24th of July

Wow, we were so non-traditional celebrating Pioneer Day yesterday. We didn't even watch the parade on TV.

Woke up, had breakfast and headed outside to clean the van.

Then, we decided to take the kids to see Ratatouille. The kids LOVED it. I was happy to see a movie the whole way through as Reagan decided to fall asleep and slept the entire time. (Hooray!!!)

Brian decided to create a picture of the kids last night. The final outcome is pretty swell. *winks*

Jordan stars as "Shrek", Madison is "Fiona" Taylor is "Donkey" and Reagan is "Puss in Boots". The kids have a copy of the picture and they're still talking about it this morning.

Took a few cute pictures of Reagan yesterday, but as usual, Brian took the camera to work... I think I need my OWN camera...

Dear Children:

There are just a few things that I would like you four kids to know. Well, there's A LOT I'd like you to know, but here are some of the highlights.

#1: I wanted you all TERRIBLY.

Because I wanted you so badly, your dad and I couldn't stand the thought of "someone else" raising you. It was so important for me to stay home with each of you - I didn't care if we ate mac and cheese the rest of our days, and could totally be content with never taking a family vacation again. Every little financial struggle has been worth it to wake up each morning and have my "job" be all of you. *I* heard your first words. *I* saw you take your first steps. *I* got to watch your sleepy little eyes and the tired little yawns. All those moments are MINE, and I take them all selfishly.

#2: I WANTED you sleeping next to me.

It was *my* decision to have my sweet little babes in bed with me. I was told by many people that I should let each one of you learn to sleep on your own - in a crib, in another room - and that after 3 days of you screaming, you all would stop and start sleeping soundly. I can't stand the sound of my babies crying. I do, however, love your cuddly little bodies against me - safe in "our" bed. Again, it was MY choice. I didn't want you to leave my side until you were ready. And I still quite enjoy weekends when you older kids come and join us for a few minutes all snuggled under the covers. (The king size bed was a GREAT investment.)

#3: I kept you away from bottles.

I wanted to breastfeed you. It started out hard with all of you. It would have been more than easy to quit. In fact, in our society, it seems to be a "do what makes you comfortable" vs a "do what's good for your baby" mindset. I knew it was the best thing for each of you, and I reminded myself of that when I sat on the couch sobbing in pain. I knew that it wouldn't last forever (even though at the moment it seemed like it would).

I tolerated the ill comments from others who found out that I nursed most of you beyond the age of one. Maybe it was their guilt talking. I questioned myself once about it, but soon got over it and decided I didn't care what anyone else thought - I was responsible for you. I am your mother. I had your best interest at heart the entire time.

#4: The messy house doesn't bother me much.

A spotless house sounds like heaven - but our "clutter" reminds me that my children live here, they're comfortable with their surroundings, and they really feel like they can be themselves. I was going to paint over the scribbles in the tv room long ago when Madison first put them there. But as I've let them sit, they remind me of a time when she was so little - she's growing so fast and soon those scribbles will be a treasure and reminder of my little girl.

I have a million others but one of you is crying, we have a birthday present to wrap for a party in 15 minutes and lunch is long past due. But I love you and I'm so glad you chose ME to be your Mother. :)

MOM

Okay then...

Obviously I'm a lazy blogger this summer... to much going on!

I feel like I need to post pictures whenever I create a new posting... Brian keeps taking the camera with him though, so I haven't taken ANY of the kids in the past month. Bad mommy.

Reagan is crawling, pulling herself up on things, and watching the other kids too close. I'm afraid she's going to pick up all of their bad habits. ;)

Madison wants her *beautiful* long curly hair cut "like the boys". She's begged and begged. I cut about 2 inches off on Sunday just to make her happy. We keep telling her that "princesses" have long beautiful hair, NOT hair like their brothers. It would be tragic to loose her curls!!!

