"I love you!"

***First I must start by giving credit to Aubrie for taking the picture of Sophia, eating her first sucker (see previous blog entry). Aubrie and Boston are always fighting over the camera, and Aubrie loves to go around the house taking pictures w/ an old digital camera we gave her. We might have a professional in our midst! With that said...

There are stages my children go through where I wish I could literally push a fast forward button to rush them through to the next scene, i.e. teething, conquering stairs, potty training. Then there are those times where I wish I could hit the pause button and continually enjoy every second of those sweet and tender moments that make it all worth it. Ethan is giving me those moments! I have to give a little background to understand why this new phase is more sweet and precious to me, than it typically would be. Ethan has been a Daddy's boy FOREVER. From the time he was about 15 month, he hasn't been one to show me or anyone else, but DAD, much affection. That was very hard for me, him always running to Dad for everything, and treating me like I didn't exist! No matter how hard I tried, he didn't want much to do with me. Because of that, I didn't' feel very connected to him. Sounds so bad,huh? I remember praying to Heavenly Father that I could have my sweet cuddling boy back (he was the sweetest, cuddly baby!). Since Boston has gone off to Kindergarten, I have noticed a huge change in Ethan. It has been gradual, but it has come. It started w/ him not wanting to leave me, to go to preschool. Then it migrated to him letting me hold him and give him affection. The past few weeks Ethan will randomly, and quite often, come up to me and say "I love you". (He also is sure to tell family he loves them as the leave to go somewhere.) He is always so thankful, too! Whenever he asks me a question and I give him an answer, or I offer him any help he is quick to say "thanks, Mom!" He is also quick to say sorry, and he says it with meaning! He is my new "buddy"! With this I have realized that whenever I see something in my kids that I believe is slipping away or has slipped away, not to give up hope. The continuance of love and prayers will bring them back! This realization will probably give me strength in the teenage years!!

Rain or Shine

Time to catch up again. This Christmas season is keeping me busy and away from my blog Hopefully I can remember the important stuff!
Friday was a busy and rainy day. (My prayers were answered!!) It started off with a guy coming to tack my carpet down. He brought his son and daughter, and while his son was finishing things up, I saw him reading the Proclamation to the Family. After he was done reading it, he said "This is very nice". I asked him if he had heard of our church and he said he had. I was scrambling to find a Spanish Book of Mormon for him, but I couldn't find that or a Family Proclamation anywhere. Something told me to just give him the framed one on the wall. At first I ignored that , thinking how silly that was. But finally I did it, and he was very grateful. Hope it makes the difference. Then when the tile guys came back to finish things up, Ethan and I were watching "The Testaments". He asked me if that was the kids version of "The Passion of the Christ". I told him it was a movie about Christ put out by our Church. When he thought I was out of the room, I caught him watching it. He knows we are Momorm, we disscussed it a little the first day he was here. I'm hoping that will plant a seed!
Friday night the YW didn't have to camp (yeah!), but we still met at the White Tanks for the Standards Night Program. The Bishopric went through a lot of work to set things up. They strung up tarps around the ramada's to shelter us from the wind and rain, and prepared a huge bonfire . They also got there early to prepare us a nice Mexican dinner. They also set up a projection screen for the program. They always go the extra mile when it comes to our Youth. When we got there we had dinner first and then the program. Erin gave a great talk, followed by Tyson Hintz (the YM president). Then they showed a short movie with a good storyline, but it was so “Utah cheese"! It had one of the actors from the Testaments in it, which was cool since I had just watched it. After the movie, we had cobbler for dessert and then headed to Becky’s where we hung out w/ the girls until midnight. I didn’t get home until 12:30 and wasn’t in bed until 1:00am! Ouch, that sure hurt me Saturday morning. I can tell I’m getting older!

