Jayson Turns 9

Jayson turned nine this weekend. We had a party for him and he got to invite some friends over and have snacks, cake and presents. He had 3 other boys show up, which ended up being a great number because they could play video games, and I didn't have to go crazy. They watched Scooby-Doo and had snacks while they waited for everyone to show up. It was funny to watch the boys. Jayson got a really cool electronic keep away game. It has hand bands that are different colors and sensors in them so that the ball can tell which color band you have on your hand. The ball tells you which color band to keep away from and counts how many passes you get during like 30 seconds or something. Glen took them out and taught them how to play. The boys had a good time playing that outside for a little bit, but it was kind of cold still so that only lasted so long. Jayson also had a blast last week spending his birthday money that Aunt Becki sent him. He had so many things that he wanted to get, but he had to decide which toy he wanted most. I think we ended up going to about 4 different stores where he looked at every game, toy, and book that each store had to offer. He finally ended up deciding on a video game. I was a mean mom and wouldn't let him have it until his birthday. I wrapped it up and made him open it. So he has been having a good time playing with that this weekend. We also bought him a Grow-a-Girlfriend. He was a little embarrassed about it. He saw it in the box with one of his other presents and tried to hide it, but one of his friends saw it and pulled it out. He was like this is mine, I need this. So anyway the little boy ended up taking it home with him. He showed his dad when he came to pick him up and his dad just started cracking up. I told him I could tell he had older brothers. Of course before it went home with the other little boy, I walked in to the living room to see Jeremiah walking around with it. It was too funny. Jeremiah has started to copy the boys (big surprise). He was trying to chase Aaric around the house on Sunday. He was going around through the kitchen and through the hall and living room. After we put the kids to bed, he was still pretty wound up. We were trying to watch a movie (so of course he had to be as noisy as possible) and he was just running and being a monster. We ended up just recording him, because it was pretty funny, so I am going to try to post it and see if it works. I went shooting for the first time today. I was completely terrified. I tried to load it, but I have never loaded a gun, so I was afraid I was doing it all wrong, and Glen was in the observation room with the kids. I ended up having to put everything back in the case taking it out to him, having him take it to the range and load it for me so I could shoot it. So anyway here is a picture of my target after I finished . I had 10 rounds in the clip, only 3 hit the target. I guess I need a little more practice. I'm not very good. All of the other guys in the rangewere just snickering. Oh and I jumped every time someone else shot. Glen was just cracking up at me. I felt like a complete idiot. Glen of course knows what he is doing and all of his shots hit the target. I didn't take a picture of his target, but I did take one of him shooting (he is the tall guy in the gray sweatshirt). Well that is about all that we did that is worth mentioning. I have to try and write a lot, because I always have way more pictures, than I have to say. So anyway, Kyler, my blog is way cooler than yours. =)

Valentine's Day

Well, I know my title is Valentine's Day, but I don't actually have any pictures from Valentine's Day. We got the kids small boxes of chocolates and a stuffed animal. Grandma sent them some candy, so all in all the kids thought that it was pretty great. I told Glen that I just wanted to do dinner (from a nice restaurant) and not gifts, but he couldn't handle not buying me something, so I ended up with chocolate (which of course I love and thankfully he helped me eat) and some new pajama pants since all of my other ones had been converted into workout pants he decided I could use some new ones. Plus, he knows that I am too cheap to go buy any for myself. We did get dinner, which was nice. We ordered take out from Outback, and he sent me to go pick it up, and when I got home he had nice dishes and the table all set so we didn't eat out of Styrofoam boxes, and he had candles lit and nice music playing. He had it all planned out so that he could do that, and was apparently hoping that I didn't decide I was too cold to go get it myself. So it ended up being a nice dinner (especially since the kids were asleep). So, that was our exciting Valentine's. That is pretty much as good as it gets when you have 5 kids. It was either a babysitter, or dinner, and since we are paying a babysitter in 2 weeks for his awards banquet, we opted for dinner. Elly was super excited that Grandma sent her pajama bottoms that we left at their house at Christmas. She keeps getting the top out and wanting to wear her "cute Christmas jammies", she gets really upset when I have to keep telling her that I don't have all of it. For Activity Days they had a mother-daughter thing. They had dessert (always the best part), stuff to do our nails, and we got to make rose buds out of Hershey kisses and cellophane. Then we wrapped the wire with floral tape. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not very good at crafts, and my daughter inherited my gift for it. We had quite an adventure trying to do it right. All the other moms were looking at me like I was an idiot, and when we finally finished them they didn't look so great, but we had put so much work into them that we didn't want to eat them. They sat on the counter for a day before Elly snuck off with them and we found the wrappers in her bed. Ashleigh was very happy with her little sister for doing that. I guess it is a good thing she is so cute. The other thing they had us do was like a newly weds game where we had to guess each others favorite things. We didn't do so great at that either, but it was kind of cute. Since I put Aaric and Elly's spotlight answers on here, I figured maybe someone will get a kick out of this too. If not too bad for anyone who takes the time to read it, because I will want it when (assuming I ever get around to it) I make this into a scrap book.