Jordan lost ANOTHER tooth... a molar. The poor kid hardly has any teeth left. I can hardly wait until his permanent teeth come in. I won't recognize him though - he's had teeth missing since he was just under two years old!

Taylor has enjoyed swimming this summer. That and riding bikes. He's been a great help around the house while out of school, and a HUGE help with Reagan. She likes him and it's nice to have a "break" for a minute or two here and there.

Pictures next time! I'll work harder on having Brian leave the camera within my reach! :)

Another update on everyone

I realize I'm ultra slow keeping up this blog recently...

For a much needed update:

Reagan is over her ear infections and she's back on iron for her anemia. She held her breath and passed out 3 times last week. The third time I just couldn't handle it and gave her to Brian to take care of. I love her, I love her, I love her... but she exhausts me. This week on the iron supplement she seems to not hold her breath for quite as long, making her able to catch her breath, not pass out, and just continue on crying. I'm grateful for that! Getting her to actually TAKE the medicine this week has been rough though. She knows what it is and just plain doesn't want it.


Picture of her is from the boys martial arts ceremony. She can be so fun... On her terms and when she wants to be... *winks*



Madison has been totally funny recently. Last night, she woke up at 4:00 AM and said "Dad, you missed my bed". Missed your bed??? "Yes, you missed my bed and you're in here on this one" pointing to our bed. "You're supposed to be in my bed. You missed it." That and she'll say (again at night time...) "ummm... I need a DAD in my bed..." She and Brian have a really cute relationship. She's loving the pool this summer and wants to go in it every day.



The boys had their martial arts awards a few weeks ago. Jordan went up a degree in yellow belt 3rd degree now? I'm pretty sure next testing he'll get his orange belt...)
























And Taylor graduated from purple belt to blue belt. Jordan doesn't take it quite as seriously as Taylor does, but he really enjoys it. I think we might take a break this summer, but start up in fall again. Taylor really wants to advance further.











Kids all had a great time up at the cabin a couple of weeks ago, and with it getting hot here in the valley, I'm sure we'll try and spend more time up there!



Busy, busy busy around here! :)

Pinewood Derby 2007

Taylor had his first pinewood derby last week. Brian spent HOURS making 10 trophy's for the event and they turned out AWESOME. He used old "car parts" (or lawnmower parts...), sprayed them a beautiful gold color and mounted them on cub scout blue trophy stands. He had a place for the boy's car to "Velcro" to the trophy stand too.

They were a HIT. The boys thought they were totally cool.

Taylor and Brian spent time working on a great car for Taylor to race. He ended up taking 3rd place and he was totally happy about that!

I'm still new to the whole cub scout thing, but Taylor and I are learning together and we love it so far!

Baptism Quilt

Taylor's Baptism is this Saturday and I've been working like a mad woman on his quilt. (Thanks to MIL last night for helping me finish it up! Reagan was just not feeling good and she would NOT let my tie the darn thing... )

Anyway, it's done and I'm really happy with how it turned out. It's in RED which is Taylor's favorite color.

Life is..... CRAZY

I'm feeling the guilt of not blogging for awhile... ;)

It's been BUSY around here!!! I had hopes of having recent photos and everything up, but no such luck.

I've been trying to get a little more *under control* around here. (Kind of hard with the mountain of laundry that seems to grow by the second...)

Had a bit of "stress" recently, and started working out again in the mornings. It's been awhile since I've done that... stopped when I found out that Reagan was on the way.

Speaking of Reagan... she's 6.5 months now, she's been sitting for a LONG time and is actually trying to balance on her knees and hands. No teeth yet which is totally weird for my kids... but hey... whatever.

Taylor turned EIGHT on the 19th and I can hardly believe it. We've started cub scouts now and he loves it.

Adding to the chaos, Madison started dance class. This point deserves a whole entry of it's own though, so more on that another day.

Jordan is still loving preschool and can't wait for kindergarten. He asks me EVERY DAY if "today" is the day he starts. It's going to be a long summer... ;)

Easter was great. Taylor got his first "suit". (My baby is all grown up!!!)

