I did it!!

You know those days when you have soooo much to do you don't know how you are going to get it all done so you actually start un-planning things?? That was me today; however; I actually did everything I had planned...INCLUDING BLOG!!!! I only felt slightly crazy this afternoon when the kids were asking me for everything at the same time. "Can I have a fruit snack? Can I have one? I want one too!!! Are we going to the princess party? What time is the princess party? We're not going??...Can I go with somebody else's mom then?" Oh man!! You moms out there know exactly the situation I'm talking about! But it turned out to be a very productive day, and I'm ok...and so are my kids.
I have really missed blogging and reading everyone's blogs. I see people out-and-about and I feel so disconnected. I don't know what has been happening, and it's sad!! I've realized I don't only read people's blogs because I'm bored and have nothing better to do...I actually care about your lives and how you all are!!!! I've missed you guys, and am excited to reconnect!
The last three weeks have been full of awesome times and good fun, but I have no pictures to show for it. Sadly, I lost my camera in FL at my friend's wedding, but my sister has most of the pictures on her camera and someday I'll get them from her. Anywho...I had a great time with my family and some really old friends. The wedding was perfect, and the bride was one of the most beautiful brides I've ever seen. I love you Kory! I rode back to Larghetto (Largo) from Jacksonville with my sister which is a 4 hour drive. Luckily, she had 6 packs of those Harry Potter Jelly Bellys so we kept ourselves busy coming up with really really nasty combinations; rotten egg and sardine, rotten egg and vomit, pepper and soap. It was so much fun, but it made for really interesting smelling poop the next day. I know that is gross, but it was so amazing to me. If you haven't ever tasted those Jelly Bellys they have them at the World Market. Go get a few boxes and have some fun!! Just don't plan on being around anyone for the next few hours because your farts smell funny too. I'm sorry, but it is the craziest thing when your farts and poop smell like Jelly Belly flavors. (I want to delete all that, but I just can't. It's so true!!)
AJ just turned 3 on Sunday. He wanted a Bat-man cake, so I did the bat symbol. It looked really cool when I cut the cake into that symbol, but then with the frosting I'm not so sure...Luckily, we didn't have a camera so there are no pictures of it, but unfortunately we don't have any pictures of AJ turning 3. But I was there and it did happen and he was so excited to wake up to Batman all over the kitchen; balloons, tablecloth, danglie things (I don't know what you call them), Batman wrapping paper. He loved it. Julie and the kids came over to help us celebrate. Nice and simple. I'm so thankful for that kid. He is so much fun, and tries so hard at life. What I mean is, anything new or challenging or fascinating to him he just tries so hard to experience it and master it. Like dribbling a basketball before he can really talk, and when he does start to talk he practices saying everything he hears. He is turning out to be such a little joke-ster too, and loves to say, "I'm just kiddin." It seems so much has happened in the first 3 years of his life that it has just flown by. "MAKE IT STOP GOING SO FAST!!!"
Well that is enough for me tonight. I have to ease back into blogging. I'm going to go read all your blogs now until I can't see straight. I have so much more to write about...another time.

He-Man

I guess I'm not fighting with my almost 3-year-old enough this morning because he has been arguing with me by himself for almost an hour. "No Mom. I don't want to. No Mom. I don't want to clean up. No." Then I hear a "Yes." "No Mom." Then he picks up a fake phone and starts arguing with me on the fake phone. "No!!! I don't want to Mom!!" Sometimes he's a lot madder than others and uses his low growl voice. "I don't want to." And then it happened. What he'd been practicing for all morning. I said to him, "AJ...It's time to go pick up Daddy. Turn off the TV and get your jacket." "No Mom. I don't want to." I knew better than to say yes because I knew what he would say. So I said, "Please." "Ok Mom." I think the "please" threw him off, and I had to laugh about the whole exchange. Here is a video of him with his He-Man sword. He loves He-Man and askes me to say this whole thing to him before he goes to sleep. What a fun kid.

