a row in fact! (You'll have to wait for the grand unveiling later). Now you're thinking I'm a little neurotic that I have already bought Easter dresses and it's only February. But that's the trick. At Wallies you MUST purchase the first time you see them. Otherwise...

THEY ARE LONG GONE.


And you're out of luck.


And cursing when you have to pay $28.00 somewhere else for a dress.


At Wallies you can buy plain tee shirts (to go under things) for $3.00. $3.00!!! And if your kids go through them like mine those $3.oo tee's are a must! Or how about work out shorts for $2.00? Yep. Got those too.

QUALITY, you ask? Haven't had much of a problem yet. And have I mentioned I have THREE girls. Can't say I am too heartbroken if it doesn't make through all three. That's about 5 years of seeing the same thing repeated over and over.


And then there is that sweet little "price match" deal. Hate it when I end up stuck in line behind someone doing it but LOVE it when it is me! No ad's. No nothing. Just tell them the price and they match it. (Good thing I am an honest sole!) Saves me a TON of time and a TON of money.

And let's talk RETURNS. Have I told you I am the queen of returns? Love the no hassle policy. I return it. They take it. Receipt or no receipt. Comes in handy for a gal like me!

Now I know Walmart has it's downside. I realize they are taking over the world. I have THREE of them within 6 miles of my house in three directions. And I realize the "little guys" can't compete and they run them right out of town. I feel bad. I really do. And if I had all the money in the world I would support the small guy and pay three times more. But for now, that's not an option. So Wallies it is.

Miss Caymbree Rose - addendum

So my last post about Miss Caymbree was just a tad bit on the negative side.

Just a tad.

But I have to redeem myself. Because she really is a cute little thing and makes us smile daily. Like whenever we give her something whether it's a sippy cup or a blankie she always says, "tank you so much." Seriously melts my heart.

Or whenever I go to the restroom I have my own personal cheering squad when she asks, "Mommy go potty? Whooo hoooo!!! Good girl mommy!" I could go potty all day just to hear that.

And I get to hear myself a little when she mimics my response. (I didn't realize this until recently) but I never get a simple "yes" from her. Instead "yes" is always "ya maybe." (Apparently I say this a lot). Anyway, so funny when I ask her "Caymbree, do you want a treat?" "Ya maybe." Love it!

And then she throws out a few things every once in a while that keeps us in stitches for quite a while. Like when I was helping her with her prayers the other night (with the whole family gathered around) and she surprised us all.

Mom: "Thank you for my mom and dad"... Caymbree: "tank you for my mom and dad"

Mom: "Please bless my sisters" Caymbree: "Pease bess my sissers" - "HEY, I DON'T WANNA PAY FOR MY SISSERS!" That was pretty much the end of that prayer. None of us could compose ourselves enough to go on.

And then there is still the issue of POTTY TRAINING. If you recall, the first round did not go so well. For the past few months every time I bought diapers I bought the smallest pack possible and would tell myself it was the last pack I was going to buy. But each and every week I would talk to Caymbree about potty training I would get the same response. PURE TERROR. She would instantly start crying and say "hold me mommy, hold me." YOWZER.

Finally, I was down to my last four diapers. I just couldn't bring myself to buy more. My suggestion was to send her to a shrink. Troy's suggestion was a blessing. His idea worked.

Within a day her terror was gone, and two accidents later she was trained. Seriously hasn't had a wet accident since (and that was two weeks ago). Unfortunately, things haven't been going quite so smoothly on the other end. No accidents. No anything. That's the problem. But we're working on it.

Oh how I love her! Could someone just remind me this the next time we are in the middle of her next "terrible two" tantrum?

Quality Time

Been spending a LOT of time on this lately...
And this one....

AND this one...

And the one at Walmart, the mall, Hobby Lobby, and just about everywhere else...

AND IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF THIS LITTLE BEAUTY....

(Got ya, didn't I? You so thought I was preggo.) Thanks to a "Get Fit" challenge I joined four weeks ago I am now drinking 2 liters of water a day. 2 LITERS PEOPLE!!!! Before this I was lucky if I got 8 oz. in a 24 hour period. It was quite a shock to the system to say the least. I keep thinking my body will adjust to all the water but judging by the amount of trips to the potty I am gonna say not so much.

So, keep your toilets clean. Good chance if I come to visit I'm going to be spending some quality time in there.

Hodges Got Talent

When Hallee gets an idea...there is no stopping her. About a week ago she decided that we needed to have a FAMILY TALENT SHOW. She asked me and I gave my typical "ya, sure. Sometime." (Which usually means never.) But I should have know she wasn't going to let me get away with that.

So after seven days of persistent asking and begging we finally got around to doing it. I proudly present the Hodges Family talent show...

Miss Hope performed a song and dance routine complete with a toe touch and all.


Miss Caymbree performed twice during the evening. A guitar and song solo as well as a performance to "Battlefield."
Miss Hallee Lynn wrote and performed her own song. She is quite the
little song writer this one.


I "WOW"ed them all with my guitar and song performance to the "Oh, boy, we're singing the alphabet" song. Got the crowd involved and all.

Mr. T. impressed them all with his juggling skills.

Hallee made signs for each one of us and we were "assigned" a buddy to hold up the sign and cheer when it was our turn.

AND THE WINNER IS......

Ok. It was a tie. Dad and Hopers took home the title.

And just in case you want a little more, here is a little video footage of Caymbree's
"Battlefield". Enjoy. Dirty face and all.

