Happy Birthday Dax!!!!

Three years ago (yesterday) we welcomed the sweetest little guy into our family.  Dax was seriously the best baby anyone could dream of.  Happy all the time and rarely cried. Then he turned 2.  I don't know what happened but man he has been full of mischief ever since then.  He is the kid that can get away with whatever he wants because he has such a cute face and smile.  Those big blue eyes get me every time.  Love you dax man.  You have made the last three years better than I can describe. 

Thanks grandma squeaker for the Thomas cake (nate's mom really should go into business).  He loved it and is still talking about it.

Splish Splash

Why does the weather hate us?  I swear every time we try to go do something fun the weather stinks.  I took the kiddos down to Salt Lake to go swimming with their cousin Elle on Friday and the darn wind was terrible.  Oh well, the kids didn't seem to notice, except elle and her lips were literally purple.  

One of these days I will get over the fact that I absolutely hate swimming and actually get in with my kids instead of handing them off to other people then sit on the side and take pictures.  There is just something really nasty about being in water that is filled with other peoples stuff.....spit, pee, hair, who knows what else.  That just does not seem like a good time to me.  Plus I have to have a bit more self esteem to get in a swimsuit next to amanda.

Clear Creek here we come

I decided I was going to be brave and attempt a camping trip with a hubby on crutches, a 2 year old who has great hearing until the word "no" is said then seems to not be able to hear a thing, an 8 month old who is into everything, plus two more kiddos thrown in there somewhere.  I only have one thing to say about that,  WHAT THE H-E-double hockey sticks was I thinking?

My family was going camping out to Clear Creek and asked if we wanted to tag along.  So me being the super awesome person that I am agreed to take the boys out for a couple of nights even though Nate is on crutches and can't help do a thing right now.  No biggie right?  Sure.  Something like that.  We went on Friday and it was great.  Got the tent set up -that's right, we're hardcore- who needs a trailer anyway? Then I never stopped getting something for someone relaxed the rest of the night.  

The kids hit the creek as soon as we got there.  I asked them not to get wet because I didn't have any clothes to change them into if they did.  The clothes were with Nate in the other vehicle and he didn't show up until 7 that night.  Anyway Dilon fell in as soon as his foot hit the first rock, gus must have been as scared of fish as he is of cows because he didn't spend much time by the creek, and remember dax doesn't hear the word no so when I would say "no, don't go in there" that must have translated to "go ahead and dive in head first, you'll be fine".  So he got a bit wet, got cold, no clothes to change into and then it cooled down.  Here is what he ended up looking like.

Who needs a girl when you can just dress your boys in girl clothes?  Nate is totally fine with that.

Dilon and Kelton decided to go for  a bike ride....... down a hill.  This was the end result of that

Grif spent a lot of time hanging out or "helping" Steph in her trailor

Baylor kept getting quarantined to his playpen (until steph would take pity on him and pay him some attention)

I guess I shouldn't be too hard on Nate not being able to do anything.  He did cook breakfast for us

Grandpa and Jami spent a good amount of time entertaining the kiddos as well

 There was a lot of fishing, a lot of screaming, a lot of running, a lot of eating crap (you do understand that no one actually ate crap, right?  Well maybe I shouldn't say that you never know what grif puts in his mouth.  Crap=junk food), a lot of crazy weather, a lot of work for me, but mostly a lot of fun for the kiddos.

 

Mother nature decided to unleash all her evilness and it turned freezing cold.  Remember earlier when I said we were hardcore and didn't need a trailer.  We were tough enough to tent it.  Well I was not feeling so tough the first night.  I FROZE!  When I wasn't worried about being eaten by a bear I was freezing.  In fact, I'm pretty sure my chattering teeth scared any vicious animal (or crazy killer wood people) away.  Saturday we experienced wind, rain, hail, and SNOW.   That's right.  It snowed on our June camping trip.  BOO!  We decided it was just not worth trying to pretend we were tough so we packed up and left after dinner.  I don't think the boys even noticed it was cold.  They were bummed we had to leave.

All that work and we only lasted a day and a half.  There's always next year.

**We missed you mikey, mandy and elle

M-O-T-H-E-R

When I was going through dilon's backpack (am I the only one who thinks of dora when backpack is said?) on the last day of school I found a paper that I guess he wrote for me on Mothers Day.  Wonder why it never got delivered.  I thought it was very well written.  Mostly because it's all about moi ( I totally had to look that up, it was so not spelled how I thought it would be.  Guess I should have taken a french class or two. Also, I am really not in love with myself.  I was just kidding that I loved it being all about me--well mostly kidding).  Anyway, here it is:

M-ost awesome (he nailed that right on the head but did bill and ted pop into anyone's head besides mine?)
O-n track always (oh boy does he have a lot to learn)
T-houghtful (I guess at times)
H-ave fun with her (doesn't everybody?)
E-xiting (I hope he meant exciting, i'm not planning on going anywhere)
R-eally good at throwing (it's all those push ups I do every day)

You would think out of everything I would be happiest with "most awesome" or even "thoughtful".  But nope, my favorite was "really good at throwing".  That's right, I totally rock at throwing.  Any of you that I may have played cornhole with actually know the truth but who cares.  My kid thinks I am awesome at throwing a football and that's really all that matters.

