The New Nephew

I still haven't gotten to see my newest nephew. I know I'm a terrible Aunt!!! But, with all the swine flu and bologna that has been going around our county I haven't wanted to risk the kids getting their family sick. My little sister took some pictures of him at the hospital so I thought I would share them with you. He's a sweet boy!!!

The Dentist

Tori, Samantha, and I had a Dentist appointment today. Usually this isn't that big of a deal, there is always someone to watch Jason............

Ok, well maybe not. My mother and father-in-law are helping with girls camp. My parents were both working. My only sister that lives close to me just had a baby. My friend Audri is out of town......crap!!!! So the girls got there teeth cleaned and checked while I held Jason and we watched Animaniacs on the computer and then I attempted to hold Jason on my lap when it was my turn. All I can say is it's a dang good thing that I'm not afraid of the dentist cause this would have been torture!!!! Oh, wait.....it was!

The last crazy costume for the year

Tori's class decided to decorate the room in a jungle theme and Tori had to be a cheetah. So yesterday we ran to Joann's and she picked out the material and I faked it. She was pleased.

Her teacher said it made the whole room work!!! They had water bottles and mister's so it really was quite humid in there. If you moved the kids squirted you. It was pretty fun.

Ear Gear

Jason's Ear Gear came in the mail. It's awesome!!!! Camo and everything. It's a neoprene covering that helps with moisture. Jason has a tendency to chew on it and he makes me crazy!!! He also likes to pull the battery out which could be horrible if he swallowed one. So as you can see I have safety pinned it closed. I'm thinking about sewing around it to make it sinch closed. But for now this works.

Grandma Child's

I brought the camera to my mother's house on Sunday to see if I could get any pictures of the new nephew but they are holing up in there house for a little while. Understandable with all the Swine Flu going around our area right now. So I got some awesome pictures of my family. I've been giggling as I've been looking through them!!!!

These first 4 pictures I took within 5 minutes. This is, as my mother put it, a typical Sunday at the Child house!

Mitchell loves trucks so we were letting the boys play in the back of Papa's truck!
We also went up to my friend and boss Joe's house to play ultrasound tech on my sister Leslie. She's the one putting the flaming torch in her ear. She's pretty early but we think she is having a girl! YAY!!!!

Baptism

Thursday the girls from across the street got baptised, and then Sunday they were confirmed. I'm thinking I'll have Duncan or Tori, or maybe both, go and get the younger one on Sunday mornings. That way we can help her to continue on the path she has chosen.

Webelos Camp

Duncan went to scout camp on Friday and Saturday. Brett got to go with them so he took some pictures of my boy.

Duncan got his archery belt loop.


The Cub Committee Chairman brought his Goshawk with them.


They got to paddle the boat. Duncan told me when he got home that they grabbed the other boats rope so they couldn't get away and were pretending to be pirates. They all thought they were so cool, but my quick witted son advised the group that, "We're Pirates with floaties, how manly can we be?"


Playing Tug-of-War. I have no idea who won.


Shooting BB-guns. Duncan has been asking for one of these recently so this made his week!

Webelos Camp

I can't believe that Duncan is old enough to go to Webelos Camp. Brett and Duncan left the house at 7:30 am to get to camp. Duncan is so excited he can't sit still. Hopefully Brett will take some picture's with his crappy phone so that I have some to post. If not, I'll make him bring a camera tomorrow.

Baptism

Today the little girl across the street got baptized, along with her niece. She was really excited and did well. She will be confirmed on Sunday so we'll see how well she does. I hope that she will behave herself because I really think that it will be us and 1 other family that ends up with her at church with us all the time, and she can be a bit of a tuff cookie. I want to be supportive, but not at the sacrifice of my kids, so we'll see how long it lasts. I hope that with her niece, who is older then her, being in the same ward that she will continue with her activity and be good.

Cross your fingers for me!!!

Sorry no pictures yet

My sister came home from the hospital yesterday. She's doing pretty good. I didn't get over there though because earlier in the day I was convinsed that I had come down with some flu or other. i guess it was just my dinner from the night before. I'm going to try and go out and see Baby Cole some time in the next couple of days. She lives far enough away that I don't really want to drive out there by myself. We'll see how long it takes me to meet my new nephew.

New nephew, Again!

My older sister Traci had her baby boy yesterday. He was 8 lbs 7 oz and 21 inches long. Once again I'm a crappy sister and haven't gone to see him yet, but I'm hoping to get out there tomorrow when she goes home. I'll post some pictures when I get some!

