Life in the faster bigger lane

Laman and Lemuel

2012-02-06T20:31:00.000-08:00

**this post comes with a disclaimer, if you are not LDS you may not understand the reference but I would be happy to loan you a copy of the book so you can make sense of it.

So in church on Sunday I am finally in the big people class and I have to pretend like I listen and know what the heck they are talking about. For a few you it will come as no surprise that my mind works a little bit differently than other people. I know I know for the rest its a big shocker.

Well in the big people class aka Gospel Doctrine we are discussing the Book of Mormon and we have spent a lot of time discussing Laman and Lemuel, and I have to say I identify with these guys a lot. We see so many examples of how they screw up and have to repent. Many say well they saw angels, they received visions, and still they did bad things. Then I think about myself, well I have angels IE my children, I have seen miracles, my family has been front and center for several, and still some I just stink at the things I should be doing. You know those of you who are LDS read your scriptures, say your prayers, go to church, pay your tithing. And the biggest one of all I murmur (hanging my head in shame) I complain either in my head or out loud. Then I get a reminder of what I should be doing, say oh crap I did it again and repent.

So that in a nut shell is why Laman and Lemuel are my hero's they do all kinds of things they shouldn't and amazingly the lord allows them to repent and try again. And I am thankful for my strange brain that makes me grateful for the bad dudes in the scriptures.

I don't want to grow up.

2012-02-01T20:56:00.000-08:00

I remember from my childhood the ToyRus song
"I don't want to grow up I'm a ToyRus kid. There's a million toys at ToyRus that I can play with. "

Having been to ToysRus there really is a million toys there. So yesterday we were out running errands as its the only Tuesday for a long time where I do not have a commitment. So we hit Ikea to pick up a better storage system, and then we swung by ToysRus so the kids could use there birthday, and Christmas money. We spent over an hour in the store and the kids wandered, and pondered, and dreamed big. In the end everyone got something and was very happy with it. Vicki got new Pixos, Zoe got new pets, Scarlett got the giant Tangled doll she wanted, and Tristram got a doctors outfit and a Marble thing.

The kids had a ball, and Scott and I had fun putting the Marble race together. Then we figured out it worked to well the one and off switch didn't work. It was stuck on. We quickly swapped it out and spent tonight putting together the Marble Maze. Well he put it together I bathed kids. Now everyone has enjoyed the fun of watching the marbles go all over. I think this will be a cool toy for years to come.

Great quote

2012-01-30T20:49:00.001-08:00

An old Cherokee told his grandson, "my son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all. One is evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies & ego. The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, empathy & truth" The boy thought about it and asked, "Grandfather, which wolf wins? The old man quietly replied "The one you feed"

Which one are you feeding?

Holy crap who said my baby could turn three.

2012-01-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

Well folks he has lived to be three. Yes it is very shocking. Well at least I am shocked. With the amount of activity he has. He climbs, jumps, and just does strange boy stuff. My personally favorite over this last week was him trying to stick a knife in the socket. He had managed to pull out a light plug cover and got busted by dad just before he put in the butter knife. Well he has turned three he decided he wanted plates with spongebob for his birthday. So we had some great cupcakes and opened gifts and he was happy as can be. He was so happy to have cupcakes with sponge bob. His favorite gift was the giant Buzzlight year, and all his Cars cars.

She's is eight

2012-01-28T20:49:00.000-08:00

This post is a little late but school is kicking the crap out of me. Well on the 20th my sweet little Zoe turned 8. She spent the entire month of December trying to decide what she was going to do for her birthday. She has a huge artistic ability and loves anything art. She loves to paint, color, and make anything. So for a while she thought we would do a art party then she suprised me with wanting to go to Midevil Times in Maryland. We had a small birthday party for her with family on her birthday then the next night we went and a had great time eating, and josting.

My little Zoe is sweet, spunky, creative, sensitive, shes always been different. From the day she was born the large eyes she had captivated my heart. I just love my not so little Zoe.

Things that make you go hmm

2012-01-18T22:16:00.000-08:00

Well once again I find myself going hmm. Life has gotten faster and more crazy as a late. Recently I was released from Nursery and moved to Activity Days. That I find funny who in the right mind would let me influnce the mind of girls. Mind you yes I am a girl, but I grew up with brothers, all my friends minus one were boys, and really she doesn't count cuz she's a tom boy. And yet I have been given the job of teaching and influncing young girls. Hmm

So Activiy days are two Tuesdays a month, the other two Tuesday's a month I am a girl scout leader to 10 Daisy's and 8 Brownies. Soon to be 20 Daisy's. Again sometimes I wonder at the intellgence level of letting me be in charge. Have you people not learned yet I am crazy as all get out. Apparently not it must be a secret.

You would think that would make my life enough to keep me hopping well don't forget, four kids, a household, a budget, and the DAMN homework. Yes I cussed I hate homework, my kids spend hours in school and come home for hours more homework. I miss them being kids.

Well insert weirdness number three. My professor this quarter has completely decided to change every rule tha tI am use to. I understand its there choice to make those changes but its a pain in my behind. Currently I have five assigments to get done by Saturday.

Soon I get to add 20 hours a week for my internship. Yippee kind of excited about this but terrfied at the same time.

And just for fun lets add in the last wrench in the monkey works my extended family is having serious problems. I can't talk about them but they are serious. Man is life never boring.

As a result of this lack of boring I find myself increasingly on my knees asking the lord to provide guidance for what I should be doing and where to focus my energy. I am so grateful for the many tremendous blessings in our lives. I who should know this better than most was given a very clear reminder of how quickly it can all change. Lately I have been thinking about the refiners fire, if this is whats required for me to deal with to grown and change imagine what the lord has put those great men who lead our church.

And I remind myself thank goodness I am me.

A post all its own

2012-01-18T22:05:00.001-08:00

http://merlintwizard.blogspot.com/2012/01/zzzzzzzsnort-huh-wuzzat.html

Christmas time

2011-12-29T17:59:00.000-08:00

I have a love hate relationship with Christmas. Since school for me was not out until the 17th I just felt frazzled this December. I spent the first half of the month on Scarlett's birthday, and school and after that trying to function. I might have torn my shoulder again. I really need to stop doing that it just annoys me when my body does not do what I want it to do. Who gave it permission to be dorky and fail. I mean really typing a paper makes it weak enough to tear again. Who knew. So in January I will be going to physical therapy. Yippee Skippee. I might have sent the few gifts we did out late and the Christmas cards later but it is all done. I am considering taking the tree down tomorrow.

This Christmas was made extra special. I have to say I am very sentimental I have never cared about the money spent on a gift, or if I get one at all for that matter. For me knowing the other person thought of me with a phone call, a card, or a warm smile is all I care for. This year was amazing. I got some of the most special "gifts" my family has ever been given. I won't list who, how, or what but it truly brought tears to my eyes. I am always grateful for the things I have been so richly blessed with but it was wonderful to see more amazing things than I ever thought possible. As I have watched the lord unfold his plan to me this year. His wisdom and planning astound me. I really do wonder at the amazing timing and planning of things he implores. One day when I get to have the conversation I have a lot of questions to ask.

So with out further ado enough talking and instead drooling over the super stinking cute kids I have.

Beware of the Lion he bites.

No Crayon will ever be safe again.

Pretty Hair need Pretty things.


Every girl needs a handmade Rapunzel doll.

And everyone needs lots a fish just to mess with people's heads.

Snarkisisms

2011-12-23T04:44:00.000-08:00

Yes the title of this post is not in the English dictionary. Instead it is in the Stacy version of English dictionary.

It is a blending of snarky and sarcastic which on occasion is used for Scott, or my self, when I feel particularly brilliant.

Today unwise event.

2011-12-15T15:30:00.001-08:00

If you give Tristram a box of crayons and a notebook to color in. He will drop the crayons on the floor and con his sister into picking them up. And if you take him to Little Ceasars to get pizza because you are to frazzled to do dinner while trying to type a paper. He will smile sweetly enough to get cookies out of the employees while they comment how cute he is. And I just smile sweetly and say yes he is. ~~All the while thinking thank heavens he isnt dead yet.~~

My Day Of Interesting events

2011-12-13T19:01:00.000-08:00

Today began at 5:30 am with Tristram coming to crawl in bed. With ice cold feet (from kicking off his covers) that he proceeded to stick on my stomach. He then preceed to thrash around until 7:00 am when I kicked him out of bed to snooze for ten minutes.

This ten minutes was all puncuated by screaming. Vicki screaming at Zoe, Zoe screaming at Scarlett, and Tristram chasing everyone around. This continued until every one left the house by 8:15 am. Gee I love cranky mornings. Next I attempted to get a 30 minute nap while Tristram watched Cars 2. My nap consisited of him and Isis wiggling to sit on top of me while I napped.

As soon as my so called nap ended. Tristram decided we were potty training again. This consists of us putting the potty on the main floor. Him putting on underwear and us going through several pairs of underwear. After the second set of pants getting wet we did away with them.

Then the real fun began. I started the paper work for the Girl Scout troop I run. Cookie sales start December 18th and I had to get all the paperwork properly signed and in place. This was my problem I was short four. This is when I realized that four girls were missing from my system. Apparently I screwed up somewhere and did not add them. So I spent some time getting the added. Then tracking down the cookie leader to get the paperwork I needed for them. Who know doing cookie paper work would be so complicated.

Now before I impart my story bear in mind Tristram is the youngest of four and being the youngest has learned much from his wiser older siblings. Such things he has learned use a chair/stool to get what you want if its out of reach. If you pull enough times on the fridge it will open. (where mom stashes everything he likes to munch on in the fridge, apples, oranges, yogurt etc.)

