Busy With Boys

Happy 4th Birthday Coco Krispy!

2012-02-02T13:15:00.000-07:00

So as you can see from the title of this post, it was Coconut's 4th birthday last week. Coco Krispy is just one of his many aliases. Coco, JoJo, Boo boo, Car Car, Cart Man-he is a little man known by many names. He has brought much joy (and distress) to our family. Never a dull moment when he's around. He'll either be a professional football player or a rockstar. He can reach notes that would put Axl Rose to shame. He makes life fun. He's definitely Mama's little buddy. I'm his only friend during the day, so we hang out a lot watching cartoons or going to fun places like Krispy Kreme for a donut to celebrate wearing undies to bed and keeping them dry. Actually, he hasn't needed to wear pull-ups to bed for quite awhile, but he refused to wear one the other night, so we celebrated the next morning. I can almost never resist his little, "Please Mommy." He loves candy, chocolate, ice cream, cake, anything junky-just like mom. I feel really bad about it. He's very smart and knows all of his shapes, colors, can count to 20, is starting to actually recognize some of the numbers, and can sing the ABCs, among other things. He gets himself dressed (unless he's being lazy). He likes to tell stories and ask totally random questions. We had an entire conversation in the car one day about skeletons, "cops", jail, bad guys, and animal cops. He cracks me up. On the one big snow day we've had, he told me that there were probably little bugs throwing tiny snowballs at each other. He makes me smile everyday.
We celebrated with a couple of friends and cake and ice cream with a Captain America birthday party. That stupid cake took me all day because I had to dirty ice it and then let it sit in the fridge and then ice it again, and then make the star and fill it all in. There were several toothpicks and a ruler involved to make sure the circles were somewhat even. Someday, hopefully, he'll see a picture and say, "Wow, you were the coolest mom ever." Oh what we do to make our kids happy. His new favorite thing is Monster Trucks. You can never have too many. Oh, and Ninjagos.

New Blog

2012-01-10T20:24:00.000-07:00

For my readers who may not be my Facebook friends (or just don't check it often), I have a new blog. It's for the book I've written. It's my first book and I'm trying to get some buzz going. Plus, I've had people asking for updates on the editing process and how soon I might be able to publish. I've also given some background on how it all got started, and in the future, I might just give a sneak peek or two. So check it out. www.inthemidstofdarkness.blogspot.com

Happy Christmas 2011

2011-12-11T15:24:00.003-07:00

Well, family and friends, it's that time of year when everyone sends out their Christmas cards, letters, and photos. I'm doing something different this year. I'm not sending anything out because I figure that a lot of times, people read the letter, put the picture on their little Christmas card stand, and then it gets tossed after Christmas anyway. So, here it is.

We had a busy year once again, but with four boys, that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

Big Daddy still loves his job with Morgan Stanley and spent a lot of time on the baseball fields this spring and summer. He was Assistant Coach for Bubba's regular season, and also during Allstar season during the summer. He had a great time working with all of the boys and learning a lot more about how to coach the kids. He built a batting cage in his garage so that the boys can hit all winter to get ready for next season. He's a baseball expert now, and is a great coach and a very dedicated and most awesomest dad! He is serving in our church as Assistant Ward Clerk. He was also a huge football fan this past fall for both of our older boys.

Mama keeps busy everyday with four busy boys! Most of you know that I finished my first book this summer. I started a couple of years ago, but inspiration hit this past summer and I wrote almost the whole book. It has been a really fun experience. I never thought I would be a writer, though I always thought it would be fun. I hope to have the editing process finished before my next birthday in May. I also started working on the sequel. I'm about 16,000 words into it and having fun continuing the story of my characters. I got to put Lit. degree to use this year writing reviews for an internet company. I serve as the Compassionate Service leader in our church.

Bubba had a great year. Baseball season started in March and he got off to a great start. He worked hard after the previous season because he made the goal for himself to make the Allstar team during the summer. We were very impressed with his work ethic and his incredible improvements. He finished the regular season with the highest hitting average, and did a good job pitching when we needed him. He is a great shortstop! His team went to the championship game and only lost by a couple of runs. He got to go to Bill Buckner baseball camp and learned a lot there. We had about a week break before Allstar season started in June. He was the lead off batter, and hit a home run in his very first at bat! He had a two week break between baseball and football. He was a four back this year on the starting offense and had his very first touchdown, and several carries during the season. His team went undefeated and won their Junior Year Championship game. He is also still taking piano lessons and is learning to play bass in a garage band. He started middle school in the 6th grade this year!

JP also played baseball and football this year. He did a great job for his team and played 3rd base and left field. His team went undefeated and went to their age division championship game. They won in the 8th inning and we only ever play 6! What an awesome experience for him. He got to go to a summer baseball camp at our local minor league team's stadium. He got autographs of the players and instruction from them too. It was a fun experience for him. He also had a great football season. It was his first year of tackle football. He played defensive tackle and had at least one sack a game. He scored the most points on defense with 3 safetys (6 points). We thought he would be timid, but as soon as he put those pads on, he was a beast. His team also went undefeated this season (they don't have a championship game at that age yet). He started the 4th grade this year and already has straight 'A's!

Peanut played his first year of coach pitch baseball this year. He was the best hitter on his team. He's excited to start Rookie this next season and practices in the garage with brother's every night. I can't believe how hard he can hit the ball with his little 6 year old body! He is doing very well in the 1st grade and his teacher uses him as the good example in class. She tells everyone to look at what he's doing when they aren't sure how to follow instructions. He loves football and wants to start playing flag football next year. We'll see.

Coco misses his brothers during the day while they are at school. Mama is teaching him at home with some preschool activity books. He loves to work on them and has even started tracing numbers. He has a very large vocabulary-including the word, "sick" to mean something is cool. It's funny to hear a little 3 year old talking like a big boy. He loves to hit baseballs in the garage every night and can hit really hard off the tee with an aluminum bat. No little plastic bats for this big boy.

We also love doing things as a family. We spend time in the cage in the garage most nights and I love learning to hit too. We went shooting a few times, to Disneyland in February with Grandma Susan, the boys all went camping and fishing with dad several times, and got to visit with grandma on the farm for a week this summer.

We wish all of you a wonderful and blessed year. We love our Savior Jesus Christ and strive to be more like him. We hope that you all remember him this season and all year long.

Coco's 1st Trip to the Dentist

2011-12-05T19:45:00.002-07:00

So Coconut has NOT wanted to go to the dentist. I'm not sure why because he watches his brothers and the dentist is our neighbor, his best buddy's dad, and in our ward. So I decided that since he will be 4 in a month, he didn't have a choice anymore. So I scheduled him for today and didn't tell him until this morning.
I said, "We're going to the dentist today."
C-"For Peanut?"
M-"No, for you."
C-"NO!"
I was ready for a battle, but surprisingly, when we got there and I told him he could watch TV while they brushed his teeth, he was totally cool about it. The hygienist was awesome and explained everything. He loved "Mr. Thirsty" and would giggle every time she would use it. He also let her do fluoride, which Bubba always whines about. And Dr. Oto came and counted his teeth and checked for sugar bugs and he doesn't have any cavities. Yay-that makes 2 kids at least. Bubba has great teeth (like I did as a kid), JP just had 1 cavity not too long ago, and poor little Peanut has like 6 fillings. :( I just went in for my cleaning and there have been a couple of spots he's been watching, so he wanted to do one filling. Well, he got in there and it was like the other one I had-it got bigger the further he went in. He discovered that the last dentist did sealants over decay-so yay for me I get to have all but one of my molars filled. Only two left this week. Whatever he did last week when he did two, I told him to do it again because my teeth went numb so I couldn't fill the drill, but my face didn't go numb and I didn't have a migraine after. Funny story about sugar bugs: Bubba just asked me not that long ago (remember he's 11)about what sugar bugs looked like and how big they were. I laughed so hard and told him that they weren't really real. They just use that when you're little to explain plaque and how to clean your teeth. Too cute.
More to come for our Christmas letter. I've decided to save money and not send out pictures and letters this year-except to each of the grandparents. I figure they get thrown out anyway. So I'll post our letter and family picture as soon as I can get everyone to sit in front of the tree.

This and That

2011-11-20T17:56:00.004-07:00

Coconut's loot from Trunk-or-Treat

Bubba's pumpkin that he carved himself. He got the idea from cousin Kelly who posted a picture on FB of it.

I carved a Grim Reaper for Peanut and a smiley face for Coconut and JP did his own.

We are each acting out our costumes. Peanut decided a couple days before to change to a motorcycle guy so he's revving his handle bars, Buzz Lightyear is flying, Harry Potter is casting a spell, the giant red Skittle is trying to eat himself, and Mama football fan is cheering.

I guess it's been awhile. I haven't been the best at updating lately. Here are some pictures from Halloween. We went to our Trunk-or-Treat on Saturday night and got so much candy that I told the kids we didn't need to go out Monday. That didn't go over well. I took the kids out in the freezing cold while dad watched football and passed out candy. Bubba stopped at one of the neighbor's house who had their garage door open, making scones and donuts and watched football for awhile with them until he froze and came home, so he didn't get as much "loot" as the rest of them. Luckily JP's wand lit up so we could see. We went down our street and then Coconut said he was cold, so we stopped at home and put on gloves and a few more layers before finishing up. I made a rule this year that they could have 6 pieces of candy a day-which means that we won't have candy until Easter, but it's also not so much that they throw up every night. :)

I'm enjoying no sports for now. I love to watch them play, but the break is much needed. In the off season, all 4 of them are in the garage in the awesome batting cage that dad built, hitting away. He's pretty hardcore and has them do several different drills. All of them are very receptive to his teaching/correcting this year. Even Coconut wants to hold the bat the right way now. By the time he's ready, he'll have to skip 5 yr. old t-ball and go straight to 6 yr. old coach pitch. JP is already hitting 100% harder than during the season. I think it was all that football upper body strength. He hit 47 out of 50 balls in the cage the other night. Bubba hits pretty much all of them-maybe 1 miss here or there. Even Peanut is an animal. B says that he has the best stance of them all, funny enough. The other night they were going out there and I asked for a lesson. I've always loved watching them and been so jealous that I totally suck at sports. So B put me through the same drills and taught me how to stand and hit. I don't hit all of them yet, but the ones I hit, I crushed. I'm pretty proud of myself for my first time. Maybe I can actually play with them now. :)

Fiesta Bowl Jr. Champs 2011

2011-11-02T14:30:00.006-06:00

Mama and brother both sportin' our Mean Green

That's right-our boys won their championship game!It was the greatest day of Bubba's life of course. The team we played has been undefeated for 3 years. We played them last year and lost in the last 20 seconds of the game by a 2 point conversion. So Bubba aptly named this the "Revenge Bowl." What an intense game! Our sponsor (whose son is on the team), bought us all rally towels so we waved those around during the whole game. We also stomped on the bleachers for each major play. The other team copied of course, but they didn't have cool towels like us. No one scored in the 1st quarter and finally in the 2nd, we scored and got the 2 extra pts. (There are no goal posts at this age). Then they scored. Then they scored again. Then we scored again, so at the end of the game it was tied 16-16. Since it was a championship game, they went into overtime. They got to start on the 10 yd. line and had 4 downs to score. So we went back and forth and when we missed the extra 2 we thought we were done for. Then they missed it. After double overtime and still being tied, the announcer said that if it went any longer, the coaches would have to suit up and come out onto the field and arm wrestle. Ha ha! Oh yeah-I forgot to mention that there was an announcer who announced each of them by name at the beginning and then as they would make plays during the game. It was such an exciting thing. So anyway, in 3rd overtime, we scored first and MISSED the extra 2 again. And we thought it was over for sure then. So they went and on their first play got a face mask penalty of 10 yds. Hooray for us. Then on the next play, they fumbled! And we recovered it! Mustangs win 36-30!!! I actually started crying. It was so intense and such an awesome experience for them. Bubba is on the kick off return team and he got a good 30 yds. on his play. It was awesome! I'm so proud of my boy. He amazes me with his awesome talent. They got a cool trophy and I've never seen 21 boys so excited in my life! Watch out next year!

Love this picture! He's #76 in the front with the awesome block

Mustangs #1! Woo hoo!

All the kids got a picture holding the trophy

Mustang & Eagle Football

2011-10-17T18:32:00.004-06:00

#62

JP is the one facing/running toward the quarterback.

Sack that caused the fumble. He's the one underneath the quarterback.

All three of these pictures are Bubba trying to block one of the big guys #10. He has a very determined look on his face.

So Saturday was JP's last football game. Even though they don't have tournaments at the Freshman level, their team considered it their championship game because both teams were undefeated. Well, we creamed them 26-0. Way to go Eagles! JP had a sack that caused a fumble and a couple other tackles too. My mom came up to see it and watched almost the whole game, but Bubba's game had started a half hour after JP's and since it WAS a tournament game she came over for the last quarter. We all watched the first of JP's game though and B and I went over during Bubba's half-time.

So Bubba's team-the Mustangs-had a super hard game. There were two games that day between four undefeated teams and the winners of each will play this coming Saturday in a championship game in the evening at a high school under the lights. Pretty exciting for these 11 yr. old boys. The other team had 3 mega-huge kids. They were all taller than me for sure and they were crazy strong. Poor Bubba had to block one of them and would get a little block in and the kid would take off with Bubba hanging onto him. It took like 5 kids to take him down when he ran the ball. The other team scored in the first quarter, but missed the extra point. We struggled hard and fought our way down the field several times, but couldn't quite make it. Then in the 4th quarter with about 4 minutes to go, Bubba caught the pass of his life. It was for about 12 yds. and it was on either a 3rd or 4th down (can't remember for sure). He made a ONE handed catch and moved us down the field which completely turned our game around. We were able to score in the last 2 or so minutes and GOT the extra points. So it was 8-6. Then another superstar kid on our team caught an interception when the other team was like right at the end zone! With about a minute left we ran one more play and then took a knee to finish it up. Hooray! In 3 years, we've never had such a low scoring game. We were so proud of all of those boys. Coach got a little emotional during his speech and it was such a neat moment. So now, we'll play the only team we've ever lost to this Sat. And it's time for payback baby! We only lost to them by 2 points last year in the last 20 sec. or so of the game. Then we'll be done with sports until March! As much as I love to watch these guys, I'm so beyond done with practices every night!

My Life...

2011-10-04T19:17:00.004-06:00

I just might lose my mind for reals this time.

How hard is it to-

-Take your socks upstairs when you go up
-Replace the toilet paper roll (since you've already taken the new roll out and placed it on the counter)
-Take your shoes off by the door, rather than in the middle of the kitchen floor
-Put your bowl in the sink (I'm not even asking you to put it in the dishwasher-just the sink!)
-Put the cereal back in the cupboard-only if there's still cereal left in it please!
-Throw your wrappers in the trash
-Pick the pillows up off the floor and put them back on the couch, rather than walking all over them with your stinky, dirty feet
-Put the blanket back in the basket
-Pick up your costumes off the kitchen floor after you've stripped it off
-Put the Wii remotes/game back when you turn off the Wii
-Turn off a light!
-Pee IN the toilet
-Take your toys back to your own room, rather than depositing them downstairs and leaving them there-under the table, in the middle of the kitchen floor, on the kitchen counter, or in the middle of the carpet-all places they will get stepped on and destroy the foot of the person who has stepped on them
-Throw your backpack on the bench in the mudroom, rather than in the walkway between there and the kitchen or in the middle of the kitchen floor

We just had a FHE last night on our new chore chart. Surprisingly none of these things were mentioned. I just noticed all of this today-because that's when it all happened. They now have daily jobs that they rotate-dishes and table, living room and stairs, playroom. Which we've always had. Unfortunately for them, there will be no more Mr. Nice Mom and letting them get away with skipping a day, or heading off to their friend's house before mom realizes/forgets that the job wasn't done. Now we will also have weekly jobs-clean your own room and bathroom once a week. That's all I'm asking-ONE day a week. And now there are also 3 new required weekly jobs, which used to be bonus jobs they could do for extra money. Dust, take out all the trash in the house, clean/organize kitchen counter. They drew those last night and Bubba got stuck with kitchen counter and threw a hissy already and ended up in his room. I informed all of them that this is to teach them how to work because I grew up in a house where our mom never made us lift a finger-and guess what? I didn't know how to do laundry or iron until I moved in with my grandparents after high school and she taught me. And I really couldn't cook much unless it involved a box. And I quickly learned that I didn't like living in disarray. "I know how to work hard," came Bubba's reply. "Well then prove it," said mom. "I'm not the maid. You are all old enough (minus Coconut) to help out and clean up after yourselves. I still do all of your laundry and cook for you-amongst other things."
Guess what JP did today on his own without being asked-the dishes. And Peanut decided to do the dusting last night because he didn't want to have to remember later in the week. Plus he cleaned the playroom yesterday. I'm still working on Bubba. Although, he did actually go and sit at the piano and practice without me saying a word. I wondered what had happened to my child that "hates" piano and who had replaced him. He begged for lessons for two years and loved them for the first few months-until baseball started (which is way more exciting). Now, I'm lucky if I can force him in there once a week (besides actual lesson day) to sit and play. He was in there playing away today telling me how much he loves his new song. Hallelujah!

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-16T15:56:00.004-06:00

Inside the ice caves

Coconut caught a 20" 4 lb. fish on his dinky Cars fishing pole. He started yelling that he caught something and was reeling it in. JP ran over and took it from him while Bubba pulled it in by the line and Peanut held the top of the pole. Dad was yelling for them to run it up on the bank so they didn't lose it. Bubba caught the other big fish.

At the top of the volcano. It goes off about every 2,000 years and it's been that long now!

Big Daddy took the boys hotel camping for Labor Day weekend. It really was too cold to go outside camping and B wanted to watch a football game the first night so they stayed in a hotel and went and did tons of fun stuff. Lava Cave, Craters, lots of fishing, swimming. It was a nice weekend for Mama to watch a million movies, write, and eat ice cream for breakfast. :)

Conversations With a 3 1/2 Year Old

2011-09-16T15:11:00.002-06:00

So yesterday I was driving to the middle of nowhere for JP's scrimmage and Coconut was having a long conversation with me. He starts each sentence with, "MOM!" then says whatever it is and as soon as he's done he yells, "MOM!" again. All of his thoughts are completely random and I'd love to know what goes on in that little brain of his. So here's a sample of what he told me.
C-MOM!
M-What?
C-That'd be sick if motorcylces went off ramps and you didn't fall off.
M-Yeah.
C-MOM!
M-What?
C-That'd be scary if we were hunting Big Foot at night.
M-Yeah.
C-MOM!
M-What?
C-That'd be cool if we didn't have a house and we lived at coach's house and we could ride on the dummies. (The football dummies that he and Peanut are obsessed with playing on everyday).
M-Yeah.

Then he became obsessed with Big Foot. How he even knows who Big Foot is beyond me. And even more baffling is that he used the word "sick" and used it correctly. Then on the way home he talked about Big Foot some more. He told me that he lived far away over the mountains and past the jungle. I kept assuring him that there's no such thing as Big Foot-although I'm not so convinced myself that there isn't. But he doesn't need to have nightmares about it. Also, he must watch a movie every time we're in the car. So he talks through the whole thing.
C-MOM, remember that one part where...
Bubba gets really annoyed and tells him to stop talking and just watch it. It is kind of annoying. Sometimes I would just like to listen to my CDs in peace. But it's such a fun part of his personality that I wouldn't change it. I feel a little bad that he's growing up so fast. He doesn't even talk like a little boy anymore. Gotta love those big brothers for what they teach him.

Back to School--Finally

2011-09-09T10:55:00.004-06:00

Don't look too excited guys.

Definitely not the best day of his life. And he's too cool to wear a helmet so he walks to school.

Tues. the boys went back to school. Now that Bubba is in 6th grade, he's on an earlier schedule-7:45-2:15. They changed the elementary from 9-3:30 so the younger boys were excited to sleep in. Well actually, Peanut can't wake up in the morning. He used to go to afternoon kindergarten so he's not used to getting up as early. Poor guy. And so much for trying to get them to bed earlier. We tried to put the younger boys to bed earlier last night because of Peanut needing more sleep. That didn't go well. As far as the older boys, JP's football practice goes until 8pm and then we have a late dinner. I hate that. But they get sick if they eat before practice, so normally they have a snack before and dinner afterwards. We haven't found a routine yet. I'm a little overwhelmed since we only had a two week break between baseball and football, instead of a whole summer. Lame. JP was annoyed because he already had homework the first night and so did Peanut. I don't know how the 6th grader got off with nothing until tonight. And he has until Wed. to complete it. He was really annoyed that we kept him at the charter school this year instead of letting him go to the middle school with all of his football friends. I just really felt like he needed another year there before such a big change. Those are such hard years. So I have a 1st grader, 4th grader, and 6th grader.

We decided to keep Coconut home this year because he pretty much knows everything he would learn in 3 yr. old preschool-colors, alphabet, counting to 10, shapes, etc. He has such a big vocabulary. Sometimes the stuff he says cracks me up. This morning he was playing with a sticky guy and said, "Dude, dude, come here. I'm a 'inja' (ninja)." He uses all the same words that his brothers do. Another favorite of ours that we don't necessarily like him saying but can't help but laugh when he does, "Ha ha, sucka." I love when he says something is "sweet" or "awesome." We also have a gorilla magnet from San Diego Zoo on our fridge and yesterday he pointed it out, "It's a daddy ungrilla." Oh yeah, we finally conquered pooping on the potty. We just had to run out of diapers! Bubba is the one who talked him into it one night and sat and played with him for awhile and then let him have some alone time-and it worked! Yay no more diapers.

Book update-My cousin is editing for me and my brother is supposed to be working on a cover. The editing is slow going since my cousin has a real job and 7 kids, but what he's done so far has been helpful because it made me think about certain things I needed to fix. So I went back through the whole book and worked on it somemore-deleting phrases I used to much, re-wording sentences, and moving stuff around. I realized too that I had forgotten to include a couple of things, so I ended up writing another 2 pages this week towards the end of the book. I got excited again about it and keep hounding my cousin to work on it more. I still need an outside opinion on whether some of it sounds lame or whatever. I gave him a deadline of Dec. 1st because my hope is to self-publish before Christmas so I can give it to my mom, and hopefully people will buy it for Christmas. Of course I don't expect to be a big sensation or anything, but I would like to sell them to my friends and family at least. I plan on using any money I make to use for my Ireland vacation. I've already got a couple hundred saved from my job, but it's so expensive that it will take me awhile if I don't figure something else out. I'd like to go next summer. Anyway, I'll keep updating everyone on a possible release date. Thanks for all of the encouragement.

Are You Ready for Some Football?!

