Taco Bell

this story is just too cute not to document! Quinn, Lexsie and I were out running many Christmas errands and we decided not to just get taco bell for lunch, but to actually go in (ahh the freedoms I'm starting to enjoy!) so we go in and I place the order. We sit down and I pull out Quinn's soft taco. He looks at me with that pouty face and sad eyes only Quinn can pull off, shrugs his shoulders and says, 'mom, I wanted a crunchy taco.' To which I reply, 'sorry buddy I messed up you'll just have to eat that one.' He eats his nachos and then holds out his hand and says somewhat disgruntled, 'give me some money. I 'll go get my crunchy taco.' Of course this is all done very sweetly, not in the least bit ornery. So I give him a dollar and remind him to talk loud enough for the cashier to hear. He marches up and gets in line between two 6 foot tall men, like he is also 6 feet tall, tells me to sit down, that he can do it himself, and then starts giving me the wink - you know the head nod with a blink that only a 3 year old can pull off. He gets to the counter puts his money on the table and shouts, 'HARD TACO WITH NO LETTUCE - PLEASE!' Of course I'm having the hardest time not totally laughing my head off, so is the cashier, the man behind him, and the district manager who happens to be there. Quinn waits for his taco, says thank you and strolls back to the table. This boy, if I could have pulled out my video camera... there is nothing he can't or won't do. As he grows this boy is going to become a man who won't easily take no for an answer - and he'll do it all in such a sweet way, you won't know he got what he wanted despite what you wanted till it's all over.

Where we are...

Well Craig has been on nights for a bit now (10 days), and after the initial shock of making the transition from days to nights (let's just say grouchy for 4-5 days!) we are finally settling in to this new routine (this was his last night...) Yeah, that's where we are. Get used to one thing to have it change - lets just say my floors are a mess! I just really feel bad vacuuming when anyone is sleeping so right now the only time someone is not sleeping is at crunch time (you know the time the big kids get home from school are doing homework, making dinner, getting to/from activities, little ones are melting because they are ready for sleep - not a good time to clean floors either) ANYWAY, this morning Craig got home a bit early and crawled into bed (while I was still there) and I started laughing because it felt so weird, so we were there chit chatting for a bit (he couldn't sleep because he has now made the change from days to nights) and well I am used to getting woke up 14 billion times a night so whatever, anyway we were taking this time to talk and just be together, when my alarm went off and I had to get up. We had a good 15 minutes of uninterrupted, quality, bonding time. Yes, we are two ships passing in the night. In the mean time he is sleeping and I am not vacuuming and I'll have to wake him in a few hours so he can sleep tonight and make the transition back to days (and be grouchy.) We'll do that for a few days, and then guess what - yep. He's on nights in Jan so we will transition back. This residency stuff is not for the faint of heart, or those who obsess over clean floors.

The World's Best

SNUGGELER!

Yes, there is no better snuggler. He crawls into bed early in the morning, but not too early, molds him self 'just right' against you and lays really still, then he will place his cute little hand on your cheek and say, 'I lub you, mom.' Totally makes up for all the 'incidents' he seems to be caught in the middle of.

At school Anna's teacher had each child write a letter to Anna for her birthday telling why she is special. Some of these are not only surprising, but some are repeated in a variety of ways, and then there are the ones that make me very proud!

It's like we're celebrating a big party for you because we are celebrating Thanksgiving too!

You're very good at school subjects.

Anna is nice to everybody. (repeated in some form over and over)

Anna is a great colorer.

Anna is a good spelling person.

Anna is a good dog drawer.

Anna is special at coloring her hair .(not sure what this one means)

She brings a lot of stuff to class. (hmmmm what's getting to school that I don't know about?)

Anna tells the truth. (a proud moment!)

Anna is a special person because she is funny. (I didn't think anyone else got to see this side of her)

She is good in school.

Can you go to my house on vacation? (who is this? LOL)

You are always nice.

You are very quiet.

You always tell the truth.

Your only loud at recess. (It is a rule.)

You always have fun.

You have a lot of friends.

All your friends are girls. (My personal favorite - this guy nailed it on the head. Is he jealous?)

Anna helps other people.

She lets people borrow her stuff.

She draws good all the time.

Anna is smart.

Anna is funny.

She is so sweet.

She helps everyone.

She can make you smile. (true, so true!)



Happy 8th Birthday - Little One.

Yes, I am depressed...