A day in the life...

WOW. That's all I can say. Those of you currently living with two year olds know what I mean. Having once had a two year old doesn't count. It's called selective memories. I think it's the big guy upstairs way of ensuring a continuation of reproducing.

Caymbree is as cute as they come and but is as stubborn as a mule. We thought Hope was stubborn. Ha. If we only knew.

She's also a mastermind at manipulation tactics. Like the other day when she wanted me to get her blankie upstairs and I said, "Caymbree, I'm busy. Can you run upstairs and get it?" To which she ran over to the couch, hopped up on it, gave me the most sad and pathetic look and said, " I can't. I sick." WHAT THE HUD!!

She even used it again the next day when I found her rummaging through my purse. She had the deer in the headlights look when I walked down. I gave her the stern look, and asked "Caymbree, why are you in my purse?" Again, her response was to run to the couch, hop up and say, "Mom. I sick." Oh we are SOOOOOO in trouble.

And to top it off check out the day we had this week. First, she snuck into Hopes room, helped herself to Hope's make-up and created quite the artwork on her face.

Notice her "hiding"in between my bed and nightstand. She pulled the If-I-don't-look-at-her-she-won't-see-me thing.

When I confronted her about her make-up she said, "Hope said I could pay wis her make-up". Uh-hu. Ya. Right. Hope's make-up is off limits to just about any and everyone but I'm sure she told you you could have free reign with it.

Fast forward a whole hour....and you'll find this....She decided to do her hair by going into Hallee's closet, helping herself to an entire bottle of lotion and applying it to her entire head. Breathe, count to ten, breathe.....



I know this phase will pass and I'm trying to remind myself to just roll with the punches. Somedays are easier than others. And I'm so grateful for the Relief Society lesson we had on Sunday that reminded me that Heavenly Father has blessed each one of his children with certain personality traits that can be great assets in building up the kingdom of God. And with Caymbree's will and determination there must be great things in store.

Who does this????

Okay. I will admit it. It was getting to be a problem. Hallee had been walking around the house for a couple of days looking a lot like Nanny McPhee.
Each day we would wiggle the tooth a little more but the dang thing wouldn't budge. Finally, Troy had a plan. I WAS NOT PART OF THIS PLAN. I walked into the room to find him convincing her to let him tie a string to the tooth. This way she could just "pull on it a little." Ok. I can handle that.

Next thing I know he has convinced her to tie it to the door. He won't touch it. She can just do it on her own. Hmmmm....I'm starting to get a little skeptical. So is Hallee....

Practice round. She lightly opens and closes the door. Nope. It's not gonna work. I'm thinking "well, it was a good try."

And the next thing you know. WHAM!!! The door just somehow accidently gets slammed shut and the tooth went a flying.

I think my face probably looked exactly like Hallee's!!

The Nanny McPhee tooth was gone, Hallee was in shock, I was thinking "Who in the world does this to their poor child," and Hope and Caymbree sat stunned (then they laughed hysterically). I told Hallee to forget the tooth fairy on this one. I'd go straight to her dad and demand BIG BUCKS.

So Hallee got her $10 dollars for a tooth after all.

Better late than never

I've been meaning to post some of the pictures from our last family photo shoot for quite some time but I am just now getting around to it. My mom took over 1,000 pictures so narrowing them down proved to be a difficult task. But here are a few of my favorites. Love the candid moments...

I thought about showing some of the bloopers but than I realized it would require a post of 935 pictures. I'll spare you the pain.

If a pictures is worth a thousand words.....

....than I'll just let these do the talking.....

thanks to my talented mother and her handy-dandy camera

Hallee and the big 8

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY HALLEE!!

MONUMENTAL. amazing. WONDERFUL. surreal. POWERFUL

All words that describe Hallee's baptism last week. How is it possible that my baby is EIGHT YEARS OLD??? Does that mean I am getting old? Have we taught her what she needs to know in order for her to be prepared for such a big decision? Does she understand the covenants she is about to make? It's a whirlwind of emotions.

It was such a wonderful day and we were surrounded by lots of our family and friends. The night before I was all excited and gitty and was singing "Hallee's getting baptized in the morning..." Hallee's response; "Mom, please don't make a production out of this." So me. So Hallee.

After the baptism we came back to the house for lunch. Troy and I also gave her this book that I have been working on for a few months. About six months ago I started asking family and friends to write Hallee a letter based on the concept "Our hopes and dreams for Hallee." I compiled their pictures and letters and made it into a Shutterfly book.

We had a crazy few days after the baptism so Monday night was the first quiet moment she had to really start to read it. I tucked her in bed and then went into do the same with the other two girls. When I walked back into her room I found her with tears streaming down her face. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "nothing. Just a lot of people really love me and think I am pretty special." It was one of those moments as a mother that I wish I could freeze and preserve forever. I laid on her bed with her as she continued to read and the tears flowed freely. Thank you to all of you who said such kind words! I know she will always treasure this book!
Following the baptism we headed up to Classic Skating to celebrate her birthday with all the cousins. They had SOOOOO much fun and I think my kids think it is every bit as cool as Disneyland (at a tenth of the cost :)).

On the actual day of her birthday Troy and I took her out on a date night. We went to Red Robin to eat, then to a movie and a little shopping at Walmart afterwards.
We had so much fun with her and it was just one more confirmation that she is growing up.

Check out that chocolate ice cream cake! I think it was bigger than her!