Saturday was Aubrie’s night at Glendale Glitters. It’s held outside in the amphitheatre, so we were all a little worried when it poured rain all day Friday. Fortunately, Saturday was clear (but still cold) so she was able to perform. She was dressed in a Santa Dress and performed to “Santa Can You Hear Me”, by Brittany Spears (sounds like her anyway). Aubrie did a good job, but she could have memorized it a little better. I caught her looking to her friends to see what move came next. That is unlike her, b/c she usually has the dance nailed and everyone is looking toward her. She missed a few days of dance, so I’m sure that didn’t help. She pulled it off pretty well, and still did a good job and looked so cute. Afterward we let her pick a place to eat, and she picked Ah-So (a Japanese Steak house). She loves going to those places. She was so well mannered and VERY attentive to the cooking “show”. She ordered the steak, of course, and picked the mushrooms out of her vegetables. She had a good time. When we got home we put the kids down, and I worked on my lesson. I decided to talk about being financially prepared.
Sophia wasn’t feeling well Saturday, we left her home with my Mom Saturday night, and she still didn’t seem well Sunday. So Ben stayed with her and Ethan while Aubrie, Boston and I went to church. The lesson went well, but as usual, I ran out of time.
Sunday morning Aubrie was so grown up. As I was getting ready for church, she put a church video in and made breakfast. She didn’t just make any breakfast. I came downstairs to scrambled eggs and toast, and she made enough for everyone. It’s hard to believe that she is old enough to do that type of stuff. She did a great job, and for once my stomach wasn’t growling at church!:)
Monday was just the normal chaos that it normally is….I can’t wait till this year of dance is over!!! Having an activity on family night is very stressful. This time I dropped Aubrie off and Ben picked her up. That seemed to work better!
Today I got a lot done. I did laundry, finished up most of my Christmas shopping (and wrapped those gifts) and dropped goodies off to the neighbors on our street. It was a nice chance to meet the families we hadn’t official met yet. We have really great neighbors!!!
Poor Sophia is still not feeling well. She is very congested and has the worse cough. I hate when my babies are sick. Sophia did have some "firsts" this past week. She had a sucker (see picture), drank from a straw, and started to Army crawl (well that was last week). Once she is feeling better I’m sure we are in trouble!

Ethan being his goofy self!

The Crime is Worth the Punishment

This past summer my friend told me how she would give her boys Apple Cider Vinegar when they used bad words. She told me that its actually good for them, but they don't know that;) Lately, we have been trying that on Ethan. We don't have the problem with words, but listening is a challenge for him. When he does something I have repeatedly told him not to do, or hurts someone intentionally, he gets apple cider vinegar. He is usually so good about taking it. His only request is that he has a glass of water waiting close by. Ben and I are convinced he actually will start liking it here, soon! The other day I kept telling him not to touch the bulbs on the Christmas tree. There are two right by one another that, when hit, bounce off one another. To his defense, for a 3 year old that could be pretty entertaining! After several warnings not to touch, I finally told him if I saw him do it again he would get the vinegar. Well, two minutes later I look over there to see him touching them, again, as he is looking in my direction:) So, I run over there and scoop him up and tell him it’s time for “the vinegar”. He starts crying for water, as he always does, but this time he kept saying I want “my” water. I couldn't figure out what he was talking about, "my water"!? Finally we figured out he had poured himself a glass of water and had it right by the Christmas tree. Apparently he decided that the punishment was worth the crime and had already prepared himself.

This week has been quite crazy. Monday I was scrambling to make dinner for a neighbor, watched my friends kids (that was the easy part), and had to juggle Aubrie's two hours of dance class in the middle of it all. For FHE we took the kids on a car ride and pointed out the road signs and stoplights and asked them why they were there, and what would happen if we didn't obey them. (I'm sure you know where we were going with that!). Yes, we then told them how we have been given road signs in our life; scriptures, church, prophets, prayer, etc. If they didn't obey them their life could become a "wreck".

Tuesday the guys started our tile work in our kitchen/family room. There was carpet right in front of our glass sliding door, and so that carpet was getting very worn. Come to find out the tile in the hall way didn't align with the tile in the Kitchen, so they have to do a border in between the two. Not the look i was going for, but the only other choice it to redo the kitchen tile, and that is not going to happen!!! The next problem of the day was my car. I was sitting at a stop light and my car started jerking ALOT! I said a quick prayer I could finish my errand and make it safely home. The car finally settled down and we were able to get an appointment for that day. We now have a rental. The rest of the day I was trying to keep kids off the tile area. That is an impossible job, so I scrapped my dinner plans and we went out to eat. They weren't able to finish up, due to some uneven floors, so they are finishing up today. Hopefully it will be done by the time the kids are home from school. I still haven't gotten much done since I have people in my house. For some reason it's hard for me to do much when people are hanging around my house.

