Thanksgiving Point

Yesterday we went to Thanksgiving Point with the Brecheisen women. It was oodles of fun!

I told the kids to look sad, since they were in jail and all. I think they did well.

The kids loved riding the ponies, although Anders was a little disappointed that they just went in circles. He asked me if he could ride the horse anywhere he wanted; I think he had visions of riding off into the sunset...

One of the employees let Anders, Eliza and Aislin inside the chicken/rooster pen while he was cleaning it out. They thought that was pretty darn cool!

So, we had a good day yesterday. Nils decided to stay home from school last night, so we got to play together and eat dinner as a family. It was great!

Nuthin' New

I feel like posting something, but I don't have anything exciting to say. Sorry. Here are some highlights from the week:

Monday: While driving home, the kids noticed a bug in the van and started to freak out. I got to a stop light, thought I stopped, and turned around to take care of the bug. Instead I rear-ended the van in front of me. Okay, it was more of a "love tap", but it sounded violent. The people inside that vehicle were none too pleased. The guy got out and looked like he might punch me. We pulled over to assess damage, give insurance info., etc. I was very apologetic. Aani was crying, Anders got out of the van and said, "MOM! I got the beetle out!" Once the guy and his wife saw my three kids, they took pity on my poor pathetic soul, and all the anger melted from their faces. And, there was no damage to their vehicle so that helped. They even told me to have a good day. Never underestimate the power of a crying baby.

Tuesday: I went to Enrichment at my mom's ward, and for some reason felt compelled to give a group of old ladies the recipe to figure out your stripper name. No, seriously. I did.

Why? Why? Why?

The response? Awkward, awkward silence. HELLO, Katrina! It was ENRICHMENT! I'm never talking at Enrichment again. No, I take that back. I'm never talking at any church function again. I shudder to think about it.

By the way, mine is Tiger Thompson. Thanks a lot, Becky.

Wednesday: Well, that's today, isn't it? Anders cleaned his room, Addie only had one accident, and Aani was fabulous as usual.

I can't wait to see what the rest of the week holds. Let's all hope there are no car accidents and no mention of the word "stripper". Ugh.

My New BFF

Ahhh, the irony.

Yesterday I was at the gym, minding my own dang business, when who should walk past me but my ob/gyn. Yes, the same ob/gyn I saw at Hallmark; the same ob/gyn that has delivered all of my babies; the same ob/gyn who not two days before gave me a box of tissues and Prozac.

Now, the Hallmark thing kind of freaked me out, but I go there once in a blue moon. I go to the gym EVERY DAY. He told me he's there a lot in the winter. Crap.

Let's stop playing these silly games and just admit that we're best friends.

My Girl, My Girl

Yesterday I had a tiny little chat with Addie about using the potty. It went something like this:

Me: Addie, do you want to wear underwear like Anders?
Addie: Yeah.
Me: So you can go pee-pee and poo-poo in the potty.
Addie: YEAH!

Fast forward 5 hours. We're at Grandma's, and Addie is complaining that her diaper is hurting her. Grandma says, "I think you need to get some panties and use the potty."

Fast forward 5 minutes. Addie is sitting on the toilet, and POOPS in the thing!

Fast forward 10 minutes. Addie starts doing the pee-pee dance, saying, "I need a diaper! I need a diaper!" Nils ran her to the bathroom, where she peed in the toilet.

Fast forward to our drive home. We stop at the store and buy the girl some underwear.

She just peed in the potty again this morning. And she's wearing her underwear.

After Anders being nearly 3 1/2 and pretty difficult to potty train, this is the best thing that's happened to me since Prozac. (Aren't I hilarious?)

Happy Pills

Last week I felt like the world was caving in on me. It was very strange and scary. I felt joyless and hopeless, and incapable of doing anything. I'm feeling better now, but still a little cloudy. So my big news is my happy pills. In hindsight, I probably should have been on them a while ago. I guess I've been able to distract myself from the cloudiness, but I think when Nils started school it served as the catalyst for an emotional breakdown. I've never felt that way, and hope to never feel that way again. So, here's to Prozac! If anyone has any experience with this, feel free to share. I'm really looking forward to feeling like me again. nilsandkatrina@gmail.com

Hairy Ribs

Are your dates out with your spouse pathetic like ours?

We had a big night out tonight at the Ruby River restaurant. Yeeeee-Haaaaww! We hate that place. We've always hated it, but when you have a $25 gift certificate, you suffer through it to the tune of free food. We ordered a full rack (I feel so naughty saying "full rack"-hee hee!) of ribs to share. Cost: $18.99. When said ribs were brought to us, there was a huge hair intertwined between them. Now, Nils and I aren't the type to complain superfluously at restaurants, but seriously. We needed to be compensated for our pain and suffering. They brought us a new plate, and took $15.00 off our bill. Pretty good, Ruby River, but please...keep the change. The waiter got to keep the remaining balance of the gift certificate. It would be too much mental stress for us to go back.

After Ruby River, we went to Deseret Book so I could buy New Moon and Eclipse. Yes, I too have jumped on the vampire bandwagon. But wait....it gets wilder.

We then went to Target and bought pants for our kids. Nils also got himself a hat that says "Dirtball". We're not even sure what that's supposed to mean.

So, we've had it confirmed once again that we are boring, tired, pathetic parents who haven't the energy to think of something cool or creative to do for 3 hours without our children. However, we're home now and feel somewhat renewed. Especially since we didn't have to put the little critters to bed.

Miracles

Miracle #1: Let me wipe away the tears. The internet is working at the Rasmusson's! I just spent the last half hour scanning everyone's blogs. How I've missed you all! It's amazing how dependent we've become on this so-called Information Super Highway.

Miracle #2: We signed up for Aflac insurance a year ago, anticipating the arrival of another child. The stipulation of this insurance is that the policy has to be in effect for at least 10 months in order to qualify. Long story short: You invest a certain amount every month and when the baby is born you get that much back plus a little extra. When Aani was born the policy had been in effect for 9 months and 3 weeks. We filed a claim anyway, but have been expecting to get a letter saying the claim was denied.

The last couple of months have been pretty brutal with doctor's bills and hospital bills and the added expense of another kid. Nils and I decided on Friday to take $1200 from our precious basement fund, pay off the hospital, doctor and anesthesiologist and be done. It was a painful choice, and we joked that if we didn't have to pay tithing, we would be a lot richer and could afford to pay these bills a lot more easily. Hilarious, I know. OF COURSE we paid our tithing. We're too scared of hell to not pay it. Friday when I got the mail, lo and behold...a check from Aflac for $1200. Exactly the amount we needed to pay our bills. Isn't that amazing? It was one of those moments when we had no doubt that Heavenly Father blessed us for having faith.

Miracles 3, 4 & 5: We've had a few little miracles around the house- the hot water in the kids' bathroom, which hasn't worked since we moved in, mysteriously repaired itself. The automatic sliding doors on our van stopped working the day Aani was born; they fixed themselves last week. And, I got two cans of formula in the mail from Enfamil. And these weren't the lame little sample cans- full sized cans, baby!

Aren't these totally sweet miracles?