Home Ownership can be a bear

Tonight I went downstairs to get some work done, and there was a nice puddle on the floor. What?

I gave the girls a bath and washed their mass of hair and it started to back up in the utility room. I love having a handy husband and a handy Father. I called my Dad and asked what the heck do we do, and he talked me through the process. In the meantime Brett was looking online to fix the problem as well. Brett snaked out the drain and hooked the hose onto the hot water tap of the washing machine and stuck it down the drain. So far, so good!!!! We will probably have to call the rooter guy sometime in the next couple of days but at least I can go to sleep tonight.

Love my handy men!!!!

Jason Found Some Mud

Today was bring your dog to school day. Samantha was so adamant about taking Honey that I gave in. So we walked my poor old dog around the back of the school and waited for the Kindergarten class to come out. I think I might have killed Honey, though. She's so old, and arthritic. I didn't think that a small walk around the school would be that hard but she's exhausted.

Well, Samantha came out with her class and was so proud of her dog. She loves Honey and wanted everyone to pet her. While this was going on, Jason found a mud puddle. Mom's thoughts at the time were, at least he's sitting still. But he was far enough away from me that I couldn't really see what he was doing. I thought he was just playing in some dirt. Well enjoy my boy!

Father's Day for real

Today of course was Father's Day. It was a nice fairly relaxing day. It started out with a good night's sleep. Jason slept all night, which is something he has only done a handful of times. That was a pleasant surprise. The kids made there Dad some cereal in bed, and then we went to church.

We were in charge of Singing Time today since the normal Music Leaders have been out of town, so we brought a couple of Brett's old ties and cut them off as the kids improved on singing the Father's Day songs. They all enjoyed themselves immensely. We actually had a couple of teachers tell us how awesome we did. It made me laugh a little because my philosophy in any calling that has to do with entertaining the kids while teaching them something is, as long as you are willing to make a fool out of yourself the kids will enjoy themselves. So you have to figure out how to do a song and dance while teaching them something as well.

We then had the little girl from across the street sit with us in Sacrament Meeting. She is getting baptized this week and has no family support in her decision. She's definitely attention hungry, and I'm worried about her continued activity if she doesn't make a good connection with some kids in the ward so we'll see if I can handle her and my own kids to continue having her sit with us.

Then of course we celebrated the fathers in our lives.

Brett is the most awesome husband in the world. He loves me, and he likes me too. It's so satisfying to have your husband want to come home and be with me. Not just come home and relax, or get away from work, but come home to be with me. He's also an amazing father. He wants to spend time with the kids. He coaches Duncan because he wants to be with him, and he wants to help him be what he wants to be. He's supportive of them and their goals in life. He loves them, and plays with them. If I had thought of my ideal husband and father it would be Brett. I love him and hope he had a good Fathers Day.

My own Dad, is hard working and loving. He has always been a good example in my life. He loves my Mom, and he loves his kids, and his grand kids. He worked 80 hours a week to try and make a life for us, and I used to work with him at the restaurant. My brother and I worked the longest with him so I feel like we got to know him better then my siblings. My Dad used to talk about everything on the way home from work, and I learned a lot about him on those drives. He taught me a lot about being a parent, and a lot about the type of person I want to be, when I grow up.....=0)

Happy Father's Day, Boys!!!!

Father's day

Brett spent the morning playing soccer so that he could get his E license for coaching. I decided to take the initiative and took the kids grocery shopping. Usually I wait for Brett or go shopping at night but figured it would get the shopping done while my husband was gone and then we could spend the evening relaxing. I was going to go to costco but the off ramp I usually take was closed, so I took the next off ramp and went to Wal-mart. I usually don't grocery shop there but was quite glad I went there. They were having a fun little decorate your own father's day cake activity. So Duncan, Tori, and Samantha decorate 6 cupcakes each. They had a ball.

Then we went home and waited for Daddy. The kids were so excited Samantha met Brett at the door and told him to keep his eyes closed because they had a surprise for him.

Of course like all my good posts there isn't always sunshine and rainbows. Brett thinks he might have torn his calf muscle again. He had 5 minutes left in the training and he felt his calf pop. He's been gimping around ever since. I'm hoping it's not as bad as the last time. He was basically laid up for 6 weeks. Which if my memory serves, I was pregnant and throwing up at the time. Keep your fingers crossed for him. He really doesn't get hurt or sick too often so I'm hoping that it starts feeling better quickly.

