Considering Dance and When do you speak up?

Today Missy woke up at 4:45 am with news that she had puked on her bed. Poor girl. I gave her a bath to clean her up and wash yuck out of her hair while Jer (saint of a man) cleaned up her bed and got new bedding on her bed. She was surprisingly happy considering and I was able to put her back in bed without much fuss.

At 7:45 she was back in my room saying she was cold... I had her lay down with me and after a sec realized that she was swallowing a lot. We raced to the bathroom and she lost it again. Poor thing. I noticed her hair was wet and thought it was because of the earlier bath, but upon checking her bed found that wasn't the case. Into the bath again and another sheet change. Again she was remarkably upbeat.

By 9am she hadn't gotten sick again and seemed to be doing well, so I took off to a dance festival in a nearby town to watch a friend's daughter preform their dance routines. I had said I was interested and would try... so off I went.

To sum that up, it was really really cool, I think I will probably be taking Missy (and maybe the boys of they are interested) to watch a performance this Thursday. If they are interested I may go ahead and sign them up.

Goober already thinks he has mad dancing skillz... but he really doesn't. If he wants them though I'm happy to give it a try, maybe he just needs some tips from someone who CAN dance. lol

In other news: I think I may have started a fire storm on a friends blog. I hope not though.

She has a wonderful little boy who happens to really enjoy girl things. Including pretending to have long hair and put bows etc in it. He is so cute! :)

Anyhow, comments keep popping up (not just one time but many) on her blog that conclude decisively that he "will grow out of it"... and I admit, he might. That would certainly make life easier for him (and all those who love him) in the long run, and probably the short run in many ways as well.

My concern is this... what if he doesn't? Are these people inadvertently saying that they won't accept him if he doesn't? are they saying that they will blame his parents if he doesn't or that they will think something is "wrong" if he doesn't?

I certainly don't think they are intending to be insensitive or hurtful, but I think to many people these comments may come across that way.

So I tried to gently say that things may not end up exactly how others want it to, and that is alright. That little boy will be loved and admired and have loads of potential in spite of (or maybe because of) the things that he finds enjoyable and that he is drawn to in this life.

I know my friend will take my comment the way I intended it, and I made sure that she knows that she can delete it if she wants to and I won't be offended or have my feelings hurt.

So what do you do when you think others may be unintentionally causing harm? Do you say something or do you stay silent... and if you say something, well, at what point do you say it?

Sorry I've been slacking.

I've been remarkably tired lately... and when I'm not and think "I should do a blog post" I then immediately think "about what?!" lol

So here is what has been up with me. This Tuesday I get to go in for my Bronchoscopy, something that has made my exercise streak die quickly :( Sucky, right when I get used to it too! (Now to muster the will power to start it all back up again!) Then later that day I get to take Missy to the eye doctor...

I'm kind of wondering what to think about that one... I mean, when we went to the pediatrician for the annual exam they tried to get her to tell them the letters on the wall. Now, if any of you knew Missy, you would know she can be a bit flaky. Be that because that is in her personality, or because she is five, I don't really know... nor care for that matter. She's cute and I love her! But it does make it difficult to tell if she is intentionally answering wrong, or if she just doesn't care enough to answer right... OR that she really can't see very well.

So I made sure to make her an appointment with a pediatric eye doctor here in town so that (hopefully) we can rule out the "flakys" as the reason she didn't do well at the pediatricians eye test.

Thursday I get to go to an orientation for Missy's Kindergarten class... which should be interesting, but I'm not really sure if I should take her with me or not... and then that same night I'm doing a neighborhood BBQ in front of my house.

I put out fliers yesterday but apparently the post man decided he needed to take some of them when he came around for the mail. YES... I know.... I shouldn't be putting fliers in mailboxes... But what would you do if you had 300 fliers to deliver and didn't want to spend all day doing it? I'm sorry Mr. Mailman, but you of all people should know how much more time that takes... and the fact that I'm not getting paid to deliver these things kind of makes me think... Meh! Mailboxes look good!

Besides, I don't think I will be doing another neighborhood watch activity for a while... if the neighborhood wants to put together something before next spring someone else can do it, especially if the turnout to this event is low. One meeting a year is starting to look really good about now...

Goober has a new friend he has found... Mr A is a neighborhood kid that grates on Jer's nerves like nothing else lol  He also is almost 10 years old, which concerns me in some ways. I wonder if he wants to play with Goober because Goober has video games or because he really likes Goober. So today I told Goober he gets to play video games for 2 hours... and those hours are not when friends are here.

