Making some changes

I've decided that instead of making this blog private, because in all honesty, I find that annoying. I'm going to be changing the names on here. I think about 100% of you that read this blog will know exactly who is who. So do not worry. I'm altering past posts as well. I feel this will be a more safe way to share my experiences with my family without the fear of someone using them against us. At least I can safeguard against predators and not give them my kids' names. That's also why if I ever mention you in this blog, I almost never say your name, just 'a friend of ours' or something to that effect. Ok- now that I have that out there. Here's some fun things that have been going on in the house of K!!

I am starting my CNA classes this month. I am absolutely thrilled and scared out of my mind. It feels like the right step in my life and for my family. So hopefully that feeling is correct. I think once I finish my CNA, I'll try to work full time in the evenings, so that M can go to class more and graduate! I don't care where I get my nursing degree... well, I do care a little, I want to get it in a credible university. Somewhere that will help me get a job, not hurt my chances. My mom tells me that I'll do more work than the nurses, but get paid less. I say, bring on the SCUT work!! *I may be singing a new tune a year from now, haha*

Doggy A is adjusting well to our backyard. She doesn't like being out there much, but she'll learn to love it since she's no longer allowed to be an inside dog 24/7. M and Doggy A are getting along well. As you can see they make a nice cuddly pair on the hammock. She did that all by herself too, he was just lying there when all of the sudden Doggy A is all over him. :)  We got her from some friends of ours, who adopted her from the shelter. They told us they thought she was abused. At first we weren't sure, but now that we've had a lot of strangers come over, we're pretty sure she was abused. I'm sad that someone hurt her and made her so fearful of humans, but I'm glad that we get to have her in our home now hopefully for the rest of her life.

Oh- and can you see the fence in our backyard there. That is new and we LOVE that our yard is completely fenced in now!

The boys are still trucking along. I tried to find photos of them being their silly, busy crazy selves, but this was all I could scrape up. E totally passed out from long days of fun! A is becoming more resistant to sleeping, so no photos of him passed out on our couch pillows. :)

A is getting more clever and more coherent of what I'm saying. So I have to be careful now. I used to be able to get away with not listening to what he was saying because he was usually just jabbering about nothing and just wanted me to say, "Mmmhmm." or "oooh wow!" now if I don't listen to what he's saying and I respond wrong he gets frustrated with me and he'll stomp off. Not good parent right there! So I am practicing my listening skills. Although, there are some times when I'll sneak him rolling his eyes at me because he's told me a buh-gillion times to listen to him and I haven't. Future A, I apologize for my negligence.

A Few Events in a Few Photos

The boys appreciate our backyard. Not as much as M and I love it, but they still enjoy the space. E particularly. He went splashing around in our sprinklers and then decided to crash on the blanket. M put the umbrella over him to keep him nice and unroasted when he discovered him passed out on the front lawn. :)

A discovered that baby powder has a whole new world of meaning besides just powdering his brothers butt. He found that it explodes when you put it front of a fan! In his defense, I TOTALLY would have joined him if it weren't for my unfortunately understanding that it would create a massive mess that I would have to clean up. You may not be able to see it all, but it looks like Christmas in his room. There was dust covering everything several weeks after M cleaned this mess up. I couldn't figure out whey their room was so dusty and finally realized it was all baby powder that was still settling!

Both my boys seem to have a tendency to hurt themselves ALL the time. A informed me a few weeks ago that his head hurt. I wasn't impressed with his moaning because he didn't really sound all that upset. A few minutes later he was back to playing and asked me for a drink. I looked down at him from upstairs and saw this bloody little head. Shocked and confused I ran downstairs and found blood all over his hands and this bloody spot on his head. I cleaned him all up and found a tiny little gash on head. I'm just glad A didn't see his head or he would have flipped out. A few days before this incident, E came to me with a bloody head as well. It's a good thing I'm going into nursing. It's really an investment into my family, I have this feeling that the bigger my kids get the bigger the wounds are going to become. . .

E is a naughty little baby. He has established this habit of going to his room and crying in his bed as soon as he does something bad. A few days ago, he managed to get himself in trouble and before I could chase him down and put him in his room he ran himself in and shut the door. I came in a few minutes later and found him sitting on the blue table looking out the window with his short on his head! As you can see, he was not impressed with my desire to take a picture. But being the Mommy, he didn't have much of a choice.

