Piippo Zoo

He wants WHAT?

2011-12-06T19:20:00.000-08:00

What did he just ask Santa for???

Sweat Shirts + 4 kids = Lots of Laundry

2011-12-01T07:41:00.000-08:00

My kids have decided that they like wearing sweat shirts.

A) Keeps them warm during class, and the early morning cold weather
B) In the afternoon when it warms up, that's all they have to wear outside, rather then a coat
C) They look cool

I don't really have a problem w/ their logic- all are good points. It did require a small out put in money to get a few more sweat shirts for the oldest child (Good friends of ours gave Brant 8 GREAT name brand sweat shirts that he loves, and Alex has lots of hand me downs).

The one thing that I didn't think about was....Laundry!

Sweatshirts are fairly large and bulky, 4 of them can fill a washing machine up quite quickly. Add to that, they still need to wear a shirt underneath. They do re wear the sweat shirts a couple of times, unless food is spilled on it, or dirt, or grass stains. And that happens a lot.

Consequently, my laundry piles have grown. On the plus side, my children are warm and happy. *sigh*

Cousins

2011-11-05T11:23:00.000-07:00

If you're going to watch conference, might as well do it with Family!

Shooting

2011-10-29T21:32:00.000-07:00

Brooke Passed Hunters Saftey. Not only passed, but ACED the test. Daddy promised her a new gun if she aced the test, what was he thinking. I know this post is late, since you've already seen her successful hunting trip, but here are some fun family pictures of us practicing with her new gun. Brant has it mastered, and is looking forward to getting his own gun- although he would like a 12 guage rather then the 20 that Brooke shoots. Dane loved it, Alex collected the shells, and it was a wonderful afternoon!

If you look really closely, you can see the skeet at the top of the picture that Brooke has just hit!

The Boys New Bed

2011-10-29T21:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's an old post, but I have to catch up!
2nd Week Of September
Dane was out growing his crib. It had been coming for a while, and I knew just wanted I wanted! The girls have loft beds, with all of their toys and shelves underneath. The lay out of the boys room wouldn't allow for two loft beds. We could do bunk beds, but it makes the room feel so small and closed off. What to do when you have two kids in the same room? A TRUNDLE BED!!

I had been watching on Craigs List for a couple of months. I found several that were "girly" white metal, and a couple that were REALLY expensive. Imagine how excited I was to find one for $75, with the mattress! It was in Idaho Falls, and how blessed was I that the next day we were pulling a trailer to IF to pick up canning fruit (who says that Heavenly Father doesn't care about "the little things").

It's an amazing blue color, and the boys LOVE it. It's easy to pull in and out, and Dane naps on the main bed during the day. There is plenty of floor room for the boys now to play, and MOST IMPORTANT- I can lay down on Brant's bed with him to snuggle. That is something that he has been missing for a couple of years. He'll often lay down on our bed at night, have us snuggle for a minute, then go onto his bed. It just wasn't the same though. Now we can lay down with him in the morning to wake him up, and it starts his day off just right.

It was funny though. When we put the bed in, the crib stayed in the room for a couple of days until we could get the trundle part put together. Dane Begged to sleep in his new bed, and loved it! Brant Begged to sleep in the crib, and Loved it! What cute boys they are!!!

Why is it that I edited this a couple of times and it's still not loading up veritcally?

High Water

2011-10-24T07:23:00.000-07:00

Blair took this picture on the Clearwater River. It's amazing to see the power of water, and how high the water was last spring.

No More Baby....

2011-10-16T23:17:00.000-07:00

Dane was our happy number four... He will always be my baby, even though the last few weeks has proven that he really isn't a baby anymore. We're just a few months away from three, he's potty trained (and takes himself potty most of the time, rather then letting us help him), he moved over to his big boy bed a couple of weeks ago, and tonight he fell asleep w/ out a binki for the first time ever. When we put him to bed he didn't even ask for it! Looking back over pictures from the last couple of years, I wonder what we ever did without him, and where the time has gone. I was sure he would be a baby forever. And now I wondering when I blinked and he grew up.

At the hospital, wrapped up in a blanket that Great Grandma Bean made.

December 2009- 11 months- just learning to scoot around and trying to get the Christmas tree.

October 2009- Sitting up was the greatest thing!

May 2009- Love the rolly polly fat on this kid!

Fall 2010- 20 months old (1 3/4 years old)

Fall 2011- 2 1/2 years old

Brooke wants to be Famous

2011-10-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

Long concert- late night, one super happy girl. Thanks to good friends who helped us get meet and greet passes!!

Duck Hunting

2011-10-11T14:20:00.000-07:00

The first weekend is traditionally opening day of ducks- and you can bet that you'll find us driving until 2:00 in the morning (because blair usually ref's the friday night before- and this year he did TWO games- a JV at 4:00 and a varsity at 7:00). The boys sleep for a couple of hours then hook up with Thomas and head out to work on the blind. This year Brooke stayed behind w/ Grandpa and they left at the more reasonable hour of 5:30 a.m. This is Brooke's first year to be able to hunt birds, and shes so excited. She passed hunters saftey with a 100% on the test. Sadly, right before the test dad told her if she got 100 he would buy her a gun (usually kids miss at least one or two, becuase they are TRICK questions). Alas, he didn't take into account who is was talking to. Do you notice Brooke's beautiful new Benelli Nova?

Sorry for the sideways picture. I fixed, and it resaved sideways. *sigh*

Flag Football

2011-10-11T13:45:00.000-07:00

Brant has discovered football. *sigh* We diligently worked to get him into soccer, but when flag football came up, soccer lost out! He is really good at football though- makes a great "center tackle" and is a great reciever. Brant has figured out how to get away from the middle of the field traffic jam, and just hangs out on the side. If the QB is paying attention (and can throw) Brant can catch almost anything and can put on some surprising speed. These days he has been waking up early to do crunches and jumping. Ahhh, the joy of boys.

First Score

2011-09-25T16:05:00.000-07:00

Alex has loved playing soccer this fall. It's been a funny joke in our family that Alex's coach for the soccer league is also Brant's school teacher, and is also Brooke's soccer coach at the school. We're wondering if he babysits on weekends? The kids are having a ton of fun, and their skill level is really improving. Alex loves to get right in there, and with those long legs she can keep up with anyone. On Saturday she made the first goal of the game, and was QUITE proud of herself!

Swimming

2011-09-22T15:02:00.000-07:00

\One of the favorite things we did this summer was SWIM. The kids especially enjoyed swimming with the cousins from Las Vegas. Every afternoon they went over to the pool and had fun playing volleyball, diving, and playing tag. Dane was FREAKED out at first, and then after the first bit he discovered that the floaty suit would keep him up. Then there was no holding him back. The water was a warm 89 degrees, so it felt so good to be in there. Sleep overs were another great things about having cousins in town, something we don't normally get to do!

Dane's CT

2011-09-22T14:37:00.000-07:00

Dane has a lump. It's right below his scar from when he had a staff infection as a baby, so noticing a lump there caught my attention. We noticed it the middle of March, but waited 3-4 weeks to go to his pediatrician, monitoring to see if his behavior or health changed, and seeing if it got any bigger (he stayed active and happy). After a few weeks though, We figured we ought to have a "grown up" look at it, make sure that it wasn't something we needed to pay more attention to it. Our dr. was awesome, and although he wasn't hugely concerned, he didn't want to be the "grown up" to tell us not to worry about the lump...so off we went to the specialist. mind you, an appointment with the dr. of our choice required a wait until mid June. While waiting we did heavy duty antibiotics, that way if it was a lymph node then it should shrink. It didn't. So the end of July found us in the Peds ward for an MRI. The dr. really felt like Dane could do it with a light sedation rather then putting him all the way under. We liked that better too! Bright and early, and without his normal sippy cup of milk, we headed to the hospital. He was a trooper, they couldn't ge the IV in his left arm, so had to try again in his right. He was NOT happy, and screamed his little head off...until they unpinned him. He was most upset about being held down. As soon as he was "released" he crawled into mom's arms and snuggled and quit crying. He did great throught the MRI- they gave him a light dose of versaid and he laid there quietly the whole time. We had practiced at home, holding still while laying still and counting to 10. We even practiced while pushing a rag lightly on his forhead so he wouldn't freak out about the his head being pinned down. He was so sweet and said thank you to everyone and hugged all the nurses. He was a funny "high" riding down the hallways after the MRI. He was espcially excited when we got back to the room- his nurse had his breakfast all ready and waiting for him! Blueberry pancakes, lots of eggs, juice and milk! HAPPY! Dane is so funny, he likes to eat with his eyes closed and his head tilted back. Who knows why. After eating he fell fast asleep for the next 3 hours, which was nice since they wouldn't let us go until we were sure the drugs wouldn't have any adverse effects.

And as a side note, the results of the MRI came back that he has 5-6 other huge lymph nodes- between

1.5-2 centemeters. They don't know why, or what he's fighting, but it's good that there is more then one node involved. So we sit back and wait until Jan. Fun, huh?

Things our Kids won't Remember

2011-09-19T09:12:00.000-07:00

VCR's and VHS's
Corded Telephones
Busy signal when you call someone
Metal Hangers
Film in a camera
Floppy computer disks
Having to change through several floppy disks to boot your computer
Changing the channel by hand...without a remote
Telephone Booths...and pay telephone's in general
Checks
Cloth Diapers w/ safety pins and plastic pants...
then swishing the dirty diapers in the toilet.
Sticking little brothers with diapers pins accidently when they wiggle too much.
Cassette Tapes and tape recorders- being able to record your voice on a tape and listen to it after reading the story.

Big Foot

2011-09-19T06:29:00.000-07:00

Getting Brant ready for school today and he informed me that his P.E. shoes are too small. Mind you, they fit the first of August. I pulled out my "spare" pair, but I figured they would be WAY too big, as they completely skipped a size. Nope. Dear Brant is wearing a size 8.5 Mens. There is less then a thumbs width of growth, so it's not like I even bought them large. We measured our feet against his. Mom's feet are almost EXACTLY the same size and Brant's foot hits Blair's middle knuckle on his big toe. Bet he's wearing daddy's shoe by the end of the year. *sigh*

What's This?

2011-09-07T07:22:00.000-07:00

Tractor Poo....

Yes, that is what Blair taught Dane the other day. He saw Uncle John bailing hay, and asked "what is it?" Tractor Poo- the tractor is poopping. Why that seemed like the answer, I don't know, but the older kids thought it was hillarious! Now when ever we drive any where and Dane sees hay in the field, he yells TRACTOR POO!

