BFF's

I imagine life would a lot different for most people if they lack that certain person in their life that is their "go-to" person. What I mean is our best friend. Hopefully all of us have at least one and hopefully we treasure that person and the relationship we have with them.

My little boy is very lucky in that every day his best friend comes to our house and plays with him before they both go to school. These two boys are great friends. They enjoy the same kinds of toys, movies, games, and even music (you should hear them sing along with David Archuleta...it's priceless!).

What's even awesomer (is that a word?) is that their moms are ALSO best friends! Without Shannon my life would be hard. That's really the only way I can describe it. I would still have my husband, who is my other best friend, but there are some things you just need a "girlfriend" for and she is truly and honestly my BFF.
Love you chica! You rock!

Life...and Flashback Friday

Life has been hectic this past week and I have not posted. Some things just have to go when you get busy, right?

Tuesday was Enrichment night at church and it was wonderful! The theme was "An 8-cow woman". Now I've got you curious, huh? It was great. They talked about the point behind the Johnny Lingo movie and then we had 4 mini classes that all had "cow" in their title somehow. We learned COWmunication, COW-tipping fun for families, cash COW (budgeting), and holy COW (keeping the spirit with you). We "grazed" at the beginning by eating pizza and salad and at the end we "chewed our cud" with milk and cookies. I feel very blessed to be in this ward. The Enrichment board is phenomenal and they try so hard to organize and plan FUN activities that are also helpful. It is great!!
Wednesday was the parenting class that I have been taking. Only one more class to go. I have really enjoyed learning things to help improve daily life at home. I'm not so sure that the kids have enjoyed it, but....
Thursday was Girls Night Out to celebrate Shannon's 15th birthday. (hee hee, only Shannon and Melinda and I get that joke...) It was a blast. We ate at Mimi's and then went to Barnes and Noble (because we are book nerds) and then to Target. I found a couple of cute shirts that I am excited to wear since I am getting thinner and I also bought a hat! OOOH! It is fun and I will post a pic of it soon for you all to see. Then we went home and parked in Melinda's driveway for 2+ hours talking. SO FUN! Thanks gals for listening. You ROCK!!

Then today I volunteered in Jenny's class like I do every Friday morning. Caught her cheating on her spelling test. Little stinker!! I was so mad. But so happy that I was able to stay calm and talk to her about it and she had to go apologize to her teacher and take a new test. Then I got to go help in Rachel's class for their Valentine's Day party. It was fun and I was in charge of the little craft which they all liked so hooray for me!

On a side note...life will soon be getting crazier around our house. Things are always a changin'!! It won't be for a couple of weeks, but it is already making me see things that will be different around here.

Flashback Friday is a fun one this week. I remember when I thought it was so cute that Jonathan would climb up in the food closet and get snacks out for himself. What a smart kid, right? (he's 2 1/2 in this pic)

Here is Sidney doing the same thing. Silly silly silly kids! (she is 21 months) *on a side note, I think my pantry is much better organized now. Look at the pictures and tell me if you notice a difference.

Chef Jonathan

So I haven't posted anything for a few days because I haven't been feeling so hot. I have a fun cold and it has wiped me out. But before I got this darn cold we did some fun stuff that I wanted to share.

In an effort to be more involved with my kids, I have started letting them into the kitchen when I am doing stuff. Jonathan has taken full advantage of this and become my little sous chef. He loves cooking and helping. Last Thursday we were having Tuna Patties for dinner, so he helped me by making the balls that I would then flatten in the pan to make the patties.
Then on Friday, I decided to make cupcakes. Do NOT ask me why. I am on a diet! But I thought the kids would enjoy it, so I called for them to come help and only Jonathan wanted to help again. He helped hold the mixer and mix up the batter, plus he is great at licking the beaters clean.
Sidney just wanted to take snitches of the batter with her spoon.YUMMY cupcakes!! (Look at that smile! HOw could any mother resist that?)
And as usual...Jenny showed up right in time for eating the cupcakes. It's all good, we had plenty to go around!

Wordless Wednesday

Once again, it's me!

And the Mom of the Year Award goes to..........................

ummmm, me.

I noticed a month or so ago that Jonathan's church shoes were a little tight, so I simply got out the ones that my neighbor had handed down to us and had him start wearing them. No big deal, right? Right.

However, I forgot to check his tennis shoes that he wears everyday and ask him how they were fitting. Yesterday, we were at Walmart getting some things and he wanted some slippers. I had him try some on and we found a really cute pair. Then I said, "hey how do your shoes fit?" He says, "ummm, okay I guess".

And then I looked at them and the size and realized that the church shoes he has been wearing for the last month are TWO sizes bigger, so how on Earth could they really be 'ummm okay'???

We found a cool (cuz they can't be cute, they have to be cool) pair of shoes and got him the size that fits him good. Guess what size they are? 12

Now guess what size he was wearing.....oh come on, just guess.....9 1/2!

