Why me???

I'm just gonna tell you up front that I am saving you all the from having to look at the picture. So, I have this friend that could give you a poop story on demand. Ever since she became a mom 8 years ago she has been dealing with poop. We're not talkin' diaper chaning poop, but poop in pants and poop anywhere and everywhere. She would call me, and still does, with the latest "poop event". All I can ever say is I am so sorry and you will be rewarded for this some day, I PROMISE!!! Well, apparently it has rubbed off in my home. Matthew has inherited this poop problem. Yesterday he decided to wipe his own bum, I know very considerate, with my hand towel! I then turned to see it smeared on the floor, the sink and the cabinets in that bathroom. It took me awhile to disinfect that bathroom and all the while I am thinking,"THIS IS SOOOO GROSS." So today I walked into the same bathroom and find that he has gone to the bathroom again and tried again to clean himself up. This time though, he chose to do it with the whole roll of toilet paper and then put it all in the toilet. I'm thinking okay this is fixable. I then continue on doing my morning pick up to find that he walked himself into Spencer's room WITH his poopy bum and opened all the wipes and wiped himself with about 10 different wipes and threw them on the floor. UGHHH!!! So, I clean that up and off we go to take Allison to school. We are getting out of the car and he proudly exclaims, "Mom, I pooped in the backyard!!" With the best" I am not going to show you how mad I am face" I ask him to show me where. He prances right over to the very spot and viola, poop! I don't think I need to tell you how GROSS it is to pick up your own kids poop! I just don't get it. He knows how to use the toilet. He has actually known for a very long time. Suddenly he is doing stuff like this. I guess he felt that I did not have enough to do around here and that I needed a little more excitement in my life. Sorry for the gross commentary, but I hope everyone out there is thinking I know exactly what you are going through. And if you are thinking I am so sorry you have to deal with that, STOP, because that is what I thought and now I am!!!

Kids, you gotta love em'

So, I have been spending my day putting everything back to it's original place after my 2 1/2 days of being gone. Today when the kids had asked for a snack I went out to the garage to give them some string cheese. (side note...I bought this string cheese at Costco right before I left. So you know it is a big bag.) There was only 3 left in the fridge. I thought to myself wow, they sure did eat a lot of string cheese. So, I am trying to find Matthew's backpack before the school bus got here at 7:20 am. ( I know this is jumpy, but bear with me here) It is nowhere to be found. So find another, which HE is NOT happy about. Now I don't know about any of you, but I have one child that likes to put random things in his pockets, bags, or anywhere else they might fit. I have one that likes to color on ALL surfaces, EXCEPT paper. Another that likes to take scissors and cut things into the tiniest of pieces. And another that takes things apart. Now mind you that, I NEVER find any of this the day that it was done because they hide all over my house when they are doing it. Which, now brings us to right now. I have made it into my room to clean and low and behold Matthew's back pack!!! I take a quick look to see Allison's doll house furniture inside. Yes, he is my stuffer. So off to her room to empty the back pack. As I reach my hand in not only do I pull out the furniture, but a string cheese. I think to myself, huh, he must have gotten into the remainder of the string cheese. Then I plunge my hand in again to pull out a hand full of string cheeses!!!! All 30 to be exact!!!! Do you ever wonder what would poses them to put 30 string cheese in their back pack? He must of been thinking he was going to be very hungry later and did not want to bother mommy. Well, that is one mystery solved for today. Now if I could only find out who's idea it was to take the q-tips and cut them into pieces behind my daughters bed???

Women's Conference

I am so lucky. I have a friend in my ward that asked me to go to conference with her. I thought to myself, "Gee that would be fun, but what do I do with my kids?" Then my other friend said I think I am going to go and I am sure we can figure this thing out. So, I talked to Craig and he said, "Go"! Off we went. We arrived at the airport on Wed. at 2:30 only to find that our 4pm flight would not be there until 6:30. So, I bet you are wondering what 3 women do in an airport for 3 hours (with no children might I add). Well let me tell you...gab, gab, gab. We were just saying on the way home today that was the fastest 4 hours ever! Anyway we got there, late of course, and went to bed. Thursday we got up and started our way to BYU. I just can not explain what an awesome expeirence this was for me. I just loved being with these ladies and hearing the talks that we heard. I am hoping to be able to just apply one thing I learned this weekend. The best part about it all was we found out that the Prophet was going to be the closing speaker for conference. The Prophet, can you believe that? Well, we sure couldn't. That alone made the trip worth while. Everyone talks about the feeling of peace and the spirit that enters into the room when the Prophet of the Lord enters in. I always believed that, but to feel and know it first hand is absolutely amazing. Honestly, how can anyone doubt it?! I will forever remember that day and the feelings that came over me. I will always be so grateful for my friend for asking me to go and for my supportive husband saying go! Thank you to everyone who took care of my children. I love you all!!!

