New Traditions...

Rachael had told me about these "magic beans" that grow amazing and wonderful things.  I thought this would make a great Easter Eve activity, so I searched high and low to find somewhere to buy these elusive "magic beans."  It wasn't until Steve and I were out getting a few last minute Easter items that we stumbled upon a merchant who happened to be selling them!  There were four in a bag and for only $5.00!!!  I was elated! 

We got home and told the kids that we bought some magic beans and if we planted them the night before Easter something will grow by the next morning!  So they got out their pots, filled them with soil and planted the little beans. 

They were all very excited and had a ton of fun contemplating what could possibly grow overnight.  The general consensus was a special kind of Easter flower.   What actually grew was.................shocking................

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It was priceless having the kids come running into our room the next morning shouting, "lollipops grew....lollipops grew!!!"  

Easton and Graycie's wheels were sure spinning.  They did a little investigating and found the seed was still in the pot!  Easton said to me, "Mom, did you put those lollipops there? The bean was still in there and it's weird that there were no roots."  After a long pause on my part he continues, "Well maybe it magically opened up and then the lollipop came out and then it closed back up again."  The conversation was left at that.  This kid loves to believe...and I love that he loves to believe.  Graycie just said, "It's kinda weird that the bean is still there." and that was that. 

Regardless of if those magic beans were in fact magical or not didn't matter at all.  Every one of the kids asked if we could do this again next year.  This marks a ginormous success in my book, and so...a new tradition is born.

just a little sap

I've been thinking...a lot lately.  I try not to cause it always leads to...more thinking.  I don't really have time to be all philosophical.  It just takes too much of my day.  However, sometimes I just can't help it. 

One of the things I've been thinking a lot about is emotions.  And the array of them I seem to be feeling lately.  We have been talking in church about agency and opposition.  It is imperative to have both in our lives.  If we did not know dark, we could not know light.  If we did not know sadness, we would not know gladness...and so on.  This is the same with the rest of our emotions...I believe.  Early on in my marriage I struggled...a lot.  Those who know me, know this.  It's no secret that marriage is hard.  I feel bad for those who go into it thinking that making vows to one another equal happy ever after.  The truth of the matter is, it totally can be...but not without working your "ask" off for it (as Tyson would say.)  It's not a given, to say the least. 

But my 'cup half full' outlook is this;  I am okay with having my 'off' days, because it makes my 'on' days that much better.  I feel that when you love someone with everything that you are, it is only natural for that same person to drive you in.sane.  I fight more with Steve than I do any other person in my life, because I love Steve more than any other person in my life (and he leaves dishes in my room.)  The same goes for every one of my children.  Easton, for instance, can push my every button, by doing absolutely nothing at all.  (Mainly when we are trying to get ready school, and he is doing...absolutely nothing at all.)  I have learned so much in the past 10 years.  I've learned how to live with someone, how to fight with someone, how to love someone with everything that I am.  I love Steve more today than I did 10 years ago...not that hard.  But I also love Steve today more than I did 5 years ago...now that's saying something. We're not perfect...I wouldn't want to be, we keep it interesting with our imperfections, for sure.  But the magnitude of love I feel for him I don't believe would be possible without the grueling death matches along the way.  Some may disagree, but for me, this is my belief. 

I could go on and on about how 'in love' I am with my husband, but I am sure Amy and Rachael are already holding back the vomit, so for their sake I am trying to keep this to a minimum.  I talked to Rachael on the phone this morning only an hour ago and was complaining about Steve and some  of the things he's been leaving around the house lately, but then as I sat here on my bed and I got to contemplating, I felt blessed.  My marriage is amazing.  I know, gag right?  I don't care.  I feel like I hold back my feelings, because the norm is to talk about how crappy your marriage is.  I can have those conversations too at times, trust me.  But I feel blessed that I can say that overall my marriage is unbelievable.  That I can honestly say there is no one that I'd rather spend my time with.  I feel like I have the whole package.  Because without the bad, you can't have the good.  So I've taken it all.  I am grateful to be married for time and all eternity, because as I've said to Steve before...that's how long it's gonna take to get this right. 

shampoo shortage

There seems to be a shampoo shortage at our house.....always.  It's not a mystery as to why.  All of my kids love bubble baths and when left unattended use any means possible to create one.  You get the picture.  Santa left these guys each a bottle of shampoo in there stockings.....and we've already had to buy more.  And yes, we're out again!  This time I got some pictures.  The culprit caught.  He was not too happy, however, that I was taking pictures, and not helping him with the de-bubbling process.  All I have to say is, "Well.....that's what you get."