While in the middle of sorting 18 girls sets of paperwork, I hear

"Mom, I peed in the fridge"

That is a new one even for me. Sure enough I go in the kitchen and he has a apple in hand and puddle in the bottom of the fridge. As it turns out he had opened the apple drawer while sporting mater underpants and a shirt. Which were both now wet but he had his prize a apple. He did not however know what to do. So we changed his clothes cleaned up the pee, and lysoled the fridge.

After several frantic emails to get all the correct paperwork I needed. At 1:45 I finished paperwork. Whew then I remembered the rest of what I needed to do. So I snagged a friend grabbed some food because maybe I should remember to eat. Yes this is a problem I do actually forget to eat.

And pulling off the couch cover when I heard. "Mom I peed on the couch"

Then I ran to Wal-mart to grab stuff to make cookies for said Girl Scout meeting tonight. Since it was a special cermeony night. I figured I needed to make cookies and the more cookies the merrier right? After 72 cookies baking later, along with homework, and dinner. Poor Scott walked in just as I walked out.

Did my meeting it went off well I think. No one is dead yet so its good.

Then came home got Zoe and Scarlett to bed. Vicki was still doing her homework. Since the kids and I had been busy I figure what the heck I will do the dishes they are in bed. (And I needed to do the dishes to clean out the sick to get the carpet cleaner to clean the couch off, because of the I peed on the couch thing.) While doing the dishes I ran across a blue dime cuz doesn't ever one have a blue dime in the sink. Now said blue dime is stuck in the garbage disposal. Yep the dishes are done. Couch is clean. Fridge is clean, and the floor is clean.

Poor Scott now gets to take the disposal apart to get out a dime.

All I can say is what a day. And then I ask myself would I do it again?

Yes Yes I would. What can I say I like a challenge.

She's six

2011-12-12T06:46:00.000-08:00

That is right ladies and gentlemen Scarlett is now six. Wednesday the 7th was her birthday. Its hard to believe that six years ago we had just had a baby. She decided true to her nature that she was going to be stubborn and take all day to get her. Now granted that may have been due to the fact she got kicked out 2 and half weeks early. My babies tend to run big and so she got a early curtain call. She was born at 5:30 at night and 7 lbs 7 oz. My small one. From the begining she has been a spit fire. I hope it never changes. Scarlett is sweet and kind, and sassy all at the same time.

Notice the super hero wrapping paper. I blame Scott for girls who love super heros as much as princesses

No birthday would be complete with out a blue castle cake

Stupid stuff yesterday

2011-12-09T07:23:00.000-08:00

Did you know if you try to run on a deck after it has rained for a few days. Said deck will be slippery, espeically if its late at night and your dogs are barking. Said deck will be really slippery, me I fell on my behind. Good thing I have some padding. It hurts when you fall on your arse.

Lack of writting

2011-12-04T14:15:00.000-08:00

As many of you have noticed I stink at writing. It is not my strong suit. In fact its a huge weakness. The words all make sense in my head but some where between finger and keyboard it all gets confused. So for those of ~~you insane people~~ friends who read this I hope it makes sense.

Todays stupid thing I did today. Today I let my son eat five packs of fruit snacks. It was not until the end of the day that it dawned on me just how many sets he had eaten. His diaper tomorrow should be very colorful. Yippee.

2011-11-28T21:30:00.001-08:00

HA HA HA HA HA
That was me a week ago Saturday. All three girls went to a birthday party at a friends house, Tristram went down for a nap and I worked on a much needed paper while Scott was attending to other things. This was the thank you lord for this beautiful moment.

The HA HA moment came when I went to pick up the kids. As I was sitting there visiting with my friend her sons doctor office called. Doctor "Yea um that strep test we told you was negative on Thursday yea we were wrong" My kids had been there three hours. All I could do was laugh because I knew one of my kids would get it. I have petri dishes its what they are. you can even ask my pediatrician he calls them that too. Well sure enough Scarlett now has strep. Thankfully I kept all the kids home from church to prevent spreading said infection. So I am back to laughing now that only one of four kids got it. I have no idea how we scored that luckiness. Once again I am amazed at the humor in the world, the blessings and the joy from the small simple things in life. And most of all I am grateful someone else was home today to play with Tristram, means he did not color the couch again.

It's Holiday Time

2011-11-23T16:20:00.000-08:00

So as I sit here on the eve of Thanksgiving cheering because I got a 90 on the first part of my paper, I am listening to Scarlett dance around and sing
"Yes It's Holiday Time, The best time of the year" over and over again. She is so happy its the holiday and she is sharing her joyful noise. At first it was slighty annoying because it was loud then as I pondered it. I realized what I would give to go back to being a kid, and simply being joyful for the holiday.

As a adult I stress about how to pay for the holidays, and additionally this holiday my family is carrying a huge load of stress. I am clam but it does weigh on my mind, then to hear her simple joyful song about the holidays made me smile and a little teary eyed. Thinking of when I was child and what this time of year meant for my family. It gave my parents twinkle to there eyes. I never say the signs of stress just the signs of joy. It make me realize that to take a moment and celebrate cuz as Scarlett says

ITS HOLIDAY TIME, THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR.

New Ideas

2011-11-21T19:51:00.000-08:00

I have tossing around in my mind the idea of adding to my blog the daily stupid stuff I do. I do weird stuff its just how I am. so I have considered adding the daily post of stupid stuff I do. However really in my head its not stupid stuff its stupid shit I do. So in honor of stupid stuff I do day. Today's stupid thing was feeding the children cake for dinner then wondering why we had much grumpiness at bed time. well I had a meeting so Dad dealt with the grumpy children. Hmm might now have really been a bad idea on my part.

Gratitude

2011-11-19T10:51:00.000-08:00

Life is life and sometimes that means sad frustrating and lonely. When this occurs I always try to search my life for all the things I have to be thankful for. Since today was one of those days I decided to make a list and share it.

1. My dog, whom is currently curled up on my feet while I type this message. She always follows me around and reminds me I am not alone and she loves me.

2. My children, it truly amazes me that God choose to bless me with them. Each day they make me laugh, smile, cry, and sometimes swear. ( I am anything but perfect.)

3. My car, who knew I was sing the praises of a mini van. Every day when my arms are chuck full off things and I can push a button to make the door open is amazing. I am so grateful for a car that drives, and is paid for. What a tremendous blessing all of it is.

4. My washer, I am so excited I do not spend hours scrubbing a wash board. With what I have done to my shoulder that would be physically impossible to do. So instead I have the joy of the kids taking laundry up and down stairs and just moving from one washing to the dryer.

5. My toothbrush, nothing feels better than clean teeth. And I love when I use it and have no cavities.

6. Diet coke with out I would not be awake. I need sleep before I give up soda.

7. My Dad, who taught me the meaning of hard work, and endurance.

8. My Mom who taught me how to love.

9. My grandmother who continues to teach me each and every day.

10. My grandfather who makes me laugh more times than I can count.

11. My sister in law who inspires me to reach higher and higher.

12. My aunt who has spoiled my family rotten.

13. My learning, it stretches pulls and changes me. Learning makes me a better person by teaching me tolerance, and understanding.

Those are just a few of the things I am thankful for today.

1 + 1= Fun

2011-11-17T20:27:00.000-08:00

My new favorite equation
One Son

+

One Permanent Purple Marker

=

One purple arm on my couch.

Yea life's good. Someday I will find great humor in this. SOMEDAY

See a penny pick it up.

2011-11-15T19:24:00.000-08:00

Tristram is low to the ground. Being that he is close to the ground he notices thing. Yesterday he noticed a penny on the ground that he choose to pick up. This is normal he picks up pennies all the time carries them around and when we get home puts them in his penny back. So it was not suprise when he picked up a penny at ToyRus yesterday. He carried it around for the rest of the afternoon when he got home, I didn't notice him keep it. The rest of the girls got home from school and all took a break to watch cartoons.

Tristram and Blue were laying on the floor, when Blue decided to bark. Tristram stood up and started crying saying "My moufth my moufth" I asked him if he bite he cheek he said "No"

It took me 10 minutes to figure out he had swallowed a penny. During this ten minute he told me he needed to throw up. I have to say once I figured out that he had swallowed the penny I just laughed. I had made it all the way to kid number four before I had a kid swallow something.

So thank you Grandpa Frisby for this quote "He's worth more today than yesterday"

Ahh the joys of the two year old and no I did not spell things wrong he talks that way.

Let Go and Let God

2011-11-09T11:26:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite new sayings is "Let Go and Let God" it is such a simple phrase but at the same time so profound. To me this means I have to let go of the steering wheel of life and let the Lord drive. If you can imagine your self driving a car trying to avoid all the traffic in your way the idea of letting go of the steering wheel and letting someone else drive is terrifing. Well at least for me it is. I have a problem with being in control of myself.

Any one who knows me knows I am a control freak when it comes to myself. Growing up in a home where control was taken away I have issues with being in charge and controlling my own future. then when you add in I tend to be as stubborn as an Ass out there its never a good thing. Recently the saying of Let Go and Let God came into my life and its been a perfect thing for me. I say it to myself all day long. As I go to the day I remind myself to stop trying to control everything and let the lord do his part. Let him lead.

Mind you he has led in the past. Left to my own devices I would not have married when I did. My goal was to finish college at 21 then serve a mission until I was 22. After a mission it was onto to getting my masters and then my doctorate. My goal for marriage was after I was 30 and established in my own career. This was my plan. This was not gods plan.

His plan get married finish school while married. Then work on children and a family. Then work on a degree when it seems the least possible time. I have since learned his plan was better. His plan required more work and sacrifice on my part but it was better. Each morning I have the privilage of waking up and seeing my own home, my beautiful children and all that entails.

