Becoming an Angel, and a Banana

Last weekend

Here's a little catch up;
Last week, upon my brother's recommendations, we visited 'the Maze.' When you drive out to the field you think,hey, that is a lot of hay bales but it can't be that big of a maze. Well, it was bigger than we thought. Our first time through it took close to 45 minutes, but that was with allowing Faith to follow whoever she wanted. Faith definately has herd mentality and follows any kids she sees. When Faith found other kids she would offer to hold hands, or find their hand to hold. I then waited for Josh to go back through the maze with a boy we met from our ward who had lost his family. When Josh came back out, we went together as a family. The idea was to let Josh figure it out himself, but he got frustrated and I got us out of there. The second time only took about 7 minutes (we were carrying Faith on Josh's shoulders this time). All in all it was a super fun time, even a 'hay-day!' We rounded out our Saturday family date by going to Smith park and getting a pizza.


Saturday morning Faith was so anxious to take her bath that she climbed in a the water was filling up. I guess it wasn't as cool as she thought it would be to get in the tub with her clothes on. Actually, I think she was most shocked to have fallen in the water.

Punmpkin carvin'

Monday night was the annual pumpkin carving night. Faith picked her own pumpkin. We used Faith's expression as a pattern to carve the pumpkin.

Laundry Woes and Diaper Reviews

Last night as I was folding the laundry, a relaxing repetitive activity that I like to do, I recognized one of my character flaws; at the end of folding all the laundry, I always curse having to put them away. It really makes no sense, but I resent having to take all the clothes pile by pile from the bed and put them in the respective places. Silliness really, but I suppose that is what happens to telestial beings.

Next observation: when pre-spotting clothes you should leave the spray to soak for at least 1hour. Yes, it really was the first time that I read the directions after years of spotting blow-out spots.

Which leads to my final helpful observation: certain diapers are better, in my opinion, than others. Hopefully my latest blunders will help others choose baby underwear wisely.

Pampers: These diapers are always a good back-up. They are a swap with the huggies as far as softness in the newborn (absolutely not) and then soft into the size 2 range (almost too supple). However, Pampers definately make the soggy bum effect. They stay tight around the middle, which is great, but somehow they grow down ward leaving the sag of refuse hanging mid-knee. I suppose if you put tight pants on your kids it is no big deal. Pampers are also a bit wider for those babies on the tubby side.

Huggies: we like the newborn diapers because the are super soft leaving no nasty rub lines on your tender babies legs. they also wrap up really high around the back, which is good since newborns really have no bum. However, for some reason, once you get into the 2 size range, their diapers are really rough. They still hold stuff really well, they just are not very nice to have on the legs. Also, the print characters (usually Mickey and Minne) leave ink stains on the inside of lighter pants.

Walgreens brand: A new favorite.  For cheap brand, they work great.  They are not super soft, but they hold moisture well.  I like them for the infant stages since you are changing diapers so frequently you need something cheap.  They are one of the best cheap brands because they have elastic stretch in the back so they actually close the blowout channel pretty well.

Sam's Club brand "Mark":  Bad diapers all around.  Sad that I have to finish out the whole box. I guess they do keep pee in, but not poo.

Costco Brand "Kirkland" diapers:  Still pretty papery but they stay on good, don't sag, and have elastic back.  The decor also rubs off, but that is the least of your worries when you have actually found a cheaper diaper that fits well and stays on.  We have only really tried them in 2 and 3 sizes

Our little Whoopie Cushion

Imagine the sound that a whoopie cushion makes when you sit on it hard and push the air all out at once. Got it? Now add oooie goooie yellowy slime to that. Such is my good morning greeting from Danny.

The day begins with a blow-out;
Danny's own little
way of saying "Wake up world! I am rip-roarin' and ready to go!" This little whoopie cushion certainly leaves his mark on the world!

note: we have tried several different diapers to prevent such blowouts, but you can't fight evolution, this kids bum was built for explosives!

