What A Life

I'm such a slacker!

2011-11-29T11:54:00.001-06:00

Okay, I am fully aware that my blog is getting stale and that I need to update it.

We did have an awesome piano recital. To view the video's of it you can click here. You'll see my cutie pie Jillian with her fashionable new bangs. She is growing up too fast. Poor James and Andrew pretty much look the same - in need of haircuts.

I didn't take many pictures over Thanksgiving because I was too busy cooking, eating, shopping, running, sleeping, cleaning, etc... I'll try and round some up though and post them shortly.

In the meantime, please be patient with me:)

Halloween Part One

2011-10-23T15:44:00.000-05:00

I write this as "part one" because Halloween usually has several festivities and seems to last an entire week here.

This past Saturday we had the very fun school carnival. The three middle kids were super excited to go and have fun. Jillian and Emily loved getting into costume, Andrew threw on a camo shirt and that was about all I could convince him to do. He also refused to take a picture by himself facing the camera.

Emily was our beautiful pink butterfly ballerina.

Jillian was our beautiful Candy Corn Witch.

Andrew was... Andrew, in a camo shirt? We did make him put on some camo pants for the church party later on but I couldn't get a pic of that.

The school carnival was especially fun this year. I picked up our tickets that I had ordered the previous week and gave Andrew and Jillian theirs and then didn't see them until they ran out of tickets about two hours later. Here they are with stained mouths and their fun prizes.

There were fun paddle boats and mini golf for littler kids that Emily loved. There was also a super cool hand powered train ride. There was a circle track with little train cars on it that you powered with hand-pedal power. Emily loved that too but I was so thrilled watching her have so much fun on it that I forgot to get a pic:( Of course we had snow cones too.

Poor John wasn't able to go to the school carnival. For starters Robert had to go into work and secondly it was during John's naptime. He wanted to take a picture too though.

Here he's showing me how I CAN see his face ( I kept telling me to show me his smiling face, he said "my face is right here, see!")

John joined us for the church Trunk R Treat that night though and had a ton of fun. We re-used his Buzz costume that is just a touch too small for him, oops. My hands were full keeping an eye on him so this is sadly the only picture I have of the entire evening.

The trunk r treat was especially fun this year. Instead of cramming into our tiny church building and being super crowded in there, the family's were encouraged to have games out of the back of their cars instead of just a trunk r treat. It worked great! That way all the kids got to play games that were fun, it was light when they went around to the cars so no one was losing kids in the dark - nor was anyone close to getting run over while people tried to leave, it wasn't crowded and hot - it was great. Good job guys.

We still have the Round Rock trick or treating for pre-K kids at the park on Halloween Day, we also still have Trick or Treating at Robert's work on Halloween day (after school but before work is out), and then we have actual Trick or Treating on Halloween evening.

The cooler is about 1/3 full so far, by the time Halloween evening is over - we will have to transfer to our bigger cooler and it will be entirely full.

Autumn in Texas

2011-10-22T14:32:00.000-05:00

Well, it's still hot here. At least we're in the 80's now and can get away with long pants in the mornings? So weird. I don't know that I'll ever get used to that.

A few weeks ago I took the littlest kiddo's to a local pumpkin patch. It's actually a Christmas tree farm but they do some cute stuff and have pumpkins during the fall. We haven't had enough Spring/Summer rain in years here to allow growers to actually grow pumpkins but they do have them trucked in so there's always a nice display. I had a really hard time getting pictures, Emily and John were not fond of sitting still and smiling and somehow it was impossible to get a shot of them together:/

We went with Emily's playgroup friends. We went on a hayride and she sat next to her supercute little friend MJ and his little sister Josie.
There were pumpkins, old tractors the kids really loved to climb all over, a rubber duck race with old water pumps and pvc pipe and of course a corn maze.

(I took some pics in manual mode in my camera and was really tweaking all the settings just to get a feel for what I could do - that's why some of the pics are super over exposed and "interesting" looking)

Emily almost always takes a silly picture. She is so stinkin' funny and cute though!

John has the unfortunate luck of having a gross Sty on his right eye. It's been there for about a month and we can finally schedule a surgery to have it drained and cleaned up so for now, he just looks extra tough (I guess). He has the most fun at the pumpkin patch - running all over the place.

Dear Yuba City Friends,

2011-10-04T11:58:00.002-05:00

I miss you. I feel like everything is spinning a little out of control right now, like it was when I lived near you and you're the only people who understand me when things get like this and won't judge me or think I'm a little crazy. It's just my life, like usual. You know, kids getting weird illnesses that won't pass, stuff breaking for no reason other than to drive me crazy, the unknown, etc... Please help me laugh at it all, otherwise I think I might die of stress.

Love,

Marie.

I'd Love to Park my Car in the Garage...

2011-09-23T11:22:00.002-05:00

But... It seems that we have a bicycle gang that lives in our home or something because my garage is over run with BIKES! Holy Cow, I think we have about 13 bikes in all in our garage, and let's not forget our myriad of scooters and tricycles too...

Oh yes, we even have pedal transportation options for those kids that can't push their own bikes or scooters too. Maybe one day, I can dream right?

What a Funny Smile?

2011-09-23T11:09:00.002-05:00

John came downstairs with a funny looking smile on his face, he sure keeps us on our toes around here:)

More Seating

2011-09-23T10:57:00.007-05:00

So we finally got a new (to us) kitchen table off craigslist. Some wealthy woman was selling her set that was solely used in her weekend house by the lake. It had barely been used and looked brand new but was over half off the price of new. It's the exact set I had wanted here. (except that we have 2 benches and 2 chairs instead of 1 bench and 5 chairs - we can fit more people around the table this way)

We can fit about 12 kids around this table now, it is such a relief. I love it! We had some friends over for dinner a few nights ago and look how many kids we squeezed in, it's great.

Happy Happy Birthday Andrew Dear!

2011-09-11T19:35:00.004-05:00

We have two birthdays in September, the first one is Andrew who happily turned 10! We celebrated with some super cool Star Wars themed cupcakes.

After we sang Happy Birthday, everyone took turns grossing each other out with their stained mouths. It was pretty funny.

All Andrew wanted for his birthday was to take one more trip to Schlitterbahn with his friend, Ethan, before the summer was over. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of that trip but I can assure you that it was a total BLAST!

(I let Emily and John sneak a cupcake during the day, they had tons of fun playing with their mini-lightsabers)...

Happy Birthday Andrew! You keep us laughing:)

Bear Scout - Raingutter Regatta

2011-09-11T19:22:00.002-05:00

Andrew's last pack meeting as a bear scout was the veggie regatta. We originally made a boat out of some kind of gourd but it was slightly wide for the gutter so we quickly made a new one out of a bell pepper. Andrew did pretty well and has had a lot of fun in cub scouts so far. Soon he'll earn his Bear award and move up to Webelos.

Another First Day of School!

2011-09-11T19:07:00.005-05:00

Well, our long long and very hot summer is coming to an end (I think/hope) and school has started once again.

Jillian is starting the 3rd grade.

Andrew is in the 4th grade. (please don't ask what's up with his hair - he insisted on styling it this way)

I cannot believe it but James is in the 8th grade! Holy cow! That means that next year I will have a child in high school... Oh. My. Word. I don't think I'm quite ready to even think about that just yet. (same thing with the hair - I have no idea what these boys are thinking?)

Since our school aged kids are older, there's really no need for me to walk them all the way to their classroom door (not to mention I think they would rather die than be embarrassed having me walk them to class ever). We said good-bye and off they went on bikes and on foot to the bus stop. Another school year has started. Only about 17 more of these to go and we'll finally be done!

Dare I admit it - I'm 35 today!

2011-08-10T21:25:00.003-05:00

I surely don't feel as old as I sound but someone asked me the other day how old I would be this week and I honestly couldn't remember if it was 34 or 35... When I was a teenager I though 35 was ANCIENT!!! Hahahaha! Oh how funny that seems now because 35 is actually still really really young.

Last night Robert and the kids baked me a delicious cake. They made the frosting from scratch and everything. It was made with a whole lot of LOVE:)

Today was a pretty normal day except that I went to lunch with Robert to Chili's and brought home a little food poisoning with me *yuck*. I spent the rest of the afternoon puking and so far this evening I've spent quite a bit of it running to the bathroom for other reasons. I know this might be a little -tmi- to most people but hey, I have 5 kids and my life basically revolves around all things bathroom related.

After dinner we cut the strawberry flavored cake and everyone enjoyed a piece.

Being 35 years old, I thought I'd reflect on my 5 biggest accomplishments, they are in order of first accomplishment to latest accomplishment:

James

Andrew

Jillian

Emily

John

My entire life is worth living because of these 5 naughty children. Yes, their hair is all a mess right now (it's summer and we have swim lessons almost every day so who even cares - I make them wear hats if we go out), and they fight and argue occasionally but mostly they are fun and loving and interesting and kind and talented and hardworking and thoughtful and I LOVE THEM and they even love me back.

Of course my biggest present of all time came this year which is none other than my brand new flat stomach *fanfare - applause*. I am still really tight skinned, can't take a running stride yet, can't stretch all the way up yet ...but... I can slow jog a little, can sleep on my stomach and can breathe a little bit better now. I'm still incredibly swollen as you can see by the lack of any muscle definition but that will settle down eventually. I have to say, I love not having to worry about my tummy rolling over my pants/shorts/skirt when I sit down and my pants fit in the waist AND the legs which is so nice.

Happy Birthday to me and also to my mom! I was her 30th birthday present and I wouldn't change that for anything. *on a sidenote - Happy Birthday Mom and Happy Anniversary to Brian & Christine too*

A Great Article

2011-08-09T20:26:00.002-05:00

I ran across an awesome article on BlogHer.com.

I think every parent should read it.

Why Our Parents Put Us To Shame

Of course I'm not going to fully include myself in all of the bad parenting mishaps that are pointed out in the article for the following reasons:

1. My Kids LOVE to play outside. If it wasn't so crazy hot right now, they'd be outside almost all day long. We ditched cable months ago and while we accidentally have it back now, we hardly watch TV and video game/electronics time is doled out in small portions.
2. We cook meals, all of them. AND we send out kids to school almost every single day with a lovingly packed lunch that has some fairly healthy options.
3. One thing the author didn't point out was how most children these days have no idea what chores are or how to do anything but I'm basically the task-master at this house and force my kids to work, work, work *hehehehehe* (a child has not fully experienced childhood until he/she tells their parents - I can't wait until I'm a parent and then I'm going to make my kids do ALL the work just like you make ME do ALL the work around here, harumph!)
4. I know who my neighbors are and basically what's going on in the neighborhood.
5. I force my kids to ride their bikes to and from school from day 1 of kindergarten. I see tons of parents driving back and forth when they live even closer than I do (and I live less than 1/2 mile away from it).

