Farts

While saying prayers one of the boys rips off a fart. After the prayer I told him that was unacceptable. He said he couldn't help it, and I told him I know he can control it. Oh my... maybe I was better to just let it go. I them got a full report of how boys cannot hold their farts, and the best ways to "release" them in school. If you stick your butt off the back of your chair and release before too much pressure builds up, you can release it slow enough that you cannot hear it. But if you don't get it off far enough them you just create a microphone type effect and it's loud. Also, you never want to roll onto your hip because then it does the same thing. Cael says he just runs into the hall as soon as he feels it coming like he's going to the bathroom. And then comes right back in and no one even knows or smells. I was just setting there in amazement as all 4 school boys were rattling off all their fart tricks. Girls (at least me) just did EVERYTHING possible to hold it in until I was alone. Who knew that boys have all kinds of tricks up their sleeves. What weirdos!!!

Mom!!!

I cleaned the babies room the other day. I picked up all the legos and put them into a bag and put them into the boys nightstand between their beds. Cael comes out that night with the bag in his hand and a disgusted look on his face and says, "MOM!!! You put these in my room right next to my bed. That's like them saying 'Just play with me. Get in trouble. Play with me.' You cannot do this mom and think that I can not play with them!!!" He just looked at me like I was the stupidest mom in the world. I asked him what would be a better solution, and he decided in my room in my nightstand where he could not hear them saying, "Play with me. Get in trouble" It took all I had to look at him normal. His face was hilarious!!! I love that rat! At least he knows his limits, and knows that legos are the devils toy. They encourage you to do bad things, and they encourage mom to say bad words when she steps on them!

Are you a Democrat?

Last night while watching a family movie, someone on the movie asked someone else, "Are you a democrat?" My boys were asking me what that meant. I was a senior in high school when a teacher asked the class that. I had NO idea what he was talking about. He told me there was no doubt in his mind what I was, but he would give us a quiz and let us decide based on the issues. That was what I did. I found a website that was D vs R. For family night, each boy got a piece of paper and pencil. Then I said, "write a one if you believe this (democratic view) and 2 if you believe this (republican view)." The whole time Carson was saying, "That is so stupid. Who would ever believe that! What! Women can kill babies in their bellies! Some lazy guy could live just like me if I work my butt off! Why should the government get to set prices, why not let people pay what they think is fair!" It was sooooooo funny. At one point I looked at Chet and said, "He is so a little Kimber!" We are both pretty hard core Republicans. Carson had 10/13 points of view Rep. Carter 9/13. Caden 11/13. Cael 9/13. I guess when you grow up with 2 pretty hard core Rep, you are destined to create some pretty hard core Rep boys. It was funny to hear their point of views on things. They were baffled that others live a certain way, very different from us. What I thought was very interesting too, I heard a couple of articles of faith repeated. As they thought about putting a 1 or 2, they would recite an article of faith and that gave them their answer. I sure do love seeing my boys grow and learn. We want to start teaching them the "issues" of the elections, both national and local.

Janitor

Last night I asked my boys to make me a list of their top 5 things they want for Christmas. Every boy had some form of food. Colby wants his own watermelon. Cael wants 100 starburst. Carter wants 1000 dum-dum suckers etc. So weird, but kinda funny! Then the best... Colby wants a janitor so he doesn't have to do chores anymore. That would be make his bed, and clean up the entry way every other day. Whew, we better hire a "janitor" for those tough chores!! So funny but cute!

What Did You Learn Today?

When Chet got home from work one day, he asked Colby what he learned that day. Colby says, "You don't stand on the sidewalk holding a sign, you go out and work for money!" Needless to say, Chet and I laughed pretty hard.

We were at Walmart earlier that day and Colby saw a beggar on the sidewalk. He was very confused. He asked me why that guy was standing there with a sign and wanted to know what the sign said. I told him that he was asking for free money without doing anything but asking for it. I asked him if he thought that was the best way to spend his time? He was still a little confused so I told him that if he wanted to have things in life, he had to work for them and not just ask for handouts. He needed to work and not just hope that others would give him everything. He understood that. And I thought that was the end of it. Obviously it sank in pretty well with him.

(I know that we are supposed to give to those in need, but I have a REALLY hard time with beggars. As I talked to my friends about this, they said that they will always give them leftovers if they have any from eating out. Most people won't take them. They get things like, "I'm a diabetic." or "I have a gluten intolerance." I call bullcrap!!! If others want to give, GREAT! But as for me, I like giving a generous donation to fast offerings instead. And do Secret Santa. And shovel driveways. And other kinds of service. I do not agree with standing on the corner begging. I read an article once that said the average beggar will make $400K a year if done full time. I'd rather my boys know that working hard is how to do it!!! And then they can help others!)

How can I not?