Ashleigh

Favorite Color: Pink (I got that one right)

Favorite Movie: Scooby-Doo (I put Harry Potter)

Favorite Subject: Math and Science (I got that one right)

Favorite Ice cream Flavor: Chocolate and Cookie Dough (I got the cookie dough right)

Favorite Animal: Lion (I put cat so I guess that was kind of right)

Favorite Food: Ice cream (I guessed Pizza)

Favorite Candy Bar: Milky Way (I guessed Reese's)

Favorite Place to Vacation: She put Hawaii (although I'm not sure when she has ever been there, I also got that one wrong, I guessed Washington)

Favorite Restaurant: China Buffet (wrong again, I guessed Texas Roadhouse)

Favorite thing in Spare Time: Playing the Wii (I actually got one right!!!!!)

Do You Play an Instrument: Recorder (at least she thinks its a real instrument)

Would you rather read a book or go shopping: She said read a book (I guessed shopping)

Would you rather sing a song or give a talk: She would rather give a talk (got that one right)

Favorite thing to drink: Root beer (We are talking about kids not to mention we're LDS I got it right by the way)

Favorite Season: Spring (I guessed Summer, apparently she doesn't like having to ride her bike while I run)

Robyn

Favorite Color: Black (just call me Louise. Ashleigh got it right)

Favorite Movie: Pirates of the Caribbean (She guessed the Office which if we had been talking TV shows she would have been right)

Favorite Subject: Chemistry (imagine that!! She got that one right too)

Favorite Ice Cream: Cookie dough (she got that one right)

Favorite Animal: NONE (she got that one right, she did way better than I did)

Favorite Food: Peanut Butter (she said she didn't know)

Favorite Candy Bar: Reeses (she guessed Twix, I like that one too)

Favorite Place to Vacation: Washington (she guessed right on that one)

Favorite Restaurant: Palomino's (she guessed China Buffet)

Favorite thing in Spare Time: Run ( she guessed Play video games, I like to do that too, but considering I only have so much spare time, I have to use it to run, or I don't get to exercise)

Do I Play an Instrument: Piano, and kind of Flute (She put none, which everyone thought was pretty funny since I am the primary Pianist)

Rather read or go shopping: Read (she was right)

Rather sing a song or give a talk: Sing a song (right again. at least when you sing a song you don't have to prepare too much. See its just because I'm lazy)

Favorite Drink: Diet Coke (she got that one right too)

Favorite Season: Fall (she guessed Spring which is pretty close, I just like the seasons when it isn't too hot or cold to run outside)

So now that everyone is bored, of course that is assuming that someone took the time to read that I didn't do so well. You would figure that since I'm the mom and have to know every one's preferences that I would do better, but I guess I failed miserably with that. Of course it would help if their opinions didn't change every other day. After Elly got her "cute Christmas jammies" back she put them on (halfway through the day) and put on some sun glasses and her dress up shoes and came out to the living room to tell Glen and I that she was wearing her Rock Star pajamas. She proceeded to go around the house pretending that she had a microphone singing the chorus to that P!nk so So What. She knew it word for word, the whole thing. The only time she even hears the song is when we are in the car and it is on the radio. It was the funniest thing. She is so dramatic. She had a blanket tied to Jeremiah like a cape and went around calling him "The Mighty Bullfrog". She is something else. I don't even know where she would come up with that one. Kids are funny. We haven't gotten much snow at all this year, but this week we ended up getting like 6 inches or something. The kids were so excited. They decided to go out and build a snowman. They even came inside and asked for a carrot. They told me that they