2011-08-28T17:44:00.005-06:00

Bubba is in the center with the ball tucked under his arm

Bubba is #76 out in front

JP is #62 in the middle trying to shake off his blocker and down below, he got away from him

Well football season is officially upon us. The boys had their first official games yesterday. JP is on defense and his was at 11 am, then Bubba's was right after. He worked really hard and is a starting 4 back this year and gets to run the ball and even has a pass play. They're both doing a great job, and JP has been able to get around his blockers a lot to go in for tackles. We will have 3 conflicting games that only one parent will be able to go to. That's one of the drawbacks of having more than one boy in the same sport.

Bubba has also joined a band. One of the boys he played baseball with this season has a dad who has organized a kid band. His sons play keyboard and guitar, they have a drummer and a singer, and Bubba is learning to play bass. They learned the last half of a Cold Play song and "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves at his first practice this week. They'll start practicing on Fridays after school and they even have a gig lined up at a local cafe.

School starts after Labor Day weekend. Hooray for mom! They have been fighting daily and it gets hard after listening to it for 3 months! Coconut was going to go to preschool, but I have opted to keep him home until next year. He is finally peeing on the toilet! However, he's still having some fear issues with going poop on the potty. I even bought him his own potty seat. He sits on it with a diaper to go. Baby steps. He doesn't like how it feels in his diaper either so I'm hoping at some point soon he'll get sick of it.

JP had his first rain gutter regata for cub scouts. He was very excited and made a Boston Red Sox boat. He won the Best Sports Theme award.

Happy 9th Birthday JP!

2011-08-10T12:08:00.004-06:00

None of that icing was wasted!

Birthday dance! Shake what your mama gave ya!

Hogwarts castle!

Expelliarmus!

Only took us two days to do. And yes, he did most of it. I handed him the pieces and he put them together unless he had trouble. (Big step for me, since you all know how OCD I get about doing it myself). How awesome is it?!

JP had a Harry Potter birthday party at the end of July to celebrate his birthday. We had a few friends and Grandma Randall over to our neighborhood pool for cake, presents, and swimming.
He wanted an ice cream cake with his new favorite Snickers ice cream, but when we saw that they were $40-50 at Baskin Robbins, he decided that he wanted me to make a chocolate cake and I bought Snickers ice cream to go with it (which was still uber expensive as far as ice cream goes).
He got the Harry Potter Lego Hogwarts castle from us, along with a cool magazine full of Harry Potter photos and articles. Meme got him a wand that lights up when you cast a spell (shake it). He also got the Deathly Hallows for Wii game from a friend, and a Hot Wheels racetrack thing with cars, and also lots of money from friends and family, which he has already spent some of getting Lego Pirates Wii game, and some "Cars" mighty beans. B joked the other day that Mighty Beans are for buying, since he'd never seen the kids actually playing with them, but I told him that they actually do play with them sometimes.

The day after the party, the boys all went to the farm for a week to hang out with Grandma Susan. They had lots of fun and Bubba got to go help do morning chores on a neighbor's farm so that he could work on his farm mechanics merit badge. They also got to ride a one of a kind mechanical bull. It is literally the only one in the world of it's kind. It comes out of a gate with you on it and then when you fall off, it chases after you. Fun stuff.

Football practices started Mon. This is JP's first year of tackle. I was a little nervous about it because of his arthritis, but also because the helmet and pads are heavy. They don't start practicing with pads until tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. Bubba came home crying the first week his first year because of the heat, and headaches from the helmet. JP had a check-up today and looks good, but the doctor has started him on some quad exercises because his bad leg is still a little "wimpy" as he put it. Plus, he'll be taking an anti-inflammatory daily to help with football. But he didn't have to do blood work, so he was stoked about that.

Well here's my traditional birthday ode-sweet boy, tenderhearted, helpful, loving big brother, salmon, lasagna, reading, Harry Potter everything!, Wii, football, baseball, hard worker, smart, Legos, swimming, bowling, corn nuts, Doritos, Mt. Dew, Spree, pastries, fluffy, buttery soft, mama's lovey boy!

2011-07-18T20:24:00.002-06:00

Typical summer day around here. Games strewn about on the floor, Wii on in the living room. Oh yeah, and a little boy with no pants on.

Baseball finally ended. We made it all the way to the final game of the District tournament. We were ahead 9-0 for almost the whole game and then had a bad inning and lost 10-9, so we won't be going to the State championships this Sat. We were bummed, but it's nice to have more than a two week break before football starts on Aug. 7th. Next week we'll go to another of our minor league team's games then Grandma Randall will be visiting. The week before football they'll all be off to the farm to visit Grandma Susan. Yes, all 4 of them!! And my mom and I will take our annual mother-daughter trip. Not sure where we're going yet, most likely a spa on the west coast somewhere for a couple of days. I need a beach, even if it's not to go swimming.

Baseball Summer

2011-07-03T19:59:00.004-06:00

The past two weeks have been insane with baseball tournaments. This past weekend Bubba had 6 games-1 Thurs. night, 3 Fri. and 2 Sat. We lost Thurs. night because the boys just didn't play. They got a reaming for that and actually showed up to play Friday and won all 3 games (one of which was against the team we lost to the night before and we creamed them!). Sat. they won their first game by one after going into two extra innings. The second game started literally 10 min. later after a short drink, shove food in your mouth, and pee break. So they were a little wiped out because it was so hot and they'd already been playing for a couple of hours, but they did great and only lost by one. Bubba got a triple on his first at bat in that game and he's our leadoff hitter so that was a great way to start.

This week's schedule-
Mon.-actually enjoy a summer day free of anything related to baseball. Shooting in the morning, BBQ at friend's house with fireworks later and then sit across from our Minor League's field to watch the big fireworks.
Tues.-practice for Bubba 5:30-7:30, the rest of us are going to a minor league team game that starts at 7:15 and then dad and Bubba will come over after. We got free ticket vouchers from the summer library reading program and they can only be used certain days so we're picking Tues. as our first one and the 2nd at the end of the month.
Wed.-JP is signed up to do a baseball camp with the minor league team at their stadium 8am-12pm, Peanut swimming lesson 6-6:30pm, first District tournament game for Bubba 6:30pm, so Peanut, Coconut and I will be late to that.
Thurs.-JP camp from 8am-1pm, Bubba game 6:30pm, JP and mom's date to a minor league game at 7:15 (that we'll be late to since we'll watch Bubba's whole game first). So with JP's camp he gets lunch with the team both days, a t-shirt, instruction from the team, 2 tickets to Thursday's game (hence the reason we're going on a date), and an autograph session with the players. Bubba went to a game with dad and his team last Mon. night because it was our little league's night and they got to go on the field for the National Anthem. He caught 2 foul balls and discovered that if you wait until everyone is gone and the players have all showered, when they come back out, they'll sign them. He got every player to sign them and gave one to JP the next morning. Such a sweet boy. But what he also discovered is that they give away their broken/cracked bats from that night's game. He got one, but had to give it to another kid on his team, so I think JP and I will stay and try to get one this week.
Fri.-Bubba 6:30 game and Peanut swimming lesson at 6:30.
Sat.-1 pm game and possibly more if we keep winning. If we win District we'll go to state up north at the end of the month.

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T17:15:00.006-06:00

On Bubba's special day

Muscle Man Peanut

Sweet baby Coconut

Fluffy Baby JP

Happy Father's Day to the greatest man I've ever known. You are the best husband, father and friend that anyone could ever hope to have. Thank you for baseball, football, shooting, camping, fishing, catch in the backyard, haircuts, tickles, rides down the stairs on a crib mattress, rides on the side of the grocery cart, yummy dinners, priesthood example, baptizing two boys (so far), hugs, kisses, cleaning wounds and puke, and so much more. We love you so much Big Daddy!

First of Summer

2011-06-15T13:03:00.005-06:00

Baseball Allstar tryouts start tonight. Practices will start tomorrow night and be every night with games on the weekends versus different leagues throughout our state. If they make it all the way to the state championships, we'll be headed up north about 8 hours away at the end of July. Then he'll have a two week break until football practices start. Poor guy, but we can still do fun stuff during the day. He's had baseball camp this week from 8:30-1:30. Tomorrow will be his last day.

My sister stayed with us all of last week while her husband was in training for the forestry service up north. A couple of her girlfriends and her and I celebrated her birthday with Cheesecake Factory Mon. night and we all (minus dad) went bowling that day since we signed up for the Kids Bowl Free program again this year. You only have to pay for shoe rentals and you can literally bowl two games everyday if you wanted to. My mom was here from Wed. until yesterday. She got to see JP's and Bubba's first tournament games that they won! And then on Sat. we had both of their final games at the same time! I stood in between the two fields and could at least see who was in the outfield so I could run back and forth. I've been scorekeeper for JP's team all season so luckily I was able to get a dad to sub so I could watch both. I saw both of them hit each time and stood and watched each game for awhile at a time. Bubba's team lost by only 2! They did a fabulous job. They went from last to playing in the championship game! They all got t-shirts and then the coach had ice cream for both teams. Then B and Bubba got to come over and watch the rest of JP's game that was tied forever. They kept going back and forth so it went to the bottom of the 8th inning (when they normally only play 6)!! We had a kid on base and our biggest hitter hit a home run! Then dad and Bubba came over to watch the rest of the game. JP's team all got t-shirts that said "Champions" on them.

We also went swimming several times last week. Captain Fearless aka Coconut thinks he can swim now since our floaty vest fits him. He just jumps right in. He even 'swam' the entire length of the pool and back the first day.

Peanut's Graduation!

2011-06-04T13:31:00.002-06:00

So my little Peanut graduated from preschool on Thurs. It was a fun event and both big brothers left class to come support him. We also each got a photo slideshow DVD (that he's already watched several times). I'm looking forward to having two mornings a week next school year all to myself. That is if doh-doh head Coconut ever has a desire to potty train!

More Baseball Pictures

2011-06-04T12:59:00.004-06:00

Pitching

Playing shortstop

I was team photographer the other night at Bubba's game. The head coach's wife had the idea of making these mini-albums for the coach's gifts, so I got a picture of each boy and then made three scrapbooks. Then at our party last night the boys all signed next to their pictures. The coachs loved them. Now they can remember names with the boys on their team. It ended up being more work that I thought, but I think it was worth the final product. So I got some cool action shots of Bubba with the telephoto lens. That thing rocks. Most of the pictures came out really nicely.

JP the Superstar & Captain Pokey Hair

2011-05-30T13:28:00.004-06:00

This also ended up being a family photo. My mom is on the right, then me, then Coconut and the cool guy all the way on the left with the sunglasses is Bubba.

This boy cracks me up with his cross-eyed photos. Since I always laugh because he can make them go different directions, it's his new favorite pose.

We finally got some nice pictures of JP at baseball. It's hard when one of us is keeping score and the other is doing pitch count. I love the quality of our new camera when we have the 'sports' lens (as I like to call it) on.

Peanut's hair is really long now so it's hysterically out of control most days. It looks handsome when it's actually combed down. Everyone (except Coconut) didn't have the top cut last time. They all decided to have an opinion. Bubba looks really cute with his bangs combed over in the 'skater' style so I encouraged him to grow it out on top (but won't allow it to be long in the back). But apparently JP didn't think he needed to cut his even though he looks better with it really short.

Sat. night for our anniversary we went to see Flogging Molly. I happened to look online about a month ago just to see if they would ever come here and I found that they were! Tickets were only $30 since it was at a small venue (a local club). We showed up an hour early when the doors opened and still had to stand in a long line in the rain (with no umbrella) for about twenty minutes. Luckily it wasn't pouring. They had a pit in front of the stage and then like four stairs up to an open area that was at stage level. We ended up right next to the stairs against the railing. It was perfect! I had a super view of the whole stage. They put on such an AMAZING show. The lead singer talks between the songs and tells you what they're about and they're just really fun and energetic. It was great. B said he thought I was going to pee I was so excited. We both got a little recorded on our phones. Mine only records for like thirty seconds at a time. :( And they won't let you use a flash so the pictures aren't super great, but I was excited to get a couple nonetheless. I got a t-shirt and 4 stickers-one for me and then one each for the three older boys. Bubba was bummed he didn't get to go. There was a super young kid there and then really old guys. There was even a guy who was at least sixty directly in the middle of the mosh pit! It was a great sight to see so many people of different ages there. On the way home we realized we hadn't eaten dinner so we made a Taco Bell run and it reminded us of our college days when we were engaged (although back then it was always at 2 a.m.).

Last night Coconut was attacking JP in hallway upstairs and JP finally got him off, but he fell on a truck and back into the wall. He hit his head on the corner of the baseboard. I came upstairs to see what was going on and B was holding him. He put him on the counter to assess the damage and I freaked out when I saw blood dripping down the side of his head. We tried to act calm so he wouldn't freak out. We took him in our bathroom to clean him up and he was asking, "Am I bleeding?" in a nervous voice. When we finally got enough blood off to look at it, we could see that it could probably use some glue or a couple of stitches. But B made the point that if we took him in, he would have to be shaved there and go through the trauma of all of it. It's not huge enough that it will make much of difference so we opted to clean it up and staunch the bleeding. He's doing fine today. You wouldn't even know that anything happened. It has clotted nicely so I think if we continue to use Neosporin it should heal okay. I think it was as traumatic for me as my 'mama bear' instincts kicked in. I hate when my boys get hurt.

Lastly, I've started writing again after a brief bout of writer's block. Bubba gets so proud of me when I reach another 1,000 words. It's so nice to have family support not just from my husband but from my young son who thinks it's so cool that I'm doing this. I had B read a section the other night. I've been nervous about letting him read any of it. But I wanted his opinion on this intense fighting scene. He said he was pretty blown away and could picture it in detail, and I know he wasn't just saying it because he's my husband. It felt really good to hear him say it.

Some Pictures of Bubba

2011-05-25T20:32:00.002-06:00

Happy 11th Bubba!

2011-05-24T11:31:00.002-06:00

Last Monday the 16th was Bubba's 11th birthday. I can't believe my little guy is so big already. He got a new infielder mitt since he's a permanent fixture at short stop. We got him a gift certificate to a sports store and found out that one of their locations is going out of business so he was able to get sunglasses (for baseball), one of those power necklaces and bracelets, instead of just one thing. He had an early baseball practice that night, which ended up being cancelled due to non-stop rains flooding the fields. We had a bunch of friends over for cake, so I had to buy one instead of making one because I realized we would have over 20 people including our family. We had the coach and his family over, plus two sets of neighbors and then my sister and her husband. He had a great birthday. I love when they tell me that it was the "best birthday ever."

My traditional birthday ode-baseball, Yankees, football, ESPN, piano, singing, BSU, cool dresser, infectious giggle, responsible, music, reader, popcorn, Flogging Molly, Disneyland, Silverwood, roller coaster junkie, friendly, kind, thoughtful, loving, hard worker, smart, strong, movies, shopping, Professor Grumpy Pants, Little Guy, cereal, and so much more.

I love you Little Guy!

I Got a Job

2011-05-10T21:00:00.003-06:00

So there's a guy in our ward with an internet company. They sell greenhouses, playsets, pool cleaners-stuff like that. Anyway, I've been looking for a job to make some money to pay for a trip to Ireland. I really want to see the places I'm writing about. So I asked him if he needed a writer for reviews, which he did. Yay. So I re-did one that they already had as a sample of my writing and now I'm officially working for them. My first review will be on a playset. The research part of it is actually pretty interesting. Anyway I'm excited to be able to do something from home and to be paying for my own trip.

A Day in the Life

2011-05-02T17:45:00.002-06:00

Today I woke up at 7 am (I usually get up at 8) so that I could go to the grocery store. I was only half awake because I got a poopy night's sleep. I had to buy smoothie ingredients. Bubba and his best bud have started a smoothie business at school, which means his mom and I are in the smoothie business. Everyone in the class had to come up with a business for their mini-economy and they sell their items for scholar dollars. They can use the money they earn at the end of year carnival and also on other kid's items. Bubba is such a sweet boy. He's bought me a purple and green striped duct tape purse, Coconut a cute cloth bag with a dinosaur and his name on it, a full size candy bar for dad, popcorn for the whole family, and eggs with goop in them for each of his brothers. They take orders on Fridays, but had no school Friday so they took orders on Thurs. But they had a field trip on Thurs. and forgot to bring them home. So C's mom decided to make 7 chocolate chip and I would make 7 strawberry because we shorted some kids last week (due to the fact that our kids didn't have the orders with them). So hopefully everyone got what they needed today. So anyway, I had three wet beds (not sure what happened there), grocery store, smoothie making, and one over-flowing toilet all before 9 am. So I've had several loads of laundry and practically having to force Peanut to do his homework and get dressed before getting him off to school. Tonight at 5:30m Bubba's baseball team started showing up for batting practice. Last week on Mon. night the fields were flooded so they decided to have a batting practice here since we have a pitching machine and batting cage. Then on their Wed. night game, all of the kids that hit in the first inning ended up hitting the ball. They figured since it worked out so well, they would do it again tonight. Currently (including my boys) there are 14 boys in my backyard and 3 dads. And it's also raining on and off on them. I guess Mother Nature doesn't realize that it's May.

On another note-my book is coming along well. I ended up writing over 60 pages in one week. So I'm on 109 right now and B counted the word count in a couple of the books that I read and it sounds like my pages will end up doubling if it ever gets printed. I still have a section toward the beginning that I have to work on that I've been putting off because it involves more research than I've felt like doing. And I'm not even close to the ending yet. I have even thought of how it might continue if I were ever to write another one. I've been on a break for about a week now though while I've been reading another book by a local lady. I would highly suggest it because she's Christian and it's all very clean. The only thing that bugged a little was how much she talked about praying and God, etc. You can get the idea without having to over do it, but it was still a great story. It's called "Ice Moon" and I guess the second one is out this month. It's available on Amazon because it's a sort of self published book. Our coach's wife and I swap books and she met the lady back while she was still writing it so she let me borrow it. Fun stuff.

I Love My Bboys

2011-04-21T12:06:00.004-06:00

Cute little Peanut from the Red Sox

This was his at bat picture when he hit the home run

Handsome Yankee boy

JP the left fielder on the Giants

Baseball season officially kicked off on Sat. It was a great day. We were there from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm. We had pictures at certain times and then games. Peanut didn't have a game because he's still in 6 yr. old t-ball (although B said there are two groups on his team-Peanut and then everyone else. I guess that's what happens when you have older brothers that play). JP had his game first and I think they lost 2-1, but they were just exhibition games that lasted an hour. He did great and said it was his goal to hit at least once each game.
Bubba's game was more exciting. His buddy who is the coach's son hit a home run and then as if that weren't exciting enough, Bubba hit one right after him! I've never seen him that happy in his life. I wish I would've gotten a picture of him coming across home plate, but I was jumping up and down screaming so I didn't think about it.
Tues. night JP had his first official game and due to the fact that we have an awesome pitcher we won 8-1. JP was excited to hit again.
Bubba's game last night was crazy. First of all it wouldn't be baseball season if you weren't playing in a torrential downpour. Those poor boys out there got soaked, muddy, and cold. Plus, B (who's an assistant coach) said that the ball weighed at least 3 oz. heavier because it was so water logged. Hello, there's a reason they don't play in the rain in major league. But they were troopers and so were the parents that didn't even have umbrellas. Well we started out and scored 1, then they scored 1 and the next inning they scored again. So it was 2-1. We scored again so we were all tied up. Then they scored FIVE runs in one inning (they stop the inning at that point at this age). So we were all thinking 'that's it game's over,' but our amazing boys came out and scored FIVE runs in the top of the 5th inning (we only play 5). So they were up and all we had to do was stop them from scoring so that we would at least come out with the tie. We did it! Thanks to my amazing son! So earlier in the game he hit a single, then a double and got an RBI, then walked once. He ended up sliding on one of those and I thought, 'oh great I'm going to have to wash those'. Anyway, in the final inning we went through two pitchers that we were afraid weren't going to stop the other guys because they were walking them. So coach decides to put Bubba in (he was only a back-up). He starts warming up and is throwing them wild all over the place and B and I are both cringing thinking that we would have to deal with the aftermath of him being bummed that he blew it. We couldn't have been more wrong. I've never seen a kid that age throw that fast. I was standing by the dugout and coach says, "I didn't even see that!" And you really couldn't! Needless to say, he struck everyone out and we got the tie. If you don't know Mariano Rivera is the name of the closing pitcher for the Yankees because he's really good and keeps the other team from scoring at the end of the game. Well coach turned to B and said, "I guess we brought in Mariano Rivera." That boy was beaming all night. I don't even know how many times I told him how proud I was. Last season was a bummer for him. He would hit in practice, but got nauseous in the game and would blow it every time. So he has gained so much confidence and grown so much this season. He's an amazing short stop and apparently a great pitcher as well. And he hits every time he gets up there. I see Major League in his future. ;)

I Love Writing

2011-04-12T12:05:00.003-06:00

Have you noticed the theme of the last three posts yet? I love lots of things and I don't think I recognize them enough. I've been working on my book a lot lately. The ideas keep flowing. I've been doing research for it too and that's really time consuming, but also fun learning new things. I finally decided that it was time to organize all of my handwritten notes that were strewn about on different pieces of paper. It was taking me so much time to look through them to find the topic I was looking for. I got a folder and labeled dividers with the topics of-food, history, local attractions, slang and plot notes. I typed it all up and now if I have more ideas I can just write them in underneath. It's so much easier now! Why didn't I think of this before?
So it takes place a lot in Ireland, but also in the US later in the story. It's a young adult book, and yes it's so called 'vampire' story. I was telling a few women about it at our RS retreat this past weekend and they asked if it was a vampire story very sarcastically. I was a little offended and thought, 'Well you don't have to read it then!' You write what you know about and I've been reading stories like this since high school, so there you go.

I Love My Church

2011-04-10T16:53:00.002-06:00

I love the Gospel. I have truly been feeling the calm and peace the Spirit lately. I loved every single talk in General Conference last weekend. I felt the spirit during their talks. I gained a message that I need to have faith that the challenge I am facing right now will all turn out fine. I feel much comfort. The Spirit makes me happy and I am so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
We had a missionary homecoming today in sacrament meeting. I pretty much cried the whole time because of how strong the prescence of the Spirit was. Two of his little sisters played the violin and flute accompanied by their mom on piano. They played "We Have Been Taught" from the Primary Children's songbook. That's when the emotions started. Then when they were done, they both hugged him before he spoke. More tears. Then he got up to the pulpit and immediately grabbed a Kleenex and started wiping his eyes. He said that he didn't even know they could play because they learned while he was gone. He gave the most wonderful talk. He started by saying that the worst day of his mission was the day he was released. That really made me cry. He had such a strong testimony and told a wonderful conversion story of a woman. In short, her friend was being taught and asked if they could give blessings of healing. They answered that they could and she sent them off to her friend's house to heal her from her great depression that she suffers from. They asked if she believed that they could heal her and she nodded 'yes' so they put their hands on her head and said, "Be healed" and when they opened their eyes the room was full of people that were all crying. There hadn't been anyone there when they started. She later became baptized after they gave her another blessing that she would no longer desire to drink coffee. She was baptized in a river where storm clouds and rain surrounded the spot on either side, but not over them. The bank was covered with thousands of yellow butterflies that swirled around them as they entered the water. The water was freezing, but they found a pocket of warmth. And when she came up out of the water she looked just like his younger sister who he baptized before he left (and this woman was 40). He also said that a huge beam of light shone down on them and he felt like he knew exactly how Joseph felt in the grove when he saw God the Father and his son Jesus Christ. What an extraordinary missionary.
I love this church!