Oh goodness, how can I not share this letter from Caden to me on my birthday. Caden is so funny sometimes, so deep sometimes, and sometimes he just confuses me. This letter has all three. Here it is!

Dear Mom,

You make me feel like a humen. I feel good everytime your around me. You look like a butter fly.When your grumpe your like a fly. We all like you in are life. We all love you. Your like a ant Queen. You are like a deer with a buttiful booty. You are good.

His spelling is horrible!!! His grammer is even worse! But I wouldn't trade that little rat for anything in the world! He loves me the most! He is "going through that stage" right now, at least just the beginning, and he is a different person every 2 minutes, but he always loves me. He always hugs me. He always prays for me, for help for me to do all I need to and his gratitude for me as well. I sure do love to see his heart. I'll try to always be a "butter"fly, and not just a fly, haha!!!

Let the Games Begin

I thought that I really kinda had a grasp on my preteens eating. Like I knew that they sometimes eat a lot, and often. Well, tonight at dinner I saw a whole new game begin. Keeping Caden Full, that's the name, but theres a twist. He NEVER will be!!! I was making grilled cheese (Im obsessed lately with grilled cheese. Like I need the dairy or something!) Caden is not a huge fan of lots of cheese. I was pumping out grilled cheese as fast as I could and the boys would just take them. Caden was telling me that I was putting way too much cheese on them, and that he was gagging. Well, did that make any difference to him? He still proceeded to eat THREE full sandwiches, and then tells me that he is still hungary. I had the 4 ends from two loaves of bread that he saw ready to be thrown away and asks if he can make cinnamon toast with those 4 pieces of bread. He makes and eats them. Then he asks if we were having dessert. At the same time he was looking in the fridge with both doors open hoping to see something else to eat. I think he was satisfied, but never full. How can anyone eat that much bread in one sitting?!? And he just turned 10! Trouble! He is a bigger eater than either his older brothers. Might be time to up the food budget again!!!!

Weirdest Ever

We don't have cable, so my boys see very few commercials. While watching the one show we watch from hulu together as a family, The Voice, Carter tells me, "Mom, I think Geico will go down in history as the WEIRDEST ads ever!" Oh my gosh I laughed out loud. He really has no idea how weird they can get, but they are pretty weird!

Dinner Yum

Today when Carson got home from school, I had lists of things for the boys to do. Carson is a list boy!!!! If I ever need anything done, I just need to make a list and Carson will work until every last thing is done. After chores, a few boys were over that jumped on the tramp and hung out. After all the dust settled and it was just our family, minus dad that was out of town, Carson went to the fridge, and did what boys do: open both doors and just stand and look. After a while he says, "Mom, can I grill some brauts?" I say, sure. He then says, "Well, can I cook some brauts, and hot dogs, and some cinnamon rolls? That would be a good dinner. Well, actually I never got an after school snack so I will cook one braugt for a snack, one for dinner and a package of cinnamon rolls (the yummy little Pillsbury ones), and some hot dogs. Yeah, that sounds good!" I told him that sounded like the dinner of champions. He bounces down the stairs and out the door to the grill. After getting them on, he comes back inside and pulls open the fridge and says, "And I think I'll add some bacon. Yep, bacon for sure." as he procedes to pull out a few slices of bacon to make. True boy, through and through. His stomach does most of the talking.

Broncos Football

 

Carter and Carson were Broncos this year. They had an amazing coach, same one Carter had last year. They learned a ton, played lots of different positions and both learned that linebacker on the defense is their favorite position. We had to tell both of them to pretend the piece of tape on the opponents helmet says "Caden" and then you will hit much better. The coach would put them against each other in drills and said that was the best hitting he got out of them. They didn't have a great season as a team(5-5), or individually, but they loved it!!! They worked hard, Carter was a captain, and after only being done for less than a week they are already looking forward to next season. They will be in the Jr High and that scares them, but I think it will be tons of fun. Carter says he might do cross country instead?

 

 

 Carson #30     Carter #21

Their last game as a Bronco. They were beat out of the playoffs by the Vikings that won it this year :(

Those are three of six of the most amazing boys on the planet. I sure love them!!!

Random Pics

 

 

 

 Mom and Colby Selfie to send to Dad. We told him we were so thankful he goes to work everyday so that we can sit home and snuggle. The best decision of my life, my boys father!!!

 

(Carter)

 My boys are awesome! They love to pamper me. They still do "stations", my favorite game!!!

Almost that whole jug of lotion has been rubbed on my feet by my boys!

First Day of School 2015

 

 

 Carson's two favorite things. He would move mountains to get to ride either of these

(he ALWAYS wears a helmet. These were staged, taken for a school project)

 Carter Matthews, Parker Lee, Carter, Carson

Two boys of my good friends that we do everything with. We went over to Spearfish to their AWESOME waterpark rec center. It was a FUN day! My Carter is always hanging out with Carter M. The size difference is hilarious. They are really good friends and same age.

