Bed

Colby is a VERY observant little boy. He remembers landmarks while we are driving and knows where we are going just by the way I am driving. His newest thing has been to listen to the radio and listen to the lyrics. I know that the lyrics are not the greatest. Chet told me that I needed to stop listening to the station I do, and switch to country. The only difference with my music and country is that you can hear every word and meaning in country (and they are JUST as bad!). Most of the time, I don't even know what they are talking about with my music, I just like the beat with mine. So anyways, a song was on and I was kinda spaced out, singing along to the chorus. Colby says, "Why is this guy saying he wants to take me to bed?" I pushed mute immediately! I asked if he wanted to go home and take a nap (in bed)? He said no! So I told him we should not listen to him then! I have pushed mute MANY times since. Holy crap!!!

Speeding

The other day I passed a cop and instinctly tapped my brakes. I think that I will always and forever do that. Colby asked me if I was speeding. I said that I was a little. He responds, "Parker's don't speed mom!"

Everytime the boys complain about something or ask why they have to do this or that, I respond with, "That's what Parkers do." Like: Why do we have to go to church EVERY week (Caels new weekly question) Response: Parkers go to church. That's what Parkers do. OR ??: Why do we have to help clean up after EVERY church event? Response: Because that what Parkers do. Or ??: Why do we have to go shovel everyones driveway for free? Response: Because that's what Parkers do.

I loved that he told me that! I love it! Even if I was only 4 mph wrong, I was in the wrong. And I love that Colby corrected me on it! I love that he used my own saying (that I got from Chet by the way), and taught me something important in the meantime! They watch EVERYTHING we do, and we are modeling for them how to drive now. I only have a short 4 years before mine will be driving. Everytime I drive with my boys, they are learning what is OK to do while driving.

Power Rangers

Chet came home for lunch the other day, and upon entering and hugging Colby, he asked what he had been up to. Colby told him he was watching a movie. Chet asked if he was watching Power Rangers. All my boys love watching Power Rangers, but I no longer allow them to watch. They think that they can be Power Rangers after watching, and believe me, we don't need any more aggression in this house. So Colby looks at Chet and says, "No. I can't watch porn or Power Rangers dad." Chet said it was just so matter of fact. Like they belong in the same class.

I do love that we have talked to them so much and openly about how harmful porn is to our society, that it's not uncomfortable. It just is what it is. Off limits!!!

Sir

Chet and I are big advocates of teens dating. We talk to our boys all the time about dating. They love to hear stories about when we were dating (each other and others).  We show them weekly how exciting it is. They get to see me get "dolled" up every week and ask them what shoes and jewelry to wear and how to wear my hair. They used to make fun of me and say how crazy I was, but now they all give their two cents. I told them to remember that some day girls will be doing the same thing for them. We tell them exactly how they need to do it. We set up the absolute IDEAL situation, that you know will never be accomplished, but set the bar high, right? We were awesomely surprised at how it sunk in!

Last night we were at a concert for Caden. Afterwards, I was telling some of his friends that sang solos how awesome they were. I heard someone say bye to Vellamy, a name I have heard several times because she lives down the street, but I had never met her. I introduce myself to her mom and tell her that I am Caden Parkers mom. She smiles really big and says, "Your son is the blonde with short hair... really outgoing?!!!" I shook my head thinking that was probably him. She then says, "My husband and I LOVE your son! When he came down to get Vellamy one day to play her dad was there. He walked right over to him and shook his hand and said 'Nice to meet you sir'. He is such a great, polite boy!"

We have told the boys that when they are 16, they need to ask a girl out face to face. Not through text or on the phone. Then they need to go pick her up. When they pick her up, they need to shake her dads hand and tell him that its nice to meet him and tell him your plans for the night. Then you need to ask what time she needs to be home. Then you open all the doors for her, drive VERY safe with her in the car AT ALL TIMES, with another couple of course, pay for the date, and then return her home at least 5 min before curfew. Then if they make it home in time for their curfew of the night and turn off the alarm before it goes off, they get the money on top of it to pay for their date (because I hate hearing that boys don't date because they don't have the money. We are constantly telling them dates that they can do as teenagers in groups that are really cheap. The great thing about groups is that there are lots of boys to split the cost of hot dogs and buns for things like a bon fire! Or ice cream sundaes (free if they come over here!) We have told them that if they bring them over to our house for dinner, its free! And we'll even make it little brother free if they plan to have a group for dinner in advance.

These are the IDEAL situations that I said we hope to achieve. Do I realize that MOST won't happen? Of course! But we try to show every chance we get why we date like the prophet says. And, like Caden already did with Vellamy's dad, we hope that some of it sinks in and does take root. So proud of my little Cade-A-Babe!!! He is such a "free spirit" that I hope he listens every now and then. The response he got from them has hopefully concreted in his head the need to meet and respect their dads! When I was retelling Chet the story, Chet was smiling and turned to Caden and said, "I'm proud of you bud!" and Caden says, "What? That's what you guys told me to do!" Always think that way Caden... Always think that way!!!

Strength

Cars has been up most of the night throwing up. It's a bad one. Every time he puts ANYTHING in his stomach it comes right back up. I have been using oils on him. We have tried a few different kinds of medicine... the works. Poor kid (side note: Cars is BY FAR the best sicky I have. He is such a good sick kid. He hits the toilet every time, he is not needy, he is really sweet anytime he needs anything, and for the only time in his life, he just lays around. He lays and lays and lays. He loves to look at music videos with me, or pinterest, or anything else I want to look up. He loves to just lay next to me and snuggle and chat. I love it!!!) Just the other day he called his Nana and asked if he could stay, by himself, at her house when we come home for Thanksgiving. He is SOOOOOO excited about this. So he tells me that he will do anything to be better in time to go by himself (you have to remember that he has to do almost everything with his brothers. It's not very often that he gets to do something of this magnitude alone, so it's a HUGE deal to him!) He told me, "Every time I throw up I do 3 push-ups to keep my strength up. I want to make sure I'm strong enough to stay in Casper." He was dead serious! Poor little guy. I explained to him that was not how that worked. Funny how kids minds work!

Mom and Dad Drill

Today while driving Colby tells me that him and his brothers have been having drills. I asked him what in the world he was talking about. He tells me that every night they have a mom and dad coming drill. And I'm sure you can guess what that means, but here's his explanation. "Cael jumps under Carson's bed and I jump under Caden's before you can open their door. While we are doing this, Caden and Carson get into their own beds and throw on the covers so that you cannot tell that we were even doing anything. We have been practicing a lot and we have gotten really good at it!" What do you even say to that?? I wanted to laugh, and be mad, and be proud of their creativity. Crazy life!!! Love my little crazies. I'm just going to get quieter and scare the crap out of them!!!

School lunches

Cael is my pickiest eater. He is sooooo hard. I worry about him not getting enough nutrition from his carb loaded diet. Breads and sweets. Making him a school lunch is near impossible. It's hard to pack him ramen and spaghetti o's. The only sandwich he will eat is a ham sandwich. However if it's not made in the correct way, he will NOT eat it. Some might say to not let the tail wag the dog. He would literally starve before eating food that's touched each other, or a sandwich made incorrectly. So you have to put: liquid, mustard, ham, fold. Wheat bread with mayo (that's the liquid). No cutting. You fold the bread. So you have an idea of how picky he is now! At school they were having nachos so he asked if he could have school lunch like his buddies. I was worried so I said yes and then got him a pizza from subway and came into lunch to make sure he would get to eat. I sat and watched this boy who won't eat ANY veggies chowing down on his carrots and other veggies and they actually had cheese quesadillas and he ate it all. Since that day he has eaten school lunch every day. He eats dinner so much better than ever! He eats seconds (that's never happened. He's truly a bird!!) his size 5 that he was wearing when school started is WAY too small! His size 6 are not big for sure!!! I think he's gained about 5-7 lbs in two months. My neighbor kiddingly asked me if I ever feed him because even his chin was skinny! He's still skinny but he's filling in. And getting some muscle, which only excites him even more to want to eat his veggies. I never thought school lunch would solve our eating problem!!! Yah!!!

Can you see it?!?

Cael came running into my room the other day in a panic! His eyes were as wide as possible, and he says, "Mom! Can you see my muscle? Can you see it!?! It's finally there! Can you see it?" All the while he is flexing his arm. He has finally gotten a line under his bicep and is beyond excited! It is so dang funny to me with all these boys and their muscles. He is growing up so fast. Something crazy happens when they start school! They just shoot up and mature so much. He's still my Cael bug. And still one of my babies!!!!

Sorry...that was me!

While dressing Cael for church Sunday he farted. He raised his eyebrows high and says, "sorry. That was me, that was not you." Um... Yeah!!! It was like it slipped out, but I already knew it wasn't me, thanks! I think it's because their dad blames them every time he does! Silly boys and their farts.