A few of the ways I'm full on guilty of lax or bad parenting:
1. We own several video game systems and several computer type systems. Do we really need so many? Most of the time I severely limit the playtime but I'll admit that if I have a headache or just don't want to "deal with that child" at the moment or I need to urgently get something else done then I will let them play away as long as there's no fighting or arguing going on - sometimes for hours.
2. Three of my kids have some kind of handheld gaming system - Nintendo DSi, iPod Touch, Mp3 player, etc... I did, however, make them buy these things themselves with money they earned doing odd jobs for $1.00 a job and they had to sell stuff they already had but weren't using.
3. While most of the time we don't watch a lot of TV, somedays I will just let them watch it ALL DAY LONG. Oops.
4. Don't tell, but I let my older kids drink caffeinated soda from time to time too. That wasn't mentioned in the article either because I'm sure kids only drank water and juice back when I was growing up (I know that's all I drank!). I know it's not good, it just makes them crazy.

I admit that I do think it's crazy when some random kid from the neighborhood shows up at my house wanting to play because they can hear my kids in the backyard but I have no idea where they came from, who their parents are or even what their phone number is so I can at least call the parent to let them know what's going on. I don't think I'll ever get over that.

Recovering Part 2

2011-07-24T20:54:00.003-05:00

Hands Down, the best part about recovering is laying on my bed, watching movies with the kids.

It's been just a few days past 3 weeks since my surgery and things are going pretty well. Sometimes I can stand up straight but I can't stretch at all. Most days though I cannot stand up straight, I'm still just a little bit hunched over. It's not required that I wear the heavy binders anymore but I feel really weird without them and it's almost hard to breath. The muscles feel very strong/weak at the same time. During the day I wear some Spanx under my clothes and at night - depending on the swelling - I either wear the binders or I don't.

Some odd things about recovering from a tummy tuck:

I can't eat as much as I used to be able to. I didn't eat a ton at once to begin with but now that my entire abdomen is smaller, my stomach is smushed into a smaller space too so there's less room for food. Not that I want to eat a lot - heaven's no - but I wasn't expecting this. I feel full after about 5 bites of food. I can't even finish a quesadilla from Taco Bell.

Another thing I wasn't expecting was all the swelling. I read a lot about it before the surgery and in the first two weeks afterwards but I still swell like crazy. I can't be on my feet for too long before I feel my abdomen start to get tighter and tighter. It's very frustrating. I was hoping to be able to start walking this week but I think I'll just take it easy a little while longer, until the swelling is more under control. Forget about running or working out, that seems like a distant dream right now.

Nerve pain. I wasn't expecting so much nerve pain in the 3rd week. I had intense pain the night of the surgery and the following day and limited pain depending on my movement afterwards but I have had some fairly intense nerve pain in the incision sight for my left drain. I didn't have any pain there while the drain was in, but as soon as it was pulled and the skin began to heal it was incredibly painful. Like I was being stabbed with a flaming knife that had been dipped in acid. That went on for over a week and then suddenly went away. Lucky for me, the nerve that was freaking out calmed down after about 10 days of intense pain. I seriously woke up one day and it was completely gone.

Clothing. My clothes don't fit. I knew this would happen, but not as dramatically as it has. Most of my shirts are pretty enormous and ill-fitting. I only have 2 pairs of shorts that don't look overly huge. I thought that they would fit better than they do but they just look big and without any shape. Poor me, I've had to do some shopping... I nicely slid myself into some Jr's size 7 cropped pants and some women's size 4 shorts and all size S t-shirts (and that's WITH all the swelling going on too).

My mom goes home tomorrow and then I'll be back to my real life. I'm a little scared, I'll have to let go of the housework for a while in order to get the rest I still need but I know in the long run it will all seem like a short period of time and I doubt that I will ever regret doing it:) More updates to come and eventually a picture of my Matrix-like abdomen without a belly button.

Recovering Part 1

2011-07-09T16:00:00.004-05:00

I'm assuming that I'll write more about recovering as I continue to recover, which is why I titled this "part 1".

So far, so good. The first three days were pretty horrific. Even though my friends who have had the same procedure assured me there wouldn't be too much pain, I had A LOT of pain once I got home from the hospital. My entire abdomen felt like it was on fire and in labor - having a hard contraction that would not end. I medicated and slept as much as possible for the first 24 hours. It was hard. My family was having fun and I was stuck in bed, in pain.

Some things I've learned after having abdominal surgery - don't cough, laugh or sneeze. Ever. Coughing is the worst, it hurts, a lot. Another thing, healing comes quickly. My drain levels went down very very fast. I could have had them out on the 4th and 5th day due to the low levels but they usually are in for at least a week, so I had them out on the 6th & 7th day after surgery. Life is much better without them.

While I still cannot stand up straight, I can stand up much more straight then I could when I got home. Almost all of the pain is gone with the exception of an occasional zinger of pain or burning if I move a little too quickly (which is still quite slow) and I still feel a lot of pressure and tightness.

I can't wait until I am fully healed, standing up straight, with the swelling gone. It is so nice to see my stomach look like it's supposed to look and not like some distorted version of itself.

Tight binders for at least two more weeks and then some lighter binders to ease myself back into regular life. Yay, yay.

The Tuck

2011-07-02T12:01:00.004-05:00

After my first chid was born, I looked at my body and saw a horrible tummy. Full of very deep stretch marks and extra skin sagging everywhere. I went on to have four more children and my tummy just kept getting worse. Now that I am done bearing children, my hubs and I decided that it would be just fine if I had a little plastic surgery - known as abdominoplasty or tummy tuck.

So I made the appointment with the awesome plastic surgeon who also did 2 of my friends (they look completely amazing btw). I went home from that appointment and put the numbers and scheduling together and realized that the timing was absolutely perfect to just do it now. I scheduled the surgery and yesterday went under the knife to be rid of the lumpy tummy.

My kids think it's pretty funny. We had a family counsel with them where we looked at my tummy and their flat little tummies and they thought it would be great if I got rid of it too:)

My wonderful friend, Jenner, came over to watch my kids while the hubs and I traveled to the hospital.

I was very excited once we got checked into the hospital and I got all hooked up and ready to go. My husband went a little crazy with the photos, I think he took about 20 pics that make me look like I'm dead...

I got my gown on, they stuck on the electrode thingy's to register my heart, they gave me a rather big IV needle stick so pump in all of those fluids.

The Dr came in shortly after that, grabbed one of those sterilized pens and started marking me up. It was rather funny, he pulled out a Black & Decker laser level and a traditional metal level too, to make sure the incisions would be perfectly straight and even. He also ordered an anti-nausea patch to put behind my ear so I wouldn't start to throw up when I came out of anesthesia.

They wheeled me back, cut me open, took almost 2 pounds of extra skin off, stitched me up, wrapped me up tight and send me to the recovery room where my awesome nurse and awesome husband were waiting for me. The Dr said once he pulled the skin up he noticed I already had a 6 pack and that I would look awesome after I fully healed.

I was soooo happy when it was over and I was also soooo out of it and tired too. My pain was /is pretty severe, I don't think they were expecting me to hurt so much b/c neither of my friends claimed to hurt that badly right afterwards.

Anyway, I finally made it out of the hospital bed, put my comfy clothes on and came back home where I practically passed out in my bed.

I am so glad that my husband and kids are helping out so much and I am so grateful to all of my friends who have offered encouragement and help - with my kids, with dinner, everything! My mom gets in tonight and I am so grateful that she could come and stay with me for 3 entire weeks just to make sure everything was good. Thanks mom!

Counting Blessings

2011-06-27T11:34:00.004-05:00

I feel I need to look back on the weekend with gratitude.

I'm having some elective surgery this Friday and have been a little stressed about getting everything ready before then so that the house won't be a complete disaster while I'm unable to get around. Oh yeah, my mom, brother and his wife and 3 kids are also coming this weekend to visit us. I am super excited to see them, not so much excited that my surgery got pushed up one week so that I'll be in bed while they're here instead of after they leave but looking on the bright side - THEY'RE COMING HERE!!! My kids are excited to play with their kids and we haven't seen them in years, yay for small family reunions. I'm grateful they're willing to travel the two day drive here this year. We plan to return the favor next year by going to them.

So Saturday was a little hectic trying to deep clean out all the bedrooms and in the midst of the chaos I cracked my little toe! (i was a gymnast when i was younger and they teach you to NEVER look at the floor so cracking my toe happens all the time). It hurt like crazy, I thought I had broken it because it started swelling. Today, I'm grateful that the swelling is down and that it's the summer because I can at least walk around shoe-less or in flip flops and it doesn't hurt as bad.

Yesterday was pretty uneventful until about dinner time when all of a sudden I noticed my ice cream was more like soft serve. I pushed the "turbo cool" button to push the cold air through and the fridge went completely DEAD! Ack! Holy cow, it's Sunday and I'm having surgery on Friday and my family is coming next week and the fridge is dead? What The Heck! My house is so ghetto-fabulous right now with my fridge hanging out in front... hahaha!

Well, I sure am grateful for this handy little website:

And also grateful that we happen to have a savings account with some of this in it:

And grateful for some stranger who just happened to be selling this for cheap AND he delivered it to us AND helped us get it in the house and installed in the kitchen! Thank you nice man.

While it's not as big as my old fridge, and it is missing some features that I really really loved in my old fridge, I am grateful that it works and is working well. My fridge items are frigidly cold and my freezer items are frozen solid and my ice is nice and icy.

Eventually I'm hoping to have this beauty, but until then I'm just glad to have something that works!

Today, I woke up feeling really crummy. Not just stressed out with an achy toe but like I'm coming down with a head cold but I am so grateful for modern medicine and especially these little pills that clear up my allergies/congestion/headcold pretty immediately.