(the pictures were taken after the water had been drained)

1:15

At this time, I had just gotten back from good ol' Wal-Mart.  I promised Trenton that if he learned all of his letter sounds, I would let him pick out a surprise.  He learned them all within two days (plus 3 years of preschool).  He saw a commercial for 3D bubbles and decided this was what he wanted to pick out.  

I took the camera outside with us and it was gorgeous out! 

The kids loved blowing bubbles and Trenton's 3D bubbles were actually pretty freakin cool.  They came with glasses that when worn make it look like there are lightning bolts on the bubbles.  I tried it out, and was pretty excited.  I put the glasses on the camera to try to capture the effect...it totally worked!!!

I want to go back and get the girl version...they have butterflies on them!

Trenton looked pretty rad in his 3D glasses.

Tyson could not have been happier.

And here are a couple of my favorite pictures.

The glasses were a little big for Trent so he had to hold them on most of the time.

There you have it...what I was doing at 1:15.  Taking pictures of my kids blowing bubbles

I hate to admit it...

--As much as I adored Tenley...I totally think that Jake made the right choice in choosing Vienna.  There I said it!  

--I used a dirty towel to dry off this morning after my shower.  Yep, after searching the entire house (all 1,380 square feet of it) with no success I went over to the ginormous pile of dirty clothes and grabbed the least buried towel I could find, and used it. 

--I don't remember the last time I actually had my teeth cleaned.  Not to say I haven't had a root canal or two along the way.  Hmmm, wonder if there might just be a correlation.  

--I eat ice cream straight from the carton almost every night... when we have it.  At least I buy the slow churned, it makes me feel a little better when I look down and realize almost half the carton is gone! 

--I have judged a book by it's cover.  Actually I've judged many a book by it's cover. 

 

  

--I loved Tweety for a big portion of my high school days, I would like to say, however, that Tweety nor any other character was ever used as my 16th birthday cake.  Come to think of it, I don't believe I ever had a character birthday cake.  

--When ordering fish and chips on one of our Oregon Coast family vacations, I asked if I could have fries instead. (I would like to add that Rachael didn't want anything from the relish bar...because she didn't like relish.)

--When living with the Reid's, John asked if I would go pick up a Papa Murphey's pizza.  I called him from Safeway and said that I couldn't find that brand anywhere. 

--I used to think our bishops name was Rick.  

--Tyson has had a bottle way longer than he should.

--I did not create my blog header.  My amazing Sister Amy in all her creativeness came up with the perfect header for me.  Thanks Ames!  You're freakin rad!

--This post is over.

I'm sure there are a bunch more...but I can't think of them right now.  Okay people, here is your chance to hop on the bandwagon and join the fun.  Let's here all about the things you hate to admit, because come on...it's only fair.

OOPS...

So I was supposed to give everyone a little heads up on the topic we will be posting about today.  Rachael, and Amy thought it would be great fun to extend the challenge to our readers, (although they may be few) to join us in posting about the topic of the day.  I agree.  So if you read my blog the topic to blog about today is.....

I hate to admit it....

This should be very interesting, and extremely entertaining.  If you decide to join us in the fun, please comment so we can make a trip over to your blog and see what everyone comes up with! 

Good Luck!

