Blessing

We recently attended our new little niece's baby blessing in Utah.

Blessing Girl

The Baby with his Great Grandpa (Paternal side)

The Baby with his Great Grandma (maternal side) and Great Aunt.

Ruckus and cousin posing with Grandpa

Aunt cuddling up with the blessing girl

We were so glad snow white could make it to the party

Our happy man

Just chillin' -

This little cousin went around checking out everyones plate for something good to eat - how could you not share with that cute face?

Ruckus couldn't get enough of this uncle

Earlier that weekend... still bonding.

Our older boys were running around playing their little hearts out so no photos were to be had....what do ya do?

It was a super fun weekend and we were glad to have a little get away.

We love living close enough to family so we can partake in all of these wonderful events.

A Future in The Biz...

Here are some of Little C's lyrics I found the other day.

How adorable is that?

Lou Turns 4

Grandma started Lou's 4th B-day celebration in UT -

and we kept the party going all the way back to ID

with a little - pin the tail on the donkey.-

Older brother dying for some "you're welcome" b-day affection.

crazed party guest

modeling new Woody hat

How cool am I in my new b-day clothes?

Nice try Papa....



but that costume belongs to the Lou-dog.

This year for his b-day Lou got:

A huge semi truck/trailer loaded with cars from Grandma and Grandpa,

Bullseye and Woody from Buckabu and Papa,

Zurg from his brothers,

Woody costume, super hero action figures, and clothes from his parents.

Pretty spoiled my little lad.

But we love ya.

 

To my tall, handsome, energetic four year old,

How did you get so big? You love, I mean LOVE being four. You kept showing me on your fingers, for days before your b-day, how old you would soon be. You love feeling big and the idea of getting older. You desperately want to catch up to Little C and every time you eat or wake up in the morning you want us to check to see if you've grown bigger.

Your new found electronic loves are Little C's Nintendo DS and playing Sonic/Mario Olympics on the Wii. You went through a huge Thomas the Train phase while conquering the potty. If you went to the bathroom in the toilet for a week you would get a Thomas toy. When you were using the restroom we'd hear you shout things like, "Poop for Salty!" and so forth. HILARIOUS.

You still go through How to Train your Dragon spurts but you haven't been as in love with your dragons lately.

You love milk - you refer to it as regular milk so as not to be confused with Ruckus' and Little C's chocolate milk.

You thought your order for "regular" beverages would transfer over into the rootbeer department when you declared you only wanted regular beer and not rootbeer like your other brothers. Nice try buddy :). Just kidding.

You love to be outside riding your bike and even learned how to take it off a jump this summer. After many bumps and bruises we convinced you to give it a break but you were out there the next day trying to master it again.

Right now you are a Mama's boy. Hurray! For about a month before your youngest brother was born you kept sneaking into our bed at night. You are not a cuddler during the day, so I was so happy to have my little guy to cuddle with at night.

You try to convince me everyday of different made-up things we have scheduled. I guess you think that if you say it aloud often enough it will come true.

One evening you decided that it was time for swim lessons to start up again. You kept telling me over and over again that you were going to be late for your lesson and that we'd better hurry. By nine o'clock p.m. I told you that swim lessons aren't starting for a couple months, plus your swim instructor isn't even there at this time of night.

You were sure I was wrong and you told me your teacher would always be there for you.

During family home evening every week after Daddy and I ask which song we should sing, you say, "Jesus."

We always ask the same question, "What song is that?"

You never know.

Even after we give you many examples :).

But we'll try again this week.

You are a delight my dear. Not that I can call you that. You strictly want to be called your given name and nothing else. You are not a dude, buddy, or a pal.

It's a good thing to know who you are buddy :), so we support that. 

You have a sensitive sniffer and detest the slightest unenjoyable scent. If you detect something in this category you let everyone know that,"it smells like stink in here."

You love anything that involves learning and doing flash cards with me. We also have learning videos that I hear you singing to while you practice your nursery rhymes and ABCs.

We love everything about you.

One of my favorites is this:

Every morning you rush into my room and say, "Mom, I woke up!" 

and then you run and give me a big hug.

Oh my big guy. I love, love, love you!

Happy B-day my four year old.

Love,

Mama

Sleeping Beauties -

Oh... I just love them all. Cute little sweethearts.

He Loves His Pink Binky... There's Nothing That Can Be Done.

Lou fell asleep in front of Ruckus' door while waiting for Ruckus to wake up from his nap.
How tender.

Look at those profiles.

I love my boys.

Always a Party.



Pretend

Doesn't it work this way at your house?

I am going to pretend that our children are really this interested and involved in our nightly family scripture study. That Little C's eyes are always this animated instead of rolling back and forth asking if we're done yet. That Lou always  feels like the words are jumping out of the page and never can be found practicing his new cool somersaults on the ground.