I'm Your Favorite

The other night after dinner, we had two tasks. 1 - Play bingo with Cael and his sight words (with the use of skittles and PB M&Ms.) and 2 - Clean up dinner. I asked Chet which he would rather do and he chose bingo. The table emptied to the livingroom to play bingo. Caden was still sitting there finishing up so I told him that he would be helping me tonight with the dishes. He didn't say anything and just got up and started helping. After a while, he comes over to me and says in a whisper, "Did you choose me to help you because I'm your favorite?" I nodded and said, "Yep!" He got this cute little sly smile and said, "I thought so!" and he continued to help. As soon as he was finished, he ran over to the bingo game and started playing with them. Oh my goodness I love it! I heard Pres Hinkley say once that all of them thought they were their parents favorite. I remember thinking that was really awesome. I love that my boys now think the same!

WHAT THE...!!!

I took the boys to the library to find some good reading material for the house. Caden is having a hard time finding something that interests him. I found a book on the end cap of the CHILDRENS section that the staff had picked for suggestions. The cover looked great so I took it to the staff member and asked what the lexile was and if it was a good fit for a new 3rd grader. She hesitates a little and says, "I think it's more of a 5th grade level because of subject matter." To tell you the truth, if it's not ok for Caden to read, it's not ok for my fifth graders either based on subject matter!!! Reading level, yes. Not subject matter. Thoroughly confused I asked what the subject matter was. It's a boy figuring out his sexuality and realizing he's gay!!!!! Um.... HELL NO!!! Not when they're in high school is that subject matter appropriate!!! Call me crazy, but I was TICKED!!! I told her that was not even close to appropriate for my 5th grader either!! I did not put it back on the end cap. I shoved it deep in a shelf. What have we come to!! I wouldn't even allow them to read about that if he WASNT gay. What the heck is going on!!!

Comfy

I have never been a lay down with your kid at night kinda mom. Since I have started watching Kyleigh, Colby has been acting very needy. At night all the other boys are reading and getting things signed for school and Colby is the odd man out. I have been laying down with him and snuggling for a few minutes each night when we get to talk and snuggle. I have noticed a pattern. Every night when I lay down next to him he says, "Mom, you are so cold. But you're comfy!" or "Mom, you are so warm. But you're comfy!" or so hot or whatever my hands are at the time. He always comments on my temperature and adds that I am still so comfy! I just love him!

Another note on that. When I asked him why he felt the need to get into my bed every night he says, "Because your bed is ALWAYS the warmest!" at which time Cael whole heartedly agrees. I do have to admit, the mornings when at some point all five boys have climbed in bed for some snuggles are great. The big boys only average about 3 mornings a week, but the babies still do every morning. Cael says as soon as it's light out (even if its BARELY light out) that it's morning and he thinks he should come snuggle. Therefore, we wake almost every morning with Cael and Colby in bed with us, fast asleep! I know this time won't last forever, but I do hope my big boys will continue to at least sometimes!

Jealous

I am babysitting the neighbor girl everyday while her mom teaches school. My neighbor was in desperate need, so I sat Colby down and asked how he felt about it, since we had made such a big deal about it being just him and I this year. He was really excited and said that we should for sure watch her. Then he asked me EVERY day when we would start watching Kyleigh. Well, on day 2 I was tickling her and playing with her while he played with his trucks nearby. After about 2 minutes of me playing with Kyleigh, he gets up on the chair and folds his arms and says, "Mom. I don't want you to watch Kyleigh anymore. I think it should just be you and me." I told him it was too late, Donna was already counting on us. Now he asks me every day when we will be done watching her. She has a program that she can go into November 14th and my bday is November 19th, so I have told him we are watching until my birthday. He tells me everytime I am snuggling him that he wishes it was my birthday already. The baby doesn't do so well having another baby around. I think it's GREAT for him.

Nighttime Snuggles

After I finished prayers with the babies tonight and was walking out, Colby asked if I would please snuggle him. Cael pipes right up and says, "Colby! I will! I want snuggles too so if I get into your bed, we will both get snuggles!" Colby was not impressed. He said, "No. I want an adult (that's what they get told by their older brothers, no I want to play with an adult) snuggle." Cael was bummed. I told Colby that I would not snuggle him unless he let Cael snuggle too. After laying with them for about 5 minutes I told them that I needed to get some things done. Colby says that he wants Cael out of his bed. I said that I would not come back and snuggle with him if he wouldn't let Cael stay. So he says, "Cael, no arms over me! Those are the rules of this bed!" All the while, he has his arms wrapped completely around my neck. What a little turkey!

Crying School Kids

At Cael's first day of kindergarten, the pto was handing out bubbles and tissues. I thought that was a little odd, but whatever, I'll blow bubbles on him as he walks in. All the moms were just losing it, and all the dads are hugging them telling them it would be ok, they would be watched after and safe. They were prying all the crying kids off their legs at which time the moms would cry even more. What were Cael and myself doing??? Cael was giving me rock star fingers (I love you in sign language, but the boys think that if they head bang it's rock star fingers while saying I love you) and head banging with his tongue hanging out. I was smiling ear to ear and waving blowing bubbles in complete bliss. He loved and I loved it. Some might think I'm not a good mom for that, or as someone recently said, Why would you wish your kids life away? I, however, take great pride in the fact that I have raised boys to be independant, and confident, and fun, and not to take themselves too serious. They love to go out into life, and experience, knowing that I will be there to hug and tease and love and kiss and pester and eat dinner with later. I love to be with them, and spend time with them, and be a stay at home mom, and shower them with love and kisses everyday of their first 5 years of life, and when the time comes for them to start school and "enter" into their freedom, I love that they are excited to do the same! Being a mom is the best!! Hard as hell, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!!!

Wipe Your Slime

Im in the kitchen making dinner and I hear Cael say, "Wipe your slime!" really loud. I look to see what they are doing and hear Caden say, "Cael, we all have the same slime." followed by Carson saying, "Yeah, we are all brothers Cael, its ok. We all have the same germs." That was good enough for Cael. He immediately put his mouth on the little thing they were drinking from. Everyone just went on like no big deal. I feel that way, so I am so happy that they were so easily able to convince Cael as well. NO germies in my family thanks! I hate when someone cannot bite off of something or drink off of something because someone else has. Love my bunch of rascals!!!

Braces

Caden is not the most rational guy. He kinda loses it at weird things. And when he loses it, there's no turning back. If we are driving and his legs are cramped, he just loses it and starts crying and whining relentlessly that we need to get a hotel. In Wyoming it's not like we can just pull over and get a hotel every 5 miles. It's like 100 miles between towns. Chet and I get a kick out of him though. He's just not rational. He has been begging us to get braces on. It was finally his big day. He was soooo excited. His brothers were telling him how bad they suck and hurt. He didn't care. He was telling them how they were wimps. The night before, I prayed that Caden would be able to handle the initial pain. I was worried. He got them on and couldn't stop looking at himself. It was pretty funny. He told me that his face looked fat, and wasn't too sure he liked them. Then, fastforward about 5 hours. Melt down city. He was crying that they hurt and he couldn't eat. With Caden you don't mess with his food. We had tacos so I thought he would be ok. Oh my. He was crying that we needed to make an appt and get them off TOMORROW! Today he has been complaining that his tooth is lose. He keeps showing me, and of course I cannot see anything. And he wants me to see all his sores in his mouth. The smallest unseen sores in your mouth hurt, but I cannot see anything, which only agitates him more. This is going to be a rough week. But he sure looks cute.

Carson got his braces off. He loves the way his teeth look. He keeps looking at himself in the mirror too. Whenever he talks, he looks like a horse. He keeps pulling his upper lip up onto his gums and sliding his lip down his teeth. It's pretty cute! And I think he looks pretty darn cute too!

Kindergarten

Cael will be starting kindergarten tomorrow. He is SUPER excited and cannot wait. He's been on the countdown for about a year. Tonight while saying his personal prayers he says, "Please help my brother to leave me alone so I can get enough sleep for the biggest day of my life tomorrow." How cute is that!?! Love that boy!

Charity

I was giving my boys a talk before they started the 5th grade. I told them last year was the year of bad words, and this year all their friends will be talking about sex and alcohol. It will be the year of sex talk and looking. Carson says, "Yeah, and we have to have the charity talk!" Carter says, "Carson, youre a dork. Its called maturity." I say, "Are you thinking puberty???" Both boys eyes light up and they both point at me and say, "YES!" Charity talk... puberty talk... they both end with "ty" I guess. Kinda close, NOT!!! Too funny!

