Getting my "fix"!!!

~AAAAAHHHH....I feel better now! I'm finally at a computer for the first time since Friday. I'm a total addict so this has been kind of rough for me. Thank goodness for my free Blackberry I got when I renewed my contract with T-mobile or I would have been totally lost! I know...I need help!!!
~The kids went to their new school for the first time yesterday and I was so worried about them. I was worried they wouldn't make friends and would hate me forever. I was worried about Dewey since he has been attending half day kindergarten and this school has all day kindergarten and I was worried about how that was going to work out for him. I was worried because he's deathly allergic to nuts and is eating at school for the first time ever, where they have a peanut butter and jelly uncrustable as their alternate option EVERY SINGLE DAY! I talked with the lunch lady and his teacher and since they don't have a peanut free table like some schools do they are putting him at the end of the table in the same seat every day and the kindergarten lunch aide will make sure no one is sitting next to him who is eating peanut butter sandwiches(even if he gets touched by someone who has peanut butter on them he will AT LEAST break out in hives and if he accidentally ingests it his throat will swell shut and he will stop breathing and die unless they give him the epi pen I left in the office. Little frightening for this mommy!) THEY DID AWESOME!!!!!! Such a relief!!! I went to high school with and was friends with Huey's teacher. HOORAY!! He's a super nice guy and best of all.....HE DOESN'T BELIEVE IN HOMEWORK!!!!!! BONUS!!!!!!! He only makes them do homework if they don't finish their work in class. LOVE IT!!! Huey also has his cousin in his class so that makes him feel much better! He already has a built in friend, someone to talk to, play with at recess, someone to make him feel comfortable and like he's not all alone in a brand new school in the 4th grade. Thank heavens for his cousin!!!!! Dewey had a super great, fun day and was so happy............until last night when he was laying in bed and decided he misses me too much when he's at school. How sweet is that?! This morning was really tough! Dewey thinks it is cruel and unusual punishment when I wake him up at 6:30 a.m.! His other school started at 9 a.m. and was 2 minutes away so he could sleep in until 8 but at this school he has to catch the bus at 7:35. This morning they rode the school bus to school for the first time EVER...SUPER BONUS!!!!!!!!! The bus driver is one of his other cousins' grandpa Randy. Also great because I know they know the bus driver and I know he's nice. WHEW!!! I feel so much better now!!!! (I lived across the street from my elementary school and never moved until high school so I am new to this whole bus thing and I am totally sure that I was the only one nervous about the bus! The boys were so stoked to ride it and Brian always rode the bus so he thinks I am a weirdo but whats new?!
~Buttercup is SO DREAMY!!!!! She has always slept at least 7-11 hours every night since she was born except for an occasional night where she'll need one or two feedings. I've worried about her adjusting to a new place and we decided to put her in her crib in our room instead of the bassinet so with the move and the different bed I was a little worried it would freak her out a little and screw up the perfect thing we had going. She is doing so well!!! She took a nap yesterday in her crib, she's still sleeping through the night, she is really happy and content (most of the time anyway, she is still a baby after all), she's like her brother Dewey and is a super easy eater (Huey had to have soy and ate every 2 hours round the clock for 14 months, Louie had reflux and projectile vomited up his formula all over the place all the time and was skinny and I worried about him all the time!!!) and I just LOVE her so much!!!!! She is the best little girl and has the sweetest, most adorable smile ever! I just can't get enough of her! She lights up when she sees me and thinks I'm pretty great and I am equally as smitten with her! She is such a joy! I feel with her like I did with my second child. Just relaxed, able to really thoroughly enjoy almost every moment, happy, confident as a mother. Easy babies are so great because you're not constantly worried and feeling guilt and inadequacy all the time even if you shouldn't feel that way. It's just been great! We all adore her and are having so much fun watching her every little accomplishment. This weekend while cleaning the house we moved out of she actually was on the floor long enough to not only roll to her tummy like always but also back over to her back again! HOORAY!! Such a cutie! She doesn't get a lot of floor time because Louie can't leave her alone on the floor and I'm afraid he'll love her to death! :) Anyhoo, it's going really well, and we are glad to have the move over and adjustments started. I just need to organize all of our stuff here and get Dewey to be happy about all day kindergarten and things will be even better! I hope you all have a great day!!!!

Randomness.....

~I HAD to share the cuteness of my toes! My mom knows I LOVE it when this lady Meg paints my toes so she got me an appointment so I could have cute toes! So fun! Meg is amazing and start to finish it only takes like 10-15 minutes. I especially love the little red gems she put on each big toenail. So fun! I'll have to keep wearing flip flops until November so I can look at my cute toes!