That Ruckus should never have been named Ruckus at all because he always sits so obediently on his daddy's lap.

I am going to pretend that these pictures weren't staged and taken for our Ward Christmas party slide show.

Because this is really how family scripture study is at our house.

Every night....

 .... in my dreams.

Halloween 2011

This year for Halloween Little C dressed up like the villain from Scream, Lou was Iron Man, Ruckus was Optimas Prime, and The Baby was Buster Bronco. How Cute. Well except for the killer constume part... but Little C was still somehow adorable in his own right.

Trick-or-treating was semi-enjoyable/filled with endless crying. As long as Ruckus forgot how creepy Little C looked than things went well, but once he was reminded - hysterics ensued.

If Ruckus wasn't being afraid of Little C than he was being afraid for him. A couple times Little C opted to walk in the gutter instead of the sidewalk and his younger brother would FREAK OUT. Once in awhile Lou would even join in with Ruckus' screaming,

"Little C, get out of the road. You're going to get kkkiiillllleddd!"

Then,

they would both start wailing.

It was awesome.

Whoever said girls were more dramatic need look no further to prove themselves wrong. I am raising a couple of delightful, drama kings.

Here are the boys with their dressed up, redneck Papa.

Buckabu decided to join the mix as well -

The older boys kept mistaking The Baby for a donkey saying, Hee Ha, Hee Ha.

Don't worry bud, the adults all knew how cool your costume was.

The night before Halloween my poor little dad was in the hospital with kidney stones. Poor guy. He already has four daughters, I guess he also had to under go the only thing comparable to child birth for men.

Below, he is posing with his Get Well Soon Halloween basket.

You're a Babe Dad :) Love the locks.

Happy Halloween 2011!

Better than Hallmark

Thanks Dear.

P.S. You're awfully Cool.

Junkie

First thought when my sleepy eyes open in the morning:

Ding dongs. Frozen Hostess Ding Dongs.

In My Freezer. Mmmmmmm.

Next thought:

How can I possibly justify eating one of those for breakfast this morning?

Well.... I suppose it can't be much worse than the Pepsi and delicious roll I had for breakfast yesterday morning.

Game on.

And usually the game rolls forward for the rest of the day.

I am a goody junkie.

For about a week every time I got in my car I was tempted to eat the  lonely skittle that had somehow fallen on the passenger seat. You know you have an issue when the compulsion to eat forgotten candy arrives before the obvious one to throw it away. And do you love that it took a week?  Once a body gets in the car and covers that bad boy up -it is completely forgotten. :)

I don't usually make baked goods. They stare at me all day. Begging, pleading to be devoured.

Naughty little creatures.

I go in spurts of eating pretty good - at least in my terms - and then a couple months go by and sugar lovin' splendor ensues.

And darn that McDonalds bacon, egg and cheese biscuit. How could I not be your best friend? You're perfect for me.

With a long, sad exhale I am here to proclaim that I will abstain from goodies until Nov. 23rd.

I need to get this body started in good healthy eating habits.

Starting tomorrow. :)

What I do in Big Cities and Some Advice -

My mom told me a story once where she was at some women's church function and they were asked to share their most embarrassing story with the group.

One lady turned to her and said something like,

I don't know what to share. I don't have any embarrassing stories about myself.

What the?

My mother was sharing this story with me because -

WE HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO RELATE TO THIS.

I am the Queen of Embarrassing.

It's one of my talents that I try, though unknowingly so, to develop to the best of my ability.

So we'll pull some out of the hat to share with you real quick.

Phoenix Airport 10/05/2011

When boarding the airplane from SLC to Phoenix I noticed that my zipper kept falling down. I kept trying to pull my pants up real high or not bend over too far so this issue would no longer be a hindrance but.... HA.... what a joke.

When we arrived in Phoenix we exited the airplane and went about layover business as usual. While getting onto one of those motorized walkways I could sense that my zipper had once again fallen down. 

But, something else seemed amiss as well. My pants felt like they had grown a couple inches longer.

Now, The Beloved was in front of me and he is a FAST walker. I always have to take two steps to his one in order to keep up.

So I quietly yell his name but he's focused on finding our next gate.

I try to wriggle up my pants a little more and zip them up nonchalantly when I figure out what the real problem is. My pants are not just unzipped, they are completely undone.

I don't know if you have ever tried keeping up with your speedy spouse while lugging your carry on, pulling up your zipper, and discreetly doing up the  top button of your pants,

while riding a seemingly endless motorized sidewalk.

I couldn't pull it off.

When he finally turned around to see what the hold up was, he kindly helped me find the first women's restroom available.

10/8/11

I bought this cute little dress for the wedding we attended while in NY.

Hurrah for shopping.

Happy Days are here again...

