Smartie Pants!

If you know Rosie, you know that she doesn't like to perform. If you say "Rosie, what color is your shirt?" She'll just turn away, but she darn well knows what color it is. If you're lucky and catch her when she's in the mood, she'll answer your questions, but most of the time she will keep to herself. Any way, it's been difficult for me as a parent to know how smart Rosie actually is because she doesn't like to show you how smart she is. I just have to catch her on a good day, like today!

I had an issue of the Ensign sitting on the couch and Rosie picked it up. She pointed to the picture of Thomas S. Monson and said "Thomas!" How cute is that?! Then she decided to open it up and look at the pictures. She saw Dieter F. Uchtorf and said "Dieter!" Then she looked at me and said "where's Jesus Christ?" I flipped through the pages and found a picture of the First Vision, and said "there he is!" She then pointed to Joseph Smith and said "Joseph Smith!" Wow, I guess she IS learning something when I try to teach her about the church. Then I found a picture of the Salt Lake Temple and said "look, it's a temple." Rosie then sang the first line of "I love to see the temple" which I sing to her almost every night before bed. I sang it to her again and she listened intently. So I guess one thing I learned today is that she is totally absorbing everything I teach her, and I need to continue teaching her good things and not give up, even if I think she's not getting it.

Another thing she's been saying lately is "E bit ibit" Dave heard her say it that other day and asked me if I knew what she was talking about. We were both stumped. Then the other day she said it again and I thought, "hmmmm could she be saying 'Elisabeth'?" I asked her to say Elisabeth and she responded with "E bit ibit" so maybe that's what she's saying. I'm not 100% sure yet because she doesn't really say it in context with anything else and sometimes if i ask her to say Elisabeth, she'll say it differently. If she IS saying Elisabeth, well, that's pretty darn cute, although I wish she'd still call me "honey" like she used to.

Well, it's getting late and I the next few days are going to be busy as heck. I have a newsletter to do for the quilt shop, grocery shopping, clean the house, finish planting flowers in the garden, laundry, run in the Moon and June 5 km race, and throw an awesome birthday party for the J man. I'm also going to post before and after pictures on my health blog, along with Joseph's birth story on his birthday. Yikes, I better schedule sleep in there sometime.

Me Ka Aloha
- Elisabeth

I Think I'll Stay Home

There's been something bothering me for a while now and I'm not sure how to say this without offending some people, but I'm just going to go ahead and say it. I'm a stay at home mom, and I'm doing the RIGHT thing!

I've been so annoyed lately when people look at like me and say "so your maternity leave must be up soon?" and I reply "no, I'm a stay at home mom." Then I get one of two reactions. Either they kind of tilt their head to the side and have that "I feel so sorry for you, you little uneducated, can't pursue a fulfilling career, boring woman" expression on their face, or the smug "hmmmm, must be nice to have a husband who makes so much money to allow you to stay home." Rarely, and I mean RARELY do I come across someone who understands why I stay home with my kids and responds by saying "Oh good for you, I also stay home." I love being a stay at home mom. I just need to explain once and for all that none of the first two responses are true.

Misconception 1 "she must not have the education/ambition to pursue a career."
This is so, so, so, so, FALSE! Not only am I a college graduate, graduated with honors, but I also have a variety of job experience that would help me gain employment in many different fields. I've been offered management positions at several places before I found out I was pregnant which I turned down BECAUSE I was pregnant with Rosie. I also had a job working for Campus Living Centers as a manager and within two months of working there, was contacted by the general manager of another location, wanting me to transfer and offered more pay. I also have a lot of ambition, just ask my parents. I was the kid sitting at the end of my driveway with a lemonade booth every weekend of the summer, or putting on plays with the neighborhood kids and charging $1 for admission, or rolling my Uncle's loose change for him and charging 10% (I made $85 dollars !), or babysitting when I was only 12, or working 3 jobs in high school. I wanted to make money in every possible way. I actually LOVE working. I just enjoy it so much that I could possibly be one of those people that might spend way too much time at work. If I wasn't a Mom, I would probably be managing something or starting my own event planning company. I've just realized that being a mom is way more rewarding than any worldly success. I'm happy to focus on more important things in life, my family. I've also been trying to follow the prophet's counsel, that being a stay at home mom is the best way to raise my kids. I'll discuss that more in a second.