Meet Ava

Our new puppy!!!!

 ok... ok... I lied. She's not really a puppy, she's 3 years old. M called me from work and asked me to watch a video post on facebook of her jumping to catch a frisbee, I sat there and watched, wondering why I was watching a dog jump 5 feet in the air. Then he said something along the lines of, "well, her owner can no longer keep her and they're looking for a home for her." Before he finished his sentence I was screaming in my head 'YES! YES! YES!!!' I had to play it cool though with M. I didn't want to get too excited and then have my hopes squished. So I waited.

He explained that Doggy Ava needed a new home and he wanted to go meet her. Her old owner had moved to a place that did not allow pets. She is very well trained and great with kids. In my mind its still 'YES! YES!! YES!!!'

We went to meet her.

And I basically just waited for M to decide to say 'ok, let's bring her home.' He asked all the questions he needed to ask. Watched her do all her tricks; she has a lot of them too. Which is such a bonus! And then M finally said, "Ok"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We collected all her stuff and headed home. I'm still shocked that we have her in our home. We're so excited to have a little friend to play with.

E particularly appreciates her bed. I don't think she's had a chance to actually sleep in her bed since she got here because of A and E.

But she's been nice about it and relocated to another soft spot. It's a new bed for her anyway, so she's not quite used to it yet. 

We're SO excited to have Doggy Ava!!! And can't wait to get our fence up now so she can have a backyard to stay in!!!

Oliver

I was in 2nd grade and I was in love. He was my first love and who could blame me! He was perfect. He was brought to me for show and tell. My eyes lit up when I first saw him. He was presented in class with his siblings and then put to the side. I instantly ran to where he was and pressed my face against the glass. He was mini cotton ball with pink little feet and a pink little nose and pink little ears. I had to have him. The $2 exchange was made and my new companion was picked up and put into a recycled butter carton, just large enough for him lie down and rest. I made him a little bed inside, nice and soft and poked holes in his ceiling so he could breath. 

I sat in class with him delicately perched on my desk. He was quiet and gentle and patient. He waited in the butter carton until class was over. The bell rang! I lifted the lid ever so slightly and peeked inside to feel a soft pink little nose tickle me. I lifted the lid more and was greeted by curious staring pink eyes. He was the best little thing I had ever seen. And he was mine. My little Oliver. The rat my mom never wanted and could never get rid of. 

After 3 years I like to think she was glad her little 2nd grader ran home with a little rat in a butter carton just big enough for the poor thing to curl up into a ball. He was a smart little pet. He was friendly. He never ran away even though he was given many chances to. He was eventually buried in the backyard with a little rat ceremony that I'm grateful my parents took seriously for my little broken heart. 

Old Treasures

One of my favorite things is finding old photos I forgot I had!

Photo Number 1: The first day we moved in we had this hammock in our backyard. We all loved it! . . . and then it died. :( Luckily M had a hammock of his own that we now use!

Photo Number 2: While my Dad was in the hospital E and I came home to be with the family. E and Skooter- the dog- were little buddies. I mean c'mon, they're both the same size and age and they loved playing with each other. A is wearing Skooter's chewing hat on his head and Skooter is deciding how he's going to snatch it away from him and his prey runs away squealing in delight....mostly.

Photo Number 3:  PROOF that we are not without a hammock! And proof that you know you want to be here with us chilling in our awesome hammock.

Church events

We had a church event this last Saturday. I made a raspberry dessert that is to die for! I have to admit I was nervous that it wouldn't taste that good this time around. I put the treat on the table with all the other desserts and made my way to the back of the line. By the time we made it to the dessert section, my dessert was the only one that was completely gone. lol. Thank you Mother for the recipe! 

A woman wanted to try some so bad that she was scraping the leftovers off the spatula onto her plate. I'm no cook, but I do get immense satisfaction out of knowing people enjoy what I create. 

While I was busy being proud of my creation, the boys... all of them, were busy at the two bouncy houses that the stake rented. For those of you that may not know. In the LDS church there are wards(large groupings of members) or branches (very small groupings of members). I am in a ward. And then there are stakes, which are 3 wards combined. So quite a lot of people usually attend a stake event. I'm not sure how they work branches into stakes since they're so small, I'm assuming it's the same though. 

