Things I Never Thought I would have to say to my kids

Here are some of the random things I have said to atleast one of my children at some point in their lives. Keep in mind the oldest is a mere 6 years old.

- No you cannot ride your brother like a horse

-No you cannot ride the puppy like a horse

-Take the plunger off your head

-Do not eat food you find under the table

-Do not eat food you find under car seats in the van

-No I don't want to look at your poop

-Yes if you dip your apples and green beans in ketchup to eat them I migh tpuke because that is gross

-We do not throw dog food all over the living room

-You cannot sit in the dogs food or water bowl

-No we are not having Halloween candy for breakfast




And many more gems to come I am sure!

Tis the Season To Be Busy

Here was my schedule today.

6:30 am wake up
8:15 am drop kid off at school (He was suppose to be there at 8)
8:30 Dog to dog spot for day
9:00 Walmart trip for bananas, a binder and black spray paint
9:30 Appointment back on base(which i forgot about and missed
10:00 Appointment number two(which I was only at for 15 min because I had to go get kid #2 from school)
10:45 Went to the thrift store for 20 minutes
11:05 Went home for 40 min to feed all three kids
11:45 Took another kid to school... froze standing outside
12:20ish Came home and attempted to eat lunch, do dishes, laundry, work on my business and play with my kids
2:40 Pick up kid from school along with two others
3:15 Should have headed to story hour but decided I was too tired for chasing Benji through the library (and the other librians probably were thankful I skipped a week becuase of said chasing)
4:00 Made cupcakes for my child who insists he has never had a cupcake (which is a total fabrication!)
5:00 Ran cupcakes to a friend in exchange for some yummy homemade chicken nuggets
5:15 Went to pick up the dog
5:55 Came home - Woke all three kid who were asleep in car
Spent 15 minutes trying to calm down cranky tired kids and get them to eat
6:20ish Ate dinner, realized I forgot basekball practice
7:00 Cleaned up from dinner
8:00 Found a last minute babysitter so I could go to work this weekend
8:15 Cleaned playroom with kids and played the duck game
8:40ish Pajamas and Brushed Teeth
8:50ish Read 6 book to lunatic kids (yes I know they are up too late)
9:20iah Spent over 30 min attempting to get Benji to stay in his bed and sleep
Luckily he finally was tired enough to stop climbing out
10 something Talked to my husband to say goodnight via Verizon
10:45 Freaked out when I realized how close to Christmas it is and completely unprepared I am
11pm Came downstairs, looked at my kitchen and decided computer time was more important and fun than cleaning
11:49 Ate ice cream and went to bed and tried not to think about all the things on my list I never even got to

Every boy needs a dog (or so they say)....but not every mom

Meet Finley the newest addition to our family and often the bane of my existence. We picked him up when he was 11 weeks old... that was the last weekend in July if my memory is correct. While the men of the house are for the most part loving this puppy and adoring him - me not so much.
I am not a morning person or a huge dog person... really even a pet person for that matter. I dislike having to wake up early to walk him, I don't like being jumped on or having to keep everything picked up. It drives me insane dealing with him and my children who all want to play together and then get upset when someone plays too rough. It is a lot of additional work and stress for me while we are in this training/adjustment period.
The second week in August though the responsibility of caring for Finley fell solely on me. I had to walk him twice a day for 5 days...that first morning I was not happy to be getting up and I muttered all the way down the steps, all the way off the porch and half way around the block. When I stopped muttered and complaining about what a stupid dog he was, how early i t was, etc and realized I was alone with my thoughts and it was quiet and the weather was beautiful I did the unthinkable... I started to enjoy myself. I actually enjoyed walking Finley by the end of the week and I decided maybe we wouldn't be best friends but maybe he was not the miserable mutt I had thought he was.
There was a moment a few days after we got him that we had to decided whether or not he was staying. And there was a huge part of me that wanted to say get him out of here. It would have been so easy but I wanted to give it a little time and try and I am proud of myself for that because it was not easy to agree to get him or to agree to keeping him amidst all of the chaos he was causing. Keep him we did and keep him we will. Even though the chaos will continue and I will be frustrated. It is worth it to see the smile on my family's faces.