We had a great day yesterday celebrating Garret's birthday. As a mom I feel he got shafted on the birthday party, but he was the happiest kid in the world! He loves dinosaurs so we told him he could choose two friends to go to the Museum of Ancient Life (a.k.a. the dinosaur museum). He chose his cousin Abe and his friend Elliot. It was Garret's first time to go to the museum and all the kids had a great time. Here are some pictures:

Valentine's Days past...

Let's start with some pictures shall we. Valentine's Day.

That is Cora's box. Looking at it now, I think I'll let her do her own next year.

This is usually what I have for the kids when they wake up in the morning, but the weather and roads were so bad last night I couldn't go to the store. So they had this when they got home from school. We also had heart shaped pizza and a big heart cookie for desert.

Began today with shoveling. My neighbor shoveled the driveway last night, but then 5 more inches fell on it so I had to do it again this morning. My back patio, however, didn't get shoveled until today and it took multiple times for me to get it this much done. See the different colors in the concrete. Each lift of the shovel was like 20 pounds. There was so much snow!!!

I had some time to think today- as I shoveled the 1 ft. of snow off my driveway-about fun memories I have of Valentine's Days past, and I really want to journal about those tonight. One of the earliest memories of V-Day is from Kindergarten-Mrs. Star's class. I loved that teacher, and she loved us because for V-Day she made us these necklaces made out of some kind of dough that I still have to this day. It hung on a white ribbon and said, "Happy Valentines Day." We made V envelopes out of a big sheet of white paper, and that's what held all of those "Be Mine" love notes from my Kindergarten boyfriends. No joke, I can remember sitting around in a circle looking at my Valentines...searching for Jason's name. I'm not sure when I realized that "Be my Valentine" was just 1 out of 4 sayings on those cards, and not a special one just for me. Disappointment would set in if the card from my elementary school "boyfriend" said something like "You're cool" or "Glad we're friends." Friends!!! We are in love!!! Oh jeez. Needless to say many V-days were wrought with disappointment from grade school through high school. The only people who ever came through for me were members of my family and friends...The only people who should ever really matter then anyways. My dad was always the one to get us flowers or corsages or candy. Well...it always said from Dad, but I'm sure my mom was the one who got it all together.
I always felt special wearing a corsage to middle school. Middle school...where I always wanted someone to send me balloons or a flower, but it never happened. I can't say never. Friends sent me balloons once, but nothing from that guy I was going to marry. Fabian. That was his name. Fabian Pedro. I got glasses in the 6th grade just so I could see him sitting across the room from me (and because I couldn't see the board, but I was able to stare at him all through history class from then on). He never sent me anything or even ever talked to me for that matter. I was such a hopeless loser in middle school...and high school...until I met my husband.
In high school if I was dating anyone around V-Day, I wasn't dating them on V-day. Yes, I was always with those winners who would break up with you before the big day and get back together with you after. When I was in 9th grade (which in FL is high school) I got a note to go to the office where a huge bouquet of roses were waiting. I totally thought they were from some guy I liked. Wrong again. And I'm so thankful they weren't because they were from my big brother, and it means so much more to me now than if they would have been from some stupid idiot guy. At my high school you could send carnations and balloons on v-day and I think one year singing telegrams. The deliverers would come into the room in the middle of class to deliver them. Each period you would wait to see if they would have one for you this time. Little miss "I'm so beautiful every boy likes me" would have 10 already and get 5 more while I would sit there with nothing. It was horrible how it was done and I am still bitter.
By far my most favorite V-day memory was made down in old Mexico with my now husband-then friend. I'm going to have to journal some other time about the whole story, but here it is in a nutshell: I went down to Mexico with 5 LDS guys and two drunk guys when I was in the Army. Of course I was interested in one of the drunk guys, but that soon changed when I spent just 10min with my hubby Mark. On Feb 14, 1998 the group of us went out to eat at a real Mexican restaurant where the drunk guy's dad bought me a rose because I was the only girl there. After that we went and watched an Oscar de la Hoya fight which was really wild in Mexico. I wasn't paying much attention to the fight because at this point Mark and I were flirting non-stop. We all walked along the beach back to our hotel rooms. We came across some hot coals somewhere along the way and Mark and I played hot potato. It was 11 on a Sunday night, and the LDS boys were ready to call it a night, but not the drunk boys and not me. So Mark changed his mind and we went out to a Mexican club where they had bull riding. Mark and I ended up on a life guard stand talking when the perfect opportunity for a first kiss came up. He didn't take it, and regrets it to this day. Something else he regrets about that night is the rose that he gave to his friend and not to me. Yes, my husband bought me a rose, was too embarrassed to give it to me, and gave it to his friend, the drunk guy, who then gave it to me. So even out of high school I still couldn't get a rose from that guy I liked!!! All in all, that V-Day was the best ever, and I'm happy to report it did end with a kiss, and eventually a husband and 4 kids and many, many roses. I'm so thankful for such a wonderful husband who lives and breaths for my happiness and that of our children. He is the best choice I've ever made, and I can't wait to grow old with him. I love you honey and miss you this V-day night!!

