Super Speedy Shoes

Justin needed new tennis shoes before our trip to North Carolina last week, so we went to Target to get some. He liked the light-up kind. I liked the clearance kind. They didn't have his size in the light-up kind anyway so that was easy. But there were 2 different clearance shoes to choose from. I wanted him to choose the ones that would match his every day clothes the best (these are going to be school shoes too). So using my best convincing voice, I told him the ones I wanted him to choose were Super Speedy Shoes, that the red gel on the bottom is supersonic gel that will make him run so, so fast. That's all it took and now every time he puts them on he calls them his Super Speedy Shoes. When he can't find them he says, "Where are my Super Speedy Shoes?" He tells everyone they are his Super Speedy Shoes and the red gel makes him run so, so fast. So cute, and so amazing to me how influential kids are at that age (any age!). I already knew that, it was just a reminder of how trusting these perfect, innocent little spirits are. How much damage can be done by what we say and do. How people who abuse babies and children, who are completely trusting (and helpless and defenseless) of us to take care of them. I thank Heavenly Father every single day for trusting me with these spirits. Hopefully I can return them in decent shape.

 {So I feel a little guilty about "embellishing" how awesome the shoes are, but hopefully no permanent damage is done. I still feel a little nervous about telling Jackson as a little boy that an airplane contrail in the sky is actually Buzz Lightyear. I think he may be onto the truth about that one. }

Bam!

Baby #6 makes his/her debut at the end of the year. We are still in shock, seeing as we were done after the Ty-breaker was born. This will be our first surprise baby. Like, completely out of left field. Never say you are done having kids, unless you do something permanent, because just when you start getting comfortable with the idea....BAM! Of course, among the shock of it all is the excitement that only the thought of having a new baby can bring. I will admit I am more tempted to find out this time than any other but I think we will stick to being surprised when he/she is born. And yes, having a girl would be nice to even things up, but I love having boys too so it's truly a toss-up for me. :)

We Are Boring and that's how I like it.

This is as exciting as it gets around here these days.



Read this, it's good.

Photo Journaling

Fastest way to catch up on what's been going on recently! :)

Big Boy

Blogging from my phone! This is perfect for parent pick-up line and other wait times! Let's see if I can get it right....

This is Ty's first day in the nursery. He was a little unsure about sitting in a chair at the table. Until they brought out the food. Then it was all good.

Bedtime

As soon as Ty hears the words "Let's go night night" he grabs onto the nearest object to take with him, for security I guess. Some things have been a bottle, a video game, a toy, a dirty sock, anything. This is what he tried to take with him last night. We probably ought to get him a security blanket or a favorite stuffed animal.

Week Wrap-up

Top happenings for last week:

The kids and I survived a week without Daddy while he was away learning how to do his new job.

Ty (unofficially until tomorrow) started going to the nursery at church. Happy dancing right now.

I exercised 4 times - that's the most in one week in a loooong time. This is my year. This is my year. My daily chant. Not going to neglect anyone I shouldn't neglect but making time and taking better care of myself is top priority right now. If Momma ain't happy....

I ordered a juicer that should arrive on Wednesday. Can't wait! Seriously, I'm so easy to please.

I took newborn pictures for the owners of the local Chickfila. I'm thrilled about how they turned out, but even more thrilled to have made a Chickfila connection. Eat more chikin.

It's been cold for 2 days. Hate it when I'm awake. Getting out of the warm shower is awful, but I sure love it when I'm asleep in my cozy warm bed.

We are so exciting I can't even stand it. :)

This article might be a more interesting read. The message is good, although I think sometimes writers and bloggers tend to exaggerate things for shock value or readership, like if her kid was really nowhere to be found in the grocery store would she really be standing in the checkout line having a conversation with someone?

Bow Ty

Bad Blogger

New Years Resolution #1 - Be a better blogger, of course. :)

It's been a crazy year but we are so blessed. Merry Christmas to all our family and friends! I'm excited to report that among other fun things during Christmas Break, we are finally going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! Yippee!

We received an early Christmas present this year when the governor called and offered Steve a new job. He won't be wearing Gryffindor robes or carry a wand, but he will wear robes, and wield a kind of a "wand" :). I am so happy and proud of him. He will do a great job!