Goober didn't like that much, but I really don't know how else to test the reasons for why this kid is around. His little sister is Missy's age though... and the girls get along well and nothing seems amiss there.

We will see what happens when the neighbor kids all go back to school on the last day of this month. I'm a little worried about my own kids boredom though, they aren't starting school until Sept 20th... I may see what I can do doing a review of the things they know so that they aren't so rusty when school starts. I have to admit that as far as reading with Goober and practicing letters with Missy I've been a horrid mother this summer... so I should probably be trying to do some make up work! :)

I haven't been watching the news much due to too little good news. Most of the news related things I think about tend to be things like "Oh great, Iran with Nuclear power... sounds bad... wow, isn't bad what is normal in the news?" So I scan the headlines and call it good lately. No deep thoughts there.... and I haven't been reading my regular blogs much either due to the major blogs recently being inundated with butt heads. What is up with that?!

Oh! Speaking of blogs, Jer and I went down to UT last week to meet up with some of my favorite bloggy people. We left the kids with Jer's mom and took a detour through Bear Lake to pick up one of the ladies :) It's so nice when you meet people you get along well with! It's funny how much you can have in common with people you have only talked to online!

Anywho, That is that I guess...

Oh, and here's a picture... just for kicks and giggles... 

 You would be amazed at how much fun kids can have with a hose and a slide :)

July 3rd... cause that's how our city does it.

So on July 3rd we went to the Parade... because as I mentioned in a previous post, our city has issues with celebrating our country's independance day on the sabbath... even if that country was founded on the principal of freedom of religion. Hmmm.

Anyways, it was bitter freezy COLD at the parade. My kids all had long pants and jackets and were still complaining about how cold it was! Thank goodness it started to warm up after a bit!

The parade started...

Then it stopped... for about 20 minutes. Come to find out later that one of the BMX bikers hurt himself and thought he had broken his ankle... glad it wasn't worse. As we waited a couple of helicopters flew by....

And I think the kids were more excited about them than about any of the rest of the parade... and that included the horses and the BMX bikers doing awesome tricks and flips and stuff!

After the parade we went home and made everyone take a nap... because, lets face it, late night watching fireworks at the parents house and an early morning at the parade PLUS a late night planned for watching fireworks that night equals.... notsomuchfun. So our kids were mad, but we were glad!

We took a nap.

Then we headed to one of Jeremy's coworkers houses for a BBQ. Mmmmmm yummy kebabs with zucchini and squash and Parmesan cheese on top! Heaven!

And besides Turbo got to get exposed to dogs...

 Shamus the boxer.... sooooo cute... want one!

Turbo was fine as long as he had a water gun handy. :)

and he had a blast shooting the adults! It wasn't so much a game of avoiding being shot as it was of standing still and hoping he didn't hit you. All the people there were awesome though and seemed to enjoy his antics!

We had a great time... and so did the kids!

In the end we walked down to the river to watch the fireworks and then we headed home to enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Hoping it will start to feel like summer...

before I have to start doing school shopping.

Last weekend I went to Boise for a Bloggersnacker with some of the FMH women... it was an all weekend long thing where you bring yourself and stuff to spend the night and of course some munchies. It was really fun and I really wished I could stay all weekend long, but alas I had to be home by Saturday night due to the Neighborhood Watch BBQ that I was in charge of. So I ended up leaving the delightfully hilarious FMH ladies with whom I wish I had gotten a chance to know better, really early in the morning (well, really early if you have stayed up till 2 the night before...) in order to get back to IF in time for the BBQ without konking out on the long (and might I say BORING) drive home alone from Boise.

The BBQ turned out okay I guess. At the moment I'm rather frustrated with my neighborhood. They say they will support you in something and then don't follow through. I'm having a bit of difficulty finding anyone willing to make it so that if I NEED to skip an event I can... and needless to say, donations toward the signage are going rather slow. Honestly there are a lot of houses in our neighborhood, and all it would take is 20 of them donating $5 to get the signs up... Ya, it's going slow, and I must say I'm rather underwhelmed. If I don't start seeing more support from my neighbors I think that I may just come to the conclusion that most of them aren't interested in having a neighborhood watch (some are interested in it mind you! just not many) and I will bag it. It's not worth the time and effort working on things that people aren't interested in or willing to support. Let alone the fact that I'm having everything translated into Spanish and not ONE Spanish speaker has shown up to either of the events. Why am I doing this if no one is benefiting? I regretted not staying at the Bloggersnacker in Boise.