I Love 3 yr. Old Language

2011-04-08T13:58:00.001-06:00

Yesterday in the car Coconut randomly says, "Hey Mom, fireworks can go higher than parachutes." I have no idea how he knows what a parachute is, but after I said, "Uh-huh" (my usual response) he said, "And then they hide behind houses." To a 3 yr. old I imagine it would seem that way since the fireworks fall towards the ground and behind buildings.
Another favorite is the way he says 'brothers.' He pronounces it 'bludders'. Love it!

Rest of Spring Break

2011-04-04T17:33:00.002-06:00

On Thurs. last week we went to the zoo. It ended up being a beautiful sunny day. B met us and we went for a few hours before leaving to go home and get Bubba's hunting license from last year so we could get him a new one. Uncle AJ wanted to pick him up and take him hunting for whistle pigs (varmits kind of like groundhogs). Later that evening Aunt Alicia came and picked up the other boys-even Coconut-for a sleepover at their house. They live out in the boonies in a home that they are renting from a couple that is on a mission. They have horses, rabbits, turkeys running wild. So they've been asking to go. We went to Baskin Robbins and to a late movie! Yay for dates! I wish we could have one every weekend.

Friday I had the morning to myself to sleep in. I did laundry and watched one of my favorite tv shows at the same time. There was a show on in the early 90s called "Northern Exposure" about a small town in Alaska. It was one of my favorites in high school and I have the first three seasons on DVD. A few weeks ago I decided to start watching them. I haven't been all the way through them since I bought them years ago. I just finished the last episode of season 3 today so now I have 4-6 on Netflix. Anyway, B and I went to lunch at Jimmy Johns, which if you don't have one where you live, you're missing out on the best subs ever. They're way better than Subway. Their homemade bread is to die for. After that I went to the mall because I wanted this lipstick from the Bare Minerals store. I got a text from my sister while I was there letting me know that they were on their way to our house. Bubba was hunting again with AJ. They were here when I got home playing outside in the gorgeous warm weather again. I decided to put on my grubbys and trim the front hedges and clean out some of the dead stuff in the flowers since there's a little green starting to appear. The kids all went down to the neighbor's to help put dirt in their garden and prep it for planting. Peanut was very excited about helping them.

Today I took Coconut to Albertsons to get some cereal and milk because they have a sale going on (I got 6 boxes of cereal and 2 gallons of milk for $10). Anyway, on the way in, I was carrying him and he said very excitedly, "Mom I can carry you now. You're not heavy for me anymore." I think he meant it the other way around because most of the time I tell him that I can't carry him anymore because he's too heavy for me. Gotta love that cute boy. He always says, "Mom I wanna hold you," when he wants me to pick him up.

Days 1 & 2 of Spring Break

2011-03-29T17:41:00.005-06:00

Yesterday was our first day of Spring Break. It looks like it will be another ugly weather one again this year. Hopefully on Thurs. (half price day) it will be nice enough to get to the zoo. It's funny that we have a small zoo that we've been to tons of times, but at the mere mention that we might go, the kids cheer. I love it. So I have a short list of projects for the week. First on it was to switch rooms around. JP has been by himself since we moved Bubba to the guest room to have his own room. The closet is huge and he doesn't have much to put in there, so I got the idea awhile ago to put him in Peanut and Coconut's room since they have a bajillion toys that don't fit in their closet and are therefor always making a huge mess. So I literally spent the entire day swapping everything. The kids helped a little (although if you ask JP, it was a lot). I started with switching the books because the bookshelves match the furniture in the room so I didn't want to trade them out. It took me at least an hour because I'll admit it, I have OCD. I decided that now would be a good time to separate everything into paperback and hardback books-by size no less. And then JP also has a section with chapter books and series. Coconut now has all of his board books on his bottom shelf and Peanut's are on the top. I threatened them to keep them that way or else. :) I traded all of the pictures/posters on the walls and doors. I switched all of the clothes and then took all of the size 4 and 5 clothes out of Bubba's closet (which used to hold all of the sizes no one was currently wearing) to the top rung of the new closet. I moved everyone's treasures over. Oh my goodness if I would've known what a ginormous task this was I wouldn't have changed their rooms! JP had so much stuff. And it was all mixed up. He was randomly putting it into new boxes and baskets that I gave him to use that had the little boys socks and undies in them before because there isn't a dresser in there. I went in his new closet to shelf everything and couldn't handle it. That's when he started whining and lying on the bed because he was "so exhausted" from working hard all day to put the stuff away. Here's where my OCD kicked in again. I sorted everything into different categories and organized them on the shelves according to how often they would be used and putting similar boxes together. I don't even know how long this process took, but it was a way long time. Then I went to the playroom and got Coconut's toy bin since there hasn't ever been any room for it in his closet. He never plays with the toys because they're out of sight, so I'm hoping he will now. I took out several big toys that are really too baby-ish for him now, and then put all of their big toys in it. I got a smaller bin that had been used for hats to put all of tiny toys like action figures, etc. They also their other bins that they already had-cars, plastic animals, play food. There was even room in the closet for some of the big toys like Lego bins that were always on their art table before. B got home and after doing bball practice took apart the crib and moved it over because it's too wide for the door. We have two sets of bunk beds. Bubba took his bed-which rolls under the other one (they were perpendicular) and the other one is together in the little boy's old room. Since we don't yet have another twin mattress, we will keep them together for now. Eventually we will separate those and split them between JP and Bubba and take the one Bubba took from the old room and put it back with it's mate. Confused yet? So anyway, I stopped for a half hour for lunch and a half hour for dinner, but otherwise worked non-stop until 9:30 pm. So much for it taking a "couple of hours" like I thought. Needless to say, B had to pop my back and I could only walk hunched over for awhile. The boys all decided to have a sleep over in the little boys' room. It was pretty cute.

Reading bedtime stories during the sleep over

JP's new closet shelves

Little boy's new closet

I had to take this one because it shows you that we have entirely too many stuffed animals

Day 2 consisted of us not doing anything all morning except for bathing and getting dressed and then at 12:30 pm we went to the cheap theatre to see "Yogi Bear." I didn't realize it was in 3-D which is $1 more and Coconut refused to wear the glasses. It least it only looked a little blurry without the glasses so he didn't seem to mind. B met us over there for an extra long lunch break. The kids loved it-even though JP was complaining yesterday that it was a "baby" movie. He wanted to see the new "Narnia" movie or "Gulliver's Travels." I didn't think the two little ones would do well with either of those. I am currently avoiding folding the FOUR baskets of unfolded laundry upstairs. Bubba is sleeping over at his friend's house across the street tonight. He's 12 and in our ward and his mom happens to be the piano teacher. They have become new BFFs and play football and board games everyday. Tonight they're going to watch "Toy Story 3" which his family hasn't seen yet. We all love us some Spanish Buzz. JP is currently at bball practice and I'm listening to two little boys go back and forth between getting along and then not. Well I suppose I should be off to fold some laundry. Blech.

Happy St. Patty's Day

2011-03-18T11:07:00.003-06:00

So Peanut came home so tickled that a leprechaun visited their class while they were at recess. He danced on the tables, lost a shoe, messed up the room, and left candy. He also turned the toilet water green. All the way home his brothers told him there was no such thing, but he insisted that there was because he had proof. So when dad got home the leprechaun visited our house and turned the toilet water green in every bathroom. Well he went in our room to go potty and freaked out! He was terrified to pee in green water. I had to stand next to him because he was afraid there was a leprechaun in our house still. I told him it couldn't be in the toilet because it would drown. When it was time for bed he couldn't sleep. Dad told him that if you sprinkled salt in your doorways, they couldn't get in. So he came downstairs to get salt and I went up to talk to him. He was so scared. I told him that all of the leprechauns went back to Ireland. He wanted to know what they did there so I told him they lived in their little village and did normal stuff like us. He asked if they were with St. Patrick, but I told him that St. Patrick died a long time ago but we celebrate him because he did a lot of good things. Well even the salt didn't help because he came down a half hour later wanting to stay with us on the couch. Eventually we talked him into sleeping with Bubba. So we moved him when we went up to bed later.

Well, today he was still scared because someone at school had told him that they stay around for three days. I assured him again that they went home to Ireland.
P-"But the day before, one colored Mrs. Sawyers hair green."
M-"No, they can't touch you, they can only play tricks. She dyed her own hair."

I was upstairs going to the bathroom later when the front door blew open. The boys go out the front to walk to school and it doesn't always stay closed very well so we have to keep it locked. I've never seen two little boys fly up the stairs so fast. I told them it was the wind and they just needed to lock the door, but they refused to go downstairs by themselves, so I had to go down and do it. He was pretty much attached to me until I took him to school. Poor little Punkin.

And So it Begins...

2011-03-17T16:41:00.003-06:00

The craziness is about to begin. Next Monday to be exact. Bubba has piano at 3:30 pm. Peanut has his final swimming lesson at 5 pm, which is a make-up from his teacher being sick. Bubba also has his first practice that night at 5. Fortunately B has offered to be an assistant coach this year so he can take him. We'll have our same coach because his son is also on our football team so we know him well and so B offered to help because the boy of the guy who helped last year chose to do lacrosse this year. B is a little wary because he doesn't feel like he knows enough to coach, but I keep telling him that he's fabulous because hello he's taught our boys to play great. He says he just doesn't know how to coach the kids while they're on the field-like when to tell them to run or stay or whatever. I think he'll do great.

I'm pretty sure that JP and Peanut will both be on Tues./Thurs. so we'll just switch off watching games like we did with the big boys this year. At least the big boys games are on opposite nights so we can both be at them. They're more exciting than a 6 yr. old t-ball game. Those are frustrating because when you have a 6 yr. old that can crack a ball into the outfield and he's playing on a team with kids picking daisies in the grass. We didn't feel like he was old enough to play up this year though because he doesn't have all the hand-eye coordination to catch well. JP is playing up this year. We know his coach from church and asked him to try to get him so he would have friends on the team, but also because we were worried he would be drafted up to AAA (what Bubba plays). You see, they have assessments where each boy hits three balls from a pitching machine, fields three balls infield, and then catches two pop flies in the outfield. JP rocked everything and we were worried he would be snatched up to the next level. We feel like he still needs to work on catching more before he's ready for that. We were also worried that Bubba would be drafted up to Majors (which is big kids up to 13). So luckily because B is helping coach they could put a coach's hold on him, which means no one else can take him. Our coach told us that a few of the Majors coaches had wanted him after his assessments, so phew. B was unsure of it all, but I told him that this would be good because he'll be one of the best kids on the team instead of lower on the totem poll with the bigger kids.

Anyway, I'm sure this is all a bunch of gibberish to most of you, but any way it gives me a chance to brag about my outstanding athletes. ;)

Musical Update/Babysitting

2011-03-15T09:27:00.002-06:00

I have posted some of my favorites from the "New Moon" soundtrack. I listen to it all the time. It's way different than the other two because of how depressed she is for most of the movie. Most of the songs are nice and mellow and it has become my favorite of the three.

Bubba babysat for the first time on Sat. night. We had an Elder's Quorum party. We got them a movie at Redbox (when did their price go up?) and some microwave popcorn and they had a movie night. We were only gone an hour and half while the movie played. He texted us that everything was going well and then when the movie was over. He got everyone in jammies and to brush teeth before we got home. He was ready to read a story when we got in. Too cute. Such a responsible boy. JP was mad because he yelled at him to brush his teeth, but Bubba in defense said that it was because he'd already told him five times. :) No one else complained. We were so excited to know that we could go out and get dinner or desset some time and he'll be just great. We're getting another phone today. He can use mine when we're out together, but if I have to run errands or take kids to swimming lessons he'll have one (since we don't have a land line). Plus, with sports starting we'll need something for anyone who needs to call us after practice, etc. when we're driving three around. It's only for that though. He won't be allowed to call friends and he'll only be allowed to have it while we aren't with him. No personal phone until 16 and driving. He doesn't know yet we're getting it so I'm sure when I come home today from the store he'll be tickled.

Hey Mommy...

2011-03-09T20:24:00.003-07:00

That's my new name. Coconut says this ALL day long. It's getting old really fast. He starts by saying, "Hey Mommy" and then goes into a random made up story-very funny ones. And as soon as he finishes he says, "Hey Mommy" again and says something else. So in one conversation I may hear "Hey Mommy" like six or seven times. It's driving me nuts. I know you're probably thinking how cute it is, and I thought that at first, but when it's all day long (and even more so while all of his brothers are at school) it starts to drive you insane. I would also like to go to the bathroom by myself at some point. It doesn't matter if the door is closed. Every single one of them will come outside the door either with a problem or just a story. Hello! Can't this all wait until I'm finished? I promise I'll be less than two minutes. Sheesh!

2011-03-08T14:56:00.001-07:00

I've tried everything and can't get Coconut's picture on the sidebar as big as his brother's. I've tried cropping in Picasa to make it bigger like I did with Peanut's and it still didn't work. Any suggestions? It's driving me nuts. I've tried several different pictures and none of them work! Ahhh!

Happy Birthday Peanut!!

2011-03-07T14:57:00.003-07:00

New Lego Ninja guy

New Mighty Beanz car

Peanut turned 6 on the 1st of March! I can't believe he's already so big. We had a few friends over for cake and ice cream after dinner. He chose Carl's Jr. for his birthday dinner. He's really into these new Lego Ninja guys. He's collected all but one color now I think. JP whispered in my ear that morning before school that he wanted me to get Peanut some Skittles for his birthday when I went to the store that day. What a sweet brother. It's nice when they like each other. He had a great birthday.

Now for the traditional words that make me think of Peanut-
Mellow, creative, builder, organizer, Legos, dress-up, Build-a-Bear, smiley, cutest giggle, sweet big brother, chicken nuggets, fruit snacks and granola bars, Captain Slowpoke, crazy eyebrows, dimple smile, fun, puzzle master, pokey hair Mighty Beanz, and reader.

Oh how I love my sweet little Peanut. You will always be my Peanut even when you're grown and gone. He's decided to put a hold on piano for now and take swimming lessons and baseball for now. I just can't get him to practice (even though when he plays he loves it). I can't believe this little boy is so grown up. What a wonderful son he is to have.

Valentine's Day/California

2011-03-01T11:11:00.011-07:00

Prepare to spend awhile on reading this.
For V-day this year, I thought it would be fun to get a heart shaped pizza, sparkling cider, and eat on nice dishes by candlelight. The kids thought it was the coolest day ever and want it to be a new tradition. We went around the table and said something that we loved about everyone.

Last week our school had a winter break. (Yes this was in addition to a Christmas break). So we opted to use our Christmas money and hit Disneyland. It's a tradition for us to go every year. We thought we would try a less crowded time. We got a room with 3 beds because B's awesome step-mom Susan came with us. The hotel ended up being super nasty. Maybe we'll take a year off next year and save up enough to stay at one of the Disney hotels.
Fri.-packed everyone's stuff (except dad's shirts that he was very particular about) and car.

Sat.-left the house at 9 am (which was my goal). We hit Costco for gas and Burger King for breakfast. Made it to Vegas in 10 hrs. including stops-which is great considering it's a 9 hr. drive. Hit In 'N Out for dinner. Stayed overnight with Susan's brother and SIL. They're super awesome and we so appreciate that they let us stay every year. The boys played their antique slot machine until both JP and Bubba hit the mega jackpot-which never happens.

Sun.-Coconut woke up at 6:30 am so B found a Veggie Tales they could watch on his phone. They made us a big pancake, bacon and egg breakfast. We left close to noon-ish. Made it to the OC in early afternoon and headed straight to my grandma's house. We visited with her and my Aunt Janet and they got us KFC for dinner. We hung out until late evening and then hit the road to settle in to the hotel, which we quickly discovered was icky-wallpaper peeling off, hole in the wall where the doorknob hit, grout missing in bathroom tiles, mildew and stains in shower, door not set on hinges right so big crack at the top. At least there was a fridge, microwave and the bed wasn't hard.

Mon.-Actually made it to Disneyland first thing when they open and hit Indiana Jones before the line got long. Even though it was President's Day, we never stood in a line longer than 30 min. because of the couple of fast passes we got. Lucky for us they were open until midnight and had fireworks that day. It wasn't very crowded. We met my best friend from high school, Desiree and finally got to meet her new husband, Cory. We ate in Downtown Disney where they have lots of shops and restaurants. They treated so that was a super nice bonus. We visited for a couple of hours and the kids were so patient even though they were really excited to get back to the park. Next time we'll have to drive to San Diego where they live so we can visit longer.

Tues.-took a day off and hit Newport Beach. It ended up being the best day to go because the sun was shining and it was warm. We walked the pier, took a million pictures, got an ice cream which I always look forward to (a big square block of vanilla dipped in chocolate and sprinkles), played in the sand, found "she-shells," and put our toes in the water. It was cold at first, but not once your feet were in for a couple of minutes. Coconut had his pants rolled up and was sticking his feet in the water when the tide came in a little further than the time before and it freaked him out and he started to run away. I'm sure you can guess the rest. I was taking his picture and had to hurry and get over to him running and crying, "Mommy!" I didn't make it in time and he face planted into the wet sand. Mouth full of sand and soaking wet I carried him over to the freezing shower and stripped him down and got the sand off the best I could. I got a new diaper on him and took off my sweatshirt and wrapped him in it. His poor little teeth were trembling.

Wed.-to CA Adventure to celebrate Susan's b-day. They give you a button and print your name on it. My favorite ride is the Tower of Terror. It's basically a giant elevator that drops you and goes back up a little bit at a time. The boys all love the roller coaster that goes upside down. I can do it once, but will get a headache if I do it any more than that. Another favorite of everyone is the Toy Story ride where you get to wear 3-D glasses and play carnival games. Coconut liked the Bug's Land rides. They close at 8 pm and we went to D-land to go on the Nemo Submarine ride because it wasn't open the last time we went with Susan. Then back to the hotel where Susan and the boys had a snack party and B and I went on a date to In 'N Out and IKEA.

Thurs.-D-land again. We celbrated Peanut's b-day since it's today and he got a button and picture with his favorite character Pluto. It was uber crowded. Why on earth were there so many people there on a Thurs. in Feb.? A worker told Susan that they don't really have an off season anymore since there are so many year round schools. Lame. We stayed until close that night too. Gotta get our money's worth right?

Fri.-left at 9 am and drove straight thru to home. Originally we planned on staying overnight in Utah with some friends, but a snow storm was coming and we didn't want to be rushing to our piano recital on Sat. night so we drove thru. We made it to Ely, NV before it started to snow and then had to drive about 45 mph for the next few hours. As we got closer to home there wasn't any snow at all. So we ended up getting home at 3 am instead of around 12-1 am like we thought. We ate at In N' Out at Vegas one last time so we could get our fill of our favorite place.

Sat.-slept late, watched tv in our jammies most of the day, and then B and I went out to the mall so I could pick something up and he could get a break because he was so knotted up from the drive. At 7 pm we had Peanut and Bubba's first piano recital. They each played two songs that they memorized. They looked so handsome in their ties and did such a great job!

This week I'm trying to catch up and also do a b-day tonight. We've only invited neighbors for cake so it's not high stress or anything, but I'm still running around. And Peanut started swimming lessons last night. Coconut was supposed to, but wouldn't go with the instructor, so he'll be waiting a year or so. His lessons are at 5 pm and JP's are at 6:30 still, so I think at least on Mondays we'll just go and stay the whole time so I'm not driving back and forth. On Wednesdays though the big boys have scouts so that won't work. Baseball assessments are this Sat. The season will start some time after swimming so we'll take a break from that for awhile. Prepare to get even busier-3 in baseball this year. I have no idea how we're going to swing that, but they all want to play and it's not fair not to let Peanut.

B-day pictures and Ode to Peanut coming soon...

2011-02-09T16:33:00.001-07:00

This is my after school schedule today.
-4 pm take JP to scouts. (They had to meet a half hour earlier to make it to city hall before it closed).
-4:30 take Bubba to scouts.
-5 pick up JP.
-5:30 pick up Bubba.
-6:30 take JP to swimming lessons.

At some point we have to do homework and practice piano as well. Oh the joys of being a mom. I have no idea how moms with more kids do it. Actually, you probably just couldn't allow your kids to have any extracurricular activities.

Twistin' the Night Away

2011-02-05T19:43:00.003-07:00

Dad and Coconut playing a game called Angry Birds on both iphones. (He kept the old one so the kids could play games on it).

The boys played Twister the other night. Dad was the spinner. I even took a turn spinning so dad could play one game. Coconut was so cute playing because obviously he doesn't know right from left yet so we would just tell him to put a hand or foot on the color.

My OCD kicked in pretty bad the other day and I cleaned my garage out. I've had a TON of stuff in there planning a yard sale. I was going to do it last summer while my mom was here, but we went on our trip, so it's just been sitting there. I picked through everything and picked the best baby clothes to sell, along with the pack and play, highchair, baby spinny thing, double stroller, and a few other things. So we were taking stuff to the DI after school and the song "Brass Monkey" by the Beastie Boys came on the radio. My kids love the Beastie Boys. Coconut shouts energetically from the backseat, "It's 'Brass Monkey' mom!" And then proceeded to sing along. At one point while I was cleaning the garage I came in the house to get the camera to take a picture of something for Craigslist. I get easily distracted when cleaning and opened the freezer for some reason (I can't remember why). Anyway, I started pulling old stuff out that was freezer burnt or had just plain been in there too long. I ended up making tons of room and I organized each shelf into certain items. It felt good when I was done. Halfway through I realized I had been doing another project first so went back out to finish up.

Last night-since we still had the ladder up from putting stuff away in the attic-I had B bring it in and I climbed up to our plant shelf above our front door. I didn't realize I was afraid of heights until then. The scary part wasn't the climbing, but the part where I had to get off the ladder and onto the shelf. I vaccumed and then washed all the levels of dirt off. It looked like the haunted mansion in the window up there.

JP has had arthritis for a year now. He's been taking a new medication so he won't continue to have the weight loss. It's in pre-filled syringes and it's burns going in. Fortunately there is one that you can mix on your own that doesn't burn. We have two more pre-filled ones left before we can get those. Poor little guy. He finally filled his sticker chart that we started for getting shots. He chose one of those habitats that you find with the bug catching stuff in the toy section for his prize. And got one of those little tiny water frogs to go in it. Coconut insisted on getting one too so he used some birthday money for that. JP also started the next level of swim lessons. They started the butterfly and afterwards his teacher came over and told me that he's a butterflier. He looks great doing it. I told him that could be his event at the Olympics. He thought that would be really cool to make it to the Olympics.