The Majesty of Fire

2011-08-22T23:25:00.000-07:00

We noticed the huge smoke plumes as we started putting the little ones to bed. Blair was fishing with Brant and said he noticed them around 6:00. Plans were made to "go take a look-see" after dark, when it would be a little more dramatic. As we watched night fall, huge crests of flame could be seen erupting over the hill. The smoke plume was dark and began to slowly fill the valley sky. We jumped into the van to join the line of vehicles sight seeing along the I-90 corrider. Once we left town and drove through the canyon, the fire and smoke were blocked from our view, it was almost like there wasn't any fire. Then you come around the corner and BAM- it looks like you just came into a war zone. Brant later described it as looking like hot lava from a volcano.

Hundreds of cars lined the main roads, state troopers directing traffic at intersections. We took a little exit, found a nice quiet neighborhood and enjoyed the view. The fire was a little ways away, so there wasn't a lot of concern, and it wasn't a festive occasion, it was still pretty cool. We could see flashing lights ahead, hear sirens in the distance. The sheer power of the fire was stunning. One side of the mountain was very active, with several individual fires running, bushes flaring, and the occasional tree torching. Looking at the opposite side of the mountain, you could almost imagine you were looking down onto a large city, and seeing the individual street lights blinking. The line of fire along the outside edge destroyed the image, but the christmas twinkle lights caused quite an illusion of peace.

Blair wanted to get closer to the base of the mountain, so we moved into the next neighborhood- a trailer park nestled up into the trees. As we drove into the park we saw several fire fighters in their nomac's, head lamps, giving instructions to the residents of the park. Blair jumped out to go in search of pictures while I sat with the van. There was a marked difference of the feeling of the people. It had gone from festive to fearful. Mom's were keeping their children close while dad's were on top of the trailer starting the water sprinklers. It almost felt like we were invading, while we were sight seeing they were preparing for battle.

We left soon after and drove up along the river to the backside of the mountain. The fire had gone over the back side, up another mountain, and was just crowning at the top. We watched as it slowly marched down the hill, torching trees in the way. Fire trucks screamed past us, making their way across the river and down tiny dirt roads to start digging lines around the homes that were going to be in the path tomorrow. At 11:00 p.m. you would expect the fire to be sitting, but a constant strong breeze kept it moving. They expect that it will run like this all night.

Blair grabbed Brooke and Brant and drove them out to see it. They didn't realize the how big it was- and how much ground it had covered. Brooke needed to hear all of the details on "why we would be safe" and Brant wanted the scientific discussions. Typical.

It was reported that the fire started at 6:00 p.m. tonight. At 8:05 the incident comman estimated that the fire was at 150 acres and had 20 people working on it. By 10:15 p.m. the fire had blown up to an estimated 1500 acres with 120 people working on it and more people pouring in tomorrow. With high temperatures expected, gusting winds, and tough terrain, this fire is going to run for a while.

The Concert

2011-08-04T09:45:00.000-07:00

Brooke has wanted to go to a concert for a long time. She has her list of the top people she would like to see, but few of them actually make it close enough for us to go to. Add to that the cost, it often doesn't seem fair to spend $120-$150 on tickets for two people, when the entire family could have lots of fun with that amount of money. This spring Brooke noticed that Sugarland was going to be in concert- about 5 hours away...but STILL! Blair called a friend of ours and was able to obtain two tickets to the concert. Brooke was SUPER excited. Alas, the end of the year hit- and the 5th grade fever bug hit- and Brooke ended up in trouble at school. She got her first ever pink slip (in school suspension, only for an hours..but still tragic in our eyes). The truly sad thing was, it wasn't even her fault, just a poor choice in friends and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A tough lesson. Brooke knew what the consequence would be when we found out, and didn't even argue when we took the privilege of the concert away. For the next two weeks she didn't ever ask if she could earn it back, she took her punishment stoically. On the Saturday before the concert the kids and Blair went to a DU Kids Camp (SUPER FUN...I'll Blog that it a little bit). Brooke won a drawing for a free week of gymnastics camp. Sweet girl that she is, later that evening she privately gave it to Alex. She knew that Alex would enjoy it more, and that the other kids were going to be going to sports camps this summer, so she thought it would be fair for Alex to have it. We were so touched by her thoughtfulness and generosity.
Can you see where this is going?
We didn't tell Brooke of our decision, in fact, when I picked her up from school at lunch on Monday, I told her we were going for ice cream. When we hit the freeway she was a little confused. I explained that Dad and Mom had decided that as a reward for her selfless act, she had earned the privilege of going to the concert. It wasn't "earning it back", it was us telling her thanks for being such a great kid!

We enjoyed the drive over (thanks to Blair, who stayed home and watched the kids, allowing mommy and Brooke to have some good bonding time- it was very appreciated). We sang and talked, and ate. Brooke had to talk through some of her fears though. You see, where we live is considered VERY safe in her mind...little chance of earthquakes, never tornado's, no chance of hurricanes or volcano's. Pretty much sheltered from all natural disasters. She was really concerned about a tornado hitting the concert. "We're totally safe!" I promised her. They do come to that side of the state, but RARELY! Once a year, if that.

We checked into our motel, changed clothes, and headed to the venue. Seeing all of the cars, you could feel Brooke's excitement and tension building. She practically skipped up to the arena. When we got to the will call gate though, we hit a snag. The concert promoter had goofed up, and hadn't brought the will call tickets and gate list up. There were quite a few people who "thought" they had tickets and then had to scramble. Poor Brooke, she looked so sad when she heard our tickets weren't there and we couldn't get it. After a couple of phone calls the arena manager let us know that she had two really good tickets we could buy, if we wanted? OF COURSE- how could we drive all that way and not go? We also found out that the opening act was almost over...the internet listed the wrong start time for the concert. Phew- who knew this was going to be so challening!

The concert was amazing though- Sugarland put on a great show, and Brooke really got into it. We had isle seats, so she was able to stand out on the steps a little and sing at the top of her lungs. She danced and enjoyed her popcorn. We were surrounded by mostly "mom" age people, so it wasn't even too crazy. There were several couples around us, and they all loved seeing Brooke and thought it was neat she was hear. She was shy, but having a BLAST! Afterwards she wanted to see if we could see them leave, so we walked around back, admired their buses, sat around for a little bit and thought we should go and get some sleep. The weather was windy, the sky a beautiful dark purple closing into dark and it smelled like rain.

When we got back to the motel the front desk clerk (who knows us well, since daddy stays there a lot) asked about the concert, and what did we think of the storms. Storms? Ahh, turns out that the arena was surrounded buy a huge storm and several tornado's. *Gulp* Good thing Brooke didn't know that going in! We were kept safe though, and for that we were thankful (prayers do work!). The arena where the concert was held just barely reopened a couple of weeks earlier- it had been hit by a tornado almost exactly one year earlier. *Bigger Gulp* All good information to NOT have! :) After a fitful night sleep, we were excited to get back to the safety of our side of the state...but it was a great time!

Below is a copy of the newspaper report on the tornado episode:

It makes me laugh when they say they were ready to pull the plug though- where would 3,000 people go, and can you imagine the mass hysteria? Seriously, I think that if a tornado really was coming then sugarland should have just kept on playing!

Once funnel clouds were spotted south of town, Winslow sounded the sirens in the Heights.

The country music group Sugarland was preforming tonight at the Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark. Winslow said they were contacting the venue every five minutes during the height of the tornado warning.

"At any moment they were ready to pull the plug on the concert," he said. "But they just kind of slid on by. We got lucky." The concert finished without incident.

Mom's Taxi Service

2011-08-04T09:01:00.000-07:00

The next two posts talk about the summer sports camp that the oldest two children did. What it doesn't highlight is "mom's" insanity trying to get people to all of these places...all the while babysitting our two spare children. Both camps are across town- a minimum of 13 minutes driving in the morning, and if you hit ANY lights it closer to 18. In the evening it's at least 25-30 minutes because of traffic. On is on South East side of town, the other is on the South West side of town. Here is an idea of how our days went:
Leave the house at 8:10
Drop Brooke off at her camp 8:25
Drive to Brant's camp (starts at 9:00) but we dropped him off at 8:45
Drive home- arrive there around 9:05
(unless we had to run errands, which we did one day, and another day we went bowling because I just couldn't stand the idea of driving home)
Leave to pick up Brant at 10:30
Arrive at Brant's camp around 10:50
Watch his scrimmages (many parents just stay for the day, but with 4 kids that was insane)
Leave for home 11:30
Arrive home 12:00
Lunch and get Dane down for a nap
Leave the house at 3:20
Get to Brooke's camp around 3:50
Leave camp and get home around 4:40
Dinner
Fall into bed

I don't say ANY of this to whine, just to remind myself in the future why all of the pictures of my house show a messy background. It's also to serve a warning to all of you that think "when my kids grow up it will be easier". I thought that. Now I wish I could go back to small children...it was crazy and messy, but at least we were at home! None the less, I wouldn't change my life for anything!!

2011-08-04T08:52:00.000-07:00

Brooke has decided that soccer is "her" sport. She opted not to play softball this spring, and was very disappointed when we couldn't find a league that didn't play on Sundays. She agreed to hone her skills with a spectacular camp. They bring in coaches from England to work with the kids for a week. The days were long, and hot (previous to this week, we hadn't hit weather above 72 degrees...wouldn't you know it?) Brooke improved a lot and had a lot of fun. We were particularly impressed that she would go, even though she didn't know of anyone else that was going to be there (lluckily on the first day she found out her good friend Riley was there). She had to break out of her shell a little, and we're still working with her to be more aggressive about attaching the ball, be she gained some real skill and confidence. Way to go Brooke!

Football Camp

2011-08-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

We have found a new sport to love. I knew it would happen, since daddy ref's there wasn't much hope of hiding the sport of football from the boys...but I was going to try. Really, what mom wouldn't be happy with a kid sitting safely in the stand playing in the band? Alas, Brant attended a football camp this summer and is hooked. It was an amazing camp, coached mostly by the university football players- super big hero's to these boys. Brant's wrestling coach was the coordinator, so we knew it was going to be good. For 4 days he played scrimmages, learned rules and basics, and worked his little tail off. He had a blast. Fall Flag Football...here we come!

Mom's Peer Pressure

2011-07-20T21:06:00.000-07:00

Teaching my kids about peer pressure has been something we've quietly focused on since they were little kids. Practicing what we would say to friends or strangers if they offered them drugs, or alcohol. We've talked to them how to politely refuse, refuse using humor, or blame it on their evil horrible parents. Today Bke got a good look at what peer pressure is, and hopefully gained some insight on how to handle it.