~As we left Meg's house yesterday we saw a grasshopper. Louie said,"It's on the street so it's called a streethopper!" Cute

~I have learned something very important at church lately and I may be going to a very HOT place for this one but I simply can't help myself, so, here goes.....if you are an old lady and you don't like the size or shape of your lips, DON'T paint a new lip on your face that goes like half an inch above your actual lip! You aint foolin' no one, honey!!! If you're going for pretty lips-don't do it! However, if you're going for entertainment value-knock yourself right on out there toots! By the way, laughing.hysterically.quietly. in the middle of Sunday School is NOT easy!!! Bad, I know!

~I was packing up the toy room yesterday and the boys were playing "sQuat team"! Cracked me up!!

~I missed Bonnie Hunt this summer! I have caught a little of her show a couple of times while feeding Buttercup the last 2 weeks and I always have a good laugh! She's hilarious and I look forward to being moved so I can actually maybe sit down for full episodes once in a while.

~Louie kicked Dewey in the face. I asked him to come here. And he yells,"but I did it on accididn't."

~I LOVE this time of year! I love the cool, crisp air. The feel of fall. Looking at the beautiful colors of leaves on the trees as they change color before leaving the trees bare for the winter. I always crave apple pie and soup during the fall. The temperature is just perfect! It's just AWESOME!!! The last few years it has felt like it went straight from hot summer to cold winter without much of a fall so I'm totally LOVING it this year!!!

~Dewey is deathly allergic to peanuts so we are always telling the kids not to share drinks and food and to not kiss him if they've eaten peanuts. Louie had some peanut treats last night and Dewey wanted to hug him and Dewey said," but mom I had peanuts last night!" I said well, "that's ok, you can still hug him you don't have to kiss him." He says, "but they are still in my tummy." I guess he was afraid to touch him with his tummy because of the peanuts. Such a sweetie!

To do list:

~Find more boxes.......check! (Thanks Payless Shoes!!)
~Take Louie to his dentist appointment.......check!
~Find a house to rent.....................................found one next door to the loopy guy that lives on Airport Road with the GIGANTIC aluminum can collection that is as deep as his tall back yard fence........does he hide dead people under there or what?! ............................................find a storage shed to rent to store all of our crap in and live with Brian's mom until we can find a DECENT place to live........check!
~Take Dewey and Louie to have dental surgery Thursday!!............check!(Dewey couldn't breathe very well when he was coming off of the anesthesia so they finally gave him some morphine to calm him down so they could give him a breathing treatment. I'm glad he ended up being fine after giving me and my mom a total heart attack!!! Louie did great!!! Thank heavens!!!)
~Find someone to take Huey to school on the morning of his brothers' dental surgeries.........................check! (Thanks Uncle Chris!!!)
~Plan an "Under the Sea" themed birthday party for Dewey for Saturday and pull it off without too many hitches...............check!
~Take a trip to the party store and a billion trips to WalMart in the last 2 weeks because you are too frazzled to "get it together" and keep thinking of more crap you can't live without!!..............check!!!
~Bawl your eyes out 2 Sundays in a row all through church because people keep being so darn nice and making you really, really want to stay there.............check!
~Go through the toy room and pick out stuff to give away..................check! ( This is not fun for me to do. For some reason it is really hard for me and causes me much anxiety and I usually end up only giving away some kids meal toys and keeping everything else but I ended up giving 4 garbage bags full of toys away. YAY ME!!!! I still have one of those awesome tool benches, and a great kitchen, and some little Mickey Mouse storage bin shelf things and some other things that I'm also going to give away. The kids love them and I'm kind of sad to see them go but they are just TOOOOO big!!! I am so HAPPY to give the light bright away!!! No more light bright pegs all over the house in crazy nooks and crannies, HOORAY!!!!!)
~Wash ooodles and oooodles of laundry and dishes when not packing or feeding Buttercup.............check!
~Fold and put away the Mount Everest size mountain of laundry that was washed and heaped in my bedroom all week.................check! (Ok, don't judge me too hard on this one. I was lucky to wash it this week with everything I had going on there was NO way I could get it put away until last night. It WAS easy to pack it up after folding it last night though since almost all of the clothes we own were all in one room:) ! )
~Show the house 3 times to potential buyers and 2 times to potential renters in the last 2 weeks......................check! (This I will NOT miss when we move!! And being serenaded by cows at 6 a.m. ....well, maybe a little. JK! And band practice at the high school next to our subdivision at 7a.m. on Friday mornings....even in the summer!! ARGH!!)
~Finish packing up everything and clean the entire house by Saturday which is moving day, write a talk on baptism for my nieces baptism that is on the same day we move, call the school where we are moving to, change utilities out of our name, make Dewey's ACTUAL birthday on Thursday special and fun, don't lose it completely...............I'll have to get back to you on this one!!!!

I LOVE TO READ!!!

