Addictive laughter

Tonight Blake was being a little snot! Yes, a snot! He was so sassy and naughty! We were playing a game that Camryn created all by her cute little self and Blake was not nice. I gave him several warnings that I would put him in his room and he just taunted me! So, I put him in his room and he cried and cried and I tried to calm him down with his favorite song, Give Said the Little Stream. He started getting really tired and his eyes were locked on mine and I couldn't help but smile and then he smiled and then we both started laughing and laughing like crazy! I love that little guy!

A phone call in the middle of the night!

We are so blessed to have such great neighbors. Early this a.m. around 3:45 our phone rang and like anyone would react at receiving a middle of the night call I immediately thought the worst. Who could this be and what is happening and if it is the wrong # I might not be so nice! It turned out to be our wonderful neighbor Scott who was leaving for his job ( yes that early) and he noticed that there was someone under Mikes brand new Chevy Diesel Truck! He was trying to steal the Catalit (sp)Converter! Turns out they are worth around $5000. bucks! (Mike called a client today and told them what had happened to his Demo truck and they said they had 10 stolen off of the trucks on their lot!) Mike jumps out of bed, grabs the gun and goes out the front door in his underwear and yells "FREEZE" Scott said ,"it's me Mike don't shoot!" The guy ran away and Scott had called the Sheriffs. I decided that Mike needed a pair of PJ pants because he couldn't be in just his underwear in front of the law! As a thoughtful wife would do Igrabbed the pants (still half asleep) as I stepped downstairs I totally SLIPPED and fell 6 or 7 steps burning the back of my ankle as in there is no skin there! To make it worse, I landed on my good hip and now have a lovely bruise the size of a softball on my right derriere! I am in some fine shape!!!! We are so thankful for the blessing of a wonderful neighbor!
Thanks Scott!

Edit: apparently I failed to mention that the loser didn't get the part off of Mike's truck!

No more Den Leading

Mike and I are no longer Den leaders. Yeah, but kinda sad too. I miss the boys coming every week to my house. But, whenever you are done with one calling (it's a "job" at church) another always follows. So I am now the 1st counselor in the Young Womens Organization. I am so excited! We had our first class together last Sunday and it was AWESOME! I love it already. Tonight we had a fun activity where we met at Cold Stone for their charity event and we all got ice cream and just hung out outside while catching up with the girls. The weather was absolutely perfect for it!

Jump Palace

Watch out for this guy!


Lonni and Miles

Gavin hangin' at the top

Jeff and Blake

Camryn and Skye

We have this great place called Jump Palace that is indoors and full of bouncies and big slides all full of air! The kids have been wanting to go so since they didn't have school today we went!

What's up with Blogger?

I have tried 3 times to publish a new post and each time I hit publish, it deletes it!!! CAN YOU TELL I AM FRUSTRATED???????? ARGGHHHH!

Anniversay Pictures

Sunday morning.

This was Saturday night....

Here are some pics from our Anniversary night out and the next morning (sunday)which was our actual anniversary. Mike hates the pictures of himself but there are a few of you out there that asked to see pictures...so here they are. Thanks to our babysitter for taking them on our date night and thanks to Jeff for taking them Sunday morning. Can you tell who the morning person is?? (and not by choice...wish I could relax in bed too)

What the heck?

Is going on in the financial world???? My stomach was sick as I watched the Evening News on NBC. Mike and I sat there glued to the screen shushing the children as we hung onto every word they were saying. 3 out of 5 of the largest financial institutions in America are GONE! That means something! Also our hearts go out to those in Texas. Such disaster is so so sad. I don't know what I would do if I were in there position except pray.

Happy Anniversary!!