 

 

Colby at Cael's soccer game. I was taking pics of Cael and he wanted one too. I decided that I don't see adults with huge heads, so someday he'll grow into that HUGE head of his! I just LOVE this little rat!!! He has his mamma rapped around his finger!! 

Broken Bones

Well, we almost had our first broken bone. It came back as just banged up.

He thought he was pretty cool at school in his sling though!!!

 

 

Superbowl 2015

Tonight was the Campbell County Junior Football Association Superbowl 2015. They take these things very serious here!!! Last year Caden played for the Colts, which won the Superbowl, but Caden was a nonfactor in that win. In fact, I think he might have played once and fumbled the ball. It was crappy. Well, this year he had a MUCH different season. He changed schools last year and before the season I told him that no one knew about all his fumbles last year, and it was a clean slate. He took it to heart. Also, Chet was great to help him out at the beginning of the season. As soon as he was the QB, Chet starting making him take snaps from everyone in the family, even me. That way he could get the snap from anyone. Sometimes we did it fast, sometimes slow, hard, and soft. He picked it all up really well. So after an undefeated season, 3 rounds of the playoffs, it was the Superbowl. He had been named the Beast somehow, and people all over the league knew him as that. I heard dads/coaches from other teams talking about how amazing "The Beast" was. He was the one to shut down. And guess who he was going up against! The Colts, same coach and all! It was played at the Camels field, and had an announcer and all. Let's just say we heard, "And that was number 42, Caden Parker, with..." whatever it was he did. He was QB that kept the ball and ran most of the plays, made a TON of defensive tackles, and scored the only touchdown and 2 extra points. (Second game in a row) He really was a beast. He would lower his shoulder, and didn't stop moving his feet until there were at least 3 guys on him. He just kept going. You could tell he was tired, but he left it ALL on the field. He would flick a block off like they were nothing and attack the runner on defense. The mom sitting in front of me said that Caden was a superstar! It was fun, but SOOOOO scary to watch! Chet and I don't do very well we decided. We needed something to slow our heartrates down. We just kept whispering things back and forth to each other, almost scared to even talk! It was a really close game, but the Steelers pulled it out. AND...Caden was named the games MVP!!! It was a great moment! Chet and I couldn't have been prouder of him! He was amazing! He worked so hard this year. He was first to practice most days (rode his bike or was hounding us to take him), always cheering his team on, helping the younger boys, and just being a great leader. I love what it has done for him. He used to be an insecure popular boy that you just want to slap upside the head sometimes. Now, he has real confidence, and with that came real leadership. He wants to help others be their best. He compliments everyone on his team, he takes a handicapped boy that is on the sideline and puts his arm around him and brings to stand by him during the national anthem, and is a builder. Don't get me wrong, he still rubs it in his brothers face and is a boy. But when I see him in public and every dad high fives him, shakes his hand, tells him how wonderful he is, tells him he is a beast, he says things like, "Did you see how well Darius did on the line to help me?" and things like that. He is so grateful for the praise and is so nice to everyone that approaches him. His coaches have raved about what a good kid he is and what a hard worker he was. MVP just was a cherry on top!!! I love him and hope this stays with him forever. The desire to lift others and in return, you benefit. It's so much better to lift others who in return lift you. I hoped he wouldn't play again this year (after his sad year last year), but Chet talked him into playing, and for that I am SOOOOOO grateful. MVP is awesome, but the amazing boy it has made him is my favorite part!!!

His two best friends after the semi's

(and Cael)

 

 

 

 Pregame workout

 Pregame Workout

 

 

 Proud Mom and Dad with the MVP!!!

 

 

 Coaches. Top was offensive and bottom was head and defensive.

 

 

Juan #78             Darius #88 

Boys Chet named twin towers. They were amazing lineman/blockers for Caden.

This was their twin towers pose. #78 (Juan) was given the game ball.

 The three together (with Cael photobombing again)

These three were all rockstars!!!

 

 

 

Hair

I went to Casper overnight, while my kids stayed in Gillette. I was having a procedure done, and that was all the kids knew. The night before I went to surgery, my sister colored my hair really dark. When I got home I just went straight to bed. The boys all got home from school and came straight in to see me. I was still really groggy from the anesthesia, but I hear Cars say, "Whoa! Moms hair is dark!" Then he goes into the hall and tells someone that something happened to my hair. Caden ended up asking me after I was awake if they dyed my hair during surgery, or if the medicine just make it go dark slowly while they were doing surgery. I thought I might die laughing. Oh my gosh my boys are funny!! All 5 of them thought it was from my surgery. Having no sisters and a pretty low key mom as far as fashion and hair and all that stuff is putting them at a major disadvantage! I hope they know how to be normal someday as a husband. They might be a little behind on some things when it comes to how girls work!