I really, really love to read! I love reading the kids their fun little books, especially if they let me pick them, and I love to get a chance to just take a whole day and lose myself in a good book. Let the dishes and laundry pile up, let the kids do whatever they want to as long as they just let me read in peace, stay in my p.j.'s, snuggle up with a blanket, and just read, read, read!!! AHHHhhhh.... My love of reading began when I was just a little girl and my mom would read books to us while she watched Days of Our Lives. She was so talented at multi tasking, don't you think! One of my favorite years of reading was my 4th grade year. That's the year I discovered Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Superfudge, Ramona books especially Ramona Quimby, Age 8....They were so great and I just couldn't get enough of them! There were a few years that I really didn't care about reading in the least bit during high school when they expected us to read lame books that I couldn't care less about but about a year after Brian and I were married I started reading The Work and the Glory series. 9 books! Huge books, too! LOVED them!!! I couldn't put them down. All of my chores in the house would pile up, I would force myself to eat occasionally and pee once in a great while (oh the bladder of a body that hasn't had 4 babies), I would stay awake all hours of the night. Sleep? Who needs sleep?! I'm READING!!! Ever since then I can't read enough books! I always have a library card in every city we have lived in. I've discovered some amazingly talented writers and have even read some classics. LOVED Anne of Green Gables when I read it 2 years ago. Such a wonderful book! My mom still feeds my love of reading by lending me the books she buys after she reads them! I've had a book on my nightstand ever since the week Buttercup came home from the hospital (3 1/2 months) and I am determined to finish it if it kills me! Great book but right now every time I pick it up it puts me to sleep. Morning..noon..night...doesn't matter, I sleep...I know some day I'll be able to start really reading again so I'm not too worried. I was SO excited when my 4th grader told me today that his teacher read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing to his class last week. He has been a great reader and can't put a good book down once he starts reading it. I hope he always loves reading! I started thinking back on all my favorites. Such great memories! "Reading is the magic key to take you where you want to be."

Love this:

Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says~~"Oh Crap, She's up!"

Just a little ventilation...

So, am I the only one that thinks it's weird when old men sit outside on their porches in their pj's watching kids walk to school? I just saw a guy doing this the other morning when I took the kids to school and there was a guy that did this in another town we lived in when our oldest was in kindergarten. I find it very creepy and disturbing!!!

You all know we're moving and I'm trying to get a free minute somewhere to pack. I was trying to be all productive the other morning but couldn't stand my kitchen floor that was sticky from the boys making fruit kabobs to go with our dinner the night before and apparently dripped juice everywhere so I decided to mop. I mopped my kitchen, then the pantry, then 2 bathrooms. I was walking back into the kitchen to dump out my water since I needed to scrub out the sink in there anyway and forgot that the floor would be slippery and slipped and fell and landed on my left knee and dropped the mop bucket full of water all over the floor. I'm so talented! I'm sure my husband is sorry he missed that spectacle! Anyhoo, last night I had my oldest son peeling potatoes for me for our dinner and I walked by him and caught my right pinkie toe on his heel and it bent back and I'm pretty sure it broke. It's all purple and swollen and lovely. That's just what I need...to be slower than I already am! FYI somehow he wasn't hurt.

This morning we were listening to the radio while we waited for my kindergartner to get out of school. The song Hero by Enrique Iglesias came on. When he belts out, "I will stay by you forever." my 3 year old says,"I will step on you forever????" like he was wondering what the heck!! Cracked me up!

I LOVE that lately my 3 year old has decided that when I'm in the same room as he is he'd better tell me to look away before he does something naughty! Thanks for the heads up, buddy! Now if I could get him to give me some sort of signal before he wreaks havoc when I'm NOT in the room my life would be SO much easier!!!

We've lived in this house for 6 months that is for sale and we have only had a hand full of people come to look at it in all of that time...until....we've decided to move, we're trying to pack up the house, my husband started a job over an hour away and was staying in that town overnight last week and I didn't have help, we have a ton of stuff going on and the house looks like a bomb went off...THEN we have people come to look at the house. It has shown 3 times in a week. Including this morning. At 10 a.m.! I keep having to frantically speed clean in just a few hours time (don't know what happened to the agreement that we'd have 24 hours notice but whatever) to try not to embarrass myself or the realtor that is also our landlord too much when he shows the house. THAT is something I will NOT be missing about this house when we move! OH! Or the really, really light tan carpet throughout the house! 3 boys + almost white carpet= yuckarama carpet!!! Especially under the table! GROSS!! Should be outlawed!!! We finally bought a great carpet remnant to put under the table so my poor husband didn't have to keep shampooing all the time.

That is all for my venting today. Thanks for listening and have a great day!!! :)

I love my job AND the people I work with!

