Entitled

I have a hard time with entitlement. Our parents don't owe us anything financially. We don't "deserve" a huge inheritance, or anything at all. I hope my parents spend as much money as they can before they die. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be left with a lot of debt and no money to clear things up, but feeling entitled to everything they ever saved and worked for? I have seen some kids going through this lately it seems, watching their parents remarry, and worrying about the money that the new husband/wife is "stealing" from them. It's their money. Always has been. I don't like it. It makes me sad. It's not an eternal outlook. It seems so selfish.

Then today, my Cars said to me, " It's my spring break. I deserve to do whatever I want, and not clean your house." It didn't go over well. All at once I realized that my kids have that same entitlement disease. They feel entitled to laziness and to getting everything they want at their beckon call. I talked to Cars about how we as a nation are becoming more and more "entitled" or "selfish" and it's going to ruin us. After talking with him for about 10 minutes about things that are happening in the world today, I am scared. I have to do a MUCH better job of helping them realize that nobody owes them anything. We as parents are required to give them a place to sleep, clothes to wear (no specific brand or kind), and 2 meals a day. Of course, we want to give them so much more. We want them to feel happy and loved and cherished.

That's a hard thing to do, while still teaching them to be grateful and humble and blessed. I am going to work a whole lot harder to teach my kids that they need to work for what they have. Even if that just means being more grateful for what is just handed over to them.

Must be REAL like!

Yesterday as Cael's friend was called home, he asked me if he could walk her to her house. She lives only across the street and up a little, so I said sure. He comes back really excited and says, "Mom, when we got to Kelsey's house, she asked if she could give me a hug, and she gave me a lift hug. She really likes me!" But if his brothers call her his girlfriend, he will LOSE it at them (which I love! He says NO, I cannot have a girlfriend, just friends!). I think it's funny that that's what shows him that she REALLY likes him.

Sizzling

We just got home today and Cael saw his friends out playing. He got really excited and popped into the front seat as I was pulling into the garage, talking a million miles an hour about playing with all his best friends. Then he says, "MOM!!! My foot is sizzling! What is going on! My foot is sizzling!" as he is looking back and forth between me and his foot. Good way to explain a foot that is asleep. Too cute!

Favorite Song

I was walking down the hall holding Colbs hand. Cars was listening to his IPOD, at full blast. The whole house can hear. Colby looks at me and says, "This is my favorite song! Back together" He sang it the same way Taylor Swift does. Oh my, he cracks me up! I started tickling him and saying, "Oh your favorite song is 'We Are Never Getting Back Together'!?" He was laughing and says yeah and starts singing it again. Oh the power of music. Even a 2 year old can memorize the words. His favorite song right now is the "Temple Song" and he loves to sing along. I hope they call me on a mission is a close second. Love him!!!

Hoarding

Chet is always telling me that I am going to create hoarders. I throw EVERYTHING out. If it's less than $50 and does not have a place, I most likely threw it out. Because if you cannot find something when you need it, what good is it doing cluttering everything up, right! You just go buy a new one. Well, I have not been good about updating my blog, because when I took my computer in something changed and I could not figure out how to download the correct software needed. And I didn't have time. As you can see from these most disgusting pictures below (which Chet was BAFFELED that I was showing them), I have been running crazy. I cannot live this way, because this is what happens to the master bedroom. The night before this, I was looking for a space on a night stand to sit something. I bust out laughing and told Chet that we should be on hoarders. Oh my, it's bad. I should have taken my after shots too (so that I had proof that it doesn't always look like this!).

 

 That's clean laundry there. Yep, just dig through it boys.

 

 Water wings? Why are they out you ask. We went swimming for Family Home Evening and this is where they magically ended up. Lovely!

 

 Laundry there that was folded, but not put away! Envelopes of taxes that people have sent for Chet to do, and yeah, not quite done yet!

 

 Skiing stuff still not put away. And more laundry to be folded. The story of my life! And clothes to take to donate. See that little path forming? Have you seen hoarders? Only paths to walk in.

 

 WOW! Enough said.

 

You can see the laundry basket even. But no, they were just on the floor, with some shoes too. Why are Colbys shoes in my bathroom? Because we were attempting to potty train. And when he says potty, shoes go flying!