We poured a new front porch. Details of the disaster later.

I've been working like a mad woman on Taylor's baptism quilt. Hopefully it'll be done this week.

Just wanted to *check in*!

More later (but not *too* late I hope!) :)

In need of some diversity.

I realized yesterday that we don't live in a diverse neighborhood. I know this because of a conversation I had with my 5 year old yesterday.

We were out in the front yard - the weather has been so nice, we've taken advantage and pretty much stayed outside the past few days.

An older man comes walking down our street. Jordan yells "hi" to the man. The man obviously doesn't hear Jordan, so doesn't respond.

Jordan asks if I know his name - I tell him I don't. Madison says "he looks like a grandpa, so that's his name". Okay... fine.

Jordan says (as the older man is still walking off) "maybe he doesn't speak our language. Maybe he speaks Spanish. I know how to say 'hi' in Spanish"... HOLA!!!" (in a very loud YELL down the street at said older man....)

Jordan turning back to me when there was no response: "Nope... doesn't speak Spanish either".

Same little boy just asked me today if for St. Patrick's Day we're having "Leprechaun Meat" like we did last year.
My poor kids think we catch leprechauns to EAT them!!!! I've tried to tell Jordan that leprechauns are "little people" that leave and do silly things on St. Patty's day, but he still thinks that come our evening meal of corned beef and cabbage, that we're actually eating leprechauns.

Would someone like to tell me where I've gone wrong???

"While You Were Out", Heidi style!

So what do I do when Brian leaves town for 5 days?



CREATE MORE CHAOS of course!!!



Brian left for a convention in Las Vegas last Wednesday. He was gone over his birthday, so I figured a *nice* birthday present for him would be to SURPRISE him with a remodel of our bedroom!!!



I have NO before pictures which I'm totally sad about. But trust me, the room was UGLY. And the fact that I have no pictures of that room sort of proves it, right? We spent no time in that room because it just wasn't "us".



So, thanks to my sister in law (aka *toot sweets*), we spent 3 days doing a total room makeover.



In the middle of it all, the kitchen sink clogged. I made several really good attempts at fixing the plumbing, but it didn't work out. I was mighty pleased that when Brian got home he couldn't fix it either. I thought for sure he'd just "tweak" a few things and it would work again, but it's more of an *involved* problem, and I'm glad that he's back to take care of it. (Don't get me wrong, I'd like my kitchen sink back... but the fact that it wasn't an easy fix makes me feel better that I couldn't fix it on my own... I'm a stinker that way... *winks*)

"Toot Sweets" and I also decided to install new blinds in my living room window. (I've been wanting them for over a year now. We went by the motto of "it's better better to ask for forgiveness than permission with that one, and while Brian doesn't seem too thrilled about our choice, I'm happy to not be living in a "fish bowl" anymore. Besides... he likes the new curtains we made for that window, so liking *half* of that project is good, right?)



Anyway...



After a day of scraping UGLY wallpaper off the walls, and then long nights and into the wee morning hours scraping that same wallpaper off the floor, we were able to patch holes, paint, buy some new decor and turn my ugly little bedroom into a CUTE little bedroom!

Here are the photos!




The kids and I wrapped the bedroom door with "happy birthday" paper so that Brian had something to "open" for his gift.

This is what you see when you open the door! (okay, our bedroom furniture is HUGE in this tiny room, but there's no way you're getting me back on a queen size bed after moving to my totally comfy king size.... *winks*)

Found some totally cute picture frames that are just packed with photos of our *darling* kiddos.

Put up a new mirror... (thanks to our neighbor for saving me a trip to home depot for drywall screws. I wonder if he's still shocked that I know what drywall screws are, plus the fact that I actually know how to use them.... *giggle*)

Found the "big key" at Home Goods and thought it would look nice in the room. Jordan had the BEST comment about it though... The kids were showing Brian all around the room and Jordan said: "And DAD! This key came all the way from CHINA!!!!" Note to self: Remove the "made in China" stickers from inexpensive merchandise...