Our kids keep us busy and happy and are making us old but we wouldn't have it any other way. Except for the amount of laundry they produce. I could definitely do without that. Seriously. It's out of control.

Here's to better blogging! Promise. ☺

Random Summer-ness

Boo hoo, summer's over. :(

We deviated quite a bit from our Summer Bucket List, but we did the majority of what was on it. We didn't do any major traveling together. We had basketball games, scout camp and not too much else for the kids. Lots of late nights playing manhunt and watching movies. No one (except for the working man) was up before 9:30 every morning. I think I heard Sadie sigh and say "I love summer" several times. I think this was my favorite summer so far.
We hosted the pre-teen/teen group of cousins again for Cousin Camp this year. We had a lot of fun jet-skiing, tubing, making up funny commercials and riding a seven person bike around town. There were movie nights and lots of eating. We took them all to the temple for a baptism session to finish off the week.
Jackson went surfing no less than 4 days a week most of the time this summer. I'm so thankful for the other mom who took him most of the time. There's only so much sun I want my little ones to get. I put aside my fears of living minutes from the shark bite capital of the world and let him have some fun. Shark Week was fun to watch this year...
Steve went to Alaska for 10 days to fish with his Dad and uncle and cousin. He said my vacation was the Pioneer Trek reenactment I went on. In the middle of July. In Florida. It was no vacation but a neat experience. Steve brought back 100 pounds of salmon and halibut so he's off the hook for that remark. We've been experimenting with recipes. Yum!
Ty turned one in July. He's pretty much the king of this castle. I wrote a birthday post that I still intend to finish and back date, but he weighed in at 26 pounds 7 ounces and 32 inches tall. He's a giant and I have the sore back to prove it.
I read the Harry Potter series over the summer and enjoyed every page. I don't know why I waited to read them, I just never did. I remember reading the first one with Jackson when he was in 2nd or 3rd grade but just never went beyond that. We watched each movie after I read each book. I had already seen most of those. My goal was to read them all before the last movie came out in the theaters. I didn't quite make it. I had way too much prep for the pioneer trek to do, among other things, and Steve and I finally had time to go see it last week. What a wonderful series and an amazing writer. It was nice to read them all back to back, so I guess I'm kind of glad I waited. I think Jackson and Sadie were jealous I was reading them and they both re-read some of their favorites of the series over the summer too, just to feel a part of it again, haha. I do have to say I have felt a void too since I finished. :) Audrey has now caught the bug and is almost done with the 3rd one. Do I stop her from going on? She's still my innocent baby girl and they become more intense with each one....
All good things must come to an end and we are back in the swing of school. 4 kids and 3 schools this year. 8th grade, 7th grade, 3rd grade, and pre-k. Justin is still adjusting. He is my little homebody, but he likes school so it's a bit of a tough one for him. Ty is adjusting to being an only child throughout the day. He's doing just fine. :)

Pre-Teen

I'm a little biased but I think she's pretty cute.

Chores

He rinses. I load them in the dishwasher.

Dear Sadie,

Happy 12th birthday to you!! You've been looking forward to this since the day after you turned 11.

We really wanted to make this day special for you and full of things you love, so here is the schedule we delivered to you on your breakfast tray this morning:

Sadie’s 12 Hour 12th Birthday

9:00 Breakfast in Bed
10:00 Swimsuit Shopping
11:00 ↓
12:00 Pedicures
1:00 Panera for Lunch
2:00 Kung Fu Panda 2
(Surprise! Your friends were there waiting for you!
That's way better than a movie with your boring old mom ☺)
3:00 ↓
4:00 Photo Shoot
5:00 BJ’s for Dinner
6:00 ↓
7:00 Brownies & Ice Cream
8:00 Presents
9:00 Manhunt

It was a really fun day! You said it was the best birthday ever. ☺ That wouldn't have anything to do with the iPod Touch you got, would it?
Keep up the good work in everything you do. You have the potential to be anything you want to be and we know you will do great things in your life. We love you for being such a spirited, fun-loving, energetic girl. If we were in college together I would totally want you to be my roommate. ☺ You are the chip to my dip. The butter to my bread. The milk to my cookies. And so much more. We love you always! ☺

Summer Bucket List

We're not sure yet if time will permit a traveling vacation this year, but we're going to make it a fun summer nonetheless.

