Conversation with Jake...

The scene:  We had been on vacation and were out of clean underwear.

Jake:  Mom.  I'm all out of unders.

Me:  I know.  They're in the wash right now.  They'll be ready in an hour.

Jake:  Okay.  I'll just go commando.  That's when you go without unders.

Me:  (laughing) Nice.

The Nail Salon

Allie and Lily made a nail salon.  They made a sign and had things all set up to give manicures and pedicures. They were bummed that no one was coming to the salon, so when Jason went to sleep, Nate and I went over to check it out.  

Their cute banner and sign were appealing, so I went up to see what they could do for me. 

During the slow hours, they had been working on their own manicures and I have to say that the results were a bit frightening for me as a potential customer.

She said the wind was blowing and it affected her performance.  She promised that mine would look better...

Nate wasn't scared off though and ended up getting a lovely green shade on his fingers.

She did a lovely job and after we spent a few minutes trying to get fingernail polish off of Heidi's white porch furniture, it was time to close up shop for the day.
If you are disappointed that you were unable to stop by their shop, I'm sure they'd be happy to give you a private appointment.

Hat

I heard Jason saying "hat" from the other room.  I figured he was playing around with one of Nate's hats as he always likes to do.  When I came in, I saw something that made me laugh, so I thought I'd share it with you...

This taking the diaper off thing has been something that Jason has enjoyed for a while now.  We have had one pee incident and just the other day, there was an unfortunate poop incident.  I wasn't happy at all.  I have resorted to making him wear onsies, but when he is determined, he can even get a diaper off through that.  Crazy boy.  At least I'll have something to laugh about when you're older.

Hummingbird

We have found a few nests in our trees over the years.  It's so fun to see the birds come and go.  The other day, Allie and Jake discovered that we had a hummingbird nest in our tree.  I thought it was so neat!

Things I don't want to forget...

Nate is a huge fan of the movie Cars, and then he discovered Cars 2 and that was a happy day.  When Planes came around, that became a new favorite, and I'm sure he'll love the second Planes.  He's been our first kid to really watch a movie.  Allie and Jake just weren't into them.

Anyway, the thing I don't want to forget is that Nate will go and find his planes and fly them around as he watches the movie.  If it's Cars, he'll get McQueen and zoom him around on the table.  He talks to himself and makes his toys talk and it's just the cutest thing ever.  So I don't want to forget it.

My Sam Friends

Remember how I have some friends because of Sam?  Merideth was born just a few months before Sam and then Cale was born a few years after him.  Their moms are some of the greatest people out there.  For 3 years now, we have met up at the splash pad and let the kids play while we talked.  

The kids didn't really want to get together for a picture, but we insisted.

Cale's brothers and sisters are on the right, Sam's in the middle, and Merideth's are on the left.  We have quite a crowd.  I think they all love the splash pad and I love seeing the others as they grow up.  It's a fun tradition and I love these gals.  I'm glad our kids brought us together.

Jason was just a week out of his tonsillectomy, and it was one of the first days that he was happy most of the day.  He had a great time and it was so much fun watching him discover the water.

Jake and Allie were great to help keep an eye on the kids.  Last year, they said they wanted to go back with their ripstiks.  They remembered just as we were heading out and they were glad because they thought it was fun to weave in and out of the spray.

Nate was a joy to watch too.  He loved it and had all sorts of fun going in and out of the spray.

A Happy Birthday Party for...

Harry Potter!  When I published that last post, it was already out of date.  We finished the 3rd book and then moved on to the 4th.  I thought Allie might not want to keep going, but she said that she does.  Anyway, we finished the 4th book on July 30.  July 31st is Harry Potter's birthday.  It's also my little brother's birthday, and Mike's dad too...but we celebrated Harry Potter like any other crazed fan would do.
I sent the kids an invitation by owl post.  I got all the ideas and the printables from HERE if you would like to throw your own nerd party...

  I got to work making the treats and it wasn't too bad.

These little Pumpkin Pasties were really good.  They are just little pumpkin pies and I have decided that I'll make them every year in the fall because they were pretty easy and so good.

The kids ate all the food and kept going back for more...even the bread with cucumbers on it.  That's always a good thing.

After the dinner, Jason and Nate went to sleep and we watched the 4th movie.  It was scarier than I remember and had a few scenes that are awkward to watch with kids (since when were there kids making out in the carriages in the books?).  We are reading the fifth book now, but we probably won't watch the movies.  We usually spend the entire movie with the kids saying "why did they leave out...?" or "that never happened in the book!"  I'm glad I passed on the love of the books and not necessarily the movies.

It was a fun night and the kids all loved it...so we'll probably do it again next year if you want to join us!

Eight is Great!

My favorite baby girl is 8!

I love you Allie Sue and am so glad that you are mine.

Little Harry Potlicker

You know how I love Harry Potter?  Well, my kids are fans now too and I couldn't be happier about it.

We started reading the first book together as soon as summer started and then we watched the movie.  It was fun for me to read the books after only listening to them all these years.  I can't believe how much I have tuned out as I have listened.  J.K. Rowling has such a clever way of writing things and has created so many fun words and a world that seems so possible.  I love to watch the kids smile as I read the funny lines of Fred and George, or the shock on their faces as they hear of the awful Dursleys.  Jake paced around the room as I read the ending of The Chamber of Secrets and Allie pretended not to be afraid when Voldemort showed up in the end of the first book.  We have loved it.