Happy 3rd Birthday Coconut!!

2011-01-26T14:54:00.006-07:00

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.

2011-01-23T20:16:00.002-07:00

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.

Lego Mania

2011-01-13T20:51:00.004-07:00

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.

Just Dance

2011-01-07T16:10:00.003-07:00

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.

2011-01-06T08:59:00.006-07:00

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. ***

Party Time

2010-12-29T15:26:00.003-07:00

So the kids have been out of school since last week. Well last week Peanut and JP both decided that they were each going to have a "party" upstairs in the playroom. They were going to do a list of things together. I was so happy to see them playing nicely together. So for JP's party I found this list lying on the ground when I went to clean up a little a few days later.
Party Time

Cars
Video games
Life (the game-written in all block letters)
Movie Peanut's choice
Wii

And then each had a line crossed through it once they had done it. I love finding cute things like this.

2010-12-26T17:50:00.004-07:00

Cuponk game from Bubba

Truck from mommy and daddy

In Christmas Eve the boys all decided they wanted to sleep in Bubba's room. We made a new rule that we wanted to go downstairs before them so that we could get their reactions on tape. So they decided to all sleep together and take in the mini tv and watch movies if they woke up before 7 am. At 4:30 am I heard Coconut making noise. I thought that he had maybe had a bad dream and went in to make sure he wouldn't wake everyone else up. Wrong. They were putting a movie in. I think a certain older brother may have woken everyone up. So I made them turn off the tv and go back to sleep. At least one of them didn't go back to sleep, but I'm not sure about the others. They came in at 7 am on the dot and woke us up. We didn't get to bed until
1 am so we were a bit tired.

Santa brought JP a bike-with gears, which mom and dad hadn't been able to find anywhere, so Santa brought it. Bubba got a new bat and a football. Peanut got a scooter and a little truck that had a canoe on it. And Coconut got a Buzz Lightyear tent which also has bean bags to toss into the holes on the side. We also got a couple of movies and a Wii game from Santa.

Scooter from Santa

It was a nice morning. The boys were thrilled with everything they got. They were especially excited about their football jerseys with their favorite players numbers on them. Bubba commented that Santa knew what you really needed because he had asked for an XBox, but Santa knew that he needed a new bat.

#2 is Austin Pettis-wide receiver

B got me a really pretty amethyst necklace. He also got me a couple of books on writing a book and how to get it published, etc. He was so proud of himself for thinking of that all on his own. He always surprises me.

Can you tell what a zombie I was? I went back to bed as soon as we were done.

I got him a Blue Ray player, which is the one thing I have NOT wanted to get. I didn't want to have to pay more for movies, but since it has the ability to play Netflix through it, we can just watch instant movies with Blue Ray quality. Anyway, it was really the only idea he gave me, so that's what he got.

The three oldest boys also wanted to buy each other gifts this year, which I helped out with a little. I thought it was really nice of them to actually think of each other.

Run Run as Fast as You Can...

2010-12-20T13:16:00.003-07:00

You can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man. That's a story that we love around here. B has been reading it to the kids since JP was little. There's a part when the Gingerbread Man jumps on a fox to get across the water. The fox tells him to come a little closer and JP used to repeat it and say, "Come a wittle cwoser." I love to look back and remember the cute things they used to say.

Anyway, we made our gingerbread house last week. Actually it came already assembled, which I didn't know until I opened the box. But that was okay because then we didn't have to wait for the icing to dry before decorating it. It even came with coconut to create snow. Everyone got in on the fun, even Jo Jo. They decided that they didn't want to waste the candy this year so they would have a little each day. Bad thing about the coconut-it's all over the table everyday. Even after I clean it up, it comes back.

Fri. I took the boys to the radio station to deliver the stuffed animals that Grandma Susan gave us for the kids at the hospital. The kids wanted to see the hospital kids open the gifts, but that's not something they let you do since some of them have to be isolated. But a local station was collecting all kinds of gifts to take over, so we dropped our stuff off there. They even got to meet Lucky-the evening DJ. They never look like what you expect from their voice.
Then we went to Costco with dad and got our new camera with some money that Grandma and Grandpa Randall sent us for Christmas. It's a Sony DSLR, or something. I don't understand all that jargon. But B has already been taking pictures with it and they look great! So much better than our poor dying camera. It will be great for sports next year. I plan on reading the manual soon so I will know how to do manual focus and stuff.

Sat. morning we had just enough snow to go on sled rides behind the 4 wheeler again before it all started melting. I went first this time. It was the funnest thing EVER! B went pretty fast so I was sliding all the way across the road in the part of the neighborhood that still doesn't have houses. Then everyone took a ride just on the 4 wheeler minus sled. Our poor sled ended up a little scraped up on the bottom from the places on the road where the snow was already gone. We keep getting a little snow here and there, but it doesn't last long because it rains the next day or melts from the sun the same day.

We have Christmas break for the next two weeks, so even though I hate snow, I hope we get enough to stay so that the kids have something to do outside. They've already been killing each other today. It's always over the dumbest things too. Peanut has had a crying problem lately. I'm trying really hard to gently tell him that it's not something he should be crying about and that if he asks nicely instead of freaking out, it might change the outcome. It doesn't help when big brothers call him a whiny baby. I seem to remember a certain #2 brother that had the same problem at this age. I pray that it doesn't last long. Sometimes it's really hard being a mom of 4 boys. Okay, who am I kidding, it's ALWAYS hard. It would be nice if for ONE day they would all be kind to each other and have fun together. B keeps assuring me that someday the two oldest will be great friends. I sure hope so, and I'm glad he's so confident. Today we're going to find some Christmas books at the "livary" since we've run out of stories that we already have. I'm hoping to find the cartoon version of the Grinch because I never know when it will be on tv. We have to watch "Santa Clause" 2 and 3 this week and "Elf." We already did #1 and "Rudolph", "Polar Express", and "Frosty" #1 and #2. Hopefully I'll come up with some more ideas of indoor activities as well. Here's wishing you a wonderful Christmas week.

Welcome Home Elder Williams the Manly

2010-12-15T14:39:00.004-07:00

Hugs from Peanut

Together again after 3 years

This is how my brother Todd distinguished himself from my brother Chad since for a year they were both out on their missions. Two years goes by fast. I'm not sure if it went that fast for my mom, but it did for me. We're excited to have him home. Unfortunately he came home last Thurs. so we weren't able to see him off the plane. But we drove down Sat. afternoon, got In N Out for dinner, and then met my mom, sister, and BIL at the temple to see the lights. We got there just about the time the visitor center was supposed to close, so made a quick trip upstairs to see the Christus statue and downstairs to see some of the displays and check out all of the languages that the Book of Mormon comes in now. It was really cool to see them. Then we walked around and looked at the lights. It was warmer than years past. We pointed out the suns, moons, and stars on the temple building to the kids and explained what they represented. Then we went over to our hotel where my brother Chad and his fiancee Brianna met us. This was our first time meeting her and she's a great girl that fits perfectly with him. The wedding will be in May. Sun. we went to hear Todd speak in sacrament. He bore his testimony in Visayan (the language he learned) and it sounded SO cool! You can hear the Spanish influence in some of it. I can't believe how fluently he speaks it. He has been blessed with the gift of tongues and never once struggled with the language. We had a lunch after at my mom's house and then left in the afternoon to head to see Susan (B's step-mom). We made it around dinner time and opened presents. It was fun to see her and then go next door to see Great Grandma and Grandpa. We got home pretty late, but it was worth it to get to see everyone.

With the boys ALL on his lap. That's Brianna in the background.

Peanut loves piano. His teacher said he's so cute and trying so hard. Bubba learned how to play Jingle Bells this week and has been playing it over and over to practice. It sounds great! I can't believe how quickly he can pick it up and read music as well. He's so good at everything he tries. JP will start swimming in Jan. He's excited to learn all of the strokes and hopefully join the swim team after that. Fri. is the last day of school for two weeks. I think the boys are excited. I'll have to try and think of some Christmas activities. We found out that a local radio station is collecting the gifts for the children at the hospital. Susan had purchased 20 stuffed animals for the kids to give, so we'll try to get over there on Thurs. after school. I'll be making cookies for my visiting teaching ladies and school parties tomorrow. I love school parties. I was in charge of the Halloween one and it was fun, so I'm looking forward to helping out. JP will be celebrating his birthday in class on Fri. They are doing all of the summer birthdays. To change it up, they're having them choose a country and do a little show and tell-really relaxed. So I think I'm going to have him choose Ghana since B went on his mission there and brought home a kente cloth that he can show and he can tell them what his birthday name is. In Ghana there middle names are usually the day of the week they were born on, so JP's is Yaw for Thurs. Fun times this week.

Oh, lastly I made Cashew Chicken Stir Fry for dinner last night. It has a peanut sauce and while my back was turned this little stinker got on his stool and stole the spatula to lick off the peanut butter. At least I was all done with it. :)

2010-12-09T13:49:00.003-07:00

So I hate when I don't post in forever because then I have to write a novel to catch up. I'll try to keep it as short as possible and I'm setting a goal right now to at least post twice a week.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the doctor finally for some pain I've been having in my knee and also one of my fingers. It's a finger I jammed or broke in high school, so I assumed it was arthritis. The x-ray confirmed this. JP was happy to know he wasn't alone. The x-rays of my knee didn't show any arthritis, so my doctor wanted me to get an MRI. At first I said no because even with only having to pay 10% that's still a lot of money. Over the weekend though I had a really sharp pain and pop and fell to the floor. I fasted and prayed about it on Sun. and felt like I should get one. I was able to get in on Mon. If you've never had one, it's a strange experience. It's the loudest thing ever. Luckily I was able to go in feet first and didn't have to go all the way in so I was able to listen to music through headphones. It was still really loud, but the funny thing is that I actually drifted off. So I went back to the doctor yesterday for the results. They showed absolutely nothing! I'm seriously upset. He said there's no arthritis and that my cartilage looks great. So then why the heck does my knee hurt so bad and why is the pain getting worse?! So he said to exercise for three months and see if it helps and if not they can go in with a scope and see if they can see anything more. Um no thanks. Plus, the other knee is achy too. And it hurts to go up the stairs. So what the heck is going on? Can you tell I'm seriously frustrated?

We went to get our Christmas tree on Sat. It was freezing and snowy, but we just went to Costco. The bad thing is that all the trees are wrapped up so you take what get. B decided to pick the biggest tree they had. The guy said he hadn't seen a tree that big all year. It's about 8 feet. He realized when we got home and it took three of us to put it up that he may have gotten in over his head. But it's pretty and smells great. There are a lot of branches with two ornaments on them and some of the bottom branches are really sagging, but I love it. They had so much fun putting them up. Dad put a couple of heavy ones up high and I put up my girl ornaments, but the kids did the rest. Coconut really got into it. Almost a little too much. My grandma and mom buy each of the kids their own ornament each year so that they'll have their own collection. My favorites are there first Christmas ornaments. I also have several from when I was growing up. Everyone also insisted on having a village piece in their rooms. That's good because the fireplace is full with the other pieces already. I'm actually excited for Christmas this year for the first time in the last several years. I've been such a grinch the last few years and I'm not sure why-maybe all the commercialism. But I'm excited this year.

Peanut started piano lessons this week. He is SO cute with how excited he is. He came right home and showed me what he learned. Bubba loves to practice everyday. I feel lucky because I know so many kids who were forced to take lessons and hated to practice, and I got TWO boys who actually asked for lessons!

Tues. night Peanut started throwing up around 10 pm. He ran to the bathroom and made it to the floor at least rather than the carpet. Even though it was a huge mess, I was so happy it wasn't the carpet. He told us he was sorry he couldn't make it to the toilet, but we kept telling him how proud we were that he made it to the bathroom. Even after getting the entire floor and part of the counter, he still threw up a ton in the toilet. Poor little boy. We figured it was his turn to get the flu because JP had a bout with it for a day. Until B got up several times in the middle of the night and so did Bubba. I had an upset stomach, but never threw up fortunately. Unfortunately my entire body started to ache. It hurt so bad that it was hard to walk. We're pretty sure it was from our dinner the night before. We had sloppy joes and used some buns from the fridge that had been in there for awhile. They smelled a little off, but we figured they'd be fine since they were in the fridge and there was no mold on them. We were wrong. Luckily Coconut refused to eat dinner that night and JP never got sick. The only thing I could come up with was that his body had built up something strong to fight off his flu the week before. I think it's lame that the flu shot doesn't cover all of the viruses. What's the point in getting one? Peanut made it to school since he has afternoon kindergarten. He was like, whatever, once he got it all out. Bubba had to stay home, though. So we pretty much sat on the couch all day except that I had to gather as much strength as I could so I could get to the doctor. Everyone seems to be better today although still a little weak.

Coconut asked if he could watch "Wall-E" a little while ago. "Memo" as he calls "Finding Nemo" is his new favorite, but he also likes "Robots" and "Wall-E." When he asked me he said, "I like Wall-E. He's funny. I wish he could come to our house. That would be funny if he was driving around our house." Such a funny guy. I can't believe he'll be 3 next month!

And finally, my brother Todd will be home from his mission in the Philippines tonight at 9 pm. His homecoming is in Utah this Sun. so we'll be heading out Sat. to stay the night. I can't believe it's already been two years. It goes by so fast. Maybe it won't feel that way when I have missionaries out, but as a sister it seems to have gone by quickly.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

2010-12-01T13:32:00.004-07:00

So we had maybe like 2" of snow on the ground from a few days ago. This morning we woke up to this. We have 8" of snow in our yard. We have no plows here. I swear they have like 4 for this entire ginormous valley and they only do major roads and highways. So we pretty much have to drive over and through it if we want to get out of our neighborhood. It really ticks me off to put it lightly. I got up this morning and came down and made lunches and the kids showed me the snow in the backyard. And it was STILL snowing. They decided to try and shovel enough off the driveway so that we could get out to go to school. I texted B to tell him since he's in New York right now for more classes for work. He texted back asking if the kids had a snow day. Dee dee dee. I didn't even think about checking before that. So I got online and sure enough no school. I went out front to tell the boys and you would've thought it was Christmas. They ditched the driveway to make a mountain of snow to try and sled down and then saw the neighbor and went over there to play. They said to tell dad they were sad he wasn't here because they really wanted rides again. They've only been in the house for a half hour or so all day-including little Coconut. Can I tell you how NOT fun it is to put his snow clothes on and off like 3 times. Ugh! He fell over and couldn't get up again. The snow came up to about his knees so I had to make a path for him. I went out to shovel so we can get to scouts later but gave up about a third of the way through. I didn't even have a coat or snowpants on I was sweating so bad. I'll back out after a little break. It's really pretty, but I really hate snow. I don't remember ever having this much since we've lived here.

Snow Much Fun

2010-11-28T18:50:00.003-07:00

We got snow pretty much all day yesterday. It wasn't a ton, but enough to do a sled ride. Dad promised that once we got enough snow on the ground he would take the four wheeler out and tie up the sled and give rides. Our neighbor friend has some cool slick sleds so that worked really well. He, JP, and Bubba all got two rides each. They LOVED it. What a cool dad. The only problems were the mailboxes, and the cars parked on the street. He couldn't go too fast or the rope would fling them around a corner into something. Good thing he's a safe driver. They all have motorcycle helmets that our smart neighbor thought of to put on. *Side story on the four wheeler-We inherited it several months ago from B's dad. It was from the farm and had a good, hard life there doing farm work. It was a little beat up so we had to get a new seat (which AJ's dad found one on the side of the road and sold it to us for $30), new rack (found on ebay for pretty cheap), and a new set of tires (found on craigslist for $100 which included the rims). The tires and rims at a store would be around $400! It still runs just fine so now while dad, Bubba and Jackson ride their motorcycles, I can ride the four wheeler. Now we just need something for Peanut to ride.

Coconut decided that he wanted to shovel the driveway while everyone else was having rides. I opted to stay in the warm house and read my book. Peanut opted to play at the neighbor's house with the little brother, and then Coconut ended up over there too. I did venture out to check on the rides and long enough to get a few pictures.

This last picture is of Coconut that same night (after the little boys all came to our house and played dress up). He had his pirate costume on and opted to keep the pants on along with his boots (notice they're on the wrong feet) while we went to Walmart for more turkey. We love us some fried turkey and didn't really have leftovers because of having two extra people this year. So we just went and got a couple more turkey breasts and had "Thanksgiving 2" as the boys all named it. We had enough leftover stuffing and mashed potatoes and I made 2 more sweet potatoes. I made some cookies (from my Grandma Fronek's recipe) that for some reason are called "Valentine Crunchies." They have chocolate chips, cornflakes, coconut, and oatmeal. That must be the "crunchy" part, but I'm not sure where my Grandma got the "Valentine" part. They're yummy no matter what they're called!

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T10:36:00.004-07:00

My favorite thing about cooking something chocolate when I was little too.

Yesterday was a nice relaxing day. Well, for others I guess, but I was on my feet most of the day. B always deep fries the turkey so at least I never have to worry about that. I made muffins for breakfast. We always have crackers and dip out for lunchtime since we mostly just snack. Then I got started on the sweet potatoes. As we got closer I did the mashed potatoes, which are never ready on time, but this year they were, however they were cold by dinner. I made the chocolate pie earlier in the day (Coconut got to lick the beaters) and the pumpkin the night before. My sister and BIL came over in the late afternoon. The boys all hung out and watched football and played football in the backyard. No snow to play in. So we had turkey (that was absolutely the best), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, jello, olives, stuffing and rolls. JP insists on mixing his jello into his mashed potatoes. My brother did it one year and since then he has carried on this bizarre tradition. He's also the main person I get the olives for. Then pumpkin and chocolate pie for dessert. JP can sure put away the food, hopefully he'll start gaining his weight back.

Getting ready for bed. Sometimes we like to play with the kids and say, "Oh here's your pants" and put their shirt on their legs or something like that. So last night I told Peanut, "Here's your shirt" and we got his arms through his pants. He thought it was pretty hysterical.

I went online and looked at Target's doorbuster ad and decided it was worth going. But I wasn't getting up at 4am after going to bed at midnight, so I got up at 5 am instead. I was literally leaving my neighborhood at 5:08. I got up, threw on my pants and shirt from last night, grabbed my coat, put my boots on in the garage and left. I couldn't believe the lines. I've never been out that early and it was ridiculous. They had one on each side of the store and they wrapped across the back to the opposite side. I found the main thing I wanted, couldn't find the two toys, but found the other stuff. I needed black gloves, so I went up and found some and saw that the jewelry counter line was short. I don't think anyone realized it was there. I went back to look for the toys one more time and found one on an end cap and the other in a worker's cart who was taking unwanted stuff back. I got in the short line and almost to the register realized I had bought the one game on Mon. night when I went. Oops. It was only $1 cheaper so I just gave it back. I stood in line for about 15 min. vs. the other lines that I'm sure were at least an hour wait. It was like Disneyland. I kept wondering if it was really worth it to all of those people, but realized I saved probably close to $50 so it was probably worth it to everyone else. Then I headed home because B had to work a half day.

AJ (my BIL) was working for his cousin at his video store this morning and finished up and came over about 9:30 this morning and my sister is on her way as I type this. B will be home around 12:30 to watch football all day with AJ while Alicia and I venture out to the mall. I think it's kinda fun-all this madness. The Body Shop has a deal where you can get any three items for $30. Their body butters are $20 each, so I think I'll head there for some deals. Plus, they gave me a coupon the other day for $10 off so hopefully I can use both deals together. Fun stuff. I've already got quite a bit done. A couple more things and then B's gifts left. Which I have no idea what to get him because he never wants anything specific-unless it's some electronic device that costs a million dollars.

Happy Birthday Big Daddy!

2010-11-23T11:35:00.004-07:00

B's birthday was on the 16th. In light of his dad's passing only three days before, we didn't have a huge celebration. But I told him that his dad would want him to at least acknowledge that it was his birthday. So we gave him his presents-a new BSU hat (the same one coach Pete wears), and an itunes giftcard. We went to Famous Dave's for some BBQ for dinner and came home to dad's favorite dessert-strawberry shortcake.
Our camera is pretty much poop now. Everything is always blurry and the lighting is always weird, so hopefully Santa will bring us a new one for Christmas.

The boys went through the Target holiday catalog a couple of weeks ago. They circled what they wanted and put their initial next to it with sharpie. Unfortunately Coconut wanted to do it to, so everything is pretty much scribbled on. They pretty much circled everything that was boy related. I went out last night and got a few things. It's going to be a smallish Christmas because we are planning our annual Disneyland trip for winter break in Feb. However, technichally, we didn't go in the year 2010 since our last trip was last Dec. Bubba suggested that we take some gifts to the hospital to the children's ward where the cancer patients are so I'll be calling this week to see what we can do.

I'm looking forward to the greatest eating day of the year this week! My sister and her husband will be here and hopefully B's step-mom. It's been snowing even more where she lives, so if she can get on the bus, she'll be here. The boys played in the sprinkle of snow we had last Sat. They've been out the few mornings when there's a little on the ground-even though it's not really enough to play in. It's melted by early afternoon every time. I hate driving in snow. We had to drive on the icy hockey rink road this morning to get JP from dad's office. He had an early morning eye doctor's appt. so dad took him down. It went well, but they said he'll need to come in every THREE months rather than six because of how fast swelling can sneak up on their eyes. :( I really wish they had more than like three plows for the valley because NO where in downtown was plowed or sanded. It's so scary to drive on, especially when you have precious cargo in the car.

This last picture is from a primary activity they had a couple of weeks ago. They had all of the young men/women buddy up with one of the kids and they did a bunch of fun activities. So here is Senor JP.

Coconut Says...

2010-11-16T09:33:00.002-07:00

A few things he's said in the last couple of days-

-In our house now, rude is a noun and not an adjective. This is what he said about JP-"He's saying me I was a rude." JP was telling him that he was rude because of something Coconut did to him. But Coconut always calls people "a rude." "You're a rude," or "You're a meanie" are his two favorite phrases lately.

-Yesterday a police car drove by us. He remembered when Papa was at our house and an ambulance had to come pick him up.
So he asked, "Is Papa in there?"
Me-"Papa is with Jesus now."
C-"Oh Papa's with Jesus?"
Me-"Yeah."
C-"Was Jesus baptized?"
What the heck? I have no idea where that came from, but it was a great question.

-We also saw a truck yesterday with BSU flags on it. He said, "Raise your hand if you like Boise State!" Brothers do this all the time with "Raise your hand if you like the Yankees." And the others will respond with "Raise your hand if you like the Red Sox." Yes, we are a house divided.

He's also recognizing certain shapes now-heart, star, triangle. He told me at Walmart the other day that the spinning thing that has the bags on it at checkout was a triangle. If you have one of these at your Walmart, check it out next time you go. The top of it is shaped in a triangle. The cashier was very impressed. As Grandma Randall would say-He's very advanced for his age. He's a very unusual child. ;) I hope you don't think I'm trying to boast about how amazingly smart he is, I'm just recording it to remember some of his sayings. It helps that he has three older brothers that teach him things all the time.