Making the list this year in no particular order and the list is subject to change (and it will):

neighborhood water balloon fight
make sun catchers
visit the farmers market
make care packages for grandparents and missionary cousin
have friends over for pj's and pancakes one morning
make moon sand
sell snow cones
zoo
plant a garden
free movies
beach, of course
water park
splash park
boat ride
family movie nights
friend movie nights
scavenger hunt
cousin camp
downtown Disney
bowling
campout in the family room
make soap
game night
meet friends for ice cream
baseball games
write funny poems
try a new restaurant
Sweet Tomatoes
see Cars 2 movie
happy hour at Sonic
ice cream football
canning
bread baking
paint the family room
foil packet dinners
multi-family kickball game
library
picnic
find a new playground
Michael's day - $10 each to spend
(do your kids love Michaels as much as mine?)
play every board game in our game closet

I'm planning to take one child on one day each week to hang out with me for most of the day and have lunch with Steve. They're all looking forward to this one. With this many kids, they crave one on one time.

I'm also labeling this the Summer of the Albums. All of my pictures will be put in albums so we can like actually look at them instead of storing them on the computer or discs.
Gone are the fancy scrapbooking days though. I have to choose my hobbies to devote more time to and this one is not at the top, so the albums will be pretty basic with just pictures. I'm hoping the girls will want to help me and if they want to be more elaborate with pages that are special occasions they can crop and paste all their little hearts desire. I just want it done. This is a lofty goal since I have THOUSANDS of pics.

I want to take a picture each day of summer to remember what we did. So make that THOUSANDS plus around another 100 pictures to crop.

Dear Justin,

Happy Birthday to you my little buddy!

Here are a few things about you on your 4th birthday:

-You are (fill in later since you're asleep) inches tall and weigh 41 pounds.

-You are showing a very stubborn side these days. You never experienced the "Terrible Two's" so I guess this is your way of making up for it.

-You sleep with a super soft black blanket that you call the Monster Blanket. I guess because it's dark, it's scary.

-You are the pickiest eater I have ever had (and hope to never have again). If all that was left in the world to eat were peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches, you would be a-okay, but only if they were made on Arnold 100% whole wheat bread. You could possibly survive on Chickfila chicken nuggets but no sauce and no fries. You like pizza. And pickles, but they have to be dill chips, not whole pickles. That's about all you will eat consistently. I never know about anything else until I put it in front of you.

-You love to jump on the trampoline and you have the calf muscles to prove it.

-You are obsessed with the word booty. (You are singing "Shake Your Booty" as we speak.) If anyone toots (which would never be me), you laugh just as hard as you did 5 minutes ago when someone else tooted. It gives you immense joy to announce when you are the culprit.

-Out of the blue recently, you are very interested in Dora. I can see why, she's totally cute. Previously you were obsessed with the Backyardigans and Wonder Pets and a little Elmo here and there. Today you watched The Land Before Time (like #45 I think) for the first time and you were captivated. You also, of course, love all the Toy Story's except for the end of the 3rd one, and I have to agree with you because it's way too intense.

-If I had to choose, I would say you are a little more fearful than fearless. This has kept you out of the pool for a long time, but you are showing some serious signs of learning to swim by the end of this summer.

-Your best buddies are Tyler and Emily and your bestest cousin, Ian.

-When you don't want to do something like go to bed or clean up a mess you made, you say, "I can't, it's Sunday. We don't go to bed on Sundays."

-In your vocabulary, soda is called "wo" because the first time you tasted it, that was your reaction. Whoa!

-You have stubbed the same big toe like 8 times this year because you refuse to wear shoes outside.

-You call your female primary teacher at church, "Mister Wrenne". You used to call her "booty" so that's a step up.

-Your obsession with Super Mario Bros on your ds has subsided a lot. There was a time when the game was new and novel, you would rather die than stop playing. And that might be exactly what the neighbors thought was happening when we would take it away from you.

-You get embarrassed when you get hurt and most of the time try to fake like it doesn't hurt at all. It's very heartbreaking for me to see you fight back the tears and push me away, so please stop. I would rather you cry and let me take care of you.