Physicals

We are attempting football for the first time. To do so, we have to get our first round of physicals. Caden is so excited to play!! He cannot stop telling me everything that he wants to do and be. Caden and I were heading over to pick Carter up to go with us. I could tell that he was very nervous. When Caden is nervous, he laughs and chews his finger nails without even knowing it. He was in major anxiety mode! He told me that he was really nervous that he might not pass the physical and wouldn't be able to play football. Me, being the rock star mom that I am, asked him if he could jump high enough. He looked at me all wide eyed and asked how high that was. I told him that I had never played football, I didn't know. I then asked him if he could stand on his head. Still total wide eyed, he asked why he needed to do that, in complete panic mode. He told me that he couldn't but that he shouldn't have to. We got to get Carter at about this time in the conversation. Carter jumped in the car and Caden immediately asked Carter if he could stand on his head, or he wasn't going to be able to pass the physical to play football. Carter looks at me in the mirror with a little panic in him and says, with or without my hands?! I can stand on my head with my hands. I was laughing so hard inside. It was taking everything I had not to bust out laughing. Caden was asking Carter all the questions I had asked him. Carter was asking me if he had to pass all these things. I told him that I didn't know, I had never played football. Caden, totally panicked, asked if we could call dad. I called him up and put him on speaker phone. The boys were asking how long they needed to stand on their heads, with or without hands, how high they had to jump, etc. Chet went along with it, and they were dying. I took him off speaker phone and Chet said, "You are SO mean! I cannot believe you!" I love that Chet went along with it with me though. I told the dr the same things when we went in and she even played along. Oh my goodness it was cute. Caden was SOOOOO relieved that he could pass everything, and got cleared to play football! Every once and a while, you gotta have a little fun.

Dates

(Chet is gone on trek with the youth, and I think that I am being blessed with some great experiences with my kids and seeing the great example that he has set for them for his willingness to serve.)

Carter and I were in the car alone and he mentioned to me that dad would be gone all week, get back late Thursday night, and then we (Chet and I) would go out right after work on date night? I said yes. He said bummer, that sucks. I asked him if he would always take his wife out on date night every Friday night. His response was PRICELESS!!! He says, "Well, as many as I can. Sometimes we might not be able to go all the time." I asked him what would ever cause him not to take her out (because he is a money freak already, and wants to be a orthodontist and knows he'll be in tons of debt) and I was ready to blast him if he said the money (because I HATE when people tell me they don't have enough money to. We've had to be VERY creative sometimes, but we never had family to watch for us for free on Friday nights. If its a priority, you make it work!) He says, "Well, like, if we are going to the temple the next day and want to make sure that the kids get to bed early so they're good the next day, then I might not on those days. Or if I'm on a scout campout on Friday night." Words cannot express how happy that reply made me, on SOOOOOO many levels. 1 - That he just knows thats what he wants to do too. You go to the temple, and take all precautions neccesary to make sure everyone is in the best mood possible! 2 - That he fully intends to take his wife out every weekend. We tell all the boys that if they live in the same town as us, they can bring their kids over for a sleepover every Friday night (I worked with a grandpa that did that. He was up to like 6 kids at the time. They would make dinner with them, or order pizza and then make a treat together, and then watch movies and sleep in the family room in their cheap little sleeping bags that he took each grandkid to pick out for his house. Then his grown kids would come the next morning by 10 am to get them and they would all eat breakfast together. How fun is that!!! It's my total goal, I just have to live in the same town as them) 3 - That he thinks about this stuff already. I want it to be engrained into their heads!!! I love raising boys!! Next generation of husbands and dads and church leaders!

Family

While riding in the car with just Cael, we were having such great conversation. The kid is years above his age in understanding of life. Of course he is still 5, but he amazes me so many times. I looked in the mirror at him and said, "Cael. Why did I get so lucky? Why did Heavenly Father send you to me? Was it Dad that is so amazing and thats why we got you?" He looked in the mirror at me with so much love and said, "Mom. Heavenly Father sent us to Earf (the only letter combo he cannot say, "rth" at the end of a word. I love it!) with our families that we already knew in heaven. He put us with families that had enough strength for each other." I sat there with immediate tears in my eyes, amazed at this boy! Then after a short pause, he says, "That's why you're my mom and we are a family. We have strength for each other."  I love my family. I love that he knows we have a Heavenly Father, that we lived with him before, that we ARE in the families we are supposed to be - it wasn't just chance, and that we need to work together as a family. Be each others strength. I love it!!!

Dare or Sing

Chet was on the floor wrestling with the babies. Cael sat on top of him and said, "Dare or Sing?" Chet said, "What?" not understanding what Cael was doing. I spoke up and said ya know, truth or dare?! Chet tells Cael sing. He says, "um.... I dare you to sing I Am a Child Of God." Chet sings the whole song loud enough for us all to hear. Then he tells Cael, "Dare or Sing?" Cael picks dare. So Chet dares him to give mom a great big kiss. I took off running around the couches so he couldn't catch me. We stared each other down across couches and then I would run. I finally turned on him and gave him a kiss attack. He grabbed my arm and gave me a great big kiss on the forearm and then ran to Chet and said he had done it. Chet then picks dare. Cael says, "I dare you to smell my foot!" as he puts his foot in Chets face. Chet says you win!! and Cael starts laughing and celebrating winning. It was the cutest game of truth or dare, or dare or sing as the Parkers call it I have ever seen. Then Colby says, "Dad!! Dare or Sing" Chet says dare and Colby says, "I dare me to give mom a great big kiss!" at which time he takes off running and laughing around the couch looking over his shoulder at me and says, "try to kiss me!" Oh my goodness, I love these boys. Sometimes I feel like I'm losing my mind. But how can I not LOVE being their mom. Greatest blessing on Earth! My amazing husband and five crazies!!!

Why Do I Love Dad?

The other night it was just Cars and I in the car from Casper to Gillette. We had a great time. He was told by Chet that it was his job to keep me awake on the way home. When he told me that, I told him that I sure love his dad. I then asked him why he thought I loved dad so much. Without hesitation he says, while sticking his thumb in the air like he was counting:
1- His ability (no kidding, he used that word) to back up a trailer.
2- He has the ability to do lots of different things.
3- He shaves so that you can make out with him (I hate facial hair so he always shaves and tells the boys      it's so their mom will make out with him.)
4- He takes care of you (at which time I asked him what kinds of things he did to take care of me, and he replied:
  For one, he drives when you are scared (Chet hates how I drive canyons, so I drive until we hit a canyon, like Evanston to Heber, and then Chet drives because HE hates my driving, not because I'm scared. Too cute that is his perception!)
  He pays for your gas.
  He changes your blinker

I then asked him, What about the way he does what Heavenly Father asks of him. He shrugs and says, oh yeah, that too, like it was nothing.

I love to hear things from my boys perspective. The reasons he gave, although true, would hit the list at about 40 or less in priority. TO BACK UP A TRAILER! What the heck! Good thing I didn't pick a husband for those kinda qualities. I love Chet more than I could ever express. I know the boys perspective will constantly be changing as to the reasons why. Although they weren't the ones I would hope he would see, I love he KNOWS without any doubt that I do. That I love him to the moon and back!!!

Sayings...

Some cute sayings that we've heard lately:

While camping Carter was getting really upset because the smoke was following him. I told him that Papa used to always say that smoke followed beauty. Now the last 3 times we've been around a camp fire, Caden responds to anyone that complains about the smoke in their face by saying, "It follows pretty!" It sounds so dang funny. We laugh every time, and he is clueless as to why we are laughing.

While delivering papers last week, Caden was leaning out the back window to put papers in peoples boxes. I kept telling him that he had to get inside the car before I would drive off. I was getting impatient after about the 100th time of asking, so I said that his center of gravity had to be in more or he would fall out. He asked what that meant and I told him that his waist and lower had to be in the car. So at the next house he says, "Go mom! My belt gravity is in." He was dead serious and says it every house we come to now! He must have thought waist... belt, and renamed it belt gravity. OK!

My little neighbor boy is 4 yrs old. He is HIGHLY ADHD (that is not a fake label, I promise) and a little autistic. He is super cute, and he LOVES Cars. He thinks that he hung the moon, and Cars loves to play with him. He teaches him soccer and all kinds of other things. (A VERY good talent of Carson! He loves old people, and little kids, especially this Hayden) Well the other day, the boys were playing on the slip and slide and all the neighbors were coming over. Hayden say through the gate what they were doing and asked his mom if he could play in Carson's sprinkle water. Now all the neighborhood calls the slip and slide the sprinkle water.

So many more, but I cannot remember them now. That is why I need to get WAY better at writing them down right away! New goal this summer!  

Round Two...