Second misconception, "Your husband must be making a lot of money to allow you to stay home."
Alright, I don't want to come across as one of those people who claim to be in a bad financial situation, but really isn't. You know, those people you just want to slap when they complain about finances. Well, I'm not going to say we're totally strapped for cash or anything, but we're certainly not rolling in it at the moment. We were both lucky enough to have graduated without any student loans, and Dave worked his butt off at his part time job while he was in school so that we could pay all our bills. We bought a house we could afford (we really just squeezed into this house) and we bought a car that costs a few thousand less than the car we really wanted. We find ways to save money everywhere we can so that I don't need to work. We look on kijiji to save money whenever we want to buy new things and we sell all our old stuff, like Rosie's old crib to raise money for other things. Dave has just STARTED his businesses, and although they are going better than I could have ever anticipated, he still has a few years to go before he's making the big bucks lol. So, Dave doesn't really make that much money, we just try our best to live within our means. We get my niece and nephew's old clothing for the kids, we shop at the bargain grocery store, we rarely go out for dinner and if we do it's to Ikea which cost less than $10 for all of us, we find ways to fix up old furniture to make the house look nice, and we keep a strict budget for everything else. We really try not to buy stuff we don't need. Seriously, Dave's dad cuts his hair for him, and I haven't been to the salon in over a year. We just figure out how to live without going into debt, and without me being forced to work. It's tough, but worth it.

Why I decided to stay home in the first place.
In Canada we have a one year maternity leave, which pays you 55% of your income. It makes staying home for the first year pretty easy. I knew I'd be home with Rosie for at least the first year. The rest of my plans were still up in the air. Deep down inside me, I just knew that I would never work again. I just knew the benefits to being a stay at home mom. However, the thing that convinced me the most was the LDS Institute manual called "Eternal Marriage". One day I was flipping through it and decided to read the lesson on mothers working outside the home. I've never heard so many warnings against mothers working. The thing that struck me the most was this quote

President Spencer W. Kimball

“The husband is expected to support his family and only in an emergency should a wife secure outside employment. Her place is in the home, to build the home into a heaven of delight.

“Numerous divorces can be traced directly to the day when the wife left the home and went out into the world into employment. Two incomes raise the standard of living beyond its norm. Two spouses working prevent the complete and proper home life, break into the family prayers, create an independence which is not cooperative, causes distortion, limits the family and frustrates the children already born. . . ."

http://www.ldsces.org/inst_manuals/marriage/manualindex.asp (click on page 237)

If you read it, you'll understand where I'm coming from. I also love the talk given in General Conference a while back by Julie B. Beck, actually, I love all her talks. She basically just says it straight up. http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-775-27,00.html

I have to admit that there are some days when I feel like sending my kids to daycare and working some high paying job so we can afford more luxuries, but then I know that I would miss my kids growing up, and no job in the world could ever pay me enough to miss that. I love my children so much and I want to be there every step of the way because before I know it, they be married and starting their own families. I know that the world will influence them in so many ways, so I need to do my part, at home, to teach them the Lord's ways. It's a struggle most days, but I know I'm doing the right thing for me, and my family. My next door neighbor said that her daughters could always count on her being home when they called, and if she wasn't home, they knew she was just at the store or something, and would be home shortly. I want my kids to feel secure that I will always be home when they return from school, or an activity, or a date and that they can tell me all about it. I want my kids to feel secure that dinner will always be on the table. I want them to know that I would never put anything, not even money before my family and that I am willing to make sacrifices to be the best mom I can be.