Monday I went to the Chiropractor and got my back adjusted, then Wednesday I called and canceled further appointments until I can afford them. Started to seriously consider going back to school... and was going to start looking into it yesterday but got distracted somehow. Which happens often do to the kids asking to go do something like this:

 or this:

:) They are sweet and I love them to death....

Today is the last day of Goober's Summer School. He was behind in reading so they asked if he would do summer school, which actually I would prefer simply because me keeping a schedule for him and I reading to each other is a bit of a mess... and often doesn't happen. I know.... bad mom. Anywho, with summer school he was less likely to get any farther behind than he already was so I jumped for it.

Well, today is the last day, and I had a Dermatologist appointment to get to this morning. I didn't realize that Goober was likely to get out early today until he told me last night. So I let him skip out on school, because honestly, I was worried he would come home when I was gone to my appointment and totally freak out. My friend Erin watched them while I went to my appointment.

I love having friends that I trust with my kids and that I don't feel like I'm imposing on when I do. Plus, she has dogs... which Turbo HATES, but which are good for him because he really needs to learn to be okay with them. Erin is sweet and manages to keep him untraumatized. They are sweet dogs too, so he has absolutely no reason to be afraid....now I just wish he would internalize that!

The doctor froze off two spots on my skin so now I have ouchness, but I'd rather that than cancer... Thankyouverymuch. Fair skin can suck.

So anyways, June was nuts and I felt like I hardly had a moment to think let alone relax! Hopefully July will be better and I will find that the kids don't pick on each other to the point that my sanity goes out the window. I really need to look into when the Library does "reading time" and when the pools next session of lessons are even though I'm not terribly sure we can afford it this year. It's a safety thing though, so I really really WANT to afford it for them.

Tomorrow our family is going to my parents house for our annual fireworks! My parents get fireworks for the group, we have a BBQ then light them off, when they are done we move to the back yard and watch their little towns fireworks because the view is really good :) It's wonderful to be able to do that, if my kids get too droopy I can always go lay them down inside! As always the weekend of the 4th is always a bit insane, this year our city is moving the celebration from the 4th to the 3rd because the 4th is on a Sunday (don't ask me... I don't really get why celebrating our Independence is not Sabbath worthy... ) so because of that my parents little town moved theirs to the 2nd because they don't want to have to compete with the bigger city (now, I DO get that).

I don't know if we will be going to the parade or not... mainly because if the kids are up late the night before they may be a major handful the next morning, but we will see. I would really like to go.

Anyhow, that is that.... as they say. Oh! and I taught myself how to do a 4 strand braid. Yay me! lol

Mr. Dyl's Bday Party

So a little over a week ago my friend Kar threw a birthday party for her son who is the same age as Goober.

Goober was invited and was SOOOO excited. It WAS after all a Bakugan party! Because Dyl's is a major Bakugan fan.

Kar came up with the cutest games: Bakugan memory (with each dude, his planet, and his Bakugan... you had to find all three to get a match!), a somersault race (because Bakugan's roll, doncha know?), a treasure hunt with Bakugan hints and prizes, and a game where the kids tried to bounce bouncy balls into little tin cups!

It was obvious she went to a lot of work, and the kids really seemed to enjoy it all! Goober was so antsy and bouncy that I told him to go run around the yard three times to get the energy out... and guess what? HE DID! Too funny! Seemed to do the trick though...

He had lots of fun, and Dyl's seemed to enjoy himself too :) He did, after all, make out like a Bakugan Bandit!

Thanks so much for inviting Goober Kar!

Goober's Party

Wow, the one time I really think I might not have forgotten anything... I get to the bowling alley and... I don't have my wallet!!!! No kidding... so I ask two of Goober's friends mom's if it would be okay if I hurried and ran home and looked for it (they were awesome and totally cool with it)... seeing that the bowling alley wouldn't let the kids start bowling until I had paid for the party!

I ran home...

I looked...

I thought about where I saw it last...

I called the dollar store...

YAY! They had it! So I ran over there and picked it up, called the bowling alley who then let the kids start playing, and ran back to the bowling alley as speedily as possible...

Needless to say, I was late for my own kids party :(

Thank goodness Goober's friends parents are stellar and totally helpful and understanding! That and Goober seemed to have a good time, even if the party did run overtime...