were all done and ready for a picture of their first snowman of the year. I have to say I laughed when I saw their miniature snowman. Apparently they didn't feel ambitious enough to build a full size one, so we ended up with a table top one. It was pretty cute and they were very proud of themselves. They even found some small sticks from a dead plant in our yard. Jayson and Glen have been working on his first Pinewood derby. They have their race in the next couple of weeks I think. They got it all sanded and shaped and right now they are putting weights into it and are going to put on the first coat of paint. For Glen being sick of scouts he sure has been having fun helping Jayson build this car. He was laughing the other day at that car comercial of the kid building a pinewood derby and his dad told him to just build one that he was proud of. Glen was like hey that is about what all of mine looked like. Of course mine never drove so well and I sure never won. I was just laughing. Now that he is a Dad, he doesn't want his kid to have the dorky car, so he went to the scout store and bought a book on building these things and let Jayson pick out the one that he wanted to make. Of course about the time Glen finished shaping the car, Jayson was flipping back through the book and found one that he liked even better. Glen told him that was just too bad, you can take away wood, but once its gone you can't put it back. Well that about covers my week. Now if only my siblings would update their blogs. "The coolest blog ever" hasn't been updated in like 2 months. It sure most not be all that cool. I guess that makes me the good daughter.

Can't Think of a Good Title (Again)

Well, we had a busy week, not really doing anything in particular, but we sure seemed to be gone a lot. We made Rice Krispie treats with the kids. Jeremiah couldn't help, but he had fun playing peek-a-boo with those of us in the kitchen. That was made for our super exciting family home evening this past week. We made a wall out of the rice krispie treats and threw M&M's at it like they did to Samuel. The kids keep asking when we get to do it again. We gave them each a special task for helping with the treats so it didn't become complete chaos in our tiny kitchen. Elly got to put the marshmallows in the pan, Ashleigh was in charge of the actual Rice Krispies, Jayson got all of the pans ready and greased, and Aaric got the butter out, ready and in the pan. They each thought they had the most important job for making the rice krispies. (If you can't tell I'm trying to stretch out the words so that there is some to go with the pictures) Oh and Glen said I don't put enough pictures of myself on here, so here is another terrible picture of me. So it's almost Valentine's Day. The kids have all of their parties on Wednesday. They are of course excited. This holiday is Ashleigh's. There are 3 holiday parties each year, and I have 3 kids in elementary school, so they each get to pick a holiday and I spend half of the party time in that class room. I divide the last half between the remaining 2, so that way we make it to each of the classes, but each kids gets to have us spend a little extra time in their class. Its a bit busy, but I guess that is OK. I'm sure I only have a few years left until they think that they are too cool for a mom. They all ready won't give me a hug when they leave for school anymore. I suppose the extra work is worth it since little kids just don't stay little and like their parents forever. So anyway, the kids had a blast getting their valentines ready for the parties. Some of them had to have them in early. They only have an hour for the party and the 1st graders seem to have a hard time getting the Valentines delivered and having time left to do anything else. Aaric's class decided to make the boxes for their Valentines early and spend a short time each morning delivering them in the mornings before class and spending the party time opening them and having treats. Anyway other than that, we used our tax return to get a TV (its nice to have a TV that turns back on if it gets turned off) and a Wii. The kids have been having a blast with it. They love the fit and spend a little time in the evenings doing that. I wish my camera did video because watching Jayson try to hula hoop on that things was the funniest thing I have ever seen. And Elly trying to do Aerobics on it was a riot. Right now she is trying to hula hoop and can't figure it out. These kids crack me up. I guess its probably a good thing that they can't see how they look (and the same goes for me and Glen too!!!!!), because than they would be too embarrassed to actually do the exercises. Well I ran out of things to say a long time ago and Jeremiah is emptying all of my socks on the floor, so I guess I better go.

