mainly just posting photos...

We have been fairly sick here. I suffer from chronic sinusitis in the winter here, thanks to all the mold and mildew, my dr believes it is allergy induced, along with allergy induced asthma. If I am a good girl and do my sinus rinses, nasal spray, and flovent inhaler daily, I can stay decently OK. However, when life gets busy and I forget everything gets VERY bad. So when it gets bad, or my immune system gets compromised I end up with a nasty lung thing, throat things, or ear infection, or all of the above. The end of last week through today has been pretty crummy. And since I am such a good sharer, I shared with Mike and he has been yucky sick, too. Thankfully, I think the kids have been relatively well. J had something quick, and I think D might be feeling yucky because he has been a grump. LOL! Hopefully we will all be on the mends soon. :) anywhoo... some new pics for this last week:

day 30 {30 jan 2010}

bad lighting--cute boy riding his horse after prayers and right before bedtime. :)

day 31 {31 jan 2010}

another sunset

day 32 {01 feb 2010} one

D-brushing his teeth, giving me a cheesy grin. :)

day 32 {01 feb 2010} two

D-brushing his teeth, looking cute.

day 32 {01 feb 2010} three

D-brushing his teeth...

"oh, is that Elmo on my toothbrush?"

day 32 {01 feb 2010} four

D-brushing his teeth...

"Hey look Mom!"

day 32 {01 feb 2010} five

D-brushing his teeth...

"It IS Elmo on my toothbrush."

day 33 {02 feb 2010}

one of my favorite hats resting on my new stack of books from amazon. :) woohoo!! I love books. And craft books are even better! :)

day 34 {03 feb 2010}

new shoes...shhh! don't tell. :)

We all know I have a impractical shoe problem. But these were a steal!

They are normal about 50.00 and I got them for 6.99! They are actually less yellow than in the photo, although I would LOVE a pair of yellowish ballet flats. But I can't find any that I like. :)

Well, thanks for those of you, all four of you, who visit my blog. (granted I know this get emailed to a handful of family members.) :) Thanks and have a great week.

Surviving week one of training

Photos first...

day 26 {26 jan 2010} two

after a complete full day of potty training it was definitely a peanut butter jelly kind of night. :)

We stayed home all day, other than going to pick up the kids from school, and spent every 15 -30 minutes making a potty run. There's not much better than being tethered to a toilet. Yeah, right!

day 27 {27 jan 2010}

um..yeah...just plain cute!

day 28 {28 jan 2010}

A's dance bag. I snapped this on the way out the door to A's dance class.

day 29 {29 jan 2010} one

post bath cuteness, and I just love his curls! They are real, not just baby curls!!! :)

day 29 {29 jan 2010} two

Our mini clone. D playing Star Wars by himself. He had full reign of J's costumes while the kidlets were at school, so he was playing with J's most prized red clone trouper costume.

day 29 {29 jan 2010} three

(bad lighting photo-sorry) I love how D helps with dinner. I was supposed to cut that tomato for the taco salads we were having. I washed it, set it down on the cutting board on the counter next to D (yes, he was sitting on the counter again), and went to wash the other two tomatoes. When I turned back around this is what I saw: PB ad J in one hand and my tomato in the other with two huge bites out of it.

Full week of training.
Whew! This week has been totally crazy. I finally left the house with D on Wednesday. We had to go to S's dance classes and J's Scout Pack meeting. Between the two trips to the mall for dance and then the pack meeting we went to the bathroom 7 times. hahaaa! But we made it everywhere without a problem. :) GOOD BOY! :)

I think D has been feeling vulnerable with this new phase. He has been dragging his blanket around with him, and he is attached to me at the hip. I can't go anywhere without him. If I head downstairs while he is up, in a few seconds I hear, "Mommy, where are YOUUUUUU!" and if D wants to go somewhere and I try not to go with him, he sweetly looks at me and says, "Mommy, will you please come wiss (with) me." Did I mention how sweetly he looks at me when he asks?? I just can't tell him no. :) He sits on my lap all the time and is very snugly. I can't really complain too much. :)

I have a coupla funny stories to share. Some are old (and the tomato picture above reminded me) and some are new.