Lamanites

Tonight we had a big night. We went to the finals (Superbowl they call it) for the football season, went to dinner to celebrate, ate ice cream, and then kneeled down for family prayer a little after 10. We had not read scriptures, and didn't plan to with it so late and 9 am church. Colby says the prayer, and in it he says, "We do not follow Satan. We know that the Lamanites are in heaven." What! Where did that come from? It was too cute, but out of nowhere! I had to try very hard to not laugh. He is so dang cute!

She has to notice by now!

Last night Chet was out of town. I was craving fish tacos from our favorite Mexican restaurant. I told the kids to hurry and get in the car, we were going out to dinner. We all pile in the car. I take off and call a friend that I had needed to call. About 5 minutes down the road, Carter says, "Mom! Where is Cael?" I'm on the phone and thinking that they are kidding, so I keep going. Carter says in a scared voice that made me know he was not kidding that Cael was not in the car. I turn around and start heading back to the house. I was a little worried about what Cael might think. I remember him telling me that he had to go get his shoes. So he leaves to his room and we leave him! Well, I pull onto the street and my little monkey is climbing on the bball banker in the driveway. He sees me and jumps right down and smiles. As I pulled into the driveway, I rolled down my window and he puts his hands out and gives me this funny look and says, "I just kept thinking, she has to notice I'm missing by now! She has to notice by now!" He just smiled at me and jumped in the car. He then tells me that it took me long enough to come back and get him. No fear, no anger, just confused as to why it took me so long. How in the world is he just so calm. Had that been Carson or Colby, they would have FREAKED out. I don't know that Carter and Caden would have stayed as calm either. Cael never mentioned it again, and wasn't the slightest bit mad at me. I love that boy!!! He is sure independent and confident. No fear!

Now That's Big

Colby was telling me that he is asking for a ton of legos for his birthday. He said that he wanted so many that he could build a rocket ship that was "holy moly crappin big!" That must be one huge lego rocket ship. He is too dang cute!!!

Matching Clothes

I know that I put a lot of information on my boys personal prayers, but seriously I want them to know the most wonderful precious things they say. The heart of a 4 year old. While Colby was saying his prayers tonight he says, "I know that I have a playdate tomorrow (craft day at my house with my 3 closest friends that all have 4 yr old boys too) so I know that I have to wear matching clothes..." How funny is that! Who knows why that needed to be in the prayer, but he was serious as ever. He looked at me after and just gave me a huge hug while I did everything I could to not laugh. I LOVE hearing their prayers. Sometimes I think that I need to teach them better appropriate things to say, but then I remember that as long as they are being respectful, I want them to know they can talk to Heavenly Father about ANYTHING and that He cares! So I let them just speak their mind. And I LOVE the stuff I hear! What 4 year old cares about that... MINE that's who!! Haha, he was very right, he will have to wear matching "public" clothes. He's my only one, besides Caden sometimes, that wants me to kneel with him and listen to his personal prayer. I think he wants to suck every last minute of mom time before he has to go to bed. Cael just says them to himself now as well as Cars and Cart. They're growing up!!

Hot!!!

Last night Cael said he was scared, so he went downstairs to Carter's "bed". Carter has been sleeping in the love sac while he waits for Chet and I to build him a bed (a desire of mine for about 10 years. I want to build a bed) There is a queen bed in the room next to Carter's room that is not being used, but he's a geek and wants to sleep in the love sac, so we've allowed him too. Well, being the amazing brother he is, he moved to the floor and let Cael sleep in the love sac. When he woke this morning he was a little bugged at Cael (and believe me, I didn't feel one bit bad for him. Proud that he cared that much for Cael, but come on... go to the other room in the first place!) As I was shewing them to bed tonight... I mean kindly and lovingly with whispers and kind words only *cough *cough, Carter says not to come down again. I asked why Cael went down there and not to the bed on the floor next to dad. He says, "You guys are waaaaaaaaaaay too HOT!!!! And I don't mean boyfriend girlfriend kind of hot. Like temperature hot! I don't want to get into your bed anymore!" I grabbed him and started kissing him all over his face and neck and told him mom and dad were totally boyfriend girlfriend hot! He assured me that we are not! Kids descriptions kill me! So cute!! Not girlfriend hot, like temperature hot! Ay Yi-Yi!!!

My Sweet Cael

Today Cael was talking to me about a movie he saw where a kid was being bullied. The kid was delivering papers, and some older boys came by and threw his bike in a pond, took off his clothes and threw them in and then walked off laughing. He asked me, "Mom, do you know what revenge I would get on them? I would pray to God that he would take away their mean-ness, and make them a bucket filler instead of a bucket dipper! Don't you think that would be good Mom?" My reply with a great big smile, "That would be a great thing to do Cael. I would love that and Heavenly Father would love that too!" Oh I love that precious boy!!!