Lastly, I'm grateful for my two, sweet, oldest children who have been asking me all morning what they can do to help out. Two weeks ago I agreed to watch two extra children today because their mother is recovering. Normally this would not be a problem but today it just seemed overwhelming so I assigned my boys to play with and watch over the two extra boys and they have been doing exactly that, and happily. I don't know if they will ever understand how much they really are helping me out today simply by playing with a couple of younger kids but it really is saving my sanity today.

Something new.

2011-04-12T09:05:00.004-05:00

I haven't had my hair cut in almost a year. It was getting very very long and my hair is on the thick side so it was pulling on my head and making running even more difficult than it already is. If you look on our family picture - you can get an idea on the length - it was a little bit longer in the back than pictured.

I was frustrated and finally had about 6 inched lopped off. I have to say that I Love It! The extremely talented lady who cuts my hair did a fantastic job. I told her how I style it, how I wanted to be able to style it and she gave me the perfect cut with perfectly blended layers.

This isn't the best picture, but it'll have to do. My hair might not seem short to most of the world but this is pretty short for me. Just in time for our hot hot summer weather.

The Actual Birth Day for Em

2011-04-02T20:39:00.002-05:00

For Emily's actual birthday she really wanted a new bike and we couldn't get a bike without a helmet and of course right next to the helmet are girlie looking horns so we couldn't possibly leave the store without one of those! She chose the brightest and most colorful bike they had. I had to talk her into the purple helmet with the flowers on it (because it's real helmet and she wanted a super cheap Barbie helmet that I refused to buy) by promising her the horn.

She loves this bike, she has barely gotten off it since we got it home. I think she loves it the most because she got to try a few out and actually pick it out herself. She's growing up too fast.

Not Chronologically Correct - Happy Birthday Party Emily!

2011-03-30T15:14:00.006-05:00

This is completely out of order. Jill's birthday was weeks ago but I haven't pulled those pics and edited them to post yet (not like my editing skills are great or anything, the pics just need to be touched up a bit).

Playgroup was conveniently at my house this week which made it super easy to have a birthday party for Emily. No real invitations needed, the kids were already going to be showing up at my house and the regular group kids would even bring their own packed lunch! Super!

Emily wanted yellow cupcakes this year, yellow like the smiling sun and like her bright and happy personality. When we sat down to sing happy birthday, those 3 & 4 year olds really belted it out! I wish I had video'd it so everyone could hear just how excited they all were for Em to blow out the candles.

My genius idea this year was instead of doing goodie bags I would just buy that $20 helium balloon kit that you can get just about anywhere and the kids could all go home with a balloon and also a little pack of silly bands (not pictured).

The kids LOVED the balloons. It was totally worth it. For the party they just played like they usually do, we had lunch, cleaned up, sang happy birthday, had cupcakes, blew up balloons, played some more and then the mom's showed up and everyone went home.

Emily is so happy she was able to have such a fun, big party. Today is not her real birthday, when that day roles around I'm sure we'll have lunch at McDonald's in party hats like last year and then open a few family presents.

There are 4 years in between Jillian and Emily. Those were 4 agonizing and trial filled years that changed my life forever. I remember when we were finally in a position to be having more children and I was finally pregnant again how happy and relieved I was. That happiness was short lived when I miscarried at only 8 weeks pregnant. After my tears dried up and I vented all my frustration and waited 6 weeks per doctors orders we tried again and the pregnancy stuck and 8 1/2 months later little Emily was born into this world. We called her Genevieve in utero, it was weird to look at her after she was born and not know what to call her because there was no way I was calling her Genevieve from Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses! Only hours before we left the hospital we decided on Emily Jane.

I feel lucky to have her every day. She is my eternal optimist, always happy, always able to make a sad situation happy, always ready to tell me "it's ok mom" or "it was just an accident" (as if I should just let everything roll off my back) with a sweet smile on her face. She is moving moving moving ALL the time. I wish I had some of her energy, oh the things I could accomplish. Happy Birthday (in a few days) my sweet little girl.

Pinewood Derby 2011! The Most Delicious Derby Yet

2011-03-27T18:35:00.003-05:00

Andrew was really excited for the Pinewood Derby this year. He knew exactly what he wanted his car to look like. He always has really great ideas for things like this.

His car looked delicious! He and Robert studied a Hershey's candy bar intently before eating it. Then they drew a diagram and finally cut out the car, painted it and applied the wrapper.

We are always a little anxious on race day. You build the car the best you can but you never really know how fast it is going to be until it goes down the track against your competitors. Andrew's car was pretty fast! We were all excited about that.

He won 2nd Place in his den, 1st place was a little boy named Joseph who's dad builds extremely good cars - I mean, this guy's got it down to a science! Andrew's car was barely behind him so we felt pretty good about that. Andrew was ecstatic that he won quite a few races. (Andrew's car is in the far lane, Joseph's is in the near lane, I don't know who's in the middle).

It was a fun year. Our pinewood derby's are always great and run really smoothly. All of the boys had a good attitude and had a lot of fun. Can't wait to see what Andrew comes up with for next year.

Facepalm?

2011-03-06T21:51:00.003-06:00

We started trenching to install our underground sprinkler system on Saturday. We've had the landscaping plans finalized for over a year and had the supplies bought for the sprinklers for months now. We missed our window last fall and need to get them in the ground before summer hits and it's a bazillion degrees outside.

So, I went outside in the early evening to help Robert clear out the trenches and I gave specific instructions to my older 3 children that they were to watch over the younger 2 children while I was outside helping their father. They were supposed to play with them, keep them out of trouble and help them with food if the babies needed anything to eat. They could come out in the backyard to get me if they needed anything.

Maybe 30 minutes later I came inside to check on everything and I found this:

Jillian had nicely fixed a dinner for Emily consisting of fruit salad (good), two kids of chips (okay?) and white rice with soy sauce (good). Not so bad here.

But then I looked over at John and he was just sucking down on a two-liter of soda! What the Heck! I asked the big kids if they knew what John was up to and James just replied without even turning his head "John's fine, he's playing". Total facepalm moment!

As I looked over at my 3 big kids - here's how they were. Not to mention my blinds are messed up in the background - who did that?! Seriously guys, TV is not more important than your little brother...

I need to brush up on my -teaching the older siblings how to take care of the younger siblings- skills because I have seriously failed in some aspects here. At least my sweet Jillian actually thought about something healthy and tasty for her little sister. I overlooked the fact that she left a HUGE mess in the kitchen from this little meal & the fridge had been left wide open.

Dear My Life,

2011-02-15T20:45:00.003-06:00

One Day I would like a house with a lot of windows in it. And I mean A LOT of windows!

I really hate it when I can't open the blinds and see the outside from every single space inside the house (especially when the weather is not so good).

And I'd really like to frame each of those windows so they would each be like a hung picture on the wall, a picture of the amazing world outside.

Today the weather ended up being wonderful. Mid-70's with a great breeze. I opened up all the windows I could to just let it fill the house but I didn't have enough. Maybe enough in my kitchen but everywhere else, not so much. I would be in the family room and hear the kids outside and turn to see what they were doing but there was a wall in the way of my view! Ugh!

One day, maybe.

Thanks,

Marie.

Exhibit A: Windows Pass

Exhibit B: Windows FAIL (just so everyone can grasp how lame this is, that couch is 101 inches long and this is the only window for this entire enormous room! Why didn't the builder put a single window on each side of this one double window??? Why??? Insanity I tell ya, pure insanity. I guess I'll have to save my pennies to hire a contractor)

Snow Day - Yes, Even In Texas!!!

2011-02-06T16:53:00.003-06:00

Even though we live in hot Texas, it snows here almost every year - but only for a day or two and just about everything shuts down for inclement weather. It's a little funny that no one wants to drive when it snows, we lived in Utah for a short while and I had to drive to and from work while it was practically a blizzard outside but hey, if you've lived in Texas all your life it's a pretty scary thing.

The kids had been praying for some snow. They made snowflakes and taped them on the backdoor in hopes their prayers would be answered. We woke up on Friday to a beautiful, white, winter wonderland. There was a soft layer of snow over the entire ground and the neighborhood was completely silent. At least until about 7 am when everyone's kids started waking up, Ha! You could hear the excitement of the neighborhood kids all over the place, especially since the noise of vehicles was absent.

My kids got up and were soo excited, they wanted to go out right away into the freezing cold snow so we bundled them up and let them loose. They loved it! After an hour or two a few friends found their way over to our house and played here too. The bigger kids used the coolers and made some big snowy/ice blocks.

After a fun morning outside, the sun came out and started melting the snow. We hung up all the heavy jackets, had some hot cocoa to warm those frozen fingers and toes then the kids just played and relaxed the rest of the day. It was so enjoyable to just relax with the kids. Robert only had to work a few short hours and was with us most of the day too. (he's the mystery man with the bandana over his face).

I mainly just stayed inside, I have no desire to be cold in my mid-30's. It take my fingers and toes way too long to thaw after getting cold so I just stayed inside, behind the camera lens. I might not have such a problem if I dressed properly for the weather though, whaddya think?

Is It Really So Hard? (a slight rant on the ease of cooking for oneself)

2011-02-04T20:42:00.004-06:00

On occasion I tend to peruse news websites like Fox News and CNN and one of the articles on CNN kinda rubbed me the wrong way. OK, it was not the article itself - I actually found that to be helpful - it was the READER COMMENTS that starting rubbing me the wrong way.

The article is USDA says Halt the Salt

It basically talks about the new USDA food guidelines and targets salt intake since there is a new/lower recommendation on how much salt we should really be consuming in our every day diets.

Those commenters were saying how impossible it would be to follow these guidelines because they would have to pack their own lunch and make their own dinners *gasp*. What a concept - cooking for oneself instead of relying on a restaurant to do it for you. Sheesh.

So here's what I fixed the kids for lunch that day. Chicken & cheese quesadilla's on whole wheat/grain tortilla's with carrot sticks and apple juice. It took me all of 5 minutes to whip this together, it's well within the new salt guidelines, it was super filling (that whole wheat will fill that tummy fast) and I knocked out all 5 food groups in one simple meal - chicken & cheese (protein/meat), cheese (dairy), carrots (veggies), apple juice (100% juice - fruits), wheat tortilla's (grains/carbs).

It's not so hard, you can do it and it will taste good!

Oh Yeah, There's that 5th Child I had a couple of years ago...