We were at a backyard "fire", hanging out with a couple of our neighbors and their families. Several of the adults were drinking. No surprise, one of the ladies came up and asked me if I really don't drink? Ever? Nothing? Would I try some of this? It's lemonade beer, it's great- try some. Just a sip, it's great! Come on, the buzz feels good, helps you relax. It was some pretty intense, and yet casual/light hearted peer pressure. I was able to banter with her, telling her no i never had, why should I start now. Really didn't even have the desire, example to my family, and bragging rights to be the only 36 year old that has never even had a sip of beer (little did she know that I can list LOTS of people with those same bragging rights!). Laughing, it ended quickly, but

Afterwards, while walking home, I was grateful for the opportunity to talk with B about the experience. How things can come from many directions, and sometime you have to say no more then once. Hopefully this is a lesson that she will be able to draw on as she gets older...but even more hopefully, it's one she won't ever have to put into practice!

Dane and the Mattress

2011-07-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

Brant got a new mattress- the old mattress is leaning against the wall...waiting. We know that soon Dane will be ready to leave his crib (he crawled out for the first time before we left on our trip). When we got back last night he was so excited to crawl into his bed, snuggle down and went right to sleep. Tonight he threw a fit. On Mattress! he demanded. Sure, I thought- fat chance he's going to lay on the floor next to his toy shelf. Mentally I gave him 5 minutes. Wouldn't you know it- 5 minutes later he's asleep on the mattress snuggling his tractor. Alas, I can see the end of the babyhood tunnel and it's approaching at a very fast pace. Does it sound crazy to say I miss getting up in the middle of the night and rocking my babies?

It's June 16th...

2011-06-16T08:16:00.000-07:00

...and the house temperature has dropped down to 64 degrees. As much as it pains me to do this during "summer" I turned the heat up to 65, hoping that we can feel our toes soon. Dane is in long pants, socks and long sleeve shirt. Brant huddles in his red and black plaid flannel hunting coat while watching T.V. and Alex refuses to get out of the warm tub water.
Where is summer? Not complaining too much though, I really don't enjoy HOOOOT weather either.
My first post had the incorrect day by 10... sorry.

Bad Piggy...

2011-06-11T20:26:00.000-07:00

It all started last week when we stopped by Little C's to get pizza. The Pizza Guy "mascot" was outside waving at the kids. As we drove by the kids all yelled hi and we started on our way home. 2 blocks down the road Blair tried to give Dane some pizza and Dane burst out sobbing. It was a heartbreaking cry- not hurt or mad... we thought something was really wrong. BYE GUY, he sobs. With a little more questioning, he was sad because he didn't get to say Bye to the pizza guy when everyone else did. We hugged him and promised we would stop next time.

>>>>>>Fast Forward to Tonight<<<<<<<

Driving home from a birthday party (picture me TIRED and ready to get kids to bed) and Dane starts yelling MONKEY GUY, MONKEY GUY, and pointing to the side of the road. We had just passed Little C's again, and although I didn't see the guy, I had to turn around to see. Turns out there was a large pig mascot outside of Famous D's. Dane was waving and yelling and so excited! HUG PIG, Mommy!! So we pulled in, illegally parked in a handicapped spot and a rushed Dane out to see the pig. We were approaching from the pigs backside and Dane is yelling loudly Hi Pig, Hi Pig! About 10 feet away the pig hears and turns around, waves at Dane, takes a step closer to him, reaches out...

AND DANE LOOSES IT!

Freaking out, bloody murder scream, huge eyes, big tears, death grip on my shoulder. I step back to let him gather himself and all he tells me "Go, GO, NO PIG!" I apologize and walk back to the car. At about 15 feet away, while still crying, Dane is yelling BYE and trying to wave. It was the most hilariously sad thing I have ever seen. Even 30 minutes later as I am getting him in his jammies he looks at me and says (in our stilted conversation) Pig. (Yep, we saw a pig) Cry. (Yes, Dane, You cried). Scary Pig, Bye Pig, Hug Pig? (No Dane, no hug pig- yes, you though it was scary) Then with huge eyes...Scary Pig. And off he goes to sleep. If he has nightmares tonight, I'll know what they are.

Buckle Mom

2011-06-03T20:53:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, now that I can upload video...forgive me! Because I have several that I have wanted to post!
Whenever we get in the car, Dane starts chanting at me to buckle up- usually before I even have time to shut to the door. It's so cute though, that we encourage it!.

Watch out A Idol

2011-06-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

1-2-3-4

2011-05-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

Earlier today I was surprised to hear Dane counting, he's been trying for a while now, but usually leaves out the number 4 or 5. Today he got up to 7 independently. I thought he was counting blocks, since he was pointing to them, but he counted to five and there were really only four blocks.
Logical that he hasn't quite connected the fact that each number is assigned to an object, he was just repeating numbers while pointing to similar objects- like mom does.
I worked with him a little more throughout the day and then left it alone. Tonight before bed he didn't want to put down the motorcycle box. I thought it was because he wanted to play with it until he said "COUNT". He then pointed to the back of the box and counted 1- 2- 3 as he pointed to three motorcycles. I pointed the other one that was on a few inches away and he added FOUR to the count.
HOORAY! It may not last, he may not still get the concept of each object belonging to a number, but it's close.

And I write all of this to "journal"... not to be a bragging mom. Even if I am one. :)

Loose Tooth

2011-05-28T22:58:00.000-07:00

As a mom, there are only a few things in life that I just can't help my kids with (that is why they have a daddy!) . Throwing up is one of them, loose teeth is the other. Unfortunately three of my kids are going through the "loose tooth" phase of life. Brant is starting to loose his molars, which are the worst of all. He had been bothered by this tooth for a couple of days, trying to wiggle it loose enough for daddy to pull when he got back into town. When dad looked at it he informed Brant it just wasn't quite ready. Ready or not though, it was hurting and annoying, so Brant took matters into his own hands.

With a pair of needle nose pliers he disappeared into the bathroom. Twenty minutes later he returned as the conquering hero, tooth in hand, gaping hole in mouth. He was so excited, and slept so well that night! The next morning he lovingly wrote mommy a note telling her how wonderful she was to let him pull his own tooth. HA!

Isn't that a huge hole??

Fire Hydrant

2011-05-28T22:48:00.000-07:00

How cool are fire hydrants? I remember wanting to be part of the movie Annie when the kids were playing in the water spraying from the fire hydrant. Last week, as we were leaving to run into town, we saw a city worker cleaning the fire hydrants and prepping them for the year. For a few minutes we became "Hydrant Groupies", following the worker from one hydrant to another. We enjoyed watching the water spray out, splashing in the puddles, and learning about how they work.

Flathead Lake

2011-05-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

The dam at Flathead Lake has been opened to full flow, trying to draw the water down with the spring run off. They expect with the rain and snow melt though, that the water will rise 4 more feet and will be in danger of flooding. The incredible statistic is that right now they are letting out 255,000 gallons of water a SECOND- which equals 1.5 MILLION gallons every hour. It's amazing how much water there is this year! And Blair is amazed that Georgetown Reservoir is still frozen and open for ice fishing!

Cousins

2011-05-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

I often forget that Dane -age wise- is smack dab in the middle of his cousins. A little older, or a little yougner, but surrounded my fun cousins! Over Easter he had so much fun playing with Emiline and Oliver. I forget that he is only 9 months younger then Emiline, and only 6 months older then Oliver. It's amazing to see what a difference 6-9 months makes...and the differences between boys and girls!

Oblivious

2011-05-27T20:25:00.000-07:00

Catching up... While visiting Idaho Falls in April for Easter we had fun visiting with Greg and Hayley. Dane enjoys playing blocks, and was quite oblivious to the photo shoot going on around him. Hayley is so sweet to play with the kids, even if they don't realize that she is playing with them!

Old, too.

2011-05-17T20:37:00.000-07:00

Yes, it seems that all of my boys are old, or looking older these days. I have been used to Dane being a baby for so long that it startles me to realize that he is a little boy. He eats like a boy, plays like a boy, smells like a boy. No more baby for me. He hasn't had a bottle since the first of April, and although he still loves his binki and crib- he has them because he wants them, not because he needs them. I have found that we are disciplining him like a kid (not a baby) and he can certainly talk like a boy. We're looking forward to the next adventures, and enjoying the snuggling what every snuggling we can still get.

Old

2011-05-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

It's official. He is old.

Easter Clothes

2011-04-25T07:03:00.000-07:00

For Easter the girls get new dresses...but what about the boys? They get ties...unless you can't find "little" ties for Dane, and then he gets nothing. I couldn't find anything around town, so I thought I would find something while at Grandma and Grandpa's. I was thwarted at every turn. Unfortunately, he really didn't want his picture taken anyway. These pictures are ones I was going to put on my wall. I am almost tempted to put Dane's picture up along with the others! :)

My Alex

2011-04-19T18:33:00.000-07:00

What other child is so patient to wait for mommy's time, can be my velcro baby even at 6 years old, and has the most amazing stories? Only Alex, of course!

What is that?

2011-04-16T23:07:00.000-07:00

Dane decided that he likes the little end at the swimming pool a couple of weeks before we left on vacation. Before that, even a bath would last 2 minutes and he didn't enjoy it at all. Spring break "sealed" his love affair with water. He wouldn't go near the water the first night, and the second night he would only dip his feet in. After 5 minutes he was dragging me out of the door wanting to go back to the room. When we got up there he threw a fit, going through the swim bag and begging me to put on his "trunks" rather then his floaty suit that I had been putting him in previously. As soon as we got back to the pool he immediately started jumping into the water with daddy. He loved it when daddy would throw him in the air and would beg (verbally AND signing) for More, More.

We laughed when we looked at the pictures- apparently the swim diaper does hold in some water!

The next night we were at a motel with a water slide. Dane begged us to take him up. Mommy was worried, but that's why we have daddy's. Blair was amazing, and Dane loved it. Over and over and over they went, by the end he was even going under the water with no problems!

What do you say when...

2011-04-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

When your sons friend comes over and you see his black eye...and when you say "HOLY COW- how did that happen" he replies that Brant did it. But it was just an accident. Still.... And yes, Brant needs a hair cut.

Funny Brooke

2011-04-10T20:04:00.000-07:00

Our first night at a motel we had a huge suite, two bedrooms with plenty of room to run.

Brooke sat down to read the 'welcome to our motel' book. This book describes the hotel layout, features, and safety suggestions. After reading for a short while she abruptly puts the book down and begins crawling around the room. She is opening the closets, looking under the bed, moving chairs and looking under tables, opening drawers, and searching under curtains.

"What are you doing?" Blair asks, after observing the strange behavior and trying to figure out why she is crawling around the room.

"The book said to locate the fire alarm on our floor- so that's what I am looking for!" Silly Brooke....

Funny Brant

2011-04-10T19:29:00.000-07:00

Trying to set this up for you....

Scene: Driving down a small country road in the middle of no where. Momma cows are on either side of the road- maybe 10 yards away.