Are you kidding me?!?

Fall sports are into full swing. Chet and I are... overwhelmed. We are still playing coed softball every Tues night, Carter and Carson are playing 5th-6th grade football 5 nights a week, Caden is playing 3rd-4th grade football 5 nights a week (and he is the quarterback. We feel lots of pressure. His coach is brand new and Caden is very athletic but needs lots of work, so Chet spends every day at practice with him and then comes home and helps him with snaps and footwork), Cael is playing 1st-2nd grade soccer which is luckily only 3x a week, and Colby is playing pre-k soccer which is also only 3x a week. Life goes crazy around 4:00 when it's time to get Caden to practice. We then have practice until 7:30 every night, sometimes playing softball and sometimes having 4 different practices to get to. Not only that, Chet has church responsibilities (the other counselor is really sick and bishop is out of town for the 10 days.) He attends mutual, and meets with people starting at 6 on Wed night to get recommends for this weekends temple trip and callings. It's insane! But Chet and I are a good team. We laid in bed last night and filled in the calendar. We just looked at each other and it was funny how were both the same way. Just overwhelmed but very thankful for each other. We were just laughing! It's so crazy, but somehow it's all worked out! Oh, and Chet has work too. 4 hour dinners and foundations to attend and he is on the United Way Board. He was going to be the president and I was not very supportive of that. Luckily he asked to be just the secretary, but that is still another evening obligation. He has people come in from around the nation that he is expected to entertain and feed. So he plans that stuff, and takes the evenings sometimes for that too. He organizes shot gun shoots and has a catering company bring a buffet out for them. It's a lot!!! I think too, they're only 11. How in the world will I keep up? The older boys ride their bikes to practice when we cannot take them. Dinner is late every night, which is ok until school starts. Tonight we have open houses so I made Cowboy Salad (Lettuce, beans, hamburger, cheese, tomatoes, etc) early. Carter told me that I haven't made it since last football season. Half the family loves it, Cael and I tolerate it.  Cars looks at all the food on the table: pea pods (Carter and Colby love them), broiled asparagus, grapes, the salad, and dressing. He says, "Are you kidding me! Are you seriously just having salad for dinner!" He was so ticked. I told him there was a lbs of hamburger in the salad, but that didn't make him feel any better. I guess salad is not an acceptable dinner to him (although wrap it in a tortilla and put salsa on it and call it a taco he's happy!). Not one other complaint from anyone! He is way too much like Papa, that's for sure!!!!

Sell baby sell

We have a rule in our house that you have to pay back double if you steal something. Well, Colby got a treat on his way home from Casper and when he got home Carson stole some, right after Colby said no. I told Carson that he could buy him two new packages. Today he bought them for him. They were $1.09 ea. They were little air head bites. Colby walked around selling the one package for $0.05 each piece to all his brothers. After selling all that he could, we counted his money and he had $1.45. He ate several, still had several, and had his whole other package. It was so cute. He was so excited! His brothers were paying in pennies so they could get rid of them, and Colby loved "ALL" the money. So stinkin cute!!!

Quote of the Day

Carson is an eater. And he doesn't like cheap food. He loves jerky and nachos and things that cost $3+ at the store. I have been making him buy his own "snacks" that he just devours. His new favorite thing is to go sale shopping with me. He bought himself some jerky for a great deal and says after eating the first bite, " Ahhhh, food tastes so much better when you buy it yourself for a deal!" I loved it! Things do mean a bit more when you have to work for them. My kids think I'm mean, but they get compliments all the time that they are super hard workers. And this is why... great life lesson!!

Pay Tithing

Carter and Carson went to scout camp this year. While they were gone, we had to take care of their papers routes. Caden was willing to do half, so that left Cael and Colby and I to do the other half. Cael was a little paper delivering rock star. He ran the entire two routes (Colby did well too, he just couldn't keep up, but he sure tried with very minimal whining). I just walked on the sidewalk and he would run up behind me, and I would hold out a paper and he would grab it from me and run up to the door. When someone was outside, he would run it up to them and politely hand it to them and talk to them and he was so super cute. He had a total permagrin on the entire time. It made me happy seeing how much he loved it. For the last 4 years, almost weekly, he has ridden in the car watching his brothers do their route every week. I had no idea how great he would be (he now gets 40 papers) When he was done and I paid him, he held the money in the air and said, "YES!!! I have waited all my life to get to pay tithing!!!" He was so happy. I don't know if he was happy to pay tithing because that meant that he made money, or if he was happy to have made money so he could pay tithing. Either way, I don't care. I just love that he knew that was what we do. As Chet would say, "That's what Parkers do" (to anything that the boys question why. I'm sure we'll hear all about that one later, but I love the saying and use it regularly now.) No complaining or asking questions on this one! He knew exactly what to do... he had waited his WHOLE life for it!!