We are part of the way through the 3rd book now and it's my favorite.  I am excited to see how the kids like it too.  Jake has played the Lego Harry Potter game, so he knows a few of the spoilers and that makes me sad, but I guess I can't keep him from learning things from books that were published over 10 years ago.
This whole thing has just been fun though and I crack up when I hear Nate telling me things about Harry Potter.

Mike got me a wand from the theme park when he was there a few years ago and the kids walk around the house with it trying to do magic.  I love to see Nate walking around the house shouting "expelliarmus!"

Then, the other day, Jake was bugging Allie and she had finally had enough.  She yelled "ten points from Grifindor!" and I just about died laughing.
You can call us nerds, but there are a lot of nerds who love Harry Potter out there, so we aren't alone.  I love that we are reading the books, but really it is that I love that we are reading together.  I love when the kids beg for just a few more pages.  I love that Nate falls asleep snuggling with us each night on the bed.  I am so bummed that life gets so busy in the school year that we don't do this.  I love this time with the kids.  I think that's what I will miss most about summer.  But for now, we still have a little more than half of a book to read and kids that love the magical world of Hogwarts as much as me...so we will read.

  

I'm sorry...

It's been a long time and now I have so many things to write about that I don't know where to start.  Allie is getting baptized later on this month, so whenever I feel like I might have free time to write on the blog, I feel guilty for not looking up pictures of her to put in the slide show.  Ugh.
I don't really want to do that now though (it puts me in a funk to watch her grow up in pictures), so I'm just going to start trying to catch up here and see how long I have till my friend Jason wakes up.
Speaking of Jason, he is a new kid.  The tonsillectomy was the best thing we ever did for him (minus the whole near death experience).  He has been so happy.  He still throws the usual fits right before meal times, and when he wants to do something that I won't let him do, but he doesn't follow me around crying all day anymore.  I can't tell you how much that has changed our lives.  I find joy in that kid almost every minute of every day.  I even took a picture of him crying yesterday because even his cry face was cute to me.

I love how he does a squinty eye cry.  He also has a squinty eyed smile, but he's crying in this one.  Taking pictures side tracked him from his fit, so that was an added benefit.  :)

 He has exploded in language and he has the funniest sense of humor.  He likes to tease and will follow Nate around trying to "poke" him, or "ssss" slither a snake finger down his back.  Today, he kept coming to the hose for drinks and then I saw why.  He was holding the water in his mouth to go spit it on Nate.
When he gets the hose, he sprays people and laughs about it.  I swear he never did cute things before.  Maybe he did, but now everything is just amplified because he's happy.
We went to a family reunion last week where we needed to stay in a hotel room.  I didn't even have the usual pre-trip anxiety about Jason sleeping because he's been sleeping all night at home, I figured he'd be okay in the hotel.  He was!  He slept all night both nights and even though he had a hard time falling asleep, and ended up waking up early, there were never any uncontrollable fits.  It's just been heaven.
I am so grateful.  Yesterday, I found myself cleaning out the corner table next to the fridge and I found things from the school year in that pile....that's how old it is.  Anyway, I was cleaning out the corner because I could.  Suddenly my mind can tackle messes that I haven't wanted to face in a long time because I was too busy just surviving.  I know it all sounds weird, and a bit dramatic, but it is how it is.  I was talking to my neighborhood book club the other day after reading Stephanie Nielson's Heaven is Here, and we talked about depression.  I talked about how I've been in a sort of fog ever since Jason was about 6 months old.  There were days where I would just sit and get nothing done.  It was so unlike myself and I wondered if I needed to go get on a pill or something.  I wasn't getting things done because, when he was sleeping, I had no motivation to do anything but sit.  It had been going on for so long, and day after day, I was just spinning my wheels thinking that it was just the way life was for me now.  Jason was just so grumpy and he didn't sleep.  It was affecting our whole family.  Now that Jason has been sleeping at night, and he is happy in the day, I can see how much it had changed me.  It helps that Nate has been amazing too.  It's like all those months of crazy chaos are starting to lesson a bit.  I have been able to leave the house a few times without kids, and each time, I find a little more of me.  I remember these years being really hard when Allie and Jake were little.  They are the same ages apart as Jason and Nate and I remember being really sad that I couldn't imagine having another baby.  I wanted more kids, but I was too overwhelmed.  Then, things just started getting easier.  I had all this before, so I knew that it would get better with Jason and Nate too.  It just seemed so far away.  Now Nate listens to me and he understands consequences.  I don't have to fear for his life every second of every day.  He stays close and he tells me when he wants to go somewhere.  Combine that with a happy Jason and now it's possible to go places without bringing anxiety as my other friend.  Jake and Allie are huge helps around the house and with the boys.  I even went to the temple last week and left them in charge.  I did initiatories and was home in an hour and all was well when I got back.  I will miss them when school starts.  Allie is always so good to let Nate tag along when she plays with her friends.  He will miss her too.
So, this ended up being a long post and I didn't mean to complain about things in life right now.  I just wanted to say that I am so happy that things are getting easier.  I have always been so grateful for my kids and I would never trade my life or my chaos for anything else.  I just see that things are getting easier and I am grateful for that too.
We have had some really fun adventures this summer and since Jason is still sleeping (yay!) I am going to get started on another post.  To my handful of readers (Alana, Mom, and Heidi), I'll try and be better. :)