As most everyone knows, Cael used to run away all the time. It was super scary. Luckily, he grew out of it, and the last 2ish years have been great. He is such a good little boy. Everyone loves Cael. He makes friends very easily, and knows exactly what he wants (to eat, hair, clothes, etc) Well, he has started it again. This time, he knows exactly what he's doing.

After church on Sundays, both Chet and I have many things to do. The older boys like to help Chet with the chairs and trash and all his things. Most times, one boy will come get the keys from me and they all seem to end up in the Yukon. As I'm leaving, I text Chet to tell him how many boys are left at the church (we have been known to make it home one short) Cael was the only boy missing. A family from the ward came running in the church to let us know Cael was walking home. Our church is just one street in from one of the busiest streets in Gillette, Lakeway. He was to that street and just walking, sick of waiting.Punk!

I was leaving to ride my bike to a friends house about 3/4 of a mile away. The older boys were coming with me, and Cael wanted to join us. I told him that he would have to come with Chet in a few minutes. He was very upset and told me that he could ride his scooter. I said no and left. Chet could not find Cael about 10 min later so he decided to come on down, thinking I took Cael with me. He found Cael one house away from their house, on his scooter, without any shoes. Total Punk!

He has done several more like this. It is downright scary, because he knows exactly what he is doing, and has no fear. He doesn't fear being alone, running out of energy, getting lost, nothing! He just knows what he wants, and GOES. I told him that he cannot just do something like that, that he needed to ask us. He told me, "I did and you said no so I just did it. You should have said yes and then you would know where I was." He is a tough one because no form of punishment seems to effect him. He doesn't mind being alone in his room, if you spank him he just looks at you with big fat tears and doesn't change a thing, you take away something and he just finds something else. He is my smartest, most manipulative, fearless boy. The only thing that seems to work is to take away his dessert at night. He will eat ANYTHING if he likes dessert. Will I survive, and more importantly, will he! 

Diabetes

On April 15th, 2014 I was told that I have Type 1 diabetes, LADA. I denied that it could be real for a couple of days, and then found a GREAT dr to help me through it all.

I take regular comprehensive blood tests every spring, so when the nurse got my results, she called and requested, or demanded, that I get into a dr that day. I was in no rush, but she was very persistent that I get in that day. I did. I hated the office I found on short notice. So I cancelled my follow up appt with them (they told me I had Type 2) and called a dietician instead. I thought that maybe something I was eating was spiking my numbers. One symptom of diabetes is that you get very thirsty. Another is that you are very fatigued. To combat both, not knowing it was diabetes of course, I was downing Dr Pepper like crazy. I went from about 12 oz a day to about 44, so I thought for sure that could have caused it. Now I see how stupid they must have thought I was. The dietician was so wonderful and nice, but referred me to the lady I see now.

I called the number she referred, and Alicia answered the phone, and referred to herself as Alicia. I later learned that she is a Nurse Practitioner, with 25 yrs experience. Chet asked if it changed anything for me to learn that she was not an official dr. NO!!! I would go to her no matter what her title. She is a small office with just a receptionist and her. She is soooooo down to earth and fun. She is a total spaz, and I LOVE her. She was diagnosed when she was 17. She understands all the symptoms! And all the cravings! And all the mental crap.

First I had to detox. Chet and I sat down with the boys that night and told them what we just learned. They were very interested in it all. I hid nothing from them. They still like to watch me give myself insulin, and they LOVE to watch and even help me, check my sugars. Colby asks me at least once a day every day if he can check his sugars. I have let each of them check once, and Colby a few more times since he is always home and sees it triple what the others do. During detox I was eating less than 50g carbs. For anyone that has counted Carbs, you know this is next to nothing. I asked the boys not to say anything while I wrapped my head around it all. They were SPECTACULAR!!! As far as I know, they told NO ONE! Unbelievable right! 5 boys, and they kept the secret for over a week! At about a week, I had a breakdown. I cried all day I think. Everytime I tried to even function, I would cry. We called our best friends and asked if they would come over that night and give me a blessing. I couldn't even tell them without just crying. It was the first time to tell anyone, and I was struggling. It made it even more real. That was a Wednesday night.

Thursday, I woke up and was a whole new person. I was still starving and struggling to find things to eat, but I had a much better attitude. I tried some recipes from a few blogs, and decided that I hated them all. My better bet was to eat very small portions of things I loved. I went down the candy isle at Walmart and looked at the carb count on every single candy I like. I found that peanut butter m&ms were the best, and I LOVE them. So now when I need a boost of any kind (mental, physical, emotional) I will eat 8 of them.  But that doesn't feel your tummy. I could feel that my stomach was shrinking. I called and made an appt to go in and see Alicia again. I sat with her for 75 min (how wonderful is she! I never feel rushed and don't mind when I have to wait to get in to see her because I know that she will never hurry the person along. Luckily, I have only had to wait once in about 10 viisits). My first question to her was, "What do you eat? I am STARVING!" (After telling my sister, she said so... you can eat protein that you hate and veggies that you hate! She summed it up pretty well!!!) She gave me great ideas and helped me calm down a lot! She told me to start eating 150g. She looked at Chet and said, "Take this woman out for a cheeseburger! And she can eat half the fries." I've never been so happy to eat out! I savored every minute of that meal. And things have been great ever since!

I'm still learning like crazy. I still have to check my numbers about 7 times a day, to see what happens. Like, if I eat a grapefruit for breakfast, my sugars will over double. But if I eat a scrambled egg with it, and just half, then I am ok (and fuller too!) If my numbers are high when I wake, then I can only eat one piece of bread on my egg sandwich (another thing I did was to walk up the bread isle and check EVERY loaf of bread. The days of me making bread are WAY gone. Too much else to calculate and do and worry.) So every day I learn a little more about how my body reacts. I have slowly moved into more insulin as I learn more. My first a1c was 11.6, which said slow suicide on the chart. The goal is to get it down to 5ish. It takes a while to get the numbers adjusted. At first when I would get below 100, I thought I would for sure pass out. (That's the normal 70-100) My body was used to much higher. Now I am finally adjusting a month later.

I have learned to cook veggies so that I love them. I went out of town for a couple of days and couldn't wait to cook my veggies again. I could tell a huge difference, and I was still really careful while I was gone. But there is a big difference between eating to stay under on carbs, and eating a full rich diet that makes you feel full and happy while still under carbs. It's crazy. Chet said I REALLY am changing! It's good! Since my Wednesday breakdown, I have done well. I haven't had a breakdown since, and I seem to have found myself enough snacks and meals to be very happy! I have learned when I can splurge and eat my 8 m&ms, and when I cannot. I am sure there is so much more I will learn, but I am grateful for where I am right now too. My pancreas is still producing some insulin, and so we are trying to preserve it as much as possible. The cost of insulin is insane, so the less I have to take, the better. Eventually I will be able to eat whatever I want again, and just use insulin, but I hope to make full life long changes!

Fiesty

The boys favorite chips are Cool Ranch Doritos. I never let the babies eat their chips, because we save them for their lunches. I buy a bag a week and then seperate them into baggies for them. Well today I let Colby pick a snack from the lunch bucket. This was quite a big deal. He picked a bag of chips. After eating about 3 chips, he brings me the bag and says, "Nevermind Mom. These chips are too fiesty!" I about died laughing. I never use that word, so I don't know where it came from! Too cute the words they come up with!

Missions

Tonight at dinner the boys were talking about when they would go on their mission. They were wondering if it would be right after high school or if they would go to college a little before they could go. I told them that they would be eligible before they graduated high school, so they should go RIGHT after. Caden says that he is only about 60/40 sure that he is going to go on a mission, he is still deciding. I told him it would always be his choice, and we would never force him to go. Then I said I wanted to ask him a few questions. I asked if he knew Heavenly Father was real. He said yeah! I asked if he thought the church was true or if he just did what we told him to do. He said that he thought it was really true. I asked him if he wanted to follow Heavenly Father and do everything He asked. He nodded his head and said of course I do! So I told him that the prophet has said that Heavenly Father wants every worthy young man to serve a mission, so why would he not? He looked at me and said, "You make a really good point. It's now 90/10. I think that I will go on a mission. Yeah!" and off he went onto something else. Later he gave me a big hug and said thanks for always being there to talk to him about things that he needs to know. He is so dang cute! He is soooooooo wild and crazy, but so absolutely wonderfully amazing at the same time!!! I just love that little boy!!! My sweet little Cade-A-Babe!!!

The "S" Word

Colby just came running into the kitchen yelling, "Mooooooooooom, Cael said the "S" word to me (which is stupid, just to clarify, to my older boys) I looked at Cael and he said, "Nooooooo, I didn't!!!" At which time Colby says, "Yeeeeeessssssss, he said see ya toodles! That's the "S" word!" Oh my!