One of these day's I might get it all right...

Maybe by the time they are in high school.

At least we didn't have a cake-wreck on top of it all!

California Vacation Pt 1: Medievil Times

It's raining outside and I'm mad about it... and here I thought I would Weed & Feed my lawn! ha! So since Mother Nature obviously doesn't want me to accomplish anything outside today I have suddenly found time to blog! Mwhahaha!

While we were in California, Erika & Jason & ourselves went to Medievil Times. I have only been to a Medievil Times once in my life and it was when I was seven and my parents took us to Disneyworld.
Dinner was lots of fun! We totally ate everything with just our hands, aren't those handles on the bowls handy? :D

Then the show commenced!

We sat in the Red and Yellow knights area (hence the color of our crowns)... and since it's really awkward to yell "Red & Yellow" to a rhythm when cheering for our guy, Erika and I decided that "Rellow" would have to do! Astro from the Jestons would have been proud!


But alas our knight was a wuss and was the first one to be offed by the malicious and surly Green knight (the bad guy)... he was most definitely a Slytherin!

Very moody.

Had a temper too.

Apparently he was pissed off because people wanted peace. The Nerve of some people.... Peace! Pshaw!

When the introduction to the tournament was done all of the knights rode out of the arena together... the Green was right next to our Rellow knight... I bet our Rellow knight looks back now and wishes he had turned and sucker punched the dude, or maybe stabbity-stabbed him with the sharp pointy thing in his belt. Especially since he was the first one offed and all....

The princess, of course, was a total wuss. Very non-Joan of Arc. She liked to pout about the prince coming up missing, but didn't have any leadership skills to "Get-er-done!!!" as far as finding him!

In the end the prince and the knight who won the tournament (the Black and White knight) fought the foe and came out victorious!!! And we got to see really awesome horses do cool performances and some fun battles with lots of sparks being thrown due to metal swards hitting each other etc!

So fun!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig!

Okay, so this last week I went on a much needed vacation :)

Much needed as in "I'm going insane, and I'm not sure my sanity is going to hold much longer..." needed. This winter was HARD. I love my kids to death and I'm glad that I chose to be a stay at home mom, but sometimes I seriously consider looking for a job, if only to get a change of scenery and someone to give me a job evaluation!

So Jer and I planned to escape for a week and my fabulous parents took the kids for us, because they are the most fabulous grandparents (and parents) in the entire world! (did I mention they are fabulous? I was SO born into the right family! I always think this, but it's times like this that reinforce the feeling!)

So off we went to the LA area and stayed with an absolutely awesome Navy family whom were absolutely awesome. Did I mention they are awesome? Ya, they're awesome! (As Erika would say, they are "Moi Bueno!")

I've known Erika since forever... as in the 2nd grade, forever... and we disagree on many things but still get along really well and I totally give the guy she married a BIG thumbs up! And hey! Let's not forget those kidlets (whom she is raising really well! In fact, I came home and informed my kids that we will be working on manners now... we will see how that goes..) and their spunky personalities, so cute!

  The weather was gorgeous (unlike here at home... which I'm glad I missed. A tornado warning? really?) and it was so nice to be away. We did lots of fun stuff, everything from playing SingStar at a friends house, going to a BBQ and going to Medievil Times, The Getty and Disneyland. The week was full enough to be entertaining, but not so full that we didn't get a chance to relax. It was perfect! And if I go into all of it now this post will be very, very, very long!

  And now that I'm home, I'm totally grinding gears to get back into the swing of things! Glad I got a break, cause this week is gunna be busy and my children are already testing me to make sure the rules still apply!

  Thanks SO MUCH for letting us stay! We may have to come crash the party again sometime ;)

People I Haven't Seen (or Heard from Personally) in Years.

Okay, so I have a dilemma...

When I was in college I had quite a few sets of roommates, not because I didn't get a long with people, but because I felt it was a good opportunity for change and a good way to meet new people. During the two and a half years I was there I had four sets of roommates, which I was totally okay with.

There was one set of roommates that I would term my "best" roommates, in that I got along fairly well with all of them. They were pretty neat girls. Though, I will admit, that I was always one to be over sensitive about being left out of things... so instead of being left out, often times I would take off for the weekend to do laundry at my parents house (kind of a preemptive "I won't be around to be left out" kind of thing... looking back I maybe should have acted differently, I don't know honestly)

Well, this set of roommates tries to get together about every four years or so. It's kinda neat. Last time we spent a weekend near park city, just the six of us girls... well, except the baby one of the girls brought along. It was a nice get away (though -- I admit -- I felt fat the whole time, that's what happens when you go four years without seeing people and you are one of two people that have gained weight, and the heaviest one by far. This was nobody's fault but my own though! Yup, blaming self there). Everyone was pretty agreeable, and I never felt outcast in any way.