Look what I found today

About 8 months ago (Sept. 27, 2011 if you want to be exact) my world was spinning around me.  The life flight people showed up at the hospital to take Baylor away and all they left me with was this t-shirt.  I didn't want a consolation prize, I wanted my baby.  I found it today tucked away in his closet and it made my heart hurt.  I still can't think about any of that without getting all choked up.  Then I look at this picture and know that everything is okay.  I am so grateful that he won't remember a thing about it.  Doesn't he look cute in his $14,000 t-shirt? 

On a side note, the little stinker crawled up the stairs today by himself.  He can't be that big yet.

Proud mama moment

Both of my super awesome grade schoolers got an award at the awards assembly yesterday.  They both got Cougar Scholar.  I have no idea what that means but it did get them a free kids meal at Burger King so woohoo! 

Grif's said: "Grifin has been working hard in class.  He tries to do his best work with a smile.  Thanks!"

That is fantastic since we have had a bit of a struggle with him this school year.

Dil's said:  "Dilon has been very conscientious in returning his homework."  

Am I the only one that has a hard time spitting out the word conscientious?  It just does not roll off my tongue the way it should.

Good job guys!

Schools out!

Schools out for summer!  Of course the first thing my kids want to do is put the sprinkler under the tramp.

Reason # 8326 as to why I am a bad parent.  Dilon came down the stairs with the bottle of sunblock and wanted me to put it on.  This is our conversation:


Dilon:  Mom will you please put this on me?
Me:  No, it's fine you don't really need it.
Dilon:  Please mom.
Me:  Dil, it's not that hot out there.  You'll be fine.
Dilon:  Do you want me to get skin cancer?  You know that can happen if I don't wear sunscreen.

Why must my 8 year old be more responsible than me?  If I would just break down and buy the spray on kind it wouldn't be a problem.  But no, I am still too cheap to do something like that.  Now I smell like nasty sunblock.  Totally worth it.

Sorry Dax

I really, really hate the fact that I am too cheap to pay someone to cut my boys hair.  I hate it even more when the end result of me being cheap turns out like this (and believe me, it happens all too often.)

 Sorry Dax.  I still love you, even though your haircut may show otherwise.

Life lately

Baylor finally got his little teeth to pop through his gums.  Maybe now he will start using his binky the way it is supposed to be used.

 Dax loves cruising in his buzz lightyear car.  Thank you grandma squeaker Santa Claus.

Best part of my day lately is when I am getting attacked with kisses from this little man.

I have become super awesome at multitasking (yes I am patting myself on the back).  Bay is getting a bath while I make dinner.  Don't worry I was watching him.  Mostly I didn't have a choice.  He decided to spit his dinner all over the place while I was cooking.  I had to resort to a bath in the sink.  I'm pretty sure he was okay with that.

Again I am having a not so great mother moment because all of my pictures lately are of Baylor and Dax.  I swear I don't neglect Dilon and Grifin.  They are just at school or no where to be found when I want to take a picture.  Only 2 and 1/2 more days of school for them then I am sure they will be under my feet constantly.  I have to mentally prepare for summer break this year.  What am I going to do with 4 kids all day long?  I hate swimming so cross that off the list.  The park gets old.  They are not just going to sit around and play the computer or wii all day.  Maybe I should have started thinking about stuff to do long before now.  Last summer I actually made them do homework.  I know I know, it is summer break.  They are supposed to have a break.  All I do is make them read a little and work on a few things they struggled with during the school year.  I don't actually make them sit down for hours at a time and do real work.  It's really not that bad.  It only takes a few minutes each day.  Plus it gives them something to do.  Why am I on here trying to convince myself it is okay to make them read during the summer?  

Dilon and Grif are getting awards at the assembly on Wednesday.  Hopefully I will be on the ball and remember to actually take the camera.  Then I can post some pictures of them.

Life's good...........even when you're down

Nate had foot surgery last Thursday.  I have been dreading it.  Yep, that's right, I wasn't the one having surgery but I was the one dreading it.  I'm super sweet aren't I?  My biggest concern was that I would pass out at the hospital.  I don't do well with stitches, blood, broken things, hospital gowns, anything that has to do with someone being hurt.  They came in before his surgery and told him that they would knock him out for a couple of minutes to do a local anesthesia then they were going to wake him up.  He was awake during his surgery.  I guarantee you I would have passed out instantly if that was me they were going to do that too.  It just seems like cruel and unusual punishment if you ask me.  Nate didn't seem to care much.  It feels like I have 5 kiddos now instead of four.  Poor Nate can't do much of anything on his own.  Now he gets to hobble around on crutches for the next 6 weeks.  We are both super excited about that.  Oh well, life is good.

Baylor is enjoying the down time with dad.