Questionaire..

Okay so I was thinking I needed to post, but kinda in a "Blah" mood... I was sitting in front of my computer when I saw that Trina had responded to my earlier IM...We chatted a bit and then I told her I was have bloggers block..hehe and she told me to do the questionnaire. After we settled what she was talking about and how to get this to my blog, w/o creating writers cramp, I began the survey. So not that any of you are wring your hands in anticipation, but here goes.....

1. What is your occupation?
I am an adoring housewife...and loving mother..dramatic much??

2. What color are your socks right now?
I'm not wearing any..I almost NEVER DO!!

3. What are you listening to right now?
Not a thing

4. What was the last thing that you ate?
Sour Cream and onion chips

5. Can you drive a stick shift?
You know it

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Green...I am just crazy about green..now.

7. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
My dad

8. Do you like the person who sent this to you?
Well no one sent this to me, I just kinda stole it from her and YES I like her Very Much!!

9. How old are you today?
30!!

10. Favorite drink?
Dr. Pepper...but Vanilla Chai is a close second

11. What is your favorite sport to watch?
College Basketball, the pros are just boring...nobody plays DEFENSE!!

12. Have you ever dyed your hair?
Highlights..does that count??

13. Pets?
Yes, we had a dog named Joey, but he ran off about 6 days ago so now we only have Copper..and yes, Trina, we manage to throw a scrap out every now and then..hehe

14. Favorite food?
Mexican food !!..Yummmmmmy!!

15. What was the last movie you watched?
The Guardian..it was sooo sad!!!


16. What was the last book you read?
From cover to cover..Hank the Cowdog...nightly ritual with the boys.

17. What do you do to vent anger?
Unfortunately..Yell at first then calm down in seconds and continue to speak in a "loud voice"..lol

18. What was your favourite toy as a child?
Probably my Softball glove..that was one thing I was always gonna grab in case of a fire!!


19. What is your favourite, fall or spring?
Love spring...Softball and Baseball

20. Hugs or kisses?
Depends on who is giving them

21. Cherries or blueberries?
CHERRIES!!!!! All time favorie!!

22. Do you want your friends to leave comments?
Most Definitely

23. Who is the most likely to comment?
Trina.. at least she better..lol

24. Who is least likely to comment?
My Dad or Grandparents.... love you guys!!

25. Living arrangements?
What do you mean?? Like am I married..Yes!!

26. When was the last time you cried?
At a funeral..2 weeks ago

27. What's on the floor of your closet?
My INFAMOUS sock basket, and a shoe rack filled with shoes

28. Who is the friend you have had the longest?
AMY!!!!!! I love you girlie!! I was gonna put you on the least likely to comment, but you did comment ONCE so that was enough to put you out of the running..hehe

29. What did you do last night?
Went and watched Jake and Jarred play their baseball games

30. Favorite smells?
Fruit smells..we are talking lotions right??

31. What inspires you?
When I see someone living the faith with their whole heart

32. What are you afraid of?
Not serving God to the best of my ability

33. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers?
Cheese

34. Favourite dog breed?
I guess I like Labs...we have 2.. kinda

35. Number of keys on your key ring?
2

36. Number of years at current job?
Well we have been married 9 yrs and a mommy for 8

37. Favourite day of the week?
Saturday..

38. How many states/countries have you lived in?
5..New York, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and now Washington!!

39. Favourite holidays?
Christmas..I just like to shop, and I love to see the kids faces on Christmas morning!!

40. Ever driven a Motorcycle or heavy machinery?
Does a 4 wheeler count?? If so yes..I crashed it into a parked car!

Okay well those are the results people...So let me know if you take this little survey to heart and decide to live life on the wild side and answer these mere 40 questions..I'd love to see your answers..no really I would..I would!!!

She's 2!! It's Party Central at this House!!