Nothing is perfect in fact many things go wrong. It is during these "wrong times" that I remind myself let go, and make sure you are letting the person who needs to drive the car drive. Yes I know I know I am 33 and a slow learner. Some of us are slower than others, or more stubborn or what ever you want to call it. But for me its perfect as I like to learn my lessons the hard way. For those of you who have already learned this lesson good job, for those of you who have not yet take my lesson and learn it earlier it is less painful. And finally for those of you who are do not like my writing please do not read it. =)

Oh Really

2011-11-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

This morning I brought the dog kennel down to the main floor so when I leave I can put Isis in it.
Tristram smiled hopped inside and said I can live in it. He closed the door behind him and has been playing in and out of it all day long. Who knew all it took to entertain my son was the dog kennel.

Customer Service

2011-11-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

Today I got a shock, well techinelly a few of them. The first was Scarlett's hamster Thor died. Scarlett saved up her own allowance to buy herself a hamster. Said hamster was purchased Oct 17th. Said hamster was dead this morning. Now Thor was purchased from PetsMart, they have a two week gaurentee so after looking at the receipt I left the body home for burial later. Since it was outside the two weeks I did not expect them to replace him.

We arrived at PetsMart and as we were looking at the Hamsters the manager approached and asked what we needed. Scarlett looked up and told him we are getting a new hamster mine died. The manager looked at me and I said she purchased him a little over two weeks ago. The manager immediately told me he would replace him. I was shocked. I apologized and told him we do not have the paperwork or the body, since it was past the two week mark I did not expect him to be replaced. The manager immediately grabbed another employee who helped Scarlett pick out the friendliest hamster I have ever seen, boxed him and we did not pay a thing for our new pet.

It's amazes me first to see someone to see my small child, second to listen to her, and third do something about it. I must say I am always grateful for those who go the extra mile.

I got it

2011-11-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

I did it. Halloween once again proved to be my lucky day. I finally managed to to contribute to Darwins theory of survival of the fittest. I killed a squirrel. So this is how it all began.

When Scott and I lived in Reston we had many Squirrel's in the neighborhood. In one tree they were a little uppity, they threw nuts at Blue every time I walked by their tree. No one believed me at first. The same tree was by the parking lot. One day a friend of mine and I were putting kids in the car. I was on one side she was on the other. All of the sudden she started yelling at me because I hit her with something. I was shocked, I asked her what was wrong to which she replied you hit me in the head with a acorn I kindly said No sweetie I told you it was the squirrels. So we got in the car and watched as they threw nuts that hit the windshield. Evil little buggers.

Fast forward two years later we move to Manassas. I discovered the squirrels here were just as evil. They ate a hole in the lid of my rubber maid trash can. Really who does that? Once again it proves that squirrels are evil. They really are what the insurance commercials show.

At this point the evil buggers, have gotten me yelled at, hit my dog in the head, and eaten a hole in my trash can. Oh yea its on. So now I try to hit them. Sadly I have been unable to trim the squirrel race. Until now.

Monday morning was a beautiful morning, I was on my way back from Harris Teeter, when I saw a squirrel start heading for the side of the car. I glanced in my side mirror just in time to see one run under the car. And felt the tell tell thump as the back tire ran it over. I looked in the review mirror to see it rolling away dead. I must say I cheered inside I had finally got one. I thinned the population.

Call me evil but I am okay with it. So Halloween my favorite holiday of the year proved to be even better by being the day of the first squirrel kill. I now need a sticker for the side of the van with a X over a squirrel body.

Ahh My Son

2011-10-27T20:36:00.000-07:00

So on Scott's birthday Tristram tried to be Superman crashed burned and ended up with 4 staples in the back of his head in his Mohawk. You might think this would slow him down. If so you would be wrong. Today we had fun just bruises instead of stitches. Thank the lord for something.
My friend and I were sitting at the table.
Tristram runs in and says "Na Na Bo Bo you cant catch me"

Then he precedes to start running away while still looking at me and runs into the wall. Which leads him to say "Ouch" Being the amazing mother I am I laughed. Yea I know I know I suck but it was funny you had to be there.

Then not 30 seconds later he runs back in and repeats the same phase with a slightly different end, this time he hit the wood banister. At least he hit the other side of his head. So when the bruises show up they will be even. This time I didn't laugh, I giggled. By now poor Vicki who is attempting to do her homework is laughing. Tristram again proceeds out of the room.

You would think he might have learned his lesson. Oh no he comes back for another round this time getting with in arm distant of me. So I might have used the empty paper towel tube on his head "To Get him" He giggled proceeded to run away with his famous "Na Na Bo Bo you cant get me"

He really should learn to look ahead.

This time he ran into the metal trash can.

So when you see him next and he had a bruise ask him if you can catch him.

Really I did leave

2011-06-22T19:06:00.000-07:00

So maybe life has been a little bit busy just maybe. I have been to Florida for school in Febrary, Dallas for school in May and I have one more intense week in August here. I have to say I love school and hate it at the same time. These past two classes have been the toughest ones yet. So far I am not dead yet. Then add into the mix four very active crazy kids. Oh and a puppy. Shes awesomely cute.

pictures to follow soon.

Tristram has survived to be 2

2011-01-23T20:12:00.000-08:00

Since it is birthday week at the Hawks household Tristram is now offically two. I am personally thought this day would never come. This boy tries to kill himself in new fun ways every day. Just last week I stopped him from putting my car keys and a sucker in the light socket. He is constantly jumping off something or climbing it and falling off it. I think he is trying to channel Uncle Ryan, Lord help us all. Since we have achieved 2 ness it was important to mark this milestone with a party and cake a kick butt cake.

Yes my friends that is a huge Spider man cake. It has Spider man spinning around the building, above Venom, Sandman, Green Goblin, with a 2 candle, and a Batman Candle. Tristram thought this was awesome. He even blew out his own candles.

He loved all of his presents his favorite part ripping open the paper.
Notice the immense concentration. Yes both of us were losing to the tape kind of sad. When all was said and done Tristram officially now has lots of boy toys. Batman toys with all the villains he can shake his tiny fist at.

Here is to hoping the child does not manage to kill himself before his next birthday.

My Peanut is 7

2011-01-23T19:55:00.001-08:00

Hey were does the time go? Apparently at the house it goes by fast. My peanut is seven. Whew I can not believe that it, seems like yesterday was a new born in the hospital holding her head up. Now Zoe is a vibrant crazy little girl. This year she choose to have a small party and a big present. She choose a leapster explorer. So being the funny parents we are. We let her open every other gift first.

Hmm what could it be?

A case .....

A Game....

A LEAPSTER EXPLORER .. .. .. .. ..

And finally a very happy Zoe.

Why am I so tired?

2011-01-21T11:12:00.000-08:00

I constantly feel tired so I have been trying different things to figure out why I am so tired. Then I remembered I am Mom which means I am tired. For example the past morning.
4:00 am Get up with Tristram spend 20 minutes trying to get him to go back to sleep before abandoning the idea and going downstairs.

4:20 am Once downstairs with one eye open fill his sippy cup with rice milk grab him a cereal bar and head to the living room.

4:35 am spend ten minutes trying to figure out what he wants to watch on the TV, The pink Panther, (Netflicks Rocks) then fall asleep on the couch. (With him sitting on my hips)

4:55 am Wake because Tristram decided to hit me in the head with his sippy cup to start the next episode of Pink Panther. Mental note remember later on why I had a black eye. Fall back asleep with Tristram still sitting on my hip.

5:05 am Wake up as the contents of my wallet are being dumped on my head. (Dang it he found my purse again). Calmly clean up the contents of my purse and get him some fruit snacks to eat. I know I am a awesome Mom.

5:20 am Smile at Scarlett and say hello as she drags her pillow, pillow pet, and blanket downstairs to join the terror already sitting on me. Watch as the two of them kick one another vying for the best spot to sit on me. Start Toy Story 3 fall back into sweet sleep.

6:30 am wake up to the two stinkers jumping on the love seat and laughing. Sit up smile and remind them that's my couch and if you jump on it you have to get off it. Zoe comes down to join the chaos. Get Zoe and Scarlett cereal bars and juice boxes.

6:45 am break up an argument about whether to watch SheRa or Pink Panther next.

7:00 am Say good morning to Vicki as she comes down give her breakfast. Head back upstairs to attempt to snooze in my own bed for 20 minutes.

7:30 am get up remind all the small kids to get dressed. (ha ha ha). Make lunches for everyone.

8:10 am hope in the shower scrub everything. Open the shower curtain to listen to Scarlett tell on Zoe. Remind Scarlett to get dressed.

8:15 am hop out of the shower remind Vicki and Zoe to head to the bus. Get dressed. :sniff sniff: ugh really Tristram poopy already. Chase down the little man wrestle him to the floor all the while hearing "No Mama No" change the stinky diaper and dress him.

8:30 am remind myself to eat breakfast while I check my email.

9:00 am send a email reminder to all the girl scout moms to turn in cookie order forms.

9:15 am get Scarlett to brush her hair and teeth.

9:30 am head out the door to a preschool field trip.

10:00 am get to field trip spend the first 15 minutes trying to get Tristram to stop screaming. Finally take him outside. Walk him till he falls a sleep.

10:15 am try to open fire house door. :crap its locked: Sit on bench outside of firehouse for 10 more minutes before someone comes along to let me in. Spend the rest of the time carrying the sleeping baby around while the fire men tell there stories.

11:00 am Tristram wakes up and we head to lunch with a friend.
1:00 pm Elementary school calls Zoe has a tempature of 102 degrees. "Okay I will be there in 20 minutes"

1:00 pm rush to get sick daughter.

Hmm no wonder I am tired. Getting to bed at 11 pm is killing me. I think I need a new job. Mom is to tiring.