Bath or Scuba facility...you decide

Tyson loves a bath.  In fact, he asks us almost on an hourly basis if he can take one.  Probably the cleanest kid in the neighborhood.  I understand baths are nice and relaxing and stuff, but what I did not realize was, it's also a place to hone in on your scuba diving skills.  It has become clear to me that Tyon's love of bathtime has absolutely nothing to do with cleanliness, and everything to do with scuba-ing.  He loves to take his "guys" in the bath, throw them in the water and then dive in after 'em.  Next on the 'to get list'...goggles and a snorkel.

Quick trip to Portland

Last Sunday there was a Gear Up for Baseball event at the Nike employee store in Portland.  (Thank you, Janet for continued access...our lives wouldn't be the same without you.) Steve and I decided it was a great reason for us to make a quick trip to Portland before our lives get taken over by baseball.  We left Sunday about 11:30 am, and drove straight to the store. The event itself was pretty cool.  There were a ton of people, it was impossible to push a cart through that place.  While the free popcorn and smoothies held the kids attention, the DJ and raffles held Steve and mine.  (We didn't win anything.) But Steve made a contact with a Nike event planner, so hopefully we will be seeing a Krush hitting booth at the event next year.  We chose to do our shopping the next day.  (That is an entire post of it's own.)

After the shopping was done, we wanted to find something for the kids to do to get their energy out before the car ride home.  We've taken them to the zoo and the children's museum, but had not taken them to the Forestry Discovery museum, so we decided to give it a go.  It turned out to be super fun.  Funny thing is was, we let the kids skip school on Monday, so Steve made the kids read about the exhibits to us, since they weren't in school.  This way they could at least learn, something.  I guarantee if they were given a choice between the two, it would be reading off facts at a museum...every.time. 

So here it is...our weekend, in pictures.

The train outside of the museum.

Tree planting, tree cutting machine simulator thingy, and a smoke jumping simulator...oh, and my smoke jumping boyfriend.

A big machine, some reading, and some rafting.

Exhibits, weirdos, Steve climbing in logs, and Steve climbing in trees.

As these guys are getting older it is getting easier to pick up and go to do things like this.  I look forward to many more adventures, in fact, we might just take off and do it again this weekend...who knows. 

Picture from the car on the way home.  It was 61 degrees when we were leaving Portland, and absolutely gorgeous out.  It was beautiful to get to see the mountains on the way home.  All in all it was a great trip...can't wait to do it again.

Sweet little reminder...

This is what I found on the back of Easton's homework.  Easton had completed his homework, but aparantly had forgotten to write his name on it.  Graycie must have felt some sort of obligation to not only write his name on the front for him, but then give a sweet little reminder on the back.   I can only imagine the kind of reminders yet to come.

Looking forward to....

• Dinner at my Mom's tonight.  (She must have read my mind, I was dreading the thought of making dinner tonight with Steve gone again.  Cue phone call.  My Mom asked if the kids and I wanted to come for dinner.  My exact response, "Yes, Please."
• Sleeping in tomorrow.   Graycie's first soccer practice, in the morning.
• Warm weather.
• Summer.
• Wearing nothing but flip-flops.  (On my feet.)
• Green grass and flowers in my yard.  I am so missing my back patio. When the weather is warm I sit out on the swing on me deck...every day.
• Girl's night out.  (I don't think you have to have one scheduled to look forward to them.)
• Selling this house.  
• Being outside.
• City League volleyball...starting in March.
• Seeing my husband again.  He has been running his baseball camp for the last few days, with the last session tomorrow.  (So very proud of him...just sayin.)
• Menopause.
• Getting my hair cut and colored on the 26th.  (uh, don't know when the last one was...so this is a big deal.)
• Beachcombers Haven!!!  (I don't think this needs explaining.)
• Buying and watching Couples Retreat. 
• Retirement.
• Going to bed tonight.
• Being debt free.  (estimated for summer 2010.)
• The next Rock Band session.
• Traveling.  
• Being done with this post.
• The End.

Item of the day.....

There's an ewok in my shower

it's been there for a while

every time I see it

I can not help but smile.

I think of how it got there

how it's not been put away

because of what it represents

I'm content to let him stay.

It signifies this stage of life

where my kids still play with toys

a wild imagination

from my daughter and three boys.

