Day 2 & 3

Yesterday we went and saw "The Spy Next Door" with Jackie Chan. Cute movie. The boys really liked it. Dad even left work early and came and saw it with us. Unfortunately, Jo Jo hadn't had a nap (silly me) and he freaked out. I had to leave with him, but I was determined not to miss it, so I came back in, sat in the back, and he ran up and down the aisle with 2 other babies. At least he wasn't the only one. I would've felt worse if people had paid more to get in and if he were the only one.

Today we went to 4 different stores looking for stupid under armor for JP for baseball. Bubba already has a shirt, so we just need one. But it's impossible to find unless you are willing to go to a sports store and spend $25-30. I wouldn't worry about it, but it's so cold for almost the entire season that he needs something and a regular long sleeved shirt doesn't keep you as warm. And if you wear a sweatshirt, you can't tell what team you're playing for. Well, I guess the hat would tell people. Anyway, we never found one. We did however find a long sleeved church shirt for Bubba-who won't stop growing-for only $11 at Kohl's. I also found him a winter coat for next season at Walmart that was marked down from $33 to $9! Woo hoo! Tomorrow we're planning the zoo for Bubba's field science project. I'm sure it will be chilly again like last year, but it's the only other day this week for sunshine and it's half price. Dad says if we are there late enough he might meet us. They're counting down until Fri. because Dad has Good Friday off since the market's closed, and he promised them since we got coupons for Wahooz, we'd go that day. They have an arcade, mini golf, batting cages, and go carts. We also stopped at the library really quick so we could pick up Peanut's Diego Adventure Wii game that came in. He's having a great time trying to find the dinosaur's family. I was excited to hear from our home teacher on Sun. that the library carries Wii games! So we have like 10 on hold. One of them, we're 87th on the list, but that's okay because we should be getting more in the mean time. The older boys had grade money burning a hole in their pockets so they pooled their money and found a cheap hot wheels game at Kohl's. We decided we're going to make them start saving half of their money. That went over well-NOT!

Jo Jo has started saying a few things that crack me up. He says, "yeah," "okay," and "alright." It just sounds funny coming from a 2 yr. old. And he knows how to use them in the right context. Bubba told him he had to eat 3 bites of dinner before he could have some chips and he said, "okay." And if I ask him questions now he'll say, "yeah." Although, he'll still say "no" if he doesn't want to do whatever it is. Funny little guy. He can be such a pill sometimes. I was feeling extremely claustrophobic by the end of the day yesterday. I was trying to sit on the couch by B, and Bubba was on my left pretty much on top of me so he could share the blanket. B was on my right, and Jo Jo was climbing up my front and flopping around on me. I finally ran away and took a hot bath and read a book. What a wonderful husband I have that lets me get away like that. I think he's afraid I'll run away for good if I don't get a break. ;)

I can't believe I've only taken this one picture as of late. I'll definitely take some at the zoo.

1st Day of Spring Break

Yesterday we went out to the car to go to church and the car absolutely reeked. We couldn't figure out what it was. To me it smelled like vomit. B said maybe a dirty diaper. We drove to church with the windows down even though it was freezing and 8:30 in the morning. When we got to church, I had them go in and had to search for whatever it was because I couldn't handle the smell. I found the culprit. A sippy cup with milk in it that had been there at least a month. It's been missing forever and I had just assumed that we lost it somewhere. Well we did-in the car. It was underneath the backseat. B said it must have just finally kind of popped some air out causing the smell to come out. I put it outside the car by the tire. When we came out of church, I realized there was no way I could even handle sticking it out the window all the way home, so we just chucked it in the dumpster. I've always been able to handle puke smell, but for some reason that made me dry heave. (sorry to be gross). So my awesome and loving husband went out and scrubbed the carpet. We left all the windows open and garage door cracked, but when I went to get something in the freezer later, it still reeked. So he went out again before bed and said he really really cleaned it all up so it shouldn't smell by today. We kept the windows down all night, though we did close the garage. Guess what? When we went to run errands today, it still smelled. We froze while the windows were down even though the heater was cranked. That will teach them to wear short sleeves when it's nasty weather. Anyway, it's finally going a way a little, but I'm going out there one more time to see if I can get it a little more. I'm going to try and get the seat out, but it weighs a ton, so I might just have to work around it.

