Big Boy

Baby Jo Jo decided to stand up by himself last night. He was holding onto our ottoman and just let go. Everyone was watching and we all shouted yay and clapped, so then he was even more pleased with himself and did it several more times. Then, after the big boys all went to bed, he started pushing his little car around. It's one that you can sit and ride, but it has a tall handle on the back, so he stood and pushed it in the kitchen. He wouldn't have anything to do with it a day or so ago, but all of a sudden it was like he had this great idea. He's so funny.
Peanut told me a joke today that I really need to share.
P-"Knock, knock."
Me-"Who's there?"
P-"Chicken Burrito."
Me-"Chicken burrito who?"
P-"Chicken burrito Bob!"
I love it! His brothers have been telling knock knock jokes, so he decided to make up his own. Oh, my title photo is of him when we went bowling a few weeks ago. I decided I would post a picture of each of them by age every so often so I'm not playing favorites. Although, let's be honest, Jo Jo is definitely the cutest. I'm totally kidding, they're all super cute boys. Good thing I married a hottie. Although, now I'll have to worry about annoying little teeny bopper girls calling and hanging around my house someday. I've never really liked girls. I only ever had one or two good girlfriends at a time. I think that's one of the reasons why I have boys. Heavenly Father took pity on my knowing I mostly hung out with boys in high school. Girls annoy me. They never liked me anyway. I think they were intimidated by my beauty:)
So a little venting...I really really hate when people driving behind me merge before me. There's a corner by our house where you have to merge left into traffic. So you have to stop most of the time and 2 cars behind me pulled out behind me so I couldn't go. So I did the only logical thing and gunned it merged and honked several times at the idiots. I decided that's the only way to handle it from now on. I don't mind people not signaling (though it's annoying), but the two things I can't handle are people who pull out in front of you cutting you off without warning, and people who pull out behind you making it nearly impossible for you to merge. I'm just going to have to bust out the California driving. I called Butch at work and told him and he said he liked my spunk, but he thought maybe he should buy me a gun.

Very Advanced for Their Age

Today I was getting Jo Jo dressed while he was lying on the floor. I put his first sock on and then he put it down and held up his other foot. I said, "Good job," and he started clapping. Then I went in the other room to do something and when I came back in he said, "Hi." He's very smart you know. (BTW did you know that having your diaper changed is absolutely the worst torture humanly possible?) He's also started hanging his tongue out of his mouth. It's like his new favorite face to make and JP got a picture of him doing it on the stairs on Sun.

Peanut created this awesome airplane out of Legos today. That kid amazes me. I couldn't even make something like that out of Legos. He had a fortune cookie today and his fortune was so right on. I kept it but I lost it. It said something to the effect that he was a problem solver. I wish I still had it so I could tell you exactly. Anyway, he's very analytical. He's also Captain Staller. He seriously takes an hour to get ready to go anywhere. "I haven't finished eating," "I'm playing right now," "I don't like that shirt." Those are just a few of his excuses. I have to threaten several times to leave without him and usually that just makes him sit and scream for me to help him. Even when I do help him, he is the slowest ever coming over to me. He's really good at night too when he doesn't want to go to sleep. I think that one is our fault because we used to let him stay up and hang out with mom and dad for awhile after we put the older boys to bed. He's also not a very good listener when asked to do something. I've pretty much given up on getting him to do anything whatsoever I've asked him to. Again, my fault for never pushing it on him. He was the baby for three years so if he didn't want to I never made him. Well, now he gets away with not helping most of the time and I'm afraid he won't work as hard as his brothers at stuff as he gets older.