Until it comes time to feed the baby in a fancy NY restaurant, during the wedding dinner.

All you nursing mothers - tell me what the problem is.

It's not like I can just throw a blanket over my shoulder and go to town.

The Beloved suggests that I go to the bathroom and feed him in one of the stalls.

Good, great. So, I head that direction. I enter the bathroom and it is packed. Packed, packed, packed- with only two stalls in the whole joint. Feeding the baby in the bathroom is not an option. I walk back out to our dinner table and explain the issue. My father-in-law kindly asks the server if there is any room in the restaurant that is not in use for a nursing mother to use. He says no, suggests I do it at the table and then I explain why that is impossible. Then a light goes on in his head. He says, check with the maitre d' to see if you could use the coat closet near the bar.

My baby is starving, my chest is about to explode, this idea seems perfect. We get the go-ahead from the proper people and a hostess leads me to the closet. She then asks me a really odd question,

do you want me to turn the lights out?

No, no, that's okay.

I turn to watch her shut the door and realize it's only a half door. There's no top portion. Anyone walking by (and there are A Lot of people walking by) will be able to see in perfectly if I don't shut the light off.

So, I swallow my pride, turn the light off and sit down in the opposite direction of the door.

I cannot believe I am half naked, sitting in a dark coat closet, breastfeeding my sweet little child in a fancy NY restaurant.

Then I hear a familiar voice.

"Hey Dear. I'm here to be your body guard."

I look toward the door to see The Beloved's figure guarding the entry.

Oh, my hero.

And I am so thankful he was there! A few unknowing staff tried to enter my little mother's lounge, but all The Beloved had to mutter was the word,

breastfeeding,

and they had no qualms about leaving the premises.

Embarrassing moments frequent my life and I can totally handle that. I just constantly have that old song playing in my head that goes something like,

That's Life.

That's what all the people say.

I'm humming the tune to you right now because I know that is helpful . :)

See, two embarrassing moments all within one weeks time.

And now for the advice portion of this segment.

During the wedding,  one of the Bride's brothers was filming various guests and requesting marriage advice.

I said something random like,

Make out a lot and it's okay to go to bed angry.

Though, those are both good things I don't think it's the best advice ever to be given.

Not that what follows will be :) but I wanted to thoughtfully add my marriage advice.

* Service - serve your spouse. Baby them a little bit.

* Treat them like your best friend - because they are.

*Never fight about money.

*Don't do the list making. ex:

Oh, The Beloved didn't put away his shoes, or his

.laundry

.dirty clothes

.tooth brush

again.

He left all of the cupboard doors open and hasn't done the dishes since June. :)

I am using The Beloved as an example. Of course he would never do those things listed above. :)

And even if maybe he would, when your tempted to do the list making, instead

*make a list of the things you love about your spouse:

He is F.U.N.

He freakin' loves me.

He's hilarious.

He doesn't ever tell me how to change or what I'm doing wrong.

He's never belittled me or called me a name.

He tells me I'm a good mom and that I'm hot.

He's a super great Dad.

He is still my friend even if I drool and fart in my sleep.

He tells me he appreciates me and my hard work.

He is honest, kind, and loves his Heavenly Father.
At this very moment he is taking the shells off my pistachios and making me my very own pile of nuts to eat.

and the list could go on forever....

Advice continues rolling forward:

*Don't dog on your spouse to other people. Not cool.

*Remember to be the fun person your spouse fell in love with.

*Pray together.

And I'll still stick with:

*Make out a lot... and whatever else may come after.

*It's okay to go to bed angry - but don't forget to say I love you, even if it's angrily, before that head hits the pillow.

Don't you appreciate all of my knowledge :)?

P.S.

To all of you cartoon fans,

I feel like I have betrayed Max and Ruby and Thomas the Train.

I enjoy Max and Ruby - I really just have no idea where their parents are. That is how my brain works and I am trying to solve the mystery.

Obviously - I am not a fan in the least of Caillou.

My kids dig Thomas. I like it. I think it's a good, clean show. I am just wondering if there's an underlying rule about including the word cross 57 times throughout the episode.

I am a lover of words people. Using the word cross, though unusual and seldom heard these days is acceptable - but let's use some creativity here.

Tis all.

Life's Serious Cartoon Questions...

.....at least to a mother.

Question #1:

I am just throwing this out there -

but have you ever wondered,

Where the H are Max and Ruby's parents?

Makes NO sense to me.

Maybe things run a whole lot differently in the rabbit world.

Questions #2:

How many anti-depressants/pain meds do you think Caillou's mom is on?

Seriously.

Is he not the most annoying, whiny kid you have ever listened to in your life?

Question #3:

Who uses the word cross to describe a feeling of negativity anymore?

Only THOMAS -

on every single episode.

It bugs me.

Almost makes me cross.

:)