Super Bowl Sunday

So, last night I realized that we had done anything "blog worthy" all week. I didn't have any pictures or anything. Elly and Jeremiah and I went and watched Glen shoot on Friday, and I was going to take pictures of that, but Jeremiah fell asleep and some how managed to sleep through all of that noise. We were in an observation room, but it wasn't sound proof and any time someone opened the door it was really loud. The baby never even moved. I just couldn't figure out a way to hold a crashed baby and take a picture, so no picture. Maybe next time. My kids were so excited about the super bowl last night. We, of course, were hoping that the Steelers would lose, but obviously that didn't happen. Ashleigh and Jayson watched all the way to the 4th quarter when I made them go to bed. They even timed their showers so that they took them during half time. Aaric actually sat and watched the whole time too, although I think his priority was the food, not the game. Ashleigh and Jayson love football. They were hoping that we would let them stay up for the whole game, but tired kids on Monday morning did not seem like the way I wanted to start off the week. They were disappointed that they didn't show a single Seahawks game down here all season. I suppose that is OK since they didn't do so well this year, but in true Seahawk fan fashion I guess I can say they will do better next year. Glen likes to tell me I'm starting to sound like my Dad. Ever since Glen has known him, he has always said "next year they'll make it to the Superbowl", and every year Glen would just laugh. At least, until one day he realized that he was cheering for the Seahawks as well. Of course the year that Glen met me was the year that the Bronco's won the Superbowl (and he is from Colorado). But now I have turned him over to the dark side and he is a Seahawks fan. He still keeps tabs on his Bronco's though. Last year a little boy (who happened to be a Dolphin's fan) was making fun of Ashleigh for wearing a Seahawks shirt, and she said to him, "who are you laughing at your team hasn't even won a game yet?" He left her alone after that. Well I am out of things to write about, and I am tired of Elly climbing on me and elbowing me because she isn't getting my undivided attention, so I guess I better go.

I Wish I Had A Creative Title

We didn't really do anything this week, so our highlight was family home evening. We made cards, and played a Scooby-Doo game. Glen also came home with a push up game that they do at work, which he modified for the kids. He took a deck of Uno cards and had each kid draw a card. They had to do the amount of push ups on the card. Special cards were 10 and Wild cards were 20. Surprisingly enough, the kids had a blast. We ended up switching to sit ups and killer jack rabbits part way through the deck (except for Jayson who loves to do push ups). The kids thought it was great and it got a little bit of their wiggles out. I'm sure they will feel it tomorrow. Ashleigh and Jayson have gym in the morning, hopefully they don't have to do push ups then as well. Aside from that, it was pretty much just our busy life as usual. Unless, of course, you count being late for church on Sunday because my wonderful kids decided to empty all of our textbooks, novels and other random books off the book case, plus all of the bedding from all 5 beds into Aaric's room. We couldn't even open the door. This, naturally, had to happen right before we were supposed to leave for church, so we ended up missing most of sacrament meeting. I guess it is a good thing these kids are so darn cute. If I didn't have to play the piano, I would have put them all to bed and just stayed home. Anyway, I really don't have anything exciting to say. So I guess I will just go now. Maybe next week we will actually do something worth writing about. I did get a few good pictures from family home evening though. Ashleigh is doing sit ups, Jayson is doing diamond push ups, and Elly is doing killer jack rabbits. Aaric was just hanging out on the couch waiting for his turn, and Jeremiah was coloring for the first time (he didn't even eat the crayons, I was impressed!!!).

Another Week

So this week has been really long. Glen went to 12 hour shifts for the week, which sounds OK except that it is at night. So he comes home goes to bed and is up (kind of) for about 2 1/2 hours before he goes back to work. I guess it is just prep for when he deploys. I'll get to do everything on my own then too. So I had a friend tell me that it was kind of depressing to read peoples blogs because they only have good things on them (kind of like the brag letters everyone send out at the end of the year). So I have been thinking about that this past week, and I have noticed that during the week I look for things to put in my blog (so at least it isn't quite so lame), which helps to remember how cute some of the things the kids do. Sometimes I get so caught up in everything that needs to be done and how much work some of the ages are (like 3) and then of course Jeremiah making a mess faster than I can get things cleaned up, that I forget how fast it goes by. So it seems to give me a better perspective when my kids do crazy things, I can think wow what was that and see the humor in it. Which is why I love the idea of having my blog made into a scrap book (another great idea that is not mine, good thing your around Paula), so I look a little closer for "blog worthy" things can go in. Of course my blogs are kind of sarcastic and I'm not sure my posterity will be all that thrilled to read them. They might just think I am a total nutcase, which they would probably be right about. So now for my actual blog entry. We had Ashleigh's 10th birthday party this weekend. She had about 7 other girls over for snacks and cake and ice cream. They watched Scooby Doo (thanks to Netflix instant view) while they were waiting for everyone to show up and had snacks, then she had cake and ice cream and presents. The girls were so excited for her to see what they got. Most of them had to tell me first. She ended up getting 3 more webkinz, so they had fun adding her new pets and then showing each other their rooms and stuff on the website. Glen and I got her an MP3 player, that just happens to look exactly like an Ipod nano. The only way you can tell the difference is that the wheel doesn't turn, so her friends thought she was sooooo cool (I think hat was her favorite part) and a docking station to go with it (of course we didn't spend all that much on it since it is for a 10 year old). She has loved that MP3 player. Everywhere we go she has that thing. She looks like a mini teenager with her head phones on while we are at the grocery store. She even remembers to charge every night before bed. For family home evening we tried to make "Stripling Warrior Taffy" . We made everything according to directions and Glen and the kids, (and me) tried pulling it. We were able to pull it some, but in the end we didn't end up with taffy. It was more like soft hard candy. The kids had a blast with it and it ended up tasting pretty good, but it certainly wasn't what we were trying to make. Most of the recipes have turned out really good, and I love the lessons, but this one was not one of them. At least it still tasted good. We had to take Jeremiah to the doctor this week. He had another ear infection, which of course meant a night or two of no sleep before we realized what it was. He also has this weird rash in a line from his ankle all the was up to his back. The acute care clinic had never seen anything like it before and referred us to dermatology sooner rather than later, so I better go and make the appointment. And he just told me stink and brought me the wipes.