Tomorrow Aubrie has a Dr. Appt. with a Pediatric Urologist, so Ben is taking her and then taking her out to lunch, etc...for a Daddy/Daughter time! Friday is our YW Standards Night camp out! Yes you heard me right, camp out! It sounded fun in October, but it was pushed off till now and I am a baby when it comes to being cold. I'm praying for rain, but just for Friday. Saturday Aubrie has her Glendale Glitters Dance Performance, outside, and it would be a shame if that was cancelled. Hopefully all works out:)

Christmas Party IV

Yesterday we had our 4th annual Christmas party. This tradition actually started in North Carolina. Back then the party was held at our friends, the McGee's, b/c the rest of us didn't have houses big enough to host such an event. When we moved here we knew we had to carry on the tradition. The party is such a great opportunity to mingle w/ all our friends from the ward without the interruptions of the little ones! The gift exchange is also fun. All the dynamics of people taking gifts from another, or hoping their gift would be taken, or what surprises will come when they open a gift, is always fun. It was quite interesting the year someone brought lingerie! The husbands were fighting over that one!

This year was a little crazy getting things done. Usually we have the kids stay the night w/ Ben's parents so we have a few hours to get the house put together, etc. This year the kids stayed here and my Mom watched them upstairs. So it was a little hard getting things cleaned up with little tornado's running around the house. If the backyard wasn't like a pond it would have made things easier. Luckily I didn't have the stress of making the food. After two years of making all the food I finally resorted to getting Olive Garden. It's definitely worth it! All I have to do is make a few appetizers and some punch and voila, I'm done!

The gift exchange was fun as always. I ended up w/ a ring that was way too big for my finger, and no one wanted it. My Mom saw it today and said she liked it, so at least it will get some use. Ben ended up w/ a gift certificate to Victoria's secret! We bought two games for the exchange, Battle of the Sexes and Urban Myth. Those were a hit....actually Ben was hoping to get one of them. I told him we should have just kept it if he wanted it that bad! After the exchange a few people played Scene it while we served up dessert. My friend suggested Pizookie ( undercooked cookie dough served w/ ice cream) and offered to make it. It was Yum!!

Lucky recipients of a Cold Stone gift certificate and a casserole dish

He got the pink autographed boxers by the famous "Sheriff Joe"

The back massager!

A game of Sequence anyone?

The last of last guests left at 11:00 and the kids were still up. So by the time we got them to bed and cleaned up it was midnight. I was still very wound up, so I didn't' get to bed until around 2:30!

Surprisingly, I wasn't tired this morning. I popped out of bed and got ready for church....not like me at all!!! I couldn't say the same for the rest of the house. They all slept in....why couldn't they do that on Saturday? To make things more crazy, Ben got an emergency work call so I had to fly solo with the kids today. Sophia actually did very well, so I was able to get all of Sunday School in and most of Young Women's. The craziest part was rounding the troops and getting them all to the car. Besides that, the rest of the day was very relaxing. We just relaxed in the backyard and enjoyed the weather. When Sophia woke up from her nap, we took the leftover Olive Garden to some friends who were unable to make it b/c their daughter was in the hospital. There was so much left over I was able to keep some for us, too. How relaxing that was to not have to worry about dinner. This evening we went out front and strolled Sophia around. What a great Sunday!

Rained Out!

It has been raining nonstop since yesterday morning. Our backyard is flooded and our pool is almost flowing over. The kids went running around the water in their PJ's. Crazy kids!!

Our Christmas party is tonight....so much for using the patio and the fire pit area! We are expecting 40 people, so it will be a little crazy w/out the outdoor space. We were planning on finishing the Christmas lights today...so much for that! Beside all the complications, I am enjoying it!