The doctor bills keep coming. Apparently we EACH have a deductible. Not just a total like I thought, so we owe quite a bit here and there and everywhere. Bills suck. Luckily we should be good for JP now so we'll only have small co-pays for the rest of the year, which is good since he'll continue to have visits on a regular basis.

Today we had to run errands. We went to the bread store because we only had one left and everyone had sandwhiches yesterday. We got a free box of chocolate donuts for spending more than $10 and that was a very exciting treat for 4 boys. Then we went and picked up my wedding ring because I was getting it re-sized. I had to go down in size since I lost weight because it was spinning on my finger and has almost fallen off a couple of times while cleaning. That was expensive! But better than losing it. Then we returned library books. Then we went to McDonalds through the drive thru as a special treat for Spring Break. No, I don't plan on doing that all week in case you were wondering. On the way home from McD's JP said, "I'm glad I'm not a drink. Even though you would have lots of lives, you'd be in a stomach. And then the toilet." I said, "Ohh gross" at this point to which he answered, "What? It's true. And then you'd go down the drain." Interesting thoughts that boy has sometimes. All this while 4 boys stayed in the car. Don't judge me, I feel that when my almost 10 yr. old is in the car and I can see thru the bread store window, it's okay to leave them. And the library has a drive up drop off. Peanut was still wearing pajamas with no shoes, and Bubba had no shoes. We saw "The Tooth Fairy" on Sat. and the kids loved it. It was really funny. JP cracked up the entire time. We discovered that the $2 theater is only 50 cents on Tuesdays, so we might have to see what's playing tomorrow. We have icky cold, dark weather today and I really hope it doesn't continue all week. Well, they're waiting upstairs so we can have a Ms. Pacman tournament. I'll let you know who wins.

Today was the last day of school until the 5th of April. I don't know why they don't go tomorrow. Hopefully I can think of something fun to do next week. Right now Bubba is upstairs playing with Jo Jo, Peanut is learning Chinese watching "Ni Hao, Kai-lan" (a cute show on Nick about a little Chinese girl, all her animal friends, and her ye ye), and JP is hunting for bugs in the backyard even though it's sprinkling a little. We got a really cool bug vaccum at Costco yesterday. We thought of JP when we saw it, but didn't want to wait until his birthday to give it to him, so we opted to give it to everyone. It's coming in handy as they vaccum up the ants that have already begun to invade the house.

We've had the plague at our house this past week. Bubba has a barky cough, JP only has a little bit of drainage (that he can't seem to blow out so he sucks it up-sorry that's gross), Peanut seems to be a little runny, and Jo Jo has a hoarse voice and runny nose. B seems to have gotten it the worst. He always does. He gets bad sinus infections with every season change. I feel so bad for him-and for me because I end up sleeping on the sofa bed sometimes due to the persistent and incredibly loud snoring. :) I love you honey! At least we only get a bug about twice a year when the weather suddenly changes. They say here, "If you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes." So true. That's the one thing I miss about CA, is the wonderful year round nice weather. Oh well.