WHY?
Because when I leave the room to do something like put in a load of laundry I come back to this!
Yes, that is pumpkin bread scattered all over the floor.
Yes, those are magazines shredded into teeny, tiny, little pieces.
Yes, 2 water bottles where emptied all over the floor gleefully.
Yes, clothes where removed.
Yes, puzzles where dismantled and pieces hidden for later discovery.
Yes, the TV is on.
Yes, Halloween Candy wrappers where discovered.
AND Yes, I was only gone downstairs for a moment.
Yes, kids where hiding when I entered the room and gasped.
My gasp was followed by Lexsie pointing to Quinn and saying, 'win did it!'
at the same time Quinn points to Lexsie saying, 'Lexsie did it - I saw her.'
followed by Kaid saying, 'I don't know who did it, I was watching TV.'

And Yes, that is the vacuum in the corner which I had just used and hadn't put away yet so yes, there is proof that I didn't leave the room looking this way - and NO the picture doesn't do the room justice! And Yes, I have no doubt it was my cute, sweet, little mischief duo -

Halloween 2010

At what point does it become cooler for a boy to dress up like a girl, and a girl to dress like a prostitute? Just philisophical questions (as the middle school kids from the neighborhood come trick or treating...)

Personally, I haven't dressed up since 6th grade, but since I was in charge (ok - took charge) of the trunk or treat at church I felt like I needed to dress up. And Craig was post call... just kidding - a mad scientist! You should have seen the trunk he decorated... he won the prize for creepiest!

Quinn the Fire Breathing Dragon!

Lexsie the cha-cha girl. (Who never stood still!)

Batman - and those boots absolutley did not come from the girl section (of our too small, waiting for the next child to grown into them box). They totally came from the batman section of the store!

The 'I want a crown that looks like real diamonds not those fake, cheap things,' Queen Anna ~ of course, could she be anything less? Notice she also managed to find some bling for the neck -` nothing to cheap looking!

Socks and Shoes

How is it that the simple act of getting 4 sets of socks and shoe's on your kids can bring an experienced, hardened mother to tears! Is it the wiggly toes? the readjusting the socks when they are on? the tackling to get them to sit down in the first place? or maybe the melt down over the wrong color? or possibly, just possibly the thing that throws the hardened, experienced mother over the edge... the fact that when they get to school after a 5 minute drive, they are all off again!

The woman you will be...

Every once in a while in between times of being nearly 12, and social activities, in between times of being totally annoyed with your siblings and worried about you hair you have a moment. This was one on those sweet glimpsed into your future.

From this to that (see next post) and back again

We were walking through the store and Quinn spotted this white shirt and tie and told me he wanted it. 'Why?' I asked. 'Because dad has one,' he answered. I tried to talk him out of it because I thought there was no way this 3 year old boy would keep a tie on the entire 3 hour block of church, I tried to talk him into spider man, bat man - one of those sure thing purchases... nope this was the shirt and tie (except for the small fact that the 4T didn't begin to fit around his football playeresk neck! and I had to exchange it for a size 5 and roll up the sleeves.) What a young man!

Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil

School Starts

As much as I didn't want my kids to start school last year - I wanted them to start this year! I don't know what it was... but I was ready to let them move on. Anna started on Monday. And came home very happy and confident (a first for her). Kaid started Tuesday and came home very happy and confident (a relief). And Quinn started Wednesday and came home begrudingly (because I wouldn't let him drive.)

Bekah Back to school

I just realized that most of you would be unaware of where Bekah is. She chose to live with her dad for this school year. A tough decision for me. But Bekah has been wanting to do this for a couple of years and I felt very strongly that this was the time to let her spread her wings. I don't really like to talk about it, but it is what it is. Of course I miss her, and of course I hope that she will want to be back here with us, but she felt strongly that she needed to try this and I felt strongly that I should let her. She actually started school two weeks ago and is doing well. I did talk her into letting me buy her one new school outfit before she left, and no those are not plastic pants, though that is what they appear to be in the picture!

Low Blow

It must have been a day. It seems I have plenty of them lately, but Kaid looks at me all innocent and in his sweet little voice says, 'hey mom how come you sound like the yelling teacher at recess?' Nothing like a sweet observation to stop you in your tracks!