So yesterday was Hailey's big birthday bash. However it turned out not so big because most that were invited became sick. I thought about postponing her party, but really our lives are always on the run in the Spring, so I figured lets just have it.
It turned out great and she of course was unaware of those who couldn't come. I mean at the ripe ole age of 2 as long as mommy and daddy are there, all is right in the world..hehe
We had a Dora the Explorer party and boy was she EXCITED.
The boys of course had practices before the party and so I knew I would be running late, lesson learned from Monday, and so I started decorating before we left. I pulled her Dora table cloth out and she gasped with excitement. I then started decorating the table with plates and such and she planted her little self in her booster chair to enjoy the show. She of course was jabbering the whole time about her "Dora" and "Boots" this and "Swiper" that..it was very cute. I had wrapped her presents in the living room and when she finally got down from the table and walked in to the room she was so happy and starting saying, "my pasents..my pasents."
However we had to go and she was not happy about all the temptation that I had set in front of her and I had not allowed her to open or play with...I did however give in and let her take a balloon, so that seemed to pacifier her and off we went to practices.
So it was finally party time and when the guests finally arrived we got down to business...
Here are a few pics of the night:



She is posing proudly with her "Dora" cake.....


Hailey and her bubbas


The whole crew...Quite a bit smaller than normal. However, we did manage to snag a rare pic of Zach(our nephew, the oldest boy) in her party pic....That was a treat!!


So we sang our Happy Birthday song as she stood there coyly..but she couldn't figure out what we meant by,"blow out the candle." Here is Jake trying to help her with that little task.....


This was her first present to open..as you can see by the expression on her face she was quite excited..this is what I was referring to by gasping earlier in the post....



Many, many of her gifts went along with the Dora theme and that made this 2 yr. old little girl VERY happy!!


She is proudly displaying her new Diego figure..again with the theme....


This is a little picture I snapped after everyone had left. Here she is just sitting back and enjoying her new Dora chair.....

I can't believe that she is already 2!!! It seems like just yesterday that I was still swaddling her in her blankets and playing the guessing game when she cried..and now she is running around laughing, playing, and communicating like a little person..Time is flying by and I don't want to miss a thing!!!
Happy Birthday Hailey!!
We Love YOU!!!

Crazy Monday..aka Birthday Party!!

I woke up this morning with a plan..I knew it was gonna be a busy day, but I THOUGHT I had it totally under control. Boy was I wrong!! Let me set the stage...
I woke up and got Jake off to school....Took a shower and got ready. Woke Jarred up for school and he was GRRRRUMPPPPY!! We had that little battle this morning and even though we both got over it fairly quickly, it still wasn't fun. I took Jarred to school and then decided to go see a sick sister in our church. I am so bad about going to see about the sick sometimes, that I thought since she was on my mind I better go. I left her house after about an hour or so and went back to get Jarred. We got home and I was starting to get the house picked up for Jake's Birthday party and my phone rings. It is a friend of mine giving me some crazy news . I made a few quick phone calls concerning this news and needed to leave immediately to run a few errands for her. I got back a few hours later, fed the kids and laid Hailey down for her nap. Then I started back to the house cleaning....Jake came home from school and of course wanted a snack. I then helped him with his home work, and remembered that I needed to make cupcakes for the party.( I bought a small cake, but we normally have a big crowd so I thought I would add some cupcakes to the menu. Boy am I glad I did..I made 24 and by the end of the night I had 1 left..hehe) I barely finished making the cupcakes only to drag Hailey out of her nap to take Jake and Jarred to baseball practice.

Well as I was at the first practice I remembered that tonight was a PTA meeting. I haven't been able to make a lot of meetings, and so the president stopped me the other day and said they really need to beef up attendance....this means,

Hello loser mommy, Don't you care about your kids school and helping with the progress to make it better?? Okay got the picture....

Rusty just arrived at the field and so I dashed off to that little meeting with only minutes before it started. The meeting lasted about an hour and it was now 6:55 and the party started at 7:30. I made a quick stop at the ball field and picked up Hailey. I then ran by the store for the cake and ice cream, ran home and started the decorating. LUCKILY one of my nephews was early and was at my house waiting on me and we went to work. Thank you Scott!! So 7:30 rolled around and the guests started to arrive. I then sneaked off to wrap the remaining presents and walked out of my room to a house FULL of company.

IT'S PARTY TIME and all systems were a go......

Everything went smoothly besides the fact that I had 13 children jumping on our trampoline and screaming their heads off..I'm sure my neighbor loved me last night..hehe.