Happy Birthday to Allison!

Well, today was the much anticipated party day. We had 16 little girls at our home for a garden party. This was a first for us. We usually invite family and a few close friends. This time a fun girly party. Dad was right in the middle of it! It is so funny to me, when I think he doesnt't have an opinion of some things, it is then he has the most opinion. He grilled me this morning on activities, set up, and so on. He said he wanted to make sure HIS little girl was going to have a good party. I'm thinking cute, but the input could have been better like 2-3 weeks ago when the party was in the making! It's okay daddy we love you and we know you adore your little girl who is now 6 years old. Just where has the time gone? We were just saying yesterday that when we brought her home from the hospital, she sure shook things up a bit in our home. She demanded ALL of my attention during the day and cried ALL night long. I'm so sorry now that it is all a blur to me. She is such a blessing in our lives and has a bunch of brothers that will serve as her protection as the years go on. When we told her that Spencer was going to be a boy she said to us, "Mom please no more boys!" She still thinks that there is a little sister out there for her and asks me almost weekly when is she coming. I tell her the odds are just not in our favor and that what would she do with ANOTHER brother. She just shakes it off and then asks again next week.
Okay to explain some of these pictures. We had all the girls put their names on visors and plant their own flower. They also did a watering can relay. After that we had her flower pot cake and opened presents. They all had butterfly and flower sandwiches with watermelon. Allison asked for a cake that was a flower and had a butterfly drinking the nectar out of it. This is what we came up with. Just in case you can't tell it is a flower pot with daisies and a few butterflies flying around it. Yes I made it and it was all edible except for the 3 silk butterflies. Please keep in mind I am no professional and one day will take classes to help me out. For now I rely on my friend Michelle for all of her wisdom and hard earned money spent on classes. Thank you Michelle! I think the girls had fun and mom sure having all those little girls here! Well, I think dad did too!

We LOVE Aunt Jacque!!!!

So Aunt Jacque came down from Oregon to visit for the week. Grandam , aunt Diane, and aunt Jacque had the idea to come out to our house and go to the park for a picnic. So, we did that yesterday and the kids had so much fun playing. We were ther for 4 hours and the best part they were so, so, so tired by the time bed time came. Here are a few pictures of our fun day.


The best part about aunt Jacque being here (besides spoiling my kids rotten) is she sews!!! We have this cape in our home that goes to a costume and Matthew tends to monopolize it and of course this causes HUGE problems. So, I asked her to make the boys each their very own reversible batman/superman capes. Well, Allison heard about this and just absolutley could not be left out. So, she got a girl version. Here are a few attempted pictures of them flying around in their capes...I'm sure there will be more to come. I know that there is not a picture here of Eli, but he was not being very photogenic and was having a very bad day. I think wore him out the day before. I promise there will be pictures to come of him too.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!!

Today was the BIG day for dad! He actually stopped celebrating at 29, but we have to much fun on birthdays. Craig isn't really big on cake, so cheesecake it was. Honestly by the time his birthday rolls around we are all tired of cake. Lets see, what did daddy get to do for his birthday? Not much. His birthday "weekend" was quite a busy one and no time for celebrating. Saturday was filled with gourmet girls for mom, baseball game for Zach, and the best part(drum roll please)....we got grass in our back yard!!!!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you to Craig for laying the sod for us. We are so lucky to have him as a daddy. The kids looked at it like they had never seen grass before. Actually, we all just sit and stare out the window in amazement. If you haven't ever seen our backyard, you would too. When we moved in it was all pebbles and bark with planters here and there. We tore it all out and put grass and 6 raised boxes for our garden. This is soooo exciting for us. Needless to say we are pretty exhausted from this weekend. That's okay because next month mommy is taking daddy away for the weekend to our favorite spot in Santa Barbara for his belated present. Sssshhhh, don't tell Craig. Happy Birthday daddy, we love you THIS much:)

Lions, and Tigers and Bears...Oh My!

Just so everyone knows it has been a wile since I have made a post. I just sat down and posted 3 or 4 new things, so just keep scrolling down and read about all the fun things we have been doing while we are off track.
Thursday we went to the San Diego Zoo. This time Grandma Nana (Cathy) got to come and be crowd control. The kids had so much fun seeing all the many different animals. Actually we didn't see any tigers but, we did see leopards. We watched a really fun sea lion show, went on the sky buckets to get an arial view of the zoo and took a bus ride to see all that we knew we wouldn't have time to see. If you ask the kids, their favorite part was getting the snow cones and seeing an airplane fly over head about every 5 minutes!