Again with the Title

Well, I am not very original with titles, as looking at my past post would prove. I can never think of anything clever, but if I leave it blank it just says untitled. So, I opt for titles that are just as lame, but at least aren't titled "untitled". This week was a pretty eventful, which I guess is to be expected when there are 5 kids in the house. Since Christmas we have been trying to decide the best use of the present from my Grandpa, we opted to go to dinner at Red Robin, I mean who doesn't like food. Besides with 5 kids it isn't very often we eat out, and when we do it is usually

fast food, so it was nice to go somewhere that has real menus and servers. Plus it is nice and noisy in there so no one really noticed how noisy my kids where. As soon as we got home the kids were like we need to write him a thank you note, that was lots of fun!!! So at least I have grateful kids, even if they are noisy. The pictures are a little blurry because my phone doesn't have a flash on it. Saturday, we were on our way to a primary activity, a meet and greet for the kids to meet their new teachers for the year. The bishopric even made the pancakes. I didn't have to put the work into it, but I thought it was nice and the kids had a great time. Of course getting to it couldn't be uneventful. It snowed the night before, and on our way to the church, the road got really bumpy (at least that was what we thought), and then our tire light came on. Anyway, we got to change a tire in the snow on the side of the highway, and of course the tire is completely destroyed because we drove on it for a little while. At least the rim is still good. We couldn't find the handle to the jack so Glen got to try use the jack with a screwdriver that was too big for the hole. Of course while I was putting the bad tire into the back of the car I saw that the jack handle was attached to the panel that he had to remove to get the jack and lug nut wrench out of the back. So at least he had the handle to lower the the car. He felt pretty smart, and he will be soooooo excited that I posted it for everyone to read about. I guess that is what happens when your not the one writing the blog. Ashleigh turned 10 on Sunday. We made a batch of cookies and put the candle in it, since we aren't actually having her party until next weekend. So, she got that and a kitkat bar. So anyway, Primary does spotlight for the kids every week and because it is the beginning of the year, I got to help Elly and Aaric fill theirs out. They were pretty cute. So I was going to put down some of the favorites, because Paula put her daughter's on their blog and I thought it was cute. Besides everyone knows I'm not really creative enough to come up with something like that on my own.

Aaric
Favorite Color: Red
Favorite Food: Macaroni and Cheese
Least Fav Food: Onions
Favorite Dessert: Cake and Ice cream
Favorite Drink: Dr Pepper (very Mormon of him, I know)
Special Talent: Soccer and Kickball
Favorite Hobby: Hot wheels, Skateboard and riding bikes
Favorite Holiday: Valentines Day (although I think this changes to coincide with every holiday)
Favorite Subject: Math
Least Fav Subject: Writing (because he has to sit still)
Favorite Movie/TV show: Wall-e/Scooby-Doo
Favorite Animal: Dinosaur (Triceratops)
Want to be when grows up: Military Police
Fav Primary Song: Once there was a Snowman

Elly

Favorite Color: Purple Favorite Food: Bell Peppers and Mashed Potatoes (not together)
Least Fav Food: Hot Peppers
Favorite Dessert: Popcorn
Favorite Drink: Water and Apple Cranberry Juice
Special Talent: Singing
Favorite Hobby: Dress Up
Favorite Holiday: Christmas
Favorite Movie: Beauty and the Beast
Favorite Animal: Monkey
Favorite Primary Song: Wise Man and the Foolish Man