Leap Day 2012

Not sure if it was the fact that it was leap day or if it just a productive day but I decided that if everyday was like today I might be able to call life easy.

I slept in until 6:30am, Pops offered to go walking with me after the boys went to school...this is not a normal occurrence, I usually beg for him to go with me and it happens about 4 times a year. We went and enjoyed the brisk weather, I took my shower after and it wasn't even 4pm, then I took the little guys to the park for park day and there were actually multiple people there! We came home for lunch, the little guys went down for naps, I folded clothes and prepared dinner. Cilantro lime rice with fresh black beans, grilled onions, peppers and garlic and wrapped it all up in homemade tortilla's, sprinkled kosher salt on the top and put 8 burritos in a pan ready to be warmed up for dinner. Made fresh salsa and a salad and everything was in the fridge by 2pm. Then I cleaned the kitchen up and headed out the door to pick up the boys from school. Homework was done by 3:00pm (with no interruption from the younger ones as they were still sleeping) they played outside until 4:15pm when they needed to come in and get ready for scouts. Seven little 8 year olds came over for scouts, we used paint and a miracle occured...nothing got ruined. By 5:30 the extra kids headed out the door. We sat down for dinner as a family at 6pm, Pops was out the door by 6:15 for meetings dinner was cleaned up by 6:45 and then I took the boys out for ice cream to celebrate leap day. The only thing I can think of that can make this day better is if I had squeezed an hour in there to clean the floors...oh well there's always 2016 to try again.

A pic during our ice cream...Boss refused to be in the picture so he's hiding behind Buster.


On a side note, Buster emptied out his backpack of all his extra papers today and in his stack of papers there were Valentine notes he had written for each member of the family. I laughed when I read his note to Boss. It went like this:

Dear Boss,
Can you be my valentine? Please tell me. You are VERY nice, but sometimes you don't show it. Love you.

At least he said that he loves him. :)

Lumbers first feeding!

Tonight Lumber Jack had his first taste of people food. I bought some avocados just for him and he got to eat one as we ate our veggie burritos. He didn't seem to mind the taste, he just wasn't sure what to do with the spoon and the stuff in his mouth. We'll try again tomorrow!

Lumbers first feeding!

Ode to the cell phone

I bought my first cell phone during my first year of college, cell phones were new and a fun thing to have. I had one for a few years then I didn't have one for a few years, then I had one, then I didn't and so on. Last summer for my birthday Pops surprised me with an iphone, when I opened the gift and saw what it was I told him "thank you, but I don't need it, take it back." Honestly I thought it was a complete waste of money and I felt there was no reason for me to have a smart phone. He convinced me to try it out for a few weeks and see what I thought. Now several months later lets just say I LOVE the thing. I don't love it for all the cool apps it can have, although that is a nice perk, I love it for the many, many times it has saved me time, money and inconvenience. A few days a week I'll drive around the valley for Pops and I now have a personal GPS unit. I can search for anything, find the cheapest gas when I'm out and about, keep the boys entertained when we're in a long car ride or when I'm staging a house and they are bored out of their mind. It has too many features to list. However I think my favorite feature is the camera. Before cell phones with cameras I seemed to always forget to grab the camera for an outing or it was just one extra thing to carry. Now that I have a good camera on my phone I try to use it as much as possible and capture these days and months that are passing much to quickly. I have a friend that lost her 7 year old son suddenly and she said she loves the pictures she has of him but more than that she loves the videos of him, she loves hearing his voice and watching his movements and like any other parent she wishes she would have taken more video of him when he was alive. I've since done my best to use the video camera on my phone any chance I get and capture the fun times with my boys. I was hoping to post a few videos of the boys but it keeps giving me an error message. Here are some fun pics from the phone.

Oh, to be a kid again and spend the afternoon swinging! He used to not like to go high in the swing but now always begs to "go more higher" Yesterday while I pushed him he laughed every time he hit the top of the patio ceiling with his swing from going so high!







I'm not kidding when I say this kid gets at least 800 kisses a day between his parents kissing him and his brothers kisses. He loves to give me his open mouth kisses and I'll take as much as a I can get from this little guy.