"Catch the silent thrill of growth!"

I recommend reading this a few times.

"Mormonism is a religion of refinement. It reasons that every man has within him God-possibilities, that salvation is essentially development. It argues that every man is potentially a great man. And through an inspired system, it offers the most extensive facilities in all the world for every man to discover himself and his possibilities, to so live that he can stand on the summit of his life and look back upon a trail of accomplishment and not a slough of wasted energies. Very few at most, and perhaps none of us will ever carve immortal names in the roll call of the great of the earth. Maybe none of us will achieve outside the narrow pale of our immediate surroundings. But this much is certain: happy will be the man or woman who has tapped some hidden resource and given it voice. To such a character will come the sweet satisfying feeling of strengthening powers, of having done something that has made life a little nobler. God has generously blessed us all with talent...Catch the silent thrill of growth!" -Gordan B. Hinckley

What day of the week is it for crayon' out loud!!!

I woke up today thinking it was Friday, and throughout the day I have thought it was every other day of the week EXCEPT Tuesday. I did manage to remember all the kids things they had to do today so that was good, but I have never had this experience before. I had to remind myself that it's not Wednesday and I don't have to take out the garbage tomorrow like 3 times. I was thinking it was Thursday and Mark was coming tomorrow a few times. When I figured out it wasn't Friday this morning I then had to tell myself it wasn't Monday either. I'm not making any of this up I swear...not that I ever make up things on my blog, but it's just too ridiculous for me to even believe. It actually kinda freaks me out a bit. I'm going crazy!!! I ran today for the first time in 2 weeks due to my sickness, and those first few feet were like heaven (probably not, but it felt so good). Lunch with Julie was soooo good, and Rumbi's has the best salsa! Thinking about it now I am sure I know why I can't remember what day it is, and it's because my "to do" listS have been so long. I put lists as plural because I think I've written out like 4 in the last 2 days and I keep losing them. So one of the things on my list tomorrow is to find my other lists and make sure I've got everything on them done. I need a husband. Did you read that honey??? I do need you and I love you. We made Cora's valentine box tonight...well I made it. It's one of my favorite little school project things to do. It looks so cool. Cora had some ideas, but I asked her if I could do it. Garret asked why and Cora said, "because she paid for all the stuff." I'll just let her think that because it's better than the "your mom's a freak" truth. Anyways, it looks fab and I'll take a picture. And today was the annual Free Pancake Day at Ihop. I always get so excited and we always go, and then I realize they really weren't free because I have to donate money for the charity and I can make them at home for less than I donate. So this year it was all about not having to cook dinner and all the different flavors of syrup Ihop has for you to choose from that I don't have at home and giving to charity of course...not "free" pancakes. It was fun and we even saw Jaxynn, Abe, Eli, and Quinci there! Garret got signed up for wrestling tonight. I'm so excited to see how that goes, and will definitely be bringing the video camera. He loves to wrestle with Abe so we'll see. AJ said something funny today, but I can't remember what, but I know it was today and not yesterday or last week or tomorrow. Cora loves reading comics, and right now is into spider girl. I've been trying to encourage her to read the BOM, but how can Nephi compete with Spider Girl...I mean come on!!! SPIDER GIRL...she's Peter's daughter, and Cora was way excited to find that out. Thank goodness for the Friend magazine because my kids love that. I figured out that I can use the google toolbar spell checker and it suggested crayon in my title instead of cryn' so I went with it. I'm going to retire for the evening to read. Hopefully, I can get my head screwed on straight tomorrow. "Tomorrow is Wednesday. Tomorrow is Wednesday. Tomorrow is Wednesday..."