Real Life Princess

Chet once told Colby that I was a princess. Since then (about 6 mo) Colby tells me that I am a princess about 10 times a day. Anytime that I am sad, or he gets into trouble, or I do something that he really likes, or there is silence in the car, he tells me. He says it in this really sweet voice too like he knows hes making me happy. Yesterday I was getting ready to walk out the door, and grabbed my bright red velvety high heels. I wear high heels every Sunday, but I don't think he has noticed them with jeans. He looks at me all wide eyed and says, "MOM! You are a real life princess! Those are princess shoes." Too cute. I just love that boy!!!

Meat

I was holding Cael on my lap and rubbing his back and I told him that he needed to get some meat on his bones. He looks up at me and says, "Mom. If I eat meat it just goes into my belly, not on my bones." and he went right back down ready for me to keep rubbing. Duh mom, its so logical!

I can't stop...

Chet was out of town for FHE this week, so I decided that I was going to do something big and fun with the kids. We have been busy getting our house on the market and starting our traveling spring soccer, so we haven't been much in the fun category. I took them to dinner and the movies. We went to a little Mexican shack, where the entire restaurant is open. It is the best food in town. For a Monday night, the place was busy. They quickly sat us, but not before the entire restaurant took notice of the crazy mom with 5 kids. At least thats what I interpret their looks to be saying. Everyone is head bobbing, obviously counting us all as we walk by (my favorite thing about having a large family. It makes me laugh everytime I see someones head bobbing as they count us all!) We get sat and the boys were being little angels. They really were fantastic! We were all eating our chips and salsa and laughing and talking. The boys were all sitting in a U around me, with Cael to my one side. I was talking to the older boys who were across and to my other side, when I hear Cael announce so the entire restaurant could hear, "MOM! I can't stop humping!!!" I swirl around and pull him from standing to my eye height and said, "What are you saying? Don't say that!" and he again yells, "I can't stop humping mom, my body just (HICCUP)...see I can't stop humping!" I again said to stop saying that and tell him its called huccuping, and he proceeds to yell humping again for the 4th VERY loud time! The entire restaurant is now looking at us and most are laughing. I just grabbed his drink and told him to drink alot of water and it would stop, and to remember that we are at someones business and he needs to be MUCH quieter. That stopped him. It all happened so fast and he just kept saying it. I wanted to crawl under the table. It was literally like in the movies, "Check please" and I was outta there. We went and saw Rio2. It was adorable. Colby kept getting out of his chair and dancing. Priceless. Something that all 5 boys love to do. Eat and watch movies! My kids for sure!!! Let's just leave the humping out thanks!

GONE!

My boys have soccer practice from 5:30-7:00 on Wednesday night. That is a hard time for me. For them to eat before practice, I would have to have dinner ready by 5 and then they would be playing on a full tummy and have to eat again when they get home before bed. But if they don't eat, then 7 is a long time to wait, especially while burning all those calories. It has been a hard thing for me to figure out. We basically have a sandwich before soccer, and then Chet and I with the babies eat dinner, because Chet has to go to scouts on Wednesday night. It sucks, but it's what we have to do. Tonight they were asking me right away to please not talk because they were hungry. All the way home they were talking a million miles an hour about their tournament this coming weekend. We got home and dinner was on the table. We didn't have the greatest dinner tonight, and in fact I think it was the first time to ever have it, but we had grilled hot dogs, doritos, watermelon, and sunny delight (I know it sucks, it was a rough day!) They all came into the house and went straight for the table. Fully dressed in shin guards and cleats they just started gathering everything they could. They love Chet's homemade relish, and they were piling it on as full as they could stuff their bun. They were scooping/pouring watermelon onto their plates while stuffing hot dogs in their mouth. They were pouring doritos onto their plates and stuffing them in. I don't know if any of them even sat down. They just kept reaching for everything and anything all the while stuffing. I also sat at the kitchen table with them and the babies and we read scriptures and say family prayer. It's the only way to get it in and still get to bed with showers and reading/homework at a decent time. I couldn't even read to them because I was watching in awe! I just sat there watching them DEVOUR all the food until it was gone. After they had eaten everything on the table, including Colby's half eaten hot dog and all the chips on Cael and Colby's plate, they all just sat in silence. Then Caden looks me right in the eyes and says, "Mom. What can I eat. I am still hungry!" I told him he could make himself a pb&j sandwich, and so he did. Then they just sat and listened to me read. It was crazy. It was like a movie. And I have a sneaky suspicion it will be MY movie for the next 15 years.  Usually it is loud and everyone is yelling to be heard, and we are hearing punchline-less jokes, and then fighting, and then someone crying they don't like this dinner, and stop eating all of the whatever because they don't like dinner but like it and on and on. It was nice to have silence and chomping. Even Cael just sat and watched them in silence. Funny night. I better up the food budget real soon! I've started adding a couple veggies and fruit to every meal, and the boys LOVE them. But boy the cost adds up!

Cael's a PUNK!

Cael is super smart. He is very aware of things going on around him. It's really hard to pull a quick one him. You can easily distract Colby with something, but not Cael. He is named after my brother Morgan, and he does act so much like him at times! So much so that it's a little scary. He has basically taught himself to read. He knows exactly when to turn on the charm. And he knows EXACTLY what he wants and doesn't want. His newest thing: PESTERING! He loves to just annoy people. And he is really good at it. He can keep a straight face while the rest of us are dieing laughing. He just loves to get under people's skin. His latest one. Carson asks me yesterday if I would please stop calling him a mop head and shag dog. He tells me that Cael just said, "Hey shag dog, can you come help me please." He says is like he was just saying hey Cars, come here! When Cars doesn't respond, he says, "Hey Mop Head, come here please!" He didn't even crack a smile, until Carson left and then he cracked up laughing. He is too smart, and so funny at times. He does it to Colby all the time. He tells him, "Three years olds can't eat that." or "Three year olds cannot watch this movie, only 5 year olds." It about sends Colby into orbit. One thing Colby hates is to be too young for something, so Cael plays right into it. He knows everyones weakness, and uses them ALL the time.

Please watch this for me

My new favorite sayings from my babies: "Please watch this for me!" Anytime that one of them has to go to the bathroom or eat or something and they have to leave in the middle of the movie, the will ask each other if they will please watch it for them. It cracks me up. They never ask to pause it, or wait until Cael gets home from preschool. They just ask each other to watch it for them. How cute is that! The other day Cael wouldn't do something for Colby and he said really sad, "But you are my bestest brother Tael! Please!" They really are such great friends (Not that we don't have our share of fighting and pestering, but for the most part they play so well together and truely love each other!)

Inappropriate

Friday night when Chet got home from work, we were snuggling on the couch. He had not yet changed, and we were just talking about the day. The schedule on Friday night is that as soon as I get home from getting the kids, I start getting ready for date night. Most nights I doll up, like to wear high heels, have my makeup a little fresher, etc. The boys often help me out with what jewelry looks best and what shoes to wear. It's kinda fun. And soon after Chet gets home, we leave for our date. The kids just know that's how it's going to be most Friday nights. This Friday, Chet was having "Man Night" at a friends house, a yearly occurrence. The boys came in from outside and asked if we were going out on date night. I said that Dad was going to Tony's tonight so we wouldn't be going out (Chet took me out to dinner on Thursday knowing we wouldn't get a date this weekend, LOVE that man! The boys were at a school party so they didn't even know we went out to dinner) Caden gets this disgusted look on his face and goes, "Uh!!!!!!!!!!! That is so inappropriate! You don't leave Mom on Friday night to go out with your friends!" I smiled at Chet so happy that the boys know how important date night is to me and us. Luckily Chet had so kind and sweetly asked me if that was ok, so we had to explain to Caden that it was ok. Sometimes, very rarely, we will miss date night for something. I love my little family and dating husband!

Double Digits - The BIG 10!!!

My little boys are growing up. Carter & Carson turned 10 this month!!! How and when did this happen. I remember when they were babies, and the minutes seemed to just inch by. Now they are flying by at mock speed. I've always spoiled my boys on their bdays. They haven't realized it, but they really get everything that they want. We make a list of things they want, food for all 3 meals, and snacks for school. Also, what cake and ice cream they want, if they want a get together, etc. In the past I have bought everything that they have put on their list. Well... until this year.

Carter is really good to take care his stuff, for the most part. He wanted a new bike. We found him a really nice bike perfect for his size. It is a mountain Trayl bike. Bright orange. He loves it! He also got goalie gloves, new shoes, money, soccer ball, and ping pong paddles and balls. Together they got a nice ping pong table. He did not get real soccer goals or a Payton jersey. This town was COMPLETELY sold out of Payton jersies! For school he wanted to take snickers ice cream bars. Instead of a cake, he wanted to have ice cream sundaes!