As the rain comes pouring down

another chapter begins

an exciting watery adventure

for that ewok and his friends.

A world that's still so simple

and worries still care free

I wish for them to remember

this is how it used to be.

I know these moments come and go

too fast it seems unfair

so that ewok in my shower

for now, can still live there.

Coming soon....

There's a batman on my counter

and....

There's some nerf darts on my table

....okay, but not for reals.

The Best Part of....

Television:: Reality TV shows, and almost anything in HD.


Having a small house:: Being able to vacuum the WHOLE thing....from ONE outlet.


Rock Band:: Hanging out with AWESOME people, and being able to play the drums on medium!


A sick kid:: Having a legitimate excuse for letting them watch TV all day.


Making dinner:: Sitting down to eat it together.


Paying taxes:: Getting a tax return.


Tax Return:: One step closer to being debt free, oh, and a big screen TV.


Tri-cities:: Family (everything else about it pretty much sucks.)


My van:: It's paid off (everything else about it pretty much sucks.)


My body:: My butt.


Costco:: Being able to shop easily with four kids, thanks to the samples.


Walmart:: Running into a friend and her husband while holding unmentionables in your hand.


Sisters:: everything.


Driving the kids to school:: Saying a prayer with them every. morning.


School:: Summer vacation.


Summer vacation:: Beach vacation. (Beachcombers Haven BABY!!!)


Beach Vacation:: EVERYTHING.


My day:: This.................................................

2nd pic in Nov...sort of

The photo challenge was the second picture in November...this was mine. The only thing is this was actually taken in December, I don't know why it was stored in November, but I wasn't going to change it on a technicality...it was just too cute not to post.

My sister in laws and I put on a Christmas party for the kids at Rachaels house. We try to do something every year to kick off the festivities. This little tradition has evolved over the years, and this years was the best. There was good food, the kids played games, and the adults visited. The kids played bingo...and won a prize. They played musical "pictures" (all drawn by my wonderfully talented daughter, Graycie)...and won a prize, then Amy read a story for "Pass the Present."

Prior to this party, Amy, Rachael, and myself spent some time shopping for the perfect prizes and the perfect gifts for the games. I think we did an amazing job...except for one gift. The hot cocoa gift set. We all LOVED the gifts and talked about how we hoped each family ended up with a musical snow globe...they were adorable. The mug set, however, we all talked about how we'd be okay if our kid didn't end up with it, to put it politely. I'm laughing now thinking about us talking about this.

So pass the present begins...and ends, with Trenton ending up with the mug set. I was slightly disappointed because I knew he had ended up with it before he even opened it. But then something amazing happened...he opened it. The look on that kids face, pure JOY. He was more excited about HIS gift than any other kid...I'm sure of it. Probably because it was perfectly suited for him, he LOVES hot chocolate. I don't know what I was worried about, but that moment topped the evening for me. And the evening was AMAZING, so that's saying A.LOT.

8th picture in December challenge

So Rachael extended a challenge for everyone to post about the 8th picture in their december folder. This is mine....aren't we cute? This was taken at couples night hosted by Karen Landoni. She put on a fantastic night of food, fun, and well, inapropriate humor...seriously, there were many moments where I almost peed my pants. I'd like to blame it on the guys, but if I'm being completely honest...the girls were just as bad, if not worse than the guys. We played games, won prizes, ate to our hearts content, and we were all almost kidless. (Addy doesn't count). Needless to say, it was a good time had by all. Thanks again, Karen!!! You rock!

Pet turtle

So the other night Graycie was talking to her Dad about getting a turtle. They have the cutest tiniest turtles at Petland. Steve told her we will have to talk to your Mother about it, good man. We were all together the next day and Steve brought it up to me about Graycie wanting a turtle. She was sitting at the counter just smiling away. I told her it was definitely something we would be willing to look in to. Bigger smile. I wanted to make sure that I gave her all the information about what it would entail to care for her own pet. Just keeping it real. Whenever my kids had to get their shots, I never said, "Oh, it won't hurt" or, "we're just going for a check-up." I always told my kids, "yep, you're getting a shot, it'll hurt...you'll be fine." I always made sure they knew I'll be there the whole time, it'll be quick, and hey, you get a sucker when you're done. Such is the same with most things in life. You have to know what you're in for, before you're knee deep in it.

