Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Happy 3rd Birthday Coconut!!


One whole day old!


First Easter

I decided to put lots of pictures to represent the different stages of Coconut's life thus far. I can't believe he already turned 3 yesterday! It makes me sad. I miss my sweet little baby that sounded like a piglet when he cried, not a wailing banshee.

First Halloween


Baby Fat Fat at 1. Cutest little fart ever.


2nd Birthday


After licking the beaters from the cake-3rd Birthday


This is his "cheese" face


Opening Buzz


BEST-DAY-EVER!!!

We had a little party with our neighbors over who have kids our kids ages. Alicia and AJ came too. His favorite thing was his new Buzz Lightyear. But he got some other cool "Toy Story" stuff and some cars from the "Cars" movie that he totally freaked about. Then we had a train cake. He picked out the specific trains that he wanted. Man that thing was a pain. I frosted it and it looked like poop because it was all crumbly with cake mixed in, so I made another batch with like an hour to spare and put another coat on before tackling the track. I think it came out decent. I just have to remind myself that as much as I want to be the "Cake Boss" it's never gonna happen. At least it was super yummy.

Here are some thoughts I have about my little Coconut-
Still a baby but also a big boy, crazy, loud, spoiled, puppy dog eyes, cartoons, "Nemo," fruit snacks, chocolate milk, lots of time outs, boxer, barefoot, screamer, stuffed animals, curls, jumper, wrestler, fun (from JP), blue eyes, play-doh (from JP), always trying to be big, impatient, cute cute cute! Overall I think I like him and I'll keep him. ;) But sometimes I think that boy will be the death of me.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

I give up. Obviously I'm not keeping up with my goal to write more often. Sometimes I think about it and then I realize I don't really have anything new to say. It's pretty much always the same routine. School, piano, homework. JP took 3 weeks of swimming lessons. He worked on the breaststroke (he kept calling it break-stroke), backstroke and freestyle. The also worked on doing turns. He got those down pretty well. He struggled with a few things, but overall did well and passed on his test on Wed. He wants to move up to the next level and since the other two get to do piano, he'll get to do another session before baseball starts. The 3 big boys are all signed up. Holy expensive Batman! I never realized until I had my own kids how stinkin' expensive sports are. Because it's not just the sign-up fees, it's the equipment. Peanut is extremely excited (to say the least) to be playing with his brothers. He did a really cheap and cheesy t-ball this past summer. He really thought we were signing him up for Rookie, which is what JP played last year. It's coach pitch. We signed him up for 6 yr. old t-ball, though because he can't catch yet. The coach pitches, but they do it on their knees and they'll bring the tee out if the kids need it. He definitely won't need it. B made a make shift batting cage in the garage out of the netting we have from the backyard one. That kid can CRUSH the ball. We've never seen a 5 yr. old hit that hard. He not only cranks them off the tee, but hits every pitch from B. Coconut even hits a pitch every so often, but he can hit pretty hard with a big metal bat off the tee. I guess when you have big brothers who play sports, you excel when you're younger from practicing with them. Brag much? :) Anyway, they've been getting some hitting in a few nights a week. JP will move up to AA, which is the first year of kid pitch. And Bubba will stay in AAA so that he can get even better before moving up again. Plus, he was already a year ahead of where he should be. JP is a year ahead as well. B had them at the neighborhood school the other day and he said that Bubba is pitching HARD and FAST! I'm excited that he'll most likely pitch again this year. We'll have the same coach because he's one of the dad's from our football team and we told him we wanted to stick with him. This will work better anyway because now JP and Bubba will be on different nights so we'll be able to see more of their games. We'll just have to take turns with Peanut's games though (which let's face it aren't very exciting). Almost none of the kids know what they're doing and sit out there picking daisies. So we'll have baseball everyday except Sundays. I know you're thinking I'm crazy, but I love watching them so I don't mind. I actually get sad when football and baseball seasons end. I DON'T miss the driving to practices, but I LOVE to watch my kids play and enjoy themselves. It brings me joy to know that it brings them so much joy. I overheard a conversation they had with B the other night about whether they would each play pro baseball or pro football. They weren't sure because they would have to play football on Sundays. But B told them that there are a lot of great players that are LDS and are still good members of the church. I reminded them later that they play pro baseball games on Sundays as well. It made me smile though to know that they thought of something like that. Bubba says he definitely wants to play football in college. That kid is amazing at anything he tries. When Grandma Randall was here, she taught him how to play chopsticks on the piano in a couple of hours. We have to watch him though because we want to make sure he reads music and not just memorizes it.