 

This is what happens when I have too much going on. I just reprioritized this week! I cannot live this way. Not now, not ever!!! This was REDICULOUS! Life is picking up at an unbelievable speed. I heard someone say that it's like we are on a treadmill, and life keeps bumping it up faster and faster. I refuse to let life conrol me. I will control my life, to the extent possible (of course there are things I cannot control. But I can have some down time so that when something comes up, I can do it. We are busy. Parents to 5 boys, Young Mens President, Secound Counselor in the Relief Society, ski patrol, party people, we try to have everyone new over for dinner and fellowship them, Chet's more than full time job (right now its just super busy, worse than ever before!), personal training to TRY and lose this baby fat once and for all, paper routes, dog sitting. The list goes on and on. But funny enough, we are SOOOO happy right now. We serve others more than ever, and I think that makes us really happy! We are blessed! We have so much joy! And we have started controlling our own speed. Life is good!!! And my room, or any other room in the house, better never look like this again!!! YIKES!

 

It's tough! Life is hard! But I have the BEST husband ever, great kids, and great people around me!!!

Happy Birthday Carter and Carson!!!

NINE!!! How are my babies NINE! At times, the time has CREPT painfully by, and other times I cannot believe that they are this old already!

Pillowcases from Gma & Gpa Parker

Carter's new shoes

 At dinner with their friends.

I secretly found out from them who they would choose if they could take one person out with them. I contacted their moms and asked if we could come pick them up and take them out for the night. I got a sitter for the 3 younger, and we told the boys to get in the car. We then went and picked up their friends for the night. This was us at the Mexican Restaurant. Carson, Carter Matthews, Parker Lazarus, Carter (How funny is that, Carter and Parker were their friends they picked!) 

 Boys are so geeky and gross. But they had so much fun!!! NO drama ever, just tough silly boys!

 Then we went to a play. It was fun and they saw other kids from school there too.

 Then out for ice cream at a new place that we've never been. Boys loved it!

 My handsome, amazing, awesome nine year olds! Oh how I love them. As I write this, my heart started to beat a million miles an hour. I am so blessed!!! I tell them all the time that I am so lucky that Heavenly Father picked me to be their mom. And I truely feel it. They are some special boys!

Caden was trying to pretend he was happy for their birthday. It was the first time he got left home. Usually he gets to be a "boy" not a "baby", but this was the first time the boys got ALL our attention for the night. Caden is still a little immature when friends are around.

 

I asked them what they wanted for their birthdays. Cars wanted an IPOD (he lost it due to bad decision making about a month earlier) and that was all. I told him I would if I could cut his hair too, haha. Didn't work. Carter wanted "A hundred bucks" with some eyebrow raises everytime you asked him. At the last minute he just wanted a big lego set. I was a little baffled. They could have gotten about triple from us, but that was all they wanted. I got them each a pair of really good shoes. Pretty simple this year!!!

 

So a little update that I like to give on each boy on their birthday.

 

Carter:

 

Favorite Food: Ice Cream

Favorite Color: Green

Wants to be when he grows up: Missionary and then an Orthodontist

Favorite thing to do: Puzzle type things. Puzzles, games that require thinking, legos, Yahtzee, etc. And snow ski!

Best trait: He is a caretaker. He is so kind to everyone around him. He does NOT like people to be sad. He wants to help everyone be happier.

 

Carter is a saver. He saves, and saves, and saves. He will do just about anything I ask for money. He is good little businessman. He is a VERY hard worker. He does things right the first time, and does them well. He has a great memory, and asks a MILLION questions, ALL.THE.TIME! He is the "Equality Police" That's what I call him. He thinks everything has to be fair. I do not. Sometimes we battle about that. He has an "inner hulk" Cars is really good at getting him to release it. When he does, his brothers run and take cover. He will hurt them.

 

He is REALLY strong, and loves to help Chet work. He goes with Chet to every move in the ward, and he goes on Sunday with Chet to his early meetings and sets up chairs for RS, Primary, EQ, and overflow. One Sunday when Chet didn't have meetings, we got there and NO chairs were set up. He takes care of it. He loves to pay his tithing, and although he is super tight with his money, he always donates at least a dollar to something else, sometimes more if the Bishop has mentioned to Chet that they are low in an area (like ward missionary fund or whatever). Such a sweetie! 

 

The other day Cars wanted to ride bikes to school but Carters bike had a flat. He was really sad he couldn't ride too. On the way home it was a blizzard out. I told Cars he had to ride it home, I couldn't fit the bike in. Cars was about to cry, so Carter gets out of the car and says, "I'm gonna go help Cars get home." Next thing I know, Cars is in the car and Carter is riding in a complete white out uphill. He will help all of his brothers with chores so they can just be done. He will plow neighbors driveways. He is very thoughtful. He is a very deep thinker.