I explained that having a real live pet is a huge responsibility. This isn't like Webkinz, if you don't make sure your pet is cared for, they can die. We went over some things and after a bit Gray says, "I think I will have a turtle when I'm older." I looked at her and ask, "How come?" she says, "I don't know, I just think I will have a turtle when I'm a grown up." So I take her into another room to carry on the conversation with her. She was pretty distraught and I ask her, "what's the matter?" she says, "well what about when I'm at school?" I tell her that we'll have to go talk to somebody at the pet store to find out about all of this. Like how many times a day they need to be fed. I didn't know all the answers so we need to go ask some questions. She still looked pretty upset and then started to cry. This broke my heart. I asked her what was going on and she says, "I'm just nervous." I can't tell you how proud I was at that moment. I told her that this is her choice and that in reality... ALL pets die. It's sad, but we should always feel happy about the quality of life we've provided. Like our dogs. They have a warm house to live in, food to eat, each other to play with, not to mention a house full of kids to play with. We should always feel happy about what we've provided for them. And yes, they will die too but they will have had a GREAT life. One much better then if we were not in it.
I convinced her that before we got too upset or worked up about this we need to make a trip to the pet store. And besides, we should probably go and look for ideas of what to get Jett and Bella for Christmas. This put a smile back on her face, and away she went.

I could not believe that my little girl...only 7 years old was capable of sooo much compassion. She has always had a love for animals. But it blew my mind that she gave it THAT much thought. Most kids when asking for a pet spew the same ol' story, "yes, I'll take care of it, I WANT IT, I promise I'll take care of it, I WANT IT!" I was proud that she was not only concerned about what would happen when she was at school, but asked if I would help her!!! I mean seriously, that was proof right there that she would take this more seriously than most adults would. I wanted to buy her a turtle right then and there. I was so incredibly impressed with her, and it made me feel sooo proud. I adore that girl, and love the fact that if nothing else...she's made me feel, I must be doing something right.

*UPDATE*

We have since gone to the pet store only to find out that all reptiles carry salmonella. Luckily Grandma Lando got her some Zhu Zhu pets for Christmas. (Thanks Grandma Lando) These seem to be making the perfect pets...for now. She LOVES them. *sigh* The End.

Bedtime at our house...

Bed time has gotten a little crazy at our house lately. Reason being; it's cold out. All of you with kids need no further explanation. For those of you who don't, let me explain. When it's cold the kids are couped up...when the kids are couped up they turn into psycho monsters who

are extremely loud and extremely rambunctious. This behavior is only magnified by the mention of bedtime. Last night however, things were a little less psychotic and a little more entertaining.

Graycie was content in her room writing in her new diary. I have to give her credit because she has always been the best at bedtime. Most nights we don't even have to tell her to go to bed. All on her own she will announce, "I'm tired." and go to bed. And that's that. This could be because she (being the only girl) has her own room or it could be because she understands the importance of beauty sleep. Who know...who cares. Either way she does a great job.

Tyson, hmm what to say about Tyson? He's pretty much a hellion hopped up on Red Bull. He runs around wrestling and tackling any child he can catch. No matter what age, no matter what size. If he can catch you, he will tackle you. Having a three bedroom house with four children makes bedtime just a little challenging. Usually we rock Tyson to sleep, and wait for Easton and Trenton to fall asleep so we can lay Tyson in the boys room. It's the best solution we have come up with thus far. Last night Steve rocked him and he fell asleep quite quickly. The older boys were still awake so he just laid him on the couch until the boys were asleep.

Last night I laid in the the boys bed with them and started asking them some questions about their names. I was curious to see if Trenton actually knew all of his siblings middle names, he did. So then I started asking them about their cousins middle names. And the conversation went a little something like this;

Me-"What is Aubrey's middle name?"

Easton-"???, what does it start with?"