Caden is Double Digits!

Caden turned 10 today. Last night he got his football gear, and all 3 older boys got all dressed to go play in the backyard and my heart about died. I don't know when they got so old. It seems like it's taken FOREVER, and at the same time, I still remember like it was yesterday how dang scared I was to have my third little boy. He was like a little angel sent from above. He was such a good baby, and used up all the good then! Just kidding... kinda!

All Caden wanted for his birthday was $100. He waivered back and forth on it for a while, but settled on that when he saw me pay for something with a $100 bill. He knew then that he wanted to hold that in his hands and claim it as all his. But... how fun would a 10 year old have on his birthday if that was all he got. So, what to do? Get 100 $1 bills and tape them up all over the house and make him find all 100 and then trade it in for the $100 bill. Everyone but me fell asleep waiting for Caden. He was too excited for his birthday. Finally I told him to go snuggle up in bed with dad. Minutes later I was waking everyone and the taping began. Carter, Carson, Chet and I had a great time taping them everywhere (Cael and Colby are in Casper with Nana and Papa). When Caden woke this morning he went crazy finding them. It took him a good 30 minutes, but he loved it. After that long, he was missing just one. He then opened his gifts from his brothers. Carter found a UA football chin strap that Caden has wanted SOOOOOO bad at a second hand store when Caden wasn't with us earlier in the year, and although Carter would have LOVED it too, the first thing he said was, "I want to give this to Caden for his birthday." What would have been very expensive, Carter found for $4 and selflessly gave to Caden. Caden was REALLY, REALLY, REALLY excited. (I was proud of Carter for not only finding it, but thinking of Caden and not himself!) Then, earlier in the week, Carson had found a total sale on some good candy bars. He bought a ton of them and gave several to Caden. Caden was super excited about those too. I was just so proud. The boys didn't spend over $5 total on his gifts, but he was SOOOOOO happy about them. I think that is what gift giving is all about. Buying what the person really would want, and who cares the price. I love that Caden didn't care AT ALL that the chin strap was used either. Proud proud mom moment. By this time it was a mere 6:45 in the morning.

At 10:30 we started rounding up his friends. He had invited a bunch of people to lunch at Taco Johns, so I drove around and got everyone. It was 11 of us total (2 were the missionaries. Isn't that so dang cute! Every year he invites the missionaries to some meal with us. I love it!) He also had to two teenage boys that live close to us and spend a lot of time over here. He calls them his Mormon friends. They are really good to my boys and the boys love them to jump and play video games and eat dinner with us, and now celebrate birthdays I guess. It was a great time. We even got a 10% discount because it was so much! Haha, never had that happen! $75 to fast food!

After taking everyone home, except one boy, Connor, we headed to ask his parents if he could go golfing with us. Conners cousin was over (same age) and an EXCELLENT golfer and wanted to join (Caden knows Jaxen really well from playing with Connor so much) so SURE... come along. The more the merrier... right? So five boys ages 8-11 went golfing. It was Carter and Caden's first time, and Carson's second. Conner and Jaxen were little pros. They were so encouraging to my boys and so helpful and fun. It was a lot of fun. Caden was discouraged because he wasn't as good as them (Jaxen hit a 33 on a par 3 course... he was good!) but in the end he knew that he did really well for his first time. He hit about half the balls into the air. I kept telling him, "That was a great practice swing, now lets hit it" when he would swing and miss. I don't think he knew that I knew he was just missing it. He would just smile and hit. I was very proud of him. He hit a 68. On the final hole I told them that if anyone got it to the green (after Jaxen had already hit and missed) I would take them to DQ for anything they wanted. After everyone missed Jaxen asked if he could try again since he didn't know that when he hit. I smile and said sure. Can you guess where we headed next?

Onto DQ! Everyone ordered ice cream so big they about puked. Chet met us there and we just smiled as these boys just laughed and messed around. I sure love to see my boys happy! We then took everyone home, and Caden played his ipod until dinner, his favorite thing in the world to do. I have to keep tabs on him with it, or he will play all day. He loves having unlimited time to play in a day!

Then we went to dinner at our family favorite restaurant. Caden ordered fish tacos and strawberry lemonade. He wanted to be sang to so bad. Chet and I HATE that, but it's not about us! So... with fried ice cream in hand, they all came and put a sombrero on his head and sang in Spanish and then in English. Then the table next to us that was Japanese sang him Happy Birthday (while recording themselves) in Japanese. After they were done, a lady told him she could sing to him in Portegese. He said no thank you. He was all sang out!