Ira Hinckley...

I love getting Jorie out of her crib!! I took a video to post, but my computer is so slow I stopped the download after 16 hours. I'll go to Amber's house soon to put those on.

I love how Garret can play a game by himself and for someone else. He will take turns for A.J. and get so excited when A.J. is winning. "You're going to win AJ!! You got the ice-cream cone!! Two blues!!" (Candy Land)

There is a story I like about Pres. Hinckley's Grandfather, Ira Hinckley. For me it is fun reading about Pres. Hinckley's ancestors because I've realized how much of an influence one generation can have on the others. Ira was called by Brigham Young to build a fort in the middle of nowhere, and that's what he was involved in at the time of this story. It was said of Ira by his son Frank, "I think I have never seen as good a man as he was. He preached the loudest by practice and the last by noise or talk of any man I ever knew." From the book: "His sons Alonzo, Frank, and Ed were partial toward a pair of high-spirited chestnut-sorrel horses that had exceptional pulling capacity. One day they used the team to haul a load of hay so heavy that the wheels cut through the sod. As the three witnessed the team's strength, Frank said to his brothers, "Don't let Father know what we think of these horses or he will turn them in for tithing." The following week, while the boys were again working the team, Ira joined them in the field and mentioned to Frank, "Isn't that a fine span of horses?" "The best span of horses we've had," Frank replied. "Well, I want you to shine them up," his father said. "I have turned them in for tithing.""

Those horses could be used to help build the fort, but it was more than that I think. It was a personal sacrifice full of faith, the kind we are all faced with often in our own lives. That's what I got out of it anyways. I'm sure everyone can get something a little different!!

Caution: Randomn thoughts put into many words...

I just get lost reading everyone else's blogs and then it comes time to think about writing in mine and I'm too tierd. I want to journal about the kids so I have SOMETHING written down SOMEWHERE, but that just seems like it will take too much energy. I'll do it some other week. So then I think I'll just copy some questions to answer from somebody else's blog, but I don't feel like bothering with that either. It's just been another crazy week of what seemed non-stop things to do. It's hard for the kids having Dad gone. The first few days after he leaves is just tough all around. Jorie is so cute and so much fun right now. She climbed up the stairs today, and tries to climb up anything that has something she can step on. Today she got herself twisted around the railing in my kitchen. I love her smile...it's so big and lights up her face and she has those two little bottom teeth just sticking up. We finally made it to see Amber and "Blaze" today, and he is such a handsome little man who takes after Amber more. I actually felt excited to hold him and be able to give him back without one hint of wanting another one. What a relief...I think. Does anyone else have a problem with age 7/8? I have no idea how to handle some of the things Cora does, and I know if she just got some quality attention she would probably do better, but holy cow!!! I can't give quality attention right now. Poor girl. I'm down to 4 matching bowls now (from 8). Garret dropped 2 today putting the dishes away, but I quickly realized it doesn't matter. Who has a complete matching set of dishes longer than 6m anyways?? I'm going to the DI for more bowls...Maybe I can find some in a dumpster somewhere. In two weeks I will be going to FL for a visit with family and one of my best friend's weddings!! I'm excited about that because it will be just me and Jorie going. I'm sure I'll be missing my kids after 2 days...maybe 4...maybe not...I will...I think. I don't know. I'm going to be on a mission the next few days to get some video of the things I love about my kids to post because so many of the things I love are just so hard to put into words. So that is my blogging mission for the next few days!! Oh and Happy Chinese New Year especially to all my friends around the world who know what Chinese New Year is and how much fun it is and how good the food is. We loved Chinese New Year in Taiwan, and have so many great memories from that time of year. I loved living in Taiwan and really do miss being there. This year is the year of the Rat. I'm a sheep and so is Garret. Mark is a rabbit. Cora a dragon. AJ a monkey and Jorie a pig or boar. Go to http://chinese.astrology.com/ to see what you are. The first time Mark and I went to a Chinese restaurant when we were dating the Chinese zodiac thing said the rabbit should marry a sheep and a sheep a rabbit. That's why we got married right there. That's all there is to our story. Just kidding. There was also the fortune cookie that said "You will marry the person sitting next to you." Not really, but that would be funny wouldn't it!! Ok...I need to cut myself off for tonight. I want to go read. I'm reading President Hinckley's Bio. and it's not boring me (I didn't think it would). Sometimes Bio's can be hard reading, but He was/is a pretty amazing Prophet of God so I like reading about Him. Maybe I'll start putting up random facts from His life on my blog because I've come across some pretty interesting stuff. It was really kinda fun to just sit here and journal my random thoughts and memories. I felt like writing something, but didn't know what. I guess that's what. My spell checker still isn't working. Sad.