Halloween

2010-11-09T18:55:00.000-08:00

So we attended the annual ward trunk or treat. Let me just say the competition for pies, chili, and costumes is fierce. For this years Halloween we choose to go with a Powerpuff girl theme.
Vicki was blossom, Zoe was Buttercup, Scarlett was Bubbles, Dad was Professor Untonium, Tristram was the Mayor, and I was the Mayors secretary.

Sadly not many people had seen the cartoon and knew who we were. Oh well.

My favorite by far is how studly little T looks. He just kills me he is so cute.

Hi

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

Well what can I say I am a slacker. I have been a little bit busy lately. Here is a short list.

School school and more school for me. Believe it or not the last few classes have been kicking my butt reading two hundred pages a week of technical stuff makes me nutty.

Figuring out Tristram is lactose intolerant the hard way.

Getting the girls to school each day. Believe it or not Vicki is finally starting to get up in the morning with out fighting me.

Trying to make Tristram understand he does not need to get up until after 6 am. These four am mornings are killing me.

Doing all the normal stuff from six people laundry, dishes, cleaning, cooking, and possibly trying to take care of myself.

I managed to make three Halloween costumes, and we threw a fun party.

Whew I am pretty sure its nap time already.

And last but not least working on getting rid of the extra fluff in my stomach. I am not pregnant just carrying my extra food storage in my stomach. Scarlett keeps asking though.

What ever happened to a free education.

2010-08-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

Now the last time I checked we lived in a country where the education is supposed to be free. Apparently that does not include the school supply list. Let me just say this years school supply list was crazy. My first grader Zoe needs 24 glue sticks. I have been trying to figure out what she is going to do with 24 glue sticks. Considering the school year is only 9 months and even if she uses two a month that's only 18. So the conclusion I am going with is they are eating them. Apparently since they do not have snack time they are going to eat the glue sticks. Mhh what did your Mommy pack your for snack today? Cookies and milk, well my mommy forgot I guess I will have to eat glue sticks instead. Now just for clarification purposes my fourth grader only needed 8 I guess she does not get to eat hers.

For poor Vicki I need 6 folders and matching notebooks in specific colors. Well I could not find the stinking orange one so I might have just bought the yellow one for 15 cents and colored it with a red marker and called it orange. They can adjust. Oh wait did I say that out loud.

Now my favorite part was Zoe need crayons for first grade but only a 8 count no more, and two boxes. Well the 8 count box was three bucks and the 24 count crayons was 15 cents so she got two boxes and they can throw out the rest of the crayons I don't care. So just for fun here are the lists for the two of them.

Zoes

First Grade

Please provide the following for your child:

1 complete change of clothes, in a bag, labeled with the student's name
1 standard, large size bookbag labeled with the student's name (no wheels)
1 plastic school box
1 package of dry erase markers
1 pair of Friskars blunt scissors
24 small glue sticks
20 sharpened, yellow #2 pencils
3 plastic plain folders, without brads
2 boxes of crayons with the eight basic colors. No more than 8 in a box.
2 rolls of paper towels
1 one-inch three ring binder
2 boxes of tissues
2 large bottles of hand sanitizer
2 large pink erasers
6 tab dividers
1 box of zip lock bags (girls - quart, boys - gallon)

Vicki's

Fourth Grade

2 packs of loose leaf paper - wide ruled *

erasers*

2 boxes/ packs of number 2 pencils (NO mechanical pencils)

8 glue sticks*

2 pair of scissors*

2-4 yellow highlighters*

2 in. binder

2 fun folders (can have designs) for music and homework

6 pocket folders and spiral notebooks (Plain--NO designs)

Red, blue, yellow, green, orange, black

Pocket folders need to be durable

Folders and notebooks NEED to match to help students with organization for all of their classes

1 ruler

Colored pencils*

Crayons *

Dry erase Markers*

2 boxes of tissues

1 roll of paper towel

1 bottle of hand sanitizer (8oz or more)

1 pack of multiplication flash cards (can be found at Walmart or Dollar tree)

3-holed pocket pouch for inside binder

3" X 5" index cards

gallon, quart, or sandwich size plastic bags

1 change of clothes in case of emergency (to be kept in their backpack)

*Students will share these supplies with the classroom!

Let me know what you list was.

New Color

2010-08-19T17:42:00.001-07:00

Last week I had the wonderful pleasure of having my hair done by Austin at Ingrids in Herdon. Oh my gosh it was so wonderful to be spoiled. Scott has been bugging me to get my colored hair back. I really dislike my boring hair so here is a new picture.

Shower adventures

2010-08-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning I got in the shower as I climbed out and was drying off, I heard the knock knock at the door. In walked Scarlett (looking rather guilty).
Me " Hi Scarlett whats going on?"

Scarlett:" Tristram and Zoe are locked in the dog kennel."

Me: "Oh well how did they get there?"

Scarlett: "I did it, and I can't get it open"

(Insert laughter now)

While keeping a straight face I managed to wake Vicki up to go downstairs and let her siblings out of the kennel, thus allowing myself to get dressed. It never stops amazing me at the things my kids do.

Fourth of July

2010-07-06T07:47:00.000-07:00

Now I know this is late but that is my life now. I have to accept I am now several days late in everything and dollars short.

Oh well. As I think on the fourth of July I think about all the men and women who have served for us. I think about all the people who have died doing what needs to be done to ensure our freedom. From the earliest settlers who came on a boat to America, to those who stood up and said taxation with out representation is wrong.

I wonder am I teaching my children what the founding fathers fought for? Am I teaching them what the lord wants them to know for the coming years? I have to say I have no idea most days I think I fall very short of what they need to know. But I am trying to teach them care for one another, bear one another's burdens. Yell less laugh more. And above all else love one another. Love is what truly brings us together.

Vicki's perfect score

2010-06-21T11:04:00.000-07:00

Last week was a very busy week. On Monday they did an award ceremony for 3 and 4th graders. Vicki got several awards, she received principals list, good citizenship, and she also got two perfect scores on her SOL's.

I was tremendously shocked my kid got a perfect score on Math, and Social Studies. Woohoo can you hear the angles singing? I sure can. For those of you who do not know my math skills leave a little bit to be desired. Basically I am terrible at Math. So hooray we got the rest of her SOL's on Friday and she only missed one on the other tests. I have to say I am very excited for her. She is a pretty awesome kid.

Zoe's Kindergarten Graduation

2010-06-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

So this last week Zoe graduated from kindergarten, and is no officially on her way to first grade. Here are a couple of pictures.

Kindergarton has been a huge growing period for Zoe she is now more outgoing and friendly. She has been a great helper, and now talks more than ever. It is amazing to watch her grown and change. We just love this cute crazy kid.

12 is a big number

2010-06-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

So Sunday was Scott's and my 12 anniversary. To me 12 really is not that big of a number. My grandparents are celebrating 57 this year. Now THAT IS A NUMBER.

Well we did what we like to do and went to dinner Saturday night. We went to the Melting Pot one of my favorite places to eat. We were seating and the waitress asked if we were celebrating anything special. We said yes our anniversary. She then asked "how long have you been married."

(Silence can you hear the crickets chirping?)

Waitress" Wow that is a long time."

Hmm never thought of it as a long time. When you hit 20 sure that's a long time 30, 40, 50, 60 those are a long time but 12?

So happy anniversary to the best man in the world. I love being married to you.

3 sure fire ways to give your mother heart failure

2010-06-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

Step 1. Play outside in the woods

Step 2. Step two get into poison ivy

Step 3. Have a strong reaction to it.

Thursday after noon while shopping at Walmart. I hear the wonderful music of Harry Potter check my phone and see Weems elementary. Hmm never a good sign when the school calls. The conversation went something like this

" Hi this is the nurse from Weems Vicki has hives all over her face. "

crap that does not sound good.

"Okay I will be there in 15 minutes."

Then I brilliantly hung up and called the doctors office.

"How much benedryl can I safely pump my daughter full of?"

During which time it occurred to me school gets out at 3:45 I am not just going to pick up Vicki and then come back thirty minutes later to get Zoe that's dumb. So I smartly called the school back to ask for both kids.

Walked into the school dumbed benadryl down Vicki's throat and headed home. As the night wore on the hives got worse. So by bedtime most of her face was one big red hive. After paging the doctor on call to see if this warranted a ER visit. (I hate the ER visits) we nicely were told no.

Best part went to see the doctor this morning. Wow he says it looks like you are having quite a reaction to some type of skin irritation. Mostly likely poison ivy, or it could be a virus causing hives. After careful examination of Vicki and her hive of hives he determine it was just a reaction to the poison ivy and wrote us a script for some oral steroids. Magically after her first dose several hours later only about three quarters of her face is red as a tomato and the strips on her arms are looking a little less red. So hopefully in the next few days everything will clear up.

Saddest of all today was the one day the kid wanted to' go to school because they got to play games all day since SOL's are done. The one day she could not go.

Geekling

2010-06-04T07:23:00.000-07:00

So I am pretty sure we are raising little geeklings. This mornings conversation with Zoe. The radio was playing in the background during breakfast.

Zoe: Mom that song on the radio is probably how they came up with the Dr. Who theme.

Me: You are probably right there Zoe. (In the back of my head I was thinking hmm she recognizes the Dr. Who theme Scott is going to laugh his pants off.)

Yea my children know the Dr. Who theme. Apparently we are raising the next generation of geeks.

Bad Mommy

2010-05-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

This afternoon the kids and I got home from church had lunch with Dad when he got home then just hung out for a while. After a couple of hours a friend of Scott's and mine came over to hang out. We pulled out a new game we like to play called Ticket to Ride. While playing said game I managed to take over a train route Vicki wanted, and immediately "Damn it" popped out.