Obviously we didn't go out much yesterday. Aubrie was part of the assembly at school yesterday morning, they did the story of the Hungry Caterpillar. It was done very cute. They all had something to hold, like the pie or the 3 plums, etc. They made these huge caterpillar with butcher paper and a cocoon. One of the students busted through the cocoon and was dressed as a butterfly. VERY cute!
Besides the assembly, picking the kids up from school was the only time I left the house. We spent the morning wrapping some presents and cleaning up. Ethan really got into the whole wrapping thing. I had an old roll of wrapping paper and I let him go to town. He kept grabbing toys from his closet and wrapping them up! Last night we just stayed home with the kiddos and had pizza. Boston had a reading marathon, wanting to read 10 books, I sat there practically falling asleep as her read to me. I was so tired by 8:00 pm. After he was done reading, we went downstairs while the kids played Christmas songs on the piano and my Mom read the night before Christmas. After, we watched a movie and went to bed.
Oh, last night, when Boston was reading on the bed, he positioned his bottom away from me and said "Mom I had to do that because I had to toot." I thought, "how considerate". Ben was in "that" direction and said, "what about me, Boston? My nose is burning." Boston said, "So what dad, my eyes are burning!" He is such a funny character.
The rest of the week was normal as always. Aubrie did have a problem at school on Monday. She and a friend were sent to the principals office for not getting along. Aubrie has this friend who she has been buddies with since 1st grade. The past month or so her friend has made a new best friend. That has caused problems on the playground, her being so loyal and trying to be her friend still and her friend telling her she doesn't want to play with her. It really breaks my heart. Aubrie has been so sweet, making her cards and giving her things. Her friend will be nice to her for a short while, giving her hope, and then it's back to the same old thing. Anyway, I have been telling her to make new friends, FOREVER, but she feels like she is betraying her if she does. The teachers have also been telling them to not play with one another, but they still were not listening. So they sent them to the principal and he told them the same thing. Finally, she listened to him. She has played with some new girls this week, and I couldn't be happier about it. I just can't believe there is this kind of drama at such a young age. When I was 7 I didn't care about that kind of stuff. At recess i just ran around and did my own thing, or played w/ the boys! Times have changed or I just wasn't like other girls, I guess!
Well that's it for now. Hopefully we aren't floating around on a boat by tonight, ha! Good thing we have a two story house...guess we should move our food storage upstairs. LOL We Phoenicians aren't used to this much water!

Aubrie doing the litter box. What a drama queen!

Thanksgiving week!

Today I think I have slept more than I have ever slept since I've had kids. It all started w/ a cold that crept up on me Wednesday night. Thursday, Friday and Saturday I felt yucky in the morning and right before bed so, of course, I pushed it all those three days which put my body in complete shut down today. I didn't wake up until 10:00 am and then I took another nap from noon until about 3:00. I am still feeling very weak and tired (how can that be?), but I am hoping I will be back to my old self by tomorrow...lots to do with our Christmas party coming up this Saturday...Yeah!

So here, once again, is a rundown of the week!

Monday was just another day, except for a nice surprise from Ben...a new camera. It's the brand new Cyber-shot Sony. With an iso of 3200 and 8.1 mega pixel, it smokes our old one big time!!! It's definitely a great fix until I get the "big" one!:) I love how small it is! I just slip it right in my purse and off I go! I love Technology! Monday night we had our FHE on showing gratitude to Heavenly Father. I cut and colored a picture of a turkey (without feathers). I had cut the feather's separate and let the kids write the ways to show gratitude on them. Then they got to tape them on the turkey. The kids enjoyed doing that.

Tuesday was Aubrie's field trip to the Food Bank. Her teacher started a canned food drive at her school, and for the past month the kids have had their jobs of going to their assigned classroom and picking up the cans and organizing them in boxes. Tuesday the Sheriff Department brought a rig and loaded it up and followed us over to the food bank. The kids got to unload the food into huge boxes and got a short tour of the Food Bank. I'm glad Aubrie got to experience that opportunity of service! I can't think of a better field trip than one of service!

Wednesday Aubrie and Boston had off of school. Ethan still had preschool and surprisingly had no problem going. While I was gearing up for Thanksgiving, I decided I was going to take the kids to California Friday morning. I hurried around doing laundry and making the casseroles for Thanksgiving that night, so I could pack and get ready for our trip on Thanksgiving day. That night my Mom and I got sick and that blew those plans right out of the water. Looking back I'm a little relieved, b/c as fun as that trip might have been, it would have also been very short and CRAZY!!@!