2011-02-04T12:13:00.003-06:00

I found a minute today to sit down and go through my SD Card to try and update the blog with all our Christmas pictures when I found...

All the pictures from John's 2nd Birthday!!! I have completely forgotten that we celebrated a birthday in December for my last born (whoops).

Yay, Happy Belated Birthday in the Blogging World to my cute little chubbers baby John!
John loves loves loves -almost to an obsession - all things Toy Story. We got him a Toy Story cake and he LOVED it!!! For a present he got two heavy duty trucks to play with and a few accessories to go with them. I've found out that it's tough having a child with a December birthday because it's sandwiched in between two major holidays Thanksgiving - Christmas. I think we'll have another party in June to really celebrate? I dunno, it took me almost two months to get around to these pictures so we'll see.

John might be the baby but he definitely doesn't get pushed around OR spoiled rotten in this house. When the kids try to swindle him out of his treats or fun toys he just shoves them out of the way and goes about his business, he's even taken to giving people "panks" (spanks) when they really cheese him off! *note - we do not spank our kids unless they are about to literally kill themselves or someone else* He's really good at saying "NO", but he also is really good at asking "please" when he would like something and then saying "thank you" when you help him or get him something. The other day I made myself some toast for breakfast when he walked up to me, took my toast off my plate and politely replied "Thank You". How could I not let him take it after that? He's a great sidekick for his older and very spunky/active sister, Emily. They are buddies together and LOVE to play.
Happy Birthday Buddy, so glad you came to our family, we wouldn't be complete without you!

Falling Far Behind?

2011-01-27T08:40:00.005-06:00

On My Blogging! I feel so far behind on my blog. I still haven't added the videos of James at the piano recital or anything from Christmas morning! Ahhhhh. Sometimes I feel like I need to put my life on hold so I can get caught up on it, grrr.

But in the meantime I've been thinking a lot about what a person can do for themselves to be really happy. A lot of those things fall in line with the boy scout motto, here's a few:

-Trust in God and Christ (I'm religious and this matters a lot to me)
-Be Honest
-Be Hard Working
-Laugh at yourself more than at others
-Don't take everything so seriously
-Be Respectful
-Do stuff for other people (without feeling the need to be recognized for it), sounds weird but it'll make you feel really good about yourself!
-Be a good friend and make some new friends
-Smile at strangers in the grocery store or wherever you're out and about
-Give a genuine Thank You to the person who holds the door open for you or that checker or salesperson who's helping you out, the surprised Thank You in return in always good for a little chuckle - like people don't expect to be thanked?
-Realize that you can only control your own actions and re-actions, nobody else's.
-Eat Healthy (think old school food guide pyramid)
-Exercise - at least 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes each time
-Have some Real, Genuine Friends and be a Real, Genuine Friend
-Let it go - physical, mental, emotional baggage - just let it go. You'll be much lighter without carrying all that junk around with you and trust me, it's actually really easy to do.

These aren't in any kind of order, just what's been on my mind lately. We have been financially strapped and dowright poor and have also been financially OK, almost very well off and the one thing I've found in my somewhat short life is this: Money has nothing to do with personal happiness. OK, it might make life a little bit easier if you have at least enough to pay your bills and a little leftover for savings and some fun but I've found the more money you have usually coincides with the more complicated you tend to make your own life! Crazy, right - but totally true. The less complicated I make my life, the less stressed out I am and the more I feel successful because I am not so overloaded with tasks that one person cannot possibly accomplish.

Another thought I've had is this, your real friends don't care what clothes you wear or what car you drive or how fancy your house is, they care about YOU and only YOU (ok, they might care if you're wearing dirty clothes and you stink but that is another issue). They love you through your annoying trials and through all your hardships and your joys.

Lastly, something else that really makes me happy is supporting my husband in all of his good endeavors and watching him succeed. This also applies to my children, supporting them and watching them succeed makes me incredibly happy too. This usually comes around to benefit me, if my husband gets my support then I get his in return and when my children get my support and succeed they tend to be happier, not argue as much with each other and are enjoyable to be around. This doesn't mean that I let my husband and my kids walk all over me, supporting also means providing rules and boundaries that need to be met/followed.

So, overall, I'd say I'm pretty happy right now. Sure, I'm not a size 4 (which I would really like to be) but I eat good, exercise, work hard, do stuff for other people, try to always be honest, polite and nice and all that other stuff. Since I'll be 35 later this year I thought I'd take inventory and I think I'm on the right track of where I wanted to be and where I'm at in my life.

(my poor running partners probably don't see this side of me very often since I usually air all my grievances while we're pounding the pavement - they are my good friends to put up with me in the early hours of the morning, 3 days a week - thanks guy!)

I just typed my thoughts here, no going back for edits to make it "perfect". Happiness, it's a good thing.

Piano Recital - Andrew

2010-12-22T14:49:00.002-06:00

I don't know why he looks so chubby...

There's one more I'll add later, it was taking too long to upload.

Piano Recital - Jillian

2010-12-22T13:43:00.002-06:00

Black Friday Shopping

2010-11-28T17:24:00.004-06:00

I had to snap a pic of R's slick outfit for his black friday shopping! His little brother worked at Toys R Us many many years ago and somehow we ended up with his workshirt.

R even went to TRU and walked around like he was checking up on the employees and directing frantic customers the wrong way. Hilarious, I thought it was brilliant.

Since most of our Christmas shopping is already done, we didn't have much to do this Black Friday. I stocked up on school clothes for the kids since a few stores had an additional 50% off your entire purchase. I had a $20 cash rebate from the Children's Place and a 20% off coupon to stack on top of the 50% off and ended up paying $1.08 for 3 pairs of boys jeans - what a deal.

John got some early Christmas gifts, a new fleece sweatshirt and a cute knit hat to keep his huge noggin warm on our cold winter days (the few that we have here).

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T17:07:00.005-06:00

We had a feast on Thanksgiving Day! We invited over 3 other families and a couple to share Thanksgiving with.

First I had to empty out the fridge to make room for the bucket to brine the turkey (I didn't get a pic of the bucket in the fridge:( )

Then the fridge slowly began to pile up with food in various stages of preparation. A few pies were complete, sweet potato casserole was almost complete, green bean casserole was in many different dishes just waiting to be assembled and so on...

The Green Bean Casserole was delicious,

As was the Sweet Potato Casserole

Everyone pitched in and brought different things so we had a variety of food and loads of it! Everyone was stuffed AND went home with plenty of leftovers.

Of course it wouldn't be Thanksgiving with PIE and we had lots of that too! I think there were about 13 different kinds of pies, each one was tasty and delicious.

One of our friends brought a game - the Candy Game - for the kids to play. It's pretty simple. Get a board and label it with numbers 2-12 except no number 7. Some numbers are on the board twice. Put a small prize on every number and roll the dice, you get the prize that's on the number you roll - if there's two numbers on the board then you get to pick between them. Keep replacing the prizes until there's none left and keep on rolling until all the prizes are gone! The kids had a blast and each went home with a small bag of prizes that ranged from lollipops to water guns to puzzles to tape to headbands to a stapler. There was a wide variety of prize items.

Lastly and after everyone left there was the dishes to be done. It was completely worth it. We had a great Thanksgiving and are so grateful we have wonderful friends who share this holiday with us every year.

Finishing Up Halloween

2010-11-28T16:39:00.002-06:00

...and some final snapshots from Halloween...

Gearing UP!

2010-11-20T19:29:00.002-06:00

For our Thanksgiving Day Party! We love to have a HUGE Thanksgiving meal but we live far far away from all of our extended family. To remedy this problem, we invite families over who are like us, on their own! I think in the past we've had 40 people over for the big day. Food, Friends (who are just like family) and Fun. There is simply nothing better.

This is what happens when...

2010-11-17T09:29:00.003-06:00

My almost two year old little boy hangs out with a 4 and 3 year old girl all day long!

The three of them were so stinkin' cute running around all day long in their dress-up dresses!

Dear Santa... We need more seating please!

2010-11-05T23:29:00.004-05:00

Dear Santa,

Our kitchen table is just a touch too small for us these days:

If you could bring me this set - with one more chair than pictured - I would really really appreciate it! We can comfortable squish 3 kids on that bench and if we had 3 chairs across the other side with one on each end that would be 8 seats at our table! Enough room for us and a couple of friends. (i know this because we went to world market and tested it out)

Love,

Me & the kids:)

Jumping

2010-11-03T14:48:00.002-05:00

John finally learned how to jump with both feet at the same time! He thinks it is the greatest thing ever. He loves to jump on the trampoline, even in the rain.

A Big Day for James

2010-10-10T21:24:00.002-05:00

Today James was ordained to the office of a Deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood. It was a big day for all of us. We are all very proud of James, he is making good decisions in his life that will only lead to success and accomplishments as he grows older.

Of course he is always out for some laughs too...

Happy Birthday James! #12

2010-10-03T14:18:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday to James a few days ago. Our oldest child turned the grand age of 12. This is a big birthday for him, he'll receive the Aaronic Priesthood in church and move to the Deacon's Quorum.

To start of the celebratory day he asked for Eggo waffles and whipped cream for breakfast... (try not to look so excited)

In the evening he opened a few small presents which were new church pants, boxers and a game he had really wanted, Warhawks.

When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted to said just a plain white cake with white frosting and blue letters that said Happy Birthday James and he wanted the filling to be like marshmallow. The marshmallow filling he's talking about is really boiled frosting or Italian Meringue. It's his favorite thing and we don't make it too often. My helpers Emily and John had a good time making this with me.

On Friday he was allowed to have 1 friend over for a late night of hanging out and playing video games. Somehow the one friend turned into 3 friends. There was a lot of battling during the evening - nurf gun battling, tag battling, video game battling... oh boys! They had fun.

Happy Birthday James, you are growing up too fast!

My Little Helpers

2010-10-03T14:12:00.003-05:00

I have so much fun with all of my little helpers.

Last Christmas Robert received a meat grinder attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer. He didn't really know what to think of it and didn't really know if he wanted to keep it but since he aspires to be a hunter, I wouldn't let him return it.

Emily and John had such a fun time "helping" him grind up some meat today that a friend gave him from a kill last week. It's just been sitting in our freezer. The three of them had so much fun trying it out, it was a little disturbing but the meat made some tasty burgers.

