Sweet Boys

Two nights ago, while tucking everyone in one at a time, my almost 12 year old called me "Mommy" and asked me if I would come lay with him. I was so thrilled to hear him call me that and ask me to hang out with him. So I made him move over and I laid down with him while we talked for at least 15-20 minutes about his baseball team and life. It was so awesome. I love those moments and cherish them because they don't come often with him. The other three boys are always coming up to me and rubbing my arm or asking for kisses or hugs-especially JP. Coco climbs on me anytime I sit down, which can sometimes be too much, but I just make him sit up next to me and we snuggle.

It's been raining a lot here. Which means baseball practices have been few at this point. Peanut is sad that he hasn't had one yet because his last minute coach is on vacation for Spring Break. The three oldest boys all had playdates for the first day of break today. Poor Coco has to wait all day to see them during school, and then they disappear the first chance they get. Nothing planned for the rest of break besides baseball. My mom will be here Friday evening sometime for a few days, so we're looking forward to that.

Life As I Know It

I feel like kind of a jerk lately. I don't post very often anymore, and when I do, I never think to check everyone else's blogs. So then I feel bad for not being caught up on everyone's lives. I'm going to do better. (Famous last words).

We've been busy. Coconut and Peanut just finished up swimming lessons. Peanut is an animal at the backstroke, and I'm so proud of him. With baseball starting, he won't be doing anymore, but Coco will start again at the beginning of April. I had to take JP to a doctor's appointment on Thurs., which was their last day of lessons, so dad took them, but I was able to come see the last half. And I was blown away! Coconut can swim on his back! I couldn't believe it. She taught him how to jump in, pop up (like toast), and roll onto his back (like a starfish). And now, he's swimming the length of the pool on his back. He pulls his arms out to his sides and then back into his sides again, propelling himself. JP's doctor's appointment went very well. He doesn't have to go back for 4 months. He looks great and feels great!

We had several nights of school programs. Every year, the elementary kids perform in March and all the songs and chants are about US historical people. We pretty much have all of them memorized now, since we started going to these when Bubba was in kindergarten. Peanut had his program first, the next night was JP (who also got to play the recorder for a song), and then two weeks later, the 6th grade class did a new program. Their social studies teacher wrote a program back in 1999 and they performed it this year. It was awesome. They went through the different wars in our US history, and performed songs and acted out things from each era. Bubba got to be a minuteman and sing with a couple of other kids in a loud, boisterous voice. It was fun. Then, during WWII, he got to do a swing dance. He was awesome. He has such a great voice. He warned me beforehand that there would be a part that would make everyone cry. Well, the last song happened to be about the current war in Iraq. They had one boy dressed in an air force jumpsuit, and two laptops at a table, where he sat on one side and the "wife" sat on the other side while they "video chatted." One by one, she brought their kids in to see him, ending with a girl in a graduation gown. Yeah, pretty much the whole audience was sniffling because the other kids were all singing, "American Tears." If you've never heard the song, look it up on Youtube and have a listen. I dare you to not cry.

We also had the draft for baseball. Bubba will be with his same coach from last year's regular season, but in Majors, so he's excited. He's bummed, though because he won't be on the Yankees for the first time in 4 years. JP was drafted to AAA, so yay! We don't know the coach, but one of the kids from his team last year is on his team again. We start practices Monday already. The craziness begins. I've already swept my floor for the last three days in a row, thanks to baseball dirt. I really need to make myself a schedule and get organized to keep from going crazy. With B assistant coaching again, and two kids on the same nights, it's going to be another crazy season!

My dad was here visiting all week. It was his spring break, so he drove up with my Grandma and Papa Punkin. My Grandma's sister lives up here and so she and Papa stayed with them and my dad stayed with us. He got to be here for Bubba's program and swimming lessons. Then last night, we celebrated my Papa's 80th birthday. They left first thing this morning. It was good to see everyone.

Happy 7th Birthday Peanut, Baseball Season & Swimming

My sweet little Peanut had his birthday this past week. I can't believe he's already 7! He chose a Lego themed party and was allowed to invite 2 friends from school, along with our neighbors who always come. I did up little baggies of the exact same Legos and had them each see what they could come up with and then gave them all awards. Grandma Susan came up and had the idea of Pin the Tail on the Donkey after awhile of them running around crazy. I didn't realize it wouldn't take them that long to build, so hadn't planned anything else other than cake and presents. I made two Lego bricks as cake. This was definitely the most frustrating one I've ever done. I couldn't figure out how to frost the bumps on top because if I held it by the top and bottom to do the sides, the icing on top would come off. In my opinion, the first one looked horrible. It's just impossible to get buttercream smooth. The 2nd one was a little better because I had figured it out, but still not my best work. Peanut overheard me telling the neighbor how ugly they were, and he got really offended. He thought they looked awesome. How I love my sweet boys. It may kill my back and be a huge pain, but at least they'll remember mom's efforts and cool cakes when they grow up. :)
So when I think of Peanut, I think of: his cute dimples, fun and contagious laugh, crazy eyebrows, pokey hair, big brown eyes, calm disposition (unless his brothers are being mean), smart, does NOT like to do chores, puzzle and Lego master, master organizer (he personally created and labeled each treat bag using the labeler), cinnamon toast, carnivore, cereal lover, snuggler, animal lover, sweet older brother, and overall fun kid! Oh how I love my little Peanut. He is growing like a weed and has uber long legs. He's been wearing a size 8 for quite awhile now.


Baseball season has officially begun at our house. Assessments for the two older boys was this last Sat. Peanut will be playing Rookie, which is coach pitch. He's pretty much gonna be the best on his team. ;) But I'm not biased or anything. It's just that he's been playing longer than the other kids because of his older brothers.
Bubba went first in the morning. I should give a brief explanation of how it works, or you'll all be confused. So the first year of kid pitch (which JP did last year), is called AA, then AAA (which Bubba did the last two years), then Majors, then Juniors (which is the 13 yr. olds). So Bubba is going out for Majors this year. They get 6 pitches off a machine and run to 3rd on the last pitch, have to catch 3 grounders and throw them to 1st, and then have to catch 3 pop flies and throw them to 2nd. He was the fastest kid running the bases. He hit 4 out of 6 pitches and got all his grounders and flies (and even threw the first one to 3rd base instead of 2nd). There were parents behind me saying, "Wow, that kid has an arm. What's his last name again?" There are a few coaches that really want him on their team. They do it by a draft, so basically, if you want him, you'll have to pick him on your first turn, or someone else is going to get him. All of his hard work in the garage during the winter really shows. He is definitely on his way to fulfilling his dream to play in the Major Leagues one day.
JP killed it too. He's going for AAA this year because then his games will be on opposite nights from Bubba and we'll be able to see all of their games. He hit 5 out 6 and ran much faster than last year, 2 out of 3 grounders, and all 3 pop flies. B saw one of the coaches sheets over his shoulder and JP had the 2nd top score.
We don't plan on letting Coco start until the Rookie level. One of our friends got his son into Rookie earlier than the usual age, so we're hoping we'll be able to in a couple of years so we can skip the horrible T-ball stage. If none of you have ever experienced T-ball, avoid it at all costs. It really is painful to watch-like watching paint dry as one of the mom's said to me the other day.
Peanut did swimming lessons in Feb. and has now moved up to the next level. His freestyle still needs a little work, but he can swim the length of the pool with the backstroke several times in a row. It's awesome to watch! This session, Coco is learning to swim too. He's a little fish.

Happy 4th Birthday Coco Krispy!

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

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

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

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.