Thursday morning we set up all our Christmas stuff and Ben put up the Christmas lights. A day early, I know, but there was really nothing else to do since I made all the food the night before!:) We headed to Ben's parents around 3:15 and ate dinner around 4:00. I brought a new appetizer, cream cheese covered in this raspberry chipotle sauce served with crackers, YUM! By the time dinner was ready I was pretty full! YIKES!! I enjoyed the left overs the next day, though! After dinner we took the the kids to the park in Ben's parent's neighborhood. After about an hour we came back home and everyone else followed, for dessert, games, etc. Julie and Brian showed up, too! It was great seeing them. They have been living in Utah for the past year and just moved back the beginning of this month. The kids were excited to see their kids and they played in the backyard the whole time they were here. After everyone left, the twins and Krista stuck around for some hot tubing and cards. We were up until midnight, I definitely felt it the next morning!

Friday was Ben's 35th Birthday! He got to spend it golfing with his brothers. He took Aubrie along, she loves driving the cart!! It actually was a little cold that day, and since they had a late T-time, I'm not sure they even got to finish their game. It's a tradition for these boys to play the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas. I need to start some tradition where I go and do something really fun w/ my friends for 6 hours!!! When Ben got home, we headed to the Outback to celebrate his birthday. Sophia was still sleeping when we were ready to leave, so my Mom said she would stay and watch her since she was still not feeling well. It was so weird going out w/ just three kids! After Outback we went to Lamps plus to finally buy lights for our posts in our yard, 6 months later!!!! I then got a call from my Mom that Sophia wasn't doing well, she cried when she put her to bed which she never does!!! So we rushed home to take care of her. She has a cold, too, and I think it's throwing her off! After I got her to bed, I pulled out the traditional cake I make for Ben every year (Lemon cake w/ orange frosting) and we sang Happy Birthday! He didn't have anything to unwrap b/c his gift from me is a new wedding ring. Since he still hasn't gotten his finger sized I have been unable to purchase the one he has been eyeing online!!! He buys himself almost anything he wants anyway, aside from the Mercedes he has been wanting so badly, but that's not going to happen!!!

Saturday we ran errands; Ben had some birthday returns! He made out pretty good, after the returns, with a new Polo dress shirt and the new Cologne I LOVE so much, RSVP! I'm not sure if that is my present or his? Hee! Hee! We had to go to the mall to get that, which was a little crazy!!! The parking lot was PACKED and we also forgot the stroller. Luckily the kids behaved themselves, after bribing them w/ a stop at the pet store and the toy store. After our errands I met my Mom at Micheal's to get some flowers to do some more Christmas decorating. While my Mom and I worked on the house, Ben worked on the electrical for the post's outside. The kids caught up on some reading and piano. Boston's reading is really coming along. I'm sure he will be reading Junie B. (if I let him) by the end of the year. I wish they made better books for boys to read!

We'll that's the week. I'll leave you with an "Ethan funny". When we were at the Outback, the kids all had their jackets on and Ethan looked at us and said, as he was putting his hands in his jacket pockets, "Look I have two hand holes in this jacket". We finally realized that was his name for pockets. Enjoy the pics!

A few more pics

An Arizona sunset!

Ethan's impromptu nap! He set it up by my bed while I was resting!

Result of the first night around the fire pit!

Weekly update and the YW Retreat

What Ethan's plate looks like after lunch every day! He is my only kid who eat's two PB&J's! I'm going to have to get a job when he is a teenager just to keep him fed!

Ethan's other passion, besides eating, is cleaning. If only his future wife could see this!

Sophia's newest past time!

Whew! What a week, made obvious by my lack of entries. Monday the kids had off for Veterans day. We spent the morning getting caught up on responsibilities, piano and reading. Ben was going to join us at Chuck E Cheese, but got an emergency call so he wasn't able to join us:( I thought of bagging the whole thing, but the kids were looking forward to a surprise, so I sucked it up and took them all myself. I was mainly worried about Sophia b/c we went during her nap time. She did great! She sat in the high chair and ate soda cracker the whole time. The kids blew through their tokens really fast. Boston and Aubrie combined their tokens and dumped them all in one machine to see how long their ticket ribbon could get. They ended up with just under 200. Ethan found a machine of his own and ended up with about 80! He was so excited. I was, too, because we were in and out of there really fast and they were all as happy as could be!