Now you may be thinking where could this sweet Innocent child have learned such a offensive saying? School, Jon Miya (inside joke), Dad, all of that would be wrong no the culprit would be me. Growing up my Dad tended to use expletives when painful things happened, hitting his thumb with a hammer, dropping a heavy car part on some body part. You get the idea. Well I have adopted that habit and while I have cut down tremendously I do tend to say it when I hurt myself. Knowing how clumsy I am that is often. So sadly now I have taught it to my daughter. After a conversation of we do not say that word to Vicki and explanation as to why I now have no one to blame but myself.

I hate it when I teach my kids bad habits. Ugh I guess I need a new saying.

Birthday Moments

2010-05-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

Vicki turned nine May 7th now I know its a little past that date but school has been busy. As she is the oldest she tends to get a immense amount of responsibility put on her skinny shoulders. So this year for her party we might have spoiled her. Ahh what is a party for if not to spoil your kids and make them feel loved. We had cupcakes with our gaming group on her actual birthday then a water party outside the next day for her friends. The end result was fun. And here now are nine reasons why she I love her.
1. She loves to read. She is just like me in that she will stay up all night reading with a book. Once she starts reading its really hard to put it down.
2. Her smile. I love her smile it is so pretty.
3. She plays, she loves to get silly and just play and have fun with out worrying about anything else.
4. Vicki is very kind.
5. She watches out for others.6. She sleeps like the dead. Once that kid is out she is out she can sleep through the baby crying even if he is in the same room as her. (sometimes I covet this)
7. She loves Dr. Who ( I love my little nerdy daughter.)
8. She is not afraid to be who she is no matter what anyone else says.
9. She is left handed. (Its just awesome).

Hi, its been a while.

2010-05-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

Yes I really am here. I just ran away to live in Hawaii on a nice warm beach. Hmm that might just be in my head. In real life I just started a brutal hard class that is kicking my behind. So hopefully in another five weeks if I manage to pass the thing then I will be back in action until then good luck.

Hmm again

2010-03-29T17:35:00.000-07:00

Well Zoe did it again. What you may ask? She cut her hair again. On Monday she got home from school walked in the door and I said who cut your hair. She immedately clammed up and would not tell me. After much time spent on her bed, she finally told Vicki she had done it. Okay this is the second time what do you do for the second time around?

Throw out all the scissors?

Which as you many of you know is really not very effective. So after much thought a friend of mine came up with the idea to let her wear her hair like that for a week, then make her pay to have it cut.

It turns out she wanted short hair but did not think to just ask me for a hair cut. I told her if you want short hair simply tell me but do not cut it yourself.

So today we finally went and got her hair cut. It is cute but I am so sad I miss her long hair. Oh well its her head I should just be glad she did not shave it.

Autism

2010-03-26T17:45:00.000-07:00

Two very good friends of mine both have children with Autism. April is Autism month. Here is a link to one of my friends posts.

http://travandmel.blogspot.com/2010/03/here-it-comes.html

Go and learn more about Autism.

Rub a dub dub

2010-03-06T21:45:00.000-08:00

Rub A Dub Dub

Three Men in a Tub

Or in our case, one very cute little man.

Amazing

2010-03-03T16:31:00.000-08:00

So for those of you who do not know this Scott was laid off Jan 1st. It was our choice thankfully. We spent a lot of time, praying and fasting before we took the lay off package AOL was offering. Talk about scared out of my mind. This rates up their with having a baby, moving, and getting married. I dislike change, it makes me crazy. (Well I might be crazy on my own). On top of all of this life is still moving forward, I am still going to school, the kids still have needs that are their and I still need to be the sane Mommy. Ugh can't I just have a nervous break down?

Well we moved on ward. Scott began to apply for jobs. I can not express how proud I am of him. He is so smart and he applied and applied and after much stress and heartache he found a job. HOORRAY angels singing party stomping job. He is very happy with his new job, and I held up my end of the bargain and he got his new baby. A big TV.

Now for the amazing part. The lords blessing, during this time of stress he blessed us with a record breaking snow storm. This was a wonderful blessing in that Scott was able to stay home and just be with the family. We were able to be together, to laugh, to have fun, and enjoy each other. Those are some of the most special memories just reconnecting as a family with no distractions. People think I am crazy but I would happily take another 30 inches and a week away from the world.

The lord bless us in so many simple ways every day. Its only whether we choose to see it or not. No matter how bad things are their is always something good. So the moral of the story is trust the lord apparently I needed that lesson again. Knowing me I will need it several more times too.

Thump

2010-02-09T20:57:00.000-08:00

Ever hear the "THUMP" ? The thump that you hear when your child's head connects with some object that is going to cause pain. Well today after a awesome day of sleeping in, and having Chick-Fil-A breakfast sup rise dropped off. Well poor Zoe Had one of those experiences. She had gone down stairs to go to the bathroom and upon coming upstairs she managed to slam her head into the corner of the wall. I heard the thump and knew it was not good. She came up to me and snuggled we got an ice pack and she seemed okay. Scott snuggled her and I headed upstairs to get something. At which point I heard her start crying and Scott holier to come downstairs. Well the poor kid had in fact split part of her scalp open. (Insert the crap crap crap running through my head) I knew at that point that she would need stitches or staples. Ugh I really didn't want to go to the ER. But off we went (Thank you Susannah for keeping the rest). Sure enough she did need staples 2 to close it.

You can sort of see the wound here

And now two staples

So thank you for all the nice ER staff, Susannah, and Katie who took care of kids and helped us.

Oh and thank you snow storm for canceling school for an entire week off school, both the past weekend storm and the new one tonight. I am happy to have her home with us until the staples are taken out.

Tristram's 1st Birthday

2010-02-06T22:21:00.000-08:00

Tristram's 1st birthday was Jan 22. My little man turned one. Its amazing to think this time last year we had a baby and now we have a little boy who walks and is busy as can be. Following in the tradition I made his first birthday cake, it was a monkey.

Zoe's 6th birthday

2010-02-06T22:07:00.000-08:00

Well, my Zoe has turned six. We had a great time. We had a party at McDonald's the weekend before and then on her actual birthday we had cupcakes at her girl scout bridging ceremony.

Zoe becoming a offical Daisy GirlScout.

Catch up.

2010-02-06T21:54:00.001-08:00

Well I am have been slacking a little bit I managed to not post for quite a while. So lets start with today. Shock of all shock we have snow. A lot of snow. WOOOHOOO I love snow. I even loved this much snow. My body is paying for it since then, that is a lot of shoveling.

The missing snow man?

The deck notice the lack of stairs

This would be the snow man that the girls made earlier in the week. Currently its buried outside.

My Mantra

2010-01-20T19:29:00.000-08:00

This should be my mantra. I wonder how much I can charge Scott now if I ask him questions


A psychiatrist is a fellow who asks you a lot of expensive questions your wife
asks for nothing.



Joey Adams

hmm moments

2010-01-06T13:48:00.000-08:00

So i am not quite sure what to do with my husband. Due to the snow storm, then vacation, then a lay off. Scott has almost been home for three weeks now. It is weird. We spent the two weeks off with the kids just enjoying one another now I am making him do projects. Well more like asking him. Its kind of fun. Its like back to the days when he worked three days and then had four days off. It is odd.

Christmas in Washington

2009-12-27T11:41:00.000-08:00

So there is a song that plays out here on the radio called "It's Christmas Eve in Washington" it gets stuck in my head often and I wander around humming it. Normally this annoys me to no ends well this year it did not. This year Christmas was a little different for us.

No do not get me wrong the children still got presents, we talked about the reason for this season, the birth of our savior. But this year was a little sweeter. As we enjoy our every expanding family. It was a blessing to just watch the kids enjoy the lights, the snow that made christmas break longer. The presents they recieved and the ones they gave.

I am truely am in stunned silence at the blessings the lord heaps on it. I am shocked and amazed at the amount of love he shows for us and how much we can show for our fellow men. With that being said I made a promise to myself to work harder this year to keep the spirit all year long.

Her are a few of my favorite pictures.

Pampered pooch

2009-12-21T05:14:00.000-08:00

Well poor Blue our dog has also experienced the joys of snow. I had to shovel him a walk way he could not get down the deck stairs to the back yard to go to the bathroom the snow was up to his chest.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

2009-12-21T05:01:00.000-08:00

So we had a "little storm" it started snowing friday night around nine pm. We left our friends in Leesburg after awesome chinese food at 10pm. By then it was only a skiff of snow. No big deal it should have taken us half an hour to fortyfive minutes to get home. We got home at 12:35 am. It continued to snow until some time between saturday night and sunday morning. We got at least 20 inches.

This was the first part of shovelling around nine am saturday morning.

Then after a hour of shoveling I gave up to go back in side I came back around three pm to take another crack at it.

Dad and Bit T standing by his car.

She's Four

2009-12-16T19:05:00.000-08:00

Scarlett turned four December 7th. My little red, my spitefire, my little angel is now four. Hmm where did the time go. She has been a handful from the day she was placed in my arms but I would not trade her for anything. So here is four things I love about my little Scarlett

1. She knows her own mind. It amazes me that a little girl as young as she is knows what she wants and what she does not want I pray she always will.
2. She can be the sweetest loving angel in the world. She is gives the best squeezes.
3. Her love for candy. She has the most amazing radar if there is any candy with in a 50 foot radius she will find it and ask for it.
4. She loves to sing. Scarlett is constantly making up random songs or just singing for the joy of singing. I love to listen to her.

For her birthday we did a party the Saturday before and then on her birthday we took her to chucky cheese for pizza and cake. Chucky even brought it out and sang happy birthday to her. Such a cutie.

Where or where has my life gone?