I've been packing our stuff for our move. I'm pretty much a pro at this since this is our 15th move. I always pack the stuff we use least often first. I packed up my first 6 boxes before it occurred to me that I had just packed up all of my scrapbooking stuff, card making stuff, jewelry making stuff, and all of the books I want to read. It made me kind of sad for a minute that those were the things that are used the least at my house and then I remembered that all too soon I will have time to do all of those things because my hands won't be so busy with cooking and laundry and dishes and bottles and snuggling my baby and that will be kind of sad so I am feeling better about all of my fun hobbies collecting dust for a while. Pretty soon I will be able to find more time to do stuff like that a little here and a little there and that will do for now. In Feb. 2008 I was in such a funk as far as my feelings about my choice to be a stay at home mom and would tell my husband I loved the people I worked with but I HATED my job!!! I was feeling so overwhelmed and freaked out by the monotony of my life. All I did was clean and you could never tell I had done a thing because my boys would just go behind me and mess everything up as fast as I cleaned it up and I was totally losing it! I scrapbooked and made cards and watched my Gilmore Girls boxed set for a couple of weeks and pretty much ignored the house (which I paid for later) so I could feel like I was actually doing something I loved and I could feel more like I wasn't just a useless maid but still got to do stuff for me!!! Well, I am so happy to say that a year and a half later I am thrilled with my job AND I love the people I work with now!!! I love taking care of my children's needs and taking care of the house. I am still really frustrated by the kids destroying everything I accomplish but that's just part of it isn't it?! I discovered blogging shortly after that time in my life and it has really helped me a lot! As the kids get older those things get a little better and this too shall pass, which is good AND bad. I really want to savor every second of my kids lives! I have watched my little nieces and nephews grow up from little babies to be missionaries, spouses, and parents and I can't believe how quickly that time has passed. I don't want to look back on this time ever and wish I would have taken the time to enjoy the moments that are only here for a little while. In the past I often found myself living in the future. I would say well when this happens, then I'll be happy. When we have that then I'll be happy. Now I can say I am trying to be happy every day and to find joy in my life every day, which isn't very hard when I'm surrounded by these adorable children of mine that I love so much, that rely on me and depend on me and love me. I feel blessed most days and of course overwhelmed often but mostly blessed! I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for entrusting me with these little angel babies to raise and teach and love. I never wanted anything more out of life than that!

I want a WIFE!

My friend Tara put this on her blog and I just thought it was too good not to share and she was nice enough to not mind me copying her! I think we ALL can relate to this!!!


I want a WIFE!
By Judy Brady Syfers (1971)
I belong to that classification of people known as wives. I am A Wife. And, not altogether incidentally, I am a mother. Not too long ago a male friend of mine appeared on the scene fresh from a recent divorce. He had one child, who is, of course, with his ex-wife. He is looking for another wife. As I thought about him while I was ironing one evening, it suddenly occurred to me that I too, would like to have a wife.Why do I want a wife?I would like to go back to school so that I can become economically independent, support myself, and if need be, support those dependent upon me. I want a wife who will work and send me to school. And while I am going to school I want a wife to take care of my children. I want a wife a wife to keep track of the children's doctor and dentist appointments. And to keep track of mine, too. I want a wife to make sure my children eat properly and are kept clean. I want a wife who will wash the children's clothes and keep them mended. I want a wife who is a good nurturing attendant to my children, who arranges for their schooling, makes sure that they have an adequate social life with their peers, takes them to the park, the zoo, etc. I want a wife who takes care of the children when they are sick, a wife who arranges to be around when the children need special care, because, of course, I cannot miss classes at school. My wife must arrange to lose time at work and not lose the job. It may mean a small cut in my wife's income from time to time, but I guess I can tolerate that. Needless to say, my wife will arrange and pay for the care of the children while my wife is working.I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs. I want a wife who will keep my house clean. A wife who will pick up after my children, a wife who will pick up after me. I want a wife who will keep my clothes clean, ironed, mended, replaced when need be, and who will see to it that my personal things are kept in their proper place so that I can find what I need the minute I need it. I want a wife who cooks the meals, a wife who is a good cook. I want a wife who will plan the menus, do the necessary grocery shopping, prepare the meals,serve them pleasantly, and then do the cleaning up while I do my studying. I want a wife who will care for me when I am sick and sympathize with my pain and loss of time from school. I want a wife to go along when our family takes a vacation so that someone can continue care for me and my when I need a rest and change of scene. I want a wife who will not bother me with rambling complaints about a wife's duties. But I want a wife who will listen to me when I feel the need to explain a rather difficult point I have come across in my course of studies. And I want a wife who will type my papers for me when I have written them.I want a wife who will take care of the details of my social life. When my wife and I are invited out by my friends, I want a wife who take care of the baby-sitting arrangements. When I meet people at school that I like and want to entertain, I want a wife who will have the house clean, will prepare a special meal, serve it to me and my friends, and not interrupt when I talk about things that interest me and my friends. I want a wife who will have arranged that the children are fed and ready for bed before my guests arrive so that the children do not bother us. I want a wife who takes care of the needs of my quests so that they feel comfortable, who makes sure that they have an ashtray, that they are passed the hors d'oeuvres, that they are offered a second helping of the food, that their wine glasses are replenished when necessary, that their coffee is served to them as they like it. And I want a wife who knows that sometimes I need a night out by myself.I want a wife who is sensitive to my sexual needs, a wife who makes love passionately and eagerly when I feel like it, a wife who makes sure that I am satisfied. And, of course, I want a wife who will not demand sexual attention when I am not in the mood for it. I want a wife who assumes the complete responsibility for birth control, because I do not want more children. I want a wife who will remain sexually faithful to me so that I do not have to clutter up my intellectual life with jealousies. And I want a wife who understandsthat my sexual needs may entail more than strict adherence to monogamy. I must, after all, be able to relate to people as fully as possible.If, by chance, I find another person more suitable as a wife than the wife I already have, I want the liberty to replace my present wife with another one. Naturally, I will expect a fresh, new life; my wife will take the children and be solely responsible for them so that I am left free.When I am through with school and have a job, I want my wife to quit working and remain at home so that my wife can more fully and completely take care of a wife's duties.Who wouldn't want a wife?