At about 9:00 pm most of them started calling it a night. Jake of course was totally bummed and was asking for it (the party) to last longer. I explained that it was a school night and everyone was tired....most of all ME!! Whew!

Here are a few pics from the big shin-dig:

Here is a picture of Jake and his cake..as you will notice I had to DRAAAAAG a smile out of him all night..hehe


Here is a pic of the whole crew...not many girls, but the screams that were coming from the trampoline, you would have thought that it was an 8 yr. old GIRL party, not an 8yr. old boy party.. They all have quite the set of lungs.



Of coursed I missed the actual blowing out of the candle..No surprise there..lol



This was one of the best smiles he had all night...sigh.


So the pattern continues of the "forced smile." This one I thought for sure I could capture a great pic...He was begging us for this bat all weekend. I was like:

"Okay smile Jake....No, smile I said......Jake SMILE!!" And this is what I got..hehe

Well there you have it, another birthday down. I still can't believe that I have an 8yr. old!!!

Happy Birthday Jake!!
We Love YOU!!!

A Shopping We Will Go...

Jake's birthday is Monday and Hailey's is Thursday of this coming week and as of today we still didn't have 1 single present for either of them. Oh sure I have some ideas but that is about as far as they got..ideas. So I convinced Rusty to come and take the family and spend our Saturday..shopping. Well I set this word apart because if any of you know my dear hubby than you know that shopping is almost a dirty word in his mind. He really wants no part of it and it normally it takes an act of Congress to get him to go, but today I was in luck. He went without kicking and screaming!!! A few sighs and head in the hands moments, but no actual words of protest came out of his mouth, so I showed no mercy and we went..hehe.
The day went pretty smoothly with the exception of constantly dividing up to sneak off to buy Jake's present..Hailey is much easier at age 1 turning 2. We could actually put the toy in the basket and sometimes let her hold it without any of the surprise being given away. Jake on the other hand is a little sharper than her and well I got to be honest I am thankful for that..LOL, but it does make present shopping more interesting. Of course we also had Jarred with us who kept ''whispering" about Jake's gift to us when Jake was around so we were constantly dodging that bullet.
However Rusty and I put our heads together and figured out a way to out-smart our little one and at the same time also manged to dash every hope he had that he just KNEW what he was getting. You know we pulled the whole: I'm so confused, what do you want again bit, and well I need to talk to Dad about it, and are you SURE you want THAT?...We pulled out all the stops to make sure he would be surprised on Monday.
Because that is what good parents do right...lie to their kids?? LOL No, I'm just kidding, in our defense there was no actually lies being told, just a little harmless trickery. So with our mission accomplished, and Rusty's threshold for shopping getting weaker and weaker, we feed the troops and started on on journey home.
On the 1 hr car ride home Rusty and I found ourselves chuckling to each on Jake's behalf. I know I have spoken before about how he is our "question man", but let me give you an example of why I have attached his name to this label. This rapid fire came at us and let me just say, the next one was coming as soon as the previous was answered...I left out our answers in fear that I might get writers cramp from all the he said I saids...Here we go.......
"Mom, who ate the most in the car today?"
"Did you see that I ate all my baked potato?"
"Mom, who ate the 2nd most in the car today?"
"Did you guys buy me any presents today?"
"Did you guys buy me a pocket knife?"
"Dad, Do killer whales eat penguins?"
"Mom, so if 2 killer whales were together do you think they would fight over a penguin?"
"Who is older Grandpa Phil or Grandma Betty?"
After this final answer Rusty and I started laughing and Jake said,
"What?"
Rusty said, "You never stop asking questions..I think you think out loud."
And with that Jake said, "Yeah I guess I do." That even brought him a good laugh.
We LOVE our Jake and we know his questions are just a small part of what makes him who he is. Although there are times that I have had to stop him in mid-question to tell him I need a break. I know it is just his curious mind working overtime and that even though I might complain once in a while, I love his thirst for knowledge. We are so blessed to have him and our other two children, we am truly indebted to the Lord..in so many ways.

Happy Easter!!

Well not to go against my character I am late to display me Easter pics...very typical if you know in "real" life. Now I not the crazy late person who EVERYONE is always waiting, but just a few minutes..It is still a flaw of mine and I do try to work on it, I'm just not very good at it yet.
Anyway, back to Easter..the kids had a good day. They woke up to Easter baskets from the Easter Bunny. They seemed to enjoy the new findings. Here are a few pics of them and their baskets..