2009-12-16T18:57:00.000-08:00

So as you can tell by my post I might be feeling a little guilty that I have not blogged in a while. Okay its been almost a month that is more than a little while. So lets play catch up.
First off I had a freakish long and boring paper due last Friday. 20 pages is long for me, as I hate writing papers. Its done I got a decent grade and thanks to Scott I might have actually sounded smartter than the average bear.
" Hey Bobo lets go swipe a picnic basket"
Between Scott and myself I might have even pulled a A out of the class. I largely disliked that class it was awful. I understand the purpose of it but frankly it was a big waste of my time. Can I say I am done done done done done done. HOOORAAAY lets have the parade.

So hopefully now I will have my life back for a while.

Oh who am I kidding I am parent I don't own my life LOL I just drive the bus.

Really AGAIN

2009-11-17T16:28:00.000-08:00

So Scott and the baby were not feeling great on Saturday and in turn did not go to church on Sunday. By Monday Scott seemed to be doing worse and baby better. I made a doctors appointment for him because in my eyes it seems like he has been sick more in the past six months than he has been in the past few years.

He did not agree with me on going until he started wheezing last night.

Well the verdict from the doctor is in. A ear infection and a brochtits. hmm feeling a little guilt here since I haven't been as nice as I could be. I have a hard time when Scott is sick the other worker bee is missing.

So sadly he is sick again poor guy. At least I am fully armed with chicken noodle soup.

Thank you Campbell's and progresso

Quote of the day

2009-11-07T21:10:00.001-08:00

"If you sometimes get discouraged, consider this fellow. He dropped out of grade school. Ran a country store. Went broke. Took 15 years to pay off his bills. Took a wife. Unhappy marriage. Ran for House. Lost twice. Ran for Senate. Lost twice. Delivered speech that became a classic. Audience indifferent. Attacked daily by the press and despised by half the country. Despite all this, imagine how many people all over the world have been inspired by this awkward, rumpled, brooding man who signed his name simply, A. Lincoln." (Wall Street Journal.) 'It is important to know, when you feel down, that many others do also and that their circumstances are generally much worse than yours. And it's important to know that when one of us is down, it becomes the obligation of his friends to give him a lift. I hope that each of us will cultivate a sensitivity toward the feelings of others, and when encouragement is needed, make an effort to extend it. Be a friend, and you will have a friend. God be thanked for wonderful friends.'
--Gordon B. Hinckley, "Strengthening Each Other," Ensign, Feb. 1985, 3

Halloween 09

2009-11-04T12:19:00.000-08:00

So I know this is going to be a shock for everyone who knows me but this Halloween I just could not quite get into the Halloween Spirit.

I am not quite sure what did it for me the Swine flu at the first of the month.

The family in town (Which I loved)

The crazy professor I currently have or just feeling like I have to much to do and not enough time to do anything effective.

Well that being said we had a great Halloween idea and then the dreaded SWINE FLU hit and well we changed it so for Halloween Scott and I became Dr and Mrs. Hawks and all the little kids became piggys that can fly. Get it Swine Flu? Beuler, Beuler?

So here are the pictures.

And yes the baby boy is in pink.

Miracles

2009-10-22T07:24:00.000-07:00

No from the title of this post you probably wont think its a miracle but to me it is. Scott's car passed emissions. Ha ha two more years. We love Scott's car he has had it 12 years and every time it passes inspection and emissions I call it a miracle. Most years it fails and we have to fix something and the fixing costs anywhere form 200 to 1000 dollars so the fact it was only 77 was amazing. It just shows what happens when you pay your tithing you are blessed. Payed my tithing on Sunday and what a immense blessing on Tuesday. We are hoping his car lasts another 2 years until the van is paid for. One car payment at a time in our home. SO HOOORAAY and thank you Heavenly Father for a wonderful blessing.

Scarlett

2009-10-14T18:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday while the baby was taking a nap Scarlett comes into the kitchen and tells me.
"He's not a baby."

"What you mean your brother is not a baby?"

"Yes, we need a new baby. "

"Why do we need a new baby?"

"Because he is a boy not a girl Mom."

"Well honey you know we get what Heavenly Father sends us, Mommy does not get to choose. What happens if we have another baby and it is a boy not a girl?"

"Then you just have to have another one Mom and that will be a girl."

Un huh thanks for sharing Scarlett you know your brother is only 8 months old. I am sorry at this point honey you are not getting another sibling unless something magical intervenes. Crazy kid. I do however love the way her mind works its very logical.

Doing things different

2009-10-10T19:42:00.000-07:00

So Scott and I do things different from time to time. One of those different things is that when I open a container of baby food with a alummin seal I only open half of it and leave the seal half on. Mostly that is because I am so busy and it takes time to rip the other half of the seal off throw it in the trash and then still manage to keep everyone from fussing in the process.

This bugs Scott and he teases me about it every time I do it. Well tonight was a little different. tonight it was the sour cream container. I took most of the seal off but did not take it all off because then I had no where to put it and currently could not reach the trash can. Well when I handed Scott said offensive container he commented that I hadn't removed the seal and I said of course not I could not reach the trash can. Next I waited for a snarky remark. What I did not expect was said remark to come out of Vicki's mouth.

She pips up very cynical "what's wrong Mom are you hurt are you dying can't you do it yourself." Much laughter ensued at this point. Then I reminded Vicki that it was not okay to talk that way to me. Scott of course informed her that yes we do not talk to mom that way it is not respectful. It was then at that point she apologized and it made me wonder. Just how much that kid picks up. It is kind of scary how smart she really is.

New Dinner Idea

2009-10-09T07:23:00.001-07:00

So in a effort to teach our children more about the gospel. I have been trying to incorporate chances for knowledge about the church into our daily lives. So after a awesome dinner last night provided by Jamie. (Thank you Jamie that was awesome and I really needed it.) I read the kids a lesson from the Friend magazine. Can I just pause to say how much I love the friend and wished we had done a subscription sooner. The story was about a girl who did not like a new neighbor across the street and how her mother challenged her to pray for this girl for five days. The end of the story is that the girl understood her neighbor more and learned to love her.

This made me think how many people in my own life I need to pray for so that I can learn to love them. I have to say apparently the lessons I teach my children are not always for them but more for me. Most of the time I learn when I am trying to teach that it is me who learns not the kids. I am always grateful for the little ways in which our father in heaven chooses to take care of my family and myself.

So I challenge all of those people out there who read this take a minute and at dinner tonight or tomorrow night teach a lesson on something be you old or small take the chance at the dinner table to think yourself and gets others to think. Imagine if just for one meal every one taught about love what a great power it would be.

ACK Germs Germs beware.

2009-10-08T12:11:00.000-07:00

So apparently we signed on board to get sick kids. Two out of the four are sick. I am hoping it will soon be over. So I decided to make a list of things I am thankful for.

1. Tylenol and Motrin (They are awesome fever reducers.)

2. The baby is not sick. Nothing stinks worse than a sick infant.

3. Modern Health Care.

4. Scott's boss who lets him work from home. That has been a huge blessing.

5. TV and Movies with out which I would not have gotten anything done.

6. Beautiful weather to keep me cheerful.

7. Computers Farmville has been my sanity. (5 minutes of mommy time)

8. My stock pile of water, crackers, medicine and juice boxes. (Thank you Heavenly father for that inspiration).

9. The Scriptures and Ensign (They help my temper on a daily basis.)

10. And last but not least I am so grateful I am not sick. Most likely this will continue until everyone else is healthy and I am just fine with that.

Ahh the joys of winter and elementary school. I think after this though our children are banned from most all activities outside our house. I am done with outside germs.

Murphy wins.

2009-10-02T13:51:00.000-07:00

We have some family coming in today so I have been working on a little bit of rearranging to make things flow smoothly. Well I have been rearranging and decluttering since we got home in August but that's another story. I finally managed yesterday to get Tristram and Scarlett's room clean and organized. Since little T was on the floor I could not carry the boxes down the stairs that needed to be moved to the basement. No big deal I piled them in the hallway and just waited for nap time. Nap time appeared at two yesterday. I laid the sleeping baby down in his crib tucked him in closed the door and headed to my room to pick up some clothes for the wash as soon as I got there the doorbell rang. Which in turn made the dog bark and both woke up the baby.

I grabbed little T headed down stairs to see the neighbor standing on the porch with a little Yorkie dog. She had found it in the park and thought I might know who it belonged to. I thought it might belong to one neighbor it did not but I finally managed to find the owner today. So needless to say I didn't get the boxes moved.

Today I get the baby down close the door and the door bell is rung AGAIN this time its the UPS man to doorbell ditched which meant he rang it and left. No could he have just left the package on the door step like he has done every other time we get a UPS package oh no he rings the stinking door bell. And it was of course just enough of a nap to make the baby super grouchy but not enough to allow him to go back to sleep.

I give up. I think I might just rip out the door bell and put a shock collar on the dog then maybe the baby can sleep and I can get something done.

PS for those coming to my house sorry for the mess and the chaos its always like this.

Happy Birthday

2009-09-20T18:37:00.000-07:00

On Thursday this week Scott turned 34. It was a great day he went to work and then we had a great dinner with Susannah and Art at Bilbo Baggins. Scott will have to blog more about it as currently the baby is screaming and I can not think.

Dora Songs

2009-09-10T09:14:00.000-07:00

For those of you with toddlers and have seen Dora the Explorer. I currently have the we did it song stuck in my head. As a update to yesterday's post Zoe did it. She went to school, and best of all had a great day she come home happy as can be.

Not to say she wasn't tired and a little done with people but she did and had a great day. Now for Mommy to go catch a nap someone decided they should both get up and play at 5:30 am and while that would normally be fine not when I went to sleep around midnight. I have a class to go to tonight for neighborhood watch and I think I might need to be awake enough to pay attention.

I am thinking they might not appreciate me snoring in the back, and as tired as I am no amount of coke would help.

Kindergarten Ack!!