MMMM Tomatoes

A while ago we were shopping, me and all four kids. I was in the produce section and assigned each child something to get: J was to get the carrots and lettuce, A was off getting cucumbers, and S and I were picking out some tomatoes on the vine. We love tomatoes at our house. I seriously can buy a bag of 15 or so and we will still run out by the end of the week. And we are also very picky about the tomatoes we eat. Anyway, this particular day, D was sitting (or more correctly, standing at this moment during out trip) in the cart. I was helping S pick out the best tomatoes and bagging them. As I turned to put the bag in the cart I see what D has been up to. That little rascal, had grabbed two Roma tomatoes and taken a bite out of each of them. I scolded him (very gently because I thought he was too cute at the same time) and quickly gathered up the rest of the clan and went up to pay for those two tomatoes. The lady that checked us out with the purchase to the two tomatoes thought it was about the cutest thing she had seen. Of all the things a little man can choose to munch on he grabs tomatoes. :)

Toilet Time Conversation

D and I have been spending a lot, and I mean A LOT, of time together in the bathroom this week. Well today we had a funny little conversation. It went something like this...

D says to me while he was sitting on the can, "I don't wanna fall in."

I responded, "Well, the little one [referring to the training toilet] would be better."

D, who has refused to sit on the little toilet since day two, says, "I don't want to use the little one."

Me, "be careful then."

D, doing his balancing act on the big one, "don't flush me, Mom! Don't flush me!"

Me, "I would never flush you."

D, smiles his sneaky little grin, and starts moving one leg up to the seat, and says, "Can I dip my foot in?"

Me, "Uh NO!"

He is such a funny boy.

Reading for Video Game Time

It is working!! It is working!! I really love seeing the timer on the microwave set and running by someone other than me, because it means J has set the timer, and is reading. :) It makes me so so happy that he is reading more. This week, he earned a full hour of video game time, which means he read for two hours this week. That is huge for him. He is also focused more on their reading program at school, it makes me so happy!

"Art comes from my Mom"

J loves to draw. I guess he has been drawing a bit at school. Some of his friends have asked him how come he can draw so well. He told me he said, " Well, the art stuff comes from my Mom, if you want to learn, she'll give you lessons." hahaaa!

Basketball for the older two

We are going to be a bit busier for the next few months. We have J and A in basketball. We have never done it before, but decided to let them try it out. Mainly because our good friend is going to be their coach. We had their first clinic today. I was pleased with both of them. A, who normally doesn't like to run and sweat, really loved it. J scored a basket and was pretty proud of himself. I hope they both enjoy it.

The dreaded thumb guard...

S has been wearing the thumb guard for about 3 and a half weeks now. I think it is going well. We have taken it off about once a week to clean it out and let her thumb air out. The first time it came off, she looked at her thumb longingly; she really wanted to suck it. The next time, it wasn't quite so bad, I had her color to keep her hand busy. Today we took it off and I actually forgot about it, so it was off for about 3 hours. She didn't suck it at all. She didn't even want to, she said she didn't even think about it. We did put it back on, but I am glad that she is doing so well with it. She still chews on the thumb guard. I am hoping that habit will stop soon. Then we will think about removing the T guard permanently (well, at least during the day time).

little mini me

My sweet daughter, A, is growing up so fast. She is becoming so so helpful and sweet. She is always willing to give me an extra hand. And because she is so sweet with D, she can comfort him when he is sad or hurt, if I am not around. :) She is the first one to thank me for dinner, or for doing the laundry, or for braiding her hair. She is my little gopher, and she really thrives on helping. She gets to "be the teacher" at school fairly regularly because of her good behavior and maturity. I am pretty proud of her.