Alas it's been four years again and I recently received an email mentioning another "roomie reunion". My dilemma is this: I seldom hear from these ladies except when one of these "reunions" comes up... I don't know if I should take that as an indication that they really aren't too interested in me or just that they have their own lives to lead and it doesn't occur to them (see, still haven't gotten rid of that overly sensitive to being left out thing... have a feeling I will be struggling with that for the rest of my life...). That by itself isn't a big problem but it also seems that there is a desire to have it only be the "girls" again and most of the ladies have never met my husband and most certainly do not know my children. Besides, we excluded the guys and kids last time and there was mention of sometime doing something with all of them (or at least a lunch or something with all of them) so we could meet each others families. Together these two things (no contact and no family) start to be a problem for me.

I don't want to give the impression that I'm a total spoil sport, that I'm a big party-pooper, but really... it does appear that these people don't really want to know or understand me (or each other, unless they have been in constant contact over the last four years and have all met each others husbands and families...). Yes, I'm much more than just a mother and a wife, I hate it when people assume that there is not more to me... but my husband is my best friend on the entire planet (I honestly don't know how I could handle life without him), and I would give my life for any one of my kids to have the opportunity to become all that they want to be in this life, get that -- give my life for their opportunity. I'm not saying that this isn't also the case with many of these girls... I just don't really know how I can really know them, or they me, without us at least meeting (or having the opportunity to meet) the most important parts of our lives.

Maybe they just need a weekend off from being mom and wife. I understand that. Hell, at the end of May Jer and I are taking off for a week sans kids because I almost went insane this winter because of the overwhelming feeling of loosing my identity. There has to be time to be "ME" in any persons life, but does it have to be an occasion that happens only once every four years? Last time I honestly considered not going because I wouldn't have my greatest emotional support in the world there with me (yup, that's Jer -- just knowing he is around helps me to be, well, more ME! Especially the current me). I think I'd be okay without the kids... then again, atm I'm a little OD ed on them... I would LOVE to meet the other girls husbands and families though!!!

This time, I don't know if I will go or not, I honestly don't know if it will make much of a difference to them or not if I am actually there. I mean, sure, anyone would say "Ohhhh, I'm so sad you aren't coming!" or "We really missed you!" but sometimes it's really hard to tell if that is just being kind aka not rude, or if it's honestly the truth. Besides... I have no idea if I will even be able to hold a conversation with these girls... I have, after all, gone a bit "apostate" and would most likely no longer agree with any of them politically, I still hate scrap booking, and I have this newly discovered feminist streak in me... then there is the old "I'm going to get left out" ailment...

PS I know a couple of them have been to my blog before (I don't know if they check it anymore) but just in case, my intention is not to offend or accuse anyone of anything or to hurt anyones feelings, just to try to hash it out to see more clearly where I stand on the whole thing. Okay, butt sufficiently covered.

Holy Whinefest.

For the last couple of days Goober has been a major whiner. I think it probably has to do with the fact that I now have to get him up early again for school and the missionaries came over last night to give us a pep talk about helping them do missionary work. As a consequence the two older kids went to bed later than usual.

Yesterday Goober got into trouble with one of his friends parents. Basically he and one of the kids were wrestling and she told him to get off and he didn't... then when 3 yr old little brother started hitting Goober to get him to get off, Goober threw a snowball at him.... not okay, the snow is now hard. Anyhow, when mom asked what happened Goober got an attitude with her and she told him if he wasn't going to tell her that he couldn't come over to their house and play. Needless to say, Goober came home bawling.

When I called and found out what happened I made sure Goober made a special "I'm sorry" card for mom, and we took a special trip over to their house to have him say sorry to everyone. Mom wasn't home, but we left the card and said sorry to the siblings.

Today Goober told me his friend had said that Goober couldn't come over to play there, but that Goober could come over and ask if he could come here.

Turbo was being an kamikaze kid and jumping on people soon after Goober got home from school so I had to put him down for a nap after he jumped on and hurt Goober.