2009-09-09T06:55:00.000-07:00

Okay the day finally arrived that we have spent two years preparing for. Zoe went to Kindergarten. Since Zoe is our shy child we did two years of preschool with her in order to prepare her for the all day kindergarten. I am not ready for her to leave but she sure was. She walked to the bus stop with Vicki, Scarlett, myself, and little T. Vicki informed me you do not have to walk us there mom. Un huh sorry Vicki I am walking you to the bus stop. So here is a picture of Zoe in her cute back to school dress she choose herself.

It's the first day of third grade.

2009-09-08T17:22:00.000-07:00

Well they day I have dreaded all summer is finally here. School started today for Vicki. I know many parents cheer this day but for me it was really sad. I do not like getting up early if I do not have to, and most of all I like having my daughter around. As I watch her grow and change each day I am constantly reminded of how little time I have left with them. And how little influence I have left over them. Take for example school shopping. Vicki had a very definite opinion about what she wanted for the first day of school. We searched many stores until she found this and even after she found it we had to search a few more then come back to it.

The Universe heard

2009-09-02T07:08:00.000-07:00

It is a amazing day I only had my sleep disturbed twice last night woohoo.

Check please I would like a nap.

2009-09-01T13:25:00.000-07:00

The last week has just been awful. I am exhausted. I have had two little ones that just won't sleep. It was going great for a while but the past three nights now Scarlett and Tristram have alternated who was up and trying to sleep or eat in my bed. Now this would not be so bad if I still drank caffeine I would just pop another diet coke. But for the most part other than a few times I have not really been drinking the stuff. So in order to keep myself busy and manage to not fall asleep during the day I have been seeing how much stuff I could do. Lets just say its been a lot.

The plus side though is my house is cleaner. I even managed to steam clean the stairs that have been bothering me for weeks. Let me tell you that was nasty. I also managed to get rid of the DVD cases along with some broken baskets and some more living reorganization and general getting rid of to much junk. Its been quite nice. Hopefully we can get the two of them back to where they were. Scarlett sleeping through the night and little T only getting up at midnight and four am. Those days were much nicer.

Motherhood.

2009-08-31T08:53:00.001-07:00

Scott sent me this quote it made me all teary eyed so I have to share.

"Motherhood is the one thing in all the world which most truly exemplifies the God-given virtues of creating and sacrificing. The mother who, in compliance with eternal law, brings into the world an immortal spirit occupies first rank in the realm of creation."
--Gospel Ideals, "Respect for Mothers and Their Divine Role",

Joslyn's Bows

2009-08-30T12:06:00.000-07:00

I very rarely like to plug things but a very good friend of mine just started this site and ask I have lots of little girls will be getting a few of my own so I have to pass it on.

http://www.myribbons.blogspot.com/

Go Joslyn I hope you reach your goal soon.

Half Monkey Half little boy

2009-08-27T18:55:00.000-07:00

Well I have called Tristram a little monkey before. A great past time of his when he is sitting on my hip is to stick his little monkey toes in my front and back pockets of my pants and hang out. He reached a new level on monkey height last night. He managed to get out of his crib.

This morning at six thirty am I woke to the words. "Mommy Tristram is on the floor out of his bed." (Thank you Scarlett) Those words will immediately make you jump out of bed as visions of your hurt baby boy run through your head. When I got to his room sure enough he was on the floor on his stomach and not moving. When I scooped him up. I realized he wasn't moving because he was asleep. After worrying Scott and making sure he was in fact okay.

Thank you Scott for dropping the crib all the way to the bottom, and I spent an hour putting him in his bed and sitting across the room to see if he would try to climb out again.

Apparently he really is half monkey and half little boy. I think we are in trouble with this one.

A yea he is a boy

2009-08-26T06:55:00.000-07:00

So last night I was a slacker and did not clean the baby toys up from the living room. Well the kids brought down their purple light saber. This morning while I was putting on shoes on every one Tristram skips all of his cool baby toys scattered all over and heads straight for the light saber which he proceeds to chew on the end of it.

Hmm can you tell he is is fathers son, and yea he is a boy skips all the little people instead takes the weapon. He came that way I sure have not taught him weapons are cool.

Sweet Snuggle Time

2009-08-22T18:25:00.000-07:00

Well I have finally reached crazy well I was already crazy but now I am really crazy. The past month, I have ignored more things that need to be done to simply stop and snuggled my babies. I am not ready for them to go to school The summer has flown by to fast and I can not get enough time of snuggling them. Nor am I ready to send two out the door all day long. I fear what will happen to my precious little bundles of joy. (It doesn't matter that Vicki has shot up to my arm pit in height) Sheesh when did that happen. The last time I looked they were Trstram's size and snuggling me. I am half tempted to go steal him out of his crib to snuggle him some more while I have the chance.

Ahh I am a crazy and a sap but oh well.

Kid Logic

2009-08-22T17:50:00.000-07:00

Tonight I took Scarlett with me to pick up a few needed groceries and a prescription. We took the mini van and Scarlett was fishing around in the back seat while I was trying to buckle her. I asked her what she was doing and she said. Finding the remote for the DVD. I told her the DVD Is already playing sweetie.

"I know I want it on headphones"

I said you do not have any headphones right now and would not be able to hear. She looked at me and smiled and said"Its okay I don't need them"

Hmm okay I still haven't figured out how she was going to listen to a movie with out headphones but I turned it on headphones and turned off the sound and she was happy as a clam.

Maybe she should have been born in the age of silent movies?

Vacation or will it be

2009-08-07T16:36:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here worrying cuz well that is what I do best. We are heading for the beach next week. And well anytime we go on vacation someone must get sick. The first time we went to Disney world Vicki got pneumonia, when we went to Utah last month. Zoe had this nasty cough that proceed to run to through the rest of the family. Well I have tried to be careful this week and keep our contact with sick people to a minimum.

The universe hate me I got a phone call this morning. The friends my kids played with yesterday now have a son sick with the runs. Do not get me wrong I feel sorry for him. But I am just now worrying am I going to be dealing with this in three or four days. And do I want to be with a baby in tow. Hopefully the universe will see fit to let me sit this one out.

Nuts

2009-08-05T14:24:00.000-07:00

Just a few minutes ago I was pulling bowls out of the cupboard. The entire stack of bowls came crashing down into the dishwasher. And the dog who was quietly drinking his water next to the dish washer jumped.

Zoe brilliant pipes up "That scared the nuts right off him " (Referring to the dog)

Out of the mouth of babes. So apparently it was the dishwasher not the vet that neutered the dog. =)

Home again Home again

2009-08-03T06:57:00.001-07:00

Now I know I got home last Monday but the last bag is unpacked and put away so I am officially home. (That is until Sunday when we leave again.) I must say I am grateful to the fates or whatever you want to call them. When it comes to pleasure flying I have terrible luck. Either going out or coming back something bad will happen. I think my Dad passed on his bad luck personally.

Well this time I was smart since I was flying back alone and the flight out was so awesome, I expected something bad to happen. We boarded our six am flight in Utah. Yes I really left Utah at six am with four little kids. We were able to board and take off with no problem. After about half an hour in the air. The pilot came on the radio to let us know that Houston airport was having some storm issues. Then he came on again half and hour before we landed letting us know that the Houston airport was closed and we would have a half an hour wait. (No big deal 2 hour layover).

In that two hour delay they changed the gate three times and only had one potty open at the other end of the terminal. But they had the blessed golden arches and my children were much appeased. Then we boarded the plane on 30 minutes late sat on the run away for another 45 minutes and in the end were only 2 hours late getting home. And this time no one lost my car seats or my luggage so hooray. Oh the joys of my traveling.

We survived

2009-07-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

So its been almost a month I know I am a slacker. Scott is back in Virginia resting after I made him run around like a chicken with his head cut off. We have been to Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

It has been a blast I think the high light of the trip so far was watching a coyote eat a squirrel just out side our camp. Go COYOTE ( I hate squirrels.)

I would have brought it home to live if I could have. Scott has a picture with his cell phone with the coyote it has a squirrel tail hanging out of its mouth. I think that is a much more effective way to rid a area of squirrel as opposed to a sling shot.

The sling shot might be more fun.

Tomorrow I will post pictures from our many adventures.

Life outside the ghetto

2009-06-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

For those of you who haven't heard Melanie Hobbs talk, we live in the ghetto. Its quite funny. That being said, Saturday was my anniversary with Scott. We have been married 11 years. So we packed up the little man and went to our favorite anniversary hang out, the melting pot. Mhh writing this is making me drool. Really, the food is good. We had been seated and I was not really paying attention to who else was seated around us, the booth walls are tall. I stood up to trade places with Scott to feed the little man, and who do I spy? My ghetto buddy Melanie! I of course had to say hello. They were hanging out with the Burddicks and company. Who knew we would both escape on the same night?

Scott and I had a great dinner, even if it was a little interrupted. Poor Tristram was not quite up to the partying, but it was awesomely fun. Cheese and Chocolate, what more could a girl want? Oh, and great entertainment. I will post about that tomorrow.

RIP the toys

2009-06-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

Since being on the board of the HOA I have learned many things. One of those things was that our playground equipment was not up to code. Hmm never a good thing it leaves the association liable if something happens. It was decided to take down the old equipment and put in new stuff. Since it is zoned as a Tot lot we have to put in commercial grade stuff. It is very pricey. Since the HOA's budget is tight like everyone Else's the home owners were charged with taking it down. It was fun. Every once in a while destruction is just fun. I remember why my children like to destroy things. However that being said Daddy is now paying for it today. Below is a picture mid way through of watching Scott trash the playground. He had the help of two chain saws. ( We have the best friends. So boys who loaned them what do you want cookies or dinner? You saved us hours with a ratchet.)

Day out

2009-06-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

Today was a wonderful day. Vicki spent time earlier this year selling girl scout cookies for her trip. If they sold enough cookies they were going to get to ride in a limo then see a movie at the movie theater.