What a cutie!

So my 3 year old son walked up to me with a book yesterday and said,"Mom, I haven't met this book before, will you read it to me?" I just thought it was adorable!

Don't EVER take your eyes off of Louie!!!!

This is the side of our couch. Louie likes to draw on everything in our house except paper. I started to scrub it and then decided to take a picture of it so that's why there is a darker spot. That kid!!!!!


Huey thought it would be fun to make a 2 layer cake. He did such a great job! He just loves cooking and has even made some cakes from scratch. Well, we turned our backs on Louie for 2 minutes and this is what happened to the cake. Crazy kid!!!

Wishing For Something More....

I'm having one of those days when I'm looking at my wardrobe, my hairdo, my furniture, my accessories all over the house, my towels, my computer table, my kitchen table I painted red 4 years ago, my car and basically every purchase I ever made and wondering WHAT WAS I THINKING and wishing I could win the lottery and go on a super fun shopping spree and replace it all.......sigh!!! Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and just be happy I have all that stuff in the first place instead of wishing it was better. Let's hope!!! It's much better living a happy, grateful life instead of wishing for things I can't have. Ok, now I feel guilty!!! I AM grateful for everything, there is just a part of me that still wishes for better. Is that so bad?

We're moving......again! That makes 15 times in 16 years. *&%$#?@+!!!!

Brian got a job!!! YAHOO!!! He said,"You don't seem very excited about it." I said, "I'm really excited about it it's just that now the work begins for me!" Packing. Cleaning. Changing addresses. Finding a place to live. Changing the kids schools. Finding a preschool for Louie. Changing Dr.s, dentists. You know all that fun stuff. All while taking care of 4 kids by myself morning, noon, and night. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Getting the kids ready for school. BEDTIME :{ All.....alone.....while Brian stays with his mom until we can all move down. He'll come home one night in the middle of the week and on the weekends but I am such a wimp! I haven't had to consistently do this alone since adding our 4th bambino and I'm really, nervous but I'm sure it will all work out I just hope I can get every thing done. The very, very worst part of moving of course is the most dreadful thing of all!!! Finding a new hairstylist since Emily doesn't live there anymore!!! I've had to go to the hair schools for the last few years because the budget wouldn't allow anything else. I would pray desperately before each appointment and things turned out amazingly well other than it taking 4 1/2 hours for a cut and highlights. Brian colored my hair the last time it was done. SCARY I know but he did a surprisingly good job. But I'm sure that he is just as excited for me to have someone else do it next time as I am! Now if I could just find a place to do the boys and Brian's cuts every month that wouldn't set us back $48 bucks so I wouldn't have to do that anymore! They might have to go to the beauty school now. No, scratch that, NO ONE has that much time on their hands!!!

How can I tell?

