Very Quick Update

~Lumber Jack has two teeth, almost crawls and says "mama" all the time now.
~Boss finished t-ball
~Carson started coach pitch baseball (read: Saturdays mornings are now shot)
~Pops had his longest Sunday yet...left the house at 5:40am and came home at 8:30pm. It was great cause it made dinner time really easy for me!
~I finally got around to reading The Hunger Games ~maybe I'll see the movie
~Everyone was pretty sick one right after the other...I did record amounts of laundry, literally. We all lost weight, even poor Lumber Jack.
~Backyard splash pad is ready for the summer...the boys are enjoying it.
~Boss took his first field trip and was stoked to ride on the bus. He was even more excited that Pops was his chaperon.
~Buster took his first AIMS test
~I spent hours organizing the boys bedroom, dejunked and built a shelving unit for their precious "stuff" I was pleased that I got it all together all by myself!
~Dejunked and organized the playroom and Crate has spent many hours in there once again.
~Everyone is healthy again and happy

Last night we took the boys to the Easter paegent. I was a little apprehensive of how the whole thing would go down...I knew it could be crying babies, cold boys, hungry children, you know the list could go on and on. However they proved me wrong. The experience was wonderful, the boys were all very happy, the weather was perfect, I was in a good mood (that always helps) and we had awesome seats. I hope to make it a yearly family tradition now. It ended up being a late night so I told the boys to sleep in and I would take them to school late. Well they slept in til 6:30...go figure, the one day they could sleep in they wake up on their own without the alarm clock. They convinced me to stay home anyways and I agreed. We have gotten a lot done...haircuts are done, all homework is done, their bedroom is clean, reading is done...I CAN'T WAIT for summer break. I like not being on the school schedule.

Boss continues to really enjoy T-ball and I know he feels like a big kid playing it. It's fun to see his excitement on game days. Sitting in a cloud of dirt during dinner time is not the first thing I would put on my "must do" list in the evenings but once again I need to get used to it...there are many more years of blessed baseball to come.

There are a few things I feel very grateful for right now. In no particular order they are,

computers
good weather
sweet baby
sweet boys
working cars
sweet husband
good health
nutella
modern technology
intuition
essential oils
mascara
spinach
Tony Horton

Maybe today will grant me a nap...maybe just maybe.

Conference Weekend is here again.

One of two things happened today during conference...you decide.

1. After putting their white shirts and ties on, the boys Crate, Boss and Buster, pulled out their 18 page conference packet along with highlighters, colored pencils and crayons and perfectly colored each tie, found all 74 conference related words in the word search, quietly shared hints and at he end of each session today spent 10 minutes giving us a brief summary of their favorite talk and why they felt the spirit during the talk.

or

2. Opposite as written above.

However...we did find one solution to keep their attention longer than 39 seconds during conference...bring all 8 billion Lego's out to the family room and challenge the boys to build a Lego President Monson and a Lego replica of the conference center. However I would highly recommend to not have a two year old around during the Lego building process. Two year old wanting to "help" may bring unwanted screaming. Screaming from the 6 and 8 year old because said two year old is about to "ruin my best project ever." The Lego idea worked great but don't say I didn't warn you about the screaming because of little siblings.

The family room was all picked up when we woke up today. Now it's not. Story of my life right now.

And to top it off...We ended up at the ice cream store with friends while Pops was at the Priesthood meeting. Literally we had ice cream for dinner. The boys were OUT OF CONTROL at the ice cream store, I think mainly due to the fact that they were so excited and as Buster put it "this is the best day ever!!! I've never had ice cream for dinner!!!" That could either win me the best mom or most horrible mom award. Either way I'd get a trophy to display, right?

Awww...More Lego building again tomorrow. Lets hope the two year old decides to take two, two-hour naps...fat chance.

I don't think this is a good sign...

Pops texted me today and said...

"what's J.'s middle name?"

I texted back with

"seriously?"

Then I called him and the first words out of his mouth were:

"I've been racking my brain for 15 minutes and can't remember his middle name."

I said; "but you can remember movie quotes from movies you saw 25 years ago?"

Then I gave him three different hints. He still couldn't figure it out.

I finally gave in and told him.

He then asked for the birth dates of all the kids

...I'm thinking that him remembering is a lost cause... I guess that's why men have wives. Luckily, his ability to be a great father has nothing to do with his memory.

I wonder what numbers he'd through out if someone were to ask how much each of them weighed at birth or how long they were.

At least he still remembers their first names. :)


The boys had a half day today so we headed to the zoo and enjoyed the spring weather. There were six other kids that went with us so the boys had fun hanging out with friends...as did I. When I walked by the monkey exhibit I couldn't help but think that my kids would fit right in. They climb on everything and pee outside a lot. Just like monkeys.

Grrrr...I had a bunch of pictures to post but it doesn't seem to want to work tonight.

Pops took Buster golfing once again the other night. They always seem to have a good time together. I look forward to the day when all five of them can golf together.

It's crazy to think we are starting to count down to the last day of school. Another great years goes down in history. Once again my boys were blessed with awesome teachers and good friends. Can't ask for much more.

Looking forward to General Conference this weekend. I think Pops is looking forward to not setting the alarm clock at 5am on Sunday. I used to think General Conference was so boring as a kid, now I wish it was way more often than twice a year.

Monday, Tuesday and today I haven't been home during the day for longer than an hour. We've had a few crazy days and evenings. The laundry is piled up, the dishes have been suffering, and the floors...well they're just nasty. I'm hoping tomorrow it can all be put back together.