Our little Cade-A-Babe is a highlight of our family. He fights like CrAzY with his older brothers, but while they were gone to camp, he told me that he really missed having them around. Quite a bit different than he usually says. That was a nice moment for me. For him to realize how nice it is to have so many brothers. He really missed them. Caden is a football fanatic. He didn't have a great year last year (mental mistakes from complete fear. He would do great in practice and played a star position, but would mess up in the games) but he never stopped talking about football all year. As Chet always says, ""Football never ended at our house." He is super excited for it to start. He wears his emotions on his sleeve and is easy to read. He is the biggest pig of the family and knows it!! He has a REALLY hard time keeping anything clean. Clothes, hair, hands, table, room, bathroom, you name it, he messes it up. It drives me crazy, but it is just him!!! I sure do love him. He still loves to snuggle. He is very particular about how he looks for church. He likes to be "just right" and takes it very serious. He loves church at the moment. He cannot wait to get the priesthood and go to the temple. He talks about it all the time. He loves to tell me when he feels the spirit or "makes Heavenly Father happy" I love that he recognizes it!!! I love his passion and love for all things life!

He loves all breakfast food. He would eat waffles, French toast, Swedish pancakes, etc every meal. He loves candy and sugar. He is really getting into baking. I hate for him to because he is SOOOOOO messy, but I let him cook about once a week. He loves it. He has started asking to help me with dinner. He is intrigued with chopping things lately. He loves to get one on one attention with either Chet or I. When he does get to spend time alone with us, he will always talk nonstop about ANYTHING, and then always thanks me later for listening to him talk so much and spending alone time with him. He has started delivering papers again because he is interested in money again. He loves to run and ride his bike and just be running! He hates to just sit around, unless he can play his ipod. He rarely gets sick. He starting diving this year and loves that. He told me today that he never wants to play soccer again. He has too many other sports he loves. If he can get his nerves under control, he will be an AMAZING athlete someday. He just doesn't realize it yet because he has ALWAYS played with older kids. It will be fun to watch him this year. He is getting into his muscles lately. I will have to watch carefully to make sure that it is always a healthy love. He's a little obsessed!

I cannot believe that I was the lucky one that gets to raise this amazing bundle of joy! He is so special to me!!! I love this corky, crazy, passionate, heartfelt, not so little anymore boy! Happy Double Digits Buddy!!!

Caden's Dinner

For Caden's birthday dinner he went to our favorite restaurant Los Compadres. At the table outside our booth was a table full of Japanese people. They were loud and laughing, and obviously tourists. All of a sudden I see one of them totally taking a picture of us. I was so confused. I looked at him like what are you doing. He couldn't speak English but he motioned to us and said very broken "Large family" and smiled huge. The funny thing was, we were missing the two babies. It was only 5. I cannot imagine if we had them all. He took about 4-5 pictures. Then, when the guys came to sing to Caden, of which Chet and Carter were mortified but Caden was tickled pink, the guy pulls out his video camera and starts videoing them singing. My boys were laughing at them so hard. It was pretty fun seeing someone so amazed with us. I sure wish we had all 5 boys there. We would have been like rock stars then!

Going to Dinner

Tonight Chet was taking the boys shooting. Since he was taking them when it cooled down (7pm), and we had not eaten yet, I told the babies that we would go to dinner. They were so excited! I told them to put on public clothes (no athletic wear or holes in clothes or shoes) and get spiffy. They are flossing their teeth, putting on cologne, getting cute clothes on, etc. Cael just came and told me that him and Colby have decided that the princess and two guards are going to dinner. That they will be my body guards. Gotta love boys and their love for their mamma!!!

You are so pretty!

Today we were walking out of the house and I was in church clothes. I walked down the stairs where Colby was waiting for us to leave the house and he looked at me and got big eyes and said, "WOW! You are so pretty! You are a real princess mom!" Then he held the screen door open for me and we walked out to the car.

Later in the day Cael was writing on the front entry with sidewalk chalk. I sat down next to him and wrote I love Cael in block letters. He asked why I wrote that. I whispered to him it was because he was my favorite. He looked at me and said, "Really? I always thought it was Colby! Cool." It broke my heart. I want all my kids to think they are my favorite. Colby is by far the most complimentary to me, and shows me the most affection, like the earlier story! However, I need to do better to make every boy feel like the favorite, even if they don't show me!

I'm a Good Man

I always tell Chet that he's a good man. And when the boys complain that dad is always gone, I always remind them that he is gone because he is a good man. He is either serving for church, or gone working (which he has been doing a lot more of) hard for us, or serving in the community as a chairman of the United Way Board. For about the last year, he has been gone way more nights than he is home, so they have heard it a lot. And rarely is it for himself to have fun. Well today we went to a baptism at the church and as we were leaving Colbs held the door for me. I told him thank you and he said, "Yeah. I am a good man." just so matter of fact and walked away with a bit of a strut. It was so dang cute!