Then we made some homemade bread and two other wonderful helpers - Jillian and Andrew - were so good at helping me by telling me how delicious the kitchen smelled. They helped so much to pick up toys before getting a slice of delicious bread.

Thank you little helpers, I don't know what I'd do without you.

Andrew graduates to the Bear Den

2010-10-03T14:09:00.002-05:00

At our last pack meeting Andrew fulfilled all of his requirements to earn his Wolf badge and move up into the Bear Den.

I got to be pinned with a Wolf Pin.

Andrew and his friend, Christopher, are very close in age and move up together in scouting. They both got the paw print of the wolf on their faces to show they had fulfilled the requirements of the Wolf. It was a fun pack meeting.

Congratulations Andrew and Christopher.

Mother of the Year

2010-09-28T08:53:00.006-05:00

Well, Not Quite... Apparently I need to follow up with some of my children and their assigned tasks. I haven't checked the upstairs (kids) bathroom in a few days and this is what I found this morning

That is blue nailpolish all over the countertop and you can't see the mirror very well but it is covered in water spots and tooth-brushing spray. I was honestly surprised the toilet had at least been flushed but it hasn't been scrubbed inside the bowl for a while, the lid was left up just for my viewing pleasure. Kids. What else can be said. You gotta love 'em.

The New Love of my Life

2010-09-15T15:21:00.005-05:00

A girl can never be too excited over new shoes, right??? After all, it's in our DNA!

I went into the store looking for some tank tops and shorts and came out with these beauties instead! They are so comfortable and cushioned. They turn my feet just the right way. I immediately put them on as soon as I got home and wore them all afternoon. No break-in time was necessary, I am in LOVE!!!

A few months ago I was really mad at Adidas for discontinuing my beloved Adistar Control shoe but I've found something even better. Dear Adidas, Your AdiStar Ride 2 shoes can run with me anytime... HEAVEN.

Andrew turns the big 0-9

2010-09-03T21:03:00.002-05:00

9 Years Ago, on the actual Labor Day Holiday, Andrew was born. I can't remember exactly what time in the morning it was but I think it might have been around 7 or 8 am??? He came into this world in a little jolt of excitement and continues to keep things exciting in our family. Andrew is surely our comedian, always joking, laughing, smiling and always happy. He enjoys playing. All kinds of playing. Playing outside, playing inside, playing lego's, playing Jedi master, playing on the trampoline, playing soccer, playing piano, playing jokes on someone, playing, playing, playing!

Andrew is so much fun to have around. He is also our little tender heart. He is very sincere, sweet and kind. At the mighty age of 4, he was already realizing how much girls like to be complimented and was complimenting his little friend Kelci on her shoes and new haircut:)

Andrew has a lot of friends but wanted to spend his birthday with just one friend, Ethan. Andrew finished reading the Book of Mormon this week and earned a free video game day which he saved for today. Ethan came home from school with Andrew today and they have been going nuts playing! I made them take some breaks to eat dinner, play outside and have birthday donuts. They are great friends.

Happy Birthday Big Guy!!!

Happy Anniversary

2010-08-28T21:55:00.002-05:00

Our Anniversary was actually last week, on the 21st of August. We've been married for 13 years!!! Wow, that seems like a long time when I type it out, or say the words but they seem to have gone by in an instant. I know I sound like a really old person when I say things like "it just seems like yesterday we were driving home from the temple when we got married..." or "you were just a baby, and now you're almost 12!"... and junk like that but IT'S TRUE!!!

Time is flying by so fast, I just want to enjoy my children and my husband right now, just as they are and experience life with them and see it through their eyes and my own eyes. Every day is a gift and will be gone when I wake up tomorrow so I'm trying to just enjoy all the wonderful things I have today because in a blink of an eye, 13 more years will have gone by just like the past 13 did.

We had an AWESOME evening out though. First we went to an exhibit:

Our Body: The Universe Within
http://www.ourbodytheuniversewithin.com/

Yeah, it's the one where you see the dead bodies without any skin. It was a little smaller of an exhibit than I had hoped for but still very interesting. It was so neat to see actual human organs up close and see a healthy organ right next to a diseased organ. It's much better than just looking at a picture in a book. Call me creepy or morbid or whatever but it was interesting.

Next we ate at my all-time favorite restaurant. That's right, none other than the one and only...

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse... (yay, applause/fanfare)
www.ruthschris.com

I went once four years ago and have been dying to go back ever since. I think I will make this a yearly tradition. Oh how I love a good filet mignon.

After a delicious dinner we made a quick stop at a little Italian restaurant called Mandola's and picked up a dessert to go. I got the carrot cake and it did not disappoint.

It was such a nice evening, much better than a movie or something ordinary. We went with some friends, talked the whole evening, had a lot of good laughs and just enjoyed the hot August evening.

I Don't Know

2010-08-26T15:30:00.002-05:00

John learned a new phrase! I heard it for the first time this morning and have been laughing all day over it. He is so cute.

Hallelujah, School Begins Again!

2010-08-24T10:25:00.004-05:00

We had a long and lazy summer and while I really enjoyed spending so much time with my older kids, we were ready for school to start again.

James is heading into the 7th grade this year. Middle school starts at 6th grade so this will be his second year in middle school. Even though I told him it would be 105 degrees by the time he came home from school, he still wore long jeans... Crazy Kid. He is excited to go out for Robotics Club this year, the child is a braniac and on his way to becoming a neurologist.

Andrew is heading in the 3rd grade. He is very excited to be doing more science this year. He is also excited to be seeing all of his friends again. Andrew is super social at school and has a ton of friends. Everywhere we go it seems that one of Andrew's friends is there and always says hi to him.

Jillian is getting so old, going into 2nd grade. I can't believe how big she is getting. I mainly have a hard time with her growing up because she was my baby for 4 years until Emily came along. She is excited to see all of her friends and for her new class. She has the same teacher as Andrew had last year.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2010-08-24T10:20:00.002-05:00

This year I decided I was not going to bake and decorate my own cake so we bought one at Sam's Club - complete with Tinkerbell decorations:)

I did have to light it myself though - you can see in the background my lovely birthday present - a smaller cooler on wheels. I requested this to help me out at the pool. It fits drinks, snacks, lunch and ice and I can wheel it in using one hand while carrying a bag and a towel and holding hands with one of my littlest ones. It's super helpful.

And then I blew out the candles and turned a whopping 34 years old... Life continues...

It's Been A Hot Summer

2010-08-24T10:12:00.002-05:00

We are fortunate to have a nice amenity center in our neighborhood with two cool and refreshing pools to swim in. It helped up cool off during the last three months.

And of course when we just couldn't make it to the pool, the kids improvised in the backyard!

No Pants

2010-08-04T15:34:00.001-05:00

I went to the grocery store last week but John had no clean shorts so I took him in a t-shirt, diaper and his crocs. While we were checking out the cashier was making small talk about how I had a lot of kids and how did I manage? I answered: "well, obviously not very well since my youngest is pant-less." His response was hilarious: "You know, some things are really over-rated anyway."

That made me feel really good. I do usually make my kids were shorts or pants when we go out but in the evenings, I've realized that Emily and John usually run around in their skivvies in the backyard. To them pants are over-rated when it's hot and you're playing hard!

Too Full to Stay Awake

2010-08-04T15:29:00.003-05:00

I have never had a child fall asleep in the high chair until now. I guess I waited too long to feed him lunch before his nap... That really doesn't look very comfy????

Cub Scout Day Camp

2010-08-04T15:18:00.005-05:00

Day Camp was actually way back in June, I just haven't pulled the pictures and organized them until now.

Camp was really really fun. The theme for the specific camp we went to was...

Jedi Knight Training!

The boys were really excited. Andrew was able to go last year, making this year his 2nd year attending day camp. The boys entered at the beginning of the week as Padawans. At the closing campfire there was a big ceremony where the kids all graduated to become Jedi Knights.

James was able to attend this year as an 11-Year Boy Scout helper/assistant. He helped mainly at the Arts & Crafts station and had a lot of fun too. A lot of his friends were there as helpers too.

I ran one of the stations this year, making it possible for Jillian to also go to day camp this year almost every day. She went one day last year and really wanted to go back. She graduated to be a Padawan.

The kids had a blast and did so many activities. Yay for Cub Scouts!!!

4th of July

2010-07-05T08:19:00.012-05:00

On Saturday morning we woke up to these little flags posted at the end of everyone's driveway, right next to the street. A local realtor had put them up at every house in our neighborhood. It was awesome to drive down the streets and see them lined with American Flags, it was AWESOME!

We Love the 4th of July!!! It's one of our favorite holidays. The 4th fell on Sunday this year, so on Saturday morning we headed off to the Fireworks Warehouse and then to Cabela's.

The kids love to walk around and look at everything there. They also had a bin of caps for $2.99 so everybody (except Emily) got a new cap. There wasn't any that would come close to fitting Emily so she missed out on this, she's my only child with a regular sized noggin so the adult caps were humongous on her.

We would have swam but the weather has been rainy rainy rainy.

We couldn't let Independence Day go by without inviting our friends and all their kids over to light some fireworks. I was so happy that so many people could make it and hang out with us. Everybody seemed to have a good time. It seemed a little crazy, but everyone was smiling and laughing.

There were plenty of snacks for everyone to munch on. Here are some of Emily's little friends that came to hang out with us.

My fantastic neighbor came over this year. She is really great, I'm very fortunate to have her as a neighbor.

Emily woke up John partway through the fireworks. She said "he needed to wake up". He was sooo tired but my mom hung out with him for a little while so he could watch the fireworks too, then back to bed for that sleepy head.

We found some great sparklers this year. They were really long so you wouldn't burn your hand and they burned for a lot longer than regular sparklers. Everyone had a fun time with those - apart from all the big fireworks that we had going on too.

This picture of Brent & his daughter McKenely is probably my favorite of the entire night:

Our party wound down close to 10:30, but I could hear fireworks and kids playing in our neighborhood until about 1:00 am.

We watched a lot of good explosions, chatted with some good friends, ate some good munchies and thoroughly enjoyed our 4th of July.

We are so grateful for our freedom, the freedom to have this kind of event, to attend church on Sunday - any church we choose to, to vote, to freely speak and of course the right to bare arms.

Our country is great and amazing! Happy Independence Day!