Well, because I really don't want to have an uber loud house when Turbo is down for a nap I told Goober that he couldn't go and see if his friend wanted to play here. That if his friend came over on his own then they could play here.

Is that unreasonable? The kid never comes to see if Goober can play, it's always Goober going there. I feel like the parents probably think I'm pushing my kids off on them, but Goober has said that his friend only likes to play at his house. I wonder if the kid likes Goober or just puts up with him. It kind of worries me, honestly.

Anyhow, because of this Goober has continued with the whinefest today. Asking every so often if we can call and ask him over, or if I can call his mom. To which I reply no. Then he whines that he wants him to see that he passed all the "levels" on his Star Wars Wii game. etc etc

I'm thinking about moving bedtimes up if this continues. UGH.

Just Random Stuff.

So Goober made a friend... and was really happy about it... then the friend disappeared. I'm guessing to lack of paying rent on her parents part, but honestly? Who knows? All I know is that she isn't in the house she used to be in.

Well, yesterday Goober came home from school and announced that he made another friend with a girl in his class (the old friend was in he class too, but disappeared from there as well). He even remembered the new friends house number. Anyhow, I told him that I had to talk to her parents before I allowed him to go see if she could play (call me protective, but I ALWAYS want parents phone numbers and for them to have mine in case something bad happens).


Unfortunately the Energizer Bunny has been low on batteries lately due to having a fever :( Poor little dude. So I made Goober wait for me to put him down for another nap, he was vegging in front of a DVD looking like he was sleeping except his eyes were open. And I walked with Goober and Missy to the new "Friend"s house. Her mom is nice and she has two younger siblings... a younger brother (who will end up being the same grade as Missy) and a little sister who is just older than EB. Just the opposite of Goober.

They enjoyed playing yesterday and most of the day today. The kids played most of the morning in the backyard with Gma and Gpa J while they were here helping us while we moved dirt. Loads and Loads of DIRT. Dad was a doll and offered to help us out by getting a little tractor to use. We had a full truckload of dirt in front of our house waiting to be moved and our wheelbarrow is weak on one side and tips relatively easily so it was going REALLY slowly. Anyhow, we got almost all of the dirt moved thanks to dad... I really don't think it would have happened before snowfall without him. THANKS DAD!!!! (Aren't my parents AWESOME!?!?!)

Now, you may wonder why we needed so much dirt? Mainly because the noobs that owned our house before us didn't level the yard before they planted and put in the sprinkler system. So all of the water from ours and the neighbors sprinklers would gather in a big puddle in the middle of our backyard while other areas of lawn died due to not getting watered enough. So a large portion of our backyard is now covered in dirt. Wooohooo so fun. It won't have grass till spring. So this should be entertaining to try to keep the kids out of the mud all winter.

On a less overwhelming note: we got my garden area all ready! So now, come spring I can plant some veggies and yummy stuff. I have never owned a vegetable garden in my life... so we will see how that works. Worst thing that could happen? I hate it and plant bushes where the garden spot is :)

Anyhow, that has been my life the past couple of days.

Would You Take 6 More Kids?

I can honestly say that my three kidlets sometimes nearly push me to screaming my lungs out. I love them, but man they can be testing. Then I think about adding 3 more to the mix and I get a little nervous... I may end up in the mental institution after a major breakdown. Then 3 more after that? Ya, it's no more a "may" end up in the mental institution, it's a I "would" end up in the mental institution!

Well, taking 6 more kids into their home at one time is EXACTLY what one of our friends has done! Going quickly from a family of three to a family of NINE!!!! But honestly, with their personalities... if anyone can do it... THEY CAN. They are some of the most giving people we know and so full of love you can almost taste it in their presence.

When we first met Josh and Deneece we were still newly weds (as were they). We happened to be next door neighbors. We would often go to each other homes for dinner, cause HEY two people is NOT much to cook for and any "normal" sized meal would last us a week of dinners. We talked about many things and played many games teasing each other the whole way. I remember at one point talking about the number of kids we wanted to have. My response? Five.... though that has changed since and three is good. :) Their response? LOTS!!!

As the years went by I had Goober and they adopted Eli. Then I had Missy, and they kept trying for those kids they knew would be theirs. Then I had The Energizer Bunny and they began looking into adopting another child. And low and behold they found those kids that were supposed to be theirs! They just didn't know they would find them all at once!

Needless to say their family is going through a lot right now. Instead of one 6 year old they now have 7 kids ranging in age from 12 years old to 4.....and they need a lot of things!