Today is our 12th wedding anniversary. I can't believe how fast it has gone by. We have gone through some rough patches here and there . I am so thankful to Mike for standing by me through them. He has had so much patience with me. As I get older I realize how blessed I am that he chose me with out any judgment. There were no real "prerequisites " from his point of view aside from our faith which we both wanted to marry within. I was such a snob to him when we were dating. I want this and I want that! And, my favorite......"Um, don't even think of asking me to marry you with anything less than a carat!" (Like a spoiled brat I got it) Why didn't he just run right there???? I am so glad that he didn't. He has taught me some real life lessons lovingly and patiently. I truly respect him and know that I am blessed to share my life with him here on earth and forever.

Thank you Mikey for 12 wonderful years, for 4 amazing kids and for being a wonderful provider for us. You work so hard and I thank you for giving me the gift of being able to stay at home with the kids I love you so much and I can't wait to see what the next twelve years will bring! Thanks for sharing this journey with me.

I love ya babe,
Me:)

Clone Troopers

My oldest boy and my youngest. Jeffrey really wanted the Clone Wars Clone Trooper helmet (it lets you talk and sound just like a clone trooper)REALLY BAD!!!! We told him he had to buy it with his own money. Everytime we said we were going to Wal Mart or Target he would say can I get it???????? He didn't quite have enough so we said "no." He never complained or threw any type of tantrum. Thursday morning he woke up and there it was in the box sitting on the desk in his room. I guess Dad felt bad for him. He is such an amazing big brother to Cam, Gav and Blake. He is a great helper around the house too. So, it was justified to buy it for him and surprise him!

Here's what I came up with....

3 options. I like the apple green runner because it is "happy" but I also like the deep red and the green together in the bottom picture. Wish they could stay on the island always but it's just not realistic with a 3 year old running around. Will have to find a new spot for them.

The Nielsons

Please click on the Nie Recovery link and read thier story. It is so tragic. It makes me remember how fragile life is and how truly blessed I am. I thank my Heavenly Father for all that He has seen fit to bless me with.

Who's that girl?

New Dancing shoes!!! Too cute!
I just ran across this photo and had to post it! I miss this girl so much. I love her at 6 every bit don't get me wrong but there is something about a little little girl especially mine. She's it, there are no more coming. I love her sas and that blooming personality that made her who she is today. She still loves to dance too.

First day of school treat!

A surprise from after the kids got home from thier first day of school. Gem doughnuts and milk!

Happy to do homework!

Gavin has a lot of work to do in third grade. I have to pace him througout the after noon over 30 minutes or so to get it all done. Then there's reading so tack on another 20 minutes for that. It can be hard sometimes. But, he hasn't had to do homework in over 5 months so I'll cut him some slack.

Today

Today is September 11th. At preschool they called it Patriot Day (haven't checked yet to see if it is an official day or not) so, I decided to have the kids make an American Flag preschool style! They were so cute.

I remember that day well. I remember right where I was and what we were doing. It was a Tuesday and Jeffrey's first day of preschool. As I sat and watched it all unfold, I wasn't sure if I wanted to leave the house! But, I felt that my family's life should proceed as normal. Jeff was 4 and he caught a glimpse of the tv. He still remembers too. As we drove to Seal Beach to get to the school I saw some sort of armed forces all around. There was a naval weapons base near the area and the soldiers had it surrounded complete with AR-15 type guns in full camo gear! There was also a huge carrier docked there. I have never seen anything like it so close to where we lived yet alone near our preschool. I hope to never again. This was also my due date with Blake. He was born 2 weeks early.

Do you have boys? Something to think about.

I love my boys and feel blessed to be raising them. Just read this and thought I'd share.

Every other week it seems a new study comes out that adds to our already-formidable arsenal of parental worries. But even by those escalating standards, the report issued last week by the federal government's National Center for Health Statistics contained a jaw-dropper: the parents of nearly one of every five boys in the United States were concerned enough about what they saw as their sons' emotional or behavioral problems that they consulted a doctor or a health-care professional. By comparison, about one out of 10 parents of girls reported these kinds of problems. (See the study here.)
The report confirms what many of us have been observing for some time now: that lots of school-age boys are struggling. And, parents are intensely worried about them.
What is ailing our sons? Some experts suggest we are witnessing an epidemic of ADHD and say boys need more medication. Others say that environmental pollutants found in plastics, among other things, may be eroding their attention spans and their ability to regulate their emotions.