We Will Miss You Papa

2010-11-14T14:52:00.003-07:00

P. Chad Bailey
May 30, 1948-Nov. 13, 2010

Yesterday in the early morning hours, B's dad passed away. He has been fighting lymphoma for the past two years. He fought a good fight and when he wasn't doing treatments he was able to spend time with us. He came to stay with us for a month in Sept. and Oct. and was able to be with our family. He was able to go home after that for awhile to enjoy the comforts of his own home. Wed. he was admitted to the hospital and B drove down to be with him and his step-mom. He continued to fight and after he was able to listen to one last BSU game on Fri. night, he quietly went to sleep and returned to our Father in Heaven in the early morning hours of Sat. We are comforted in knowing that he is no longer in pain and can feel the peace of Heaven.

He will be greatly missed by not only his family, but all who knew him. He had a great smile and laugh. All little children would flock to him and loved being with him. He was a wonderful kind hearted, giving man.

We had the opportunity for the first two years of our marriage to live on his dairy farm. I am grateful for the time I got to be around him and get to know him well. He truly was a wonderful man and he will always be in our hearts.

BSU spring scrimmage-April 2009

Papa with baby Coconut-Jan. 25, 2008

Disneyland-March 2006

BSU spring scrimmage

"Chech a chiger and you're are it."

2010-11-11T18:35:00.002-07:00

That's what Coconut was saying yesterday trying to copy Peanut. Peanut was deciding if he was going to share something so he kept doing the "eenie meanie miney mo" thing, and Coco kept copying him. I love the things he comes up with.

Random Daily Stuff

2010-11-10T14:10:00.002-07:00

"I want a goa (granola) bar. I want some fruit snacks also." Another one of his "also" phrases today. Such a funny little boy. Peanut can't figure out how to say "Fiber One." It keeps coming out "Fiver One." He also continues to say "livary" instead of library. I keep correcting him so hopefully he'll eventually figure it out. The other day I was listening to the music on my blog and Flogging Molly came on and he shouted, "Flogging Molly!" and proceeded to dance a little jig. I'm very proud that my kids like them and know who they are. Thanks to my dad and sister for telling me about them!

So from here on out, Jo Jo will be known as Coconut. We've called him this all along, but we've found that we call him that more than Jo Jo now, so he's crazy Coconut. So we have two nuts in our family. ;)

My new favorite chips-Sour Cream and Onion Baked Lays. They're SO much better than the greasy regular ones. I haven't been sharing. :)

I'm avoiding figuring out bills for the month, so I suppose I should get back to it. I really love reading all of your blogs. It's such a great way to keep in touch and keep up with everyone's families.

Also...

2010-11-08T17:16:00.004-07:00

Jo Jo just started saying "also" today. When he first said it I asked him, "Did you just say also?" He told me, "Yeah." I can't remember what he was asking for, but he said, "I want (whatever it was) and that also." I was cracking up. He's said it twice today. He also told me again that his shoes were awesome. I also love that he and Peanut both say, "prentzels" instead of pretzels. I love that Peanut still has funny little things he says incorrectly.

Bubba started piano lessons today. There's a lady in our ward that conviently lives across the street. My other neighbor was watching Jo Jo the other day and her daughter played a few notes on the piano and she told me this lady was giving her lessons. They're much cheaper than other people I've priced in the past AND she lives across the street. So I asked her yesterday and she said she had an opening on Mondays right after school. He was so excited when I told him after church and had a great first lesson and is already practicing. Now to find some swimming lessons for JP. There's a gym over here that's supposed to have a team, so I'll see if I can figure it out this week.

The view from our seats

Sat. we got to go to our college football game. B works with a guy who has season tickets and didn't want to use them, so we bought them from him and took the two older boys. Alicia watched the two little boys for us. It was great. She took them to two playgrounds and they played in the leaves, built a blanket fort and watched "Cars" and made those turkey hand pictures with leaves as the bodies. I was so thankful for her since the game ended up being really long. B has a parking pass for work so we parked there and then took a free shuttle to the stadium. We had great seats in the end zone. The boys loved when they came down to our side because you could see the players so well. Our team sacked their quarterback about 7 or so times. It was a great game and we completely creamed them 42-7. During half time their kicker was kicking thru our goal post and people in the stands would catch the ball and throw it back. Bubba tried to get one, but the guy next to him got it, but he gave it to Bubba. I stood there watching and thinking, "Don't let him throw it. He'll never make it. It's too far." Well, shame on me because he made it right over the fence. He was so tickled. AJ my BIL was sitting in the student section and from me texting him as to where we were at, he was actually able to find me during half time and then pointed to where they were at. It was pretty cool. They also gave us these big paper fan things that you folded up and when you slapped them against your hand they were incredibly loud. It was crazy how awesome our fans are. We got a wave going around the upper and lower seating areas and it went around six or so times. It was awesome. After the game, the boys ran down to the fence and leaned over and got high fives from all but two players. It was "the best day of their lives."

Halloween

2010-11-02T18:52:00.006-06:00

I decided I'm too lazy to rearrange the pictures, so here you go.

Everyone's pumpkins

Our goofy bunch

Ninja-strike!

Arrr Matey!

Luigi

Hunter-can you see him?

To prove I did a lot of carving

Bubba's pumpkin

Peanut's pumpkin

I love this picture

I remembered why I hate moonsand so much

Jo Jo's pumpkin

So I'm posting for my Gramma because I really don't feel like it, but she was asking for Halloween pictures. You're lucky I love you so much Gramma. So I'm a dork and completely forgot to take pictures before our ward trunk-or-treat and when we got home the costumes came off and the candy got dumped on the carpet. I realized I hadn't so those who had gotten undressed, re-dressed and we took a few. I wasn't really into Halloween this year which is weird because it's been my favorite holiday. I'm not looking forward to Christmas either. I AM however looking forward to Thanksgiving and eating fried turkey. It makes me hungry thinking about it. So the trunk-or-treat was actually fun. They had soups and bread. It was for three wards. The kids made out like bandits. JP was the only one to get a new costume. He decided on Luigi. Jo Jo kept stealing the hat and dancing around singing, "Uh weejuh, uh weejuh" (Luigi). They say it that way because he says it with an accent on Mario Kart. Bubba decided on a hunter. We found some pants at Savers that were way too big, but figured he could wear a belt and that he'd eventually end up wearing them anyway. He discovered when he put them on that they actually had an adjustable waist, so with a belt they fit just fine. We got some paints to do on his face, and he already had the camo shirt and hat from hunter safety. Jo Jo got to use my favorite pirate costume. And Peanut was very very mad that he didn't get a new costume, but finally decided to use JP's old Ninja costume. I didn't dress up this year. Told you I was being a humbug. I felt bad once I saw everyone's cool costumes at the church. Oh well.

We carved pumpkins on Fri. after school. Bubba was really into cleaning the guts out, but JP was freaking out. It was pretty funny the way he kept griping about how gross it was. Peanut claimed that he didn't know how, which means I was stuck doing it. Whatever, I don't mind. I think it's kinda cool actually. They each drew a face on paper and then I drew it in pencil first on their pumpkin to get it right and then outlined it with sharpie. I carved Peanut's for him, but the other boys did their own pumpkins. Jo Jo had colored his on Thurs. while everyone else was still in school. Dumb idea. He had marker all over his hands and then every time we picked the pumpkin up, we ended up with marker on us.

Funny things Jo Jo said today-
We have a nursery with flamingos in the front of it here. They always do different colors-like our college colors against the team we're playing against, or dress them up for Halloween. So we were driving by on our way to the store and he yells, "Hey a Bronco chicken!"
We were getting in the car later and I told him that I liked his shoes and that they were cool. He said, "I know. They're awesome." It's always so funny when he talks like his brothers.

We also had a check up for JP today. It went really well. The doctor really likes how he's looking (he really has like no swelling now), so we're going to continue with his shots. He wants him to do swimming, which we were planning on anyway. He wants to take some lessons to learn techniques and maybe do some swim team stuff. He has to get blood work again. He lucked out because the lab had closed so we just have to go into the local hospital and do it one of these days. We won't have to go back until Jan. Yay! I'm so happy it's going so well. He HAS lost 4 pounds since his last visit a month ago though so I'm concerned about that and trying to figure out how to fatten him up. The doctor said that sometimes it happens with the start of the medication he's on, so hopefully he'll gain it back quickly.

2010-10-26T17:47:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Jo Jo and I went to Walmart for a couple of things. They had a sample stand with the oddest combo of free samples. They had carrots with dip, ginger snaps, and salt and pepper flavored cashews. So we got one of each. He had the cookie and when we were in the checkout line quite awhile later he said, "That cookie was scrumptious." I was cracking up. I couldn't figure out where the heck he heard that until I was telling the other boys later and JP said that they say it on the "Blues Clues" video that he watches over and over in the car.

I also really wish someone would write a book titled, "How to Get Your Kids to NOT Kill Each Other Everyday." They've been attacking each other and screaming at each other since Sat. It's odd because they'll have a couple of moments where they're friends and then it all comes crashing down and the screaming and punching starts. Maybe we should turn the playroom into an octagon and let them go at it for three rounds and they'll get it all out of their systems.

Bye Bye Curls

2010-10-25T11:19:00.003-06:00

This is really it!

Still a little wave.

So I'm pretty sad today. Last night was finally the big night. The night that we completely cut off my baby's curls. He looks very handsome, but also too much like a big boy for me, and I really miss his curls. I had to admit that it was defintely time since the last time we trimmed it, it pretty much just made some wave in the back and it wasn't curly curly like it had been anyway. So it was looking pretty shaggy. But it doesn't mean I can't be sad about it. Sigh. It actually still has a little wave on top so at least some of it is still there. And he still has some blond. We were worried that would all come off.

And finally my new favorite saying as quoted by Peanut, "Cheese a wheeze." Instead of "Jeez Louise."

Chalk Fest

2010-10-21T17:43:00.003-06:00

So very proud!

I'm not sure if you can see the pink chalk on his cheeky.

I just realized I never posted pictures of Jo Jo when he and Peanut decided to draw in the backyard with chalk one afternoon. It will teach me not to leave them alone with chalk anymore. Needless to say, I carried him under the armpits straight upstairs to the tub and undressed him in the tub. His entire body was covered.

2010-10-21T17:24:00.002-06:00

Okay, so Janet I'm not sure if I can be friends with you anymore. Just kidding, but really you should definitely find time (yeah right) to read the Twilight series. They are for sure one of my all time favorite series, maybe even my number one. Anyway, I'm not going to the movie tonight after all because I didn't realize we have pack meeting and even though all JP is getting is a bead, I feel like I should go. I realized that Eclipse is still at the cheap theater that's close to my house so if I really want to see it, they have $1 Tuesdays. I've seen it twice, but it's my favorite one so far so I've been wanting to see it again. (I know I'm a cheeseball, but I think it's my Star Wars).

Speaking of Eclipse, for some reason I never thought about the fact that the soundtrack should be out because I never saw anything about it. I finally looked it up and it came out back in June when the movie did so I went and got it. I LOVE it! Actually I love the music from all of the movies. So I added two of my faves onto my playlist (the last two songs on the list). The one by The Bravery is mine and Bubba's song. I crank it when it comes on and we sing as loud as we can. I LOVE that he loves the same music I do. He even knows all of the words to "Forever Young" and I don't even know them. :) He has such a nice singing voice too.

2010-10-20T20:13:00.002-06:00

So the other night when I was putting Peanut to bed he said, "I wish dad was a dentist." I asked why and he said, "Because then we would know him." I reminded him that our dentist is our neighbor and we DO know him. It was the most random out of the blue thing.

B got home last night from Vegas. All of the boys got their "prizes" after he got home from work tonight. He always gets tons of stuff for free during the tradeshow. Like light up keychains, notebooks, highlighters, and Bubba even got a giant rubber band ball. They all have a pile of loot on the floor. He got to hear a speech by Rudy Ruettiger. He's the guy that the movie "Rudy" was about. He got each of the boys an autographed picture. As a matter of fact, they're watching it right now because they've never seen it. Bubba is really into watching football movies lately especially since they're all based on true stories.

I can't figure out why I keep volunteering for stuff. I'm bringing a dozen cupcakes to our school fall festival Fri. night. Each class is also putting together a basket to be auctioned off. I offered to put together the one for Peanut's class. One other mom and I opted to do a Christmas themed basket and she works so she was able to get a couple of things, but I pretty much bought everything for the basket today. And then she wanted me to come over to her house to put the basket together. So tell me if this makes sense. She had three things for it. I had the basket and everything else. Shouldn't she just have given me the things she got and I could've put it together myself? She also lives pretty far from me. Oh well. I'm also in charge of Bubba's class Halloween party. We got tons of moms to help though so really I'll only have to assign everything out. But still I keep wondering why I always volunteer to help. I guess I'm always afraid that no one else will.

Tomorrow night I'm going to see "Eclipse" with my sister for $1 at the university. I'm so excited. I've really wanted to see it again, but it doesn't come out on video until Dec.

2010-10-18T18:02:00.003-06:00

I really don't know why I wait so long to post because then it takes longer and it becomes a novella. So I'll try to keep it short while updating to the present. Then I'll be better at posting more often (easier said than done).

My mom had Fall break starting Thurs. so she drove up to see us and help me Sat. night and Sun. because B left for Vegas baby Vegas on Sat. afternoon. He went to a tradeshow/conference thingy to stay informed in the real estate world.

Friday we went to the mall and then I met B over at the ATT store so we could add me to his plan. I got a new phone. I was kind of a brat because I really wanted this cute pink phone. I didn't care that it opened with a full keyboard for texting. I suck at texting and didn't have it on my other carrier. But apparently unless I wanted a phone that looked like it belonged from 1994 I had to add some kind of plan for an extra $20 a month. It either had to be unlimited texting or internet or something else like that. I kept insisting that I would just take the ugly phone, but B knew how annoyed I was and insisted I get the cute pink princess phone. He's way too good to me. So I ended up with unlimited texting figuring if someone texted me I'd have it to text back. Anyway, I've been playing with it ever since. I think I sent two or three texts that night just to do it. I can actually do it pretty well since it's a full keyboard. I know, I'm lame. So my mom got to see Bubba's last football practice Fri. night and hear the nice things the coaches said about the team. They got beanies instead of trophies and they're way cooler. I'll have to post a picture later.

Bubba and his buddy Nick doing the chains at JP's game.

Bubba is #76 right in the middle of the huddle.

JP is all the way on the left next to the boy with the long black socks.

Sat. was sadly our last day of football games. And I'm not being sarcastic. I absolutely love to go to games and watch my boys. Driving around to practices all week not so much, so I won't miss that. Bubba's game was in the morning and we won. Actually we completely creamed them- 42-0. We won our last two games after our one and only loss in two seasons. We went home after to change out of our warm clothes and so B could get ready to leave. My sister came over and we ran back out the door to make it to JP's game. They won their first game last weekend and I missed it because I was watching the 2nd half of Bubba's (since they were both at the same time). It was a great game! Then won 8-6. And JP got a flag and stopped them! His shots seem to be helping. He hasn't been in pain as much and the swelling seems to be staying down. The sticker thing worked! I made a chart and he sat in the bathroom on my stool and looked at B and held his hands. B let him do a practice squeeze and realized he needed to take his ring off. He told him he could squeeze as hard as he wanted but he had to relax his leg. I got it right in on the first try this time! He squealed a little, but no hysterical crying and thrashing. So he earned two stickers. I still have to determine how many he needs to earn and he needs to decide what he wants. We had his end of season party at a pizza buffet place and it was great. They have several to choose from and you can keep going back and they have salad bar and dessert pizzas. They each got a dogtag with the team name, year and their name on it. They're really cool and also better than a trophy I think. The coach said something nice about each player before handing them out and I got really misty eyed when he talked about JP and my mom had been at the salad bar and didn't hear and I couldn't even repeat it to her. My sister had to. He basically said that this kid played all year in pain. He was really concerned about his team and came out to every practice and kept playing even though he was in pain. It really touched me that he would recognize that. We've worked out a plan for PE that he will play whatever they're doing and if he starts to hurt then he can stop. I'm so grateful for great teachers that are supportive and willing to help out with all of this.

My mom had to leave today because she starts work again tomorrow. I'm so sad. I love when she comes and not just because she does my sewing and laundry ;) I'll be alone until tomorrow night at 11 ish, so hopefully I'll survive tonight because Jo Jo does NOT like when dad is gone and he doesn't have BOTH of us to put him to bed, so it generally becomes an hour long battle of me going up and down the stairs nine times. Plus, he's been in my bed the last couple of nights because he keeps waking up. Last night he woke up screaming. He must have had a nightmare. Anyway, I was so out of it that I don't even remember bringing him in my bed, just wrestling him while he screamed bloody murder for 10 min. I have no idea what was going on. I must have been really tired.

So I wasn't successful at keeping this short. I plan to try to post more often, though now that football is over it won't be as exciting around here until March when baseball starts.

So I Already Posted Today But...

2010-10-11T21:08:00.003-06:00

I just thought of some funny things that have happened recently.

Peanut taught Jo Jo the song "Bingo" and they haven't stopped singing it much to the dismay of Bubba. And they sing it loud because he yells at them to stop. Jo Jo can even sing the spelling part-B-I-N-G-O. He also sings all the words to the bedtime songs I sing to them. I know I mentioned the alphabet and "Twinkle Twinkle", but can't remember if I mentioned that he knows all the words to "I Am a Child of God" now as well. He and Peanut are also learning the words to "When Jesus Christ Was Baptized" and "I Love to See the Temple."

Jo Jo says his own prayers now. He started last week when B was putting them to bed. Butch said he just about cried. He'll say, "Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for my blessings. Thank you Braden could go to scouts amorrow(our non-member neighbor that went with JP last week). Thank you for my famwee. Bless Uncle Todd on his mission a find people to cheech. Thank you for my church. Bless me for my school (he's obsessed with going to school now that everyone but him is going). Bless Bubba a go to practice amorrow. Name a Jejus Christ, Amen." He changes it up a little each time, but you get the idea. It's pretty sweet.

This and That

2010-10-11T14:59:00.002-06:00

Not much going on other than football lately. JP's team won their first game Sat. We had two 8:30 am (Yikes) games so B watched the first half of Bubba's and I watched JP's first half and then we swapped so I missed the win. Bubba's team won. They had their first loss the Sat. before. They were undefeated last year and had won every game up until then so it was really hard for some of the boys. It was a SUPER intense game! It was so exciting. We ended up losing by 2 points in the last 15 sec. of the game. Bubba had two GREAT tackles! One was even by himself. After the game he told us that the reason he grabbed the kid by the shirt instead of fully tackling him (it was right on the sideline) was because there was a little girl sitting right there on the ground. I was amazed that he could see that and also get a tackle at the same time! He was one of the kids that took the loss pretty hard. He's VERY competitive and sometimes very sensitive.

I had to give JP his first shot Sat. That did NOT go well. He's terrified of needles. Even though he knew all week that it was coming B had to practically sit on him. I had to clean the area three times before I finally just reached in under B's arm and get him before he knew what was happening. The nurse said they're not painful shots (you know how some medicines hurt going in). We have a friend from our old ward that has a son with JRA (juvenile rheumatoid arthritis) and I emailed her for advice and to update her on his condition. She was so helpful and even asked her son to give JP advice. He said RELAXING is key. She also told me about a sticker chart they created when he was first starting shots. He got one for every time he took 10 min. to do one and two stickers for every time he could do it 5 min. So JP is very excited about this idea. When our friend's boy earned however many stickers he got a prize-he chose an MP3 player. So we'll have to get started on this next Sat. We're sad because there's an event at our science center from
1-3 pm next Sat., but we have football at 1:30 and won't be done until about 2:30 and then JP has his end of season party. He was really looking forward to it. Hopefully there will be more events. I checked out the website and they will have an awareness walk some time next June. It's amazing how many kids this affects and yet I had never heard of it until he was diagnosed.

Well time to get them from school. Busy last week of football. I'm sad the games will be over, but not sad that practices every night will be!

JP Update

2010-10-01T17:55:00.002-06:00

So we found a new doctor for JP. We thought it was weird that the doctor didn't want to follow up with us or anything and his ankle and knee have stayed swollen, so we wanted to make sure everything was okay. I looked up doctors online and found a practice that specializes in arthritis, sports injuries, etc. Oh, let me back up. This past Mon. night during football practice he popped his knee several times, so this made me want to act now to find a doctor. We were trying to find the doctor that Jo Jo had gone to when he broke his arm because we really liked the doctor and the office. So that's the practice I happened to find right away. I called to schedule and we got in right away on Wed. and it was even with the same doctor we'd had and I didn't even request him. He was great! He was so knowledgeable and nice. They took x-rays and there isn't anything wrong with the bones. The doctor was really concerned by how big the swelling was. He has the ankle, knee, his right ring finger, and some of his toes on his right foot that are all swollen. They also have a doctor that is the only pediatric rheumatologist in the area. So the doctor decided to call him for a consultation. Well, it was worse than we thought I guess because he got us an appt. right away for today (Fri.) Apparently there's a 6-7 mth. waiting list for this doctor so we were happy but a little worried because clearly it's bad enough that we needed to see him.

So I picked up a prescription for a mild sedative for him to take this morning before seeing the doctor because they wanted to give him two cortizone shots-one in the ankle and one in the knee. For lack of a better term, it makes them drunk. He was falling over and at one point I went to help him and he went forward to the point that he fell on the tile right on his face and ended up with a goose egg in the center of his forehead. I learned my lesson and decided to have him lean on me to get to the car and into the doctor's office. He also said the most random things. He even started humming the Star Wars theme. The doctor was great! We LOVED him! He was so friendly and very concerned about JP. We told him that the first doctor told us he would most likely grow out of it and that we shouldn't worry and just to give him ibuprofen. Dr. Knibbe couldn't believe it. He was really annoyed. It's not something that will go away unfortunately. He wants to be very aggressive with treatment. So he decided that he needs to be on a certain medication with a long name that I can't remember. Unfortunately for poor JP it's a weekly injection. So he got the two cortizone shots and then a shot today of the new medication. It's something that I'll do at home each week and it has nausea as a side effect so we'll do it on the weekends. Then...he also had to get blood drawn. That was the last straw for him. So to back up juvenile arthritis can cause major eye problems so after his original diagnosis they sent us to a pediatric opthamologist for an eye exam. Everything looked great so we wouldn't need to go back for a year. Dr. Shea (the one we saw Wed.) told us that it could even cause blindness if it's not treated and checked often. That almost made me cry. Well...I guess when they did the original blood work in the ER back in Feb. they didn't do what they needed to determine how often he'll need to see the eye doctor, so that's why he had to have blood drawn today. Was that long enough?