Playing hookie from school and spending our day at the zoo with some of the cousins and Marmie. Have I ever mentioned how I love perfect February weather in Phoenix? This day at the zoo was amazing weather wise.




We played hookie again from school and hung out pool side at the Scottsdale resort with some great friends who came to town for a few days. I felt like I was on vacation for a few hours...pool + sun ='s fun!


This is how he spends his Sunday mornings while the rest of us are getting ready...sometimes I would love to trade spots with him. :)


I must give credit where credit is due...to Pops. He never reads this blog so I'm not saying this for his sake but I'd like to say all these fun experiences I have with the boys are because of his dedication to work hard, support our family and allow me the privilege of staying home and raises these boys and being able to have fun adventures during the day (and to be clear, I use the word "fun" loosely... it can be interrupted many different ways depending on the day and how much sleep I got the night before). Also...he bought the phone so these pics wouldn't be possible without him.

I'm grateful for technology, thanks to technology I'm able to communicate with Pops during the day...sometimes we end up texting more than we talk all day long and thats ok.

Tonight was the night I was going to post pictures of the last few weeks but for some reason I can't connect to the internet and I'm too tired to mess with it and Pops is gone for the night so now I'm on his computer and the pictures are on my computer, thus I'll skip the pics and jot down the good the bad and the ugly over the last few weeks.

Lets start with the good...
Everyone is healthy and most the time happy.
Cars run good.
We have plenty of food.
Warm showers.
Warm beds.
Toys.
A working washing machine and dryer.
Lots of simple treasures that bring great ease in life.

The Bad...
I'm pretty sure poor Lumber Jack has seasonal allergies. (However thanks to some amazing essential oils everything is under control)
Found a dirty diaper under the seat of the van once again...not sure how long it'd been there. (That would explain the smell)
Not having internet connection to my computer
Making dinners that nobody likes

The ugly...
Crate throwing up in his bed during nap time. If my memory is correct I can't remember any of his older brothers ever puking in bed. It was not fun to clean up.
Boss throwing up in the car. Once again this was a new experience for us...Poor kid had to sit in his vomit until we got home seeing that I had no other adult driving with me to help out. I felt bad since we still had another 40 minutes to go until we got home. Lets just say there was another nasty smell in the van. Luckily for me though Pops was home when we got home and I told him I would take care of Boss if he would clean out the van...I had the much easier job. He said he was thankful for leather seats in the van, it made clean up time much easier. I was thankful for a washing machine and shower.

Now on to the rest of life.
Last Saturday Pops was with the youth at a service project so I decided I'd take the boys on a hike up South Mountain. Considering there was one adult to four children things went really well. The boys were tired out by the end, we got some good old natural vitamin D and the smell of the desert on a spring day is like nothing else. However I think for the sake of my back and legs next time I'll take Pops along with us.

Lumber Jack has gone back to the idea of really liking to sleep next to me at night...thus for the past week from about midnight on he sleeps in my arm resting is head on my shoulder. Part of me wants a solid night sleep...the other part can't resist his sweetness and the sound of him humming each time he breathes in and out. I know this won't last forever and I cherish this most precious baby phase so needless to say I've accepted the fact that solid sleep will not happen right now and I'm ok with it.

On Valentines day Pops did the unthinkable...he actually called a babysitter and set up dinner all on his own. I was not planning to go out and had our Valentines meal for the family already in mind but it was a fun surprise and why would I resist? So the three of us (Pops, myself and Lumber Jack) headed out for a nice evening together. It was fun having a reason to get dressed and do my hair. :)

Seeing that midnight is just a few short hours away and that's about the time Lumber will wake for his first feeding of the night I better head to bed. I swear he was playing a joke on us when he was sleeping through the night from months two to four. What a funny kid. Ha Ha.

Yesterday was Sunday and yesterday I had sick kids and yesterday the boys and I stayed home from church and yesterday I took a nap lying next to him and when I was lying next to him I was in heaven.