I AM the freaking Mother of the Year for trying to give my kid scrunched up Chinese feet!

Puffy=muscles

I had to buy a new coat for Jonathan because he outgrew his other one. I'm surprised that it lasted him as long as it did. It was a size 3T coat and he IS 5 years old.

Anyway, he was thrilled when we found this coat at Old Navy. He went on and on and on about all of the coat's qualities that he so dearly loved. Yeah, it was annoying.

The other morning when Shannon dropped Porter off at my house, Porter was showing his new coat to Jonathan, so Jonathan got his to show to Porter. Then he said the very best thing I think I have ever heard. He said, "my coat is all puffy on the sleeves. It makes me look like I have big muscles."

I swear Shannon and I laughed for about 5 minutes about that one!

What we did today.

This morning's project was of the dirty kind. Our front lawn has this spot that is all sunk in and crappy because of the sewer excavation that had to be done last summer (2007) and wasn't made very level. All winter long in settled underneath our loads of snow and the grass has slowly been filling in all this summer on top of the unlevelness. Mike went and got a load of dirt so we could fill in the low spots and get it more level. Jonathan was Daddy's little helper today and helped him with all the steps for this project. Step 1: Tromp all over the dirt in the back of the pickup while Daddy shovels it out and onto the lawn.
Step 2: When you can't lift up the shovel because a) it's too heavy, and b) you are too little and not supposed to touch the shovel....then just kick it out of the pickup.

Step 3: Get in Daddy's way while he is trying to level it out with the rake. Can't even begin to count the number of times Mike redid the same spots because they had little shoe prints all over them.

Step 4: "Help" Daddy by sweeping the dirt out of the pickup and onto the driveway.

This afternoon's project was tilling up our garden area in preparation for winter. Mike got all duded up and started tilling adn his sidekick was following behind. Before long, Jonathan came into the house and told me that Daddy told him he "couldn't help or walk by the tiller unless he had a hankerchief over his nose and mouth too, and so, could I please get one for him."
Really this picture is just too cute for words. I think that Jonathan is even trying to step in Mike's footprints.

And not to be outdone, but the girls HAD to get in on the fun of hankie wearing. Jenny was the only one that opted for the cowboy look. The older girls needed to be more "girlie".

Wordless Wednesday- oldie but goodie

Picture Tag

A couple of blogs that I read....Laughadaisy & Would you feel better if I licked your face? posted this fun tag on their blogs this week and I thought it looked so fun that I would play along. Go me.

Here is what you do:

Go to your pictures on your computer and open the fourth folder and the fourth picture in that file and voila!!

Without further ado....

This is Jonathan when he was 2 1/2 years old dressing HIMSELF up as Darth Vader. Isn't he just so creative? He would even do the voice if you asked him too. I am so sorry. My kids are warped.

Anyway, this was fun. Play along if you like!!

Wordless Wednesday- best friends edition

Lego my birthday!

Jonathan wanted a fun cake for his birthday. I made him a Lego-shaped cake since he had asked for some Lego sets for his birthday, and it could kind of go along with the theme...if he was having a themed-birthday. Which he wasn't. But, he COULD have. I am a shameless bragger and I personally think that the cake turned out GREAT! Bottom line- Jonathan was happy with it!
Blowing out his candles. It took him 3 tries. Stupid asthma.
Posing with his favorite presents--his Lego sets, and his camo robe. It doesn't take much to please this little guy. Thank heavens!

*the crown is courtesy of his preschool. His mom is not THAT awesome that she makes crowns for her kids to wear on their birthdays. :]

5 years ago...

Something special happened five years ago..... This little peanut came into the world. Jonathan surprised us all by coming 3 weeks early while his dad was on a business trip to St. Louis.
Here I am in all my glory after he was born and my funny doctor with his arm around the "invisible dad". Fun times. Thank heavens that Shannon came to my rescue and was with me through the whole ordeal. I keep saying, "everyone needs a Shannon in their lives". It's true. She held the phone next to the action so that Mike could hear what was happening. She cut Jonathan's cord. She saw my parts! ARGH! And she drove my van like a bat out of hell to get us to the hospital on time so that Jonathan wasn't one of those babies born on the freeway. :]
And this is to prove that we really are BYU FANatics. Jonathan was 10 days old and already wearing his first BYU shirt.

Jonathan is a sweet boy with lots of love and even more energy. He is a good brother and his mommy's little sweetheart, not to mention, his daddy's little clone.

Happy Birthday Bubbs! We love you!!