Fat Cats and Costco...

Today was a very, very productive day I must say. It was Mark's last day here before returning to VA so he was determined to "get things done." We got the oil changed on the car, took books back to the library, and headed over to costco to get the tires rotated and our very own costco membership!!!! How exciting for us!! I know Amber is going to miss our 2% back when we use her card, but it was just time to get our own. Thankfully, we got all that done in an hour. As we were leaving Costco this lady came up to me and said,"Your kids are so cute. You and your husband are so adorable. I thought you two were going to have another baby right here in the store you are so cute!" I smiled and thanked her, but I wasn't sure exactly what she was saying. I liked that someone noticed my husband and I actually loving each other, but having another baby...at costco??!! Sick-o. We then picked Cora up from school and went to Fat Cats for some pizza and bowling. Can I just say I don't think I've ever been worse at any sport in my life than bowling?? I can' t bowl at all. The kids had fun with the bumpers and that metal thing you put up and roll the ball down(I should have used bumpers). They all beat me, but I did get really good at where to put that metal thing so they could roll strikes and spares. At one point Cora yelled,"Nice gutter ball mom!! (laugh, laugh)" Mark kept trying to be so positive, but I was just too horrible. I don't understand...I'm an awesome bowler on the Wii.? Garret was so funny. Every time he rolled the ball down the lane he would jump up and down, bite on his fingers, and touch his groin area like little boys do. We laughed together a lot today. It was great. I think we should do a ladies night sometime and go bowling. Also, Amber is having her baby tomorrow (Tuesday)!!! Yeah!!!

A dying animal...

I'm sure no one reads my blog anymore, but that's ok. I don't really feel like writing anything anymore because it just takes too much energy that I don't have. Besides, if I use my time to blog, I won't have any time to get onto webkinz world. The kids got those things for Christmas, but I'm always logging on for them to play the games, spin the Wheel of Wow, and feed their virtual pets. So that's what I do with my on-line time now when I can even find that time. On Monday I was that animal that goes away from the rest of the herd to die. I actually thought that a few times. Thankfully, the Relief Socitey President took my kids for the night, and Julie brought dinner because I was a pathetic pile of epidurmis. Has anyone else ever felt like that before? It sucked...bad. Thank you for all the get wells and "cough cough go away" chants! It was nice to get those actually. Mark started his new job in VA on Monday, but most of the week was paper work and new guy stuff. On Friday he actually did his job and LOVED it. I'm excited for him...for us. He came home for the weekend to help me rest some more. We are so thankfull to Gary and Marilyn for making cheep flight possible!! Cora came down with strep on Tuesday, and the rest of the kids except Garret were all a little under the weather. That helped keep things quiet and low key. My house was such a mess, and I didn't care. It was great!! I'm done writing for now. If there are any spelling errors it's not my fault...spell check was not working. ;)