Today JP had his check-up. His ankle, as I've mentioned has continued to stay swollen. His knee comes and goes, but seems to respond to the Motrin, whereas the ankle hasn't. We've only been doing the Motrin as needed for pain, but it's something we needed to be doing daily for the swelling. I asked him if that was a long term solution since it can be bad on your stomach. He told me that in his case he'd have to be taking some kind of daily medication and actually even though Motrin can sometimes cause gastric problems, it's nothing compared to side effects from other medications. He asked if we wanted him to have an injection in the ankle today or if we'd like to try the Motrin daily for 3 weeks. We opted to try that since we haven't been doing it consistently. So he'll take it 3 times a day until then. JP kept asking what an injection was and after the doctor left we finally told him. You would've thought we'd stuck him right then. He started saying how his ankle was ruining his life and it would make his leg bad forever. He definitely does NOT want the shot option. I talked to the office at school about bringing in some Motrin for him to take after lunch in class daily. He also said that it's too early to re-test for rheumatoid, but at some point that would be something we'd do. I also asked what we were looking at long term and he said a lot of the times with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis it's a life long thing. At this point, I'd really just like to get the swelling down so he can put his shoes on without it hurting and also so he can play baseball this season.

In response to yesterday's post-thanks so much for the caring and supportive words. It really means a lot when you're venting to have people validate your feelings. And my sweet SILs don't worry about sounding like a mom about my headache issues. You're both moms so you have that wonderful compassion that comes with the territory. Actually I've gone to the doctor before and he gave me a prescription for ibuprofen which seems to work better than over the counter, but that was just as needed, and I wasn't having them daily. I finished that up awhile ago, but I don't want to go back to him anymore. We knew him in our old ward several years ago so he's very casual with us in the office. Which means he sees us for a second and writes a prescription. He's never very concerned with whatever we see him for. He even told me once that I was too young to have arthritis when I told him about pain I was having in my hands. Well, we know that's not true! So anyway, I asked around to see if anyone has a good doctor for me. I've also gone to the chiropractor before for them. The problem is that we also knew him from our old ward. He's a bit of a fruitcake when it comes to fixing your back. Well, I mean he's just really in to how it can solve all of your other health problems and other all natural healing stuff. There's nothing wrong with that, I just don't have the money for him to treat me on a regular basis for preventative care. The kids and I actually saw him several times a week for that while I was pregnant with both Peanut and Jo Jo. It helped while I was pregnant, but then after having Jo Jo and B leaving his old job, money got tight so I quit going. Guess what? My back stopped hurting. So now we only go if we need a quick fix. Which brings me to why I can't go right now. B saw him a little while ago because he couldn't move his neck for several days and was in severe pain. He didn't charge us what he used to (which was a monthly fee and you see him as much as you want in that month). So now we still owe him money because he never figured out how to bill our old insurance. Long story short-I think I might go get a massage. I've done it before in this case and it really helped. I didn't even think about it though until you guys gave me your great ideas, so thanks. I actually haven't had a headache today! But that won't keep me from getting a massage. I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks again for your love, concern and friendship.