Oh, we have skype (for a bit now) and ichat up and running, so if you have them and want to chat shoot me an email or call me and we can become each others' friends or buddies. :)

Photos and D decided to be a big boy... I am not sure I want him to be one. :)

I have decided that I want to finally get the kids' rooms all cutsey-fied. So I am working my way up. I bought these fun little drapes and bench for their room. I am planning on painting on their walls and doing some other fun things. The book case that I have been working on will go in there too.

day 22 {22 jan 2010}

My girls room new curtains and bench.

They love them, they love the glitz and the sparkle. :)

Mike and I have officially started being better with our food and exercise. I have a few things that I am kicking out of my regular intake, and a few things I am adding. Grapefruit in the morning is going to be a big part of m life. :)

day 23 {23 jan 2010} one

A new part of my regular breakfast. Love me some good ruby red grapefruit. :)

(The real stuff not the soda)

day 23 {23 jan 2010} two

The sun was shining and no one wanted to stay inside.

Nice shiner, huh? He smacked his head running around this last weekend.

day 23 {23 jan 2010} three

Happy boy to be free from the containment of his home.

day 23 {23 jan 2010} four

and another sunset. Mike has asked me to take more pictures of our sunset. It is quite beautiful this time of year. We will only get to enjoy it for a few more months, because come spring to summer it moves across the horizon and hides behind our neighbors' homes.

day 24 {24 jan 2010}

Pictures I took of our TV. How fitting that I accidentally took these pictures of one of our favorite TV show, 24, on day 24, which just so happens to be Jan 24. (Seriously, didn't plan it al all). Mike and I have loved this show from the first season. We wouldn't miss a show. Then the next season, our oldest child was old enough (about 18 mo or so) that we didn't feel comfortable watching it with him awake, so we started recording it with our VCR (yes, we still had one then) and watch it after he went to bed. I think we did that for another year. Then they came out with them on DVD's, so for the next two years we rented the DVDs and exhaustedly watched all the shows in less than a weeks time (little sleep) when they came out. That did cause problems though, because we'd have to be careful not to see the commercials as the season was going. Then we got our DVR. Ahhhh!!! We really love our DVR.

This week treated me to a big surprise. My darling little man woke up Monday from his nap and announced to me that he wanted to put his "pees in the toilet" and wear his "underwears". He has gone potty in the toilet a few random times and no.2 a few times as well... but nothing consistent. I would not have instigated any potty training right now. But when the boy wants to try, this momma's got to give it a go... so we did. He loves his Cars pants, and Mater really did the trick. He was determined to keep Mater dry. :) (pictured below is Mack, however.)

day 25 {25 jan 2010} one

I adore his attitude and determination.

Day one-3 accidents and 10+ successes. I'd say it was a good day!

day 25 {25 jan 2010} two

My new camera bag arrived today! :) L*O*V*E it. :)

from Jo Totes

day 26 {26 jan 2010}

The little man growing up too fast. The little potty goes upstairs and downstairs wherever we go, so we have it right on hand when we need it. Here he was watching a movie and doing his duty. :) I love the cars in his hands.

Again, many many successes and then 3 accidents. Both days the accidents were when I was cooking and cleaning up after dinner. So tomorrow I am going to be WAY more on it at that time of day. So, that is what we have been up to. Everything else has been put on hold a bit. Hopefully it will be worth it. :)

organizing, sawing, sanding, and sleeping...