JP brought home his January journal yesterday. They are required to write in it daily and the teacher gives them a prompt like, "My favorite day is..." So I just have to share a few entries. He's my child in so many ways. His penmanship is incredible and his teacher comments on it on like every paper he does. He's also a very good speller and writer. He's so sweet too; he included his brother and family in a couple.
Jan. 14-Cars of the future will have remote controls and my
brother and me will ride in the car. (This one also
had a drawing of them in the car.)
Jan. 21-Martin [Luther King Jr.] wanted to mix white and black
people together and make white and black to play
together.
Jan. 22-Dr. King won the Nobel peace prize because he wanted
them to be peaceful and because somebody threw a bomb
in his house and he didn't want to fight back.
Jan. 21-I enjoy homework because you are spending time with
your mom and dad and because I enjoy doing it.
Feb. 3-My favorite day is Saturday. I like it because you
spend time with your family and because you can have
fun with your family.
He always gets nice comments from his teacher on how detailed his answers are. I really don't think a lot of the other kids give nice complete answers like that. So as you can see, my children are all very special and advanced:) That makes up for how crazy and gross they are the rest of the time. They finally got their chess ribbons today at chess club so here's a picture of their silly faces with their ribbons because heaven forbid they should actually just give a nice regular smile.

My Valentines

This is our 12th Valentine's Day together. We met at the end of January and on our second date we went to Saguaro Lake with some friends, though we never left the truck because we spent like 3 hours getting to know each other (and I DO mean actually talking and getting to know each other-not whatever else you were thinking). We just listened to the radio and talked and a song came on by Martina McBride that says, "You're all I need, my love, my Valentine." So just casually I asked Butch if he would be my Valentine. Well, he went completely silent for like 20 minutes. The whole time I was like, "Hello it was just a silly question." Eventually he said yes, which I guess was really huge for him because he had taken it really seriously. A few days after Valentine's Day (5 to be exact) he told me that he loved me for the first time. After that, I was pretty much making wedding plans, even though he hadn't asked me yet. But I knew after our first date that he was the one. So here we are 11 yrs. and 4 kids later living happily ever after. I met my Prince Charming who rode up on his white horse (white Toyota truck) and saved me from myself, literally.

Two yrs. later came my 2nd valentine. He melted my heart that I didn't realize could hold more love in it. It was the greatest feeling ever to have someone's life actually depending on me. I love that bond between mother and child. He makes me laugh with his sillyness almost daily. He's a true sweetheart, always giving his things to others or buying his brothers a candy at the store. He loves his baby brother and loves to help out with him. He's not always snuggly with me, but surprises me now and again (like today) and asks for a kiss and tells me he loves me. He always reminds dad that I'm the Queen and deserve the best.

Another two yrs. went by and our little fluffy baby came along. He makes me get misty eyed almost daily with his words of kindness. He comes up to me daily to rub my arm or wrap his arms around me or tickle me. He tells me he loves me more than once a day and constantly asks if he can do anything to help me. He loves to talk sweetly to the baby. He is truly my sensitive spirit. He always wants to buy me flowers when we go to Costco and also reminds dad that I'm the Queen. He even told me once that I looked like a princess.

Two and a half years went by before my tiny little Peanut came. He never cried once in the hospital (not even when he was circumcised), and he's been mellow yellow ever since. He's the quiet observer and then gets right in the mix with his brothers like a crazy man. He's a thinker, and I love to watch him do puzzles, build and organize things. Truly a boy after my own heart. He has always been my snuggler. He just loves his baby and is always making him laugh. He loves to be a big helper during the day while his brothers are at school and play games with me.

And finally three years later after a long wait and some heartache, my little bear joined our family. Wow, your heart really can hold enough love for them all. He is my biggest snuggle buddy and loves to go to sleep in my arms. Such a happy boy who loves to give smiles, especially to his 3 big brothers. He will never be lacking in love and attention. My only blue eyed little boy is a lady killer already. He is the most mama's boy of them all, and I don't think it's just because he's so little still.

So my Valentine's Day will be full of much much love. I wish everyone could know such love in their lives. This world would be such a happier place. Wishing each of you much love on a day to celebrate relationships-all kinds. I love each of you and are grateful you are all a part of my life too!

Because I Don't Have Enough Pictures of Jo Jo

Just wanted to post a couple of cute photos of Jo Jo. He figured out this morning how to climb onto the dishwasher lid. So now I really can't do dishes unless he's asleep (because he also likes to pull out the dirty silverware-gag). The other day Peanut had all of his animals out (the cool plastic ones from Target) and had put them all on this round table we have in our entry way (I think it was their house). So Jo Jo found them and was banging them on the table and really into it so I snapped a few photos because I don't have enough of him you know. And we had a miracle last night. He slept for 11 hours in his crib! And he's been napping for about and hour and a half now. He woke up with a cold, though, so he's been really sad today. Butch is feeling it today too.