So he got to go to Walmart and pick out some "prizes" for being so brave today. He HATES needles (but who doesn't?). He picked out two packs of silly bands-which if you don't know what those are you either don't have kids old enough or you've been living under a rock. They're the new rage-pretty much jelly bracelets like we used to wear in the 80s, but in shapes. He also chose a really small Lego car (the $5 ones) that you can build. He missed almost the whole day of school so he liked that part, but had to come home and ice it and rest. We'll see the doctor again in 4 weeks. We all liked him very much, including JP. There's going to be a juvenile arthritis celebration at the science center here in a couple of weeks with food and exhibits and our doctor will be there, so we'll try to go after football. He's still going to go to his game tomorrow in his uniform and sit on the sidelines to support his team.

Bubba has a big game tomorrow against the other undefeated team so it's a HUGE deal. The whole league has been watching us and we're supposed to have as many people wearing green tomorrow that we can get there. I think our boys are ready and will come out with the win!

Ready, Ready, Ready...Set, Go

2010-09-26T19:17:00.004-06:00

This is what they yell when they snap the ball. I love it! It's so cute to hear these little 10 year olds yelling in their little men voices.

When he saw this picture he said, "I was having popcorn!"

I haven't been very good about taking pictures of the kids lately, but here are the couple that I have. We got lots of good video of Bubba's game yesterday, but only a couple of pictures and three of the four were on the same play. His team toasted the other guys 46-0. We've had lots of other coaches there watching our games writing our plays down and yesterday there were supposed to be 10 officials and 15 or so other coaches. I think it's ridiculous. They're ten years old for Pete's sake. Yes, we totally rock, but really? Bubba has been an animal this year. He did great at their scrimmage this past week. He made his catch and had some great tackles. He missed his catch in the game yesterday, but the quarterback under threw it-again, they're 10. He made some great tackles, though and gets to be on offense and the kicking team. The pictures above are from the kickoff team. He's the one next to the kicker who gets to put his arms up and then yell, "Ready!" He has the cutest little man voice when he yells it. I love watching him! We had a conflict yesterday so B took JP to his game (which was not at our usual field) while I finished watching Bubba and then took him to his best friend's birthday party where they played video games out of a truck! It was one of those lunch truck looking things. They also played laser tag in the backyard.

Thanks Uncle AJ and Aunt Alicia for taking the boys Fri. night. We went to a movie while they had the boys at their apartment and then we picked up Jo Jo while the other boys spent the night. They even got up early to take them to the football field! Thanks again, you guys are the best! We love you!

Choose the Right

2010-09-23T19:33:00.003-06:00

Yesterday my awesome 10 yr. old volunteered his lunch recess and extra recess time to work in the library. They had received a large book donation and needed to go through them to decide what to keep. Apparently someone must have donated their entire romance novel collection because he said they filled two boxes, a trash can, and a large trash bag with "inappropriate" books. He told B that he didn't read them or anything, but that he was able to tell they were "inappropriate" because they had a woman and man on the front. I was so incredibly proud of him. He not only gave up recess for service, but also made good choices about what is not right.

Cute Jo Jo sayings-
-Whenever he hears a train he likes to tell it to "bonk" the horn
-Papa had to go to the hospital over the weekend and he kept asking where he was going and we told him the hospital and he called it the "hostible"
-I asked him the other day if he wanted to lie down in my bed for a nap and he said, "Sure!"
-When Bubba and B go out to mow he asks, "Is daddy whoa-ing the mawn?"
There's lots of other cute things that I should've been writing down along the way because right now my mind is a blank. It's been a long day.

2010-09-13T21:03:00.003-06:00

My visiting teacher brought me a watermelon the other day and we finally got around to cutting it last night for our FHE treat. B went to finish cutting the rest and couldn't find it. We all turned around and saw this. He was giggling like he'd done the funniest thing ever, which really he had. After I took his picture Jo Jo said, "Take my picture. Cheese."

He can now sing all the words to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and the alphabet. He requests them each night for bedtime along with "Child" (I Am a Child of God). After a couple of nights he sang all the words to "Twinkle" as he calls it. And two nights ago I realized he could sing the whole alphabet. One of these nights I'm going to videotape him and hopefully with B's help I'll figure out how to post it. Oh, he also counts to 11. He gets the sweetest little soft voice when he sings or talks on the phone. It's the cutest thing.

Bubba's team won again Sat. 46-8 I was actually hoping the other team would score at the end because I felt so bad for them. At some point the other team's parents stop cheering and our parents kinda do too since we're so far ahead there's not really a need to get excited anymore. I always feel bad for the other team though because their parents should cheer through the whole thing even if there's no way for them to win. JP's team lost again, but at least this time it was 8-6. They're improving at least.

B's dad is staying with us for awhile while he does chemo. He's had lymphoma for two years now and has decided to come home to Idaho (instead of back East where he was) to finish up treatments. His step-mom left yesterday but will be back before his treatment on Fri. We made him a bedroom in the dining room so he has his own little room-oh except for the fact that he has no privacy whatsoever. Poor guy.

Busy week ahead with two parties for JP, scouts, RS meeting. Same old same old.

Camping

2010-09-07T11:18:00.006-06:00

First tooth lost.

Goofing around the campfire.

Playing in the creek. I promise we feed JP. I think it's the way he's standing.

All the arrows Bubba shot right in a cluster. B said he just fired one right after the other like nothing.

Snuggling in sleeping bags.

Ready for the hike.

B took Peanut, Bubba, and JP camping this past weekend. They almost froze to death, but they toughed it out the whole weekend. Jo Jo and I hung out and had a chick flick film festival. I literally did almost nothing. (I did do one load of laundry and the dishes). It was really fun except for the part where he jumped on me on the couch the entire time. He missed daddy so much when it was time for bed. It was hard to get him down without his kiss from daddy.
They had a great time, caught 10 fish but only kept two to eat, went on a 7 mile hike up a mountain, shot bb guns and arrows, played in the creek, and got into town to get more hot dogs and stuff for smores. Oh and Peanut lost his first tooth yesterday before they left. It's a good thing he didn't lose it any earlier because I'm not sure if the tooth fairy would've found them all the way in the wilderness. I made them get in the shower as soon as they walked in the door. Bubba commented to B one night that he knew it must be hard for him not being with me. He told him that he missed me, but he was sure dad missed me even more. I'm so happy that they know how much their parents love each other. I missed my sweet husband so much. He looked like Grizzly Adams when he got home and everyone smelled like campfire. I'm so glad they had such a great time.

Football, Fair, First Haircut, and Bike Riding

2010-08-31T11:34:00.008-06:00

This was a productive weekend. Both boys had their first football games on Sat. Luckily they were two hours apart so we could watch both. Unfortunately Bubba's game started late so we had to have JP run over to his field to practice and B had to go to the car to get drinks for Bubba's team during the last quarter. Then I went and got our lunch out of the car while JP's game was starting, but luckily I only missed the first play. Bubba's team kicked booty. They are an awesome hard working bunch. Bubba has really wanted to play offense this year, but is always on defense because he's a great lineman. His coach did let him play center a little at the end of the game, though. He's been practicing a lot in the backyard though catching passes and throwing. One of the coaches a few practices ago asked him if he wanted to play a little QB after seeing him after practice throwing to another kid. Then last night, his head coach finally asked him if he'd like to be a receiver. He's so excited. JP did great blocking at his game. He got taken out by a fat, mean kid. So his coach moved him to the other side. This kid kept tackling, but it's only flag, so his team would get a penalty. Anyway, they lost, but towards the end they started to improve. The problem is that their coaches aren't working with them enough on plays. He was the star at practice last night and the only one to not have his flag pulled. He's doing a great job.

In the petting zoo checking out the goats

In front of the Lego exhibit

On the train ride

After football we decided to hit the fair since it ended Sun. We weren't sure about going since we just went to Silverwood, but it's really not that expensive and we always go. So we went and saw the animals and let everyone pick one ride. I didn't go on anything because I had a headache and pretty much every ride spins which makes me dizzy. I used to love those rides, but I guess now that I'm old my equilibrium has changed. Bubba chose a ride that went in a circle upside down. It would go one direction and then the other. The guy across from him was looking sick after the ride and Bubba asked if he was okay because he was holding his mouth. Luckily he got out of there before the guy lost it all over the ride. B and JP did the same ride together. I don't even know how to describe it right. It's on a big arm with seats all around a circle and your feet hang. Then it keeps swinging back and forth and spinning and gets higher and higher. It's actually fun. I went on it last year. Peanut chose the caterpillar roller coaster for kids. And then he lucked out that we had a couple of extra tickets so he could take Jo Jo on a little train that goes around a track several times. Jo Jo freaked and screamed for the first few seconds when he realized I wasn't staying on it, but then had a great ride. We got a funnel cake after checking out the show cattle. It definitely wasn't enough to share between all of us, but those things are expensive and super fattening. It actually ended up being the worst fair food when they did a thing on the radio about fair foods. There's like 900g of fat in ONE! We left after that and got dinner because we had coupons for free kid's meals somewhere else.

Before

During

This is actually kinda fun

After

That night I decided to finally let B cut Jo Jo's hair. I made him use the longest attachment and he just did the back. I started to freak out and almost cry so he didn't cut the top. It's not really that short like how we cut the other boy's hair, but it's shorter in the back. He looks like a big boy now. It turned out really cute because it's still curly on top, but cleaned up in the back.

Ridin' along

Ready to go (I know, he's riding with no shoes on, but he had them on earlier)

Sun. afternoon Peanut FINALLY learned to ride his bike. It's dad's fault really because he hasn't really worked with him much, but he took him out and practiced until he got it. I was doing dinner and they called me out and he just took off down the street. So yesterday and today I rode with him to school. He fell twice yesterday, but got right back up. He still steers a little crazy so he stops quite a bit, but he's excited to be riding to school. He loves school so far and really looks forward to going. We asked if he has any new friends and told us that all the boys in the class are. Today they had to wear red and bring a picture of something red in. They'll go until halfway into Sept. when they've gone through all the basics.

School is in Session

2010-08-26T14:35:00.004-06:00

Today was the first day of school! We went to meet the teachers last night and turn in supplies. (Don't get me started on that). The big boys rode their bikes this morning. Bubba really hates wearing a helmet. I think it's a too cool for it thing. He told me that he didn't know why he needed to wear it because it wouldn't do anything if he was hit. I told him that it would save his brain and he told me that his skull is way thicker than the helmet. I informed him that it wasn't and it would crack if he was hit by a car. That convinced him enough to wear it, though it was still against his will. I gave them firm instructions that since our school is the first to start (there's one across the street that will start Mon.) they needed to be extra careful this morning. I told them to only cross if there were no cars at all or if they came to a complete stop. I told them not to cross if it looked to them like the car was slowing because you can never tell for sure. Bubba seemed to be annoyed with this instruction because of course he knows it all. Last year I rode with them for the first week or so. It was good that I did because we were almost hit twice. Peanut doesn't start until 12:15 so he got to sleep in. About 11 he started asking when school started and why he couldn't go in the morning. I'm glad he was so excited and not scared. We had lunch and then he wanted me to drive him there. He said it was okay for me to ride my bike to pick him up since brother's had their bikes. We went around to the door where he is supposed to line up and all the other moms and dads were there with their cameras. He was very excited. When it was time to go in we all gave them one last hug and a wave goodbye. Jo Jo was a little upset that he couldn't go in too. I had to carry him because he was running away screaming about it. It was a bittersweet moment. He's been my little buddy now for so long since JP is 3 years ahead in school. But it's only 3 hours and he went to preschool that long last year but only 3 days a week. And I still have the morning to hang out with him. I was proud of myself for not crying.
JP's teacher this year was Bubba's 3rd grade teacher. We really like her. I got to observe Peanut's teacher last year and she seems awesome. I'm not sure about Bubba's teacher yet. She seems a little stern. She sent out an email letting us know that 95% of students get reallly stressed out the first month because the work load is really big. The work is going to be hard. I'm worried about homework and how he'll deal with everything with football practice every night. I plan on sitting with him everyday to help him stay focused. I'm going to put up a table in our dining room that is now the piano room so they have a separate place to study. And no one will be allowed to watch tv until everyone is done because they'll still be able to hear it in the other room.
I was looking forward to a quiet afternoon, but after trying to get Jo Jo to take a nap for an hour I gave up. At least he decided to go upstairs for awhile and play. At least I only had one with me at the bread store, although he wanted to put everything on every shelf into the cart. And then wanted to toss each loaf of bread onto the counter. It was actually pretty cute.
Sat. will be our first real football game. It looks like we'll only have 1-2 conflicts with the two different schedules. The rest are at least two hours apart and at the same place. As long as Bubba's games don't go longer than two hours we'll be able to see both of their games.

2010-08-24T21:57:00.003-06:00

Last week JP did our family home evening lesson, which I'm embarrassed to admit has been getting forgotten now that football has started every night until 8pm. So we're opting for Sundays now. Anyway, he decided he wanted to talk about Jesus. He didn't have a specific plan, but wanted to show some pictures out of the new gospel art book. So I would hold up the picture and he would tell what was happening (because there's not a description under each one). He blew me away. We got to the picture of Jesus raising Jairus' daughter from the dead and I asked if he knew what it was and he told us. He also knew about the picture of Lazarus being raised from the dead. He also told us why He came to earth and what he did for us. He remembered the story of the Ten Lepers as well. He's definitely our special spirit. Sunday I saw him reading his new scriptures in sacrament meeting. I think the only time Bubba opens his is during Primary (and only if they're needed for a lesson). I was floored and actually almost started crying right then and there. B told me when we got home that he was already in 1 Nephi chapter 3. He said he had whispered to him that if he kept reading he would be done before Bubba. He got very excited at that. We have no idea when he started reading them since that was the first time we saw him. What an awesome boy. Hopefully you don't think we're bad parents for the fact that our older child isn't reading, but honestly I never read my scriptures until I was like 12 and even then I never read them all the way thru. Anyhow I just think he's a special boy. All of my boys are special in different ways though.

School starts Thurs. (thank heavens my sanity might halfway return).

2010-08-20T11:05:00.003-06:00

I keep forgetting to post these. It was the first time I think I remembered to bring the camera to the pool and it's Aug. I've been trying to take them a couple of times a week. We haven't always stuck to our schedule, but we're making it over there as much as I have energy for. Jo Jo has decided that he likes jumping now. And I mean jumping all the way under the water from off the stairs or off the side of the pool. A couple of times now he's borrowed Peanut's life vest and that's the coolest thing ever. It's still a little big so I stand right there and make sure he comes back up right away. He ran down to the end of the pool (with the vest on luckily) the other day before I could get down there. Luckily I made it in time and told him not to jump until I got there. Then I got out when we were with my sister that same day (before he had the vest on) and he jumped in off the stairs. Luckily my sister was walking in at that moment to keep an eye on him while I was checking the time. She was right there to grab him. In a way it's good that he's not afraid of the water, but at the same time, it's really bad that he's not. He likes to jump to the side of me. Yesterday I decided to see what he'd do if I didn't lift him right away. He actually came to the surface and bobbed for a second. It didn't scare him at all. When he has the vest on he'll kick and do his arms. Also, if I'm holding him, I'll just barely hold him under his belly while he does the same thing. Maybe he'll be swimming by next summer. Peanut was practicing a tiny bit the other day while Jo Jo had his vest. He was staying right by the stairs, but he was swimming a little. The main problem I think is that he insists on plugging his nose, so he only has the use of one hand. Plus, I think he's a little nervous. We're thinking after football of putting him in lessons and JP is interested in learning more advanced swimming. We think it'd be good for his arthritis and that he's got the perfect body for it-uber long legs, and big feet. Maybe he could do some kind of swim team stuff. Anywho, we're enjoying just hanging out the last week and a half of summer.

Jo Jo Chatter Box

2010-08-19T12:38:00.002-06:00

We went to pick up Bubba's friend for a playdate and we're going swimming when my sister gets here at 1pm. This is the conversation I had with Jo Jo on the way home from picking him up.
J-Where's Weesha's (Alicia my sister) swimsoup?
M-At her house?
J-Oh. At her house?
M-Yes.
J-Where's Weesha's car?
M-At her house.
J-Oh. At her house?
M-Yes.
J-Where's AJ's (Alicia's husband) swimsoup?
M-At his house.
J-Oh. At his house?
M-Yes.
J-Where's AJ's truck?
M-At his work.
J-At his work? Oh.
J-Where's daddy's swimsoup?
M-In his closet.
J-In his closet? Oh.

He has really long conversations with me a lot. And if I don't respond to what he's saying he gets louder and louder until he's screaming it at me. Like on the way to pick up the friend he saw two fire trucks in the station. He kept telling me "There's two fire trucks in there." And I kept responding with "Uh huh. I see them." But that wasn't good enough. I had to practically yell it back at him (after he screamed it a few more times at me) "Yes, there are two fire trucks. I see them." You have to repeat exactly what he tells you so he knows that you are truly listening and not just appeasing him by saying, "Uh Huh." I have to remind B of this constantly as he tends to either not hear him (because he usually does it while he's talking to me), or he doesn't respond correctly. He's a pretty funny kid. Oh another cute thing he said last night. This tells you about what a lazy I've been this week. He ran into the garage when B got home last night, which he does every night. The first thing he told him? "Daddy I got dressed!" He said it very enthusiastically like it was the biggest news of the day. Side note-he's also dressed today.

Peanut's Day

2010-08-17T11:59:00.002-06:00

"Why did the skeleton cross the road?" (Peanut)
"Why?" (my sister asked)
"Um...(thinks for a minute) to get to the doctor."
The funny thing is that this joke actually made sense to me yesterday when he told it. Maybe I need to spend more time with adults, I'm not sure.

Sat. Peanut and I went on a date. Awhile ago when we had gone bowling with the other boys and they were freaking out about how bad they were doing, I told Peanut we could go on a date and go bowling. Several years ago I took Bubba to see "National Treasure 2" and JP out to eat at Chuck-a-Rama, but Peanut was too little to do anything with just me, since he stayed home with me all day anyway. Well, he kept asking when we would finally go. On Fri. night when I was tucking him in he asked if B would be home on "the next day" and when I told him he would, he was super happy and asked if we could finally go on our date. So Sat. morning we got ready and went bowling. I used his free games coupon, but they must have higher Sat. rates because it was still $10. Anyway, two people bowling two games doesn't take long. We were having so much fun seeing how well we could do. Afterward he was so excited because 31 Flavors is right next to the bowling alley and we got to go get ice cream. B and the other boys were out getting a net off of someone's property to try to make into a batting cage and it was stuck in giant weeds, so we decided to go to the mall. We had a coupon for a free Build-a-Bear animal so we decided to get Jo Jo one because he only has one and Peanut has three. Peanut did really try to talk me into making it for him. I told him he had 3 already. "Three isn't a lot. A hundred is a lot," he told me. So anyway, he helped me pick out a panda and we named it Jo Jo. Then we went to Costco and ate lunch off the samples and did some grocery shopping. I hate that I spend a zillion dollars there and then come home and the next day realize that I needed something else that they carry there. Anyway, he had a great day. All day he was smiling and hugging me and telling me how fun it was. I loved it too. I think I need to do this more often with each of them. Especially now that they'll be in school again and are getting older. Actually I know Bubba would prefer to hang out with dad, but JP still likes doing stuff with me.

So they got the netting to make a batting cage. They brought it home after digging it out of weeds that were as tall as B. We started picking out all of the dry weeds at home with it layed across the entire lawn. It was a pain and like 95 degrees out. I decided we needed a break, so he went to Home Depot with Bubba to get all the stuff to start his project. He decided while he was there and adding it all up in his head, that he would call a guy he'd seen on craigslist with a net and pitching machine. It was a really good price and the good thing was that all the pieces were already there. So he went and bought it. We put it up only to discover it was inside out, so we took it down to do it again and B realized there wasn't really a correct way to put the pitching machine in through the hole made for it. So we put it up the right way anyway. Bubba took a few swings that night and got really excited. We're just waiting for the letter from the homeowner's association telling us we can't have it up because it's too tall. We got one about our playset after living here for over 3 years. They still haven't ever done anything about it. It's in OUR yard and not an eye sore, so who cares? Anyway, good times had for all.

2010-08-11T18:04:00.003-06:00

So I totally forgot that I've been writing a few special things about each boy when they have their birthday so here are some things I think about when I think about JP.
-soft, buttery skin
-tender heart
-kind
-good friend
-goofy
-Wii
-little mom
-salmon
-good reader
-smart
-fluffy (we used to say he was)
-baseball (especially Red Sox)
-Sponge Bob
-daddy long legs (I've started calling him this)
I love you my sweet little boy who's not so little anymore!

Happy Special Days!

2010-08-10T13:02:00.004-06:00

Jo Jo really got into mini golfing. I realize it's a bad picture, but I wanted you to see how cool it looked.

Dad and JP before the baptism.

In front of the font.

The three muskateers. Impossible to get a serious picture of these guys.

Transformers...more than meets the eye.

His Joker toy to go with the Batman one he got from Papa and Grandma Susan.

I don't feel like reorganizing all of the pictures. So here you go.

Happy 8th birthday to my sweet JP! His birthday was on the 1st and so on the 31st we went glow-in-the-dark mini golfing with two of his best buddies. We had cake at our house first. I made a Transformer cake. Then we went golfing. We had McGrath's Fish House for dinner. We'd never been and JP loves fish so he's been wanting to go. He was so excited when they had a salmon kid's meal. He even got a free sundae and got his picture with a giant fish hat.

This past Sat. the 7th was his baptism day. It was such a special day for him. On Thurs. night B's mom, step-dad, sister Amy, and her boys Glen and Randall came up from AZ. They brought us B's great-grandpa's piano. Hopefully we'll get Bubba started in lessons soon. We went to Sizzler as a special treat for dinner. Thanks again Grandpa! Fri. morning they came over from their hotel and we went swimming at our pool. We came back after awhile for a sub sandwhich lunch, watermelon, and potato salad that I had intended to make for dinner the night before. It worked out better so that we actually had a lunch that day. After lunch the kids played for awhile outside while we waited for B to get home early from work. Then we went swimming at their hotel. It was really fun and we made a whirpool in the pool. I've never done that before and it was really cool. We came home so I could get dinner ready. We got started a little late with the spaghetti sauce, but actually it was the noodles that took the longest. The cousins spent the night that night and everyone else came over in the morning for the baptism. My mom and brother had arrived Fri. night after dinner while B had taken everyone fishing to help the boys pass off some scout stuff. He was baptized Sat. at 1 pm. This time we went early because at Bubba's we made it just in time for the start. It's so great to have a Priesthood holder in our home who can baptize our boys. JP was very excited. As soon as he was confirmed the Randall/Lee family left. My mom and brother went to eat at JP's choice-Chuck-a-Rama for late lunch/early dinner. They had to leave after because Sun. my cousin would be giving his farewell and Chad's mission president was giving his homecoming. Last week JP went to his first scout activity and will earn his Bobcat this week at pack meeting.