Cast: Car full of family- 4 kids, mom and dad

Brant looks out his window, enjoying the scenery as we leave the pictograph caves. It's then that he notices a mama cow, backside fully facing him, going pee. And when cows pee, it's like a dumping bucket.

Mom notices too, but quickly looks away with a slight laugh/shudder. Then from the backseat a loud exclamation of... "THAT WAS DISTURBING" and poor Brant is trying not to laugh and be grossed out at the same time as he hides his eyes and keeps repeating "Oh, Oh, that's not something you see every day. Seriously disturbing."

Spring Break- Part 1

2011-04-09T03:55:00.000-07:00

The Print is Little, I know, Sorry. If you are really bored and want to read the details, just click on the picture.

Did you know I like cereal?

2011-04-09T03:40:00.001-07:00

...and I like a good sale. So last week was a SUPER bonus for me. One of our local grocery stores had cereal on sale for $5.00 for 3 boxes, and if you bought three boxes then you would get a coupon for a free gallon of milk. Quite a good deal, since milk runs $3.50-$3.99 here. Add to that, coupons that I found for $1.00 off 2 boxes of cereal (thanks to the clipping service for letting me order them...at .05 they were well worth it!). AND over the weekend the grocery store had coupon doubler's- so here is how the deal played out 9 boxes of cereal = $15.00 minus the coupons = $11.00 minus the doubles (you can only use 3) = $8.00 Oh, a couple of cereal boxes also had $1.00 free produce coupons on them- so my total hall was: 18boxes of cereal 9 boxes of pop tarts 9 gallons of milk (coupon form...and YES can use it!) and 3 lbs of apples for $24.87 (which is less then just the milk would have cost me...I could throw the rest of the food away and STILL be ahead of the game).

Spring Pictures

2011-03-10T07:27:00.000-08:00

I love getting new pictures of my kids... something we do on a regular basis. They change so much though, that I don't think I will ever regret having TOO MANY pictures!

An Opportunity To Serve

2011-03-08T20:36:00.000-08:00

Jen's Journal Entry....

While driving the boys to wrestling practice today, we had an interesting opportunity to serve. The light turned green, yet no car was moving. I couldn't see why, until a 15-20 seconds later an old man shuffles into view, trying to get across the street. Although earlier in the day it was nice and sunny, in the last 15 minutes the wind had picked up, the temperature had dropped, and it was now bitterly cold outside with small snow flakes blowing down. "Poor Old Man" I thought, wondering where he was headed with his super slow gait. There aren't any houses any where near by. Oh, well- we're late and traffic had started to pick up. So why did I find myself turning, rather then going straight? I looked at my front seat...decorated with candy wrappers, sweatshirts, books and old mail. Quickly swept it all into a box and then jumped out of the car to offer "Old Man" a ride. He gladly took my arm and thanked me for getting him out of the cold. Seems he has only been in town a couple of weeks, recently being transplanted from S. California by his son. We drove him to the retirement home, talking about kids and families, life and religion on the way. Turns out he is Jewish and although he had a lot of respect for any religion that believes in just One God, he didn't know what to make out of that crazy religion based in Salt Lake and what ever God's they believed in. It was with a small that I admitted to belonging to that crazy religion, but a paraphrase of the first article of faith quickly helped him understand that we also believe in that One God. We discussed temples and faith, Israel and the bible- all this in a short 15 minutes. I admit that I noticed the clock as it passed the starting time for wrestling practice. But I did try to not show impatience, and enjoyed the moment. He invited us to come back and visit, he thought the children were delightful. As we parted ways he offered a Hebrew blessing and thanked me for my time, and I said a thankful silent prayer for a lesson well learned. This small moment allowed me to talk with my kids about doing service, even when it isn't convenient, even when it's going to make us late, even if it's someone we don't know. We also talked about how knowing the articles of faith can help us to be missionaries, and to teach people about the gospel. I am thankful that I was given the opportunity to serve, and to teach by example. I know that I learned that lesson well when I was a child, and hope to pass that same loving example on to them.

And I am sure our little voices will be heard at the retirement home soon, as my children can learn more wonderful lessons from this stranger that we will now call our friend.

Wrestling Again

2011-03-05T14:37:00.000-08:00

Brant has started his wrestling season again. Being our second year in this sport, it's been nice to know what to pack for the tournaments, what to expect, and how to help coach and cheer for him. "Shoot Brant" seems to be our favorite chant, as he likes to dance around and wait for the opponent to make the first move- or "shoot" first. It's still painful to watch your child go one on one with another child, and the sport is often painful for him- bruises and mat burns are a regular part of our life now. But he is good, really! On his own he has been doing push ups and sit ups every morning to get stronger- it's so cute! He is still a very considerate wrestler, and a good sport.

Today we also discovered that he is also a gentleman.

At past tournaments they have the entire weight class come up, they match them up with one wrestler and then they go to the mats. Today the put them in groups of 4 and 5 and then they went through, each person wrestling everyone else in their group. Brant didn't realize this and was placed in a group with a girl (who looked a lot older then an 8 year old). His first match he won by points- barely! He had a reversal 20 seconds before time was up that put him one point ahead. Thank goodness for that upper body strength. His second match was against the girl in his group. We have talked with him about our family's feelings about wrestling girls. (Yes, a few girls wrestle. No, I don't know what their parents are thinking). We've role played with Brant about what he would do if he was paired up with a girl, but today was the first day it's happened. When they came up to the mat Brant quietly told the referee that he didn't wrestle girls. The ref looked like him like he was speaking a foreign language, then had to go ask the scorers table what to do. They told him he would have to forfeit and would "lose" the match. Big Gulp, "yes sir". The ref raised the girls arm, she looked baffled and excited that she won without doing anything- and the crowd that knew Brant erupted in the loudest cheering yet. ~WAY TO GO BRANT~ one mom yelled. Luckily he pinned his next opponent and still took a blue ribbon. Does it sound funny that I silently thanked Heavenly Father for helping Brant win, because after giving up one win, he deserved it! Brant is pretty proud of himself. He admits that it was REALLY hard to tell the ref and he was pretty embarrassed, but he did it without mom and dad stepping in to help him out.

Now we just have to hope that he doesn't get paired up with a girl in next weeks qualifiers for the state tournament.

"YEP!"- all about Dane

2011-03-04T15:50:00.000-08:00

YEP! It's our favorite thing for Dane to say, and we all try to ask him questions so he can say "YEP!" It's so excited, and so happy- and he is growing up so much. When we came back from a weekend away, we found that Grandma and Grandpa had taught him to "wait". When we asked him to go get his blanket he looks at us and says "wait" while holding his hand up...then off he goes. Now we get told to "wait" a lot. He has words for just about everything, and learns new words everyday. Today, for the first time, I found him standing on top of Alex's desk so he could reach a higher shelf. Alas, I am afraid it has begun. He has discovered that "tools" come in many forms and can be used for many things. Scissors are his favorite "opening" tool, the batman super hero figure is best for turning lights on and off, and hammers are great tools to use as weapons against the older siblings. He has discovered that popcorn is his favorite snack, and oatmeal is the best breakfast ever. Shoes and hats are his favorite items of clothing. AND if he leaves his shoes on while in the car, then when we get out he can "WALK"- which is something he demands loud and often. WalMart= a free sucker from the pharmacy (something we have to pick up before going any where). BLUE is the favorite color, and what he wants everything to be. Sesame Street is our favorite PBS show, especially the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" episode. CARS is the movie of choice, luckily it's one that we can enjoy watching over and over again. He still likes his bottle, loves his Binky, sleeps in a crib (hasn't ever tried to climb out!), and loves his singing toothbrush with Sponge Bob toothpaste. Lately has started telling us when he toots. "Hehehe, daddy, Tootle, hehehe". Funny at home, not so funny at the store. He has to sleep with his blanket that Grandma Bean made him, along with a dog or monkey stuffed animal. He needs his musical pull crib toy and white machine to fall asleep, after begging us to sing him "Jesus" (Jesus Came to John the Baptist). He loves balls, dogs, any cat is called "O'malley" and in his world, brothers and sisters are the best thing in the entire world. Our lives without Dane would be empty and sad.

AND he has slept through the night for the last 3 days... up until now I could count all of the full nights on both hands...

"I know, Right?"

2011-03-04T15:46:00.001-08:00

As a parent I always think "i have to remember that my kid said that". I thought that would stop when they were little, but I find that thought popping into my head even with my older kids. Brooke has the funniest expressions, and comments, and my favorite is "i know, right?"

The conversation will go something like this:

M: Wow, you're room is really messy today!
B: I know! Right?

M: Hey Brooke, it didn't take you long to get you're room looking better!
B: I know, Right?

You have to picture the right intonation on the expression though. The I Know is an excited surprised, and right goes up in sound.
It is so CUTE!
I know, Right?

Dane Turns Two

2011-01-09T17:57:00.000-08:00

Dane has been walking around seeing "happy birt-day to you". He loves presents, and he loves cakes- too bad he doesn't understand why it doesn't happen all of the time for him. Grandma and Grandpa Piippo and Great Grandma Stahl came over to eat dinner and open presents. We were also lucky enough to have the Elder's stop by. Dane loved the blocks and shake-n-go car that Grandma and Grandpa got him, and he'll probably use the gift card from Grandma Stahl for diapers (Eww) and bristle blocks. The family got him a Home Depot tool set that seemed to be EVERYONE's favorite. It has a "working" grinder, drill, chainsaw, circular saw, blow torch, and hand drill, along with gloves and goggles, nuts and bolts, levels and screw drivers. The only problem...I don't know where it is going to fit in the house.

Dane loved the ice cream cake that Grandma and Grandpa brought him from Cold Stone. We were going to make a cake, but they already had one- and it sounded so good! We are going to make him an Elmo cake later this week just for fun. When we brought the cake with the lit candles out he got very excited. We made it through Happy Birthday to...and out the candles went. We re-lit them and sang again and he enjoyed blowing them out at the end (after which we re-lit them several more times).

Over all, it was a wonderful birthday, a great time to remember how grateful we are for him, and how thankful we will always be for "the baby".

Do you love how Dane can pretend to be a dentist? There are pictures that as a mom you know aren't that flattering, but you do stuff just because you love your kids. *sigh*

2011-01-09T17:53:00.000-08:00

Dane is two. Where time went, I don't know...and something says that each year his birthday post will say almost the same thing. It's a little alarming to realize that as he grows older, so do I. And lately I am starting to realize that I although I am not Old...I am not you either. At what age am I considered "middle age"?

BIG FOOT

2011-01-05T18:32:00.000-08:00

I had to buy Brant new shoes again today.
Didn't really surprise me, since he seems to be growing like a weed.
The thing that did surprise me was his shoe size.
Mens Size 6
And it isn't like the shoes are Huge on him.
There is less then a thumb's width between the end of his toe and the end of the shoe.
I have to say....men's shoes are not that cool looking either.
(He is excited that I bought him brown leather VELCRO old man shoes though!)