Well, school is officially back in session. How can I tell? My floor is covered in wood chips again! Gotta love it! :)

Hannah Montana Rocks!! :)

Yes, it's true, I like Hannah Montana! Ok, so I'm 36 years old and maybe that seems weird but you know, I just don't care! I started out watching the show with my kids, I always watch at least one episode of a new show with my kids before I let them or banish them from watching it whichever the case may be. It is really a cute little show! I think the writing and the actors abilities have evolved over the life of the show and at this point it is really quite entertaining. I feel like it works for all ages. I've even caught it after the kids are already in bed and I'm flipping through the channels and I watch it without them because I think it's THAT cute. There aren't very many shows on regular television anymore that we can watch as a family. The sitcoms or reruns of sitcoms are all pretty risque for our little ones so it's been fun to find a show that the whole family can enjoy. It is pretty funny too! I always have a good chuckle during it. The kids LOVE her brother, Jackson. He's really pretty funny! Well, I wanted to see the movie but I couldn't get Huey to go to it with me because he's a closet Hannah Montana fan as well apparently since he's a boy and it's about a girl and he's just not ready to let the world in on his little secret. Well, I rented it and watched it and I thought it was really, really, good! It even made me cry a little at the end. (Not such a hard thing to do these days with my hormones still trying to even out after having my baby in May. But still.) I just love that song she sings at the end called The Climb. It is SO good! It's made me get choked up every time I've ever heard it because it is so sweet and is a great inspirational song for kids and grown ups alike I think. Now, please don't misunderstand me. I am not particularly a big Miley Cyrus fan. She does some weird things and I'm afraid she's headed down the same path as Britney Spears and the like but I really like the character she plays on the show Hannah Montana. Anyhoo, my confession is over. Don't judge, just love! :)

Poor little Buttercup!

Little Buttercup had 3 shots today and an oral vaccine as well. Now, I know the dangers of not having the vaccines, I know they need them, I know they are just a plane ride away from getting some horrible dread disease if they don't get the vaccines, my kids are all 'up to date'! But I'm worried sick! I always am every time one of my kids get vaccines. Huey would always run a fever for days. Dewey broke out in a horrible rash all over his body and ran a fever for days when he was 12 months old and got 5 shots at once. So, when I read the reaction symptoms to watch for I always get totally freaked out worrying about them. Sometimes the rash or other reactions can show up several days or a week after the actual vaccine. It's always sad to me to see these sweet little angels going through pain when they are so good, so precious, so trusting. I am grateful that we have vaccines now and that medicine has evolved so much now so that our children can be better protected from horrible diseases but it's still not easy to go through it!

Darn ghost kids!!!

I went in the boys' SCARY bathroom to clean it and found the counter top covered in toothpaste, chocolate syrup (don't ask me!), and dirty foot prints. The mirror was all smeared up too. So, I called my boys in because I just wanted to give them a 'friendly' reminder that we rinse toothpaste down the sink when we brush our teeth and that we only put a pea size amount on the brush. Wouldn't you know they all said that they DID rinse down the toothpaste. Must have been those darn ghost kids again!!! I tell ya, my ghost kids are the messiest, naughtiest, craziest ghost kids EVER!!! They are always getting into things they shouldn't, messing up the toy room, leaving toys in my room, spilling stuff everywhere, writing on walls and furniture, the list goes on and on! They are making my real kids look really bad!

Just have to vent...

I was so stinking mad today!!! I went to the school and got the note I need to have my Dr. fill out saying it's ok for my kindergartener,"Dewey" to have an epi pen at school in case his throat starts swelling shut from an accidental nut interaction since he's deathly allergic to all nuts. Well, I also decided I better get some epi pens from the pharmacy so I could actually take one to the school. I go ALL the way to the WalMart in the adjoining town that is about 10 minutes south of where we live to find out that my refilling ability expired for that prescription on July 31st. GREAT!!! So, I called the Dr.'s office to see if they could call, or fax in a prescription order for more epi pens and they are out to lunch and won't be returning until 2:00. Mind you it was 12:30 when I called!!! Who the crap takes AT LEAST an hour and a half off for lunch?!?!?! I get 2 minutes TOPS!!! I know I'm a stay at home mom but seriously I am lucky to sit down for lunch let alone taste the food I scarf down in 2 seconds flat. I understand an hour but AT LEAST an hour and a half is PRETTTTTY darn excessive if you ask me!!! Well, I decided that after I picked up some other stuff there at WalMart I would drop my hubby and Buttercup off at the house and take Dewey and Louey with me to their office so I could get the paper filled out and I would ask about the prescription refills then. This means I drove 10 minutes back home and then drove the 35 minutes in the other direction it takes to get to the Dr.'s office just to have a different Dr. in the office's receptionist inform me that it's my Dr's day off today. I said," I thought his day off was Tuesday." She said, " Oh it is but he took today off too but you can leave the paper here for him to fill out and you can come pick it up first thing tomorrow morning." With a big smile on her face! BREATHE!! DEEPLY!!! Do NOT freak out!!!! Don't say what you are thinking in your head!!! (Look toots!!! I tried to call your office an hour and a half ago but you were out to lunch, by the way, how long exactly, DO you have for lunch anyway?!!, and I live 40 minutes away so...that...isn't...good...enough...for....me!!!!!!!) Instead I just tried as calmly as I could to discuss this rationally and luckily there was a nurse there that sent in the prescription order for me and I'm going to call in the morning and see if the school will accept a faxed copy and see if the Dr.'s office will fax it to the school. Let's hope because I don't know how long the niceness can last!!!
I did perk up, however, when I decided to go to Old Navy since I was already up there and they were having jeans for kids for $10 a pair and I wanted to see if I could find a pair of new jeans for Dewey for school. I wanted him to have 1 new outfit for school since we got Hewey 1 new outfit for school. Well, I ended up finding a pair for Hewey for $3.79!!! BONUS!!!! He's husky and husky's are hard to come by, especialy for $3.79 a pair!!! All is right with the world again! See, shopping does make EVERYTHING better! :)

I'm Scared!!!