 

He loves to read!!! He is very proud that his lexile is 1000. He loves to read his scriptures and is in Alma all by himself. He likes to tell me what he read about the night before. He doesn't just read, he digests and truely thinks about things. His prayers are more thoughtful and complete than most adults. He thanks Heavenly Father for everything that matters (and says thank you for my wonderful parents every night! He thanks Him that I make him food and take him to school. So sweet!)

 

Oh how I love my Carter. I tell him almost every night that he has to be careful. He is so special, and has something so special to accomplish on this Earth, that Satan will be out for him. I tell him that he is a truely amazing spirit!!! He is spiritually strong for sure!

 

Carson:

 

Favorite Food: Anything Papa makes him. Mostly cause it's all red meat or special beans

Favorite Color: Red and Gray, the colors of Papa's two trucks (seeing a pattern?)

What he wants to be when he grows up: in high school! then a policeman or a teacher

Everytime he sees a scene in a movie in a high school setting, he says he cannot wait until he's in high school. Crazy boy!

What he loves to do: Ride anything that moves. He also loves to do mechanic work. Anything with a motor (even Chet's tools) speaks to him. He's amazing, truely! He is ON.THE.MOVE. all the time. He LOVES to help little kids.

Best trait: Super street smart. Very aware of what's going on around him all the time.

 

Cars is an amazing older brother. He fights like crazy with Carter and Caden, but NEVER with Cael and Colby. He is so wonderful with them. He can calm them as well as I can. He reads to them, and helps Colby stay in bed. He teaches them how to do things. He really watches out for them. The 4 yr old neighbor girl always comes and asks if Cars can play. Cars is soooo nice to her, but he is a mover. He gently tells her no and gets Cael for her. If its nice enough for neighbors to be out, he is kicking a ball or more likely than not, begging me to ride his four wheeler. He wears out a bike every year. It gets many miles on it!

 

He talks a million miles an hour. He talks to everyone! He knows all of the neighbors really well, and will talk to them if they are out. He says hi to everyone in the neighborhood. He stops in at a neighbors house (well about 12 houses down) and asks if he can play with her dogs (he has watched them for her while they are out of town). The neighbors all know and love Cars.

 

Carson likes to eat. He always wants to eat. I cook up chicken breast on the grill and leave them in the fridge for my lunches. If he sees them, they are gone. He loves beef (hamburger, steak, roast), pork (chops, bacon and loins), chicken, shrimp, sausage, etc. He hates ice cream and french fries. He is not much for any sweets. His treat is a left over piece of meat that he finds in the fridge.

 

Carson LOVES, and I mean LOVES music. He loves all kinds (except country, hates Chets music and changes the station the second he gets in his truck!) He loves to see live music. He loves anything with a beat. He is a good dancer and likes to be "cool".

 

Chet and Cars butt heads everyday. He prays every night in his prayers that he will not fight with his dad. He is SUPER sassy. I don't mind it (for the most part), but it works Chet up in a quick hurry. He does, however, love to be with Chet. He loves to ski, and shoot, and go to his early meetings, and ride in his truck, and go to Home Depot, Scouts, camp, lake, and just do busy things with him. They will be really good friends when Cars is an adult (and they are now if they're not fighting)!!!

 

  Cars is witty and funny. He is quick on his feet (which is proving to be difficult with lying, I cannot tell most of the time, his brothers have to tell me!) He is creative and fun to be around. Him and the neighbor girl Baylee fight like brother and sister. She tries to make him sad by asking to play with Carter only, but he doesn't care, and within minutes she wants to play with Cars. He is SOOOOOOOO active. He does not like puzzle type things, they are too boring for him. He hates testing at school. Too boring. Just picks "A" for everything.

 

I love him to pieces. He is very kind and loving to me. Don't get me wrong, he is super sassy to me too, but he is very tender a lot too. He tells me almost daily that I am the best mom ever. He always wants me to snuggle with him at night. He loves for me to come to school. He is very proud of me!

 

Nine years ago I got to finally become a mother. It has been harder than I could have ever imagined, but I hope that I am doing a pleasing job to my Heavenly Father in raising these amazing spirits that he has entrusted in my care for this short time! I want the best for them, and I pray every night that I will be a better mother the next day. I love them, I love them, I love them (all 5)!!!!