(if you make it to the end of this post, you can click this link and check out just a small sample of what was going on at our place... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFE5OO5aB0c )

Summer Weather

2010-07-02T14:40:00.002-05:00

We are having some lovely summer rains right now - although I wish it would clear up just a little so we could go swimming while my mom is here visiting. These dark grey/black clouds dumped rain on us but it's still pretty gray and cool out... At least we don't have to water the lawn.

It Just Wouldn't Be Summer Without A Slip N Slide

2010-06-19T17:13:00.004-05:00

The kids are having a blast on it.

All Consuming

2010-06-18T11:04:00.002-05:00

Sprinklers, sprinklers and more sprinklers...
I can't wait until this project is done!

Conversation of the day...

2010-06-10T17:11:00.001-05:00

Jillian: "Mom, what's a c-section?"

Me: "It's when they have to cut the mommy's tummy open to get the baby out."

Jillian: "What!"

Me: "Yes, when a mommy can't have a baby the regular way, they cut her tummy open to get the baby out and it's called a c-section. It's short for cesarean section."

Jillian: "Oh, I thought it was a name for a room in your house or something."

You know it's summer...

2010-06-07T15:13:00.003-05:00

...When's it's super bright out before 7:00 am......and we start eating a lot of this yummy stuff:Pretty soon my kids will be so tan from swimming and playing in the backyard, I will hardly be able to recognize them!

Last Day Of School

2010-06-07T15:07:00.004-05:00

My school-aged children made it through another year (and so did I somehow)!

James will be moving into 7th grade this year and successfully navigated his way through his first year of middle-school. He doesn't appear to have been warped too much by the whole experience. He really enjoyed the demands of 6th grade in middle school and just about every day was a "great day" at school.Andrew finished up 2nd grade and is heading into 3rd next year. He had a lot of fun and learned a lot of science this year. I have so many funny stories Andrew wrote this year, one day I will get around to scanning and posting them. He also played fall and spring soccer and did very well and made a lot of new friends.Jillian is now reading and writing fairly well as she has finished up the 1st grade. She's excited to start science in the 2nd grade. Hopefully next year she can have the same teacher for the entire year. In both Kinder and first she had a change in teacher mid-year which is a little traumatizing when you're just starting out in school.Good job Kids!

My Top 5 Purchases Ever.

2010-05-27T17:25:00.003-05:00

Top 5 Purchases:

5. Shotgun: I know, some of you out there in the world are anti-firearm but let me tell you, nothing makes me feel more safe at night than knowing there is a shotgun in a safe in my house that my husband can get to and load quickly if there is an intruder. Not to mention, if you take care of it, it'll last forever and never needs replacing. I'm not allowed to post pictures or specifics about our firearms on the www.

4. Treadmill: there were many years I couldn't afford a gym membership and had 3 little kids running around making a double stroller un-doable. I didn't want to exercise in front of anybody or where anyone could see me. My treadmill has logged thousands of miles and still runs. I need to tighten the belt but I will never regret having it in my house, even if I don't use it much right now, I know I will again and have used it a lot in the past already. It has helped relieved much stress out of my life.

3. Gas BBQ Grill: We love us some grilled food and the gas grill was expensive when we didn't have a lot of money but we use that thing all the time! It helps me feel really safe and secure also knowing that we can cook a full and hot meal if the power goes out. We get some nasty storms in Texas and it's always a possibility that one day we'll be without power for an extended period of time. Gas grill = hot, cooked food no matter what.

2. Front Loading Washer & Dryer: Some might be shocked this didn't make the #1 slot but it was a tough call to make. If anyone out there is on the fence about buying a front loading washer and dryer, just do it! These past 18 months that I've owned them I have saved hours of my life. Clothes are cleaner, loads are bigger so I'm doing less of them, stains are coming out without scrubbing, they are dry before the washer gets done because the washer spins so much water out. Not to mention I'm using only 1/3 detergent & softener than before and my water bill is consistently $20 less than when I had a top-loading machine. I am so grateful we finally got them just to help ease a little more the burden of my housework.

1. Bissell Steam-Vac: Holy cow, anyone who has kids and carpet absolutely needs one of these! We use it sometimes daily and almost weekly in our house. No more massive spots on the carpet or scrubbing diaper explosions on hands & knees. It heats the water inside the machine so the carpet gets cleaned with hot water, it sucks the dirty water into a seperate compartment from the clean so it's not getting recycled back into the carpet. I Love, Love, Love this machine. I have use it on the floor, furniture and in my car and it has paid for itself many many many times over.

So that's it. I just felt like sharing this info to the world wide web, even though I think I only have about 5 readers to my blog, who are also my family members:)

More Piano Recital

2010-05-25T17:31:00.002-05:00

Piano Recital

2010-05-24T09:46:00.003-05:00

The Express!

2010-05-24T09:37:00.005-05:00

We have our very own AAA Baseball team. It feeds into the Houston Astros. It's so much fun to go to the games. There's bermuda grass behind the outfield you can sit and the tickets are super affordable. The kids can roll around while watching the game. We went for FHE a few Mondays ago and had a lot of fun. Mondays are also $1.00 hot dog night so we chowed down on some dogs too.

Beach to Bay

2010-05-24T09:24:00.003-05:00

I recently ran in a relay marathon in Corpus Christi with some friends. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have! It's kind of hard to run while holding onto a camera. There was a huge rainstorm during the race that I ran in. I ran 2 of the 6 legs for a total of 9.03 miles. I was very happy with my run, even though I was running in what seemed like a flood at times. By the time I was done I was completely soaked through and through but it didn't matter because I did well!

Hopefully next year the sun will be out so I can run and even out my farmer tan a little better:)

Pinewood Derby

2010-05-24T09:18:00.003-05:00

James graduated to 11 year old scouts in September so Andrew is our only Cub Scout right now. The Pinewood Derby was a few months ago but I've been slacking on blogging. He was very excited for his first derby.

He designed his car after the game "Connect Four". His car is the one in the middle. Everyone loved the concept of it - very original. It raced well, not the fastest but certainly not the slowest. Andrew did a great job drawing the design, sanding and painting it.

Of course one of the most favorite things about the Pinewood Derby is the all you can eat popcorn from the popcorn maker.

Great Job Andrew!!!

More Easter

2010-05-24T09:08:00.003-05:00

I knew I had taken more pictures of Easter - they were on the other memory card in the other camera! I need to remember to use the better camera more often, I'm not super happy with the quality of these pics.

We decorated some awesome tie-dye and glitter eggs for Easter. The kids loved how they came out, it was a little more messy than the usually dipping in vinegar but it was a lot of fun for everyone.

For Easter I made this cool cake. I haven't seriously attempted to decorate a cake in quite a while, I need to brush up on my skills. It was very delicious but Allysa is totally kicking my bootie in the cake decorating department.

We have had Easter with our friends Colette and Mark just about every year we've been here. They are a great family with 5 boys! They hosted at their house this year and cooked such a delicious dinner, thanks Colette.

After we stuffed ourselves silly, the kids hunted for candy eggs. They loved it and all felt like they walked away with a huge stash. The weather was so nice, everyone had a great time. It was nice to be together as a family and also visiting with our good friends and their family too.

Shoes

2010-05-13T17:07:00.003-05:00

I could seriously shop for little girls shoes for HOURS. They are so dang cute! I went shopping today for shoes for James and Jillian when Emily and I ran across these hot little numbers. Emily went nuts over them and just HAD to have them - she would not allow us to leave the store without them. Luckily at the Vans outlet they were affordably priced at $10.00. She loves them. I tried to persuade her towards the purple/black plaid ones but she had to have the shiny, black patent leather instead. She loves them, they were cheap, we're both happy.

Mother's Day

2010-05-10T21:54:00.003-05:00

This one is for you mom (and dad)! A shout out to an old Oroville tradition of wearing an orchid corsage to church on Mother's Day. I really love it, but my mom hates it, she prefers roses or other flowers on her corsage. Robert truly delivered this year with not one, but two corsages so Jillian could wear one and feel beautiful too. Happy Mother's Day! Moms RULE!

Our Favorite Food...

2010-05-10T21:50:00.000-05:00

is Pizza! We make it and eat it all the time! Yummmm....... Robert makes the best pizza dough. We love it!

Then there was Easter

2010-05-10T21:48:00.003-05:00

Okay, don't ask me why I have such crummy pictures of only 2 of my kids for Easter. All of them were dressed really cute, the girls got these new dresses. They were adorable. I didn't even set up the picture very well, you can see all our trash in our backyard - yuck! But Easter came and went and was great.

I ran a race too

2010-05-10T21:43:00.004-05:00

Moving right along. Way back in March I ran my first race since moving to Texas. Hopefully it is the first of many races as I'm trying really hard to get back into running and improving my distance time. It was the Cowtown Shack 10k (6.2 miles) in Ft. Worth, TX. My time was pretty sad, I averaged just over 11 minute miles. It was a lot of fun though, I went with some great ladies and had a great experience.

Yes, Sometimes it Snows In Texas!

2010-05-10T21:38:00.003-05:00

A while ago it snowed, I think a while before our vacation so this post is not in chronological order but all the whiners out there keep complaining that I'm not updating my blog often enough:) I say that with a lot of LOVE... Emily was so mesmerized by the snow, she loved it. It really was beautiful to look out the back window and see the entire neighborhood covered in white.

Vacation 2010 (beware - the longest post EVER)

2010-03-19T16:22:00.013-05:00

We haven't had a vacation that was just us in For-Ev-Er. Way back last summer Jillian made a request that we go to Disneyland for her birthday. It was such a fantastic idea that we decided to do it. After researching airline ticket prices we decided it would be more prudent for us to just drive all the way from East Texas to Anaheim, California.

So On Friday, March 5th we started driving. And we drove and drove and drove until Las Cruces, NM.We stayed the night there. The next morning we made a new seating arrangement in the van and started driving again. Everyone was much happier with their new spots in the car.We got to my Aunt Lynda & Uncle Don's house around 10:00 pm on Saturday night. They are so much fun, I'm so glad we got to visit with them at their house, even if it was only for one night and for church the next day. I used to see them every year when I was a teenager but haven't seen then since James was about 2. Uncle Don let the kids try on his (very heavy) helmet and hold his sword. The kids though it was the absolute greatest!