So, to all those who judge me as a frumpy, oppressed, downtrodden, isolated... YOU ARE WRONG! I am active, intelligent, influential, and hardworking. I love, love LOVE being a stay at home mother and I plan on keeping it that way forever. I am so blessed to have a husband who supports my decision to follow the prophet. To all you stay at home moms, you are doing a great job!

Me Ka Aloha
- Elisabeth

Planning Joseph's Birthday Party

Can you believe that it's almost been a year since we welcomed the J-Man into our lives? I remember last time this year, feeling depressed that I was so huge and praying that I wouldn't go past my due date (and of course, I did). Any way, enough about that. I'll post more about Joseph's birth story when I have more time.

So, since I graduated from college in Hospitality and Tourism - Special Event Management, I always feel the need to throw really awesome birthday parties for my kids. Seriously, the older they get, the cooler the parties will be, and I can't wait!!! When I was planning Rosie's party (like 8 months ago or something) I came across some cute ideas for Joseph's party. I decided I was going to do a jungle theme, since he's such a little monkey. Well.... a friend of mine asked me one day "I bet you already have Joseph's party figured out. What are you planning, don't worry, I won't take your idea." So I told her my theme. The next time I saw her she said "so I was thinking, nobody will really notice if we do the same thing, and we're not going to have all the same people at both parties, so I think I'll also do the jungle theme." In my mind I was thinking "what?! seriously?! you're taking my idea?! who does that?!" but instead I said "well ya I guess it doesn't really matter." Obviously I was/still am annoyed that it happened like that. She had her son's party a month ago and did the jungle theme, and I just can't bring myself to do the same thing, even though it was my plan first. I know one things for sure, I'll be keeping my mouth shut in the future!

On to plan B. I'm an event planner after all, I need to learn to roll with the punches. I did some research and came up with a few fun ideas, but decided on an "Undersea Adventure" party. Yes, I am aware that Joseph is only turning one and probably won't remember/care what I do. Heck I could make it a poopie diaper theme and he'd be just as happy, but a few older children will be there who WILL care, and I'll be there and I care, so Undersea Adventure it is.

Here's some of the ideas I have so far...
1. Gold Fish Crackers as a snack (maybe served in a fish bowl?)
2. Dollar store bubbles for the kids to play with
3. Swedish fish candies in the goodie bags.
3. Sea shells, star fish, and sand center pieces
4. Puppet show "The Rainbow Fish"put on by HeeGlee Productions (thanks Mom!)
5. Undersea music (for children and adults) playing.
6. Fish shaped cookies and sandwiches
7. Cake that looks like there's fish jumping and shark fins sticking out
8. Pearl colored balloons hung at random from fishing line to resemble bubbles.
9. Green streamers hung to resemble seaweed
10. Octopus cupcakes (gummie worm legs)

Well, I hope it turns out the way I envision it. I always have these great ideas in my head, but I have the hardest time explaining them. Wish me luck!

- Elisabeth

Rosie is Cute When...

Rosie has been interested in pulling books off the bookshelf lately, but not her books, you know the fun looking books with all the colors and pictures. No, she's apparently bored of her baby books. These days Rosie has been trying to read mine and Dave's books (does she even know what they're about? Maybe she's one of those freakishly smart kids and she's actually reading it?). The other day I caught her looking at "What to Expect When you're Expecting". Either she's preparing 20 years in advance, or she knows something I don't (I guess it IS possible that I'm preg, but unlikely). I also saw her looking at this book...
Haa haa she's too funny!! On another note, I love the way Rosie asks for things. It was pretty rough teaching her at first to say "please". Some days she's absolutely refuse to (she sit there wailing an gnashing) and Dave and I would sit there with her (sometimes for over an hour) waiting for her to say "please." Now she knows to say it every time, but she ALWAYS says it 3 times. "Apple juice Mommy. Please please please." Ahhhh she's growing up faster that I ever could imagine and she's saying so much! Soon she'll be asking to borrow the car (yikes - Dave can deal with that one).

