sleepy head!

I wasn't kidding when I said I was tired, as I signed off last night. I could hardly keep my eyes open to proof read, if I can call it that, and all I remember is saying to myself, "I'm just going to rest my eyes for a second." The next thing I know it's 5:00 am and I'm being woken up by the feeling of the computer cord being pulled out from under my leg. Ben was heading out the door for an early temple session and he found me asleep sitting up, more like slouched on the couch, with the computer on my lap. He said he thought I was faking it when he came down to find me there. I was thinking, "Yeah right, why would I be up that early?" So I have learned my lesson. If I take another one of those pills, make sure I go straight to bed. I am thinking those will work great next time I fly over seas! :)
So enough about my lack of consciousness. Today I stayed at home. I finally ordered my food storage and boy am I glad. It is actually an interesting story. I knew we needed to do it, but I was putting it off b/c I had to do some research, which I was not in the mood for. On Wednesday I had this feeling I needed to do the research once and for all, so I dropped a lot of stuff I had planned for that day. I finally figured out what I wanted to do, but was still putting off the ordering, just out of laziness. Then this morning something just told me to do it now! I called up to order and the lady said they just got the call today to raise the prices 15 percent. Luckily they had to honor the price that was still on the Internet. Now I finally feel prepared and we also saved a good chunk of money! How great it will be not to be consumed with those feelings of guilt and worry when they talk about food storage this conference! Finally!
Today Sophia started running a fever again. I am beginning to think that she must be getting a tooth or something. If so, she would be the first to get one this early. I can't imagine her being sick this whole time. Anyway, she wasn't content to just laying on her play mat, like usual, so I pulled the Johnny Jumper out, only to find that it is too short. All our other homes had 8 foot ceilings, so she was just hanging in mid air. My Mom pushed her, like a swing, and she like that. The fact her feet didn't touch the ground defeated the purpose of helping her leg strength and also giving me a half an hour to get things done. So I brought the entertainer out of the garage, cleaned it up and let her play in it. She had a great time in that. Now my family room is officially full of baby equipment...swing, bouncy seat, entertainer, play mat.....man I need a bigger family room, just for for a few months anyway!;)
Ethan built a fort today in the family room. See above picture. This is one of their favorite spots to make forts. They even put Sophia in there with them the other day. As I was trying to lay down for a minute, while Sophia was sleeping, I told Ethan to pretend he was sleeping in his fort. After about 20 minutes, this is how I found him. He falls asleep in the weirdest places. After he woke up we spent some time playing Memory. He cracks me up. In the middle of the game he made his Buzz phone ring, and the precedes to pick it up and pretend to carry on a conversation w/ Ben. For the past week he has been carrying that thing around w/him everywhere he goes and keeps having fake conversations. Monkey see monkey do, I guess! Also, notice his tool books in the picture. He has been carrying those all over the house, too! He has been sleeping w/ the smaller of the two! He is so random! Oh, did I mention that Ethan eats 2 sandwiches a day. My mom said I should probably order extra food storage b/c of him! LOL Ok, that was random. Guess I know where he gets it!
After the kids got home from school, Boston went straight to his responsibilities while Aubrie parked herself on the couch to watch TV..TYPICAL. After about 20 minutes, Boston comes downstairs with his stuffed monkey around him. He then said "guess who I'm taking care of?". I said, "Ummm, the monkey?" He then said, " I'm giving him attention because he has been neglected." The monkey has been hanging on his bed post for the past couple of months, instead of in his bed like all the others. Guess he was feeling guilty about that. Ha!
After chores, the kids all went out to play with the neighbor kids. It's amazing how they all play so well together. There is such a wide range of ages. The oldest is 12 and the youngest is Ethan. They all motor all over the cud-de-sac on scooters, bikes, skates...whatever. It's such a blessing to have such great neighbors. It's nice that it's finally cooling off so they can all hang out. Unfortunately, we had to break up the gang to run some errands. We had to run to Home Depot and Target. I love they are soooo close now. A trip that once took us a few hours now can be done in 1! Like normal, we didn't get out of Target w/out buying something we didn't need. This time it was a few movies, including the Disney Princess Enchanted Tales and the Karate Kid. After dinner we invited the neighbors for a swim, that only lasted about 20 minutes. It started to storm as soon as I put my suit on and headed outside:( Oh well. The kids came in and got to watch their new movies. Watching Karate Kid made me feel old!

Money tree, anyone?