Me-"T"

Easton-"what does it end with?"

Me-"A"

Easton-"Terra? Tyra?"

Me-"No, NO"

Easton-"Tina? Tyna?"

Trenton-"Tiny Tim?"

Me-"haha, No, it's Teresa. What's Sophie's real name? It's short for something."

Easton-"Sophies. Sofas. Sofadis?"

Me-"haha, no, nope and are you kidding me?"

ENTER STEVE

Easton-"Dad, what's Sophie's real name?"

Steve-"Josephine."

Me-"Hmph...thanks for ruining the game."

EXIT STEVE

Me-"Okay, what is Raelyn's middle name?"
Easton-"what does it start and end with?"

Me-"A and E"

Easton-"Ane?"

Me-"No, it's Alise...what's Kaitlyn's middle name?"

Easton-"Alise?"

Me-"No...it starts with an R and ends with an N."

Easton-"Ran...Rain?!"

Me-"heehee, nope...it's Ryan, okay now you guys better go to bed."

Easton"Okay, but can we play this game tomorrow night?"

Me-Smiling, "sure."

It was nice that bedtime was actually entertaining. Great change of pace from the usual madness. I laughed pretty hard at some of the things the kids said. Moments like that make bedtime...well, almost bearable.

Kids say...

After coming out of my room wearing my new cardi-coat, Easton says to me, "Mom, you look ghetto."  Me (voice all high and shocked-like) "WHAT?!!!"  Easton laughing at my response, "I don't even know what ghetto means...I thought it meant cool."  Me laughing at his response, "Oh, well next time just say that...sheesh."  I then explained to him what ghetto meant.  

Trenton in the van, "When I tooted in my chair it sounded like a fiyaweck."  (firework)  Talk about force. 

Tyson on the carebear phone, "Hi boleese? Take Tenten away okay? Bye."  After a moments thought he redials and adds, "take Tenten only, okay boleese?"  He then makes sure to give Trenton a heads up..."Me call boleese man to get you." By the way...Tyson is terrified of the police, but waves to him almost every morning as we take the kids to school.  

Graycie and Tyson were playing roughly on the couch the other day...shocker.  Amidst the rough housing they bonk heads...shocker.  Graycie ended up with a black eye...shocker.  The next morning as I'm fixing her hair she looks at the bruise under her eye and says, "HEY, my black eye looks kinda like a NIKE sign."  Ahhh, proud moment.  She also said that she hopes her black eye doesn't go away.  

First day...yada yada yada

So it seems I am behind the times...way behind. It's Friday and the first day of school was Monday. Not to mention, this is my first post in I don't know, 3 MONTHS!!! "Better late than never" said one random genius. What are you gonna do with a crazy schedule that won't allow you to blog AND lay in bed after you drop the kids off at school? (HEY...I have my reasons.) So here it is, documentation that summer is officially over. (This is the one and only reason I cry, mean Mom right?)

(I have no idea why Easton looks sooo much happier than Graycie does. Weird, right?)

Procrastination...

Sometimes I procrastinate...well okay, a lot of times I procrastinate. Sometimes this means that I lay on my couch and play games on my Ipod, or play Scrabble on facebook with a fellow procrastinator I won't call her out...but I totally won our last game. (To be fair it is the only game we've played...but still...I won.) Sure, I should be preparing for a garage sale that I'm having on Saturday, or hmmm, maybe getting things in order for our vacation that is quickly approaching...but yeah, like I said I procrastinate. But this time procrastinating meant that I not only edited some photos, but actually POSTED them!!! Here are some of my favorites from the last batch...

Tyson being...well Tyson, throwing sawdust in cousin Katelyn's face

Again, being Tyson...stole Trentons hat and ran like the wind

Raelyn...posing (not shy around a camera...to say the least)

Tyson throwing sawdust...at least it's not in anyone's face

He's even cute when he's not being naughty

My favorite up and coming photographer Just some tulips
Aubrey and Trenton swinging together...Love this

So there you have it...the product of my procrastination. Not always a bad thing, ey?