So if you would like to help they have a fund set up at our local WestMark Credit Unions or you can go here and look at the list of things they know they are in need of right now. Or if you have questions you can email amazingadoptionstory@me.com.

What an awesome family!!!! God Bless them... every single one of them!

Fun at Gma S's

So recently Gma S decided that she needed some "bigger kid" toys at her house. Most of the toys there were baby toys, except of course the swing set in the backyard :)

So after going out and getting some toys we found one set of toys in particular that were a huge hit. They are called Magforms and boy did they keep the kids busy. We even had a couple of Goobers friends over that were playing with them and, I kid you not, all four kids played with them nonstop for over an hour. If you have any idea how long attention spans usually last for this age of kids you will know that is simply AMAZING. In fact Goober saw the picture of them just now and said he wanted to go over to Gma S's and play with them. lol

Gma S also got a couple of cool building toys for a little older age (7-12) and I put them together for them. The kids also really seemed to enjoy them. :)




The faris wheel didn't have any people so I made some out of twist ties. The kids loved making it go!

A Friends Wedding :)

So last weekend Jer and I took a trip up to Island Park (sans kids, thank goodness) to go to a wedding of our friend James to his longtime sweetheart Lindsey.

James is a great guy, he works with Jer, and participates in the geeky fun of both World of Warcraft and Dungeons and Dragons with both Jer and I. He is really intelligent and has the funnest sense of humor.....

Anyhow, the wedding was beautiful! It did storm on us a little (it was an outdoor wedding) but as "they" say having it rain on your wedding is a good omen! I think it has something to do with the supposition that if it rains on the wedding day, all the days after will be full of sunshine. Whatever, either way, it wasn't windy and the rain was only light so it turned out OK in the end (though many of my pictures didn't!).

Afterwords the rain cleared out and allowed for a great dinner. Roasted pig and turkey and the works. It was great fun and I'm glad we were invited!

Best wishes on a future full of great times to both the groom and the bride!

Loner or Just Normal?

I think I'm odd.

No, I know I'm odd. But I think I may be odd in the friendship arena too.

I can't decide if it's just that I'm standoffish or that I am uninteresting or maybe it is the way I handle people. I think it may be the later. You see... every time I move I loose contact with EVERYONE I lived near. No kidding.

I have a few close friends who follow me through my moves but seldom did they actually live near me beforehand. I think this is due to the fact that I have a hard time telling between acquaintances and friends when they are in really close proximity to me. Mainly cause it's really not a conscious choice of theirs to stay in touch with me or vice verse. So when I move I get caught up in the whole "moving" activity and fail to keep in contact. Then when I finally come out of the "Organize, throw out, where in the world am I going to put THIS!?" mode it has been a while and would be kinda weird for me to out of nowhere call the people who lived near me beforehand. I mean, now I don't have the convenient "Can I borrow an egg" or "I have a question about insert activity already attended here".

I know it would be much easier if those people called me first, cause then I would know they still wanted to be friends, but they seldom do.

Now, I'm not feeling bad for myself here, just self analysing. Do most people stay in contact with people in their old neighborhoods? Am I odd this way or normal? Were they really all acquaintances and nothing to be all analytical over? I dunno.

I think I'm now confused.

Grrrr... I'm Flummoxed

So when I gave Goober's friend Bee the nickname of "Bee" for this blog I had no idea how prophetic that would be.

Bee is an only child. Not that I fault her for that, just that it leaves her prone to not liking younger siblings of friends much, and it also leaves her more prone to thinking the whole world revolves around her.

Man that girl can give some stings.

Recently Goober has started to come home upset more and more often. Bee has been saying mean things to him. Now, I understand kids do this sometimes, and sometimes I don't get the whole story (like what Goober may have done to induce such behavior), but saying things like "I hate you" and "I don't want to play with you, and neither does Ken" (Ken is another friend).

The other day Goober and Bee decided to go to Bee's house from our house. Goober wanted to ride his bike. Jer was the one home at the moment, so he okayed it and Goober proceeded to get on his coat etc... by the time he got outside Bee was sitting on his bike. Goober told her HE wanted to ride his bike and she just looked at him. Jer then stepped in and told Bee that she did not ask and told her to get off of Goobers bike. Weeeeelllll, this made Bee mad. So she then yelled at Goober "I don't want to play with you anymore!!!!" and ran home (because she was mad a Jer). Goober was then upset because his "friend" didn't want to play with him anymore.