Brothers

Cael knows that Colby will do anything he asks. So... he has him push him all over the house. It's really cute. They have tons of fun together!

 

 

Cael thinks he's a rock star. He stands on this chair and drums forever. He can drum really well. Colby of course has to follow. They even sing, very loud and crazy. It's pretty cute to watch.

 

Colby fell asleep watching a movie, and Cael is practically laying on him. Love brotherly love!!!

 

Oh they are so blessed! I hope that they are best friends for life!!!

 I love them more than words can say!!!

 

(Yes, Cael is in his pajamas for almost every picture I take. He will be dressed to take the boys to school, and come home and change back into his pjs. Crazy boy! But that's a huge benefit to staying home, he can be in them all day if he wants!!! Notice Carson's hair too. I make him let me do it for church. It still works for now. That's our compromise, lots of slicking. hehe!)

 

Rain or Shine

I am sure that everyone out there in blog land is so sick of hearing about their paper route. But I am so proud of them. They deliver rain or shine. You can see how bad the wind is from the direction the snow is falling. They are such troopers. I hope they are building a work ethic that will carry them wonderfully through life. I just love my hard workers!

 

 They thought this was way cool. They were so close!

Carson Gets Braces

It happened! Number 2 in braces. We aren't even taking Caden in for 2 years. $9160 in less than two months on braces. HOLY MOLY! He was really excited and was fist punching the air when the ortho told him he could put them on right then. After about 3 days, he decided they weren't as cool as he thought they were!

(On a side note, just so later when Cars looks at these pics, I HATE his hair. He looks like a rag doll. Every day I shake my head as he walks out to school. I am always making him deals to cut his hair. Chet says that it's not of eternal importance so we need to let him make choices to express himself.  Hate it!!!)

Trip #2

SO... this year is the year to get a break. I have been pregnant, nursing, or home with babies for WAY too long. I wouldn't change my life for anything. I love all my boys as much as a mom can possibly love. I am, however, ready to be Kimber sometimes. So, this was trip #2 for 2013. Chet and our good friend Clint planned a weekend away for us. We left Friday after work and headed to Bear Lodge in the Big Horns. We stopped at a restuarant in Buffalo called the Ranchester. It was supposed to be this amazing restaurant. Our waitress was horrible! Chet had to ask to fill his water 3 times. All extras asked for were forgotten. My order was completely wrong. And worst of all, they had only sea food or steak, both of which I hate! But it was so fun. It's just fun hanging out with good friends, laughing, enjoying being Kimber (which I get every Friday night thanks to my amazing husband!!!) Then we got to the Lodge. For any that don't know, Chet is a total hotel snob! And therefore, I have been lucky to stay in only the best hotels. This place was a rundown dump! The toilet seat was half flaked off of paint. The bed spread was horrribly disgusting. The hot tub had a million floaties. But it was sooooooo fun just being there with Chet! We laughed and had a great time. Breakfast was AMAZING! We ate to our hearts content. Then we went snowmobilling. It was fun. I sucked at it, but I just laughed almost the whole day. I got stuck 2 times, rolled 3 times, got ejected from the machine at about 30 mph from a little "bump" from another machine (total accident and crazy situation!). When I would get stuck, I couldn't stop laughing. Poor Clint and Chet! They pulled me out of a doozie!!! We found a little place where we could jump, and that was total fun! We stayed there for probably an hour alone. It was a great time!!! After we got back to town Clint suggested we go eat a juicy burger from Prime Rib here in town. We all went in our snow stuff and scuzzed out, and laughed and laughed and then laughed some more. I love hanging out with the Lee's! And most of all, I love getting away with Chet and trying new things. We have an amazing babysitter here. The boys had a GREAT time! Even Cars says Makenna is AWESOME. We always have a great time knowing they are so happy at home too!!! I love Chet more than I ever thought possible! I feel like the luckiest girl alive! (and I love that everyone can feel that way in their own situation too!)

We are already planning trip #3. We have such good friends in Gillette! For number three we are going to hike in the Big Horns over night without our kids. I think we have about 5 couples so far! We are also planning our family/friends trip to Flaming Gorge this year. We are going with our friends, with our families, to play for 5 days. Super excited about it! It has been such a blessing and truely amazing to be able to have 5 beautiful boys. And I am super excited to be getting out of the baby stage and starting to really play, sometimes with them, and sometimes without!