Mike was gone for the first four days of the week. I wish Mike and Phil would coordinate their work trips, so then Misty would come here when Mike is gone. :) It would sure make my life easier. The kids were awesome while he was away, and I worked their little keesters off. They cleaned their room (serious cleaning), they helped with their chores, and did their homework. Their dance teacher was sick this week, so dance was cancelled both days, which was nice considering that I was exhausted. I don't sleep much/well when Mike is gone. I have gone through clothes and toys and organized and gotten things together to get rid of. We just have too much stuff! :)

I have continued taking my daily photo, even though I almost forgot one day, and I am really wanting the rain to stop so I can get some outside pictures. They are so much better than inside here. :) But I have been playing a lot and learning more about my manual mode. :) YAY!! Here are the pictures...

day 18 {18 jan 2010}

D-just an early morning shot with bed head. :)

I think the Home Depot workers might possibly be my new best friends. The last two weeks I have been working on an old (very old) project of mine. Back when A was a baby I took a woodworking class with a friend of mine...

OH, speaking of this friend, Amber, for those of you who know our awesome friend, Amber, she got remarried this month. She was previously married to Mike's best friend, Dusty, who died about 6 years ago. She called Mike and I back in August last year and we chatted. She had been dating this guy, and they were getting serious. YAY! He was preparing to move, and they were going to do the long distance thing for a bit to see how serious they really were. Well, in November she emailed us and told us she was engaged and getting married. :) They were married in the beginning of the month. We are thrilled and so so glad she is happy. It is really a happy thing. Now...back to my old project...

I have found this awesome blog, knock off wood, and have decided that there are a few, or a lot, of projects on her blog I would like to tackle. My track record with woodworking hasn't been that great since I have only ever started one project and 7 years later is still sits unfinished. Mike told me he doesn't want me to start another project until I finish my first one, and that seems fair enough to me. So I have broken out the saws and sanders, the wood filler and caulking, and gotten seriously down to business. After about 5 trips to home depot in the last two weeks I think they know and recognize me when I walk in. LOL!! I had to make 5 trips because I am an unorganized creative person. I don't think super far ahead and then I have to go back for multiple trips. I think today was my last one, though, until I buy paint. :) So I have been building...YAY!! I love doing it. I am sort of making a version of this pottery barn dollhouse bookcase. Except mine is bigger, with a big drawer on the bottom for toys to get tossed into, and then cupboards over the main part to close it all up, and a cute scalloped edge trim on the roof. I will definitely have pictures when I finish it. I am hoping for a decent day this week to start painting. :) We shall see. Anyway, here is one of the pictures of me working on (or, more accurately, me not working on, and pausing to take a picture of me working on) the scalloped edges.

day 19 {19 jan 2010}

making my scalloped edges for my dollhouse bookshelves.

Cutting them was the easy part. :) Sanding them was atrocious.

I also started doing some decorating in the kids bedrooms. About time, I know...I bought little benches for their rooms (as well as for props for my photography). This is S sitting on her new bench.

day 20 {20 jan 2010}

My little one, S. putting on her serious face for a picture. :)

Then after 3 days of not sleeping well, Mike came home, and I was ready to crash and catch up on my sleeping. :) See picture below. hahaa!

day 21 {21 jan 2010}

Me in bed.

...busy day today and I nearly forgot to take a picture.

I was tucked into bed and Mike was about to turn the lights off, and I remembered.

So my darling hubby got my camera for me so I could get my picture for the day...

Well, we had a really kick back Saturday. The sun was shining and the kids went outside to play. I joined them because D refuses to stay inside now when they go out to play and it is a little too dangerous for him outside unsupervised. I got busy cleaning up pool toys from the summer, (yes, they were still out there, embarrassing, I know). Then I started clipping the ivy and blackberry bushes that are taking over in certain parts of our yard. I think they must be in the noxious weed category. They are awful. Mike played games with the kids, and watched some sports, and then I got lost in the garage sanding. I sanded one of my fingers and it hurts a bit. I also broke two saw blades. Hey, I am learning. :)

Nite all!! :)

Christmas Murals

Mike's nursing home is undergoing remodeling right now. So this past December he asked me to come and paint some Christmas murals on the walls. So, I spent three days painting. I LOVED doing it. They wanted a fun snowball fight across the hallway between the reindeer and Santa and the elves.
The contractors are going to be painting over the murals soon. So I ran in a snagged some photos. The pictures aren't the best (really bad lighting and I had to use my yucky lens so I could fit everything in), but the murals were so fun!! And the sweet people that lived there LOVED them. :) Although, I seriously doubt Mike will ask me to do it again. I think I drove him a bit crazy, because I am a slight perfectionist when it comes to art stuff, and I had myself and whatever kids I had at the moment (if they weren't in school or at dance or somewhere else) with me at the facility for three days off and on. I would go back after Mike would come home from work to finish it all up. Yeah, I think my OCD art stuff drove him a little crazy.