Football practices started last night for both boys. This will be an experiment for JP. We're not sure how he'll do with his arthritis, but he really wanted to play this year. It's a busy week with two practices and Peanut's last t-ball game tonight, dentist and pack meeting on Thurs. It will be B's last pack meeting as cubmaster (Hallelujah!)

The boys and I have been watching all of the Harry Potter movies. We just finished #3 this afternoon. I started reading the final book last week and finished last night. I forgot how good that book is. Now I'm ready for the first part of the final movie in Nov. What I can't figure out, though, is where they'll stop the movie. I hate when they do that.

Last Minute Vacation

2010-07-28T12:25:00.005-06:00

Bubba's favorite ride that he went on I think 5 times.

Peanut's favorite-the "spinny" ride. There were three buckets on each arm and then the bucket spun and the arms spun around as well. I couldn't even watch because it made me dizzy.

Captain Peanut driving the boat.

So Thurs. night we made the decision to go on a mini vacation. I've been kind of feeling yucky about the fact that we haven't gone anywhere this summer as a family. There's an amusement park about 7 hrs. away from our house, so we opted to go for the weekend. We left Sat. morning and got there in time for dinner. We met my sister and her husband since they only live about 45 min. from there. Then we went to a really cool playground by the lake up there and walked around the lake.

Right after the border of Washington. We couldn't stop in the middle of the freeway where the actual "Welcome to Washington" sign was.

On the bow of the boat. We had to climb through this small hole to get out there. Not for the clautrophobic.

The next morning we drove to the Washington border which was only four miles from our hotel so the kids could say they'd been there. Bubba got his picture in from of a freeway sign. Then we went up to Sandpointe, which is another hour north and went to the lake there. It much nicer than Lake Coueur d'Alene. It had an actual sandy beach instead of just dirt and rocks. They have a nice swimming area, but unfortunately we didn't think to bring swimsuits for the day since we were planning on going on a lake cruise. It was a 90 min. cruise and she gave us the history of how the lake was created and history of the area. It was really interesting and cool. The boys all got the chance to drive the boat a little. They even got certificates to prove they were captains for the day. After the cruise we went back to our hotel for our swimsuits and met Alicia and AJ at the first lake again to go swimming. Unfortunately this is when we found out that their water and beach were ickier. Oh well. We went back to the hotel to swim in the pool.

The nice beach up at Lake Pend Oreille.

Mon. morning we went to the amusement park which is about 40 min. from our hotel. Man everything is far apart up there. Anyway, it reminded us a lot of Knott's Berry Farm in CA. It was really fun. Not crowded at all. In fact on a lot of the rides, including big roller coasters we walked right on or waited 10 min. They also have a waterpark on the other side that we opted not to go to since we had just gone to ours last month. So when it closed everyone came over from there, so a couple of the roller coaster ride lines got to be about 20-30 min. Still not too bad. Peanut was tall enough to go on all of the kid rides by himself, and a lot of the bigger carnival rides as well, which was good because Jo Jo decided to freak out and not go on anything. They all went on the tilt a whirl as the first ride and Jo Jo didn't like it at all so then he wouldn't even go on the little planes, or helicopters or elephant ride. He did go on the big train and old antique cars towards the end of the day though. They have two big wooden roller coasters. One of them even goes underground like three times. It was super hot, but still lots of fun. Bubba's favorite ride is called Aftershock and I don't even know how to begin to describe it so you'll have to check it out online. Peanut loved a ride we called the spinny ride, but I don't know what the real name of it was. He went on it at least 7 or 8 times. They also have a ride there called the Corkscrew which is one they bought from Knott's and it's the first roller coaster to have ever gone upside down. I remember it from when I was younger. B and Jo Jo watched as we went on a raft ride later in the day. I'm not sure why we didn't go on it in the middle of the day when it was 95 out. We got drenched! Halfway through the ride I mentioned that I wasn't even wet yet. Poor JP was backwards for every rapid, until we got flipped around right after my famous last words and like 10 gallons of water went down my back. We all had wet pants for the rest of the night. It's a good thing it never got cold out. It really felt like I'd gone swimming with all of my clothes on. It was pretty funny. B was glad that he had opted to stay with the baby.

Poor JP getting drenched-AGAIN!

Cool dude with mama's glasses.

His favorite ride of the day.

Yesterday we made the drive home and made it back just in time to change Peanut's clothes for his t-ball game. Today we're just hanging out, cleaning and getting groceries. I'm really glad we went. I'm not going to even start on the tiny hotel beds, no bath (shower only), no extra cot for our extra child, and how super expensive it was (all the hotels were and all were packed for some odd reason).

Driving Lessons

2010-07-22T16:36:00.002-06:00

So my kids are now telling me how to drive. Bubba started the other day when he was in the front. He yells at people, "Why are they going so slow?" "Why don't you go around them?" And if I yell at another driver, "I can't believe they're driving like that." Oops. And today JP was in the front and said, "Just go in the turning lane so we don't have to wait." That's not all. Bubba tells me what to do all the time. I keep telling him that I know how to drive, but that doesn't stop him. He's going to be a great driver someday. :) I had to swerve around a car today and Jo Jo said, "Mommy almost crashed-ded." They told my mom when she was here and had to take them home, "You drive like my mom." She said, "Where do you think she learned how to drive?" Sometimes I really miss driving in California because no one ever drives the speed limit here. They go at least 10-15 under and it drives me insane. I guess I'm not the best example to my kids.

2010-07-20T14:43:00.004-06:00

As soon as I finished posting last night, JP threw up. He always freaks out really bad when he does. I'm just really glad he made it to the toilet. Bubba still has a headache, but is fine other than that, Peanut is fine this morning although he went to bed with a fever. JP still had a fever this morning, but is fine now and eating a little. Hopefully we're done with this and it doesn't go around again. I'm going to fumigate today.
Bubba and I watched the 6th Harry Potter movie today. It got me really excited for the last two. I saw a preview for the final movie that will be in two parts. Which is annoying, but the first will be out in Nov. and the next not until next July. Personally I think that's stupid. The actors are already like 20 and supposed to be 17. They should've filmed them closer together. Oh well, I'm excited none the less.

Edit-
Last night B had to pick up my medication at Walmart. He called and said he'd cleared them out but wouldn't tell me what it was. In a white trash accent he said, "Back up the truck, I'm clearin' out the Walmart." He came home with more baseball stuff than I've ever seen. Here's what he came home with-
*4 pairs of gloves (one in each size)
*4 pairs of socks
*5 bags of mini whiffle balls (60 total)
*training bat
*2 bags of big whiffle balls (20)
*a baseball bag
*1 bag of t-balls (6)
*6 buckets of balls (60)
*bat weight
*4 individual nice leather balls
How much did he pay you ask? Everything total would've cost around $350. (I know, baseball is an expensive sport). $47.17 and that includes tax!! I was no longer annoyed with him when he handed me the receipt. He said they had a ton more-bats, etc. But luckily he was able to tell himself that we didn't need it and he shouldn't buy it unless he planned on selling it all on Ebay. He went out to one of the other ones after picking up Bubba from hunter safety last night and they didn't have a single baseball thing on sale. The only thing I can figure is that maybe this one is doing away with sports stuff. They've already gotten rid of their fabric dept. I don't get why they're not all the same.

Disease and Inspiration

2010-07-19T18:43:00.004-06:00

"Thank you for church," is what Jo Jo said in the car after church yesterday. Peanut woke with a fever so I stayed home with him since B has been called as the 13 yr. old Sunday school teacher. What a sweet boy. We must be doing something right. Jo Jo was sick earlier last week. This has been the third time in two months. I keep trying to figure out what it could be. My kids only get sick about once or twice a year generally, so I was convinced it must be something weird. He had a bad fever after his nap one day and then that night threw up on the couch and I picked him up and I'm not sure what I was thinking, but instead of running to the kitchen, I ran him upstairs to the tub. He had a lot in his stomach. It was weird because it was what we'd eaten two days before. He hadn't really eaten since then. So I started wondering if he has some kind of intestinal problem or something. But I'm sure it was just some stupid virus. It justs makes me wonder since it's been three times now so close together. Anyway, it only lasted a day, so that was good. But now after the pool today, Bubba has a headache, which I told him is from being in the heat, not having enough lunch and not drinking enough water. But now Peanut says his throat hurts, JP is complaining of a sick stomach and then fell asleep on the couch. AHHHHH! What the heck?
In other news, we played the game Life for 3 hours yesterday! I was protesting, claiming that it takes like 3 hours. No one believed me until we were done. It didn't help though that for half the game I had to keep checking the instructions. We also had a few meltdowns by a certain child that wasn't spinning the numbers he wanted and wasn't making enough money on his job. I just about banned him from the game.
I also worked on a little bit of my book/story last week. I'm not sure what it will end up being yet. I would love to have enough of a story to make it a full book, but I don't completely know what's going to happen with the story yet. I started quite awhile back. I can't remember when, but the first chapter came to me right away and then half of the second. Anyway, I had about 7 pages for a long time. Then during our first summer library trip I decided to get some books for research. It takes place in Ireland. So I started reading a ton and taking notes and then several weeks ago I wrote another 4 pages. Then last week over two days, I really got into a groove and I'm up to page 21 now. It's funny because I've always liked to write-hence the English Lit. major. And I've thought about it a few times, but never had any ideas. Then one night someone posted a single sentence on fb-"So there I was." And it resulted in my first chapter. Anyway, I've kind of been mixing up the music I listen to in order to get inspired and I found a CD at the library of Irish drinking songs, and now I love it! My sister suggested a band called Flogging Molly and I found some songs to listen to on the internet. They're now my new favorite. And the music has been really inspiring. I need to find a CD of them because on playlist.com I have to keep playing the next song one by one. Anyway, that's what's going on in our neck of the woods.

Too Pooped

2010-07-15T17:54:00.001-06:00

Peanut and Bubba were playing Wii the other day and I kept wondering where Jo Jo was. I went in the living room (where they were playing) and found this. They didn't even know he'd fallen asleep because they were so engrossed in their game. I love how he's even holding a golf club!

Goings On

2010-07-12T17:17:00.002-06:00

"Thank you for the pool mom." That's what Jo Jo told me today after going to the pool. No one told him to say it and he didn't hear it from his brothers. When we were in Canada, he also said, "Thank you the boat mom." At least one of them is learning manners. Today has been a mellow day. Laundry, play go fish with Peanut, clean shower, pool, fold laundry, dinner, then hunter safety class for Bubba and gym for mama. I haven't been in forever and I've started to gain some weight back. Curse you blasted belly fat! I guess it was worth the 4 awesome boys that made it that way. Well, most days anyway :) Well, off to finish folding that blasted laundry. I just had to come downstairs to play the next video on Peanut's "I Spy" dvd from the library. Jo Jo has been repeating the songs and saying, "I find it" after they ask if they can see something. Actually I just realized I need to make dinner for Bubba since hunter safety starts in a half hour.

Happy Birthday America!

2010-07-07T15:31:00.004-06:00

My dad has been here since Sat. so he got to spend the 4th with us and do fireworks. Thanks to B's step-mom for all of the awesome fireworks she sent home with the kids from the farm!! We had some big ones that shot in the air and blew up just like Disneyland the kids said. So now I've had visits from both of my parents within the last month. Good times. We saw "Toy Story 3" which was a great movie! Probably the best one yet. We also did our free bowling day on Mon. which wasn't free for us adults and plus shoes, that ended up being a little more than I thought. At least they refunded Jo Jo's shoe money because he opted to be grumpy and not even bowl a single frame. I think I'll save myself a couple of dollars a week and not have him bowl anymore. He's only ever good for one game before he gets grumpy. He runs up and down the ramp next to our lane the whole time anyway, so he keeps busy. Every single firework picture I took turned out blurry. I'm seriously getting annoyed with our poop camera. Maybe it's time to invest in a better one. I wish money fell out of the sky like giant meatballs.

Bowling Boys

2010-07-04T18:15:00.003-06:00

These are from last week when we went bowling with my mom. I actually bowled with them this time because I got two free game coupons for myself. I only had to pay for shoes for everyone and that was like $13, so I won't be bowling with them very often if at all for the rest of the summer. Bubba had a good time the first game because he beat everyone, though we don't allow bragging. He was just excited for his score. JP threw a hissy fit because he wasn't doing well. He needs to work on technique and I keep trying to help him, but he gets annoyed with me and wants to do it his way. Peanut had a blast both games and was proud of himself for every pin he knocked down and could care less about his score. This is a testimony to his personality. Second game JP had a better attitude because I told him he wouldn't bowl if he didn't knock it off. He was okay when he'd get a lot, but still a little grumpy when he only got a couple. Bubba was really upset because he wasn't getting a strike every time. He's so competitive-even just with himself. I was just as annoyed that I sucked, but didn't show it. I kept telling them that we were playing to have a fun time. Jo Jo has fun the first game and then we lose him for the second. Next time I'll just take his name off for the second. I don't know if you can really see his shoes, but they have bowling shoes in his size and they're the cutest thing you've ever seen.

2nd Go Around

2010-07-01T19:49:00.003-06:00

Yes, again with the organizing. The fruit snacks are in color order and lined up. My mom saw him doing it so I ran and got a picture before he ate any.

Peanut started t-ball Tues. night. He's so excited since he didn't get to play while brothers did. It's pretty cheesy since most of the kids have no idea what they're doing, but it's fun for him so that's all that matters. There are a lot of bigger kids though because it's like 5-7 yrs. or something like that, which is weird. The t-shirt he has is a 14-16 kids size! I'm not sure who they think is playing on these teams, but that's retarded.

Jo Jo has started saying "actually" lately. It's pretty dang funny. The other night he was in the backyard with my mom and she said, "Look an airplane," and he said, "Yeah airplane." Then he corrected himself and said, "Actually it's a helicopter." She was wondering if he could've actually been saying that, but then the next day he told me he wanted juice and then a second later said, "Actually I want chocolate milk." Can you tell he's always around older people? "Apparently" is one of my favorite words to use with the kids-as in "apparently you weren't listening." So Bubba uses that one a lot. It's funny how much they pick up by listening to us talk.

My mom and I saw "Eclipse" last night. Great movie. It was really exciting to watch since we'd just been up in that area. It was so fun to go with her. We've seen the other two together too. We got dessert afterwards and she was being silly so it was really fun. I'm so glad we got to have such a fun time together while she was visiting. After my husband she's my best friend. Good times.

2010-06-25T15:17:00.011-06:00

The Seattle Temple

The Seattle Space Needle

Downtown Seattle from atop the space needle

Where to begin? DAY ONE-Last Sat. B drove the 3 big boys to the farm and Jo Jo, mom, and I drove to Seattle. We got there in time for dinner and found a hotel in Bellevue just outside Seattle.

DAY TWO-Sun. morning we woke to rain, but set off for the day anyway. Our first stop was a little midsummer festival at a park right on a lake. It was so beautiful and green there. I've never seen so much green in my life. Jo Jo got to go on a free pony ride. There really wasn't that much going on so we set off for the space needle. Basically you spend $17 to ride up an elevator and walk in a circle. But it was still really cool. It was windy and cold outside at the top, but I didn't let that stop me from taking a few pictures of downtown Seattle. Then we went back inside and read all the cool info about how they built it. We ran across in the rain to a little gift shop so I could get the boys some of those flat pennies with the space needle on them. The older boys also got a pen and Peanut got a pencil. We got back to the car and headed off to find Pike's Place Market or whatever the name is. We went down to the waterfront and walked back and forth trying to find something that resembled what we'd seen in movies. We never found it and wandered back and forth to find something to eat that wasn't fish. Yeah right. Actually once we went down far enough we found a McDonalds. We figured we needed to get on the road to Port Angeles where we would stay the night. We asked a guy from a harbor cruise about where we could get the ferry we were looking for. He looked it up and said it was about an hour north, or we could drive around the island. So we opted for that thinking it would be just as quick. Well once we figured it all out on the way back on Wed. we realized how dumb this had been. We could've actually taken a different ferry that was right next to where we had been walking and it would've only taken a half hour and then about that same amount of time to get to Port Angleles. I can't even tell you how annoyed we were with that guy when we found this out. It took us FOREVER to get there on Sun. Oh yeah, and as we were driving up the road from the waterfront, we saw the market. I always thought it was on the water-apparently not. So around 7 or 8 that night we made it there and got some fast food and found our hotel. Can you say icky? Too bad the money was non-refundable or we would've been out of there fast. The carpet was filthy and we wore flip flops the whole time we were in there. So we opted not to stay there again the next night.

A lake on our beautiful drive towards Port Angeles

DAY THREE-LA PUSH The breakfast consisted of two kinds of cold cereal and oatmeal, so we found another McDonalds and ate there. Then we drove up to La Push-where Jacob was from-deciding to work our way back down to Port Angeles since we would stay there again that night. The res was so sad. I can't believe they live like that. Everything was in complete shambles. I feel so bad for them. The beach was gorgeous however. I love the smell of the ocean. Now I realize the movies were shot in different places, but the point was to go to where they would've actually lived, so we got pictures of the cliff Bella jumped off of in New Moon, the beach, the driftwood tree from Twilight, and picked up a couple of rocks and I got a small little piece of wood that was smooth from the water. It ended up being a beautiful, warm, sunny day. I've never seen so many dead crabs in my life. I guess they get washed up on the shore at high tide and then the tide goes way out and they're stuck there and become lunch for the seagulls. There was also a giant fish head, and a whole fish. It was so weird. I thought of taking pictures, but thought that would be too gross. I got the top of a crab shell for the boys and some claws, but the claws still stink so I may be chucking those.

The treaty line

The cliff Bella jumped off is behind me

Jo Jo on First Beach where Bella first learned out about the "cold ones"

After the beach we headed back to Forks. On the way, we found a house that looked just like Jacob's and his motorcycle and mail box were even in the front yard. We also got a picture of the treaty line sign.

FORKS-In Forks, we wandered from place to place that were on the map we had picked up at our hotel. We found the police station where I took a picture with the sheriff's car, Dr. Cullen's parking spot at the hospital (although there's an ugly green hose on the wall under his sign), the high school where the sign had been moved because the entire school was being ripped up to be re-built because it was in poor condition, Bella's house (which was actually a house we happened on while we were looking for the one on the map, but the one on the map was blue and looked nothing like her house, so we decided it should be the other one), the Cullen's (which was an inn and looked nothing like their house so I only took a picture of the mailbox and the white board which Esme leaves messages on each day for fans), Forks Outfitters where we found two cool postcards and a magnet that says, "It's Always Twilight Somewhere." We also ate at a kinda crappy diner-ish place. Our waitress never once checked on us. And we finally found the visitor center where Bella's truck is. I discovered why Bella didn't want to move to Forks in the first place. That place is tiny (Pop. 3175) and it's a hole.

Cullen's mailbox

The Swan residence

His parking spot at the hospital

Bella's truck

Edward and I

PORT ANGELES- We found the bookstore where Bella bought the book about the cold ones in the first movie, Bella Italia-the restaurant where they had their first date, the movie theater where Jacob, Mike and Bella saw "Face Punch" in New Moon, and the dress shop that was supposed to have a dress display in the window even though the store has closed, but they had taken it down, so I just took a picture of the sign. The hostess at Bella Italia seemed annoyed with me when we wanted to eat there without a reservation. It was going to be an hour wait, but someone ended up cancelling so we got in about a half hour early. Jo Jo was crabby from the wait and ended up on my lap the entire time. I had the manicotti and it was super yummy. We decided to drive back down the road to a little town called Sequim (which was actually bigger) and found a really nice Quality Inn that we stayed at the next two nights.

Downtown Victoria, BC, Canada

On the ferry ride

DAY FOUR-Oh Canada (sung to the tune of their national anthem). Our new hotel had belgian waffles along with everything else yummy. The ferry to Victoria was back in Port Angeles, so we drove back up there to catch the ferry in the afternoon. It gave us enough time to go to the store to get a souvenir that I didn't get in Forks. We had every ferry brochure we could find and luckily my mom had been looking through a new one the night before because we discovered that besides his birth certificate since Jo Jo was coming in with only one parent I needed written permission from B to take him to Canada. Luckily he was able to fax it to the hotel first thing in the morning. Since we took a ferry that could hold cars (because the walking one only ran on the weekends until after we were leaving-lame), it took longer to get there. It was an hour and a half of rocking. I decided to wait to eat the sandwhich I bought aboard until after docking. I discovered as long as I stared straight ahead I was okay. My mom gets boat sick too, so it was quite an adventure. Jo Jo was content to climb back and forth over the top of the seats in the center of the boat. I took him outside for a bit until he got too cold. Then as we were getting close they opened the front of the boat so we went out and took pictures of the harbor. They were really nice at the border. We took a picture of the parliament building and then hit every single gift shop on their main street. It was fun even though there was a lot of walking. Most of their stuff is uber expensive, but I got a really cute sweatshirt for only $20. The boys all got a pencil again and I also got a magnet. They had the most awesome t-shirt that had all the meanings of Eh? listed on it and then at the bottom it said, "So why do Canadians say Eh all the time? Because it's better than saying huh." We made it back to the boat in time, which we joked about because we had left my pillow at our hotel in Seattle, my Book of Mormon and my mom's coat at our hotel in Port Angeles, and my mom thought she lost her glasses. We joked that it would be just our luck to miss the last ferry of the day and be stuck in Canada overnight. The US border guy wasn't as nice. He didn't even care about the permission letter. I guess they only care if you're stealing a kid and taking them into Canada. He asked if I was still married to the father, though, and kept typing a lot of stuff into his computer while looking at his birth certificate. I guess big brother needs to look up my baby in the computer even though I brought the original document and not a copy. We stayed at our same hotel in Sequim that night, but in a different room. That was a horrible night with Jo Jo screaming until 12:30 am. I was so freaked out that the front desk would call because he was so loud. We found my mom's glasses in her suitcase that night, though. Oh and on our way to the ferry we got my scriptures and her jacket back.

AND FINALLY-We set off to Seattle on the ferry this time-which only took a half hour! We found my pillow at our first hotel! So the trip was complete. At least we recovered everything we lost. It was a long drive home coming all the way back down from Sequim that morning, so we made it home about 9:30 Wed. night. It was nice to be back in my soft bed. I'm not sure what hotels have against soft mattresses. Jo Jo didn't do very well on the long driving parts, so that made for an interesting trip, but all in all it was a great time. I'm so glad I got to do this with my mom. We've never done anything just us girls like this and it was great. We laughed A LOT-especially at our losing things. We had beautiful weather everyday but the first, so it was a great time to go. Plus, now we're ready for the release of Eclipse next Wed. The boys will be coming home tomorrow night and we'll hit the waterpark sometime next week before my mom leaves on Thurs. It's been an adventure this first summer month.