As you can see she is very happy about her little Dora action figure.....


She is showing off her new baby bottle...she loves her babies!
This was the best pose I could get out of Jake..the I only smile because you are making me look..hehe


Jarred posing proudly for me....


After modeling time was over we scurried around to get ready for church and I prepared for the potluck that we were having after meeting. We had a good meeting and heard some great things. After church all the women assembled down in the kitchen to put the finishing touches on the dinners and we soon began to eat.
Then it was time for the egg hunt. We have 4 different age groups and they go from 1-12. The children all seem to enjoy this tradition, well expect for one child...Jarred. This little boy tries my patience sometimes...For some crazy reason he has the constant need to WIN and I mean WIN everything!! Now Rusty and I are competitive people for the most part and in our younger years we were even on the edge of extreme. However since we have gotten older and have realized that we have little eyes and ears everywhere we have toned down our levels alot and are careful and try not to demonstrate this behavior in front of the kids. But we are human and we still have flaws..like I said earlier..hehe. Now let me clarify a bit about Jarred and tell you that he is not a mean winner..he won't cheat or tease if he wins. Most of the time he will even share his winnings with others, but in order for his little life to be complete he NEEDS to win. Now this in very UNACCEPTABLE!! This makes Rusty and I very concerned and we have had many, many "winning isn't everything" speeches, but they don't always seem to get through...sigh. However, this doesn't discourage us from continuing to explain to him that being a good loser is just as important as being a good winner. This lesson will be learned I am sure of it, but it might be a very painful lesson for little Mr. Jarred. I know if we must stay consistent with our teachings for the scripture says ( and I'm not quoting)that train up a child in the way they shall go and they will never depart and I don't only believe in that , but I'm counting on it. Mommy and Daddy will survive this little stage and Jarred will too....I hope..hehe
Now back to the hunt....
Here are a few pics of the kids looking for the eggs and such......


I forgot to take a pic of her and the boys in their Easter Best before we left, Can you believe what a bad mommy I am?? So I had to crop this pic so I could have one of her standing still in her pretty little Easter dress.....


She really got the hang of putting the eggs in her little basket....


Jarred was helping little sister gather the eggs....


Here is Jarred running to find the silver egg..which he did not find..hence the drama of losing.....


The search continues......


There were only 2 kids in Jake's group so needless to say he found TONS of goodies.....


Feeling no pressure and happy with his little basket, he plays it cool as some of his friends are giving him a hard time about the "challenge" of it all....



All in all it seemed to be a fun, but busy day and I hope you all had a great weekend as well!!
Happy Easter everyone!!

The Nominations Are In!!

Well Guess what ??? I have been nominated for a blog award, well two actually!! SOO sweet and really I know it sounds very "night at the Oscars" but it is just a privilege to be nominated, because really people the odds of me winning are slim to none, but it is fun to pretend.....
So here is my speech.. Clearing throat....

JUST KIDDING!!!

No really, it is very exciting !! Not to mention that it is a cute idea and I'm sure the people who put this together put a lot of time and hard work into it. So if any of you have the time you should just check out their site and while you are there cast a vote..or two.



And just in case any of you were wondering what categories that I was nominated for I'll give you a heads up and tell ya...I mean just in case you were wondering..wink, wink..hehe

Drum roll please.........

Best Blog Design
and
Best Variety

So there you have it...These categories are linked to the site. Good Luck to all that was nominated and may the best blog win!!

Making Her Momma Proud......