Decorating The Tree...in Idaho Falls

2010-11-30T19:59:00.000-08:00

I don't know when we are going to get our family Christmas tree up, so we are very thankful that Grandpa and Grandpa let us help them put theirs up. The kids loved putting up the decorations, accompanied by the Carpenters Christmas CD. Even Dane tried to get on the action, but he did more taking down then actual putting up. I guess that doesn't really surprise me though.

A loose tooth...

2010-11-23T19:43:00.000-08:00

Alex turned 6 in July. She started first grade in September. All of these are exciting signs of her growing up. But she has been eagerly awaiting the next big "step" for many years. And wouldn't you know it, Sunday, Nov 7th, she finally achieved her goal.

ALEX LOST A TOOTH!

This may not sound like much to all of us who have lost many teeth, but in our house it has been a major happening. Since she was 4 Alex was sure she had a "loose" tooth, and would ask us to wiggle them regularly (to the point the dentist cautioned us to not wiggle them too much!). She wanted to big like Brant and Brooke. We noticed that her bottom tooth really WAS loose back in October, and she has been working on it ever since. It was with great joy that her little tooth finally was pulled out by daddy. She didn't want to put it under her pillow for a couple of days because she wanted to take it for show and share at school. After telling everyone and showing it off, the tooth fairy was finally able to come- and she even left a gold dollar coin. SO exciting!!

Once there was a snowman

2010-11-23T19:38:00.000-08:00

Nov 12th found us spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa's on our way back from Adam and Steph's home where Blair was reffing some basketball games. The kids were over joyed to find enough snow on the ground to play. They put together snow outfits (as mommy didn't pack any) and went to "frolic" in the snow (Brant's new word). Brooke stayed out the longest, determined to compete her snowman. We had to be inventive when it came to the face, but she made the cutest little snowman ever. These are her self portraits-

Isn't she sweet!

Dane Likes Ketchup

2010-11-23T16:33:00.001-08:00

Ketchup is the food most easily added to any dish. It adds a beautiful red hue to analmost all foods, and can improve the taste of many items. I do have to admit- yogurt was stretching it, but he seemed to like it. Luckily, hot dogs are another of Dane's favorite foods, and ketchup goes well with hot dogs.

November, 2010

So Behind

2010-11-23T05:46:00.000-08:00

Do you ever get so behind in your journal entries, that you're just not sure where to start...so consequently, you just don't start? The problem then is, you're even more behind. It's a vicious cycle. So here I sit, trying to decide if I should just start from now- or try to go back and catch up on the highlights of the last couple of months.

And while I sit here and contemplate, I am getting further behind.....

S-P-I-D-E-R-S!!

2010-09-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

I don't like Spiders, there are few people that do. Mom taught us to not kill them, catch them in a cup an take them out into the field and let them go. I am now thankful for that tolerance, as I have a son who LOVES spiders. I thought that last years pet spider was a passing faze, but alas, this summer he found a new one to faithfully feed and grew. Our front porch looked like an odd collection of junk all summer long. We had an old pair of shoes and two defunct flower pots that had to sit on the railing because the spider had built its web using these items as anchors. I would have said "oh well" and thrown them all away last June but Brant was quite concerned that it would make his spider move. So there they sat, decorating my porch. Brant faithfully fed his spider and checked on her on a regular basis. You can imagine his distress on Monday when he discovered she was gone. We figured that maybe the cold weather had killed her, so he searched the grass below her web looking for her body. He wasn't able to find her and has been quite sad. UNTIL- yesterday Alex came into the house screaming that his spider was on the sidewalk. Everyone ran out to see the spider, mentally I was preparing for a smashed spider and how I would console Brant. To my surprise, she was alive and trying to cross. After seeing her, we realized that she had gotten so big she had probably fallen out of her precarious perch. We caught her and put her back into the flower bed. Why not across the street into the field you ask, where her babies would be born far away from my house? Because- she is Brant's spider, and he wanted him close. And because I am a sucker of a mom, who will put up with even the most disgusting thing if it helps my son to learn and grow. I do draw the line at the pet tarantula though, no one should have to deal with that.

Garnet Ghost Town

2010-09-20T23:02:00.000-07:00

Grandpa and Grandma Bean came to visit over Labor Day weekend. The kids were so excited to have them come to stay, it was almost as good as Christmas. The kids even got to take turns sleeping at the motel. They soon learned that sleeping in the same room as the grandparents might not be the neatest thing...snoring was a new thing for them to experience. As one kid put it "I woke up three times and couldn't ever get back to sleep- it was Loud!". While they were here we took the opportunity to go to Garnet Ghost Town. The kids Loved exploring, and showing everyone around. Grandma found lots of "gold" and really neat rocks to add to the water falls. We made it to the car just as a huge lightening/thunder storm hit- poor Alex was a little scared but the storm soon passed. Grandma brought Alex a cute blue corduroy skirt and then we all went shopping for more material to sew with. The weekend was a wonderful success and we felt very lucky that they would come up to visit us.

First Day of School

2010-09-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

School started Sept 1 and the kids were SO ready. As much as I knew I would miss them, I also looked forward to getting back into a routine.

Brooke has been ready to for school to start for weeks...literally. She had the first 10 days of school out fits layed out- complete with shoes, socks, accessories, since the first part of August. We've re-organized school supplies a half dozen times and tried many different hair styles. School started without her best friend Ali, as she was camping w/ cousins. Brooke was kind of bummed, as they had matching outfits to wear the first day. I was very proud of her though, despite some serious pressure not to, she still wore her outfit the first day and looked very beautiful! It's hard to believe that she is in 5th grade...next year middle school. :(

Brant looked forward to starting 3rd grade- moving up to the middle building- and getting to see his friends. He wasn't worried about what he wore today, in fact, had me pick out his outfit that morning. He did get a nice hair cut and made sure he wore a belt and tucked in his shirt. Brant is such an easy going kid that he seems to do well in almost any situation.

Alex, our super grown up 1st grader! She was a little disappointed that mommy drove her to school the first day, she really looked forward to riding the bus again! Even more sad, the second day the bus was FULL when it got to our stop. I was going to take them, but the bus driver called for a second bus to come. HOORAY! Alex has such amazing stories to tell, she loves to make people smile and laugh. She worked hard to plan her outfit, and some help from Brooke in that department. After a shower and eggs and bacon she was ready for her day of socializing.

Couldn't forget little Dane- 18 1/2 months old and ready to take on the world!

The bus stop is just up from our house, so we look to the left to see the other stop. When the bus there it's the final rush to grab lunches and bags, water bottles and homework- DON"T forget the library book and P.E. shoes and scramble out the door. The kids are good about waiting and taking care of each other. Brooke was SO excited to use trapper keeper this year- notice the pink thing hanging from her hand. We drove to every possible store, analyzed a zillion different styles and colors to come up with one that has everyone benefit possible (you could probably fit a small cooler and snacks in there if needed). Alex has been wearing skirts and dresses almost every day, she's my super girly-girl. Brant loves his rolly camo back-pack. Everyone has something special and unique to make them feel good about themselves.

I was also worried about Dane, how he would react to not having built in playmates. He cried when they got on the bus, but then enjoyed having a quiet house. When the kids came home after school he was SO excited, and continues to look forward to their home coming every day.

School has been in for three weeks now and he seems to have adjusted beautifully. He likes to go into his room, shut the door, and then reads/plays for a long time- sometimes up to an hour. If I go in he'll talk to me and let me read to him, but has no problem if I go out again. The only thing he DOESN"T like, the door open. As soon as I walk out he'll get up and shut the door tight before going back to playing.

School Bus Manners

2010-09-16T14:30:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't you think, if you were the school or the bus garage, that if a bus were to get in an accident (no matter how small) and that the kids are going to be home 30-40 minutes later then normal (and they are all K-3, so LITTLE guys) that it would be proactive to call the parents and let them know what is going on. AND IF you don't do that, don't you think that when a parent calls in to ask why their kids aren't home yet you should very kindly explain what is going on rather then grumping at them?

Mind you, I understand that there must have been many parents calling in looking for their kids (which the PROACTIVE phone call would have solved most of), and I understand that the bus just got side swiped so no one was hurt.

Brant and Alex's bus was very late and when I called the school the sec. impatiently explained that the bus was sideswiped and that everyone was fine but they had to wait for the police and would be 20 minutes late. I had the audacity to inform her that they were already 25 minutes late, so did that mean an additional 20 minutes, or should they be home soon. AND would it help if I went to pick up my kids? At this point I am having visions of Alex in hysterics because it was all so scary. The sec. was less then helpful and bordered on rude- and normally we like her.

As I loaded up Dane in the car to rescue my kids, I noticed it several blocks up dropping of kids. When Brant and Alex got off they were doing just fine (although Alex said it was a little scary and Brant thought it was cool until the police came and then he thought they were going to take all of the kids to juvie).

*sigh* the joys of motherhood. When I was younger and pictured what it would be like, this wasn't part of the dream.

Another Successful Reunion

2010-09-06T04:25:00.000-07:00

What other family would enjoy a grown-up sized slip and slide, marshmellow wars, bingo, candy and food galore? Each year the traditions live one, and new ones are added. Our kids LOVE spending time with their cousins, playing with the aunts and uncles, and having as much food as they want!

The Family Business

2010-09-06T04:21:00.000-07:00

We've found that we hate hiring and training new photographers, so we're hiring them a little younger hoping that they stick around for more then 2-3 years! I think that he is sure to get people to smile!

Brooke- The Actress

2010-08-19T14:39:00.000-07:00

For a child who is VERY shy and quiet around people she doesn't know well, Brooke has an amazing passion for the theatre. She wants to try out for every show she hears about and loves performing. It's her greatest desire to get a lead role, but for now she is happy being a supporting actress. The end of July she was able to be in the play Rumpelstiltskin. Such a cute little villager she was!

Lesson Learned

2010-08-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I am glad that my kids learn lessons while they are young and still at home. Other times I wish they would experiment on their own time.

Last May Brooke wanted a hair cut- I told her I would take her down to get it cut. She wanted it cut now. Sorry, can't do it today, but we'll do it soon. Apparently that wasn't good enough for her so she thought that she would take matters into her own hands. Luckily she stopped after one lock of hair. She has been paying the penalty since then. She's trying to decide how she wants to do her hair for the first day of school and this is what she came up with. MINUS the little sticky out hair. "How long will it take to grow out???" she pleads. Probably at least until Christmas before you can begin to pull it back.

I think that she should get some bangs cut and then it will all blend in together and grow out the same but "THAT"S UGLY" I am told. Oh, well. At least I wasn't the one who cut her hair!!