I was interviewing Peanut today about his favorites so here they are.
Me-"What's your favorite color?"
P-"Um, it's wike wed." (red)
Me-"What's your favorite animal?"
P-"A sider 'cause you det to take care of all da ammals in da whole woyld, but not wions. But dey tan't bite us." (spider because you get to take care of all the animals in the whole world except for lions but they can't bite us-no idea where this one came from)
Me-"What's your favorite movie?"
P-"Tars." (Cars)
Me-"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
P-"Um, a wed Powa Ranga." (red power ranger)
Me-"What's your favorite place?" (he told me to ask him this)
P-"Tarl's Jr."
Me-"What's your favorite food?"
P-"Tarl's Jr. chi-en nuddets." (chicken nuggets from Carl's Jr.)
Me-"What's your favorite place to go for vacation?"
P-"I wike to do to a hotewl and to do to Dizzywand and Wegowand Tawiforna." (I like to go to a hotel and to go to Disneyland and Legoland California)
Me-"What's your favorite toy?"
P-"I wike to pway tars and ammals 'cause you det to put tostumes on dem at our house." (I like to play cars and animals because you get to put costumes on them at our house-not sure about this one either)
I absolutely LOVE the way kids say things. And I love how simple their minds are. Wouldn't it be cool if we really could grow up to be Power Rangers? Or Wonder Woman? I used to wear my Wonder Woman underoos around with red Papa Smurf boots on. I wish they still made underoos. Did you ever have any? JP used to want to be a Power Ranger when he grew up. Bubba would tell him he couldn't be and I would say, "Sure he can." Then JP would ask how you become one and I would tell him that they had special Power Ranger school you could go to. I think it's sad when parents stifle their kids' imaginations. I used to have an imaginary brother. His name was Eddie and he was Hawaiian (not sure how I knew what a Hawaiian looked like when I was 6, but I did). Anywho, my mom used to buckle him in the car, etc. I remember my aunt recognizing him as a real person too. I have friends who don't like the fact that their kids believe in Santa and they definitely don't let them believe in the Tooth Fairy or Easter Bunny. I say, what's wrong with that? We grow up way too fast anyway. Can't we just believe in magic for a little while?

There's Not Really a Theme This Time

Yay! The boys both earned ribbons at the chess tournament this past Saturday. They each one two of the three games. Although, Butch said JP should've let the cute little blond girl he played for his first game win. But he's only 6 and he's also a boy so it wouldn't even have crossed his mind yet. They were both very excited. I guess the coach has the ribbons, though to pass out later, so I will post a picture as soon as I have one. Well, today a light mist is coming down so no sun again. But it hasn't been as bad lately.

My youngest brother arrived in the Philippines this week. He seems to be in a pretty good area. I was thinking he'd be somewhere poor, but he said they have running water (cold, but good because it's so hot there), and there's a laundromat. He said his friend's house back home was scarier than his apartment. He said that the people haven't seen a white man speak their language so he thinks that will really help with the work. I'm very excited for him. My other brother already has less than a year left in Sydney.

Peanut has been eating a lot lately. He must be going thru a growth spurt again. Both Fri. and Sat. he ate 2 hot dogs for lunch and then a whole apple on Fri. and some graham crackers.

Jo Jo had two more teeth pop thru on top this week, so he's got the bottom 2 and 3 top ones now. So we finally moved his crib out of our room yesterday*gasp*. I know what you're thinking. But we hadn't moved him because he never sleeps thru the night. We didn't want to put him in his shared room with Peanut and wake him up at night because he doesn't just wake up, he wakes up screaming. So we decided to put him in my craft room, formerly known as the guest room until I sold the bed for a little extra dough. But we do still have a sofa bed that we moved up to the bonus room, so any guests would have a bed and privacy for anyone wanting to come stay anytime soon-hint hint. I'm going to try just laying him down again and letting him cry so we'll see how this goes. I just can't function anymore having to get up multiple times and with him sleeping in our bed because he won't go back in his. He likes to lay on me and head butt and kick me at night, so needless to say, I don't get any sleep regardless. He's also started this really special thing where he smacks himself in the head with his hand if he gets mad or if you tell him no about something. He's also started to arch backwards if you try to put him down when he doesn't want you to, so he has wacked his head on the tile a few times or hard on the carpet.