Things and Stuff

So it's been awhile. Sometimes I just don't feel like writing. Do you feel that way sometimes? I haven't really felt like human contact lately. Does that sound weird? I vented to my sweet and ever patient husband yesterday. Sometimes I just get sick of people. I don't always feel like I can be myself around the people in my ward. I can't say I have any real "friends" out here. I have a great friend from our old ward who I've known since Bubba and her little girl were about a year and a half. I always feel like I can totally be myself around her because she says exactly what she's thinking like I do. Now she's moving to Seattle. I'm sad. I'll miss her. I used to be so outgoing. I loved being surrounded by people and talking. I was always very blunt and didn't care what anyone thought because that was who I was and if you didn't like it, then tough, don't be my friend. B used to be really quiet and was fine just to do nothing and not hang out with people. We've since reversed personalities. It's really weird. In his profession he obviously has to meet with people daily, but he enjoys it. He enjoys visiting with the men in Elder's Quorum after church. I could care less about visiting with the women after RS. Most of the time I don't even sit by anyone. And guess what? No one ever comes to sit with me. I'm tired of the show. They all shop at stores they only have in California. Some of them wear $400 dresses to church. They're all a size 4.There are women I've never seen wear the same pair of shoes twice-in 4 years that we've been in the ward! But you know what? I don't care anymore. I like how I look (most of the time). I don't need to get my nails done or shop at Nordstrom. I don't need 200 pairs of shoes (although what girl wouldn't WANT that many). Somewhere along the way these last 4 years I lost myself. My house is messy, I don't always wear make-up, I haven't gotten my hair done in like 3 months (and I'm going gray). But who cares? Life is too short. Some day my boys will be grown and my house will be clean (except their rooms I'm sure). I'm sure I will actually miss the mess because it means they're having fun. I came to a realization lately-due to a link on my SIL's post-that I need to be thankful for what we have and enjoy every moment because pretty soon they won't need me anymore. I realized that even though I hate doing laundry, it means we have clothes on our backs. Even though I hate that my house is falling apart, we still have a roof over our heads. Even though I hate to cook, we have food. Even though I hate doing homework, it means my kids are getting a great education. My husband went to a place on his mission where the kids didn't even wear shoes most of the time. And you know what? They were the happiest people he's ever met because they were grateful for what they DID have and didn't complain about what they didn't. I'm sick of all the people out here that are so into their snow mobiles, boats, fancy cars and cabins. And then they wonder why they're losing their house. Okay, I'll get off my horse now and talk about what the kids have been up to. I just really felt the need to vent to someone other than my husband. Most of this has been building up for awhile, but it all blew up when I posted on facebook how I stood in line for 2 1/2 hrs. with my sister to get "New Moon" over the weekend. It was fun and bonding. It was the one thing I've ever done that is totally geeky. I got a couple of positive comments from family, but everyone else made me feel really stupid saying how embarassing it was to admit that, or that it was so not worth it. That really hurt my feelings. So this rant is what followed.

Anyway, things are getting busy here. JP had his b-ball parent's meeting last night. He is so giddy, it's cute. He was on what seemed to be an overflow team that they finally named after a few days, but we got a call from his new coach yesterday to tell us he'd been moved. They went back and noticed several kids had requested to be with other kids that he knows, so he's with 2 kids from our ward and our neighbor. He is THRILLED. I love it. He's on the Cardinals now and already got his shirt and hat. It's funny because Bubba was on that team at this same age so we have a shirt and hat already. Bubba now has 3 Yankees hats as well-1 of his own and now 2 from b-ball. Practices for JP start tonight. They will be the same nights again, so it's really annoying that we have to switch off being able to go to each of their games. I'd rather have it every night than 3 nights a week on the same nights. We opted for Peanut to do soccer becuase he would've been the same nights as well. There aren't 3 of us. I hate that they do it every other year on the same nights. People generally have kids 2 yrs. apart and not 1, so it doesn't make sense. Tonight JP has a class primary party from 4-5:30, practice from 5:30-6:45 and Bubba goes from 5-6:30. At least I have time in between to take and pick up where they all need to be. Though B has been great about getting home for practice because he likes to watch Bubba.
Tomorrow we have a doctor's appt. for JP in the morning. We've still been concerned because his ankle is still swollen. It hurts most of the time to wear his tennis shoes and he keeps limping. I think he's limping unconsciously now. He hasn't been taking very much Motrin, so I think he's just doing it. I keep reminding him that he needs to walk as normally as possible so his joints and bones don't end up growing funky so he doesn't end up having hip problems or limping for the rest of his life. He gets annoyed with me, but I keep trying.
We have parent/teacher conferences this week, which is good because I've had concerns with one of them. (I won't say who, but there have been issues with test scores and studying). I seriously feel like I'm back in school half the time. B said the other day, "You didn't realize you'd have to do homework again did you?" I'm really hating Bubba's monthly projects because I feel like I'm doing a lot of the work because I want him to do well.



Watching cartoons while I blog. Yes, Jo Jo is still in his pajamas. I can't believe he actually smiled, but he was so excited when he saw the camera. Such cute boys. I love how Peanut's hair is perpetually pokey.