A Few Things

Lately no time or ambition to blog.... I am a slacker I know. So here are some random items that I am too lazy to blog about individually.

Greydons friend that he ADORED just moved. We went to the park together the day before she left... he played with her for maybe 10 minutes and that got distracted with the guys and collecting sticks and so when it was time to go he was hearbroken because they didn't play the whole time together. Ah young love.

The boys have been in swim lessons. The first day Dylan refused to get into the water and semi freaked out which was unusual because he loves the water, and jumps in the pool with his floaties on etc. But he is not a fan of strangers or new situations. So yesterday we tried again to get him in the water and he reluctantly got in and was very hesitant and shy... that didn't last long though because before the end of the 30 minute lesson he decided he didn't want to wait for his turn to swim with the teacher so he dove off his step and tried to swim out to her.

Apparently Greydon or the both of them I am not sure which have figured out how to work the remote just enough to be dangerous and to order movies now on Dish. Luckily it was just The Princess and the Frog that got ordered and not some crazy HBO show.

Benjamin has discovred how to open doors. Not fun. He got into my scrapbooking stuff and was coloring his legs with markers, he gets all our shoes out and leaves them all over the place and tries to escape outside. He thinks he is as big as his brothers which clearly I know he is not.

Also if there was an Olympic Event for synchronized pooping my boys would wind gold hands down each time. I don't know if I should be relieved that they do it all at once or irritated.

I am having a party here tomorrow night and my house is FAR from ready but what I am I doing? I am blogging. I do my best work under pressure filled time limits though... or so I tell Bill when I running around like an angry chicken without a head.

Thats all the random ramblings for now folks.

Bad Hair Days

So I was at Walmart today and I saw my hair dresser in the next checkout and I was getting ready to yell hello to her and then I realized ...today was a crazy hair day (again) and I was too embarrassed to say hello. So I actually ducked down so she couldn't see me until she left. Sad huh? In my defense I was on my way to get a spray tan.(surprise Bill if you are reading this) and so I had not even combed my hair just put it in a ponytail and went on my merry way.
I keep running into her when I look AWFUL and I wonder if she wonders if I actually use any of the techniques that she shows me, if I ever actually comb and style my hair. I do....it use to be a quite frequent occurence but these days well I am ashamed to say it is a once a week if I am lucky kinda thing. I do comb it... I am not a total slacker but that is as far as it goes. I have dreams of having beautifully coiffed hair on a daily basis but unless Ken Paeves or the like decided to move in next door and style my hair for free daily out of pity I guess I am out of luck. So Ms. B the next time you see me I hope that my hair is done so I don't have to duck and not say hello because I really wanted to chat :)

The Pepsi Challenge

So I keep planning on quitting soda and even my children have mentioned it might be a good idea. It is sad that my 31/2 and 4 1/2 yr old feel the need to give me health advice but oh well. The plan is simple, quit drinking and or buying any soda. It sounds simple, would be fantastic but it is not going well.
The first attempt I had my last soda early in the evening and was fine until I took the kids shopping at the commisary and at 11am the next morning as I was walking towards the checkout wondering what I had done to deserve the behavior they were displaying I picked up a twelve pack and within the hour was drinking soda again.
Attempt number two I lasted a little longer until about 2pm the next day.
Attempt number three was yesterday and then I realized who was I kidding it is just not happening yet.