....and doesn't she look oh-so grown up in this picture? I think that her features are starting to mature, her face is getting longer and she is getting even more beautiful. *sigh* wish I could stop it!!

Dane Love

2010-07-26T06:37:00.000-07:00

Nothing is better then getting loves from your kids- especially when they give loves without being asked. Dane is such a busy little guy, but still so snuggly. We take every hug and love we can get, knowing that soon he'll be off with the big kids and we won't get them as often.

Camping over the 4th of July

2010-07-26T06:07:00.000-07:00

With the Fourth being on a Sunday this year, it changed our normal holiday traditions up a bit. Rather then going to parades and picnics, we chose to go up to the Haven to spend a quiet weekend with friends. You would think that since it was July the weather would be nice and warm, you would also think wrong. The highs each day were only in the mid 60's and at night we were getting down to the mid 40's. That wouldn't have been so bad, except all three families had babies between 14-18 months old, and we were sleeping in tents. The mom's all ended up sleeping in their cars trying to keep the babies warm, but besides that- we had FUN! The fire was a real hit- both for the heat and the kids entertainment. Brooke's little friends came with us so she wouldn't be all alone and the oldest. They were great helps though, and we love them lots! When we weren't busy hiding from the rain, eating, or playing in the fire, we tried our hand at fishing. The boys caught a lot of snags, grass and stick, but nothing else. If you ask the little boys though, they got lots of bites! Hiking was another favorite activity of the weekend. I discovered that it's nice having kids to hike with. It makes it so the hikes aren't very hard or long! :)

We hiked up to some beautiful falls, along a lake and then along a nature path to a "viewing" area. Supposedly you're supposed to look through this tall wood wall onto the field in front of it to see wildlife. We didn't see anything, unless you count the wildlife hiding BEHIND the wall!

Brodie brought the most FUN game for the kids to play one evening. It had 6 different colored jelly beans and a spin wheel with the matching colors on it. The kids would spin and choose the color of bean they landed on. The hiccup comes when you find out that each color has the possibilty of two flavors- AND you can't tell which is which! The Black Beans were either black licorice or skunk flavor. Yellow was popcorn or moldy cheese, green was lime or boogers, etc. The game was perfect for our kids!!

Food was an important part of the weekend. The kids loved that we had extra fun Camping Snacks for them, and spent the weekend gorging themselves on treats that they usually don't get.

Alex always looks so beautiful! With her curly hair, she always looks a little fancy- even camping!

A HUGE hail storm came through. Poor Brant was so worried that the hail and rain would put the fire out that he kept trying to gather up sticks to put on it. He was so upset when we ORDERED him to come under the pavilion until the rain quit. Luckily it ended soon after that and the fire survived!

Dane thought the cantaloupe was a ball just for him, and carried it around camp for the longest time. We had to take it away when he started throwing it, much to his displeasure.

BIG ORANGE BALL took the place of the cantaloupe, and the kids loved pushing it around camp!

True Love

2010-07-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

Dane loves our next door neighbor's little girl. "Nana" was one of his first words. He loves to go play at her house, loves to walk up and down the side walk with her. They share food and toys and even try to "talk" together. She'll tell her parents to SHHHHH at night because baby Dane is sleeping next door, and when we are going home we cheer him up by asking if he wants to go play with Arianna? They are about the same size, although it doesn't look like that in this picture. She is almost a year older then Dane, but who says that's bad?

Ah, Hail!

2010-07-21T10:42:00.000-07:00

Really, it was some serious Hail! About a week ago as I was driving my friend home I noticed a storm moving in. The clouds were so dark and the rain curtain so thick that I couldn't see the mountains a short distance away. I knew that it was going to be a race to get home, this wasn't a storm I wanted to get caught in. I almost made it, but 1/2 mile from home it hit- hard. This storm didn't start out with a few spatterings, it hit like a curtain coming down after a bad play. It was bad enough, that even with the wipers on full blast I had to pull over to the side of the road. I coasted down the side, hitting puddles that splashed over the top of the car. I finally made it home and mad dashed it to the porch where Blair was waiting for me. He had grabbed a quilt to cover up the hood of my van to keep it from getting dented. The storm went on for quite a while and the continued it's march across the state. One town reported 170 windows broken at their university campus. With hail this big, I could see why!

Brant's Leg

2010-07-21T10:33:00.000-07:00

Brant has had these sores on the back of his leg for weeks (probably even months!). I took him to the Dr. in May and she said it was a virus and to not worry about it. The last few weeks they have multiplied and started hurting. Took him back to the Dr. last week and turns out it's still the same thing, but somehow he had developed a staff infection in them. Great, my favorite thing. Luckily we just have some heavy duty antibiotics to take for 10 days. It's looking so much better. Unfortunately, it can take up to a year for the body to fight this virus. Man, why do we get all of the odd illnesses?

2010-07-21T06:57:00.000-07:00

I am SOOO Proud of Alex. Each year the organizers of the Missoula Marathon visit all of the schools and encourage the kids to run and then join the Kids Marathon the day before the adults run. The deal is, they have to keep track and log 25 miles before race day, then that morning they finish the last 1.2 miles to equal a "marathon". Alex's teacher, Mrs. Hammy, had her little kindergarten class running a mile every day through most of April, all of May and in June until school got out. They had already logged well over the needed 25 miles! We kept Alex running (not as often as we should) and along with that and hiking she logged another12 miles. The day of the race came and she was so excited! There were literally hundreds of people lined up at the start. Luckily daddy agreed to run it with her! Even though it was really well organized with volunteers all along the route, I just wasn't ready for her to be doing it on her own. The kids and I waited 100 yards or so down the route to cheer her on as she went by. She was so cute, waving and giggling as she passed us! Kids, parents, strollers, and even dogs, streamed past us. 10 minutes later the last stragglers were running by and shortly after that the some of the SPEEDY boys came running back to hit the finish (starting) line. We watched a few boys, a couple girls, a few more boys- Alex is one of the littlest, so we didn't expect to see her for a little bit. Brooke and Brant went to the end of the park to meet her, they were going to run the last part with her to cheer her on and giver her energy. About 14 minutes after she left, back she came. She was so excited to see her brother and sister and picked up the pace to the finish line. They yelled and cheered all the way and she laughed and ran.

We were so proud of her, she came in the top 10 for all of the girls and probably could have kept on going. Next year I think that all of the kids will run- they all want a really cool medal!

One more reason I am a stay at home mom...

2010-07-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

Brant has an amazing friend that he loves to play with almost every day. They aren't LDS, but they have a very strong relationship with their church. Their boys attend a private Christian school, and we love that they have a lot of the same standards that we have set for our children. Today the boys came in talking about how they saw a ghost. While I was fixing lunch they told me about hearing something shake the fence, and other "oddities". (Who doesn't remember the fun of "creeping" yourself out at this age?). While they ate sandwiches I sat down with them and talked to them about how there really are ghosts, but we refer to them as spirits. We talked about how we were all spirits, covered the pre-existence, the casting out of Satan and his followers and how they are here now to tempt us. We went on to talk about how Satan and his spirits have no power over us unless we let them. It was interesting to have this discussion, comparing what Brant's friend believed from the Bible, and what we believe. (all the same, just different words)

Long Story- BUT the whole point of this was- because I get to stay at home with my kids, I was ABLE to have this conversation with them. It was a perfect teaching moment with out it seeming like I was "teaching". I am thankful that I have A GREAT husband who sacrifices for us. I doubt that our kids realize what a blessing it is, but I will always be glad that I get to put down MOM as my career!

If anyone ever wonders if staying at home with your kids is that important- it is.

Summer Trips

2010-07-11T18:50:00.000-07:00

We figured out that between June 1st and June 27th we had been for a total of 12 days. Not such good odds for a little family! Luckily we have Grandma and Great Grandma and Grandpa to watch Jenny the dog, great neighbors to water the lawn, and amazing little world traveler kids! The first of June was spent in Idaho and Utah at Uncle Mike's wedding. The kids were so happy to have Liz as part of our family now, and she looked beautiful. We came home for a few days so the kids could finish the school year and then 6 days later took off for Twin Falls for the annual boys fishing trip with Adam (and the girls trip to get volcano's and visit to the Bouncy House). On Sunday we met Jeff and Cayley in Utah so they could take Blair to the airport (PHEW_ so thankful they met us so we didn't have to drive all the way there and back) and then back to Twin Falls until Monday evening when the kids and mommy caught a flight to Las Vegas (SERIOUSLY- all 5 of us flew for less then $140!). We figured it was cheaper then motel rooms and food- PLUS we were able to be there for Sarah's 8th birthday!

The weather was beautiful (and hot) so we enjoyed a lot of water activities- like attending the local rec pool. This was fun for every one. Dane loved the zero depth where he could walk around by himself, the big kids loved the BIG water slide (even Alex really liked it) and Brooke enjoyed playing with the cousins
and then snoozing in the shade. We also went to Sarah's pool party at their neighbor's house and enjoyed a delicious picnic and splashing around some more!There were also a lot of indoor activities, like Chucky E. Cheese, the garden's at the Bilagio and we went to watch the new Karate Kid movie (Will Smith's son is a good little actor!). The kids enjoyed just "vegging" out with the cousins and playing computer, making forts in the rooms or watching movies when we weren't out and about.

I was especially impressed

that they all traveled so well. The Twin Falls airport was TINY, which was lucky for me since this was the first time I had done this without Blair (who knew that he was such a big help. I had to repent of all the times I thought he did nothing! Hee hee!). The kids were extra helpful while we waited in line, Brant watched closely over Alex and Brooke followed Dane around. They all pulled a suit case while I tried to maneuver the stroller with Dane in it and a huge car seat balanced on top. The flight wasn't full, so we had an empty seat by us for Dane to jump around on. Everyone was exhausted when we arrived, so dragging them across the airport was easy, they didn't try to run away once. The tram from the C gates into the main terminal was the highlight of the evening. Dane kept yelling WOOOOOOW! and the middle kids just laughed and laughed. Brooke marveled over the size of the parking garage and surmised that there must be as many cars in that one parking structure as in all of home....I bet she might be right! The flight home went just as smoothly, even though Dane struggled waiting in lines and did his banshee yell a few times. Alex sat in the row behind us by a very helpful Grandma and then promptly fell asleep right after take off and slept all the way back. Dane was bored and wanted to run, but between all of us we made it there without too many tantrums. It was a long day back though- we got off the plane, jumped in the car and drove to Grandma and Grandpa's house. PHEW- we were glad to roll in there around 11:30 p.m.