Then we spent the evening at my in-laws for Father's Day. My mother-in-law made tacos and we all sat and visited and discussed our favorite books. My (Step) Father-in-law is awesome! He loves my kids, he plays with them, and he is always looking out for their best interest. I swear he knows everything, and if he doesn't know it he fakes it. We had a good discussion at my frustration with my baby and his constant need to go. He's not sure, as are we, if he really is so rambunctious or if it is his hearing loss that keeps him constantly in his own world. I think this will be the hardest part of raising Jason. Making sure to not critisize him for his hearing loss, while still raising him to be a good kid. Well, I'll post some more tomorrow for father's day.

What I woke up to.

Duncan woke me up this morning with, "Mom, Jason's diaper is off and he's stinky."

My brother used to duct tape his daughters diaper on at night. I used to laugh at this. I'm not laughing anymore! This might be my only option.

How are we going to survive?

Today was insane!!! Jason didn't stop, he was the Energizer Bunny and the Tasmanian Devil all rolled into one. He started in the morning and didn't stop until bed time. My favorite part of the day was nap time. He started winding down and sat on my lap for about 20 minutes spacing off. I thought for sure I was going to get a good nap out of him but he didn't actually fall asleep. I was trying to get some work done and listening to him babble on. I went upstairs to check on him because 40 minutes had passed and he was still talking to himself. I walked into a stinky diaper on the floor and a bed full of poop. So I had to pull him out, clean him up, clean up the bed and get it down to the laundry room. While I was doing this he was busy. He emptied my linen closet.

I had to take him to the office because the printer wasn't working like it should. I brought Tori and Sam with me so he could play in the back yard while I was helping get things going and he got nipped by a hornet. So not only didn't he want to go play in the back yard the girls didn't want to either. So while I'm helping Jason shoves the dry erase makers in the little holes in the fireplace.

He came home and just continued to drive me nuts. During Den Meeting he snuck downstairs and dumped a pepsi all over himself. Yes, I should have thrown it away, but I didn't and he can't let anything alone. There is always blame to be placed on Mama when he's only 21 months old, but MY WORD!!!!!!

He even faught going to sleep at bedtime. He really was on one today. Hopefully he sleeps pretty well tonight so that Brett and I can actually get some sleep.

Playing outside with the kids

Tori's artwork
Samantha's artwork
Duncan's artwork.
Samantha working hard.
Tori working hard.
Duncan working hard.
Jason working hard at messing up my artwork. =)
Tori's artwork.
Samantha's Artwork.
Jason's Artwork.
Duncan's Artwork.
My artwork.

Jason at bedtime

This is what Jason has been doing lately at nap and bed time. He's driving me nuts. I'm not very good at letting him just cry. He's a stubborn little cuss and will cry for a good hour or two before he collapses in exhaustion. By then it's 3:30 pm or 4:00 pm and then he's sleeping until 5:30 pm or 6:00 pm. What to do, what to do?

Notice the smirk that he gets on his face. He's a monkey!!!!!!

Samantha's Kindergarten Testing

Samantha had her Kindergarten Testing today. She did really well, and I'm very proud of my smart little girl. She did pretty much everything that Mrs. Wells asked her too. I think she had a hard time reading "Said" but I could be wrong because I was sitting in a corner across the room. She read all the sight words, how to read a book properly, rhyming words, knowing her letters, writing her numbers, and counting to 100. The last is a big accomplishment for Sam because at the beginning of Kindergarten she counted to 25, and in the middle she counted to 29. I also know she has a hard time remembering that. We've worked on it a little at home and she struggles a little. So I'm excited that she did so well.

She got a gift certificate for a free kids meal at a local restaurant so we will be eating dinner out tonight thanks to Samantha's awesome achievement. Way to go Sam!!!!

Routines

I've been trying to build a different routine since the kids havn't really had any activities and I'm not sure that it's working. I've got a lot done around the house but I end up in my own world by the end of the day. I need to continue the little bit of exercise that I started but I can't remember to go on the days I've set with my Mom.

Of course the babies that have and will be coming into my family have kind of thrown off the routine as well. Mom gets preoccupied with her new grandchildren and helping her children as much as I get into doing laundry and scrubbing the toilet. Hopefully I'll be able to add exercise back in this week.

Raining in JUNE??????? And, Jason.....Why?

I walked into my room to the sound of thunder, lightening, and hail. OH, and also the smell of garlic bread. This is another example of what happens when I'm trying to get some work done and I let Jason roam the house. *Sigh*
And here are some pictures of the flash flood about to occur at my house. Ok, it's already settled down a little but what in the world? What is with all the rain in June? Didn't anyone ever tell the clouds that Utah is a desert?