Lastly, Coconut and I had an interesting conversation the other day. We were driving to the library and we saw a fire truck with it's lights and siren on. He said, "It has red lights on the back of it." I agreed and then he said, "That means that someone got fired." Then I told him that it could also be that someone had a car accident and crashed. He said, "Yeah, there was a crash. A truck crashed into a car because it was blue and not red." He cracks me up. He makes up stories on a daily basis. Today in sacrament he was doing his shape book and he now recognizes oval and rectangle along with all of the ones he already knew.

Well, here's to another busy week.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Lego Mania

At this point I'm way too tired to reorganize these pictures, so I'll at least label them.


Back and front of Peanut's house



Peanut's yellow car. It reminds me of the "Back to the Future" Delorean.


JP's trucks


So this week all we've been doing is Legos and more Legos! I have literally put something together everyday this week. I surprised JP first with the red truck. He was trying to put together a different one with the same kit the night before, but asked me for help and it was too late to fix it so we bagged it and said we'd work on the other one the next day. Sooo while he was at school I made it for him. I realize you're probably thinking I'm really weird, especially because it literally took me 3 total hours. But I was so thrilled with how excited he was when he came home from school to see it on the table. The next day before Peanut had school, he was trying to build this yellow car. He was so frustrated because it kept breaking. (I think sometimes they don't make sure the pieces are snapped together firmly enough). So I told him we'd work on it after school. Well, again I thought it would be fun to surprise him, sooo I made it for him. It didn't take as long thank goodness. The thing that takes the longest is finding all the right pieces. I have them all separated into colors, but there are still so many! I decided that if and when they brake up the cars, then we're keeping everything from the kit in it's own bag! Last night JP and I built his Indiana Jones truck. Luckily it went really quickly-not as many pieces. Peanut got a giant house kit for Christmas 2009 and I had built one of the models, but there are 3 different ones, so last night Peanut decided that he wanted to make a different house (much to my dismay after putting in several days of working on it). So he started and had like two steps done and decided to work on it later. I helped do a few steps, but we quit for the time being. Then today we worked on it more and while he was at school I finished it. He said he didn't need the roof since he'll play with his guys inside, but I have OCD and figured I'd make it anyway just in case. All of our Lego kits are ones that we've had for awhile, but of course things get broken over time and we have to remake them.
I've come to the realization that I have major Lego issues. I can't stand to use a substitute color if I can't find the right one, so instead I'll spend 20 min. looking for the right one! And I have to finish every last detail. My back is killing me from sitting on the floor with nothing to lean on all week. Before you think I'm a complete loser, I did actually do laundry and some sweeping and vaccuming. I decided however that my kids won't say to me one day, "Hey mom, remember how the house was really clean?" They'll say, "Hey remember that one week when we did Legos all week?" And that's the most important thing-playing with them and making them surprises.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Just Dance



We played a Wii game called Just Dance at the first New Year's party that we went to. You just follow the dancer on the screen exactly. There are quite a few different songs and 3 difficulty levels. I played it at the party and thought the kids would enjoy it so I borrowed it from a friend. It's great excercise and way fun to watch. I recorded the kids and got photos today. Bubba has his friend over for a playdate today. B and I did it last night with the kids too. B rocked it! JP was a little bummed because he didn't do very well and even got beat by Peanut a few times, but today he did better. Good times! I think we might have to buy it.

Thursday, January 6, 2011


Spud hats that Alicia and AJ brought back for the kids from the Las Vegas bowl. They wore them around all day.

Allright I keep saying I'll get better at this, but clearly I'm not very good at following thru. But when you have four kids, lots of things are hard to follow thru with. Know that my intentions are good and I've made it a goal for the year.
Speaking of goals, here are a few for the year-
-Read all of the Sunday school and RS lessons before Sunday
-Read the Ensign all the way through each month (our Bishop has made it a goal for each family member to read the age appropriate magazine each month). I used to do really well with this until I started reading other stuff a lot. I need to realize I can do both.
-Get more organized. I have a schedule I'm working on-like bills on Fri., one load of laundry a day (including folding!), clean a bathroom a day, and a few other things. I've already done the laundry part this week (although I skipped the folding one day), and I've made a meal calendar (which is a HUGE deal for me).
-Get in better shape by eating better and making it to the gym three days a week instead of two! We had a FHE this week on goals and dad had us all write them down and we sealed them in an envelope and asked each other how we could help one another. I told them to make me go even if I don't feel like it!
-Stick to our budget!

One of dad's was that he was going to take the stairs ever time at work. This a lot since he works on the 4th floor. And he wants us to encourage him to work out in the garage a few times a week.
Peanut included learn to read and write better.
Bubba had work on penmanship and stop biting his nails!
JP had read The Friend and scriptures more.
All in all a good activity.