So, our little Buttercup was born in May and I have found the transition from 3 kids to 4 to be surprisingly easy. I have even thought that if I didn't have such a hard time breathing while I was pregnant i would probably have at least 2 more. After all we do make adorable children! :) As most of you know, Brian has been out of work since 3 days before Buttercup was born and has been my right hand man. Well he's been gone most of this week (including an over nighter) doing work for our brother in law and it has become abundantly clear to me that I'm a total wimp! Brian has been gone lots of times this summer and I handled things just fine and I thought I had it all together. This week was different because I actually had a lot to. Before, I just stayed close to home, planned trips to the store around Brian's schedule, and took it really easy. Too easy! I thought it was difficult taking 3 kids to Wal-Mart with me when I was pregnant...PIECE...OF....CAKE....compared to taking 4!!! It's like the Multi-Tasking Olympics! Buttercup is usually pretty good. My main worry with her is keeping her brothers from knocking her car seat off of the cart and occasionally I'll have to carry her around but that's to be expected since she thinks her umbilical cord is still attached. :) Huey is pretty helpful I have to say but he always has a big of the gimmes. Our money just seems to burn a hole right through his little pocket and he likes to rile his brothers up just to torment me. With Dewey it's, stop climbing in the shelves Dewey, stop sitting on the packages of paper towels on the shelf Dewey, stop touching everything Dewey, ok now pick all of those up that you knocked off the shelf Dewey, no you can't have that Dewey, not today Dewey, maybe next time Dewey, it's not your birthday Dewey so NO you can't have that, because I said so Dewey, and my mom's old favorite, we'll see Dewey. With Louie I'm constantly saying, stay by the cart Louie, come on Louie, get over here Louie, where's Louie?, get off the floor Louie, stop running in front of people's carts or you're going to get run over Louie, put that down Louie, LOUIE!!!! And there is always at least one trip to the bathroom. The whole time I'm trying to keep the boys from wreaking havoc on Wal-Mart or getting lost I'm trying to focus on my list, get the best bargain for my money, check out all the sales, keep from getting kicked out, and not to completely lose it by the time I'm done. Like I said before, Buttercup is permanently attached to me but occasionally she'll let her dad hold her so I can get something done but this week has been very difficult. I knew it would be. I knew she was getting spoiled rotten but I just couldn't help myself. She is most likely our last baby and I just can't believe how fast she is growing and I just want to hold her as much as I can before she reaches that age where the only time you can hold them longer than like 2 seconds is when they are asleep or sick. She is the sweetest little thing, too! I just can't help myself! So now that reality is sinking in, school will be starting in a few days along with new schedules, and I know that someday, soon I hope, Brian will go back to work and I'll be back to doing all of my duties alone, I'm scared. Very, very scared!

This will make you smile! I love it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFsTPx5UrbA

Frogs, snakes, and earwigs..oh my!!!

We live in a home that is right on the edge of a small town. We love the beauty and the calm that come from being kind of away from everyone but I have to say I'm not diggin the creatures that surround us! My husband and 3 boys saw 4 snakes in the yard when they were out there playing catch one day and my mother-in-law saw one slither into a crack on the drive way one day. Now I'm terrified to weed the flower beds for fear one will slither out from under a bush or across the grass. Can you imagine?! The boys were playing out by the pond in our back yard and found a pretty cool frog. I don't mind him at all. But we have had an infestation with wasps I swear! They are everywhere and we can't seem to get rid of them. They even keep trying to take over our BBQ grill. NOT COOL! Then we started seeing earwigs. Now I can take a lot of things but earwigs freak me out! I was worried that we were going to have to do a bug bomb or something but luckily we seem to have killed them all now. We've always had a lot of spiders since we moved here but then Brian killed a huge brown spider with a crazy pattern on his back. I want him to check out pictures of spiders on Google to see whether it was a brown recluse or a wolf spider. I'm feeling WAY too close to nature at this point! The boys left our back door open for hours a couple of different times and now I'm totally scared I'll find a "special friend" lurking under something they left on the floor when I pick it up. Freaky deaky! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we've seen the last of the different types of creatures. I don't know how much more I can stand!