-You like to say "Mom". A LOT!! One time you said it 76 times in the car on the highway from the last exit to ours. So like maybe a 5 minute time span.

-You make your siblings laugh so much and they all love your funny personality. Your older brother and sisters would protect you with their lives, I know it. They care about you so much.

-My favorite thing about you is when you ask me if I want to do something with you, like sit by you to eat our lunch or jump on the trampoline or lay down with you for a little while when I put you to bed.

-We love you so so so much!

Hoppy Easter

Less Is More

This is the concept I was trying to teach Audrey as I played a few tricks on the kids for April Fools Day. And to be casual about it, like the innocent looking ViewMaster I left sitting out for someone to pick up and look into and then walk around with black circles around their eyes. :)

As I've mentioned before, the older the kids get the harder it is to trick them. I can't pull off as many as I used to be able to. They are pretty much watching the calendar from about January 1st to be sure they're fully ready for April 1st.

Of course Family Fun magazine helped me again this year. They have tons of cute ideas, especially for the younger kids. Audrey is the only one who takes her lunch to school so I had some fun switching out her snacks. She thought it was pretty funny that her Ritz Bits were in the Chips Ahoy bag and vice versa. And I provided her with a nutritious wormy apple.

When she came home from school she was chomping at the bit to pull some pranks on everyone who walked by her, so I had to reign her in and explain that if you do too many then everyone is onto you and nothing pans out the rest of the day. She brought her friend, Lauren, home with her. Lauren told me how lucky Audrey is because I pull pranks on everyone and her mom doesn't do anything. So of course I told her she could be the prankster of her family...her mom is a good friend of mine and I'm sure she appreciated me giving that advice to her daughter, haha. Anyway, Audrey and Lauren staged this whole scenario where Audrey hit Lauren in the eye with a softball and Lauren punched Audrey in the face. They did all this as Steve pulled into the driveway from work and he "reacted" immediately by "calling" 911. She's a master prankster in the making. :) Crazy thing after all of that. She went to the batting cages to practice and ended up getting hit in the mouth with a softball. The bloody nose and gums were no joke.

One of the easiest pranks turned out to be the best one. Steve and all 4 of the eligible children were working in the yard, raking and bagging leaves (child labor at its best). So I brought them all a cool "drink" that by all appearances seemed to be Crystal Light or Kool-Aid or juice, but was actually Jello made in individual clear plastic cups earlier that morning. They were so hot and thirsty I felt kinda bad as they tipped their cups back anticipating a big gulp of liquid refreshment. Bwahahahaha!

We did a new thing for dinner this year, instead of our usual wacky dinner, we copied this idea from Family Fun. It was fun too.

I have had a few ideas pop into my head since then that will be fun for next year......it could be my finest hour. :)

Spring Break 2011 - Top Five

My favorite spring break so far. Nice and relaxing with gorgeous weather all week.

5. Water Park

4. Rodeo

3. NO HOMEWORK!!!

2. New Camera

1. Stake Conference with Elder Bednar.

Bilingual

(I have no idea why these pictures are so grainy when I post them??)

(another alias)

It was just me and Justin going to the store the other day, so I took the opportunity to have a conversation with my favorite 3-year-old and test him on the basic questions.

He's fluent in the languages of English and Potty.

"So, what's your name?"

"I'm five."

"No, what's your name?"

"I'm Justin."

"How old are you?"

"I'm thirty-five." (close enough)

"What's your teacher's name at church?"

"Her name is Booooty."

"That's not her name."

"Yeah, her name is Booooty." (He drags it out just like that too.)
"She's forty boooooty."

He's also very into passing gas at every opportunity, just so he can announce it. I think it's funny how little kids get such a kick out of potty talk. How at the mere mention of anything relating to rear ends or flatulence, Justin will laugh and laugh and laugh.

How do you think I got this cute picture?



Guess what word he was getting ready to say in this one?

Where's Waldo Justin?

Here's a clue. He looks like this:



He looks like that about 95% of the time. He won't be able to wear it much longer, it already gives him a pretty fierce wedgie. I just didn't want to forget him as the yellow dinosaur of the neighborhood at age 3, hiding from his big brother and sister coming home from school.