Sometimes it's True

When I realized that my last two children would be only 15 months apart, everyone told me that they would be the closest of friends.  It's moments like this when I realize it's true....

Carson woke up super crabby from a late afternoon nap and it didn't help that the inside of his upper thighs were irritated from running around in wet shorts earlier in the day.  He was super upset as I put some medicine on his legs and Sophie was right there the whole time comforting him.  Whenever he's hurt she brings him things to distract him, tells him to take a deep breath, and speak reassuringly while hugging or patting him.  Today she got him a blanket and offered to watch Barney with him.  As I got them both all tucked in, he turned to me and said, "Not you!  I only want BoBo."  (Not sure how that nickname has stuck for her but he rarely calls her Sophie.)  When I came back into the room a few minutes later, I found that she had moved them to the other end of the couch and they were snuggled together watching their show.  

Does it get any cuter than this?

Bringing in June

June has got to be one of the best months ever.  School gets out, the evenings get warmer and we head for the ocean.

The beach, the bay, the food, the sand, the water and the kids (though there are times we definitely wish we had forgotten them at home).  Aaaahhhh....I can't wait.

However, the last few days before we go are always super stressful to me.  I worry about the weather while we're there, the packing, the traveling, and the spending.  So, after being bombarded every where I look with people posting goals (seriously, every time I log on to FB or skim blogs, someone, somewhere, is starting a goal), I've decided to set one of my own in order to help relieve a little stress.  Besides, Rachael's even got a new one right now and I can't seem to let her succeed at a 14 day goal without trying it myself.  So here's mine...don't laugh...

See how I've even made myself a little check off area?  I've got to have some accountability somewhere!  And when I say no eating out, that doesn't include eating at my parent's, sorry mom and dad.  Sometimes I get a little sick to my stomach when I realize that unnecessary spending includes things like Netflix rentals, digital books, and fountain soda's.  Does it count though if you can pay for something with the change you've collected from under the couch cushions?

Because She Told Me To

Yesterday I got a call from Rachael and she simply stated, "You've only blogged once in May and that was on the 9th."  So, I resolved to post at least once more in May but yesterday ran out so here I am, on the first of June.

So, we were busy in the little month of May.  We worked on our backyard a lot and still have a lot we'd like to do.  Unfortunately money runs out but here's what we've got to show for it so far...

Here's a corner of the railing we added around the patio...

And the rest of it.  We'll be building benches along these two sides eventually...

 Two new chairs...

 And a newly painted old swing from my Grandma Goude's. 

And a fire pit area.  We'll plant grass along the back side of it and next year hope to fancy up the fire pit thingy somehow.  For now, we're just waiting for a Saturday night that doesn't get stormy so we can try it out!  Stupidly, I never took any before and after pictures, this was the only 'during' picture I took.

We also managed to purchase our first two wheelbarrows in the month of May.  You can see the first one here, hard at work.  Just your regular old standard red wheelbarrow there on the left side...

 And here's our second...

In order to pacify my concern that the small pick-up we just bought didn't have a working parking brake, Jason informed me that the first truck you ever buy is just a glorified wheelbarrow.  I'm not sure if that made me feel better or not.

The other photographically documented event in May occurred just last Friday night.  Somehow, unbeknownst to me, it was decided that I would be renting Justin Beiber's movie for Spencer and Colton and Graycie.  Being the cool Aunt that I am, I just went along with it.  After all, it was the first time in months that Colton showed any interest in coming to my house and I wasn't about to pass that up.  We picked up a pizza at Yoke's, they played outside for awhile and then came in for the big event.  During this whole time, I noticed a rather foul smell in the house and realized it was coming from Colton's feet.  He willingly went and washed his feet but a quick dip in water just wasn't enough.  Half way through the movie, as he kept creeping closer and closer to the side of the room I was on, I declared am intermission and sent all of them to wash their feet.  What the H was I thinking?  I had imagined three kids with their pants nicely rolled up sitting on the edge of the bathtub washing their feet.  This is not what I had imagined...

But it's what I got.  Three fully dressed children who "accidentally" fell into a bath full of bubbles.  They could not stop laughing.  Between the bath incident and the two times they played in the mud, I did a total of 4 loads of laundry in the 24 hours they were here.

Good times in May, good times.

Highlights from Last Week

I'm sure I'll forget lots of good stuff from last week, so if you think you should have made honorable mention, please take no offense, I have the memory of a gnat and am basing this whole post on things that I took pictures of...