Well better run, Joseph just bit my knee (maybe he's hungry?)

Me Ka Aloha
- Elisabeth

Is Joseph talking?

I forgot to mention this in my last post. When we were on our first test drive, Dave was driving, the car salesman was in the front passenger seat, and Joseph an I were sitting in the middle section. I think Joseph was really excited to be riding next to me and he was giggling and waving at me the entire time. I said "hi Joseph!" and then he said "eye dada." I thought, ok that's just a fluke, so I tried it again. "Joseph, say hi dada." He said it again, with the same tone as I did. He did this about 6 times in a row. Wow, what a smart boy! He's been saying it a lot lately. It's just too cute!

Today before bed I was hugging Rosie and I said "Rosie, can you say I love you?" "I love you, I love you, I love you." Then JOSEPH said "I dub you"! Ya I know right... he's totally TALKING! I tired again... "I love you" and Joseph repeated "I dub you." He said it with the exact same tone as I did! Rosie knows how to say I love you (well, she says I lub you) but she's too stubborn to say it most of the time. At least one of my kids, Mr. Lover Boy will say it often. I guess that's ok that Rosie refuses to say it as long as she keeps on giving me cuddly snuggles.

Speaking of Joseph, he just woke up and I can hear him crying in his bed. Will he ever learn to sleep trough the night? Maybe he could sense I was talking about him. I better go save him from his evil playpen.

Me Ka Aloha
- Elisabeth

Woo! We Found a New Car!!

Finally after days of searching we purchased a new car! Like I said before, Dave really wanted a Toyota Sienna. I liked them too, but I wasn't totally convinced that it was the car for us, plus they're really expensive. Anyway, we looked and looked at a bunch of Toyotas, and I just didn't feel right about it. Not because they were bad cars or anything, but it was the price. We'd have to pay between $20 000 and $25 000 to get the year, model, and low km that we wanted, and I just didn't feel comfortable maxing ourselves out financially. Yes the Toyota is nice, roomy, cup holders and storage galore, perfect for road trips, but we don't NEED all that extra stuff right now. We have two small kids (2 years old and 10 months old), so they don't need a lot of leg room, plus their car seats already have their own cup holders built in. I told Dave that when we have four or more kids and the kids are older and bigger, then we will NEED a van and I'll agree to a Sienna right away.

So, on Monday night, after a long day of car shopping at dealerships and online, I some how convinced Dave to at least test drive a Ford Freestyle. He was pretty dead set against it. He said "sure fine, we'll LOOK at one, just to get it out of your system." We went to the Ford dealership near Dave's parents house and saw a beautiful sage green one that they just got in. It was $14999 and had 89 000 km on it. The downside (besides being a tad overpriced and a tad high in km) was that it didn't have side impact air bags or side curtain airbags. We took turns driving the car and I liked it, not my dream car, but I thought it was nice. After the drive, the guy of course, tried to sell it to us. Dave said we'd consider it if we could get it for $13000 including the trade in of our Ford Focus. WHAT?!? Did those words actually escape Dave's mouth? He's considering the Freestyle? I was shocked! Any way, it was getting late and the kids were getting crazy (mostly Rosie, she wanted to run around), plus I wasn't convinced that it was the best value and I really wanted those side air bags. We told the salesman that we'd call him in the morning and we left.