Here is the first section of the hall on one side...

This is the reindeer side. They are a little feisty. :)

This is a shot down the hall (the reindeer side).

Here is a shot down the other side of the hall (the Santa, elves, penguin, and snowman team)

Elves hiding behind a present. One elf had a snowball gun, but that elf got painted over in a test the paint section, :) however you can still see his arm and the gun.

Here is Santa with his wind up!

Splat!!! I've been hit!

Ready for battle!

This is the largest section of wall in the hallway! It was really fun to fill up and paint!

a close up of my favorite part of the mural... the sneaky elves using all their resources. Please note the bottom section of the snowman, some of him has been turned into snowballs. It just makes me giggle. :)

More elves...

These are J's favorite...he loves the reindeer with the shooter antlers. :)

I didn't come up with the ideas, just drew them and painted them. Mike and some of his staff suggested what I should paint. They also had some fluff balls hanging from the ceiling (as snowballs). It was fun for me and I was very happy to have real wet, drippy paint and paint brushes in my hot little hands again, and not the digital ones. I don't get much time to do that now a days. And I couldn't even imagine attempting to paint with all my kiddos around.

I also want to thank my parents for letting me spread my painting wings when I was a teenager and paint on my bedroom walls. And my grandparents for always encouraging me to keep it up. I think your encouragement really made a huge difference in my confidence and desire to develop that talent. And of course, now a days, my hubby for being my biggest supporter of me continuing to paint and do my digital art, and then my kids who make me feel like a rock star when ever they see some of my art. So THANKS!! (Sounds Like I just accepted am academy award or something. hahaha!! I just feel grateful that I have been blessed and encourage to be able to have the opportunity to develop my talents. Sorry for the sap.)

A busy, and fun filled week

So I think I am going to try and start posting my pictures in the other order. It makes it easier to blog about them :) But if it takes too long, I won't continue doing it. LOL!

We started our week off sick, and with a ton of Sunday Church meetings (different ones that we both needed to attend), so it made it a little complicated for Mike and I. It was ward conference and Mike had a Young Men's meeting with the Stake Young Men's presidency the last hour, and I had to do Primary the last two hours and then meet with the stake after church, and Mike had another quick meeting after church too. We flip flopped who was with S. Mike stayed home with her the first two hours, then the last hour he brought her to church. I went out and stayed in the car with poor little S with a barfing pot. Luckily she hadn't thrown up since around midnight the night before. Then after church one of our sweet Young Women went out and sat in the car with or kiddos while we were in our meetings. It was a little crazy, but we survived. And luckily we had a quick recovery, thank goodness.

day 10 {10 jan 2010}

My little sick one snuggling with Daddy.

Nothing like a little snuggling to make a girl feel better.

Some days just need more than one photo. We had a big day on Sunday, other than S being sick, A and I have been working on teaching her to sew. She has been very focused and patient as I made her work without thread and following paper drawn lines and shapes for a few weeks until I felt she was ready for thread. Then we did paper and thread for a week longer, then finally we used material and thread. She was one proud little girl!

day 10 {10 jan 2010}

My daughter working and focused on her first sewn project with both thread and material...

see next photo.

day 10 {10 jan 2010}

My girl has mad sewing skills. This is her first project sewn all by herself. (Well, I did the first lock stitch just to get her going.) She is so insanely proud of herself. It reminds me of a talk by Elder Uchtdorf, he says, "The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before...Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty—"