Apparently one morning last week I got out of bed and found this and found it to be cute and humorous... Messes don't usually have that affect on me, lucky her...

That same morning, feeling guilty for having spent most of my weekly budget over the weekend, I decided I wasn't willing to pay for diapers any more and now I have this cute little bum running around my house...

  It's not so cute though when I catch him peeing in parking lots, drive-ways, sidewalks, or in grass.  I took all the kids shopping for flowers last week and he peed in three parking lots in one evening.  Good times.

I babysat for Rachael one day last week, Wednesday I think, and I was all for it since I knew I was going to be outside all day planting my flowers.  Since Addy is addicted to fresh air and front yards I knew it would be a piece of cake.  Why then did they all play inside more than outside? 

I sat in the rocking chair on the front porch and listened through the window as they played.  There was lots of tying people up and putting them in dungeons.  At one point I heard them say something about Carson not getting a note written for him because he hadn't been in the dungeon yet.  When I came inside I found these inside the laundry room door...

Clever kids had found the felt pads you put on the bottom of chairs in the junk drawer.

I was super excited when I finally went inside that afternoon and realized I had gotten my first sunburn of the year.  I was not so excited to find all the crumbs and uneaten food spread all over the house.
We finished the day off going to Easton's baseball game, that kid is so stinkin' cute in his baseball get-up.

On Thursday, my kid came casually strolling in the house after school and I turned to see this...Go ahead, click on it and check it out in it's full glory.

After scolding him, I explained that though I was still very angry, I needed to take pictures.  We both had a hard time not laughing. 

Immediately after pictures were taken, he was forced to take a shower and told he couldn't get out until all the ink had been scrubbed off his body.  Apparently there was ink up and down his arms and legs as well.  Needless to say, he was in the shower a really, really long time.

Sunday morning I was put in my place.  Saturday night we went out with Jason's family for dinner for Mother's Day.  I was complaining about how I under appreciated my first Mother's Day not realizing that having one, small newborn was going to be easier and more relaxing than any other M. Day's to come.  I wondered aloud about the day I would finally get the cliche Mother's Day when the kids finally understood what the day was all about and did everything they could to make it nice for me.  I laughed realizing that that day would probably never happen.  After all, I'm not sure I ever did that for my own mom. 

Without being prompted, the first thing Spencer asked me when I woke up was what I wanted for breakfast.  After telling him toast, I realized that he had headed to the kitchen to tackle the job himself.  Wanting edible toast, I encouraged Jason to go help him.  As the other kids woke-up, I could hear Spencer coaching them on the things they should say and do for me.  I was brought breakfast in bed, announced by Spencer yelling through a paper towel tube, "You are about to receive your food!"  Carson joined me and begged for bites, and the kids brought in the tray full of flowers they had bought.  Sophie and I went to Sacrament Meeting, leaving the two sick boys home with their dad.  The rest of the day was spent lounging outside watching Jason work on the railing we're putting around the patio.  The kids played outside and at one point Sophie came over and said, "One last present!" and threw herself on me for a huge hug.  They did whatever jobs I asked them and only got yelled at a few times through out the whole day.

In the evening we went to my mom's and quickly came home since I wasn't feeling very good.  I sat outside some more and ended up falling asleep for the night at 8:30.  When Jason woke up me at 1 am to get off the couch and go to bed, I found that he had cleaned the entire kitchen, exactly like I would have cleaned it.  Floor swept, dishwasher running, nothing on the counters.  It had been such a mess and while I am extremely thankful, I feel terrible that after the long day he had working outside and doing homework and yelling at kids he was faced with the kitchen from hell.  It was an awesome thing he did.

Somehow, despite all my complaining the night before, I had a pretty cliche Mother's Day.  Too bad it's only one day of the year.

The If, Then Cycle

I'm having one of those days where I've spent all my time thinking of all the things I want to do and playing out the if, then's to the point of deciding everything seems too complicated and now it's noon and I haven't done anything at all.

Here's how this works for me...

I really want to make the new chicken enchilada recipe I found on online but if I do then I'll have to decide whether I clean my house first, which prolongs going to the store, or go to the store first and come home to a messy house that may or may not ever get picked up.

If I decide to go to the store, then I have to decide what to do with my kids.  Do I take them?  Do I leave them somewhere?  If I decide to take them, then they have to be dressed nice, with combed hair.  Ugh.  If I leave them, I have to call around and beg, then spend the time taking them and picking them up.  Ugh, again.

And what do I do about Carson on his third day of potty training?  If I take him, then I have to put him in a diaper, which he doesn't want to do.  If I leave him, then I have to beg whoever will watch him to deal with reminding him to go. 