When this was first arranged it was all supposed to take place on Saturday. To do it the girls needed to sell 112 boxes Vicki managed to sell over 250 go Vicki. We helped her a little bit but most all of it she made the phone calls. (We freaked a ton of people.)

Well due to the movie release date being changed, and then problems scheduling the event ended up occurring on a Sunday. We do not do stuff on Sunday that spend money or required others to work unless emergency services.

After we told Vicki what happened she choose not to go. HUGE SMILES on the inside from Scott and I but large sadness for her. A friend of mine came up with a solution. She would take all the kids (even the baby) and we could take Vicki to DC for just some one one on time.

Well needless to say we did that on Monday. Scott took the day off work, we pulled Vicki out of school (evil parents that we are) and we all drove to DC.

It was a awesome day. Vicki had some much fun. We went to the American History Museum and the Natural History Museum it was so nice to actually read the different information with out chasing a toddler. It was so much fun eating lunch with her and just letting her be the focus of the day.

A great lesson for her and great fun for us.

This is not LOGANS

2009-05-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

So this morning I was greated by the secene below at the kitchen table.

Yes those are peanut shells on the floor. Monday night as a treat we took the kids to Logans. It is a steak house where you can get peanuts in the shell eat the peanuts and throw the shells on the floor. Scarlett thinks this is the greatest thing ever. We mistakenly let her bring home some peanuts which she ate this morning and dumped the shells on the floor. Ugh at Logans the waiter comes around to sweep up the shells.

Oh waiter you missed a spot at my house. Bugger where is that darn waiter.

Bad and Good Mojo collide

2009-05-19T19:06:00.000-07:00

So for those of you who do know. A friend of ours car was hit by a drunk driver on a Saturday afternoon two weeks ago while we were watching star trek. That is Jon's Mojo right there. The universe hates Jon. And yes I mean that strong of a word HATES JON. When ever bad things can happen they will happen to Jon.

That being sad I generally have decent luck, some good some bad it just depends on the day. So Jon's car ended up being totaled that is Jon's bad luck, now here is where my MOJO comes in he received more from his car that he was expecting. HA HA my good luck kicked in. I am taking credit for this on the basis that his car was hit while at my house. I also take credit for the good MOJO that he was not in said car when it was crunched.

Mostly I just like to tell myself delusions. Shhss though the voices in my head should not hear such things =)

Is it nap time yet?

2009-05-14T06:59:00.000-07:00

So lately I have been "burning the candle at both ends as my grandparents say" I have not been sleeping and I am pretty sure its caught up to me. To many late night movies in the past week. Star Trek twice, Taken, and several shows that were ending. I think its time to blow out the candle.

Zoe and Sister Walton

2009-05-11T17:25:00.000-07:00

Today my friend Sister Walton drove Zoe to preschool for me. Here is the conversation that follows.
Zoe " Sister Walton how many kids do you have?"
SW "How many do you think I have?"
Z "Hmm I dont know?"
SW"I have six."
Z"Wow that is a lot."
SW"How many kids do you have?"
Z"Um I dont know. There is Vicki, Zoe, Scarlett and Baby Tristram."
SW"How many is that?"
Z"I dont know."
SW"You have four kids in your family."
Z"Wow that's alot."

Yes Zoe we do have a lot. That kid just cracks me up. I love it when they discover the simple things in our lives like yes we have four kids. (By the way for those of you who do not know this Sister Walton and I hang out a lot. Zoe knows how many kids there are her family she just did not connect it.)

Economy part 2

2009-05-11T17:03:00.000-07:00

Well after seeing such a fancy car at Walmart I had to call my grandparents who live their and let them laugh about it too. Well they called me yesterday.

In the west where I grew up is a store called ShopKo. ShopKo is like Kmart and Walmart they were picking up prescriptions and upon leaving they say a Rolls Royce in the parking lot. The best part my grandmother said she had to go touch it since that is the closest she would ever get to one.

Mom's blessings

2009-05-10T20:10:00.000-07:00

Today has been a intresting day for me. Personally I struggle with Mother's Day due to my own personal issues. Normally I celebrate mothers day by staying home from church getting six desserts from La Madeline, while I eat those I shoot at squirrels with my wrist rocket. You would amazed at how fun gobstopers can be. So breaking from my tradition hold your breath I went to church. I brought bagels and I refused to be a grouch.

The kids had a great day, they sang in church, and Vicki gave a excellent talk. This evening we were able to have a BBQ by a friend it was great, I did not have to cook, and I had bagels from Panera for breakfast. I picked it up yesterday. =)

The morale of the story I can be kind on mothers day.

Cupcake fun

2009-05-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

Today is Vicki's birthday and she wanted to take cup cakes to school. Now being the lazy um I mean busy mom I am. I thought this year I would just buy some. I was on my way to costco yesterday, and thought they should have them. Well they do have them but they are the same size as their huge muffins. Um I think my daughters teaching might kill me if I brought her 30 kids that much sugar.

So instead we popped by walmart to finish birthday shopping, grabbed two cakes mixes, frosting and headed home. We made 40 cupcakes frosted them all added sprinkles and even found a box for all 30 last night. Woohoo go Mom and small helpers.

Since I had to be at the school today anyway to take all the stuff for staff appreciation lunch I told Vicki I would bring them rather than risk them riding the bus. Five minutes before walking out the door. Zoe was playing with Tristram and managed redecorate the front living room floor with cupcakes.

So now we have 30 blue cupcakes at home and they have 30 store bought ones from Giant. Secretly I think Zoe was just trying for a way to keep all the cupcakes here. She is one smart cookie.

Happy Birthday Vicki

2009-05-07T08:58:00.000-07:00

8 years ago on this day. Scotty and I were wandering the halls of fair oaks hospital waiting for the birth of our sweet Vicki. She was born at 9:30 at night. She was 8 lbs 10 oz and 21 and 1/2 inches and has been a blessing ever since.

8 things I admire about my daughter.
1. Her joy. She is a happy kid.
2. Her love for reading. She gets so sucked in a bomb could go off and she would miss it.
3. Her kindness. She takes the time to make sure everyone has fun.
4. Her ability to see past appearances.
5. Her laugh.
6. Her crazy dancing.
7. Her ability to stick to the rules.
8. Her memory. I wish mine was as good as hers is.

Happy Birthday Vicki.

Enconomy

2009-05-06T12:17:00.000-07:00

Today I saw proof that the economy is bad. A rolls Royce pulled into the Walmart parking lot.

Why parents drink

2009-05-05T10:08:00.000-07:00

my niece sent me this. Enjoy the smile it brings

Why Parents Drink

A father passing by his son's bedroom was astonished to see that his bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then he saw an
Envelope, propped up prominently on the pillow that was addressed to 'Dad.'

With the worst premonition he opened the envelope

with trembling hands and read the letter.

Dear Dad:

It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you.

I have been finding real passion with Stacy and she is so nice.

But I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercing, tattoos, tight motorcycle clothes and the fact that she is much older than I am. But it' s not only the passion....Dad she's pregnant.

Stacy said that we will be very happy.

She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. We share a dream of having many more children.

Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone.
We'll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with the other people that live nearby for cocaine and ecstasy.

In the meantime we will pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so

Stacy can get better.. She deserves it.

Don't worry Dad. I'm 15 and I know how to take care of myself.

Someday I'm sure that we will be back to visit so that you can

get to know your grandchildren.

Love, Your Son John

PS. Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at Tommy's house.

I Just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than a Report card That's in my center desk drawer.

I love you.

Call me when it's safe to come home.

I love grocery shopping

2009-05-04T17:26:00.000-07:00

So I know this sounds weird but I really like grocery shopping. Well I like it the way I do it. Today was different than my normal routine of grocery shopping I went in the evening with Scott and all the kids instead of during the day with just Scarlett and Tristram.

Today I spent 52.89 and I saved 105.23 hee hee I love shopping.

Ack run for the hills

2009-05-03T19:38:00.000-07:00

So this past week has been, well to say this nicely busy. (What I really mean is I felt like a crazy women.) So yesterday was supposed to be Vicki's PTO spring carnival. This brings in all the money next years PTO uses to get the year going. Well I stressed all this week getting things done, and then what does it do it rains. So it had to be postponed for two weeks.

I can't decide if it is a good thing or a bad thing. It is good because now we can sell tickets for two more weeks. It is bad because it is not done. Personally I just want it done. Now instead I get to keep running around like a weird chicken for two more weeks.

Stick a fork in me I am done. Hmm any one up for fried chicken?

Scarlettism

2009-05-02T21:04:00.000-07:00

Scarlett has a great new saying this week. She gets a huge grin on her face jumps up and down and says "Jesus is our brother" I have to say she is right and if only we could remember that and be just as happy as she is.

My hat is off to her primary teacher for sharing that with her.

Dandelions

2009-04-22T19:40:00.001-07:00

So you may be wondering what a picture of Scarlett holding Dandelions is for. Well yesterday I felt inspired to get the oil changed in the minivan. We do it at the dealership because its free. Well luckily I followed that. So while they were doing the oil change I took Scarlett, Zoe, and the baby outside for some fresh air. While they were doing the oil change the deal noticed the water pump was failing and leaking fluid. It had almost drained all of the water.

Well last night we had plans to meet a friend we hadn't seen in years. He was working in Maryland two and half hours away. Guessing from the upset at the dealership my van caused its a good thing we didn't take the drive before hand. Can you imagine getting stuck on 495 with four small children. Hooray for the wonderful blessings of the lord and some time picking Dandelions.

And best of all the got the car fixed fast enough I was able to drop off the rental minivan and take mine to Maryland and back. I really really like the DVD player in the car its nice. I know I am very very spoiled. I am always grateful for things but days like yesterday make me even more grateful.