Oh, so we went to the mall Sat. to return a pair of shoes that we had bought for Bubba on sale when he wasn't with us. They didn't fit, so we thought we might find some others. Well, they were having a major clearance on the tennies and they had all sizes pretty much. They were marked down to $13-14 a pair. Well, a few months back I had taken them all to Famous Footwear to get them shoes. I got them each one pair and the total came to $80! So we figured while they were on sale we should by one in every size since after 11 and a half, we don't have any for Peanut. With boys they just don't last past that size to pass down. Peanut is wearing 11-11 and a half right now, and we had bought a 12 awhile ago at one of these same sales, so we got a pair of 13's, 1's, 1.5, 2.5(for Bubba right now), and 3.5 because we had previously bought a 3 at the same previous sale. Anywho, we got 5 pair for $75 with tax included in that total. I was really excited even though you might be thinking that sounds like a lot. I shopped sales last week too and got a bunch of short sleeved shirts for Bubba for summer and also a sweatshirt for next year. Dillard's has a 70% sale at the end of each season, so I try to get things for the next year then. I've been re-arranging our budget and making cuts and I'm super determined to live on less. We'll see how it goes this month. I definitely don't go to the store as much as I used to. Oh, I also got some sales ads for Albertsons, where I don't normally shop because they're so expensive. They had double coupons, lots of 10 for $10 deals, buy one get one free deals, and other great sales. So I took the flyers with everything marked I wanted to get. I ended up saving $94! Yes, you read that right. I was so excited. They also offer gas rewards for however much you spend you get like $0.05 off. So the last time I used them I got $.50 off a gallon and the time before it was $.35 off a gallon, which ended up making the gas uber cheap. Hooray for deals. I also just went through all of my free sample and travel sized things and decided I have enough to use for a long time. I had like a bucket full. We use power toothbrushes right now so I have a super collection of the free ones from the dentist, plus the toothpastes. Then I have all the stuff that's free from hotels, so we're pretty much set for awhile. I also always stock up on soap, deordorant, and other toiletries when they're on sale since they generally aren't cheap items. So anyway, just a few cool bargains this week.

I've decided not to post the video of Bubba giving his report. It's super impossible to hear him because I was at the back of the classroom thinking it would be close enough to hear. Oh well. He did great and remembered all his facts. The teacher did it like it was a talk show and introduced them as their person and then asked them to tell about their lives. They all had to have at least one costume item so he had a hat.
I have to share something funny about my new frugality. I got the baby's birthday pictures done a week ago and while I was at the mall waiting, I went into Baby Gap and found a really cute shirt on sale that I bought for his picture because I liked it better than the one he was wearing. I also found a cute sweater at Children's Place for $5.99. Well, he was too crabby that day for photos because like a dink I didn't think about the fact that he got shots that day(the doctor's office is across from the mall, so I was trying to kill two birds). So we went back two days later and I decided the sweater went up too high on his neck so I returned that. I used the new shirt I had bought at Gap and left the tag on and then took it back after the photo. I thought, you know he doesn't really need another shirt. I also did that with the sweaters you see in their Christmas picture. Well, I kept the baby's, but Bubba didn't need one and JP hates sweaters and Peanut already had a cute one, so I figured I could use the extra $60 back.
I think I've become totally acclimated to the weather here now. The other day the sun was shining and it was about 43 degrees and I only had a thin long sleeved shirt on and I was totally fine. I was almost ready to wear short sleeves. I don't even wear turtlenecks or warm coats most of the time anymore. It has to be snowy out for that or I'm hot. Weird how the body does that. I also realized I'm starting to get a hick accent when I say certain things. No, please, no. Maybe I should take an extended vacation back in Cali for awhile so I can sound like me again.
Well, Jo Jo is being a big helper right now by taking all the paper out of the cupboard and all the pencils out of the drawer, so I'll have to give more of an update later. Maybe tomorrow after the chess tournament.