Carson got a bike (a really nice one that was my sister Charity's. She HAD to have it and never rode it, its a boys "trick" bike I think, and Carson ALWAYS wanted to ride it at my parents, so we took it! Thanks Mom and Dad!!! That saved us about $200), new shoes, his IPOD for the 3rd time (Chet was asking if there was a limit to the amount of times we can regift it to him. He pushes the limits with it, and we keep taking it away. So he has gotten it for Christmas and two bdays. He is as excited as he was the first time each time he gets it back!) While at Office Depot he spotted an IHOME and said that he would trade his entire list if we would buy that! So we did. And a basketball. The things that we didn't get were a bball banker and dirt bike. He also wanted to go rock climbing, but we are having a climbing party this weekend! For school he wanted to take banana bread (he says my bread is famous. He trades it at school at lunch for some pretty good stuff!). For his cake he wanted peanut butter rice crispies with chocolate frosting. (total weirdo! I love it though!!!)

Carter told Carson he would celebrate his bday on Friday so they could have their own days. That way they could have 2 nights to eat out, and two different activity nights in a row. After choosing different days, and 6 eat outs in 2 days, I told them they could choose 2, lunch being one of them. So, they both chose Papas sausage (Schwans, they only get it at Papas because mom is too cheap to buy it, except on birthdays!) bacon, Nana's orange juice (Simply Orange, same as the sausage deal), and then I made cinnamon rolls too. For lunch they chose Subway, with a cookie. And for dinner they chose separate places. So we decided to go out on Wednesday night for one of them. Carson had decided earlier that night that he wanted to go to Prime Rib and asked if he could change his to there. I said sure. On the way to dinner Carter asked if we could change his place to Prime Rib. I said sure! So then I told them that's where they both picked and that would be their dinner. They were all bummed out! We let them each pick an appetizer. That was something new. Wings and guacolmole. When it was time for Carter to choose a drink he was mumbling and saying ask Dad. I was getting bugged because when you are ordering for 7 people, they have to speak up or lose their turn and take what I order them (we have them trained pretty well!) I said hurry Carter, order a drink. He again mumbled to ask Dad. I looked at Chet and Chet said an adult Dr Pepper please. Then he looked at Carter and winked, and I don't think Carter could have smiled any bigger. He had asked dad privately about that one! So then Carson ordered an adult Cherry Pepsi. (Caden threw the biggest temper tantrum at that. He still had a "baby cup with a lid, and no caffeine! poor boy, NOT!!!) First time ever for the boys to get to order a caffeine drink (and that will be a bday treat!) We then went out to get Carters ice cream sundaes. It was a fun family night.

Then Cars asked if he could go to scouts with dad. He felt pretty cool going and "hangin" with the priests as they made hatchets and snow shoes, not to mention he didn't have to go to bed until 9 because they get home so late. Also, Chet was going on a campout that weekend, so he invited the boys to come along for the first time ever. They were ecstatic about that!!! Cart got sick and as soon as the tent was set up, he crawled into bed and slept the whole night. One of Chets boys brought rice and chicken boullion for dinner and planned to hunt a rabbit for dinner. He took Cars along, and he retold me every.single.detail of their hunt about 5 times. Jackson is now a ROCK STAR to Cars. How nice of the boys to include them. One of the GREAT perks to your husband being in the young mens. The boys are sooooo good to mine. They have great boys to watch what a good teenager should be! Someone shared their ribs with Cars (unknown to Chet) and others gave him treats. They spoiled him!!! And I love it!

Both Carter and Carson ended up sick on their birthdays. Cart came home early from school the day before, and Cars came home at about 11:30 on his bday. He laid in bed in terrible pain all day long. Carter just followed me around talking NON STOP!!! He is my son after all. I frequently tell Chet that I don't know how he ever wanted to marry me! He just smiles and hugs me. Whoa, it's exhausting!!! But I love my little boys. Carter is almost as tall as me now. He is about mid neck on me. Cars is about 3-1/2 inches shorter than that. They both weigh about 72 lbs. They are growing into young men. Their hormones are already starting, and I have to remind myself to just laugh, because they are so irrational sometimes!!! I know it's just part of being a mom to boys. CrAzY!!!

Carter is very smart. He loves to read and be the smartest. He is very good at reading and math. He loves science too. They just really started that this year. They are doing the Oregon Trail this month in school and he also LOVES that. They make a little game out of it and you have money and trials and he could talk about their game ALL night long. He tells us about the entire class and he just laughs and laughs at everybodies circumstances. He is one year into braces and ready to get them off. He still has until next December. He is still actively "collecting" information ALL the time. I have to tell him often, "Adult conversation!" and he mopes away. He would rather sit and listen to all the gossip than to go play. He is VERY competitive! He loves to play soccer, and learned in the fall that he is actually a very good goalie! He LOVES it! He is always begging a brother to come play in the backyard, rain or shine, with him. He has a huge temper, and is always working at keeping it under control. I think it will be a life long learning experience for him. We call him the Hulk. He loves to play card games, and is really good at them. He is very thoughtful and serious about his games.

Carson is very adventurous! He loves to be outside, and he loves to be helping neighbors. He makes a ton of money. He is very motivated that way. Which is really funny because then he just gives it away or spends it foolishly. But he has a heart the size of Texas. He is always thinking that he could help someone. I have no question he would literally give the shirt off his back to anyone in need. He tells me often about feeling the spirit. But he is also quick to get into trouble. He is VERY aware that something is wrong, but has no self control when it comes to fun. He loves to jump and do tricks on his bike, and has mastered the art of wrecking and not getting hurt. He is loving to cook, and often wants to. He loves to do laundry, mostly because he thinks that I do it too slow, and then he gets out of most other chores. He is a hard worker and fabulous with littler kids. Carter won't even play cards with him because he cannot focus long enough to play. He is exact opposite of Carter in that way. He is really good at math and science. He loves his teacher this year, and would do just about ANYTHING to make her happy, so he is a good student and rarely gets into any trouble. He is very serious about his hair and pants. He has his favorite pair that he would wear every day if I let him so I have just bought him 3 pair of the exact same. His hair is long and looks like a shag dog, but he loves it.  Him and Chet have always seemed to clash in many circumstances, but as of the last about 6 months, they are super good friends. Cars has an attitude the size of Texas as well (which just makes me laugh) and they are learning to get along quite well. I told Cars that as soon as he matured a little him and his dad would be the best of friends. Something changed in him that day, and it has been great since. He has always been a mommas boy, so this has been a great change this year!!!

I love to see that love that both boys have for their dad. They respect and look up to him. They are going to be great husbands and dads just like him!! I love the way that they help me out too. I am such a lucky mom! Boys really do love their mommas, and I couldn't love them any more than I do!!! (Until tomorrow I am sure, when I will somehow love them even more!!!)

Baking

Cars has become quite the cook! He has always loved to cook, but I have so much going on at dinner time, it's near impossible to let him help me with the whole meal. He has almost forever cooked the tortillas, and he will chop anything in the food processor, but as far as cutting and adding ingredients to the meal, not so much. He started about a month ago making cakes. He started with a chocolate sheet cake with chocolate frosting. He finds something in my cook book (homemade so it has all my recipes in it) that he wants to make, gets out all the ingredients, and puts it together. He wants to make a dessert every night. He has started helping make dinner, which is super impressive. He will line a cookie sheet with tenfoil and broil asparagas drizzled in olive oil and kosher salt (he has watched me and knows exactly what stuff to use). He will chop up other veggies and put them in bowls for dinner. He will cook the meat. He is even getting where he will read the dinner recipe and get the beans or chilis or whatever else is needed and add it to the pot. He still cannot do things like cilantro or make enchiladas. Mostly he can do soups and side dishes and always does a dessert. He can make the french bread (cut it and butter it and broil it (I still garlic salt it, but he wants to!) Just today he wanted me to make banana bread so he got out every measuring cup/spoon and ingredient I needed. He will grade cheese and on and on. I am so impressed with him. He LOVES it. He always says very proudly as we are wrapping up dinner, "I cooked it, you clean it!" to his brothers and dad. It brings him happiness! I am curious to see if he sticks with it. If so, he will surely make a wife super happy!