Birthday Parties

I have to admit I managed to throw some mean birthday parties this year. While I am typically a planner July and August snuck up on me and so did Lexsie's, Kaid's, and Craig's birthday's ! BUT I managed to pull off some totally awesome parties. For Lexsie's I called up my mother in law and asked if we could do a family thing at her house... I know, I am good. It was fabulous. We had Dora the Explorer accessories thanks to Grandma Sandy and Craig and I made a quick trip to Wal-Mart for presents (that we could take home on a plane). And Lexsie was thrilled! Just watch the video below for proof!

Kaid had a huge end of school year party, and between a trip to Missouri and Craigs work schedule his birthday kind of got swept under the rug. So the plan was to go to the science center with Craigs parents for the day and then have Cake that night. I texted his best friend the night before to see if they were up for a party starting about 8 pm the next night. Luckily Heber's mom is very forgiving of my mad birthday party planning skills and let Heber come. Despite my lack of planning the party turned out pretty fun. We ended up with about 10 kids, all their parents, and enough presents to fill a small toy store. I even found some party favors I had stashed away. Notice the awesome wrapping paper! (Painters tape and white paper) I know mad party planning skills!

And last of all was Craigs birthday. This man always says he doesn't want a fuss, but deep down inside he wants big presents and a lot of fuss! So I thought I'd keep it casual and let the kids plans something simple. CHUCK - E - CHEESE! That's what it started as. Then we decided a new set of golf clubs (because his were so old that people were embarrassed to golf with him) which led to a treasure hunt to find all the golf clubs, which led to clues written on each child's stomach in permanent marker which led to each child hiding at a different friends house, which led to hitting a bucket of balls at a driving range which led me to texting his work friends and inviting them to CHUCK - E - CHEESE which I think ended in a lap dance? At least that is what the pictures look like! And so all of Craigs friends and all the kids friends ended up celebrating at Chuck's which was surprisingly fun because as it turns out all of Craigs work friends wanted to go to Chucks but never had a reason that wouldn't make them look like creepy people.

So now the parties are over and I am truly impressed with what I managed to pull off the night before the big days, and so glad I don't have to do it again for another year!

There has been a spree of vandalism at our house.

The preferred tool of choice: chalk

The culprit I discovered lurking around our house...

Quinn kept trying to ditch Lexsie this afternoon and she was not happy being left behind, so I finally asked him what was going on? Couldn't she just sit by him? To which he pointed to his shirt and said, 'hey no gils!'

Joy Ride

The Guilty Party

You wonder about those parents... now, I am one. I had started getting the little kids outside to go run errands, but lexsie needed to go potty so I stopped to take her. About the time I was getting ready to head out the door I hear the neighbor yell, 'call 911.' My first thought was that it was one of the construction workers across the street using the saw I could hear. Then I saw a green suburban in the neighbors yard. It took a few seconds to realize that was MY suburban. My next thought was 'Quinn.' I yelled to Craig (who was sleeping) still not sure what the problem was but thinking at this point Quinn had been run over. I see my neighbor jumping into the front of my car, I grab lexsie and take off after Craig. After all of our hearts stopped racing... we concluded that Quinn had gotten my car keys, put them in the ignition, turn it on, managed to push the break and pull down the gear shift to put it into neutral. Then he rolled backwards down our driveway, jumped our curb (which is about 6 inches tall - and has stopped me more than once) backed into the next door neighbors house which left only a small scratch, started going forward, went up a small embankment over the road, missed a huge boulder, made it between the two houses and stopped just before hitting a utility pole. The more I think about it the more amazed I am. Quinn is fine. The car is fine. The house is fine. The construction workers are fine. Quinn told me I was taking too long and that he wanted to go. Even though it has been several hours... I am still shaking! Thank goodness for everything being OK. Thank goodness for our neighbors, thank goodness Craig was home (not sure I could have handled this one alone) and thank goodness for Heavenly Father watching out for this little guy! And now that a day or two has passed - wish me luck with this boy as a teenager!

Does he look guilty?

What a week!

3 first days of school. Including a very nervous kindergartner, meetings with every teacher for some reason or another, church meetings, saying goodbye to my sister, med wars, birthday parties, long weekends with out Craig, escaping guinea pigs, oh and Quinn took the suburban for a joy ride.

Needless to say it was so wild that even Craig told me to go drink a mt. dew and take a nap! (which is kind of ironic - because caffeine and naps don't really mix for most people!)

The pictures say it all

Q: of course I'll wait. You're screeching loud enough to get my attention.

L: I'm coming big brother, you're the best!

L: SUCKER!


L: Kicking his rear!

L: Watch this trick

L: Ha ha still kicking your rear!

L: Seriously, this time I'm waiting.