Everyone Needs Their Alone Time

2010-07-06T07:04:00.000-07:00

Dane, being the youngest of four children, hasn't expereinced much alone time this summer. He spent all school year alone during the day- something he didn't enjoy but did get used to. This summer he has been kissed and hugged, dressed up, mauled, drug around, and wrestled with to his hearts content. Anyone who's spent ANY time with Dane knows that he has developed an effective way of ending the unwanted mauling. It's called "The Scream" and he does it with proficiency.

It seems that on the Fourth of July, he needed more alone time then usualy. Actually, Brooke was watching him while we cleaned up camp. We had spent the weekend at the Haven and were getting ready to go home. Dane wanted to play in the van, so Brooke put him in there and shut the doors. Blair had just been leaving the keys in the car since there was no need to lock it. Dane loves buttons, and the down lock button is just up his ally (we spent time at church working on a little toy trying to get him to push the button down AND up- never got the up part....obviously!) Brooke's in tears, I am the bad mommy yelling at her asking what she was thinking putting him in there and then shutting the doors (which I quickly repent of, because she really didn't mean to and she felt horrible...and I hated to have another kid sad), Blair is the calm daddy saying "if nothing else works, we can always break a window!". One of the husbands with us is a pro at getting into locked cars and he worked really hard to get into the passenger side. Brodie tried to lure Dane into pulling the button up by showing him a Reese's peanut butter cup, everyone cheered every time he tried to pull up the door lock. He got his hands on one set of keys, which we thought was our best option. He LOVES to push buttons. Blair talked with him and cheered him on- until he kept pushing the panic button. The horn was loud, obnoxious, and announced to the world that my baby was locked in the car. (Callan is still trying to unlock the door, Brodie is now using a pry bar to help him get the hanger in). Dane gets tired of playing with the keys, so he tosses them (and he has a really good arm!). Behold- DR. PEPPER! So while we are all working, Dane is sitting back and chugging on daddy's pop. What does he spy next? The HUGE tub of licorice- who knew that red licorice tasted so good with a pop chaser? After 30 minutes of trying to break in, Callan was admitting that a Dodge Grand Caravan is pretty theft proof. It was then that Dane noticed the hanger poking through the other door. He crawled up on to the passenger seat to wave at everyone. We made kisses and clapped and then cheered when he grabbed the door lock and pulled it up. Mommy grabbed him into a big hug- and Dane screamed. He was so mad to be out and away from the licorice. *sigh* We hugged Brooke, Thanked Brant for saying a prayer for us (which we all had been doing LOTS of!) and admired the skill of the Dodge designers for keeping our car so safe. First thing Tuesday when everything opens up, I am going to have a hide a key made!

Dane's Mommy's Helper- April

2010-07-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

Dane is my helper...and aren't I glad? (Can you hear the sarcasm in my voice) On this particular day he discovered that the step stool can be pushed up to the bathroom sink. Silly mommy thought this was cute and decided that he could play in the sink with warm soapy water. He loved it (and it kept him busy while I cleaned the rest of the house)! Unfortunately, since I left him unsupervised I couldn't get to upset when I discovered an entire roll of toilet paper in the sink, along with every one's toothbrushes, hair pretties, and various other items. But he LOVED, so I am not complaining at all!

Turkey Hunting

2010-07-05T18:55:00.000-07:00

Last May...

Blair was able to go turkey hunting up north by a couple of hours. He had some private property that he was very excited to go to. Brant was excited, because he got to go with daddy! They left on a Thursday afternoon when Brant came home from school. They visited a couple of schools on the way up and several on Friday on the way home, hunting early Friday morning. The turkey's zig and zagged, Brant got to spend some time watching daddy stalk them and in the end- they got one! He was a beautiful turkey- not small, not huge, just right! And boy did he taste good!

Brooke as Sacajawea

2010-07-05T18:40:00.000-07:00

Brooke's Reading teacher, Ms. Wright, assigned the kids to read a biography and then do a 2 minute oral report on it. She required that they do it as that person, dressing up in costume and reporting in first person. Brooke has always been fascinated by Sacajawea and chose her biography to do her report. She shopped at garage sales to find a dream catcher as her front decoration, planned her outfit and then approached us with her request for the finishing touch....Dane...or shall we say- Pomp!

She got his baby backpack on and arranged for me to bring him in time for her report. It took some work to get him down for his nap early so he wouldn't be grumpy, but the stars aligned. We brought a brown blanket to wrap around the baby back pack and an put him on his back. How do you think a 16 month old was going to do, on his sisters back, for two minutes, in front of 30 other students? Well, he did GREAT! He loved being on her back and spent the whole time making faces and chewing on the back pack. Only once did Dane LOUDLY point out a stuffed animal and yell DOG, but other then that he was great. Brooke did an amazing job on her report and was even able to walk out to the hallway before begging me to get him off of her. We love that Brooke is such a great student and a wonderful student!

Disney Land

2010-07-02T11:48:00.000-07:00

Better late then never! I'll have to catch up on a lot of what has been happening over the next few months.

The kids were so excited to go on our trip...once they found out about it! We were able to keep it a secret from them all the way to boarding the airplane. They thought we were just going to "look" at an airplane- we were having a pretend safari. Dane was So excited to see the lights go by. The flight was 3 hours late so it was VERY late when we got into LAX. We were exhausted.

Disney was so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Brian, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Cailey. We LOVED the Buzz Lightyear ride, Pirates of the Carribean was another favorite.

Don't Bite the Golden Apple

The next day we went to the Discovery Science Museum. It was amazing. I think that the adults had as much fun as the kids!

The pool at the motel was warm and great for the weather. Dane loved swimming with Brooke.

The Beach was everyone's favorite place to relax. Dane loved throwing sand, Blair and Jeff found amazing sea shells, Alex spent a lot of time with Grandpa getting over her fear of the waves, Uncle Brian helped bury kids and make amazing castles, Brant loved spashing and exploring and mom and Cailey had fun taking pictures

Owls Don't Have Butts

2010-07-02T11:37:00.001-07:00

Did you know that Owls don't have butts? Not ALL owls, just the night owls. They have to Puke things up because of their lack of butts. Thus saith Alex... somehow I don't think that she quite understood the science lesson.

I did have a cute owl picture on this post, but for some reason this "post" keeps getting hit by strangers so the picture is coming off to see if that is what is causing it. After that we'll get rid of the title. *sigh* a public post is okay, just wish that sometimes they weren't so public.

FOUR more Days!

2010-04-27T20:23:00.000-07:00

I am sorry to all of you who have to keep taking calls from me every day, giving you the hour by hour count down. It's been a challenge, but I have kept the vacation from ALL of my kids, have almost everything packed, printed off maps and planned this vacation all from the quiet of my computer. Blair has been wonderful and kind (even if he hasn't been too excited) and has had fun razzing me about my craziness. It's worse then Christmas, because at least then everyone else is counting down with me! I can't wait to see my kids faces when we get on the airplane and even more I CAN'T WAIT FOR THEM TO SEE GRANDMA AND GRANDPA and the aunt and uncles when they get there! I am planning all sorts of fun meals and games and craziness to keep us busy on a Sunday...counting down to MONDAY! I AM TALKING IN ALL CAPS THESE DAYS!!!

Sometimes you just have to laugh

2010-04-19T04:30:00.000-07:00

Picture poor mommy, running around the house trying to get everything cleaned up because the Elders are going to be there in 20 minutes. Daddy isn't home quite yet, and the kids really have helped, but are now outside playing because they have started to be "un"helpful. Now picture Dane. He's a little hungry because it's almost dinner, a little bored because mommy (who almost always has time to pick him up and rock when he wants- but not today) and he's right in the middle of the dump and fill stage, a great place to be...usually. When you picture all of that, is this what you saw in your head? Nope, me either.

The truly sad thing is, I paused long enough to take a few shots, then let him sit there for the next 20 minutes eating cereal as I did my best to jump over him. Alex was starving, so I told her she could sit down and eat as many as she wanted in 5 minutes too! The house was cleaned up around them, and when I was finished with everything else I vacuumed up the mess. Not too classy, but hey, what ever works is my new motto!

Fishing-

2010-04-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

Daddy and Brant went fishing last Saturday. The girls ate some dinner and then went out to spend some time with them. They didn't catch anything, but everyone had fun. Dane loved playing in the rocks, Brooke had fun playing with Brant and Dane, and poor exhausted Alex slept through it all. She woke up just as we were getting ready to leave and didn't want to get out of the car. Dane loves to be outside, so this was especially nice for him to be able to wander around and explore with nice weather. We're trying to soak it up, because next week it's supposed to snow again. *sigh*

Dane is so funny- he LOVES to tickle people. If he sees any bare skin on your chest/lower neck area or on your tummy he'll dive at you and tickle you. AND it really does tickle!! The other night we had a new couple in our ward over for dinner. She was wearing flip flops and Dane spotted that bare skin- he thought it was hilarious to sneak up on her and tickle her bare feet.

2010-04-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

Brooke and Ally are best friends- they have been for years (ever since kindergarten). They love to do silly dances for us - usually trying to convince us to let them have a sleep-0ver or to take them out for ice cream. It's so nice to have someone right next door to play with. We've loved having the warmer weather the last couple of days (on Tuesday it SNOWED 2 inches, and by Thursday it was 75 degrees- now tell me how I am supposed to keep my closets organized!). We're lucky to have such a neat family next door- Ally's older sister is VERY cool and a great babysitter. I have decided that we can't ever move. We may never have a bigger house, but I don't think that we could find a better neighborhood!

I WANT UP!

2010-04-18T09:13:00.000-07:00

It's coming- and I don't want it to! Dane has discovered ladders, and he knows that they lead someplace. I can see the time in the VERY near future where he's actually able to figure out how to get up them. I think from then on, the girl's room is going to be off limits to him- there is no telling how bad the discruction would be! Sorry poor Dane, this is not a toy for you...yet! Wa-hahaha!

Dane's Hair....

2010-04-18T09:07:00.000-07:00

A haircut makes such a difference on bigger kids, I just didn't take that into account when i cut Dane's hair. I put it on a 3, thinking it would be a little (LOT) longer, but it buzzed his hair right off! He looks so different- like a Little Man! I feel kind of bad, he liked to walk around and pull the hair on the sides of his head. Now he walks along and just grabs air...he gets a little frustrated, poor kid. Is there anyway to slow down the growth of a kid? *sigh* poor mommy!

Dying Easter Eggs

2010-04-18T08:58:00.000-07:00

What else can we say? Dying Easter eggs is always fun, and not so messy this year. We did it at the end of a VERY busy day, so the kids were more excited I think to get it "done" then the actual project. The Easter bunny hid them all, so he must have liked their work.