Alright, I am seriously needing a money tree right now b/c it seems these day's it going out faster than it's coming in. Our first big expense this week, and a much needed one, was our order for some wood floors. As impractical as it may seem, it was very the contrary. Our beloved Simba, cat of 11 years, decided to make Bens office his personal litter box. It started when our other cat, Maggie (aka sophie, before Sophia was born) was declawed. We had to change out our normal litter for newspaper shreds and Simba wanted nothing to do w/ that, and so Ben's office gets worse by the minute, reeking of cat pee. I'm not sure if Simba is even peeing in there anymore, or if by giving up on using a bottle of Febreeze everyday, has made it seem worse. Nevertheless, we had to do something about it (maybe that has something to do with my daily headaches), before our little Sophia starts motoring around. It took Ben forever to make the call, for obvious reasons. But hey, he was acting like he was giving up a kidney or something:)
Our next big expense finally came in the mail. It was Ethan's ER visit for his split chin he has a few months ago. If anyone wants to know how much an ER visit is for stitches I can tell you now, 1000 smackaroos!!!!! Can you believe that?! It's about 550 for the hospital cost, and 500 for the Dr. What a rip off since that wound opened right back up right after the stitches came out. Anyway, what can you do? Oh ya, nothing!
Oh, Kirkland's just opened by us, and that isn't helping things much either. Ok, not necessary, I know, but they have the cutest things and for such a GREAT deal. I have been patiently waiting to buy stuff for the house knowing this was coming, and now I am making up for it. I actually could have done a lot worse damage, because boy I could easily fill Ben's tuck up with all the stuff I like. Whoever came up w/ that place is EVIL! OK, not really, but man it's my biggest temptation right now!
To top off our "money flying out of our lives" week, we are finally going to buckle down and order our year supply of food storage. We found this great website where they have these different year packs for a family of 6 (didn't that work out nice for us). It's all put together and dropped off at your door on a palate. That's my kind of food storage. Not only that, they have some prepared meals and breads....which is right up my alley. I'm excited to get that done. The Church Leaders have really been putting a huge emphasis on that lately, and I get more uncomfortable each day we go w/out it. I don't think we could live off our pasta, potato pearls( from who knows how long) and wheat supply alone. Time to revamp!

With all the money flying out, Ben has been working in the office and in the home office doing collections. He really needs to find a office person, but for now he is doing it. It's been kind of nice having him around, especially when I need to pick up kids from school, etc. and Sophia is sleeping. She needed the extra sleep, too, since she wasn't feeling well. She seemed to be doing much better today. She woke up w/ a fever but has been fine since. It was also nice to have Ben around to rescue me from Sam's today. I hadn't been there in awhile and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to fit all the food in my car. He came to my rescue, his office only being 5 minutes away, and helped me unload everything. It was nice. I hate those carts. They get so full and are so heavy to push, especially with a kid in the basket, and one strapped to my chest. They need to motorize them! B/C It take some muscle power to push those things around. How am I not losing weight?!!

Today I was able surprise Boston at lunch. He got in the "hot lunch" line and looked right over to the parent table. I was wondering if he looks every day hoping I'm there. Anyway, when he saw me he was so excited, and I was laughing hysterically inside because I noticed he was wearing his brother jacket, which looks like his but 2 sizes smaller. The sleeves went down to his elbows and it could be considered the first boy mid drift jacket ever. He didn't even notice. When he sat down he pointed out all of his friend to me, and then they were flashing peace signs to each other. Boston finished his pizza fast, b/c Ethan had brought him the best cookies EVER! The frosted animal cookies with the sprinkles on them. Boston was excited to get his teeth into those. Being their my favorite, I snagged a few for myself. After Boston is done w/ lunch, Aubrie comes in within minutes. She acted excited to see me, but it was fake. When she got her lunch and sat w/ me she told me she knew I was here because her 1st grade teacher saw her in the bathroom and told her I was here. Aubrie peeked around the door to make sure it was true, so she already knew. Oh well, she was still excited to see me. Lunch was good, and Ethan had a good time. He likes to bring his food in his lunchbox and then carry it in backpack. It's funny how he gets so excited about doing that, but hates going to school. Again, he cried on Monday and Wednesday. Both times he is so happy when we pick him up and he tells us he had a great time. I can't figure it out. He was so excited to go, so much so he was disappointed that he couldn't go everyday, and now this. What a complete 180!
Things were pretty relaxed after school today. Both of them received 1oo's on their spelling and math, so they didn't have homework. Boston made his Bed before school and without being asked. What kids does that? Anyway, with Soco being here on Tues there wasn't too many things for them to do. So they had play time early, which was nice for them and me.
I was on the phone for about 30 minutes with Abby McGee. There is no such thing as a short phone conversation with Abby. It was nice to talk to her and about her pregnancy. I'm so excited for her. She has a 7 year old and now she is due in April. This is a 7 1/2 year gap. This would be like me having Aburie and then having my second in a few months. What a different life that would be....w/out the boys. The are rambunctious and full of energy and noise, but I couldn't imagine life w/out them.....pretty boring I think?
We had to run some faxes off at Ben's office, since the home fax was having issues. Since we were out Ben suggested we hit the normal spontaneous eating spot, Streets. We eat there all the time and get the same things. Ben gets the Philly, cooked Brett style, and the kids and I eat the kids Alfredo. It's good and filling....perfect for us! After dinner the kid came home and had a water balloon fight with the neighborhood kids. They did that for about a 1/2 hour. Then Ben brought them in to shave the boys hair (it was getting pretty nappy) and then swim. They spent most of their time in the hot tub. Besides the landscapers making a mess out if it, it has been on the chili side these past couple of days. We sure are spoiled, huh? I'm sure our pool is still warmer than my brother's who lives in Cali. Our bodies just acclimate to the heat here, I guess.
Tonight I Made one more purchase at Kirklands, while i was retuning another item. It's a great ironwork that will go over our bed. I think Ben likes it, but wants to play the martyr of me spending all the money.....I still recall the golf clubs that were sent to our house. I'm put a big Christmas bow on it and put it on our bed.
When we got back we watched a movie that I really enjoyed on the Big Screen called, "Holiday". Ben entertained me by watching a girls flick. I think he enjoyed it, but wound admit to anything beyond that:) I just barely took an Ambeium (sp?) and now I can hardly see the screen and type. Guess that's my cue. Goodnight!