Thankful for crock pots... it's nice to come home to dinner ready to be eaten.

Best Quote Ever...

"I love cleaning up messes I didn't make,

so I became a Mom!"



I laughed out loud when I read this one.

Is this not true or what!

Post number 700!

700...that's a lot of posting.

I must do a quick update before I forget what's going on in my own life.

1. Six months old and counting, Lumber Jack sits up on his own, eats his toes when he's lying down and can reach them when he's sitting up, still doesn't care much for people food, refuses a bottle, and has gone from sleeping through the night to keeping a very rigid schedule of waking up every 2 hours almost on the dot. He's been doing this for the last month or so and my body can feel the effects of interrupted sleep but I know this won't last forever. He eats quickly in the night and then goes right back to sleep...I have figured out though that if I put him in bed with me and let him sleep in my arm he'll stay asleep for 3 hours, it just makes it uncomfortable for me but he's so sweet sometimes I can't resist. I will admit he's pretty spoiled but that's ok, babies are supposed to be.

2. I had an accident during a morning workout a couple of weeks ago which left me with a concussion and what looks like a possible broken rib and a very messed up back. (If you're ever doing pull ups with a bar that hangs from the door jam make sure the bar is properly secure and that your feet are underneath you, not resting on the back of a folding chair parallel to the ground when the bar comes off the door jam and you go crashing down to the concrete garage floor.)Needless to say it has put a damper on my ability to lift my baby, drive a car, and live a normal life as a mother. It also didn't help in the healing process of the broken tail bone I sustained when delivering my ginormous baby. I've learned to grin and bare the pain and things are finally starting to heal. I haven't been able to work out, yet have lost six pounds in the last two week doing absolutely nothing...go figure? Maybe I should have more accidents...just kidding.

3. Crate uses phrases like: "What the?" "Bummer dude" "whatever" "hold on, mom" "I need you now and can't wait any longer" "nice one" "everybody clap" "watch this mom, I learned it at school" (not sure what school he is referring to here) "why" (we all here this one a lot) he sighs when he doesn't get his way and his new one is "oh my heck!" Can you tell he has older siblings? He loves singing the songs he's learned in nursery and anytime we have prayer he insists on saying it...and I mean he INSISTS. He always prays that "we won't fight and that everyone will be quiet." Funny he prayers for those two thing always, I think the Lord is planning on answering those prayers in his own timing.

4. The boys had spring break last week and I think I was the most sad to see it end.
Monday: We headed to the new White Tanks library which sits at the base of the White Tanks mountain and has some amazing views. The boys played around on the computer, read a few books and enjoyed being with the cousins. We then headed over to the cousins house where they played more, went to the park for a few hours then headed home.

Tuesday: 2:30am I woke up and thought I was gonna die. I was sick. sick. sick. Luckily the boys were home cause I couldn't even lift Lumber Jack. I spent the entire day on the couch or in bed. The boys had a hay day fixing their own meals and snacks and doing whatever the heck they wanted. Pops got home around 7pm and the first thing out of his month was "what went on over here today?" lets just say the house looked like four kids were home all day without a parent. The boys got to watch all the movies they wanted and play all the video games they wanted...it might have been their favorite day of spring break! Luckily by 9pm I was on the mend and Pops and I tackled the mess and it was picked up by bed time.

Wednesday: Met up with the cousins at the start of the light rail and took the train from Phoenix to Tempe Town Lake. Packed a lunch, had a picnic at the lake walked downtown Tempe, got some frozen yogurt and caught the train a few hours later and headed home. They all had a blast and its an activity I would do again in a heartbeat! The boys thought it was so cool to ride the light rail and not have to wear seat belts. Oh the joy of being a kid again. That night Pops headed to his meetings and the boys and I picked up a movie at blockbuster, pulled out the hide-a-bed, made popcorn and we all lied on the bed watching the movie...Crate even sat there for a solid 10 minutes. His longest time yet that a movie kept his attention. The boys loved sleeping on that bed all night, for me I headed back to my own comfortable bed, I knew Lumber Jack would be up soon. :)

Thursday: We did chores in the morning, played outside, rode bikes, then headed out in the afternoon for some good 'ol family time with Pops...helping him run his errands and looking for Sunday shoes for Boss...shopping is NOT the boys favorite activity. Actually I think they'd rather poke their eyeballs out with their lego pieces than step foot in any sort of store. I really hope they grow out of that before they get married.

Friday: Pops planned to take the boys (read: two oldest children) camping in an R.V. for the night. They got everything packed up all ready to go, and the little boys and I stood at the door to wave them off...but unfortunately they didn't get very far...the R.V. wouldn't start. Pops tried and tried and tried and once it did start after about 20 minutes of trying fluid starting leaking out all of the place. Needless to say the camping trip wasn't going to happen. To cheer up two very sad little boys, he took them to the movies and out for ice cream. I stayed behind and scrubbed toilets. I was very excited to do this though because I purchased a pumice stone and now my toilets look cleaner than they ever have. No more ring around the toilet where the water sat. It was an exciting day for me. Is that sad? I think not!

The week ended all too quickly and school is here again. Poor Crate has lost his daily entertainment...yet screams much less since there is no one around to tease him. I miss the boys, I don't miss the screaming and I have three very clean toilets. Life is exciting in our neck of the woods!

(Jane, Heavy D. would be very proud of my clean bathrooms!)

Sitting in the car at the park with the windows rolled down while Lumber Jack sleeps, crate and boss are playing at the park and buster is doing piano lessons. I am loving this 70 degree weather. I am glad my boys have brothers to always play with.