Brian was surprised by all the "updating"... I think he might be a little hesitant going out of town again and leaving me behind... He's worried what room I might tackle next.

I'm so TIRED!!! I'm so glad it's DONE!!! And I'm totally thrilled that I was able to do a project and surprise Brian with it!

Madison turns THREE!!!

Has it really been 3 years?

We celebrated Madison's 3rd Birthday yesterday. The night before I kept re-playing all the events leading up to her birth... Contractions all day long, getting to the birth center at midnight, and having a baby 53 minutes later in the water.

3 years ago!!! I can't believe it! It sounds so cliche, but it feels like yesterday... and she's even a big sister now!

Pictures from Madison's "pink a purple" party, because what's better than pink and purple????

Madison shows us "how many" she is now. Funny story: Taylor woke up yesterday morning to get ready for school and walked into Madison's room saying "Happy Birthday!!!" Madison rolls over in bed and says: "Taylor... I'm still sleeping". Taylor says: "Well, hurry and open your eyes because as soon as you do, you'll turn 3!"

Eyes opened right away. ;)

This is Madison's "Princess cake". It didn't turn out as pretty as I wanted it to. Reagan would NOT let me put her down, and decorating a cake one handed was pretty interesting. With about half of it done, I just finished it "lazy". Both arms were killing me. Madison was happy with it though, and that's what's important... right? :)

The birthday "spread". We just did cake and ice cream, but Brian made his "to die for" carrot cake again. (No hope of weight loss this week thanks to that gesture... ;) )

We're so proud of our little Madison. She has her moments, but she's a sweetheart just the same. Happy Birthday darlin'!!!

Our President's Day Fun

The kids were home on Monday for President's Day. Brian decided to take the day off too, so we were able to spend some good family time together.

We had a snow storm and the kids were just dying to get out and play in the new snow. Taylor and Jordan started making a snowman. I was watching Taylor try and lift the snowman's huge middle on to the bottom, and Jordan trying hard to help. Taylor tells Jordan after they were terribly unsuccessful: "Hey, go get Dad".

Brian went out, dress shoes and all to help finish up the snowman. We found some buttons for his eyes and mouth, a scarf and old hat... then had to put his carrot nose in.

The kids had so much fun!

We went and got a movie afterward, and "popcorn" buckets from the Disney outlet store. The kids love watching Herbie with their own little popcorn buckets!

It's days like these that I hope my kids remember... not the ones where I'm screaming at them to clean up their rooms... *blush*

A letter to my hubby.

Dear Husband:

You're baked treats are mighty tasty. Award winning probably.

The raisin bread is delightful. Your raspberry cream cheese cake thing is to die for. Not to mention the sugar cookie dough. But now you throw carrot cake into the culinary mix?

I'm going to be honest here: I never really liked carrot cake all that much. It *used* to be one of the few things I could pass by. I don't know if it's the toasted pecans you put in yours, or the to die for cream cheese frosting you make... but I can't keep my chubby little paws out of it.

And that's the problem. (Emphasis on "chubby" little paws).

I mean, you KNOW that your cake is good with the *almost* three year old sneaks down in the middle of the night to lick all the frosting off of it. But, I'm trying so hard to not be a fat blob, and your stinkin' little baked goods are NOT helping.

Besides. Most people don't even remember that you're diabetic. I mean, what sort of diabetic bakes this way???

Don't you want to try cooking vegetables in a way that they don't need to be put into a cake?

Do you know any recipes that don't call for pounds of butter? Or cream cheese???

Do you even know what "wheat flour" is?

I'm tired of this jiggly stuff on my person, but my taste buds simply cannot be deprived of your superb baking results.

Help me.

Love, The woman who doesn't look much like the one your married years ago...