No crummy crummies

So yesterday I mentioned facing a crummy crummy or something eloquent like that. Well, I am happy and relieved to report I don't have to face it. Apparently I should have full discussions with my husband PRIOR to posting.
The husband came home for lunch and after he left called and said, "oh ya I forgot to tell you about the 365 day to Afghan" I just sat there silently thinking lots of things. Most of them I shouldn't post. But after a few minutes of silence I said, "well it isn't something I would choose to have you do but if you want to or need to go I support you in that." and then our call ended and alllllllllllllllllll afternoon I thought about that and all through work and then finally at 10:00 last night when I got to ask him about he said, "I thought you knew I was kidding about going... "
Well no I wasn't sure he was kidding at the time... I hoped but I wasn't sure. And then the small childish part of me that has been rearing its head all week wanted to go punch him in the face for making me stress all day.

Random thoughts

Some thoughts:

Yesterday was a bad day. Kids not listening, I was cranky, we all fed off each other and very nearly imploded.

Their Father came home and rescued us all.

Dylan called me a stupid ugly girl and I am still not over it. (Yes I realize he is the three year old not me)

I have to go to work tonight and I do not want to. This happens nearly every time I go to work these days. I feel guilty for going, I am sad because I don't want to miss time away and yet getting to talk to adults and using my brain for different tasks is nice. I really enjoy my job most of the time. But the work vs not work mental struggle is getting old.

Military life has so many great things, some crummy things. I am being faced with one of the crummy crummies possibly.

I wish I had more time and knowledge to get this blog to look how I would like it to...

I really really wish I could go back to school. Why did I quit again? Oh ya because I was young and super stupid.

Alright enough random rambling.

5 Going on 55

Greydon graduated from preschool and I am astounded as to how grown up he is getting. He has always been an old soul but it seems like he was a baby so recently and now he will be starting kindergarten... it does not seem possible. I have even been considering home schooling for many reasons
1) we do not excel at getting up in the morning or arriving anywhere on time
2)sometimes I wonder about the quality and quantity of what they are learning in public schools
3)I am a germ freak and it seems easier to keep him in a bubble here at home .... I am sure I have more reasons. And then, the little angel says things like this:

"Are you almost done in here because I am trying to concentrate on my color pattern and you are bothering me."
I find myself thinking how beautiful it will be when he is in kindergarten and someone else gets to enjoy some of these delightful comments he makes.

A Few More Things

Also Greydon graduated from preschool & no I have not posted pictures of it anywhere. I am a lazy slacker. But hopefully soon I will get some up and for those of you awaiting with baited breath the full story of what the heck happend to Dylans hands that will be coming soon also. I will make sure to post pictures of that and by that I mean his poor mummy wrapped hands not the actual wounds. No sense in you dry heaving like I do daily.

Mostly Snore

I find it hilarious that my last posting was titled Roar of A Snoar... because my blog is mostly Snore these days or possible always. I have a new goal of posting every day and I think a lot of those posts will also be "snores" but I will keep at it.
When I was taking one of my English classes way back when at Weber State I remember my teacher told me that I had flashes of brilliance in my writing but if I wanted those flashes to be anything besides flashes I would have to work at it every day. Never mind how many years ago that was and I would think it would be obvious that I have not been working on it daily. I was thinking what kind of an example am I to my boys when I tell them that they can be anything if they work hard and go for it when I just dream about my dream of writing. One of those do as I say not as I do situations that I often find myself in as a parent and I LOATHE it. So I am going to work on my dream here in this blog and for the 5 of you who read it I beg of you to stick with me for awhile and see if I can get some of those flashes of brilliance back :) Be forwarned it might take awhile.

Book review Friday

As we approach summer and the madness that will surely ensue I am glad for the summer reading program here on base. It forces me and my children to sit. To take a few minutes to relax and to read... not to run or rush but just sit and be still. I savor those moments. Here is a book that we have read TONS. I think we check it out about every month from the library so you would think we would just buy it but no..lol.
So go check it out, take the chance to just sit with your kids and read.

It's Been A While

Between the daily chaos and struggling to decide what to write about I have been away for awhile. Hopefully I have found more time and hopefully I have found my voice. So stay tuned for updates soon.