In other news we rang in the New Year with a bang. B's step-mom Susan came up the Tues. before to hang out with the kids and visit. She watched the kids Weds. night while B and I went to the grocery store on a "date". Then Thurs. night we went to the mall to use some of my Christmas money and out to dessert. Fri. she and I and the kids went to Kohls because they were having a big sale on kids clothes and both the older boys needed long sleeved shirts and jeans. Bubba chose skinny jeans much to my disappointment, but I later realized how cute they look on him. We went to Hobby Lobby in the same parking lot afterwards and she got a ton of art stuff for her and the kids to do that night for their "party". They got lots of stencils and a couple of little art books that Peanut could learn to draw simple things. I got some scrapbook paper and a soap dispenser for our upstairs bathroom that says "Paris" on it-it was all half price and I only spent $12-which is a big deal since the soap thing was $10 and scrapbook paper and stickers can be really expensive. Yay for deals!

I got a text at the store from my good friend Tiffany while we were out. She and I have been friends since we were neighbors and both pregnant with JP and her little girl. All of the other girls from our group have moved away now. She said they were having a party that night and it would be great if we could come because she was having a midnight wedding. My jaw dropped. I was so thrilled for her. She went through a really nasty divorce last year with guy who was "technically" a member, but was always inactive and started drinking, doing drugs and gallavanting around. She has two small children and he put her through a lot of fighting over the kids. He did it out of spite. She finally got custody in May and after all of that, he moved to Colorado! Anyway, several months ago she met a wonderful guy who was a recent convert. He had three children from a previous marriage as well. So they decided to get hitched at midnight because she told him after everything she had gone through she couldn't get married before 2011, so he suggested midnight! We had already planned to go to another party that was a sort of going away party for some other friends. So we made an early date of it by going to dinner and a movie and then heading to the first party. Then around 11:30 we went over to the wedding. She looked so happy and beautiful and I actually got a little misty eyed. The Bishop married them and they actually have big vacation planned for June in Hawaii where they will get sealed! We realized that night that in the 12 years we've been married that we've never once been out for New Year's!



Grandma Susan had a huge spread of food and treats for the kids, treats, hats and horns, and crafts and movies planned. They were still awake at midnight. But by the time we got home around 12:45 am, Coconut had passed out on the couch. Crazy kids!

Susan also gave them all silly bands and Coconut hasn't taken his off since that night! Even for a bath! He's also wearing Peanut's big boy shorts in this picture.

We hung out and vegged on Sat. and then she left Sun. morning. Tues. brought Grandma Randall. She flew in for a funeral that is in the Eastern part of the state, but stopped for a visit here first. The kids were thrilled to have two grandparents in a week and JP asked when Papa Larry was coming. We had just seen my mom last month at my brother's homecoming. Grandma took us to dinner that night and then yesterday I took advantage of her and went to the gym, then got my hair done and then we went out to PF Changs to use a Christmas giftcard. We've been spoiled to go on so many dates in the last week! Thanks again to both Grandmas. JP started swimming on Mon. night and so thrilled about it. He has a lot to learn because he keeps bending his legs while swimming. He has a doctor's appt. this afternoon. He seems to be doing great. Wow this was long. Sorry. This is why I have my goal to write more so you're not sitting here forever reading, or get discouraged and give up halfway through!

**Edit- I forgot to mention that somewhere in there JP got sick-again. It was in the middle of the night after the New Year's Feast. It was from eating too much and getting too excited. B woke up to him yelling for dad. He went in and quickly came and woke me up. I went in and he said, "I don't even know where to start." We both stood there for a minute assessing the situation. JP wiped his arm off, cleaned up his face, and changed his pjs. We sent him off to sleep in the playroom where Bubba was sleeping. Instead of throwing up on his bed and blankets like we've instructed him to do if he can't make it to the toilet, he leaned over the side of the top bunk where he sleeps and threw up all over the stairs and onto the carpet. We've never seen so much puke. Sorry to be so gross. It was stuck in the cracks of the wood even. It was super hard to clean up. We opted to wait on the carpet until morning because of the pieces of "things" that were in it and needed to be dry to clean up. Needless to say, because it dried, the smell wouldn't come out. No matter how many different cleaners I put on it. He slept in the playroom for a couple of days while I continued to try. Finally I thought to go get that powdered stuff you put on the carpet and vaccum up to freshen up the room. It worked! He was finally able to move back in the other night. I told him that if he ever did that again he was going to permanently sleep in the garage. He got very sad, so I had to clarify that I was totally kidding. ***