 I think that Heavenly Father wants us to not only endure to the end, but to be truely happy on the journey! I love being a wife, and I love being a mom! I wouldn't trade or change my life for anything. It is sometimes really hard, but worth every tear!

Special Kind of Brother

Last night the boys were all laying on the bed watching an episode of something. I was a little baffled when I saw this happening, and Cars just watching. When I took the picture, neither boy even looked at me. They just kept watching, like nothing worth while was happening.

Caden is swirling his toe in Carson's hair, over and over and over again!

Just another day at the Parker home! No space is your own!!!

Flowers

I get flowers for exactly one reason, having a baby! Since those days are behind me, I thought my flower getting days were gone. Don't get me wrong, it's not all Chet's fault. I hate getting flowers for V-Day, or our anniversary, or my birthday. It seems like a waste of money doing something so generic. So, I didn't realize that would mean he would NEVER send flowers. So... when I got these it was a little weird. Excited but skeptical! He said that he just wanted to let me know that he loved me and thought that I was a good mother. That is more important to Chet than the kind of wife I am by miles. He loves when I am a good mom.

I sure love him!!! I couldn't ask for a better husband and father for my babies!!!

 

Big Brother

When I dropped the boys off at school this morning, Cael says from the backseat really sad, "It makes me sad that I am not a big boy and that I cannot go to school too." I told him that soon he would be going, but he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "yeah, but not yet. I want to go to school. (sad face)" When we got home, he was all of a sudden a helper. He played rock band (sticks of a chair) with Colbs, and they sang at the top of their lungs. Then, he wanted to help Colbs get dressed. So he got him some clothes and then tried to dress him. It was soooooo cute watching him. They struggled, but finally he was dressed. Colby was so proud that Cael was helping him! It was beyond cute. I love to see the times when the love they have for each other comes through. Cael and Colby are super good buddies. They rarely fight. I love it! You can never replace the love for a brother!

 

Reading

Caden's reading scores are really weird. He scores off the charts in some areas, and under average on others. I think that he is just lazy! He just wants to be a punk. If I give him a reason to read really well, like playing or getting ice cream, he can read like a wiz kid. So their class was having a reading month where they read to the class. Caden was the first student. I was REALLY nervous for him. The books that Chet and I wanted to choose from were NOT what he wanted to read. Finally he decided on Don't Tell Lies, Lucy. I called the teacher and asked if parents were supposed to come. She said that would be great if we came. The babies sat on my lap listening to every word. Caden did AMAZING! I was so proud of him. I just wish that he would read like that all the time. Chet told him that if he didn't get reading down, he might have to stay in 1st grade while all his friends went to 2nd. He was NOT having any part of that. My little social bug would DIE! He is WAAAAAAAAAY above level in math, and in some of his reading tests. What a silly boy!

Grandpa

Yesterday we went to the school for lunch. Somehow, we missed some communication that Caden would be eating early for a field trip. So Chet saw him in line and went over to give him a big hug. Caden was super excited and jumped on him and hugged him and kissed him. Caden tells me later that everyone in his class was asking if that was his Grandpa. I laughed so hard I cried. He said, "No. Why was I calling him dad!" and they said, "So your dad is just really old then." and Caden said, "Yeah." (all from the mouth of Caden, I wasn't standing there) Holy moly! My little gray haired sweetheart! Haha, I think it's so funny. Chet doesn't care less what people think about his gray hair either. Oh how I love him!!! (Chet had his first baby at 26, and was done by 32. He is only 35. Too funny!!!)

Gangnam Style

My Cars is a total music boy. He LOVES to listen to music with a beat. He loves to listen to live music, such as the Campbell County High School Musical or the little musicals at the Camplex. He loves to hear musical numbers at church. He is always telling me the next song that he wants to buy. He listens to music more than not in his awake hours. He has a song that he wants to buy that I think is inappropriate. I don't like the message, and so I told him no. Chet wondered if he would even understand what it was saying. Then we hear him sing Gangnam Style, where he sings every word, even the Korean part. Um... yeah! We better watch the songs we let him have. He can sing almost every word to every song that comes on the radio. YIKES! We gotta be careful!

Computer Breakdown

So my computer had to go to the shop. It has been getting slower and slower. I promise you that my life has not slowed down, or that I have not had anything happen blog worthy. Since getting my computer back, I cannot figure out how to get pictures to upload from my phone. So... we are on a little hold, with stories backing up in draft form, until I get the time to figure out how to load my pictures.