Jo Jo has really been talking even more (if that's possible). It's only rarely that I don't understand a word. The other night in the car Peanut was singing the alphabet and Jo Jo was singing right along. He sang 'l-z' along with him, and then after Peanut stopped, he sang, 'q-z' completely by himself. I guess it helps to have an older brother to teach you what you need to know in life. I think it's also becuase when he was a baby (well a smaller baby) I would sing the alphabet to him while rocking him to sleep. I still do when he'll let me. A lot of the time, though, he gets annoyed and says, "Nooo." I'm impressed with how Peanut has been doing in school. He went from not recognizing all of the letters of the alphabet at the beginning of the year, to being able to write them all. I know-this was mostly my fault because he's the third child and I didn't really think about doing it. I was kind of like, oh he'll get it since he's the third and brothers do it, but it doesn't come automatically. Duh. Okay, so I've gone on long enough. I'm sure it's mostly because I haven't written in awhile, but also because I had a migraine this morning and I finally took ONE Excederin. I normally take Ibuprofen because Excederin makes me antsy, but I don't want to keep taking the Ibuprofen becuase it eats your stomach. I've had a headache every day for the past 3 weeks or so. Maybe it's a brain tumor. ;) I finally stopped taking anything becuase I just don't want to keep putting that junk in my body. But I thought, well, I'll just take one today and wouldn't you know it, it still makes me really jittery. I should take advantage of this energy and go fold laundry. I think Peanut and I will make some cookies today. I've been wanting to, but have been too lazy.
Oh, next week is Spring Break. Last year we went to the zoo on half price day even though it was really cold. We'll have to go to at least one nature or science place becuase Bubba has his final science project due in April and it has to be a field experience one this time. Okay, I'm really done now.

Dear Bubba,
Thanks for holding my hand the other night at the mall. I love that even though you're almost 10, every once in awhile you show me that you still love your mama. I love when you randomly come up to me and say, "Mommy," with a big smile and when I ask what, you say, "Kiss," and give me a kiss and wrap your arms around me. I love when you call me mommy instead of plain old mom.


Dear JP,
Thanks for holding my hand the other day on the couch and rubbing my arm. I love when you come up to me and randomly kiss my arm or cheek to let me know how much you love me. It melts my heart every single time you do it. At Pinewood Derby when you came up and kissed my arm, Sister Riggs thought it was the cutest thing she'd ever seen. I love to rub your soft, buttery skin.


Dear Peanut,
Thanks for wanting bear hugs and kisses every night. I love when you come up and hug me and say, "I love you mommy." I love when you want to hold my hand or give me a random kiss during the day. You make my heart sing sweet little boy boy.


Dear Jo Jo,
Thanks for being my snuggly baby-most of the time. I love how you call me mama-or when you're really upset-mommy. I love that you always want me and not dad when you get hurt or sad. I love that you still want me to rock you to sleep for your nap even though you go to bed at night by yourself. You will always be my baby.

-With all my love, hugs and kisses,
Love mama

Pinewood Derby car from last week. I told him to add some stickers or something so we found the googly eyes upstairs right before the race.


Okay, I realize he really needs a haircut, but I still can't bear to cut off those curls and I can't figure out how to cut the top a little shorter without it looking like a mullet. I know as soon as we cut it, he'll end up with dark, straight hair like his brothers and that makes me sad, since he's my last baby.