She tends to lie as well, saying things such as: "Ken can't play, he has a black eye", and when Ken, Goober, Missy My, and Bee are playing together they decided to go to Bee's house and she proceeds to lie and say that only one friend is allowed over. Then Ken promptly goes and Goober is upset cause they don't want to play with him.

I, as a mother, have NO CLUE how to deal with this. As far as I'm concerned Bee can go jump off a cliff for the way she sometimes treats my kids (which is becoming more often). I've been trying to comfort Goober when things like this happen, saying that good friends don't do things like that, and that we will find some good new friends in our new house.

But I'm not sure if I should bring this up with her mother or not. I know that eventually this kind of behavior is going to bite Bee back, and HARD. Maybe her mom can help her avoid that? Her mom is pretty down to earth and I don't think she would be offended if I pointed these things out to her..... but I don't know if I should step in or not....

Grrrr..... motherhood!!

Oh, the SNOW!

So it's finally done it....

it's finally snowed enough here for the kids to actually play in it.

Goober says to me this morning: "Is it Christmas!?"

I had to inform him sadly that it was not... but it would be soon.... Grandpa's and Daddy's birthdays had to come first.... (which is a whole nother post!)

Bee showed up hear bright and early (8:45... and again another post would be needed to get into my thoughts about that) and the kids decided after a relatively short time that it was time to go play in the snow....

And have snow fights.... not snowball fights (cause there weren't any adults outside to make said snowballs) just throwing clumps of snow at each other. Ya know!

And of course eating the snow....

The Energizer Bunny watched the kids play from inside for a while.... then when the kids decided to go to Bee's house and play for a bit his batteries suddenly became low and he needed an early recharge.... so down he went for a nap. So unexpectedly this morning a have a little quiet time :) I'm really glad that EB went down for an early nap though, cause this afternoon we are supposed to go look at more houses.... and that is really NOT fun with a tired baby. So glad mine won't be tired! Yippeee!

Ok Fun New Tag... Cause right now my life has NOTHING GOING ON. Nothing. Really.

Ok, so since my life has nothing much going on except lugging screaming kids around and trying to keep track of them as the trek all over the neighborhood .... I decided I would pick up on Nat's tag that she created. :D

So this tag is all about who I think are HOTTIES (outside of Jer OF COURSE.... ummm DUH!)

TV ACTOR

On this one I have to go with Joshua Jackson.... mmmmm .... ooooo... ahhhhhh. Yeah he was on everything from Might Ducks back in the day, to Dawson's Creek, and now Fringe.

(picture from http://www.starpulse.com/)

MMMM ahhhh and when he smiles she is SOOOO CUTE...

Sorry, reverted back to the teenage years there for a minute :)

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Runner up: Milo Ventimiglia

(Picture is from http://www.exposay.com/)

From the TV series Heroes.

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MOVIE ACTOR

Drum roll PLEASE..... and the winner is..... HUGH JACKMAN! Not only is he HOT HOT HOT... he can SING TOO! Can we say "Broadway" people? Yeah, I don't know of any movie actor that can beat him yet.... and he was in X-Men a while ago.

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(picture from people.com)

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Runner up: Brad Pitt

(Picture from http://www.climateprogress.org/)

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CLASSIC ACTOR

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Gene Kelly (mostly cause everyone else KNOWS Marlon Brando is hot.... and I didn't want to pic the same twice).

(Picture from http://www.reelclassics.com/)

No runner up, cause honestly, I don't know many classic actors (I KNOW!!! SINNER! yup, that's me)

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MUSIC ARTIST

Any of the guys from Tally Hall. Actually, I didn't pick them cause they are hot, sorry... I picked them cause I like their music. I don't think of musicians by how they look usually. Heck, usually I don't KNOW how they look...cause I usually hear them on my car radio. WAHOOOO! So they win, cause they are spunky and creative and I like them.

No runner up, sorry.

(picture from http://www.mtv.com/)

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OPPOSITE SEX ACTOR

Nicole Kidman hands down. She has always been my idea of beautiful. She looks like she could be made of porcelain. Very classic beauty.

(Picture from www.nicole-kidman.us/)

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Runner Up:

Queen Latifah, I know, total opposite and absolutely gorgeous when she wants to be. And seams unapologetic for not being the stereotypical beautiful (aka size 0).

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(picture from blogs.cron.com)

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Soooooo, that is that. Now you do it!!! :D