Here is the specific video clip by Elder Uchtdorf: CREATE

day 11 {11 jan 2010}

This little horse...I love it. It was my little sister's, and since I was seven when she was born, I remember her riding on it. My Dad gave it to my S after one of our visits, and she loved it, and now my littlest, D, loves it! It is his "Bullseye". It has brought great joy to many a little child. (As a side note: It also has to disappear when other children of the same age come to play, D is not the best sharer with his horse and has been know to shove, push and yank others off, as he quickly then climbs on--so not OK. haha!)

day 12 {12 jan 2010}

D playing in the tub with his Shamu whale.

He could stay in there all day if I let him. :) I love his bath time because I clean up my bathroom or get myself ready for the day while he is in my tub. I think it is a perfect arrangement. He is starting to get concerned now though, when his fingers and toes get all wrinkly.

day 13 {13 jan 2010}

Dance--It completely fills my day on Wednesdays and Thursdays! :D Anyone who has watched my children over a period of time know that dance is a big part of my girls' lives. This year we actually have two dance classes on two different days of the week totally four dance classes. it is a little much for me, so we will be simplifying them for the girls next year. S is having a hard time choosing which class to take, but A is already set on just taking ballet. :)

day 14 {14 jan 2010}

Mike's (my husband's) nursing home is undergoing remodeling right now. So this past December he asked me to come and paint some Christmas murals on the walls. So I spent three days painting. I LOVED doing it. The contractors are going to be painting over them soon. So I ran in a snagged some photos. The pictures aren't the best, but the murals were so fun!! I will be posting more photos in just a bit of all the murals in it's own post.

Misty and her two little boys came for a few days while Phil was away for work. I loved having them. Ty and D got along, for the most part, fantastically. They only fought over the Lightning McQueen and Sally cars. We made Sally disappear and Misty picked up a second blue Lightning McQueen one day while she was out, and then the rest of the trip all was well. They thoroughly enjoyed running up and down our long hallway, playing cars side by side on the car tracks, playing with pet shops, and shooting things with the dart guns. They also "enjoyed" tackling each other (whoever was on the tackling end at least enjoyed it). We have a two step drop down living room and there was one time D dove off the top step, jumped through the air superman style, landed by Ty, grabbed his feet/legs, and knocked Ty to the ground. I was nervous both of them had gotten hurt, but D looks up, grins his huge grin, and says, "I got him" and Ty pops up laughing. So I guess all was well. No worries, Ty got D good a few times two, I specifically remember Ty rolling around on top of D after a good tackling of D. Ty kept D down and D was squirming trying to get out from underneath Ty. Ah, good times! :)

We all really loves smooching on Dallin's cheeks, cooing with him, getting his HUGE smiles, and seeing his three dimples. Mike finally thinks Dallin is good for something because he responds and smiles and laughs now. He is practically perfect in every way.

day 15 {15 jan 2010}

My darling nephew...seriously...too cute for words. This is Misty's little boy. I adore this little sweet ball of chub. He is so delightful and pleasant to be around. He mostly sleeps like a champ, other than the hours of 10-midnight when Misty would really like to go to bed but Dallin is all wide eyed. :) He loves to be held and talked to. If he is the least bit upset, all he needs is someone to pick him up and talk to him, or coo at him or love on him. Well, unless he is hungry, then nothing will suffice accept mom. :)

day 16 {16 jan 2010}

J wasn't feeling super great one evening, so I found this on his door when I went upstairs. Such a sweet, little, melodramatic boy. Needless to say, it was just a little tummy ache, he was totally fine the next morning, and the sign was removed by the afternoon. Funny boy.

day 16 {16 jan 2010}

hot cocoa with peppermint ice-cream. mmmmm!

day 17 {17 jan 2010}

Kids playing with blocks and me playing with settings on my camera.

Thanks for checking them out.