Click on the link below to read the entire article.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/157898?gt1=43002

Remember those apothecary jars?

Here is one that is ready for the Fall season. I love how it turned out. Now all I have to do is find something cute for the other two! Oh and maybe an apple green runner?

Cute hair and a bird house!

We went to The Home Depot on Saturday and the kids got these really cute wood kits for FREE!
Camryn wanted to make her bird house right away! She hammered the nails in herself.


I love the hair! There is a link to the blog where I got the directions. It didn't work the other day and so I fixed it! It now works....Kaitlyn! :)

As promised.....

Here are the pictures of Blake's first day of preschool. He was so darn excited this morning. When we pulled up to the school he said "I love you Mommy, I love you Daddy" and then he said "Thank you!" Like he has been waiting his whole life for this moment! I didn't cry because I was so happy for him, but I did feel like I left him there. That was sad for me. Mike and I went and did some shopping and then we went to lunch at BJ's (ended up having lunch with friends Nancy and Joe spur of the moment) with out any kids! It was a bit strange because it wasn't like they were home with a baby sitter, they were at school and I felt like I was ditching or something. I don't know! I know I'm wierd! Thanks Mike for sticking with me today, it was really sweet. I love you!

Oh, and in previous years for this preschool we have had to camp out to get a spot, I didn't have to this year. My friend Kym who doesn't live here anymore had asked about that, she and I camped out twice! Those were fun times. I have met some of the best friends I have through the Tiny Tots program. Love you all!

Ok, one more tidbit of information: there are 16 boys and 4 girls in the class! Poor girls!

These two had older siblings that went through preschool together and now it's thier turn!

Tomorrow is the big day!

I can't believe that after almost 11 years of being at home with the kids that tomorrow will be the first day with out them on a regular basis! I have some thought on what I'll fill my 2 hours with! Remember those apothacary jars? They are still empty! Pictures of the little mans first day of preschool will be posted ASAP!

I made it!

And so did the kids! The first week of school is over with and we all survived. A lot of you know how worried I was about putting the kids back in public school but I have to say that I feel much better about it and look forward to a wonderful year there!

Got these today at TJ MAXX. Love them! Best of all they were only $10 bucks a piece! I saw them there a few months ago and passed on them thinking that the kids will just break them. Then when I decided to heck with them if they break I want them anyway, well I went back and they were gone gone gone! Today was the day !!!!! My lucky day! Can't wait to do something fun with them. Stay tuned........

Chocolate Chip Muffins

The girls! With all those boys around we have to carve out some girl time for the two of us. Best of all it didn't cost Dad any money!

And here comes Gavin who just can't wait to get into the batter.

I tell the kids that batter could be unsafe to eat and they still want it!

Waiting for the muffins to bake. (sometimes the hardest part)

The finished product. They weren't half bad!

All week long all I heard was "Mom, when are we going to make chocolate chip muffins?" from Camryn. I don't know why she wanted them because to my knowledge she had never eaten them before and I have never made them before.

I can't believe

that I finally lost 5 pounds!!!!! May not seem like much but for me it is a milestone! I haven't lost weight since before I got pregnant with Blake almost 4 years ago. It feels great! Now only 25 more to go!!!

First day of school.

This is what we did after drop off, Dad took us to Del Taco for
breakfast burritos and then off to Target. Target always makes us feel happy!

You can see how tired Camryn is still!

It was a bitter sweet morning as I got up early and got the lunches packed and all of us ready to head out the door for the first day of school. The kids were all excited to meet new friends and see some that they know from church. Mike was extatic that we had the house to our selves with little Blake. I was a bit teary eyed. I miss them. We did however go to a great lunch with Blake and that helped to take my mind off of things. Thanks to all my wonderful friends who cared so much to call me and check up on me. Love you all! It really helped talking with you.:)