So we were driving home the other day from pre-school and Peanut asked me how much birthday money he had left because he wanted to buy some color changer cars. I told him he had $3 and that they cost that much. A second later he said, "I would need $6to buy 2 of them." I was like,"Yes, you're smart to know how to add like that." He said, "I just did it in my head." Wow! He got $5 more today from my dad and grandparents right before we went to the store, so that was perfect because then he could get more cars. Did you know that you can never have too many cars? He didn't get a color changer because the "Cars" brand cost $6, but he got 2 "pwain" ones from the movie. He got 2 of the guys that drive alongside Mack and put him to sleep while playing their Kenny G music. I swear pretty soon he'll have the entire cast. I think it's cute, though, that he loves something that much. I wanted to watch a movie with him yesterday and suggested several Disney ones that he hasn't watched in awhile, or never seen at all. He picked "Cars" and wouldn't budge even though we just watched it last week. He told me, "Cars is my favorite movie mom." We read about 15 library books before going to the library today after school to pick up 2 books that the older boys were holding. While we were there, Jo Jo sat in front of the board book section with Peanut and they proceeded to put book after book into our bag while I was trying to help the other boys look up books and okay movies for them. I didn't even notice until I started taking them out at the counter. I honestly have no idea how many he got, but he got 5 movies and at least 20 board books. I was like-oh well at least they're short. The older boys ended up getting a couple of chapter books and comic books even though they already have some at home they need to finish reading. I left wondering why I let them do that instead of making them read the other ones first. At least they love to read.

JP's ankle has a really puffy spot full of fluid again. It has us a little worried. I hope it's not anything bad. It's causing him to limp really bad. He has baseball starting soon-which he loves to play-so I really hope this doesn't affect him too badly. It would break his heart (and mine for that matter) if he couldn't play. Bubba starts practice on Mon. He ended up on the Yankees again this year and he couldn't be happier. We were able to get on the team of a dad from football so he has 3 or 4 kids from football on his team. I love baseball season-even though it means driving 2 kids to practice 3 nights a week at the same time. They are really fun to watch.

Happy Birthday Little Peanut

This year I decided to throw Peanut a little party with 5 friends (since he was turning 5). He got to have his party in the afternoon on his very birthday. One boy didn't come, but another boy's sister came because she's a friend too and was feeling sad. The day before I made the cake. I didn't flour the pan and figured it wouldn't make that much of a difference. But I left it cooling in the pan too long I think, so it broke a little around the edges coming out. Of course I didn't think it looked as good as it could have and I didn't have enough frosting to cover the sides very well, but that night when I was done I asked him if he liked it. He said, "It's GREAT!" That was worth the whole thing-the crazy 5 year olds at the party with 30 second attention spans and the cake frustration. I did save $24 on the cake. I had ordered one that he picked out thinking it was only $14, but as she totaled everything up, it ended up being that much more, so needless to say I cancelled it. We did a Cars theme. We played a few games that pre-schoolers could understand, but like I said, they had about a 30 second attention span. They were spinning out the whole time. The best game was the one where they danced to the music and when I turned it off they froze. That gave them a chance to get out all their wiggles. There was one little boy who kept cheating at the game where you put different items in bags and they have to feel what it is and then guess. He would pull the thing out. Luckily, he was at the end of the line. He got some fun stuff. We gave him the Cars little car wash thing. You can drive the cars through and slide them into a cup of water and the color will change. We also got him an extra color changing car and a regular Mater. The other thing we got that he seemed to be just as excited about was a wooden pizza. It's cut into slices and velcroed together and has velcro toppings and a slicer. He's really been wanting that. There's also a birthday cake, a sandwich one, a cupcake one. He pretty much wanted all of them so I picked the one that I thought would be the most fun.

1st Birthday-so careful with the cake and even ate it with a fork later.

Got his Spiderman 4 wheeler for his 2nd Birthday.

Sweet little Peanut. I can't believe you're already 5! Next school year you will already start Kindergarten. What will I do without my little buddy every morning? I love so many things about you. You play so well with your baby and can be by yourself for hours. When I think of you I think of your crazy eyebrows, cute dimple and smiling eyes, your love of cars, puzzles and Legos, animals, your long legs, your cute contagious giggle, your pokey hair, fruit snacks, bread, Eggo waffles, french fries, bear hugs, when you come up and say, "I love you mom" and rub my arm. I love when you want to snuggle with me on the couch. You've been my sweet, sweet little Peanut from the first time I saw a picture of you in my belly. And you will ALWAYS be Peanut to me. I love you little boy.