P.S. Looking forward to your nummy homemade pizzas tonight. Maybe I'll go purchase some veggies so that it's not ONLY topped with Italian sausage, cheese and pepperoni...

AGGGHHHHH!!!!

Valentines Day!

Yippee, hooray it's Valentines Day! Now go hug someone and lets be done with it.

I'm not trying to be "Valentine Scrooge" or anything.

Really.

But I think Valentines Day is just another holiday to stress me out.

The kids wanted to MAKE all of their valentines for kids at school, they didn't want me to buy the cheap $1.00 for 36 valentines at the store. I spent more than $1 I assure you. I have $5.00 worth of glitter all over my house and the pictures to prove it.

So, *kiss kiss* everyone - lets move on. I've got glitter galore to clean up.

P.S. Did you notice all the glitter in Reagans hair??? I think you can click to enlarge... that stuff is horrid. And please take a looksie at all the GLUE dripping off of Madison's valentines. Aren't you all glad I'm not mailing any of these???

When dresses are too short, make BLOOMERS!

Madison is kinda-sorta growing like a weed. So, when I decided to try and get a few things ready for church yesterday morning, I found that all her little dresses were.... well.... LITTLE!

I need to sit down and make her some more dresses, but I didn't have a lot of time in the morning, so I decided to just make some "bloomers" to go under a dress she has that's just too short.

SO many people commented on her bloomers yesterday. I thought they turned out really cute, and I'll probably make some other dresses that she can wear the bloomers with, because she LOVED her "silly pants"!!! :)

It also made for the perfect opportunity to dress Reagan in a similar dress, so we had to take photos. ;)

I'm looking back on a few of my blog posts and noticing there isn't all that much about my boys. I'll work on that a little better... it's just easier to write about the girls since they're home with me all day and the boys are off at school. Maybe I'll take a picture of Taylor with his nose in a book tonight... And one of Jordan tormenting his sister...

Anyway... Hooray for the quick bloomer fix, eh? :)

"Spice" it up. (Lame title, great results)

My efforts for organization are slowly being noticed. I was sick and tired of my kitchen cabinets yesterday, so I took everything out and started over.

A couple of weeks ago, Brian and I went through our MANY cookbooks, and decided to put the ones we use a lot back up on the shelf. All the others went into a storage container and are downstairs in the basement. It's nice to have a little bit more shelf space when the entire top row of my cabinets used to hold books!!!

I didn't spend any more money on baskets or Lazy Susan's for the cabinets. It was all stuff I already had around the house. I purchased the white baskets thinking I'd use them for sewing stuff, but since working on the sewing room, I need something a bit different. So, I moved them all up the the kitchen.

Every thing's labeled and in order. I'm way happy with it. I didn't, however, alphabetize my spices because there is NO WAY I could keep them that way.

I've got SO much more to do around the house in the way of organizing, but progress is being made, so I have to be happy about that. ;)

The kids are well... they have dentist appointments today.

Taylor's spelling words are getting harder. He has words like Orchestra to learn. He craves it though, and loves learning. I think he's read 6 or 7 books this month.

Jordan is "changing" and is starting to be more serious about learning. He wants to be a "5 year old that can read". He's actually been pretty helpful around the house this past week or so which is a nice change for him.

Madison is WELL on her way to being diaper free. (HOORAY!) We didn't have any accidents yesterday. I can't tell you how happy this makes me!

Reagan is great. Sleeps great (when I'm holding her), is pleasant (when I'm holding her), smiles a lot at others (as long as I'm holding her.... notice a theme???) She's tolerating her Dad a lot better recently and I can almost make it through an entire shower without hearing her fussing. She even sat and helped Brian on the computer the other day. She's realizing that he's "okay people" and he PLAYS with her. Hopefully it will just get better and better... maybe sometime soon I'll be able to go to the grocery store KID FREE!!! ;) The picture of them turned out fuzzy, darn it all!