Fall Revelry

From the mouths of Babes

It was one of those lovely clairvoyant moments yesterday at dinner time when you realize that your beautiful child is really a Child of God:
As we sat trying to get some late dinner bites into Faith's mouth, repeating "You want a bite, Faith?" "Faith, bite." Faith looked around the kitchen and saw the picture of Jesus hanging on the wall. With all sincerity. Faith took the spoon from me, offering it upward and asked in her cryptic toddler words (I am so proud of her putting multiple words together) "Want bite Jesus?"
This might be the first glimpse of her testimony that Jesus Christ has a perfect resurrected body of flesh and bones, and maybe he would like some of our potato dinner.

Cabin General Conference

It has been a part of the Hancock family tradition to spend the time uninterupted during the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints at our cabin. Luckily we get television broadcast and radio transmission to be able to listen to the Prophets speak. It is a perfect setting to bond with family, relax, and listen. Since we all have a certain tendency to fall a sleep if sitting still for to long, we have found some traditional, mostly reverent, activities to keep our hands moving while our hearts are listening. Over the years we have put together many a puzzle, colored thousands of pictures, tied several quilts, crochetted many baby blanket, and this year had a fabulous pedicure.

Couldn't've been pioneers

Traveling with kids is tough. With all the regulations of keeping them strapped in and safe and such while traveling at top speeds across wide open road, it just doesn't warrant the same kind of riding fun of the past. AND, if your mom is a blonde, it is likely that you end up with some pretty scary, hairy, ever wary, travelers.




I appoligize in advance to Danny for not having any other clothes available after his mid-trip blow-out to put him in, but ain't he cute?

Ruba Dub Dub, Too many kids in the tub!

Just a week ago I had one of the most hilarious bathing experiences that is still worth retrieving from my memories and placing it here in history:
Having smooshed too much into Monday to get all the Ricks clan in and out of the tub, we had elected Tuesday evening after dinner for tub-time. Since the girls, Eve and Faith, had earlier bed times, they were in the water first. Faith is definitely a water baby, Eve is a land lover. Eve refused to even sit down in the water. Faith commenced splashing around, putting Eve at even more of a disconcerted disposition. To allow play time and conserve water I have also begun bathing Danny at the same time as Faith. I had all prepared to put Danny in the water when Faith began to "wash" Eve.
Faith knows that I always put a cup in the bathtub to douse her head with water during the shampooing stage of bath time. Having put the cup in the tub in preparation already, Faith began the dousing, only not of her own head! Just as I touched Danny's bum to the water, Faith dumped a good one on Eve, sending her into shrieks. Danny responded to the shriek as a warning not to get in the water and began screaming himself. I hurriedly tried to prevent Faith from dumping any more water on Eve's head by knocking the cup out of her hand which put her into shrieks of disappointment.
All three bathing beauties were now screaming in the echoing corridor of the large tub. Noah was in the shower, adding the rush of water to the din. Hearing commotion and chaos, his companions of all time, Aidan came to join in (and this is my favorite part). Racing to the bath steps, right next to me, Aidan braced himself for this tumultuous event spacing his hands on the ledge of the tub, reared back, and SHRIEKED!! Why not? If everyone else is yelling, he should be too.
I added only my laughter as Grandma came to the rescue, briskly soaping Eve's head and removing her from the tub. Aidan was granted permission into the sloshing and shrieking world of Faith's extended bath time, to her great joy. As I finished drying and dressing Danny, Faith and Aidan dumped repetitive cups of water on each other's heads, shrieking with intermittent giggles. A happy, and clean, time for all.

Privacy without going Private

Aloha illustrious readers - this post is just for you.
I have been wrestling with finding a good half-way point between keeping my family safe on the internet and keeping this blog open for long-lost friends to find me....
Well, today I was happy to learn about "Reading List" on the blogger dashboard. This feature allows you to follow all the blogs you like to visit easily and remember their addresses without posting links on your blog. I have thus removed all the links on my blog to others' to remove the risk of making their family too available to blog-hoppers or internet-stalkers. I would appreciate the same from you.
If you have found Button Factory and want to keep seeing us, please do not put us as a link on your blog, rather leave it in your own "Reading List" so that only you, signed in, will see it, and not the rest of the world.
I have been excited to find some old friends through this wonderful technology and hope to continue sharing our family adventures with you. Please help us keep the cute pictures of my kids a bit more safe.
Mahalos - a concerned mother :)