After church on Sunday we checked into our hotel and got ready for Disney! The kids were super excited. We were at Disney Monday thru Thursday and needed just about every second of all 4 days to get everything in that the kids wanted to do.The ride that we rode the most was the Teacups. It was Emily's very very favorite.Of course we also had plenty of treats, especially cotton candy.James and his cousin Connor were lucky enough to be selected for the Jedi Training camp. They trained with light sabers and both defeated Darth Maul! They were very brave and had a lot of fun doing this and we all enjoyed watching.Poor John, too little to become a Jedi...Our hotel was only 1/2 mile away from the main gate at Disney so we walked to and from each day. It was very convenient to bring Emily and John back to our room for a nap in the middle of the day and earlier in the evenings while either Robert or myself stayed with the bigger kids until the park closed.Jillian rode some of her first fast paced rides. She rode California Screamin' which goes upside down and as you can see from the rockets (which really aren't that fast), she's not lovin' the faster rides so much just yet but I'm sure she'll grow into it.We had dinner on Tuesday night at the Rainforest Cafe with My Aunt Lynda, Uncle Don, Cousin Brian, Cousin Jason and his wife Julie and their adorable children Collin and Regan, my mom, my brother Mason and his wife Amy and their three children Shelby, Connor and cute little Clover and my sister Tessa and her tiny baby Donovan. It was great to see everybody at once and visit with them all (the food was good too!).We went to California Adventure too. There were plenty of kids rides we enjoyed. Inside California Adventure is Big Bear park where the kids could just run around like crazy and climb on all sorts of things. There were hardly any people there when we went and it was nice to let the kids explore that part of the park - there are a lot of things to do that don't involve waiting in a line.After our four days at Disney we headed down to San Diego to the zoo. This picture sums up Andrew's attitude about the zoo - not so excited about all the walking. He did perk up eventually.
James and Jill absolutely LOVED the zoo!!! They loved seeing all the animals. James especially enjoyed the panda's.While we were there we also drove by the ocean. The weather was beautiful but a little cold to go swimming in it. We did do plenty of swimming at the hotel though.We had originally planned to go to LegoLand but after reviewing the outrageous ticket prices and taking into account how exhausted all the kids already were from all the amusement we had a family council and decided to forego LegoLand and instead head back to Anaheim for Downtown Disney and the Lego Store there.We had a great time. We had our fare share of meltdowns - this one in particular is one of my favorites of Emily's. Amy helped her take a great picture while we watched James and Connor go through Jedi training.We had a lot of smiles too...At last it was time to go home and the kids were sad to leave and start the 20 hour drive back to Texas. Jill's tears sum it all up.It was a great vacation but we are so glad to be back home and sleeping in our own beds!

John's New Tricks

2010-02-14T19:39:00.003-06:00

John is getting so much better at walking. It will be nice when he stops wearing out the toes of his shoes and blowing out the knees in his pants.

Another thing he does is just a little bit of talking. His favorite words to say are:
No
Naughty
Boom (as if shooting someone - he does this complete with pointy finger in a gunlike position)

She's All Ears

2010-02-11T22:54:00.003-06:00

We've been talking this over for a couple of months and finally decided to do it. This is just after gymnastics so she's looking a little disheveled but completely in heaven.

A little catching up to do...

2010-02-11T15:29:00.004-06:00

Sorry, I've totally been neglecting my blog. Not much has been going on, but just a few things.

1. Robert had a lipoma on his back that he had to have removed. I got to sit in the Dr's office while they cut into him and removed it. There was a med student in there observing also. It was extremely interesting and I'm really glad I got to go and watch it. He now has a small scar where there was once a big lump.

2. James started piano lessons this school year. He had his first recital just before Christmas. He is doing well in piano and had only been taking lessons for two months before this recital. Since then, Andrew has also started taking piano lessons.

That is all for now, more later.

For a Laugh

2010-01-06T21:04:00.003-06:00

Someone brought this to my attention and I thought I'd pass along the laugh!

Christmas

2009-12-31T08:52:00.006-06:00

Christmas was such a wonderful day for us. There were presents under the tree, wrapped up tight. Our tree might not be the most beautifully decorated but it definitely is the most loved. The kids decorated it and we got rid of every ornament that wasn't homemade by someone we knew or that the kids picked out yearly so each ornament was special to us.Leading up to Christmas we decorated gingerbread houses. It was a big hit and a big mess but no worries, it was easily vacuumed up. Such a small price to pay for such happiness!Christmas morning we made super delicious homemade buttermilk pancakes. This recipe is THE BEST!The biggest hit was the F-150 that was for John and Emily. Emily woke up at around 6:30 am and got into bed with me and Robert for a while. Then Andrew got up around 7:30 and went downstairs and got Emily really excited to go downstairs too. Emily's response was hilarious:

"Santa brought me a new car!" In my head I was thinking -yeah, don't get used to that, it's a one time deal-.Here are some favorite pics of James and Andrew. James loves his snuggie and Andrew loves his robe. They both wear them constantly.John, being only one, only had a couple of presents. This is the one that Jillian got for him. All the kids picked names this year and bought a gift with their own allowance money.Here are Jillian and Emily's greatest hits. Jill is really excited for her new bike. Her old one is getting a little too small. The new one is still a little too big but in a few months should fit her much better. She'll probably stay on the old one for now to and from school while practicing at home on the new one. Emily loves her toolset. It's a favorite of all the kids.Of course it wouldn't be Christmas with out "SoftDrink Ramune". Look for it in your asian foods aisle. Our kids love it but it's so expensive that we only have it once a year.We've already broken in Robert's new fryer on Christmas evening. We had some friends over for a pretty casual dinner and fried up wings & fries. While it doesn't fry a huge batch at one time, it does make fried foods deliciously crisp.And Lastly, what could make me happier than All-Clad? Not much. I had a set of 4 measuring cups (1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4) and Robert got me the rest of the set (2/3, 3/4, 1 1/2 & Spoons). There was also a lovely SDHC card reader that I'm now using. It's so easy to just drag and drop all my photos off my card onto my computer now. LOVE IT!We had a great dinner of Ham, veggies, rolls and fried food with our good friends. I was so busy enjoying myself (while wondering why my arm & back itched & burned so much) that I didn't take any pictures of our dinner. You'll just have to believe me when I say it was the greatest ever! Thanks to everyone who came.

Merry Christmas!

Who's that cute little girl???

2009-12-30T22:19:00.003-06:00

Why, it's none other than our very own little Emily! Doesn't her new haircut look just fabulous?! She is so adorable, now her adorable and spunky little haircut matches her adorable and spunky behavior. So cute, I love her!(Of course I had to include the Glam Shot of Jillian too)

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-30T22:13:00.003-06:00

Yes, We did Celebrate that wonderful holiday that is Thanksgiving! I know it has been a long time since I've posted but my little HCSD card issue has been resolved so now I can get my pictures easily and quickly.

Here is our Thanksgiving at a glance. We had a ton of food and 4 families (including ours) at our house this year. A 5th family who lives in the neighborhood stopped by around dessert time and hung out for a while. We had so much fun and ate ourselves silly.John had his first non-pureed sweet potatoes - my wonderful recipe - and LOVED them.We love getting together with our friends for Thanksgiving and are thankful so many of them joined us this year. Hopefully we can continue this tradition every year.

Soccer for Andrew

2009-12-30T22:01:00.003-06:00

Andrew played soccer this year. He was on a great team! The mayor was the assistant coach so that was kind of exciting. Coach Bob was a fantastic coach and Andrew had a lot of fun and made some new friends.

A Texans Map of the United States

2009-12-18T20:48:00.000-06:00

This made me laugh today...I Love It!

What happens when I get on the computer...

2009-11-07T08:41:00.002-06:00

So, this is what Emily does when I get on the computer during the day while she is awake:It has prompted this:End of story.

November Morning

2009-11-06T22:07:00.002-06:00

This morning I woke up to an awesome morning. We don't get much fog here and when we do, I love it! I had to snap a picture so I could remember that even in Texas, sometimes it looks like Fall. It was beautiful.

Our Crazy Halloween!

2009-11-06T21:49:00.006-06:00

Halloween was a little insane this year.

First, on the Saturday before Halloween the kids had the school Pfall Pfreak Out. They love to get their hair spray painted here. They played some games, rode on the train/tractor pull and hung out with their friends.Then, on Friday, I picked James up early from school and we went Trick Or Treating at Robert's work. They really go overboard on the decorations and always have A TON of candy to hand out. They wear great costumes and make it really fun for the kids of the employees. Our kids have enjoyed it every year.Next, on Friday night we went to the Ward Trunk Or Treat. I forgot my camera here but our ward does an amazing job on this activity. There are plenty of games for the kids to play, plus face painting and a really excellent haunted house. The activities committee did an outstanding job this year! Of course the trunk or treat part was no let down either. Remember, we have a big ward with lots of families who hand out candy at this event. Our kids bags were full.

On Saturday, when we were still reeling from our Friday candy overload we finally carved out pumpkins. This is always fun for us. We try every year to do a new design or two and the kids get some smaller pumpkins to do just for themselves. This year was no let down on the carvings.
We tried to take a picture of the kids in their costumes but it was a little difficult since everyone was wired from all the sugar.Emily was a pumpkin witch, Jillian was a spider witch, James was an 11-year old vampire, John wore a skeleton t-shirt and Andrew was a soccer player. Robert sported a cool mohawk for the day. I dressed up like a mom - what a surprise, I even kept my apron on complete with towel out of the front pocket during the trick or treating.

Here is our candy haul from all of our Halloween festivities. Notice the cooler is over half full and there is still a ton of candy on the floor. I think we will be sick for days.John was such fun this year, he loved every bit of Halloween and all the excitement. He fits right in with the rest of the kids.

James Geography Blanket

2009-11-06T21:42:00.002-06:00

James had an assignment in world history to create a map of the earth - or the continents. He decided he wanted to do a blanket.

First he had to find an outline of all the continents online and print them out and match them all up together. One entire continent wouldn't fit on one piece of paper and still be big enough for his blanket.He had to cut them all out and tape them together.Then we traced them onto some Pelon or Under Wonder and cut them out of that material.

Then we ironed the Pelon cutouts onto the green/white flannel and then ironed the flannel cutouts onto the blue flannel.

James then labeled everything, cut the edges and tied it off. He receive 105% on the project because he turned it in early and had done everything correctly.It was an ambitious project and I only helped him a very little bit, mainly with the hot iron. He did it himself!