Side note: Our neighbor came in the house with Carter the other night close to dinner time. She comes into the kitchen where Cars and I were finishing up making homemade pizza (he read the recipe and made the dough, spread corn meal on the cookie sheet without any prompting and then asked me to roll out the dough, then was putting the garlic butter sauce and cheese and dill and veggies on top. He even cooked up 5 slices of bacon and chopped it into small pieces and was adding it to the top) She smelled the pizza and said, "I wish my mom baked like you. She never cooks anything" (which is pretty true. They eat out about 18 meals a week!) Cars, oblivious to the fact that a lot of families don't have a homecooked meal every night, says "Cook it yourself. It's super easy!" As much as I was happy that he has seen it so much it's just normal for him and almost easy to just take over for me, I was super sad that she did not. She told him that they don't have anything in the house to make anything. I hope that all my boys marry girls that think it's a priority to eat dinner as a family every night. I hope they (my boys) all know how to cook, and appreciate their wives when they do. We do our share of eating out too, but even when we grab a pizza or tacos, we eat it at the table as a family after a blessing on the food. I have a feeling that we will look back on this time every night and cherish it. Right now I cannot even hear myself think during dinner for the volume, but I know when I get Momma amnesia and only remember the good times and tell all the moms in Walmart that have small children and look like they might have a breakdown right then and there how fabulous the times were for me and just a complete joy all the time (no sarcasm there!), this will be one of them!!!

Cars

Cars was home sick from school the other day. He just likes to follow me around talking. (I have no idea where they get that from!) He was asking me if I could get him another savings acct because he would like to start saving half of his half of money he gets ($20 total for papers: $2 tithing $8 mission savings $10 for him to spend as he wishes) He said at $5 a month, he needs to start saving now for a car. (Which is funny because that kid is a money making fool. He is on call for the entire neighborhood, he thinks he needs a phone for his business! He helps the neighbor entertain her 4 yr old because her husband is ALWAYS out of town and she needs a break, he mows everyones lawns, he snow shovels for the whole cul-de-sac, he feeds dogs when people go out of town, he said he was going to hire Carter to help him with all his business, haha!) That right there already made me happy. We have so many youth in our ward who don't drive or drive there moms car, leaving her car-less, so they have something to drive. It drives me CRAZY!!! Get a job and buy yourself a car!!! I'm adamant that my kids work and buy their own things. That's called life kids!!! So the fact that he is already thinking about buying himself a car makes me happy. Then he tells me that he wants to buy a car just like Cassy, our awesome neighbor. Just the other day she was telling me that she drives a grandma car and everyone in her family, sister mom husband, makes fun of her but it's paid for and gets good gas mileage (a really old style toyota camry, early 1990's I would guess) So him wanting that kind of car made me doubly happy. Wants to save for a car AND is thinking practical. He tells me that her car is really nice inside and probably gets way better gas mileage than mine and should be "cheap to buy with all cash, every single bit of it with cash!" I couldn't have been prouder. How many 10 year old boys think that they are going to drive a mustang or camaro or escalade or something like that?!? Not mine. Nope. They know better. I told Cassy about it in front of Cars and he was just shaking his head about everything I was saying. She told him he could probably buy it from her for next to nothing in 5 years. He was all for that! Carter will get to buy Chet's 1995 Ford Ranger, and Cars will buy Cassy's 1990 something Camry. Now that's awesome!!! Oh how I love my boys. Even if I could, I would never want to buy them anything more than they have. I love that they appreciate almost everything they have (most of the time) and appreciate the small things, like good gas mileage. They are mine for sure, and I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world!!

Muscles

The other day I asked Cael to unload the silverware from the dishwasher. To do so he has to get a chair to stand on. So he was carrying a chair into the kitchen and says, "I'm convinced! My muscles are awesome!!!" Oh my goodness Chet and I laughed so hard. He was so proud of himself that he could carry, not scoot, the chair all the way from the dining room to the kitchen, a whole about 6 ft. It was awesome!

Peanut Butter Sandwich

I made Cael and Colby a little homemade pizza for lunch. They are SOOOOO good, and I even put their favorite toppings on them. When I was finished making them, Colby said he didn't want one. He just wanted his box of girl scout cookies. He was whining and being a punk, so I told him I was going to shower and he could find his own lunch. So he came to the bathroom door and asked if he could have a peanut butter sandwich. He can make his own, there's just usually a big mess, but I said sure. So when I get out of the shower I see that half his cookies are gone. I looked at him really stern (he is very sensitive to me getting stern with him, he is usually pretty good anymore to follow what I say) and asked where all his cookies were. He gets all pouty and dead serious says, "you told me I could have a peanut butter sandwich, so see"... as he proceeds to put two peanut butter tagalong girl scout cookies together and makes a "sandwich" out of his "peanut butter" cookie. He looks at me with puppy eyes, and says, "You said I could make a pb sandwich, and I did." How can you argue with that. I just gave him mad eyes and said that he knew that was not what I was thinking! He said, "But I loved my lunch!" and clicked his mouth. Little stinker!!!

Being Better

Today at Walmart, Cael ran away and I had to get on him. I was very patient and kind, but also very stern with him. He apologized, asked me politely if he could go to the bathroom, and then went. The cashier was like holy cow, can you come teach my kid. Then the lady behind me was saying how wonderful I handled him and how respectful and adorable my kids were. It really made me feel really good. Then when I got into the car I got thinking about it. I never got worked up, I did it very calm and quiet (surprised that either woman even heard it) and I was never stressed about it. Quite different than the feeling I have at home when disciplining. Why can't I always remain so calm? I would never act in public the way I do at home. I would not give them 1 or 2 chances and then yell like a little child at them and throw my "authority" around. It really is much more effective to love them into it. Duh, just like the prophets have been telling us all along! After today I hope to make a REALLY good effort to not yell. Carter has started this new MAJOR attitude and he's just killin me I tell ya! I have started just hugging him when I get so mad I want to yell. It's amazing how well it diffuses the situation. That's all I want Chet to do with me is hug me when I get really mad. Then I just melt and everything comes back into perspective. This is the great thing about being a parent. You can always be better the next day than you were the last!!! There's always something you can do better. I hope to be a better mom than I have been. It really is the most important thing I do. Everything else is just time fillers! 

Lazy Days!

My neighbor and I just decided to car pool. She is heading to work every morning so she is taking the kids, and I will pick them up so she doesn't have to leave work to come get and drop off her kids. It's quite fabulous.  Cael just realized today that this was a new thing for EVERY morning. He looked at me all wide eyed, and said, "Oh yeah Baby! It's Thursday! Lazy day! And we don't have to leave our house!" He then gives me a big high five and leaves to find a movie to watch. On Thursday I have tried really hard to make NOOOOO plans. I try to leave my schedule open. I do all the laundry in the house and snuggle my kids most of the day. The babies have come to love this day. More than I ever thought they would. Cael knows that we watch movies, mom reads any book they want as many times as they want, sometimes we go get dad for lunch, but mostly we just lay around doing nothing, but yet the most important thing ever. Just taking the time to snuggle and love on them with no other concern or pull or guilt to do anything else

(They are the best of friends! Love them!!!)

. They know they are the COMPLETE priority, and we can stay in jammies and just relax. I LOVE THURSDAYS!!! One of my best ideas ever!!!

Did you cut your hair?

Our newest weekly activity is Colby cutting his hair. It seems that about once a week, we see a chunk out of the front of Colby's hair. We have gotten mad at him, progressively so. With 4 older brothers (and not really a problem like this before) its hard to keep scissors away from him. Caden uses them ALL the time. Well Chet was hugging on Colby and noticed a fresh cut. He asked Colbs about it and Colby denied, denied, denied! He was ADAMANT that he didn't cut it. About 5 min later Colby was running around showing off for Chet, and Chet says, "Colby, what scissors did you use to cut your hair?" Colby stops and you can see him think for half a second and then says, "The blue ones over there!" and keeps on running. Chet and I looked at each and got a good laugh. We asked him 10 times if he had and told him we knew that he had, but no. Just catch him off guard a couple minutes later and he just fesses right up! Good thing we have all boys!