I put Aubrie in charge of the FHE lesson b/c she skipped dance and had some extra time on her hands. She was really excited to do it. She did it on serving one another. She wrote "Serve One Another" on paper and cut out each letter. She put candy on some of the letters. She hid all the letters around the family room and even drew a map ( a pretty detailed one) so she knew where to send people to find the letters. She spend over an hour cutting, putting her Halloween candy on some of them (being mindful of our favorite candies), making the map and making sure we would find them in order. I was was proud of her enthusiasm!

Tuesday was Boston's birthday. We started it off by making his favorite breakfast, French toast! I then met him for lunch and went out on the playground with him. I never do that b/c I usually wait around for Aubrie, who has lunch right after him. He was so excited to have me out there. All his friends were gathering around me asking me questions and telling me about anything and everything. Boston was the center of attention. I love how, at this age, they think it's "cool" to have your parents visit. In a couple of years I'm sure they won't be thinking it's so cool! I'll enjoy it while it lasts. Tuesday night, Boston had his last T-ball practice, and afterwards we let him pick anywhere he wanted to eat. He picked McDonald's of all places. Definitely a sacrifice on our part, but the kids were happy about it. When we got home from dinner, Ben's parents came over w/ some presents. Boston had a full and happy day. I still can't believe he is six!

Wednesday was a normal day of getting stuff done (two trips go Target included), running the kids to school and piano, and Young Women's. This week was Young Womens in Excellence. It was definitely more enjoyable for me than last year, b/c I didn't have to plan it!!! Everything was very organized and focused on the girls uniqueness. It was great as usual.

Thursday...hmmm, I can't remember what I did. That's what happens when I don't keep up on journaling, ha! Oh, I remember now! I met up with some of the Young Women for lunch at one of my favorite places, Paradise Bakery. They just opened one by my house this past Monday and I have already been there 3 times! I love that place. I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning house and trimming our tree's, ouch! We have Palo Brae's which are covered with thorns! Not my first choice, but the required "theme" tree by our HOA! Thursday night was me and Ben's normal TV night! We Tevo 5 shows (ER, Survivor, Smallville, Office and Scrubs) and watch them all; pathetic I know!

Friday was a very full day. It started with Bostons assembly performance. Boston did a good job; speaking clearly, remembering his line, and flashing his cute smile. I then headed over to the Cibola Vista Resort to help set up for our Young Women Retreat, that started that evening. The decorations were a Fall theme. It looked very nice against the rustic look of the convention room we had. The Retreat started Friday and 4:30 and ended at 4:30 the next day. It was such a great experience for the girls. I hope they know how lucky they are to have all these wonderfully opportunities that I never had. I'll quickly run through the schedule.

Friday

4:30 meet and mingle

5:00 dinner....steak, potato and salad. The Bishopric was in charge and several men in the ward (including Ben) helped serve

6:00 Scrapbook class by Becky Higgins

7:00 Concert by Sam Payne (great Mormon folk singer)

9:00 clean up and home

Saturday

My day started with Boston's last T-ball game. It ended with trophies and their pictures being handed out. Boston was so excited to have a trophy, and Aubrie was a bit jealous! Boston got home and put his trophy on his dresser and put his pictures up on his wall, even the paper inserts that were included in the packet..LOL!

Back to the Retreat

9:00am breakfast; eggs, pancakes and ham!

10:00 Cake decorating at Souffle's. I learned a few things myself. It was a lot of fun!

12:00 Back to the Resort for lunch and my bracelet class. I think it went well! During my class Erin and Becky took pictures of the girls. The leaders got roped into getting their pictures taken as well. I wasn't too excited about that but we had a fun time with it!

2:30 Ended the great weekend with speaker, from our ward! After cleaning up and sending the girls off with grab bags, we were out by 4:30.

It was a lot of fun, but I left there exhausted. Especially knowing I was going home to loads of laundry and no dinner plans. We went to Paradise Bakery for dinner and I did laundry while Ben went to his monthly "fight night". I actually got caught up on the house, laundry and email! Yeah!