Faith

We all have times of trial... times where it seems like the sun will never shine but I think the true test is how you deal with it. I do not always deal well with trial and have been working on that. I have been lucky to have lots of strong women in my life to draw inspiriation from and to learn from. I found out about a woman named Natalie who is going through a huge trial with her family and her testimony and outlook is amazing and she has strengthened my testimony. I feel what she recently wrote is so powerful I had to share it. So I copied this from her blog which is: www.natalienortonphoto.com Thank you to Natalie for sharing and thank you to all the amazing women in my life who constantly teach me and astound me with their strength.

I want to make this very clear:
my son died
because God called him home.
For a while,
Gavin was kept alive by a merciful God
in response to the faith and love of countless hearts
the.world.over.
The moments surrounding his death
are far too sacred to share in full.
However, I feel that those of you who were
praying fervently for my sweet son
deserve to know
why God didn't answer our prayers of faith.
There was a point at which the fight was really "on".
His little body was literally head to head with Death himself.
Thinking about it,
aside from making me want to vomit,
reminds me VIVIDLY of the strength of my son's spirit.
His spirit was SO MUCH LARGER
than his tiny mortal self.
Suddenly I came to this horrifying realization:
I was keeping him here on Earth.

It was my faith, coupled with yours,
and his sweet daddy's. . .
oh, his sweet wonderful daddy.
It was our faith that was keeping
Gavin's beautiful, pure, PERFECT spirit
here in this fallen world.
. . . and I knew I had to let him go.
I was terrified.

Yet, in that moment,
I became keenly aware of my inherent strength
as a literal spirit daughter of God.

In that moment,
my faith in Him
translated into faith in myself,
and with all the courage in a mommy's very soul:
I leaned over his bed,
kissed his puffy, ice cold cheeks,
my loving tears rolling across that tiny chest. . .
wherein lay his perfect heart. . .
his perfect, dying heart.
I took his tiny fingers in mine.
Those fingers I had held and counted a billion times over. . .
and I told him it was alright to stop fighting.
I told his heart,
it was alright to stop beating.

It was time to go.Tears were shed,
promises made,
and moments later, my little angel in the flesh,
was returned from my arms
to His from whence he came.
And the Spirit of God shone around us in that
little room.
And we knew,
WE KNOW,
the separation is only temporary.

We will hold our boy again.

When the time came,
we squared our shoulders
and hand in hand we carried our broken souls. . .
away.

I still don't know how I left that room,
how I handed his tiny body to the nurse. . .
and left.

Left that room,
that hospital,
that state in it's entirety.

Only in and through the grace and power of God. . .
who has remained at our side.

God does hear our prayers of faith
. . . and true faith requires our ultimate submission to,
and trust in, His perfect will.

Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend (Mosiah 4:9).
Believe these things.
I sure do.

Meeting Ree the Pioneer Woman

A few months ago I traveled to Salt Lake to visit my family and to go to a book signing for Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman. She has a blog that I ready & once I found out she was having a signing for her new cookbook I decided I needed to go. I think Bill thought I was crazy, my family probably thought I was crazy but I was determined to go.
One of my niece's volunteered to watch Greydon and Dylan and another one volunteered to go with me. We arrived at this TINY bookstore in Salt Lake that bless their hearts had no idea how popular Ree was and were ill prepared for the mass of people that showed and the chaos that ensued. Kara and I were there for HOURS...
While most people thought we were nuts and Benjamin was less than thrilled we had a good time hanging out and visiting. And, how cute is Kara's hair??
So check out Rees blog at www.thepioneerwoman.com

Cute Picture of the Boys

So apparently I am terrible at keeping up this blog. In my defense we are super busy & we don't have terribly exciting lives but still I could atleast post a picture right? :) I will try and do better. Here is a cute picture of the boys that was taken around Halloween. They are all doing great and growing too quickly.