If I go to the grocery store, then I'll be faced with real shopping, not just picking up ingredients for enchiladas.  If I do that, then I'll be spending money I don't really want to be spending, we've overspent this weeks budget already.  I'll need hairspray, new 2T undies for the little guy, socks for Spencer on top of all the groceries needed to stock an empty fridge and pantry.  But, if I stay home, then I'll just keep feeding us creatively and washing the 4 pairs of 2T undies I can find and the only 3 pairs of socks we can find of Spencer's. 

If I stay home and do laundry, then I'll have to deal with all the clothes on my bedroom floor.  If I am in my room taking care of laundry, then I'll have to call AHO and remind them again that my light fixture has fallen off the ceiling and is hanging by the wires only.  I know, I know, I really should be taking care of that dangerous situation right now but if I do, then I have to clean my room first.  And the rest of my house.  And if I do that now, then I won't go to the store.  If I don't go to the store then I won't know what to make for dinner today.  If I don't know what to make, then I'll be hungry and crabby all day.

If I am crabby and hungry all day then I'll start thinking of all the things that make me crabby.  Like an under-developed backyard and an unmowed front yard.  If I start thinking about the front yard needing mowed, then I'll have to decide whether to buck up and go get gas for the lawn mower myself or wait for Jason to get home and send him on his lunch break.   If I send him on his break then he won't have time to show me how to remove and empty the bag on the mower.  If I don't catch the grass then I'll have clippings all over since it's so long.  If I go outside and mow the yard then I'll have to decide whether I clean the inside first.  If I decide to mow then I'll have to decide if I eat before I mow or after.  If I try to find something to eat, then I'll be faced with the inevitability of going to the store.

And if I have to think about going to the store then there's 4,553 other decisions to make and I don't think I can make any of them. 

If I get up and walk away from the computer, then I'll have to deal with the mess in my house, the undressed children, the empty refrigerator, the unmowed yard, blah, blah, blah.

If I just stop thinking about all of it, then I won't have to make any decisions at all.

If I end this post, then what picture am I going to add since I can't blog without a picture?  If I go pick out a picture, then I'm going to feel guilty about how little I've used my camera lately.

And the decision after that?  If I open a can of diet coke then what am I going to eat with it?

Ahhh, man.  If I keep looking at these pictures, then I have to face the fact that Carson and Spencer need haircuts.  If they need haircuts, then I have to leave the house.  And it's pretty obvious that I can't make a decision today to save my life.  But, if I put off everything today, then I have to deal with it all tomorrow.

And then he turned 7...

Seriously?  7...seven...4+3?  I can't believe it.  For this experiment loving little boy we threw a pretty wild science shindig, eye protection required.

 Which turned out to be the best $10 I spent on the party.  The kids loved the googles and the pictures are priceless.  Full collage of everyone coming soon.

Aside from constantly telling him to quit yelling, this kid is a pretty cool kid to have around.  

He is very independent and reliable.

He loves watching/listening to the news.

He watches documentaries almost as often as he watches cartoons.

He loves any and all things BBQ.

His reading skills are amazing.

He still asks to be tucked in everynight.

He loves to know how things work and still asks a gazillion questions.

He is a great enforcer of the rules.

He is honest.

He still wants to be a spy.

He says the best family prayers.

He still asks everyday if we're going somewhere or if someone is coming over.

He loves to show off all the interesting things he learns.

He loves his family.

Having a kid like him made it super fun and easy to throw a party with his friends with volcanoes, fake snow, crazy mixing drinks, and all sorts of other experiments.  When I'm done sorting through the 200+ photos Lisa took, I'll post all the details of the fantastic time we had. 

And then she turned 4...

There's was cake and candles (and crappy lighting)...

Cousins and crafts (and one crappy picture).

There were cookies and carameled apples...

There was cleverness...

                                             (Magic Mirror program that talked to the girls)
And cute little men with cupcakes...

Cute drinks and cute toppers (made by me!)...

And a whole bunch of other stuff that doesn't start with "c"...

 

(Tulle Snow White skirts)

 

(Wishing Well for tossing bean bag apples)

Massive amounts of gratitude to Cake/Cupcake Baker- Mallary, Cookie Maker- Grandma Lo, Caramel Cooker- Rachael, Hair Stylist- Katie, Co-Photographer Lisa, Wishing Well Constructer- Jason.  Thank you to Lydia (and Josh) for providing the most played with gift so far, the Princess Hair Style Set.