At home Dave got online and checkout out some other Freestyles on auto trader, just to see what they were going for. Then, we found something GREAT from a Ford dealer 45 minutes away! Same vehicle, same color, same price BUT 69 000 km. We called the dealership the next morning to make sure it was still there and that it hadn't been in any accidents. The car was there and it was accident free so we got ready and went to the dealership. When we got to the dealership I noticed that the sales manager was the same sales manager I worked for when I worked as a showroom greeter and receptionist WAY back when I was 18. What a small world! I was so glad to see a familiar face and I asked him to give us his nicest and best sales person because I was so sick of dealing with crapy ones. We went out back to check out the Freestyle. It was just like the other one we saw the night before, BUT it had some bonus features. This one had side impact airbags, side curtain airbags, dual climate controls, six passengers, and like I said before, 20 000 fewer km. It was PERFECT!!! I felt good about it the second I sat inside it. Dave took it for a test drive and when he got back we went to the office to make a deal. We wanted to get as much for our trade in as possible so that the price we would pay would be as close to $13000 as possible. We ended up getting it for $13500 (that's including what we got for our trade in). Dave signed the papers, paid a deposit, and now we wait until Monday to pick it up.

I'm really excited about our new car!! I'm glad we didn't max ourselves out financially, and I think it really suits our small family. It will also look better when Dave goes to business appointments, and it's the color we always wanted. It's funny that we ended up getting the car that I wanted. I knew from working in car sales from before, that the woman usually gets her way with cars, and it couldn't be more true in our situation. It's funny too because last week I joked on my facebook status "Dave and I are car shopping. 'I'll tell you one thing. I am not going to be one of those women schlepping her kids around in a minivan. I want an SUV... with 3 rows of seats' - Kelly Kappoor, The Office." and that's what I got haa haa. Once again, happy wife, happy life!! Now I have to pray that nothing goes wrong with this car otherwise it'll be "YOU wanted this car and look at all the problems....." Please Freestyle, be good to us! Any way, Dave and I are both really happy with our choice and we feel at peace.

Here's a picture of the new car, well, I should say SUV.
Me Ka Aloha
- Elisabeth

Searching for a New Car

When Dave and I got married, I was working as a car sales person... ya I know right? Me? A car sales person? I don't exactly fit the stereotype of middle aged, balding, overweight, obnoxious, salesMAN. I worked for a Hyundai dealership and actually enjoyed it, for the most part. The particular dealership I worked for had a lot of really nice employees. Really, none of them fit that stereotype exactly. I mean, ya there were a few, slightly arrogant men there would had that "smooth" sales approach, mixed with a few curse words here and there (they tried to watch it when they were near me), but all in all, they wern't that bad. I mean, if I could wake up in the morning, and not dread going into work, then it was a pretty good place to work, considering it was still a car dealership. While I was working there, sold a car to an older gentleman. He was trading in his old Ford Focus for a new Elantra. He was actually really sad to give up his Ford, but the 5 year warranty was up and he believed in having a car under warranty. He didn't drive the car all that much and kept every single tune-up and oil change record. It was a well taken care of vehicle indeed. That old Ford became mine and Dave's first car. I bought it off the dealership for a very minor markup which worked perfectly for us newly weds.

Well, almost four years later, and two adorable kids later, we've (almost) outgrown our little Ford Focus. We know that if we have another baby, we'll need a new car. I'm not making any announcements here, I'm just saying, for the future. Plus, the car IS pretty old and won't last too much longer. So, car shopping we go!

