President Hinckley

The Semester is almost over/ an update on us.

This has been one of the longest semesters of my school career. Almost as long as the semester I had to take Statistics. The end is in sight however. Today I did my presentation on my research project. We started the presentation by playing the song "Lets talk about sex" while we handed out "Better than Sex cake". Everyone asked a lot of questions about our project, and it looks like we got full points on it. We did get our paper back- that I wrote most of- and we got 100% on that as well. The final starts next Wednesday and runs for a week. I figured out my grade and right now I have a 93%. In order to keep it there I have to get at least an 84 on the final, which is what I've gotten on the other 3 tests, so I'm not too worried.
My other class had our final today. With a huge amount of luck I'll end up with an A in there as well. Otherwise I'll have an A-, and since "B's get degrees", so do A minuses.
Other than the complete tiredness I'm dealing with I'm doing ok. I got to talk to a good friend today that I haven't talked to since I moved. She's going to help me plant my garden this week. Whoohooo!!!

An update on my family:
Karl has a final next Saturday, then he starts his last class. His commencement ceremony is May 1, but he doesn't finish his last class until June. We're looking forward to it, I miss having my sweetie home on Friday nights.

Kaleb has been talking a lot more. His teachers are doing something right. While he is still hard to understand, the amount he talks has increased, and he is using more words. It's wonderful to have him come ask me for something in a full sentence.

Von started speech therapy and is already showing improvement. I don't think it will take as much to get him caught up. We talked to an occupational therapist about his eating and she gave me some great ideas to get him to eat. So he is eating more variety than he was only 2 or 3 weeks ago. He loves to cuddle and gives me hugs all the time.

So overall we're doing good. I'm so grateful for the blessings in our lives. We have our tough times, but the great times are nice to have inbetween.

The Idiot Box

I grew up with my Dad calling the TV the "Idiot Box". Because of that I really enjoyed this commercial:

I'm SOOO tired of being tired!!

(I usually try not to complain, but this entry is completely complaining, so I don't mind if you don't read it.)
Some people get morning sickness, not me, I get tired. I don't mean just a little tired, I mean exhausted tired. For example: I usually get about 8 hours of sleep at night. When I'm not pregnant this is plenty. Sometimes I can handle less. While I'm pregnant it's not nearly enough.
I usually try to take a nap while Kaleb is at school, but sometimes Von doesn't cooperate by taking one with me, so I turn on a movie in my bedroom, give him a drink and then I fall asleep, after setting my alarm to go off 5 minutes before Kaleb's bus gets here.
This week Mom has been working on my Grandpa's life story book, and she needs me to help her with formatting. So I've gone over 2 times, with the intention of helping her all afternoon. The first time I helped for about 45 minutes before asking for a ride home. The second time I just pushed through, but was exhausted by the time Karl picked me up to go to dinner for his birthday.
I average 10-12 hours of sleeping a day. Do you know how frustrating this is? My house needs to be cleaned, and my kids need attention, and I just dont' have the stinking energy to do to it. Luckily I have the best husband in the world who says he doesn't mind helping.
The good part is this: I am about 8 weeks along, the tired part of pregnancy is the first 12 weeks, so I only have a month left till I get some energy back!!! Wish me luck!

Yummy Recipe

I'm doing a presentation in one of my classes next week and my group decided it would be fun to have a treat to give out that connects to our presentation. One of the other girls is making it, but I figured while I was sending her the recipe I could post it too. It is very delicious.

B.T.S. Chocolate Surprise

Crust:
1 cup flour
1 stick margarine
½ cup finely chopped nuts

Filling, 1st layer:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 8oz pkg. cream cheese
½ of 16oz cool whip

Filling, 2nd Layer:
1 lg pkg instant vanilla pudding
1 lg pkg instant chocolate pudding
3 cups cold milk

Crust: Mix flour and margarine together like pie crust. Add in nuts. Press into a 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Let cool.

1st Layer: Mix together powdered sugar and cream cheese. When smooth add 8 oz. cool whip. Beat until smooth and spread onto cool crumb crust.

2nd Layer: In medium bowl add all ingredients. Beat until smooth and spread over 1st layer.

Top with rest of cool whip. Can sprinkle with pieces of candy bar such as Skor Bar.

A Pat on the Back

I recently signed up Von for PEEP (Provo Early Education Program). Specifically I was worried about his speech, but I asked to have Von's eating habits evaluated so that I could get some ideas on helping him be less picky in his eating as well. After I signed up I started to worry that they might think the reason my boys don't eat is because I'm not a good mom, (yes I realize this probably wouldn't have happened, for many reasons, but I've been a little stressed about it anyway.)
Well, the lady came to observe today, and I was surprised at her visit. She watched for awhile, then gave me tips, and talked to me about reasons for things and gave me tons of information. She also said that she was impressed at how many skills my boys had, things like: that they asked for things politely before doing them, and that they followed instructions well, that they waited for the prayer before eating etc.
She complimented me quite a few times on my patience and skill as a mom. I was surprised that she noticed so many little things that I try to do, but I don't really think anyone, including my kids notice.
So the visit that I was worried about ended up being one of the best I've had from anyone in the Peep program, and instead of being told I wasn't doing well, I was told that I'm a really good mom and to keep up the good work. It felt really good.

Duct Tape Anyone?