Shopping

Our ward emergency specialist stood up in church and asked us to go one month without going to the store. He gave us a week to prepare. I knew that even having a week to prepare it was going to be hard. I made a list of the 31 meals that I would make, and then made my shopping list. I divided the list into the 5 weeks, making the meals with the most fresh stuff first. I bought lots of celery, carrots, potatoes, spinach, apples and oranges. I used to have LOTS of snacks in my food storage room, but the kids would just sneak in and eat them all, so I thought it was a waste of money, so I haven't stocked as many. I have went to once a week shopping because the kids just devour all the food and I was sick of having lots for 3 days, and none for the next 11. I told the boys a MILLION times at least that I was sick of being the food police, and if they ate all the snacks it would get really bad later. They didn't listen and I, being the awesome mom I am, just threw my arms in the air and let them eat, knowing that they would learn a tough lesson. Chet and I did amazing with the meals. We had plenty of "meal" food to make dinner every night. We just marked off the meal we had already made and kept going down the list. Snacks were all gone within one week. Luckily I had hid some fruit from Colby (in the garage fridge) so the boys had apples to take to school most of the week.) We did however, run out of a few other things. I did not have any extra dishsoap. And we ran out of body soap. We had some we COULD HAVE used, but we like our normal stuff (Lever 2000) so we went to the half store (WalGreens) and bought some. Somehow we were also short 6 Valentines. I must not be able to do math when I bought them all for them. We still went out on date night and picked up the boys pizza on the way home twice. I never miss my date night, and we made a deal with the boys that they get pizza every other Friday (Don't mess with Friday night traditions!). The boys were rockstars! They were whiny sometimes, and they learned the lesson, but they were so creative. They started making baked potatoes. They were making green smoothies with the spinach and frozen fruit. Carson started cooking. Like cakes and rolls and yummy homemade snacks. They asked for banana bread. They never asked to just go to the store and buy things. I was SOOOOOOO proud of them. After 24 days, I broke. I needed some produce! I went to Walmart, and had the funniest shopping trip ever! I never knew how much my kids love fresh fruits and veggies. They were hillarious!!! I looked like mom of the year! I had a friend tell me once to "Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear (gossip form)!" It was true this day. As I walked up and down our 3 produce isles, my kids were pointing and screaming in delight for everything they saw. They were yelling, "Mom look!!! Watermelon, and oranges, and apples, and peaches!!!" Then we would go to the next isle and they were yelling, "Mom! Peppers! Brocolli, where is the brocolli (Colby is IN LOVE with brocolli! He wants to eat it all day every day and it doesn't stay good very long in the fridge so he had been a little while) Wheres the br... MOM it's lettuce! MOM LOOK!" They were just pointing to everything! I was laughing and all the people around were laughing and telling me what great kids I had. Little did they know, they hadn't had all this fresh stuff for WAY TOO LONG, and that was why they were so excited. I was laughing sooooo hard inside! It has now been 4 days, and my boys are being REALLY careful with the snacks. They portion them out, and eat left overs in the fridge (a new thing they started during this too!) and ask me 1/4 as much as they used to. I am SOOO happy with the results. It was hard at times, but I liked having my meal list, I liked seeing the boys get creative, and I loved learning new things (like did you know you can freeze milk, and it takes at least 3 days for it to defrost in your fridge?) What I disliked the most? That cut out almost all of my socializing! I didn't realize how many people I saw at the store and how much I got to socialize in a month while out and about! As Chet would say, "Kimber was not meeting her quota for words a day!" I am wanting to be much more organized and prepared! It was a fun experiment! 

Family Pics 2014

So excited for my family pics. We decided that we would only get them every other year, so it has been 2.5 yrs since we got them! I love them!

(I love, love, LOVE when he smiles with his nose crinkeled!!!)

These are pictures that show their personalities really well. I love my boys! All 6 of them!!! What would life even be like without them. Quieter... but much more boring. I'll take the noise and chaos any day!!!

And the cherry on top:

(it was FREEZING outside!!! You can see Chet is trying to act "not cold")

I love him to pieces!!!

How to Spell

Cael is starting to sound out words. He loves when anyone will play along and give him a word to spell and then he will sound it out. Carson asked how to spell "We" Just then Caden walked into the room and said, "That's easy, w.i.i." and asked me his question and walked away. Oh my goodness, not exactly the "we" we were looking for. They are too funny!

Black and White

Today I was telling my kids all excited that Aunt Randi sent me a list of a ton of movies that her and I watched as kids, and that we should go to the library and get some of them. Cars looks at me and says, "Not if they are black and white. I am not watching black and white! Sorry mom, I'm just not." I asked him how old he thought I was and he just said, "I won't do it mom. No black and white movies!" What a little turd. I think that I asked my parents that once too. CrAzY!!!

I'm going to trust you!

Last night Colby wanted to jump in a bath with Cars. Cars loves to take baths at night. I don't know why, he doesn't get that from mom or dad. Well, I told Cars that he wasn't allowed to leave Colbs for one second in the bath. Colbs promised he would get out when Cars was done. Cars came downstairs frustrated a little later and said that he had to pull Colby out kicking and screaming. He was NOT happy to get out and tried to get back in. Well tonight Caden wanted to bathe and I told Colby that he could not get in with him because he didn't get out like promised last night. After trying every trick in the book, whining with the best of them, and still not getting us to change our stance, he grabs my face with a palm on both cheeks and says while looking me straight in the eye, "Mom, I'm going to trust you! Let me take a bath and I will trust you that I need to get out." He is just way too smart! He didn't trust that I would stick to my guns about it. Now he's paying for it! Wish I was more consistent with almost everything. But I don't mess around with water. That's one area I am ALWAYS a stickler.

Hot!!!

Today when Carson got into the car, he says, "Whoa, you have to roll down my window, it is waaaaaaaaay too hot!" I rolled it down thinking that the sun beating down on me was feeling really nice, but a little hot. Then Colby wanted his rolled down, and then Caden. So we drove home from school with the windows down thinking it was so warm outside, enjoying the sunshine. The temperature was 28 degrees according to my car. Only in Wyoming would you think that 28 degrees was wonderful. The cul-de-sac was full of happily playing kids within minutes of arriving home from school. Too funny how -22 changes your perspective on "warm". (Carson also told me that he had to take his coat off during recess because it was way too hot to play with it on. He shed it the minute he got into the car too.)

Oh My!

This morning while cleaning the ENDLESS SUPPLY of paperwork from the kids school, I was standing over the trash, looking, and dumping (the normal morning routine!) Colby comes up next to me and says, "Let me see. Oh my! That is very special! Wow!" Let me tell you, it was nothing special. It was a picture Caden had colored very poorly, so he could go straight to socializing I am sure. It was too cute how he was praising it!

Plain 'ol Toys

Today is a snow day. Snow days suck!! Weekends are good because I have a plan. I don't like when my plans are interupted. I have to be organized, even in my head. Caden just came in totally bummed by his complete boredom!!! He said, "Mom, there is nothing to do! I cannot find my ipod, you won't let me play the wii, dad wont let me play the kindle. All that leaves is plain ol toys, and I DO NOT want to play with just plain ol toys. They are boring!" Oh my... needless to say, he is now writing a story. If you don't want to play with something that isn't electronic, then sit your butt down and write a story. He was happy with that. Weirdo! But I love that weirdo!

Pine Wood Derby 2014

The track

Cars and Carter right after the race. They did so well last year, and I was sooooooo proud of them for the good sports they were this year. They were fun and laughing and excited when they won their heat, but they were great sports when they didn't place at all

Caden receiving his trophy for 3rd place

All three boys after a great night of hot dogs and friends. They really are just good boys!!!

Butter

When I was a little girl, my parents took a picture of a piece of bread and another of me eating it, with pure excitement on my face. When I got up the other morning and found this, I just had to laugh. I used to eat my bread with about a half of cube of butter. This was Cael eating his peice of toast he made himself! Crazy!!!

Best Invention Ever

Chet thought that I was crazy when I bought this. I LOVE, and I mean LOVE this. we use it for syrup and soap and so many other things. Isn't that just a great idea. I hate to waste things, but I also hate having lids off and trying to scrape out the last of things. Love this!!! I smile ear to ear every time I use it!!!

Temple Trip Oct 2013

Here we are after the temple with the kids at a corn maze. We were with the Lee's, and we always have a great time with them. They also have 5 kids, almost all our kids ages (except the two oldest for both our families)

These were little duck races. The harder you pumped that water, the faster your ducks went. It was so funny watching the kids just pumping away. We stayed there forever. Too funny!

 (Caden had his little left arm pumping as fast as it would go too)

 Parker, Vivian

Thompson, Guinevere, Cael, Colby, Carson, Caden

 Kate, Carter

(Thompson is such a little guy! Him and Colbs are just 2 months apart in age)

 Clint was bouncing the kids so hard they couldn't keep standing

This was a train ride, pulled by a tractor. They pulled them on a track around the corn field and to see the animals. The kids all just piled in. That is what I love about the being with the Lee's. Our kids are all just friends and we can help any of their kids and they can help any of ours. Its more like family than friends!

 Carter and Cael

 Caden and Viv

 Carson and Thompson

 Guin and Colbs

 Cael walked around in this chain link fence FOREVER!

He kept finding his way out of the maze and then would go back in. He loved it!

 Colbs, Cael, and Carter

 Inside the corn maze with 10 kids. We must be crazy. It was scary at first. Then both Erin and I worried about our babies and let the others just roam. It was lots of fun for the babies. They laughed and ran and screamed and just enjoyed it!

 I could have taken 20 more pics of all the things there were to do there, but this was Cars on a slide. That thing was FAST!!! The kids went on it a million times too. 

Thompson (hid in the corn) Kate, and Colbs