This was the scene while I was bathing Lumber Jack yesterday morning...I seriously think Crate does not understand the difference between a dog and a horse, he thinks we have a horse that lives in the house. Luckily, this dog is pretty darn patient with him...not bad for a stolen dog, right? hehe

Usually that is the scene while I am in the shower...but add Lumber Jack sitting in his bumbo also in the bathroom...never a private moment...even during shower time.

Saturday we enjoyed some good old family time at Tempe Town Lake. While the three oldest boys played baseball and football with Pops I played with this little guy...Would it be wrong to admit I have a favorite :)



I sometimes have to get those cannibal instincts under control...I JUST WANT TO EAT HIM UP!!!

And last but not least...this is a typical scene during our workout time in the garage if we do it any later than 5:30am


Lumber Jack is usually so patient and will just sit and watch us and try to make sense of what the heck we are doing. It's so cold out there in the mornings though that he always needs to be all bundled up. Crate on the other hand loves to whine and complain while we work out.

I really do love the other three boys just as much but Lumber Jack is just so calm and sweet and giggly and he doesn't even try to talk back...yet.

Like any other human being would say...."Where does the time go?" The days go faster and the weeks fly by.

Pops had me from Phoenix to Tempe to Mesa to Gilbert back to Tempe then Phoenix then Goodyear then Avondale then Phoenix and home just in time for school to be out. While I was gone most of the school hours I had three of the four boys with me and all of them, including myself were feeling under the weather. Considering our lack of a healthy state they all did great and were real troopers during our outing. Then I headed up to Peoria with the boys to help Marmie move in. It's been a long day and I'm tired.

Boss' birthday was Sunday. Six years old already. Again, where does the time go? He choose to have a Star Wars birthday party on Saturday with his friends. Saturday was already a pretty scheduled day for Pops but we really wanted him to be at the party. We scheduled the party for a 90 minute block of time in the afternoon that Pops would be home. It was all church business Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon was work business but he was able to be here for the party and made balloon light sabers for the boys as well as some type of balloon star wars gun. I knew his previous job as a balloon twister would come in handy some day. The question is why hasn't he been twisting balloons for all the birthday parties? It was a hit! Saturday night after Pops got home Boss wanted to go out to dinner for his birthday. We had cousin Captin still with us so that made 5 boys and off we went. Boss decided on a sit down type of restaurant, I was a bit nervous how this might go down with 5 tired boys...I should of listened to my instincts. Everyone was descent except for the two year old tornado. Holy Moly...let's just say I was asking for the check BEFORE our food even arrived to our table. Tired Crate + busy restaurant on a weekend night + hungry Crate ='s NEVER AGAIN. Like I have said in the past we'll resume going out to dinner as a family in about ummmm....4 years....When Lumber Jack turns 4. Think of all the money we'll save!

In typical Boss fashion he wanted German pancakes for breakfast on Sunday morning...we all got up a little extra early to eat as a family before Pops headed out for his church assignments. Boss got to open his presents after breakfast and was thrilled to find a helicopter that he had seen at the store over 8 months ago and has since been asking for it for his birthday. I was grateful to Amazon for delivering his wanted present. He was thrilled with new legos, a few shirts with his name on them, and a real "army man" survival kit. Boss chose spaghetti and meatballs for his birthday dinner, I was grateful it was something easy, especially since we have late church and last year he asked for steak. I liked his simplicity this time.

I realized why Baby Jack is the way he is...calm, easy going, not demanding, sleeps anywhere at any time, not fussy, content and smiley. And I thank my Heavenly Father for helping me realize this blessing in my life.

Buster has piano lessons again tomorrow and I don't think he has sat down at the piano all week. Really everyday has been non stop....We're setting better goals when it comes to practicing next week.

Last night Buster received his Wolf badge in Cub Scouts. He was thrilled. He finished his last project for family home evening on Monday night...He and Pops had to build something useful so they built a shelf for the boy's bedroom. I enjoyed standing back and watching the two of them work. They seemed to be having a little too much fun, Carson was giggling a lot of the time at Pops corny jokes.

New round of P90X~2 started this week. OK this is hard. Once again I have sore muscles in places I didn't even know could get sore. The morning starts early...off to bed.