YouTube

I have this super sick fascination with zip popping and I have serious issues with yucky ears. Mine are always yucky and I have to clean them every morning. I'm always inspecting Chet for ANYTHING to squeeze. On facebook I saw a little video about ear wax build up, so I watched it. The boys were gathering around my phone to see, so what does a good mom do? She pulls up youtube on the computer and looks up ear wax removal. That lead to black heads and huge zit pops. Carter was watching with his head turned half way. He was saying, "This is disgusting but really interesting (he wants to be my doctor) Cars watched for a little and then said, "I can't eat dinner tonight" and got up and left. However, he came right back and kept watching. Cael just kept saying, "This is why I clean my ears everyday!!! See boys!" (my little OCD boy) Colby looked for about 2 seconds and said, "Gross!" and he left for good. Caden wanted no part of watching! He watched for just a quick second and then says, "Mom, what job is that, because I'm making sure I don't do that job!!!" He said it about 5 times as he did an art project at the table. He was not interested in watching, thought we were crazy for watching, and will most definitely want nothing to do with it as an adult for a job! So funny! I wish I could have gotten a picture of all of them when we started watching. Oh my!! Funny times!!

Caden Reading

This is Caden reading to his class in the first grade. He got to bring his favorite book from home and read it to the class. He has always had a lying problem so we bought him this book called Don't Tell Lies Lucy. That's the one he picked to read. His teacher, Mrs Jones, and I got a good laugh out of that one! Love my little Cade-A-Babe.

 

 

Popcorn

Every time that we make homemade popcorn, this is what you'll see at my house. All of the boys think that it is so cool to watch it pop. They all gather around it and watch every kernel until the end. Someday we will look back and wish we had these moments again I'm sure! Weirdos!

 

 

Side Note: I do not like buttered popcorn. I don't like scraping the crap off the top of my mouth. YUCK!!! Therefore, my kids have not had buttered popcorn. Also, I like to make it homemade with coconut oil and sea salt. My boys had buttered microwave popcorn at Nana's and Papa's and they were SOOOOO impressed! They thought it was soooo cool. They ask me every time we pass the popcorn if we can buy butter flavored. It's the little things in life. I'm sure we'll hear all about it when they are older!

Denver 2013

Every year since 2013, we have been vacationing with the Lee's. They have 5 kids almost our kids same ages. They understand when it's time to eat, time to be done, and also that kids will be kids. We know each other well enough that they can discipline my kids just the same as we could, and vice versa. Our kids do wonderful together. This trip was a BLAST! We started out Thurs at the zoo. It was super hot but was still fun. Then we went to the aquarium. We started out at dinner there. They had a play place for the kids while we waited for food. They also had mermaids swimming in the tanks next to us. Super cool. Erin and I just sat and chatted while Chet and Clint took the kids to play. When does that ever happen? On vaca with 10 kids and the moms just sit and chat?!? By the time we ate we didn't really care to go into the aquarium, so we just went and hung out outside and made smores. This was almost the only time I took pics.

 

 

 Carson, Parker, Carter

 Cael

 Kate

 Parker, Carson

 Guin, Cael, Colby

 Thompson, Colby (This is Colby's little bff. They play SOOOOO well together)

 

 

Then we went to Elitches the next day. That was FUN!!! Who doesn't love amusement parks right!

 Cael

 Colby, Cael, Kate

 Kate, Cael, Colby

 Kate, Colby, Caden, Cael

 Carter, Parker, Colby, Carson, Vivian, Kate, Tommy, Guin, Caden, Cael

 Caden, Cael, Carter, Chet, Colby, Carson

 Parker, Carter

 Cael

 Kate

 Vivian, Colby, Thompson

 Parker

 Carter, Erin, Kate, Thompson

 Carter, Erin, Clint

 Parker, Cars, Colby

 Colby

 One cool cat!

 Carter

 Guin

 

 

The next day we went to Water World. We switched kids all around in the cars. This is Cael and Kate on the way to dinner. We took all 10 kids to cheese cake factory. We called ahead and they saved seats for 14 of us. I don't think they realized 10 were going to be kids. They about died, you could see it in their eyes. We went to a sit down restaurant every night and they were AWESOME!!! On the last night they were so tired that most all 10 kids just sat and ate. A few fell asleep on the dinner table. But no fit throwing. When they were tired they just layed over and went to sleep.

 

 

We love our annual vacas with the Lees. 2014 we went to Flaming Gorge and camped for a week and went to the lake, toured the dam, went to Vernal to the dinosaur museum and swimming at the rec center. 2015 we plan to go to Bear Lake and stay with the Andersens in Marks cabin. The Andersens also have 5 kids. We get together all the time with them but we will be staying one week with 6 adults and 15 kids, the oldest being Parker at the ripe age of 12. Fun times!!!