2010-06-14T10:27:00.002-06:00

So B told me to create a summer schedule so I don't lose my mind and can tell the kids which days will be pool days so they don't hound me everyday. Mon. will be pool day and possibly free movie day at the theater. Every summer they have free movies that are ones that have already come and gone, but it's fun to take them if you haven't seen them before and maybe get a little treat (but usually not because it's so expensive). Tuesdays they have half price day at the cheap theaters so we might possibly check out a movie there if we don't go on Mon. that week. If we don't do that, then we'll hit free bowling. Check out the website at www.kidsbowlfree.com. It's something they do all over. You just register your kids and they can bowl two games everyday for free. It's awesome because you pick your day instead of having to do a specific day. All you have to pay for is shoe rental. Wed. will be pool or movie day. The free movies are on this day as well. Thurs. we'll hit the park. Fri. will be library day and pool day. Hopefully I'll be able to handle the pool 3 days a week. I figure if we only go for an hour or so it won't be so bad. Somewhere in there I'll have to fit housework :( My mom comes in Thurs. so the boys will be off to the farm on Sat. They're excited to take the motorcycle and 4-wheeler this year. My mom and I will leave for Seattle that morning too. Can I tell you how excited I am? I'm going to pee my pants. I finished reading "Breaking Dawn" last week. I figured once I read "Eclipse" to get ready for the movie, I knew where it ended so it wouldn't matter if I read the last one. I'm a geek what can I say? It's the only thing I've ever been a total dork about, so I figure it's okay. I'll take lots of pictures. I have a cousin who went a couple of years ago and told me all the places to go.

That's Dumb

2010-06-10T17:07:00.004-06:00

This is the phrase my sweet (not really) two year old baby has been using a lot. It started the other day and I can't remember what the first "dumb" thing was, but it's been his dumb toy, blanket, anything he doesn't want at the moment. Luckily he hasn't called a person dumb yet. His other new one that he started about the same time-rudehead. This is Peanut's favorite thing to call people, so now it is also Jo Jo's. If he's mad at you, you become a rudehead. Case in point-today Peanut told Jo Jo he was being rude and he told him right back that he was a rudehead. I love that older brothers are teaching them these special things.

Tonight is the last night of baseball stuff. We have our end of season party for Bubba's team. I have to pick up 11 pizzas on the way and remember to bring the trophies. Luckily one of the moms emailed me the other day and asked if we needed utensils for the extras. Hello-glad she did. We would've been eating salad with our hands.

Oh yeah, here's a picture of the cake I decided to make at the last minute for my sister. I wanted to do some kind of theme and I know she likes Hello Kitty.

I'm Not So Sure

2010-06-09T19:05:00.003-06:00

I'm not so sure I'll survive this summer. It's only the 3rd official day of summer and I'm already going nuts. The first 2 days Bubba followed me around everywhere I went telling me how bored he was. I literally gave him 10 ideas of things to do, but he didn't want to do any of them. He only wanted to play the Wii for free (normally they have to use tokens) or go to the pool. I don't know that there are enough words to tell you how much I hate going to the pool. It wouldn't be bad if I didn't have to haul all of our stuff over there and have to watch Jo Jo the whole time. He's done okay so far, but I have a feeling that by the next time we go, he's going to remember that he loves jumping in. I took them Mon. even though it didn't feel warm enough to me. We went to the "livary" that morning and got some books and movies. Then in the late afternoon we went to the pool. We only stayed for an hour because of course I put it off all day and then it's time to make dinner. Yesterday he begged me all morning and I finally gave him a very firm no and told him that I was NOT going to take them everyday all summer because I had other things to do. He asked why we couldn't go (yesterday) and I said, "Because I don't want to." The End. So I told him we would go today and luckily it rained this morning. Yay off the hook. Not so fast. By early afternoon it was sunny and over 70 so they thought we should go. I did legos with Peanut while Jo Jo had a nap and then when he suddenly woke up when Bubba came home from the neighbors, I agreed to go. Jo Jo only wanted to throw stuff in the kiddie pool until I told the boys they only had 10 min. left. Then he decided he wanted to sit on the step in the big pool. Then after I got him out, while the other boys were drying off, he decided to actually get IN the kiddie pool that he had been nervous about up to that point. So I have a feeling that next time he'll be ready for the big pool. Sigh.

I Survived!

2010-06-06T13:12:00.002-06:00

I made it through Friday night. I got Bubba off to practice before the game at 5pm, then came home and got everything ready to go and B got home and we switched cars. I went off to Bubba's game and got there in the nick of time to get everything ready to score. B showed up at the beginning of the game, but stayed in the car watching for a bit because Jo Jo had fallen asleep. Bubba was up first and though he didn't hit, he made it to the base on balls. He played short stop for most of the game and caught several outs. He was AWESOME!! Then he played center field and caught a pop fly. He amazes me. They started off well, but then the final score ended up us losing 8-1. They'll make a couple of errors and then it snowballs. It's like they can't come back from it because they start to stress out. I felt so so bad for our second pitcher. A few of the kids were hitting off him and he started crying right on the mound. I wanted to run out and give him a hug. I was trying to talk loud enough for the coach to go out there because it was making him pitch even worse. He finally did, and it helped somewhat, but you could see that he was still stressed out and upset. It's such a big deal to them to be in a tournament game. So that was the end of our season since we lost. I got most of the kids to sign the balls when I dropped Bubba off for practice and after the game. We'll have our party on Thurs.

Our game ended early so we made it over to JP's game just in time for sundaes and I was able to give the coach his card and ball holder with the team ball. I even got a sundae. We got all of the money from everyone! Hooray! That took away a lot of stress.

Yesterday I went to the Sat. market in our little downtown area. JP and Peanut wanted to come while Jo Jo stayed home with Daddy while Bubba mowed the lawn. This is a new, wonderful thing. And he really enjoys it. I think it makes him feel big. The market has fresh food booths and homemade craft booths. We got 3 small yummy smelling wax things for our heated scentsy holders. She even makes them in shapes of hearts and things. JP picked out watermelon scent for their room. I couldn't decide so I picked two-almond pastries and casaba mist. I love clean smells and I love almond smell. We got a sample of honey and saw a cool beehive. We found some cool bottle caps that had sayings or letters or pictures in them. Today is my sister's birthday, so I found her a sparkly "A" one that they made into a keychain. Then we stopped and got a watermelon plant because ours died because I planted it too low. It was my first time planting (B has done it in the past), so I really didn't know what I was doing. It's a star melon and is supposed to end up with white star and moon shapes on the rind. And lastly we walked by a booth that had wallets made out of recycled candy wrappers. The lady gave one to each of the boys for a $1. JP picked out one made of a chewy nerds wrapper and Peanut's was dark M & M's.

Then we went to the park, but JP and I had to leave after only a little while so we could get to his best friend's baptism. He's in his school class and he and one other LDS boy are the group he hangs out with. I love that he gravitated towards LDS kids at school without even realizing they were at first. Anyway, he was very excited about it. We went to his house after for some food and then he stayed until after 8pm when his mom brought JP home. He's excited to invite him to his baptism in Aug. I also mentioned that he should invite our neighbor friend who's not a member to see if he would like to see what it's like to be baptized in our church. He said, "Yeah and then he can start coming to our church instead of Eagle Christian." Oh how I love my future missionary. His mom actually has a sister and brother that have both joined the church and I've had several conversations with her about the gospel. They went to the Catholic church forever and then switched a year ago to this other Christian church. I told her they were always welcome at ours. She knows a lot already because of her siblings and it's amazing how many times she says things that are what we believe. She came to a Christmas program with me several years ago. I guess all I can do is continue to talk to her when it comes up and invite her. It's hard when you see a family who is so close, but doesn't have the whole piece. Anyway, this has been long enough. I invited my sister over tonight and told her I'd make her a cake and ice cream. I'm going to attempt a Hello Kitty cake. I really want to take cake decorating classes.

Heaven

2010-06-04T13:16:00.003-06:00

Nut Nut in the catcher's gear we got at Play it Again (used sports store) for $30. He's not wearing the free knee pads because they're too big. We got it because the big boys really throw hard now and now they're protected.

JP shooting dad's pellet gun on Memorial Day when we went whistle pig shooting. We saw lots, but couldn't get them to be still long enough to shoot them.

Punkin head when he fell asleep with daddy when he had his fever. I especially love the bracelet he's wearing that Bubba got as a prize at the school carnival that day.

I was in heaven last night when I got my Mother's Day massage. It was perfect timing because I woke up yesterday with a stiff neck. I've had a huge knot in my right shoulder blade for several months now. She had to work really hard on that spot and couldn't believe how big it was. I told B I was ready to go again next week. :) Actually since he's had his shingles, I decided he needs one for Father's Day. Speaking of-he's starting to feel a little better. Jo Jo woke up completely fine yesterday. I put him down the night before around 10 pm, but he woke up around midnight and decided to scream for about an hour and a half. I have absolutely no idea what was wrong with him. His fever was completely gone. He wanted me to hold him, but then not. He wanted his drink, but not. B woke up and saved me by distracting him and taking him in the backyard to listen to the frogs. When we came back in he seemed a little better. He finally let me hold him so B could go back to bed. I finally got to bed around 1:45 am. Then this morning he woke up around 4:30 and didn't go back to sleep until 6 am. I brought him in our bed, but after an hour I couldn't handle the kicking in my spine, so I took him to his bed and let him scream for another 20 min. or so. I finally brought him back in our bed and B got him to settle down before getting up for work. I was so exhausted because I had woken up around 4 am to go to the bathroom and then couldn't go back to sleep because I started thinking of everything I had to do for both baseball games tonight. And then Jo Jo woke up.

So tonight I have to score at Bubba's first tournament game, but I also have to get the boys to sign 3 baseballs that I bought for the coaches. JP's last game is tonight and they've decided to do ice cream sundaes after, but I still haven't received all of the money for trophies (that I picked up yesterday along with $50 giftcards for each head coach that I had to pay for out of my own pocket). B will be there to get the rest of the money, but also has to make sure the coach gets the trophies and his giftcard. Ahhhh... So I'm stressing a little. Oh yeah, I forgot that I need to get an additional 50 cents from each parent because I mis-calculated their total, which I know sounds stupid, but it adds up to an addtional $5.50 and I already paid for a baseball for the coach out of my own pocket. So B will have to be exchanging quarters tonight. I HATE this. I'm never doing this again. It's ridiculous that no one else volunteered on either team. I don't know why I thought I could do both.

Laundry today, freezer jam, sweeping up all the play-doh off the floor, and vaccuming. The boys got out of school at noon for their last day. I've never seen bigger smiles. Now let's see if I can survive the summer with "bored" kids.

2010-06-02T16:22:00.002-06:00

I guess no news sometimes is good news. No ear infection, just a bug. A spring bug is what the doctor called it. Hopefully gone in 3-5 days. How do they get these anyway when they're not around anyone else who's sick? Weird. Peanut is a picture of perfect health. He's in 75th percentile for height and 70th for weight. I always knew he was tall, just worried a little that he was skinny, but apparently he's just proportionate. His hearing and vision were perfect as well. He thought the funniest thing was having to pee in a cup. And then the doctor told him he could feel cookies in his stomach. Then the doctor kept trying to guess what his underwear were and was guessing all girl things-snow white, little mermaid, Barbie, Dora. He finally gave up and Peanut told him it was "Dark Vader." The nurse kept telling me how mature he was for a 5 yr. old. It's funny because I've often thought this when he's around other kids his age-especially in his speech. It must be the fact that he's got 2 older brothers who talk to him all the time. Poor Peanut had to get 5 shots today. He was the bravest boy ever. He never screamed (which he pointed out to JP when we got home) and only had a few small tears after the last 2 that the nurse said were stinging ones. The first 4 were the regular Kindergarten shots and the last was a new version of a previous one. They're giving them the new one to make sure they protect against any other strains of the virus. Therefore, baby boy had to get one too. He started crying big crocodile tears in the parking lot while saying, "I wanna go home." I kept trying to console him by telling him they were going to look at Peanut. He settled down until the doctor came in. He has a very loud voice so all of our kids have been afraid of him when they were babies. I got him calm while he was checking Peanut by giving him a sucker. Then it was his turn and getting his ears checked was no fun while I had to hold him down. He kept yelling that he wanted to go home. Then he got another sucker. And Peanut got 2-one for each arm. B seems to be doing a little better. He took a muscle relaxer last night and slept super good and was feeling good this morning.

Well at least I'll get some reading done while he's sick since he wants me to hold him the whole time. I'm finishing Eclipse before it comes out. My boys are headed to the farm on Father's Day weekend and my mom is coming up and we're taking Jo Jo with us and going to Forks! I'm so excited. We're going to stay in Seattle the first night and site see the next day. Then we'll stay in Forks that night and do Forks and Port Angeles the next day. Then we'll head over to Victoria, Canada that's just a ferry ride across from there. I've never been to Canada. Then we'll head home in time for the boys to get back from the farm and go to the waterpark with my mom on Sat. Then we'll see the movie on the 30th. The 2 big boys earned a free waterpark pass for reading 600 min. Then the school offered a deal through them that saves $13 off the regular price and you could also add a food ticket for $5 so we got one for me, B, and Peanut, and my mom got one. Yay for deals!

So Sad...

2010-06-02T11:31:00.003-06:00

that Little Bear is sick. He was fine all day yesterday. He seemed a little bit more clingy that usual, but not bad. He even played outside with dad and brothers. When they all came in to eat dinner he walked over to his chair and layed his head down on it. We kept asking him if he was okay or sick and he kept saying no. B felt his head and he felt hot so we finally got his temperature taken. It was 100. So I gave him some Tylenol and held him on the couch. He fell asleep for about 20 min. and then got up and ate a few bites of hamburger. After that I pretty much held him and he fell asleep again after putting brothers to bed. He woke up around midnight coughing and crying and because I have mama sixth sense I knew he was throwing up. I went in there and sure enough he was sitting up crying with it all around him. I scooped him up and put him in the tub and went back in his room to take all the bedding off to the laundry room (which luckily is directly across the hall). Then I went back in the bathroom, but he wouldn't let me turn on the light so I turned on the hall light and took his clothes off and started the water. He was crying the entire time and I kept thinking that everyone would wake up because the tub is loud too and since the door was open it was even louder. He had the shivers and didn't want water on his hair, but I decided just to unplug the drain and wash him quick and get him out. I snuggled with him in his towel for a bit and then took him downstairs to put on a diaper and jammies. I held him while I watched tv for awhile to make sure he was asleep and then lied him down on the couch so I could make his bed, which ended up just being a blanket thrown on the matress and then put the humidifier in there because he was choking on a lot of mucous. When I picked him up he woke up again and didn't want to lie in there, but I soothed him into it and gave him his bear and dog and despite not wanting to put a blanket on him gave in. He slept through the rest of the night and woke up about 10 am this morning. His temp is up to 102. And he fell asleep as soon as I held him on the couch. He's up again and having some dry cereal. Thank goodness for Tylenol. Fortunately Peanut has a doctor's appt. today to get his Kindergarten check-up so they said they could check baby too. I'm actually hoping for an ear infection because at least he can get medicine to feel better, whereas if it's a virus we'll just have to wait it out. More update to follow.

2010-05-31T15:36:00.003-06:00

My poor sweet love has shingles. Poo. Last week he noticed a tiny circular spot that looked like a rash on his right hip. A couple of days later he told me that his right side had been hurting, so I convinced him to go to the doctor. My first thought was a possible spider bite because of the pain spreading. My second thought was shingles, but it looked more like a rash than shingles. In case you don't know, shingles is the chicken pox virus that usually appears from stress, but also if you're around someone with chicken pox and you've already had that before. In his case it was stress induced. I didn't realize he'd been internalizing it so much. He's learned his lesson. He is on an anti-viral so hopefully his will be the 10 day since he went in right at the beginning. My BIL had them once and said they were very painful. Well B is in quite a bit of pain. I feel so incredibly bad because there's nothing I can do to help. His entire right side hurts from his shoulder to his knee. He keeps having muscle spasms as well. The more rest he gets, the quicker he'll heal. I made him sleep all day yesterday. We went to the store today, but he rested most of the morning. He's been on pain pills and as long as he takes them every few hours, he seems to hold up okay. The problem is that the ER doc didn't give him very many. He's supposed to follow up with our doctor anyway, so he's going to call tomorrow to re-fill the prescription and hopefully also get a muscle relaxer for the spasms. Don't you feel horrible when one of your loved ones is in pain? I always wish I could take it for them. That's probably how Christ felt and one of the reasons he was willing to atone for our pains.

In happier news, I found some magic jeans. We were out at Kohl's on Sat. getting JP new church shoes and there is a brand new Dick's sporting goods in the same shopping center so the boys went down there and I went into the shoe store. I'm trying to find some new white sandals and I hadn't used my birthday money yet. I didn't find anything, but there's also a store on the way to the sporting goods place that I thought I would go into. I saw some good priced jeans and they had a kind that said they were just below the waist. Yay, non low riders! So I asked a sales girl about them and she warned me that they usually stretch out a full size within the first hour that you wear them. So I got my regular size and the size smaller. My size was really loose around the waist which had me feeling good. The size smaller still had room in the back a little, which is making me feel great. I went one size smaller just to see if they would fit because I didn't want them stretching out too big. Holy cow, they fit perfect! TWO sizes smaller than I wear. I haven't worn this size jean since college. So here's my take on them. I think they were invented by a woman who wants women to feel good about themselves so your normal size is labeled as a smaller size so you feel pretty dang good about yourself. Anyway, I think they're magic jeans like the ones in "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants." AND they go to my waist! I think I might go back and buy another pair.

This week we have the end of school carnival on Wed. Then JP has a class party at the park after school and a baseball game that night. Fri. is early release for the last day and we have JP's last game and Bubba's first tournament game. We both want to see Bubba's, but B is going to go to JP's for a little while so he doesn't feel bad. Sat. we have JP's b-ball party and the following Thurs. is Bubba's. Did I mention I'm the team mom for both teams? I ordered the awards last Fri. and pick them up this week and planned both the parties at the park to make it easy. However I have to round up everyone's money for the trophies and then get money separately after I find out how much pizza I need to buy. Needless to say my emails got a little confusing between the two teams. Sheesh. This is the last time I volunteer for so many things. I just hate the fact that NO other moms volunteered for EITHER team. This is a league of volunteers people-do your part. This is the 3rd time I've been team mom in the last 5 that Bubba's been playing-although I should count it as 4th since I'm doing it twice this year.

2010-05-27T19:41:00.003-06:00

Do you ever have those afternoons where you want to poke out your eyeballs because your kids are driving you nuts? Well a certain 10 yr. old likes to argue with me. First of all I was nice enough to watch an episode of "Clean House" with him after school. This is a new favorite. They go into houses that are out of control with clutter, clean it all out, have a yard sale and use the money to re-do the inside. Anyway, afterward he was asking me what he should do. They don't have school tomorrow so he didn't have homework. I told him he should do his job, which is dishes this week. He was so annoyed. I reminded him that it involved loading and unloading. That made him freak out even more. He started whining about how he has so much to do and it would take him all night (this was a page right out of JP's book). So he proceeds to tell me that he has so many things that he's supposed to do, like go to school for 7 hours everyday and homework and chores. That put me over the edge. I asked him, "Really? You have so much to do? What about me? I do laundry, iron, cook, clean the bathrooms when you pee on the floor, vaccum, sweep." I forgot to mention helping him with his homework and driving him to his sports things. He contined to argue with me that his job was just as hard and that school was a waste of his time. That's when I started to say over and over "I'm not going to argue with you about it anymore." He kept on, but I couldn't hear anymore because I did that thing where you plug your ears when you're a kid and say "na na na na... I can't hear you." I know-real mature-but sometimes you have to sink to their level. So he finally did it and then asked me what he could do again and I realized he hadn't put the clean dishes away, so I told him to do that. His exact words, "You're kidding me!" Later, I was having a shower and he came in asking what he could do. I gave him several suggestions. After raining all morning it actually got nice out so I first suggested going outside, play a game, draw a picture, watch cartoons. None of these were ideas he liked. He actually even said the words, "Mom, entertain me." Like I have all afternoon to sing and dance for him. I have laundry to do and sweeping and dinner. Needless to say, I felt like poking my eyeballs out. While I was having my shower he had first asked me, "Mom are you having a break?" I giggled at that because whenever I have a shower in the late afternoon it's usually because I need a "break." It's my way to de-stress. My neighbor's husband told me once that he would come home from work sometimes and ask the kids where mom was and they'd answer, "She's in her bathroom crying." So at least I'm not alone.

2010-05-26T16:39:00.006-06:00

One of Jo Jo's fish!

All NINE fish!

JP's ginormous one!

Peanut's fish

Snow storm coming home

Alligator that they pet thru the fence!

Pellet gun competition that even my 2 yr. old participated in.

Horse riding

Fathers and Sons-
Left Fri. night after baseball around 9-ish. Stayed in hotel because it rained all night and dad was smart enough to have made a reservation rather than attempt to set up a tent at 10:30 at night in the rain. Went to camp the next morning for breakfast, horse rides for Peanut and JP, then alligator farm and fish hatchery. Afterwards dad took everyone fishing. In total they caught 9 fish. They would've caught even more, but a few decided to jump off the shore back into the water before dad could help out. Dad said maybe someday he would actually be able to fish himself again rather than helping everyone else one after another. It sprinkled on and off a little, but then Jo Jo started to get impatient and it got colder so they headed home and ended up in a snow storm on the way home! In the middle of May. I'm so done with this weather.

Mom's day-
Hung out with Alicia Fri. night making hair clips. Sat. morning went to gym, came home and showered and headed off to the mall. FINALLY found capri pants. Headed off to the temple, then Target to shop more while the boys were on their way home. Found a cute dress and shirt for my birthday. Then we all met at Carl's Jr. for dinner.

Our wedding day-reception at the Joseph Smith Building

12 yrs. later at Disneyland

Our 12th anniversary was Sun. I can't believe it's been so long. The years have flown by. We can pretty much read each other's minds now, have the same cravings, same headaches, yawn at the same time, and finish each other's sentences. All that stuff that you're not supposed to be able to do until you've been married for 20 yrs. I'm so fortunate to be married to my best friend. I can't believe the Lord sent me such a wonderful man. I never even imagined there was someone out there like him. He's WAY better than Prince Charming. He's such a wonderful husband and dad. The greatest man I've ever known.

Peanut and Miss Erika

Pre-school graduation-
Today Peanut graduated from pre-school. They said some of their little poems and sang songs for us. Then they got their certificate and binder. She makes them an awesome huge binder of pictures of them and projects they've worked on all year. Plus they started a cool writing program booklet and sent it home for us to finish this summer to prepare for Kindergarten. Then we watched a video with music and pictures of all the kids. All the moms were teary eyed at the end. The teacher said she always has to leave the room because she can't handle watching it. I signed him up for some fun summer activites they do. They have stuff going on all summer, so we signed up for 5 or so weeks. He's looking forward to that. Then we went for Chinese for lunch to celebrate.