Today Aubrie and I had to be to church early for choir practice. After church, we had an early fireside. Sam Payne spoke to us. He is a great speaker, too! He taught seminary for several years and was thinking how lucky his students were to have him! He played a few songs, too! What a great fireside. Aubrie came along and really liked it. She even teared up during the last song. I don't' know where she gets that from? ha!!!!

Well there is a weeks worth of my life, VERY condensed! I can't believe Thanksgiving is this week. Life is coming at me fast!

Happy Birthday Boston

B

Boston's Assembly

Boston's Birthday Party

The Jumper (aka life saver!)














The treasure hunt!














Cake and Song














Present time!!!

Yesterday was Boston's 6th birthday party. We had to have it a little early b/c next weekend I have a Young Women Retreat. Boston was a little confused, telling everyone it was his birthday and kept telling his teacher they had to sing to him. I think by the end of the day he figured out what was going on.

His party was from 4pm -6pm, which actually worked out well. Boston invited 3 kids from the neighborhood, 4 kids from church, and 6 kids from school. So if your fast at math, you have already figured out that we had 13 boys, not including Boston and Ethan, running around our backyard. Luckily we have a big backyard!! Whew!!! I rented one of those jumpers, so that helped. Between that, the trampoline and the play house, they were entertaining themselves pretty well. After about 30 minutes of playing and eating pizza, we started a treasure hunt.

Boston has been asking me to have a treasure hunt, for his birthday, for the past 3 months! That was the reason for the repeat Pirate theme this year. The night before his party Ben and I drew up some maps that sent them from one place to the next. The first map lead them to a map under the trampoline. I put the map in a water bottle and tied it to a rope that was attached to one of the springs. (That one took them the longest to find). That map led them to the pool toy box, which then led them to the grill and then to the hot tub. The one in the hot tub was floating around in a water bottle. That map led them to the playhouse, which led them to the shed which had a huge storage container with toys, mardi gras beads, gold coins and candy! This is where I made a huge mistake. Instead of establishing order in distributing out the toys, I let them go for it. That ended up in a lot of frantic crying and chaos! So I had to line the boys up and check their bags and make sure all was fair. I have learned my lesson!

After the treasure hunt, they played pin the flag on the pirate ship, had cake, opened presents and played for another 20 minutes. Besides the whole treasure chest fiasco, everything went smoothly. The only other thing that was crazy was getting the boys out the door at 6:00. Ben and I had a party to go to, which started at 6:00, so I was feeling a little rushed at the end. We had a good time at the Godowns eating pizza, playing Battle of the Sexes, and hanging out. We left around 10:30.....I was so tired!

This morning we were up early for Boston's 8:00am T-ball game. After that I headed over to our Super Saturday. I made a beautiful Christmas Wreath in the shape of a "P" and then I etched some names into some baking dishes. One of them didn't turn out, oh well:( When I got home I was sooooo tired. Ben took the kids to the park so I could get a nap. I was dreaming like crazy, so the nap wasn't the most restful. I was rudely awakened by the neighbor kid ringing our doorbell 3 times!!!! After that it was off to Target, so Boston could use a gift card that was burning a hole in his pocket! Ha! Aubrie brought her money, too, and bought that hair tool that puts beads in your hair. That left Ethan with nothing and crying all the way to the car. Aubrie felt so bad she wanted to take her thing back and get Ethan something. I told her not to b/c I thought it would be a good lesson for Ethan to realize that he doesn't get something all of the time. Of course, I was also not letting Aubrie serve her brother. I couldn't figure out what was the better good.....hope I chose wisely!

Tonight we watched Wizard of Oz and made cookies. I love the Wizard of Oz. I remember waiting every year for it to come on TV. How things have changed since I was a kid. Now you can just rent something whenever you want to watch it! Our kids are so clueless when it comes to having to wait for things. Things are so readily accessible....they even hate waiting through commercials! ha!