Warning: The following material might not be suitable for the sophisticated or the squeamish .....Still here? Okay I gave you a shot......LOL

So I know this is coming on the cusp of my issues with the lack of people teaching their children social skills, but in my defense you should remember that my last thought was that my children would probably become social misfits because of my stance on the subject. I mean isn't that what always happens?? You give your two cents about something and then turn around and something similar comes your way, now how you deal with that situation is the true test.
So enough with the build up....
I was just wanting to share with everyone that I believe I have a professional nose picker on my hands!! Exciting isn't it?? Now this is a very special trait that my dear daughter has received because it is not the ordinary run of the mill, pick your OWN nose in public dysfunction. Oh no, it is unique because she will recognize that one of her brothers may need some assistance in this area and be more than happy to help.
I discovered this beautiful act the other morning when she was in bed with me and Jarred woke up and crawled in bed with us. Now Jarred was all sleepy and was trying to cuddle up with me and Hailey who had been up for at least an hour was feeling happy that her bubba was now awake to entertain her. She of course lunged over me and went to hug him. When she pulled back she was looking at his face and jabbering away to him like the conversation was possibly going to be mutual and continue. She stopped in her mid-babble and said, actually pretty clear,
"Mooooom, Darra a booooger!!" (That is what she calls him, Darra, it took us awhile to distinguish between Jarred and Dora..hehe)
I replied, "Jarred has a booger?"
She said, "Yeah, I get it."
And with that she stuck her little finger into Jarred's nose and fished that baby out. Jarred was quite a good sport about it all. She was very proud of her accomplishment and then tried to show me while shoving it in my face. The whole time repeating "Shooweeehh, Shooweeehh."
So now every time she is up close and personal with ANYONE you can tell she is looking at your nose and if you have anything in there, well she will help you out with that little problem. So just a little heads up when it comes of this booger seeking baby because although I do tend to teach her disquisition, I can't make any promises for this 1 almost 2 yr.old child.
Hey I look at it this way....She will make a good mommy someday, because picking someone else's nose is only part of the job description..............

Social Skills.......

Social Skills... What are they and do people not teach them to their kids anymore?? Isn't staring STILL impolite?? Okay so I know I probably sound like some old lady who should be starting my sentence with, "Back in my day..." But really people, what is the deal. Now of course I am not speaking to any of my dear bloggin buddies..hehe or really I'm not even speaking to anybody in particular except for the man and his 3 children who sat next to me at lunch today.......
So today my children and I venture off to a town about 1 hr. away to do a little shopping. I needed to get Hailey an Easter Dress, plus Jake and Hailey's B-day is coming up and I like to take them to the toy section so they can give me some ideas. Anyhoo...We stopped at my kiddos favorite place for lunch..Wendys. I know it is weird, there is no play ground there, but my boys are all about the food and they love Wendy's chicken nuggets. So I get my kids set in a booth/table and we are all settled in and begin eating.
This man and his 3 kids comes in about half way through our meal and they sit down at the table adjacent to us. So 2 of his children's backs were to us, but the way this Wendy's dining area is designed the back of their booth was the side of our booth....can ya picture it? If not, sorry, I'm sure some of you are like what in the world is she describing..lol Bottom line, we were crazy close to each other...really, closer than 2 separate families opt be to each other.
So my kids and I were chatting away with each other when I feel these eyes on me. I look up and both children are turned completely around in the seats and staring at us. I would say these kids were like maybe 7 and like 9 or so, I mean we are not talking babies here. Now the dad hadn't sat down yet so I'm not thinking too much about it and I smile at them (in which I didn't get response, not even a smile back) and continue on with my meal, trying to focus on Jake's millionth question.
But the staring doesn't stop. The dad soon sits down and I'm thinking finally, but..nothing. He does nothing!! I mean I'm not talking about the occasional glance here. I'm talking full blown turn around in their chairs, hand on the the back of the booth, eating their cheeseburgers as they are mesmerised by my little family. I feel like maybe I was unwillingly entering a staring contest and I kept losing and they were wanting a constant rematch!!
It was out of control and the Dad was in his own little world and I was thinking..."HELLLLLLLLO?????"
I mean my kids were talking about the toys they got in their little meals and they were looking down at the toys as if my children were speaking to them. I was just waiting for one of them to join our conversation, they might as well have they were basically sitting on our laps. It was so crazy!! I left the restaurant laughing to myself and making a major mental note...
Social Skills are a must and staring is a major No-No...plus children who stare kinda creep me out!!...LOL
Watch, I just sealed my children's fate as SOCIAL MISFITS!!


BTW.... I want to thank ALL of you for your kind words after my last post. Everyone was soooooo sweet and thoughtful. It really warms my heart that some took the time to say little prayers on my behalf..I am truly BLESSED!!!