Nicknames

Okay, so I forgot to mention that I'm changing my signature name. It's one I got from a missionary who looked like Peter Pan. I started calling him Peter and he called me Tink. I thought it was fitting since I love all things Tinkerbell. One other nickname I've had in case I ever use it is Nerd-another one from the cousins. They were Airhead and Retard. Oh, and I forgot about Jose, my cousin was Juan Felupe. We had a lot of fun living together in college.
Nicknames are funny. They seem to stick and most of the time evolve. Bubba was also known as Professor Grumpy Pants, and then just Professor when he was a baby. JP has been chubba and Sweet Pea. Peanut has always just been Peanut. Cart-man was Little Bear and then became Jo Jo and also goes by Car Car a lot. Daddio is also known as Butch as given to him by his oldest sister.
I like nicknames.

The past week

So my sister-in-law Janet is AWESOME!! She mailed me a whole workout regimen(she's a personal trainer) with photos and descriptions and everything! And I didn't even have to pay her! I've been working out for 5 days a week usually, and now this will be great because it will break up the monotony of the same exercises each day. I've been avoiding Wii fit lately because the personal trainer they give you is always repeating herself and telling you that you can do better. Plus they grade you with points. So it was kind of bugging me. I really like the exercises on it, though, but I probably won't do it as often as I was. My pilates video is awesome. I've been doing the 10 minute total body workout and then there's a 30 minute one where they do 10 min. abs, 10 min. buns, 10 min. thighs. I really like it.

Jo Jo is pulling himself up on furniture now. He gets excited and scared at the same time. It's kind of funny. He's also mastered climbing to the top of the stairs, but doesn't know how to get down, so we've been putting the gate up so he doesn't fall backwards. We're planning on moving him next door to my craft room (formerly known as our guest room until I sold the bed). Yes, he's still in our room. He IS the baby you know. I've created a monster, though, so we're going to move him in hopes that he'll sleep at night. We're thinking that he would wake up Peanut if he wakes up screaming, so for now he's banished to the craft room. He's getting his top two teeth now too. We got his birthday pictures done last week at Kiddie Kandids, which if you don't have a lot of money to spend and only want one picture for your wall, they give you a FREE 8x10 for their birthday. I'm all about the free stuff now. We did, however order one extra sheet so we could have a wallet for each of the 4 sets of parents we have. But we got 10% off. So I tried going on Wed., but he was sleepy and had gotten shots. I know-I wasn't thinking. So I went back on Friday and he still wasn't too sure about it, but we got enough of a smile. He's way more smiley at home. Peanut was the same way.

Okay, more about free stuff. Tomorrow-Tues.-Denny's is giving away free grand slam breakfasts from 6am-2-pm. We're totally going. I've also been checking my freebie website from time to time and have been able to do two loads of laundry, got a pull-up, travel size shampoo and conditioner, and then two packet sized ones of two different kinds of shampoo and conditioner. Does anyone have any shopping tips on how to save money? I'm trying to be more frugal. Oh, awhile ago I got JP a pair of Gap jeans that were totally new looking at Savers for $4.99! I also got the two older boys really nice church pants there.
Butch is moving his practice to Smith Barney this week. He'll be starting Wed., so he's home today and tomorrow getting everything in order. Yay for me! I wish he was home everyday. It's so much fun just hanging out together. I'm so glad we got to spend 2 yrs. on the farm together when we first got married. I saw him all day everyday and it was AWESOME! He's my best friend.

The big boys are going to their first chess tournament of the year this weekend. Bubba has his first oral report on Wed. I'm going to tape it, so if I figure out how to, I might post it afterwards.

So just a picture of Peanut with more of his organization. Poor kid, got my OCD.

And also one of him wearing Jo Jo's hat yesterday. He thought he was pretty silly.