We Survived!!

In our church the members of the congregation are asked to speak on different spiritual topics during our sacrament meetings. People rarely have to do this unless they live in an area where their membership is very small or...like us, you move every time you turn around. When a new family moves in they always want to hear from them so they are usually asked to speak within the first few months of moving in. Well, we have been married 16 years and we have moved 14 times, therefore, we have spoken in church 14 times. We moved to a new area the last day in February and last Sunday after our meetings we were asked to speak this week. The topic...Patience! Anyone who knows me knows I have NO patience at all and found it quite humorous when they heard the topic we were speaking on! I read the monthly newsletter and realized the topic was actually having patience in your afflictions. Well, that wasn't quite so bad because, although I'm usually not so patient in my afflictions either I have learned some very valuable lessons over the years that have helped me TRY to have patience in my afflictions and to find peace and joy during the trials we face. Mainly, praying always and asking for the help of my Savior, Jesus Christ, asking to feel the love of my Heavenly Father, asking for the comfort and companionship of the Holy Ghost to help me through these times, all of which bring me peace during the hard times and help me to be able to know I'm not alone and that I can make it through. Well, all week we pondered and worried and wondered what we should say in our talks that might help others. My poor husband HATES speaking in church so much (I have yet to find someone that enjoys this) and he was a mess all week. My husband is like THE most patient person I've ever known in my life. Proof: He's been able to deal with me for the last 16 years! :) This week I heard him suggest that we really should consider having a hired clergy in our church that spoke to us each week so he never had to do this. He said maybe he should just quit church altogether so he didn't have to do this again. I can't think of the other stuff but he cracked me up all week long! I didn't really get very nervous until we were actually sitting on the stand, in front of everyone, waiting for the dreaded moment to arrive when it would be our turn to get up and hopefully not make fools out of ourselves. We said prayers in our hearts that it would go ok and it actually did. We had so many people tell us what a great meeting it was and how much they liked our talks. Brian gave an excellent talk! It's funny, I wasn't nervous all week until we were there and then I was most nervous once I was standing in front of everyone and Brian was a nervous wreck all week until he stood up there and then he was fine. We are so glad it's over now! At least until the next time we move and have to do it again. Wouldn't it be great if we could just find a nice place to live and NEVER move again!?!?! Here's hopin'...

My new best friend...

SPRAY 'N' WASH MAX. I LOVE this stuff! I have used it quite a few times now and it is AWESOME!!! One day I washed and dried a shirt with a stain on it and then sprayed it and washed it again and it came right out. Today I was so excited when I tried it on a shirt that was on my dryer since like May needing to be treated. It had chocolate stains all over it. It came right out! Chocolate is a TOUGH stain!!! I love that you just spray it and throw it right in. It doesnt have to let it sit or anything! THE BEST!!! It works great on grass stains too and even Utah's red dirt on white baseball pants! LOVE IT!! LOVE IT!! LOVE IT!!

16 years of wedded bliss?

Uhh..NO! We're HUMAN so therefore the last 16 years have not been easy! We've had lots and lots of ups and downs. We've had many, many disappointments. We make our plans and Heavenly Father laughs at us and then we ride out His plan as best we can. We've laughed a lot, we've cried a lot and through it all we STILL love each other. We have shared some of life's greatest joys. We've also experienced a lot of heartaches. We are there for each other. We have each other's back. We made 4 dang cute kids!!! We still can't stand being away from each other for long periods of time. We're still attracted to each other even though 16 years has morphed us into somewhat different looking people. Brian still looks quite a bit the same, other than his bi-pap machine mask that makes him look weird and sound like Darth Vader, but I look so different that last week my cousin that I haven't seen in almost 16 years didn't even recognize me. :( Some things have changed. Some things haven't: Brian still doesn't do dishes, however he will unload the dishwasher and dish drainer and he's a great cook! I still want to talk things out in a fight and he still just sits there... not saying a single word...and making me more and more irrate by the milisecond! He's still the first person I want to share news with, the good and the bad. We are each other's safe place to fall. I'm thankful that we are together and that our children have such a loving father. I'm glad I get to see it since he's private and doesn't really show it much in front of others. I'm thankful he honors his priesthood. I'm thankful that we are patient with each other's idiocinricies since I'm not sure that any one else would be. We are as happy as two people that have faced our challenges can be. I'm glad that I know Brian in different ways than anyone else on earth will ever know him since he is pretty shy about letting others see that part of him. And I hope we can withstand all of life's pressures, challenges, frustrations, temptations enough to be able to share all of the wonderful joys in this life and in the life to come that the Lord has to offer. For eternity! Forever, for always, and no matter what...within reason of course! :) Happy Anniversary Babe! I love you tons and tons!!!