Some family photo's

Here are a few pictures my friend Erin took of us last Friday. She is very talented. She has inspired me to get my act together and embrace photography again. We'll see how that goes!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this picture of Sophia!!! What a doll! A picture of myself I actually don't mind looking at:)

Preschool Breakthrough

So I am in the middle of a dieting mystery. After watching my food intake, which is very hard when you are used to licking the peanut butter and jelly off butter knives and the chocolate off the snack pack lids, I was down 6 pounds by Tuesday. I was so excited when I got on the scale. I rushed to the phone to tell Ben my weight, when he said "Don't worry it takes time". That was a little disappointing; obviously he didn't know my beginning weight even though I moan about it all the time. So anyway, that day I stuck w/ eating right and I even threw in some extra exercise! I was thinking, "I should be down a few pounds the next day for sure"! Much to my disappointment, I got on the scale to only see that I had put half of it back on. I don't get it. I was exercising and didn't change the diet. Did I breathe in calories? What is going on with my hormonal body? I don't mean to make this blog about my body issues, but if anyone has advise I'm open to anything, except liposuction or tummy tucks!

So back to business. This week has been a little on the crazy side; but when isn't it? We did have a break through w/ Ethan. Ben had to leave work early on Monday and Sophia was needing an early morning nap, so I called a friend to pick him up for preschool. He did wonderfully. He didn't cry our complain. He simply got his back pack and walked himself to her car and was off. She said that he even talked her ear off the whole way there. She offered to take him today, and he did well again. I'm hoping we have gotten through the whole "my stomach hurts and I can't go to preschool" crying business! Monday night Aubrie complained and moaned about dance. She HATES ballet and only wants to go for the jazz. I tried to explain to her that she needs it for the technique, but she didn't want to hear it and came down stairs in her dance clothes with a piece of paper taped to her chest that read, "I hate balae!" (Yes, I know how to spell ballet, she doesn't!) I wanted to laugh, but had to keep it in and be the "parent". She does this at least ever other week. I talked to the other Moms there and even the studio owner and she said that most girls feel that way. Glad to know I'm not alone.

Tuesday was another drama day with Aubrie. Before she got home from school, I bought her a book shelf, put it together, and organized all her books for her. My Mom also made her bed that day, so since she didn't have a bed to make or a room to clean I gave her the chore of organizing her dresser drawers. I thought she would be so grateful for what I did for her she would gladly except the "big" chore I gave her. Boy was I wrong. She cried and moaned about it more than it actually took her to do it. She kept saying how she needed my help, which I knew she didn't. Finally, after her bugging me for help, I said "fine I'll help you get started" and I dumped all her things out of her drawers on her bed and on the floor. She was so mad at me she ran in her bathroom and locked the door. I calmly told her to come get me when she was done. A few minutes later I found a note on the dining room floor (the result of her throwing it over the balcony) which read, "I am sorry so much. I gust want your to help me. I don't want you to throw the stuf on my bed. I am happy becus you got me the book shelf. I love you so much. your the bestes mom in the wrold. love aubrie pribyl", with a picture of a girl frowning at the end. Needless to say, she finished her chore (with a little help) and found some things she forgot about in the process.

Today started off early, with the kids all giggling in their bedrooms at 6:15. I know when they are teenagers I won't be able to remember these days, but for now they are killing me! Then, before I had a chance to shower, I had a million worker guys coming to the house all day to fix things for our one year repairs! At one point in the day, while Ethan was at school and Sophia was sleeping, I told the one repair guy that was fixing our vacuum to get the door for me while I was making a phone call upstairs. I actually ran up to my bedroom, locked the door and took a quick shower , dressed and brushed my teeth all in about 5 minutes. Obviously no makeup applying or hair washing was involved. He never was the wiser! So after running around showing people what needed to be fixed, and double checking work and fitting in a little Christmas Party Invitation work, school was out before I knew it. Tonight actually ran very smooth. It was quite enjoyable! I didn't feel rushed before YW, which was nice.
We had a joint activity with the YM; collecting cans for a food drive. Afterward I stopped by one of the girls house, who hasn't been to Mutual for awhile, to say hi and drop off some candy. She was sick in bed, but I stuck around and talked to her 3 sisters for awhile. It was a nice visit. Perhaps I was prompted to go there for another reason than I thought.
When I got home Ben informed me that AquaDots has been recalled. I only mention that b/c it was the Christmas present my kids were wanting the most! Talk about the luck of it all. I was actually looking forward to playing with them, too!:( I don't know who will be more upset about it, me or the kids!LOL

Grand Canyon Pictures...Finally!

The Hotel The Cowboy Shoot Out The Train Ride The Grand Canyon The Ride Back The Reason For the Trip