Way to go James!

Cabella's Caps

2009-10-22T12:36:00.003-05:00

We went to Cabella's on Saturday and the three big kids somehow talked the customer service guy into giving them each a free cap. They love them so much but of course we had to put each person's name in each of their caps so everyone would know which one belonged to whom.Later that day Jillian and I messed around taking some pictures. She sure does know how to pose.

You know your kid is in middle school....

2009-10-15T20:16:00.002-05:00

When you have these kinds of conversations:

James: Mom, what does "mooning" mean?

Me: What? Did you just say Mooning?

James: Yeah, what does it mean? (trying very hard not to smile or laugh)

Me: Why do you want to know? Who's mooning who at school?

James: No, no one is mooning. There's a lot of "Yo Momma" jokes going around at school. (as he's snickering, trying very hard not to laugh out loud).

Me & Robert: Mooning is to flash your bare bum at someone.

James: (laughing out loud now) OK, there's this joke, it goes - Yo Momma's so ugly, she looked out the window and got arrested for mooning. (Ha Ha Ha - loud laughing now) Want to hear some more?

Me: Sure (giggling now too-James is hilarious to watch right now, trying not to laugh so hard)

James: (laughing so hard he can barely speak) Yo Momma's so fat, she jumped up and got stuck in the air!

Robert: OK, it's time for scriptures. Settle down, Settle down. (everyone laughing, snickering, not sitting still)

Robert again: (Isaiah Chapter 30:1) "Oh Ye Rebellious children... (more laughing out loud, giggling, snickering)

All the while I'm wondering - How did James make it to sixth grade without knowing what Mooning is? Sheesh.

No Longer a Baby, Now a Little Man (First Haircut)

2009-10-15T14:31:00.003-05:00

Yes, John has finally had his first haircut - even before Emily has had her first haircut.

I looked at him this morning when I was done feeding him and decided his hair was really a mess. It was so long. I got my scissors and comb out and got down to business.I cut over 3 inches off the top but that still left him with over an inch on his head! That boy's hair is growing fast.I must say, I think he looks very handsome and grown up with his new 'do.Of course Emily wanted in on the action of taking pictures too, she is so fun to be around right now - talking and playing all the time.I love my little pumpkins!

(again, sorry for the blurry bottom two pics - trying not to use the flash, natural light only)

Cookies...

2009-10-15T14:23:00.003-05:00

Last Saturday the missionaries came over and we made over 100 cookies for them to take to their investigators. Of course we had to make extra to chomp on ourselves.

Emily dropped a cookie on the floor when she was done licking off the frosting only to have John race right over and start chewing on it. He loved it. He ate it so fast, as if he knew someone might take it away from him.This past week he had his first Sugar Cookie, Pumpkin Pie and Lasagne.

I love this time of year when baking is in full force.

(sorry for the blurry pics of John. I'm trying to use only natural light these days but the inside of my house is not ideal)

An Accomplishment

2009-10-06T21:59:00.003-05:00

Lately Emily is really into Barbie and Polly Pockets. Today she especially loved to play with them. I had to keep asking her to play them in a room where John couldn't get to them and eat the little pieces. Her favorite thing to do was to stand up all the dresses in a tight little row.She was so proud of herself every time she finished and wanted me to see what a great job she did.Yay. I think an even bigger accomplishment is that I took this picture at 2:00 in the afternoon and her shirt and shoes are still white!

Happy 11th Birthday to James!

2009-10-06T21:51:00.002-05:00

James is almost a man. He turned 11 years old on September 30th and has officially graduated from cub scouts to 11 Year Scouts (almost a boy scout). He also attends middle school, no longer a little elementary school-er. He goes to his friends houses by himself on his bike, he baby-sits, he is learning the piano and he gets to stay up later than his siblings and he eats A LOT. He is a very helpful son, I am grateful for him everyday and all the help he gives to me and his siblings. He still has his fair share of arguments, disagreements and forgetfulness but overall he is an excellent child. Any mother should be proud to have him, but I am especially proud because he belongs to my family!

Jill and Emily were my super helpers in making his cake. Emily was sure to clean that beater spotless.I admit, this isn't the fanciest cake I've ever made. I'm a little rusty and need to brush up on my skills.James didn't want much this year, just a sleepover with a friend and some money deposited into his savings account so he can save up for a Lego Mindstorms set. They are over $200 and he really wants one and his saving his allowance and every other penny he gets for it.

He's having a great year this year. My baby is growing up into a responsible and caring young man. Happy Birthday James!

Oh Emily

2009-10-06T21:49:00.003-05:00

Emily was halfway sitting on the pew at church and fell off and hit her ear directly on the corner of the shelf that holds the hymn books. I didn't think it was too bad until the next day when I noticed this scab on the top of her ear. She keeps things exciting around here.

Cub Scout to Boy Scout

2009-09-29T21:39:00.004-05:00

Andrew had his very first pack meeting for cub scouts. He earned a couple of awards already (I think it helped that he did attend day camp and Robert is one of his leaders). He was very excited to earn his pins and belt loops.The theme was the Cub Scout 500. The boys built boxcar racers. Andrew created a really great little car while James had to built something with destructive powers - a tank.While this was Andrew's very first pack meeting, it was also James' very last pack meeting. James has been working very hard this summer to pass off all of his Webelos requirements and continue on to earn his Arrow of Light award.He and his friend Dayton both earned their Arrows of Light and crossed over to 11 year old scouts. They are good friends and were happy to go together.We are very proud of James, earning his Arrow of Light required a lot of work and focus. He is very excited to move up to 11 year scouts and start earning merit badges and begin working towards his Eagle.

A Day At Home

2009-09-29T21:25:00.002-05:00

Emily and John keep things lively at home during the day when the 3 big kids go to school. They both have a lot of energy and love to be doing things. Now that John can crawl and pull himself up to kneeling he loves to explore everything and try and see what's on top of chairs, couches, anything that he can't readily see.

Emily is Emily and I think that is the only way to describe her - a bundle of happy energy. A friend of mine commented that Emily is always smiling, even at 10:30 at night, way past her bedtime. She just bounces all around smiling, laughing and talking a mile a minute.

We have a lot of fun.

It's Autumn Time...

2009-09-29T19:40:00.002-05:00

That means pumpkins...And sugary candy galore...And delicious smells all around. I'm gearing up for baking, baking and more baking.

I love this time of year and thankfully we've even had a little glimpse of cooler weather to help the season along.

Starring: Andrew Tidwell, It's Your Day!

2009-09-19T19:50:00.002-05:00

Today was the most wonderful day for our Andrew. He turned 8 years old at the beginning of the month and was able to be baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Earlier this week, on Thursday evening, Andrew had his interview with Bishop Beckstrom. We had come straight from soccer practice. Andrew got 3 big tootsie rolls from the bishop after his interview.He started off today bright and early with his very first soccer game of the season. Robert took him and reported that Andrew and his team did really well and they all had a lot of fun.We all met up at the stake center to get ready for the baptism. (if you look closely, you might find an extra pair of little feet hiding in the back)The kids were all excited for Andrew and happy to be there.During the baptism, Andrew's head went under the water but his feet popped up so Robert had to push him down to the bottom to make sure he went all the way under. It was a little bit funny, he didn't want to have to dunk him again:)

Overall it was a wonderful program, baptism and confirmation. Thanks to all who came and participated in our special day and for those who were unable to be here in person, we know you wish you could and thank you for your thoughts and well wishes.

The Finished Playscape

2009-09-19T19:46:00.004-05:00

I just remembered that I never posted a picture of the playscape after we put the tarp on the top. It looks nice. We still want to add some little stuff to the fort, like a ship's wheel, binocular's, etc... but at least now it doesn't look like it came from the ghetto - tarpless. It's a perfect addition to our backyard.I am still learning how to properly edit a photo - sorry if everyone looks all "pastel-y". I'm working out the kinks but really wanted to show off the stormy sky. I chose this shot because of Jillian's stellar Posing on the ladder.

Happy 8th Birthday Andrew

2009-09-14T10:59:00.003-05:00

Andrew turned 8 years old! He will be getting baptized on Saturday, September 19th and is very excited.

For his birthday he received 24 Ni-mh AA batteries and is now the hero of the house. Everyone has to go to him if they need a battery. He really loved it. He got a new backpack with his name on it that he really wanted too. (I forgot to take a pic of this and will update as soon as he gets home from school with it). He'll get his last present at his baptism but I'm sure y'all can guess what that is.He took spongebob cupcakes to school and everybody loved them.Things I really love about Andrew:
1. He is very sincere
2. Andrew always makes us laugh and has a great sense of humor
3. He is very kind
4. Andrew always knows how to make me feel better, he tells me he loves me when I'm not feeling very happy.
5. Andrew has a lot of friends
6. He is very smart too and secretly loves to read

Happy 8th Birthday to Andrew!

Catching up on our current events:

2009-09-14T09:50:00.007-05:00

First, James had to pass of a bunch of stuff to earn his Arrow of Light. We hosted a little overnight campout with another boy who had to pass off some stuff and one other friend who had already crossed over to 11 year scouts. They had to pitch a tent, sleep in it, cook a meal, clean it all up and go on a 3.1+ mile hike. We also went over a bunch of stuff in the book that just needed to be talked about. Another scout came over in the morning who also needed to pass of the hike so Robert took 4 boys and Jillian on the hike. He has a bunch of pictures on his phone that came out really well but he hasn't put them on the computer yet. If I was a 10/11 year old boy, I would have thought it was the most awesome sleepover EVER!

Next, School started. James started middle school in the 6th grade, Andrew went into 2nd grade and Jillian started 1st grade.
Then James started bringing home his homework and I thought this was really funny. You have to read what he wrote all over it:That's all for now.

Oh Andrew

2009-08-28T22:55:00.002-05:00

I try to take a good picture of him and this is what I always end up with...

He had to take a paper bag full of stuff "all about me" to school. He wanted to take his Nintendo DS but I wouldn't let him. So we took a picture of him and this is how he wanted to look:
Then he made this paper plate face of himself and I thought it would be cute if I took a picture of him making the same kind of face but Andrew wanted to do this:And This:Before I could get this:I have hundreds of pictures of him in these poses making the funniest expressions over the years. I laugh until I cry when I look at them. I can only wonder what it will be like when he gets married and I put them up at his reception!