The Happy Little Donkey

2010-04-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

There are some songs that once you hear them, you can't ever get them out of your head. This is one of them. The first time we listened to it in the car, I wanted to pull my hair out. The kids LOVED it (of course) and begged us to rewind it and listen to it again (thanks SIRIUS for that lovely function...) so Blair obliged them and away it went again...and again..and again. By the fourth time it was just stupidly hilarious, I had become numb to it. Then I spent all weekend hearing it in my head. Poor Steph had to listen to me sing "Hee- Haw Hee Haw" over and over. I hope that you enjoy it as much as we have...HA!

Easter Egg Hunt

2010-04-18T08:22:00.000-07:00

Last year we had the neatest Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The kids were eagerly looking forward to a repeat of last year (except we wouldn't have the Hill kids with us *sad*). Too bad the weatherman didn't get the message. SNOW! Foiled by the crazy Idaho spring weather. There were lots of good places to hide eggs upstairs at Grandma and Grandpa's house= even some really hard ones! We were especially lucky that Liz and Mike helped out with the hiding of the eggs. Everyone loved the candy and treats, and we can't wait for next year!

Bean Bowling

2010-04-18T08:12:00.000-07:00

From the title, I know you are picturing a bunch of green beans cans standing up, and that we are trying to knock them over with a potato, or some other such sport. Nope, it's just a bunch of crazy bean family members at the bowling ally. I think if the owners knew what we were like, they wouldn't have put anyone around us. (Really, we were second from the end, and the people at the very end got quite a show! Whooping and hollering, kids yelling and falling to the ground, impromptu bowling lessons, if you can imagine it, it probably happened!)Take Stephani for example! She was so proud of herself...except for the fact that it went into the gutter at the very end. By the end of the day she was doing really well! We were smart, we put the kids on one lane, the boys on another lane and the kids on a third. Dane was quite frustrated though, he really LOVES balls and the whole time we were there he kept yelling ball, wanting to pick one up, but they were too heavy. Bowling with a baby isn't the easiest thing...or the most fun! I do think this was a great way to introduce Liz to the insanity of our family...in a mild way.

When there is no swimming pool in sight...

2010-04-18T07:54:00.000-07:00

...then you make do with what you have! Brant loves to swim, and it's been several months since we've been to the local pool (although he has been to a couple of motel pools). Brant has found an interesting substitute= and it gets used almost daily! He loves to climb into the tub just as it's starting to fill up because he likes the sound and the feel of the water hitting the back of his head when it comes from the tap. He'll "dive" in the tub for 30-40 minutes at a time, only surfacing to turn to face the other direction. He actually has a snorkel tube that he's getting really good at using, which allows him to just "lay" on the bottom of the tub. Other times we'll come in to find him laying on his back, no goggles or breathing tube, laying face up in the water. His face will be covered completely with water, except for his mouth peaking out of the water for air. The truly funny thing is, he'll have his eyes wide open and be looking around!

Dane loves Spaghetti

2010-04-18T07:31:00.000-07:00

No childhood would be complete without the infamous blackmail pictures of a baby eating spaghetti. In an effort to not have Dane look back upon his childhood with regret, I have made sure to take those obligatory pictures. I hope that he knows that although he is number four, he is not completely neglected...just a little neglected!

Brooke Sings!

2010-04-11T18:24:00.000-07:00

Brooke gets to sing for her music class talent show tomorrow. Several people are doing dances, or singing duets- but not our Brooke. She is the only one singing a solo! I know I am her mom, but I have to admit that I think she sounds pretty good. She wants to try out for American Idol in a few years. I don't know about American Idol, but I think that she has a great voice for her age! LOVE YOU BROCCOLI!

2010-03-26T21:54:00.001-07:00

We have a friend working on a Masters in Print/Art here at the University. She is fascinated with hands and is working on putting a show together based around hands. She took a picture of Dane last spring and asked permission to make a print of that picture. A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of going to her studio to see the plate that she had etched from the picture. It was so moving to see the picture, as it was taken shortly after Dane's surgery, after a time when all he wanted to do was be held in his very special position. (Face down, hands tucked under). We had to keep a hand on the back of his head to keep his neck from wiggling around and hurting his neck. I shared with her the emotions that the picture brought about, especially seeing how big and healthy he is now. She was really touched, and showed me the other picture she is working on right now, of her dad holding her grandfather's hand in the hospital, shortly before he died. She then took both stories to her Prof. and told him the stories of the whole spectrum she is working with. It's amazing the talents that people are blessed with, and I feel especially lucky that she has blessed our family with such an amazing piece of art.

Artist: Stephanie Johnson

Ahhhh! Ouch!

2010-03-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

I came home from our Primary activity tonight and found a bandaid on Blair's finger. He'd been tying flies, so I guessed he had snagged a hook or something. "You HAVE to look at this!" he exclaimed, jumping up when I asked about his finger. "This is the biggest sliver I have ever seen!" I went into the kitchen expecting a small piece of wood, larger then average, but I didn't expect the 1 inch match stick he showed me. WHAT THE HECK! He had slid his finger along the lip of the crawl space....oooo- it makes me cringe to even think of it. I thought that everyone would want to sympathize with him, because really, it IS the biggest sliver I have ever seen!!!

Daddy's Basketball Tournament

2010-03-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago we went to Blair's state basketball tournament. The kids were excited because they got to leave school a couple of hours early AND stay in a motel AND swim in a pool AND eat lots of snacks at the game. Dane loves "baBall" so he loved to watch the games. I did feel kind of bad for Dane though. Blair would have the ball and be ready to hand it to the player for the throw in and Dane would be in the stand yelling "DAD, DAD, MEEEEE, BALLL, DAD!" at the top of his lungs. And then dad would rudely give the ball to someone else. This was Dane's response... So back to patiently waiting for Dad to get the ball again, and then the yelling would start. I kind of felt bad for the people around us. We also discovered that he likes to chew on his ball. Mmmm. Nummy!
One guy made the comment that we were pretty brave dressing our kid like that. Naw, not Brave, that's his dad. OHHH_ that put a whole new spin on it. The crowd was really nice and super good at not yelling evil things at daddy.

It was also this weekend when Dane discovered that he could walk. He would go up and down the bleacher seat, and by the end of our visit- he never went back to crawling.

2010-03-24T14:09:00.000-07:00

Working with power tools is COOL- at any age. We have a wonderful little red hand drill that has enough power and torque to build a book case, but small enough that even Brooke and Brant can use it. For Brooke's birthday she got a "do your room" present from mom and dad. We can't repaint her room *can you imagine moving those beds** but she got new shelves, bedding, lights, etc. This has been a process: building, cleaning, moving, setting up.

A couple of weeks ago Blair took an evening with Brooke to build her new book shelves. She loved being able to stay up late, learning to read directions, spending time with dad, and completing a really cool project. Good Building Guys!

Daddy's Buddy

2010-03-24T14:08:00.000-07:00

2010-03-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

I have thought and thought about what to title this post, but can't come up with a good description. It just "is". Brant loves the water, he loves to take bathes. We'll check on him and find him laying on the bottom of the tub with just his nose poking above the water, just relaxing and enjoying the water. A week ago I gave the kids a snorkeling set for the tub. Brooke loves to "hunt" for coins that we throw on the bottom of the tub. Alex likes to pretend she is a mermaid. Brant likes to feel the water flowing on the back of the head. It was funny, he didn't know we were taking the first picture! Such cute water babies!

He's Walking!

2010-03-11T10:29:00.000-08:00

I don't know whether to celebrate my "new" toddler, or mourn the loss of my baby. It seems like when a child starts to walk, everything changes, they become so grown up! Dane started toddling around the house independently on March 9th- exactly 14 months. He has been taking a step or two last week between people, but now he'll walk without encouragement. He'll throw the ball across the room and then walk to go get it. Dane still isn't very fast, but he gets where he wants to. It's funny to watch though, because most of the time his "falling down" is him throwing himself down. He has an amazing sense of balance- today he walked over my shoes and didn't trip! Wish us well as we embark on this new adventure. As happy as I am, I am more then a little sad that my last little baby is no more. Watch out, Aunty Jen is coming after your babies!
Added on Sat, March 13th:
Dane has given up on crawling almost completely. He walks every where and if he falls down, he stands right back up and takes off again. I really didn't mind him not walking, but he is mighty cute when he does.

2010-03-10T09:46:00.000-08:00

While we were at the ranch, the kids loved spending time with the baby lambs. Alyssa has several lambs that she is bottle feeding. They are like little pets, they can be picked up and carried around, and they follow her around like they are her little puppies. She brought a special one into the house for Dane to see. Dane LOVES dogs and cats...how would he like lambs?

Well, he didn't like them- he LOVED it. If I could figure out how to bring one home, I would. They are so cute. Of course, then they grow up.

At first he was a little nervous- he'd never seen a baby lamb before!

The lamb liked Dane's binki and would nibble at it. Dane would try to put it into the lambs mouth and then hurry and pull it back and put it into his own mouth.

It was so funny, the lamb would suck on our fingers and it tickled. He doesn't have any top teeth, just gums, so it doesn't even hurt. The little guy didn't even have a really wet mouth- I swear that Dane slobbers more!

Okay, I admit it...I don't know who had more fun...Dane or mommy!

2010-03-10T09:33:00.000-08:00

We are pretty lucky living where we do. We live within a few minutes of the ranch, and we have cousins that are our same ages that live with 45 minutes in either direction. We have a great aunts and uncles and grandparents- what more could we want (except for Jen's family to live here too!) Last Sunday was Stake Conference and afterward we went to the ranch for a big family dinner. Gwen and Steve and their kids were there, as were Marilyn and Walt, Jack and Donna, Eric and Alyssa, John, Grandma and Grandpa Berzay and Grandpa and Grandpa Gorgeous. The weather has been beautiful for a couple of days, and it was so warm today! After dinner the kids spent all afternoon playing outside with the lambs and with each other.

Connor and Brant love playing in the old shed. It's full of lots of fun treasures, and lots of scary stuff! Mom is just sure they are going to trip and impale themselves on an old rusty nail.

When they got tired of exploring up around the house, all of the kids asked to go down to the ponds. The ponds are frozen over, and the kids go down there all of the time when they aren't'- so sure! Off they went. 15 minutes later Mikayla bursts in screaming that Connor had just fallen through the ice in the pond. You haven't seen a room empty so fast! The men took the direct route and ran down the hill, jumping fences on the way. The rest of us jumped into cars, grabbed ladders and ropes and fishtailed down the gravel road to the ponds. As we got down there we found that Morgan had slid across the ice and pulled Connor out. It was one of the scariest experiences. He has told us that he's glad for scouts because they learned that if that ever happened they should hold onto the ice and then tread water when their arms got tired. Turns out he saw the little girls walking on the ice and thought that he could to. That is when the reality hit- the little girls wouldn't have known what to do and then we really would have had something bad. We're proud of the kids quick thinking. After a stern talk and lots of hugs, all is well....but they won't be at the pond for a LONG time.