Dave decided that he wanted a Toyota Sienna mini van. He got online and he researched for HOURS! He went on Consumer Reports and looked at the rating etc. He pretty much convinced himself that that's what we were getting. He found a van at a Toyota dealer in Toronto, within our price range, so yesterday we drove all the way there to see this van. Now, before we left, Dave asked me to say a prayer that we would find a good deal and choose the right car. Any way, we get to the dealership (it's some dumpy looking used Toyota dealer) and we take the burgundy Sienna for a test drive. Honestly, I wasn't trilled with it. It was ok I guess, but I just wasn't excited about it. I just had the feeling that the previous owners didn't take the best care of it. There were stains in the seats, some weather stripping falling off one of the windows, and the "conversation" mirror was missing. On top of that, the salesman was, well, I just didn't really like him. When we told him that we weren't 100% sure about buying the van he got kind of mad. He started saying "what's wrong with the van? you're not going to find a better deal anywhere else!" I asked to see an SUV and instead of being excited that we were looking at something more expensive, he started talking to me as if I was stupid for considering it. We told him that we wanted to see another van at another dealership and he proceeded to tell us that we'd be making a BIG and foolish mistake if we did. He was just talking to me as if I were stupid or something. Arrrgggg, why oh why are some people in sales? Why does he have to talk to people like that? He could have said "yes the SUV, with a 3rd row of seats could also work for you. It's a little more expensive, but you can always test drive one to compare." and "just so you know, our dealership has certified Toyota vehicles. We stand behind all our sales. If you don't find what you're looking for at the other dealership, I'd be happy to help you out." Doesn't he know that the "family" vehicle is mostly likely going to be MY vehicle and that he should be nice to me, or lose the sale? When I worked in sales I knew that the wife can almost always get her way when it comes to purchasing a family vehicle. If the wife isn't happy, they'll go somewhere else AND that's exactly what we did. I left the dealership more frustrated than before. I mean, the van was OK I guess, but I just wasn't 100% sold on it. I told the salesman that it liked it a little, but we just started looking and I'm not about to buy the first car we test drive. I said "you wouldn't buy the first house you ever saw, would you? Well, I'm not buying the first car I see, especially when I'm not 100% sure about it."

Alright, on to the next dealership. The next place was some small rinky-dink place and I immediately didn't feel good. The van there was really nice. It was the upgraded model of the burgundy one we just saw HOWEVER, when we went into the office (if you'd even call it that) the guy pulled out a calculator and started working out a deal. He had, what I call "cocaine fingers" meaning, random long fingernails that cocaine addicts use to get their fix. I saw something on TV about that a while ago and the salesman's nails just gave me the creeps! He gave Dave the accident report (which was from some random website I'd never heard of) and at the bottom of the page it said "from Quebec." TOTAL RED FLAG! The laws about reporting accidents and other things are different in Quebec, so you don't really know what you're getting when you buy a used car from Quebec. I quickly said "let's go!" and we were out of there in a flash.

Now I was more frustrated than ever. I felt like we had wasted so much time with lousy salesmen, all the way in Toronto. Man, I should have known this would be the case. I didn't feel good about going to Toronto in the first place. Plus, with my experience working in car sales, and my experience shopping for a car in the past, I should have known what to expect. Good sales people are far and few between, and dealing with a lousy salesperson is more hassle than it's worth.

Aside from all that, I saw a Toyota flyer in the mail and noticed one of the salesmen as someone I worked with in the past. I actually saw the flyer weeks ago and something inside me said "call him." Dave didn't want to buy from a Toyota dealership because he thinks they mark up the cars too high, so I never called. Now after our terrible experience, Dave agreed to let me call him. I called him and he's on the lookout for something good for us. When I called him I felt so much better about talking to someone who is a nice person, and professional in his dealings with clients. I also like that he works for a reputable dealership and sells certified vehicles. Who knows if we'll end up getting anything from him, but at least I feel like I'm dealing with an honest person.

So, Dave wants a Toyota, and I... well... I've been doing some research myself. I like the Toyota, and I don't doubt that it's a reliable van, but let's face it, it's expensive, even used. If we can get a good deal on one, GREAT, we'll get it, but I wanted to explore some other options. I checked out a few SUV cross-over vehicles and found two that I really liked. I like the Mazda 5, six seater, and the Ford Freestyle. Both have pretty good ratings and are MUCH cheaper than the Sienna. Maybe, just maybe I can convince Dave to look at some of those. I emailed a friend that works at a Ford dealership (a really nice guy that I know will treat us well) and he's looking into the Freestyle for me. It's good on gas, the same as the Toyota, and it's an SUV, so it looks cooler than a mini van. I think an SUV would be better for Dave when he drives to see clients and I like being higher up when I drive.

We're going out on Monday to shop some more. Wish us luck!