So Saturday we had our stake picnic party. There were hundreds and hundreds of people! LOADS of food and two bouncy houses. My boys were not interested in the food. They just wanted to bounce and bounce bounce! Daddy was a good sport and watched them while I waited in line.

E particularly appreciated the netting on the bouncy houses and allowed Daddy to capture this photo:

A symbol of E's affection for the bouncy house!

Locked Out

I knew the day would come. It was bound to happen, but I wasn't sure when to expect it. My boys aren't old enough yet to pull it off.... or so I thought. Yes, I'm talking about the dreaded locked out of your car, your house, your bathroom.... whatever it is, it's dreaded!

Yesterday Daddy M went outside to rest in the hammock while the boys and I ran around playing and eating. Eventually I went outside to take a stinky diaper out and stopped to talk to M. Somewhere between my conversation with M and my journey back into the house, our front door became locked by two mischievous little children!

First thoughts? -what the heck? Oh my gosh. Is this for real? hahahaha!- And then the words came, "A!! Unlock the door!" I listen and hear shuffling, E giggling and little hands fumbling all over the door lock and the deadbolt. A managed to get the bottom lock taken care of, but for some insane reason he could not reverse the deadbolt. He'd unlock the bottom lock I'd cheer and tell him to get the top one. "Otay Mommy", would come the muffled reply. "All done." Relieved I try to open the door and realize he's RE-locked the bottom lock! We danced around this issue for about 5 minutes before I gave up and collected M.

So M and I, looking like Ren and Stimpy, had to break into our own house, because the 3 year old and 18 month sure weren't going to be helping us!

Lucky for us our front window was open, now it was just a matter of getting the screen off and crawling through the window. First, was the search for something to use to pry the screen up. While we're looking I'm picturing our kids rampaging through the house. We found a shovel. Ren (that's me), tried to pry the screen open the wrong way and Stimpy quickly grabbed the shovel from Ren. Stimpy always knows how to do these things right. The screen door plopped off and Stimpy plopped onto the ground. Just the right step stool for Ren! 

I managed to get into the window, honestly not a difficult feat, the window in pretty close to eye level, and go around to open the front door.

The boys of course were fine. E was running around like the crazy baby he is and A was following suit.

I'm just hoping now there won't be a day when all the windows are closed and locked and we're locked out. Now that I've said it, it's bound to happen. And knowing my luck, it'll be in the winter time!

Thunderstorm of 2010

I love thunderstorms. They are truly magnificent and terrifyingly destructive all at the same time. 

There is no doubt in my mind that a God exists when I see a thunderstorm roll in. The sky goes from blue, to beautiful and terrifying shades of black, grey, green, and purple. The clouds embrace the sky and reflect what looks like one of the most fluffy comforters I've ever come across. Thunderous cannons erupt from the sky and explode into lightning shards and pelting rain. What a spectacular sound and sight! I could sit for hours on my front porch and watch the rain dance on our street.

My boys have adopted my love of thunderstorms. I caught them taking in the beautiful view from my room.

After they retired from the window, the thought of the thunderstorm remained on their minds. Before bed, we again went outside and watched the rain fall (it was still falling with a vengeance), listened to the thunder and searched for lightning; all the while singing 'It's raining it's pouring, the old man is snoring...' As soon as my lap began to die from their bony little bottoms, we went inside and sang some more while snuggling on the couch. A seemed a bit warm to me, so I asked Daddy to come over and "give him a kiss on the forehead?" 

E heard my request, leaned over and kissed his brothers forehead. :) And then Daddy did it for good measure since E couldn't really tell us if it felt too hot or not. He was fine, but apparently was not finished with getting kisses. 

A asked Daddy, 'Now a funder tiss Daddy!" 

Daddy, "A what kiss?"

A, "A funder tiss!"

I had to translate, "A thunder kiss." 

Daddy smiled and began to give A a thunder kiss. "kkkkkkeeeeeewwwwwbooooom!" *mwah* landed the kiss.

He was so thrilled with his thunder kiss that he got about three more as well as E. We're such a loving family around here that we couldn't be the only ones giving kisses. Pretty soon both A and E are making their own thunder noises and kissing my arms, cheeks and forehead. 

I love thunderstorms.