Grapes...and more

This weekend Mike picked some of our grapes and got the older girls involved in taking them off the stems in preparation for making juice. If Mike and I do that part, it always takes so much longer because we have to chase kids during, so we decided to offer more allowance as an incentive (okay, it was a bribe) to do that part for us. Meghan was pretty good about helping, but she would rather have been pretending she was married to Zac Efron than help and so she kept stopping and wandering away. Rachel, on the other hand, was gung ho and all about getting it done. She is kind of OCD though and this was the perfect job for her.
Anyway, we got 4 batches of grape juice done for our food storage (24 quarts) and will be sharing the rest of our grapes with a neighbor so that she can make juice for her family to use. What was funny was that during the time we did grapes, I was trying to catch up on the laundry and had washed Jenny's bedspread and hung it out on the swingset to finish drying. (I don't have a clothesline-wish I did!)

Well, Jonathan thought of a fun thing to do and him and Sidney took turns running under the quilt! It was pretty funny to watch.


* Did you notice that all the kids are wearing their BYU shirts? 'Cuz HECK YA- it's BYU time!!

Starting school...

Jonathan started preschool yesterday. He was so excited. He said, "Mom, can you do a mohawk in my hair?" What he meant was a faux hawk, so we did it and he was thrilled! (How handsome is he?????) Then he told me that he needed a picture by the door, since it was his first day. What a character!

So far he has accomplished two days at preschool and hasn't gotten in trouble yet. I know you all must roll your eyes because I say that in every post about my kids..."and they haven't got in trouble yet"...
But you've got to understand that around our house, not getting in trouble is a BIG deal and frankly this mom's day revolves around how many times someone has or has not gotten busted for something. Sad, but true.

Also true to form in our house is what we like to call Picture Crowders. And we have yet another one. That's right. Miss Sidney is our latest and greatest. While taking the picture of Jonathan, she totally BUSTED in and started scooting him over so that she could be in the picture. I wish you could have seen it live because it was pretty funny!

Cocoa- my drug of choice

My favorite conversation of the past week was one that I had with my 4 year old son Jonathan. I was making Zucchini bread and we were talking about the ingredients as I put them in the mixer. I had explained that in the "regular batch" of bread, I would not put cocoa because it would be plain.

Then as I was making my signature Chocolate Zucchini Bread when Jonathan pointed to the baking cocoa and said,

"Do you put the brown coke in now Mom?"

Well, I suppose if I am a fancy druggie then I do.

WoRdLeSs WeDnEsDaY

He kissed and told about it

How can you resist this face? Ha Ha. No really, he can give this one look that will just make you melt. AND...he is only 4!

Today on the way home from church he told Mike, "Dad, I told Halle today that I love her. And she said I love you too."

Mike said, "oh really..."

Then the bombshell,"And then I kissed her."

Later when I was questioning why he was kissing ANY OTHER GIRL besides MOMMY...he said to me, "We kissed, so now we can get married."

AAAAARRRRGGGGHHH! I am so Not prepared for this! This is just the sort of thing that I expected from Meghan, not from Jonathan! The problem is that Halle is so stinking cute, no little boy in his right mind could resist her. (I hope she at least told her mom that Jonathan kissed her and that it isn't being found out right now by them reading my blog. I don't even know if they read my blog....)

So yeah, we have a playboy around our house. The excitement never stops.

Wordless Wednesday

Mud bath and facial anyone?

Last night I was reading Fablehaven. If you haven't read it yet, then you must. It's so good! Anyway, my mom called. We talk every Sunday. I answered the phone and began to talk to her. I was not worried about being "unavailable" to anyone else in the house, because I thought that daddy had it covered. He had Jenny and Jonathan out jumping on the tramp, and he and the two older girls were playing on the piano while Sidney crawled around in the living room. Anyway, like I said, I didn't worry about what anyone else was doing. Probably my first mistake. Mom and I were talking and Mike comes into the room and whispers that I need to come see something. I whisper back that I am talking. He says,"No, really, you need to come see something." Whatever, it better be good.
I follow him outside and he points to Jonathan on the tramp who is COVERED in mud. Oh yeah, and since the kids were all ready for bed, he is also wearing his JAMMIES!
I couldn't help it. I started to laugh. My mom asks me what is funny and I am trying to explain the scene that I am seeing. She and I giggle together for a sec and then I say, "I bet that I know where he made the mud at. I bet he turned on the faucet in the flowerbed and made mud." I turn that direction to look at the flowerbed and SURE enough! That is where he made his little mud bog at. We currently don't do much with this small flowerbed. It houses the electrical box thingy for the sprinklers and we don't have anything planted in it yet, so we have just been letting Jonathan dig in there with his toys and stuff. Apparently he has moved beyond just digging.But the funniest was yet to come. The fence right next to the mud bog is also COVERED in MUD!! I couldn't help it. At that point I just bust out laughing so hard! And it's hard to be mad at your kid and enforce any discipline when you are laughing, just in case you all wondered. When I was explaining to my mom about the mud on the fence, Jonathan piped up, "I was painting it brown, Mom".


So there you have it. Apparently we needed a brown fence and Jonathan gave himself a spa treatment!

What can I say. He is ALLLLLLLL BOY!

wOrDlEsS wEdNeSdAy